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Latin America’s First Hydrogen Bus
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009Brazil is known for many “green” experiments and firsts in transportation. Think of Curitiba’s groundbreaking work on bus rapid transit, Brazil’s pioneering work on sugarcane ethanol and use of flex-fuel vehicles, the country’s aggressive biodiesel program, Vale’s trains run on biodiesel, Itaipu’s development of electric cars that can be charged from biodigestors, and the use [...]
Trends in Clean Energy Investment
Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009From the UN Environment Programme (UNEP):
Economic Crisis Hits EU and US Clean Energy As Emerging Economy Investments Rise 27% to $36 billion
However Renewables Draw More Investment than Fossil-Fueled Energy Technologies in ‘08
Geothermal Sees Fastest Growth – Wind Power Tops Overall Investment, Solar Posts Largest Gains
$155 billion was invested in 2008 in clean energy companies and [...]
The Status of Global Renewables
Saturday, May 16th, 2009The Vienna, Austria-based Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century (REN21) has just released its latest review of the global state of adoption of renewable energy sources — solar (both photovoltaics and passive systems, such as solar water heaters), wind, geothermal, wave, biofuels and small hydro (REN21 excludes large hydropower projects from its review). [...]
The 7th Round of REEEP Projects and LAC
Thursday, May 7th, 2009The Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Partnership (REEEP) recently announced that in its seventh funding round it will fund 49 new clean energy projects in 25 countries, including 12 involving nations in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
REEEP is “an active, global public-private partnership that structures policy and regulatory initiatives for clean energy, and facilitates financing for energy [...]
Brazil Plans to Ban or Restrict 12 Pesticides
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009Brazilian health officials are concerned. In 2008 Brazil became the largest consumer of pesticides in the world, surpassing the US with a market of more than US$7 billion. Yet many of the pesticides now manufactured in, or imported into, Brazil and widely used there have been banned or severely restricted for health and environmental reasons [...]
30% of Cancers in Brazil Preventable
Thursday, February 26th, 2009From World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF):
Landmark report: many cancers could be prevented across the globe
Over 40 per cent of bowel and breast cancer cases in the UK are preventable through healthy patterns of diet, physical activity and weight maintenance, according to estimates in a landmark report that has set out recommendations for policies and actions [...]
Finally, a Chance for a Global Mercury Accord / Por fin, un chance para un acuerdo global sobre el mercurio
Saturday, February 21st, 2009When the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Governing Council (GC) considered and agreed on the draft decision on chemicals management, including mercury, this past Thursday, I was in the room. It’s difficult to say which emotion filled the conference room more — joy or excitement. There was plenty of both.
This decision had been many years in [...]
Could Ecosystem Service Payments Save the Amazon?
Wednesday, February 11th, 2009From WWF:
Amazon could prosper thanks to emission payments, be lost without
Global payments for ecological services rendered by the Amazon such as the carbon retaining in its forests could go a long way to preserving them, a new study has found.
Keeping the Amazon forests standing: a matter of values, carried by the Copernicus Institute of the [...]
Brazil Seeks to Lead in Stem-Cell Research
Monday, January 26th, 2009Brazil’s Health Ministry is sponsoring Brazilian research that has led to the production of the first line of induced pluripotent stem cells. Pluripotent stem cells are able to transform into any cell type. They are similar to embryonic stem cells but do not need to be obtained from embryos. Brazil becomes the fifth (and [...]
A Successful E-waste Collection Campaign in Jalisco
Thursday, January 22nd, 2009Who says that Mexicans do not understand or care about the waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) issue?
The Mexican state of Jalisco just finished a one-month (15 December – 17 January) WEEE collection campaign organized the state environment secretariat (SEMADES) that resulted in 36.6 metric tons turned in. There would have been much more e-scrap [...]