Dispersants, lesser evil or Gulf poison?

Karin Zeitvogel Yahoo News 6 Jun 10;

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Nearly a million gallons of dispersant have been poured into the Gulf of Mexico to fight the largest oil spill in US history, even though little is known about their effects fishermen claim makes them sick and kills sea life.

At least nine fishermen idled by the spill during prime shrimping, oystering and fin-fishing season, were hospitalised last week after working to clean up the slick.

And seafood lovers turned out in the thousands last week for a seafood festival in Louisiana, fearing the oil and dispersant in peak spawning season had killed off this year's shrimp and oyster populations and the larvae of next year's harvests.

Clint Guidry, acting president of the Louisiana Shrimpers Association, has dubbed the Corexit dispersant being used as the Gulf's Agent Orange -- a herbicide used by the US military in the Vietnam war that has been shown to cause cancer, including leukemia; diabetes, heart disease and other illnesses.

When BP first began using dispersant in the Gulf of Mexico, it was an older version of Corexit, which contained the solvent 2-butoxyethanol, said Ron Tjeerdema, a professor of environmental toxicology at the University of California, Davis.

"That surprised me," Tjeerdema, who has studied dispersants for 25 years, told AFP.

"The reality is, they were trying to use up their old stocks of Corexit and then switched to the new ones, in which butoxyethanol is replaced by what they call a food-grade solvent," he said.

"They changed it for two reasons - to make it a little less harmful to workers and because the food-grade solvent is a little bit better at mixing with crude oil."

Studies by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) link short and intermediate exposure to 2-butoxyethanol in monkeys, rats, mice, rabbits and dogs to several health conditions including the destruction of red blood cells, or hemolysis, which can lead to kidney, spleen or liver damage.

Other ill effects noted by the CDC were breathing difficulties, skin irritation, physical weakness and unsteadiness, sluggishness, and convulsions, as well as birth defects and fewer offspring in mammals.

The nine fishermen who took ill in the Gulf after helping to clean up the oil spill reported symptoms including chest pains, dizziness, nausea, and a burning sensation on the skin.

Louisiana tugboat captain Kevin "Godzilla" Curole used to surf off Port Fourchon, the Louisiana oil port closest to where the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon rig sank in April rupturing a riser pipe that has been spewing oil into the water ever since.

"I loved surfing there. It was my way of unwinding with my buddies," he told AFP.

"But the last time I went, on Mother's Day in early May, I couldn't wait to get out of the water and get home and have a shower. My skin was burning, my lips felt like they would fall off," he told AFP, blaming the uncomfortable sensation on BP's use of Corexit.

Last week, as Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen said nearly a million gallons of dispersant had been used, Tjeerdema and some 50 other experts met for two days in Louisiana and unanimously recommended that dispersants still be used to fight the slick.

"We all agreed -- and we're talking 50 people -- that dispersants were the lesser of two negative possibilities, of two bad choices," Tjeerdema told AFP.

Essentially, the experts decided to sacrifice marine life -- which would be harmed anyway by the oil gushing into the Gulf and hanging underwater in huge plumes -- to protect the shoreline, including Louisiana's marshlands, home to numerous species of animals and plants.

Carys Mitchelmore explained in testimony to Congress last month the trade-off that is made when a decision is taken to use dispersant.

"This is an example of a known pollutant... purposely added to the marine environment," she said.

"It is used because its overall benefit to the environment offsets the risk.

"But it is an environmental trade-off, the protection of one habitat at the cost of another," she said.

Dispersants don't remove oil from the sea, but only change its properties, said Mitchelmore, adding that little was known about the toxicity of dispersants and dispersed oil.

She urged long-term monitoring of the use of dispersants.

Read more!

Exxon Execs Warn On Curbing On Deepwater Drilling

Jennifer Tan and Chen Aizhu, Reuters 7 Jun 10;

Kuala Lumpur: ExxonMobil warned against quick reactive changes to deepwater drilling laws that damage long-term investment decisions and urged governments to take time to assess the reasons for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Senior executives of oil major Exxon Mobil Corp also underscored the importance of production from deepwater drilling in meeting global energy demand.

"We need to guard against premature reactive changes to legislation that may not in the longer term be helpful but detrimental to the industry," ExxonMobil senior vice president Andrew Swiger said.

"It is too early to speculate on any changes to legislation until the investigation is complete," he told reporters at an industry conference in the Malaysian capital.

The Obama administration recently put on hold new deepwater exploratory drilling in the U.S. for six months pending the findings and recommendations of a presidential commission investigating the causes of the explosion in April that sank Transocean's Deepwater Horizon rig leased by BP Plc.

The review may lead to new laws on drilling.

Mark Albers, ExxonMobil's senior vice president told Reuters the impact of the moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf would be much longer than the six-month ban Washington slapped, as it takes time to understand the effect of possible new regulations and bring the rigs back to work.

"It's important that in the next five years, deepwater will contribute 10 million barrels per day of oil (equivalent). That's equivalent to what Saudi Arabia is producing," Albers said in an interview in Beijing.

"It's a very important element of meeting the world's energy demand."

HIGHEST SAFETY STANDARDS CRUCIAL

Following the order to idle 33 deepwater rigs, Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Marathon and other firms have begun curbing Gulf operations, which some argue exacerbates the harm to a Gulf Coast economy already losing fishing and tourism business to the spill.

A lengthy deepwater drilling moratorium could also hit future U.S. oil and natural gas output. U.S. Gulf offshore oil operations produced 1.6 million barrels of oil per day in 2009, accounting for 8 percent of U.S. liquid fuel consumption, said the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The Interior Department has also outlined a series of potentially costly new safety rules and standards that oil companies will have to contend with.

"There will be significant impact to the thousands and thousands of people who work not only in the industry but those who support the industry, from catering, to diving to inspections," Albers said.

The Louisiana Mid-Continent Oil and Gas Association estimates the moratorium could sideline up to 7,000 highly paid rig workers and cost four to five times as many support jobs at catering, service boat and drilling supply firms.

Swiger added that the U.S. oil giant has been providing assistance in response to the oil spill in the Gulf, which highlighted the importance of upholding the highest standards of safety.

"We stand ready to support efforts to determine how such an incident can be prevented from happening again," he said.

BP is facing another difficult week of tough questions from investors and U.S. lawmakers despite making progress in capturing an increasing amount of oil spewing from the ruptured well.

The major said on Sunday its containment cap had captured 10,500 barrels of oil (439,950 gallons/1.67 million liters) in 24 hours and a second system should be in place soon, enabling it to siphon the vast majority of oil spewing from the leak about a mile below the water's surface.

But the U.S. admiral leading the government relief effort said the coast will be under siege from the spill for many more months.

(Editing by Ed Lane)

Enough oil to meet global needs: Exxon
Developing supplies in environmentally responsible ways is the real challenge
Pauline Ng, Business Times 8 Jun 10;

GLOBAL demand for energy is expected to grow slightly more than a third by 2030 from 2005 as developing economies grow, an Exxon Mobil executive said yesterday.

But this demand can be met because current hydrocarbon reserves are huge, said Exxon Mobil senior vice-president Andrew Swiger.

The US Geological Survey estimates conventional oil resources alone at three trillion barrels, he said: 'The real challenge is not one of resource scarcity, as some may suppose, but developing these abundant supplies in economic, efficient and environmentally responsible ways.'

Speaking at the Asia Oil & Gas Conference 2010 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Mr Swiger also touched on the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico after BP's Deepwater Horizon rig exploded on April 20, spewing millions of gallons of oil into the sea.

'Events of the magnitude of the BP incident are tragic and notable exceptions,' he said. 'The reality is that our industry has consistently improved its environmental performance while working in increasingly challenging locations.'

Mr Swiger said more investments, technology and skills are required to overcome these challenges. And the best way to combine these elements is strong international energy partnerships.

'Specifically, partnerships between international oil companies and national oil companies are the lynchpins of the global energy industry today,' he said.

For instance, Exxon Mobil has invested more than US$15 billion in Malaysia in the past 40 years and is scheduled to spend more than US$1 billion on an enhanced oil recovery project with Petronas, starting 2013.

Iraq is taking a different route - auctioning its oil fields to international players. It has already conducted two bidding rounds, and the third is for contracts to develop three untapped natural gas fields, Iraqi Oil Minister Hussain Al Shahristani told a news conference in KL yesterday.

One of the biggest oil producers - with reserves of 115 billion barrels or 15 per cent of the global total - Iraq believes using the expertise of international oil companies is the most effective way to convert its resources into wealth, Mr Shahristani said.

By 2017, the country's forecast production capacity will exceed 12 million barrels per day (bpd), he said. Its current production is 2.5 million bpd, with another 150,000 bpd to be added by year-end, followed by an additional 250,000 bpd next year.

'By 2012 onwards there will be a more incremental increase in production,' he said. And until Iraq reaches 4 million bpd, 'there is no need to talk about quotas'.

In a special address at the energy conference, Mr Shahristani, who spent more than 10 years in prison because of his refusal to work on Saddam Hussein's military nuclear programme, said wars, embargoes, inadequate investment, an exodus of management and technical personnel and ageing infrastructure have resulted in Itaq's petroleum sector operating below potential.

Petronas president and chief executive Shamsul Azhar Abbas raised the issue of recent cutbacks in energy investments. He said the upstream sector has seen about US$170 billion of investments involving two million bpd of oil capacity and almost one billion cubic feet per day of gas capacity, either locked up or delayed due to fears of excess capacity and unfavourable financing conditions.

'The key question for us is how quickly we can reverse these cutbacks to avert a potential supply shortfall several years hence,' he said, adding that some upward pressure is likely to materialise as industrial demand gains traction.

Read more!

Renewables can create 8.5 million jobs: Greenpeace

AFP Yahoo News 7 Jun 10;

BERLIN (AFP) – Climate pressure group Greenpeace said Monday that switching to renewable energy sources could create 8.5 million jobs by 2030 if governments turn their backs on "dirty and dangerous" fossil fuels.

"Investing in people, rather than dirty and dangerous fossil fuels not only boosts global economic development but stems catastrophic climate change," Greenpeace said in a new report unveiled in Berlin.

"The sustainable future of the planet is rooted in the investment in people and local communities who can install and maintain renewable energy sources," it said.

Currently around two million people are employed in the renewables sector.

Greenpeace said that the global market for renewable energy sources such as solar or wind power could be worth more than 600 billion dollars by 2030, a six-fold increase from now.

The forecasts are based on a scenario of carbon dioxide emissions being cut by more than 80 percent by 2050 from 1990 levels, and 95 percent of the world's electricity needs being produced by renewables compared with around 18 percent at present.

Sven Teske, Greenpeace's senior energy expert and co-author of the new report, told AFP that this scenario was "ambitious" and that major polluters have not set such long-term targets.

The European Union has pledged to cut its emissions by 20 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels while President Barack Obama wants US emissions to be cut "in the range of 17 percent" by 2020 compared with 2005 levels.

China, the world's biggest emitter, has pledged to reduce its carbon intensity -- the measure of greenhouse-gas emissions per unit of gross domestic product -- by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 based on 2005 levels.

A summit in Copenhagen in December failed to result in an across-the-board target for cutting emissions, and the US climate negotiator said last month it was politically unrealistic to try to agree global targets.

The report, "Energy [R]evolution: A Sustainable World Energy Outlook", the third edition, provides a "detailed practical blueprint for cutting carbon emissions while achieving economic growth by replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy and energy efficiency," Greenpeace said.

It "shows how to eliminate unpredictable fossil fuel costs, destructive mining and oil exploration and with it catastrophes such as the current BP Gulf oil spill" in the Gulf of Mexico, Teske said.

In Drastic Green Energy Proposal, U.S. Pays Most
Alister Doyle PlanetArk 8 Jun 10;

The world could generate 95 percent of electricity from renewable energies by 2050 in a drastic shift from fossil fuels, with the United States paying about a third of a giant bill, green lobby groups said on Monday.

The report, by Greenpeace and the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), representing Europe's main renewable energy companies, is one of the most detailed to work out the nuts and bolts of a near-total shift to green energy such as wind or solar power. Such proposals often stop at wishful thinking.

The report said that global investments in energy would need to total $18 trillion by 2030 -- almost five times the entire U.S. federal budget for next year -- to set the world on a path to generating about 95 percent of electricity from non-polluting renewables by mid-century.

However, the International Energy Agency has estimated that investments of $11.3 trillion will be needed anyway by 2030, in all forms of energy, to cover the world's growing needs. The IEA's central scenario assumes fossil fuels will remain dominant.

Renewables now make up about 18 percent of electricity generation and governments want to raise the share.

This is partly to combat global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels, and partly to diversify and guarantee energy supplies as fossil resources decline, and to combat other forms of pollution.

Sven Teske, lead author of the 260-page report at Greenpeace, said there would be long-term economic benefits from a phase-out of subsidies for fossil fuels and from the fact that inputs to renewable electricity -- such as wind or geothermal energy -- are free. The plan would also phase out nuclear power.

"The costs at the beginning are because renewables are more labor-intensive," he said.

To pay the bill, the report suggests looking at historical responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions and at ability to pay. That meant the United States would pay 36.3 percent of the annual bill in 2010, falling to 28.9 percent in 2030.

China, which recently overtook the United States as top greenhouse gas emitter, would pay only 4.3 percent of the bill in 2010, rising to 13.6 percent by 2030, since it is poorer and has a shorter history of industrialization.

The report said the shift would mean there were about 12 million jobs, including 8.5 million in the renewables sector, by 2030.

"Under business as usual, global renewable power jobs would be only 2.4 million of the global power sector's 8.7 million jobs," it said.

Negotiators from about 185 nations are meeting in Bonn from May 31 to June 11 to discuss a new U.N. climate deal after a summit in Copenhagen in December fell short of agreeing a binding treaty on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

(Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Read more!

10 years needed to seal climate cuts, says UN pointman

Yahoo News 7 Jun 10;

PARIS (AFP) – The world community may need another 10 years to agree on carbon cuts deep enough to roll back global warming, the UN's pointman for climate change warned on Monday.

"I don't see the process delivering adequate mitigation targets in the next decade," Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said in a webcast from Bonn.

"Over the longer term, I think we will get this issue under control. Having said that, I do believe that it's a longer journey," de Boer said.

De Boer spoke on the sidelines of a 12-day round of negotiations for a post-2012 treaty to curb "greenhouse" gases blamed for disrupting Earth's climate system.

The pact was supposed to have been sealed at a summit in Copenhagen last December, but the negotiations failed.

De Boer, stepping down at the end of this month, said that Copenhagen had yielded some progress.

In its final hours, the leaders of industrialised countries acknowledged behind closed doors the need for rich economies to make cuts of 80 percent in their emissions by 2050, he said.

And developing countries also saw the need to "make a serious contribution" by reining in their own expected growth in carbon pollution, he added.

"I think that in this process we will need a number of steps and phases to get to that ultimate response, but I am confident that we will get there in the longer run," de Boer said.

The Bonn talks, taking place at the level of senior officials, have been branded by caution after Copenhagen's setback.

Negotiators are now endorsing a evolutionary process that, at best, will seal a deal in South Africa at the end of 2011. But in any case, they say, the treaty would have to be followed by further negotiations for deepening emissions reductions to a safe level.

The Bonn meeting is also debating funds to help poor countries facing worsening drought, flood and rising seas.

In Copenhagen, the European Union (EU), the United States, Japan and other wealthy countries pledged 30 billion dollars in aid from 2010-2012, with a vaguer promise of mustering 100 billion dollars a year by the end of the decade.

Read more!

Best of our wild blogs: 7 Jun 10

Oil spill spread and clean up: a summary
from wild shores of singapore and Effects on people and What long term effects on our marine life? and Can it happen again?

Shore lovers check up on Chek Jawa after the oil spill
from wild shores of singapore

Oil Spill Impact Site: the "Lost Coast"
from encounters with nature

Coastal Clean Up @ Tanah Merah
from Nature's Wonders and Adventure on Pulau Jong and Corals of Kusu Island

Open for booking: Chek Jawa intertidal walks Jul-Dec 2010
from wild shores of singapore

NIE field trip to Sungei Buloh
from wonderful creation

Purple pose
from The annotated budak

Butterflies vs. Moths & Bukit Timah Hill
from NaturallYours

Upper Seletar
from Singapore Nature

Monday Morgue: 7th June 2010
from Lazy Lizard's Tales

Read more!

Stiffer penalties and more visible punishments for litterbugs

Jeremy Koh Channel NewsAsia 6 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE : Singapore may be clean and green. But its streets are not free of litter.

Between 2005 and 2009, the number of offenders increased more than ten-fold - to over 41,000, in part due to increased enforcement. Seven in ten of those caught are locals.

Tougher penalties, like stiffer fines and greater public shaming, are being introduced to keep offenders at bay.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) is also stepping up public engagement efforts, while making it easier for people to bin their trash.

This year's anti-littering campaign is based on the findings of a new survey, and its key objective is to fight littering, by tackling social habits.

Environment and Water Resources Minister Dr Yaacob Ibrahim said: "The study shows that some people see occasional littering as alright. The message we want to tell them is, there's no such thing as occasional littering. A litter is litter, whether it's at your home, at your park, in the drain, it will affect all of us."

About 48 per cent of people surveyed also quoted "difficulty in locating bins" as the main reason for littering. Also, many litterbugs think they can get away.

A majority feel that Corrective Work Order (CWO) is effective.

That is why NEA has increased fines for first-time offenders - from $200 to $300.

Those on CWO will have to sweep town centres, so that the punishment is more visible.

Litter bins will be placed in areas where there's a greater need, while smoking areas will have bins with ash trays.

NEA also wants to ensure zero tolerance of litter.

Andrew Tan, CEO, National Environment Agency, said: "I cannot imagine how NEA on its part can be deploying double the number of people, triple the number of people, quadruple the number of people if the community itself does not now step in to say we do want to take action against litterbugs."

Besides training more volunteers to be Litter-Free Ambassadors, it's also launching an anti-littering publicity campaign.

The aim is to reduce litter in public places by 20 per cent and cut the number of litterbugs - from four in ten of the population - to three in ten by 2015. - CNA/jy

Tougher now for litterbugs to escape
Acting on poll, NEA increases patrols and adds more bins
Amresh Gunasingham Straits Times 7 Jun 10;

YEARS of effort against littering have not stamped out the problem, so the authorities embarked on a survey to find out why, and to help them formulate intensive new measures.

Based on the poll of 4,500 people, there will now be more uniformed officers prowling the streets for litterbugs, more bins with ashtrays and heightened public shaming of inveterate offenders.

Most respondents to the year-long sociological study by the National Environment Agency (NEA) suggested the greatest deterrent to littering would be if they knew they were being watched by uniformed officers, said sociologist and Nominated Member of Parliament Paulin Straughan, who led the study.

Almost half said there were not enough bins in public places, and one in three agreed that corrective work orders (CWOs) in places with higher traffic would be unpleasant and embarrassing.

The most significant changes to anti-littering laws in a decade come as the befouling of Singapore's streets and waterways has grown worse in recent years, exacerbated by an influx of foreign residents bringing with them different social norms.

Since 2005, the number of littering offenders caught has increased 10-fold to 41,400 last year. Some 2,537 CWOs were issued last year.

The study exposed worrying trends in people's attitudes to littering, noted Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim.

It found that though one in four people recognised it was an anti-social act, they would still litter if, for instance, there was no bin nearby, or out of laziness or habit.

This suggests it is not enough just to raise awareness about littering, but that the message must be twinned with stronger enforcement and better facilities, said the minister.

'I do not think a single measure approach will work as there are genuine problems on the ground,' Dr Yaacob told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of this year's anti-littering campaign yesterday.

So the 101 uniformed officers who roam the streets will now make the rounds twice weekly, up from once at present.

From today, repeat offenders will also no longer serve out a CWO in the anonymity of a sleepy housing estate, but amid a bustling shopping mall, town centre or bus stop where they will be seen by many.

Smokers, long lamenting a lack of ashtrays, will get more of those in public spaces such as malls, bus stops and town centres. Busy areas will also get larger bins.

Some $12 million will be invested over the next few years to bring these plans to fruition.

The study sought to understand why a normal, well-educated person could be driven to commit an anti-social act, said Associate Professor Straughan.

'If we do not understand the socio-environmental factors, that is, what motivates people not to bin, we will just be broadcasting messages blindly and hoping that somewhere, we have hit the right spot,' she said.

To deter littering, fines were introduced in the early 70s, and CWOs in 1992.

The NEA will work with town councils, and the PUB and National Parks Board, which look after waterways and parks respectively, to align their penalties for litterbugs as well as make sure bins are placed in the right areas.

First-time offenders caught for minor litter can be fined $300, while repeat offenders can be fined up to $5,000 while also serving a CWO.

NEA has not ruled out raising these penalties in future.

Teacher Joseph Yin, 35, suggested that the authorities could make better use of new media tools such as Facebook and Twitter to reach out to youth, of whom nearly a quarter surveyed in the study said nothing would stop them from littering.

Mums and wives influence litterbugs
Straits Times 7 Jun 10;

WHETHER a person litters is influenced to a large extent by whether a close family member or friend either approves of littering or commits the act themselves, the National Environment Agency's (NEA) sociological study showed.

The study found, for example, that a person was 2.4 times more likely to litter if they had a relative who was also a litterbug.

Mothers and wives were found to bear the greatest influence on what their children and husbands did.

Among the youth, a problem group where as many as seven in 10 out of 1,500 interviewed admitted to littering, around 45 per cent said their mothers were a strong influence in shaping their attitudes towards littering. For men, the same proportion listed their wives.

Among the general public, 33 per cent said mothers were the strongest influence on their children's likelihood to litter.

The findings showed the importance of social support networks and the role of women as 'important facilitators' in shaping the values and actions of their families, said Associate Professor Paulin Straughan, who led the year-long study.

The NEA is working with organisations such as the People's Association's women's executive council to organise anti-littering campaigns, while it also aims to get more women to sign up to its own litter-free ambassadors programme.

While mothers and wives were seen to play a significant role, male figures such as fathers and husbands could also influence such values among children, said NUS sociology professor Narayanan Ganapathy, who was also involved in the study.

Prof Straughan added: 'By and large, Singaporeans are aware of the importance of keeping the country clean and are also aware of the public efforts in place to ensure we continue to live in a clean and green city.' She noted that almost 95 per cent of the people surveyed said they knew it was wrong to do so.

The key to going forward is to achieve a 'new social norm', like that seen in other cities such as Tokyo, where individuals are willing to hold on to their litter when a bin is not easily accessible, she added.

AMRESH GUNASINGHAM

Littering: A fine mess
Stiffer penalties, more enforcement to curb unsightly problem
Ong Dai Lin Today Online 7 Jun 10;

SINGAPORE - The next time you litter or throw a cigarette butt, you will be twice as likely to be spotted by an enforcement officer and will face a tougher Corrective Work Order (CWO) regime.

From today, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will increase uniformed patrols at littering hotspots such as bus-stops from one day to two days a week.

A one-year study commissioned by NEA, carried out from April last year, on the behavioural and sociological factors behind littering found that uniformed enforcement is effective in encouraging people not to litter.

NEA said the findings also showed that the CWO is an effective deterrent and "many CWO offenders felt that it's very embarrassing, and they recounted the process of attending court as unpleasant".

So NEA will now conduct more CWOs at badly-littered hotspots, such as the barbecue pits at East Coast Park. It will also make CWOs more visible by holding them in public areas with heavy human traffic such as neighbourhood centres and bus interchanges.

The month the study began, NEA increased the fine for first-time offenders who failed to properly dispose of small items - such as cigarette butts, sweet wrappers and parking coupon tabs - from $200 to $300. Besides serving a CWO, repeat offenders can be hit with fines of up to $5,000.

NEA will now increase penalties for first-time offenders if necessary. It is also working with the National Parks Board (NParks) and the Public Utilities Board (PUB) for them to follow the same penalty regime.

PUB imposes a $200 composite fine for first offenders, while repeat offenders will be hauled to court; NParks' penalty is a $300 fine for first or subsequent offences.

At the launch of the new anti-littering campaign yesterday, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said: "Strict enforcement will send a clear message to those who persist in littering - that littering isn't acceptable."

To give would-be litterbugs fewer excuses, NEA will increase the number and size of bins at areas with heavy human traffic as well as improve bin design to make it easier for smokers to dispose of their butts.

For instance, it will place both wall-mounted and freestanding canisters in Clarke Quay, Plaza Singapura and Raffles City as a pilot project.

"So on our part, we continue to make it convenient for people to bin their litter. But ... it's a social habit as to whether or not you make a conscious effort to try and gather whatever litter you have and find the nearest bin," said Dr Yaccob.

To increase public education, NEA has also introduced the Litter-Free Ambassador programme, in which students, youth and grassroots leaders educate the public through house-to-house visits and community events.

As he emphasised the importance of a clean city, Dr Yaacob shared how a man threw a cigarette pack wrapper out of a car, in front of him.

"He may think it's a small (piece of) plastic, but that plastic will fly, go into the drain, accumulate with other litter; it'll clog up our drains - then you get dengue fever," he said.

There is thus the need to "task people to begin to think of the consequences of their actions".

Sociologist Paulin Straughan, who completed a survey for NEA's study, feels that the new measures will be effective in the short run.

The next step is whether active citizenry will work.

"If it works, we'll have evolved as a society where people care about the environment. And NEA will just need to sustain their efforts," she told MediaCorp.

Nurse Zhuo Shuling, 25, said: "Most people know you aren't supposed to litter only because you'll be fined. It's not good to use fines to control the littering problem."

As such, 26-year-old copywriter Dunstan Lee suggested reinforcing the merits of living in a clean country.

Read more!

Biofuel gets hotter as green choice in Singapore

A second company will start plant here to make fuel out of waste oil
Lester Kok Straits Times 7 Jun 10;

DEMAND for the cheaper and more environmentally friendly biodiesel is picking up both overseas and in Singapore, as companies strive to go green.

A second company is set to start operations here with another plant, which converts waste oils to biodiesel, to be built by September.

Only one company supplies domestic market demand for biofuel now. Alpha Biofuels, a start-up formed six years ago, expects demand to reach two million litres this year, up 30 per cent from last year. Its plant in West Coast can produce 2.4 million litres of biofuel in a year.

Alpha now has 15 companies such as Smart Taxis, SingTel and Starbucks using biodiesel, compared to 10 in December last year. The company also said more vehicles are pumping biodiesel at its eight refuelling stations across the island.

The new biodiesel plant, built by local company Fuelogical, will produce about 17 million litres a year and will sell to the domestic and international markets.

Its managing director Sive Sivandran said the company is confident it has enough feedstock to supply the biodiesel to its clients.

Alpha already has about 200 business partners regularly contributing waste cooking oils for conversion to usable fuel, but it is not enough. Its chief executive Allan Lim said it aims to have 200 more partners as Singapore uses about two million litres of cooking oil per month.

Biofuels are better for the environment in many ways: Made from vegetable oils, they are a renewable resource. Waste cooking oil can also be recycled as bio-diesel. The resulting fuel burns more cleanly than fossil fuels, and has much less harmful emissions such as carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and both sulphur oxides and sulphates, which are major components of acid rain.

Currently, it is also cheaper than commercial diesel, going at $1.07 per litre compared with diesel at about $1.30 and petrol at about $1.80.

A pioneer in this area, Biofuel Research, a subsidiary of Singapore company Oakwell Engineering, said worldwide demand for biodiesel has also increased by at least 50 per cent, especially from the European markets.

The company supplies to countries like Denmark and India, using waste cooking oil and waste by-products from Malaysian palm refineries to make its biodiesel.

With Singapore exploring alternative forms of clean energy such as solar power and electric batteries, industry players say the market for renewable fuel is promising, as any diesel vehicle or power generator can use biodiesel.

Alpha's Mr Lim said biodiesel is an easy way for firms looking to enhance their green image. 'It all starts with recycling. The more (waste cooking oil) we can recycle, the lower the cost of the biodiesel, the more Singapore will benefit.'

Persuading companies to switch to biofuels is an uphill task.

For one thing, buying diesel in bulk is still about 20 per cent cheaper than buying biodiesel.

Convincing companies to donate their waste cooking oil is also difficult as they can sell waste oil to third-party oil collectors to be exported to other countries and re-used as lower grade cooking oil.

Industry players say what would help is a policy that encourages the use of renewable energy, such as tax exemptions for companies using renewable fuel.

Mr Kom Mam Sun, director of Biofuel Research, argued that companies producing renewable energy and environmental technology should get a foot in the door because of their additional eco benefits.

Neste Oil, a Finnish oil refining company, also plans to complete its €550 million (S$930 million) plant in Tuas by the end of the year.

However, unlike the other two companies, Neste plans to use fresh palm oil as its main feedstock, which will drive the prices of its biodiesel up.

Its global president and chief executive Matti Lievonen declined to reveal its biodiesel price, but said it will be priced at a premium compared to traditional bio-diesel, because of its quality.

'The Singapore plant will require approximately one million tonnes per year of feedstock. Collecting used cooking oil would be difficult due to the volume requirements,' he said.

From its plant in Singapore, Neste will churn out about one billion litres of bio-diesel per year, bound mostly for European markets, and in the future, American markets.

Associate Professor Lu Wen Feng from the National University of Singapore's mechanical engineering department said switching fuel sources is a good first step for companies which want to go green, but there are still issues like costs and availability to consider.

'I do not think there is enough waste cooking oil around to feed our vehicles,' he said. 'Since a majority of biodiesels are produced from biological ingredients, mass production of biodiesel may bring out the issue of food shortage.'

DIY alternative coming soon
Straits Times 7 Jun 10;

ALPHA Biofuels will soon allow customers to produce their own biodiesel, using a machine the size of a long dining table.

The micro-refinery is being used on the construction site of Asia Square, an upcoming hotel-cum-office complex in Marina Bay, producing 1,000 litres of biodiesel a week for the building's temporary power generator.

When the first tower of the building is ready next year, the machine will be used to convert waste cooking oil from the restaurants located in the building to produce biodiesel which will be used by the hotel's shuttle buses and local charitable organisations.

Alpha has also set up micro- refineries in other countries, including Cambodia, where waste cooking oil collected from hotels in Siem Reap is converted to 2,000 litres of biodiesel a week.

The fuel is then used by generators at the Angkor Hospital for Children, to provide electricity during peak hours and ensure that operations are not affected by intermittent electricity.

Likewise in Kuala Lumpur, Alpha is making a micro-refinery for a client who wishes to convert waste cooking oil collected from the city's various fast food restaurants into usable fuel.

Alpha chief executive Allan Lim says the Malaysian effort is a pilot project, and the company hopes to expand into other major cities in Malaysia.

Apart from building micro-refineries, Alpha continues to seek more companies to donate their waste cooking oil, and more customers to use biodiesel.

Alpha's current partners include Smart Taxis, which uses 1,000 litres of biodiesel a week in some of its cabs, and SingTel, which has just finished a trial using the biofuel in seven of its vehicles.

A SingTel spokesman said the company is currently evaluating results of the trial, taking into consideration the cost, location of refuelling points and mode of payment, before deciding whether to implement it across its fleet of vans.

Ikea Singapore, part of the Swedish furniture giant, has also recently begun to contribute waste cooking oil and is in talks with its providers of delivery trucks and shuttle buses about switching to biodiesel.

Mr Lionel Lim, director of Bedok Transport, which has been using biodiesel in 15 of its 70 buses since last year, said bulk diesel is still more cost effective than biodiesel.

But the company chooses to use biodiesel in some of its fleet to cut down on carbon emissions.

'If I can, I'll try to keep using biodiesel, but it all boils down to cost constraints,' said the 30-year-old. 'Biodiesel is still affordable now, but if the price goes up, then maybe not.'

LESTER KOK

Read more!

Green Mark making waves abroad as well

Emilyn Yap Business Times 7 Jun 10;

(SINGAPORE) Officials assessing the eco-friendliness of buildings need to get used to a jet-setting lifestyle. Besides visiting sites in Singapore, they now have to go overseas to inspect architectural features and compute energy savings.

As Singapore's Green Mark certification gains recognition abroad, more developers are trying to win this stamp of approval for their projects overseas. According to the Building and Construction Authority (BCA), there have been 74 such applications since 2006.

The Green Mark rating 'has gained popularity in the region because it is developed specially for the tropical climate', BCA told BT. When developers want properties abroad certified, BCA officers have to go there.

Other industry players have also noticed growing foreign interest in the Green Mark rating. RSP Architects Planners & Engineers director Vivien Heng said that several developers have enquired about getting overseas projects assessed.

BCA launched the Green Mark scheme in 2005. Buildings that meet set standards in areas such as energy efficiency and indoor environment quality qualify for the rating. The rating system is one of 21 recognised by the World Green Building Council.

BCA has been receiving applications from developers - local and foreign - for overseas projects since 2006. These properties are in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, China, India and the Middle East.

There is confidence in Singapore's Green Mark brand, Ms Heng said, explaining why developers abroad have shown interest. And sometimes, 'the foreign country's own green building rating system may not be so well established yet'.

Several Malaysian developers, such as Ken Property, Sunway City and Sime Darby Property, have subscribed to the Green Mark scheme.

Ken Property has obtained a Green Mark stamp for three projects. It turned to the scheme because there was no alternative in its country at the time. 'The Malaysian Green Building Index (GBI) had not yet been launched, so we went ahead with the BCA rating first,' said the company's executive director, Sam Tan.

One of these projects, a 15-storey residential building in Kuala Lumpur called Ken Bangsar, saves an estimated 640,000 kilowatt hours of energy a year and recently won a Green Mark Gold Plus award. When Malaysia launched its own green building scheme, Ken Bangsar had another assessment and got a GBI Gold award.

Mr Tan said that buildings that meet Green Mark standards can cost 3-20 per cent more to build - but there are benefits. 'All things being equal, a green building will have the edge' because of better features and increased comfort for occupants.

Sunway City has five properties with Green Mark ratings and plans to continue getting projects certified. The scheme is well established and suitable for the tropics, it said.

It is no surprise to see Singapore developers getting their overseas projects assessed by BCA too. Many of them have already obtained Green Mark ratings for projects here.

Local names eyeing a Green Mark rating for buildings abroad include Keppel Land and CapitaLand. Keppel aims to attain at least a Green Mark Gold rating or its equivalent for all of its developments. It invests up to 4 per cent of a building's construction cost in green features.

Keppel has seven properties in Vietnam and China that passed the Green Mark test. For instance, The Estella in Vietnam - designed to yield energy and water savings worth over $850,000 annually - won a Gold award.

Is there potential for the Green Mark scheme - and the Singapore brand - to go further overseas? Asked if it plans to promote the scheme abroad, BCA said that it is open to providing services overseas that help develop quality built environments. 'Green Mark certification is one of the most popular services requested,' it said.

Establishing Singapore's reputation as a regional centre for the development of eco-friendly buildings 'paves the way for our local industry to export their green building expertise'.

Read more!

Conservation International council to energise the green drive in Singapore

Businesses can look to it for practical tips on responsible growth
Victoria Vaughan Straits Times 7 Jun 10;

GREEN group Conservation International has set up a council for businesses in the Asia-Pacific to discuss how to be more environmentally friendly.

Known as the Asia-Pacific Business and Sustainability Council, it aims to give companies practical tips on how to continue making money without doing so at the expense of the environment. It will also suggest ways for them to use less water and energy and reduce waste.

Its members are established firms such as agricultural heavyweights Wilmar International and Monsanto, Indonesian energy firm Medco Group, retail giant Wal-Mart Asia and tyre-maker Giti Tire. Coffee chain Starbucks was the sixth and latest big name to join the council last month.

To join the council, a company must be a leader in its field and have shown a commitment to sustainability.

'Companies need to realise they have to look beyond their finances to the ecosystem that supports them with fresh air and water,' said Conservation International's global vice-president for corporate relations Andy Wilson, who is based at its headquarters in Virginia in the United States. The group, a think-tank which focuses on science, policy, communications and marketing, recently opened a base in Singapore.

The council first met in Singapore in March and set South-east Asia's haze situation as a key priority.

A sub-committee to address this problem, which has plagued the region for years, was set up and is led by Medco and Singapore's Wilmar. Companies with oil palm and paper plantations have been accused of indirectly causing the haze as workers use fire to clear land.

The sub-committee will look at how to prevent the cutting down of virgin rainforests in Sumatra and the use of fire to clear land for farming. The latter has been the spark for much of the haze that engulfs the region at least twice a year.

Wilmar's head of corporate social responsibility, Mr Jeremy Goon, said: 'Haze affects our business too. Not only is our employee productivity reduced due to health reasons, the haze also slows down our operations due to low visibility, which makes work in the plantations almost impossible.'

Wilmar is the largest global processor of palm and lauric oils and has businesses in fire-prone areas such as Central Kalimantan. It has more than 230,000ha of oil palm plantations, the majority of which are in Indonesia.

'We believe our familiarity with the landscape there, as well as our experience in firefighting, will be useful in helping to fight the cause,' said Mr Goon.

Other issues raised by the council were green buildings, employee engagement and fresh water management.

Mr Wilson said he expects the membership of the council to grow to 25 in the next two to three years. Although big businesses are part of the problem when it comes to the environment, they are also part of the solution, he said.

Mr Wilson added that while there is a cost associated with being sustainable, green efforts can help boost profits.

'Yes, it costs money to invest in sustainability but if you are saving on energy, water and waste then it will have a positive impact on the bottom line,' he said, noting that Wal-Mart saved billions by encouraging its suppliers to use less packaging, thus reducing shipping costs.

The new Asia-Pacific council will meet again in Shanghai in September. There will be two meetings a year, which member companies will host.

Read more!

Weather causes 30% drop in durian output in Johor

Moh Farhaan Shah, The Star 7 Jun 10;

JOHOR BARU: The weather has caused a 30% drop in durian output in the state, the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama) said.

Fama southern region marketing officer Mohd Shapiee Ismail said the drop was due to unpredictable weather which affected the fruiting season.

“Despite the drop, Johor is still the biggest durian producer in the country,” he told reporters after launching Naza Talyya Johor Baru durian promotion.

He said Fama and the Agricultural Department would carry out checks at orchards to ensure the durians were of good quality.

He said Muar was the biggest supplier, producing 2,668 tonnes followed by Pontian (1,820), Kluang (870), Kota Tinggi (690), Segamat (630), Johor Baru (240) and Mersing (220).

He said the state produced a total of 8,000 metric tonnes of durian annually.

“Many of our popular durian grades such as D24 and 101 are exported to Singapore and Hong Kong.

“We also export frozen durian to Australia, where the demand is getting higher,” he added.

Mohd Shapiee said local demand was always higher at the start of the durian season.

“To meet this demand, we have urged farmers to plant more of the popular consumer choices such as D24 and 101. Many of the farmers prefer to plant durian kampung.

“The price for durian kampung is between RM4 to RM5 per kilogramme while D24 and 101 are priced between RM10 and RM15,” he said.

On the Naza Talyya durian promotion, he said it was a good way to promote the king of fruits among hotel guests as many hotels usually had a strict rule on durians.

Naza Talyya Johor Baru hotel manager Mohd Shaufi said the promotion was unique and the hotel was the first in Malaysia to hold such a promotion.

“The package of RM180 nett consists of one night stay with breakfast and all the durian the guest can eat at our alfresco café,” he said.

He added that the promotion was held in conjunction with Cuti-Cuti 1Malaysia and the World Cup.

Read more!

Adding firepower to the fight for our forests

How helping Indonesia cut emissions will benefit Singapore - and you
Today Online 5 Jun 10;

The deal between Norway and Indonesia to save Indonesian forests is a game-changer in more ways than one.

For Indonesia, it means a greener future and lower carbon emissions. Much less noticed is that it means cleaner air and sharply reduced costs here in Singapore.

The ground-breaking agreement between Indonesia and Norway, signed at a ceremony in Oslo on May 26, is designed to stop the conversion of Indonesian forests and peat lands into plantations.

Norway said it will give Indonesia up to US$1 billion ($1.4 billion) for emissions reductions resulting from forest preservation. Indonesia said it is "prepared to suspend for two years new concessions for the conversion of peat and natural forest lands" starting as early as January next year.

Mr Agus Purnomo, secretariat head at Indonesia's National Climate Change Council, said afterward that Indonesia is likely to cancel some existing concessions as well.

"Donors have been supporting improved forest management in Indonesia for decades," according to Mr Lou Verchot, a scientist with the Centre for International Forestry Research (Cifor).

"But never before has a prospective contribution been this significant in terms of both size and ambition, and never before so clearly tied to performance."

The agreement leverages the United Nations' Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (Redd) programme, which was launched in September 2008, to assist developing countries implement plans to save their forests.

So far, Redd has provided about US$42 million for pilots in eight countries around the world. This new programme gives a massive jump-start to Redd initiatives. Currently ranked as the third worst emitter of carbon dioxide in the world, Indonesia has an opportunity to become a role model for emissions reduction instead.

Some organisations do see the agreement as not going far enough. Redd-Monitor, for example, laments that the agreement only starts forest preservation next year, contains "nothing whatsoever in the Letter of Intent about the rights of indigenous peoples", only applies to new development concessions, and contains no commitment to continue the suspension beyond two years.

All may be valid concerns. Since so little has actually happened for so long despite ongoing negotiations, though, implementing this solution seems far better than waiting for something absolutely perfect.

HOW IT BENEFITS SINGAPORE

Beyond Norway's large financial contribution, reductions in the costs of the pollution from the burning can bring enormous additional economic benefits. Researchers David Glover and Timothy Jessup estimated the region-wide costs of the severe haze in 1997 at US$4.5 billion, for example.

Even in 2006, when the haze was not as severe, Professor Euston Quah of the Nanyang Technological University estimated the costs to be at least $50 million in Singapore alone. Reduced emissions can mean substantial savings in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and beyond.

Even without being a party to the agreement, Singapore stands to benefit in more ways than one.

Once the burning stops, the skies here that have so often been spoiled by pollution from burning forests should be far clearer. Singaporeans and tourists alike can look forward to cleaner air and better health.

And as air pollution continues to become a more important factor when people choose where to live, Singapore can become an even more competitive destination for top talent.

Clearer skies will also bring major economic savings. The annual loss of tens of millions of dollars from higher health costs, fewer tourists, lower corporate productivity and other expenses resulting from the haze would drop tremendously. Long-term health benefits from less pollution, though hard to calculate, will likely be substantial too.

There are still some uncertainties about the deal. This year is the preparation phase, when the strategy will be developed. The transformation phase that's targeted to stop the burning only begins next year, and is dependent on the preparations this year.

With all the advantages the agreement brings, and with some of the timing potentially uncertain, the surrounding countries would benefit from doing everything they can to support implementation.

While change is obviously most dependent on work by Indonesia and Norway, anything Singapore can do to assist - whether it's technical expertise, assistance with monitoring or other assistance - could have major benefits for all the parties.

The net results of the agreement and forest preservation are manifold, as we can look forward to reduced emissions, clearer skies and even financial benefits. Faster implementation is to the benefit of all.

The writer is a consultant who has lived in Singapore since 1992.

Not quite yet a breakthrough
Letter from Kwan Jin Yao Today Online 7 Jun 10;

MR RICHARD Hartung's commentary, "Adding firepower to the fight for our forests" (June 5-6), gives a brief summary of the "groundbreaking" agreement between Indonesia and Norway to place a two-year moratorium on new logging concessions.

Indeed, other than the direct financial benefits for the Indonesian administration if the commitment is adhered to, serious environmental challenges such as air pollution, desertification and deforestation would be simultaneously tackled as well.

The two-pronged approach - enhancing technology and tracking systems, as well as addressing institutional challenges such as under-development and corruption -would appear to many observers as a significant breakthrough for Indonesia.

However, the fact is that the United Nations and the Association of South-east Asian Nations have been working in the past decades to achieve the aforementioned - albeit not of such scale and publicity - to little or no avail.

Considerable sums of money and resources have been pumped into the region - with the active harmonisation of national, regional and international policies - but the ends do not justify the means. There is little reason to think that the current letter of intent would be any different. Even if any short-term success is achieved, the sustainability of the policies would be in question given that the moratorium only grants delays and temporary suspensions.

The problem at hand is a structural one. Geographically, the practices of deforestation, logging and primitive "slash-and-burn" are hard to track and control because of the sheer number of individual islands and forest cover.

Having developed the wood-processing industries as a key driver of its economic growth, Indonesia has no choice but to maintain its production capacity for fiscal development. The assortment of conservation efforts have failed miserably because they have ignored the composition of the Indonesian system, mistakenly adopting generalised plans and ignoring the root of the challenges.

Enforcement measures on collective, small-time farmers consistently backfire because they have little choice but to resort to primitive methods to efficiently clear land for plantations. Even with subsidies, they simply cannot afford new technology, and see no incentives to do so. Rather, the administration should bring the involved stakeholders together at grassroots level to comprehend their concerns and sensitively address issues of concern.

For the corporations that exploit the resources and farmers, the authorities should step up efforts to curb their expansion, and ensure that they adhere to the respective legislations. Stem corruption and strengthen initiatives to get rid of officials who selfishly decide to do otherwise. Transmigration should also be better managed.

It goes beyond the haze and air pollution: Indonesia currently is the third-largest emitter of greenhouse gases. If the status quo is allowed to manifest, our future generations might no longer have an Earth to safely inhabit.

Read more!

North Maluku "Angel Bird" on brink of extinction

Antara 6 Jun 10;

Ternate, N Maluku (ANTARA News) - Due to the worsening forest condition in North Maluku, Angel bird (Semioptera Wallacii) in the province is on the brink of extinction.

Image from avianweb.com.

"The bird`s habitats deteriorate due to forest encroachment and illegal logging activities," Djafar, an activist, said here, Sunday.

Besides, some parts of the province`s forest area have been converted into plantation areas, transmigration sites, forest concession (HPH) areas and mining sites, he said.

Djafar said that mining and forest concession played a major role in the bird`s extinction, as the birds lost their habitat, which is the local forest where they usually take shelter and find food in big trees.

"Ironically, licenses for both forest harmful activities are easily issued by the local officials who are supposedly responsible for the preservation effort," he said.

Most of the Angel bird`s habitats in Halmahera, North Halmahera, and central Halmahera districts have been converted into mining areas.

Djafar urged all parties to be aware and serious in preserving the birds, as North Maluku is their native origin.

North Maluku authorities must turn the forest into conservation area in order to preserve the Angel bird.

To raise local people`s awareness on the importance of the Angel bird preservation, local schools must help educate the children about the endangered birds.

A special study on the Angel Bird population has not been done yet, but it is certain that it has declined since the 1980s due to the continued deforestation.(*)

Read more!