mökkikunta

Twitter Weekly Updates 2009-10-20

2009-10-20T23:06:00.030+01:00

World Press Freedom Index 2009 - The rankings http://bit.ly/3FwuAF
Reading: "Electric cars a step closer - Transport : sci-tech, hi-tech | euronews" (http://twitthis.com/j8vmye)
Electric cars a step closer http://ff.im/-acCDz
RT @solarfeeds Estimating Energy’s Hidden Costs | Solar Feeds News And Commentary Network http://retwt.me/1ceA4
Copenhagen Talks Will Yield Framework But No Treaty, UN Official Says from Yale e360 http://bit.ly/36vYeN

India softens climate demands http://ff.im/-aaDbs
US energy sector lobbying at full speed http://ff.im/-aaDbn
91 percent of green stimulus money unspent http://ff.im/-aaDbu
In pictures: Landscape photo of the year 2009: http://digg.com/d317cKw?t
Soccer teams will leave record carbon footprint http://bit.ly/8q948 #COP15
Facebook Has 300M Users, Most Bored http://retwt.me/18gNH
RT @solarfeeds Taiwan’s Eco-Skin Solar Building | Solar Feeds News And Commentary Network http://retwt.me/19EkG
Britain, US insist global climate deal can be done http://bit.ly/2ocD5z
Climate Policies Won't Limit Warming to 2 Degrees... http://ff.im/-a9zON
Europeans find 32 new planets outside solar system http://bit.ly/OWKoS
Arctic Seal Threatened By Global Warming Denied Protection: http://digg.com/d317ZqK?t
RT @tweetmeme Egg-ish Nissan Electric Land Glider May be Built With Infinti Badge : Gas 2.0 http://retwt.me/18D7K
RT @ecopolitologist Electric Car-Charging Networks Popping Up Across the U.S. - Is your city next? http://su.pr/9KwHjs
Veja este vídeo -- Google Earth Climate Introductory Tour (short version) http://bit.ly/1lhTWO
Google climate change tools for COP15 http://bit.ly/4rQ6hJ
Start planning for Pacific warming refugees: scientist http://bit.ly/R97un
RT @mokkikunta: RT @Anti_Pollution BECOME GREEN & CONNECTED: The Social Media Revolution -- http://urlm.in/dgmh
Finland to cut emissions 80 percent by 2050 - COP15 United N http://bit.ly/4F7nCa #cop15
Inforegio-PANORAMA - The quarterly magazine of the actors of regional development http://tinyurl.com/yjj8cys
RT @cop15 Maldives government dives for climate change http://bit.ly/2VhDSZ #cop15 #climate
RT @jasminepw @Gyandevi Any healthcare plan that leaves a single American uninsured is a #fail. #hcr #publicoption
Large Hadron Collider gets colder than deep space: http://digg.com/d317Ny3?t
Winners of Solar Decathlon Homes - Solar Decathlon 2009: http://digg.com/d317Nye?t
NASA Climate Scientist Gives Tutorial on Arctic Sea Ice: http://digg.com/d317P9q?t
RT @jhcordeiro rt @mokkikunta Ireland Says Not in this Country: Bans Genetically Modified Crops http://tinyurl.com/yj4kevf
A Citizens' of the World Focus http://www.ovimagazine.com/art/4946 #BAD09
Will e-bikes be the new 'commuter cool'?: http://digg.com/d317Jlk?t
The Arab climate is changing http://www.upi-fiia.fi/en/blog/214/
Warming threatens Canada's rivers and lakes: WW http://bit.ly/4SkFq
The Spread of New Diseases and the Climate Connection from Yale e360 http://bit.ly/I7eGw
Renewable energies at mokkikunta: http://bit.ly/yly0T #bad09
No refuge: Migrants in Greece http://tinyurl.com/yjxecag
Finland's Supermatrix Pulls Computers into the Cloud http://bit.ly/1cHWD4
Bloggers unite on climate change - http://bit.ly/ktEPj #cnn #BAD09
Mokkikunta supporting #BAD09
Impeccable Timing: 7,000+ Bloggers Focus on Climate Change http://tinyurl.com/yg6bbrw #BAD09
Big draw in gas supply sends energy prices jumping http://bit.ly/17jz63
#BAD09 via @motherjones + @mokkikunta Interesting post titled " Fix the climate or the kid gets it!" http://tinyurl.com/yj9yuqz
RT @mashable Help Map Your City in 3D With Google Building Maker http://bit.ly/Ts8h6
RT @blogactionday: Check out the new http://blogactionday.org w/ live twttr & blog post streams covering posts from arnd the world! #BAD09
Explorers: North Pole summers ice free in 10 years http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091015/ap_on_sc/eu_britain_arctic_expedition
RT @amnesty: Approximately 85% of Angolans live in slum conditions surrounding major cities http://ow.ly/tDvb #Angola #poverty
Global hunger worsening, warns UN http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8306556.stm
O Costa no Castelo: como Lisboa estará em quatro anos http://tinyurl.com/ygzt6q8
Noam Chomsky: "Taking Money Out of Politics is a Good Idea": http://digg.com/d316zRA?t
Povo sábio de Lisboa http://bit.ly/NzeQ0
What happened to global warming? http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8299079.stm
RT @GreenpeaceCn US President Barack Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. Here's what we think. http://bit.ly/4Vsnu
Veja este vídeo -- El futuro del software en la educación http://bit.ly/1Fww0Z
Nissan LEAF Electric Car to Come to British Columbia First http://digg.com/d316daA?t
Daimler produz Smart eléctrico em França http://tinyurl.com/yha7ya2
Green Jobs in the Future http://tinyurl.com/y9qkajr
'No global climate accord without US backing' http://bit.ly/qPtha
RT @newser Recession Trims Carbon Emissions 3% http://retwt.me/E9zG
WSJ.com - It Will Be Years Before Lost Jobs Return -- and Many Never Will http://bit.ly/7xDes
Human Development Report 2009 Portugal http://bit.ly/15fau8
Is Renewable Energy the Biggest Threat to Land Conservation? http://ecogeek.org/ecogeeks/2968
RT @Mercypolitics Michael Moore’s Message To Obama and Blue Dogs On Healthcare http://bit.ly/bczzb #MichaelMoore,#healthcare,#hcr,#njp,#digg
Congratulations Rio #RIO2016 !!!

A record number of new student housing in Helsinki, Finland

2009-05-26T22:13:00.066+01:00

A significant change in the structure of the city of Helsinki (Finland) is currently in progress.According to the Master Plan 2002 Helsinki will be developed as an European capital city.Helsinki is an important part of a growing metropolitan area. The urban structure is moderately becoming more integrated and dense, but without damaging the basic city characteristics or compromising its spaciousness and natural features.

Länsisatama - West Harbour: downtown by the sea, Landscape architecture competition - Press photos--City of Helsinki/City Planning Dep.

The Länsisatama (West Harbour) redevelopment project of the Helsinki City Planning Department is comprised of more than 200 ha of land on the southwest waterfront of the Finnish city. Like other planning projects in the area, this one has generated a lot of public interest. Indeed, the construction of a big new urban district from scratch is rare and raises the question: what is the city of the future? [1]

The areas covered by Länsisatama project include:

the residential and office area of Ruoholahti (built in the 1990s)
Jätkäsaari (used previously for cargo and passenger traffic)
Munkkisaari (used as a dockyard, part of which will be freed for other uses in 2012)

In 2007, a local plan for a comprehensive solution to the Jätkäsaari area was in preparation. This year, during the next spring, the first detailed plan with the largest permitted building volume in Jätkäsaari will be handled in the Helsinki City Council. Jätkäsaari will house 15,000 residents and provide 6,000 jobs. The area was freed for construction when the cargo port was transferred to the new harbour in Vuosaari, at the end of 2008.

Planning image of Vuosaari harbour--City of Helsinki/City Planning Dep.

Within the next two decades, the Länsisatama area will have been transformed into a waterfront city quarter with an estimated population of 22,000, which will enhance the appeal of central Helsinki and its services as a whole. [2]

Jätkäsaari (2007 data)

Size: 100 ha
Parks: 19.8 ha (13 m2 per capita)
Residents: 14,500
Jobs: 6,000
Housing: 600,000 m2 gross floor area
Jobs and services: 364,000 m2 gross floor area
Parking spaces: 1 space per 150 m2 gross floor area
City investment: EUR 217 million
Construction start: 2008
Completion date: 2023

The Jätkäsaari planning goals

Länsisatama - West Harbour: downtown by the sea, Landscape architecture competition - Press photos--City of Helsinki/City Planning Dep.

Produce whole new attractive and ecologically sustainable city district, not just a sleepy suburb

Meet the everyday needs of residents and workers

Social well-being

- Differing socio-economic groups live close to one another all over the city (town planning aims to encourage this assimilation).

- Construction of the new district is expected to help meet the need for all types of housing, thus easing the housing situation throughout Helsinki:

About one third of all the housing will be social housing i.e. moderately priced rental flats owned by the City and other non-profit landlords;

Another third will be price-regulated free-market housing and right-of-occupancy housing;

The remaining third will be privately funded housing.

To take advantage of special features of the area (district is almost entirely surrounded by the sea and shipping)

- The passenger harbour on the east side of the area will remain in its present position, catering for some 3 million passengers per year travelling from Helsinki to Tallinn and St Petersburg and vice versa.

- The buildings have been designed so that the streets do not turn into wind tunnels.

- No residential buildings will be placed in the immediate vicinity of the passenger harbour, because of the noise, bustle and pollution caused by shipping.

- A beach will be created on a sheltered cove in the area.

Mobility management - New Mobility Culture: non-dependence of private cars in daily traffic

- Available good alternative modes of transport : trams, service bus lines, car share vehicles, taxis, bikes.

- Cycle paths to serve those living and working in every part of the district.

- High quality pedestrian environment.

- Up to three tram lines.

- Helsinki Metro already runs close to the northern edge of the area.

- Very few streets allowing vehicular access.

- Every residential street will be a cul-de-sac.

- Minimizing motorized traffic will also apply to waste management (garbage removal underground): sorted household waste will go straight into a pneumatic conveyance system leading to a central underground collection point.

- Car-free lifestyle: return to the traditional practice of having ground-floor shops in a continuous line along the streets.

- Municipal services be located within walking distance of users' homes.

"We are putting up a whole new city district, not just a suburb. Our starting points are that life there must be ecologically sound and pleasant, and it must meet the everyday needs of residents and those who work there. Social well-being, mobility management and the special features of the area are also important factors,"

"We are realistic enough to know that many Jätkäsaari residents will want their own wheels, but our idea is that local services and routes will be planned so that a car will not be needed for local access. Multi-storey car parks are planned for residents to keep parked cars from clogging up the streets", said, in 2007, the Project Leader Matti Kaijansinkko, the architect in charge of planning Jätkäsaari. [2]

Architecture

Länsisatama - West Harbour: downtown by the sea, Landscape architecture competition - Press photos--City of Helsinki/City Planning Dep.

Another feature that Kaijansinkko was proud of is the green belt winding through the area, reminiscent of Manhattan's Central Park. The green belt is expected to achieve great popularity and importance for the life of the whole district.

"The park has been designed to accommodate as many popular Finnish outdoor pursuits as possible: it will be possible to ski and skate there, to cycle, to play games and to enjoy a picnic. There will also be a sledging hill for children." [1]

Urban Development

InfoCentre Korona, the main building of Viikki green university campus district--City of Helsinki/City Planning Dep.

Urban housing challenges in Finland are relatively new. However, rapid development in recent years have spurred the movement of people into growth centres and increased the demand for housing.

Outside growth centres, part of the housing stock is vacant as the population is declining. A current issue is how to maintain a unified community structure, especially in cities such as Helsinki where high house prices make it difficult to attract people working in the service sectors.

Therefore, in the next decades urban investments are needed in the following areas:

Regenerating urban harbour areas in Helsinki
Transport infrastructure in the metropolitan region
Housing development
Housing repairs

A record number of new student housing in Helsinki metropolitan area

Eco-Viikki is a housing area but also a noteworthy and internationally renowned experimental project--City of Helsinki/City Planning Dep.

Second YLE, the official site of Finland's national broadcasting company, in three years the Metropolitan area will rise to a record number of new student housing.

HOAS (Foundation for Student Housing in the Helsinki Region), responsible for the construction, plans to build a total of almost 900 new homes. In total, HOAS rents out 8,200 apartments to 17,000 tenants. The average annual construction volume will almost double. The normal annual rate has been 150-200 new homes. New estate will rise, mainly in Helsinki and Espoo.

HOAS was established by 16 student unions and student bodies in 1969 to help relieve the shortage of student housing within the Helsinki metropolitan area. HOAS student accommodation can be applied for by anyone undertaking full-time studies in a secondary level educational institution or university, and part of HOAS’s accommodation is reserved for international exchange students and researchers.

According to Heikki Valkjärvi, CEO of HOAS, the current economic climate is favourable to these plans: “Construction costs have come down, so we are trying to launch as many projects as possible”, Valkjärvi recently said to YLE.

The next few years, the major projects will rise in Viikki, Jätkäsaari, Kalasatama and Matinkylä Matinkylä district of Espoo. In addition, HOAS will also accelerate housing renovations.The Viikki project will launch a construction boom, which is larger than any other HOAS project has been for many years. ”Because of the new Aalto University, the focus on construction is likely to be in the west in the future”, Valkjärvi told to HS.

Kalasatama will be planned for 18 000 residents and 10 000 jobs--City of Helsinki/City Planning Dep.

The chronic shortage of student housing continues in Helsinki, and the queues for housing at the HOAS have been increasing year after year. With the gradual increase in rents, most students are unable to compete in the unregulated rentals market in the Greater Helsinki. In comparison, the Foundation charges EUR 220 for a small 18 m2 room with the basic amenities in a former old people’s home in Helsinki’s Ruskeasuo district, while a bedsitter on the open market would easily cost EUR 600 to 700.

The number of applicants doubled over three years - in August 2005, it was 3,300, while in the autumn of 2008, the figure was 6,200, setting a record in the 30-year history of HOAS.

References:
[1] Salla Korpela, Jätkäsaari – city life for the new millennium?, virtual.finland.fi, Ulkoasiainministeriö, September 2007

[2] City of Helsinki/City Planning Department, Länsisatama - West Harbour: downtown by the sea, www.hel.fi , 15.08.2008

Related articles:

City of the future is for people, not cars 11.10.2007

Twitter Weekly Updates 2009-05-20

2009-05-20T18:04:00.007+01:00

Twitter Weekly Updates 2009-05-11
RT @RalfWokan Portugal sobe 3 lugares no ranking da competitividade: A economia lusa ocupa a 34ª posição, entre... http://tinyurl.com/oqtzy6
Robotic Driver-Free Taxis, http://digg.com/d1rdDE
Argentina to Build Most Powerful Solar Park in Latin America, http://digg.com/d1rdq8
The Bus of The Future, http://digg.com/d1rduF
Secure bullying http://tinyurl.com/om2no9

Check this video out -- A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. http://bit.ly/CQ7Hq
Check this video out -- Bail Out the People NOT Banks http://bit.ly/PKbS2
Check this video out -- Shutting Detroit Down (My Tribute) HQ http://bit.ly/ezTdq
Clear Coal: Not the Same as Clean Coal http://tinyurl.com/q6s9cn
The Flawed Logic of the Cap-and-Trade Debate, http://digg.com/d1rbPr
RT @noticiasrtp Mundo: Parlamento aprova lei sobre autonomia alargada da Gronelândia http://is.gd/BqyC
Renault-Nissan electric cars arrive at Portugal in 2011 http://bit.ly/19fht7
RT @inhabitat Nissan’s EV-02: The First Mass-Market Electric Car? http://tinyurl.com/qsnbb5
Media & News: The Impact of Digg on The Main Stream Media., http://digg.com/d1rcEE
"Festival Solar" at the Museum of Electricity, in Lisbon - http://tinyurl.com/q56nue
Lula Wants Brazilians&Chinese to Eliminate Dollar for Trade, http://digg.com/d1rXnH
RT @alapoet "Without music, life would be a mistake." ~ Friedrich Nietzsche #quotes
RT @ecopolitologist @david_h_roberts:Carbon geography: how the CO2 emissions of a US state predict both poverty&politics: http://is.gd/B5Gz-
Obama to Issue National Auto Emissions Standard: All Cars Must Get 42 MPG by 2016 http://tinyurl.com/ohjclb
"Festival Solar" at the Museum of Electricity, in Lisbon http://tinyurl.com/o3u6ct #solarpower
Just posted: "Festival Solar" at the Museum of Electricity, in Lisbon" (http://twitthis.com/pnlmhd) #solarpower
NORMAN FOSTER’S GREEN DESERT UTOPIA In Abu Dhabi http://tinyurl.com/32qg85
Gardening for complete morons- grow it in a container!, http://digg.com/d1r8PG
Homeless In America: The Endemic Crisis Is Getting Worse., http://digg.com/d1rRPO
Unemployment forces Chinese migrants back to the countryside - guardian.co.uk: http://tinyurl.com/rykxh7
RT @jafurtado RT @bruno_rives Prenez votre temps pour découvrir le merveilleux Wolfram|Alpha. Regardez... http://www.wolframalpha.com
Algae-Powered Big Rig Transforms Into A Train!, http://digg.com/d1rKD5#
New York Announces MASSIVE 100 MW Solar Power Plant, http://digg.com/d1rKMd
Amnesty Int:Obama Breaks Major Campaign Promise..., http://digg.com/d1rLvr
There Will Be No Recovery, http://digg.com/d1rJl8
8 Most Spectacular Train Journeys From Around the Globe, http://digg.com/d1rJff
RT @Publico Taxa de desemprego do primeiro trimestre é a mais alta dos últimos 23 anos http://tinyurl.com/qsevdw
Photovoltaic Ink-Jet Cells and Printable Electronics http://tinyurl.com/pmwxje
Fin des agences. Fin de la pub. Fin des médias traditionnels…http://tinyurl.com/pmavg81
The Economic Tsunami Is Curling Over, http://digg.com/d1qvxt
Beyond Subsidized Solar Power: The Path to Grid Parity, http://digg.com/d1r1Fi
Nine Inch Nails - Lights in the Sky Tour, Portland USA, http://digg.com/d1r21B

"Festival Solar" at the Museum of Electricity, in Lisbon

2009-05-18T02:42:00.021+01:00

Last weekend, at the Museum of Electricity, in Lisbon, took place the public exhibition "Festival Solar". It was possible to better understand the different forms of energy production, like concentrating solar power (CSP) and photovoltaic (PV) systems.

This initiative also included discussions on solar architecture (“Arquitectura e Sustentabilidade Energética”) and evolution from coal to sun (“Do Carvão ao Sol”).

The "Festival Solar" is an action in Portugal of “European Solar Days” European project, which is coordinated by the European Solar Thermal Industry Federation (ESTIF) in in close cooperation with the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) and and supported by 24 organisations at national and European level.

The second edition of European Solar Days, a Europe-wide campaign to promote the use of solar energy for production of electricity, heat and cold, is celebrated from 15 to 22 May with more than 500.000 citizens participating in 7.000 events in 15 European countries - Solar PV and Solar Thermal are replacing fossil fuels and nuclear energy in Europe.

Twitter Weekly Updates 2009-05-11

2009-05-11T21:58:00.016+01:00

Study Finds Bioelectricity for Electric Cars Best Alt. Fuel, http://digg.com/d1qoXR
Magnetically Weak Sun http://tinyurl.com/oeamdd
Exacerbating the Crisis: The Power of Rating Agencies http://tinyurl.com/d6od6y
Germany May Seek Ban on Paintball http://tinyurl.com/dxb56s
The Berlusconi drama http://tinyurl.com/ogsyfc #Ovimagazine
Capitalism isn't working http://tinyurl.com/qu2ewo
RT @jeanlucr Qu'est-ce que la fracture numérique en 2009 ? Articles passionnants http://rurl.org/1jp0
Germany: The World's First Major Renewable Energy Economy, http://digg.com/d1qXAI
RT @AlterNet How Is it that the Wall Street Journal Editors Have Absolutely No Memory of the Last 8 Years? http://tinyurl.com/cb9law
RT @AlterNet Peak-Oil Prophet James Howard Kunstler on Food, Fuel and Why He Became a Vegan http://tinyurl.com/c6p3zv
Pirate Party 3rd Largest Political Party in Sweden, http://digg.com/d1qSlN
RT @TreeHugger @seandaily I got to talk to Henrik Fisker of Fisker Automotive about the Fisker Karma -live now at http://tinyurl.com/cmngf7
@EVcast Renault-Nissan electric cars arrive at Portugal in 2011 http://tinyurl.com/cr78rw
Apple's Censorship Makes the Case for DMCA Exemptions on "Jailbreaking" http://tinyurl.com/djrz6s #nin
RT @TheOilDrum [TOD] The cost of wind, the price of wind, the value of wind http://tinyurl.com/cpkbrw
RT @ylenews Finnish Enthusiasts Produce Electric Cars: A group of Finnish electric car enthusiasts is.. http://tinyurl.com/d6bwnq #Finland
RT @jboitnott Beautiful Miami Street Graffiti http://poprl.com/1xiT #miaminewtimes
Crisis Threatens Millions in Africa, Ministers Say - IMF Survey online http://tinyurl.com/c576cy
Greece from abroad http://tinyurl.com/chbsjo #Ovimagazine
Then, Again: Star Wars Day meets Margaret Thatcher http://tinyurl.com/c2z5oz #Ovimagazine
Thirty Years of Thatcherism: How Maggie Came to Power - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News http://tinyurl.com/dyklqu
Germany: Gitmo Is U.S. Problem To Solve http://tinyurl.com/d8wdev
Flu of misinformation and hypocrisy http://tinyurl.com/d8jhxm
Check this video out -- Chomsky on Globalization http://tinyurl.com
Obama cracks down on tax havens http://preview.tinyurl.com/...
The world's new superpower http://tinyurl.com/cpet7o
@arrastao "Bloco Central" é o problema, não a solução.
RT @tweetmeme Being Smart About Your Electric Vehicle Infrastructure : Gas 2.0 http://tinyurl.com/csdeqz
RT @ecogeek Wind Farm Protecting Birds with NASA Technology http://tinyurl.com/cp3ar2
Ancient tsunami 'hit New York' http://tinyurl.com/cz42g3
Web providers must limit internet's carbon footprint, say experts http://tinyurl.com/cjwamo
RT @ecopolitologist 36,000 people die of influenza every year in the United States. Thus far in 2009, 0 have died from swine flu.

Photovoltaic Power Stations in Portugal [PHOTOSET]

2009-03-18T01:54:00.021Z

Photos by Luis Alves

Photoset of Portugal´s largest photovoltaic power stations (until March), which are located in the Portuguese region of Alentejo.

Click the links below to read the five parts of the article “Alentejo: Solar Region”.

“Alentejo: Solar Region”

“Photovoltaic Solar in Portugal” - part 1

“Moura (Amareleja) Photovoltaic Power Station” - part 2

“Moura Renewable Energies Project“ - part 3

The world’s largest photovoltaic power station [PICS] - part 4

Serpa (Brinches) Photovoltaic Power Station [PICS] - part 5

Ideological Clash: the most frequent conflict in 2008

2009-02-17T00:17:00.035Z

Two parties- organized groups, states or organizations - determined to achieve their goals; interests or positional differences over national values. These are the two necessary elements for a clash (or conflict), according to the definition in the last 17th annual report released by the HIIK (Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research), the Conflict Barometer 2008, which describes recent trends in conflict development, escalations and settlements.

Read more
The study classifies “conflict “ second 5 levels of intensity:

1 - Latent conflict (Low intensity, Non-violent)

A positional difference over definable values of national meaning, considering demands articulated by one of the parties and perceived by the other.

2 - Manifest conflict (Low intensity, Non-violent)

Stage preliminary to violent force. (for example, verbal pressure, threatening explicitly with violence, imposition of economic sanctions).

3 - Crisis (Medium intensity , Violent)

Tense situation in which at least one of the conflict parties uses violent force in sporadic incidents.

4 - Severe crisis (High intensity, Violent)
Violent force repeatedly used in an organized way.

5 - War (High intensity - Violent)

Violent conflict in which violent force is used with a certain continuity in an organized and systematic way. The extent of destruction is massive and of long duration.

The causes of conflicts are also classified second the next 9 items:
(these sum of factors - that often operate in conjunction, undermining the stability of states and the foundations of human security - point to a conflict syndrome, a new kind of war)

System/ideology (107 cases) - Continuing the trend of previous years, the most frequent conflict item in 2008 was “system/ideology”, with 107 cases. According to the HIIK study, this item means that conflicts were conducted in order to change the political or economic system or concerned ideological differences.

National power (74 cases)

Resources (71 cases)

Territory (53 cases)

Secession (50 cases)

Regional predominance (47 cases)

Autonomy (45 cases)

International power (38 cases)

Decolonization (0cases)

Others (28cases)

Some global conclusions

Compared to 2007, second the Conflict Barometer 2008, the number of conflicts remained almost the same – 344 in 2007 and 345 in 2008. 39 conflicts were fought out with the use of massive violence, 95 conflicts were conducted with sporadic use of violence (crises), and 211 non-violent conflicts were counted ( 129 manifest and 82 latent conflicts ).

After a relatively peaceful 2007, the number of highly violent conflicts rose once more in 2008. 9 wars and 30 severe crises were counted (6 wars and 26 severe crises - a total of 32 highly violent conflicts, in 2007).

Regarding global conflicts (low, medium and high intensity) from 1945 to 2008, the number of conflicts observed per year has risen more or less continuously. Most of the conflicts are low-intensity conflicts. A continuous and regular increase, interrupted by deescalation phases is obserbable on high-intensity conflicts.

In 1992, after the collapse of the USSR, it was reached the all-time high(49) in high intensity conflicts. After a remarkable decrease to 30 in 2005, the number of highly violent conflicts rose again to 36 in 2006, decreased to 32 in 2007, and rose again to 39 in 2008 – the highest number since 2004.

In recent years, the number of crises had soared to previously unknown values, peaking 113 in 2005, and then remaining on a very high level.

More than 2/3 of the conflicts monitored in 2008 were internal conflicts (254 intrastate and 91 interstate cases). Only 8 out of 91 of the interstate conflicts were conducted with the use of violence. Intrastate conflicts represents the vast majority of violent and especially highly violent conflicts.

Other interesting conclusions:

In this analysis, conflicts very often involve more than one item. Combinations of the 3 most frequent items were common - territory and resources, regional predominance and resources, or international power and system/ideology.

Conflicts over national power, regional predominance, secession or autonomy, resources, and system/ideology were violent in about 50% of the cases.

Conflicts over territory and international power were conducted without the use of violence in a large number of cases.

About 20% (20 cases) of the conflicts concerning system/ideology were even fought out with the use of massive violence, making this item the most important one in highly violent conflicts: 20, more than half of the 39 high-intensity conflicts, were fought out over questions of system or ideology, alone or in combination with other items. The second most important items in high-intensity conflicts were national power, resources, and secession with 10 cases each.

There are remarkable differences between the various world regions , indicating different regional patterns of conflicts. System/Ideology, the most frequent item in total, was the prevalent item in Asia and Oceania (38 cases, 1/3 of conflicts), in the Middle East and Maghreb (27 items, more than 50%), and in the Americas (24 cases, more than more than 50% of conflicts as well).

System/Ideology item was of minor importance in Europe (12 cases), and almost unknown in Africa (6 cases). The second most frequent item on a global scale, national power, was significant in Africa (25 cases, almost half of the conflicts) and in Asia/Oceania (24 cases), as well as in the Middle East and Maghreb (15 cases). However, it was comparatively rare in the Americas (6 cases) and Europe (5 cases).

The item ranking third in global terms, resources, was prevalent in Africa (29 cases), where many conflicts were fueled by natural resources exploited by rebel groups, and in the Americas (20 cases), but rare in Europe ( 6cases), Asia and Oceania (11 cases), and in the Middle East and Maghreb (5 cases).

Conflicts over regional predominance were fought out primarily in Africa (18 cases) and in Asia and Oceania (22 cases). This item was unknown in Europe (zero cases) and very rare in the Middle East and Maghreb (one case). In the Americas, it was not very frequent (6 cases), but it was accounted for both high-intensity conflicts in this region.

Conflicts over self-determination (over autonomy or secession), were prevalent in Europe (14 and 20, respectively) and common in Asia and Oceania (15 and 18), but not too frequent in Africa (both 9), and quite rare both in the Americas (3 and 1) and in the Middle East and Maghreb (4 and 2).

Although there is rarely only one cause of dispute, ideological change (System/Ideology) represents the most common cause of conflict. In fact, these conflicts were conducted in order to change the political or economic system or ideological differences, which signifies deep socio-economic inequalities behind them.

The Impact of Climate Change: 2 ways
(links between climate change and wars)

The “physical consequences of climate change” enumerated in the report A Climate of Conflict: The Links Between Climate Change, Peace and War, by International Alert (melting glaciers, sea-level rise, loss of island coastline, less usable land, droughts, floods, desertification, spread of disease and pestilence, changes to crop seasons and output), as well as the “unintended” consequences or the “knock-on socio-political consequences of climate change” (livelihood insecurity, food insecurity, increased social tension, less access to useable water, decreased trade, decline in human health, increased poverty, decreased physical security, increased migration) do not directly cause violent conflict. The outcome depends on social and political factors that impact on the potential for violent conflict - some variables increase and others decrease conflict probability. So , second the International Alert report, we have two possible ways: “Good governance and integrated planning for adaptation” or “Bad Governance and institutions/ patterns of violent conflict”.[2]

Both ways depend on some factors, which we don’t know exactly and how they influence the capacity to adapt to climate change. But the current understanding is that we are talking about 3 political and social characteristics [3]:

1 - the deeper the divisions between ethnic and religious groups or between classes are, the more likely it is that environmental scarcity causes violent conflict.

2 - states with weak political institutions are particularly vulnerable, since they find it difficult to manage the social tensions caused by climate change.

3 - democracies are better able to protect the environment and manage peacefully the consequences of environmental degradation.

According to the International Alert report, the first way results in “risk reduction and peacebuilding”, in a “sustainable and non-violent adaptation to consequences of climate change”, strengthening good governance, while the second one results in a violent conflict, exacerbating the physical impacts and knock-on consequences of climate change , weakening already bad governance and locking states into repeating cycles of conflict.

It is not surprise that the most frequent conflict item in 2008 was “system/ideology”. As we said before, it means that they were conducted in order to change political or economic systems or ideological differences. Social inequalities were always the ignition of transformation, in a world where the consequences of neo-liberal policies are leading to a growing social injustice and job insecurity.

However, for the markets of “legitimate use of violence” and for the global “military-industrial complex”, the horror caused by them is a mere “collateral damage”, some unaccounted market externalities . They want the “final push”, “the last battle” to impose total submission.

References:

[1] Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research at the Department of Political Science, University of Heidelberg, Conflict Barometer 2008,Crises - Wars - Coups d’Etat / Negotiations - Mediations - Peace Settlements, 17th Annual Conflict Analysis

[2] Dan Smith, Janani Vivekananda, A Climate of Conflict: The Links Between Climate Change, Peace and War, International Alert, London UK, 2007-11

[3] Tapani Vaahtoranta, The wars of climate change, OSCE review 3/2007, The Finnish Institute of International Affairs

The New Wars of Climate Change

New Wind Power Forecast Project in US

2009-02-04T05:05:00.016Z

Project began in December and will extend up to September 2010

The US Department of Energy (DoE) invited the Portuguese INESC-Porto (Research Institute of Computer Systems) to develop a new and better platform for wind power forecasting. The project will enable to estimate with high accuracy and less uncertainty the production of wind energy for timelines up to 72 hours (short-term forecasts).

The work is for ANL (Argonne National Laboratory), from the network of Laboratories of the DoE. It began in December and it will extend up to September 2010, seeking to reduce the current forecasts margin of error of around 20 % to about 15 %, according to Vladimiro Miranda, Director of INESC and coordinator of this project. It is a tool that can "minimize the potential risks of the increasing US dependence on renewable energies: blackouts."

"The work that we will develop will add new features to the models that we have today. What we pledge to do for ANL was a different and more intelligent model. Something different and better than the actual," told the director of INESC, adding that the current wind power forecasting tools already have an anticipation of three days. The challenge now is to reduce the margin of error and do an upgrade of these instruments. By the end of this year the INESC will develop a prototype and will go to comparative tests with real data.

With a climate that ranges between temperate and subtropical and given the local geography, the errors in predicting the wind, second Vladimiro Miranda, can have more serious consequences in the US than in any European country . Thus, the model designed by the Portuguese team of researchers will be used in the unstable US territory to prevent possible power cuts. "Prevention has to do with the need to forecast accurately," notes Miranda. The Project coordinator emphasizes that planning is more important in the US, where there is no hydroelectric alternative (as exists in the Iberian Peninsula, for example) and where, in an emergency due to a failure of a thermal power plant, wind power can be activated in some hours and a nuclear can take days.

"It is expected that the more accurate estimate of the amount of wind in a given location will have a considerable impact on the North American electricity industry, allowing lower price of wind energy in the US. The Horizon Wind Energy, owned by EDP Renováveis, the 4th largest wind energy producer in the world, whose presence in the US is increasingly strong, was invited by ANL (Argonne National Laboratory) to be an observer and a potential provider of real data, " said a press note from INESC.

Despite the low position in the international context with a percentage of production of only 1 %, the US have the faster pace in the development of wind power around the world. Portugal is one of the leaders in this area, occupying the 3rd place (behind Denmark and Spain) in the world ranking of wind energy with a production of about 10 %. According to Vladimiro Miranda, that means one in every ten hours of energy we spend comes from the wind, adding that INESC collaborates in a project to ensure the supply security in the Iberian Peninsula by 2025.

However, despite only reserving 1 % of the energy production for wind, the US already has more capacity than Portugal in terms of absolute values. Therefore, Portugal will export to the U.S. some of the knowledge acquired in this field. "In the field of wind energy Europe is about ten or twelve years ahead of the U.S.," notes the project coordinator of INESC.

Image: Aerial photo of the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory, courtesy of Argonne National Laboratory, en.wikipedia.org

Explore the ocean and travel through time in Google Earth 5.0

2009-02-03T05:33:00.018Z

Now, Internet users can dive into the oceans, travel in time and see the planet Mars in high resolution, through the new features of Google Earth 5.0 (beta application), which were presented at the Lisbon headquarters of the company, during a press conference included in the series of worldwide presentations.

According to Inês Gonçalves, marketing director of Google Portugal, Google Earth 5.0 will also allow the sharing of images, videos and pictures made by the users. The new Google tool will show the Earth's surface covered by ocean, 5 % of which is already explored, mapped and displayed in more detail.

It is important to observe that Portugal has the 3rd largest EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) of the European Union and the 11th in the world. The seazone over which the Portuguese state has special rights over the exploration and use of marine resources, has an area of 1,727,408 km2.

With Google Earth 5.0, you will be able to “navigate” the surface and the bottom of the ocean (like visit the Mariana Trench) and you can follow the journey made by a monitored white shark as well.

Google Ocean also allows us to know water temperature and the best places for surfing, kitesurfing and diving along the Portuguese coast, and we can also learn about ocean observations, climate change and endangered species.

The Internet user can also track changes made by man over time, through the availability of historical imagery from around the globe (like the impact of suburban sprawl or global warming), or record and share a trip, adding a soundtrack or a narration to personalize the journey.

This version is available in 40 languages, including Portuguese. To access the Ocean in Google Earth simply download the latest version at Google Earth

Sweden Ranks First in Sustainable Society Index 2008

2009-01-12T02:36:00.016Z

The Sustainable Society Foundation has published its update of the 2006 Sustainable Society Index, which covers 151 countries. The new publication, the SSI-2008 , has been launched December 2008 and integrates for the first time sustainability and quality of life in an understandable way. The SSI is based on public data from scientific research institutes and international organizations.

The world average score is a mere 5.7 on a scale of 0 to 10. The Nordic Region is on the top for sustainable development: Sweden scored 7.02, followed by Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Austria and Iceland. Portugal (6.16) was 25th on the list of 151 countries.

Read more
Top 15 - Sustainable Society Index 2008

1 SWEDEN
2 SWITZERLAND
3 NORWAY
4 FINLAND
5 AUSTRIA
6 ICELAND
7 VIETNAM
8 GEORGIA
9 NEW ZEALAND
10 LATVIA
11 COSTA RICA
12 LITHUANIA
13 NETHERLANDS
14 DENMARK
15 GUYANA
(...)
25 PORTUGAL

Sustainable development is a concept very much discussed and considered important for most of the people. However, it is very difficult to measure in our society. Many indexes have been developed, but until recently there was no index, which comprises all the aspects of a sustainable society, which is simple, clear and transparent and which is adequate for comparison between countries.

The SSI has been built on the solid definition of the Brundtland Commission, with the addition of the third important aspect of freedom:

A sustainable society is a society:

• that meets the needs of the present generation,
• that does not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their own needs,
• in which each individual has the opportunity to develop himself in freedom, within a well-balanced society and in harmony with its surroundings

(this third aspect is very important to get a clear view of the quality of life in a country, because "without quality of life sustainability makes no sense and quality of life without sustainability has no future").

The framework of the ISS consists of 5 categories (each one with several indicators- the lowest scores are for Consumption of Renewable Energy (3.2) and Waste Recycling (1.7). The highest score is for International Cooperation (9.2))::

I Personal Development
1. Healthy Life
2. Sufficient Food
3. Sufficient to Drink
4. Safe Sanitation
5. Education Opportunities
6. Gender Equality

II Healthy Environment
7. Air Quality
8. Surface Water Quality
9. Land Quality

III Well-balanced Society
10. Good Governance
11. Employment
12. Population Growth
13. Income Distribution
14. Public Debt

IV Sustainable Use of Resources
15. Waste Recycling
16. Use of Renewable Water Resources
17. Consumption of Renewable Energy

V Sustainable World
18. Forest Area
19. Preservation of Biodiversity
20. Emission of Greenhouse Gases
21. Ecological Footprint
22. International Cooperation

Second the report, in the past two years the world made a relatively little progress towards a sustainability society.

Positive aspects:

- The scores of all 6 indicators of the category Personal Development have modestly increased (the largest contribution to this progress comes from Employment and Public Debt, due to a worldwide economy growth during the analyzed period).

Negative aspects:

- Deterioration of decisive importance issues - regardless of all plans and targets, the increase in renewable energy production does not keep in step with the rapidly growing energy consumption and the emission of greenhouse gases has, also very contrary to all targets set, further increased.

Priorities:

On a global scale the direction of the declining indicators should be reversed urgently to avoid further deterioration - Emission of Greenhouse Gases, Consumption of Renewable Energy, Ecological Footprint and Income Distribution.

In many countries, the inequality in Income Distribution is still growing and may become a threat for a well-balanced society. Waste Recycling, the indicator with the lowest score needs special attention, but all indicators need attention at specific regional level.

The full publication, with the data of all 151 countries, can be downloaded for free from the website - www.sustainablesocietyindex.com

IMAGE: Scheme of sustainable development: at the confluence of three constituent parts, by Johann Dréo, en.wikipedia.org, Creative Commons "Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 France"

Photovoltaics Status Report 2008: 60% increase in solar panel production

2008-12-18T21:28:00.023Z

On December 11, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre has released the latest Photovoltaics Status Report. According to JRC, this scientific study combines analysis of up-to-date international manufacturing and market implementation data throughout 2007 with subsequent strategic and political developments up to September 2008.

Preliminary findings demonstrate the next key facts:

an increase in the yearly growth rate of solar photovoltaic production, averaging 40% over five years and then peaking at 60% in 2007;

a €5.7 billion turnover in Germany in 2007 with in excess of 100,000 houses installing solar panels;

world electricity production with PV systems is ca 10 Billion KWh, of which half comes from the EU. Solar energy still accounts for only 0.2% of total electricity consumption in Europe. Yet, the net effect is 4 million fewer tonnes of CO2 being released;

incentive schemes and technical advances are having a positive downward impact on photovoltaic costs. Market value is estimated to reach €40 billion by 2010 with lower prices for consumers.

Joint Research Centre predicts that more than 15TWh of electricity will be generated in 2010, what is equivalent to 0.5% of the EU 27 total net production of electricity in 2006 (the same as Slovenia's total electricity consumption). This prediction is sustained on photovoltaic growth scenario for Europe based on 2001 to 2007 data, an analysis of European policies and assessment of current investments.

Other projections are that by 2012 China will account for 27% of worldwide solar cell production capacity (approximately 42.8 GW), followed by Europe with 23%, Japan with 17% and Taiwan with 14%.

Photovoltaic (PV) solar energy is one of 14 different energy technologies that the European Commission's Joint Research Centre is currently assessing within the context of the SETIS (Strategic Energy Technology Information System), which is a key input to Europe's current energy policy. The Joint Research Centre, through the SETIS provides independent, validated and reliable information on energy technologies.This ranges from research on hydrogen fuel-cells and solar to nuclear energy.

The JRC comprises 2,750 staff across seven research institutes in 5 EU Member States (Belgium, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain), including the Institute for Energy in Petten, North Holland.

Second JRC, the last edition of the Photovoltaic Status Report 2007 was downloaded 150,000 times.

You can get a free copy of the new Photovoltaic Status Report 2008 at:
re.jrc.ec.europa.eu/refsys/ [PDF]

_________________________________________________

PV Status Report 2008
Research, Solar Cell Production and Market Implementation of Photovoltaics
September 2008
Arnulf Jäger-Waldau
European Commission, DG Joint Research Centre,
Institute for Energy, Renewable Energies Unit

Abstract

Photovoltaics is a solar power technology to generate Electricity using semiconductor devices, known as solar cells. A number of solar cells form a solar "Module" or "Panel", which can then be combined to solar systems, ranging from a few Watts of electricity output to multi Megawatt power stations.
The unique format of the Photovoltaic Status Report is to combine international up-to-dateinformation about Research Activities with Manufacturing and Market Implementation data of Photovoltaics. These data are collected on a regular basis from public and commercial studies and cross-checked with personal communications. Regular fact-finding missions with company visits, as well as meetings with officials from funding organisations and policy makers, complete the picture.
Growth in the solar Photovoltaic sector has been robust. Yearly growth rates over the last five years were on average more than 40%, thus making Photovoltaics one of the fastest growing industries at present. Business analysts predict that the market volume will increase to € 40 billion in 2010 and expect rising profit margins and lower prices for consumers at the same time. The PV Status Report provides comprehensive and relevant information on this dynamic sector for the public interested, as well as decision- makers in policy and industry.

Images(except the first) and data Source: PV News, Photon International and JRC analysis

Municipality of Moura and 3 companies want to invest €40M in new solar thermal power station

2008-12-16T23:31:00.015Z

The Municipal Council of Moura and three companies, two Portuguese and one German, want to build a solar thermal power plant in that municipality of Alentejo region, a predicted investment of 40 million euros.

Alentejo is a region with low population density, occupying almost 33% of the area of Portugal and having only 5.2% of its inhabitants. For an effective regional development of Alentejo, it is critical to achieve the Alqueva Multi Purpose Project (Empreendimento de Fins Múltiplos do Alqueva) in its whole potential - agro-industry, agriculture, irrigation, tourism and renewable energies. This can be a great opportunity to develop the potential of Alentejo in the production of electricity from renewable sources, with emphasis on solar photovoltaics and now, solar thermal. The production will be carried out by centralized power plants, the Alqueva Hydroelectric Plant, small hydro plants, mini PV power plants and micro-generation.

The functional specialization, as a mechanism for creating competitive territories and stable employment, migth be a solution in the particular case of the Moura city and surrounding territory, by the promotion of a regional cluster in the area of solar power and innovation. In the context of the Regional Development strategy, the Moura Project has two main “tracks”: Moura Solar Factory (MFS), Moura Technological Park and the micro-generation Program. Now, a new track is in its initial development phase - a new solar thermal power plant.

It is worthy of remark that the known 46 MWp (62 MWp in the posterior 2nd phase) single-axis tracking system centralized photovoltaic plant in Moura (Amareleja parish), promoted by the local municipality and Acciona Energia (Spain), is expected to be completed by the end of 2008. This plant will have the highest power so far installed in the world with this technology. The installation of 46 MWp power represents an investment of approximately 250 million euros.

A 7.6 million euros PV panel manufacturing plant (MSF) will provide panels for the second stage of the Amareleja power station construction. The factory, located also in Amareleja (Baldio das Ferrarias), is being constructed by Acciona and became operational in December 2007. Its future production will be targeted at the international market, with a capacity of producing 24 MW of solar panels annually.

Actually, the new project is expected in a memorandum of understanding already signed between the Municipal Council, the German company SKY Energy and the Portuguese TOM, Lda. e Lógica ( this one from the Municipality) , which aims with concerted efforts to create the necessary conditions for building the plant.

The new solar thermal power station, which will have 10 MW of installed capacity, will be installed in an area of about 15 ha. The selection of this area should be completed in January 2009.

By the end of August 2010, it will be defined the financial structure of the plant construction, for later project presentation to the Ministry of Economy.

The construction of the plant, estimated the Mayor José Maria Pós-de-Mina, should start as soon as the relevant permits and allowances are issued and it is guaranteed a tariff that allows the project viability.

Image: Moura (Amareleja) Photovoltaic Power Station / by Luis Alves www.flickr.com/photos/mokkikunta

Lisbon municipality sells energy generated by solar panels

2008-12-07T00:20:00.020Z

The Lisbon Municipal Council may gain 160,000 euros/year through the sale ( to the electricity operator EDP - Energias de Portugal) of electricity generated from solar photovoltaic panels installed in primary schools and municipal buildings located in municipal neighborhoods (bairros municipais).

The micro-generation project, presented yesterday, is taking first steps, but expectations are optimistic. "The return on investment is assured and in eight or nine years, the Municipal Council will make money," said the Mayor of the municipality.

It is estimated that each micro-plant produces 5,110 KW/year, representing a saving of two tonnes of carbon dioxide per system.

Second Gebalis, the municipal company that manages municipal neighborhoods in Lisbon, the systems already installed on the roof of 23 buildings (22 for housing and one for services, the Gebalis headquarter) will bring in the municipality 80,000euros/year - an important contribution to mitigate the damages from the municipal company, that spent 1,026,000 euros with electricity bills of its “bairros”, last year.

However, it’s still necessary to amortize the investment of around 500,000 euros made in systems, which are not yet producing electricity.

For now, the micro-generation is only a reality in the School 117 (Bairro da Flamenga, Marvila), which served as a pilot project and is selling energy to the grid since October - on 14 August 2008 it was officially certified the first installation of photovoltaic micro-generation in a school of Lisbon. Simultaneously, the installation of a exploitation unit of solar thermal energy will allow energy savings of about 70% and economic savings of 80%.

School 117 will be followed by seven other primary and pre schools, whose systems are already installed and approved. With the micro-generation working on eight schools, it is expected an earning revenue of 26,000 euros/year through the sale of energy.

If everything goes well, other 23 schools will join the project. In that case, the gain will reach 75,000 euros/year.

The municipality has spent 25,000 euros per school (200,000 in total) in the installation and certification of the PV solar panels.

In fact, the integrated systems in buildings (BIPV) have a great potential and can lead to a creation of a sustained market (the installation of 1.5 kWp systems in new buildings could result in an annual potential of 60 MWp).

Some benefits include the creation of jobs associated with market promotion and evolution of PV. The investment in the area of photovoltaic systems can create companies of manufacturing, engineering, installation and maintenance and employment with a particular focus at the local level.

Manufacturing: 7 jobs per MW produced.
Engineering and Installation: 30 jobs per MW installed.
Maintenance: 2 jobs per MW installed.

To ensure its 2010 objective for power generation based on renewable energies - 45% of total electricity consumption - Portugal must implement the next two points, with respect of solar power and micro-generation :

Solar energy: construction of the world's largest photovoltaic plant (the Moura plant) and ensure link to micro-generation policies. The Moura Photovoltaic Power Station represents about 30% of the objectives of photovoltaics in Portugal (national target is 150 MW).

Micro-generation: program for installing 50,000 systems until 2010, with incentives to the installation of water heating systems based on solar energy in existing houses. This program can create new business opportunities for installers, industry and energy service companies, stimulating the market of renewables. The micro-generation program is mainly oriented to electricity consumers, small businesses and communities. The special regime applies exclusively to renewable sources (solar PV, wind, hydro, biomass and fuel cells) with the maximum of interconnection power by application limited to 3,68 kW. This program is under the DL n.º 363/2007, 2 November.

Image: Solar Building XXI, INETI - Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação, Lisbon / by anabananasplit, some rights reserved

The world’s largest photovoltaic power station [VIDEO]

2008-11-30T00:15:00.010Z

After writing several articles and making two photographic reports related to Photovoltaic Solar in Portugal (visit the links below), on Expresso Multimédia I found this interesting video, which give us a different visual perspective from the "giant" Moura PV power station.

Related articles: (Alentejo: Solar Region)

“Photovoltaic Solar in Portugal”

“Moura (Amareleja) Photovoltaic Power Station”

“Moura Renewable Energies Project“

The world’s largest photovoltaic power station [PICS]

Serpa (Brinches) Photovoltaic Power Station [PICS]

Renault-Nissan electric cars arrive at Portugal in 2011

2008-11-24T23:10:00.022Z

Portugal Tecnológico 2008 in Lisbon - Nissan Denki (Japanese for “electric”) Cube Concept

The Portuguese government and the Renault-Nissan alliance signed the final agreement “Zero Emission Mobility”, under which Portugal will create a national recharging network for its project of electric cars, that will be built across the country over the next 3 years.

Portugal will have 320 charging stations for electric cars in 2010.That number will reach 1300 at the end of 2011.

The final agreement took place four months after the government and Renault-Nissan attended the signing of a memorandum of understand ing on the project, in order to Portugal becomes one of the first world markets (and the first European) where will be introduced the models of Renault-Nissan electric cars, with release scheduled for the beginning of 2011. French carmaker Renault and its Japanese partner Nissan have been working on the development of a battery powered car with a 160 Km range.

The Portuguese Prime Minister, José Sócrates, announced incentives to electric vehicle purchasers, including an income tax credit for individuals and corporate tax reductions for fleet purchases. The government also wants that 20% of public fleet vehicle purchases be zero-emission, from 2011. Other measures, such as reduced parking rates, preferential access and financing subsidies are being studied further.

“Portugal is a global leader in renewable energy. The next step is to make Portugal a pioneer in zero emission mobility. Electric vehicles offer major benefits to our society by reducing imports of fuel, improving energy security, reducing CO2 emissions and offering a reliable and secure alternative towards sustainable mobility,” said the Prime Minister.

Portugal Tecnológico 2008 in Lisbon - Nissan Denki (Japanese for “electric”) Cube Concept

These measures were announced in Lisbon, at Portugal Tecnológico 2008. Nissan’s Denki Cube was on display at the exhibition. This concept vehicle features the same lithium-ion battery technology that will power Nissan’s new electric vehicles.

Google Maps Portugal and Google Transit Lisboa

2008-11-19T04:37:00.027Z

Yesterday, Google Portugal announced two services in the Portuguese language: Google Maps and Google Transit for Lisbon (Lisboa). After Vienna, the Portuguese capital is the second European city to receive this service. Now, it’s possible to get Google information of how to travel in Lisbon on public transport, a service provided by Google Transit.

We are satisfied with these news, because one year ago Google announced the launch of Google Transit trip planner in Europe, having only information for some places and transport companies. Nowadays, over 70 agencies in 10 countries make their information available in Google Maps.

When the project was only available in some selected cities, not located in Europe, we published a simple plan for a trip across Europe, between Lisbon and Helsinki, to observe which of the transit agencies’ schedules might be integrated to increase the Google database. This year, Google Transit was developed in partnership with Metro and Carris, companies where is available all the information relevant to public transport in Lisbon, such as the location, travel time and ticket prices.

To plan a trip, you can simply click on the "Get directions " link. Then, it’s only necessary typing the start and end address in the "Get directions" boxes to get the results.

Google believes this is an important step in encouraging people to use public transit. The company hopes that folks will decide to leave the car at home if they can easily discover a transit stop next to a business as they're searching for it, or if they realise it's easy to take a train as they plot their journey from point A to point B.

In a yesterday press conference, Inês Gonçalves, Google Portugal responsible of marketing, said:

"It’s obvious that we want more cities, now it depends on the partners"

"Google Maps is not only put a map online, it’s to get a location where the language is understood, and with local content."

As we notice, on November 2007, Google established in Lisbon to concentrate on online publicity, trying to attract investments from Portuguese companies.

Yesterday, Paulo Barreto, chief executive of Google Portugal, said that "since a year ago that we operate directly in Portugal, our priority has been to adapt products to Portuguese."

Companies can also advertise for free on Google Maps through a Local Business Center, a service now available in beta Google Maps PT or in Google Maps for Mobile. In addition, there is also accessible the Google Maps API that will help developers, webmasters and designers to incorporate the functionality of Google Maps on their websites.

The world integration of the public transit schedules (in different transport modes) will surely be a great challenge to improving the schedule-based service. Indeed, IT and modern real-time logistics are crucial keys for the design of the future public transport.

So, to increase the integration of their schedule-based services, the agencies should have a public transportation data for their cities, and get it included in the Google Transit trip planner. The Google Transit Partner Program describes how to share agencies information on Google Maps. For participating the agencies should provide a transportation service that is open the the public, and operates with fixed schedules and routes.

Related articles:

Kaisla Arts and Crafts

2008-11-18T02:52:00.025Z

Kaisla shop gallery (Kaisla kauppa galleria) is a rectangular two-story old house with solid red-brick walls and interior open spaces, nicely situated at the port of Korpilahti, Central Finland (Korpilahden satama, Keski-Suomi), which offers the Päijänne lake beautiful landscape. The first floor has the arts & crafts shop function, revealing many pieces of local artists and the second floor is a single room gallery for artworks exhibition.

Last summer - in a particularly rainy and thunderstorming August (elokuu) in that Finnish region - my friend Haukka and I visited Kaisla. However, this time we’ve noticed there an open book with more than thousand signatures. What would be that? Talking with the kind hosts, they told us that it was a petition against the transformation of Kaisla shop gallery into a restaurant-bar, a decision of the Korpilahti municipality, the building owner. Signing the petition was a little contribution to support an arts and crafts collective that, like many others, have been caught in a web of market interests.

It’s good to notice the context of this situation. In fact, after the February decision for the extinction of the city of Jyväskylä (Jyväskylän kaupunki), the rural Jyväskylä (Jyväskylän maalaiskunta) and the Korpilahti municipality (Korpilahden kunta) - merging the three into one new municipality, established on the current areas of the abolished authorities (New Jyväskylä would be born on January 1 2009) - it took place the June confirmation by the Finnish government (Valtioneuvosto).

Either the “extinction” of Kaisla – yes, because the house is an intrinsic part of the arts and crafts project - is political or technocratic, it would be lamentable, in the future, not to find there beautiful handcrafted art pieces, like those of Ulla Huttunen and Arto Salminen, among others.

Kaisla shop gallery (Kaisla kauppa galleria), Finland/ Google Earth

Images: Luis Alves / www.flickr.com/photos/mokkikunta

Bloggers Unite : Refugees United - "World is Witness"

2008-11-10T21:33:00.011Z

Here is my contribution: a "pipe" from the feed of the “geoblog” World is Witness.

World is Witness, a new “geoblog” from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Genocide Prevention Mapping Initiatives, in partnership with Google Earth, documents and maps genocide and related crimes against humanity. The initial entries are from a Museum visit to Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to learn about the legacies of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, and the most recent entries are from a Museum visit to South Sudan and a return visit to the Congo.

Korpilahti Municipality (1867-2009)

2008-10-29T19:08:00.029Z

The struggle against the isolation may have stimulated the strong identification of the Finnish people with their municipality (kunta), although the identification with their nationality (kansalaisuus) be considered generally more important.

One of the special features of the Nordic countries is their decentralized organization and thus the proximity of the government to the citizens. Indeed, the municipalities are the State, since they collect most of the tax revenues. Traditional institutes of the authoritarian state, such as the army, police and judiciary, are on a more distant level to the normal citizen in his everyday life.

This strong phenomenon of identification seems to be present in the municipality of Korpilahti (Korpilahden kunta). Located in the province of Western Finland and in the region of Central Finland (Keski-Suomi), Korpilahti has a population of approx. 5,000 inhabitants, and additionally approx. 4,500 inhabitants in the summer, when they visit their summer cottages (kesämökki).

Under the developing reform of municipalities, on October 30 2006, a local referendum took place in Korpilahti. It was questioned the merger with other “neighbouring” municipality, the city of Jyväskylä (then, Jyväskylä, with its 83,582 inhabitants, didn’t have common borders with Korpilahti). The result was a “No” victory, with 52.0% (1055) of votes against the merger and 42.1% (1303) in favour.

Later, on November 13 2006, the municipal council of Korpilahti (Korpilahden kunnanvaltuusto), counteracting the non-binding referendum outcome, decided in favour of the merger with the city of Jyväskylä, from January 1 2009 - 17 councillors voted in favour of the union, while 10 were opposed. The municipal government (kunnanhallitus) would have the task of preparing the accession to later approval of the council.

New Jyväskylä

On February 18 2008, the City of Jyväskylä, the rural municipality of Jyväskylä and the municipality of Korpilahti, by their respective municipal councils, decided that New Jyväskylä would be born on January 1 2009. New Jyväskylä will be the seventh Finnish largest municipality with a population of nearly 130,000 inhabitants, about half of the Central Finland region (Keski-Suomen maakunta) population and it represents an urban development pole of the “channel” New Äänekoski (Uusi Äänekoski) - New Jyväskylä (Uusi Jyväskylä) - New Jämsä (Uusi Jämsä).

Hello Finland: Globalization does not require municipal amalgamation

An interesting article of Andrew Sancton, professor of political science specialized in local government at the University of Western Ontario, alerts for the disadvantages of the municipal amalgamation. This perspective can be applied to the Finland “Project to restructure municipalities and services” and very particularly to Korpilahti, with the aggravation of the popular will manifested in local referendum hasn't been respected:

- Indeed, it’s not proved that “city-regions with fewer municipal governments representing larger populations are better off those with more governments representing smaller populations.”

- “Reducing the number of municipalities has nothing to do with reducing the size of government. Reducing the number of local politicians can only have one result: insuring that a higher proportion of local councillors are full-time politicians.”

- Gigantic municipal service-providers pose the same problems of gigantic corporations monopolies: higher fares, lower service levels; lack of choice.

- It is consensual “that some municipal functions are generally more efficient when they service larger numbers of urban residents ... It makes no sense for each municipality in the same metropolitan area to establish its own separate water-supply system. But this does not mean they all need to merge into one."

Besides the structural solution of municipal amalgamation [1] adopted in this case, there are other types of alternative solutions to territorial fragmentation, which can be divided into two categories: structural solutions, depending either on amalgamations or on intermediate levels of single or multi-purpose authority and cooperative solutions (inter municipal cooperation), leaving basic local authorities with functional responsibilities. A semi-amalgamation model is an avalaible solution as well. It combines small municipalities into larger units for administration and service provision, but leaves some form of representative body in existence in the original settlements. (Davey; Division of reponsibility between levels of power)

In fact, the sizes of local authorities vary enormously, being the “optimum size hard to define and almost impossible politically to achieve”. [2]

Democracy and Efficiency

In Finland, the municipal reform was subject of intense debate. A large number of small municipalities is seen as undesirable in public service provision and proposals were submitted for mergers imposed by the state. In the past, the ex-Minister for Regional and Municipal Affairs Hannes Manninen committee has proposed a municipal two-tier system, in which municipalities would have different powers. Otherwise, the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities (Kuntaliitto) has supported a system with municipalities having at least 20,000-30,000 inhabitants. (current average is approx. 4,700).

High levels of government efficiency strengthen the democratic legitimacy of governments. But also legitimacy allows greater efficiency. In the process of the municipal amalgamation nowadays taking place in Finland, it would be unthinkable that the final decision of the Finnish state would be contrary to the local popular will democratically expressed in municipalities where mergers had a “negative” referendum, especially since Finland is a signatory of the European Charter of Local Self-Government /Strasbourg, 15.X.1985.

“Article 5 – Protection of local authority boundaries
Changes in local authority boundaries shall not be made without prior consultation of the local communities concerned, possibly by means of a referendum where this is permitted by statute.”

In addition the Act on Municipal Division, 1 § states:

“(...) The municipal division is changed by legislation, or by decision made by the Council of the State or Ministry. (...) Only voluntary changes to municipal division are possible.(...) “

But then again the reality overcame the fiction. On 12 June 2008, in Helsinki, the Finnish government (Valtioneuvosto) took the extinction decision of the city of Jyväskylä (Jyväskylän kaupunki), rural Jyväskylä (Jyväskylän maalaiskunta) and Korpilahti (Korpilahden kunta), as well as the creation of the new municipality of Jyväskylä, on the current areas of the abolished authorities.

The Project to Restructure Municipalities and Services (Kunta - ja palvelurakenneuudistus)

Started in 2005, the Project to Restructure Municipalities and Services had the objective of creating a solid financial structure to assure the future organisation and provision of services supplied by the municipalities.

Actually, Finland is in the implementation phase of the reform. In the next year - with municipal elections already realized - many new laws come into force. In previous years other reform phases passed, including the preparation of basic bills on legal reforms. During the period 2010-2011 will occur the execution of the legislation and the follow-up of the reform.

October 26 Municipal Elections

On October 26, more than 10,000 municipal councillors were elected to local councils across Finland - one more decisive step of the municipal reform. The dominant issues of these municipal elections covered the restructuring of the public services of health care, education and child care. However, the electoral outcome is not expected to influence the center-right coalition government (SiniVihreä Koalitio) policy.

The over 60% voter turnout in these local elections might have been caused by the electorate interest in the dozens of municipal mergers that will come into effect from the beginning of 2009. Electors of small merged communities, like Korpilahti, had keen interest to elect their representatives on the new expanded municipal councils.

It is true that Finland's municipal elections, in general, represent well the principles of “grassroots” democracy. But not this time in the case of Jyväskylä October 26 elections - in fact, the new municipality will be founded on a democratic “deficit” from the beginning. And that will be the burden of responsibility of the new Jyväskylä council for the next four years. In reality, as a municipal autonomous institution, Korpilahti lost its self-government by extinction, in exchange for a few representatives on the new council and some promises of investments.

Last Sunday, the traditional competition between the three big Finnish parties had a first-ever national win for the National Coalition Party (Kokoomus), but in New Jyväskylä the Social Democratic Party of Finland (Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue) is still the most voted.

Notes:

[1] The amalgamation model means abolishing small municipalities and merging them into new basic units of local government with some minimum population size. This model is often used in Nordic countries, where minimum populations are generally around 5,000 (averages between 10,000-30,000 inhabitants)

[2] Publications in which these arguments have been well discussed:
- The Size of Municipalities, Efficiency and Citizen Participation (Council of Europe, 1995).
- Consolidation or Fragmentation: the Size of Local Governments in Central and Eastern Europe, edited by Pawel Swianiewicz, (LGI/OSI, 2002).

References:

Wikipedia articles: “Municipalities_of_Finland” , “Korpilahti” (EN) , “Korpilahti” (FI)

Andrew Sancton, Globalization does not require amalgamation, Institute for Research on Public Policy - Montreal, Quebec.

Davey, Kenneth; Division of reponsibility between levels of power, 2003.

Project to restructure municipalities and services (Kunta- ja palvelurakenneuudistus), Ministry of the Finance, 2007.

Images:

Luis Alves / www.flickr.com/photos/mokkikunta

Serpa (Brinches) Photovoltaic Power Station [PICS]

2008-10-19T17:12:00.056+01:00

Beginning of Autumn. At the end of a warm day - half an hour before the sunset and after having rolled across the spacious Alentejo’s plains - we finally get to the little village of Brinches. Next to a roundabout we find a rural road, which takes us through hills covered by vineyards and olive trees, typical of this soft landscape.

At one “corner” of the solar power station, we meet two men (a dog and some cows as well) who are contemplating the cloudy final of the day, uncommon this time of the year in one of the Iberian zones with the highest levels of solar radiation. In fact, these two men were the land owners, having rented their terrains to the GE Energy Financial Services, the project investor. What is very interesting in the Serpa project is the integration of clean power generation with the local agriculture.

They wonder about the huge quantity of energy daily injected in the electricity grid, as well as the fact the power plant being remotely controlled. The distance between the two PV power stations of Amareleja and Brinches is around 49 Km. During the construction there were many workers, but now the attentions are more focused on the “rival” Moura, the world's largest, after having dethroned Brinches this year.

Aerial view of Serpa solar power plant / renewableenergyworld.com

Brinches, Serpa, Portugal / Google Earth

Specifications of Serpa photovoltaic power station

Location: Portugal, Alentejo region, district of Beja, municipality of Serpa, parish of Brinches

Area occupied by power station: 60 ha

Installed rated power: 11 MWp

Annual electricity generation: > 18 GWh (equivalent to the consumption of
8,000 homes and farms in the region)

PV surface area: 34 ha

Number of PV panels: 52 000 (Sanyo, Sharp, SunPower and Suntech)

Solar tracking system: “PowerLight PowerTracker System”

Saving of more than 30,000 tons/year in greenhouse gas emissions compared to equivalent fossil fuel generation

Investment : 62 million euros

Conclusion: operational since January 2007

Project participants:
GE Energy Financial Services (Investor)
Power Light Corporation (Project and Construction)
Catavento, S.A. (Promoter and Asset Manager)

Photos by Luis Alves / www.flickr.com/photos/mokkikunta
(except the last two images)

This article is the part 5 of the article: “Alentejo: Solar Region”.

“Photovoltaic Solar in Portugal” - part 1 of the article: “Alentejo: Solar Region”
“Moura (Amareleja) Photovoltaic Power Station” - part 2 of the article: “Alentejo: Solar Region”
“Moura Renewable Energies Project“ - part 3 of the article: “Alentejo: Solar Region”
The world’s largest photovoltaic power station [PICS] - part 4 of the article: “Alentejo: Solar Region”

Blog Action Day 08 - "Don't pay for a failed system!"

2008-10-14T02:11:00.026+01:00

Accumulation by Dispossession
Increasing inequality within nations and increasing wealth gap between rich and poor countries -
here are the consequences of decades of “neoliberalism”.

Processes of accumulation:

• the commodification and privatisation of land and the forceful expulsion of peasant populations
• conversion of various forms of property rights (common, collective, state, etc.) into exclusive private property rights
• suppression of rights to the commons
• commodification of labour power and the suppression of alternative (indigenous) forms of production and consumption
• colonial, neocolonial and imperial processes of appropriation of assets (including natural resources)
• monetisation of exchange and taxation (particularly of land)
• slave trade
• usury, the national debt and ultimately the credit system as radical means of primitive accumulation.
David Harvey, The New Imperialism, 2003

The US financial meltdown - Part 1: What really happened
Roots of the economic crisis in overaccumulation, financialisation and ‘global apartheid’ By Patrick Bond

Click HERE to view the slideshow

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

777 - Turbo-Capitalism's Failure

2008-10-06T01:51:00.045+01:00

Dow closed at 10365.45, dropped 777.68, the largest drop ever in history - Sept. 29, 2008 (black Monday) / By faungg , Some rights reserved

Markets have inefficiencies, because of their inability to correct the negative externalities of industrial outputs (production) and industrial inputs (depletion of non-renewable resources). Failure to calculate the costs to nonparticipants in transactions and failure to allocate resources efficiently, represent market failure definitions.

Externalities represent cases of market failures. A person (or company) who makes choices that affect other people not accounted for in the market price – like the pollution costs often unaccounted for in industrial greenhouse gas emissions- is creating an externality.

Besides the externalities, non excludability and non rivalry are other common forms of market failure. To be efficient, markets should trade simultaneously both excludable and rival goods, and shouldn’t have externalities. In the market perspective, there are four types of goods: private goods (R,V), common goods (R, non-E), club goods (non-R,E) and public goods (non-R and non-E). [R-rival, E-excludable]

Excessive costs of excluding potential beneficiaries from the consumption of a rival natural or human-made resource, represent an inefficient market allocation - non excludability. Hence, "common" goods are defined by a property right regime in which only a collective body could exclude others from accessing rival resources, thereby allowing the capture of future benefits.

Stable “common property” regimes – suitable to the local level - must be based on certain principles which prevent the overexploitation of a resource system. However, these regimes are not the solution to large scale overuse , such as air pollution. In those situations, environmental regulations (economic impact estimated by cost-benefit analysis), quotas on pollution (tradeable emissions permits), taxes on pollution and adequate definition of property rights, might be preventive solutions to correct negative externalities.

Public goods are another type of market failure, because the market price doesn’t catch the social benefits of public provisions. For example, both social protection and environmental protection are inherently public goods, since their provision, in case of non-congestion, is non-rival and non-excludable, either protecting people from the risks of unemployment and illness or from environmental risks, like climate change.

If a public service faces problems of congestion or overuse, it will be a non-excludable but certainly a rivalrous good, making it a “common-pool resource”.

Privatization of public goods doesn’t change their intrinsic non-excludable, social and environmental characteristics. Nobody has the right to exclude people from protection, i.e., to prevent people who have not paid for the service, from receive its benefits .Most of public goods, like most of non-rival goods , are intangible, less fitted for an efficient private market.

Scarce, rivalrous, but also vital resources (like water) cannot be excludable. Water priced on a private market it would be the receipt to a humanitarian disaster, as the recent global market failures may prove.

With respect to local public services provision, the Finnish health care system is one of the most decentralized in Europe (as well as the other Nordic countries), with most of the Finnish people being generally satisfied with their national health care system. Local municipalities (Finnish: kunta) are the center of the system, largely public, where the private sector has little relevance today (only about 4% of Finnish doctors have a purely private activity) and the state has little intervention, defining goals and orientations. However, although the public health care and education, Finland has an advanced and competitive market economy.

According to Robin Hahnel (ecological economist), four environment related basic defects of a market economy can be enumerated: overexploitation of “common property” resources; overpollution; too little pollution cleanup; overconsumption. [ Hahnel (2005), pp66-72]

The view considering that markets are unable to correct negative externalities is in contradiction with the free-market environmentalist perspective. This perspective considers that both lack of ownership incentives to care for the property and multiplicity of ownership, represent the cause of overexploitation. In this point of view, pollution occurs because the property owners’ rights have not been totally respected and the legal authorities have inclination to favor big industry, public and common property over individuals and consumer organizations.

That approach also argue that resources are renewable and the market, by way of supply and demand, regulates consumption by adjusting it according to supply.The absence of sufficient incentives to create a potential “market” in a private economy, causes loss of efficiency, according to this view.

We can say that intrinsic characteristics of some type of goods, like the non-excludable goods (common goods and public goods), imply the design of sustainable social-environmental-economical systems, different from the private “markets”. See 1990 Ostrom's work about how people using real common property resources have worked to establish self-governing rules to reduce risks [Ostrom, E. 1990. Governing the Commons. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press]

Bailout of US financial system / Green Recovery / Low-Carbon Economy

These previous considerations are also appropriated for the financial markets, specially for institutions which utilize them. The recent dramatic intervention of the Federal Reserve, aimed at bailing out Wall Street with a US$700 billion plan, was a spectacular representation of market failure. In fact, the market took multiple decisions that would affect millions of tax-payers, who weren’t accounted for in the finance market price.

"Markets have inherent and well-known inefficiencies. One factor is failure to calculate the costs to those who do not participate in transactions. These 'externalities' can be huge. That is particularly true for financial institutions. Their task is to take risks, calculating potential costs for themselves. But they do not take into account the consequences of their losses for the economy as a whole. (…)
The unprecedented intervention of the Fed may be justified or not in narrow terms, but it reveals, once again, the profoundly undemocratic character of state capitalist institutions, designed in large measure to socialise cost and risk and privatize profit, without a public voice. “
Noam Chomsky, accuracy.org

The actual "turbo-capitalist" crisis, whose end and global consequences are unpredictable, could constitute an opportunity to the construction of a new alternative economic model firmly based on the environmental, economic and social domains, with new concepts of “growth” - not just a “green“ recovery based on this capitalist model, but a effective Low-Carbon Economy model.

However, a future green recovery may be compromised. The actual situation of financial collapse, with the state injecting hundreds of billions in the financial capitalist system, doesn’t assure the future application of funds on the environmental and social areas. It may even deflect these funds from many necessary and urgent investments in those areas.

Past Friday, 3 October 2008, the US House of Representatives voted in favour of a financial rescue plan after rejecting an earlier version. The approved package is aimed at buying up the bad debts of failing financial institutions on Wall Street, having the Treasury $700 billion to buy “toxic” mortgages, securities and related assets, that have undermined the US financial structure. But the deep causes of the US financial market collapse still continue unknown, and therefore this massive intervention probably cannot reach them.

So far “toxic” products are the justification for the financial market failure. However, financial products are increasingly designed trough technological innovation, which has replaced experienced professional traders by computers running software based on algorithmic trading, trying to simulate human behavior, deciding on timing, price and the final quantity of the orders. Although many claim an increased market efficiency with “robo trading” the last events could contradict it, and thus we could be in presence of a global technological (in)adaptation.

On September 29 2008, the Dow Jones lost 777.68 points, the largest one day point loss in its history, following news that the US House of Representatives had failed to pass the $700 bn bailout bill. Only after the Monday's 777-point stock-market slump the political class started to see the extension and deepness of the crisis. The “shock” and the claims from worried November potential voters motivated the Friday morning vote change. The bill that establishes the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 - previously approved by the Senate, on October 1 2008 - was sent to the House, and on Friday, October 3, the House voted 263-171 to enact the bill into law.

References:
Wikipedia article, Environmental economics

Related articles:
From the US housing bubble to the (proposed) bailout of US financial system
Fed eyes Nordic Model

From the US housing bubble to the (proposed) bailout of US financial system

2008-09-29T19:59:00.028+01:00

The bursting of the US housing bubble and the high default rates on "subprime" and adjustable rate mortgages, marked the beginning of the subprime mortgage crisis (2005-2006).

In the end of 2006, foreclosures accelerated in the US, causing a global financial crisis through 2007 and 2008. On August 9 2007, the so-called “credit crisis” became obvious, when a liquidity crisis emerged caused by investors’ loss of confidence in the value of securitized mortgages. This motivated the massive capital injection into financial markets by the Fed and the ECB. On 17 July 2008, major banks and financial institutions around the world have reported losses of about US$435 billion.

In the initial phase of the crisis, the companies affected were those directly involved in home construction and mortgage lending, such as Northern Rock and Countrywide Financial. Financial institutions which had engaged in the securitization of mortgages, such as Bear Stearns, were badly damaged. In late summer of this year, the crisis aggravated with the Federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It was the start of repercussions in the general availability of credit to non-housing related businesses and to larger financial institutions not directly connected with mortgage lending.

Recently, there was a new aggravation of the crisis, with the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers and the sale of Merrill Lynch to Bank of America on September 14, and the bailout of American International Group by the Fed on September 16.

On September 20, the U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proposed the Troubled Asset Relief Program (the proposed bailout of U.S. financial system). As originally proposed, the plan would give absolute and un-reviewable authority to purchase up to US$700 billion of mortgage backed securities from financial institutions for the purpose of stabilizing the market.

On September 23, the three pages plan was presented by Paulson and Bernanke to the Senate Banking Committee who rejected it as not acceptable. As of September 26 2008, consultations over amendments to the plan are on-going.

On Saturday, 27 September 2008, the US Congressional leaders said they hope to reach agreement on a massive rescue plan to aid the financial markets before they open on Monday.

On Monday, 29 September 2008, the lower house of the US Congress has voted down a US$700 bn plan aimed at bailing out Wall Street.

“Creative destruction” vs bailout of US financial system

It is important to refer the possibility of an economic crisis at global level this year, like the following indicators hint at: - high oil prices, which drive to both high food prices and global inflation; the previously described credit crisis, which leads to the bankruptcy of several large and well established investment banks; increased unemployment.

It’s often adopted one simple rule considering that “a recession occurs when real gross domestic product (GDP) growth is negative for two or more consecutive quarters”. However, this simplistic rule fails to register several official (or NBER defined) US recessions. The National Bureau of Economic Research defines a recession more broadly as "a significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real GDP, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales."

Concerning US, and because of the recent financial “disasters”, there is a great probability of economic recession and the probability of a severe economic recession has come up.

There are various strategies for moving an economy out of a recession: ”Keynesians” defend government deficit spending to trigger economic growth; ”Supply-side” supporters recommend tax cuts to promote business capital investment.; ”Laissez-faire” economists advise the government to remain "hands off" and not interfere with natural market forces.

Past week, according to Democrats, Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not bring the plan to rescue the financial sector to votes in Congress, unless it gets substantial Republican support.

Other sources of the U.S. press indicate that, according to one GOP lawmaker, some House Republicans are saying privately that they prefer " let the markets crash" than approve the massive bailout.

“For the sake of the altar of the Free Market system, do you accept a Great Depression?", the member questioned.

House Republicans consider that the president is “trying to tear up the Constitution” by committing the federal government to such a massive intervention in the US financial system.

As we can observe there is a confrontation between an option of a massive state intervention in the financial market system, and the “free-market” view (“"hands off" and not interfere with natural market forces”).

Both tactics will probably have serious costs for the economy. The first could induce to a not so intense recession, but very extended in time - a probable economical stagnation for many many years with more government oversight.

The second could be more intense, but perhaps it allows a more rapid capitalist recovery. However, before that, it could led to a severe recession or depression – the “neoliberal” recovery preceded by the so-called “creative destruction”.

Is known that, besides a rapid increase of transnational mobility of capital, a wave of deregulation of financial markets swept over the world, since the last decades. Corporate pressure has intensified on governments to adopt neoliberal “reforms” that regularly produced state spending.

This process has been a form of “creative destruction”, weakening and breaking institutions, social welfare, health care, education and culture. And history shows that governments have been generally powerless to fight the unavoidable and damaging capitalist ‘business cycles’.

Although unstable and unfair, the capitalist system has evidenced a capacity to reform itself to survive economic business cycles. However, these ‘business cycles’ stimulated by corporate greed and maintained by deception of the people, cause huge human and environmental costs.

Having as background the worst global financial crisis in decades, we can also attend to a media spectacle, stage of confrontation between complementing capitalist factions, questioning what really happened and what can be done to maintain alive this economic and social model:

“A good functioning financial system has its rules!”; “We have deregulated the system. Now we must regulate.” “We should learn from mistakes!”; “Financial institutions should be managed by serious people|, not adventurers”; “Central banks should protect major banks and financial institutions - investors need to be protected”; “It´s important to avoid panic selling and allow the markets to stabilise.”

Or:

“This is not real capitalism.”; “We don’t need protectionism”; “The banking system is very regulated. More competition is needed”; “Why the state allowed this housing bubble burst?”; “We need only a modernisation of regulation, not more regulation”

In fact, one of the institutions of the capitalist system, the private property, whose integrity is crucial for its survival, shows signs of imploding, particularly in the financial sector. The social power of the private property of finance industry is being dissolved and, for survive as a system, it needs urgently to be replaced by new market forces and new administrators in the financial institutions. For the more well positioned “classes”, this is a opportunity to achieve capitalist power. The social classes that are being pushed down, may not have the required organization and the will to confront and challenge the ruling class in the labour market.

There are also signs showing that some sectors of the capitalist class are not very worried with the spectre of an economic recession. It may be, because that would be an opportune scenario for creating the conditions for the workers to accept, by submission, the continuation of the current unsustainable economic model, based on exploitation of the material and human resources of our planet – more of the same: more oil, more war, more unemployment, more social injustice, more environmental disasters.

In the middle of one alarming economic crisis it will be more easy to use of the “strategy of fear”, exploiting the population feelings of social and economical insecurity, creating problems and then appearing as the protective solution. To overcome this, people need to take conscience of social and economical reality, and, against the logic of competition and exclusion, get the collective liberation from political fear, which should be an individual liberation, at the same time.

References:
Wikipedia article, Economic crisis of 2008
"Creative Destruction' – The Madness of the global economy", medialens.org

Images:
The Panic - Scenes in Wall Street Wednesday Morning, May 14 / drawn by Schell and Hogan, 1884 (LOC) / By pingnews.com , Some rights reserved

Related articles:
Fed eyes Nordic Model

Published on OVIMagazine

European Mobility Week 2008: 200 million people expected

2008-09-17T23:16:00.009+01:00

This year, from 16 to 22 September, the European Mobility Week (EMW) - an event which permits to test many ideas - should include the participation of 200 million people.

This week, citizens can try alternative transports and the cities that have joined to this initiative, can also test new services and new infrastructures. The only requirement is launching at least one permanent measure that will help to cut the harmful emissions from the transport sector.

The local authorities participating in this initiative are also encouraged to organise awareness-raising activities around the theme - link between mobility and air quality (“Clean Air for All !A dream or a real possibility?”). For example, on 21 September, in Reykjavik (Iceland), it will be realized a city fair based around the themes of sustainable transport and clean air.

More to the south, also the Lisbon municipality intends to improve the air quality of the city through the EMW programme. Thus, the municipality announced that each day will be devoted to environmental issues and mobility, such as air quality, parking in residential areas, prevention and road safety, public transportation and energy efficiency. The European Car Free day will culminate the initiative, being some streets closed to traffic.

The vice president of the municipality referred to the riverside bike path project, as well as to the bike network of shared use. The municipality and the Commission for Coordination and Regional Development of Lisbon and Tagus Valley (CCDR-LVT) signed a protocol to make a public commitment to improving the Lisbon air quality.

Even more to the south, in the Alentejo region, the Évora municipality is encouraging its workers to start a system of car-sharing ( "carpooling") between the residence and the workplace. For the implementation of this system, this municipality will launch one Intranet - a site where the users could identify residence areas and workplaces.

Last year, 2000 cities in 36 countries participated in the European Mobility Week. The initiative is coordinated by the non-governmental organizations Eurocities, Energie-Cités and Climate Alliance.

According to the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), 65 localities are participating in the 2008 European Mobility Week and European Day Without Cars.

Solar Monkey and WS Energia Announce US Manufacturing Agreement on Solar Tracking Systems

2008-09-16T00:04:00.024+01:00

A new generation of award-winning tracking technologies comes to the North American solar market. Today, Solar Monkey and the Portuguese company, WS Energia, announced an agreement to establish a new generation of high precision, reliable and affordable solar tracking systems in USA ,based on WS Energia’s patented award winning tracker design. According to both companies these products increase output efficiencies, reliability, and lower the costs of solar energy tracking systems over those currently available.

WS Energia is a solar technology company located in Lisbon, Portugal and one of the top five leading European industrial producers of optic equipment for low-level solar concentration using commercially available solar modules. In 2007 the robotics that controls WS Energia’s trackers was distinguished for its effectiveness on solar energy production, ease of installation and overall configuration by the panel of the Live EDGE Electronic Design for the Global Environment challenge.

The portuguese WS Energia developed a patented self-powered solar tracker for orienting a set of solar PV panels assuring its precise alignment towards the sun. This tracker is based on local geo-positioning, internal measure of time and inclination, driving the installation to the wanted orientation. Because of its high precision this solar tracker is presently in the DoubleSun tracking structure with concentration reflectors which has been producing up to 60% more power and up to 117% more energy than traditional fixed point panel system in the same conditions.

The agreement will allow the companies to jointly develop manufacturing and production facilities within the USA using WS Energia’s technology already available in the EU. WS Energia Research has developed a suite of solar tracking and concentrating technologies and has product installations currently operating throughout Europe.

Full article at biz.yahoo.com
Related article (in portuguese) at ambienteonline.pt