Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
TECHYUM – An interesting article on Strategy Page covers some of the history of the Soviet/Russian GLONASS system, designed to provide the same sort of global satellite-based navigation that GPS provides. The upshot, according to Strategy page, is that while GLONASS is partially offline, Russian sailors are using GPS — and the newest Russian military
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
ALL AFRICA – Southern African nations need to agree on a common operational system to manage energy in the region, environmental experts advise. If they don’t, the region could experience power shortages and resulting economic deficits. The Southern African Power Pool (SAPP), which was formed in 1995 as part of an inter-governmental agreement between the twelve mainland
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
DUTCH NEWS – The Netherlands faces a severe shortage of well-educated workers, in particular IT specialists and technicians, the Telegraaf reports on Monday, quoting a number of experts. The experts, including the personnel chiefs at IBM, Siemens and Xerox in the Netherlands, have written to the government and MPs calling for action. The shortage will
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010
SWEDEN GOV -he Government yesterday adopted a new cooperation strategy for Swedish regional development cooperation in Africa for 2010-2015. Support will also be given for research cooperation. The aim of the strategy is to increase capacity and political consensus among countries and intergovernmental organisations in Africa to tackle cross-border challenges concerning stability, trade and economic
Monday, October 18th, 2010
THE NATIONAL – Wind towers, long abandoned for the pleasures of air conditioning could again become a Middle Eastern architectural fixture, says a Dubai scientist who is integrating the traditional structure with a zero-energy cooling system. Ben Hughes, a researcher at Heriot-Watt University’s Dubai campus, recently received a grant worth US$1million (Dh3.67 million) from the Qatar National
Monday, October 18th, 2010
ESA – The Gulf of Mexico oil spill couldn’t have occurred at a worse time for bluefin tuna: they had come to the area – a major spawning ground – to produce offspring. Satellites are helping assess the damage from the disaster on the fish’s spawning habitat. Read More
Monday, October 18th, 2010
INDEPENDENT UK – Tackling global loss of wildlife is as big a challenge as addressing climate change, conservation experts have warned as an international meeting gets under way aimed at stopping species and habitats vanishing across the world. Governments are meeting in Nagoya, Japan, hoping to agree on 20 targets to conserve nature and tackle problems including
Sunday, October 17th, 2010
SLD – Competition for the Arctic has been growing intense since 2007. The Arctic neighboring states have proclaimed or renewed their national strategies on the Arctic. In the short-, mid- and long-term perspective, the question of who is entitled to the Arctic region and its vast store of resources remains unanswered in 2010. Read More
Sunday, October 17th, 2010
7th SPACE – The number of turbines now production in mean that operators are looking at reducing O&M costs to see significant gains in profitability. With no fuel costs, a wind farm is totally dependent on smart use of operational expenditure (OPEX) to be profitable. In less than five years, a wind turbine will likely
Sunday, October 17th, 2010
ARAB NETWORK – An EGP 2.7 billion contract will be signed by the end of 2010 for buying needed turbines for the 200 megawatts wind farm in Gabal el-Zeit, Egyptian Electricity Minister Hassan Younis said. Germany’s KfW Bank and the European Investment Bank will contribute to the project. The government seeks to depend on renewable energy in producing
