NEA to have new CEO from Jan 1

Channel Newsasia, 24 October 2008

SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency will have a new chief executive officer in 2009.

Mr Andrew Tan Kok Kiong will take over from incumbent Mr Lee Yuen Hee on January 1, 2009.

Mr Tan is currently the deputy secretary (special duties) in the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources.

The 41-year-old is concurrently the director of Centre for Liveable Cities in the National Development Ministry.

He began his career with the Administrative Service in the Ministry of Information and the Arts, and held senior appointments in the defence and foreign affairs ministries.

Between 2002 and 2004, he was also the principal private secretary to Senior Minister and later Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.

Mr Tan has a First Class Honours degree in History from King's College, University of London and holds a Masters in Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.

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Best of our wild blogs: 24 Oct 08

Common Flameback’s tongue
on the Bird Ecology Study Group blog

Asia Environmental News: 24 Oct 08
on the AsiaIsGreen blog

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Rare Shark Makes Waves in Dubai

Luxury Resort Puts Threatened Fish on Display in Lobby Tank, Setting Off Protests and Campaign for Its Release

Ellen Knickmeyer, Washington Post 24 Oct 08;

"Already, other resorts are talking about getting their whale sharks. We don't know how many whale sharks there are, but all the sharks there are need to be out in the ocean where they're capable of carrying out their normal lives and breeding."

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- One day this summer, a fisherman spotted a 14-foot shark off this high-rise Persian Gulf boomtown. The polka dots on the creature's back showed she was a whale shark, an internationally protected species.

The fisherman, according to local news reports and the United Arab Emirates' Environment Ministry, was working on consignment, charged by a new $1.5 billion, ocean-themed resort here with finding exotic fish for its aquariums and water park.

Today, the shark is the star attraction in a tank in the black marble lobby of the newly opened Atlantis, a project of a state-owned development company and a foreign developer best known for founding the Sun City resort in apartheid-era South Africa. Guests pay $7,500 a night to stay in Atlantis's Poseidon and Neptune suites, where a glass wall affords a private view of the whale shark and the smaller fish in her tank. Diners in a seafood restaurant run by a Michelin three-star chef enjoy the same view.

Developers are generally the unchallenged heroes of Dubai's $1 trillion-plus building boom. There was no outcry last year, for example, when authorities deported hundreds of predominantly South Asian construction workers -- legally entitled to neither a minimum wage nor the right to strike -- for staging a protest for better pay.

But the fate of the freckled gray shark has caught public attention, suggesting that even Dubai's culture of developer-driven excess has its limits.

An Emirates-based newspaper, the Gulf News, is waging a Free Sammy the Shark campaign -- editors said they named the shark before the hotel disclosed it was female. The newspaper runs photos of residents wearing badges showing Sammy and calling for her release.

A Gulf News countdown keeps track of the shark's days behind glass, which numbered 47 as of Thursday.

Emirates residents started a Facebook campaign that has attracted more than 8,000 members. "This poor whale shark was caught off the shores of Dubai and needs to be put back where it belongs before she dies!!!" its mission statement declares.

Animal advocacy organizations, marine science associations and hotel industry publications have condemned Sammy's confinement. Other whale sharks in captivity include specimens at aquariums in Japan and in Atlanta.

"There's not a true scientific reason to keep the whale shark in a tank. It's clear that they brought it as an attraction," said Azzedine Downes, the Dubai-based vice president of the International Fund for Animal Welfare. "To remove a female from the population just further endangers the species."

Spokeswomen in the United States and Dubai for the hotel's lead owner, South African Sol Kerzner, did not return repeated calls for comment.

Kerzner has withstood tougher protests. His Sun City resort in South Africa inspired the Steve Van Zandt song that includes the refrain "I ain't gonna play Sun City" and became a symbol of international protests against South Africa's then-segregated government. The boycott lasted until apartheid ended in 1994; Sun City remains.

Hotel spokeswoman Ashley McBain, in a brief interview, denied a weekend announcement by the environment minister that Atlantis had agreed to free the whale shark. "I know that just as in the Bahamas, marine life is our number one priority," she said, referring to an Atlantis property in the Caribbean. "At some point the whale shark could be released."

A government-owned company, Nakheel, is the other main developer of the Atlantis in Dubai.

Last year, the Emirates and the Solomon Islands gave the Atlantis permission to fly 28 bottlenose dolphins here, a 30-hour trip from the islands. Environmentalists protested, saying that the bottlenose is endangered and that several Solomon Islands dolphins had died on display at other parks. Dubai closed its airport the day of the dolphins' arrival, heading off possible demonstrations by animal rights activists.

Trade in whale sharks is regulated by the Convention on International Trade of Endangered Species. They are the biggest fish on earth, growing as long as 65 feet. Despite their size, they are harmless to humans, feeding on small plants and animals that they sieve through their yard-long mouths.

Whale sharks can live 70 years, dive more than 6,000 feet and range for thousands of miles. They swim in both shallow and deep water, and researchers cite their curiosity.

The Atlantis announced the capture of Sammy in a Sept. 9 news release, saying the "whale shark was clearly under duress when it was sighted by a local fisherman." The hotel said it placed the fish in its lobby aquarium "due to the high temperature and salinity of the water" in the Persian Gulf. Experts say the Gulf and other warm seas are the shark's natural habitat.

Opposition to Sammy's confinement grew last week after Gulf News quoted the fisherman who caught the shark Aug. 28 as saying that the hotel had paid him and other fishermen to catch fish for display.

Asked about the fisherman's assertion, Abdul Razzaq Abdullah, an Environment Ministry spokesman, said hotel executives were "looking for one of every species," and added, "They wanted to bring their own boat."

Officials persuaded the Atlantis to use local fishermen to catch the exhibits, for the sake of local jobs, Abdullah said.

Leading whale shark researchers have urged the hotel to let them tag and release Sammy.

"It's such a dangerous precedent," said Jennifer Schmidt, a geneticist at the University of Illinois who is taking part in an 8-year-old project studying whale sharks.

"Already, other resorts are talking about getting their whale sharks," Schmidt said by telephone. "We don't know how many whale sharks there are, but all the sharks there are need to be out in the ocean where they're capable of carrying out their normal lives and breeding."

The Atlantis and the Environment Ministry say the captive shark is educating the public. In the hotel lobby, however, neither signs nor guides identify the shark for the tourists who pass through.

"It's beautiful!" said Chris Watson of Boston, a retired airline employee touring with former colleagues.

Watson and her friends were divided on the shark's confinement.

"Maybe with the pollution, they're better here," said Delila Serret, also of Boston.

"I love to see them, but I think they should be the same as birds -- free," Watson said. "Nothing should be caged."

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Lover of cities seeks extra oomph in Singapore

To be a global talent magnet, tolerance and 'everyday wonders' are vital, says urban design commentator Tyler Brule
Clarissa Oon, Straits Times 24 Oct 08;

There are cities where people are making a lot of money that aren't necessarily liveable.

CANADIAN media whiz Tyler Brule, a self-described 'huge risk-taker', knows a thing or two about going out on a limb for his career.

In the mid-1990s, as a hungry 25-year-old freelance journalist for a German news magazine, he had plunged right into covering Afghanistan's bloody civil war - until a bullet tore through his left arm during an ambush and put him out of action for months.

Mr Brule found himself recuperating in London in an 'ugly peach house' owned by his artist mother - and with nothing to read. It was a fate almost as painful as the shooting, one might imagine, from the way his matinee-idol looks wrinkle distastefully at the recollection.

'I was interested in travel, architecture, design, entertaining. I went to the news-stands and found that magazine didn't exist,' the 39-year-old said here last week at a talk organised by the DesignSingapore Council.

Despite having no business experience, Mr Brule started that magazine, Wallpaper, in 1996. It did so well it was acquired by media conglomerate Time Warner a year later.

In 2002, editorial director Brule left the lifestyle magazine catering for the well-heeled.

He is now in the more serious business of producing an international affairs magazine, Monocle, and is a strong advocate of the importance of good urban planning and design in helping cities draw global talent.

The 1 1/2-year-old magazine does an annual survey of cities that offer the best quality of life - a subject close to Singapore's heart as it aims to retain and attract the best talent from across the world to fuel economic growth.

The city state was number 17 on the inaugural list of the 20 most liveable cities in Monocle in August last year.

It fell five places to 22 in this year's shortlist of 25 cities, prompting the DesignSingapore Council, the Ministry of National Development and the Urban Redevelopment Authority to invite Mr Brule here to share his ideas on how Singapore can do better.

Other cities, such as Norway's capital Oslo and Tokyo, now bidding to host the 2016 Olympics, have also consulted him on the finer points of branding.

What this shows is that Mr Brule has again re-invented himself, as painstakingly as how he trained himself to write with his right hand after the Afghanistan shooting destroyed the nerves in his left.

The journal-size Monocle cost a hefty ¥7 million (S$13.5 million) to start up, and among other projects, he and 19 Monocle journalists spend three months each spring road-testing the most attractive cities to live in.

He now rubs shoulders with politicians and financiers and not just the superstar designers, models and architects of his Wallpaper days. He also writes a weekly column for London's Financial Times.

It is 'wonderful' to be 'having a political dialogue with governments, being able to make a political statement', the London-based editor-in-chief tells Insight over drinks at the Four Seasons Hotel.

Like a punctuation mark at the end of his sentence, he flashes you a brilliant smile, though his eyes flit about restlessly as he contemplates the next item on his packed, jet-setting schedule.

Rethinking cities as Wall Street bleeds

MONOCLE'S reach is ambitious, while slightly off the beaten track.

Its four bureaus and 38 members of staff in London, Zurich, Tokyo and New York track current affairs, business and design news on five continents, profiling noteworthy if occasionally obscure neighbourhoods, political figures and businesses alongside tautly-cropped, gorgeous visuals.

To keep operations well-oiled, Mr Brule spends 250 days a year in the air and on the road. The magazine is published 10 times a year, and its podcast-heavy website updated every week.

It is still a niche title, but he says its influence is growing. Monocle is the fourth best-selling news magazine on New York news-stands after The Economist, Time and Newsweek.

Liveable cities are a hot topic for the magazine's 160,000 readers in more than 80 countries, who work in fields such as finance, government and design.

'It's definitely someone who is either travelling a lot - and who wants to be introduced to where the opportunities and risks are - or someone who wants to travel in his armchair,' says Mr Brule of the typical Monocle reader.

The timing of the rankings is an important ingredient, he adds, revealing an acute sensitivity to details that could well be the secret of his publishing success.

'Bringing (the list) out in the summer, when people go on holiday and lie on the beach, I think that's when they think about how and where they want to live.

'That's a good time of the year to help people dream a little bit. Relocation porn,' he quips, a glazed, faraway look entering his eyes.

At no time is such soul-searching more relevant than in the current financial crisis, he insists.

'The currents of the marketplace are going to force a major rethink of business people over what they'll do, where they live - and it might be for the better.'

A frequent visitor to Japan, he gives the example of how much of Tokyo's current creative and entrepreneurial class are former salarymen who lost their jobs during the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

By sifting out the world's most liveable cities, Monocle aims to challenge existing quality-of-life surveys by human resource consultancies like Mercer, which Mr Brule criticises for being much too business-oriented and putting expatriates rather than residents first.

'I don't think the Mercer list is very fair sometimes. Cities which are sort of big and globally-connected like Bern in Switzerland, they're like cow villages, they're hardly cities.'

Bern was ranked No. 2 for personal safety among European cities by Mercer this year.

His point: 'You can't confuse a business city with liveability. There are cities where people are making a lot of money that aren't necessarily liveable.'

Monocle's ranking of liveable cities uses 'scientific' indicators such as the quality and affordability of public services, as well as subjective analysis about what makes each city tick.

For him, an attractive urban environment can be boiled down to what he calls the 'Three Ds' - density, diversity and good design.

What this translates into is a sense of bustle without being overcrowded, a good mix of enterprises and ease in getting from one point to another.

'There should be independent businesses and not just chain stores. The city should have interesting nooks and crannies and not just be designed on a grid.'

London is one city which he thinks lacks entrepreneurial diversity, something which could hurt it in the current financial climate.

'Its eggs have all been in the financial basket when it should be having a much more diverse base.'

As cost-cutting kicks in, he predicts cities will shift gears from one-off, big-bang projects, like Singapore's hosting of the Formula One (F1) night race, to more sustainable, community-based projects.

'It goes back to creating an everyday sense of wonder. F1s and Ferris wheels, I think, are band-aids.'

What Republic excels in - giving a great first impression

MR BRULE has spent time in many of the liveable cities identified by Monocle, including Fukuoka, Copenhagen, Sydney, Berlin, Madrid, Munich and Helsinki.

As for Singapore, he has been here 30 times, usually on one-night layovers and for work.

What the infrastructure-rich, efficient city state excels in is giving a great first impression, he says, citing the tree-lined expressway from Changi Airport to the city centre as 'one of the most beautiful drives to and from any airport, anywhere in the world'.

Singapore is also moving towards increasing cultural vibrancy and openness, but here, he believes, there is room for improvement.

Speaking to some 200 architects, designers, civil servants and students at the Drama Centre last Monday, he said the lack of tolerance was a key reason why the city state fell in Monocle's rankings this year.

Asked to elaborate by Insight, he says: 'If Singapore wants to push itself from a creativity perspective and wants to build a greater design community, you don't have to read Richard Florida's book on the creative class to know that cities need to be much more tolerant of other lifestyles, be they gay or otherwise.'

Mr Brule is known to be gay. The Guardian reported last year that he has a long-term Swedish partner.

Another tension he alluded to in Singapore's urban development is the fine line between good management and over-planning.

For him, cities that have the right balance of strong government and ground-up creativity include Zurich, Copenhagen, Munich and Tokyo - this year's top four liveable cities according to Monocle.

'It's hard, but I believe some things you can't engineer, and that just means being a bit more loose and open. I mean, how can you plan surprises?'

Five ideas for S'pore planners
MONOCLE'S editor-in-chief offers five suggestions for Singapore's urban planners:

# A shopping street to challenge Orchard Road

A second hub would keep the retail scene 'interesting and dynamic'. Singapore could take its cue from central Tokyo, which is about three times larger and has many shopping districts, including the upmarket Omotesando avenue, the integrated live-work-shop Roppongi Hills development, bustling Shinjuku and youth fashion mecca Shibuya.

# Get life onto the streets round-the-clock

Mr Tyler Brule's vision of a perfect high street is that it has something 'for young and old, early risers and night owls - a metabolism that runs seven days a week'. He thinks Singapore could take a leaf here from Taipei, known for its teeming night markets selling street food, as well as 24-hour bookshops, snack bars, businesses and convenience stores.

# Add a little light industry into the mix

He bemoans the fact that in many of the world's major cities, 'you've got these design industries but they can't make anything' because the carpentry or tailoring has been outsourced elsewhere. A good neighbourhood should also 'make things and not just generate ideas'.

# Develop your own architectural vernacular

Create distinctive indoor and outdoor spaces suited to the weather and lifestyle here. One good design idea for a tropical climate is Bal Harbor in Florida, a shopping mall in a tropical garden setting with coconut palms and ceiling fans.

# Leave some things to chance

Singapore's brand of efficient planning is both its strength and weakness. 'Great cities work because they are full of surprises. You can't plan everything to the nth degree, you have to leave some space at the margins.'

What scores
LIVEABLE CITIES

Monocle's criteria:

# Good flight connections and airport

# Low crime rate

# Strong public services such as education and health care

# Ample sunshine and bearable average annual temperature

# Excellent communications and connectivity

# Tolerance of different races and lifestyles

# Attractive architecture

# Quality, affordable public transport and taxis

# Strong local media and availability of international media

# Access to nature and green areas

# Innovative environmental initiatives

# Cultural vibrancy

# Ease of opening a small business

# Ease of getting a drink after 1am.

Which city scores

2008 rankings

1. Copenhagen

2. Munich

3. Tokyo

4. Zurich

5. Helsinki

6. Vienna

7. Stockholm

8. Vancouver

9. Melbourne

10. Paris

11. Sydney

12. Honolulu

13. Madrid

14. Berlin

15. Barcelona

16. Montreal

17. Fukuoka

18. Amsterdam

19. Minneapolis

20. Kyoto

21. Hamburg

22. Singapore*

23. Geneva

24. Lisbon

25. Portland

Which city scored

2007 rankings

1. Munich

2. Copenhagen

3. Zurich

4. Tokyo

5. Vienna

6. Helsinki

7. Sydney

8. Stockholm

9. Honolulu

10. Madrid

11. Melbourne

12. Montreal

13. Barcelona

14. Kyoto

15. Vancouver

16. Auckland

17. Singapore*

18. Hamburg

19. Paris

20. Geneva

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"Fitting 70% of roofs with solar panels achievable"

Time for rooftop revolution?
Fitting 70% of roofs with solar panels achievable, says seminar speaker
Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 24 Oct 08;

IF SEVEN in 10 buildings here were to wear solar panels like hats, enough power would be produced to meet 10 per cent of the demand, engineers reckon.

This would dovetail with the nationwide push to use energy more efficiently, in a greener fashion.

Using solar energy in a bigger way here, coupled with the use of energy-efficient appliances at home, could even halve power bills, said Mr Christophe Inglin at the Singapore Solar Challenge Seminar yesterday.

The 30 people at the seminar, organised by the Institute of South-east Asian Studies, comprised engineers, academics and policy advisers who shared an interest in solar energy issues.

Mr Inglin, chairman of the clean energy committee of the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore, said aiming to put solar panels on all rooftops here was unrealistic, but 70 per cent was achievable.

Doing this, he said, would generate 11,550 gigawatt hours of power - enough for the needs of 2.8 million people.

Although harnessing the power of the sun to create energy is kinder on the environment than the traditional burning of fossil fuels, it comes with a downside - big upfront set-up costs.

The prohibitive cost of solar panels - from $100,000 to a few million dollars, depending on the scale and technology used - has put some developers off investing in them.

City Developments Limited (CDL), however, has bitten the bullet and incorporated solar-powered eco-roofs into many of its award-winning residential and commercial projects, such as Oceanfront @ Sentosa Cove, City Square Mall and Republic Plaza. CDL said that, as a matter of principle, it sets aside up to 5 per cent of a development's construction cost for green design and features.

Tampines Grande, its upcoming commercial development, will have nearly 2,000 sq m of photovoltaic and hot-water solar panels on its roof - a feature expected to yield energy savings of 2.7 million kilowatt-hours a year and savings on maintenance and operational costs.

Private developers may also apply for a government grant of up to $1 million per project to defray the cost of their investments in solar energy features by at least a third.

The $20 million in grants which the Government is making available could spur up to 100 solar projects across the island in two years.

Singapore Technologies (ST) Kinetics has tied up with Singapore Polytechnic to develop low-cost solar cells priced within the budget of individual home owners.

A decade down the road, these cells will power cars, laptops, cellphones and even blenders.

Dr Yin Xi Kiang, director of the centre developing these solar cells, said they may cost 60 per cent less than current models, though still more than ordinary batteries.

ST Kinetics' chief technology officer Richard Kwok pointed out that because solar energy is free, it will still work out to be cheaper for the consumer in the long run.

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Singapore to develop 'food zone' in Jilin, China

SFI project will breed pigs, process and export pork
Lee U-Wen, Business Times 24 Oct 08;

SINGAPORE is beefing up efforts to ensure its food security for the long term, with discussions underway to see how to best develop a 'food zone' in Jilin province in China.

Sharing these plans with Singapore reporters yesterday, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that the aim was to build an integrated facility in Jilin city, located in the north-eastern part of China. There, pigs would be bred and farmed, with the pork eventually processed and then exported.

'This is a commercial project between our Singapore Food Industries (SFI) and the Jilin city government, and we have just signed a MOU (memorandum of understanding),' said Mr Lee, who is in Beijing to attend the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting which begins today.

This first-of-its-kind project for Singapore came up during bilateral discussions that Mr Lee held with Chinese leaders yesterday, just after he witnessed the signing of the China-Singapore free trade agreement (FTA).

'As (Chinese Premier) Wen Jiabao said to me, we can develop this and make it successful. Both countries can cooperate on issues of quality and safety in food,' said Mr Lee.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who is also in Beijing as part of Mr Lee's delegation, said that the go-ahead for the project would depend on the results of a joint feasibility study that is expected to be completed in the next six to 12 months.

'In the long term, our goal is to provide a supply of food not just for the local consumption, but also for export to Singapore, in line with our overall objective of ensuring food security,' said Mr Mah.

If successful, the Jilin food zone, in the initial phase alone where it would occupy five to 10 square km of land, could supply up to 10 per cent of Singapore's total pork demand, said Mr Mah.

SFI is a government-linked company. The food zone project will be driven by the private sector, with SFI likely to rope in several partners to form a consortium. The Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) will take on the role of food safety regulator.

While a pig farm is the most ideal way to kick things off, the food zone could well expand to include chicken farming and other products in the longer run.

'Currently, Singapore is buying food from many countries and diversifying its resources to ensure a steady stream of food coming in. Of late, the government has been studying this strategy to see how to build on this and go upstream and get involved in the production of food,' said Mr Mah.

'This food zone project fits in very nicely with that strategy,' he added. 'It can be one of the major suppliers of pork in Singapore, and help significantly in our food resilience.'

Singapore eyesfood zone in Jilin
Loh Chee Kong, Today Online 24 Oct 08;

ONE is a small country with an insatiable demand for food and a reputation for effective administration. The other has abundant resources but lacks the know-how to ensure food safety. Now, Singapore and China are looking to join forces in food production.

Singapore Food Industries (SFI) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the local government of Jilin City to carry out feasibility studies — expected to take six months to a year — to build a “food zone”, said Minister of National Development Mah Bow Tan, part of PM Lee’s delegation to China.

“The long term objective of this zone is to provide for supply of food, not just for local consumption but also for export to Singapore ... I think it will help significantly in our food resilience,” he said.

Mr Mah added: “Right now, what we are doing is to buy food from many countries and diversify our sources. One of the areas we need to do is to go upstream and try to look for opportunities where we can get involved in the production of food.”

The proposed food zone in Jilin will initially occupy between five and 10 sq km, with plans to supply five to 10 per cent of Singapore’s demand for pork.

Adding that its eventual size will be “many times bigger”, Mr Mah said: “We’ll probably start off with a pig farm, because this is one of the protein rich products which is suitable for the area, and go on to eggs, chicken farms or other products.”

Recently, China’s food regulatory regime came under fire after several products were found to be unsafe. While not making any reference to the food scare, Mr Mah pointed out that Singapore has a “very rigid and strict safety regulatory regime”.

“If we can implement a similar system to make sure that the food that is produced in this zone meets international standards, I think that would be a very significant contribution from Singapore,” he said.

Singapore eyes 'food zone' as next project
Straits Times 24 Oct 08;

BEIJING: After an industrial park and an eco-city, Singapore and China's next big project could be a 'food zone' in north-eastern Jilin province, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong yesterday.

In the first project of its kind, the zone could supply some five to 10 per cent of Singapore's demand for pork, bolstering the country's food security.

While it is a commercial project by government-linked company Singapore Food Industries (SFI), the Government is keen to lend it support.

And PM Lee signalled that by raising the project with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in their meeting yesterday. Mr Lee told Singapore reporters later that Mr Wen said the food zone - believed to be the first that China would embark on with another country - can be developed. SFI signed a memorandum of understanding with the Jilin government on Tuesday to conduct a feasibility study.

National Development Minister Mah Bow Tan, who is accompanying Mr Lee on his official visit, told reporters here that the study is expected to take between six months and a year.

If the green light is given, the food zone will be an integrated facility that covers the entire food production system. The plan now is to develop a pig farm, said Mr Mah, but chicken farming may be explored at a later stage.

'The long-term objective of this zone is to provide for supply of food not just for local consumption but also for export to Singapore, which is in line with our overall objective of ensuring food security for Singapore,' he said.

PEH SHING HUEI

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Marina Barrage completed, reservoir to be operational in less than two years

Pearl Forss, Channel NewsAsia 23 Oct 08;

SINGAPORE: After three years of construction, the S$230 million Marina Barrage is ready. It dams up Singapore's river mouth, forming a reservoir - the Marina Reservoir - which has a catchment area that is one-sixth the size of Singapore.

Right now, the reservoir contains mainly sea water. But when the monsoon rains come, the sea water will be flushed out through the gates into the sea, making it a freshwater reservoir.

Marina Reservoir will be operational in less than two years. Pipes are also being constructed to take the water to the treatment plants where it will be purified before being pumped to homes.

The barrage's crest gates also help with flood control.

Yap Kheng Guan, Director in charge of Marina Barrage, PUB, said: "The gates actually block the water from going into the Marina Reservoir. That is very important because at times of high tide and heavy rains, many of the low lying areas will be subject to flooding. By blocking the sea water from coming in, we will be eliminating the tidal influence."

The drainage pumps located under a building are capable of draining an Olympic-sized swimming pool in one minute. They will be activated when there is excess water in the reservoir.

The building also boasts Singapore's largest solar field with 405 panels. The solar field helps reduce daytime lighting requirements by half at the building, which contains visitor galleries and food outlets.

So the next time you want to take a leisurely stroll along the waterfront or find out more about how Singapore manages its precious water resources, you could check out the Marina Barrage, which will be opened on November 1. - CNA/vm

Behold the new barrage
It will soon become Singapore’s 15th reservoir
Esther Ng, Today Online 24 Oct 08;

AT $230 million, the Marina Barrage is more than just a water catchment area. In fact, the barrage, which officially opens next week, will serve up three benefits: It alleviates flooding in low-lying areas of the city, acts as a freshwater reservoir to boost Singapore’s water supply and doubles as a lifestyle attraction.

According to the Public Utilities Board’s (PUB) 3P Network director Yap Kheng Guan, reservoirs in other countries rarely serve more than one function. “(A reservoir) is either flood control or water catchment. The Marina Barrage could be one of the barrages in the world that offers three benefits,” he said.

Situated next to Gardens In The Bay and the upcoming Marina Sands integrated resort, the Barrage fits into the Government’s masterplan of a premier live-work-play destination.

“I believe the Marina Barrage will become a world-renowned venue for watersports events, just like the recent Wakeboard World Cup,” said Mr Paul Fong, event director for the Singapore Waterski and Wakeboard Federation.

The water level behind the Marina Barrage will remain at a constant level, making it suitable for water sports all year round.

There will also be bars and restaurants at the Barrage.

“I think it’s a good idea that they’ve created more public spaces; this will add to our urban lifestyle,” said Mr Darren Yio, an architect with SCDA. But, he added, we will have to wait until the integrated resorts open their doors to see how these activities will transform the area.

However, Dr Shawn Lum, president of the Nature Society of Singapore feels that while the Barrage is an impressive structure, it may result in Singaporeans “losing our sense of living on an island”.

“Not many people know that Boat Quay had fish and marine snails — marine creatures will all go when seawater is replaced by fresh water and the sea won’t enter our rivers twice a day anymore.”

Built across the mouth of the Marina Channel, Marina Barrage is Singapore’s 15th reservoir, and the first in the heart of the city. It has the island’s largest catchment, or one-sixth the size of Singapore, stretching from Ang Mo Kio to Alexandra and Paya Lebar.

The PUB plans to pump out seawater in the Barrage and turn it into a freshwater reservoir next year. The target is to make the Barrage a functioning reservoir by 2010 or 2011, supplying water to households.

According to Mr Yap, it costs twice the amount to purify seawater into potable water than freshwater.

And as Singapore’s drainage system channels rain water into its reservoirs, Mr Yap hopes that consumers will be more mindful about what they pour into their drains.

“While we are able to treat every drop of water to high drinking standards, we hope that everyone will learn to appreciate and cherish water, and take ownership of our waters.

“Only when everyone plays their part in preventing careless litter, silt from construction sites and pollution from industries from dirtying our waters, will we all be able to enjoy the waters in the Marina Reservoir, “ Mr Yap said.

Together with two other new reservoirs in Punggol and Serangoon, the Marina Reservoir will increase Singapore’s water catchment from half to two-thirds of the country’s land area.

Designed with green principles, it boasts the largest collection of solar panels — 405 in all — which convert solar energy into utility-grade electricity to supplement the daytime power requirements of the Marina Barrage.

The barrage is open to the public from Nov 1.

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Actions by ASEAN countries to control haze see positive results

Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia 23 Oct 08;

Phuket, THAILAND: Actions by Indonesia to control its haze problem have seen some effect. This was revealed on Thursday at the Sixth Meeting of the Sub-Regional Ministerial Steering Committee on Transboundary Haze Pollution held in Thailand.

The number of hotspots in the country has dropped to half the level seen two years ago.

And while open burning activities in Southeast Asia have increased, the level of haze has not gone up significantly - likely a result of efforts by countries to suppress the fires, and wetter than normal weather conditions.

Indeed, the region is likely to see average or above-average levels of rainfall over the next three months, according to the ASEAN Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC).

Progress has also been made in other fronts. Singapore and Indonesia are now finalising implementation details for co-operation in aquaculture and sustainable peatland management.

These come under the Jambi Master Plan, which deals with land and forest fires in the Indonesian province. It was first announced in November 2007.

By the end of 2008, Indonesia and Malaysia will roll out joint projects on the monitoring of air quality, rehabilitation of degraded peatlands, and zero burning techniques.

The ministerial steering committee will next meet in Brunei by May 2009 under the chairmanship of Malaysia, which takes over from Indonesia.

Separately, Brunei's Development Minister Pehin Dato Abdullah Bakar will be in Singapore from October 24 to 25 under an annual exchange.

He will meet with Singapore's Environment and Water Resources Minister, Yaacob Ibrahim, and discuss bilateral and regional environmental co-operation. - CNA/vm

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Clean & Green Singapore awards

High praise for gardens in the sky
Greenery Awards laud use of plants in building designs
Straits Times 24 Oct 08;

RUNNING up the centre of the posh, 36-storey Newton Suites is a wall covered in Trumpet vine which, at 100m, is the tallest in Singapore.

The Newton Road condominium, where units fetch over $1million, is also bursting with communal gardens and naturally lit common areas.

'We wanted to create a tropical feel with this sheath of sunshade, instead of a glassy one, to respond to the environment,' said Mr Donovan Soon, a senior associate at architecture firm Woha, which was responsible for the building's design.

Yesterday, that commitment paid off when the company was handed a new award designed to recognise the best 'gardens in the sky'.

Created by the National Parks Board (NParks) and the Singapore Institute of Architects, the Greenery Awards are meant to encourage builders to incorporate more plant life into their designs.

The push is a relatively new one, as designers and officials look towards adding a touch of nature to Singapore's monoliths of steel and glass.

Along with Woha, three other companies received awards yesterday.

# DP Architects won for its rooftop garden at VivoCity;

# DCA Architects was honoured for its outdoor terraces at One George Street;

# and Eco-id was recognised for its work at the Naumi Hotel, which features a steel mesh, draped over its exterior, laced with climbing plants.

NParks chief operating officer Leong Chee Chiew said that the award-winning buildings are not just meant to be aesthetically pleasing.

The greenery cools the premises, cutting the reliance on air-conditioning, and has a calming effect on residents and office workers.

Meanwhile, five constituencies, together with the South West Community Development Council, were recognised for their commitment to the environment.

They bagged the Clean & Green Singapore awards for efforts to encourage residents to go green by cutting back on air-conditioning and keeping housing blocks litter-free, among other things.

The awards are the brainchild of the National Environment Agency.

Winners will receive their prizes from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong next week at the official opening of the Marina Barrage, a complex that overlooks Singapore's newest reservoir.

PM Lee will also kick-start the month-long Clean and Green Singapore campaign with a three-day carnival at the barrage.

The carnival aims to show visitors how to adopt an environmentally friendly lifestyle.

More Singaporeans volunteer for Clean & Green programme
Channel NewsAsia 23 Oct 08;

SINGAPORE: More Singaporeans are showing an interest in environmental issues. A survey by the National Environment Agency (NEA) earlier this year found that 84.5 per cent of respondents felt inspired to practise good environmental habits, compared to 48.8 per cent in 2004.

The number of participants for the Clean & Green Singapore programme has also increased from 8,375 in 2007 to 11,414 this year. In particular, the corporate sector has shown significantly stronger support.

There has been an 18 per cent increase in the past year of organisations signing up as corporate environment champions - from 181 organisations in 2007 to 221 in 2008.

The Clean & Green Singapore programme includes activities which promote recycling, energy efficiency and climate change awareness.

This year, the programme will be launched by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the Marina Barrage on October 31.

A three-day carnival will be held there to mark the event and visitors can look forward to games, performances and exhibitions on green living.

For the first time, the Clean and Green Singapore Awards will also be given out to six individuals or community groups for their outstanding contributions to creating a green and sustainable environment in Singapore. - CNA/vm

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Dubai whale shark: snap shot of a losing battle

Plenty more fish in the sea? Sadly, not for much longer…
Azzedine Downes, The National 23 Oct 08;

For millennia, one of the most urgent questions confronting mankind was how to protect ourselves from wild animals. Today, that question is reversed: how will we protect our planet’s remaining wildlife from human threats?

The Arabian Gulf merits special attention as home to one of the world’s unique marine habitats. Five of the seven marine turtle species, all of which are endangered, can be found here among the Gulf’s rich reef ecosystem. The second largest population of critically endangered dugongs calls the Arabian Gulf home, thanks to its bounty of coastal sea grasses. Other marine mammals, including whales and dolphins, have been seen in these waters.

The Gulf is under relentless pressure from a wide range of human activity, including shipping, fishing, pollution and coastal habitat destruction. The immense scale and frenetic pace of industrial and commercial development along the Gulf coast is unparalleled. According to the Ministry of Environment and Water, land reclamation is one of the greatest threats. The Gulf’s shallow water and long flushing time also make it particularly vulnerable to pollution, whether from land-based industry such as petrochemicals, or from shipping effluent, a consequence of some of the heaviest shipping traffic in the world.

To be sure, much is being done in Abu Dhabi to protect, for example, the dugong. And with some success: there has been a sharp fall in recorded deaths of these most remarkable of creatures. But elsewhere, the problems multiply. Increasing salinity and higher water temperatures have been found in the Northern Gulf, posing serious threats to marine life there. And according to the United Nations Environment Programme, fishing stocks in the West Asia region are half what they once were.

At first glance, the story of a juvenile female whale shark being held at the Palm Atlantis resort appears to be about the fate of a single animal. Upon closer inspection, it offers us a snapshot of a much bigger problem – the losing battle that wildlife faces at the hands of humans.

As a concerned resident of Dubai, and as a director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), I welcome assurances from our Minister for the Environment, Dr Rashid Ahmed bin Fahad, that the whale shark will shortly be released.

Experts from IFAW and other leading conservationists worldwide have been quick to point out that a tank, no matter how large, is no place for the largest fish in the sea. Whale sharks can live up to 100 years and grow to 15 metres – three times the size of the Atlantis captive. These gentle, highly migratory plankton feeders are accustomed to travelling vast distances to feed, and regularly dive to 1,000 metres or more. It is doubtful that an enclosed tank of any size is large enough to allow such a fish to express its normal behaviour, no matter how lifelike the artificial habitat may be.

As Professor Jennifer Schmidt of the University of Illinois, a leading scientist with the Shark Research Institute, points out: “The longer this animal is kept in captivity the smaller the chance that it will be able to be successfully released.”

According to Professor Schmidt and other experts, we have little idea how many whale sharks actually live off the coast of Dubai, far less worldwide. But studies have shown that this magnificent species is declining in number, and there has been a population shift from older, breeding-age animals to younger, immature animals. This bodes ill for the species as a whole, since whale sharks do not breed until they are 25-30 years old.

It is important for the health of the species that all animals remain in their natural habitat, where they can contribute to the future whale shark population.

Sixteen hundred kilometres away, far less affluent Indian fishing communities have prioritised whale shark conservation over profit. In the coastal fishing communities of Gujarat, IFAW’s partner, Wildlife Trust of India, has documented 62 voluntary releases of whale sharks that had been caught up in fishing nets. The whale shark has been adopted as a symbol of these communities’ commitment to preserving the biodiversity of the seas.

Off the western coast of Australia, amateur divers are helping marine scientists to learn more about whale sharks while experiencing these creatures in their natural habitat. Each whale shark’s skin has a unique pattern. Dr Brad Norman and his colleagues at Ecocean are using photos and videos provided by diving enthusiasts to assemble by far the largest database to track the movements of the region’s whale shark population. With sound management guidelines to protect both sharks and humans, this creative linkage of ecotourism with marine science is a model with potential for other whale shark populations.

The Palm Atlantis is already a world-class resort destination. Its owners, executive officers and clients now have a unique opportunity to emerge as world-class conservationists. IFAW and our more than one million supporters worldwide encourage the Atlantis to release the whale shark immediately. Failure to act will pose grave risks to the welfare of this mysterious creature. Once she is returned to the waters off Dubai, our organisation and other responsible experts worldwide stand ready to work with Palm Atlantis to contribute to public understanding of the biggest fish in the sea.

Azzedine T Downes is vice-president for international operations and Middle East and North Africa director of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (www.ifaw.org)

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'Extinct' cockatoo rediscovered in Indonesia: researchers

Yahoo News 23 Oct 08;

JAKARTA (AFP) – A species of cockatoo feared to have become extinct has been "rediscovered" with the sighting of a handful of breeding pairs on a remote Indonesian island, researchers said Thursday.

Ten Yellow-crested Abbott's cockatoos were found on the Masalembu archipelago off Java island, the Indonesian Cockatoo Conservation group told AFP.

"We were excited when we found them in residential areas on Masakambing island," researcher Dudi Nandika said.

The group included four breeding pairs and two juveniles.

Despite the discovery the Yellow-crested Abbott's cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea abbotti) remains the rarest species of the bird on earth, he said.

It hasn't been seen since scientists observed a group of five in 1999, researcher Dwi Agustina said.

It was assumed that number was too low for the cockatoos to reproduce and the species had died out, Agustina said.

The local population of the cockatoo has been threatened by hunting and capture for the pet trade.

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Rare bird rediscovered on 'most pristine' island in southeast Asia

mongabay.com 23 Oct 08;

Scientist have rediscovered the endangered Wetar Ground-dove (Gallicolumba hoedtii), one of the world's least known birds, 100 years after it was last seen on the remote Indonesian island of Wetar, reports Columbidae Conservation, a UK-based conservation group.

Surveying the rugged, 3600-square-kilometer island for bird life, scientists working for Columbidae Conservation found Wetar Ground-dove to be locally abundant, recording the largest-ever documented gathering of the species of 30-40 birds at a fig tree.

The scientists also found the endangered Timor Imperial Pigeon (Ducula cineracea) to be locally abundant. In all, the expedition reported 39 new bird species for the island.

"Wetar Island is amazing," said team leader Colin Trainor. "It has an incredible abundance of pigeons and parrots, and bird life in general. For the Wetar Ground-dove it seems very likely that Wetar is the species stronghold."

"For its size it must be the single most pristine in South-East Asia," he added.

Wetar, which neighbors the island of Timor, is mountainous and 80 percent forested with cover "ranging from tropical evergreen forest to tropical dry forest, as well as Eucalyptus savannas and hill forest," according to Columbidae Conservation.

Still while the island is remote, is faces development pressure, including the construction of a road that could open up previously inaccessible areas. Columbidae Conservation says its surveys will be used to push for conservation of the island's unique habitats.

"Even without yet completing the fieldwork and analysing the data it's very clear that Wetar is a very high conservation priority in the region," said Dr. Jonathan Walker, director of Columbidae Conservation.

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7 new species of frog discovered in Ecuador

mongabay.com 23 Oct 08;

Seven previously unknown species of frog discovered over the past two years by Ecuadorian researchers are already under threat from habitat loss, reports a newsletter from the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group.

The frogs belong to the Glassfrog family, a group that is endemic to tropical America and has more than 140 species, of which 40 percent are threatened with extinction due to disease and habitat loss.

Of the newly described species, six were found in eastern Ecuador, one of the most biodiverse, but least studied, parts of the country. Research suggests that deforestation may already been impacting these species.

"A study developed to predict the distribution of glassfrogs from eastern Ecuador and to estimate the impacts of deforestation shows that deforestation may have already reduced up to 40% of the distribution ranges of all studied species," writes Diego F. Cisneros-Heredia, author of an article appearing in the Froglog newsletter (number 89). "Results indicate that deforestation has intensively affected the eastern Andean foothills (300–800 m above sea level), upper montane forests and inter-Andean valleys (above 2000 m a.s.l.), and the northern Amazonian lowlands of Ecuador. Predictions suggest that almost half of the habitats suitable for Centrolene audax, Centrolene buckleyi, Centrolene mariaelenae, Cochranella flavopunctata, Hyalinobatrachium pellucidum, and Nymphargus cochranae have been deforested. These species have been reported as largely absent in historical localities and are considered threatened."

The article recommends expanding in-situ conservation efforts in critical areas.

"Habitat loss represents a significant factor that threatens the long-term conservation of amphibian populations, not just destroying natural ecosystems but greatly diminishing the capacity of species to adapt to future changes, such as climate change."

The surveys were conducted by the Museo Ecuatoriano de Ciencias Naturales, King's College London, and Universidad San Francisco de Quito in coordination with researchers from other institutions including the U.S. Geological Survey and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.

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Cities pledge action on climate change

Harumi Ozawa Harumi Ozawa, Yahoo News 23 Oct 08;

TOKYO (AFP) – Leaders of 40 of the world's major cities pledged action Thursday to fight climate change, taking measures ranging from promoting solar energy to tracking genetically modified food.

Warning that crowded urban areas were especially susceptible to the planet's rising temperatures, city officials said they needed to take the lead in adapting to climate change.

"Very important actions are taking place by mayors who act," Toronto Mayor David Miller, the chairman of the so-called C40 climate initiative of cities, said after two days of talks in Tokyo.

"The focus of this conference was adaptation and particularly on measures that support adapting to climate change that is already occurring," he told a news conference.

The city leaders also urged national governments to commit to "drastic" cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, which are blamed for global warming, in the period after the Kyoto Protocol's obligations expire in 2012.

Some 40 cities are part of the C40 including Beijing, London, New Delhi, New York, Paris and Sydney. City planners from 32 of them took part in the Tokyo talks.

The cities charted out 13 areas for action to prevent the "urban heat island effect," in which temperatures tend to rise in crowded metropolitan areas.

The ideas include expanding green space in urban areas and building corridors to allow more wind and water to come into cities.

The city planners also pledged to look into renewable energies such as solar power and to introduce water retentive pavements. The widespread use of concrete is a key reason that cities absorb heat more than rural areas.

Another idea is to regulate genetically modified (GM) food and monitor the effects on global warming.

Advocates of GM food say it can solve food shortages in poor nations but critics say the crops' effects on health and the environment are untested.

Under the plan, each city can choose which of the 13 areas it wants to pursue to fight climate change caused by carbon dioxide and other emissions.

The cities that will monitor genetically modified food include Addis Ababa, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Toronto.

The cities agreed to study their chosen areas so that they can agree on concrete action when C40 mayors hold a "climate summit" next May in Seoul.

Of the cities, Tokyo opted to pursue the most ideas to fight global warming, agreeing to launch studies in nine of the areas.

Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara, an environmentalist with outspoken views, said it was crucial to take more than symbolic action against climate change.

"We brought here experts who are directly facing this problem so they can discuss specifically what should be done so that the Seoul summit doesn't end up just with abstractions," Ishihara told the news conference.

"Many municipalities tend to be reserved when faced with central governments. But the situation has reached the point where they don't need to be and even shouldn't be," he said.

Ishihara renewed his criticism of international deals on climate change.

He blasted as "spineless" last year's UN-led conference in Bali that set a goal of reaching a post-Kyoto Protocol climate treaty by the end of 2009.

The C40 conference agreed to send a representative to next year's talks in Copenhagen that are due to seal the new climate deal under the Bali process.

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Energy issues: Think outside the box

Nirmal Ghosh, Straits Times 24 Oct 08;

MS TRI Mumpuni Iskandar, an agricultural engineer and director of the Ibeka Foundation in Indonesia, is campaigning to replace diesel power generation with renewable energy among her country's most remote communities.

She has developed micro hydel energy for villages on Indonesia's remote islands. She showed pictures of these islands rising deep green above roiling tropical seas at the recent Asia-Europe Environmental Forum's 6th Roundtable in Dublin, which focused on energy issues to be tabled at a major Asia-Europe meeting in Beijing today.

Ibeka, like Sunlabob in Laos and Geres (Renewable Energy Solutions for Development) in Cambodia, is applying technology in poor communities in Asia. But one fact that emerged from the Dublin conference is that though the renewable energy sector is growing in Asia, there needs to be more technology transfer from Europe to Asia.

That should be good news, for the sector is growing in Europe too. Germany alone has created over 300,000 jobs in the renewable energy sector in recent years. By 2010, the European Union will have created 700,000 jobs in renewable energy.

But though alternative pathways to our energy requirements do exist, they are as yet rudimentary. Our energy system remains entrenched in fossil fuels, which contribute to global warming. The fossil fuel-based energy needed to run all Coca-Cola vending machines in Japan would be enough to power the entire country of Bangladesh.

Industrial-scale biofuel exists, but only to sustain the conventional automotive and transport industry as we know it. Moreover, biofuel production has contributed to a global shortage of grain used as food.

Mr Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the International Energy Agency, was at the Dublin conference and delivered a sober reality check: In order to meet the world's energy needs, we must consider the nuclear option.

'To achieve 50 per cent reduction of CO2 by 2050, the whole electric power sector would have be de-carbonised,' he pointed out.

'Half of that would come from renewable energy. But we need base-load generation, which can be from either nuclear or coal and gas with carbon capturing and storage. So at least quarter of electricity generation should come from nuclear.'

To make that possible, we have to build 32 nuclear reactors every year, from now to 2050, Mr Tanaka said. Somewhat superfluously, he added: 'It is a huge challenge.'

Given that, the only answer to our rapidly warming planet may be deep change in the way our economic system is structured. As Mr Tanaka admitted, 'it is very difficult to assimilate this (required) lifestyle change'.

'A really significant change is necessary in how we produce and how we use energy. A lifestyle change is necessary.'

'Decarbonising' our economic system - which means decarbonising our daily lives - is not necessarily incompatible with our survival. Decades ago, Mr Herman Daly advocated an alternative model of growth in his celebrated paper on 'steady state economics', in which he wrote:

'If you have eaten poison, it is not enough to simply resume eating healthful foods. You must get rid of the specific substances that are making you ill. Let us...apply the stomach pump to the doctrines of economic growth that we have been force-fed for the past four decades.'

Strategies like Clean Development Mechanisms (CDM) - trading carbon emissions to offset pollution - are unwieldy and complicated processes that have not done anything to restrain the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.

Mr Ismid Hadad, chair of the governing body of Kehati - the Indonesian Biodiversity Foundation - said at the Dublin conference that CDM is a valid instrument, but it is 'insufficient for the magnitude of the problem' that we face.

Dr Leena Srivastava of India's Energy and Resources Institute summed up the views of the Asians at the conference, many of whom work at the grassroots level, when she said: 'The bottom line is CDM is not enough; it is not adequate from the climate change of view.

'CDM needs to promote transformational change, not just incremental change. Today, the pressure...to change the development pathway is much more urgent.'

The Dublin roundtable provided input for the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting of 45 countries in Beijing, which begins today. Climate change is on the agenda.

China, which now is the world's largest CO2 emitter, may be able to show the way with its ambitious CO2 reduction plan. But the problem may be so great that even a large country like China may be unable to cope by merely fiddling with technology.

The thawing Arctic ice mass is now releasing more methane - a gas many times more powerful a driver of climate change than CO2. Leaders need to think outside the box of conventional energy- and consumption-driven economic growth.

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Australia plans electric vehicle network

Yahoo News 23 Oct 08;

MELBOURNE (AFP) – A US firm Thursday unveiled plans to build a massive one-billion-dollar (667 million US) charging network to power electric cars in Australia as it seeks cleaner and cheaper options to petrol.

Better Place, which has built plug-in stations for electric vehicles in Israel and Denmark, has joined forces with Australian power company AGL and finance group Macquarie Capital to create an Australian network.

Under the agreement, Macquarie will raise one billion dollars to build electric-vehicle networks in the country's largest cities -- Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane -- while AGL will power the system with renewable energy.

"We call it a ubiquitous charging network across the cities," said Better Place chief executive and founder Shai Agassi in Melbourne.

"We are investing in Australia's economy and adding jobs while helping the country take a generational leap forward toward oil independence," he said.

Under the plan, the three cities will each have a network of between 200,000 and 250,000 charge stations by 2012 where drivers can plug in and power up their electric cars.

The points would probably be at homes and businesses, car parks and shopping centres, he said.

In addition, 150 switch stations will be built in each city and on major freeways, where electric batteries can be automatically replaced in drive-in stations similar to a car wash.

Under the scheme, which is likely to strike a green chord in Australia where the price of petrol is also notoriously high, drivers will pay to recharge their cars through various power supply agreements similar to mobile phone contracts.

Drivers can pick a plan and rate that best reflects their car use.

Agassi stressed that the deal was crucial as people would only buy electric vehicles if they could recharge them easily.

Franco-Japanese automaker Renault-Nissan and General Motors are both planning electric cars to debut in the next next two years, but Agassi called on Australian manufacturers to develop their own versions.

He said Australian federal and state governments must now work out how they could encourage drivers to turn to electric cars, by offering sweeteners such as tax incentives or free power for the first purchasers.

"It's more a question for the government for how quickly they want the tipping point (towards electric cars) to happen," he said.

"Every government decides what they want to do. We believe that Australia, looking at all the alternatives, will pick the right mix for Australia."

John Brumby, premier of the southern state of Victoria of which Melbourne is the capital, said his government backed the plan.

"We support any initiative that will have positive outcomes in reducing emissions in the transport sector and welcomes this innovative approach to help make broad adoption of EVs (electric vehicles) in Australia possible," he said.

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Ethanol No Longer Seen As Big Driver Of Food Price

Sam Nelson, PlanetArk 24 Oct 08;

CHICAGO - Heavy demand for corn from ethanol makers was seen as a key driver of corn futures to record highs in June, but since then the sharp decline of corn along with other commodities shows that belief was mistaken.

Corn is down about 50 percent from its record high in June, even as the amount of the grain used to produce the renewable fuel in the United States remained the same.

"The record high prices were a speculative bubble," said Stewart Ramsey, senior economist for Global Insight, Philadelphia (www.globalinsight.com/)

"We had a lot of reasons for prices to go up and to go up a lot and ethanol use was one of those," he added.

US food prices, which normally rise by about 2.5 percent a year, surged by 4 percent in 2007, the biggest increase in 17 years. World food prices jumped a stunning 40 percent, causing food riots, hoarding and bread lines in some countries.

The government has forecast that US food prices will rise 5.5 percent this year and 4.5 percent in 2009.

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures set a record high $7.65 per bushel for a spot contract at the end of June. By the spot contract's price had been halved to $3.85 per bushel.

The use of corn to produce ethanol in the United States does add to the price of the grain. Analysts, including some in the ethanol sector, say ethanol demand adds about 75 cents to $1.00 per bushel to the price of corn, as a rule of thumb. Other analysts say it adds around 20 percent, or just under 80 cents per bushel at current prices.

Those estimates hint that $4 per bushel corn might be priced at only $3 without demand for ethanol fuel.

Federal law calls for production of 9 billion gallons of biofuels this year and 10.5 billion next year. The requirement increases to 36 billion gallons by 2022, with ethanol supply from corn capped at 15 billion gallons.

It takes roughly one bushel of corn to produce 2.8 gallons of ethanol.

The Department of Agriculture has earmarked 4.0 billion bushels of corn or roughly a third of this year's US corn crop for ethanol use next year, up from 3.0 billion bushels or about 23 percent of last year's record 13.1 billion crop.


MONEY SHIFT TO COMMODITIES KEY REASON FOR PRICE GAINS

Analysts said soaring corn prices were a symptom of big shifts of investment money into corn and other commodities. As big money began shifting out of stocks a few years ago, commodity markets like corn futures began climbing.

"There was a speculative bubble in the market and that's one of the biggest things that came out of the market is just that equity markets weren't good and for a while the money came into commodities," Ramsay said.

By mid-February non-commercial investors, including speculators, index and hedge funds and managed pools of money, held nearly 484,000 long positions in CBOT corn futures or 2.42 billion bushels of corn.

That would be enough to produce more than 6.7 billion gallons of ethanol and more than 20 million tonnes of livestock feed, according to the Renewable Fuels Association, Washington D.C.

By October those investors held about 240,000 long positions in the corn market, less than half the levels seen in the spring and early summer, the RFA said.

"We had adequate corn stocks, there was no shortage of corn, that wasn't the issue," said Don Roose, analyst and president of US Commodities, West Des Moines, Iowa.

"What we got into is the dollar went so low, crude oil went up and that inflated a lot of things...it was that factor of the least resistance moving up...it was an all-in attitude in the commodity markets in general no matter what it was."

US capacity to make ethanol has risen about 60 percent since last year to about 11.2 billion gallons per year and if all the new plants and expansions come on line total US capacity would be about 13.8 billion gpy.

(Reporting by Sam Nelson; Editing by David Gregorio)

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Potent greenhouse gas more common than estimated: study

Yahoo News 23 Oct 08;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – A potent greenhouse gas many thousands of times more effective at warming the world's atmosphere than carbon dioxide (CO2) is four times more prevalent than previously thought, according to a study released Thursday.

Researchers using a new NASA-funded measurement network discovered there was 4,200 metric tons of the gas nitrogen trifluoride in the atmosphere in 2006, not 1,200 tons as previously estimated for that year.

In 2008 there are 5,400 metric tons of the gas in the atmosphere, an average of an 11 percent tonnage increase per year, said Ray Weiss, head of the research team from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California.

Nitrogen trifluoride, which could not be detected in the atmosphere using previous techniques, is 17,000 times more potent as a global warming agent than a similar mass of CO2.

Emissions of nitrogen trifluoride, which is one of several gases used during the manufacture of liquid crystal flat-panel TV displays and electronic microcircuits, were previously considered so low that the gas was not thought to be a significant potential contributor to global warming.

As such the gas was not covered by the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions signed by 182 countries, but not by some industrialized nations including the United States.

"Accurately measuring small amounts of nitrogen trifluoride in air has proven to be a very difficult experimental problem, and we are very pleased to have succeeded in this effort," Weiss said.

The study, published in the October 31 edition of the American Geophysical Union's Geophysical Research Letters, notes that together with the gas being more potent than CO2 at trapping solar heat within the atmosphere, it also survives in the atmosphere around five times longer than CO2.

At present, however, current nitrogen trifluoride emissions contribute only around 0.15 percent of the total global warming effect caused by human-produced CO2 emissions.

Greenhouse Gas Four Times More Than Thought – Study
PlanetArk 24 Oct 08;

WASHINGTON - Levels of a powerful greenhouse gas are four times as high as previously thought, according to new measurements released on Thursday.

New analytical techniques show that about 5,400 metric tons of nitrogen trifluoride are in the atmosphere, with amounts increasing by about 11 percent per year.

Ray Weiss of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, and colleagues said it had not been possible to accurately measure this gas before.

They said nitrogen trifluoride is 17,000 times more effective at warming the atmosphere than an equal mass of carbon dioxide, although it does not yet contribute much to global warming.

Previous estimates had put levels of the gas at less than 1,200 metric tons in 2006.

Nitrogen trifluoride, a colourless, odourless, nonflammable gas, is used to etch silicon wafers and in some lasers.

Writing in Geophysical Research Letters, Weiss and colleagues said they analyzed air samples gathered over the past 30 years under the NASA-funded Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment.

Weiss said nitrogen trifluoride needs to be regulated, as carbon dioxide is.

"From a climate perspective, there is a need to add nitrogen trifluoride to the suite of greenhouse gases whose production is inventoried and whose emissions are regulated under the Kyoto Protocol, thus providing meaningful incentives for its wise use," he said.

Michael Prather, an atmospheric chemist at the University of California at Irvine, noted nitrogen trifluoride is being used more commonly and predicted that more would be found in the atmosphere.

"It is now shown to be an important greenhouse gas," Prather, who was not involved with the Scripps study, said in a statement. "Now we need to get hard numbers on how much is flowing through the system, from production to disposal."

(Reporting by Maggie Fox, editing by Philip Barbara)

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