Tons of dead fish wash up on Taiwan beaches due to cold temperatures

Reuters 22 Feb 08;

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Tons of fish, from carp to exotic tropical specimens, have washed up dead along 320 km of beach on Taiwan's outlying islands because of cold temperatures, a local official said on Friday.

About 45 tons of fish, some wild and some farmed, appeared on the tourism-dependent Penghu Island archipelago in the Taiwan Strait from February 14 following a cold snap, county environmental staffer Hsu Ching-fang said.

Local media said on Friday that 10 times that amount of dead fish was still in the water, adding it was the worst mass killing off Penghu in 30 years.

"Every beach in Penghu has been hit with fish in varying amounts," Hsu said. "This is something we haven't seen before."

Temperatures dipped below 9 degrees Celsius for three days in early February, unusually low for subtropical Penghu.

That weather came along with snow storms in nearby China.

Government agencies have allocated T$1.06 million ($34,000) for daily beach cleanups, Hsu said.

Tourists can still use the beaches, which are normally known for their windswept expanses of white sand and offshore coral.

(Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by Ken Wills)

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U.N. says world fisheries face collapse

Reuters 22 Feb 08;

MONACO (Reuters) - A deadly combination of climate change, over-fishing and pollution could cause the collapse of commercial fish stocks worldwide within decades, said Achim Steiner, head of the United Nations Environment Program.

"You overlap all of this and you see you're potentially putting a death nail in the coffin of world fisheries," Steiner told reporters on Friday on the fringes of a climate conference involving more than 150 nations and 100 environment ministers.

Some 2.6 billion people worldwide depend on fish for protein, said a UNEP report "In Dead Water" published on Friday.

Climate change has compounded previous problems such as over-fishing, as rising temperatures kill coral reefs, threaten tuna spawning grounds, and shift ocean currents and with them the plankton and small fish which underpin ocean food chains.

"The question is not whether we should stop fishing but to address climate change, which is creating a degree of impact we've not seen before," said lead author of the UNEP report, Christian Nellemann.

"We are getting more and more alarming signals of dramatic changes in the oceans. The recovery from the changes we're making will probably take a million years."

The report found the most affected areas included those responsible for half the world's fish catch.

A slowing of ocean currents as a result of climate change may over the next 100 years interrupt the transport of nutrients to the most valuable coastal fishing zones, and the flushing away of pollution.

In other impacts, Nellemann said he expected more than 50 percent of coral reefs to die by 2050 as a result of rising temperatures, with resulting impacts on tourism.

Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels create an acid when dissolved in water, and could over the coming decades make the sea more acidic than at any time in the past 65 million years, and by 2100 could prevent mollusks in some seas from forming shells.

Warmer World May Mean Less Fish
UNEP website 22 Feb 08

Global Warming Adding to Pollution and Over-Harvesting Impacts on the World's Key Fishing Grounds Says New UNEP - "In Dead Water" - Report (Full report PDF)

Monaco/Nairobi, 22 February 2008 - Climate change is emerging as the latest threat to the world's dwindling fish stocks a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) suggests.

At least three quarters of the globe's key fishing grounds may become seriously impacted by changes in circulation as a result of the ocean's natural pumping systems fading and falling they suggest.

These natural pumps, dotted at sites across the world including the Arctic and the Mediterranean, bring nutrients to fisheries and keep them healthy by flushing out wastes and pollution.

The impacts of rising emissions on the marine world are unlikely to end there. Higher sea surface temperatures over the coming decades threaten to bleach and kill up to 80 per cent of the globe's coral reefs-major tourist attractions, natural sea defences and also nurseries for fish.

Meanwhile there is growing concern that carbon dioxide emissions will increase the acidity of seas and oceans. This in turn may impact calcium and shell-forming marine life including corals but also tiny ones such as planktonic organisms at the base of the food chain.

The findings come in a new rapid response report entitled "In Dead Water" which has for the first time mapped the multiple impacts of pollution; alien infestations; over-exploitation and climate change on the seas and oceans.

"The worst concentration of cumulative impacts of climate change with existing pressures of over-harvest, bottom trawling, invasive species infestations, coastal development and pollution appear to be concentrated in 10-15 per cent of the oceans," says the report.

This 10-15 per cent of the oceans is far higher than had previously been supposed and is "concurrent with today's most important fishing grounds" including the estimated 7.5 per cent deemed to be the most economically valuable fishing areas of the world, it adds.

The report, the work of UNEP scientists in collaboration with universities and institutes in Europe and the United States, was launched today during UNEP's Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum taking place in Monaco.

It is the largest gathering of environment ministers since the climate convention conference in Indonesia just over two months ago where governments agreed the Bali Road Map aimed at delivering a deep and decisive climate regime for post 2012.

Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said:" The theme of the Governing Council is 'Mobilizing Finance for the Climate Challenge for trillions of dollars can flow into climate-friendly energies and technologies if government's can provide the right kind of enabling market mechanisms and fiscal incentives".

"It is sometimes important to remind ourselves why we need to accelerate these transformations towards a Green Economy. In Dead Water has uniquely mapped the impact of several damaging and persistent stresses on fisheries. It also lays on top of these the likely impacts of climate change from dramatic alternations in ocean circulation affecting perhaps a three quarter of key fishing grounds up to the emerging concern of ocean acidification," said Mr Steiner.

"Climate change threatens coastal infrastructure, food and water supplies and the health of people across the world. It is clear from this report and others that it will add significantly to pressures on fish stocks. This is as much a development and economic issue as it is an environmental one. Millions of people including many in developing countries derive their livelihoods from fishing while around 2.6 billion people get their protein from seafood," he said.

The report comes in wake of findings issued last week by a team led by the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis which estimates that over 40 per cent of the world's oceans have been heavily impacted by humans and that only four per cent remain relatively pristine.

It also comes amid concern that sea bird chicks in the North Sea may be being choked after being fed on a diet of snake pipefish-a very bony species. Over the past five years snake pipefish numbers have boomed a meeting of the Zoological Society in London was told last week.

One reason for their sharp increase in numbers might be changes in ocean currents bringing the fish into North Sea waters, the experts suggest.

The new UNEP report has been compiled by researchers including ones at UNEP's GRID Arendal centre; UNEP's World Conservation Monitoring Centre and UNEP's Division of Early Warning and Assessment.

It draws on a wide range of new and emerging science including the latest assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change-the 2,000 plus panel of scientists established by UNEP and the World Meteorological Organisation.

Other contributions have come from organizations and institutions including the University of Plymouth; the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research; the University of British Columbia; the Institute of Zoology; Princeton University; the University of Barcelona and the Sustainable Europe Research Institute.

In Dead Water Key Findings

- Half the world's catch is caught along Continental shelves in an area of less than 7.5 per cent of the globe's seas and oceans.

- An area of 10-15 per cent of the world's seas and oceans cover most of the commercial fishing grounds.

- 80 per cent to 100 per cent of the world's coral reefs may suffer annual bleaching events by 2080 under global warming scenarios.

- Those at particular risk are in the Western Pacific; the Indian Ocean; the Persian Gulf; the Middle East and in the Caribbean

- Over 90 per cent of the world's temperate and tropical coasts will be heavily impacted by 2050. Over 80 per cent of marine pollution comes from the land. Marine areas at particular risk of increased pollution are Southeast and East Asia.

- Increasing concentrations of C02 in the atmosphere are likely to be mirrored by increasing acidification of the marine environment.

- Increasing acidification may reduce the availability of calcium carbonates in sea water, including a key one known as aragonite which is used by a variety of organisms for shell-building.

- Cold-water and deep water corals could be affected by acidification by 2050 and shell-building organisms throughout the Southern Ocean and into the sub-Arctic Pacific Ocean by 2100.

- Climate change may slow down the ocean thermohaline circulation and thus the continental shelf "flushing and cleaning" mechanisms, known as dense shelf water cascading,over the next 100 years. These processes are crucial to water quality and nutrient cycling and deep water production in at least 75 per cent of the world's major fishing grounds.

- Dead zones, area of de-oxygenated water, are increasing as a result of pollution from urban and agriculture areas. There are an estimated 200 temporary or permanent 'dead zones' up from around 150 in 2003.

- Up to 80 per cent of the world's primary fish catch species are exploited beyond or close to their harvesting capacity. Advances in technology, alongside subsidies, means the world's fishing capacity is 2.5 times bigger that that needed to sustainably harvest fisheries.

- Bottom trawling is among the most damaging and unsustainable fishing practices at the scales often seen today

- Alien invasive species, which can out-compete and dislodge native ones, are increasingly associated with the polluted, overharvested and damaged fishing grounds. The report shows that the concentration of 'aliens' matches with some precision the world's major shipping routes.

Christian Nellemann, who headed up the rapid response team that compiled the report, said: "We are already seeing evidence from a number of studies that increasing sea temperatures are causing changes in the distribution of marine life".

Some of these changes are being found from the Continuous Plankton Recorder survey of the Northeast Atlantic.

Warmer water copepod species or crustaceans have moved northward by around 1,000km during the later half of the 20th century with the patterns continuing into the 21st century.

"Further evidence of this warming signal is seen in the appearance of a Pacific planktonic plant in the Northwest Atlantic for this first time in 800,000 years by transfer across the top of Canada due to the rapid melting of the Arctic in 1998," said Dr. Nellemann. "We are getting more and more alarming signals of dramatic changes in the oceans. It is like turning a big tanker around. Our ability to change course and reduce emissions in the near future will be paramount to success".

The link between healthy and productive fishing grounds and ocean circulation or 'dense shelf water cascading' is in some ways only now emerging.

Three years ago the Hotspot Ecosystem Research on the Margins of European Seas of which UNEP is part, documented such a phenomenon in the Gulf of Lions in the north-western Mediterranean.

A quantity of water equal to two years-worth of the river discharge from all rivers flowing into the Mediterranean is, in four months, transported from the Gulf of Lions to the deep Western Mediterranean via the Cap de Creyus canyon.

It has a critical impact on the population of the heavily harvested deep sea shrimp Aristeus antennatus, the crevette rouge, by bringing food that in turn triggers a sharp increase in young shrimp resulting in plentiful catches three to five years after the 'cascading' event.

"Imagine what will happen if climate change slows down or stops these natural food transport and "flushing" effects in waters that are often already polluted, heavily fished, damaged and stressed", said Dr. Nellemann. "We are gambling with our food supply".

Stefan Hain of UNEP's World Conservation Monitoring Centre, said it was critical that existing stresses were also addressed too in order to conserve fish stocks and coral reefs in a climate constrained world.

He said there was growing evidence that coral reefs recover from bleaching better in cleaner, less polluted waters.

Dr Hain cited monitoring of corals around the main Seychelles island of Mahé which were among corals world-wide that suffered from the high sea surface temperatures of the late 1990s. Here coral reefs recovery rates have varied between five to 70 per cent.

"Coral reefs recovering faster are generally those living in Marine Protected Areas and coastal waters where the levels of pollution, dredging and other kinds of human-induced disturbance are considered low," he said.

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Best of our wild blogs: 22 Feb 08

Last series of Chek Jawa project trips
on the cj project blog and wildfilms blog

Go wild on a landfill: Pulau Semakau
Fabulous sightings and lyrical thoughts on the ramblings of a peculiar nature blog and nature scouters blog

Beach combing on Labrador
adorable finds by adorable angels whose bane appears to be Mr Lim on the labrador blog

Legends of our Turtle Island
sea legends of Kusu on the singapore celebrates our reefs blog

Olive-backed Sunbird’s nest destroyed by a macaque
on the bird ecology blog

Biodiesel in Singapore
made from 100% waste vegetable oil, how to get it on the Asia Is Green blog

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Hamster fad in Singapore a worrying trend

Letter from Retnam Thillainathan, Straits Times Forum 22 Feb 08;

I READ with trepidation the report, 'Rodents are favoured pets in Year of the Rat' (Feb 20).

The report said that many people are buying pets like hamsters and guinea pigs, and they buy them in pairs for double luck. Rats are not on the shopping list because they are considered 'filthy pests'.

Hamsters and guinea pigs are prolific producers. In pairs, they would multiply quickly. What are the owners going to do about the 'population explosion'?

My concern is simple. People should not buy a pet unless they are committed to caring for it for the term of its lifespan. I hope and pray that there will not be more abandoned animals.

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Breeding fish to eat larvae not always suitable

Reply from NEA, Straits Times Forum 22 Feb 08;

WE REFER to the letter, 'Breed fish that devour mozzie larvae' (Feb 13).

Using natural predators has always been part of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) integrated vector management strategy which the National Environment Agency (NEA) supports.

In Singapore, such natural predators like the Gambusia holbrooki fish (also known as Gambusia affinis or the mosquito-fish) are already commonly found in our rural streams, canals, drains, ponds and reservoirs.

The Tilapia is another fish present in our water bodies, which also helps to remove mosquito larvae. There is also a common understanding that the Gambusia helps to remove mosquito larvae along the edges of the water bodies that cannot be reached easily by the larger Tilapia.

While the use of fish as a natural predator is suitable for large water bodies, it is not suitable for small pockets of stagnant water.

Mosquitoes can breed in a drop of stagnant water as small as the size of a 20-cent coin. NEA's primary strategy for mosquito control is to reduce and remove any potential mosquito breeding sites. Source reduction is the most effective way to control mosquitoes.

We urge everyone to prevent Aedes mosquito breeding by removing all stagnant water at home. Dengue or chikungunya can be made less of a threat if everyone takes steps to prevent mosquito breeding. This is the most effective 'weapon' in our fight against mosquito-borne diseases.

We thank your reader for the suggestion and appreciate his concern.

S. Satish Appoo
Director, Environmental Health Department
National Environment Agency

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Seagull cull urged in Australian tuna zone

ABC News 21 Feb 08;

Port Lincoln's mayor says tuna farmers should be allowed to shoot seagulls at fish feedlots to help ease an explosion in numbers of the birds.

Peter Davis says authorised methods of control such as destroying eggs on Boston Island are not working.

He says he has returned his permit to the National Parks and Wildlife Service.

Mr Davis says the problem needs to be tackled at tuna farms where the seagulls feed.

He says the booming seagull numbers are destroying the environment.

"Because of the political pressure exerted by well-intentioned environmentalists, bird lovers, predominantly in the capital cities - any farmer will tell you it is a dead-set cinch using rifle fire to very quickly discourage the pest bird - the birds are intelligent," he said.

Regional conservator for National Parks Ross Belcher says there are already strategies to eventually reduce seagull numbers.

He says shooting the birds from boats would not be acceptable.

"To suggest to shoot a bird on the wing from a boat that's bobbing up and down in the ocean is probably not going to produce a very good result," he said.

"You could have wounded birds, you could miss them and you could have projectiles flying all over the place."

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China to put 1.6 million fish into lake to clear algae

Xinhua 20 Feb 08;

HEFEI, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- East China's Anhui Province has resorted to the biological measure of using algae-eating fish to clear the polluted Chaohu Lake, the country's fifth largest body of freshwater.

This week, Chaohu Fishery Administration put more than 50,000 silver carp fry into the lake. It will add another 1.55 million in the coming 20 days, said deputy director Wu Changjun on Wednesday.

A silver carp will have eaten between 40 and 50 kilograms of blue algae when it reaches one kilogram. The school of fish is expected to effectively curb the blue algae pollution.

The fish could also sell for 7.5 million yuan (1.05 million U.S. dollars) on the market by year end, 15 times the investment in the fry. While the fishery authority has paid for the fry, fishermen are free to catch the mature fish, according to Wu.

From June to August last year, the nutrient runoffs and other pollutants caused blue-green algaes to bloom in the country's Taihu, Chaohu and Dianchi lakes, endangered water supply in nearby cities and posed great threat to aquatic life.

Blue-green algae has caused water pollution in the lakes where whitebait production is declining.

The output of whitebait, a small sprat famous for its fresh and tender meat, has dropped by 500 tons, 20 percent lower than last year's fishing season compared with the year previous.

An algae outbreak in the eastern Taihu Lake, the country's third largest freshwater lake, provided an alert at the end of Mayas it rendered tap water undrinkable for about 10 days for more than one million residents in Wuxi, Jiangsu Province.

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Dead dolphin was near site of US Navy sonar tests

Kenneth R. Weiss, Los Angeles Times 22 Feb 08;

Researchers say it's too early to tell if the rare animal died because of exposure to the active sonar.

A deep-diving dolphin died on the beach of the Navy's San Nicolas Island late last month during the final days of Navy exercises using a type of sonar that has been linked to fatal injuries of whales and dolphins.

Although researchers have yet to determine a cause of death, a dissection of the northern right whale dolphin's head revealed blood and other fluid in the ears and ear canals. Those same symptoms were found in deep-diving whales that washed ashore in the Canary Islands and the Bahamas after military sonar exercises.

Unlike the mass strandings of whales on the Canary Islands in 2002 and the Bahamas in 2000, only the one dolphin washed ashore Jan. 29 on San Nicolas. That occurred just as the Navy's Third Fleet in San Diego was wrapping up sonar training that has become the focus of a federal court fight and elicited an effort by President Bush to intervene.

Teri Rowles, the lead veterinarian with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, cautioned against jumping to conclusions until a panel of expert radiologists can review magnetic resonance images of the dolphin's head and federal pathologists can scrutinize various tissues for disease as well as for air and fat bubbles associated with sonar-related injuries.

"At this point, we cannot rule in or rule out sonar or any other kind of intense noise," said Rowles, head of the nation's Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program. "This one is perplexing at this point."

The dolphin death comes at a delicate time for the Navy, which has appealed a federal court order imposing extra safeguards to protect whales from possible harm caused by mid-frequency active sonar.

"There is no evidence that any type of naval activities caused or contributed to this dolphin's death," said Lt. Mark Walton, a spokesman for the Navy's Third Fleet.

In an appeal filed last week, the Navy stated: "During the last 40 years, there has been no documented incidents of harm, injury or death of marine mammals resulting from exposure to [mid-frequency active] sonar" in Southern California waters."

Lawyers for the Navy argue that a federal court order has no scientific basis to require the Navy to shut down sonar when marine mammals are spotted within 2,200 yards and to avoid areas along the coast and between some of the Channel Islands that are known for their abundance of marine mammals.

These and other court-imposed conditions, Navy officials said, hamper the ability to train sailors to use sonar to detect quiet-running diesel-electric submarines now operated by Iran, China, North Korea and other potentially hostile nations.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has promised to rule on the Navy's latest appeal by March 3, so the Navy will have time to petition the U.S. Supreme Court before its next two rounds of sonar testing scheduled to begin in March.

Navy officials first spotted the right whale dolphin washed up on the north end of San Nicolas Island on Jan. 29, as the aircraft carrier Lincoln and its supporting warships were conducting war games to certify that they were prepared to meet threats of all kinds, including submarine attacks, before shipping out to the Persian Gulf in March.

The closest warship using sonar was 62 miles away the previous day and was not part of the exercise, said Capt. Jeff Davis, a Navy spokesman at the Pentagon.

The animal first washed ashore alive and Navy personnel pushed it back into the water several times in an attempt to save the dolphin before it finally died on the beach the next morning. The Navy flew the carcass to Santa Barbara Airport, where curators at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History picked it up and performed a necropsy.

The female dolphin, at 6 feet 9 inches long, was a slender 132 pounds but appeared in good shape except for scrapes and scratches from washing up on the rocks, said Michelle Berman, an associate curator at the museum. This type of dolphin, sleek black with no dorsal fin and a white hourglass marking on its belly, had no obvious signs that would indicate a cause of death, she said.

The curators worked all night to perform the necropsy because clues are lost to rapid decomposition. The head was removed and refrigerated, then taken to the nearby Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center for magnetic resonance imaging.

The initial review, Rowles said, confirmed increased fluid in the ears.

"That could be blood; it could be infection or parasites -- those are the three more common causes of fluid in the ears," she said. Or it could be trauma related to sonar.

"The lesions that we have seen to date are consistent to what has been found in whales in the Canary Islands and the Bahamas," Rowles said.

The most telling indications will not come until pathologists can complete microscopic examination of the brain, the ears and other tissues to look for gas or fat bubbles and related hemorrhaging. That's what showed up in the acoustic jaws, ears, brain and kidneys in 10 of 14 beaked whales that died after international naval exercises using mid-frequency sonar.

Scientists in the journal Nature theorized that these deep-diving whales may have panicked and bolted to the surface, causing decompression sickness, similar to the “bends” or air embolisms that can affect human divers. The problem arises when gas bubbles, compressed under the pressure of depth, expand rapidly and tear delicate tissues, like bubbles bursting from a newly popped bottle of champagne.

The microscopic analysis of most tissues should take about a month, Rowles said. It could take as long as a year to examine the ears because the bones must be slowly dissolved in fluid to peek at soft tissues inside.

Rowles expects other lab results within a week that could rule out whether the dolphin was poisoned by a neurotoxin, called domoic acid, produced by certain algae that blooms in California waters.

Joe Cordaro, a wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service, said about 20,000 right whale dolphins live in waters off California, Oregon and Washington. Strandings of these animals occur rarely, seldom more than once or twice a year, he said.

Right whale dolphins are social animals, seen gamboling in the waters in pods of hundreds and sometimes thousands. So if the death is linked to sonar, it would be unusual that only one animal washed ashore.

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Japanese turn backs on whaling: Greenpeace survey

MORE than two thirds of Japanese people do not support their country's whaling in the Southern Ocean, a survey reveals.

And 87 per cent of the Japanese population were surprised to learn their tax money was being used to subsidise the increasingly-unpopular whaling operation.

The survey, commissioned by Greenpeace, found that while 31 per cent of people backed whaling, 25 per cent opposed it and 44 per cent had no opinion on the issue.

The figures were more stark when it came to whaling on the "high seas", as opposed to coastal whaling, which is viewed with nostalgia by many Japanese.

More than 70 per cent of the Japanese surveyed disagreed with high seas whaling.

Even among those people who said they supported whaling, 40 per cent were against the high seas operation.

Greenpeace Australia whale campaigner Rob Nicoll said the results of the survey differed markedly from those in a recent poll by a Japanese newspaper.

"While (that) poll seemed to find the majority of Japanese people support whaling, they failed to distinguish high seas whaling from coastal whaling, which has a nationalistic and romantic traditional notion for many," Mr Nicoll said.

Related articles

Majority of Japanese support whaling: poll
Reuters 8 Feb 08;

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Sharkwater - we can stop shark fin trade

Rob Stewart, The Telegraph 21 Feb 08;

In August of 1999, I was a 19-year-old photographer on assignment to photograph sharks in the Galapagos Islands. Instead of finding sharks in all their majesty underwater, I ended up cutting dead and dying sharks from kilometres of illegally set long lines with thousands of baited hooks.

The experience launched me on a journey to uncover why there was such a huge demand for sharks, even in the most protected national parks on Earth.

The simple answer was the growing demand for shark fin soup.

Through much of Asia, shark fin soup is a status symbol of wealth and served as a sign of respect. A single pound of shark fin can sell for more than £150.

Shark bodies don't have substantial value, so fishermen started finning: discarding the bodies and keeping only the fins.

The huge demand for fins, and poor fishing regulations have decimated shark populations in every ocean on Earth.

Studies from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada have shown that shark populations, as well as populations of all large predators in the oceans have dropped an estimated 90 per cent in the last 30 years.

Some species of shark, such as the tiger, bull and dusky shark have dropped by more than 95 per cent.

I realised that sharks were going to be wiped out, largely because nobody knew what was going on in the oceans, and if they did know, they didn't care because they were afraid of sharks.

In 2002 I set out to make Sharkwater, a film that would bring the public closer to sharks than ever before. I thought if people could understand sharks, and see them as beautiful, necessary animals, they would fight for their protection.

I joined Captain Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, in Los Angeles. Watson's ship, the Ocean Warrior, was going to Cocos, Costa Rica, by invitation from the Costa Rican president to deter poaching within the ill-protected marine reserve.

Through my journey with Paul, we collided with a pirate finning boat, were charged with attempted murder, exposed corrupt governments, fled for our lives from machine-gun toting coast guards, and started filming ourselves to keep ourselves out of prison. This journey changed the film from a beautiful shark movie to a human drama spanning four years, 15 countries, that nearly ended my life.

Currently only a couple of dozen countries, including those in the EU, have banned shark finning, mostly in the last five years. As with any fishery, there is a lag time between the exploitation and the realisation and acknowledgement by the public.

Only in 2004 was the first fish placed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Some species of sharks have recently been listed on CITES, and they happen to be the most recognisable - the great white - or the likeable whale and basking sharks, which are large filter feeders that support thriving tourist industries.

Protection is much more difficult to acquire for other less charismatic, but equally or more gravely endangered shark species such as the oceanic whitetip shark, whose populations are estimated to have declined by 99 per cent in the Gulf of Mexico.

Our failure to protect the oceans is largely because what's out of sight is out of mind. We don't see underwater exploitation the same way we see it on land, and thus most of our concern and environmental policy lies above the surface.

We waste an estimated 54 billion pounds of fish every year, and fisheries worldwide are expected to collapse by 2048.

We're destroying species in the ocean in ways that could never happen on land simply because we wouldn't stand for it.

We are, however, capable of great change if made aware of the issue, as demonstrated with whaling.

The situation for whales has turned around through public pressure, forcing the International Whaling Commission into existence. Sharks can be saved only if the public knows what's happening.

Recent studies from Dalhousie University suggest that the first early warning signs of ecosystem collapse are now present due to the removal of large sharks and predators from their environment.

This scenario is similar in reaction to the "top down" phenomenon of removing predators demonstrated on the west coast of North America with the sea otter. Sea otters were hunted for their pelts, which removed pressure from their main food source, the urchins.

Urchin populations exploded, eating the kelp forests that were the breeding grounds of the pacific herring. Without the herring, populations of whales, dolphins, sea lions, sharks and large fish were nearly eliminated.

Similarly, Ransom Myers and Julia Baum's recent study [Science, March 2007] has shown that the removal of sharks from the Atlantic coast has caused some of their food populations, such as smaller sharks, skates and rays, to explode in numbers, decimating populations of shellfish, and wiping out century old fisheries.

This is just the beginning in a cascade of events analogous but far greater than the otter/kelp example from the west coast.

The difference is, we've removed the top predator from every ocean - the predator that has been shaping the oceans for more than 400 million years and has seen life on Earth rebuild five times - and the food web that will be affected includes humans.

I set out to make Sharkwater because I know that humans' sustainable use of the planet is inevitable, or we will cease to exist. Ninety-nine per cent of all species that ever existed are now extinct.

Humans have lived on Earth less than a million years, a small fraction of the time other successful species have.

Just as humanity has evolved in the past towards cultural and racial equality, humans are at another crossroads where their evolution as a species towards a more sustainable use of the planet is a necessity. As bleak as the situation seems, there is hope. Examples of fisheries that have recovered and become viable again exist the world over, and examples of sustainable use of the oceans have existed throughout history.

We do however need a renewed view of the ocean - not as a toxic waste dump, but as a source for life and an essential part of the Earth as an ecosystem. Life on land depends on life in the oceans. Seventy per cent of the oxygen we breathe comes from life in the oceans that sits below sharks in the food chain.

By killing sharks, we're destroying the top predator from the most important ecosystem for our own survival. Just as awareness was gained for whales, and the consumption of tiger, panda or elephant is now taboo, sharks can be saved.

Despite the seemingly bleak situation, our hope lies in the majesty of the Earth itself. Our home is a single planet amongst billions that supports life so diverse in ecosystems that life has perpetuated for 3.5 billion years.

Now evolution has sculpted a species [humans] so sophisticated that it can destroy the natural world upon which it depends… or awaken, and choose to live in balance.
# Rob Stewart is the director/star of the award-winning new documentary Sharkwater, which opens in selected cinemas nationwide on 22nd February. For more information, go to www.sharkwater.com .

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Office waste costs UK business £15bn, campaigners say

Jessica Aldred, guardian.co.uk 21 Feb 08;

Campaigners are taking a giant rubbish bin to the streets of London today to highlight how much waste is generated in offices around the UK in a single day.

Envirowise, a government-funded group that advises business on sustainability, said bad waste practices are costing UK industry at least £15bn each year.

Today's One Bin Day campaign marks an effort to illustrate the problem and to prompt office works to rethink the way they use materials and handle waste.

The group is parading a giant, two-and-a-half metre high waste paper bin around the capital - made from the 1,584 sheets of paper that the average office worker prints off in a month - and urging the nation's 25 million office workers to use just one bin per office.

"One Bin Day is designed to make people think about what they buy, use and throw away," said Envirowise programme director, Martin Gibson.

"Much of what we discard can be reduced or recycled, but the convenience of a bin right by your desk makes for a big temptation to throw away valuable resources."

Envirowise wants offices to remove individual desk bins and force workers to walk to just one central bin.

"The visual impact can be staggering," Gibson said. "If workers follow their normal practices, the central bin will soon be overflowing within a matter of hours. This will help focus attention on just how much is used and thrown away daily. Once people start thinking about how they use things, they often think of how to reduce the amount they use, and improve the reuse and recycling of what is left."

Earlier today the giant bin was on London Bridge, and will later move to office commuter hotspots such as Liverpool Street and Victoria stations.

Envirowise says that approximately 70% of office waste is recyclable, but on average only 7.5% reaches a recycling facility. Some 80.6m tonnes of printing and writing paper enters the waste stream each year in the UK - 24% of total UK waste, figures show.

Recycling one tonne of paper can save 7,000 gallons of water. It also saves 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, and 4,000 kilowatts of energy. The average office worker uses 50 sheets of paper a day in unnecessary printing, figures show.

At 17.7%, Britain has one of the lowest recycling rates in Europe for the 335m tonnes of solid waste it produces each year.

Food waste accounts for one-fifth of all waste nationally, while Britons throw away 12bn aluminium cans and 6bn bottles a year, Envirowise said.

Waste from households, commerce and industry continues to grow by 3% a year. To help address this the group has put together a publication for offices that want to find out more about reducing waste, at envirowise.gov.uk.

Their tips include:

• Set the office printer to print on both sides of the paper by default.
• Use electronic communication where possible to reduce printing and faxing.
• Don't print out emails unless absolutely necessary. Add "Think before you print" to the bottom of email signatures as a prompt to others.
• Avoid over-production of marketing and publicity material by reviewing distribution lists and regularly updating databases.
• Collect all paper that has been printed on one side and reuse it for printing in draft, or for scrap message pads.
• Reuse envelopes wherever possible, especially for sending information internally.
• Place recycling bins in all offices.
• Ensure that vending machines allow the use of china mugs rather than plastic vending cups.
• Avoid purchasing disposable catering products such as milk jiggers, sugar sachets and paper plates.

The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) tested the use of one central bin in its estates division last year. It provided recycling bins for paper, cans and glass, and a communal lidded bin for waste going to landfill in an office of 30 staff.

"The campaign has been so successful at cutting waste and increasing environmental awareness that all new staff are briefed on how the scheme operates; we now only use transparent bin bags so we can be more aware of the waste we produce instead of hiding it in black bin bags; and we're extending the one bin provision to other departments at the LSE," said Victoria Hands, the college's environmental and sustainability manager.

Campaign to reduce unnecessary office waste
Paul Eccleston, The Telegraph 21 Feb 08;

A campaign aimed at cutting the huge amounts of unnecessary waste generated by offices has been launched.

Organisers say poor waste practices cost British industry £15bn per year with more than 80m tonnes of printing and writing paper thrown out in the UK annually.

The One Bin campaign launched by the sustainable business organisation Envirowise is intended to hammer home the recycling message.

By removing individual desk bins and forcing people to walk to just one central bin, Envirowise hopes to make the nation's 25m office workers think twice about the way they use materials and handle waste.

Programme director Dr Martin Gibson said: "One Bin Day is designed to make people think about what they buy, use and throw away. It highlights how much waste a typical office can generate in just one day. Much of what we discard can be reduced or recycled but the convenience of a bin right by your desk makes for a big temptation to throw away valuable resources."

The average office worker can get through 50 sheets of paper daily and although about 70 per cent of office waste is recyclable only about 10 per cent goes for recycling.

Dr Gibson said: "The visual impact can be staggering. If workers follow their normal practices, the central bin will soon be overflowing within a matter of hours.

"This will help focus attention on just how much is used and thrown away daily. Once people start thinking about how they use things, they often think of how to reduce the amount they use and improve the reuse and recycling of what is left."

For an overview of the campaign see www.envirowise.gov.uk/onebinday.

Facts and figures
# The UK produces 335m tonnes of solid waste every year but we only recycle 17.7 per cent of it - one of the worst rates in Europe.

# Waste costs UK industry at least £15bn a year.

# Britons create their own body weight in waste every five days.

# 80 per cent of all products are thrown away after just one use.

# The UK produces 3m tonnes of plastic waste each year. Approximately 85 per cent is landfilled, 8 per cent incinerated and 7 per cent recycled.

# Industry, commerce and household waste is collectively growing by 3 per cent per annum.

# Food waste accounts for 21 per cent of total waste and is the largest single proportion of all waste.

# Collectively, paper and card are the next most commonly collected material for recycling, accounting for 28 per cent of all recycling.

# The average office worker gets through up to 50 sheets of paper a day, a lot of which is unnecessary printing.

# In the UK nearly 5m tonnes of paper is dumped in landfill or incinerated every year.

# Recycling just one tonne of paper can save 7,000 gallons of water. It also saves 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, 3 cubic yards of landfill space and 4,000 kilowatts of electricity - more electricity than the average household uses in a year.

# We throw away 12bn aluminium cans in the UK every year.

# It takes as much energy to make one new aluminium can from raw materials as it does to make twenty from recycled aluminium.

# We throw away five of every six bottles sold in the UK. This means over 6bn bottles are going to landfill every year.

# The energy saved by recycling just one bottle will power a computer for 25 minutes.

# If you recycle just one glass bottle you will save enough energy to power a 60 watt light bulb for 6 hours.

# Computer monitors use twice the energy of PCs - switch monitors off when away from your desk for meetings or lunch.

# 70 per cent of office waste is recyclable - but on average only 7.5 per cent reaches a recycling facility.

# Landfill taxes are rising by 32 per cent a year so it makes sense on all fronts to sort your waste out sooner rather than later.

Read more!

Eco-Singapore takes on Earth Hour 2008: A Singapore Grassroot Movement

Email from Wilson Ang of Eco-Singapore:

Dear All,

On the 29th March 2008 at 8pm, cities across the world will turn off their lights for one hour, supporting the Earth Hour 2008 campaign by World Wildlife Fund. This will send a powerful global message that collectively, we can take action on global warming. Earth Hour aims to reach out to individuals, spreading the word of Earth Hour to all.

ECO Singapore has taken the initiative this year to work on this campaign by pro-actively reaching out to the grassroots such as the schools, Community Clubs and Residents' Committees.

We sincerely hope to be able to reach out individuals like yourself to spread on this campaign and its message.

The collective action that everyone will be doing across cities is to turn off their lights on 29th March 2008 from 8pm to 9pm local time.

It is a grassroot initiative and we need a group of volunteers to help coordinate this effort via internet.

The commitment will short and intensive, but meaningful.

Should you be interested, please feel free to drop an email to marketing@eco-singapore.org

Our existing two volunteers, Kephren & Aarti will loop you in the process and update you of the progress.

Info on Earth Hour:
http://www.earthhour.org

Info on ECO Singapore:
http://www.eco-singapore.org

With Warm Regards,
Wilson Ang
91474541

Related articles

24 world cities in 'Earth Hour' black-out: organisers
Yahoo News 19 Feb 08;

Read more!

Fires raze tens of hectares of forest, peat land in Jambi

Antara 22 Feb 08;

Jambi (ANTARA News) - Fires ravaged tens of hectares of forest and peat land in West Tanjung Jabung district, Jambi province, in the past two days.

The blazes was put out by firefighters on Thursday, West Tanjung Jabung district head Abdulllah Hich said.

The fires were strongly believed to have been caused by the uncontrolled application of the slash-and-burn method in clearing land for farming.

He warned local people and plantation companies against practicing slash-and-burn farming to avoid further forest and peat land fires.

The heat of the dry season accompanied by strong winds had made it easy for fires to break out and spread over wide areas, Hich said. (*)

Read more!

Chikungunya fighters in Singapore breathe easy after 6 weeks

Lee Hui Chieh, Straits Times 22 Feb 08;

SINGAPORE'S first outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease chikungunya is over, health officials have declared.

Yesterday was the 24th day since the last person to catch the virus fell sick - a milestone that means the disease has likely been beaten.

Overall, 13 who lived or worked in Little India got the virus, which causes fever and joint pain but is rarely fatal.

The all-clear caps six frenzied weeks for health and environment officers, who targeted the centre of the outbreak, destroyed mosquito breeding grounds, took blood samples and handed out fines.

A spokesman for the National Environment Agency (NEA) said: 'We believe that through our close coordination, we were able to avert a potentially larger outbreak.'

The 24th day had been marked as the finish line because that is twice the disease's incubation period. Any new cases of the virus would have surfaced within that time.

While the battle against chikungunya has been won, the authorities cautioned yesterday that the disease could return.

The Health Ministry and the NEA said Singapore remains at risk as it is a popular stop with travellers from places where the disease has a foothold.

In fact, it was probably an infected traveller who sparked the outbreak, although health officers have not been able to identify this 'patient zero'.

Still, the end was met with relief from the health and environment officers who have been battling the outbreak.

One of them was Dr Tan Li Kiang, 34, a research scientist with the NEA's Environmental Health Institute (EHI). She said: 'We have been feeling 'jetlag'. I've been praying that there won't be any more new cases.'

The outbreak was uncovered when a 27-year-old Bangladeshi man turned up at a clinic at Upper Weld Road, off Clive Street, complaining of a high fever and body aches. A doctor sent the man's blood sample for testing and the result was positive for chikungunya.

Over the next three weeks, the Health Ministry sent 15 public health officers out to Clive Street to find others who might be infected. That was double the number of officers sent out on a regular day.

Doctors who usually did policy work helped collect blood samples from people who lived or worked in the area.

Officers, though, had trouble keeping tabs on people in Little India, which hosts many foreign workers and tourists.

Public health officer Han Hwi Kwang, 36, said: 'One day you took blood from people, but when you went back to the same place the next day, you realised, there's a whole new group.'

In the three weeks till Feb 4, they sent samples from 2,626 people to the EHI for testing.

There, seven research officers tested 400 to 500 blood samples daily. Seven others helped with labelling and paperwork.

They burned the midnight oil so the results could be out before the next morning in a bid to get those infected to hospital as soon as possible.

Dr Tan, who oversaw the testing, often worked from 9am to 2am daily in the first two weeks of the outbreak. The mother of a 20-month-old boy said: 'I didn't get to see my son awake for four days in a row.'

NEA sent 55 officers and 40 pest control operators to wipe out mosquitoes and breeding grounds in Little India.

In the last six weeks, they checked more than 5,500 properties, destroyed 78 breeding sites, and meted out fines of $100 to $200 to 43 people for allowing mosquitoes to breed.

The agency also issued 532 orders for the removal of roof gutters that had fallen into disrepair in Little India, of which 322 have been taken down.

Nine people have been fined $2,000 each for refusing to comply, while the rest have asked for more time to do so.

The EHI's head, Dr Ng Lee Ching said: 'I'm happy that everyone was prompt in their response to the outbreak.'

An official from the International Society for Infectious Diseases praised Singapore's effort as 'an outstanding example of detecting and then responding to the appearance of a disease new to an area'.

Read more!

Rising butter prices hit bakers in Singapore

Natalie Soh, Straits Times 22 Feb 08;

THE price of another staple - butter - is on the march north, leaving bakers here and abroad reeling from the impact.

In the last year, wholesale prices have more than doubled, and food companies here say consumers will have to foot the bill.

One major baked goods and cake manufacturer told The Straits Times that it pays US$4,000 (S$5,600) to US$4,200 per tonne of butter now. This is up from about US$1,700 per tonne in January last year.

Some bakers have, in turn, passed it on, upping the price of baked goods by 20 to 30 per cent. Even those who have been holding out say they cannot maintain prices much longer.

Some firms are switching to cheaper alternatives, such as margarine.

The major supplier of butter products here, New Zealand company Fonterra, said it has seen the global price of butter double in the last year.

In January alone, the average retail price of the spread jumped a further 17 per cent, from $2.90 to $3.40 per standard block.

Voracious demand from China and India, along with a lingering drought in Australia, a major dairy producer, has forced global prices upward.

A lower-than-expected supply from South America, due to export restrictions, has added to the shortage.

Still, Fonterra's spokesman said that there is enough butter stocks here to meet demand for now.

Read more!

Soya prices soar as shortage hits home in Singapore

Prices double to $1,200 a tonne; cost of items such as tofu likely to go up
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 22 Feb 08;

A WORLDWIDE shortage of soya beans has hit Singapore hard: Importers say prices have doubled, and the cost of items such as tofu could go up soon.

Though rising food prices have affected several items, soya beans are the worst hit - from $600 a tonne a year ago, prices are now at about $1,200.

That spells bad news for a group already hit by rising prices: the less well-off.

Soya products such as tofu are a staple food for them, said Ms Anna Jacob, a nutritionist at private nutrition consultancy firm NutriVentures.

She explained: 'Soya beans are cheap, a good substitute for meat and protein-rich.'

Already, prices of soya bean products have risen in the past few months - at some places, a cup of soya bean milk costs 20 cents more. But more increases could follow.

The price hikes are down to a lack of supply from big producers such as the United States.

Farmers there are opting to plant maize and wheat - which are fetching sky-high prices because of an increased demand for bio-fuels - instead of soya beans.

Higher demand from China has also contributed to the increase in prices.

The effects have hit most Asian countries, because soya products are widely consumed there in various forms.

In Indonesia, for example, thousands of tempeh (fermented beancurd) and tofu manufacturers and vendors went on strike last month to protest against the rising prices.

And just this month, Japan initiated a fresh round of price hikes on soya products.

Soya beans are big in Singapore too, and importers last year brought in 18,974 tonnes of the stuff, which was eventually turned into products such as taupok (fried beancurd), soya sauce and tofu.

The larger manufacturers of soya bean products said they are struggling to maintain profits, and will be negotiating among themselves on a price increase soon.

Industry insiders said this could mean a 12 per cent rise in the prices of packaged soya bean products in the next few weeks.

Major tofu producer Unicurd, which supplies about 60 per cent of the packed tofu in Singapore, said it has seen profit margins fall by about 30 per cent since last year.

Said its general manager, Mr Allan Tan: 'Tofu is a cheap alternative for meat and just as protein-rich. It's a poor man's food so we try our best to keep prices unchanged.'

Tai Hua Food Industries, which produces about 5,000 tonnes of soya sauce a year, has increased prices of the soya sauce it exports - about 35 per cent of what it produces - but has kept prices of products sold here unchanged.

Both producers said they cannot keep prices down for much longer.

Previous price rises have already hit buyers and sellers.

At Tekka Market, tofu seller Ng Boon Hwee said he tagged another five to 10 cents to the price of each piece of tofu sold - an increase of 20 per cent per piece - last month.

When The Straits Times spoke to him, the 55-year-old shook his head, pointed at his stock of 150 pieces of tofu, and said he had raised prices only three times in the past 30 years.

He added that he had never seen costs so high. In fact, he said, he had to buy fewer pieces to stock his shelves because tofu is so expensive now.

A Straits Times check of eight other shops - from those in wet markets to beancurd outlets such as House of Yummy Beancurd - show that all have raised their prices by 12.5 per cent to 25 per cent over the past two months.

Beancurd chain Selegie Soyabean started charging 20cents more for a soya bean milk drink at the start of this month.

Owner Andrew Koh, 45, said a few customers 'showed black faces', but became more understanding after he explained the situation.

The bad news is that it does not look like the situation will ease any time soon.

A spokesman for Canadec, the major soya bean importer here, said the situation will not get better 'for the next two or three years'.

He said: 'This is because demand for crops like wheat and maize is still high, so acreage for soya beans is limited.'

Read more!

Time to think outside the ERP box?

Timothy Koshy, Today Online 22 Feb 08;

The recently announced measures to control car usage have ignited a debate on whether more Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) gantries and higher rates will indeed ease traffic congestion in Singapore.

A few questions and some creative suggestions may be in order. Firstly, should heavy road users pay the same ERP rates as those who drive occasionally? Instead of a flat charge for all cars, for example, a graduated scale could be applied so that those who cross ERP gantries more than a certain number of times a month get charged double. Very heavy users could be charged triple or more.

A parallel would be the charges levied on another public utility: Water. The cost of domestic consumption increases from $1.17 to $1.40 per cubic metre once usage crosses 40 cubic metres per month.

Just as those who use more water pay more per unit, those who use the roads more could be charged more in ERP. On the flip side, occasional or infrequent users could have ERP charges waived altogether.

Whether such differentiation would be meaningful depends on whether heavy users of ERP-controlled roads form a meaningfully distinct group from the total population of car users.

The additional revenue from ERP can also be used to incentivise heavy car users to switch to public transport. For example, for each dollar above $200 paid in ERP charges in a month, drivers could be given a credit of 50 cents with a limited life of, say, six months, specifically for use on public transport.

How many Singaporeans would simply let such accumulated credits expire without being used?

Differentiated ERP charges could also be used as a tool for environmental protection. For example, in London, heavily polluting cars will attract congestion charges of up to £25 ($68.85) from October whereas clean vehicles will be given a 100-per-cent discount.

Would it be helpful to also look at non-financial controls? For example, crossing more than a certain number of gantries per month could be disallowed altogether, say, by imposing demerit points on offending drivers. This would set an upper ceiling on how much any one vehicle can add to road congestion.

This would add another facet to car control instead of purely monetary disincentives.

To change habits, Singapore could mark World Carfree Day on Sept 22 in some meaningful way, for example, by closing off Shenton Way to traffic. Some car users who transfer to public transport for a day may decide it is a better way to go after all.

It would also help to get people onto public transport if some popular places truly are more conveniently accessed by public transport than private vehicles. For example, universities could be made car unfriendly this way. There must be a limit to how much inconvenience people will put up with just to drive a car.

Also, should usage costs be factored into the capital cost of cars?

One point of discussion has been whether those who have already paid the capital costs of a car would be deterred by usage costs. A partial remedy to this disconnect would be to refine the Certificate of Entitlement (COE) system so that it is based on usage rather than solely duration of ownership.

For example, since drivers average 21,000 kilometres a year, perhaps a 10-year COE should expire after 10 years, or after 200,000 km of use, whichever is earlier. This way, the capital cost of buying and owning a car is directly connected to its usage, thus curbing attitudes to maximise usage after having bought a car.

And finally, has the time come to limit what cars can be used for? A notorious contributor to clogged-up arterial roads is the queues of cars driven by parents dropping their children off at school. For example, at Dunearn Road, this is what causes traffic jams.

A radical but perhaps effective solution to this problem may be for such schools or even for all schools to disallow pupils from being ferried to school by their parents.

Targeting heavy users and looking beyond financial measures may also help alleviate congestion.

The writer rides on a two-wheeler. These are his personal views.

Read more!

Spikes in taxi fares and oil prices pushing more in Singapore to public transport

Standing room only on peak-hour trains?
Leong Wee Keat, Today Online 22 Feb 08;

EVEN as future plans for the land transport system were being rolled out last month, commuters were setting records in rail ridership as both train operators saw unprecedented passenger trips made.

SMRT, which operates the North-South and East-West lines, saw commuters making 41,931,556 trips on its trains — a 3.17-per-cent increase from the previous high in December.

SBS Transit, which runs the North-East line, experienced a 1-per-cent increase with some 10,478,000 passenger trips. It has seen ridership climb over the last eight months, from a daily average of about 285,000 last April, to over 338,000 in January.

Analysts and industry players say the record numbers could be attributed to a few factors. One was changes in travel modes brought about by the recent spikes in taxi fares and oil prices. Then there is the growth in population and employment, as well as the Government's push to get more people on public transport.

Since December's taxi fare hike, Assistant Professor Terence Fan of the Singapore Management University's Lee Kong Chian School of Business has noticed more empty taxis cruising or waiting around for passengers during evening peak hours. "That was unheard of before," he said. "There must be more people shifting to the MRT."

Despite the record figures, both rail operators told Today their trains were still experiencing excess capacity, especially after they increased train frequencies from Feb 4.

SMRT said that since it added 83 train trips, the average train load during peak hours is about 1,200 passengers now — down from 1,300 to 1,400 passengers previously. The company's trains can carry a maximum of 1,800 passengers.

For SBS Transit, maximum loads for their southbound (towards Harbourfront station) and northbound (Punggol) services are about 1,200 and 900 passengers respectively, during the morning peaks.

In the evenings, passenger loads fall to about 1,000 for a northbound and less than 500 for a southbound train. Its trains can carry up to 1,500 passengers.

Both operators said they would monitor their train loads and increase the number of train runs when necessary. National University of Singapore transport researcher Han Songguang, for one, expects train ridership to grow further due to changes in car ownership policies and Electronic Road Pricing.

From June, basic bus services will also be allowed to duplicate sections of mature rail lines with heavy passenger loadings. While commuter Ms Loh Su Min, who takes the train from Bedok to her Raffles Place office, thinks the addition of such bus services would help ease congestion on trains, she hopes the Eastern Region Line can be completed earlier. "With buses, you never know if you will be stuck in a jam. Trains are much faster," said the administrative assistant.

The Government has plans to build the Thomson Line and the Eastern Region Line by 2018 and 2020, respectively.

Mr Cedric Foo, chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Transport, said the projected growth in train, bus and vehicle traffic — from 8.9 million journeys per day now to 14.3 million in 2020 — has made it necessary for the authorities to build a "a denser grid of public transport lines" to attract more motorists to switch to public transport.

"The rail expansion forms the key plank of the strategy," said Mr Foo.

Read more!

Fly green = fly less

Letter from Marianne Maes, Today Online 22 Feb 08;

I REFER to the article, "Green way to fly" (Feb 18).

It is commendable that airline companies now have an eye on the environment and that they are offering green options for passengers to reduce their carbon footprints.

However, this is more of a passive move than an active one. Instead, customers should be persuaded to fly less often.

Globalisation has resulted in more air travel even though advancements in communication technology have allowed people to communicate more easily online or through video- conferencing.

Too often, people fly all over the world just to attend mundane meetings because many corporations regard air travel as a convenience at their beck and call, without considering the ramifications of their action on the environment.

Why can't a simple video conference suffice?

While airlines have begun to understand the need to address the environmental impact caused by the aviation industry, passengers too, should be informed and educated on how to travel prudently.

Air travel is extremely common these days and the amount of carbon emissions to the atmosphere caused by the millions of planes cannot be ignored.

Policy-makers need to focus on this problem quickly before it is too late.

Read more!

Asia feels heat from aviation boom

Michael Richardson, Straits Times 22 Feb 08;

AS COMPETITION among airlines in Asia and other parts of the world intensifies, an ever-growing mass of people finds it convenient to travel by air for business and leisure. But the rapid growth of commercial aviation is having a significant impact on global warming - and Asia, the world's fastest expanding market for air travel, is starting to feel the heat.

In its latest forecast of aviation growth, European aircraft maker Airbus said this month that the world's fleet of large passenger jets (more than 100 seats) would double in the next 20 years to nearly 33,000 aircraft.

It predicted that passenger traffic would rise by 4.9 per cent per year between 2007 and 2026, almost trebling in two decades as jet planes become bigger and more people fly on them. Airfreight will rise by 5.8 per cent annually in the same period.

The greatest demand will come from the Asia-Pacific region, where airlines will take delivery of 31 per cent of new planes in the next 20 years, compared with 24 per cent for Europe and 27 per cent for North America.

According to Airbus, the air transport industry contributes just 2 per cent of global man-made emissions of carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for global warming. But it acknowledged that a big rise in the number of planes would mean more greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore increased pressure on aircraft-makers to cut pollution.

Critics assert that the airline industry is underestimating its contribution to global warming. They also say that while advances in engine design and other improved technology will continue to reduce airline pollution, these gains will be offset by the sheer growth of aviation.

Reacting to concerns about climate change, Europe has drafted controversial plans to make all airlines flying into and out of the bloc buy pollution permits. The European Commission proposed last month that airlines using EU airports be included in the bloc's emissions trading scheme from 2012.

Under the scheme, which has yet to be approved by the European Parliament and the EU's 27 member-states, airlines would gradually have to buy emissions certificates at auctions, starting with 20 per cent of permits in 2013 and rising to 100 per cent in 2020.

EU environmental officials have promoted the airline Bill as a centrepiece of Europe's campaign to lead the world in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

However, the US government and many airlines insist there should be an international agreement first. They warn that without it, European airlines risk retaliation as third countries deny them access or impose punitive taxes, while non-European airlines shun Europe as a hub for long-haul flights. Airlines also say the EU action could cost billions of euros and drive up ticket prices.

But the pressure outside Asia for tighter curbs on global warming emissions from passenger and freight aircraft is growing. In December, a coalition of state governments, cities and environmental groups in the US filed petitions with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging it to address the effects of global warming pollution from the world's aircraft fleet. The petitions are the first step in a process that requires the EPA to evaluate the current impact of aircraft emissions, seek public comment and develop rules to reduce aircraft pollution or explain why it will not act.

The coalition says that aircraft currently account for 12 per cent of CO2 emissions from US transportation sources and 3 per cent of total CO2 emissions in the US. The US is responsible for nearly half of worldwide CO2 emissions from planes.

A recent report by Britain's Royal Commission on Environmental Protection found that the net effect of ozone, aircraft condensation trails and aviation-induced cloud cover is likely to triple the warming effect of CO2 emitted by aircraft.

The report concluded that if these estimates are correct and the anticipated growth in aviation occurs, aviation may be responsible for between 6 and 10 per cent of the human impact on climate by the year 2050.

The Asian aviation industry needs to take note of these trends and developments and move from a reactive to a proactive mode. Staying silent and adding nothing to the growing debate over aircraft pollution and climate change will simply mean that other players will act to set the rules governing future air travel.

The writer works on energy and climate change issues at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Read more!

Aviation makers say CO2 emissions cut of 50% by 2020 possible

Channel NewsAsia 22 Feb 08;

SINGAPORE : The environmental concern is not confined to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on land; the aviation industry is also tackling the issue head on.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has set an ambitious goal of reducing CO2 emission by 50 percent by 2020.

New generation jets like the Airbus A380 may be huge, but they are also lean when it comes to fuel consumption. According to IATA, such newer planes are 70 percent more efficient than airplanes that flew four decades ago.

Emission from the aviation industry accounts for 2 percent of all global CO2 output. It is also contributing 12 percent of CO2 pollution from all transportation sources.

That is low compared to the 74 percent from road transportation, but aviation companies say they can go even greener.

"You have to do this 3 steps - have it in your mindset and have a focus on it. You have to provide aviation industry with the right products, and our right products would be burning less fuel than old generation products. (The third step is) you have to have a clean factory," said Orlando Neto, Managing Director (Asia Pacific), Embracer.

Some of these factories are making lighter aircraft with advanced composite materials.

The lighter the aircraft, the less power is needed. This means less fuel burnt and lower emissions.

Bombardier for example is working on new aircraft that use mostly lighter composite materials. They also have a wing that is made entirely from composites.

But some of these technological advances in fuel efficient engine designs and new ways of manufacturing planes may not come cheap.

So, will the cost of such R&D be passed on to the travelling public?

"Our objective is to offer more advanced technology in larger airplanes in order to allow the airliner to stay competitive, so we do not pass the R&D or cost down to the customers," said Trung Ngo, VP of Marketing and Communications, Bombardier.

Going green also makes economic sense. If the same trips are made using less fuel, the running costs will drop.

With uncertainty over crude oil prices, flying green may be a win-win solution for all.- AFP /ls

Read more!

Oil prices hit new highs, expected to climb further

Straits Times 22 Feb 08;

Dramatic rally due to funds rushing into commodities to hedge against inflation
OIL prices are reaching record highs above US$100, and some experts say they may continue to go higher and higher.

The price of crude went above the US$100 mark again on Wednesday, hitting a fresh high of US$101.32 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It ended the day at a record close of US$100.74 - a dramatic recovery from a low of US$86.24 only two weeks ago.

The rally has caught many investors by surprise, given the clear deterioration in the global economic outlook, especially for the United States, the biggest consumer of oil.

Crude prices are now hovering near the all-time inflation-adjusted high of US$101.70 recorded in April 1980, a year after the Iranian revolution, the International Energy Agency said.

To explain why oil prices are gushing up, analysts said funds were rushing into oil and other commodities like gold and other metals as a hedge against inflation, drawing in momentum traders and exacerbating price pressures.

'It has almost become self-perpetuating. People are buying because people are buying,' said Mr Jim Ritterbusch, president of Ritterbusch and Associates.

And, while US economic data, released on Wednesday, painted a gloomy picture for oil demand in the world's biggest consumer, investors appeared more focused on worsening inflation.

The US consumer price index rose faster than expected last month and for the second straight month.

The US Federal Reserve, meanwhile, lowered its economic growth forecast for this year, raising fears that the world's biggest economy is heading into stagflation - when growth slows and inflationary pressures persist - but lifting hopes the central bank would cut rates further to revive the economy.

'That's another reason why oil's been so strong. Markets have been pricing in another interest rate cut. This will weaken the US dollar and is bullish for US dollar-denominated commodities,' Mr Ritterbusch said.

A host of supply risks also lent support to prices, including US refinery problems, the row between Venezuela and Exxon Mobil and expectations that the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries will hold output levels steady or even reduce them when they meet next month.

On the demand side, there are no reliable figures of oil demand from China, but investors pushing up prices anticipate that the need for oil from emerging economies like China and India will make up for falling demand from the US.

Rising volatility in credit and equity markets has also fuelled a significant increase in investor inflows into commodities this year.

'The oil complex is benefiting from fundamentals and money flows,' Mr Adam Sieminski, chief energy economist at Deutsche Bank, told the Financial Times. 'Investors are looking for a place to put their funds where they don't have to worry about sub-prime. The move above US$100 is likely to reverse but selling oil keeps proving to be bad advice.'

Still, some analysts are warning of a speculative bubble building up in oil prices. They are keen to draw a distinction between the factors that raise the oil price because they affect sentiment and the ones that genuinely affect supply and demand for oil. They say price rises due to the former are vulnerable.

Mr Mark Lewis from Energy Market Consultants told the BBC: 'It's like the dot.com boom in the 1990s. It was overinflated, but as long as everyone kept believing in it, the price went up. When they stopped believing in it, the price went down. And that's a warning.'

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Blackout On Indonesia's Java Due To Coal Disruption

Muklis Ali and Fitri Wulandari, PlanetArk 22 Feb 08;

JAKARTA - Large parts of Indonesia's most crowded island, Java, and the resort haven of Bali are hit by severe blackouts as bad weather at ports hampered coal delivery to power plants, but mining operations are unaffected, officials said on Thursday.

The power crunch in Java and Bali, which started late on Wednesday, was the result of an electricity deficit of about 1,000 megawatts, an official at the state power monopoly said.

The outages are continuing into Thursday, even though the power deficit has been halved but the blackout could spread to other areas in Java if coal supplies do not pick up soon, said Mulyo Adji, PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara's (PLN) spokesman.

"Some power plants are running below capacity and some of them are going back to fuel oil. We have turned off supplies to several areas in Java as PLN has a power deficit," Adji said.

"Coal supplies to some power plants in Java have been stopped, as ships cannot go to ports because of big waves."

The coal disruptions add to problems faced by Indonesia's utility sector that is often hit by outages because of ageing power plant equipment and soaring demand due to its brisk economic growth. The last major blackout was in August 2005.

Officials say electricity demand is growing around 10 percent a year, outstripping power supply in a country of more than 220 million as investments in generating plants and transmission lines have lagged.

The coal shipment problems forced PLN to seek more oil products from PT Pertamina as a substitute, prompting the state oil firm to raise its imports for February.

Pertamina is seeking additional imports of 600,000 barrels of diesel and 370,000 barrels of fuel oil for February, its deputy director Hanung Budya said on Thursday.

"Because of additional demand from PLN after the coal supply problems at their power plants, Pertamina needs to supply more to PLN," Budya said, adding that the country's current national oil product stocks could support 18 days of consumption.

Pertamina processing director Suroso Atmomartoyo said operations of its refineries in Balongan and Cilacap on Java Island had not been affected and both were operating with their own power generators.

Energy Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the government wanted PLN to keep 30-days of coal stocks, but there was no plan to ban coal exports.

The disruptions in Indonesia, the world's largest thermal coal exporter, came as Asian prices have spiked by more than half over the past month after China slapped a two-month ban on exports due to a power crisis, heavy rain shut down Australian mines and port problems disrupted South African shipments.

Indonesia's strong power demand is forcing Asia-Pacific's only OPEC member to tap other energy sources such as coal and natural gas in the face of rising crude prices and dwindling domestic oil reserves.

PLN has a monopoly over power supply in Indonesia and has 24,000 MW of generating capacity, but daily output is far below capacity. Some 30 percent of the plants use oil products such as diesel and fuel oil.


MINING COMPANIES UNAFFECTED

Despite the power shortage, operations of key miners in Java were unaffected as mining firms have their own power sources, while the impact on the capital, Jakarta, was minor and businesses had not been hit.

Mining activity at the Pongkor gold mine in West Java and smelting in precious metal refinery PT Logam Mulia in Jakarta -- both operated by state miner PT Aneka Tambang -- was normal, Bimo Budi Satriyo, Antam's corporate secretary, said.

Operations at Indonesian copper smelter PT Smelting in Gresik, East Java were also unaffected, as it has its own gas-fired power plant, said Dukut Imam Widodo, PT Smelting's general affairs manager.

Indonesia plans to step up power generation capacity to meet soaring demand by building new coal-fired and natural gas plants, but the projects need huge investments.

Other than ageing plants, the power sector has also been hit by high costs and low funds, as tariffs are highly subsidised and still among the lowest in the world.

Indonesia has not raised electricity tariffs for several years due to opposition from parliament concerned with the political costs of stoking inflation.

The government wants to add 24,000 MW of electricity by 2013 from projects estimated to cost $30 billion. This includes a plan to generate an additional 10,000 megawatts (MW) using coal as a source by 2010.

(Editing by Sugita Katyal and Ramthan Hussain)

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US Ends Protection For Wolves In Northern Rockies

Deborah Zabarenko, PlanetArk 22 Feb 08;

WASHINGTON - Gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains, listed as endangered for more than three decades, no longer need protection under the Endangered Species Act, the US government said on Thursday.

Environmental groups disagreed, saying the species has not fully recovered and vowed to sue to continue to protect wolves from hunting and other methods of killing that the groups said would likely follow the government's move.

"The wolf population in the Northern Rockies has far exceeded its recovery goal and continues to expand its size and range," Deputy Interior Secretary Lynn Scarlett said in a statement announcing the decision to remove this group of grey wolves from the list of wildlife protected by the Endangered Species Act.

Once plentiful across the 48 contiguous US states, grey wolves were eradicated from the northern Rocky Mountain region and southwestern Canada by the 1930s. The species was listed as endangered in 1973; 66 wolves were re-introduced to the area in 1995.

There are now 1,513 wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, including 107 breeding pairs, according to Edward Bangs, western wolf recovery coordinator for the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The wolf population in these states has been growing 24 percent each year since they were re-introduced, Bangs said by telephone.


HUNTING AND TRAPPING

The minimum goal for recovery for grey wolves in the northern Rockies was 30 breeding pairs and a minimum of 300 individual wolves for at least three consecutive years. This goal was reached in 2002, the Interior Department said.

"Three hundred animals is not enough for the wolves to survive in the long run," said the council's Louisa Willcox. "Far more wolves are needed before the species can be considered truly recovered."

Once federal protections are removed, state management plans will go into effect, the department said in a statement.

The environmental group Natural Resources Defence Council called the delisting of these wolves premature and said the states of Montana, Idaho and Wyoming have stated they plan to allow hunting, trapping and other killing of wolves under their state management plans.

In a statement, the group said the recovery goal should be at least 2,500 to 5,000 wolves across the three states.

The Sierra Club's Melanie Stern criticized the government's decision, saying, "We still have a long way to go before wolf populations are sustainable over the long term."

Bangs disputed this, noting that one reason grey wolf populations have grown in this area is due to effective state management of deer, elk and moose, which are prey for wolves.

"The bottom line is, wolves are just an amazing animal and there's really, really good habitat," Bangs said. "The big fear is that somehow all the success is just going to be squandered by the states, and we know that's not true."

(Editing by Sandra Maler)

Wolves to be removed from species list
Matthew Brown, Associated Press Writer Yahoo News 22 Feb 08;

Gray wolves in the Northern Rockies will be removed from the endangered species list, following a 13-year restoration effort that helped the animal's population soar, federal officials said Thursday.

An estimated 1,500 wolves now roam Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. That represents a dramatic turnaround for a predator that was largely exterminated in the U.S. outside of Alaska in the early 20th century.

"Gray wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains are thriving and no longer require the protection of the Endangered Species Act," said Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett. "The wolf's recovery in the Northern Rocky Mountains is a conservation success story."

The restoration effort, however, has been unpopular with ranchers and many others in the three states since it began in the mid-1990s, and today some state leaders want the population thinned significantly.

The states could allow hunters to target the animals as soon as this fall. That angers environmental groups, which plan to sue over the delisting and say it's too soon to remove federal protection.

"The enduring hostility to wolves still exists," said Earthjustice attorney Doug Honnold, who is preparing the lawsuit. "We're going to have hundreds of wolves killed under state management. It's a sad day for our wolves."

Plans submitted by Idaho, Montana and Wyoming indicate the states will likely maintain between 900 and 1,250 wolves for the foreseeable future, federal officials said.

Wolves have increasingly preyed on livestock as they expanded into new territories. At the same time, ranchers and wildlife agents have made more wolf kills, which are allowed under the Endangered Species Act in response to livestock conflicts.

Since the late 1980s, 724 wolves have been killed legally, and roughly the same number are estimated to have been killed illegally by poachers. Despite that, the overall population has continued to grow at the rate of 24 percent a year.

"We've been managing wolves pretty aggressively for livestock problems, but there are still a ton of wolves over a big area," said Ed Bangs, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist who led the wolf recovery effort.

The wolf was nearly wiped out in the West through a government eradication program in the 1930s that included widespread poisoning of wolves. In the late 1980s the wolf had just 200 square miles of territory around Glacier National Park, in Montana near the Canadian border.

Wolves were listed as endangered in 1974, and the government has spent more than $27 million on recovery efforts in the Northern Rockies.

Since an initial 66 wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in the mid-1990s, their population has grown rapidly. The wolf's territory now covers an estimated 113,000 square miles, Bangs said.

Public hunting could significantly decrease the size of the wolf's range. It could also reduce the chance of wolves spreading to neighboring states such as Utah, Colorado, Oregon and Washington.

However, an independent wolf biologist said he would be "shocked" if the animal again ends up on the endangered list.

"The last thing any of the states want is for wolves to be re-listed by the federal government," said Daniel Pletscher, director of the University of Montana's wildlife biology program. He added that tolerance of wolves has grown immensely since the species was nearly wiped out.

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As South American Rivers Dry Up, Miners Tap Ocean

Terry Wade, PlanetArk 22 Feb 08;

CERRO LINDO - Vast mines in Peru and Chile that supply the world with crucial metals have started to pump water from the Pacific Ocean high into the Andes Mountains because of chronic water shortages exacerbated by climate change.

Tapping seawater allows miners to avoid relying on unpredictable rivers, which may run dry as glaciers melt, and avert clashes with farmers who draw their water from creeks in poor mountain villages.

"Water always generates conflicts between mines and farmers, so this is a good alternative because the source is limitless," said German Arce, who runs Peru's newest big mine, Cerro Lindo, owned by Peruvian miner Milpo. Ocean water is free, except for transportation and treatment.

Cerro Lindo relies entirely on sea water, filtered in a desalination plant and sent 6,000 feet (1,800 m) into the barren Andes in a thick green hose to the mine; its zinc, copper and lead refinery; and 700 workers who live there.

In Chile, Antofagasta Minerals soon will open the $1.5 billion Esperanza gold and copper mine. Like Cerro Lindo in Peru, it will be the country's first mine totally dependent on the sea.

The Esperanza project, set in the Atacama, one of the world's driest deserts, will pump sea water through 90 miles (145 km) of pipe to an altitude of 7,545 feet (2,300 meters).

The average mine requires millions of gallons of water during the course of its life, some 40 years, making access to reliable water increasingly crucial as global warming looms and cities grow.

More mines near the desert coasts of Chile and Peru plan to install desalination plants soon. Costs of the elaborate filtration systems have fallen over the last decade, while lofty global metals prices, boosted by demand from fast-growing Asia, may keep profits high for years to come.

Engineers in Peru from Southern Copper, a major metals producer, and Mitsui Mining & Smelting Co's 5706.TK1 Santa Luisa mine have inspected Cerro Lindo's sea water system as they plan for the future, Arce said.

Chile's Escondida mine, the world's biggest copper mine, may expand a desalination system it installed years ago, said a spokesman at BHP Billiton, the mine's owner.

"It's working really well and we are thinking of expanding it," he said. The existing plant supplies a quarter of all water at the mine.


WATER CONFLICTS

Mining drives the Peruvian and Chilean economies, and is chiefly responsible for their exports. But conflicts over water, especially in Peru, where they often turn violent, have delayed billions of dollars of investments in new mines.

Poor residents in Peruvian mountain towns, afraid of losing access to fresh water, have delayed Zijin Mining Group of China's $1.4 billion Rio Blanco copper project and Anglo American's Quellaveco copper project.

Strident communities concerned about pollution have also forced companies to scrap plans for new mines, including Newmont's Cerro Quilish gold project, and the Tambo Grande gold project of a small Canadian company.

"The scarcity of water will cause economic conflict - it already has in parts of Peru, and it will affect the development of industry," said Jorge Alvarez Lam, climate change specialist with the Peruvian government.

(Additional reporting by Dana Ford in Lima and Pav Jordan in Santiago; Editing by David Gregorio)

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New solar energy research institute to conduct world-class R&D

Channel NewsAsia 21 Jan 08;

SINGAPORE: Singapore has set up a National Research Institute on Solar Energy, in line with its push to be a leading player in the clean energy sector.

Singapore hopes to be one of the front-runners in solar energy research in Asia, as the global solar market is poised to more than triple to over US$100 billion by 2011.

The institute was jointly established by the Economic Development Board (EDB) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) at an investment cost of S$130 million over five years.

The institute will start operations in April and it will be headed by Professor Joachim Luther, a leading expert in solar energy applications and technology.

Professor Luther is a former director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems - Europe's largest solar energy R&D institute - and Professor of Physics at the University of Freiburg in Germany.

He will head the Singapore institute on a two-year tenure. The institute will start with a staff of 25 researchers, but the number is expected to grow to 90 by 2012.

The institute will also provide opportunities for graduate students to participate in research projects. It plans to produce up to 50 PhD and 20 Masters students by 2012.

The institute will conduct research in the production of silicon-based solar cells and aims to create more effective photovoltaic devices that can convert light into electricity.

It will work with the construction industry to develop energy-efficient buildings, such as having window panes to trap light for energy and solar-assisted air conditioning. - CNA/ir

Solar research institute launched at NUS
Matthew Phan, Business Times 22 Feb 08;

THE Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (Seris) was launched yesterday - a move government officials say fills a critical gap in the clean-energy eco-system here.

To be headed by a former director of Germany's Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems - the leading institution of its kind in one of the world's largest solar markets - Seris will receive $130 million of funding over the next five years.

While this is less than the Fraunhofer's annual 60 million euro (S$124.7 million) budget, it is 'quite reasonable', said Seris CEO Joachim Luther, who has a PhD in atomic physics but veered into renewable energy research in 1980.

'I sit on several advisory boards and give advice,' Prof Luther said. 'But what I like is to really move things. And for that you need a piano to play on.'

Prof Luther, 67, retired two years ago from the directorship of the Fraunhofer Institute, a post he held for 13 years. After hearing he was available, the Economic Development Board (EDB) approached him in July last year. 'We were very eager to have him choose us,' said EDB managing director Ko Kheng Hua. 'The lack of a research institute was a gap. Now with Seris, we've finally got it plugged.'

Seris, which it is hoped will be operational by April, will have 25 researchers at first, with the number expected to grow to 90 people in five years.

It will focus on three areas of research:

(i) driving down the cost of making silicon-based solar cells and reducing the amount of silicon used;

(ii) developing new materials to convert solar energy, such as by using nanotechnology; and

(iii) integrating solar power devices into buildings, such as smart windows, solar-assisted airconditioning or solar energy storage devices.

The new institute will be part of the National University of Singapore (NUS), a connection Prof Luther said is essential. Advances in solar energy are driven strongly by basic advances in the physical sciences, so it is vital that researchers across disciplines, like materials science or process engineering, share ideas.

One idea, for example, is to embed wax seals in walls. Wax can be engineered to melt at 25° Celsius, which means that as temperatures rise beyond that level, the melting wax - which stays at 25° Celsius until completely melted - stabilises the building's temperature at that level. The method has been successfully used to avoid airconditioning during German summers, said Prof Luther.

But even with Seris up and running, Singapore looks unlikely to move beyond research grants to offer fiscal incentives for mass adoption of solar cells. 'We want to create lead-users first. When we see results, then we will move to the next step,' said EDB's Mr Ko.

Singapore sets up R&D centre for solar energy
With $130m budget over 5 years, it aims to be top research centre in Asia
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 22 Feb 08;

HARNESSING the sun's heat to cool a building might seem counter-intuitive.

But innovative ideas such as this are exactly what Singapore's newly established solar research institute hopes to turn into reality.

A new research and development (R&D) centre to cement Singapore's position as a serious solar energy player was unveiled yesterday.

It was set up by the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the multi-agency Clean Energy Programme Office, managed by the Economic Development Board (EDB).

The Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore, or Seris, will get $130 million to spend over the next five years and aims to be a leading solar R&D centre in Asia, said EDB yesterday.

The centre has scored a coup by attracting Professor Joachim Luther from Germany, outgoing head of the world-renowned Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, one of Europe's leading solar energy R&D centres.

Prof Luther said he was offered the post of Seris chief executive by NUS and EDB after talks that started last July. He said he was attracted by the opportunities here.

'I like to make things happen - $130 million is a very reasonable budget and we can do a lot,' said Prof Luther. He will lead an initial team of 25 researchers at Seris, which will begin operations in April at a location near NUS.

It aims to have a laboratory size of 5,000 sq m in the next five years.

Prof Luther said yesterday the centre's holy grail is to bring down the costs of harvesting solar energy by 50 to 70 per cent through R&D.

Three research focus areas have also been identified: R&D in silicon-based solar cells to find more efficient ways of using silicon, novel photovoltaic devices and materials and innovative solutions for solar and energy efficient buildings.

Prof Luther added that he has already contacted several top-notch foreign solar researchers to join the team. The institute expects to grow to 90 researchers, and produce 50 doctorate and 20 master's students in five years.

EDB managing director Ko Kheng Hwa described Seris as filling a 'critical R&D gap' in Singapore's solar sector.

Minister of State for Trade and Industry S. Iswaran, who was guest of honour at the launch, cited the event as 'yet another milestone in Singapore's development of the clean energy eco-system'.

The global solar market was estimated at US$30 billion (S$42.4 billion) last year and is projected to continue its strong growth rate to reach more than US$100 billion by 2011, said Mr Iswaran.

'Successful R&D has been and will continue to be the differentiating factor between the success stories,' he said.

Industry players such as Mr Christophe Inglin, managing director of solar firm Phoenix Solar, welcomed the news, saying that such an R&D institute was 'long overdue'.

'The research areas are also commendable, and well positioned to break new ground,' said Mr Inglin. 'What's left missing in the whole picture now is a local market for us to try the technology out ourselves.'

Bright future in solar research
Funding for new institution a sign of Govt's commitment
Jinny Koh, Straits Times 22 Feb 08;

CHEAPER solar energy in five years' time, perhaps by as much as half the current levels.

That is among the key goals of Singapore's first-ever institution dedicated to solar research — the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (Seris) — as it prepares to expand research and development in this field.

And Seris will get part of a $350-million fund the Government has set aside for the clean energy industry, a sign of official commitment to going green even though there have been criticisms that the recently-announced Budget lacked initiatives that would encourage businesses to be pro-environment.

Minister of State for Trade and Industry S Iswaran said the Government had identified the clean energy industry, especially solar, as a key growth area for Singapore.

"As a sign of our commitment, the Government has allocated a total of $350 million of public funding, including $170 million from the National Research Foundation, to develop R&D capabilities and manpower for this sector," said Mr Iswaran, who was the guest-of-honour at the launch of Seris, which will be located at the National University of Singapore (NUS).

Professor Joachim Luther (picture), who will head the Seris team, identified the high costs of using solar energy as one of the issues that his researchers would have to grapple with.

"The cost is a problem because all the technologies already exist … so, they are not the problem. Our main goal is to bring the cost down," said the German, who was the former director of Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, Europe's largest solar energy research and development institution.

Prof Luther estimates that the costs of using solar energy can be halved to $0.30 kilowatt per hour in five years' time.

Another Seris goal, he added, would be to create new applications for solar energy, such as using solar heat to air-condition buildings.

While Seris prepares to expand its research and development in this field, the Economic Development Board (EDB) is also working, step by step, towards getting more mainstream users to adopt solar energy.

For example, under the Green Mark programme — a scheme that recognises buildings for environmental sustainability — all new buildings must have its certification from April. The eventual aim is to get all households to adopt the certification in future.

Speaking at a press conference, EDB's managing director Ko Kheng Hwa said he hopes that such a gradual approach "will provide the awareness and captivate general users to hop into adoption of solar energy".

Seris is a partnership between the NUS and the Clean Energy Programme Office, which is managed by the EDB. The institute hopes to start with 25 researchers and grow to 90 over five years. It also expects to receive a total of $130 million in funding.

Seris will be focusing on three key areas of research: Silicon-based solar cells; novel photovoltaic devices and materials; and innovative components for solar and energy efficient buildings.

While other countries might be ahead of Singapore in harnessing solar energy at present, Professor Barry Halliwell, deputy president for research and technology at the NUS, believes that Singapore can still differentiate itself from the pack.

"We can be smarter, faster and more organised than anywhere else. That's something Singapore does very well," he said.

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