marflora consultancy group

Cheap solar panels and inverters.

2010-10-22T23:45:00.000+08:00

Cheap solar panels and inverters.: "You won't find any dashes or a dot net, dot biz or dot org or any other words in our website's domain name.

That's because we're the original Cheap Solar.

Check out our domain registration and you'll find that Cheap Solar is one of the oldest names in the solar industry and our age and experience is reflected in our Cheap Solar Panels and superior balance of system product offerings that none of the 'Johnny Come Lately' solar dealers can touch. Cheap Solar offers great deals on cheap solar panels and cheap solar power systems including DC to AC inverters, mounting racks, solar refrigeration and solar cooling systems, deep cycle batteries, solar power kits, solar charge controllers, cables, and solar water pumps. Cheap Solar panels also offers guaranteed lowest prices on residential and commercial solar panels from solar manufacturers like Mitsubishi solar, NB Solar, BP solar, Sharp, Shell, Solarworld, Sanyo, Kyocera. DC to AC inverters by Xantrex, SMA America, Outback Power, Freedom, Prosine, PV Powered, and Samlex, just to name a few. Cheap solar panels is only the beginning of what we offer. And unlike many of or competitors we don't sell factory reject or non name brand junk products. Only first quality big name brand products at the cheapest prices in the solar system.

BATTERIES

CABLES

CHARGE CONTROLLERS FOR SOLAR PANELS

DC DISCONNECTS & BREAKERS

ENERGY SAVING APPLIANCES

FUSE BLOCKS & LIGHTNING ARRESTORS

INDIVIDUAL SOLAR CELLS

INVERTERS

INVERTER ACCESSORIES

METERS & REMOTE CONTROLS

Cheap Grid Tie Solar Systems

CHEAP SOLAR PANELS SYSTEMS FOR YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS

MISCELLANEOUS

SOLAR PANELS IN KITS

SOLAR PANELS

MOUNTS

SOLAR POWERED COOLERS

SOLAR POWERED WATER PUMPS

TRACKERS

WIND POWER

Toll Free 1-888-647-6527 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-888-647-6527 end_of_the_skype_highlighting begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 1-888-647-6527 end_of_the_skype_highlighting

Email Sales@Partsonsale.com

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

One Laptop per Child : Zimi's Story FULL

2010-10-17T01:36:00.000+08:00

YouTube - One Laptop Per Child

2010-10-17T01:33:00.000+08:00

YouTube - One Laptop Per Child: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

One Laptop Per Child

2010-10-17T01:31:00.000+08:00

Biofuels Food Environment | Energy Co2 | Allianz Knowledge

2010-10-16T00:06:00.000+08:00

Biofuels Food Environment | Energy Co2 | Allianz Knowledge

Global Warming: What to Believe?

This winter some parts of the world are freezing in record cold conditions. Is this really what global warming looks like?

YOGA WIDGET

2010-10-13T23:30:00.000+08:00

Yoga Posesgreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

Basel III - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2010-10-12T00:40:00.000+08:00

Basel III - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "BASEL III (sometimes 'Basel 3') refers to a new update to the Basel Accords that is under development. The term appeared in the literature as early as 2005 [1] and is now in common usage[2][3] anticipating this next revision to the Basel Accords. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) itself began referring to this new international regulatory framework for banks as 'Basel III' in September 2010.

* The draft Basel III regulations include:
o 'tighter definitions of Tier 1 capital; banks must hold 4.5% by January 2015, then a further 2.5%, totalling 7%.[4]
o the introduction of a leverage ratio,
o a framework for counter-cyclical capital buffers,
o measures to limit counterparty credit risk,
o and short and medium-term quantitative liquidity ratios.'[5]

Professionals and officers with Basel II knowledge and experience will be required to lead the new Basel III projects, and they have started studying the differences from the Basel II framework [6]

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Mifos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2010-10-11T23:55:00.000+08:00

Mifos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "Mifos is an initiative of the Grameen Foundation [1] and the financial software that it produces for the microfinance industry. The software provides key functionality for microfinance institutions: client management, portfolio management, loan repayment tracking, fee and savings transactions, and reporting [2]. (The name 'Mifos' originally came from an acronym ''Micro Finance Open Source', but is now used as the name, rather than an acronym.)

Mifos earns high ratings on CGAP Software Listings [3]

Mifos won Duke's Choice Award 2009 for 'Java Technology for the Open Source Community' [4]

Mifos participated in Google Summer Of Code 2009[5] and 2010 [6]

IBM Partners With Grameen Foundation to Expand Its Open Source Microfinance Banking Platform and Help Eradicate Poverty[7]

Grameen Foundation and ThoughtWorks Partner to Extend Microfinance Technology Platform to Global Communities[8]

Grameen Microfinance Open Source - Corporate Citizenship Report 2007[9]

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

CGAP>Overview

2010-10-11T23:47:00.000+08:00

CGAP>Overview: "The following software products have been reviewed by CGAP in 2009-2010. All reviews are available in English. Those with one * are also available in Spanish and those with ** are also available in French.

* Abacus by Fern Software
* ADBanking by Aquadev **
* Bankers Realm by Craft Silicon
* Cobis by CobisCorp *
* Conexus by AVMEI *
* Cubis by Fern Software
* Emortelle (CUMIS Plus v8) by MicroSoftware Designs
* Delphix by Sathguru / Basix
* Finance Solutions by Sigma Data & Computers **
* Kredits by Technical Development Solutions */**
* Loan Performer by Crystal Clear Software */**
* MBWin by FAO-GTZ MicroBanker Project *
* MFASYS by Snowwood
* MFResolve by Gradatim
* Microfina by MediaSoft **
* Mifos by Grameen * / **
* Octopus by OCTO Technology */**
* OMNIEnterprise by Infrasoft Technologies *
* Orbit by Neptune **
* Perfect by CAGECFI **
* SAF by SYSDE */**
* SIEM by MFSI */**
* SIM.Net by FUNDAMICRO *
* Southtech Ascend by Southtech Limited
* Topaz by Top Systems *

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

ScienceBlogs : The ScienceBlogs Newsletter

2010-09-28T23:07:00.000+08:00

ScienceBlogs : The ScienceBlogs Newsletter: "Synthetic Biology

Some engineers use cranes and steel to make their designs reality, but synthetic biologists engineer using tools on a different scale: DNA and the other molecular components of living cells. Synthetic biology uses cellular systems and structures to produce artificial models based on natural order.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Project 10 to the 100

2010-09-27T22:54:00.000+08:00

Project 10 to the 100

We are pleased to announce the winners of Google’s Project 10100.

Thousands of people from more than 170 countries submitted over 150,000 ideas. From that group, we narrowed it to the final 16 ideas for public vote.

The following five ideas received the most votes and are the winners of Project 10100. Over the past 12 months, we have reviewed concrete proposals to tackle these ideas. We are pleased to give a total of $10 million to five inspiring organizations working on solutions to each of these global challenges:

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

2010-09-27T22:51:00.000+08:00

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

The fourteenth session of the AWG-KP and the twelfth session of the AWG-LCA will take place from Monday, 4 to Saturday, 9 October 2010 at the Tianjin Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center (MJCEC), Tianjin, China.
The above-mentioned sessions will be preceded by preparatory meetings of the Group of 77 and China, the African Group, the small islands developing States and the least developed countries from Tuesday, 28 September to Sunday, 3 October 2010.

National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com

2010-09-24T00:41:00.000+08:00

National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com

Freshwater Crisis
By 2050 a third of the people on Earth may lack a clean, secure source of water. Learn more about challenges and solutions.

National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com

2010-09-24T00:22:00.000+08:00

National Geographic Magazine - NGM.com

Business - A journey of 1,300 km and 1.36 million trees for the Prius - INQUIRER.net

2010-09-08T19:53:00.000+08:00

Business - A journey of 1,300 km and 1.36 million trees for the Prius - INQUIRER.net

A journey of 1,300 km and 1.36 million trees for the Prius

By Tessa Salazar
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 22:49:00 09/07/2010

Filed Under: Road Transport, Transport, Environmental Issues

CAN THE words “cars” and “environmentalism” coexist in one article?

We’ll sure give it a try. But we can’t blame the skeptics for raising their eyebrows on this, what with the accepted notion that cars—despite the modern conveniences they bring—have greatly contributed to the destruction of ecosystems. Hundreds of millions of these metal beasts in all forms, shapes and sizes, with their constant craving for fossil fuels and their climate change-inducing byproducts, have altered the complexion of this planet.

When the world’s number one carmaker registers a significant blip in the environment radar, right in this country, Inquirer Motoring can’t help but take notice; even if it happens way up in the far North in the Cagayan Valley.

It’s not just one blip. For the past three years, Toyota Motor Corp’s reforestation project in Peñablanca, on the foothills of the Sierra Madre mountain range in Cagayan Valley 24 kms from Tuguegarao City, has been slowly restoring the forest’s heartbeat.

The carmaker is now in the exact halfway point of the six-year, 2,500-hectare Philippine Peñablanca Sustainable Reforestation Project, which now enters the second phase of its $3 million project. The fund is the biggest an automotive company has invested in a reforestation project in the country, and Toyota’s second biggest reforestation project in the world after a similar project in Hebel Province in China.

The reforestation project has counted up to 1,360,000 trees planted in 1,772 hectares during phase 1 from September 2007 to July 2010. These trees-narra, molave, bignai, kalumpit, tindalo, dapdap, tuai, hauili, tibbig and alibangbang-are indigenous to the area.

For phase 2 of the project which runs from September 2010 to 2013, the project will target the rehabilitation of another 728 hectares of degraded lands through reforestation, enrichment planting and agro-forestry.

To make the project sustainable for the local communities, and to veer them away from their destructive slash-and-burn farming techniques that caused the deforestation in the first place, the reforestation has focused on planting 40,000 mango trees (which now stand at a robust 3.5 meters high) and over 12,000 assorted fruit trees like citrus, coffee, cacao, langka, and 300,000 fuel wood species like ipil-ipil, anchoan and kakawate. In time, the communities can already literally start harvesting the fruits of their labors.

Even before the harvest, the reforestation has bestowed considerable benefits on those communities actively involved in the project. In the second year of the project, the average income of the 725 project beneficiary families ranged from P23,530 to P113,600 depending on their participation in different activities such as plantation establishments, seedling production, paid labor in the nurseries, protection activities and fireline establishments.

And as what Conservation International Philippines, Toyota’s project implementing partner, showed, an additional P12,000 average annual income per household for mango harvests may be expected starting as early as the fifth year of the project.

It wouldn’t be a surprise why the Japanese chose Peñablanca as one of its biggest environmental projects. The Peñablanca forest is home for up to 178 species of flora and fauna (birds, reptiles, bats and owls), including the endangered Philippine Eagle, and is the site to numerous natural attractions such as the more than 200 caves (including the ancient Callao Caves where a chapel has been built inside its cavernous mouth) and pristine river systems. The Peñablanca forest occupies 102,782 hectares of the northern region of the Sierra Madre Mountain Range in Peñablanca town. One of the Philippines’ last remaining old growth and mossy forest stands, the forest is where the rivers, which supply potable water to Tuguegarao City and irrigation to local farmers, originate.

When we first visited the Peñablanca Sustainable Reforestation Project in September last year, Conservation International’s Ed Angadol, protected area associate of the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor of Conservation International Philippines, explained that even at the early stages, the project’s young forest has helped absorb excess rainwater and trapped soil sediments, preventing soil runoff and erosion (the prerequisite to landslides).

In that visit, Inquirer Motoring brought along the Prius to Tuguegarao City.

The ‘surprised’ Japanese

Last weekend, at the kickoff of the second phase of the Peñablanca Sustainable Reforestation Project, Inquirer Motoring was again invited. Once more, the hybrid gasoline-electric Prius was called into service to transport us from Manila to Tuguegarao. This time, however, we decided that it was high time that the car that symbolizes the carmaker’s vision for a sustainable motoring future meet the “elements” first-hand-which meant a little off-roading for this city driving designed sedan from Tuguegarao to Sitio Lalongan, Barangay Sisim, Penablanca, Cagayan.

Needless to say, the Japanese executives who visited the site (who included Toyota Motor Corp’s Nobuyori Kodaira, senior managing director; Toshinori Ogure, general manager for Biotechnology and Afforestation Division; and Toyota Motor Philippines Corp’s president Michinobu Sugata) were delightfully surprised to see the Prius in attendance, along with other Innovas, Fortuners and Hi-Aces that shuttled select guests, local and Japanese media.

At the press conference in Makati Shangrila on Friday, Yukitoshi Funo, executive vice president of TMC in Japan, told local and Japanese press that the project was awarded a gold rating last December with a third-party validation from the Rainforest Alliance under the standards of project scheme and design set by the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Project Design Standards Alliance.

Difficult road for the Prius

We couldn’t help but compare our 1,300-km trip from Manila to Tuguegarao and back on a Prius with the conservation efforts of not only Toyota and Conservation International but of all the rest of those fighting for the sustainability of the ecology of the planet.

The route from Manila to Tuguegarao via Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela provinces comprised of 500 kms and 17 hours of bad roads and stormy Friday night and Saturday dawn weather, which forced us to take the return trip to Manila via the longer but better paved route via the picturesque Cagayan and Ilocos Norte and Sur provinces along the western coast of northern Luzon—a good 800 kms and relatively brighter Sunday weather. The return trip, though longer, took only just as much time and was a virtual feast for the eyes. Along the way, we even passed another reforestation project in in Nassiping, Cagayan. While the Prius quietly negotiated the well-maintained winding roads hugging the northern coastal mountain passes of Ilocos Norte, we were awed by the lush vegetation along the Kalbario-Patapat Natural Park in Sta Praxedes in Ilocos Norte, with peaks touching 2000 feet above sea level. A grounded ship, gathering rust, lay seemingly an arm’s length away from the Patapat Bridge, which made us think, quite pensively, did the wreck leak some bunker fuel?

The heavy Prius held its own against the forces of momentum on the mostly zig-zag roads of the North, considering that it was designed not as a sports car. We actually asked a lot from the Prius this weekend—making it go off-road in Peñablanca when it actually had low ground clearance and unsuitable tires, and forcing it to hold on to its side of the road on relatively high-speed cornering on mountain passes. Admirably, the sedan did what it had to under the circumstances.

Interestingly, the route back to Manila provided us with a couple of environment-themed sights, such as the Bangui Wind Farm—which harnesses wind power to generate electricity using the 15 or so gigantic white windmills situated along the windy coast to selected communities in Bangui town in Ilocos Norte, and the Cape Bojeador lighthouse which uses solar power to charge its batteries during the day, which in turn powers the lighthouse at night.

On Power Mode (which we used for most of the trip), the Prius hauled metal like a 2.4-liter sedan in the body of a 1.8-liter Altis. Its seat cushion, scuff plates and other interior components are made of ecological plastic. Its dashboard is dominated by green indicators, the better to remind its occupants of its environmental leanings. The seamless interplay between the electric and gasoline engine is managed by the breakthrough Hybrid Synergy Drive and its intelligent energy management system. In terms of amenities, there are plenty of compartments: two glove compartments, another two compartments in the middle, six cupholders, four cubby holes and one huge trunk. Perhaps these spaces encourage Prius owners and occupants to keep their trash in the car instead of throwing them out somewhere.

The Prius, however, did what it was designed to do, save on fuel and help save the environment in the process. The gasoline-electric combination showed an interesting pattern in our thousand-kilometer trip: The more we actually went slower, the less fuel it consumed. The fuel consumption reading was 24 kilometers to a liter (combined highway and city) when we were running at an average speed of 38 kph. Then, when our average speed went up to 45 at the highways, the fuel consumption went down to 16 km/liter and 12.416 km/liter when we hit the 65 kph average.

Using the cruise controls along the 130-km stretch of SCTex (Tarlac to Mabalacat) and NLEX at a set speed of 100 kph and at Eco Mode, the fuel consumption improved to 18 km/liter.

Notwithstanding the rut Toyota’s battered image is in at its North American front, its Prius may as well represent a constant that guides it in its future as a carmaker, a future planned with some human warmth in this cold-hearted business of automobile manufacturing. Toyota, after all, is human. Its fate, like everyone else’s, begins and ends on the earth.

UN-Water at World Water Week 2010

2010-09-08T18:58:00.002+08:00

UN-Water at World Water Week 2010
© J.Morgan

The 2010 World Water Week will take place from September 5-11 at Stockholm and once again UN-Water will have an ever-growing presence throughout the week, with its organization and participation in several key seminars, and also at its booth which will contain UN-Water materials and publications, and others by UN-Water members and partners. The theme for 2010 will be "The Water Quality Challenge – Prevention, Wise Use and Abatement". It will be the second year under the niche “Water: Responding to Global Changes”.
Full rundown of UN-Water Events at World Water Week o
World Water Week 2010 Website o

General Assembly declares access to clean water and sanitation is a human right
.
Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the General Assembly declared today, voicing deep concern that almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water. The text of the resolution expresses deep concern that an estimated 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and a total of more than 2.6 billion people do not have access to basic sanitation. Studies also indicate about 1.5 million children under the age of five die each year and 443 million school days are lost because of water- and sanitation-related diseases.
Read the full article o
More on drinking water and sanitation o
World Water Day 2010 website o
.
Vacancy Announcement: Communications Officer UN World Water Assessment Programme
.
UN World Water Assessment Programme, located in Perugia, Italy, is advertising for the position of Communications Officer. Deadline for applications is 14 September 2010.
View / Download the vacancy announcement (PDF 196 KB)o
.
Water for sustainable urban human settlements
.

WWAP reportWWAP and UN-Habitat have released a joint Briefing Note 'Water for sustainable urban human settlements' highlighting critical water challenges related to today's unprecedented urban expansion – from providing access to basic services to ensuring environmental and human security. The paper, produced 16 June 2010, provides urban mayors, leaders and high-level decision makers with concrete policy options to meet these challenges, protect against potential water-related disasters and ensure the development of sustainable urban settlements.
Read more
View / Download the Brief
.
UN-Water GLAAS Report 2010 released
.
GLAAS The Global Annual Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water (GLAAS) is a UN-Water initiative implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO). The objective of UN-Water GLAAS is to provide policy makers at all levels with a reliable, easily accessible, comprehensive and global analysis of the evidence to make informed decisions in sanitation and drinking-water.
Read more
.
JMP Report: progress on sanitation and drinking-water 2010
.
New WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP) report titled: "Progress on Sanitation and Drinking- Water: 2010 Update Report".
Read more
Read DFID press-release o
Sanitation and Water for All o

.

UN-Water at the IWA Congress and Exhibition
.

Water for Life Decade logoUN-Water will also be present at the forthcoming IWA World Water Congress and Exhibition, to be held in Montréal, Canada from 19–24 September 2010. As well as its stand, UN-Water is also organizing, with the support of the GWOPA and UNW-DPAC, a development corner dialogue session on “Sharing social tools: building a water operators’ community of practice” (21 September). There will be a discussion of best practices in communication and social awareness campaigns of water operators.
More on UN-Water participation
at the IWA Congress and Exhibition o
IWA World Water Congress
and Exhibition Website o
.
Contribute to the
UN World Water Development Report
.

In an ongoing effort to make the United Nations World Water Development Report more relevant to all of its target audiences, the World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) is carrying out regular consultations with stakeholders from all fields to identify specific needs or issues and emerging challenge areas.

WWAP have now opened registration to anyone who may be interested in the consultation process. Those who register will be invited to participate in short, targeted surveys during preparation of the fourth edition of the World Water Development Report.
Register for the Policy Consultations o
.
Climate change adaptation
UN-Water policy brief
.

WWAP reportWater is the primary medium through whichclimate change influences Earth’s ecosystem and thus the livelihood and well-being of societies. Higher temperatures and changes in extreme weather conditions are projected to affect availability and distribution of rainfall, snowmelt, river flows and groundwater, and further deteriorate water quality. Adaptation to climate change is urgent. Water plays a pivotal role in it, but the political world has yet to recognize this notion.
View / Download the Policy Brief o
.
New UNEP / UN-Habitat Report
.
“Sick water? The central role of wastewater management in sustainable development” not only identifies the threats to human and ecological health and the consequences of inaction, but also presents opportunities, where appropriate policy and management responses over the short and longer term can trigger employment, support livelihoods, boost public and ecosystem health and contribute to more intelligent water management.
Find out more about the Report
View / Download the Report
.

about
discover unwater
UN Water Donors
secure

A Guide to UN-Water
4-page colour brochure explains the key areas and objectives of UN-Water.
View / Download brochure (PDF file) in:
Arabic (1.9 MB)
Chinese (2.3 MB)
English (496 KB)
French (404 KB)
Russian (1.6 MB)
Spanish (388 UN-Water Brochure

Factsheet on UN-Water Reports
All of UN-Water's regular reports are outlined in this 2 page factsheet
View / Download the factsheet (PDF 880 KB)UN-Water Reports

Healing Music Radio - Welcome

2010-09-06T18:48:00.000+08:00

Continuous Relaxing Broadcast

This webstation diffuse a program carried out according to the principles of the music therapy. The musical sequences are intended to calm, to relieved and finally to bring back to the ordinary but positive conscience.

The vocation of these pages is to give information on the techniques of greater comfort and more particularly the techniques related to the use of the music. The writers of these data work on a purely voluntary basis. They do not have absolutely the claim to be exhaustive nor to claim with an unspecified officiality. They are based in France, in Belgium....

Michel Pépé - Immensité

UNEP - LIST OF PLANTED TREES (PHILIPPINES)

2010-09-03T18:57:00.000+08:00

List of Planted trees in

Last Name	First Name	Organization	No of Planted
	Aagapay	aagapay-philippines	148,257
	B.a.r.o.c mountaineers	b.a.r.o.c mountaineers	1,200
	Cigi cryogenic complex-apalit	consolidated industrial gases, inc.	40
	Diosdado pangilinan	mabalacat water district	300
	Lance	society of earth savers	121
	Mavi		28
ABU	Rudy	kaya	120
ACOSTA	Tess	frends, inc.	200,000
ALUTAYA	Yones rae	ctp construction and mining corporation	11,365
ALUTAYA	Yones rae	ctp construction and mining company	8,339
ARELLANO	Francisco	mayniladwater	936
ARGUELLES	Darlene	hedcor, inc.	25,627
ARGUILLAS	Ivonne		1
ATENEO DE NAGA HS BATCH 1983	Ateneo de naga hs batch 1983	ateneo de naga hs batch 1983	100
BALURAN	Rolando	yuenthai philippines incorporated	120
BANAS	Margaret		25
BANÈS	Xavier	haribon foundation philippines (membre)	100
BANOGBANOG	Aileen	digos water district	6,000
BARENG	Richard	tnt express worldwide (phils.) - environmental management committee	1,600
BENGWAYAN	Michael	pine tree	500,000
BERNADEZ	Larj		500
BONDAD	Emily	social action office - st. joseph school - la salle	500
BUGASTO	Janice rachelle	systems plus college foundation	1,000
CELDRAN	Denise	art of living / bk	300
CONCEPCION	Nova	smart communications inc.	163,404
CRUZ	Celina	university of the philippines mountaineers	6,883
CRUZ	Cesar	dong-in outdoor society	1,020
CRUZ	Frederick	print town group of companies	100
CUERQUIS	Jeffrey	national youth volunteer corps	20,000
CUTANDA	Reynaldo	bayer philippines, inc.	150
CUTANDA	Reynaldo	bayer philippines, inc.	500
DANILO TE	Fabian	seeds foundation - philippines inc. (sustainable environmental and economic development for the filipino societiy)	569,650
DAVID	Vonn angelie	l&t international group phils., inc.	118
DE ASIS-DAMOLE	Catherine and leo		35
DE GUZMAN	Antonio	orion national high school	550
DEGUIT	Grace padura	negros institute for rural development-philnet-rdi	3,836
DELA VEGA	Preciosa	department of education	15
EARTH SAVERS' CLUB	Notre dame of siena school of marbel	academe	200
ERQUITA	Kim lawrence	youth for environment in schools organization	200
FERNANDEZ	Darren	student	1
FERNANDEZ	Denise	i am a student	1
FORCADO	Marvin rick	kalingan ng mga kristiyanong kabataan or k-cube	50
FUNGO	Mario	bocc/yps,mt.maraot banwa biodiversity conservation manangement board	50,000
GARRIDO	Joshua rey		2,000,000
GASCHICK	Felix	german development service	300,000
GASCON	Prof. mervin	university of southeastern philippines	560
GRAVADOR	Marge	aboitiz equity ventures	20,000
GUERRERO	Yano	youth for christ misamis oriental	2
GULANE	Roy	individual	20
HILL	George	jatropha information buraeu	10,000
IGNACIO	Leano	abba's orchard science club	5
JURVÉLIUS	Mike	far east wood consultants corporation (few)	10,000
KAYAT	Christine	oisca/ children forest program	450
LACSAMANA	Jefferson	golden dragon apparel, inc.	20
LAFARGE	Batong angono aggregates corporation	lafarge aggregates and concrete division	3,000
LAVA	Vin		200
LEGARDA	Loren	luntiang pilipinas	2,000,000
LEVISTE	Leandro	jalco	25,000
LIMSON	Charlie	private individual	30
LOPEZ	Vincent	greenlife	10,000
M.	Jian		100
M. VALDEZ	Valmar	city of san fernando, la union	1,440,000
MANGUBOS	Melvin	walmu	10
MERCADO	Honey rose		100
MERCADO	Roger	restore green movement/rgm allianz/rgm youth alliance	1,000,000
MORAGA	Mariano		16,500
MORALES	Minerva	catanduanes women for progress	150
MORALES	Nilda	oiscachildrensforestprogram	65
MOROJO	Francisco	none	150
NAVARRO	Dante	confederation of civil society	500
OCCIDENTAL	Jason		10
ORPILLA	Dianne marie	provincial government of la union	100,000
PALCA	Howell	silliman university student government environmental awareness committee	600
PARAOHAO	Grace	couples for christ/kfc sb cavite	25
PEÑARANDA	Isagani	beta sigma fraternity	600
PEREZ	Teresita	academe	30
PHILIPPINES		forest management bureau of the department of environment and natural resources	20,000,000
PINGOT	Angel (argel)	davao 15- afrim/ kill droga	1,000
QUE	Maria fe	none	4
RASHEED	Abdullah	boy scouts of the philippines	10,466
REYES	Kristine carol	bataan christian youth civic circle	2
ROSALEJOS	Deditha	tesda lanao del norte provincial office	10
RUANES	Jeremiah	miso balanga city, bataan	1
RUBIO	Rowel	jci iligan	1,000
RUSIOS	Beverly	rotaract club of banilad metro community based	10
SALAZAR, JR.	Cipriano	mt. carmel farms, inc.	1,000
SAMACO	Paul anthony	rotaract club of manila	40
SAMSON	Jade	own tropical trees	25,000
SANTIAGO	Jessie	vice mayor	250
SANTOS	Bjorn	de la salle canlubang	1,500
SAYRE	Cora	wand foundation	5,300
SEBASTIAN	Mario, jr.	marsse tropical timber plantations inc.	16,000,000
SEBUA	Butch	tampakan mountaineering society	100
SEE	Solomon		1
SOLIS	Maria rosa		52,500
SUAREZ	Cj	mis city hall	1
SUCGANG	Rachel		100
TANGONAN	Naomi g	university of southern mindanao	140
TOLENTINO	Lutgarda	university of the philippines los banos	100
TUNDAN	Norma	oiscachildrensforestprogram	300
VAN 'T RIET	Susan	trees for travel	100,000
VELASCO	Ma. monica penelope	green army-denr	831,518
VILLA	Deborah	none	100
VILLAS	Danilo	city government of makati	1,151
VIVAS	Francis	samsung electro-mechanics philippines corporation	10
YAP	Anthony gene	school head bullogan elem. school	1,000
Total			45,694,023



Enter your Pledge
Enter Planted Trees

Find your Trees on Google

UNEP Billion Tree Campaign

2010-09-03T18:52:00.000+08:00

The Plant for the Planet: Billion Tree Campaign is a worldwide tree planting initiative facilitated by the United Nations Environment Programme. People, communities, businesses, industry, civil society organizations and governments are encouraged to enter tree planting pledges on-line . The campaign strongly encourages the planting of indigenous trees and trees that are appropriate to the local environment.

By the end of 2009, more than 7.4 billion trees had been planted under this campaign – far in excess of the year-end target of 7 billion – by participants in 170 countries. With this success continuing into 2010, the Billion Tree Campaign will make a substantial contribution to the 2010 International Year of Biodiversity, raising awareness of the importance of biodiversity for our well-being. Trees play a crucial role as fundamental components of the biodiversity that forms the foundation of the living networks and systems that provide us all with health, wealth, food, fuel and vital ecosystem services our lives depend on. They help provide breathable air, drinkable water, fertile soils and a stable climate. The billions of trees planted by the collective efforts of participants of the Billion Tree Campaign from all parts of society will contribute to biodiversity across the planet.

Ants Repay Acacia Hospitality by Repelling Elephants

2010-09-03T18:50:00.001+08:00

Ants Repay Acacia Hospitality by Repelling Elephants

2010-09-03T18:47:00.000+08:00

In a classic case of David versus Goliath, a certain type of ants has recently been shown capable of deterring elephants from eating Acacia drepanolobium trees.

At first, very few people believe that the small insects can have any possible influence on a creature countless times larger than they are. However, this indeed appears to be the case.
According to a group of researchers, it would appear that ants purposefully swarm inside the nostrils and trunk of elephants, biting and nibbling around until the aggressor gives up trying to eat the plant.

This leads to the creation of a very peculiar sight in the savanna, where most of the vegetation is exterminated when elephants roll by. The only trees that remain are Acacia drepanolobium.

Experts say that this happens because the vegetation has developed a close and personal relationship with ants, creating a symbiosis that is mutually beneficial, LiveScience reports.

While the trees provide the ants with shelter and sweet nectar, the ant colonies make sure that no predator destroys the plant and its leafs.

Whenever elephants approach, the ants begin swarming on their bodies, and then head directly for the most sensitive parts of the beast's snout. While the trunk is harsh on the outside, it is very sensitive on the inside.

It contains a lot of nerve endings, which are very sensitive to ant bites. As such, no elephant can withstand the torture for too long, and prefer to walk away than be subjected to such harsh treatment.

“Ants swarming onto an herbivore's face often tend to head for the sensitive parts such as the nostrils before hunkering down and taking a bite out of the offending animal,” expert Todd Palmer says.

“While the outside of an elephant's trunk is very tough, the inside of the trunk is very sensitive and full of” nerve endings,” explains the researcher, who is a professor of biology at the University of Florida.

“It seems that elephants simply do not like ants swarming up the insides of their trunks,” adds Palmer, who was also a researcher on the new study.

He conducted the research alongside University of Wyoming colleague Jacob Goheen. Details of the work appear in the latest issue of the esteemed scientific journal Current Biology.

“The ants protect the tree in exchange for both housing that the tree produces in the form of bulbous hollow thorns, as well as food in the form of a sugary nectar that is secreted at the base of the leaves,” explains Palmer.

“We found the elephants like to eat the 'ant plant' trees just as much as they like to eat their favorite tree species, and that when either tree species had ants on them, the elephants avoided those trees like a kid avoids broccoli," he concludes.

Bee pastures may help pollinators prosper

2010-08-07T08:25:00.000+08:00

Bee pastures may help pollinators prosper:

ScienceDaily (Aug. 4, 2010) — Beautiful wildflowers might someday be planted in 'bee pastures,' floral havens created as an efficient, practical, environmentally friendly, and economically sound way to produce successive generations of healthy young bees.

The pesticide-free pastures could be simple to establish, and -- at perhaps only a half-acre each -- easy to tend, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) entomologist James H. Cane. He's based at the Pollinating Insects Biology, Management, and Systematics Research Unit operated by USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) in Logan, Utah. ARS is USDA's principal intramural scientific research agency.

Bee pasturing isn't a new idea. But studies by Cane and his collaborators, conducted in a research greenhouse and at outdoor sites in Utah and California, are likely the most extensive to date.

Two bee businesses are already using the findings to propagate more bees.

The research indicates that species of pastured pollinators could include, for example, the blue orchard bee, Osmia lignaria. This gentle bee helps with pollination tasks handled primarily by the nation's premier pollinator, the European honey bee, Apis mellifera. Cane estimates that, under good conditions, blue orchard bee populations could increase by as much as four- to fivefold a year in a well-designed, well-managed bee pasture.

Cane and colleagues have studied wildflowers that might be ideal for planting at bee pastures in California. In particular, the team was interested in early-flowering annuals that could help bolster populations of blue orchard bees needed to pollinate California's vast almond orchards.

The research, funded by ARS and the Modesto-based Almond Board of California, resulted in a first-ever list of five top-choice, bee-friendly wildflowers for tomorrow's bee pastures in almond-growing regions. These pasture-perfect native California plants are: Chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla), California five-spot (Nemophila maculata), baby blue eyes (N. menziesii), lacy or tansy phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia), and California bluebell (P. campanularia).

Cane has presented results of his research to almond growers at workshops.

Read more about the research in the August 2010 issue of Agricultural Research magazine: http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/AR/archive/aug10/bee0810.htm

Awareness: AMAZING Moringa Olefeira "malunggay

2010-07-03T21:28:00.000+08:00

AMAZING Moringa Olefeira "malunggay

Do you know that a cup of moringa oleifera contains the following:
3.1 g - protein
0.6 g - fiber
96 mg - calcium
29 mg - phosphorus
1.7mg - iron
2,820mg- carotene
0.07 mg- thiamine
0.14 mg- riboflavin
1.1 mg - niacin
53 mg - ascorbic acid/vit c
71% - antioxidant activity
45% - atocopherol (vit E)

IBIDS Database

2010-07-03T20:59:00.000+08:00

IBIDS Database: "Title: Dietary patterns affecting prostate cancer: medical education.
Author: Ceber,-E; Cakr,-D
Citation: Turkiye-Klinikleri-tp-Bilimleri-Dergisi. 2009; 29(3): 733-739
Abstract: Prostate cancer is the most common male cancer. Studies show that prostate cancer is a preventable disease. The current studies suggest the role of dietary patterns in the prevention of prostate cancer. There are many epidemiological, clinical, case-control and prospective studies about dietary patterns and prostate cancer. These studies indicate that saturated fats, trans fatty acids, omega-6 fatty acids, meat, whole milk and dairy products, and calcium increase prostate cancer risk, whereas omega-9 fatty acids, omega-3 fatty acids, fruit and vegetables, lycopene, selenium, vitamins E and D, soya, pomegranate and green tea decrease the risk. Consumption of meat, trans fatty acids (margarine, fried foods) and whole dairy products (whole milk, cheese, yogurt, or others) should be reduced and high calcium intake should be avoided to reduce prostate cancer risk. On the other hand, consumption of vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts and radish), lycopene-containing foods (tomato and products), adequate amount of selenium (seafood, grains), vitamin E (vegetable oils, wheat germ, nuts, soyabeans, sweet potatoes, and avocado), green tea, soya (soyabeans, tofu, soy cheese, soya milk), and pomegranate juice is highly recommended. This paper reviews the associations of food and increased/decreased dietary risk factors for prostate cancer, and gives recommendations based on these associations.
Review References: None
Notes: None
Language: English
Publication Type: Journal-article
Keywords: None
Permissions: Record courtesy of CABI.
URL: No URL associated with this record.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Do low-income mobile phone users want mobile money?

2010-07-03T20:41:00.000+08:00

Do low-income mobile phone users want mobile money?:

"Do low-income mobile phone users want mobile money?
by Kabir Kumar: Friday, November 20, 2009

Since the official launch of GCASH in early 2004, Globe Telecom’s subsidiary GXI set-up a number of initiatives to help them arrive at a strategy for mobile banking in the Philippines. As part of those efforts, CGAP and GXI partnered to roll-out GCASH in three predominantly rural and low-income provinces of Bohol, Palawan and Surigao. Our goal was to understand how to expand the reach of GXI’s agent network into smaller towns and how customers would use the service. I am writing to share briefly what we learned in terms of customer usage and preferences in the low-income provinces that we have been working in.

In 18 months, GXI signed up 120,000 new GCASH customers in three low income provinces (Bohol, Surigao del Norte and Palawan) and set-up 200 agents to service those customers (GXI has 1.1 million GCASH customers nationally with 3,000 agents). GXI reached over half of the registered base in the first three quarters of 2009 – roughly 72,000 new GCASH accounts. About 2,000 of those customers (under 3 percent of total) have been conducting one or more GCASH transactions a month. The average transaction size was very low at USD 30, reflecting GCASH’s appeal to those looking to transact at low values. In addition, a very small number of customers have used the wallet for storage. We found a small subset (6-7 customers) maintain a monthly running balance.

GXI found that their approach to marketing worked well because they let potential customers just try out the service extensively up front. Their marketing campaigns involved large musical concerts. On-foot sales agents were on hand to sign-up customers and train them on how to use the service. Musical performances would draw people in from surrounding towns and barangays and sales agents would approach people to trial the service. People would be allowed to try out multiple transactions as they discovered the service. GXI also used commission based sales agents (“roving” agents) to reach out to customers in the provinces at their homes. These agents were equipped to promote the SMS-based service as well as the new G-cash menu-based application.

GXI’s experience with an entirely text-based interface has been mixed. Our interviews with GCASH agents did not suggest that either the agents or the GCASH customers they serviced had a difficult time using a text-based service. Philippines is known as the texting capital of the world but we were working in provinces that were poorer and where literacy levels were lower than the national norm. What we found is true in most markets globally: younger people whose social lives involve being connected via cell phones and people with exposure to using computers are more comfortable using cell phones to begin with.

GCASH volumes have been low in these three provinces. There has been a lag between when people register and when they start actively using the service. We met an active user in Palawan who started using six months after registering for the service. She was receiving money from Manila.

There are a number of other factors for the low volume but the bottom line: GCASH as a remittance service was competing with existing well worn remittance providers, in particular the pawnshops.
There are a number of regionally dominant pawnshop chains that provide remittance services. Pawnshops got into remittance in part to deal with having a lot of cash at each of their locations. Pawnshop remittance products like ML Kwarta Padala and Express Pera Padala have 1000 and 300 shops each servicing localized markets. Express Pera Padala is Palawan Pawn Shop’s domestic remittance service. They have 30 locations in Palawan alone and, based on interviews we conducted, we estimated that locations in Puerto Princessa (Palawan’s capital) serviced 150-200 remittances customers a day. Average fees were at 3 percent (6% for smallest at ~ $6 and 1% for highest at $420). In comparison, Drugman, a general goods store and Globe’s airtime sub-distributor for Palawan saw on average of six G-cash transactions a day. Most customers were cashing out in Puerto Princessa. Average transaction sizes were $21.

chart

Because people were already used to remitting using the pawnshops, GXI partnered with some of them to make GCASH available at their stores. GCASH’s performance has not been exceptionally different from other locations, however. It did help to have the GCASH brand associated with existing remittance providers which are well known locally but it was unclear if that drove additional sales.

These providers also compete with informal channels like truck drivers. The small island of Bohol with just over 1 million people has three or four formal options and a slew of informal ones just to send money within the bounds of the island province. The island itself is small enough making it possible for someone to simply carry the money themselves on regular visits back home. I talked to a number of people (domestic workers, fast food chain employees, etc.) who simply do that. Truck drivers are known to ferry cash up the major road that skirt the island. The drivers don’t always charge and the frequency with which these trucks ply that road makes it possible to send money daily.

Poor Filipinos have options to remit but that still does not mean GCASH couldn’t deliver value. M-PESA changed people’s remittance behavior – they remitted more frequently and at lower values. At one percent cash-in, GCASH charges were already far below what the competition charges in the Philippines. GXI could have created a value proposition in the low-value remittance market (see chart and thanks to Ignacio Mas for making it) pursuing a high-volume low-margin business – large numbers of provincial customers sending money domestically paying 3 to 5 percent in commissions and at under $20 per transaction.

- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Agris Repository Search Results

2010-07-03T20:39:00.000+08:00

Micropropagation of malunggay (Moringa oleifera)

Agris Repository Search Results: "AGRIS record
Record number PH2009000332
Titles Micropropagation of malunggay (Moringa oleifera)
Personal Authors Calinawan, N.M.,Halos, S.C., Arnichem Corp., College, Laguna (Philippines)
Conference 38. Annual CSSP Scientific Conference, , Iloilo City (Philippines), 12-16 May 2008
Publication Date (May 2008)
AGRIS Subj. Cat. Plant genetics and breeding
AGROVOC Terms MORINGA OLEIFERA, MICROPROPAGATION, EXPLANTS, GROWING MEDIA, PROPAGATION MATERIALS, PHILIPPINES, MORINGA OLEIFERA, MICROPROPAGATION, EXPLANT, SUBSTRAT DE CULTURE, MATERIAU DE MULTIPLICATION, PHILIPPINES, MORINGA OLEIFERA, MICROPROPAGACION, EXPLANTES, SUBSTRATOS DE CULTIVO, MATERIALES DE PROPAGACION, FILIPINAS
Language En
Notes Summary only, Received Aug 2008
English Abstract Malunggay is currently promoted as a potential industrial crop by the Department of Agriculture as source of oil for biodiesel, cooking oil or cosmetic ingredient. For the Philipines to be competitive in developing a crop for biodiesel, it must undertake a massive plantation establishment for malunggay, around 500,000. Planting at 10,000 trees per hectare, requires about 5 billion pieces. The massive requirement for planting stock could be met with cuttings from existing trees. Furthermore, there is an existing variation in fruiting and oil quality of the malunggay. Hence, this study was undertaken to develop a tissue culture technology for the micropropagation of seeds collected from selected mother trees that are prolific seed producers and with oil quality and yield acceptable to oil processors. Malunggay seeds collected from the Ilocos region were obtained from Biotech Office, Dept. of Agriculture. These were surfaced sterilized and the kernel dissected and placed on 22 different media formulations. Seven media formula induced the embryo to produce multiple shoots 19 days after inoculation. The number of shoots ranged from 1-13 pieces per seed. The best media produced an average of 9.8 shoots/seed and about 30 explants for the next round of multiplication. Some shoots were transferred to rooting media, others in shoot proliferation medium. Roots were induced in another 2 weeks. Provided that this rate of multiplication is maintained,one seed shall have multiplied into 27,000 plantlets 12weeks after inoculation. A massive production of malunggay planting stock is thus attainable. Experiments are being conducted to verify this projection and develop a protocol for hardening the plantlets prior to distribution to farmers. Selection of prolific pod-bearing trees is also underway.
Type Conference, Summary
Availability UPLB (Philippines)
Availability number 2009000332
Serial Title Philippine Journal of Crop Science (Philippines)
Serial ID - ISSN 0115-463X
Serial number p. 103-104
Serial Date (May 2008)
For document availability, please contact:
UPLB (Philippines)
College, Laguna 4031, Philippines
Contact: Ms Annie EVANGELISTA
Tel: +63049 5362235
Fax: +63 49 5362326
Email: agris_phils@yahoo.com.ph
URL: http://www.uplb.edu.ph/
AGRIS 2010 - FAO of the United Nations

SunPower

2010-07-02T22:10:00.000+08:00

SunPower

Summary of Proposed Investment

This Summary of Proposed Investment is prepared and distributed to the public in advance of the IFC Board of Directors’ consideration of the proposed transaction. Its purpose is to enhance the transparency of IFC’s activities, and this document should not be construed as presuming the outcome of the Board decision. Board dates are estimates only.

Project number 27807
Company name SunPower Philippines Manufacturing Ltd
Country
Philippines (IDA)
Sector Industrial & Consumer Products
Environmental category B
Department Global Manufacturing & Services
Status Pending Disbursement

Date SPI disclosed March 13, 2009
Projected board date April 13, 2009
Previous Events Signed: May 6, 2010
Approved: February 1, 2010
View Environmental & Social Review Summary (ESRS), click here
Overview Sponsor/Cost/Location Development Impact Contacts Attachments

Project description
SunPower Corporation (“SunPower” or the “Company”) is a global player in the solar industry. The company was founded in 1985 by Dr. Richard Swanson and his students while he was professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University. In 2008, SunPower generated revenue of $1.43 billion.

SunPower is in the process of completing its second solar cell fabrication facility in the Philippines (the “Project”). The project will result in the completion of twelve solar cell manufacturing lines with an aggregate nameplate capacity of 466 MW.

Project sponsor and major shareholders of project company
The project sponsor is SunPower. The company is a NASDAQ-listed public company with a widely held ownership consisting mainly of institutional investors.
Total project cost and amount and nature of IFC's investment
The total project cost is estimated at $475 million. IFC is considering a financing package of up to $75 million in the company.
Location of project and description of site
The project is located in an industrial park in Batangas, Philippines.

Anticipated development impact of the project
The project will have the following positive developmental impacts:

- Reduction of CO2 Emissions: This investment will support the production of solar cells, which will provide renewable energy. Assuming a module life of 25 years, the project will directly avoid an estimated 90-100 million tons of CO2 emissions, assuming the electrical energy they produce is instead produced through conventional fossil fuel generated electricity.

- Development of the solar industry: This project will increase the availability of high-performance and cost-effective solar cells, which is expected to accelerate the solar PV industry’s goal to reach grid parity, such that solar energy is an economically viable energy source without government subsidy.

- Job creation and other economic benefits: This facility will employ a total of approximately 2,900 skilled jobs in the Philippines and contribute to local economic growth.
IFC's expected development contribution
IFC’s presence in the project will (i) help the company attract other long-term financiers, especially from local financial institutions, and (ii) signal to the market that renewable energy is an important industry to finance in emerging markets.
Environmental and social issues - Category B
This is a Category B project according to IFC’s Procedure for Environmental and Social Review of Projects because a limited number of specific environmental and social impacts may result, which can be avoided or mitigated by adhering to generally recognized performance standards, guidelines or design criteria. Key environmental, health and safety, human resources and social issues that were reviewed included the following: Environmental and social management system; Quality and sustainability of water resources; Emissions to the environment – air, water and subsurface; Solid and hazardous materials management, including transportation; Life and fire safety; Community and occupational health and safety; Energy use and efficiency; and Community engagement. Performance Standards that are applicable for this investment include:

- PS 1: Social and Environmental Assessment and Management System
- PS 2: Labor and Working Conditions
- PS 3: Pollution Prevention and Abatement

The identified environmental, social and healthy and safety issues which require ameliorative measures are summarized in a Environmental and Social Action Plan (ESAP) that SunPower will implement as part of IFC’s Loan Agreement. Upon successful implementation of the agreed mitigation measures, the proposed Project is expected to comply with host country laws and regulations, IFC Performance Standards and applicable World Bank/IFC guidelines. Additionally, SunPower’s solar cell technology provides a significant positive impact on global climate change and its operations create jobs and opportunities for local communities, with no adverse social impacts.

For inquiries about the project, contact:
Jay Peir
SunPower Corporation
3939 N. 1st Street
San Jose, CA 95134 U.S.A.
Tel: 408.240.5500

For inquiries and comments about IFC, contact:
General IFC Inquiries
IFC Corporate Relations
2121 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20433
Telephone: 202-473-3800
Fax: 202-974-4384
E Mail: Webmaster
Local access of project documentation
City Government of Tanauan
Tindalo Ave. Mt. View Subd.
Barangay Poblacion 3,
Tanauan City, Batangas
http://www.tanauancity.gov.ph

Water and Wastewater Treatment Products

2010-06-05T18:12:00.000+08:00

Water and Wastewater Treatment Products

From bench-top high purity lab water to industrial water reuse systems; from drinking water to wastewater treatment and recycling; Siemens Water Technologies touches every component of water and wastewater treatment. Let us work with you to implement the best solution for your need.

Activated Carbon
Activated carbon pellets and powder for air and water filtration. Also granular activated carbon adsorber filter systems, pressure vessels, roll-offs and canisters.

Aeration
Aeration products including aerators for oxidation of dissolved iron, degassifiers for ammonia and VOC reduction, mechanical aerators for pond aeration, and diffused air systems for biological treatment.

Biological Treatment
Air diffusers, jet aeration systems, wastewater mechanical aeration systems, wastewater package plants, sequencing batch reactors, trickling filters, and anaerobic treatment systems.

Chemical Feed and Disinfection
Analyzers, controllers, induction systems, metering pumps, dry feed, gas feed, polymer feed, chlorine dioxide generation, hypochlorite generation and UV disinfection systems.

Controls, Instrumentation and Analyzers
Water and wastewater analyzers, controllers, motor control centers (MCC), pump controls, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA), and remote telemetry units (RTU).

Conventional Filtration
Gravity filter and pressure filter systems and equipment, cartridge filters and filter housings, filter media, arsenic media, greensand, and packaged water plants.

Ion Exchange
Cation, anion, water softener & specialty resins. Continuous Deionization (CDI) and Continuous Electrodeionization (CEDI/ EDI) Systems. Deionizer, demineralizer, and dealkalyzer products.

Laboratory Water Products
Lab Water Purification Systems, Storage reservoirs and other accessories for your ultrapure, general grade, primary grade and clinical analyzer water needs.

Liquid and Vapor Phase Odor Control
Air strippers, aerators, chemical scrubbers, degasifiers, biological odor control, carbon adsorption towers, emergency vapor scrubbers, liquid addition and chemical supply.

Membrane Filtration & Separation Products
Ultrafiltration and microfiltration membrane water filtration systems. Reverse osmosis systems, RO pumps and equipment, and replacement RO modules. Disk Filter.

Physical/Chemical Treatment Products
Chemical reaction systems, copper select technologies, hydrothermal oxidation, wet air oxidation (WAO). Neutralization and precipitation systems and accessories.

Separation and Clarification Products
Water and wastewater circular, plate, & rectangular clarifiers. Floating decanters, dissolved air flotation (DAF), oil water separators, trash rakes and screens.

Sludge and Biosolids Processing
Digestor accessories. Sludge thickener, belt press, plate press, and centrifuges. Sludge dryers, incineration, composting and removal equipment. Cannibal(R) solids reduction process.

Specialty Products and Accessories
Anodes, electrodes, cathodic protection, flow meters, metal recovery, hemodialysis water systems, mechanical aeration, mechanical mixing, screw pumps, surge and storage tanks.

QuickShip Water Treatment Equipment

2010-06-05T18:05:00.000+08:00

QuickShip Water Treatment Equipment

Water treatment equipment designed for quick delivery
GE Water & Process Technologies' containerized and standalone water treatment plants provide the quality you expect from GE -- delivered to you in a fraction of the time of conventional systems.
Across many water sources and contaminant types, GE has a variety of QuickShipsm water treatment solutions to meet your needs.
Benefits To You
Speed of delivery
Product quality and safety
Proven technology
Consistent environmental compliance Product Features
Get to "make-water" day faster than you though possible.
The solution is effective, modular and easy to install.
Modules can be combined to treat the flow rates required by your operation.
Proven technology.
Flexible financing to preserve your capital and protect your cash flow

GE, as a leader in water treatment equipment, has thousands of these systems running across many industries and applications such as Power, Food & Beverage, Seawater Desalination, Nuclear Plants, Light Industrial and others.
GE understands the importance of having a proven system designed to eliminate many project risks. GE's established technology, combined with the added value of schedule compression, ease of installation and reduced project management costs, are a potent combination.We are committed to providing you the fastest response time and currently stock the following units across our global manufacturing sites for immediate shipment around the world:
Technology
Containerized
Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) - Energy-efficient, high-pressure membrane systems for seawater desalination.
Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis (BWRO) - Spiral-wound Reverse Osmosis systems used to remove suspended and dissolved species in water.
Pretreatment Units.
Standalone Units
Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) - Energy-efficient, high-pressure membrane systems for seawater desalination.
Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis - Spiral-wound Reverse Osmosis systems used to remove suspended and dissolved species in water.
EDI Systems - Electrodeionization systems for polishing water using electricity.
Pretreatment Units
Z-BOX Ultrafiltration - Submerged ultrafiltration that provides a physical barrier to viruses, bacteria, Cryptosporidium, Giardia and suspended solids.
** - Product availability is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Fresh Water For The World's Poorest

2010-06-05T17:53:00.000+08:00

Fresh Water For The World's Poorest

Fresh Water For The World's Poorest
ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2008) — Lack of water causes great distress among the population in large parts of Africa and Asia. Small decentralized water treatment plants with an autonomous power supply can help solve the problem: They transform salty seawater or brackish water into pure drinking water.

Large industrial plants for the desalination of seawater deliver 50 million cubic meters of fresh water every day – particularly in the coastal cities of the Middle East. However, the technology is complex and consumes large amounts of energy. It is not suitable for the arid and semiarid regions of Africa and India, though these are the very places where it is becoming increasingly difficult to supply drinking water, particularly in rural areas.
“The regions have a very poor infrastructure. Quite often there is no electricity grid, so conventional desalination plants are out of the question,” states Joachim Koschikowski of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE in Freiburg. In various EU-funded projects over the past few years, he and his team have developed small, decentralized water desalination plants that produce fresh drinking water with their own independent solar power supply.
“Our plants work on the principle of membrane distillation,” explains Koschikowski. This can best be explained by the principle of a Gore-Tex jacket, in which the membrane prevents rainwater from penetrating through to the skin. At the same time, water vapor formed inside the jacket by perspiration is passed through to the outside. “In our plant, the salty water is heated up and guided along a micro-porous, water-repellent membrane. Cold drinking water flows along the other side of the membrane. The steam pressure gradient resulting from the temperature difference causes part of the salt water to evaporate and pass through the membrane. The salt is left behind, and the water vapor condenses as it cools on the other side. It leaves us with clean, germ-free water,” says Koschikowski.
The researchers have so far built two different systems, both with their own energy supply. “Our compact system for about 120 liters of fresh water per day consists of six square meters of thermal solar collectors, a small photovoltaic module to power a pump, and the desalination module itself,” explains Koschikowski. In the dual-circuit system, on the other hand, several desalination modules are connected in parallel, enabling several cubic meters of water to be treated every day.
One cubic meter of drinking water – 1000 liters – will cost about 10 euros. “When you think how much the inhabitants currently have to pay for the same amount of bottled water or soft drinks, the plant will pay off very quickly,” claims Koschikowski. The test plants in Gran Canaria and in Jordan have been operating successfully for some time. The researchers are therefore planning to market the plants through a spin-off known as “SolarSpring” from the middle of this year.

UNCCD - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

2010-04-24T01:58:00.000+08:00

UNCCD - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

"Enhancing soils anywhere enhances life everywhere "

The World Day to Combat Desertification is observed every year on 17 June. This year, the Day's theme is "Enhancing soils anywhere enhances life everywhere"

The year 2010 is the International Year dedicated to Biodiversity. To this end, UNCCD aims to sensitize the public to the fact that desertification, land degradation and drought dramatically affect the biodiversity resident in the soil.

There is a close relationship between livelihood and ecosystem wellbeing, and soils that are rich in biodiversity. Healthy soils produce life, and yet soil health depends a lot on how individuals use their land. What we do to our soils determines the quality and quantity of the food we eat and how our ecosystems serve us. Our increasing ecological interdependence also means enhancing soils anywhere enhances life everywhere

The World Day to Combat Desertification has been observed since 1995 (General Assembly Resolution A/RES/49/1995) to promote public awareness relating to international cooperation to combat desertification and the effects of drought, and the implementation of the UNCCD. Last year, more than 40 events took place all over the world (see the 2008 report). We can celebrate the Day through organizing activities such as seminars, media events and campaigns. Every single activity involving community participation and cooperation is encouraged!

For more information about the Day, please contact: secretariat(at)unccd.int

We would be delighted to hear from you about how your country plans to mark the Day. The information received will be posted on our website.

We wish you every success in your activities to celebrate 17 June 2010.

UNCCD - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

2010-04-24T01:53:00.000+08:00

UNCCD - United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification

Only One Earth - Drylands are Vital

22/04/10. Earth Day, celebrated today, reminds us that we have Only One Earth. And that so much in our lives depends on the very limited resources we have. The land that feeds us is one of the most limited resources. As Earth Action has so simply demonstrated, we cannot overemphasize the importance of taking care of that land. Very simply, here is the message more..

Instant desal market comes of age | Global Water Intelligence - Archive

2010-04-24T01:33:00.000+08:00

Instant desal market comes of age | Global Water Intelligence - Archive

Instant desal market comes of age

From: Vol 9, Issue 11 (November 2008)
Category: General
Region: Unspecified
Related Companies: ACWA Power, Aqualyng, Nirosoft, Preussag and Subseas Industries

Temporary seawater desalination plants look set to become a permanent fixture of the water industry as matching water supply and demand becomes an ever greater challenge.

When GWI wrote about offshore desalination plants back in 2005, our contributor Gord Cope delivered his copy with a note, commenting that “hell will freeze over before those guys get a deal”. The problem he identified was that no one was prepared to finance a shipbased desalination plant unless they had a supply contract, and no one was prepared to ...

METHOD FOR PRODUCING PURE WATER FROM SEA WATER AND OTHER SOLUTIONS BY FLASH VAPORIZATION AND CONDENSATION - Patent 3446712

2010-04-24T01:16:00.000+08:00

METHOD FOR PRODUCING PURE WATER FROM SEA WATER AND OTHER SOLUTIONS BY FLASH VAPORIZATION AND CONDENSATION - Patent 3446712

METHOD FOR PRODUCING PURE WATER FROM SEA WATER AND OTHER SOLUTIONS BY FLASH VAPORIZATION AND CONDENSATION

United States Patent 3446712

Ads by Google

Water Desalination Plants
Drinking water out of sea water Reverse osmosis systems
lenntech.com/Water+Desalination+Plants

Ads by Google

Water Desalination Plants
Drinking water out of sea water Reverse osmosis systems
lenntech.com/Water+Desalination+Plants

Nutrient Analyser
NOx, PO4, NH4, TP, TN Discrete, CFA, SFA 120 samples p/hr
www.seal-analytical.com

Seawater Desalination
ForeverPure Seawater/Brackish units Industrial,commercial, and homes.
www.foreverpure.com

Oil Field Tubulars
Pup Joints, X & R Nipples Tubular Accessories,Flow Coupling
www.petroquip.com

US Patent References:
Method for producing pure water from sea water and other solutions by flash vaporization and condensation
3329583

Distillation of a solute-solvent mixture in successively reduced pressure stages while in direct contact and concurrent flow with a heat transfer medium
3298932

Method for multi-flash evaporation to obtain fresh water from aqueous solution
3288686

Saline water conversion
3214348

Submerged combustion and flash evaporation system and process
3165452

Inventors:

Othmer, Donald F.

Publication Date:

05/27/1969

Export Citation:

Click for automatic bibliography generation

Assignee:

Othmer, Donald F.

Primary Class:

203/11

Other Classes:

202/177, 159/17.300, 202/173, 203/88, 159/DIG.033, 159/2.300, 159/DIG.008, 159/18, 202/205, 159/16.200, 159/15, 203/DIG.017

International Classes:

C02F1/16; B01D3/10; B01D3/06; C02B1/06

View Patent Images:

Download PDF 3446712 PDF help

US Patent References:

3161558	Flash chamber structure
3152053	Sea water conversion apparatus
2514944	Falling film distillation apparatus

METHOD FOR PRODUCING PURE WATER FROM SEA WATER AND OTHER SOLUTIONS BY FLASH VAPORIZATION AND CONDENSATION - Patent 3446712

2010-04-24T01:15:00.000+08:00

METHOD FOR PRODUCING PURE WATER FROM SEA WATER AND OTHER SOLUTIONS BY FLASH VAPORIZATION AND CONDENSATION - Patent 3446712

Mobile MaxPure solar filters bring pure water to refugees

2010-04-24T01:14:00.000+08:00

Mobile MaxPure solar filters bring pure water to refugees

Lizard with 2 penises found in Philippines CCTV-International

2010-04-09T23:37:00.000+08:00

Lizard with 2 penises found in Philippines CCTV-International

Dubbed Varanus bitatawa, the dragon-sized, fruit-eating lizard measures 6 feet 6 inches (about 2 meters) in length, but only about 22 pounds (about 10 kg) in weight, and the creature is endowed with a double penis, according to the study published in the British Royal Society Journal Biology Letters.

"It lives up in trees, so it can't get as massive as the Komodo dragon, a huge thing that eats large amounts of fresh meat," said Rafe Brown of the University of Kansas, whose team confirmed the find. "This thing is a fruit-eater and it's only the third fruit-eating lizard in the world."

However, how many of the lizards have survived is unclear.

"They are extremely secretive," Brown said, adding, "I think that centuries of humans hunting them have made the existing populations ... very skittish and wary and we never see them.

They see and hear us before we have a chance to see them, they scamper up trees before we have a chance to come around."

The brightly-colored beast, a monitor lizard, is a close cousin of the Komodo dragon of Indonesia, according to the finding.

The Varanus bitatawa has unique markings and an unusual sexual anatomy, according the study, which stated that the creature's scaly body and legs are a blue-black mottled with pale yellow-green dots, while its tail is marked in alternating segments of black and green.

Philippine Inventor Turns Coconut Waste Into Environment-Saver

2010-04-03T22:48:00.000+08:00

Philippine Inventor Turns Coconut Waste Into Environment-Saver

Philippine Inventor Turns Coconut Waste Into Environment-Saver
illustration onlyBy Staff WritersManila (AFP) Feb 01, 2006Imagine turning a worthless waste material into an innovative, biodegradable product that protects the environment, promotes plant growth and gives jobs to poor farmers.
Former agriculture college dean Justino Arboleda, 56, has done just that.
He has turned the lowly husk of the coconut fruit, the most ubiquitous plant in his native Philippines, into an award-winning product.
His innovation makes use of the husk fibers to produce a tough but biodegradable netting that anchors the soil on sloping land as well as river banks, protecting against erosion while encouraging the growth of vegetation.
The product, called "coconet", has been adopted in infrastructure projects all over this Southeast Asian archipelago, as well as in China and Sri Lanka.
It landed the top prize of the 2005 BBC World Challenge, where it beat some 456 entries from 90 countries for best innovative grassroots project and earned Arboleda a 20,000-dollar prize and recognition from both BBC and Newsweek magazine.
A late 1980s study commissioned by the Philippines-based Asian Development Bank into the conditions of millions of coconut farmers in his impoverished Bicol region inspired Arboleda's invention.
The study he conducted found that "most farmers in Bicol live below the poverty line", unable to earn enough money off their small plots, Arboleda said.
The dried coconut meat, or "copra", was the only part of the tall plant that had recognized economic value -- the raw material for vegetable oil, soap, animal feed and industrial processes.
The discarded husks were the largest waste product of the coconut-growing regions. Arboleda estimates the Philippines produces 12 billion coconut husks a year with 75 percent of them thrown away.
"We wanted to give jobs to the farmers, especially the women," who often are left idle when the coconut crop has been harvested, he said.
"We found a way to mill (coconut) husks, convert them to fibers and bring (the fibers) to the houses" of the farmers, where their wives would spin them into a tough thread which in turn is woven into the netting.
The net could then be laid onto sloping land, especially the kind left behind in road construction.
Using his life savings and money borrowed from relatives, Arboleda in 1995 set up a company to help save the planet and his neighbors with an initial capital outlay of 100,000 pesos (3,817 dollars).
A factory was set up in Bicol, to make use of the excess labor in the area. The company is now worth about 20 million pesos with 13 million pesos in sales last year.
He named the company Juboken Enterprises -- a combination of the nicknames of Arboleda, his wife and son -- but also a Japanese word meaning "important venture".
The company subcontracts the thread and net-weaving to local farming families, giving them an extra daily income of 150-200 pesos a day.
Arboleda says his product not only holds the soil down against erosion. It absorbs water, preventing soil runoff from rains while serving as a fertile bed for plant growth.
It can also be installed manually unlike alternatives which often require heavy equipment.
"Before, everyone would use plastic nets or steel wire," or even concrete to shore up slopes, he said.
"Coconut fiber is cheap, it does not deteriorate quickly," he said, allowing plants to grow in coconet-covered slopes or river banks, to eventually anchor the soil down.
In tests, coco-fiber has lasted for four years submerged in water, he said.
The product is now used to shore up the exposed earth in dam and highway projects in the Philippines, preventing landslides in hillside housing projects and covering garbage used as landfill.
Arboleda recently sealed an agreement with China to study how coconet could be used in slowing desertification.
He said that when he offered his product for use in a landfill in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, the Chinese were skeptical that it would be better than plastic netting. So he spent 500,000 pesos of his own money to prove coconet would work.
He has also struck a deal with a Sri Lankan company to provide the technical know-how on how to use coco-fiber in that country.
Arboleda also has agreements with companies in the Netherlands to make doormats from the material and do joint research on other ways to use coco-fiber.
In addition, Arboleda has found a way to use the dust produced when coconut husks are made into fibers. He turns it into "coco-peat": a fertile, porous soil-like material used as a growing medium for plants and can be shaped like bricks, pots or posts, for ornamental vegetation.
Source: Agence France-Presse

New Inventors: Coconet

2010-04-03T22:36:00.000+08:00

New Inventors: Coconet

Coconet
A unique net-like device, it can be clipped inconspicuously to the upper parts of a coconut tree. Coconet catches falling nuts by guiding them into a basket that can be lowered at any time to ground level for the safe retrieval of nuts.
About the Inventor
Tim Straatmans is a crazy guy. He loves to talk, is really Australian and wouldn't want to live anywhere else in the world but Queensland.He runs another business called Armflame, which is a pipe gas installation company in rural Queensland. He is married with two children aged 19 and 17 and builds boats in his spare time.The Coconet won the Design Award for, 'Australian Invention of the Year 2003' and was a Finalist in the 'Asian Innovation Awards 2003'.
Contact
For more information about Coconet, contact the following:www.coconet.net.auemail: caughtup@coconet.net.au
Online Discussion
Read what others have said or have your say.

HP dv8 specs page goes live, confirms Core i7 processor -- Engadget

2010-04-03T21:21:00.000+08:00

HP dv8 specs page goes live, confirms Core i7 processor -- Engadget

We've already seen plenty of leaked info about HP's upcoming Core i7-based dv8, but nothing beats an official specs page on a company's own server for proof, does it? Looks like this 18.4-inch monster will pack a 1.6GHz Core i7 processor (we're guessing that's the baseline speed, as Intel's Turbo tech will boost the max speed of a single core far higher), 4GB of RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GT230 graphics, and a LightScribe Blu-ray burner. Oh, and it'll weigh nearly nine pounds -- but that's a small price to pay, right

Luna Road's Solar Road Studs Launches its Solar Illumination Projects Into Asia!

2010-04-03T21:09:00.000+08:00

Luna Road's Solar Road Studs Launches its Solar Illumination Projects Into Asia!

Luna Road's Solar Road Studs Launches its Solar Illumination Projects Into Asia!
The Luna Road Company that specializes in the design, manufacture, supply and installation of the new high-tech “cat’s eyes” has now spread the light and penetrated its rays into Asia with projects in Singapore & New Zealand to begin with.

Luna Road Lights installed on Jogging Track
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PR Log (Press Release) – Apr 02, 2010 – The Luna Road Lights from the Luna Road Company that specializes in the design, manufacture, supply and installation of the new high-tech “cat’s eyes” has now spread the light and penetrated its rays into Asia with projects in Singapore & New Zealand to begin with.

Water Cooler Finance: Warren Buffett Buys A Lemonade Stand - Investopedia.com

2010-04-03T20:56:00.000+08:00

Water Cooler Finance: Warren Buffett Buys A Lemonade Stand - Investopedia.com

Fed Accidently Leaves the Printing Press OnOn Monday, an embarrassed Ben Bernanke told the public that he and other Fed officials accidently left the printing press running all weekend.
"I remember hitting the lights and I asked Donny [Vice Chairman Donald Kohn] to make sure the press was off. Apparently, he didn’t hear me," Bernanke explained to reporters.
It’s estimated that almost $3 trillion is set to enter the system, guaranteeing a sharp rise in inflation and drop in purchasing power. Bernanke encouraged people to look on the bright side. "This will help pay down our foreign debts and balance the budget in one fell swoop," he said. " It's kinda lucky that way."
In addition, Bernanke explained that very few people will actually feel poorer and that, other than the severed hand of the American ambassador to China that arrived in the mail, there was little in the way of negative responses. "It’s a lot easier than those Treasury bond purchases, anyhow," Bernanke added. "Congress has told us to just let the bugger run."

Water Cooler Finance: Warren Buffett Buys A Lemonade Stand - Investopedia.com

2010-04-03T20:54:00.000+08:00

Water Cooler Finance: Warren Buffett Buys A Lemonade Stand - Investopedia.com

Warren Buffett Invests $2 billion In Girl’s Lemonade StandThe Oracle of Omaha has found it harder and harder to keep coattail investors guessing as to where he will invest next. On Wednesday, it was reported that Mr. Buffett walked to his office and bought a cup of lemonade from 10-year-old Kayla Summers. Impressed by the girl’s sales ability and low overhead - her mom pays for the lemons - Buffett sunk $2 billion into her operations. Asked what she would do with the money, Kayla responded that she had plans to "buy a pony." Berkshire shares rose 4% on the news.

Clinton to AIPAC: Israel's security strengthens US

2010-03-23T00:32:00.000+08:00

Clinton to AIPAC: Israel's security strengthens US

British Airways in 'gagging' row over strike - Telegraph

2010-03-23T00:30:00.000+08:00

British Airways in 'gagging' row over strike - Telegraph

Gov’t to spend P100 billion more for 2010 stimulus, bulk for infrastructure | Manila Bulletin

2010-03-23T00:28:00.000+08:00

Gov’t to spend P100 billion more for 2010 stimulus, bulk for infrastructure | Manila Bulletin

IMF Help For Greece Would Wobble The Euro - WSJ.com

2010-03-19T00:18:00.000+08:00

IMF Help For Greece Would Wobble The Euro - WSJ.com

BusinessWorld Online: The Laiban dilemma

2009-12-13T20:03:00.000+08:00

BusinessWorld Online: The Laiban dilemma: "The Laiban dam project was conceived in the 1970s as a part of the Industrial Complex Plan in north eastern Luzon. It was deferred, however, as the project met opposition from people.

The project was later restored as a joint-venture of San Miguel Corp. and the Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) to address the estimated 1.6 billion liter per day water shortage in Metro Manila by 2015. In fact, the Laiban Dam is seen as an alternative water source for Metro Manila, especially during times when the Angat Dam in Bulacan becomes an unviable source of water during typhoons.

To augment water supply, the project entails the construction of a dam in Tanay, Rizal utilizing the Kaliwa River Basin, which passes through the slopes of Sierra Madre and into the Pacific shoreline on the side of Quezon.

The dam is expected to yield approximately 1.9 billion liters a day intended to serve an estimated population of about 5.5 million in and around Rizal Province. It is also estimated to generate about 25 megawatts of hydropower. The NEDA-ICC approved cost amounts to P47.93 billion, and the construction is projected to be carried out within 5 years.

The project seems promising on the surface, considering the problem of water adequacy in the Metro amidst the growing demand from its expanding population. There are, however, hurdles that the government is facing in light of this enterprise, among them protests from the public and the church.

A costly enterprise

Appeals were sent to the MWSS by certain groups, saying that the dam “is the most expensive project to be undertaken by the MWSS, in terms of economic cost, size and expanse of the infrastructure, numbers of stakeholders to be affected, environmental effects, human rights, and the challenges to the existing environmental and indigenous laws”.

Apart from the obvious pecuniary costs, the project also appears to put several areas at even greater risk. Pambansang Kilusan ng Samahang Magsasaka (Pakisama) observes that the planned 113-meter high structure poses a threat to three Quezon provinces�”Infanta, Real and Gen. Nakar�”in case it collapses.

In addition, the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) has said that the area of planned reservoir is surrounded by a number of fault lines, five of which have been identified as active, including the Marikina-Infanta fault line.

The project is also said to affect around 27,800 hectares of ancestral and agricultural lands, including some 3,000 hectares of mangrove fish sanctuaries and farm irrigation systems in the towns of Gen. Nakar, Real, and Infanta. Habitats of endemic and endangered species in forested areas are likewise seen to be affected as the project rolls out.

Along with the alleged impact on the environment and the purported violations of laws such as the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) System, the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act (NIPAS), and the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act (Wildlife Protection Act), as well as the Indigenous People’s Rights Act (IPRA), concerns on the welfare of affected families have also been put forward as one of the project’s biggest challenges.

The dam is expected to displace thousands of families, including the indigenous communities of Dumagats and Remontados. Moreover, an alleged “take-or-pay” provision contained in the contract with the San Miguel Bulk Water Company, Inc. is seen to burden the MWSS with costs should supply exceed actual demand. Advocacy groups fear that these costs may eventually be passed on to households through higher water charges.

Other options

Other options to address the water shortage have been presented amid the intense opposition and challenges.

Local firm Sierra Madre Water Corp. (SMWC) proposes a cheaper and an allegedly more environment friendly source of water. The SMWC promises a supply of 2 billion liters per day and can be operational in 24 months�”which, offhand, trumps Laiban’s capacity of 1.9 billion liters per day and expected five-year roll-out.

The company also stresses that it has smaller environmental footprints, since its dam requires smaller construction with capital costs lower than the Laiban proposal. The SMWC also assures that no more than 100 families will be affected or will need to resettle; the water will also be released towards the Pacific Ocean, so there will be less risk of flooding in the surrounding areas.

Another proposed option is the Wawa Dam in Montalban. Oscar Violago, president of San Lorenzo Ruiz Builders and Developers Group, Inc., the company that owns the rights to the Wawa River Dam project, enumerates a few of the advantages of Wawa Dam over Laiban.

The Wawa reservoir is reportedly still full, and millions of water go over the dam and flows to the sea everyday. The dam also covers about 27,700 hectares, or almost the same as Laiban’s, so Wawa’s production capacity can be expected to be at par with Laiban’s.

The Wawa Dam also requires minor renovations�”for one, it already has existing pipelines, so it doesn’t require further tunneling�”and can thus be operational again within eight months. Just as important, it is not expected to affect communities, especially ancestral and agricultural lands.

On the other hand, NGOs contend that instead of building another dam, efficiency and effective forest protection or forest conservation are just as viable solutions. Environmental groups have also emphasized that strengthening the anti-logging campaign and the restoration of existing watersheds like Angat, Ipo, La Mesa and Wawa can enhance water flow.

Furthermore, the reduction of water demand and improvement of the efficiency of water delivery systems (e.g., by minimizing leakages and non-revenue water levels) are “simple and economical options”. In a public report, both Maynilad and Manila Water declared that their losses of 69% and 20%, respectively, were mainly due to leakages.

No easy task

In economic parlance, allocative efficiency is a key consideration in evaluating projects. That is, any decision to allocate resources produces both winners and losers. The benefit principle is an oft-used maxim: a project or a policy increases or maximizes allocative efficiency�”and, therefore, must be pursued�”as long as the benefits exceed the cost.

Securing the country’s water supply is no easy task and rightfully earns its spot among the country’s priorities. The threat of shortage is real and requires speedy interventions from the government. But any proposed solution should be carefully considered and weighed against a viable alternative, if only to ensure that the end-result comes at a minimal cost.

The Institute for Development and Econometric Analysis, Inc. (IDEA) is an economic think-tank based in the University of the Philippines - Diliman. For inquiries on IDEA, please contact Eduard Robleza at edjrobleza@idea.org.ph.

References:
National Economic Development Authority. Advanced Manual on Project Evaluation, Vol.2. 2006
“Bishops join people’s outrage against Laiban Dam,”CBCP News.
Manila Waterworks and Sewerage System
Various articles from GMANews.tv and The Philippine Daily Inquirer."

The Buffett System - The Automatic Way to Invest like Warren Buffett

2009-12-13T19:55:00.000+08:00

The Buffett System - The Automatic Way to Invest like Warren Buffett: "'There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult.' - Warren Buffett"

HOPENHAGEN

2009-12-13T19:50:00.000+08:00

HOPENHAGEN:
Bloomberg Specials
Written by Kim Chipman & Todd White / Bloomberg News
Tuesday, 08 December 2009 18:59

Now that US President Barack Obama has given fresh impetus to climate-change negotiations in Copenhagen, corporate leaders supporting an agreement to control greenhouse-gas emissions are pressing anew for action. Two weeks of talks among 192 nations opened on Monday in the Danish capital, and Obama’s decision to show up on the final day helps ensure “an ambitious outcome,” United Nations climate chief Yvo de Boer told reporters in Copenhagen.

The International Energy Agency (IEA), a trade group for the US and 27 more oil-consuming nations, and companies from Allianz SE to Coca-Cola Co. say envoys can agree to halt the growth of emissions within 10 years and keep global temperatures from rising by more than 2 degrees Celsius.

“We need a signal at Copenhagen to cap emissions by 2020 and a 2-degree scenario,” Fatih Birol, chief economist for the agency, said in a phone interview. “All the measures we suggest will bring energy security, because we’ll use less oil” and more clean energy, said Birol, who plans to visit Copenhagen for the second of the two weeks of talks.

World leaders already have said the talks will fail to reach the original goal of completing a treaty, a deadline moved to next year. While Obama and de Boer didn’t specify how much can be achieved in Copenhagen, company executives and lobbyists say they want quantifiable goals that have been sought for years by environmentalists and scientific groups.

Supporters of the temperature and 2020 targets include 850 business leaders who signed this year what’s called the Copenhagen communiqué, a project by the University of Cambridge in the UK. Signatories include General Electric Co. chief executive officer Jeffrey Immelt, Coca-Cola CEO Muhtar Kent, BP Plc. CEO Tony Hayward, HSBC Holdings Plc. chairman Stephen Green, Nestlé SA CEO Paul Bulcke and Nike Inc. CEO Mark Parker.

Executives from many of these companies are joining the 15,000 delegates who will come to the city’s Bella convention center for talks through December 18.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs announced last week that Obama will show up for the conclusion of the talks, when most of the 100 or so heads of government will arrive and help guide final decisions. Earlier Obama had planned to stop by on December 9. “There is progress toward a meaningful Copenhagen accord,” Gibbs said.

Obama found after speaking with UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other leaders that there’s an “emerging consensus” to provide $10 billion a year by 2012 to help poor countries deal with global warming.

“The United States will pay its fair share of that amount and other countries will make substantial commitments as well,” Gibbs said in the statement. The administration also believes longer-term financing should be considered in Denmark, he said.

Negotiators in the Danish capital must provide companies with the certainty they need to make annual investments that may rise to trillions of dollars, said John Hawksworth, chief of macroeconomics at PricewaterhouseCoopers in London. Businesses need to know the scale of planned carbon cuts in order to gauge how expensive tradable carbon allowances will become, he said.

“The fundamental thing is to come up with a deal on the intermediate targets for 2020,” Hawksworth said in a telephone interview. “Once you’ve got the price on carbon, that sends the signal that businesses need in order to make the long-term investments in low carbon technologies and processes.”

Allianz, Europe’s largest insurer, supports the 2-degree limit as well as financing for developing countries to adapt to climate change, said Nick Tewes, a spokesman. By limiting the risks associated with climate change, the insurer will also minimize its potential claims, he said.

Those on the other side of the issue also will be in Copenhagen, including representatives of the Washington-based US Chamber of Commerce, the biggest US business-lobbying organization. The group has questioned mandatory emissions cuts as part of an international accord and is calling for an emphasis on clean-energy technology.

The Chamber is fighting against US legislation, which passed the House and is stalled in the Senate, to require a cut in greenhouse-gas pollution. It would cap emissions and set up a market to trade pollution allowances.

The US Environmental Protection Agency issued a rule on Monday giving it the power to regulate carbon-dioxide pollution.

The Paris-based IEA estimates that efforts to keep warming to less than 2 degrees since industrialization will add $10.5 trillion to the investment needed by 2030 to upgrade power stations, pipelines and refineries. The IEA also backs keeping the concentration of heat-trapping carbon dioxide to 450 parts per million, compared with about 385 now.

Amsterdam-based Greenpeace has called for an increase of no more than 2 degrees for at least seven years, said Kaisa Kosonen, a climate adviser for the environmental group. Greenpeace calls for global emissions to peak by 2015, five years earlier than the corporations.

Enel SpA, Italy’s largest utility, wants competitors around the world to accept CO2 regulations similar to those the Rome-based company already faces in the European Union.

“In order to get these targets, for 2 degrees of 450 parts per million, and emissions cuts, you need private investors like us,” said Simone Mori, head of regulation and environment at Enel, who may travel to Copenhagen.

The two-degree target has been a goal for the 27-nation European Union since 1996. In July, major greenhouse-gas polluters including the US, China, India and Japan signed up to the target, which has also been discussed in the UN negotiations as a possible long-term “shared vision.”

The move marked the first time developing nations had set such a target to fight climate change.

The talk of momentum doesn’t sway one of the US Congress’s biggest climate-change skeptics, Republican Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who also will come to Copenhagen. He says the meeting is doomed, even with Obama’s entourage attending on the last day.

“No amount of lofty rhetoric or promises of future commitments can save it,” Inhofe said in a statement. That’s in part because legislation pending in the Senate to cap emissions “is dying on the vine.”
IN PHOTO -- Vestas wind turbines operate near their factory in Lem, Denmark. Vestas Wind Systems A/S, the world’s biggest maker of wind turbines, said it plans to almost double its capacity to produce wind-power equipment in India as the government offers new incentives for renewable energy. Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg"

Copenhagen's Real Challenge: Technology to Meet the Targets

2009-12-11T21:16:00.002+08:00

Copenhagen's Real Challenge: Technology to Meet the Targets

By BRYAN WALSH Wednesday, Dec. 09, 2009

Over the next two weeks, the intense negotiations at the U.N. summit on climate change in Copenhagen will focus on numbers: emissions cuts (in percentages), money for climate adaptation (in dollars), atmospheric carbon concentrations (in parts per million) and global temperature targets (in degrees). Already, grinding diplomacy and criticism have overshadowed the good feelings and pageantry of the opening day of the summit, with a leaked negotiation draft revealing the deep divisions that still exist between rich and poor countries on climate. (See the top 10 green ideas of 2009.)

But there is one number that may not get discussed much at Copenhagen, even though it is as important as all the others: $10.5 trillion. That is the additional investment needed between now and 2030 to set the world on the path to low-carbon development, according to the International Energy Agency — a number that is far above the pittance the world currently spends on clean-energy research and development. As Jesse Jenkins and Devon Swezey of the think tank Breakthrough Institute wrote on Dec. 7, "Without measurable progress that dramatically increases global investments in clean energy, we can forget stabilizing global temperatures or atmospheric carbon dioxide at any level."

In other words, while global politics may shape how quickly and appropriately we structure our response to climate change, the actual work of reducing carbon emissions will ultimately be a technological problem. Beyond the policy wars in the halls of U.N. summits and on Capitol Hill, the battle against climate change requires better and cheaper forms of alternative energy, which will need to be deployed fast. Unfortunately, they don't exist. "Stabilizing the climate is a huge technological challenge, and the solution of ready-to-deploy, scalable low-carbon technologies is far from being a reality," wrote University of Montreal economists Christopher Green and Isabel Galiana in a commentary in the Dec. 3 issue of Nature. (See the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2009.)

Green and Galiana calculate just how far we are today from the reality of a truly low-carbon world. They estimate that, for instance, to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2°C higher than preindustrial levels — a projected upper limit of temperature rise before climate change could turn catastrophic — global carbon emissions would have to be reduced at least 80% by the end of the century. Assuming that global economic growth remains at a healthy 2.2%, which is necessary if developing countries are to continue to grow and pull their people out of poverty, the energy intensity of the global economy would need to be reduced to one-third its 2000 level, while total consumption of carbon-free energy would have to be three times greater than the total amount of energy consumed in 2000.

Trying to predict energy-use patterns nearly 100 years into the future is difficult, to say the least, but even if these numbers are off, Green and Galiana's research shows just how immense a challenge it will be to replace our fossil-fueled energy system with one that is free of carbon, especially while the global economy and population are growing. Legislating carbon reductions through a cap — which is ultimately the aim of both the U.N. negotiations and U.S. action on Capitol Hill — is important because it would give security to the business world and begin to price out cheap fossil fuels.

Ultimately, however, we will need better renewable-energy technologies — and that will require increased spending on innovation, in the U.S. and elsewhere. "Energy technology research and development will be essential to decarbonize the global economy," write Green and Galiana.

The authors argue that the best way to raise funds for energy R&D is to levy a small carbon tax — perhaps $5 per ton — that could produce as much as $150 billion annually for energy research around the globe. That would pay for several Manhattan Projects a year. Green and Galiana recommend steadily raising the tax to keep the funding going. To prevent that money from being abused by special political interests (the ongoing flow of funds to corn ethanol in the U.S. shows what happens when energy policy is infected by politics), they argue that allocation of the funds should be left to experts like the Gates Foundation.

Is this the global solution? Certainly it's part of it. Far too little is spent on energy R&D in the U.S., and the percentage of what is spent there has dropped in recent decades, even as concerns over global warming have intensified. President Obama's Department of Energy has done an admirable job of shifting direction, funding more innovation at the university level and focusing on helping new energy start-ups cross the "valley of death" to profitability. Energy R&D leads to new industries and, of course, new jobs. "Because our economic future depends on our leadership in the industries of the future, we are investing in basic applied research," said Obama in a speech on employment on Tuesday, Dec. 8. "We know the nation that leads in clean energy will be the nation that leads the world."

Meanwhile, the battle over carbon caps will continue in Copenhagen and in Washington, and it will be very contentious. Indeed, on the third day of negotiations in Copenhagen, a new rift opened between the most-threatened developing nations, which are pushing for tough emissions caps, and larger developing nations, whose main concern is the economic impact of caps. In this context, perhaps the biggest advantage to a more technology-focused climate policy could be in global public opinion. Carbon caps are politically controversial because they implicitly acknowledge that the world has limits and that countries will have to fight for their individual shares. But technology offers the promise that with the right breakthroughs, we can keep growing. "Investing in R&D to make clean energy cheap is the most popular energy proposal there is," says Michael Shellenberger of the Breakthrough Institute. That may be a global deal everyone can embrace.

Copenhagen Topic: Technology to Reduce Carbon Emissions - COP15: Climate-Change Conference - TIME

2009-12-11T21:16:00.000+08:00

Copenhagen Topic: Technology to Reduce Carbon Emissions - COP15: Climate-Change Conference - TIME:

"Over the next two weeks, the intense negotiations at the U.N. summit on climate change in Copenhagen will focus on numbers: emissions cuts (in percentages), money for climate adaptation (in dollars), atmospheric carbon concentrations (in parts per million) and global temperature targets (in degrees). Already, grinding diplomacy and criticism have overshadowed the good feelings and pageantry of the opening day of the summit, with a leaked negotiation draft revealing the deep divisions that still exist between rich and poor countries on climate. (See the top 10 green ideas of 2009.)

But there is one number that may not get discussed much at Copenhagen, even though it is as important as all the others: $10.5 trillion. That is the additional investment needed between now and 2030 to set the world on the path to low-carbon development, according to the International Energy Agency — a number that is far above the pittance the world currently spends on clean-energy research and development. As Jesse Jenkins and Devon Swezey of the think tank Breakthrough Institute wrote on Dec. 7, 'Without measurable progress that dramatically increases global investments in clean energy, we can forget stabilizing global temperatures or atmospheric carbon dioxide at any level.'

In other words, while global politics may shape how quickly and appropriately we structure our response to climate change, the actual work of reducing carbon emissions will ultimately be a technological problem. Beyond the policy wars in the halls of U.N. summits and on Capitol Hill, the battle against climate change requires better and cheaper forms of alternative energy, which will need to be deployed fast. Unfortunately, they don't exist. 'Stabilizing the climate is a huge technological challenge, and the solution of ready-to-deploy, scalable low-carbon technologies is far from being a reality,' wrote University of Montreal economists Christopher Green and Isabel Galiana in a commentary in the Dec. 3 issue of Nature. (See the top 10 scientific discoveries of 2009.)

Green and Galiana calculate just how far we are today from the reality of a truly low-carbon world. They estimate that, for instance, to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2°C higher than preindustrial levels — a projected upper limit of temperature rise before climate change could turn catastrophic — global carbon emissions would have to be reduced at least 80% by the end of the century. Assuming that global economic growth remains at a healthy 2.2%, which is necessary if developing countries are to continue to grow and pull their people out of poverty, the energy intensity of the global economy would need to be reduced to one-third its 2000 level, while total consumption of carbon-free energy would have to be three times greater than the total amount of energy consumed in 2000.

Trying to predict energy-use patterns nearly 100 years into the future is difficult, to say the least, but even if these numbers are off, Green and Galiana's research shows just how immense a challenge it will be to replace our fossil-fueled energy system with one that is free of carbon, especially while the global economy and population are growing. Legislating carbon reductions through a cap — which is ultimately the aim of both the U.N. negotiations and U.S. action on Capitol Hill — is important because it would give security to the business world and begin to price out cheap fossil fuels.

Ultimately, however, we will need better renewable-energy technologies — and that will require increased spending on innovation, in the U.S. and elsewhere. 'Energy technology research and development will be essential to decarbonize the global economy,' write Green and Galiana.

The authors argue that the best way to raise funds for energy R&D is to levy a small carbon tax — perhaps $5 per ton — that could produce as much as $150 billion annually for energy research around the globe. That would pay for several Manhattan Projects a year. Green and Galiana recommend steadily raising the tax to keep the funding going. To prevent that money from being abused by special political interests (the ongoing flow of funds to corn ethanol in the U.S. shows what happens when energy policy is infected by politics), they argue that allocation of the funds should be left to experts like the Gates Foundation.

Is this the global solution? Certainly it's part of it. Far too little is spent on energy R&D in the U.S., and the percentage of what is spent there has dropped in recent decades, even as concerns over global warming have intensified. President Obama's Department of Energy has done an admirable job of shifting direction, funding more innovation at the university level and focusing on helping new energy start-ups cross the 'valley of death' to profitability. Energy R&D leads to new industries and, of course, new jobs. 'Because our economic future depends on our leadership in the industries of the future, we are investing in basic applied research,' said Obama in a speech on employment on Tuesday, Dec. 8. 'We know the nation that leads in clean energy will be the nation that leads the world.'

Meanwhile, the battle over carbon caps will continue in Copenhagen and in Washington, and it will be very contentious. Indeed, on the third day of negotiations in Copenhagen, a new rift opened between the most-threatened developing nations, which are pushing for tough emissions caps, and larger developing nations, whose main concern is the economic impact of caps. In this context, perhaps the biggest advantage to a more technology-focused climate policy could be in global public opinion. Carbon caps are politically controversial because they implicitly acknowledge that the world has limits and that countries will have to fight for their individual shares. But technology offers the promise that with the right breakthroughs, we can keep growing. 'Investing in R&D to make clean energy cheap is the most popular energy proposal there is,' says Michael Shellenberger of the Breakthrough Institute. That may be a global deal everyone can embrace."

Do Rich Nations Owe Poor Ones a Climate Debt? -- TIME MAGAZINE

2009-12-11T21:11:00.001+08:00

Do Rich Nations Owe Poor Ones a Climate Debt?

By BRYAN WALSH Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009

In two decades of climate change negotiations, a deep divide has remained between wealthy nations and developing ones, each side insisting the other move first to lower carbon emissions and curb the effects of global warming.

But this year there was an uncommon optimism, in the days preceding the U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen, that the rift could someday be bridged. President Barack Obama's delegation announced it would bring reliable carbon emissions targets to the negotiating table — an about-face from past U.S. climate envoys, who have always played the spoiler role at the annual summit — opening the door for major developing nations, such as China and India, to bring their own pledges to Copenhagen as well. (See TIME's special report about the Copenhagen Climate-Change Conference.)

But if the deadlock between developed and developing nations appeared to have been loosening, it could not have helped when Todd Stern, the top U.S. climate negotiator, categorically dismissed the idea that wealthy countries like the U.S. should owe the developing world a debt for the years of unfettered carbon emissions that are now contributing to climate change. "I actually completely reject the notion of a debt or reparations or anything of the like," Stern said in Copenhagen on Wednesday.

Still, Stern agreed that the U.S. and other developed nations would cut emissions and give aid to developing countries that need it. The details are yet to be determined: right now, delegates at the Copenhagen summit are busy passing around draft texts and proposals, preparing for the arrival next week of environment ministers and heads of state, who will wrap up the talks. The negotiators' focus is on actions — reducing emissions, ramping up clean energy, furnishing aid for adaptation — that are politically and economically viable. (See pictures of the world's most polluted places.)

Do Rich Nations Owe Poor Ones a Climate Debt? - COP15: Climate-Change Conference - TIME

2009-12-11T21:11:00.000+08:00

Do Rich Nations Owe Poor Ones a Climate Debt? - COP15: Climate-Change Conference - TIME

2009-12-11T21:10:00.000+08:00

Do Rich Nations Owe Poor Ones a Climate Debt? - COP15: Climate-Change Conference - TIME:

"In two decades of climate change negotiations, a deep divide has remained between wealthy nations and developing ones, each side insisting the other move first to lower carbon emissions and curb the effects of global warming.

But this year there was an uncommon optimism, in the days preceding the U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen, that the rift could someday be bridged. President Barack Obama's delegation announced it would bring reliable carbon emissions targets to the negotiating table — an about-face from past U.S. climate envoys, who have always played the spoiler role at the annual summit — opening the door for major developing nations, such as China and India, to bring their own pledges to Copenhagen as well. (See TIME's special report about the Copenhagen Climate-Change Conference.)

But if the deadlock between developed and developing nations appeared to have been loosening, it could not have helped when Todd Stern, the top U.S. climate negotiator, categorically dismissed the idea that wealthy countries like the U.S. should owe the developing world a debt for the years of unfettered carbon emissions that are now contributing to climate change. 'I actually completely reject the notion of a debt or reparations or anything of the like,' Stern said in Copenhagen on Wednesday.

Still, Stern agreed that the U.S. and other developed nations would cut emissions and give aid to developing countries that need it. The details are yet to be determined: right now, delegates at the Copenhagen summit are busy passing around draft texts and proposals, preparing for the arrival next week of environment ministers and heads of state, who will wrap up the talks. The negotiators' focus is on actions — reducing emissions, ramping up clean energy, furnishing aid for adaptation — that are politically and economically viable. (See pictures of the world's most polluted places.)

But the question of exactly what the rich nations of the world owe the poor ones is still up in the air. According to many environmental activists and representatives of the most vulnerable nations in the world, climate change should be viewed first and foremost as an ethical challenge, rather than an economic or political one. Industrialized nations have flourished in part because they were able to burn fossil fuel indiscriminately for decades, and the impact of those emissions is only now being recognized as climate change. As poor countries see it, rich nations got rich at their expense: as the planet continues to warm, it will heighten water scarcity, intensify flooding and droughts, and worsen some infectious disease — all of which will first hit developing countries that have not yet had the chance to burn fossil fuels in large quantities. 'We are living on the front lines of climate change,' said Dessima Williams, the head of the Alliance of Small Island States, a coalition of 43 island nations.

Poor nations around the world have struggled with natural disasters and disease for years, of course, and developed countries have always felt an obligation to help; hence, global programs like the U.N. Millennium Development Goals, which aim to reduce poverty, disease and mortality, and empower developing countries. But from an ethical perspective, climate change is different because it has a clear cause: man, or more specifically, Western man. The ability to track carbon emissions means that we can calculate how much responsibility each country — and practically each person — bears for a warmer world. And because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for centuries, we can even calculate the historic responsibility that nations bear for global warming."

Google takes real-time advantage

2009-12-08T12:58:00.000+08:00

Google takes real-time advantage

By Richard Waters in San Francisco

Published: December 8 2009 02:06 | Last updated: December 8 2009 02:06

Google has again pulled ahead of Microsoft’s Bing in the race to draw instant Twitter updates and other “real-time” information from the web, as the rival tech giants intensified their efforts to gain the upper hand in some of the hottest new areas of internet search.

Google also outlined on Monday a number of ambitious new search applications for mobile phones, bringing advanced image- and voice-recognition technology to bear in the most promising new part of the search business.

The announcements follow last week’s attempt by Microsoft to grab attention for Bing by showing off a range of its own recent innovations.

Microsoft also scored a rare publicity victory over Google in search technology two months ago when it became the first to reach a deal with Twitter and Facebook to receive a “feed” of real-time tweets and updates from the services.

But in response on Monday, Google went one step further with a demonstration of a service that draws real-time information directly into its regular search results pages.

The freshest tweets and other pieces of information on any online search topic scroll past in real-time, without any need to refresh the page.

Amit Singhal, who as a Google “fellow” holds one of the company’s top engineering positions, said the service crawls more than 1bn web pages and makes fresh information available through the search engine within seconds of it being posted.

The service draws from news and blog sources, as well as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and a number of other sources, and will be extended from the US to other countries early next year, Mr Singhal added.

While Twitter’s soaring popularity this year has made the real-time web one of the hottest issues in Silicon Valley, Google put much of its emphasis on Monday on mobile search, where it is relying on big investments in a number of advanced technologies to gain an edge.

One trial service, known as Google Goggles, uses image-recognition software to identify a picture taken on a mobile phone, then returns information about the object through a search.

The technology is theoretically powerful enough for the service to recognise individual faces, but Google has decided for privacy reasons not to make that capability available, said Vic Gundotra, the company’s vice-president of engineering.

Google also showed off a service that uses voice-recognition software to identify words spoken into a mobile phone, then plays back a translation of the words in a different language within seconds.

FT.com / Technology - Google takes real-time advantage

2009-12-08T12:46:00.000+08:00

FT.com / Technology - Google takes real-time advantage: "By Richard Waters in San Francisco

Published: December 8 2009 02:06 | Last updated: December 8 2009 02:06

Google has again pulled ahead of Microsoft’s Bing in the race to draw instant Twitter updates and other “real-time” information from the web, as the rival tech giants intensified their efforts to gain the upper hand in some of the hottest new areas of internet search.

Google also outlined on Monday a number of ambitious new search applications for mobile phones, bringing advanced image- and voice-recognition technology to bear in the most promising new part of the search business.

The announcements follow last week’s attempt by Microsoft to grab attention for Bing by showing off a range of its own recent innovations.

Microsoft also scored a rare publicity victory over Google in search technology two months ago when it became the first to reach a deal with Twitter and Facebook to receive a “feed” of real-time tweets and updates from the services.

But in response on Monday, Google went one step further with a demonstration of a service that draws real-time information directly into its regular search results pages.

The freshest tweets and other pieces of information on any online search topic scroll past in real-time, without any need to refresh the page.

Amit Singhal, who as a Google “fellow” holds one of the company’s top engineering positions, said the service crawls more than 1bn web pages and makes fresh information available through the search engine within seconds of it being posted.

The service draws from news and blog sources, as well as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and a number of other sources, and will be extended from the US to other countries early next year, Mr Singhal added.

While Twitter’s soaring popularity this year has made the real-time web one of the hottest issues in Silicon Valley, Google put much of its emphasis on Monday on mobile search, where it is relying on big investments in a number of advanced technologies to gain an edge.

One trial service, known as Google Goggles, uses image-recognition software to identify a picture taken on a mobile phone, then returns information about the object through a search.

The technology is theoretically powerful enough for the service to recognise individual faces, but Google has decided for privacy reasons not to make that capability available, said Vic Gundotra, the company’s vice-president of engineering.

Google also showed off a service that uses voice-recognition software to identify words spoken into a mobile phone, then plays back a translation of the words in a different language within seconds.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009."

Carbon-cut target a 'milestone'

2009-11-28T21:43:00.000+08:00

Carbon-cut target a 'milestone': "By Fu Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-11-28 07:24
Comments(0) PrintMail

A high-ranking United Nations official said China's decision to make a 40 to 45 percent cut in carbon intensity by 2020 is 'a milestone' leading up to the Copenhagen summit, which opens Dec 7.

On Friday, UN Development Program (UNDP) administrator Helen Clark downplayed the potential of the Copenhagen summit, predicting that leaders will have a tough time reaching a global alliance next month.

She urged closer cooperation in mitigating climate change between China and the UN in a speech she made in Beijing on Friday at the 30th anniversary celebration of her organization's presence in China.

'The Chinese government's decision is more of a milestone announcement on the way to Copenhagen and it is one of the big moves forward,' Clark said in her remarks at the ceremony.

But she is cautious about the outcome of the Copenhagen summit.

'It may be difficult to reach a high-quality, new climate agreement in Copenhagen,' said Clark. 'But such a deal is urgently needed.'

Clark did not elaborate on her statement.

Premier Wen Jiabao held talks with Clark on Thursday when China announced its plans to reduce carbon intensity by 2020.

Clark said the UN will strengthen cooperation with China in tackling climate change, together with reducing poverty and increasing the country's global presence.

'Three such areas in particular merit attention but the first is tackling climate change,' Clark said. 'This is one of the most pressing development challenges our world faces.'

She expressed delight that UNDP and China are already working closely together as China takes steps towards becoming a lower-carbon economy."

GARDENING FOR KIDS

2009-11-16T23:21:00.000+08:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

BAMBOO / FASHION

2009-11-16T23:13:00.000+08:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Boom in bamboo buildings - World environment- msnbc.com

2009-11-16T23:05:00.000+08:00

Boom in bamboo buildings - World environment- msnbc.com: "updated 6:26 p.m. ET Feb. 3, 2008

GIRARDOT, Colombia - Forget steel and concrete. The building material of choice for the 21st century might just be bamboo.

This hollow-stemmed grass isn't just for flimsy tropical huts any more _ it's getting outsized attention in the world of serious architecture. From Hawaii to Vietnam, it's used to build everything from luxury homes and holiday resorts to churches and bridges.

Boosters call it 'vegetal steel,' with clear environmental appeal. Lighter than steel but five times stronger than concrete, bamboo is native to every continent except Europe and Antarctica."

2009-11-16T23:02:00.002+08:00

Space shuttle Atlantis fueled up for launch - Return to Flight- msnbc.com

2009-11-16T23:00:00.000+08:00

Space shuttle Atlantis fueled up for launch - Return to Flight- msnbc.com: By Clara Moskowitz
updated 9:27 a.m. ET Nov. 16, 2009

WASHINGTON - The space shuttle Atlantis was fueled up Monday for its mission to ferry six astronauts and tons of spare parts to the International Space Station.

Atlantis is slated to lift off at 2:28 p.m. ET from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Overnight, forecasters reduced the chances of acceptable weather for launch slightly, from 90 percent to 70 percent. 'Our primary concern for launch is a low cloud ceiling,' meteorologists said in their Monday morning update."

Shuttle mission to extend life of space station | Science | Reuters

2009-11-16T22:59:00.000+08:00

Shuttle mission to extend life of space station | Science | Reuters: By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - The space shuttle Atlantis was poised for launch on Monday on one of the final missions to outfit the International Space Station so it can remain flying long after the shuttles are retired.

Liftoff of Atlantis and its six-man crew on the last shuttle mission of the year is scheduled for 2:28 p.m. EST (1928 GMT) from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Forecasters predict a 70 percent chance that the weather will be suitable for launch.

NASA plans to end the 30-year-old space shuttle program next year, bowing to long-standing concerns about safety and the expense associated with maintaining and flying Atlantis and its two sister ships, Discovery and Endeavour.

The shuttle program costs NASA about $5 billion a year, and has claimed the lives of 14 astronauts. The first crew of seven perished during a launch accident in 1986 and the second died during a landing attempt in 2003 due to a heat shield breach.

The U.S. space agency has been working to replace the shuttles with a partly reusable, capsule-style spacecraft called Orion to fly crews to the moon and other destinations in the solar system in addition to the space station, which orbits 225 miles above Earth.

The station, a $100 billion project of 16 countries that has been under construction for more than a decade, is due to be completed in 2010. After Atlantis' mission, five flights remain to finishing building and outfitting the station.

Atlantis is loaded with about 30,000 pounds (13,610 kg) of equipment too big to be transported by the Russian, European and Japanese cargo ships that will keep the station stocked with food, fuel and other supplies after the shuttles are retired."

NASA - LCROSS Impact Data Indicates Water on Moon

2009-11-14T21:59:00.000+08:00

NASA - LCROSS Impact Data Indicates Water on Moon:

The argument that the moon is a dry, desolate place no longer holds water.

Secrets the moon has been holding, for perhaps billions of years, are now being revealed to the delight of scientists and space enthusiasts alike.

NASA today opened a new chapter in our understanding of the moon. Preliminary data from the Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicates that the mission successfully uncovered water during the Oct. 9, 2009 impacts into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus cater near the moon’s south pole.

The impact created by the LCROSS Centaur upper stage rocket created a two-part plume of material from the bottom of the crater. The first part was a high angle plume of vapor and fine dust and the second a lower angle ejecta curtain of heavier material. This material has not seen sunlight in billions of years.

'We're unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbor and by extension the solar system. It turns out the moon harbors many secrets, and LCROSS has added a new layer to our understanding,' said Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Scientists have long speculated about the source of vast quantities of hydrogen that have been observed at the lunar poles. The LCROSS findings are shedding new light on the question of water, which could be more widespread and in greater quantity than previously suspected.

Permanently shadowed regions could hold a key to the history and evolution of the solar system, much as an ice core sample taken on Earth reveals ancient data. In addition, water, and other compounds represent potential resources that could sustain future lunar exploration.

Since the impacts, the LCROSS science team has been working almost nonstop analyzing the huge amount of data the spacecraft collected. The team concentrated on data from the satellite's spectrometers, which provide the most definitive information about the presence of water. A spectrometer examines light emitted or absorbed by materials that helps identify their composition.

'We are ecstatic,' said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. 'Multiple lines of evidence show water was present in both the high angle vapor plume and the ejecta curtain created by the LCROSS Centaur impact. The concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further analysis, but it is safe to say Cabeus holds water.'

The team took the known near infrared spectral signatures of water and other materials and compared them to the spectra collected by the LCROSS near infrared spectrometer of the impact.

'We were only able to match the spectra from LCROSS data when we inserted the spectra for water,' said Colaprete. 'No other reasonable combination of other compounds that we tried matched the observations. The possibility of contamination from the Centaur also was ruled out.'

Additional confirmation came from an emission in the ultraviolet spectrum that was attributed to hydroxyl, one product from the break-up of water by sunlight. When atoms and molecules are excited, they release energy at specific wavelengths that are detected by the spectrometers. A similar process is used in neon signs. When electrified, a specific gas will produce a distinct color. The ultraviolet visible spectrometer detected hydroxyl signatures just after impact that are consistent with a water vapor cloud in sunlight.

Data from the other LCROSS instruments are being analyzed for additional clues about the state and distribution of the material at the impact site. The LCROSS science team along with colleagues are poring over the data to understand the entire impact event, from flash to crater, with the final goal being the understanding of the distribution of materials, and in particular volatiles, within the soil at the impact site.

'The full understanding of the LCROSS data may take some time. The data is that rich,' said Colaprete. 'Along with the water in Cabeus, there are hints of other intriguing substances. The permanently shadowed regions of the moon are truly cold traps, collecting and preserving material over billions of years.'

LCROSS was launched June 18, 2009 as a companion mission to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, or LRO, from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. After separating from LRO, the LCROSS spacecraft held onto the spent Centaur upper stage rocket of the launch vehicle, executed a lunar swingby and entered into a series of long looping orbits around the Earth.

After traveling approximately 113 days and nearly 5.6 million miles (9 million km), the Centaur and LCROSS separated on final approach to the moon. Traveling as fast as a speeding bullet, the Centaur impacted the lunar surface shortly after 4:31 a.m. PDT Oct. 9 with LCROSS watching with its onboard instruments. Approximately four minutes of data was collected before the LCROSS itself impacted the lunar surface.

Working closely with scientists from LRO and other observatories that viewed the impact, the LCROSS team is working to understand the full scope of the LCROSS data. LRO continues to make passes over the impact site to give the LCROSS team additional insight into the mechanics of the impact and its resulting craters.

What other secrets will the moon reveal? The analysis continues!

Jonas Dino
NASA Ames Research Center"

Pinoy Boxing Republic - GMANews.TV Sports

2009-11-14T21:54:00.000+08:00

Pinoy Boxing Republic - GMANews.TV Sports:

LAS VEGAS – Legendary Panamanian boxer Roberto Duran sees himself in Manny Pacquiao, reason why he’s picking the explosive Filipino boxer to win over Miguel Cotto in their 12-round World Boxing Organization (WBO) welterweight title fight Saturday (Sunday in Manila).

“It’s gonna be a tough fight, but I like Pacquiao,' said the 58-year-old boxing legend dubbed “Hands of Stone.'

“Pacquiao is very tough when he fights. He’s very strong. So I like him.'"

The Associated Press: Splash! NASA moon crash struck lots of water

2009-11-14T21:37:00.000+08:00

The Associated Press: Splash! NASA moon crash struck lots of water: "By ALICIA CHANG (AP)

LOS ANGELES — The lunar dud for space enthusiasts has become a watershed event for NASA.

Spacecraft that crashed into the moon last month kicked up a relatively small plume. But scientists have confirmed the debris contained water — 25 gallons of it — making lunar exploration exciting again.

Experts have long suspected there was water on the moon. So the thrilling discovery announced Friday sent a ripple of hope for a future astronaut outpost in a place that has always seemed barren and inhospitable.

'We found water. And we didn't find just a little bit. We found a significant amount,' Anthony Colaprete, lead scientist for the mission, told reporters as he held up a white water bucket for emphasis.

He said the 25 gallons of water the lunar crash kicked up was only what scientists could see from the plumes of the impact.

Some space policy experts say that makes the moon attractive for exploration again. Having an abundance of water would make it easier to set up a base camp for astronauts, supplying drinking water and a key ingredient for rocket fuel.

'Having definitive evidence that there is substantial water is a significant step forward in making the moon an interesting place to go,' said George Washington University space policy scholar John Logsdon.

The October mission involved two strikes into a permanently shadowed crater near the south pole. First, an empty rocket hull slammed into the Cabeus crater. Then, a trailing spacecraft recorded the drama live before it also crashed into the same spot four minutes later.

Though scientists were overjoyed with the plethora of data beamed back to Earth, the mission was a public relations dud. Space enthusiasts who stayed up all night to watch the spectacle did not see the promised giant plume of debris.

NASA scientists had predicted the twin impacts would spew six miles of dust into the sunlight. Instead, images revealed only a mile-high plume, and it was not visible to many amateur astronomers peering through telescopes.

Members of the blue-ribbon panel reviewing NASA's future plans said the discovery doesn't change their conclusion that the program needs more money to get beyond near-Earth orbit. The panel wants NASA to look at other potential destinations like asteroids and Mars.

'This new and terrific result reassures us about lunar resources, but ... the challenges currently facing the human spaceflight program remain,' Chris Chyba, a Princeton astrophysicist who is on the panel, said in an e-mail.

President George W. Bush had proposed a more than $100 billion plan to return astronauts to the moon, then go on to Mars; a test flight of an early version of a new rocket was a success last month. President Barack Obama appointed the special panel to look at the entire moon exploration program. The decision is now up to the White House, and NASA's lunar plans are somewhat on hold until then.

As for unmanned exploration, previous missions had detected the presence of hydrogen in lunar craters near the moon's poles, possible evidence of ice. In September, scientists reported finding tiny amounts of water in the lunar soil all over the moon's surface.

But it was NASA's Oct. 9 mission involving the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, LCROSS, that provided the stunning confirmation announced Friday — water, in the forms of ice and vapor.

'Rather than a dead and unchanging world, it could in fact be a very dynamic and interesting one,' said Greg Delory of the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the mission, led by NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.

The LCROSS spacecraft only hit one spot on the moon and it's unclear how much water there is across the entire moon.

Scientists spent a month analyzing data from the spacecraft's spectrometers, instruments that can detect strong signals of water molecules in the plume.

'We've had hints that there is water. This was almost like tasting it,' said Peter Schultz, professor of geological sciences at Brown University and a co-investigator on the LCROSS mission.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who in 1969 made his historic Apollo 11 moonwalk with Neil Armstrong, was pleased to hear the latest discovery, but still believes the U.S. should focus on colonizing Mars.

'People will overreact to this news and say, `Let's have a water rush to the moon,'' Aldrin said. 'It doesn't justify that.'

Mission scientists said it would take more time to tease out what else was kicked up in the moon dust.

AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved."

RESTHOUSE

2009-11-11T21:07:00.002+08:00

hooch.jpg (JPEG Image, 350x353 pixels)

BAMBOO LAPTOP

2009-11-11T19:12:00.002+08:00

The Environmental Bamboo Foundation

2009-11-11T18:30:00.003+08:00

The Environmental Bamboo Foundation (EBF) is an Indonesian non-profit organization started in 1993 by designer and environmentalist, LINDA GARLAND. The EBF strives to protect tropical forests by promoting and demonstrating the many conservation and development opportunities that bamboo offers. The mission of the Environmental Bamboo Foundation is to encourage, through research and education, the sustainable planting and utilization of bamboo in an effort to promote its many environmental benefits and protect the world's remaining tropical forests and mangroves.
Based in Bali, Indonesia, the EBF has affiliate non-profit organizations in the United States and in Holland.

EBF-Environmental Bamboo Foundation, Bali, Indonesia

2009-11-11T18:18:00.000+08:00

EBF-Environmental Bamboo Foundation, Bali, Indonesia:

"ENVIRONMENTAL BAMBOO FOUNDATION

WHY BAMBOO? ... HERE'S WHY ...

DEFORESTATION and increased CO2 emissions threaten the earth's biodiversity and the very air we breathe...
Perhaps the environmental crisis' at hand have not yet touched your life, but the time is shortly to come. Recent NASA reports of a 60% loss of ozone over the arctic provide an explanation for increased severity in the worlds weather patterns which has only begun to affect us whether directly or indirectly. The social, political and economic implications are difficult to imagine as our ozone layer continues to thin, forests disappear and desertization is occurring at an alarming rate.

BAMBOO HAS AN IMPORTANT ROLE TO PLAY...
The earth desperately needs the attention and action of us all or our children's children will surely not have a world fit to live in. There is no one solution but amazingly, the simple bamboo plant can make a dramatic positive impact in many areas. It is our goal to inform and raise awareness about 'Bamboo, People and the Environment' and provide the tools and information to then respond in one's own way in their own world. Every action counts, every person counts...

ENDURING THROUGH TIME...
Thomas Edison successfully used a carbonized bamboo filament in his experiment with the first light bulb. This light bulb still burns today in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington DC. He also used a bamboo as rebar for the reinforcement of his swimming pool. To this day, the pool has never leaked. An unrivaled utility, (One resource book lists over 5,000 uses including paper, scaffolding, diesel fuel, airplane 'skins', desalination filters, aphrodisiacs, musical instruments, medicine, food and was Alexander Graham Bell's first phonograph needle

SURVIVING THROUGH HARDSHIP...
Amidst death and destruction, bamboo survived the Hiroshima atomic blast closer to ground zero than any other living thing and provided the first re-greening in Hiroshima after the blast in 1945.

GROWING WITH STRENGTH AND SPEED...
With a tensile strength superior to mild steel (withstands up to 52,000 Pounds of pressure psi) and a weight-to-strength ratio surpassing that of graphite, bamboo is the strongest growing woody plant on earth with one of the widest ranging habitats of more than 1500 species thriving in diverse terrain from sea level to 12,000 feet on every continent but the poles. It also grows the fastest: clocked shooting skyward at 2 inches an hour. Some species grow one and a half meters a day.

BAMBOO PROTECTS THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE AIR WE BREATHE...
Bamboo is the fastest growing canopy for the regreening of degraded lands, and its stands release 35% more oxygen than equivalent stands of trees. Some bamboo even sequester up to 12 tons of carbon dioxide from the air per hectare. Bamboo can also lower light intensity and protects against ultraviolet rays. Traditional belief holds that being in a bamboo grove - the favorite dwelling place of Buddha - restores calmness to emotions and stimulates creativity.

Carbon Sequestration Information
Net production and carbon cycling in a bamboo Phyllostachys pubescens stand.
AU: Isagi-Y; Kawahara-T; Kamo-K; Ito-H
AD: Kansai Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research
Institute, Momoyama, Fushimi, Kyoto 612, Japan.
SO: Plant-Ecology. 1997, 130: 1, 41-52; 48 ref.
PY: 1997
LA: English
AB: Phyllostachys pubescens is one of the largest bamboo species with a leptomorphic (a type of rhizomatous system with solitary culms scattered rather evenly) root system in the world. The species originates in China and has been naturalized in neighbouring countries. It was introduced in 1746 into Japan because of the economic value of the young sprouts and culm woods. It escaped from the planted areas and expanded by invading the native vegetation. In order to clarify the basic ecological characteristics of the species,carbon fixation and cycling were determined in a stand of Phyllostachys pubescens in Kyoto Prefecture. The standing culm density and average DBH (diameter at breast height) in 1991 were 7100 ha-1 and 11.3 cm, respectively. The above-ground biomass was 116.5 t ha-1 for culms, 15.5 t ha-1 for branches, 5.9 t ha-1 for leaves and 137.9 t ha-1 in total. The total above-ground biomass is one of the largest among the world's bamboo communities. The biomass of rhizomes and fine roots was 16.7 t ha-1 and 27.9 t ha-1, respectively. Annual soil respiration was 52.3 t CO2 ha-1, the highest among those determined in Japan. The gross annual production was high, at 32.8 t C ha-1, and allocation of annual gross production to the root system was also high at 11 t C ha-1 - 34% of gross production, and 46% of the fluxes out of the leaves. This pattern of allocation results in a net annual above-ground production of 18.1 t ha-1, which is within the average range of productivity of forests under similar climatic conditions. The correspondence of the allocation pattern of the species with its successful range expansion is discussed.
DE: asexual-reproduction; biological-production; biomass-production; carbon-cycle; bamboos-; nutrients-; distribution-; carbon-; photosynthesis-; stand-characteristics; biomass-; cycling

AN: 950608033
TI: Carbon stock and cycling in a bamboo Phyllostachys bambusoides stand.
AU: Isagi-Y
AD: Laboratory of Silviculture, Kansai Research Center, Forestry
and Forest Products Research Institute, Kyoto 612, Japan.
SO: Ecological-Research. 1994, 9: 1, 47-55; 42 ref.
PY: 1994
LA: English
AB: Gross production and carbon cycling in a Phyllostachys bambusoides stand in Kyoto Prefecture, central Japan, were determined, and then a compartment model showing the carbon stock and cycling within the ecosystem was developed. Aboveground carbon stock was 52.3 t/ha, increasing at an annual rate of 3.6 t/ha. Belowground carbon stock was 20.8 t/ha in the root system and 92.0 t/ha in the soil. Aboveground annual net C production was 11.2 t/ha. Belowground annual net C production was crudely estimated at 4.5 t/ha. Gross annual production was estimated at 41.8 t/ha by summing the amount of outflow to the environment and the increment in biomass. Leaves consumed 13.7 t C/ha per year by respiration; the rest (41.8 - 13.7 = 28.1 t C/ha per year) was surplus production of leaves and flowed into the other compartments. Annual amounts of construction and maintenance respiration of aboveground compartments were 3.4 and 18.5 t/ha, respectively. The annual amount of soil respiration was 11.2 t/ha. Soil respiration levels of 4.3 and 3.1 t C/ha per year were estimated for the flow of root respiration and root detritus. The proportion of net to gross production was 37%, which fell within the range of young and mature forests. A shorter life span of culms, compared to tree trunks, resulted in smaller biomass accumulation ratio (biomass/net production) in the ecosystem, of 4.66.
DE: bamboos-; respiration-; biomass-; carbon-; models-; carbon-
cycle; biomass-production; simulation-; cycling-

EROSION CONTROL ...
A peerless erosion control agent,. it's net like root system create an effective mechanism for watershed protection, stitching the soil together along fragile riverbanks, deforested areas, and in places prone to earthquakes and mud slides. Because of their wide-spreading root system, uniquely shaped leaves, and dense litter on the forest floor, the sum of stem flow rate and canopy intercept of bamboo is 25% which means that bamboo greatly reduces rain run off, preventing massive soil erosion and keeping up to twice as much water in the watershed. Bamboo is a pioneering plant and can be grown in soil damaged by overgrazing and poor agricultural techniques. Unlike with most trees proper harvesting does not kill the bamboo plant so topsoil is held in place.

SAVING RAINFORESTS ...
Bamboo is one of the strongest building materials. Bamboo's tensile strength is 28,000 pounds per square inch versus 23,000 pounds per square inch for steel. In the tropics it is possible to plant and 'grow your own home;. in Costa Rica, 1000 houses of bamboo are built annually with material coming only from a 60 hectare bamboo plantation. If an equivalent project used timber, it would require 500 hectares of our diminishing tropical rainforests. Using bamboo to replace timber saves the rainforests. With a 10-30% annual increase in biomass versus 2 to 5% for trees, bamboo creates greater yields of raw material for use. One clump can produce 200 poles in the three to five years. Bamboo generates a crop every year.

A RENEWABLE RESOURCE ...
Bamboo is a high-yield renewable resource: 'Ply boo' is now being used for wall paneling and floor tiles; bamboo pulp for paper-making; briquettes for fuel, raw material for housing construction; and rebar for reinforced concrete beams. There are 1500 species of bamboo on the earth. This diversity makes bamboo adaptable to many environments. It can be harvested in 3-5 years versus 10-20 years for most softwoods. Bamboo tolerates extremes of precipitation, from 30-250 inches of annual rainfall.

HOUSING ...
Bamboo related industries already provide income, food, and housing to over 2.2 billion people worldwide. There is a 3-5 year return on investment for a new bamboo plantation versus 8-10 years for rattan. The governments of India and China, with 15 million hectares of bamboo reserves collectively, are poised to focus attention on the economic factors of bamboo and its protection. In Limon, Costa Rica, only bamboo houses from the national Bamboo Project stood after their violent earthquake in 1992. Flexible and lightweight, bamboo enables structures to 'dance' in earthquakes. Go to the 'Comparative Strength of Bamboo or Grow Your Own House page.

FOOD ...
Bamboo shoots provide nutrition for millions of people worldwide. In Japan, the antioxidant properties of pulverized bamboo skin can prevent bacterial growth, and it is used as a natural food preservative. Bamboo :litter: make fodder for animas and food for fish. Taiwan alone consumes 80,000 tons of bamboo shoots annually, constituting a $50 million industry.
`Bamboo leaves are normally utilized as fodder during scarcity. Young bamboo leaves and twigs are a favorite meal for elephants and the Panda. D. strictus leaves have (on dry matter basis) crude protein,15.09; crude fiber,23.15; ether extract 1.43; ash 18.03; phosphorus-170 and calcium -1550 mg/100g respectively. Their digestible crude protein
and total digestible nutrient contents are 93.34 and 48.9% respectively. The leaves of B.arundinacea have crude protein 18.64;crude fiber, 24.1; ether extract 4.1; N- free extract 41.4; ash-11.75%; phosphorus-170 mg and calcium 56mg/100g respectively. The digestible crude protein and total digestible nutrient contents are 13.5 and 46.5% respectively. The protein contained methionine and lysine. Copper and zinc are also found. The nutrient contents differed significantly in samples collected from high altitudes.
For B.vulgaris the figures are crude protein,10.1;crude fiber 21.7; ether extract, 2.5 and ash, 21.3%; phosphorus-86,iron-13.4,vitamin B1, 0.1;vitamin B2- 2.54, and carotene 12.3 mg/100g respectively. The meal is used as a supplement to vitamin A deficient diets for chicks '.
For further details contact either the Bamboo Information Center in India -at KFRI -Tropical species, or The Bamboo Information Center in China-at CAF,Beijing - Temperate species.

AN ANCIENT MEDICINE ...
Bamboo has for centuries been used in Ayurvedic medicine and Chinese herbal medicine . Tabasheer, the powdered, hardened secretion from bamboo is used internally to treat asthma, coughs and can be used as an aphrodisiac. In China, ingredients from the root of the black bamboo help treat kidney disease. Roots and leaves have also been used to treat venereal disease and cancer. Sap is said to reduce fever, and ash will cure prickly heat. A village in Indonesia reports that the water form within the culm is used to treat broken bones effectively and that the tabasheer is used to promote fertility in their cows. Current research points to bamboo's potential in a number of medicinal uses.

A LANDSCAPE DESIGN ELEMENT & WASTE WATER SYSTEM ...
Bamboo is an exquisite component of landscape design. For the human environment bamboo provides shade, wind break, acoustical barriers, and aesthetic beauty.
'The Bamboo Forest is an ecological wastewater utilization system that essentially grows away, waste, producing a marketable crop in the process. Comprised of a subsurface evaporation-transpiration bed planted with bamboo and other rapid-growing, non-invasive plants, the system is engineered to provide an aerobic rhizosphere (the home of living organisms in the root system), in which damaging polluting components are transformed into plant nutrients' Go to the Discover magazine article on Bamboo used to treat waste water!

INTEGRALLY INVOLVED IN CULTURE AND THE ARTS ...
Bamboo is a mystical plant: a symbol of strength, flexibility, tenacity, and endurance. Throughout Asia, bamboo has for centuries been integral to religious ceremonies, art, music, and daily life. It can be found in the paper, the brush, and the inspiration for poems and paintings. Some of the earliest historical records form the 2nd century B.C. were written on green bamboo strips.
As evidenced by all of the above qualities, bamboo rightfully deserves its nickname, 'the miracle plant.' The EBF in Indonesia and Holland and the IBF in Hawaii strive to promote the use of bamboo and educate others about the greatly misunderstood and underutilized benefits of using and preserving this plant. One of the main ways in which we hope to accomplish this is through our educational and agro forestry programs worldwide, our consultant services and by your continued participation and support."

Google Similar Images

2009-11-09T20:23:00.000+08:00

Google Similar Images: "Woven bamboo house designed by Danish architect Søren Korsgaard.

A house designed as a showcase to promote bamboo as sustainable building material, must be unusual and eye-catching.
Bamboo has been used for making everything from kitchenware to buildings for thousands of years in most Asian countries. Among the many beautiful methods of treating bamboo, highly sophisticated weaving techniques have been developed. Woven house is an attempt to take this tradition and use it in modern architecture and in a much larger scale than anyone have ever seen before. Birds are using weaving for making their nest from materials in their habitats.
Using the unique flexibility and strength of bamboo for weaving a vacation house, that appears futuristic and dynamic and gives a unique architectural experience, where walls, floors and ceiling is one continuously surface, that also can be shaped into sitting areas and shelves.
The woven bamboo surface can be a closed surface or open to let in light.

The house should be build on a site where the material is growing, so that there will be no pollution from transport, and in a region where there is a tradition of weaving."

The Sushi Wars: Can the Bluefin Tuna Be Saved? - TIME

2009-11-08T20:34:00.000+08:00

The Sushi Wars: Can the Bluefin Tuna Be Saved? - TIME: "If an army marches on its stomach, then the key item in the kit bags of the Roman legions that conquered southern Europe about 2,000 years ago was dried bluefin tuna. But having survived the demands of the Roman conquest, the species — each of which can weigh as much as 1,500 lbs. and live as long as 40 years — might finally have met its match in the contemporary global appetite for sushi.

If environmentalists and marine scientists are right, the world's remaining stocks of bluefin tuna, 90% of which are in the Mediterranean, could be on the verge of extinction. Says Alain Fonteneau, a marine biologist at France's government-run Institute for Development Research in Montpellier: 'If we do nothing, in five years we will fish the last bluefin tuna.'

But not everyone is ready to heed the warning. A weeklong international meeting to save the species ended in splenetic arguments Monday night, as European officials thwarted a proposal by the U.S. and environmental groups to impose a partial moratorium on bluefin-fishing and to drastically reduce catch quotas.

Officials from the 46 members of the International Consortium for the Conservation of the Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) had spent days behind closed doors in the Moroccan city of Marrakech, battling over a rescue plan for the species. Several smaller ICCAT members such as Guatemala and Panama had initially backed a proposal supported by the U.S. and environmental groups to halt all bluefin-fishing for nine months of the year and to crack down hard on violators. But European officials persuaded them to adopt instead a reduced quota of 22,000 tons in 2009 and 19,950 tons in 2011. That certainly represents a sharp drop from last year's estimated global sales of 61,000 tons of bluefin tuna — and even from this year's official quota of about 29,000 tons — but it's still far above the 15,000 tons that marine scientists advise is the limit that can be fished without the species becoming extinct."

Scenes from the Tuna Trade - Photo Essays - TIME

2009-11-08T20:31:00.000+08:00

Scenes from the Tuna Trade - Photo Essays - TIME: "Tuna populations around the world are being fished more aggressively. Even General Santos, the so-called Tuna Capital of the Philippines, sashimi export and canneries have been hit by a downturn in the number of fish coming to port."

Bluefin Tuna Catch - Video - TIME.com

2009-11-08T20:28:00.000+08:00

Bluefin Tuna Catch - Video - TIME.com

Hunting for Tuna: The Environmental Peril Grows - TIME

2009-11-08T20:16:00.000+08:00

Hunting for Tuna: The Environmental Peril Grows - TIME:

Nearly every day at dawn, John Heitz falls a little bit in love. Leaning over a 150-lb. (70 kg) yellowfin tuna, the 55-year-old American, whose business is exporting fish, circles his forefinger around its deep eye socket. 'Look how clear these eyes are.' He traces the puncture where the fish was hooked, and the markings under its pectoral fin where it struggled on the line. 'Sometimes,' Heitz says, 'I see a good tuna, and it looks better to me than a woman.'"

Taiwan, China to sign financial agreement: report - Latest news around the world and developments close to home - MSN Philippines News

2009-11-08T19:39:00.000+08:00

Taiwan, China to sign financial agreement: report - Latest news around the world and developments close to home - MSN Philippines News:

Taiwan is expected to forge an agreement on financial cooperation with China 'soon', in yet another sign of evolving ties between the two former bitter rivals, it was reported Sunday.

A senior Taiwanese official in charge of relations with China said over the weekend the formal signing of the agreement, which calls for closer banking, insurance and securities cooperation, 'could take place soon,' local media reported."

The Vertical Farm Project - Agriculture for the 21st Century and Beyond | www.verticalfarm.com

2009-11-08T17:04:00.000+08:00

The Vertical Farm Project - Agriculture for the 21st Century and Beyond | www.verticalfarm.com:

September 21st, 2009
Skyland by ENEA WebTV
Added new images to The Living Skyscraper design

September 9th, 2009
The New York Times – Big Food vs. Big Insurance by Michael Pollan

August 31st, 2009
The New York Times – A Farm on Every Floor by Dickson Despommier
The New York Times – Connecting Nature's Dots by Thomas Friedman

June 11th, 2009
Added new Vertical Farm designs
Veritcal Farming For the Greener Good
American Society of Landscape Architects Interview

June 8th, 2009
Added Zabeel Park Vertical Farm design

May 19th, 2009
Vertical Farm Interview by Miller-McCune -- Going Up? Farming in High-Rises Raises Hopes

The Problem

By the year 2050, nearly 80% of the earth's population will reside in urban centers. Applying the most conservative estimates to current demographic trends, the human population will increase by about 3 billion people during the interim. An estimated 109 hectares of new land (about 20% more land than is represented by the country of Brazil) will be needed to grow enough food to feed them, if traditional farming practices continue as they are practiced today. At present, throughout the world, over 80% of the land that is suitable for raising crops is in use (sources: FAO and NASA). Historically, some 15% of that has been laid waste by poor management practices. What can be done to avoid this impending disaster?

A Potential Solution: Farm Vertically

The concept of indoor farming is not new, since hothouse production of tomatoes, a wide variety of herbs, and other produce has been in vogue for some time. What is new is the urgent need to scale up this technology to accommodate another 3 billion people. An entirely new approach to indoor farming must be invented, employing cutting edge technologies. The Vertical Farm must be efficient (cheap to construct and safe to operate). Vertical farms, many stories high, will be situated in the heart of the world's urban centers. If successfully implemented, they offer the promise of urban renewal, sustainable production of a safe and varied food supply (year-round crop production), and the eventual repair of ecosystems that have been sacrificed for horizontal farming.

It took humans 10,000 years to learn how to grow most of the crops we now take for granted. Along the way, we despoiled most of the land we worked, often turning verdant, natural ecozones into semi-arid deserts. Within that same time frame, we evolved into an urban species, in which 60% of the human population now lives vertically in cities. This means that, for the majority, we humans are protected against the elements, yet we subject our food-bearing plants to the rigors of the great outdoors and can do no more than hope for a good weather year. However, more often than not now, due to a rapidly changing climate regime, that is not what follows. Massive floods, protracted droughts, class 4-5 hurricanes, and severe monsoons take their toll each year, destroying millions of tons of valuable crops. Don't our harvestable plants deserve the same level of comfort and protection that we now enjoy? The time is at hand for us to learn how to safely grow our food inside environmentally controlled multistory buildings within urban centers. If we do not, then in just another 50 years, the next 3 billion people will surely go hungry, and the world will become a much more unpleasant place in which to live."

2009-11-08T16:58:00.000+08:00

Table of Contents: "Status of Interactions of Pacific Tuna Fisheries in 1995"

2009-11-08T16:55:00.000+08:00

Table of Contents: "Richard S. Shomura
Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA

Jacek Majkowski
Marine Resources Service
Fishery Resources Division
Fisheries Department

Robert F. Harman
ARGONAUT
Honolulu, Hawaii 96805, USA

Proceeding of the Second FAO Expert Consultation
on Interactions of Pacific Tuna Fisheries
Shimizu, Japan 23 to 31 January 1995

The designations employed and the presentation of material in this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.

M-40
ISBN 92-5-103921-6

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Director, Information Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy.

© FAO 1996
Table of Contents

Preparation of this document

Acknowledgements

Preface

Cooperative research on interactions of Pacific tuna fisheries: FAO's project and the associated Consultations

Common themes in the proceedings of the first Consultation on Interactions of Pacific Tuna Fisheries

Types of tuna fisheries interactions

Some technical issues regarding the study of fisheries interactions

Unresolved problems and questions from the first FAO Consultation on Interactions of Pacific Tuna Fisheries

Multi-species and multi-gear tuna fisheries in the Atlantic and possible interactions between gears and species

Some interaction issues in the fisheries for tunas and tuna-like fishes of the Indian Ocean

Interactions between tuna fisheries: A global review with specific examples from the Atlantic Ocean

Interactions among fisheries in separate grounds: a tag-recapture method

A method to estimate movement from changes in estimated distributions, and then revise those estimates

An aggregate model of effort distribution for the eastern Pacific tuna fishery

A simulation model of tagging experiments for yellowfin tuna in the western Indian Ocean

Formulation of model for studying interactions of yellowfin tuna fisheries in the western Pacific

Interaction between small-scale fisheries in Kiribati and the industrial purse seine fishery in the western and central Pacific Ocean

Do local catches affect local abundance? Time series analysis on Hawaii's tuna fisheries

Interactions of tunas and big pelagic fishes among sport and commercial fisheries in Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean

Tuna fisheries interactions in Malaysia

Monitoring landings of Taiwanese tuna longliners at Penang Harbour

Interaction of Thai tuna fisheries: Problems, research and development

Studies of Indonesian tuna fisheries, Part 1: Interactions between coastal and offshore tuna fisheries in Manado and Bitung, North Sulawesi1

Studies of Indonesian tuna fisheries, Part 2: Changes in yellowfin abundance in the Gulf of Tomini and North Sulawesi1

Western Pacific Yellowfin Tuna Research Group findings on tuna fisheries interactions

Korean tuna fisheries in the Pacific Ocean and interaction between the fisheries

A spatial model to investigate the effects on catches of tunas in the eastern Pacific Ocean which might have ensued from curtailment of certain fishing methods

Interaction between vessels fishing for yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) in the northeastern and southeastern Pacific

Interaction between Mexican longline and purse seine fisheries for yellowfin tuna in the eastern Pacific Ocean

Influence of purse seine fishery on longline fishery for yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) in the western Indian Ocean

Studies on the population structure of skipjack tuna, Katsuwonus pelamis, in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean: Signs of interaction potential using environmental data

Skipjack movement and fisheries interaction in the western Pacific

A method for estimating fishery interactions from South Pacific albacore catch-at-length data using the SPARCLE model

Movement of large bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, in the North Pacific Ocean, as determined from the Japanese longline fishery, and implications regarding interactions between the fisheries of the western and eastern Pacific Ocean

Indices of abundance of northern bluefin tuna, Thunnus thynnus, in the eastern Pacific Ocean

Interactions of Atlantic bluefin tuna fisheries

Interactions between surface and longline fisheries for southern bluefin tuna based on recent tagging results: the implications of reporting rates

Interactions of longtail tuna fisheries in the western South China Sea

Human interaction in tuna fishery management

United Nations Conference on Straddling Fish Stocks and Highly Migratory Fish Stocks: Summary of developments and relevance to the FAO Consultation on Interaction of Pacific Tuna Fisheries

Examination of data relevant to tuna fisheries interactions in the Philippines and Indonesia

Species Identification of small juvenile tunas caught in surface fisheries in the Philippines

Overview of the biological, economic, social and political concerns related to interactions of Pacific tuna fisheries

Recent developments in the tuna fisheries of the Federated States of Micronesia

Report generation and data display from the NMT memory tag: A software demonstration

An indexed bibliography of papers on tagging of tunas and billfishes: Supplement 1"

The Trouble with Tuna - Video - TIME.com

2009-11-07T23:28:00.000+08:00

The Trouble with Tuna - Video - TIME.com

Kiva - Loans that change lives

2009-11-07T23:06:00.000+08:00

Kiva - Loans that change lives

SAVE OUR PLANET

2009-11-05T20:56:00.000+08:00

Letter of credit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

2009-11-03T22:09:00.000+08:00

Letter of credit - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

"A standard, commercial letter of credit is a document issued mostly by a financial institution, used primarily in trade finance, which usually provides an irrevocable payment undertaking.

The LC can also be the source of payment for a transaction, meaning that redeeming the letter of credit will pay an exporter. Letters of credit are used primarily in international trade transactions of significant value, for deals between a supplier in one country and a customer in another. They are also used in the land development process to ensure that approved public facilities (streets, sidewalks, stormwater ponds, etc.) will be built. The parties to a letter of credit are usually a beneficiary who is to receive the money, the issuing bank of whom the applicant is a client, and the advising bank of whom the beneficiary is a client. Almost all letters of credit are irrevocable, i.e., cannot be amended or cancelled without prior agreement of the beneficiary, the issuing bank and the confirming bank, if any. In executing a transaction, letters of credit incorporate functions common to giros and Traveler's cheques. Typically, the documents a beneficiary has to present in order to receive payment include a commercial invoice, bill of lading, and documents proving the shipment was insured against loss or damage in transit. However, the list and form of documents is open to imagination and negotiation and might contain requirements to present documents issued by a neutral third party evidencing the quality of the goods shipped, or their place of origin."

PLDT SME-NATION -- SWUP --

2009-11-03T19:21:00.000+08:00

PLDT SME-NATION -- SWUP --:

PLDT SWUP is a completely wireless business solution that enables remote transactions for storeowners, boutiques, branches, or deliveries to acquire complete customer payment on location within seconds. It operates on a portable payment system that takes advantage of the speed and convenience of wireless data technology to process your sales as quickly as the purchase is done. The key to this amazing technology is the SIM bundled swipe card terminal – this avoids queuing, the hassles of turnover time and paper-based inventories. It benefits both you and your clients by providing an alternative payment method whenever cash is made inadequate or unavailable"

Space Industry �Super Cells - Science Gifts - Edmund Scientific

2009-11-01T21:56:00.000+08:00

Space Industry / Super Cells - Science Gifts - Edmund Scientific: Highest Power Available For Their Small Size

Designed for and utilized by the space industry, these cells are the primary power source on USA science and communication satellites. Cells are approx. 1/125' thick, lightweight and somewhat flexible with clean, laser cut edges. Excellent light sensitivity.

All cells have, as a minimum, 5 silver coated P&N contacts which can be soldered with 60/40 solder and mild flux. All cells tested under 1 sun condition. Electrical output is milliamps per sq. cm at 0.45V when tested at 28*C at high noon (short circuit current tested). Wire in series or parallel for any voltage or current combination."

SolarPort 4.4 - Science Gifts - Edmund Scientific

2009-11-01T21:54:00.000+08:00

SolarPort 4.4 - Science Gifts - Edmund Scientific

Giant 50 foot Solar Bag - explore solar energy | Edmund Scientific

2009-11-01T21:51:00.000+08:00

Giant 50 foot Solar Bag - explore solar energy | Edmund Scientific:

The World's Largest Solar Bag

The Giant Solar Bag works on the same principle as our smaller solar bags. Simply fill the bag with air, tie off the ends and let the energy of the sun heat the air inside the bag.

Within approximately 5 minutes, the bag will rise into the sky. It is absolutely amazing to see! The giant bag can also be cut to make several smaller solar bags."

Low Cost�High Output Encapsulated Solar Cells - Science Gifts - Edmund Scientific

2009-11-01T21:48:00.000+08:00

Low Cost / High Output Encapsulated Solar Cells - Science Gifts - Edmund Scientific:

Encapsulated mini panels can be used individually or connected in series or parallel for desired output. Each cell is encapsulated in a plastic case with multi-lens covers."

Thin Film Flexible Amorphous Silicon Cells - Science Gifts - Edmund Scientific

2009-11-01T21:45:00.000+08:00

Thin Film Flexible Amorphous Silicon Cells - Science Gifts - Edmund Scientific:

Highly flexible and durable, these space technology solar cells are constructed on a 2 mil. polyimide substrate. Each series of cells is encapsulated in a 17mil. weather durable clear tefzel flexible film. Tinned copper leads are easily accessible and units can be connected in series or parallel to provide higher voltages or currents."

12V Solar Panel - waterproof, encapsulated | Edmund Scientific

2009-11-01T21:43:00.000+08:00

12V Solar Panel - waterproof, encapsulated | Edmund Scientific: "Waterproof 12V Solar Panel

Encapsulated solar panel is weather-resistant for outdoor use, provides output to power the appropriate 12V electronics or to recharge a small battery. Includes 6 ft. lead wire with alligator clips; removable angle adjustable legs.

Specifications

* Built-in blocking diode to prevent reverse flow of electricity
* Maintenance-free solar power for years of use
* Stand and wire with clips are provided for charging batteries
* Ideal for use in marine and other outdoor activities
* For 6V or 12V battery recharge
* Power: 1.26W, 18V and 60mA
* Size: 3 1/2' (159mm) X 3' (175mm ) X 3/4' (17mm)
* Lightweight at 13 oz. (0.365kg)"

Sun Tracker Automated Solar Panel | Edmund Scientific

2009-11-01T21:42:00.000+08:00

Sun Tracker Automated Solar Panel | Edmund Scientific:

Scientifics Online

Your Own Automated Solar Power Station!

The Sun Tracker is an automated solar panel that actually follows the Sun for increased power. Capable of rotating over a 160� east to west, the Sun Tracker will increase the power output of photovoltaic arrays by over 200% by keeping the face of the panels parallel to the sun throughout the day.

The Sun Tracker is made from light weight aluminum and can be mounted in a fixed location. Weather resistant. Solar panels not included.

A Real World Sun Tracker

In California, the Solar One power station at one time (it has since been converted for astronomical uses) used the Sun's heat to make steam, and drive a generator to make electricity. The station looks a little like the Sun Tracker, except that the mirrors are arranged in -circles around the 'power tower'. It's also massive in size.

Solar One power stationAs the Sun moved across the sky, the mirrors would turn to keep the rays focussed on the tower, where oil was heated to 300 degrees Celsius. The heat from the oil was used to generate steam, which then drove a turbine, which in turn drove a generator capable of providing 10kW of electrical power. That is a fair amount of power...power generated by harnessing the energy of the sun. Solar One was very expensive to build, but as fossil fuels run out and become more expensive, solar power stations may become a better option.

BusinessWorld Online: Banks see bad debts rising with recovery unclear

2009-10-31T22:09:00.000+08:00

BusinessWorld Online: Banks see bad debts rising with recovery unclear:

AMSTERDAM/SYDNEY -- Some of the world’s leading banks warned Thursday that bad debts would continue to weigh on lenders and signs of recovery were not clear, overshadowing an improvement in underlying earnings and shaking markets.

The caution was not confined to one region, as lenders in Asia and Europe told the same story of bad debt provisions surging as concerns resurfaced over prospects of an economic upturn in the United States.

'This isn’t over yet,' said Mike Smith, chief executive of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. 'Often it’s the aftershocks that do the most damage. We still all need the US economy to kick-start.'

All eyes will be on the United States later on Thursday, when the first estimates of third-quarter economic growth are published. Economists estimate the US economy grew for the first time since the second quarter of 2008, though recent data have led them to trim their estimates.

Deutsche Bank reported a profit in all of its divisions, but shares fell 1.3% in morning trade as provisions for credit losses more than doubled year-on-year to 544 million euros.

Germany’s biggest bank said its provisions related mainly to exposure in Poland and Spain, and forecast they would peak in the United States and Europe within the next six months.

Standard Chartered Plc, based in the UK but focused on Asia, said it was benefiting from growth across its businesses, but warned the economic outlook was still fragile.

ANZ, the smallest of Australia’s four big banks, said cash profit surged 79% to A$2.43 billion ($2.18 billion) for the half-year ended Sept 30, beating analysts’ forecasts. It was bolstered by strong revenue growth from non-interest income in its institutional business.

KB Financial, parent company of South Korea’s largest bank, Kookmin, was more bullish, saying bad debt provisions would fall next year as fewer loans would go sour.

KB Financial reported a 69% drop in quarterly profit to 173.7 billion won ($145 million), much worse than expected, as it was hit by bad debt charges and a slow margin recovery.

Woori Finance, 73% owned by the South Korean government, said net profit more than tripled to 483.8 billion won even as revenue halved.

China’s largest bank, ICBC, and Bank of China reported healthy profit increases of about 20%, as both benefited from a surge in lending in the first half of the year under Beijing’s economic stimulus plan.

One bright spot for the banking sector was a rebound in shares of Dutch bancassurer ING after three days of losses wiped nearly 7 billion euros off of its market capitalization.

ING shares rose more than 7% in early trade Thursday, in part on an upgrade from Nomura.

On Monday ING said it struck a restructuring deal with the European Commission that will see its balance sheet reduced by 45% from Sept. 2008 levels by the end of 2013.

The scope of that deal raised concerns among investors in other banks that took state aid, notably in Ireland, where a bad-bank scheme is being counted on as the best way to save the local sector from an Iceland-style collapse.

Ireland’s finance minister said Thursday that international markets, and not delays in the bad bank plan, were weighing on the shares of local banks. -- Reuters"

YouTube - Raga Shivranjani on Bansuri (Indian Bamboo Flute)

2009-10-31T21:04:00.000+08:00

YouTube - Raga Shivranjani on Bansuri (Indian Bamboo Flute)

BORACAY PHILIPPINES

2009-10-31T20:33:00.000+08:00

Another Storm Lashes Philippines - WSJ.com

2009-10-31T20:23:00.000+08:00

Another Storm Lashes Philippines - WSJ.com: "MANILA -- The fourth typhoon to whip the Philippines in a month lashed the capital and nearby provinces Saturday, leaving fresh floods and new misery before blowing out of the country. At least seven people were killed and several were missing.

Typhoon Mirinae, with winds of 93 miles per hour and gusts of up to 115 mph slammed into Quezon province northeast of Manila around midnight Friday. It quickly swept westward out to sea south of the capital and weakened into a tropical storm Saturday afternoon.

'It is moving away toward the South China Sea,' said chief government forecaster Nathaniel Cruz. 'That part of our lives with (Mirinae) is over.'

Mirinae appeared to be heading next toward Vietnam.

Philippine authorities evacuated more than 115,000 people in nine provinces east and south of Manila in the storm's path on main Luzon island, the National Disaster Coordinating Council reported.

Back-to-back storms in late September and early October killed more than 900 people, and a third storm then threatened the northern Philippines before veering toward Japan.

Initial reports Saturday from Mirinae indicated more flooding but relatively few deaths.

Police said six people, including a 12-year-old girl, drowned in a flash flood in Laguna province's Pagsanjan township, south of Manila. Four others were missing in floodwaters in other towns, regional police chief Perfecto Palad said.

A man drowned after being swept away by strong currents as he tried to cross a creek in Rizal province's Pililla township while carrying his 1-year-old child, who remains missing. A man and his son who were in a car on a bridge that collapsed in nearby Batangas province were also missing, said regional disaster officer Fred Bragas.

One river in Laguna overflowed, flooding most of lakeside Santa Cruz town and sending residents clambering onto roofs, said Mayor Ariel Magcalas.

'We cannot move, this is no joke,' Mr. Magcalas said. 'The water is high. We need help,' he said in a public address via Radio DZBB.

The muddy floodwater receded as rains eased, but was still chest-high in some communities.

In Manila, residents hunkered down in their homes overnight as rains beat down on dark, deserted streets. Mirinae passed south of the sprawling city of 12 million.

Mirinae tracked the same route as Tropical Storm Ketsana, which in late September dumped the heaviest rains in 40 years in and around Manila. A week later, Typhoon Parma triggered massive landslides in Luzon's mountain region.

Nearly 95,000 people who fled during those two earlier storms were still housed in temporary shelters when Mirinae struck, the national disaster agency said.

Flights at Manila's international airport were canceled and about 8,000 ferry passengers were stranded as the coast guard grounded all vessels.

Manila electric power distributor Meralco said the high winds had forced outages in many areas around the capital, but electricity was restored in most areas by Saturday afternoon.

In Rizal province's Taytay township, about 400 shanties -- home to about 2,000 people who had been forced to flee their lakeside homes during Ketsana -- were destroyed by strong winds, Mayor Joric Gacula said.

In the coastal town of Ternate in Cavite province, where the typhoon exited, a tornado destroyed 25 houses and injured one resident, Mr. Bragas said.

Ahead of the typhoon, millions of Filipinos had boarded buses heading to home provinces for this weekend's All Saints Day, when people visit cemeteries to pay respects to dead relatives in this devoutly Roman Catholic nation.

Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro expressed fear that floods and traffic congestion may trap visitors at graveyards, where people traditionally spend a day or even a night, but few heeded his call to scrap this year's commemorations.

In some provinces, floodwaters from Ketsana and Parma raged through cemeteries, breaking up tombs and sweeping away caskets and bodies.

Copyright © 2009 Associated Press"

Inhabitat » World’s Tallest Treehouse Built From Reclaimed Wood

2009-10-29T21:24:00.000+08:00

Inhabitat » World’s Tallest Treehouse Built From Reclaimed Wood:

The enormous treehouse has 10 floors averaging from 9 to 11 feet high, and although Burgess has never measured it, he estimates the treehouse to be between 8,000 to 10,000 square feet. Built entirely from wood that has been donated or salvaged from from sheds, barns and garages, the structure has taken on it’s own organic feel. Burgess, who is a landscape architect and an ordained minister, has put about $12,000 of his own money into it, spent partially on nails, of which there are approximately 258,000. Other recycled materials like license plates, furniture, roofing material, and plexiglass skylights have also helped fill out the structure."

$2 Billion Federal Reserve Bank Notes Printed 1933/3/20

2009-10-29T20:24:00.000+08:00

SKY.fm Internet Radio | Enjoy amazing Free Internet Radio stations

2009-10-29T15:19:00.000+08:00

SKY.fm Internet Radio | Enjoy amazing Free Internet Radio stations

Bureau of the Treasury and Thomson Reuters launch electronic tap facility - Thomson Reuters

2009-10-28T20:47:00.000+08:00

Bureau of the Treasury and Thomson Reuters launch electronic tap facility - Thomson Reuters:

Manila – The Philippine Bureau of Treasury and Thomson Reuters announced today the launch of an electronic Tap facility module, a sub-component of the enhanced ADAPs. This will allow Government Securities Eligible Dealers (GSEDs) to electronically bid for additional offerings of government securities after a successful auction, commonly referred to as a Tap facility. The awarding process and reports generation will be automated to facilitate the issuance of additional securities.

In addition, Thomson Reuters announced that it will develop a fast, reliable and affordable solution for small players in the market, such as insurance companies, rural banks, thrift banks and other financial institutions, to send their buy/sell instructions electronically, eliminating manual transmissions, to the Registry of Scripless Securities (RoSS). The facility will enable these institutions to download their securities account statement directly from the system. Thus, Thomson Reuters will soon offer a transparent and cost-efficient tool that will minimize their exposure to operational risks and manual processing of transactions. This solution is based on a secure and reliable network that will process instructions in real-time.

Mr. Roberto B. Tan, Treasurer of the Philippines, Bureau of Treasury, said: “Implementation of the ADAPs electronic tap facility module is another valuable market infrastructure aimed at enhancing the efficiency of the government in issuing additional GS (government securities) to the market. We commend Thomson Reuters for collaborating with the Bureau in this endeavour and for its continuing support in our commitment to further promote the growth and competitiveness of the country’s capital market”.

Mr. Rainer Fuchsluger, Managing Director, Thomson Reuters, Philippines, said: “Thomson Reuters is committed to continuing our investment to facilitate local market requirements. The introduction of the TAP Facility will allow a more efficient auction process for government securities in the Philippines. The Bureau of the Treasury and all its Government Securities Eligible Dealers will now have more flexibility to offer local debt outside current regular auction hours”.

About Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world’s leading source of intelligent information for businesses and professionals. We combine industry expertise with innovative technology to deliver critical information to leading decision makers in the financial, legal, tax and accounting, scientific, healthcare and media markets, powered by the world’s most trusted news organization. With headquarters in New York and major operations in London and Eagan, Minnesota, Thomson Reuters employs more than 50,000 people in 93 countries. Thomson Reuters shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: TRI); Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TRI); London Stock Exchange (LSE: TRIL); and Nasdaq (NASDAQ: TRIN). For more information, go to www.thomsonreuters.com.
Media Contacts

Yvonne Diaz
Public Relations Director
Thomson Reuters
Tel: +44 (0)20 7542.2615
Email

Fleur Sohtz
Public Relations Director
Thomson Reuters
Tel: +44 (0)20 7542.1543
Email