Sun City

the German capital of Berlin is today showing what the future of energy may look like. When the German government moved from Bonn to Berlin in 1991, it was proposed that solar power should be featured in the form of photovolataic ( pv ) facades in the governmental quarter.

Dirty business

Has economic growth become dirtier? While the world economy has grown steadily since 1950, global temperature increased from 13.84C to 14.57C (in 1998). But even after a slowing down of trade in 1998, the temperature continued to rise. Down the years, the volume of international air freight has also increased rapidly from just six million tonnes in 1970 to 24 million tonnes in 1997. However, this mode of transport is far more energy-intensive than shipping, another favoured form of transportation.

South Korea

South Korea, the world's 11th largest emitter of carbon dioxide ( co 2 ), is coming under increasing pressure from other countries in the world, especially the us , to reduce its carbon emissions. With international negotiations on climate change, under the mantle of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, gaining momentum, calls to cut down on the use of fossil fuels are intensifying, say government officials.

Warm without carbon dioxide

the Earth has already witnessed the warmest era some 14.5-17 million years ago during the Miocene period. Referred to as the "Miocene Climate Optimum", it is regarded as the warmest era in the last 35 million years. Fossil evidence suggests that the mid-latitude temperatures were as much as 6 degree C higher than the present.

Fuel's paradise

the existing belief that planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide ( co 2 ) is an alternative to reducing fossil fuel emissions is slowly losing ground. Now, scientists are predicting that carbon sinks -- forests -- will soon become saturated with co 2 and begin returning a major part of it to the atmosphere, thus temporarily accelerating global warming.

bill the US for natural disasters

Today , those who claim that climate change does not exist are fooling themselves. Especially after 1998 went on record as the warmest year of the century and natural disasters claimed 50,000 human lives, resulting in losses exceeding us $90 billion. So, by that logic, at least five of the 10 presidential candidates for the 2000 elections in the us are in need of education.

Kyoto targets impossible

environmental experts in industrialised nations feel that it will be impossible to achieve an international target to cut greenhouse gas emissions to levels recorded in the early 1990s by 2008-12, according to a worldwide survey released in Tokyo recently.

Thailand

A research team looking into the economic value of resources in the Mae Yom National Park in Phrae concluded that the Kaeng Sua Ten dam, that was planned for the area, is not worth building.

The CO₂ factor

Clean investments

According to a paper jointly prepared by the credit rating firm Crisil and Hagler Bailly Services, clean development mechanism (cdm) projects could bring investments worth US $39.15 billion into India. Under the cdm programme, companies in the developed countries can invest in developing countries to achieve carbon reduction objectives at lower costs.