News
‘The future starts now,’ Ban says at launch of UN Decade of Sustainable Energy for All
5 June 2014 – Launching the United Nations Decade of Sustainable Energy for All, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today hailed modern energy services as the source of profound and life-changing opportunities – for the poorest communities and the richest investors – and urged generating the innovative ideas and vital partnerships to wholly transform the global energy landscape.
“We are here because we understand that sustainable energy is central to the post-2015 sustainable development agenda,” the UN chief told the first annual Sustainable Energy for All Forum, which opened yesterday in New York and wraps up tomorrow, aiming to generate momentum for Mr. Ban’s eponymous 2011 initiative that brings together governments, civil society and business to make sustainable energy for all a reality by 2030.
Launch of Ocean and Climate Platform 2015 at UNESCO to mark World Ocean Day
World Ocean Day will be celebrated on 8 June under the banner of “Together we can Protect the Ocean”.
At UNESCO’s Paris Headquarters, the event will be marked on 10 June with the launch of the Ocean and Climate Platform 2015, which will bring together the research community and civil society with the aim of placing the ocean at the heart of international climate change debate. The platform is being launched ahead of the next Conference of Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention (COP21), which will take place in Paris in November 2015.
Algae biofuel can help meet world energy demand, researchers say
Microalgae-based biofuel not only has the potential to quench a sizable chunk of the world's energy demands, say Utah State University researchers.
It's a potential game-changer. "That's because microalgae produces much higher yields of fuel-producing biomass than other traditional fuel feedstocks and it doesn't compete with food crops," says USU mechanical engineering graduate student Jeff Moody.
Wood waste biofuel could cut greenhouse gas
A sustainable biofuel made from Norwegian forest wood waste could help transform the shipping industry and reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
lternative sustainable fuels are urgently needed in the marine transport sector due to stringent upcoming regulations demanding reduced sulphur and carbon content in diesels and oils from January 2015.
Indonesian island hopes to spark green power revolution
Until two years ago, most people in Kamanggih village on the island of Sumba had no power at all. Now 300 homes have access to 24-hour electricity produced by a small hydroelectric generator in the river nearby.
"We have been using the river for water our whole lives, but we never knew it could give us electricity," Adriana Lawa Djati told AFP, as 1980s American pop songs drifted from a cassette player inside.
