At the launch of the Singapore Red Data Book
on the wild shores of singapore blog
Life History of the Dot-Dash Sergeant
on the Butterflies of Singapore blog
Why only juvenile Tiger Shrikes arrive in Singapore?
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Bottlebrush trees in Malaysia’s hill stations
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Intricate and fanciful snails
on the wonderful creation blog
Letter by Freddie Choo, Straits Times 30 Nov 08;
I visited St John's Island last Tuesday and while disembarking at the pier, noticed that the water on one side looked polluted. There was also a strong raw sewage odour permeating the entire waterfront.
On closer inspection, I noticed a pipe discharging sewage into the water. From the odour, it must be untreated sewage.
What is alarming is its close proximity to a deep-sea fish farm there, where fish are reared for sale and consumption in our markets.
From the flow of the water, there is no way anyone can argue that the sewage does not affect the farm, as there is only one channel.
I hope the authorities will look into this.
I also noticed some visitors to the island picking shellfish off the rocks.
I hope their health will not be adversely affected by the sewage, as the shellfish can be carriers of toxic agents.
Mine gold in your backyard
As belts tighten, it feels good to go local, eat local this festive season
By Chua Mui Hoong, Straits Times 30 Nov 08;
I used to think only faraway places offered nature lovers interesting flora and fauna. I was in love with America's national parks. Until I came home and discovered Singapore's own nature reserves and nature areas.
I have almost forgotten what the inside of an aeroplane looks like these days.
Okay, I exaggerate a little.
But it has been nearly a year since I got onto an airplane to fly anywhere. The last flight I took was during a family vacation to Australia last December. Since then, I've been grounded.
This is a strange experience for me. I used to be one of those afflicted with wanderlust, who got itchy feet if she had to stay put in staid Singapore for three months at a stretch.
London and Boston topped my list of favourite cities to holiday in. For a few years, my annual vacation was taken up totally by a long sojourn in the United States: visiting friends from university in Boston, travelling around the New England states or stopping over in sunny California.
And then, this year, my circumstances and priorities changed. And now I find myself grounded for a year.
My family did discuss whether to take a break somewhere.
'How about Turkey,' I asked.
'Turkey?' queried the two teens, my niece and nephew, noses wrinkling in distaste.
'Or Europe?' ventured my sister.
'I want to go to Germany,' proclaimed my niece, 12.
'Anything,' said my nephew, 17.
'Europe is so far and expensive and cold. How about Australia?' I suggested.
'Gold Coast or Melbourne?' asked my sister.
'We just went to the Gold Coast last year,' protested the teens.
'How about Perth or Western Australia? Except I've been to Perth and I feel I know the Pinnacles by heart,' I said.
'Stay at home,' said my nephew.
'Taiwan?' I said.
'Been there,' said my niece and sister.
'Vietnam?' I suggested.
'Maybe,' said my sister. 'Or how about Cameron Highlands?'
'Or Pangkor?' I asked.
A typical Chua Family Council. No consensus was reached. With a financial downturn looming, and teenagers who appeared happy hanging around doing nothing during the school holidays except sleep, eat, tease each other and irritate their parents and aunts, no decision was taken.
Looks like we may spend December in Singapore.
Scanning the immigration stamps in my passport, I realise I have been content with short breaks to neighbouring Indonesia and Malaysia by road or ferry.
A weekend in Bintan here, several trips to Sebana Cove there, and leisurely road trips across the Causeway to whichever hotel takes our fancy - these short jaunts have been enough to satisfy this oncerestless soul.
I still feel the urge to venture to distant shores, but I'm learning also to appreciate what lies in my own backyard.
Or as the Chinese phrase goes, jiu di qu cai - from this very ground you can pluck whatever fortune or needs you require.
And with belts tightening in the face of a possibly protracted downturn, that's a pretty good perspective to take when planning your family vacation, or what to do or where to eat or what to buy.
Here's my one-line tip to staying happy as budgets shrink and belts tighten: Look for gold in your own backyard.
This applies as much to travel and recreation as to food.
I used to think only faraway places offered nature lovers interesting flora and fauna. I was in love with America's national parks.
Until I came home and discovered Singapore's own nature reserves and nature areas.
I've spent many happy hours along MacRitchie's lovely trails, the Petai being my favourite. Had heart-stopping moments spying on birds catching prey in Upper Peirce, seen flamingos in Sungei Buloh.
Now I can even watch birds from my own flat. Straw-headed bulbuls perch on the tree in front of my living room, call to their mates and display their plumage. Flights of white egrets and the occasional migratory crane flits by. A resident Brahminy Kite scans the sky for prey in the mid-morning. White-throated kingfishers wait by the canal for lizards.
The other day, I walked part of the new Southern Ridges at dusk, awed by overgrown banyan and fledgling bamboos on the way out, and admired bats flitting about on the way back.
I am learning that one does not need to travel far to have magical moments.
A recent interlude in Malacca opened my eyes to the wonders of this Unesco World Heritage city.
Sitting on the steps of the ruins of the nearly 500-year-old St Paul's Church perched on a hilltop, looking down at the twinkling lights of Malacca and the river, and giving thanks for my past 40 years, I felt a sense of pilgrimage and a sense of returning home. After years admiring cathedrals in distant lands, I am learning that beauty and wonder lie also on one's doorstep.
Digging for gold in your own backyard extends to food, where it makes sense to eat local.
It used to be that when I was in Singapore, I would look for expensive Western food for its sheer novelty.
In Boston, I would seek out Asian supermarkets for char siew or green leafy Chinese vegetables. When I hosted parties for fellow students, Penang-style char kway
teow at US$50 per platter was de rigueur for its sheer exotic appeal.
These days, I'm learning to make do with whatever local produce is available.
Why look for risotto or paella when fried rice and nasi goreng are in abundance? Or duck confit when the neighbourhood kopi tiam sells you a nice roast duck drumstick for $4?
This December will probably see me stay put in Singapore or nearby environs.
Come to think of it, I've not been to Chek Jawa after the boardwalk was erected. I still want to check out Labrador's rocky shore at low tide. There's the rest of the Southern Ridges to explore.
And the entire Makansutra guide's worth of hawker stalls to try - and a few more gems I could add to that guide.
And if the appeal of Singapore gets stale after a while, there's the whole Malaysian peninsula worth of riches to delve into.
muihoong@sph.com.sg
What are your favourite local places of interest? E-mail suntimes@sph.com.sg
Satish Cheney, Channel NewsAsia 30 Nov 08;
SINGAPORE : It may be due to the bad economy or a love of nature, but more Singaporeans are warming up to the idea of having a holiday without leaving the country.
D'Kranji Farm Resort, situated at Lim Chu Kang - usually known for its cemeteries and army camps - is drawing Singaporeans who want an "Old MacDonald's" kind of a holiday.
It costs about S$250 a night to stay in one of the farm villas, and the location seems to be a welcome reprieve for some.
"Out on the drive here, it feels like a road trip... You look around, and there're no skyscrapers. You feel like you're out of the city which is good," said resort guest Chiong Siau.
Besides the farming landscape, guests at D'Kranji Farm Resort get to choose your own seafood, or something more adventurous for dinner.
There are spa treatments for guests as well, and this is helping to bring occupancy rates up - with 70 per cent expected for November.
"It's very relaxing harem" said one resort guest.
"In fact, we've booked here for December holiday already," said another.
For some resort guests, the allure is more than just nature.
"(Some of the guests) used to stay here previously, but because of the development, they moved to housing estates. So, they miss this place. (Coming here) brings back old memories," said Harry Quek, manager at D'Kranji Farm Resort.
The majority of people going to farm resorts to escape their stressful lives are Singaporeans, but the resort management is hoping to bring in people from other countries as well. It has been working with tour agencies from far-away countries such as Russia.
Nature also seems to be a selling point for corporate functions, as well as church camps and schools.
"(With) the church camps and educational programmes, we let people know how things are built... (and) what you're eating, to show the children (where the food) came from," said Don Ho, manager of Business Development at XCL Concepts.
With the resort's expansion in the pipeline, there could be more reason for Singaporeans to holiday at home. - CNA /ls
With doggy movies hitting the big screens, film companies and SPCA team up to counter impulse buying
Jeanmarie Tan, New Paper 30 Nov 08;
AN adorable, pampered chihuahua named Chloe is currently making audiences fall in love with pint-sized pooches in the live-action movie Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
Then there's the upcoming animated film Bolt, about the brave and loyal American white shepherd puppy who's the star of an action TV series and believes his superpowers are real.
And in January, Marley & Me - starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston - revolves around a family who learns important life lessons from their naughty and neurotic labrador retriever.
After watching the dogs' irresistibly cute and wonderful antics on screen, who wouldn't want one of their own?
After all, aquariums here saw an 80 per cent increase in sales of clownfish after Finding Nemo was released.
But the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is concerned that the current slew of family-friendly flicks about man's best friend may spark a craze for these starring breeds.
For the first time, the SPCA has collaborated with Singapore's cinema exhibitors to screen appeals that remind the public against impulse buying, which usually results in pets becoming unwanted after the novelty wears off.
The advisory message is currently on Golden Village's website and the plasma TV screens at all Golden Village locations.
It is also being flashed on Shaw Lido atrium's video wall and the TV sets in Eng Wah's cinema lobbies islandwide, as well as being displayed as a still frame prior to the 35mm advertisements that play before each screening at Cathay cinemas.
Rise in abandonment
Ms Deirdre Moss, executive officer of the SPCA, said the shelter is seeing a rise in abandoned pedigree dogs.
Last year, the organisation received over 1,500 such dogs. And as of October this year, it has already taken in about 1,300.
Lost dogs are sometimes reclaimed, while unclaimed ones are either put up for adoption or put to sleep. Ms Moss feels the message acts as a 'preventive measure' - especially since the school holidays have started and Christmas is round the corner.
She told The New Paper: 'We have not observed any trend previously... that is, no excess abandonment of a particular breed coinciding with the release of similar animal-themed movies.
'But the SPCA feels it is justified now because pedigree dog ownership has been on the increase in recent years.'
Incidentally, a similar message - from producers Walt Disney Company and the American Humane Association - appears towards the end of Beverly Hills Chihuahua and before the credits.
But Ms Maan Villareal, marketing director of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Singapore, said the notice is on all original versions of the film and not in specific reaction to the SPCA's request.
Since opening at No 1 in the US two months ago, Beverly Hills Chihuahua has grossed US$91.6 million ($138m) and is considered a moderate hit.
However, it didn't do as well in Singapore, raking in $487,600 since it opened last Thursday to land in third place behind Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa and Body Of Lies.
Ms Villareal said she hasn't heard any reports about the movie directly boosting chihuahua sales in the US.
She expects Disney's other movie, Bolt, to perform 'very well' locally - even though it disappointingly opened in third place last weekend in the US with US$27m - but feels it's unlikely audiences will rush out to buy American white shepherds because of it.
Bolt opens in cinemas here on 4 Dec, but special advance 3D screenings started this week.
A spokesman of Twentieth Century Fox, which will be releasing Marley & Me on 8 Jan, added: 'We feel that the message of the film isn't at all about encouraging dog ownership...
'(Instead), we see how unpredictable dogs like labradors can be and that it takes a lot of responsibility and commitment to let one into your life.'
Not influenced
Well, Hollywood may be going to the dogs, but Singapore moviegoers The New Paper spoke to don't seem to be biting.
Student Ong Jia Jun, 18, said: 'Although I found the dogs in the show both entertaining and adorable, I don't think it has changed my liking for them, neither has it given me more reason to get an animal, chihuahua or not.'
Housewife Chew Wen Ling, 44, enjoyed watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua with her kids, but it stops there.
She said: 'I'm pretty strict... as I want them to be aware of the responsibility of looking after the animals.'
Madam Chew's daughter, 16-year-old student Chloe Ng, added: 'In a way, (the movie) kind of inspired me to want a chihuahua and it'll be nice to have one, but I don't think we'll get one just because of the movie.'
Pet shops here have also not seen any significant spike in the demand for chihuahuas.
Ms Shirley Poh, sales manager of Pets' Station, said sales have been 'quite consistent' and there's been 'no specific jumps in purchase' for the past five months.
Mr Eric Ee, director of Pick A Pet which operates from several Pet Lovers Centre outlets, said: 'I think consumers now know what they really want, and are responsible enough... Toy poodles are in now, not chihuahuas.'
But Mr Eric Lim, director of Ericsson Pet Farm, reported receiving more enquiries about chihuahuas of late and even 'a few purchases'.
He said: 'Certainly, the movie helps publicise the breed a bit better, and we do get people calling in.'
But even though Singaporeans don't seem to be terribly swayed, the SPCA isn't taking any chances.
According to Ms Moss, chihuahuas are not among the common small breeds that are abandoned (which include Jack Russell terriers, malteses and shitzus).
But she's hoping to avoid having them join the list next year.
SPCA is also considering getting the message screened for Marley & Me and Bolt - especially as the latter features a hamster that's even cuter than the dog.
Ms Moss said the SPCA received about 1,200 domestic small animals for the year ending this June. Recently, on two separate occasions, cages containing hamsters were dumped outside its premises.
Cinema exhibitors say they will continue to support what they feel is an important and worthy initiative.
A Cathay spokesman said it had heard about a phenomenon in the US where many people had purchased chihuahuas after catching the movie, only to subsequently abandon them at pet shelters.
She added: 'We felt we were in a good position to help raise some form of awareness in our country to hopefully prevent a similar situation.'
Shaw's executive vice-president Mark Shaw added: 'This is one meaningful public service which is within our ability to help the cause.'
- Additional reporting by Eoin Ee, newsroom intern
Yahoo News 29 Nov 08;
SYDNEY (AFP) – About 80 pilot whales have been stranded on rocks on Tasmania's remote west coast just a week after 53 of the giant mammals beached themselves on the island and died, an official said Saturday.
The whales were discovered around mid-morning and a helicopter flew over the area but it would take a team of about 10 rescuers until Sunday to reach the pod, said state government spokesman Warwick Brennan.
"It appears at this stage the majority of the whales are dead," Brennan said.
"Possibly 11 whales are still alive but they've all been battered about on the rocks."
The difficult terrain meant there was grave concern about the ability of rescuers to save the surviving whales, he said.
Pilot whales can reach up to 20ft and weigh up to three tonnes.
Exactly a week earlier, 64 of the mammals, many of them mothers and calves, were found stranded on Anthony's Beach on the southern Australian island.
Rescuers managed to save 11, hauling them onto specially-modified vehicles and driving them to a nearby beach for release into the sea.
Tasmania's Parks and Wildlife Service said Monday satellite tracking devices fitted to five of the rescued whales indicated that the animals were swimming freely in deep water in Bass Strait.
Whale strandings are not uncommon in Tasmania but why they occur remains the subject of scientific debate.
Katrina Witham, Brisbane Times 30 Nov 08;
MARINE conservationists say the interception of a Papua New Guinea fishing boat laden with four tonnes of "de-finned" sharks in Australian waters shows illegal shark fishing has become a worldwide enterprise and the Great Barrier Reef could be its next target.
On Thursday, Australian Customs authorities escorted an illegal fishing boat to Cairns after it was spotted 6.6 nautical miles east of Ashmore Reef an Australian Nature Reserve west of Darwin.
The boat was first detected by a Customs Coastwatch aircraft last Sunday and was intercepted.
A search a revealed about four tonnes of sharks, with their fins cut off.
Twenty shark jaws, 20 tuna and 20 assorted large fish were also allegedly discovered on board. Customs could not confirm whether the vessel's 15 crew members had been charged.
Marine conservationist, researcher and Fox Shark Research Foundation director Andrew Fox said a shark finning industry in Papua New Guinea had previously been unheard of and the fact the vessel was from the region showed the industry had become truly international.
He said illegal finning had become more lucrative as the shark population became more scarce and was now attractive to developing fishing nations.
"We are very concerned about the Great Barrier Reef," Mr Fox said.
"There have been moves in our own Great Barrier Reef to set up a shark finning industry because it is such big money.
"While these moves have so far been blocked, it is very scary to think the question was even posed."
He said sharks were vital to maintaining the health and balance of marine eco systems and without them the impact would be devastating.
"Even considering a shark finning industry in Queensland is so short term compared to the long-term beauty of the reef and tourism industry that it feeds."
Shark fins are farmed for sale to restaurants to make soup, considered a delicacy in Asia.
The World Wildlife Fund has calculated that 100 million sharks a year are killed to feed the industry and says this is not sustainable.
Customs Border Protection deputy commander Demetrio Veteri said illegal foreign fishing posed a number of risks to the sustainability of Australian fish stocks.
Phuong Le, Associated Press Yahoo News 29 Nov 08;
SUMAS, Wash. – Years of collecting dead carcasses and examining lead-poisoned livers have convinced Mike Smith of this: to save Pacific Coast trumpeter swans, he has to haze them.
As the sun set behind Judson Lake — the likely source of the lead poisoning — the wildlife biologist kept vigil in a cramped watchtower with a night-vision scope, a noisemaker and a laser.
His mission is to scare the swans off the lake, away from the shotgun pellets that litter the lake bottom and have killed hundreds of the birds.
It wasn't long before Smith heard a distinctive swan honk and then spotted a snow-white bird gracefully land on the water. Smith fired his noisemaker, sending a red flare whistling into the sky. The swan didn't budge. He fired again. This time the bird flew away.
"It is bird harassment for a few moments of their life, but it certainly seems to extend their life," Smith said.
When trumpeter swans started dying by the hundreds in recent years, scientists traced the problem to this shallow 100-acre lake that straddles the U.S.-Canadian border.
Lead shots have been banned for waterfowl hunting since 1991. But wildlife scientists believe the swans were swallowing leftover pellets from the muddy bottoms of lakes and wetlands.
The lead enters the birds' bloodstream and paralyzes their internal organs, Smith said. They die within weeks.
"All indications are that this is a major source," Smith said of Judson Lake. "We know there's lead here. Since we've kept them off, the mortality has gone way down."
Since the hazing began two winters ago, fewer swans have died in southern British Columbia and northern Puget Sound, which includes Seattle.
About 100 swans died of lead poisoning in each of those years, a 50 percent drop from the five-year average before hazing. About 1,600 swans have died of lead poisoning in the region since 1999.
"They're huge, big and white," said Martha Jordan, with the Trumpeter Swan Society. "When they're dead, you notice them."
The swans, North America's largest waterfowl, usually arrive in northwestern Washington and southwestern British Columbia in early November. One-sixth of the world's population spends the winter in the Pacific Northwest before migrating to central Alaska in April.
Native trumpeter swans have made a comeback in recent decades. About 8,000 swans were counted in the area, compared with about 100 in the early 1970s, according to the state department of fish and wildlife.
It takes only one or two pieces of shot to kill a swan, Smith said. Most of the birds that scientists tested had ingested an average of 20 whole pellets, he said.
"When you see one up close ... and get some idea of just how big and beautiful they are and then to go and see them succumb to as horrible a death as lead poisoning, it's quite heart-wrenching," Smith said.
In 2001, scientists with the University of Washington, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Canadian Wildlife Service and Trumpeter Swan Society trapped and radio-collared about 300 swans to trace the source of lead.
They collected dead carcasses, took blood samples and tracked the birds' patterns. They also took hundreds of core samples from their forage and roost sites and found high lead density in areas that swans frequently used, including Judson.
"We feel really good about Judson Lake and what we've been doing there," said Jennifer Bohannon, a biologist with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
But "we need to come up with a long-term solution," she said. "I don't think hazing year to year is the answer. That's the challenge that lies ahead."
Local, federal, Canadian fish and wildlife officials and others are now trying to come up with a cleanup plan.
While swan hazing has led to an overall drop in deaths in the area, scientists discovered unexpected deaths last year in two counties, Skagit and Snohomish, north of Seattle.
It's unclear whether the swans pick up lead in the north and fly south to die, or have found new sources of lead. Scientists are starting to monitor other lakes.
"We went to nontoxic shot in 1991 and how many years later we're still losing these animals to lead shot," Jordan said. "You've got to know there are more lead from other sources."
She noted that lead shot is still legal for hunting upland birds such as pheasant or quail, and for skeet or trap shooting.
Smith and two other university colleagues will haze Judson Lake until January, when the water level is too deep for the swans to reach the lake bottom.
Smith usually hears the bugle-like honks before he sees them from his makeshift 6-by-6 foot tower. The swans try to roost on the lake at night, after foraging on corn stubble and winter wheat crops in nearby farms.
If the noisemaker doesn't work, Smith shines a red laser at the birds to scare them away. As a last resort, he gets into an airboat to physically chase them away. Starting up the roaring engine is usually enough to do the trick.
Within several hours, Smith recorded a total of 34 swans hazed from the lake.
"You learn patience," he said. "It's like fishing for birds."
Iqbal Pittalwala
University of California, Riverside Strategic Communications Office
LiveScience.com Yahoo News 29 Nov 08;
This Behind the Scenes article was provided to LiveScience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
Spiders have fascinated Cheryl Hayashi since her undergraduate days at Yale, where one day a professor offered her an opportunity that changed her life. Hayashi had to hand-feed the professor's laboratory colony of tropical spiders - an assignment that sparked such an interest in arthropods that it led to a career in biology.
Today, Hayashi, a professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) and a recipient of a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, returns the Yale professor's favor by mentoring students and postdoctoral researchers in her own lab, where they do extensive genetic characterization and mechanical testing of spider silk fibers.
Comprised of individual protein molecules, spider silk has long fascinated scientists. With the support of NSF and other institutions, Hayashi's research team collects spider silk strands and painstakingly combs through silk glands, located inside the spiders' abdomens, to find the elusive genetic blueprints for silk making. The goal of the work is to better understand what gives the silk its amazing properties.
"Different proteins are made and mixed in the silk glands of spiders to create the silk," Hayashi says. "It is a combination of the exact sequence of the individual proteins and the way these proteins interact and link with each other that gives silk its remarkable strength. People have tried to mimic its production in the lab - for example, by squeezing these proteins through a narrow syringe - but what they've ended up with was something thick and brittle, not the fine and flexible material that is spider silk."
Nearly all spiders make several kinds of silk to move, trap and store food, and reproduce. Most silks are less than one-tenth the diameter of a human hair, lighter than cotton, yet ounce for ounce up to five times tougher than steel. As a result, they are being considered for improving a wide variety of products such as lightweight, super-strong body armor; specialty rope; biodegradable surgical sutures; and components of medical devices.
"Whenever you need something strong and lightweight, spider silk can be a good candidate," Hayashi says. "For example, making a thin film or a thin fabric. Or as scaffolds to re-grow tissue. Silk is being seriously explored for use in bullet-proof vests. Down the road, I see silk being used in textiles for high-performance, durable clothing. Spider silk's advantages are its softness and flexibility, qualities you need for making items such as high-tech athletic attire and ultra-tough patches to cover areas around body joints."
Scientists like Hayashi have come up with ingenious ways to increase the production of spider silk. With help from plant genetics engineers at UCR, she has moved silk genes into crop plants like tobacco and tomato. These host plants produce copious amounts of silk that she can extract in her lab for analysis.
"We chose plants as hosts because they are much lower maintenance and easier to cultivate in large numbers than spiders," Hayashi says. "Other silk-producing hosts could be bacteria, yeast, or farm animals."
Spider silk has been around for more than 350 million years and has changed radically over time. By combining genetic data with the fossil record, Hayashi and her team can carefully trace the intertwined histories of spiders and their silks.
When Hayashi began working on spider silk more than a decade ago, she expected a system that was intriguing because of its elegant simplicity. Indeed, the first spider silk she characterized fit neatly into her thinking - it was an uncomplicated material, understandable with just five to six core building blocks.
"But as I collected more spider silk data, it became increasingly clear that I was researching a complicated system," Hayashi says.
Over the years, her lab has shown that the remarkable properties of spider silks are created by a combination of the spider's spinning processes and the ancient protein structures handed down genetically over millions of years of evolutionary history. Her lab also uncovered the molecular structure of the genes for a variety of silks, including the protein that female spiders use to make their silken egg cases.
Her research group has been credited with discovering evidence indicating that spiders' wagon-wheel shaped nets are so old that dinosaurs may have seen them. Moreover, her lab determined the complete gene sequences for two key proteins in the "dragline silk" of the black widow spider. More recently, Hayashi expanded her studies to include silks from other arthropods (such as caterpillars) and non-fibrous silk proteins such as glues.
Her research keeps expanding to study more types of silks and more species of spiders. Her lab is also working on characterizing silk proteins that tarantulas produce in their feet.
Besides making discoveries, communicating science keeps Hayashi going. She enjoys speaking to the public about her research and emphasizes to young students, senior citizens and business groups the importance of observing nature in detail.
"It's only by closely studying how spiders make their silk that you appreciate how complicated and extraordinary the process is," she says. "You can't help but wonder how the liquid goo of proteins is dehydrated in the spider and then made to flow out as a dry, flexible fiber. Thousands and thousands of individual molecules bind together in a way that produces a continuous fiber, and, most remarkably, all this happens nearly instantaneously."
Such fascination with nature's intricate workings drew Hayashi to science and made her a national expert on the genetic structure of spider silk.
"I'm always learning something new from spiders," she admits. "Whatever I discover about them today leads to more questions tomorrow. In this young field, where so much is unknown, a new piece of information leads you unexpectedly to a completely new area of spider research. The spiders have a way of keeping my research going."
To see videos and other information about this research, go to: http://newsroom.ucr.edu/media/spidersilk.html.
Editor's Note: This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the federal agency charged with funding basic research and education across all fields of science and engineering. See the Behind the Scenes Archive.
Amran Abocar, The Independent 29 Nov 08;
The world needs "to think big" to solve the global financial crisis while helping reduce poverty, the UN secretary-general said yesterday.
Ban Ki-moon, speaking after an informal retreat with leaders attending a UN development financing conference in the Qatari capital, said it was important to avoid focusing only on financial problems and chided leaders of rich nations for not attending in greater numbers.
"We need to think big," he said at a news conference. "The financial crisis is not the only crisis we face, we also confront a development emergency and accelerating climate change.
"We need a fully global stimulus plan that meets the needs of emerging economies and developing countries. Rescue packages must be closely coordinated and we must protect the poor and most vulnerable, not only the rich and powerful."
Expectations for the conference have been dampened by the absence of Western leaders, preoccupied with the global financial turmoil.
The crisis, which has prompted vast government bailouts in Europe and the United States and raised the spectre of a deep global recession, seems to have dampened appetite for providing aid, angering developing countries and aid agencies.
"Of course, we hoped that the more high level delegations would be represented, that might have been much better," Ban said, adding that the Group of 20 rich nations and key developing states was represented by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who holds the presidency of the European Union.
Sarkozy is the only Western leader attending the conference, and the heads of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank are both absent.
Aside from the Qatari ruler, other attendees at the retreat included the Korean prime minister and leaders from Benin, Bulgaria, Costa Rica and Croatia.
The UN chief said the group did not discuss an actual sum for financing development, but said any figure would be minuscule compared to the trillions spent on bailing out financial institutions.
"If we talk only on the food crisis - it is our estimate that we may need at least $30- to $35- billion annually for the coming three years," he said. "The vast sums committed to bailing out banks and private companies dwarf ODA (overseas development aid).
"Surely we can find the much more modest amount needed to sustain more than a billion lives."
This month, the United Nations and its partners asked for a record $7 billion for humanitarian assistance projects in 2009.
The Doha meeting - which runs from November 29 to December 2 and is unrelated to the World Trade Organisation's Doha round - was set up to discuss ways to finance development through trade, aid and debt relief.
Wildfacts updates: lots of photos and video clips shared!
on the wild shores of singapore blog
Free Chek Jawa Boardwalk tour this Sunday
on the Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs blog
Blue-tailed Bee-eater manipulating a dragonfly
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Water monitor lizard and waders
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog
Unknown Moth
on the Moth Mania blog
Jon Afrizal and Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post 29 Nov 08;
Foreign companies have announced plans to grow thousands of trees in environmentally damaged areas in East Tanjung Jabung regency, Jambi, and in Cilacap regency, Central Java.
A total of 30,000 hectares will be planted with mangrove seeds, head of the forest development division of Jambi Forestry Agency, Agus Rizal, said Friday.
"PT Yamamoto from Japan is the investor in this project, while PT Invest is the contractor," Agus said, adding the project, which will begin February next year, was funded entirely by the investor with the regency providing the location only.
Agus said the administration had become interested in the idea of replanting eroded areas with mangroves after learning of the success of a similar project by PT Yamamoto in Batam some months ago.
"We decided to plant mangroves in coastal areas to prevent further erosion because mangroves can block sea water from crashing onto the beach," Agus said.
Agus added that the investor would plant mangrove seeds across the area and would hand over the project to the administration in 30 years.
The administration is still waiting for a permit from the Home Ministry to carry out the project.
"We will immediately start the project as soon as we receive the permit," Agus said.
Coastal erosion has had a great impact on coconut farmers, who have lost many of their coconut trees.
Indonesian Forum of Environment executive director (Walhi) Arif Munandar said that the project should benefit local people.
Any money received from the project should also be allocated for the good of the local people, he added.
Meanwhile, in conjunction with "Tree Planting Day", cement producer PT Holcim Indonesia Tbk, in coordination with local people, planted 4,000 trees, including teak, mahogany, Terminalia cattapa and albasia trees, in several areas in Cilacap regency.
The company is committed to greening the environment, especially in Cilacap, general manager Lilik Unggul Raharjo told the press.
Lilik added that the company had already planted more than 166,000 trees in the company complex and on Nusakambangan island.
"Our target is to plant at least 196,000 trees by the end of this year," said Lilik.
The company previously planted Nusakambangan native trees, such as Sirsidah, Glodogan, Sawo Kecik, guava and mango, Lilik added.
New version of book on threatened species can be a guide for urban planners
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 29 Nov 08;
POLICYMAKERS and urban planners have been given an up-to-date tool to help them with urban development, while preserving Singapore's natural heritage.
A second version of The Singapore Red Data Book, which lists endangered and threatened wildlife here, has been published here after 14 years.
It features over 2,700 animals and plants which are threatened.
The first edition, spearheaded by biologists from the National University of Singapore (NUS), was meant as a guide for conservationists.
However, a co-editor of the first book, Professor Peter Ng, said government officials, the business community and civil society had turned to it as a major source of reference.
'If a group wanted to do an environmental impact assessment on a marine site, members would consult it. So would building developers who wanted to flatten a piece of land,' said Prof Ng, who is with the university's department of biological sciences, and heads the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research as well as the Tropical Marine Science Institute.
Examples include the Maritime Port Authority of Singapore and Resorts World at Sentosa which have spent millions of dollars on environmental impact assessments before planning their excavations.
About 50 scientists were involved in the latest effort, which took 10 years to complete. Among them, for the first time, were naturalists from the National Parks Board (NParks) and the Nature Society of Singapore.
Co-editor Dr Ho Hua Chew, chairman of the conservation committee of the Nature Society (Singapore), said it 'showed how engaged all parts of the community were in this decade-long endeavour'.
Not all local species have declined.
The Malayan porcupine, for instance, which was feared extinct, was photographed in Pulau Tekong in 2005.
Others, however, like the cream- coloured giant squirrel, last seen in 1995 in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve, may be gone for good.
Dr Geoffrey Davison, who is assistant director at NParks' National Biodiversity Centre and another co-editor of the book, stressed that the fate of many of the species that still remain in Singapore would depend on the survival of the nature reserves.
The Singapore freshwater crab - which is found only here - is a case in point.
In Bukit Timah Nature Reserve, its numbers are dwindling as streams become more acidic, possibly due to acid rain, said Prof Ng.
The only other site where this crab is found is on a hill in Bukit Batok. However, the stream where it was once found in abundance is drying up as the ground water drains away because of building developments on the other side of the hill.
'It would be a waste if this species, which is found nowhere else in the world, disappears,' he said.
Editors of the new information resource hope it will help developers plan around Singapore's natural heritage.
A section on environmental law and how it should be strengthened in Singapore has also been incorporated into the new book.
Data will also be provided to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature for the global Red List - which highlights species in danger the world over.
The Singapore Red Data Book, sponsored by petrochemical giant Shell, can be purchased from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research at NUS, at the bookstore Nature's Niche off Mandai Road, and from the Nature Society of Singapore, for $20.
Straits Times 29 Nov 08;
SO, SHOULD Singaporeans spend their way out of the recession or tighten their belts?
To this query, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong took pains to explain why increased consumption would not help Singapore's economy.
The reason: Its small size and open economy. Every dollar of spending would result in 60 cents leaking out of the economy, as almost all of what Singaporeans buy is imported. This would not boost Singapore's economy.
In large countries such as Brazil, China and the United States, more consumption and other pump-priming or fiscal stimulus measures would work, given their huge populations who would be consuming domestic products.
But there was still a need for some spending, added Mr Lee - not to encourage consumption as such, but in the form of investments for the long term, for example, in education and infrastructure.
Mr Lee was also asked about calls being made for more goodies to help Singaporeans in the January Budget. Some people have also argued for the goods and services tax (GST) to be cut, as a way to boost spending further.
The Prime Minister, however, cautioned against holding out 'unrealistic expectations' that could not be fulfilled.
As for a GST cut, he noted that Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam had explained that this strategy would not work, and that it would be more effective to use the tax revenues to target help at businesses and people with lower incomes.
He suggested looking at the overall package instead of individual revenue components, as a measure of government help - or, as he put it, 'where the Government is getting the money from and where the Government is spending the money'.
'Are we, on a net basis, putting assistance in the system, or are we, on a net basis, running a big surplus at a time when the economy cannot afford surpluses?' he said. 'That is the question.'
BERTHA HENSON
The Consumption Conundrum
With Singaporeans spendingless even in good times, it’s no wonder we can’t splurge our way out of trouble
Loh Chee Kong, Today Online 29 Nov 08;
WITH such a tiny population, it is often taken for granted that Singaporeans cannot spend their way out of a recession — never mind that we have one of the highest income per capita levels and a reputation as ardent shoppers.
Of the $243 billion generated by the buoyant Singapore economy last year, less than two-fifths were accounted for by private consumption, the lowest in the world.
But the size of the economy — and the domestic market — tells just part of the story. Take Finland, for example, which has about 700,000 more people than Singapore. Total household expenditure accounted for about 50 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
So, why are Singaporeans statistically the most conservative shoppers?
It is not so much that Singaporeans spend more overseas than tourists do here — we do. Rather, more than half of the profits generated by companies here ended up abroad, according to recently-released official data.
The latest corporate sector report, compiled bi-annually, shows that in 2006, the proportion of foreign-owned equities overtook local-owned equities for the first time, with the former amounting to $252 million, or 54.6 per cent of total paid-up shares.
Other reasons include Singapore’s export-driven economy, as well as the Central Provident Fund system and the high cost of housing which reduce Singaporeans’ disposable incomes.
“Another structural factor is that because we do not have a well-developed social safety net or social security system, Singaporeans probably save more than they need,” said Centennial Group economist Manu Bhaskaran.
It has become a long-running argument among economists here whether the low ratio of Singapore’s private consumption expenditure to GDP — described as the “weak link” of Singapore’s economy — means that there is much room to boost domestic spending, thereby improving the economy’s resilience to external shocks.
And the shocks do not come bigger than the current economic crisis gripping the world.
The DEBATE RAGES ON
Between 2003 and 2007, Gross Domestic Savings as part of GDP increased from 43.5 per cent to 51.4 per cent, putting Singaporeans on par with the Chinese as the world’s biggest savers. Over the same period, the ratio of private consumption expenditure to GDP fell from 46.1 per cent to 39 per cent.
However, Government economists Tan Kim Eng and Thia Jang Ping pointed out in a 2004 report that the low private consumption to GDP ratio “merely reflects the fact that GDP is a poor indicator of the income available for private consumption in Singapore”.
Said the two economists: “When the more accurate — but less widely published — personal disposable income is used as a basis for comparison, private consumption is close to international norms.”
Moreover, current patterns of consumer spending suggest that increasing private consumption would likely result in higher expenditure on imported automobiles and overseas travel — resulting in weak multiplier effect on the Singapore economy.
But economics professors Choy Keen Meng and Tilak Abeysinghe reiterated in their 2002 paper The Aggregrate Consumption Puzzle in Singapore that the declining private consumption rate — which has halved in four decades — has deprived the Republic of a “built-in stabiliser”.
They added: “As a small, open economy, Singapore is highly vulnerable to external shocks affecting her domestic exports. During such times, measures to stimulate consumer spending will not be very potent.”
But economists agree there are ways to increase Singapore’s private consumption rate over the long-term. These include increasing residents’ contribution to economic growth; ensuring that residential property and other household assets remain affordable; and raising the retirement age so that people would need to save less for their golden years.
SPEND OR SAVE?
Even during the most recent boom years, Singaporeans were spending less out of their disposable income.
“Those years also saw a rise in property prices in tandem with the economic recovery. Essentially, people have to divert more of their financial resources to paying for houses and cars, and this makes them feel poorer, so they cut down on discretionary spending,” Assistant Prof Choy told Weekend Xtra.
With many expecting the current recession — described as the worst in a century — to last for a while, the worry is that Singaporeans would become even more tentative in parting with that hard-earned buck.
Said Mr Bhaskaran: “The prudent thing to do when you are uncertain about the future is you try to conserve your cash.”
A recent study by The Nielsen Company showed just that: Consumer confidence has plummeted to a four-year low, with seven in 10 Singaporeans saying they would save up any spare cash.
At a community event earlier this month, Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong urged those who can afford to “to continue spending on life’s little pleasures”.
Said CIMB-GK economist Song Seng Wun: “One person eating one less plate of chicken rice may not make much difference. But if the fear factor multiplies ... the chicken rice stallholder may have to close shop.”
Any cutbacks in consumer spending would aggravate the expected dip in tourism receipts. In 2003 when Sars hit the region, tourist spending dropped 15.6 per cent compared to the previous year.
Around the world, the alarm bells have been sounded. And Taiwan became the latest to join a slew of countries, including the United States, that have previously resorted to giving out purchase vouchers, food stamps or gift cards.
With Japan also reportedly set to launch a new programme to spur spending, the Taiwanese government has announced that it would be giving out US$2.5 billion worth of shopping vouchers, with each Taiwanese getting more than US$100 ($152) to stimulate consumer spending.
But Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong reiterated earlier this week that unlike in other countries, the Government could not pump-prime the economy.
Said Mr Lee: “In a big economy, you can boost consumption. The government gives money, people spend it and it’s spent within the economy ... In Singapore if people spend money, most of the money goes overseas.”
In contrast to Singapore, consumer spending accounts for 60 per cent and55 per cent of the GDP of Taiwan and Japan, respectively. As such, policy considerations have to differ, said Mr Song.
He added: “The bottom line here is about making sure the consumer has a job. The priority is in helping businesses to survive and continue to employ.”
Asst Prof Choy agreed, but nevertheless said cash handouts by the Government should be supplemented with income tax rebates for both firms and households. “This way, it may get consumers to spend at least part of the tax savings, if not the full amount.”
For Mr Bhaskaran, the solution to getting Singaporeans to open up their wallets again could be more subtle.
He said: “What you need is a policy response where the Government signals that it is stepping in to support the economy. When the Government does that, it gives confidence to people and people will spend.”
Retailers remain upbeat and are thinking of new ways to pull in shoppers
Lim Wei Chean, Straits Times 29 Nov 08;
THE recession may have induced a round of belt-tightening, but industry players are still investing in new outlets and even opening new malls.
Sports chain Nike, for example, opened its $5 million flagship store in Orchard Road's Wisma Atria yesterday.
The 8,000 sq ft store is Nike's first flagship store in South-east Asia and the first here operated and owned by the brand itself. Till now, Nike stores have been opened with local partners.
NTUC FairPrice is opening another hypermarket, and a third retail mall is coming up in Tampines, which already has Century Square and Tampines Mall.
Nike's country marketing manager here, Mr Glenn Heng, said the sportswear giant had wanted to open a flagship store for some time, but the right location was not available. The opportunity came four months ago when Topshop closed its Wisma Atria outlet. It was too good a chance to pass up, said Mr Heng, who added that, despite the gloomy outlook, 'we are still quite positive'.
The increased interest in sports here, along with Singapore's clinching of the bid to host the first Youth Olympic Games, will only help the brand, he said.
Retailers hoping to sow some seeds for growth during this downturn include the biggest supermarket chain here, FairPrice, which will open its third hypermarket in Jurong Point next month and at least two more outlets next year.
FairPrice managing director Seah Kian Peng said: 'Even in the downturn, our customers will still need essential items for their daily needs.'
Mall owner AsiaMalls, which reopened the refurbished Liang Court this month and will open the Tampines 1 mall in March, remains confident of attracting shopper traffic to its malls. The group's assistant general manager Stephanie Ho said 'tactical promotions' which reward spending and reach out to target shoppers were the way to go.
Tampines 1 has secured 90 per cent of its tenants, including first-time entrants to the suburbs Topshop and Promod.
Orchard Central has signed up 60 per cent of its tenants, while Mandarin Gallery, which is being renovated, has signed up half.
A spokesman for Overseas Union Enterprise, which owns Mandarin Gallery, said: 'Leasing activities are still active as there are smart retailers who see downtimes as opportunities to get good space at viable rents.'
Mall owners who have snagged these retail tenants are working more closely with them to offer promotions and organise mall events to beat the effects of the economic slump. Far East Organization's deputy director of retail management Susan Leng said the yet-to-open Orchard Central will be open till 11pm daily to 'cater to tourists on tight schedules and true-blue shopaholics'.
But analysts do not see much enthusiasm for mixed development plot
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 29 Nov 08;
THE planned transformation of Jurong into Singapore's Lake District was set in motion yesterday as the Government released sales details of its first site for tender.
However, market analysts say the current economic downturn and weak property market mean the site could receive a lukewarm reception at best.
Up for grabs is a 1.9ha 'white' or mixed development site, attractively located next to the Jurong East MRT Station, with 30per cent of gross floor area (GFA) set aside for office use.
The rest of the maximum GFA of about 1.15millionsqft is for commercial, hotel or residential use, said the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) yesterday.
This plum 99-year 19,124sq m site is the first in a series of developments in a grand masterplan unveiled for Jurong in April by National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan.
The proposed dramatic makeover is set to help Jurong shed its industrial image and morph into Jurong Lake District - a mini metropolis of homes, hotels, shops, eateries and offices linked to the MRT via walkways and waterways.
The 360ha district is the size of Marina Bay and consists of two precincts. The first is the 70ha Jurong Gateway, with new offices and entertainment spots set around the Jurong East MRT station.
The second is Lakeside, which is being developed as a destination for young families, with tourist attractions and parks complemented by water activities, set around the Chinese Garden and Lakeside MRT stations.
The URA said yesterday that developers interested in the white site can now apply for it, but property experts say response is likely to be muted, given the economic conditions.
Savills Singapore director of marketing and business development Ku Swee Yong feels that tendering for the site now 'is a waste of time at this moment'.
'In today's market, frankly, it's not about the attractiveness of a site any more. It's about whether credit is available.'
Developers are likely to be cautious, and if infrastructure works by the Government for Jurong, such as upgrading the lakes or waterways is delayed, the pace of remaking the area might slow down, leaving little incentive for developers, he added.
When contacted, URA said the plan for Jurong Lake District 'will still proceed as planned'.
Various infrastructure works such as roads and utilities to support the growth of the area will be implemented.
However, the actual pace of development will depend on market demand, it added.
Still, DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah said the site is unlikely to be triggered for tender until the outlook becomes clearer, and bank credit is more available. 'Developers are likely to look at income-generating assets, instead of going into a development situation.'
Chesterton Suntec International's head of research and consultancy, Mr Colin Tan, said the site was not likely to attract any bids at this time, which is a pity as it is a 'good and attractive' site.
From a long-term perspective, the site is a prime one which major developers such as CapitaLand and City Developments will be eyeing, he added.
DTZ's Mrs Ong said it would not be surprising if Jurong Lake District's development now had to take a back seat.
But she added: 'Economic cyclones will always exist, but we must not lose sight of the vision for that area for the long term.'
Jurong Lake revamp on the cards, but is the price right?
Cheow Xin Yi, Today Online 29 Nov 08;
SINCE it first unveiled ambitious plans in April to transform sleepy Jurong over the next decade, the :Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has rolled out the area’s first land parcel: A site for mixed development in the Jurong Lake District.
The 1.9-hectare site, located beside the Jurong East train station, has a 99-year leasehold and a maximum gross floor area of about 1.15 million square feet (107,000 square metres).
At least 30 per cent of the area must be designated for office use, while the rest can be used for office, commercial, or residential purposes.
“The proposed development of this site will act as a catalyst to kick-start the growth of the Jurong Lake district into a vibrant, attractive commercial lifestyle hub of the western part of Singapore,” the URA said on Friday.
The site is on the reserve list, meaning it will be open for tender only ifdevelopers indicate a minimum bid price that is acceptable to the Government.
Property analysts praised the site for its location, but said that land parcels right now might not draw keen interest, given the weak market conditions.
:Chesterton Suntec International research head Colin Tan said some developers might find it a “waste of time” to prepare bids, as the URA has recently found price indications for at least three earlier tenders too low.
“Given the official view that the Singapore will be in a ‘long and deep’ recession, I feel that the URA should expect bids that reflect the economic realities of the time and be prepared to accept quite low bids,” said Mr Tan.
But DTZ’s regional head of research Ong Choon Fah said the reserve price — determined by the Chief Valuer — must be “reasonable” in land-scarce Singapore.
Developers “with foresight” may jump in to buy the Jurong Lake site at prices that are “not heavily competed”, said Knight Frank’s deputy-managing director Danny Yeo. Those with strong financial positions could even join forces, he added.
The successful buyer will work with a URA-chaired panel to design the development, which must be completed within 8-and-a-half years upon tender.
Jurong East 'white' site joins reserve list
But market watchers say that like the Bukit Chermin site, it is not likely to be triggered anytime soon
Kalpana Rashiwala, Business Times 29 Nov 08;
FOR the second day running, the Urban Redevelopment Authority has made available for application a reserve list site in an attractive location, despite the inopportune timing.
Its latest offering is a 1.9-hectare 'white' site next to Jurong East MRT Station. At least 30 per cent of the 1.15 million square foot maximum gross floor area must be set aside for office use and the rest for additional office use or other uses permitted under the white site zoning such as commercial (like retail and entertainment), hotel and residential uses.
The 99-year leasehold plot is the first sale site being offered in URA's Jurong Gateway precinct since Singapore's planning authority unveiled plans for the Jurong Lake District earlier this year.
On Thursday, URA went ahead with the scheduled release of a plum hotel site at Bukit Chermin on hilly terrain overlooking the coastline.
Market watchers yesterday gave the Jurong East site the same verdict that they did for the Bukit Chermin site - it's not likely to be triggered anytime soon.
'Given the current uncertain business environment, it's unlikely there will be any interest in the Jurong East site. There's also difficulty in getting funding. Investors would rather go for completed, income-generating assets that can give immediate returns than to embark on a fresh development with higher risks,' DTZ executive director Ong Choon Fah said.
Market watchers also note that substantial office supply is expected to be completed from 2010.
Colliers International director Tay Huey Ying: 'It's unlikely the Jurong East site will be triggered for launch until the market picks up significantly. The land parcel is quite attractively located next to an MRT station and in an area within a growth centre.'
URA said: 'Given its strategic location, it is vital that the proposed development on the first sale site in Jurong Gateway is a well-designed landmark development with appropriate quality.
'Hence, the design of the proposed development will be reviewed by a Design Advisory Panel (DAP), chaired by URA.
'The DAP will work with and guide the development team in the design of the development after the tender has been awarded.'
Reserve list sites are launched for tender only upon successful application by a developer with an undertaking of a minimum bid acceptable to the state.
The tender for the Jurong East site will be awarded on the basis of land price.
NUS team wins grant for work on potential source of clean energy
Amresh Gunasingham, Straits Times 29 Nov 08;
THE next time you are using the toilet, consider this: You could soon be helping to power the city.
Researchers here are fine-tuning technology that generates electricity cheaply while cleaning used water flushed down the loo.
The work on microbial fuel cells by National University of Singapore (NUS) scientists has won a $2.3 million grant from the Environment and Water Industry (EWI) Development Council.
These cells, also known as biological fuel cells, use bacteria to generate electricity from organic matter.
Bacteria is added to the water as it is treated, consuming the pollutants and shedding electrons in the process. The electrons flow through a circuit and generate electricity.
'Used water contains a huge amount of energy due to the presence of organic matter in it,' said Assistant Professor Ng How Yong of the Division of Environmental Science and Engineering at NUS, who led the research effort.
The technology not only has potential as a source of clean energy, but is also useful as a treatment for used water.
In current methods of used water treatment, half the operating cost is taken up by aeration, a process that introduces air to water. 'This technique also creates a sludge by-product that is costly to dispose of,' said Prof Ng.
His team's breakthrough involves developing a technique for treating waste water without aeration, and which removes half the bacteria present. 'Up to 25 per cent less waste sludge is created in this process,' said Prof Ng, 36, who won the Singapore Young Scientist Award last year for his research in membrane processes and microbial technology.
Technology relating to microbial fuel cells is widely researched in Singapore and many countries such as the United States and Australia, but has yet to be commercialised.
The power generated by current microbial fuel cells is too low to be useful, and the technology of extracting energy from domestic waste water is still inefficient, said Prof Ng.
According to Professor Ong Say Leong, an expert in used water treatment from the Department of Civil Engineering at NUS, most research on such cells is currently restricted to small-scale laboratories. 'To be viable for full-scale application, researchers need to develop an optimised design prototype,' he said.
Another problem is that platinum is used in the cathode design, which makes the process expensive and not economically viable unless a low-cost alternative can be found.
Prof Ng's team is using the grant to develop a prototype fuel cell suitable for large-scale application. 'The cell will be less costly and increase power generation, while at the same time recover more of the energy as electricity,' he said.
The team recently succeeded in developing a cheaper cobalt substitute for platinum, and have also applied for a patent in the US for a cathode design that possesses greater power-generating capacity.
Mr Harry Seah, director of technology and water quality at national water agency PUB, said the technology's greatest potential application was in used water treatment, and could be readily adopted by local agencies and industries.
He said the microbial fuel cells could potentially save up to 25 per cent of current energy consumption at the PUB's six water reclamation plants.
Apart from Prof Ng's work, 12 other projects were awarded a further $14.7 million under the EWI grant, which aims to advance technology in water treatment.
Singapore hopes to position itself as a global technology leader in the water and environment industry. It has targeted value-added contribution from the water sector to reach $1.7 billion (or 0.6 per cent of gross domestic product) by 2015. Jobs generated by this sector are expected to double to about 11,000 by then.
S$17m for 13 research projects on new water treatment technologies
By S Ramesh, Channel NewsAsia 28 Nov 08;
SINGAPORE: The Environment and Water Industry Development Council is giving out S$17 million in research funds for 13 projects to develop new technologies to treat used and raw water.
The projects were selected through Directed Requests-for-Proposal called by the Council in January.
The call for proposals generated immense interest among the local universities, research institutions, private sector research laboratories and companies.
The Council said the proposals underwent two rounds of rigorous evaluation before they were selected.
Channel NewsAsia 28 Nov 08;
SINGAPORE : The National Environment Agency (NEA) has said that the number of dengue cases has gone down.
There have been more than 5,900 dengue fever cases this year. Three people died from the virus between January and September.
According to the NEA, the number of dengue cases tends to peak every six or seven years. The number of cases at each peak tends to rise every cycle.
The last three cycles saw spikes in the number of dengue cases in 1992, 1998 and 2005, with cases seeing a peak in 2005.
However, 2008 has bucked the trend with 30 per cent fewer cases reported compared to last year.
The NEA said this is because control measures were taken early.
Tai Ji Choong, head of operations, Environmental Health Department, NEA, said: "We managed to achieve this through a few critical strategies. We did a pre-emptive surveillance of all the critical areas in the town councils with cover rooftops, water tanks, pump rooms and drains. At the same time, we also prioritise inspections of communities and residential estates which are very susceptible to dengue outbreaks. So by putting all these strategies together, we managed to buck the trend."
As at mid-November, NEA has detected some 8,000 mosquito breeding sites.
This is 50 per cent more than the number detected over the same period last year.
The NEA has urged homeowners to be more vigilant to help control the spread of dengue. - CNA/ms
Richard Black, BBC News 29 Nov 08;
The government of Cameroon has created a new national park aimed at protecting the critically endangered Cross River gorilla, the world's rarest.
Takamanda National Park, on the border with Nigeria, is home to an estimated 115 Cross River gorillas.
The total population of the subspecies is thought to be less than 300.
The news comes as governments of 10 gorilla range states gather in Rome for the first meeting of a new partnership aimed at protecting the primates.
The Gorilla Agreement was finalised in June, and brings together all the countries where the various species and subspecies are found.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) helped establish the Takamanda park, and believes it will help curb the hunting and forest destruction that have brought Cross River numbers to such a minuscule level.
"The government of Cameroon is to be commended for taking this step in saving the Cross River gorilla for future generations," said Steven Sanderson, president and CEO of WCS.
"By forming this national park, Cameroon sends a powerful message about the importance of conservation."
Gorillas should be able to move freely between the Takamanda reserve and Nigeria's Cross River National Park just across the border, helping to repair the fragmentation of habitat which can isolate tiny wildlife populations.
Communal benefits
Two years ago, with most gorilla populations falling, environment groups and concerned governments initiated a process designed to bring all the countries where the animals live into a new conservation deal.
The Gorilla Agreement, formulated under the UN Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), is the result.
Among other things, member governments have pledged to ensure suitable habitat is protected, co-operate with each other, restrain the spread of the Ebola virus, raise awareness of gorilla conservation and minimise conflict between the animals and human populations.
On Saturday, the 10 member countries hold their inaugural meeting in Rome.
"Getting the agreement signed was a great conservation achievement," said David Greer, co-ordinator of the African Great Apes Programme with conservation group WWF.
"It is now time for action. Together, we will look specifically at what steps each government will take to ensure gorillas have a secure future in the wild - through direct conservation action in a way that also benefits local communities."
This is a crucial aspect of the agreement. An estimated 15,000 people, for example, make a living from the flora and fauna of the Takamanda forest; without involving them in conservation initiatives, it is unlikely that the downward slide of Cross River gorillas could be stopped.
Other threats such as conflict would ideally be addressed under the agreement. Unrest in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has brought armed conflict to Virunga National Park, rendering conservation impossible and raising the chances of primates being shot for food.
A coalition of groups, including the UN Environment Programme and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums, has declared 2009 the Year of the Gorilla in an attempt to raise awareness about the animals still further.
The Independent 29 Nov 08;
The most expensive fish in the sea – celebrated by Homer, venerated by the Japanese – may not survive an EU decision to maintain catch quotas in defiance of scientists, reports Michael McCarthy
They are among the most legendary and majestic fish in the sea – and beyond doubt the most valuable. A decision taken this week, however, means that the bluefin tuna of the Mediterranean are probably now also the most endangered fish in the sea, with overfishing pushing the stock towards the brink of collapse.
Celebrated since the time of Homer, the mighty and meaty bluefin these days have ardent admirers on the other side of the world: the Japanese, who prize them above all other fish for use in sushi and sashimi. But so great is the Japanese demand that it is driving catches well beyond what scientists consider to be safe limits and towards commercial extinction.
Earlier this week, however, a vital opportunity to pull the bluefin back from the brink was missed when the official body charged with preventing the stock from collapsing agreed to allow catch quotas for 2009 far higher than its own scientists recommended.
Amid a chorus of protests and dismay from conservationists, the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT), meeting in Marrakech, Morocco, endorsed a total allowable catch (TAC) of 22,000 tonnes for next year – while ICCAT's own scientists had recommended a TAC ranging from 8,500 to 15,000 tonnes per year, warning there were real risks of the fishery collapsing otherwise.
The scientists also urged a seasonal closure during the fragile spawning months of May and June, but the meeting agreed to allow industrial fishing up to 20 June.
The decision, which was branded "a disgrace" by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and fiercely attacked by other conservation bodies, was driven by the European Union, amid allegations that the EU had threatened developing nations with trade sanctions if they supported lower catch limits and extended closed seasons. During the meeting, the names of some countries appeared and disappeared from the more scientifically based proposals.
The EU is representing the interests of several countries who have big fishing fleets hunting the multi-million-dollar bonanza that the annual catch represents. In the lead are the French, with about 600 tuna boats, followed by the Italians, who have a fleet of about 200 vessels. It is thought that half the Italian fleet may be unlicensed boats, especially those from Calabria in southern Italy, and Sicily, where Mafia connections to some of the fishing operations are strongly suspected. Algeria, Croatia, Greece, Libya, Malta, Spain, Morocco, Tunisia and Turkey are other countries with tuna fishing fleets.
The hunt is based around the spawning habits of a specific subspecies of the bluefin tuna, the eastern Atlantic bluefin, which swims every May from the Atlantic, where it spends the winter, through the Straits of Gibraltar to spawn in June and July in the warmer waters of the Mediterranean. The migration takes place in huge schools of fish which, in the past, were miles wide and millions strong – and even with today's depleted numbers it can still be a remarkable spectacle. Spawning sites, where the females releases millions of eggs at night, are scattered from one end of the Mediterranean to the other.
Intercepting the huge shoals has been done for thousands of years but, in recent years, advances in fishing technology, as well as demand, have made the contest entirely one-sided. ICATT has established rules for the fishery but conservationists claim they are being consistently broken by the hunters. For example, the use of spotter aircraft to locate the tuna shoals has been banned in the month of June since 2001 but such spotter planes have been seen operating from Libya, Malta and Italy. Similarly, drift nets have also been banned but Italian fishermen have been found to be using them.
But the most serious and frequent malpractice is exceeding catch quota limits, which is thought to happen with all countries involved in the fishery. For example, the French this year had a quota of 4,300 tonnes but are thought to have caught about 7,000 tonnes. Most of the catching is done with purse-seines, which are very large bag-like nets capable of scooping up an entire tuna school. The purse-seines allow the tuna to be taken alive and transported to tuna ranches – there are about 40 scattered about the Mediterranean – where they are fattened for the Japanese market. The greater the fat content of the fish, the higher the price the Japanese will pay. They are slaughtered in the autumn and freighted to Japan.
The tuna ranching is driven by Japanese demand, which in turn, say conservationists, is driving the overfishing. The meeting at Marrakech had a chance to bring the fishery back under control, but the decision, taken by politicians with powerful fishing groups in their constituencies, went the other way. It was fiercely attacked by groups such as WWF. "This is not a decision, it is a disgrace which leaves WWF little choice but to look elsewhere to save this fishery from itself," said Dr Sergi Tudela, head of the WWF's Mediterranean fisheries programme.
The Green Party group in the European Parliament also lashed out at the decision. "The ICCAT quotas are a death sentence for the bluefin tuna," said the Green Party MEP Raül Romeva, who attended the meeting. "It is completely unacceptable that the body responsible for managing stocks has set a TAC that is 50 per cent higher than the scientific advice. The EU had pressed for even higher catches. It is morally bankrupt for [the EU Fisheries] Commissioner Joe Borg to make noises about the need to conserve bluefin tuna before the ICCAT meeting, when the European community then proceeds to use strong-arm, bullying tactics to try to impose a maximum total catch two-thirds higher than the scientific advice.
"The EU has bankrolled the decimation of bluefin stocks by subsidising the new large fishing vessels that are responsible for overfishing, to the detriment of certain traditional fishing fleets. When the stocks are gone, the same ship owners who lobbied to overexploit bluefin tuna will come cap in hand for more EU money. This must not be allowed to happen."
Greenpeace has branded the Round Table on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) "a farce" following their failure to take action against members they say are destroying Indonesia's peat lands and forests.
Ian Wood, The Telegraph 28 Nov 08;
A draft resolution calling for an immediate moratorium on logging in areas of high value protected forests did not even make it on to the agenda.
Before their recent annual meeting in Bali there was hope that the new resolution would have forced members to cease logging in important areas of forest as determined by new digital maps.
"The rapid loss of forests in Indonesia and the current climate crisis needs strong leadership from the global business community," said Bustar Maitar, Greenpeace southeast Asia forest campaigner.
"However the RSPO has failed dismally to take up the challenge.
"'Sustainable palm oil' continues to be a farce while RSPO stands exposed as a weak and ineffectual industry body."
The coalition of members that make up the RSPO include NGO's such as WWF and Oxfam along with both producers and major users of palm oil.
Unilever is one of the world's largest purchasers of palm oil and has been under pressure from Greenpeace not to deal with companies who are destroying critical areas of rainforest.
Unilever's sustainable agriculture director, Jan Kees Vis, is also president of the RSPO executive board. Unilever did recently pledge to purchase only sustainable palm oil by 2015 but the argument over how this is certified continues.
Following pressure from Greenpeace, Unilever developed a draft resolution calling for a moratorium on logging in areas of high value forest that was due to be voted on in Bali last week.
However, to the dismay of many conservationists, the resolution was removed from the schedule of the RSPO meeting.
"If the RSPO had any integrity then it would have taken urgent action. For Greenpeace it is clear that the current RSPO standards are too weak, are not implemented and are clearly failing to address this rampant deforestation," said Tim Birch, Greenpeace international forest campaigner.
Recently a shipment labelled 'sustainable' palm oil arrived in Holland to coincide with the annual general meeting of the RSPO.
The 500 tons of palm oil was destined for Unilever and was cited as proof that sustainable palm oil was at last being produced.
However Greenpeace has produced a report which they say casts doubt on the company that produced the shipment.
It came originally from United Plantations who were the first palm oil producer to be RSPO-certified. Although the certification of United Plantations only applies to their Malaysian operations they are also under an obligation to ensure that their other interests meet certain minimum requirements.
This process, known as partial certification, was developed by environmental groups within the RSPO to ensure that companies could not attract buyers of sustainable palm oil from showcase plantations while destroying forests and peat lands elsewhere.
Greenpeace alleges that United Plantations and its subsidiaries are embroiled in a number of illegal non-compliant activities in Indonesia including deep peat forest conversion and land disputes with local community members.
United Plantations said the Greenpeace report was based on "misconceptions and misunderstandings".
In relation to the development of peat land they point out that RSPO criteria stipulates: "Planting on extensive areas of peat soils and other fragile soils should be avoided."
United Plantations claim that their estimated peat area in Kalimantan, Indonesia, amounts to 3,800 hectares which constitutes 11 per cent of their entire Indonesian land bank.
Of this total area of peat forest they say they have planted 604 hectares with palm oil which would fit in with the criteria of the RSPO.
Even with the advance of digital mapping and GPS systems the reality is that it is hard to monitor exactly what is happening in remote areas of Indonesia. Land ownership laws are confusing and often the palm oil companies have been granted their concessions by central Indonesian government.
United Plantations admit their properties contain a number of local communities who claim traditional land ownership and/or user rights. As part of the process in obtaining their operational permit they need to get the full consent of communities involved.
"This is arguably the most tedious and challenging part of land acquisition in Indonesia, because there is rarely consensus among villagers pertaining to trading of traditional land.
"Therefore land acquisition often necessitates negotiations directly with each family who owns a piece of land.
"It cannot be emphasised enough that villagers' approval are of utmost importance to the palm oil business. It takes merely one discontented villager to cause massive havoc in and around the estates," United Plantations said.
They claim that the specific case raised by Greenpeace pertaining to land conflicts involved the falsification of land ownership documents by a villager who they also claim assaulted an employee of United Plantations.
There is certainly a growing demand for sustainable palm oil as many users do not want to be associated with the destruction of rainforest and the threat to endangered species including the orang-utan.
United Plantations say their 500 ton shipment that recently arrived in Europe was a major milestone and that the allegations made by Greenpeace are "unfounded".
A resolution put forward by the Swiss NGO PanEco to force the RSPO to act to protect an area of peat forest swamp in Sumatra was narrowly approved.
The Tripa area of forest in North West Sumatra is home to one of just six remaining viable populations of the critically endangered Sumatran orang-utan and contains millions of tons of carbon dioxide that is being released into the atmosphere as it is destroyed.
The palm oil company PT Astra Agro Lestari are running one of the concessions in Tripa that has about 6,000 hectares of virgin forest located on peat swamp. This is a legal concession granted by Indonesian central government some time ago.
PT Astra Agro Lestari supply Unilever with palm oil and under the terms of this resolution the RSPO is forced to write to PT Astra Agro Lestari and members that have business relationships with them to explain their concern regarding their activities.
Because Unilever is such a key member of the RSPO it is hoped that this could help persuade PT Astra Agro Lestari to move its concession to more suitable land.
Raymond Colitt, Reuters 28 Nov 08;
BRASILIA (Reuters) - Destruction of the Amazon forest in Brazil accelerated for the first time in four years, the government said on Friday, as high commodity prices tempted farmers and ranchers to slash more trees.
Satellite images showed nearly 4,633 square miles (12,000 sq km), or an area nearly the size of the U.S. state of Connecticut, were chopped down in the 12 months through July, the National Institute for Space Studies said.
That is up from 4,332 square miles (11,224 sq km) last year but still down from a peak of 10,570 square miles (27,379 sq km) in 2004.
Environment Minister Carlos Minc, at a news conference in the capital Brasilia, said he was dissatisfied with the figure but insisted it would have been much worse without government policies aimed at tackling illegal logging.
"Many had expected an increase of 30-40 percent and we managed to stabilize it," Minc said.
"When you confiscate soy and beef it hurts them in the pocket," he said, referring to several crackdowns this year.
The government this year increased policing, impounded farm products from illegally cleared land and cut financing for unregistered properties, stepping up its efforts after figures showed a spike in deforestation late last year.
But President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's commitment to preserving the environment has come into question after Minc's predecessor Marina Silva, known as an Amazon defender, resigned in May citing difficulty pushing through her agenda.
"Today's figures are unacceptable but the long-term trend remains positive and they show that it is possible to do something about deforestation," Paulo Moutinho, coordinator at the Amazon Research Institute, told Reuters.
Critics say the environmental protection agency is understaffed and underfunded to face thousands of often heavily armed loggers and ranchers in the world's largest rain forest.
On Sunday a crowd in Paragominas, a town that depends heavily on logging, ransacked offices of the environment agency Ibama, torched its garage, and used a tractor to break down the entrance of the hotel where its agents stayed. It also stole 12 trucks with confiscated wood.
Commodity prices have plunged in recent weeks, but were near record highs for most of the year, increasing farmers' incentives to clear forest.
The government must do more to change the economics of deforestation to make a real difference, analysts say.
"We need to make it more expensive to cut a tree than to preserve it," said Moutinho.
He proposes local authorities and states be rewarded with tax breaks if they meet deforestation targets by cutting back logging and promoting sustainable industries from fruit picking to tourism. (Editing by Alan Elsner)
Amazon deforestation up almost 4.0 percent
Yahoo News 28 Nov 08;
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) – Brazil's Amazon jungles, known as the lungs of the world, lost almost 12,000 square kilometres (4,800 sq. miles) in just 12 months, a rise of almost 4.0 percent, new figures showed Friday.
The National Institute for Space Research (INPE) said the deforestation of the vast jungles due to encroaching farm exploitation, was 3.8 percent higher from August 2007 to July 2008 than in the previous 12 months.
The areas most affected were in northern Para and in the central Mato Grosso region, which is a huge producer of soya beans.
Over the past three years, the Brazilian authorities have succeeded in sharply reducing the loss of the Amazon rainforests, the biggest zone of tropical woodland on the planet.
Brazil is fighting to preserve its five million square kilometers of Amazon forest, a battle which it wants to be recognized as a service against global warming.
It argues that its efforts should be rewarded with financial input from other countries which would go to helping poor Amazon populations that might otherwise turn to cutting down trees.
But the results from 2007-2008 show that a surface equivalent to Solvenia or Israel was lost compared with the previous year.
The government had warned that the figures were likely to rise and has brought in new measures to combat the problem, including a system of fines.
It has also passed a series of agreements with soya, meat, wood and mineral producers that they will not buy illegal products.
Environment Minister Carlos Minc has said that without these measures the deforestation would have been twice as large.
David Strahan, New Scientist 28 Nov 08;
WHATEVER happened to the hydrogen economy? At the turn of the century it was the next big thing, promising a future of infinite clean energy and deliverance from climate change. Generate enough hydrogen, so the claim went, and we could use it to transform the entire energy infrastructure - it could supply power for cars, planes and boats, buildings and even portable gadgets, all without the need for dirty fossil fuels. Enthusiasts confidently predicted the breakthrough was just five to 10 years away. But today, despite ever-worsening news on global warming and with peak oil looming, the hydrogen economy seems as distant as ever.
Even in Iceland, whose grand ambitions for a renewable hydrogen economy once earned it the title Bahrain of the north, visible progress has been modest. After years of research, the country now boasts one hydrogen filling station, a handful of hydrogen cars, and one whale-watching boat with a fuel cell for auxiliary power. A trial of three hydrogen-powered buses ended in 2007, when two were scrapped and the third was consigned to a transport museum. More trials are planned, but that was before the meltdown of the country's banking system. In California, where governor Arnold Schwarzenegger promised a "hydrogen highway" with 200 hydrogen filling stations by 2010, there are just five open to the public. Ten hydrogen-fuelled buses are due to come into service in London by 2010, but a plan for 60 smaller hydrogen vehicles was recently scrapped.
Despite the setbacks, there is still enormous effort going into hydrogen research. "Fuel cells have been a roller coaster of hype and disillusionment," says Martin Green of Johnson Matthey, which makes fuel-cell components for the car industry, "but I am more confident now that the hydrogen economy is going to happen than ever before."
Real products are now inching closer to market (see map). Honda claims to be the first company with a fuel-cell car, the FCX Clarity, in large-scale production. The company will make just 200 of these cars over three years, leasing them to customers for $600 per month, but so far Honda has shifted only three. Meanwhile General Motors (GM) has released the first 100 of its Equinox fuel-cell cars in a free trial for potential customers around the world. The company claims to have spent more than $1.2 billion on hydrogen R&D, and its research boss, Larry Burns, believes a market for fuel-cell vehicles will have emerged by 2014. So could hydrogen finally be ready for take-off, or will the mirage continue to recede?
Enthusiasts claim the remaining hurdles are not so much technical as financial, and that mass production will bring costs down dramatically. But so far the fuel cell, which lies at the heart of the entire hydrogen project (see "Hydrogen basics"), has remained stubbornly expensive - and bringing the cost down means changing the technology.
One problem is that hydrogen fuel cells, seen as a way to provide electricity in homes as well as vehicles, rely on precious-metal catalysts like platinum. A conventional automotive fuel-cell stack contains up to 100 grams of platinum, which could cost more than $3000 at today's prices. For the hydrogen economy to happen, the amount of platinum used in fuel cells has to come down, and soon.
Green says this won't be a problem. He is convinced that car makers will be able to slash the amount of platinum needed to just 20 grams per car by the time the technology is commercialised, which he foresees in the middle of the next decade. He also points out that the platinum can be recycled. Yet the numbers still look daunting.
Global car production in 2007 was just over 71 million, and even with only 20 grams of platinum per car a wholesale shift to hydrogen fuel cells would need 1420 tonnes of platinum per year, six times current production. At that rate the world's resources of platinum-group metals would be gone in 70 years, with output peaking long before reserves are exhausted. And that calculation makes no allowance for any growth in car production, or for the use of fuel cells in homes.
"Platinum is really scarce, and only produced in five mines around the world", says Armin Reller of the University of Augsburg in Germany, a former adviser on hydrogen to the Swiss government. Reller has studied the resource constraints on a range of new technologies (New Scientist, 23 May 2007, p 34) and is convinced that hydrogen can only be a partial solution at best, because it won't be possible to get platinum out of the ground quickly enough. "When you introduce new technologies the dynamics are such that even if you have the reserves, you can't produce them in time." It looks as if finding an alternative to platinum is a key challenge.
For the hydrogen economy to happen, industry must also come up with clean ways of producing it. Most hydrogen is currently made in refineries by heating natural gas with steam in the presence of a catalyst, but this usually relies on energy from fossil fuels and can generate carbon dioxide as a by-product. Because of this, the climate benefits of fuel-cell vehicles are scarcely better than those of petrol hybrids, according to a 2003 study led by Malcolm Weiss at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. To make hydrogen cleanly and in bulk will almost certainly mean using renewable energy to electrolyse water, though this process is costly and energy-intensive.
Here too an enormous research effort is under way. A small British company, ITM Power, says it has found a way to slash the costs of electrolysis, allowing it to produce a small-scale electrolyser that will eventually be so cheap that every home could have one. This would also solve the hydrogen distribution problem. Instead of a system of pipelines, production could be decentralised, with fuel produced close to where it will be consumed. All this because the company has invented a new material which it says solves a long-standing conundrum of electrolysis.
Industrial electrolysis uses huge cells containing a liquid electrolyte like potassium hydroxide solution. This is alkaline, and so requires a nickel catalyst, much more plentiful and far cheaper than platinum. However, the hydrogen and oxygen gas must be kept separate within the cell - they are explosive when combined - and the equipment needed to do this with a liquid electrolyte would make the cell too bulky and costly for home use.
In the 1960s, NASA developed fuel cells that replaced liquid electrolytes with proton exchange membranes (PEMs), and the technology was applied to electrolysers too. However, the membranes were acidic, and an acidic membrane needs a platinum catalyst. What's more, the membranes themselves remain hugely expensive.
Now ITM Power claims to have found the holy grail of both electrolysis and fuel cell technologies: a membrane that can be made alkaline so nickel can replace platinum. Using half a dozen commonly available hydrocarbons, it has developed a solid but flexible polymer gel that is three times as conductive as existing PEMs. Thanks to its simplicity and the fact that it is made from readily available materials, it should also be massively cheaper.
The company claims that with mass production its membrane would cost just $5 per square metre, compared to $500 for existing PEMs. As a result, ITM Power says the electrolyser would cost $164 per kilowatt of capacity, against a current average of $2000 per kilowatt.
To start with, the company is building 10 of its "green box" electrolysers, each about the size of a large refrigerator. Jim Heathcote, chief executive of ITM Power, won't say what they will cost - certainly tens of thousands of pounds each - though he claims that mass production will bring the price tag down to less than £10,000 each.
These home electrolysers will be connected to mains water, the company says, and at least partially driven by solar panels or a wind turbine. The hydrogen produced could be used to drive a generator or fuel cell to produce electricity. It could also drive a car powered either by a fuel cell or an internal combustion engine converted to run on hydrogen. Heathcote argues this set-up would not only be low carbon but also reduce reliance on power grids, which he believes will become increasingly unreliable.
But do the sums add up? Take Heathcote's own home, where he has installed 60 square metres of solar panels - more than twice the average on UK properties with solar installations. Heathcote's array, costing £50,000, generates about 10,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year. Connected to ITM's electrolyser, which is about 60 per cent efficient, the solar cells would produce enough hydrogen annually to yield 6000 kWh if used to power fuel cells. However, the average house in the UK uses almost four times as much energy as that each year.
If that same hydrogen were used to power ITM's converted Ford Focus, the results would be scarcely better. Using the output of Heathcote's home, the car could travel about 7200 kilometres a year, about half the average annual mileage of a British car. "It sounds absurd," Heathcote admits, "but that's how every technology starts. There are early adopters and then mass production brings costs down hugely." He accepts that many homes will never go completely off-grid, but he believes that with extra insulation many could use ITM Power's approach to obtain most of their household energy. And while he also admits that hydrogen cars will probably never be powered solely from the roof of the house, he maintains the fuel could still be produced by a home electrolyser using other energy sources, such as off-peak nuclear power.
The problems don't end there, though. ITM Power might have found a way to slash the costs of electrolysis, but nobody has solved a more fundamental problem: the inefficiency of the whole hydrogen fuel chain.
Energy losses
The point was made forcefully by Gary Kendall of the conservation group WWF in a recent report called Plugged In. Kendall, a chemist who previously spent almost a decade working for ExxonMobil, highlights how the energy losses in the fuel chain - from electrolysis to compression of the hydrogen for use to inefficiencies in the fuel cell itself - mean that only 24 per cent of the energy used to make the fuel does any useful work on the road.
By contrast, battery-powered electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids, with no electrolysis or compression to worry about, use 69 per cent of the original energy. "Cars running on hydrogen would need three times the energy of those running directly on electricity, and that would force us to build many more wind turbines," says Kendall. "The developed world needs to completely decarbonise electricity generation by 2050, so we can't afford to just throw away three-quarters of the primary energy turning it into hydrogen." Another study, conducted by the consultancy E4Tech for the UK's Department of Transport, found that if the UK were to switch to battery electric vehicles, electricity demand would rise by 16 per cent, whereas switching to hydrogen fuel cell cars would need a jump more than double that.
Of course, battery electric vehicles also have their drawbacks, including the fact that no country as yet has a recharging infrastructure of any sort. But this kind of challenge is solvable, and money is now pouring into the sector.
Since September, around $1 billion of new investment in vehicle battery technology has been announced by companies such as Toshiba, Bosch, Samsung and ExxonMobil. Battery electric vehicles have also attracted the interest of renowned investor Warren Buffett, whose MidAmerican Energy subsidiary recently bought a $230 million stake in the Chinese battery electric car maker BYD. MidAmerican's chairman, David Sokol, says that while he is not opposed to hydrogen in principle, only battery electric transport can deliver the necessary emissions cuts in time and cheaply enough. "Battery electric technology is critical to achieving the major CO2 reductions that the world is looking for," says Sokol. "As the economics pencil out today, hydrogen still has a way to go."
Many companies, including car makers, continue to invest millions in hydrogen R&D but some, like GM, are hedging their bets by developing battery electric technology too. Lars Peter Thiesen, GM's director of hydrogen strategy, acknowledges the greater efficiency of batteries, though he insists that hydrogen, with its higher energy density and thus superior range, will eventually win. "If there's enough money, if the technical development continues as it has for the past few years, and if the stakeholders - not just car companies, but in politics and energy - are all on the same page, then it really could happen in the middle of the next decade," Thiesen says. In other words, the hydrogen economy is still five to 10 years away, which has a familiar ring.
Other industry observers are far more equivocal. "The jury is out on battery versus fuel cell," says Richard Wenham of car industry consultancy Ricardo. "That's why everybody is researching everything."
But for all the research into hydrogen, fuel cells remain dependent on platinum, and hydrogen generation is still punitively inefficient. Meanwhile battery technologies are developing rapidly and continue to attract huge investment. The jury may not be out for very much longer. According to Kendall: "Hydrogen has always been the fuel of the future, and it looks like it always will be."
Hydrogen basics
Since hydrogen burns to give just energy and water, using it as fuel could eliminate the carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels. But there are a number of problems to solve, including finding the best way to generate it in the first place.One solution is electrolysis. A typical hydrogen production plant might use platinum electrodes dipped in a tank of water or brine. Passing electricity through the fluid generates hydrogen at one electrode and oxygen at the other. If the electricity is generated from renewable sources, the process produces no greenhouse gases.Hydrogen can either be burned to generate heat or used in a fuel cell to make electricity. A fuel cell essentially consists of two electrodes separated by an electrolyte - a material, sometimes a membrane, that conducts electricity. Hydrogen fuel enters at one electrode and oxygen at the other. These undergo a redox reaction - the electrochemical equivalent of combustion - across the electrolyte, releasing energy and pushing electrons around an external circuit. The only by-product is water.
David Strahan is the author of The Last Oil Shock: A survival guide to the imminent extinction of petroleum man (www.lastoilshock.com)
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