Green Purchases Can Be Motivated by Desire for Higher Status

Environment News Service 16 Mar 10;

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota, March 16, 2010 (ENS) - People will forgo luxury for green products when they shop in public, buying green because they want to be seen as caring altruists, according to a new marketing study by an international research team. But in private, when shopping alone online, people choose products that are comfortable and luxurious instead.

The research findings suggest that status competition can promote pro-environmental behavior.

"Green purchases are often motivated by status," says Vladas Griskevicius, assistant professor of marketing at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management. "People want to be seen as being altruistic. Nothing communicates that better than by buying green products that often cost more and are of lower quality but benefit the environment for everyone."

In the new paper "Going Green to Be Seen: Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation," Griskevicius and co-authors argue that green products can demonstrate to others that their owners are voluntarily willing and able to incur the cost of owning a product that benefits the environment (and society), but that may be inferior for personal use."

"Many green purchases are rooted in the evolutionary idea of competitive altruism, the notion that people compete for status by trying to appear more altruistic," says Griskevicius.

"Nowhere is this clearer than the highly visible and easily identifiable Toyota Prius, which essentially functions as a mobile, self-promoting billboard for pro-environmentalism," the authors say.

"By purchasing a Toyota Prius, for example, a person can signal to others that he is a pro-social, rather than a pro-self, individual," the study states. "That is, instead of buying a conventional and more luxurious car that would benefit only him, the Prius owner instead voluntarily chooses to benefit the environment for everyone - even though this act means forgoing the luxury of having a car with more features, comfort, or performance."

"A reputation for being a caring individual gives you status and prestige. When you publicly display your environmentally friendly nature, you send the signal that you care," says Griskevicius.

His teaching and research utilize theoretical principles from evolutionary biology to study consumers' often unconscious preferences, decision processes, and behavioral strategies.

For the study, 168 students at a large public university - 65 males, 103 females - participated for course credit. They came to the lab in small groups and sat at computers between partitions.

Status motives were elicited by having test participants read a short story. A group of control participants read a different short story that did not elicit status motivation.

Participants then made a series of choices between more luxurious non-green versus less-luxurious green versions of three products - a car, a household cleaner, and a dishwasher.

The non-green product was superior on dimensions of luxury and performance, while the green product was superior on the pro-environmental dimension.

In the absence of status motives, all three non-green products were more desirable than their green counterparts.

The study also showed that status motivates increased desirability of green products especially when such products cost more relative to non-green products.

"When you are motivated by status, you will forgo luxury features to obtain an inferior green product that tells others that you care," Griskevicius says.

For entrepreneurs and companies looking to capture the green market, the key may be getting the product to be purchased and used in public, the study concludes.

The paper "Going Green to Be Seen: Status, Reputation, and Conspicuous Conservation," published in the "Journal of Personality and Social Psychology," was co-authored by Joshua Tybur of the University of New Mexico and Bram Van den Bergh at the Rotterdam School of Management in The Netherlands.

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Are electric cars the future?

Robert Lea, Times Online 18 Mar 10;

It is the next big bet of the motor industry.

Nissan's commitment to producing an all-electric family car - and from 2013 manufacturing it in Britain - shows that electric is firmly the future of motoring. But only part of the future.

The Nissan Leaf, initially produced in Japan, is expected to hit British showrooms next March.

That is expected to be three months or so later than the first mass-produced electric cars arrive on UK forecourts: the Peugeot iOn and the Citroen C-Zero which are expected to go on sale by December at the latest.

What makes the Leaf different - apart from the fact that it will be partly British - is the volume that Nissan expects to produce, and the size of the car.

The Peugeot and Citroen models - essentially identical cars as they have the same French owner - are very much pitched at being a small runaround for the city. The Leaf is aiming at the small family market.

And while PSA - Peugeot and Citroen's owner - says it will look at producing around 15,000 vehicles a year initially, Nissan is aiming at many as 60,000 units a year by 2012.

When Nissan's Sunderland factory starts firing up in three years time, 50,000 Leafs a year could be British built.

But will all-electric be the winning new car technology of the future?

Enough of the world's major car manufacturers are pouring investment into hybrid technology to suggest an interesting battle during the next ten years.

Despite its recent problems, Toyota has proved with the Prius that petrol-electric is a flexible option that may attract far more of the market.

All electric cars have a range of up to 100 miles. Hybrids can run on electric in town and then get on the motorway to Scotland with a full tank of petrol. General Motors is also going down the hybrid rather than the all-electric route.

If green is the issue for many consumers, somes manufacturers argue that neither all-electric nor hybrid is actually the answer.

The nirvana for smaller cars is to market them with carbon dioxide emissions of less than 100g/km. Some carmakers argue that there are still so many efficiencies to be found in the production of the combustion engine and the design of cars that conventional diesel or petrol-fed cars could in the future be easily marketed as environmentally-friendly.

And will consumers wear the cost of all-electric?.

Industry estimates suggest that an all-electric car with its expensive lithium-ion battery will cost up £25,000 even after Government incentive subsidies of £5000.

The manufacturers say the cars would effectively retail at the equivalent of the customer paying £500 a month - not so different to the running costs of a conventional motor when you factor in the cost of fuel, vehicle taxation and other expenses.

But then there is the problem of how you "fill up" your electric car. Easy if you pop it on the charger in your own garage. But these electric cars will initially be targeted at city dwellers which generally do not have such a luxury.

What will be needed and what is envisaged is electric connection points on the corner of streets, or in car parks or at supermarkets. None of this infrastructure currently exists and it will need the political will and investment to make it happen.

Ultimately, reality dictates that there will need to be a mix of car technologies in the future.

It is a plain fact that if in 20 years we are all running around in all-electric cars, then we simply will not be able to produce enough electricity to power the cars.

We would have to build many, many more power stations and probably have to start burning more coal in power generators to feed the demand for all this electricity. How green would your green car be then?

The future of motoring is all-electric. And it is hybrid, And until the world's oil reserves run out some time at the end of the century, it will also be conventional, albeit cleaner, petrol and diesel.

The fun (and the pain) for the motor industry in the coming decade is the question of which particular technologies prove most popular.

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Companies scout opportunities in reducing carbon emissions

Chris Howells Channel NewsAsia 18 Mar 10;

SINGAPORE: Carbon disclosure is gaining momentum in Asia as companies feel the heat from climate change.

The trend is being driven by companies becoming more responsible about their emissions and awareness of their carbon footprint.

But observers said it's not all about corporate social responsibility or compliance. They said there is, in fact, money to be made from being green.

Sindicatum Carbon Capital invests in companies to help them upgrade their technology to reduce emissions and reuse the waste from their production process.

It said its experience shows that companies can transform pollution into revenue streams such as monetizing their hidden assets by converting pollution and production waste into energy or reducing emissions for carbon credits, which will in turn help to reduce their carbon footprint.

Assad W. Razzouk, group chief executive, Sindicatum Carbon Capital, said: "We put up the capital for you to upgrade essentially your equipment and while doing that save on your energy usage.

“If you're a steel producer using 500 megawatts of power in your steel plant, we can probably generate energy savings of upwards of 20-25 million dollars per annum in a sustained basis over 10 years.

Sindicatum said there are now ways where companies can reuse or convert bi-products into profit through environmental commodities like electricity or carbon credits.

The company also said there is a growing trend of Asian companies investing in projects to re-use emissions to help the bottomline.

Mr Assad W. Razzouk said: “Increasingly the reception has been much better because what we are fundamentally trying to communicate is the fact that the environment and running a sustainable and more efficient business is very good business. It's very good business in the sense that you, as a corporate, can improve your profitability by investing in your business in order for it to be greener, cleaner.”

With this simple approach, observers said companies stand to benefit by improving their standing among an increasingly responsible global investor base. - CNA/vm

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Cashing in on cutting carbon at home

Mira Oberman Yahoo News 18 Mar 10;

CHICAGO (AFP) – Can the promise of a free cupcake or some cold hard cash work better than dire predictions of dying polar bears and rising sea levels at getting people to cut their carbon footprint?

Two US-based startup companies certainly hope so.

Energy brokers in White Plaines, New York have launched what they hope will be a global exchange platform for selling carbon offset credits based on cutting home energy use.

They sold the first credit in January for 21.50 dollars -- yielding a 4.30 dollar brokerage fee -- and expect to sell the second in the coming weeks.

"It's an experiment," said Marissa Miraval, campaign manager for MyEex, which runs myemissionsexchange.com.

The concept is simple: finger wagging hasn't convinced most people to turn the lights off when they leave the room. But paying them a few bucks for putting a sweater on instead of turning up the heat might just do the trick.

Get enough people on board and it can have a real impact on greenhouse gas emissions. And those 20 percent brokerage fee will start to add up.

So far about 2,000 households have signed up and MyEex is working to get its method of using utility bills to track reductions certified as a legitimate carbon offset.

It's not clear whether the system will actually encourage people to cut their energy use or merely reward them for decisions they had already made.

But Miraval said it's worth a try.

"The carbon credit -- that's like the sprinkles on the icing," said Randy Wilson, who earned MyEex's first carbon credit after outfitting his Pennsylvania home with solar panels.

Wilson and his wife decided to get off the grid last year after their electricity company announced that rates were going to go up 30 to 40 percent.

They threw out their son's waterbed, switched to compact fluorescent light bulbs, and started unplugging things like computers when they weren't being used.

Then they installed a 58,000-dollar solar panel system that slashed their electricity bill from 120 dollars a month to zero.

Tax credits brought the cost down to 22,000 dollars and Wilson is earning about 2,700 dollars a year selling renewable energy certificates to area utility companies.

He figures it will have paid for itself in six years. And it saved enough energy in the first six months to power a television for 25,000 hours.

"The whole concept of saving money and getting paid to do it, that just boggles me," he told AFP.

"And when you think of the potential out there, there's hundreds of millions of homes that could at least earn one carbon credit a year."

About 17 percent of total US greenhouse gas emissions come from people's homes: heating, cooling, electricity and the noxious fumes emitted from decomposing household garbage.

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that adds up to four metric tons (almost 9,000 pounds) of carbon dioxide equivalent per person every year.

Joanna Smith was amazed at how easy it was to cut back on the electricity bills in her tiny New York apartment after joining Earth Aid.

The Washington-based company offers members points that can be cashed in for rewards like free spa treatments and discounts on everything from yoga classes to energy audits and organic baby clothes.

More importantly for Smith, it tracks utility bills and sends e-mails alerting her to how much energy she's using when she forgets to turn off the lights or unplug things.

"Because of the electronic billing that I have I don't even see a bill anymore," Smith said.

"I really had no concept of my consumption prior to Earth Aid."

Earth Aid, which got its start selling energy efficiency products online, spent two years developing a system which can automatically access and analyze electronic bills from most US utilities.

"We've always had a part passion on our team, a measure of quantification -- getting the facts in front of folks and doing it in a way that doesn't burden people," chief executive officer Ben Bixby said.

More than 160 companies across the country have signed up as reward partners and thousands of people are tracking their energy use with the free service.

One of the most popular rewards is a 25-dollar gift certificate at Founding Farmers, an upscale restaurant in Washington which sources its food from organic and sustainable farms.

"We looked at Earth Aid and just thought it was genius," said Dan Simons, who helped develop the restaurant.

Encouraging people to live more sustainable lives is part of the core mission of the restaurant, he said, and the program is a great way to reach out to a "warm target audience".

"If they care about that they definitely care about the type of food we're doing."

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 18 Mar 10

A new mangrove record: Ceriops zippeliana
from wild shores of singapore

The Trees are on Fire and she's fixing her hair: Tampines Wildfire
from You run, we GEOG

裕华园的冠斑犀鸟 Oriental Pied Hornbill in Chinese garden
from PurpleMangrove

Glossy Swiftlet steals nest materials from Baya Weaver II
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Leap of faith
from The annotated budak

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Push for Singapore students to learn from their environment

Karen Zainal & Zeslene Mao, Straits Times 18 Mar 10;

BRITISH children aged above eight can recognise more Pokemon characters than local wildlife, a 2002 British study found.

And the average American child can identify over 1,000 corporate logos, but only a handful can name more than a few of the plants or birds in their neighbourhoods, said another essay by writer Pamela Michael.

So how would young Singaporeans fare? While there has been no study either way, Raffles Institution (RI) principal Lim Lai Cheng thinks they would be no different. She feels Singaporean youngsters are just as disconnected from their communities.

'When we are tired, we go to the shops for retail therapy. I think as Singaporeans growing up in an urban setting, this is what we have become.'

That is why 150 participants, mostly educators from various primary and secondary schools as well as tertiary institutions, gathered yesterday for the inaugural Place-Based Education (PBE) Seminar, organised by RI, to look at ways in which students can learn from the environment around them.

PBE is a learning pedagogy - first introduced in the United States - that emphasises learning through real-world experiences, with the local community and environment as a starting point.

It is now a feature of some schools. For instance, Pei Hwa Secondary students have designed a heritage trail where they serve as tour guides, taking primary school pupils around the Sengkang neighbourhood.

The Jalan Kayu Heritage Trail, incorporating nature, food, history and even mathematics, is an avenue for inculcating in the younger generation an appreciation of the community near their school.

Also aimed at engaging students with their surroundings is the St Andrew's River Project, by St Andrew's Secondary School, a living lesson about riverine ecosystems and water quality.

Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State for Education and National Development, who opened the seminar, commended these schools for their initiatives. She said: 'Because of the rich experiences and interactivity these projects offer, students have developed a greater interest in their environment and community, in addition to becoming more enthusiastic in their studies.'

Educators accept that the idea of learning outside the classroom is not new, but RI hopes to convince teachers that 'it should be a pedagogy, and not just a one-off event', said Mrs Lim.

'We are proposing a schoolwide approach,' she added.

Mr Yap Wai Meng, head of department of humanities at Xinmin Secondary School, felt that PBE could be a key to producing more well-rounded students.

'What struck me at today's seminar was that PBE connects with the senses. If academic and non-academic departments can cooperate, it will allow students to develop in a holistic manner.'

Place-based education to get students motivated, caring & rooted
Jeremy Koh & Sharon See Channel NewsAsia 17 Mar 10;

SINGAPORE : Getting Singaporeans to be caring, motivated and rooted to their country is one objective set out by educators at the inaugural Place-based Education Seminar held at Raffles Institution on Wednesday morning.

Place-based education is way of teaching that emphasises hands-on and real-world learning experiences.

Through this method, educators hope to open opportunities for students to connect with one another, their school and community through deep, meaningful engagements and projects.

Senior Minister of State for Education and National Development Grace Fu said genuine growth and learning are only possible by connecting school activity with everyday experiences.

She said: "With its aim to establish the connections between youth, the school and the community, the pedagogy not only enables the delivery of the academic curriculum, it also facilitates holistic student development.

"It inculcates in our students a sense of belonging to the community and nation. Most importantly, it can make learning fun and effective."

- CNA/al

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AVA starts drive to get consumers to switch to liquid and powdered eggs

Sharon See Channel NewsAsia 17 Mar 10;

SINGAPORE: Make the switch to liquid and powdered eggs is what Singapore's food watchdog is trying to persuade consumers to do.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is doing this through a public education programme.

It roped in a famous chef Pung Lu Tin to cook up creative dishes to show that liquid and powdered eggs taste just as good as shell eggs.

Over the next four weeks, AVA will carry out cooking and sampling sessions at supermarkets.

Samples of liquid and powdered eggs will also be given to consumers so they can try these products at home.

Liquid and powdered eggs are not catching on fast enough and account for less than one per cent of egg consumption in Singapore.

They were introduced here six years ago and are used mainly by the food industry.

Singapore consumes about four million eggs a day and more than three-quarters of eggs are imported from Malaysia.

Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu explains why it makes sense to try different types of eggs.

She said: “It is important for us to have resilience in our food supply. If we over-rely on a single source for eggs, we will be vulnerable to outbreak of diseases. We want to create alternatives so that we have many supplies that could help us build up our food resilience.” -CNA/vm

Care for liquid or dry eggs?
AVA hatches ways to get Singaporeans to try alternative egg sources
Jessica Lim, Straits Times 18 Mar 10;

Eggs in liquid form being packed at a factory. Liquid eggs are often the main source of scrambled eggs at fast-food restaurants and found in products like egg noodles, cakes and ice-cream. -- ST PHOTO: DESMOND LIM

SINGAPOREANS love their eggs, consuming four million daily. But not so when the eggs come in powder or liquid form - even though they may have a longer shelf life and are safer.

It is a notion that the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) is hoping to change as it embarks on its second drive in six years to get Singaporeans to warm up to alternative sources of eggs.

Moving away from the shell variety is vital to Singapore's goal of ensuring diversity in food sources, said the AVA.

But a survey of 601 consumers conducted by the AVA last year found that only a third of the respondents knew of these egg alternatives.

This, despite the fact that liquid eggs are often the main source of scrambled eggs at fast-food restaurants and are in everyday products such as egg noodles, cakes and ice-cream.

Liquid and powdered eggs are also made from fresh eggs and are 'safer' because they undergo a pasteurisation process, which kills bacteria and possible virus particles. They also have a longer shelf life.

Yet only about 40,000 eggs are consumed or used in liquid or powdered form daily - mostly by restaurants and manufacturers - making up less than 1 per cent of the four million eggs consumed here.

Regular eggs are mostly imported, with Malaysia accounting for 77 per cent, while a small proportion comes from countries like New Zealand. The rest are supplied by local farms.

'Retailers are not selling these products because of lack of demand from consumers, and consumers are not buying them because of a lack of awareness,' said AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong.

The government agency first hatched its alternative egg drive - aimed at industry players like food manufacturers - in 2004, just after the bird flu scare in Malaysia led to curtailed imports, a five-fold increase in prices here and a shortage at supermarkets.

But waiting till disaster strikes before securing alternative supplies is often too late.

In a speech at the launch of the campaign yesterday at the Temasek Culinary Academy, Ms Grace Fu, Senior Minister of State for National Development and Education, said the bird flu pandemic highlighted the nation's vulnerability to sudden supply disruptions and the need for greater food supply resilience. 'We should not take this constant egg supply for granted,' she said.

The campaign, aimed at consumers, will start on Saturday. It will run for at least six months and include cooking demonstrations at supermarkets as well as distribution of sample packs and information booklets at supermarket chains.

The main drawback, however, is that liquid eggs cost about 25 per cent more than whole eggs, while the powdered form can cost twice as much.

But to consumers like IT manager Susan Lim, 53, it is the taste that matters.

'One is egg from a shell, the other is in powder form or out of a packet. How can it taste the same?' said the mother of two, though she agreed to try it.

Nutritionist Louisa Zhang noted that nutritionally there is no difference, and may just be a matter of preparation. Also, taste-wise, not many people can tell apart one from the other.

Supermarkets chains like NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong are working closely with the AVA and suppliers to introduce the products to consumers.

'It will be on Sheng Siong's shelves in two or three months if demand is good,' said the supermarket's managing director Lim Hock Chee. 'It might take some time for consumers to catch on, but it is important for us as well that we have alternatives on our shelves in times of shortage.'

Different types of eggs

REGULAR EGGS
# Unit price: About 15 cents
# Shelf life: Three weeks
# Imported from: Mostly Malaysia - and 1 per cent from Japan, New Zealand, the United States and Australia.
# Journey to the market: They are either trucked in from Malaysia or shipped from the other countries, then packed and transported to stores.

LIQUID EGGS
# Unit price: About 20 cents
# Shelf life: Three to 12 weeks
# Imported from: Australia, Japan, China, France and the US.
# Journey to the market: Regular eggs are washed, broken, mixed in tanks, pasteurised, packed and stored at below-freezing temperatures.

POWDERED EGGS
# Unit price: About 30 cents
# Shelf life: Up to a year
# Imported from: Belgium, the US, China, France and Denmark.
# Journey to the market: Regular eggs are washed, broken, mixed in tanks and pasteurised. The mixture is then spray-dried for three minutes at 170 deg C, cooled and packaged.

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Building a better way to reuse concrete

More demolition waste could potentially be used in erecting structures
Tan Hui Yee, Straits Times 18 Mar 10;

A STEEL mesh sunshaded box of a building in the dusty industrial estate of Kranji Crescent has been hosting a steady stream of visitors from China, Mongolia, Israel and France over the past four months.

Mostly engineers, contractors and academics, they come to gawk, snap pictures and peer at the high-tech gadgets at the Eco-Green Building.

The three-storey property built by civil engineering and building material company Samwoh Corporation boasts an entire level with fully recycled aggregate - or loose granite - in its concrete structure. It is the first such building in South-east Asia.

The visitors are keen to find out what kind of research was done on the material and how the building was constructed.

Concrete is made from granite aggregate, sand, cement, and water. While cement itself cannot be recycled, there has been increasing interest in recycling aggregate because of the environmental costs of mining the material and shrinking landfill space.

Currently, recycled aggregate is mainly used to line the bottom of roads and cast into road kerbs, rather than used in building structures, due to concerns about its strength.

To date, recycled aggregate has been used in relatively small quantities in landmark projects like Melbourne's Council House 2, a 10-storey office block; D�bendorf's Forum Chriesbach, the office of the Swiss aquatic research institute Eawag; and Singapore's 11 Tampines Concourse, an office building here by City Developments.

But it is not known if anyone has tried building an entire floor, including all its load-bearing structures, with concrete containing fully recycled aggregate. Samwoh, the Enterprise 50 winner last year, is among the first - if not the first - in the world to have done so.

Sustainable building expert Holger Wallbaum from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, when contacted by The Straits Times, said: 'This initiative is quite important to demonstrate the feasibility of such an approach, not only on the national level but also on the global scale as a lighthouse project.'

Indeed, the building is now being used by Samwoh to test and showcase new construction recycling technology. Fibre optic sensors embedded in its recycled concrete columns transmit live data about how much the material is being compressed from the weight of the building. It can show - in real time - whether the structure is functioning or failing.

But the latter is far from Samwoh's mind, which has conducted at least three years of research on this material, says Samwoh's technical director Ho Nyok Yong. The building now houses offices for two of Samwoh's directors, and about 50 staff from its research and development, technical and operations divisions. It also has a construction recycling gallery that is open to the public from 9am to 5pm on weekdays by appointment.

The building, together with its new asphalt recycling plant and concrete production plant, will be officially opened on Monday by Senior Minister of State for National Development Grace Fu.

The venture represents the biggest leap of faith that any building owner here has taken with regards to the use of recycled concrete.

It also gives the beleaguered construction industry something to crow about, after weeks of being slammed for dragging down national productivity statistics and being slow to undertake research and development.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) wants demolition waste to go 'upcycle' so that they are used back in buildings rather than low-value material like kerbs. The Ministry of National Development helped fund Samwoh's $4 million project with a $750,000 grant. About 2 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste are generated every year. The BCA estimates that about 1 million tonne of demolition waste - which yields about 600,000 tonnes of recycled aggregate - is recycled.

Samwoh shaved 10 per cent off the cost of concrete by using recycled aggregate in its Eco-Green building. But the bigger draw of recycling aggregate is how it could help Singapore hedge against supply disruptions like the one witnessed in 2007 after Indonesia abruptly banned the export of sand and detained ships carrying granite to Singapore.

Associate Professor Gary Ong from the National University of Singapore's Department of Civil Engineering, says: 'There is big demand for construction material and increasing concern of the environmental impact of quarrying. I can see material prices going only up.'

Concrete facts

# Concrete is the second-most consumed material after water. In 2006, an estimated 21 billion to 31 billion tonnes of concrete were used around the world.

# China and India produce and use over 50 per cent of the world's concrete.

# Countries like the Netherlands and Japan recycle nearly all their waste concrete. In the Netherlands, landfill of concrete waste is banned.

SOURCE: WORLD BUSINESS COUN

Starting small, going big
Straits Times 18 Mar 10;

SAMWOH started small. The first level of its Eco-Green Building was made with concrete containing aggregate - or loose granite - with 30 per cent recycled content.

But emboldened by success, it built the second level with 50 per cent recycled aggregate. Growing in confidence, its top level used 100 per cent recycled aggregate.

Working with the Building and Construction Authority, it went beyond the limits of Singapore's building code, which allows only up to 20 per cent of aggregate in concrete to be replaced with its recycled equivalent.

Samwoh had initially obtained a Ministry of National Development grant of $750,000 and help from Nanyang Technological University to build the $4 million building with 30 per cent recycled aggregate in its concrete. But test results - which came in halfway during construction - showed that it could go further than imagined.

Samwoh's technical director Ho Nyok Yong, who has a doctorate in the efficient use of waste materials in structural concrete, says: 'We wanted to see how far we could go. It's just like being an athlete, you want to see how fast you can run. You want to push yourself to the limit.'

According to sustainable building expert Holger Wallbaum from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, production of cement - which cannot be recycled - is responsible for the bulk of carbon emitted during concrete production.

Latest studies have shown that since a greater amount of cementitious materials need to be added to recycled aggregate to make concrete, using recycled concrete aggregates could result in a higher carbon footprint.

He says: 'That means in some cases, we are facing a trade-off between the protection of natural resources (gravel) and the contribution to global warming.'

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Shell's Bukom complex to open in May

Opening of petrochem facilities timely, as global markets recover
Jessica Cheam, Straits Times 18 Mar 10;

LONDON: Energy giant Royal Dutch Shell will officially open its highly anticipated multibillion-dollar petrochemical complex in Pulau Bukom on May 4 - a project almost five years in the making.

Chief executive Peter Voser told The Straits Times that the timing of the opening of the complex - estimated to have cost US$3 billion (S$4.2 billion) - was ideal, given the recent recovery of global markets.

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will be the guest of honour, he said.

Mr Voser shrugged off concerns of a supply overhang with new petrochemical complexes also firing up in Thailand, China and the Middle East.

He said he was confident the market would be able to absorb the plant's output of various widely used chemicals as demand for such products is picking up.

One key competitive advantage of the new Shell Eastern Petrochemicals Complex (SEPC) is its proximity to Shell's Bukom refinery, which is highly integrated into the new complex, said Mr Voser. This will give SEPC the flexibility to use different feedstock as demand changes.

The new complex will be Shell's largest integrated refinery and petrochemical hub globally, employing up to 200 permanent highly skilled workers.

Its annual production capacities include 800,000 tonnes of ethylene and 750,000 tonnes of monoethylene glycol, among others. These are used in a wide range of everyday products.

Looking ahead, Mr Voser said that Shell 'will look forward and see if we can do more'. If further opportunities arise, the company would be 'happy to invest in Singapore'.

Speaking at a media roundtable in London on Tuesday, Mr Voser also said that Asia is a key region in terms of Shell's overall investment strategy.

The firm is working with PetroChina and Qatar Petroleum International to jointly develop a refinery and petrochemical manufacturing complex in China.

On China in particular, the group's chief financial officer Simon Henry said that one key strategy is maximising exposure to the Chinese markets while helping Chinese companies go international and developing business together.

One example is Shell and PetroChina's A$3.3 billion (S$4.2 billion) bid for Australian firm Arrow Energy, he said.

This will help the firms 'develop a gas business together... and in time, deliver more gas back into China,' he said.

But even as it expands in the East, Shell is axing another 1,000 jobs worldwide to make itself leaner.

Mr Voser said when he took over the reins last July, the 'organisation of the company was working against us. Shell had become too complicated, and slower than I'd like'.

He said the cuts would involve down- stream and corporate positions. Countries like Singapore and Malaysia where there are good prospects for growth are unlikely to be affected much by the cuts.

The latest round of cuts brings to 7,000 the number of job losses that will occur between last year and 2012. The move will save the company some US$3 billion in costs in total, estimated Mr Voser.

Shell's company culture 'is being changed as we speak', he added. He has set the tone with a few objectives for employees: competitiveness, performance, accountability, speed and transparency.

'And then you walk the talk. You give accountability to people to drive it.'

Refining capacity has been reduced 18 per cent since 2002 and Shell is in talks over divestments in New Zealand and Europe which could see a further 15 per cent drop in refining capacity.

Although oil companies have been cushioned by production cuts by oil producing nations during the recent recession, Shell has been disadvantaged recently due to higher exposure to refining and natural gas, where margins are hard-wired to the economy, he said.

Many of Shell's projects - in Qatar, North America and the Asia-Pacific region - that devoured cash are also finally going into production, said Mr Voser.

As a result, the company's cash flow is expected to rise 50 per cent by 2012, assuming the oil price is US$60 a barrel, and 80 per cent if it rises to US$80 a barrel.

Mr Voser said the firm expects oil prices to average in the US$50 to US$90 a barrel range for this year, with short-term peaks and troughs.

'We have come a long way, but there is much more to do at Shell, and I am very energised around that.'

Shell, which employs more than 2,400 people here, will mark its 120th anniversary in Singapore next year.

jcheam@sph.com.sg

ON CLIMATE CHANGE

'Shell, in all its projects, has included a price for CO2 in our calculations because we saw this coming. Over time, this will happen. Maybe in a fragmented way, but the long-term direction is very clear.'

Shell chief executive Peter Voser

ON RENEWABLE ENERGY'S GROWTH

'Up to 2050, demand will double and energy supply will double. We believe that a third of energy demand by 2050 will be supplied by alternative energies. That means an enormous growth rate for alternative energies.'

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Championing Our ASEAN Biodiversity

Ravichandran D.J Paul, Bernama 18 Mar 10;

KUALA LUMPUR, March 18 (Bernama) -- The year 2010 is designated as the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB2010) to celebrate life on earth with nations and regions taking their commitment further in conserving their genetic resources.

Closer to home, Asean has declared 2011 as the Asean Biodiversity Year which is timely looking at the region's fast depleting genetic resources due to rapid development, and excessive and inefficient consumption.

Though the Asean region only occupies three percent of the earth's surface, it is the home for 20 percent of all known flora and fauna. The mountains, jungles, rivers, lakes and seas of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam represent among the biggest biodiversity pools in the world.

Asean's rich biodiversity helps to sustain its half billion population and thus it is time the region take stock of its genetic resources and start utilising them in a sustainable manner.

But this is not going to be an easy task as biodiversity has no face and human avarice has no limit. This is where conservationists are seeking more engaging approaches for stakeholders that promise a win-win situation for the owner and user of genetic resources.

BIODIVERSITY MANKIND'S TREASURE TROVE

In seeking a long term solution for preserving biodiversity, Asean should reflect deeply on the third objective of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)that emphasizes on Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS).

During a workshop in Jakarta, prelude to IYB2010, conducted by the Philippine based Asean Centre for Biodiversity and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), Suhel Al-Janabi expounded on ABS.

Al-Janabi of the Deutsche Gesellschaft fUr Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) in Germany started by providing some interesting examples of the ABS capacity development initiatives in Africa.

The examples illustrate how traditional know-how on genetic resources not only commercialised but preserved through mutual owner-consumer initiatives.

An interesting example is the gelatin free cereal known as Teff. For more than 5000 years the people of Ethiopia and Eritrea have been planting and consuming Teff that is easy to digest and rich in calcium. Teff is now widely used in the West to make special diet bread.

Thus farmers in Africa are the owners of this genetic resource and West is the consumer of this resource. The West not only has access to the resource but also shares the benefits from the resource with owners say through transfer of technology in cultivation or in capacity building. This in turn not only helps to preserve the genetic resource but also in enhancing them.

There are other similar examples. The San people in Southern Africa consume a succulent cactus - Hoodia Cordonii - indigenous to the region that suppresses hunger and thirst while they went on long hunting trips. Today compounds from the plant are widely used as appetite suppressant in weight loss formulas.

In Malaysia, researchers have isolated a compound from the latex of a tree (Calophyllum lanigerum var.auslrocoriaceum) that is used in treating the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1).

The Chinese, said Al-Janabi have long been using the Artemisia plant that is used today to make anti-malarial drug.

SHARING GENETIC RESOURCES

While the above examples illustrate how important it is for mankind to preserve biodiversity, both providers and genetic resource users play a vital role here.

Valerie Normad of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity noted that while the convention recognises the sovereignty of every state over their genetic resources, fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their utilization is part of the equation.

Provider and users, she said, should not only consider monetary returns but also the non-monetary benefits - training of local scientist and capacity building, provision of infrastructure support and technologies, manufacturing facilities in the provider country, royalties shared by the provider and user and joint ownership of intellectual property rights.

She added that in meeting the objectives, local laws had to be enabled to complement ABS along with capacity building and technology transfer.

HEREOS OF BIODIVERSITY

Meanwhile, in roping in the participation of people from all walks of life the Asean Centre for Biodiversity is seeking biodiversity advocates - modern day heroes who can bring biodiversity closer to everyone.

The cadre of champions, maybe individuals, corporations or organisations will play the role of ambassadors of goodwill for biodiversity.

The centre seeks direct participation because mankind has the ability to influence the outcome of environmental and sustainable issues.

Their roles will be benchmarked in terms of the contribution to the human wellbeing, poverty reduction and as the basis for achievement of the Millennium Development Goal.

So are you ready to take up the challenge as Asean's ambassador of goodwill for biodiversity?

-- BERNAMA

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Trawled to extinction in Malaysia

The Sun Daily 18 Mar 10;

IF you ever sail or ride on a boat along the coastline of Kedah or Penang, chances are you would be able to spot, even from a great distance, huge fishing trawlers lying on the waters, apparently remaining perfectly still.

Do not let the picturesque stillness fool you. Equipped with gigantic nets that can stretch up to hundreds of metres in length, these trawlers are often lined together across vast distances as they sweep the deep seas – raking in everything that comes along their paths.

While this sort of commercial activity using long nets has been going on for years, the situation has become increasingly worrying of late, with the seemingly unregulated and unrestricted manner in which such large-scale fishing operations are carried out.

As it is, more than 60% of the fish fry or spawn in the seas along the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia are being reportedly killed or trapped by these nets, which are also said to contribute to pollution.

The use of nets like the seine net, the apollo net and the push-net, all of which are designed to envelope and trap hundreds of thousands of marine lives at one go, is a source of great alarm for environmentalists and inshore fishermen.

And the concern is by no means unfounded. The use of such fishing devices has been attributed to bring about the extinction of over 30 species of sea creatures along the eastern coastline.

Sounding the panic button, the Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) recently called on the Kedah Fisheries Department to take stern action to control the hundreds of trawlers. For the problem does not only affect the aquatic life in the Kedah coast but is also damaging the livelihood of a few thousand inshore fishermen in Kedah, Penang and Perak.

What most people do not realise is that trawlers are not allowed to fish within five-nautical miles from the shoreline, as this zone is legally designated for inshore fishermen who use smaller nets.

In spite of that, trawler operators have been reported to be openly flouting the law even during the day to catch marine animals within the sensitive zone meant only for the inshore fishermen. In the process, countless precious species have been said to be wiped out from our waters by the unscrupulous act that has been going on for decades.

What makes the situation even more frustrating is that the illegal activities have been reported to the relevant authorities, but little action seems to have been taken. The Penang Inshore Fishermen’s Welfare Association has been urging the Fisheries Department for ages to take action against the rampant incursions but to little avail.

Tragically enough, what makes the situation particularly sinister and ironic is that there is a law, in the form of the Fisheries Act 1985, which provides for over-fishing and the related tools that can cause depletion of the seas and oceans to be banned.

The government has also been urged to review the effects of dragnets used by trawlers on marine species along the country’s coastlines.

In December, more than 1,000 inshore fishermen in Balik Pulau complained that they were affected by depleting marine harvests even as the seas become devoid of marine life, especially with the restricted fishing zones being encroached upon by the trawlers.

All this is happening along the very coastline where a prestigious World Fish Centre – whose scientific research is intended to promote preservation of sea species and foster sustainable conditions for marine life-forms to thrive – has had its international headquarters sited on the southeast side of Penang island.

The authorities must take this matter seriously before it turns into a massive environmental crisis.

Himanshu is theSun’s Penang bureau chief.

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Indonesians forced to fish in foreign waters

The Jakarta Post 17 Mar 10;

Large foreign fishing fleets in Indonesian waters, some illegally flying the Indonesian flag, are forcing local traditional fishermen to seek catches in the waters of neighboring countries, a discussion concluded.

Regulations stipulate that local fishermen should make up 70 percent of the crew on an Indonesian-flagged fishing vessel, while foreign vessels violate this by having more foreign crew members.

“Illegal fishing practices and overfishing are seriously depleting fish stocks in Indonesian waters,” Purwanto from the Research Center for Capture Fisheries said Monday. He was speaking at a meeting on developing cooperation between Indonesian and Australian officials.

To minimize illegal fishing practices in Indonesian waters, the Indonesian government in 2002 began beefing up surveillance and law enforcement and has also improved fishery management.

These steps have led to the decline of catch losses in Arafura, Papua and other regions. The catch losses in demersal (organisms living close to the seabed) fishing also dropped from 32.6 percent to 3.3 percent in 2008. Shrimp fishery catch losses have declined more than 10 percent since 2003.

Indonesia and Australia signed an MoU in 1974 giving Indonesian traditional fishermen permission to fish 12 miles off Ashmore Reef, Cartier Islet, Scott Reef, Seringapatam Reef and Browse Islet in Australian waters.

Traditional fishermen are defined as fishermen who have harvest fish and sedentary organisms such as coral in Australian waters using methods that have become tradition over time.

Indonesian traditional fishermen come predominantly from Bajo in North Sulawesi, Makassar in South Sulawesi, Probolinggo in East Java, and Alor in East Nusa Tenggara.

“This definition by method rather than by identity has been misused by some fishermen who are cannot be classified as traditional fishermen,” James Fox from the Australian National University said at the meeting.

Another official said that some Indonesian fishermen breached the agreement by fishing for sedentary organisms in Australian waters.

“They also use nontraditional vessels and equipment. Some even fish for sharks in Australian waters, catch birds and sea turtles, or take their eggs,” he said.

A 2009 meeting in Indonesia discussing ways to prevent violations of the MoU, as well as managing traditional fishermen, suggested the identification and registration of traditional fishermen, the standardization of equipment used in the fishing, and the specific locations allowed for fishing. The meeting also suggested that Indonesia provide navigation and communication systems to help control traditional fishermen.

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