Recession helps cut EU greenhouse gas levels: agency

Yahoo News 31 Aug 09;

BRUSSELS (AFP) – Greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union fell for the fourth year running in 2008, thanks to the economic recession, the European Environment Agency (EAA) said Monday.

The official EEA estimates showed a 1.5 percent drop in emissions from the 27-nation European Union as a whole and a 1.3 percent drop from its 15 older and richer members.

"The vast majority of the decline in emissions in 2008 was due to lower CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion in the energy, industry and transport sectors," the environment agency said in a statement.

The reductions "reflect the effects of the global economic recession which began in 2008, which resulted in reduced industrial output and reduced energy consumption by industry, and correspondingly reduced freight transport," it added.

Nonetheless the European Commission welcomed the news as showing "further EU progress towards Kyoto targets," of reducing emissions in the 2008-2012 by eight percent from 1990 levels.

So far European Union nations have cut emissions by more than 10 percent altogether, according to the EAA estimates.

"These provisional figures are a further confirmation that the EU is well on track to reach its Kyoto target, even if one should recognise that part of the reduction in emissions is due to the economic slowdown." said EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.

"This trend needs to be further consolidated in the coming years," he added.

The EU had already shown it was capable of decoupling its emissions from economic growth, he said.

Dimas called the figures a timely message to the rest of the world in the run up to the international climate conference in Copenhagen December.

EU nations have set themselves the goal, independent of Kyoto, of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and are hoping to reach international agreement for even more ambitious cuts.

Recession helps EU cut 2008 CO2 emissions
Reuters 31 Aug 09;

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union emissions of global warming gases fell for a fourth straight year in 2008, mostly caused by lower industrial activity due to economic recession, EU data showed on Monday.

The main reasons for the reductions were lower carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuel combustion in the energy, industrial and transport sectors, the European Environment Agency (EEA) said.

For the 15 EU countries that have commitments to reduce CO2 emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, the EEA said emissions fell by 1.3 percent last year from 2007.

This reflected the "effects of the global economic recession which began in 2008, which resulted in reduced industrial output and reduced energy consumption by industry and correspondingly reduced freight transport," it said in a statement.

The EEA estimates are subject to confirmation in June 2010, and do not take into account the effects of changes in land use.

Emissions by the entire, 27-country bloc declined by 1.5 percent, the EEA said. There is no EU-27 emissions target under the Kyoto Protocol, since the 12 newer EU members, including ex-communist nations, did not sign up at the start.

Based on these estimates, European Union greenhouse gas emissions in 2008 came in at roughly 6.2 percent below Kyoto base-year emissions for the EU-15 and 10.7 percent below the 1990 level for the EU-27, the EEA statement said.

"These provisional figures are a further confirmation that the EU is well on track to reach its Kyoto target, even if one should recognize that part of the reduction in emissions is due to the economic slowdown," EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said.

"This trend needs to be further consolidated in the coming years," he said. "This is a timely message to the rest of the world in the run up to the Copenhagen climate conference in December," Dimas said in a statement.

(Reporting by Jeremy Smith)

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Himalayan nations hold first climate talks

AFP Google News 31 Aug 09;

KATHMANDU — Nepal's prime minister opened the first climate change conference of Himalayan nations on Monday with a warning about the dangers of melting glaciers, floods and violent storms for the region.

With 1.3 billion people dependent on the water that flows down from the melting Himalayan glaciers, Madhav Kumar Nepal said cross-border cooperation was essential in tackling the impact of climate change.

"The threats and risks of climate change have manifested themselves in the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, rising sea levels and violent storm surges," he said as he opened the talks in Kathmandu.

"More frequent extreme weather events have affected agricultural production across the region.

"The potentially catastrophic impact on lives and livelihoods has assumed a huge importance in our international relations."

South Asian environment officials have gathered in Kathmandu for the conference, aimed at highlighting the problems facing the region ahead of a key climate change summit in Copenhagen in December.

However, the absence of a representative from the Indian government is expected to weaken any message that comes out of the talks.

Environmental campaigners refer to the Himalayas as the "third pole" and say the melting glaciers are the biggest potential contributors to rising sea levels after the north and south poles.

But this is the first time Himalayan governments have come together to lobby for ambitious emission reduction targets at the Copenhagen summit, which aims to seal a new international climate change accord.

"Nepal's message needs to be heard, and the message of the mountains needs to be heard," said World Bank water and climate expert Claudia Sadoff ahead of the conference.

"The Himalayas have their own very real set of challenges, but there are also a lot of adaptation and mitigation opportunities in the mountains."

Glaciers in the Himalayas, a 2,400-kilometre (1,500-mile) range that sweeps through Pakistan, India, China, Nepal and Bhutan, provide headwaters for Asia's nine largest rivers, a lifeline for people who live downstream.

"The Himalayas are the source of the world's seven largest rivers and supply water to 40 percent of its population," said Mohan Munasinghe, vice chairman of the Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change.

Munasinghe said South Asian governments must begin working together to tackle flooding and water management problems.

"We cannot afford to fail," he told delegates.

Himalayan climate talks end with call for help
Claire Cozens Yahoo News 1 Sep 09;

KATHMANDU (AFP) – The first climate change talks between Himalayan nations ended here Tuesday with a call for international assistance, but some observers criticised the failure of key figures to show up.

The people of South Asia are among those most likely to be affected by climate change, said a statement issued after two days of talks in Kathmandu aimed at highlighting the problems facing the region.

Around 1.3 billion people depend on the water that flows down from the Himalayan glaciers, which experts say are melting at an alarming rate, threatening to bring floods and later drought to the region.

"(The region) is a climate change hotspot that influences the lives of half the world's population," said a statement issued after the talks.

"Climate change in this region will affect peoples and ecosystems from the mountains to the coast to the sea."

The Kathmandu conference was the first time Himalayan governments have come together to lobby for ambitious emission reduction targets ahead of the key Copenhagen summit of world leaders in December, which aims to seal a new international climate change accord.

But with few countries represented at ministerial level, some delegates questioned the strength of the statement.

"There's not much in it. I don't think the right people were here," said Mohamed Aslam, environment minister for the Maldives, the low-lying island nation which has campaigned strongly on climate change.

"(But) it's a good start and it shows they (Himalayan nations) now realise they can no longer ignore the issue."

Nepalese lawmaker and environmental campaigner Sunil Pant expressed disappointment with the outcome of the talks, saying they had produced "nothing significant to take to Copenhagen."

"The whole aim was to outline how South Asians could work together," he said. "But the right people didn't turn out, and there were conflicting positions."

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were all represented at the talks.

Regional power India, which has already expressed its opposition to binding emissions cuts, sent a senior civil servant.

The statement called on developed nations to provide financial assistance to help poor countries in the region adapt to the changing conditions, which have brought food shortages in some of the world's poorest communities.

Environmental campaigners refer to the Himalayas as the "third pole" and say the melting glaciers are the biggest potential contributors to rising sea levels after the north and south poles.

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Best of our wild blogs: 31 Aug 09

Brown Tree Snail
from Creatures Big & Small

Cold And Wet @ Pulau Hantu
from colourful clouds and the hantu blog

Green Districts: The City District as a Power Station
from Green Business Times

Key Issues for a Successful Copenhagen Climate Change Summit: The Role of Emerging Countries in Asia from Green Business Times

cold, rainy day at Sungei Buloh
from isn't it a wonder, how life came to be

Chek Jawa - peaceful, untouched, a retreat from the daily stresses of life from Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

Olive-backed Sunbird’s tongue
from Bird Ecology Study Group

Wildfacts updates: colourful fiddlers and more
from wild shores of singapore

Ship shapes
from The annotated budak and Furled and It's mothin'

Monday Morgue: 31st August 2009
from The Lazy Lizard's Tales

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"The Cove" and what Singaporeans can do

Mass slaughter of dolphins exposed
Crew used commando-style tactics to film documentary of 23,000 dolphins being speared en masse in Taiji, Japan
john lui, The Straits Times 31 Aug 09;

He ends the telephone interview with Life!, with a wish that Singaporeans will avoid live dolphin shows. He notes that Singapore has them and that more are in the pipeline. 'Consumers have all the power. Don't buy a ticket,' he says.

Eco-documentaries are rarely so riveting as The Cove. The audience sees a crack team of experts sneaking into highly secret places to plant high-tech hidden cameras while dodging guards and police.

They release unmanned drone aircraft, also equipped with cameras. They appear as ghostly images on their own night-vision devices.

They return furtively the following night to retrieve their equipment and then make an escape, armed with proof that something awful is going on.

The act they captured in 2007 is the annual slaughter of dolphins in the small town of Taiji, Japan, during which 23,000 of the mammals are herded over a month-long period into a cove and speared en masse, turning the waters red.

The covert filming is now the most talked-about aspect of The Cove, which has been warmly received in Canada, the United States and Australia, and won several awards for documentary film-making.

But when the film was first conceived, the crime- caper angle never came to mind, says director Louie Psihoyos, a film-maker and photographer.

'Initially, we filmed ourselves for the 'making-of' section for the DVD,' he tells Life! on the telephone from Boulder, Colorado. But during editing, the team 'got chills' from the footage of the team's evade- and-escape tactics and decided to include it in the movie, he says.

The film is co-produced by the Oceanic Preservation Society, a non-profit organisation promoting awareness of the dangers facing the world's oceans. Its executive director Psihoyos says the US$5 million (S$7.2 million) used to make The Cove came from billionaire entrepreneur-philanthropist Jim Clark.

Many Westerners have been protesting the activities in Taiji for decades. Taiji, together with the Solomon Islands, is also a world centre for the capture and export of dolphins for live water theme park shows.

In 2007, actress Hayden Panettiere, from the sci-fi TV series Heroes, swam out towards captured dolphins in Taiji in a show of protest. Though she left the town without being arrested, she was confronted by angry fishermen, the same ones who tried to intimidate The Cove's crew when they tried to film openly.

The film tries to explain the murky issues surrounding the continued slaughter. The Japanese government and Taiji locals defend the practice with various arguments, including saying it is part of the town's cultural heritage and that dolphins and whales are the traditional meats of the Japanese.

Rubbish, says Mr Ric O'Barry, a consultant on the documentary's shoot. 'The dolphin hunt began only in 1933,' he says. The film also shows him playing footage of the hunt to passers-by on Tokyo's streets using a portable DVD player.

'They are as shocked as anyone from Paris, New York or Singapore,' he says.

He is a former dolphin trainer who caught and trained the creatures that appeared in the iconic 1960s TV show Flipper. Now an animal-rights activist, he had a change of heart after he realised how miserable the intelligent, emotional animals were in captivity. Today, he works to undo the craze for live dolphin shows he helped spawn decades ago.

He believes the real reason for the hunt is to get rid of competition in an ocean where fish stocks have plummeted.

In addition to the ethical problem, there is the health issue. Dolphin meat from the hunt, which is sold in supermarkets around the town, is highly contaminated with toxic mercury, he adds. Dolphins eat fish which ingest mercury from industrial run-off.

He ends the telephone interview with Life!, with a wish that Singaporeans will avoid live dolphin shows. He notes that Singapore has them and that more are in the pipeline.

'Consumers have all the power. Don't buy a ticket,' he says.

Read more!

Changes to make off- peak car scheme more attractive

Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia 29 Aug 09;

SINGAPORE: The Land Transport Authority (LTA) is dangling more carrots to make off-peak cars more attractive to motorists.

Among them are longer usage hours, cash rebates and greater flexibility in getting licences.

Currently, owners of off-peak cars get a one-off S$17,000 tax rebate. In return, the driver can only drive during off-peak hours, from 7pm to 7am.

Owners of cars have to display a S$20 paper licence if they want to drive during peak hours.

From November 23, e-licences will replace paper licences.

So, instead of being restricted to buying these at a few physical outlets, motorists can just SMS or go online to get them.

An added option is that motorists can now drive first and pay later for such licences for up to 24 hours later, which would be useful in emergencies.

More changes will be rolled out by end January 2010.

Motorists will then be able to drive all day Saturday and on the eves of five major public holidays - New year, Lunar New year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali and Chrsitmas, instead of only after 3pm on those days.

But there is no free lunch.

With more driving hours available, road tax discounts will also be reduced from S$800 to S$500 while the minimum annual road tax will go up from S$50 to S$70.

Existing off-peak car owners who want to switch to the new system will also have to pay an administrative fee of S$100 for what LTA calls "back-end work".

Another incentive is cash rebates if a motorist decides to switch his normal car to an off-peak car.

Instead of the current practice of getting a lump sum rebate only when the car is deregistered, motorists will now get a cash rebate of up to S$1,100 for every six months' registration as an off-peak car until the car reaches 10 years of age.

Currently, the number of off-peak cars in Singapore makes up about eight per cent of the total car population. With the new scheme, the Land Transport Authority hopes to up that figure to 10 per cent.

But are the changes enough to persuade more motorists to opt for off-peak cars?

Said one motorist: "If the situation changes and I do not have to drive during the day, I may consider. But having said that, because I need to fetch my kids to childcare and it's during the day, it doesn't sound attractive to me."

"I don't like to be restricted. There are already a lot of restrictions on the road like bus lanes, timing, ERP. I don't want to add on another restriction to the flexibility in which you use car," said another motorist.

Car dealers said the scheme would make small cars more attractive to buyers.

Glenn Tan, group chief executive, Motor Image, said: "You'll probably see more people getting interest in the Cat A market because OPC cars have now become more convenient and it is a good buy per se now simply because the hassle could have put off some buyers."

The changes to this 15-year-old scheme comes after extensive consultations, including with off-peak car users. - CNA/vm

Off-peak car scheme revised
LTA to give out cash rebates earlier, relax restriction hours and introduce e-licences
Yeo Ghim Lay, Straits Times 31 Aug 09;

The off-peak car scheme will be revised to make it more attractive for people to switch to these red-plated cars, and in the process ease congestion around the island.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) yesterday announced three changes:

# By end-January next year, drivers who convert their cars to the off-peak scheme will get cash rebates earlier instead of having to wait until their vehicles are scrapped.

# Also by end-January next year, off-peak cars will be allowed on the roads during all hours on Saturdays and the eve of five public holidays.

# From Nov 23, electronic licences will replace the current paper permits which motorists must buy when they use their off-peak cars during restricted hours.

The changes are the result of a review of the 15-year-old scheme, which is targeted at easing traffic jams and also allowing people to own cars at a lower cost, if they use them during non-peak periods.

There are currently 45,500 of these cars with red licence plates. They make up about 8 per cent of the car population.

The change to give out early cash rebates will probably be the one to get drivers of normal cars to consider making the switch.

By the end of January next year, those who convert their cars will be given a cash rebate of up to $1,100 for every six months that the car is registered as an off-peak vehicle, until the car reaches 10 years old.

This is provided the vehicle is kept as an off-peak car for at least six months after conversion.

Currently, someone who buys a new car and registers it as an off-peak car gets a rebate of up to $17,000 off the registration taxes.

But if a driver converts his normal car to an off-peak one, he does not get a refund of the taxes.

Instead, he receives a rebate that is paid only when the car is scrapped. This rebate is $2,200 for each year that the vehicle was registered as an off-peak car.

Operations executive Winston Tan, 27, who bought a Mazda 3 six months ago, said the new cash rebate is 'quite attractive' and makes converting to the off-peak car scheme worth considering.

He also welcomed the relaxation of restriction hours.

Under the revised scheme, off-peak cars can ply the roads during all hours on Saturdays and on the eve of five public holidays - New Year's Day, Chinese New Year, Hari Raya Puasa, Deepavali and Christmas - by the end of January next year. Currently, they are allowed on the roads only before 7am or after 3pm on those days.

These extra privileges will, however, come at a price for current off-peak car owners who opt for the revised scheme with its extended hours. They will enjoy a smaller discount on their annual road tax, compared to those who choose to stick with the old scheme.

The discounts will be reduced by $20 to $300. Those who switch to the revised scheme will also have to pay an administrative fee of $100.

The LTA said it is not making all existing off-peak car owners switch to the revised scheme. But all newly registered off-peak cars will come under it.

Finally, the LTA is making the buying of day licences more flexible. The $20 paper licences will be replaced by electronic ones from Nov 23. The new electronic licences can be bought online, at AXS stations and via SMS, in addition to the existing sales outlets.

You can go online or visit a SingPost outlet or an Automobile Association office to change the usage date of the licence or cancel it before 7am on the specified usage date. If you have to drive your car and have not bought a licence, you can still buy an electronic one up to 11.59pm the next day.

Drivers have long complained that the paper licences, which resemble parking coupons, are troublesome to use. They are also open to tampering and can be bought only over the counter.

All electronic licences will be logged into a system. Instead of stopping off-peak cars to check on their licences, LTA enforcement officers will take down the car's licence plate number and check it against the system.

Engineer Rachel Lee, 28, who currently owns an off-peak car, said she looks forward to the electronic day licence. 'It's great as well that I will be able to use my car for the whole of Saturday,' she added.

Mr Michael Wong, vice-president of the Motor Traders Association, said the changes might prompt drivers to switch to the off-peak car scheme if they do not use their cars much on weekdays.

'The unrestricted usage on Saturdays and the cash rebates make it very attractive. Consumers will always prefer having cash in their pockets instead of waiting for it,' he said.

OPC tweaks may put brakes on peak traffic
Sweet deal for owners of off-peak cars; changes may help curb spread of ERP gantries
Christopher Tan, Straits Times 30 Aug 09;

At first glance, the changes announced to the off-peak car (OPC) scheme today are far too minor to win motorists over and thus make a dent in the volume of traffic on our roads during peak hours.

Examine the tweaks more closely, however, and the picture changes.

In fact, one might even say the revisions are generous to the people who choose to drive the red-plated cars.

The change that seems likely to be the most impactful is the one that grants drivers who convert their normal cars to OPCs an upfront cash rebate.

The owner of an average family sedan who converts will get an upfront rebate of $1,100 for every six months his car is an OPC.

Currently, those who convert have to wait till they scrap their cars to realise the savings of driving an OPC.

This is not half bad, considering the fact that if you buy a new OPC today, you are given a $17,000 rebate upfront. This works out to $1,700 a year over the car's 10-year lifespan.

The revised rebate is key to winning converts. And getting more car owners to switch to red plates is in line with the Government's grand strategy of allowing people to own cars, but not to drive during peak periods.

The other improvement to the scheme which should garner cheer is the one which allows owners of such cars to drive all day on Saturdays without having to pay for a permit.

Currently, OPCs can be driven between 7pm and 7am on weekdays and from 3pm on Saturdays and the eve of five major public holidays.

They can be used freely on Sundays and all public holidays.

To use them outside the prescribed hours, an owner needs to pay for a $20 'day licence' per day.

Many OPC owners have been clamouring for this for years, saying that since more and more people here work five-day weeks, such a move makes sense.

When Transport Minister Raymond Lim announced in February that the OPC scheme would be tweaked to make it more attractive, he hinted that free use for the whole of Saturdays could be possible.

But there would be commensurate adjustments to the tax breaks that OPCs are accorded.

This is fair, because OPC drivers cannot be given a free ride at the expense of those who pay full taxes on their cars.

So, with free Saturday use, road tax discounts on OPCs will now be smaller. Instead of $800 a year, the discount is now $500.

In other words, OPC owners will pay $300 a year for the privilege of being able to drive their vehicles on Saturdays, as well as the eve of five major public holidays, without incurring more cost.

This is again a pretty decent deal.

To use a simple example, let's take the example of Driver A, who has a weekend ritual: Getting up bright and early each Saturday and spending quality time with his family by driving them to a favourite haunt for breakfast.

There are about 50 Saturdays a year, so he would have had to spend $1,000 on day licences. Include the eve of five major public holidays and the bill comes up to $1,100 a year.

That is well above the $300 road tax discount he will forgo under the new scheme.

The last measure to make OPCs more attractive - replacing the paper day licence with an e-licence - is a neutral one.

OPC owners who find it a hassle to display the parking coupon-like paper licence and who occasionally tear the wrong tabs will welcome the change.

The e-licensing arrangement also means drivers will no longer have to suffer the indignity of being flagged down by enforcement officers who make spot checks.

With an e-licence - which can be bought through the computer, the phone or at AXS terminals - there is no need to display a physical permit.

Instead, enforcement officers will simply take note of an OPC that is being used outside prescribed hours, and check the system to see if an e-licence had been bought for it.

Better yet, an e-licence can even be bought the day after one has driven the car during restricted hours.

This helps those who need to drive their off-peak cars at short notice, to sort out an urgent matter or in case of an emergency. They need not be slowed down by having to get a licence before dashing to their cars.

To be sure, there is one revision to the scheme that leaves a sour note.

The $100 fee that will be levied by the Land Transport Authority on those who convert their normal cars to OPCs is steep for what is essentially an administrative procedure.

This is on top of another $100 or so for the red plates.

But despite this, the revised scheme essentially sweetens the deal for those who want to own a car but do not really need to drive regularly during peak periods.

It is also great for those who want a second car for leisure - a two-seater convertible for the weekends, for instance.

But probably the best thing about the scheme is what was not announced today.

If enough drivers deem the improvements good enough to give the scheme a go, it could mean a reduction in peak traffic volume by 5 per cent to 10 per cent.

That may not seem like much, but it is a figure that could determine whether an electronic road pricing (ERP) gantry is erected or not.

Off-peak in tune with drivers
The New Paper 31 Aug 09;

OWNING an off-peak car (OPC) just got more enticing. The Land Transport Authority (LTA) unveiled a whole new slew of changes yesterday to enhance the OPC scheme to make it more convenient and attractive to motorists. DESMOND NG spells out the details
Restricted usage hours
31 August 2009

Restricted usage hours

# BEFORE

WEEKDAYS:

No usage from 7am to 7pm

SATURDAYS:

7am to 3pm

EVE OF NEW YEAR, LUNAR NEW YEAR, HARI RAYA PUASA, DEEPAVALI AND CHRISTMAS:

7am to 3pm

# NOW

FROM END-JAN 2010

WEEKDAYS:

7am to 7pm (unchanged)

SATURDAYS:

Unrestricted usage

EVE OF NEW YEAR, LUNAR NEW YEAR, HARI RAYA PUASA, DEEPAVALI AND CHRISTMAS:

Unrestricted usage

Supplementary Day Licence

# BEFORE

$20 day licence (paper licence) required if OPC is used during restricted hours.

Sold only at SingPost outlets, Automobile Association of Singapore (AAS) outlets and LTA.

# NOW

FROM 23 NOV 2009

e-Day Licence ($20) replaces paper licence.

Display of licence not needed.

Motorists can buy licences two weeks before the usage date, or a day after.

Motorists can buy licences online via One.Motoring portal, AXS Stations, SMS service, SingPost and AAS outlets.

LTA enforcement officers will note down the vehicle number of the OPC and verify against the system records to check if a valid e-Day licence has been purchased.

Cash rebates for conversion to new OPC scheme

# BEFORE

A person who registers a new car as an OPC enjoys an upfront tax rebate of up to $17,000.

If a person converts his normal car into an OPC, he receives a Preferential Additional Registration Fee (PARF) rebate of $2,200 per year.

This is paid as a lump sum only upon de-registration of the car.

# NOW

FROM END-JAN 2010

A person who registers a new car as an OPC enjoys an upfront tax rebate of up to $17,000. (unchanged)

Owners will enjoy a cash rebate of up to $1,100 for every six months' of registration as an OPC, until the car reaches 10-years-old.

Off-peak car scheme could do with more fine-tuning
Straits Times 6 Sep 09;

I refer to last Sunday's article, 'Off-peak car scheme revised'.

The introduction of earlier cash rebates will certainly be a factor to consider if one wishes to convert one's car to an off-peak one during this economic downturn.

The electronic licensing scheme will definitely be a boon to those who are already off-peak car (OPC) owners.

But there are two areas in the scheme that the Land Transport Authority (LTA) may consider tweaking to make OPC ownership even more attractive.

First, since the daily licensing scheme will be converted to an electronic one, wouldn't it be better to fine-tune the e-licensing system to allow for half-day, quarter-day or even hourly rated licences to be purchased, instead of just a full-day licence?

Take a case where one needs to use the car for only an hour after 7am or an hour before 7pm. It would be excessive to pay the full $20 daily licence for just an hour or two of use.

Allowing the e-licensing payment to be pro-rated would be a much fairer system.

The other issue is the red licence plates for off-peak cars.

There is a social stigma attached to these red-plated cars, which could be another reason some people may not want to make the switch.

A much better and effective system would be to tag such cars with a Global Positioning System - like the ones used to track taxis - and keep the normal licence plate colour.

To protect the privacy of the car user, instead of tracking where the car went, the system records only the time the car was in use and its duration.

For instance, the system could verify when the car was used against its e-licence purchasing data. If there is a discrepancy, the system could automatically generate a notice or summons, stating the date and time of offence of a particular off-peak car user.

This will improve job efficiency at the LTA and reduce its operational costs in the long run.

As in any system, there is always room for improvement. The result should be a win-win situation for both car owners and the agency.

Chang Seng Onn

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Green tie-ups benefit schools and firms

Students, teachers get funding for learning projects while companies gain public exposure
Grace Chua, Straits Times 31 Aug 09;

GREENRIDGE Secondary School is a neighbourhood school with about 1,000 students in Bukit Panjang.

But it hosts a $170,000 centre, sponsored by energy company PowerSeraya, where its students and those from schools in the area can learn about energy, the environment and climate change.

Greenridge Secondary is among the growing ranks of schools that have teamed up with companies to work on environmental learning projects.

The number of such tie-ups has quadrupled since 2004, when the National Environment Agency (NEA) first set up its Adopt-a-School Programme.

Then, there were just 43 such partnerships; this year, there are almost 200.

Under the programme, schools get the chance to send their students on field trips and to workshops, and obtain funding for school projects and teacher training.

Greenridge's head of aesthetics and special projects, Mr Lee Sze Chuin, said: 'For a neighbourhood school like us...corporate partners can come in very handy.'

The scheme augments existing funds, such as the NEA's own Environment Club Fund, which gives primary, secondary and tertiary institutions between $500 and $1,500 for environment-related activities.

As for companies such as Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and chemical multinational Chevron Phillips, they gain public exposure and contribute to the community.

For example, Hitachi earlier this year contributed $80,000 to set up an environment education fund at Marsiling Secondary School, picked for its strong track record in environmental education.

Mr Ichio Iwai, deputy general manager of Hitachi Asia, said: 'We want to nurture an interest in and concern for the environment among Singaporean youths to realise a sustainable future.'

Some of these partnerships last more than just a year - over the past three years, for instance, Chevron Phillips has sponsored Lakeside Primary School's solar panels and mini-wind turbine, which power some lights and appliances.

This allowed students to learn how wind power and solar energy get converted into electrical and light energy.

The downside: Amid the economic downturn, some tie-ups have been affected.

In May, Mrs Naseema Ansar, Lakeside's science department head, said its continued partnership looked doubtful. But by last month, Chevron Phillips had agreed to support the latest project, which turns fruit scraps into detergents and compost.

NEA said there was still strong support from companies, which continued to work with their partner schools on various environmental projects.

In fact, at least one company is expanding its school tie-ups despite the downturn - local biodiesel company Alpha Biofuels, which helps schools with waste cooking oil collection programmes.

The company gets both the waste oil - which it processes into biodiesel - and a student-driven boost to its branding, said Alpha Biofuels chief executive Allan Lim.

'It'll pay off when Singaporeans are more conscious of what they do with their waste cooking oil, and more conscious of sustainability,' he added.

Read more!

Next big power stations to be sited in eastern Singapore

Business Times 31 Aug 09;

More information could be released to investors in months

SINGAPORE'S next big power stations will be built in the eastern part of the island. Potential sites will be set aside and further information on them could be released to investors within months.

With most of the existing power stations in the west, apart from Senoko in the north, 'we think there are benefits for a power station in the east', said Energy Market Authority CEO Lawrence Wong.

'It's not just about security or strategic reasons,' he said. 'Having electricity generation closer to the load or demand as new industries or clusters grow in the east makes a lot of sense in terms of reducing transmission losses.'

'We have looked at possible plots in the east that can be set aside for power stations and will be putting out some of this information in due course so investors looking at new generating plants can consider these as possibilities.'

EMA is looking at releasing information on the sites either in October or November this year as part of its annual Statement of Opportunities report, or in next year's report, depending on when it is ready.

At present, two of the three biggest power plants here, PowerSeraya with 3,100 megawatts (MW) and Tuas Power with 2,670MW, are located in the West, along with Sembcorp Cogen (815MW) and Keppel Merlimau Cogen (498MW) on Jurong Island. Only the 3,300MW Senoko Power is in the north.

The move east - where there are still large plots available for large-scale power generation - is logical given the shortage of land in the west, especially on Jurong Island.

'In the end, it's all about land availability,' said Mr Wong. 'It depends on what sort of plant the investor is looking at. For example, a cogeneration plant producing both electricity as well as steam for industries is different from a stand-alone power generation plant.

'If you are talking solely about power generation, there are not many sites available on Jurong Island for such a facility. So that's a constraint.'

Given the general shortage of land, JTC Corporation has also embarked on an island-wide underground feasibility study, with underground power stations a potential application.

On this, Mr Wong said: 'There is an inter-agency process going on within the Trade and Industry Ministry and we're not ready to talk about details yet.'

Underground plants are possible and 'already being done elsewhere', he said, recounting a recent visit he made to two underground hydro-power stations at Manapouri in New Zealand that generate about 850MW.

'But whether the idea is applicable here, given our geological considerations and our circumstances, that's a question that remains,' Mr Wong said.

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Island Power project finally taking off

GMR Group is in talks with GSPL about securing Indonesian gas
Ronnie Lim, Business Times 31 Aug 09;

(SINGAPORE) The long-stalled $1.2 billion Island Power (IP) project finally looks set to get off the ground.

India's GMR Group, which took 100 per cent ownership of IP in May, is talking with gas importer Gas Supply Pte Ltd (GSPL) about securing Indonesian gas to fuel the 800-megawatt (MW) cogeneration plant on Jurong Island.

This will be the final hurdle for IP to clear. GMR can start building the plant once it closes a gas supply deal, likely from Sumatra.

Disclosing this in a wide-ranging interview with BT, Energy Market Authority (EMA) chief executive Lawrence Wong said that 'without going into commercial details, Island Power has withdrawn its outstanding appeal to the Trade and Industry Ministry'.

'Island Power and GSPL are now working together, or at least discussing how they can work together, to secure gas from Indonesia and bring it to Singapore. The two are very much engaging one another at this stage.

'Once they get the gas, EMA hasn't got a problem with the project as IP's (generating) licence is still valid. So it's a matter of the outcome of discussions with GSPL and its ability to secure Indonesian gas.'

GMR International chief executive Ranjit Murugason said in May that the company hopes to start building IP's plant in the fourth quarter of next year and wants to see it up and running by 2013.

News of the IP-GSPL negotiations is positive, as IP previously wanted to bring in its own contracted 110 million standard cubic feet of Indonesian gas daily through the Sumatra-Singapore pipeline but was unable to do so because of commercial issues involving incumbents GSPL and PowerGas.

Long delays in IP gaining access to the pipeline led to Indonesian oil and gas regulator BPMigas cancelling IP's Sumatran gas deal in October 2007.

It was Catch-22 for IP. It could not have access to the Singapore portion of the Sumatra-Singapore pipeline unless it had a gas deal in hand first, but it had lost its gas deal because it could not gain pipeline access.

'Our position is we do want open and non-discriminatory access to the gas pipeline, whether offshore or on-shore,' Mr Wong said.

Onshore, EMA restructured the gas market last year and now has in place a Gas Network Code that separates the gas transport business from the competitive retail and import business.

'As for the offshore pipeline (the portion within Singapore waters), we specifically amended the Gas Act to give EMA the power to direct access, so we do want to have open pipeline access,' Mr Wong said.

Incumbents such as GSPL and Sembcorp, which owned the Singapore portions of the Sumatra-Singapore and Natuna-Singapore pipelines, have been reimbursed for transferring the assets to PowerGas. The IP project, first mooted in 2002 by original owners Shell and Bechtel, has undergone several ownership changes since.

New owner GMR is keen on a power presence in Singapore after it bid unsuccessfully for Tuas Power and Senoko Power during Temasek Holdings' divestment exercise last year.

GMR's decision to acquire full and direct ownership of the project came after it gained an indirect interest in IP through its 50 per cent acquisition of InterGen in June 2008.

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New woodball course opens at Punggol Park

Hoe Yeen Nie, Channel NewsAsia 30 Aug 09;

SINGAPORE: Woodball is a little-known sport in Singapore, but enthusiasts and those new to the game can now sharpen their swinging skills at a new woodball course at Punggol Park.

The game is a little like golf, except with a much bigger wooden ball, which you hit with a mallet.

The new woodball course was launched by Aljunied GRC MP George Yeo at a healthy lifestyle event on Sunday morning.

About 1,000 residents joined in various activities, including tai-chi. Many also put on their walking shoes for a stroll around the park's new nature trail.


- CNA/so

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Solomon Islands fisheries minister says no link between dolphin trade and tuna industry

Radio New Zealand 30 Aug 09;

Solomon Islands’ Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources says there is no link between exporting live dolphins and the country’s tuna industry.

Nollen Leni’s statement follows a claim by a local environmentalist that the government’s stance on the live dolphin trade is preventing it gaining lucrative tuna contracts.

Lawrence Makili of Earth Island Institute maintains the government’s preparing to send a batch of live dolphins to Panama and that its ongoing trade in the mammals has stopped two Asian countries from establishing tuna factories in the country.

But Mr Leni says as well as there being no immediate plans to export more live dolphins, doing so should not have implications on the valuable tuna trade.

“That’s an issue which people who hate us will do that because they want us not to export dolphins but I think that’s inhuman. You tell me how many dolphins are caught in all the purse seine nets, that’s a drop in the ocean”

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Riau offers islands to foreign investors

The Jakarta Post 30 Aug 09;

Riau Islands Governor Ismeth Abdullah said on Sunday that his administration is inviting foreign investors to manage islands in the province.

“We will conduct the process transparently and according to the law. We want to avoid foreigners from managing the islands secretly,” Ismeth argued.

He said some islands in the province were already managed by foreigners.

“Nikoi island, for example, which is managed by foreign investors, attracts many tourists to its beautiful coral reefs.”

He said the involvement of foreign investors in the management of the islands had raised revenue for the island.

Ismeth explained that it takes a month for a foreign investor to get a permit, available from the province’s Investment Coordinating Agency, to manage an island. “The simple permit system is aimed at avoiding the practice of selling the islands.

Data from the agency shows that just 394 of the province’s nearly 1,800 islands are inhabited. Many islands border Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore or Thailand.

“All the 1,795 islands in the province have been named to smooth the process and stop selling,” head of the province’s administrative affairs, Reni Yusnely, said.

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Endangered crocodiles get a lake to call their own in the Philippines

Local residents had to be persuaded not to hunt and kill the reintroduced reptiles
Lewis Smith, The Independent 31 Aug 09;

Members of the world's most threatened crocodile species have been re-introduced into the wild in a scheme that many supporters had feared "could never be done".

Fewer than 100 fully grown Philippine crocodiles survive in the wild and the species, Crocodylus mindorensis, is on the brink of extinction. But now conservationists have released 50 juvenile Philippine crocodiles which were raised in captivity into a lake on Luzon, the largest island in the Philippines.

Crocodiles have been bred in captivity by the Philippines government since 1987 but no one had dared release any of the creatures until now. Many conservationists said the project would not work because so many of the locals feared and hated the animals that any released crocodiles would be hunted down and slaughtered. It finally went ahead after researchers spent a decade working with local people to convince them to allow the crocodiles to live in peace.

The larger and more deadly saltwater crocodile is also found in the Philippines and its presence has contributed to many people's hatred of the reptiles and their eagerness to kill them. Calling someone a crocodile in the local language is regarded as a gross insult.

Jan van der Ploeg, of Leiden University in the Netherlands, who helped lead the programme, said: "We had to make sure the threats to the species were addressed and that local people were supportive. People still killed them out of fear, for food or for fun. They would kill them to make sure they wouldn't eat livestock or children.

"That we were able to bring these animals out of the farm into the wild for the first time is a great step. For a long time it was thought you couldn't reintroduce them because of the rural population of people. Now we have done it."

Merlijn van Weerd of the Mabuwaya Foundation, who led the project, said: "Many conservationists had already given it up. So apart from establishing a viable wild population of Philippine crocodiles the reintroduction also shows there is hope for Philippine biodiversity at large."

The crocodile, which is only found in the Philippines, is much rarer than the giant panda, the orang-utan or the black rhino, he said. The species used to be common throughout the archipelago but is now restricted to a handful of small islands.

Demand for crocodile-skin handbags and shoes during the 1960s and 1970s was a prime factor in the species being driven almost to extinction. Other threats include the use of dynamite by fishermen to kill or stun fish, which often simultaneously kills or maims the crocodiles. But loss of habitat is the single biggest threat, driven by destruction of the rainforests to make way for rice paddies.

The young crocodiles that were released into the wild at Lake Dicatian were about 4ft (1.2m) long and when fully grown should reach 10ft. Despite their fearsome armoury of flesh-tearing teeth, the animals only attack people when provoked. Fish, shrimps, snails, rats, and snakes are their main prey but adults will take chickens and dogs if given the opportunity.

Lake Dicatian is part of the Northern Sierra Madre National Park which is the crocodile's most important sanctuary. It was chosen for the release in part because no humans live immediately beside it. However, a campsite and observation tower have been built close to the lake in the hope of attracting eco-tourists to the area.

Ten of the released crocodiles were fitted with radio transmitters which allow scientists to follow the animals' movements and see how well they adapt to their new home. Little is known about the behaviour and needs of the species and the data is expected to provide important information that can be used to improve the success rates of future reintroductions.

The reintroduction programme is supported by several UK conservation organisations, including the Rufford Maurice Laing Foundation, which provided funding, and Flora and Fauna International.

The project is part of the Conservation Leadership Programme, a coalition of conservation organisations and BP, which is involved in schemes to help wildlife around the world.

Kiragu Mwangi of Birdlife International, one of the partner groups, said: "This is a great achievement for the project and provides hope for the future of the Philippine crocodile."

The crocodiles released into the wild on 31 July were raised at the Palawan Wildlife Rescue and Conservation Centre and the reintroduction programme was managed by the Mabuwaya Foundation, both in the Philippines.

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