Sabah - ICDAS, one of the leading names in Turkey’s iron-steel industry, has unveiled investment plans in the fast-growing energy sector. A total of USD 2.5 billion will be invested in energy projects, which include a 1200 MW thermal power plant and a 106 MW wind farm. The thermal power plant, scheduled to go online in 2011, will increase the firm’s installed capacity to 1600 MW. The projected wind farm is awaiting approval from Turkey’s Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK).

Agriculture's economic importance is easy to see here. The company expanded its workforce by 100 workers in the last two years, according to Kim Heiden, plant manager. It's the largest private employer in Swift County with 430 employees.

It also keeps its wage scale at the upper tier to be the "preferred" employer, according to Heiden. Its work force includes 340 hourly workers in positions ranging from fabricating and welding to painting and assembly, as well as salaried positions involving management, marketing and engineering.

Company officials with Case IH had a simple message for the visiting congressman: Keep the agricultural economy strong.

They also used the opportunity to encourage policies in Washington that are friendly to manufacturing.

Among the concerns are tougher Environmental Protection Agency regulations on diesel emissions, and proposed standards on the dust created by harvest equipment.

Peterson spoke to employees of the plant about his own concerns with the EPA. The 7th District congressman said that agriculture could produce 30 to 35 percent of the motor fuels needed in this country as biodiesel, ethanol and other biomass-based fuels.

One way to make that happen would be to put a blender ethanol pump at every gas station in the country, according to Peterson.

He expressed his frustration that the EPA continues to study the proposal to raise the 10 percent ethanol standard to 15 percent. The decision on the issue was to have been made last May.

Agriculture has other challenges too. Peterson noted that the dairy industry has struggled in recent years. He also spoke of the difficulties that cotton farmers in the U.S. have faced, an issue near and dear to the workers in Benson. The Benson plant produces the Case IH line of cotton pickers.

The Benson operation has seen continued and growing demand for its other products, especially the sprayers and larger floaters for applying farm chemicals on fields. More than one-half of the production at the plant is devoted to these large vehicles, which are sold throughout North America.

German physicist Gerhard Knies said that a solution to the continent's energy needs could be the development of a large solar farm in the Sahara Desert and the laying cables under the Mediterranean to feed the power generated into the European energy grid, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Mr Knies predicted that this could supply 15 percent of Europe's energy by the year 2050.

However, a spokesperson for The Renewable Energy Centre.co.uk said that "the complexity of the land, costs and political frameworks which would surround the whole issue" mean that the project would not be able to contribute to the 20 percent emissions cut the European Union is seeking by the year 2020.

"The statement from Knies, although perhaps a true one, is also a substantial generalisation in terms of it being a solution," she explained.

Aug. 26, 2010 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- In an attempt to accelerate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) is collaborating with environmental institutes and private companies on carbon reduction certification for buildings.

The government and the private sector plan to use the certification to reward buildings that cut emissions to a certain level.

The campaign was officially kicked off at a seminar in Bangkok yesterday entitled "Cutting Carbon, Cutting Global Warming".

Recipients will be notified by Egat, the Thailand Green House Gas Management Organisation (TGO), the Thailand Environment Institute (TEI) and the Thailand Business Council for Sustainable Development.

The TGO will be the auditor for the certification process via its greenhouse gas control board. Certificates will be valid for three years.

"A definite benefit for the owner of a certified building would be a good image as someone who's helping to address the climate change issue," said Sirithan Pairoj-Boriboon, executive director of the TGO.

The campaign is targeted at buildings that are more than 10 years old. It encourages their owners to use green technology that can cut emissions.

Carbon footprint certification for goods was launched in 2008, with 79 goods from 18 companies receiving the accolade.

These goods, labelled with a green logo, have received a warm welcome from buyers, particularly in Europe and Japan where green products are enjoying a rising trend, said Ms Sirithan.

There are five categories for building certification, based on usable space of less than 2,000 square metres, 2,001 to 10,000 sq m, 10,001 to 50,000 sq m, 50,001 to 100,000 sq m, and more than 100,000 sq m.

Applicants must submit information regarding building layout, energy consumption, water treatment systems, amount of greenhouse gases emitted, and waste and energy conservation plans.

Certification will be awarded to buildings cutting their greenhouse gases by at least 10% based on 2002 data, said Qwanruedee Chotichanathawewong, assistant president of the TEI.

She said Kasikornbank, the Bangchak Petroleum headquarters and Toyota Motor (NYSE:TM) (Thailand) were vying to be the first certified by the TGO.

"We'll take about three months to determine which building gets the certificate," said Ms Sirithan.

She said Thailand was responsible for 340 million tonnes of carbon emissions last year, of which 38% came from ageing buildings, 44% from industry and transport and the rest from general activities.

But in the rush to drive electric, one thing is missing -- places to charge up.

Concerned that the next generation of green drivers not be left stalled by the roadside, air officials have approved a $5 million plan to install 5,000 electric car chargers around the nine-county Bay Area in the next five years at homes, apartments, office buildings, parking garages and other locations from San Jose to Santa Rosa.

There are currently about 120 public electric vehicle chargers in the Bay Area.

The devices scouring the red planet have sensors which detect dust build-ups and zap the surface of their solar panels with an electrical charge to keep them shiny.

Dr Malay Mazumder, who helped create the technology for NASA, said it could help boost efficiency of large solar power plants, many of which are situated in arid and dusty desert locations.

"A dust layer of 4g per square metre decreases solar power conversion by 40 per cent," said Dr Mazumder, from Boston University.

"In Arizona, dust is deposited each month at over four times that amount. Deposition rates are even higher in Australia, the Middle East, and India."

The technology, used on the Mars rovers since they landed on the planet in 2004, involves coating the solar panel surface with electrodes of Indium tin oxide, a transparent, electrically-sensitive material.

Sensors monitor dust levels on the surface of the panel and energise the material when dust concentration reaches a critical level.

Electrodes on the panels then produce a cascading wave of electrostatic pulses, which shake off the dust leaving them clean and more energy efficient.

Dr Mazumder said the process removes about 90 per cent of dust in two minutes and uses only a small amount of the electricity generated by the panel for cleaning operations.