The Government said the £50 million scheme will save as much carbon as taking 45,000 cars off the roads and will also cut a household’s energy bill by up to £235 a year.

The average cost of a boiler and its installation is around £2,500, according to the heating industry.

Some energy companies are planning to complement and even match the Government offer with money-off initiatives for upgrading to more efficient boilers - so that more householders can take advantage of the scheme.

The Government said the programme would also help sustain work for the 130,000 installers and 25 boiler manufacturers in the UK during the recession.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is launching the scheme with Energy Secretary Ed Miliband on Tuesday, said: “Today’s announcement will slash household energy bills and carbon emissions while providing an important boost for the British heating industry.

“The Government’s new scrappage scheme will help to secure 250,000 jobs across the tens of thousands of small and medium businesses involved in boiler manufacture, sales and installation that form a vital component of Britain’s low carbon economy.”

Mr Miliband said: “The boiler scrappage scheme will save around £200 off heating bills per year for families that are replacing their old boilers, and in total will save the same amount of carbon equivalent to taking around 45,000 cars off the road.

“The scheme will add to the existing package of Government measures to help householders be smarter about the energy they use, leading to permanently reduced fuel bills and cutting emissions.”

The UltraCell XX25^TM fuel cell systems will power military equipment including radios, rugged notebook computers, and Long Range Thermal Video (LRTV) systems. In addition, the UltraCell XX25 fuel cell units will be used to recharge military batteries.

The UltraCell XX25 is capable of delivering 72 h of continuous runtime using a single fuel tank, making it a mobile and lightweight source of power.

The AEWE program, which began in 2004, is focused on emerging technologies. It supports the US Army’s efforts to shorten materiel development, and examine future force requirements and constructs through a linked campaign of experimentation.

GSMA forecasts that by 2012 up to 50% of new off-grid base stations in the developing world could be powered by renewable energy. Backed by 25 mobile operators, the Green Power for Mobile programme will provide expertise to support the deployment of base stations that use renewable energy. Up to now, off-grid base stations have primarily been powered by generators running on diesel fuel, which is increasingly expensive, generates carbon dioxide emissions, and can be difficult to transport to remote locations.

“As they strive to bring the benefits of mobile coverage to as many people as possible, operators need to find reliable, sustainable and economic sources of power far beyond the reach of national electricity grids,” said Rob Conway, CEO and Member of the Board of the GSMA. “Through our Development Fund, the GSMA has built deep expertise in solar, wind and other renewable energy sources that mobile operators can tap to help them connect the unconnected, reduce operating costs and minimise environmental damage.”

Following extensive research with mobile operators, the GSMA Development Fund estimates that only 1,500 base stations worldwide are powered by at least one form of renewable energy. Challenges to date have included commercial viability, equipment availability and lack of expertise, but the GSMA’s research suggests that rising diesel prices and falling renewable equipment costs mean that operators investing in green power sources for base stations could recoup the capital costs in as little as 24 months.

The GSMA Development Fund is already working with several mobile operators to develop renewable power solutions for a variety of base stations located in diverse geographies. The Development Fund has supported Digicel’s deployment of wind and solar energy to power 17 new base stations on the Pacific island of Vanuatu.

“As oil becomes more scarce and expensive, renewable energy will be used more and more to power telecommunications networks anywhere that grid power is not available,” said John Delves, CEO of Digicel Vanuatu. “Using alternative power solutions, such as harnessing wind and solar energy, will help lower our operational expenditure and reduce our environmental impact, giving people in the more remote islands of Vanuatu access to communications for the first time.”

After a successful pilot in conjunction with the GSMA Development Fund and Ericsson, Idea Cellular now uses waste cooking oil to help power more than 350 base stations in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India, where the conventional electricity supply can be erratic. The base stations run on a blend made up of 80% diesel fuel and 20% waste cooking oil.

“If we can secure enough vegetable oils from sustainable sources, we will move to a blend of 50% diesel and 50% biofuels, which will be better for the environment and for our operating costs,” said Anil K Tandan, Chief Technology Officer of Idea. “We are also exploring other alternative sources of power as we seek to ensure that our mobile network continues to be reliable, sustainable and cost-effective.”

The major suppliers of base stations have anticipated the growing demand for green networks and have introduced a variety of low-energy products as well as renewable energy power solutions. New entrants are also emerging, providing tailored bolt-on power solutions for base stations. The GSMA is developing metrics for “green” base stations, to support operators in their decision-making on providers and products.

Today, the operators involved in the Green Power for Mobile programme are meeting in Kenya, hosted by Safaricom, a leader in the use of renewable energy for networks with 30 base stations powered by solar and wind energy.

In an endeavour to address the increasing and harmful impact of Indoor Air Pollution in India, Envirofit today announced the launch of a range of clean burning biomass cookstoves in the country. Designed by an international team of globally recognized scientists and engineers, the cookstoves reduce toxic emissions by as much as 80%, while using 50% less fuel and reducing cooking cycle time by 40%. The cookstoves have been developed as a result of a partnership between Envirofit and Shell Foundation (UK) initially launched in 2007 to engineer and deliver clean burning biomass stoves that are affordable and attractive to people who are impacted by Indoor Air Pollution (IAP).

“Biomass (wood, crop waste and animal dung) is likely to remain the primary cooking fuel for a large majority of rural Indian households for many years to come. Against this background and the alarming number of annual of indoor air pollution-related deaths worldover, we are committed to developing products that will make a significant contribution to healthier and cleaner living,” said Harish Anchan, General Manager of Envirofit India Pvt Ltd. “Through the stoves we have developed, we are providing women an opportunity to continue to cook as they would before, but in an environment that is less polluting and hazardous.” Envirofit is a US based non profit corporation that designs, manufactures and markets world-class engineered technology products to improve the quality of human life across the globe.

The Envirofit cookstoves burn traditional biomass fuels and are engineered to emit significantly less toxic emissions and use less fuel. Built of durable, high-quality material and engineered to address the unique cooking habits of Indian women, the Envirofit cookstoves are a result of over five years of research and testing in coordination with internationally recognized academic institutions such as Colorado State University. Available in 5 models and priced between Rs 500/ and Rs 2000/, the cookstoves are currently available in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu and will be introduced in other states across the country in a phased manner. They are aesthetically designed with high-quality materials and available in a range of colours with single pot and multipot cooking options. The stoves have already successfully undergone pilot testing in Chitradurga and Dharmapuri. Certified under the most stringent environmental testing conditions in the USA, the cookstoves are currently awaiting BIS certification.

“Although cooking habits in semi-urban and rural India are steeped in tradition and perpetuated by myths, the response to our stoves has been very strong as each stove has been developed based on extensive market research and local customer insights,” said Harish Anchan. “We are in discussion with financing institutions for low cost financing options to provide additional options for families to buy the stoves.” Envirofit cookstoves are now being made available in over 700 villages in Karnataka and 300 villages in Tamil Nadu through a multi-tier distribution strategy. Envirofit’s aim is to develop local and regional enterprises through the channel network so that the business becomes self sustaining. The current channel network in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu includes dealers, distributors, village entrepreneurs as well as not for profit organizations like MYRADA, the Tamil Nadu Foundation and the Cauvery Women’s Federation. Envirofit is targeting over 40 channel partners throughout the two states with roughly 600 outlets planned by the end of 2008. Significant business opportunities exist for local entrepreneurs, distributors, and retailers as Envirofit plans to increase its footprint across India by 2010.

“There are an estimated 1.6 million deaths per year due to toxic indoor air pollution (IAP). We are proud to be partnered with Envirofit International to introduce clean-burning wood stove technology in India while employing the first market-based business model,” said Ajit Abraham, Shell Foundation India who supports the project as part of their Breathing Space Program. “The aim is to see 10 million stoves sold in five countries in the next five years.” Established by Shell Group in 2000 as an independent, UK registered charity, Shell Foundation’s mission is to develop, scale-up and promote enterprise-based solutions to the challenges arising from the impact of energy and globalization on poverty and the environment. The Breathing Space Program aims to achieve a significant longterm reduction in deaths related to IAP.

The UK mobile operator O2 is installing pedal powered generators at a UK music festival. It’s a neat marketing trick and could even catch as a service.

With the new 3G iPhones offering video and a decent volume of audio, power is at a premium. Prizes for the wise-crack who develops one a dynamo you can power whilst walking.

The guide was first started in August 2006 and is now in its eighth edition.

It ranks the top market leaders of the mobile phone, computer, TV and games console markets according to their policies and practices on toxic chemicals and recycling.

The organisation said that the guide has already led to a reduction in the amount of toxic chemicals being used in the electronics industry.

“We know that brands are putting pressure on their suppliers to meet our commitments,” said Ms Kruszewska.

The latest guide also includes new stricter guidelines.

“For this edition we tightened the e-waste and chemical criteria and we also added a new energy requirement,” said Ms Kruszewska.

The new energy guidelines score a company for disclosing their greenhouse gas emissions, their commitment to absolute cuts in their own emissions and support for mandatory global emissions reductions.

In particular, Greenpeace has asked companies to state support for a “strong post Kyoto agreement” on their international websites.

“We see companies scoring zero on all energy criteria,” added Ms Kruszewska.

“Clearly it is going to take companies some time to improve on our demands,”

The latest guide also assessed the energy efficiency of a selection of each company’s products to see if they meet or exceed the US Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star rating.

More importantly, the present way of producing amines is a costly two-step process that results in massive amounts of byproducts as waste.

“Although there are several methods to prepare amines on laboratory scales, most of them are not suitable for commodity chemical production not only because of the formation of waste materials but also because the cost of the starting substances used to prepare amines is high,” said Guy Bertrand, a distinguished professor of chemistry, whose lab made the discovery.

Bertrand explained that, currently, companies use hydrochloric acid, a highly corrosive solution, to produce amines. To generate one ton of amines, manufacturers must discard three tons of byproducts, adding to the overall cost of production.

“Our ‘green chemistry’ method, however, produces no waste, which makes it inexpensive,” Bertrand said. “Moreover, the reaction is a quick one-step reaction, and you need a tiny amount of a catalyst to do the trick.”
The National Institutes of Health and Rhodia, Inc., funded the study. Find out more at the UC Riverside Newsroom.

Production of the Camry Hybrid at the Altona Plant (in the State of Victoria in southeastern Australia) will commence in early 2010, with an annual production target of 10,000 vehicles.

After receiving TMC’s decision officially today, Victorian Premier John Brumby will hold a press conference at the Altona Plant to be attended by TMCA President Masahide Yasuda.

Ever since the introduction in 1997 of the Toyota Prius?he world’s first mass-produced gasoline-electric hybrid vehicle?MC has been making a concerted effort to promote and popularize hybrid technology, as part of its high-priority environmental-management policy.

Toyota aims to sell 1 million or more hybrid vehicles annually as early as possible in the 2010s and, taking market needs into consideration, is working to put in place an optimal hybrid vehicle production system worldwide.

Source: Toyota Motor Coroporation