This white paper examines the current challenges for clean energy infrastructure and identifies solutions that industrial clusters, transport and logistics industries, and the wider clean energy value chain can jointly explore in order to accelerate its deployment. Thirteen new industrial clusters from Australia, Brazil, Colombia, India, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, …
if iceland made a dramatic re-entry into the International Whaling Commission (iwc), the sequel to the event promises to be equally startling. For, after having voted in favour of Iceland despite its plans to resume commercial hunting of whales, Sweden has done a volte-face terming the move an "unfortunate mistake'. …
Good for a change A common pollutant strongly impacts the behaviour of arsenic and possibly other toxic metals in some lakes, shows a research conducted by us-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nitrate pollution reacts with naturally occurring iron to create iron oxides that in turn adsorb arsenic. The result is …
taking a cue from Sweden and Germany, Belgium is going ahead with its plan to phase out the country's nuclear reactors by 2025. Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt recently said that his cabinet would ask parliament to pass a controversial bill to this effect. "We are going to proceed with …
with a ban on landfilling of combustible wastes, the Swedish municipalities are giving an impetus to biological processing of household waste. As a result, the capacity of such processing is being increased and the incineration capacity is also rising rapidly. Proposed in 1997, the new combustible waste landfilling ban covers …
a recent spurt has been witnessed in the demand for ultra low sulphur diesel (ulsd), with several European countries switching over to the green fuel (containing 50 parts per million of sulphur). The resultant shortage has pushed up ulsd prices on the Rotterdam (Netherlands) barge market by us $20 a …
The incidence of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) in Sweden has substantially increased since the mid-1980s. During the same period the climate has become milder and ticks have become more abundant. We investigated whether there is a link between the change in climate and the increase in incidence of TBE. Since the …
sweden, the president of the European Union, has proposed stringent rules for the European chemical industry to achieve a "non-toxic environment'. European Commission's (EC) recent 10-year plan for the environment did not have any policy on chemicals, despite its pledge to phase out 32 toxic chemicals in the next 20 …
a group of Swedish scientists have developed a technique which will aid in converting sunlight into electricity with an efficiency of 16.6 per cent. With the help of solar cell modules, the research team at Uppsala University converted sunlight into electricity at that efficiency. According to Marika Bodegard, one of …
in a late disclosure that triggered the wrath of environmentalists across Europe, the seed company Advanta issued a statement that farmers in Britain, France, Germany and Sweden were unwittingly growing genetically modified ( gm ) rapeseed crops. The seeds had apparently been contaminated by its gm variety in Canada from …
sweden's decision to phase out its 12 nuclear power plants by 2010 took a significant step forward on November 30 when it closed its first plant, Barseback 1, which is situated on the country's west coast. Nuclear power plants generate almost half of the electricity needs of the country, of …
Spiders probably use polarised light as a compass when they return home after foraging. Marie Dacke of the University of Lund in Sweden studied the spider Drassodes cupreus and found that two of its eight eyes have built-in filters that allow them to detect the polarisation of light. The animals …
the longest European bridge ever is being built across the Oresund Strait between southern Sweden and Denmark. This is the only entry to the Baltic Sea. The question is why build a concrete monster when there is a speedy and efficient ferry service? I am only one of many Swedes …
the energy crisis that raised its fearsome head in the 1970s is not really over yet. Threatening to bring the industrial world to a grinding halt, it finds new guises to sustain itself. The two billion people across the globe for whom clean, safe and cheap fuel remains inaccessible can …
Sweden is almost on target to achieve stabilisation of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions at the 1990-2000 level, notwithstanding a long series of grim predictions. Emissions have dropped consider- ably since 1995. There are many reasons why emissions are coming down. Firstly, a tax imposed on CO2 in 1991 has had …
SWEDEN became the third European Union member state to impose a ban on phthalate softeners in plastic vinyl chemical (PVC) toys. The ban will come into force early next year. The Swedish government issued a statement saying it does not want children below the age of three to get exposed …
STOCKHOLM. Delhi. Two cities. But two very different cultures. One clean. And the other dirty as hell. And the difference is not just in the physical condition. It is also in the mind-set. One doesn't want to live in dirt and filth. And the other just wallows in it. Since …
Petrol in Sweden will contain less sulphur than any in Europe by the year 2000. Swedish oil companies recently agreed to switch to petrol containing fewer than 50 parts sulphur per million (ppm). Planned European legislation will set a higher limit of 150 ppm. Rolf Annerberg, director-general of the Swedish …
High levels of lead in adults may not be as harmful as people thought earlier, according to a study conducted by Pal Osterberg and colleagues at the university hospitals of Lund and Malmo, Sweden. Previous studies had suggested that adults who have high levels of lead in their body have …
