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.

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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.'

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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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