Update: Birdlife snaps up one suspended flamingo conservationist, but what of the other two?
August 15, 2008
Posted in Conservation
Mark Anderson, one of the three conservationists suspended by the Northern Cape department of tourism, environment and nature conservation, has found a new job at Birdlife South Africa. He has been appointed executive director with effect from 1 October 2008.
Anderson, will receive an award for his work with Kimberley’s flamingos in Madagascar in September, says Birdlife South Africa.
The two other employees suspended for what is thought to be their involvement in establishing South Africa’s only flamingo breeding site, Julius Koen and Eric Hermann, are less fortunate. A report in Kimberley’s Diamond Fields Advertiser says that staff in the department said that the three men’s “equipment, laptops and cell phones” were confiscated and the locks on their office doors were changed.
The DFA reports that their is speculation as to whether the suspensions are politically motivated and whether promises had been made by politicians to developers wanting to build near the Kamfers Dam flamingo breeding site.
The Northern Cape legislature can expect a class action against them, Dr Gerhard Verdoorn of the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association, was reported as saying.
Lotus omnivore will run on anything
August 15, 2008
Posted in Transport
Just in case you were starting to imagine a future filled with humming electric cars, along comes the Lotus Exige tri-fuel. The Exige uses the new multi-fuel engine being developed by Lotus and can run on gasoline, ethanol, methanol or a combination of the three. And, while the Lotus Exige promises to be greener than most sports cars, it still knows how to burn up the track. Wired reports that an Exige tri-fuel car accelerated from a standstill to 60mph (96.6km/h) in just 3.88 seconds. That is 22 hundreths of a second faster than the petrol-only Exige S.
Green energy gold rush: but not in Africa
August 14, 2008
Posted in Business
Sustainable energy is attracting a rush of investment, says the UN Environment Programme. Last year, $148-billion in new funding entered the market, up 60 percent from 2006, according to a UNEP-commissioned report, “Global Trends in Sustainable Energy Investment 2008”. But Africa is lagging behind the rest of the world in green energy finance.
Sub-Saharan Africa, “arguably the region that has the most to gain from renewable energy,” remains largely unexploited, says the report. Though it did mention that South Africa’s renewable energy targets and the commissioning of the first wind farm were signs of change. Read more
Solar-hydrogen system powers a home
August 14, 2008
Posted in Renewable energy
An American civil engineer, who describes himself as a “self-sufficiency” guy, has knocked something together in his garage that produces all the fuel he needs to power his home and his car. Mike Strizki uses photovoltaic panels to turn sunlight into electricity that is then harnessed to extract hydrogen from tap water. He even has a hydrogen-powered lawnmower. See photographs of how he’s adapted his home on Scientific American
Hydrogen cars go on tour in America
August 14, 2008
Posted in Transport
In Who Killed the Electric Car, US President George Bush said hydrogen was the transport fuel of the future. Who’d have thought that five years after Bush issued a challenge to innovators to develop hydrogen technologies that a fleet of hydrogen vehicles would be touring America?
Nine car manufacturers have hydrogen-fuelled cars taking part in a whirlwind tour across the United States. The 13-day Hydrogen Road Tour ’08 started on Monday in Portland, Maine, on the east coast, and will end in Los Angeles, California, on the west coast on August 23. The companies taking part are General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen and BMW. The BMW Hydrogen Series 7 burns hydrogen in an internal combustion engine. Read more
Kimberley flamingo conservationists suspended
August 13, 2008
Posted in Conservation
Three employees of the Northern Cape department of tourism, environment and nature conservation who have been involved in efforts to preserve the flamingos of Kamfer’s Dam in Kimberley have been placed on “precautionary suspension”, the Diamond Fields Advertiser reports. Mark Anderson an ornithologist, Julius Koen, the deputy director of conservation, and Eric Hermann, from scientific services have been suspended and an investigation will take place regarding “complaints received about the alleged role individuals played in the flamingo saga both privately and as employees of the department”, the report says.
Source: Save the Flamingo
Minister of minerals and energy to visit the Wild Coast
August 13, 2008
Posted in Green News
Buyelwa Sonjica, the minister of minerals and energy, will meet on Friday community leaders, local government, and the black economic-empowerment partners of the company that has been granted the rights to mine the dunes along a stretch of the Wild Coast, Mining Weekly reports. It doesn’t appear that the minister’s visit is likely to influence the signing of the licence and environmental management plan documents, though, which is scheduled for October 31. A spokesman for the department, reportedly told Mining Weekly that the granting of the licence was a “done deal”. Read the full story on Mining Weekly
Manure could power America
August 13, 2008
Posted in Renewable energy
Cow poo is not to be sniffed at. It could be used to generate enough electricity to meet up to 3 percent of North America’s entire consumption needs, significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to new research. Read more
Air conditioner works off one solar panel
August 12, 2008
Posted in Renewable energy
An air conditioner that can be powered directly by one 170-watt solar panel has been released by a California-based company called GreenCore Air. It runs on DC power and has a built-in battery bank for back-up power on not-so-sunny days or hot nights. The batteries can also be charged by normal AC power.
GreenCore Air says the air conditioner is designed for applications of about 600 square feet (about 55 square metres). There’s a fixed unit and a mobile version which is mounted on wheels.
The US Navy has reportedly ordered 10 of the solar air conditioners for use in a remote laboratory site.
sources: Metaefficient,
Texas plan will get wind power to major cities
August 12, 2008
Posted in Renewable energy
Texas utility regulators have approved a $4.9-billion plan to build transmission lines to carry wind generated electricity from remote parts of the state to major urban centres such as Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio, the US National Acadamies reports.
It is the largest renewable-energy investment in the United States, the report says. Read more
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