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, …
THOUGH Sweden has been named by the UN as the world leader in gender equality, women scientists of the country have to be several times more productive than their male counterparts in order to get equal scores while applying for research grants. Christine Wenneras, a microbiologist, and Agnes Wold, an …
LEVYING taxes for the protection of environment has done wonders for Sweden. Green taxes have led to a sharp decline in acid rain, encouraged power stations to burn less fossil fuels and cut diesel emissions. These results have been highlighted in a detailed evaluation of the country's environmental taxes, which …
SWEDES are at risk from toxic chemicals leaking out of old concrete towers, according to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA). Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in soil close to a block of flats in capital Stockholm have been found to be 20 times higher than the country's safety limit …
while the world is still debating the future of nuclear power, Sweden has decided to phase out its large nuclear power industry. The decision has sparked strong protests from citizens, opposition parties, trade unions and industries. The government intends to close down at least two of the country's 12 nuclear …
Scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, have found out the reason behind the sterlity of sinuses, and its advantage. Researchers report that epithelial cells lining these sinuses produce nitric oxide (NO) that is lethal to the bacteria invading the neighbouring nasal cavity. Acting as a vasodilator, NO travels …
the spinal cord, which is a column of nerve tissues extending from the base of the brain down to the central cavity of the vertebral column, could be regarded as the very pillar of life. Any injury inflicted on it could either handicap the person through partial or total paralysis …
In wheat kernels, there are more than hundred different types of storage proteins, which are of great importance to the baking quality of the dough. There are mainly two groups of proteins in wheat, namely glutenins and gliadins. P Johannson at the University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden, has done an …
FOR the past 10 years, a large number of moose are dying in southwest Sweden. The cause for this is acid rain. Acidification and the declining numbers of this warm-blooded animal are being linked because of a complex chain of events, arising from the occurrence of the former. According to …
Birds like female blue tits control the sex of the eggs they lay, but this crucial decision hinges on the health of their mates. If the males are more active and healthy, the females produce more sons than daughters. This was revealed in a study conducted by researchers from Lund …
SINCE July last year, the municipal garbage dump at Gladokvarn, outside Stockholm, has been yielding gas at the rate of 22,000 in per day from gas wells up to 20 in deep. The gas is carried via a 13 km-long pipeline to a 5 mw heating plant which, in turn, …
THE Swedes, known to have a scalpedearth policy for a long time, have now come up with a ecologically sound way of logging which is also profitable. Earlier, the woodcutters used to bare almost 300 ha of the vegetation completely. But the new 'ecological cuts' have brought it down to …
TEMPERS are running high over the proposed Oresundsbron bridge-and-tunnel link for automobiles and trains between Sweden and Denmark. The link -- meant to reduce travel time between Malmo in Sweden and Kastrup in Denmark -- will cost a whopping $10.01 billion with grandiose features like artificially-created islands and an underground …
ENVIRONMENTALISTS who wish to revert to a non-polluted era may have to revise their glorious vision of an idyllic past before the industrial revolution. A recent analysis of lake sediments in Sweden reveals that lead pollution was a problem even 2,000 years ago (Nature, Vol 368, No 6469). Ingemar Renberg …
THE logo of the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation (SNF), a peregrine falcon in flight, may not be the most imaginative. But in the minds of many Swedes, the symbol of the threatened predator suggests something honest, close to nature and authentically Swedish. One out of every 40 Swedes is …
SWEDISH doctors have developed a painkilling device that can be implanted into the spine to relieve patients suffering from angina pectoris -- pain in the chest brought on by exertion and caused by inadequate blood supply to the heart. Clas Mannheimer and his team from Gothenburg claim the device enables …
An offer of Rs 700 crore as aid by a consortium of Uzbek, Russian and Swedish companies has evoked jubilation among employees of the Tehri Hydroelectric Development Corporation (THDC), which is responsible for building the Tehri dam. The offer is a lifeline for THDC, which is desperately trying to raise …
WHEN THE Swedish municipality of Overtornea declared itself an "eco-municipality" (See box), the eco stood for ecological. Today, it is increasingly identified as also meaning economic -- an indication that environmental concern is becoming an integral part of rising urban living standards, rather than a rural luxury. Orebro, one of …
RESIDENTS swim and even fish for salmon -- which is safe to eat -- in Lake Malaren, between the Parliament building and the prime minister's office in Stockholm, giving Sweden's capital a unique environment, compared with most other large cities. Stockholm has 15 municipal beaches and plans to establish more, …
A project to clean up Gothenburg, 450 km south-west of Stockholm, has had a catalytic effect on the city's environment since it was launched five years ago. Efforts were initiated in cooperation with Volvo, Sweden's largest car manufacturer, and other major companies; consultations were held on the use of a …
THE SMALL northern municipality of Overtornea was the first to adopt the concept of "eco-municipality" in Sweden. The concept focusses on the relatively undisturbed environment, the local structure of trade and industry and the local lifestyle, but with job creation as the driving force. Overtornea's 1986 action plan states: "Economic …
