greenswitch – climate change and cleantech solutions

Texan: Go home

((interesting commentary from CBS marketwatch about the recent Bush visit in Europe. Apparently, German ‘Spiegel‘ — see also a couple of postings below — didn’t endorse Bush. The commentator says: “They tried to poke fun of him”. Oh, poor Mr. President. Follow the article and you will know, why US is still the “Superpower” and Europeans shouldn’t make fun of Bush. Always good to have someone telling us these things. Pretty arrogant, though. And why Europeans shouldn’t make fun of the US: Because they have ECONOMICAL problems..the commentator compares ECONOMICAL growth rates..while it’s about carbon dioxide..come to think of a German saying: “Wo wir sind ist vorn, und wenn wir hinten sind, ist hinten vorn.” Literally translated: “Where we are is at the front, and if it is the end, we will be still in front.”))

Texan go home Der Spiegel, Germany’s most influential magazine, tells its readers that until now Europe has been a blank space on Bush’s map. He started the trip in Spain because he speaks some Spanish – this limited ability representing the sole sum and substance of his knowledge of anything foreign.

At the forefront of their critique is Bush’s rejection of the Kyoto protocol, which, according to the Spiegel, he does purely to protect “America’s faltering industries” from having to bear the cost they would have to bear if forced to adhere to even minimal environmental protection standards.

This same “egocentric” attitude is behind Bush proposal to build a missile defense system that will only protect American territory, leaving Europe on its own. To top it off, “Cowboy Bush” is exhibiting a crass “Geschmacklosigkeit” – a total lack of good taste – by coming to Europe the same week his fellow primitive Americans executed Timothy McVeigh.

Norway pleads: Let it rain!

((some addititional facts: total energy capacity of all nordic countries is

86.360 MW. 50% generated from water energy power plants from Norway and Sweden. In good years, that means with many ‘rainy days’, Norway already exports energy from water power plants.source.))

Alexander’s Gas & Oil Connections – Norway could face energy rationing Norway could face energy rationing

05-04-01 Norway could be facing the gloomy prospect of electricity rationing if it doesn’t start raining good and soon! There’s not enough water in the reservoirs to generate hydroelectric power. Norway relies heavily on home-produced hydroelectricity. This time last year the country’s reservoirs were ready to overflow, but it’s a different picture this year.

There’s so little water that Norway has to import enormous amounts of electricity, much of it from Germany. And because demand is so high, so are prices. Norwegian families could be facing an increase of around NOK 3,000 in this year’s electricity bills. The government is not ruling out rationing if the dry patch continues, meaning power-driven businesses may have to cease production or domestic consumers forced to switch off.

“If we have as little rainfall this year as we did in 1996, Norway will not be able to buy enough electricity from abroad to meet demand at home,” Oil and Energy Minister Olav Akselsen told.

He warned that Norway couldbe facing a period of soaring electricity prices made worse by the risk of rationing. The situation is so serious that he will inform Parliament about it on Friday. Akselen says the situation demonstrates that Norway needs to be less dependent on rainfall and ought to have one or two gas-powered electricity stations.

Rainforest gone in 40-50 years?

((Okay, how much ‘research’ do we really need to do while the house is on fire?? 25 % of the rainforest is already gone, a new simulation lead by Penn State University calculates that in 40-50 years there won’t be anything left — granted we keep on our evil things..this is scary..))

Amazonas-Regenwald: Zur Rettung bleiben nur zehn Jahre – Wissenschaft – SPIEGEL ONLINE Mit einem mathematischen Modell hat James Alcock von der Penn State University die Abholzung und ihre Folgen für den Regenwald simuliert. Etwa 25 Prozent des Waldgebietes am Amazonas sind schon vernichtet, jedes Jahr fällt ein weiteres Prozent der Fläche Holzfällern und Brandrodungen zum Opfer.

Beat about Bush

((Bush in Europe: Here are some German pictures of people demonstrating against him..I wonder, why we haven’t seen them on US TV…..))

Fotogalerie: Beat about the Bush – Politik – SPIEGEL ONLINE Beat about the Bush

Madrid, Brüssel, Göteborg, Warschau, Ljubljana – ganz gleich wo George W. Bush aus dem Flugzeug steigt, die Demonstranten warten schon. Den US-Präsidenten begleitet auf seiner ersten Europareise eine Protestwelle.

Germany vs. Europe: All about Coca Cola cans

Environmental Daily: Six years after issuing a first warning, the European Commission is to launch court action against Germany claiming that its rules protecting refillable drinks containers breach the EU’s packaging directive.

The decision comes just as the German government is preparing to replace the contested measure with a new law. European packaging industry interests immediately stressed today that this too would discriminate against foreign producers.

The Commission’s action relates to a clause in the 1998 German packaging ordinance requiring at least 72% of beverages to be packaged in refillable containers, failing which deposits are to be imposed on offending types of one-way containers. After long internal discussions, the EU is taking aim not at the general principle of the rule but its impact on the mineral water sector, since under EU law mineral waters must be bottled at source.

“We consider that the German rules do not take proper account of the environmental costs of sending mineral water containers over long distances for re-use,” commented EU environment commissioner Margot Wallström. “They are a barrier to trade without environmental justification and I urge the German authorities to change them in an environmentally appropriate way.”

The German government is, in fact, now proposing to do away with the 72% refillables quota in favour of a new distinction between ecologically “advantageous” and ecologically “disadvantageous” packaging types (ENDS Daily 31 January). The Commission said

What to do with that old Pentium 166 computer in the basement? Bring it back to the store where you bought it!”

((European producers and companies of electrical devices are required to take back ‘electrical waste’ their customers bring back into the store — free of charge, of course.))

UmweltMag@zin Die Hersteller von Computern, Waschmaschinen oder Telefonen müssen künftig ausgediente Geräte zurücknehmen und umweltgerecht entsorgen. Darauf haben sich die EU-Umweltminister in Luxemburg grundsätzlich geeinigt.

Bürgerinnen und Bürger der EU sind danach verpflichtet, ihren Elektro- oder Elektronikschrott bei Sammelstellen oder direkt an der Ladentheke unentgeltlich zurückgeben. “Die Rückgabe für den Verbraucher muss kostenlos sein”, sagte Bundesumweltminister Jürgen Trittin zu dem einstimmig getroffenen Ratsbeschluss über die so genannte Elektroschrott-Richtlinie.

Die EU-Mitgliedsländer müssen nach Verabschiedung des EU-Gesetzes Sammelsysteme aufbauen, soweit diese nicht bereits vorhanden sind. Pro Kopf und Jahr sollen mindestens vier Kilogramm Elektroschrott eingesammelt werden, wobei diese Zielvorgabe unverbindlich ist

Germany: Renewable Energies more fascinating than Michael Schumacher and Formula One!

((a recent survey of a German market research institute shows Germans think ‘renewable energies’ are ‘fascinating’ — even more ‘fascinating’ than car brands, stocks and formula one — I guess, they also asked German women…anyway, on a scale from 0 to 10 ‘renewable energy’ was ranked with a ‘5′…also ‘5′: ‘Berlin’ and ‘ICE highspeed train’. what’s number one? I don’t know…Big Brother? Survivor? Boris Becker, Bayern Munich?…oh well….))

Solar News auf dem Solarserver Eine Umfrage des Düsseldorfer Markt- und Sozialforschungsinstituts IRES hat den erneuerbaren Energien hohe Beliebtheit bescheinigt: In der Gunst der Befragten rangieren sie im oberen Drittel, noch vor den traditionell positiv bewerteten Automarken, Aktien oder Formel-1-Rennen. Auf einer “Faszinations-Skala” von 0 bis 10 erreichten die alternativen Energien einen Durchschnittswert von 5,0 und begeistern somit die Deutschen genauso stark wie der Schnellzug ICE oder die Hauptstadt Berlin.

All-you-can-eat Economy is Making the World Sick

((new research from the Worldwatch Institute, the report is called Vital Signs 2001: The trends that are shaping our future. The findings: “We’re eating more meat, drinking more coffee, popping more pills, driving further and getting fatter. Around the world we are consuming more than ever before: but more than one billion people still don’t have access to safe water; natural disasters are taking a worsening toll; and we have yet to vanquish some of the world’s biggest killers-diarrhea, malaria and AIDS.))

In a year when oil prices hit a 15-year high, car production also peaked. The world’s fleet of passenger vehicles reached 532 million in 2000. At the same time, average fuel economy remained stagnant at mid-1980’s levels. Just before the Bush Administration effectively pulled out of the Kyoto protocol, Americans were driving their cars further than ever before. Total U.S. carbon emissions were 13 percent higher than they were in 1990.

While technological innovation soars, 90 percent of commercial energy use worldwide continues to come from fossil fuels. Alternative energy sources such as wind still only account for one percent of the world total, reports Vital Signs 2001.

“Living in the 21st century, we like to think of ourselves as sophisticated, post-modern, technology-savvy world citizens,” Renner said, “but the truth is that our cyber economy is still fueled by the same old energy sources. And as long as consumers do not demand change, manufacturers will continue to churn out environmentally destructive products.”

Gasoline, aluminum and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics-which are manufactured through highly polluting processes-represent the resource binge we’re on. Consumer demand for common items such as automobiles, aluminum cans and children’s toys spurs these industries. But while alternatives are available for almost every PVC use and aluminum recycling requires only five percent as much energy as primary production, little pressure is being placed on manufacturers to change p