Source: Inhabitat

The small Japanese town of Kamikatsu has a mission to become the country’s first zero waste city by 2020, and they are already well on their way. Residents meticulously separate their recyclables into 34 different bins, which makes me feel guilty for complaining about the 3 bins at my own city’s collection site. So far, only 20 percent of the city’s trash makes it to landfills while the other 80 percent is responsibly recycled – a far cry from the old tradition of burning their refuse.

The town of 1,700 works together toward their zero waste goal. Each resident sorts their own trash and brings the cleaned and separated items to the local recycling center themselves. Initially people were understandably hesitant about the changes, yet now the tasks are a part of everyday life. A documentary by Seeker Stories interviews a resident who says, “If you get used to it, it becomes normal. Now I don’t think about it. It’s become natural to separate the trash correctly.”

In the town there is a shop known as a “circular,” which encourages people to bring in items to trade. A factory for repurposing unwanted items into new clothing or gifts is also at the heart of the city’s mission. Without the supportive nature of the community the initiative simply would not work. Enthusiasm from residents to change their lifestyles to reflect the importance of caring for one another and the planet is something all cities, large and small, should adopt for the stability of our future.

Source: KAZINFORM

Today during a nationwide teleconference “New industrialization of Kazakhstan. The results of 2015 “Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev has launched a hosiery factory in the South Kazakhstan region.

According to Kairat Balabiyev, director of LLP “Alem BT”, the company industry will annually produce 16 million units of goods using South Korean technology. The goods will be sold in domestic and foreign markets.

The project was commissioned in the territory of special economic zone “Ontustic”. To date there have been implemented 10 projects worth 28 billion tenge which employed 2144 people.

In turn the President noted that Kazakhstan needs to develop light industry.

Source: Marinelink.com

The NAO has begun construction of the first wind-diesel power plant

In Amderma Nenets Autonomous District the work of installing the first wind turbine for the new wind-diesel industry has begun.

Currently, the foundation for the installation of wind turbines has started simultaneoulsy with the work of the setting up of the equipment for the diesel power according to the press service of the district administration.

Next will start the work to support the installation of wind turbines itself. The new equipment, including four wind generators with a total capacity of 200 kW and three diesel generator capacity of 100, 160 and 200 kW, have been delivered to the village.

Before the year ends it is planned to complete the reconstruction of the main equipment of the current DES Amderma. There are three additional diesel generator set, complete replacement of the switchgear power and implemented “binding” of wind turbines.

After the reconstruction of the DEL in combination with wind turbines it will be a full and flexible technological complex. As the wind speed increases the diesel generators shut down, and the wind turbines take over the work of the power generation. Thus, a source of alternative energy will help to consume smaller amounts of fuel and reduce the burden on DES.

Source: Inhabitat

Iceland already runs on 100 percent renewable energy. Most of it comes from geothermal sources, but researchers have been working on ways to harness the incredibly powerful winds in the region as well. Traditional wind turbines would spin out of control in the high winds common to the small country, but one bright inventor realized that an entirely different type of wind turbine could withstand the winds. In fact, IceWind’s CW1000 wind turbine may be even better than its skinny counterparts.

Iceland does already generate some electricity from wind. It started harnessing wind energy in 2013 and researchers continue efforts to evaluate the energy potential in the country of just 329,000 residents. However, traditional wind turbines just don’t fare very well when the winds really pick up, which can be up to 40 miles per hour on an average day. In stormy weather, wind speeds average 112mph.

The only way to address this problem was to create a different kind of wind turbine, so that’s what inventor Saethor Asgeirsson did. Rather than being long and thin with blades fanning out, his CW1000turbine stands vertically on a wide base and features curved blades. The unique blade shape allows the turbine to catch the wind in such a way that it can’t possibly spin too fast, which is the main problem with the traditional design. The CW1000 can thus endure Iceland’s consistently high wind speeds.

Although Iceland is already getting all of its energy from other renewable sources, efficient wind power systems still have a market there, especially for individual homeowners. The IceWind CW1000 is designed for residential use, and the company plans to start selling the turbines within the next few months. Asgeirsson recognizes the opportunity to harness the energy in the winds of his homeland, but also plans to sell the technology internationally as early as Summer 2016. The company recently signed with an American investor and is currently looking for distributors to bring their product to North America and Europe.

Source: KAZINFORM

Akorda press service has disseminated a statement of the President of Kazakhstan on the outcomes of the COP21: UN Climate Change Conference held in Paris.

“Kazakhstan welcomes the adoption of the final document of the COP21: UN Climate Change Conference on December 12, 2015 in Paris. The delegates of 196 UN member countries have done huge work and once again demonstrated their unity in face of modern threats and challenges. We also highly evaluate the efforts and contribution of the UN to this complicated years-long negotiation process.

The resolution of the global climate change problem is one of key conditions of ensuring sustainable development, overcoming poverty and achievement of socio-economic welfare for all countries of the world.

The adoption of the new comprehensive climate agreement proves commitment of the member states to prevention of degradation of the environment through the attempt to limit global temperature rise by 2°C compared to pre-industrial period.

Being a country combating ecological problems both at the national and regional levels, Kazakhstan attaches special importance to this historical event.

We are firmly adhered to boosting close interaction will all the members of the global community in this sphere and achievement of the goals and objectives approved at the Paris Climate Summit.

In turn, Kazakhstan is ready to fulfill its obligations and make a contribution to the implementation of the new Agreement on curbing greenhouse emissions. Our big contribution will be the EXPO-2017 International Specialized Exhibition to be hosted in Astana, whose theme “The Energy of Future” correlates with the goals of the Climate Conference.

I express my gratitude to the Government of the French Republic for its contribution to preparation and successful holding of one of the largest summits in the destiny of humankind in the new millennium,” the statement reads.

Source: Bnews.kz

According to the press service of “Kazpost” JSC, the stamp was printed using four color offset lithography and comb perforation.

“The item is Vintage sheet, consisting from eight stamps. Sheet size is 140h120 mm, stamps size 28 x 40 mm. Postage stamp circulation makes 5000 copies. The stamp was designed by K.Pluzhnikova. Nominal stamp is 300 tenge,” said in a statement.

The postage stamps imprinted by Republican state enterprise “Banknote Factory of the National Bank of Kazakhstan”.

Source: The Guardian

New ideas, such as solar panels that float on water supply reservoirs, could see Australia become a major renewable energy exporter

In the last fiscal year, Australia earned $172bn from international sales of its natural resources. But earnings are decreasing. The office of the chief economist estimates that energy commodities earnings declined by 6% to $67bn last year because of a decline in revenue from coal exports, and that exports of refined petroleum products have declined by an average of 11% a yearover the last decade.

There are hopes however, that Australia could bolster its position by developing its exports of renewable energy – especially those generated through solar technology. The opportunity is there. China – one of Australia’s major coal buyers – has committed to increase its share of non–fossil fuels as part of its primary energy consumption to around 20% by 2030.

Keith Lovegrove, head of solar thermal at the IT Power Group, who is currently helping to develop a roadmap on solar fuels for the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), said: “Here we are in a world where, as of COP21, we’re shooting to keep global warming below 2C, and we’ll all have to decarbonise. Exporting coal as our major export earner has a limited future. We need to talk about swapping that coal export for a renewable export.”

With more than 200 partly sunny days a year, and more than 8m square metres of land mass, solar seems like an obvious direction for Australia to take.

One company that’s been successful in this regard is Infratech Industries, an Australian–owned sustainable infrastructure company, which sold and exported its innovative floating solar system – similar to the one currently in operation in Jameson, South Australia that generates around 57% more power than a fixed, land-based system – to the city of Holtville in California earlier this month.

Manufactured to mitigate the need for solar installations to be built on valuable farmland, the 1MW floating solar assembly will float on the surface of water reservoirs at the city’s new water treatment facility next year. It will include 276 rafts and 3,576 solar panels, which are fitted with mirrors to concentrate the sunlight on the panels and generate more power.

As well as powering the water treatment processes, the array has the added advantage of reducing surface evaporation of the water. It diminishes the penetration of sunlight below the water surface and limits the growth of blue green algae and consequently the need for chemical treatment. And it’s also able to withstand earthquakes due to the assembly’s ability to shift on the surface of the water, which is handy given Holtville is situated near the San Andreas fault line.

Dr Rajesh Nellore, chief executive officer of Infratech Industries, says that there is a huge market for the technology – for the anti-evaporation aspects as well as the power generation.

“Practically every water reservation is an opportunity and this could be valued in the billions of dollars,” he says, adding that Los Angeles’ department of power and water recently purchased 96m rubber balls at a cost of US$34.5m (AU$48.2m) to prevent water evaporation.

“With this kind of renewable infrastructure [acting as] an alternative to rubber balls, the market potential is gigantic.”

The US isn’t the only market investing in Australian concentrated solar photovoltaic technology (CSPV). China’s state-owned power company Three Gorges corporation signed a memorandum of understanding with Australian company RayGen earlier this year for the deployment of 500MW of utility-scale CSPV power over the next five years, which could deliver approximately $1bn of sales for the solar technology provider and its Chinese partners, JuYe Solar.

Dr Nellore believes that more government action is needed to establish confidence in the renewable energy export market.

He says there has historically been “limited [government] support for such decentralised infrastructure and especially for small- and medium-sized companies, which form the backbone of the Australian economy.” He calls on the federal government to “change its paradigm to become an exporter of renewable energy.”

“The federal government could start to value and monetise water savings [to] encourage local governments to do the same. Policies must support and encourage water savings in view of the changing climate.

With the global climate deal resulting in increased ambition to decarbonise the energy sector worldwide, it may not be long before Australia’s renewable energy export takes off.

Ian Kay, acting CEO of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), which invested $1.7m in RayGen’s CSPV Australian pilot project, said: “The Australian market is relatively small in the global context. By tapping into overseas markets, Australian renewable energy innovation can be rolled out to a much larger customer base to bring down costs and become more competitive.”

Source: The Guardian

A report quietly released on Christmas Eve shows Australia’s emissions rose by about 1% in 2014-15, compared with the previous year

Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions increased in 2014-15, a report released with obscure timing by the Australian government has shown.

The December 2015 quarterly update of carbon emissions, which covers the period to the end of June 2015, was released with no fanfare on Christmas Eve. The quarterly update forms part of Australia’s international reporting of its emissions

It shows that Australia’s emissions increased by 0.8% last financial year compared with the previous one, and 1.3% when land use and deforestation were taken into account. Australia generated 549.3 mega-tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2014-15.

The Australian government promised at the Paris climate talks to reduce emissions by 26% to 28% by 2030 and will likely come under pressure to do more after the world agreed to work to keep the global temperature rise to 2C.

The report points to increases in electricity, stationary energy (excluding electricity), transport, fugitive emissions, and industrial processes and product use. However it says there was a steep decline – 3.8% – in emissions from agriculture.

Emissions from electricity generation rose 3% in 2014-15, despite demand from consumers remaining flat in 2014-15. Power generation from black coal increased by 1.4%, and brown coal generation increased by 9.7%.

Electricity from wind and other renewables (excluding small-scale solar) increased 12.2% on the previous 12 months, but hydroelectric generation fell by 30.3%.

Electricity generation was the largest source of emissions, accounting for 34% in 2014-15.

Prof Will Steffen from the Climate Council told Fairfax Media the December figures showed Australia needed to urgently wean itself off coal to meet its global commitments.

“If we’re putting more into the atmosphere than the year before, than we’re heading in the wrong direction,” he said. “We’ve got to drop emissions fast. We’ve got to get out of fossil fuels very quickly, coal first – there can no new coalmines anywhere in the world.”