ISIE Awards: Call for Nominations

I went to the conference Going the "Last Mile": Using Web 2.0 to Engage Disney’s Environmental Stakeholders. It was interesting to see a corporation of that mgnitude incorporating the principles of industrial ecology into their business model. Because blogs are an important part of web 2.0 (interactive and database driven websites), it's appropriate for these pages. The web is a great way to spread information and build communities around common interests. read the press release here.

Yale's School of Forestry is also holding the ISIE awards and there are currently calls for nominations.


International Society for Industrial Ecology Prizes

Society Prize
For outstanding contributions to fundamental industrial ecology. Presented biannually.

Laudise Prize
For significant contributions to industrial ecology by a young scientist or engineer of outstanding ability. Recipients must be less than 36 years old on January 1 of the year of presentation. Sponsored by AT&T in memory of Robert Laudise. Presented biannually. Deadline for Nomination: April 30, 2009 Instructions for nominations are as follows:

1. A letter of nomination outlining the nominees significant contributions

2. A curriculum vitae, and, for the Laudise Prize, certification of the age of the nominee

3. A bibliography for the nominee

4. A minimum of two and no more than four supporting letters. (No more than half of the letters may be from individuals currently or recently associated with the nominees institution of graduate education or employment).

Nominations will be accepted until 5 PM Eastern Daylight Time, April 30, 2009, either by email at is4ie@yale.edu or by regular mail at:

International Society for Industrial Ecology
Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies
195Prospect Street
New Haven, Connecticut 06511 USA
Attn: Awards Nominations

On the 25th of March an event is organized in which the students of the Industrial Ecology Master Programme will showcase their work in real-life case studies where Industrial Ecology principles and tools are applied . The event will be a Studium Generale under the title Industrial Ecology in Practice - A Systemic Approach Towards Sustainability.

Visit the website of the Studium Generale

"Can Web 2.0 Outperform Duct Tape and WD-40?"

Here is an interesting conference at the Center for Industrial Ecology at Yale.

________________________________________

February 11th, 2008 4:30PM-6:00PM
Burke Auditorium, Kroon Building, 195 Prospect Street,
New Haven, CT
David Rejeski, Woodrow Wilson Center to speak on Web 2.
Read the Press Release here.

Upcoming conference ISIE Lisbon

In June 2009 the International Society for Industrial Ecology organizes the 5th biannual conference on Industrial Ecology in Lisbon, Portugal. These conferences are excellent opportunities to hear about the latest research in the field and to talk to lots of interesting people.

5 DIY Green Building Techniques

Steve Kornher Flying Concrete Homes















































Living Roof- New Academy of Sciences: Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

The Farm- Summertown, TN.













































Adobe/Cobb/Strawbale- The Farm, Green Dragon Tavern: Summertown TN

Rammed Earth- Eden Project: Cornwall, England

The pictures from The Green Dragon, at the Ecovillage Training Center, at The Farm in Tennessee, show the progress of the project, which is still in construction. it was constructed to be the largest cobb structure east of the Mississippi. The roof construction pictured above was particularly difficult, as it caved in once and had to be built again. The structure uses a combination of almost all known natural building techniques, the walls are strawbale covered by cobb and then adobe for extra insulation. There is also use of earth bags, such as in the construction of the fireplace face. Earth bags are large strong bags, that you fill with dirt, to create something similar to a sandbag. These are incredibly strong. The Dragon Sculpture and large face inside the structure I made myself and took pictures of the process, I sculpted it out of cobb, which is dirt, clay and straw then covered it with a mixture of adobe and lime to harden it. We then painted it with store bought natural colorings and painted around it as we did the whole building with that orange coloring.

The living roof at the New Academy of Sciences building in Golden Gate Park S.F. is the largest example of a living roof. A living roof provides very good natural insulation and the moisture from the grass actually cools the building in the summer and insulates it in the winter. Living roofs can also be executed on a much smaller scale. The pictures of the smaller huts above are again from the Farm. Anyone can create a living roof like this. First spread old or recycled carpet pieces over a wooden foundation. Then spread dirt and and grass seeds on top. water and sunlight create the roof. The Green Dragon shows pictures of a living roof with seeds that have not yet sprouted, another picture from later on shows the building when weeds took hold of the roof. This is not a big deal because the building is still in progress.

The Rammed Earth at the Eden Project in Cornwall, England also uses a variety of natural building techniques. The rammed earth wall above uses techniques possibly old as the Great Wall of China. Rammed earth is similar to adobe and cob techniques, in that the soil is mostly clay and sand. The difference is that the material is compressed or tamped into place, modern forms utiilize heavy mechinisms and even machinery to compress the material.

Steve Kornher is the builder who has made flying concrete a notable building material. "Flying Concrete" or, Lightweight concrete has been used in this country for more than 50 years. Its strength is roughly proportional to its weight and its resistance to weathering is about the same as that of ordinary concrete. As compared with the usual sand and gravel concrete it has certain advantages and disadvantages. Among the former are the savings in structural steel supports and decreased foundation sizes because of decreased loads, and better fire resistance and insulation against heat and sound. Its disadvantages include greater cost (30 to 50 percent), need for more care in placing, greater porosity, and more drying shrinkage.

The principal use of lightweight concrete in Bureau work is in construction of underbeds for floors and roof slabs, where substantial savings can be effected by decreasing dead load. It is also used in some insulated sections of floors and walls.

Lightweight concrete may be obtained through use of lightweight aggregates, as discussed in the following sections, or by special methods of production. These methods include the use of foaming agents, such as aluminum powder, which produces concrete of low unit weight through generation of gas while the concrete is still plastic. Lightweight concrete may weigh from 35 to 115 pounds per cubic foot, depending on the type of lightweight aggregate used or the method of production. In Bureau construction, lightweight concretes have been limited to those whose lightness depends on inorganic aggregates which are light in weight.

Overcoming the Hurtles of Solar Power

From the sunny olive groves of Spain comes a encouraging story of the advancements in solar power. At the beginning of 2008, the government of Spain enacted the law Real Decreto 661/2007, effective for one year offering cash to installers so that they could sell solar power at competitive rates. It also offered subsidies to utilities if they would buy at premium rates. This made solar power more completion with other sources. Because one of the biggest hurtles of going solar is the expensive start up costs of renting and installing the equipment, with this entry barrier tempered the playing field was leveled a bit. The result is this quote from Yahoo News.

“An enormous explosion in installed solar capacity, over 3 gigawatts in one year, enough to displace up to five coal-fired power plants. This number was far higher than analysts had predicted, but it comes at a significant cost, and not just to people's electricity bills.”

Unintended consequences now that the subsidy is being rolled back, is that the artificially inflated market is now unsteady, with deadlines being fudged, cases of fraud turning up, and installers finding less and less work.

Some solutions to this problem could be to follow Germany’s lead and making the subsidies effective for ten years, by that time the initial investment would be paid off and the foundation more solid. Also because the installation costs are such a hurtle using increased incentives, discounts and tax breaks for implementation of solar and other clean energy technology may also improve the situation.


These picture my friends sent me from Spain





solar panels in an orange field in Spain.





solar panels in olive fields in Barcelona






the bottom image is a giant solar panel in a Barcelona park

Coca-Cola Hybrid Delivery Fleet to Become Biggest in North America

First the Military now Coke? it seems like every unlikely candidate for caring about just about anything or anybody has taken the initiative to be green, at least in transportation. Corporate responsibility is stepping up now that they see 4 years of Obama maybe? who knows, but they do plan to adding 185 hybrid electric trucks.

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/01/16/coca-cola-enterprises-hybrid-fleet

2009 The Year of the Electric Car

The U.S Army recently announced the acquisition of 4,000 neighborhood electric vehicles, coming in both sedan and light truck models and can charge their batteries at any household three pronged. Six Neighborhood Electric Cars (NEVs) were unveiled by the U.S. Army on Jan. 12 at Fort Myer, Va. (U.S. Army), The first six cars were made by Global Electric Motorcars, a Chrysler subsidiary, to be followed by 800 more this year. The 30-mph, lead-acid battery-powered cars are projected to save 11.5 million gallons of fuel over the next six years.

Leaders were already thinking of expanding the program.

"These are the first of the 4,000 we plan to lease over the next three years, but we have 28,000 sedans that we operate in the Army," said Army Secretary Pete Geren. "As we move ahead we will look for more opportunities to take gasoline-powered vehicles off the road and replace them with electrical systems. This is the first step. Across all of our vehicles we are looking at ways to achieve greater fuel efficiency, not just on installations which these are used for but for deployed forces."

2009 is shaping up to truly be the year the electric car is revived as models are rolling out, with this year America’s automakers getting into the race, at the North American Auto Show. Also Mercedes BlueZERO trio (electric car, plug-in hybrid, and hydrogen fuel cell) by Mercedes are now production-ready and will be turning out on the market for low Volume runs during 2010.

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i=3898211

Picture from http://www.defensenews.com

edit

General Motors EV1 TV Commercial

so who did kill the electric car? When General Moters was forced to make electric cars under California law, they came out with this ominous video to "sell" the car. at least partial responsibility falls on automakers, though we can't place all blame. The voiceover sounds so much more frightened or nervous that the intrigued or excited tone you would expect when promoting a product like this.

Hydrogen VS Electric

Came across this article at Physorg.com. I had been talking about this hydrogen vs electric car issue with a friend and this chart summed things up quite nicely I thought.  I haven't read the research behind it and i'm sure there are arguments both ways.  Both certainly still have a long way to go technologically but electric has always made sense for me personally due to the simplicity of generation and transmission (that is, once the electricity is created it is not converted to another form again), as is shown in the chart below.

Perhaps it will be a case of hydrogen for certain uses and electric for others (or air perhaps?). What does everyone think about this hydrogen vs electric debate?

Creating GMO's that produce fuel from CO2: A Craig Venter project. (UPDATED CONTENT)

Craig Venter, one of the most famous geneticists alive, is working on a Genetically Modified microbe that will be able to metabolize atmospheric CO2 to octane. Although this type of micro-organisms already exist in nature, they do not produce enough fuel for commercial use. That is where Genetics Engineering kicks in. Check out the links.

Article1

Article2

A couple of TED talks from him. In the first one he also mentions his plans for producing clean energy from engineered species

Talk 1

Talk 2

And a link for Craig Venters institute:

http://www.jcvi.org/

Self-healing rubber bounces back

Interesting and possibly sustainable development from Ludwik Leibler, at the Industrial Physics and Chemistry Higher Educational Institution in Paris. Its a new technology rubber, made by molecules that link with hydrogen bonds. If the bonds break, they can be regenerated by simply pushing the broken parts back together. The time of immortal rubbers is close...

http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080220/full/news.2008.611.html

The Air Car

Forget about Hydrogen, electric, hybrid and all the rest, how about just plain old air - compressed that is. Just came across this on BBC News.com and it sounds very interesting.

The BBC reports that:

The OneCAT will be a five-seater with a glass fibre body, weighing just 350kg and could cost just over £2,500.

It also reports that while a 'breakthrough' has been talked about for over a decade, the inventor, Guy Negre has recently struck his first manufacturing deal with Tata in India to produce the car.

What is interesting beyond simply the idea and technology, is that Guy Negre is trying to build sustainability into the business model by encouraging local production and sourcing of materials.

Overall a very interesting concept and one which sounds like it's well positioned to become a commercial reality.


More info:
http://www.theaircar.com/acf/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_car
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4
http://business.theage.com.au/air-car-to-call-melbourne-home/20071202-1ee6.html (especially relevant for me being a Melbournian, great news! :))

HighTech-LowCost Lithium Batteries coupled with UltraCapacitors in hybrid cars

Very interesting development for the hybrid car industry and the electricity storage in general:
http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10601407

and for more details on the car:
http://www.afstrinity.net/Jan08-AFSTrinity-XH150-Presentation.pdf
and
http://www.afstrinity.net/afstrinity-xh150-pressrelease.pdf

World’s first carbon-neutral, waste-free, car-free city

Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 13 January 2008 - The WWF and Masdar, The Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company, today launched a “Sustainability Action Plan” to deliver the world’s greenest city – Masdar City. Located near Abu Dhabi International Airport, Masdar City will be the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city, aiming to exceed the 10 sustainability principles of “One Planet Living™”– a global initiative launched by the Worldwide Fund for Nature and environmental consultancy BioRegional.

Masdar City’s electricity will be generated by photovoltaic panels, while cooling will be provided via concentrated solar power. Water will be provided through a solar-powered desalination plant. Landscaping within the city and crops grown outside the city will be irrigated with grey water and treated waste water produced by the city’s water treatment plant.

The city is part of the Masdar Initiative, Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted investment in the exploration, development and commercialisation of future energy sources and clean technology solutions. The six-square kilometre city, growing eventually to 1,500 businesses and 50,000 residents, will be home to international business and top minds in the field of sustainable and alternative energy.

A model of the Masdar City will be unveiled on January 21, at the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi. Ground breaks for the construction of the city in the first quarter of 2008.

Jean-Paul Jeanrenaud, Director of WWF International’s One Planet Living initiative, said: “Today Abu Dhabi is embarking on a journey to become the global capital of the renewable energy revolution. Abu Dhabi is the first hydrocarbon-producing nation to have taken such a significant step towards sustainable living.

“Masdar is an example of the paradigm shift that is needed. The strategic vision of the Abu Dhabi government is a case study in global leadership. We hope that Masdar City will prove that sustainable living can be affordable and attractive in all aspects of human living – from businesses and manufacturing facilities to universities and private homes,” Jeanreneaud continued.

Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of the Masdar Initiative, said: “Masdar City will question conventional patterns of urban development, and set new benchmarks for sustainability and environmentally friendly design – the students, faculty and businesses located in Masdar City will not only be able to witness innovation first-hand, but they will also participate in its development.”

“We are pleased to be able to work with One Planet Living to make our vision a reality,” he said.

Pooran Desai OBE, co-founder of BioRegional and Technical Director of the One Planet Living Communities programme, said Masdar would be the largest and the most advanced sustainable communities in the world.

“The vision of One Planet Living is a world where people everywhere can lead happy, healthy lives within their fair share of the Earth’s resources. Masdar gives us a breathtaking insight into this positive, alternative future.

“In realising the goal of a sustainable future, Masdar is committed to surpassing the One Planet Living Program’s 10 Guiding Principles, covering issues that range from how waste is dealt with to the energy performance of the buildings.”

The One Planet Living programme is based on 10 unique principles of sustainability. Masdar City will meet and exceed each of these, as detailed below.

These targets are to be achieved by the time the Masdar City is completed and fully functioning in 2015.

One Planet Living principle Masdar Target

ZERO CARBON: 100 per cent of energy supplied by renewable energy – Photovoltaics, concentrated solar power, wind, waste to energy and other technologies

ZERO WASTE: 99 per cent diversion of waste from landfill (includes waste reduction measures, re-use of waste wherever possible, recycling, composting, waste to energy)

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORT: Zero carbon emissions from transport within the city; implementation of measures to reduce the carbon cost of journeys to the city boundaries (through facilitating and encouraging the use of public transport, vehicle sharing, supporting low emissions vehicle initiatives)

SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS: Specifying high recycled materials content within building products; tracking and encouraging the reduction of embodied energy within materials and throughout the construction process; specifying the use of sustainable materials such as Forest Stewardship Council certified timber, bamboo and other products

SUSTAINABLE FOOD: Retail outlets to meet targets for supplying organic food and sustainable and or fair trade products

SUSTAINABLE WATER: Per capita water consumption to be at least 50 per cent less than the national average; all waste water to be re-used

HABITATS AND WILDLIFE: All valuable species to be conserved or relocated with positive mitigation targets

CULTURE AND HERITAGE: Architecture to integrate local values.

EQUITY AND FAIR TRADE: Fair wages and working conditions for all workers (including construction) as defined by international labour standards

HEALTH AND HAPPINESS: Facilities and events for every demographic group

In June 2007, Masdar City received the first World Clean Energy Award from the Transatlantic21 Association in Basel, Switzerland. In September 2007, the city’s design was voted “Sustainable Region/ City of the Year” at Euromoney and Ernst & Young’s Global Renewable Energy Awards.

source: www.masdaruae.com

Maiden flight of the SkySails towing kite propulsion on a newly built cargo ship on the North SeaHamburg

Bremerhaven, January 18th, 2008.

A newly built cargo vessel was towed by the innovative wind propulsion of the Hamburg-based company SkySails on the North Sea near Bremerhaven, Germany for the first time. The 160m2 SkySails supported the main engine of the 132m long Multi Purpose Heavy Lift Carrier MS “Beluga SkySails” of the Bremen-based Beluga Shipping with approx. five tons tractive force at low wind.

Next Tuesday, the cargo ship will set off from Bremen to Venezuela and gain first experiences with the new system during the maiden voyage. “The maiden voyage marks the beginning of the practical testing during regular shipping operations of the SkySails-System. During the next few months we will finally be able to prove that our technology works in practice und significantly reduces fuel consumption and emissions,” says Stephan Wrage, Managing Director, SkySails GmbH & Co. KG.

Parallel and in addition to the practical tests on the MS “Beluga SkySails”, the SkySails technology is advanced and optimized for series production readiness on further ships. Stephan Brabeck, Technical Manager at SkySails: “Certainly, the daily routine at sea will still bear many challenges for SkySails. It is thus now particularly important to raise the manageability and robustness of the system to the level demanded by our customers. We will have to face up to many challenges and in the process learn many very valuable lessons.”

The shipping company and the manufacturer calculate that by using the towing kite system, a ship’s average annual fuel costs can be reduced by 10 to 35%, depending on the prevailing wind conditions. Under optimal wind conditions, SkySails estimates that fuel consumption can temporarily be cut by up to 50%. The first results are to be expected in the next few months.

“Interest in the SkySails technology among shipping companies from all over the world has already been high before, but especially during the last year and in light of the rising oil prices it has increased considerably,” states founder of the company Stephan Wrage.

Source: www.skysails.info

Human body heat used to warm up building in Stockholm

Body heat rising from the head of an athlete. A project from the Swedish state-held property administration company Jernhuset is planning to use the body heat from hundreds of thousands of people who pass through the Stockholm Central Station each day, to heat a new office building nearby.
The body heat from hundreds of thousands of people who pass through the Stockholm Central Station each day will be used to heat a new office building nearby, the project leader said Wednesday. "So many people go through the Central Station ... We want to harness some of the warmth they produce to help heat the new building," Karl Sundholm, of the Swedish state-held property administration company Jernhuset, told AFP. Some 250,000 people pass through the station each day, rushing to catch trains and subways or simply visit the many shops and stores inside.

"All people produce heat, and that heat is in fact fairly difficult to get rid of. Instead of opening windows and letting all that heat go to waste we want to harness it through the ventilation system," Sundholm said.

He said the body heat would warm up water that in turn would be pumped through pipes over to the new office building, which will also house a small hotel and a few shops and is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2010.

"This is old technology, but used in a new way. It's just pipes, water and pumps, but we haven't heard of anyone else using this technology in this way before," he said, adding that Jernhuset expects the system to bring down heating costs in the building by up to 20 percent.

Installing the heating system is not expected to be complicated or very costly, Sundholm said, pointing out that laying the necessary pumps and underground pipes might cost a some 200,000 kronor (21,200 euros, 31,200 dollars).

"For a large building expected to cost several hundred million kronor to build, that's not that much," he said.

Source: Physorg.com

Sony develops sugar powered fuel cell

Sony has developed a fuel cell powered by sugar. It still is a little bulky but it seems like a nice friendly type of battery.

Coal & oil = bioenergy

Of course, this is nothing new to Industrial Ecologists: coal and oil are concentrated sunlight, just as "new bioenergy" is. However, if you look at coal and oil as biology instead of chemistry, interesting new ways of harvesting this energy could arise.

Juan Enriquez talks about this in a TED Talk. The presentation is very clear and the message is inspiring, especially from an industrial ecology perspective.

Go see/hear this video!

Juan Enriquez: Why can't we grow new energy? (19 minutes)

Interesting approach to bio-energy

This was written quite a while ago, but as I was talking to some other Industrial Ecology students the other day about this I realised it's actually a good article if you're interested in the subject. It's very subjective by nature (that's what it's a blog for), but the systems approach is presented clearly.
The whole article is pretty thorough and not exceptionally long.

On a side-note I think it's sad that the author (who goes by the name of Engineer-Poet) decided to stop blogging...

So, without further ado: Sustainability, energy independence and agricultural policy

bibliography of the discovery of global warming

As any overview it is not complete but it is the most comprehensive list I know.

oil peak is here says CEO energy investment bank

Interview of Matthew Simmons, CEO of the energy inevestment bank Simmons & Co.

via www.peakoil.nl

Win a 11 day trip to Spain!

Are you concerned about the environment? Are you working on sustainable development? And did you always want to go to Galicia in Spain?
LHUMP gives you the opportunity to discuss with students from Spain, Portugal, Italy and Hungarya about climate change, forestry, waste, genetic modification, et cetera.

How to win this trip?
Make a plan for your own local environment campaign, and email his plan to info@lhump.nl

When?
The trip will be very soon! We leave 3rd of March, and will return in the Netherlands the 13th.
This means the deadline for your plan will be 7th of February.

Costs
LHUMP asks you 150 euros and a spare of change for the free day in Santiago de Compostela. You will have for this a train trip to Spain, a one night sleep in Santiago and seven days stay in the nature reserve in the mountains of Serra de San Mamede, near Orense.

More information at www.lhump.nl

Good luck!

The national student platform on sustainable development LHUMP

The 3 R's

The message of environmental awareness is coming through in all forms and shapes, especially where you least expect it, as I just experienced, because I just found out that Jack Johnson (& friends) made a song called "The 3 R's", which goes something like this:

If you're going to the market to buy some juice
bring your own bags and you'll learn to reduce your waste
Gotta reduce your waste

And if your brother or your sisters got some cool clothes
try them on before you buy some of those
reuse
you gotta learn to reuse

And if the first two Rs dont work out
and you gotta make some trash, dont throw it out
Recycle
You gotta learn to recycle

You gotta learn to Reduce Reuse Recycle
Reduce Reuse Recycle
Reduce Reuse Recycle
Reduce Reuse Recycle

'cause three, thats the magic number
yes it is, its a magic number


Isn't it great?! I'm loving this :) And I hope this will become a hit!

HHO gas ?

"Aquygen™ is made up of oxygen and hydrogen combined in a structure only beginning to be described in scientific literature. We have described it chemically as HHO gas, and the scientific details are remarkable."

Not sure what to think of this. Any ideas what HHO gas really is ?

World's biggest offshore wind farm in UK

The UK government has given the green light to a consortium of Shell WindEnergy and E.ON UK to build the world's largest offshore wind power project. In total over 440 turbines will be build at a cost of around 2 billion pounds. About 1% of the electricty used in the UK could come from these parks. Via the BBC

Industrial Ecology

Response to Inconvenient Truth: Film Contest

Ed Burtynsky

A while ago I saw a link to his work at WorldChanging but somehow I didn't give much attention to it, until it showed up again at Treehugger, this time about a movie that has been made about his work.

And it grabbed me immediately! His work is at the least inspiring to work on an industrial ecology. The most intrigueing is the fact that his photographs are both beautiful (and even the things that he photographs on itself) and shocking at the same time. He makes it look as if we treat the earth as if it's just LEGO (well that's the feeling I get). This means both good and bad things, since the scale doesn't imply if it's sustainable or not (surprise, surprise here's industrial ecology)

The best thing about it all is the fact that Burtynsky is on a mission to make people aware of this. So here I let you know about his work; go see his TED talk, check out his website and let me know if you find out about a theatre showing his movie in the Netherlands (check out the trailer!).

Thermohaline Circulation

Realclimate has an interesting article documenting the latest studies on the Thermohaline Circulation. For those who haven't heard of it, this
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2006/10/ocean-circulation-new-evidence-yes-slowdown-no/

China working towards partnerships with African countries

Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation


http://english.people.com.cn/200611/06/eng20061106_318573.html

On Saturday, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao proposed that China and Africa should fully tap cooperation potential and strive to bring their trade volume to 100 billion U.S. dollars by 2010.

The figure will more than double the 2005 level, about 39.7 billion U.S. dollars. In the first nine months, China-Africa trade surged to 40.6 billion U.S. dollars, up 42 percent year-on-year.

At the two-day Summit, the African leaders reiterated their countries' firm commitment to the one-China policy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-China_policy

"They (the African countries) reiterated that they adhere to the one-China policy and support China's peaceful reunification," said the declaration.

At the opening ceremony Saturday, President Hu announced a package of aid and assistance measures to Africa including 3 billion U.S. dollars of preferential loans in next three years and the exemption of more debt owed by poor African countries.

(us trade numbers)
http://usinfo.state.gov/af/Archive/2005/Apr/26-505429.html

(eu trade numbers)
http://ec.europa.eu/trade/issues/bilateral/regions/acp/index_en.htm

my heart's in accra
http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/?p=1096

I4D-day 2006: Fuelling the Future

On november 16, there is a network day in Amsterdam, called "I4D-day 2006: Fuelling the Future". On this day, the Innovation for Development-network (I4D) will be launched.
The theme of the day is sustainable technological innovation to support the increasing energy demand in the third world.

from their website:

"Students and researchers of technological universities and representatives of other knowledge institutes and companies in the Netherlands will present during the I4D-day 2006 the I4Deas they have for meeting this challenge. Development economists, politicians and representatives of development agencies will go into debate with them. Film and music will tickle the senses in different ways."

If you are into the energy issue, this might be interesting - I looks like a nice multidisciplinary day!

Full program

don't forget to sign up (at their website) if you want to go!

Funny Weather?

For those of you who have seen the movie 'The Inconvenient Truth' by Al Gore, the following story might be very familiar:

http://www.funnyweather.org/

In any case, this seems like a nice way to introduce your friends and family etc to the complicated topic of climate change in a very funny and easy way.