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  reprint (by W. Scharnhorst ) In the face of a four-year wind growth stagnation and an energy market that has seen oil fall to its lowest price in years, with robust policy to address climate change, wind power could supply close to 20 percent of global electricity demand by 2050.   Under an advanced policy scenario — the manifestation of the iron political will required in order to address climate change — wind power could reach a total installed global capacity of 2,000 GW by 2030, supplying up to 19 percent of global electricity. This is the key conclusion of the latest Global Wind Energy Outlook (GWEO) from the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) and Greenpeace. Continue in the panel mode mobile reader mode to get more information. In presenting three scenarios for future wind power developments, the 2014 edition further concludes that by 2050, wind power could provide 25-30 percent of global electricity supply. For perspective, wind energy installations tot...

reprint Authorities in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, recently announced that if current drought conditions persisted, they would be forced to restrict water availability for the city of 20 million to only two days per week. _progress | M replaces _kt75 | mirror. visit: http://progress-m.blogspot.com . ready: 01.07.2015. close ✕ The economic and social implications of such a decision are staggering. One senior water official admitted that residents might have to “get out of São Paulo” in order to bathe. The same combination of increased demand and decreased supply that afflicts also available ⬛ Inside sustainability: Facts, Figures,... - Part I: Unemployment ⬛ Inside sustainability: Facts, Figures,... - Part II: Alt. Energy ⬛ Inside sustainability: Facts, Figures,... - Part III: Turnover São Paulo’s water supply is also gripping the American West, and we would be fools not to think that some Western cities might end up like the Brazilian city — and n...

reprint Authorities in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, recently announced that if current drought conditions persisted, they would be forced to restrict water availability for the city of 20 million to only two days per week. The economic and social implications of such a decision are staggering. One senior water official admitted that residents might have to “get out of São Paulo” in order to bathe. The same combination of increased demand and decreased supply that afflicts also available ⬛ Inside sustainability: Facts, Figures,... - Part I: Unemployment ⬛ Inside sustainability: Facts, Figures,... - Part II: Alt. Energy ⬛ Inside sustainability: Facts, Figures,... - Part III: Turnover São Paulo’s water supply is also gripping the American West, and we would be fools not to think that some Western cities might end up like the Brazilian city — and not in some distant future. Poor planning, climate change and an over-reliance on engineering solutions to water sc...

-- a _kt75 | reprint NEW: explore all _kt75 | publications via the news db... Water is scarce but it continues to be wasted excessively in many industrial states, warns a new study by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), predicting that a global conflict over water resources could bring billions in losses for the German market. EurActiv Germany reports.  Tomatoes from Spain, textiles from India, metals from South Africa, roses from Kenya; every year, Germany imports massive amounts of goods from around the world that would not be available without considerable water resources. But water is becoming an increasingly scarce global resource . In many countries, it has become more and more difficult to supply the population with adequate drinking water and irrigation for crops. Besides export-reliant countries with critical water resources, the effects of the shortage can be devastating for others as well. According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the...

-- a _kt75 | double reprint: EN/DE Download: Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q02/2014 . The environmental resources situation is shaped by changes in climatic conditions, coupled with pressures exerted by a rapidly growing global population, its increasing demands and the subsequent impacts on the environment. Current practices across the economy sectors are still not sufficiently ambitious in terms of sustainability ; they fail to ameliorate the stress conditions of vital resources like water. In recent years, the need has been highlighted for governance and management schemes that allocate resources appropriately among users (including the environment) and that promote the efficient use of such resources. The very nature of these needs calls for adequate policy responses. One of these policy responses — applied either separately or in combination with other economic or regulatory instruments — is water pricing . The use of such instruments brings additional soci...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Download: Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q02/2014 . IRAQ depends on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for drinking water, supplying industry and irrigating massive swathes of farmland. The two rivers account for 98% of the country’s surface water. Until recently the government’s greatest concern has been the fact that the source of neither river is in the country. In the past few decades dams and diversions across Turkey and Syria have steadily reduced the quantity of water reaching Iraq. Now Iraq has a greater concern. Both waterways flow through areas of northern Iraq controlled by the Islamic State (IS), an extremist group that grew out of al-Qaeda in Iraq and today claims an area the size of Jordan straddling Syria and Iraq. On August 8th America began air strikes against the group, after IS carried out a series of attacks that targeted minorities including Christians and Yazidis and threatened the semi-autonomous northern area...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Inside Sustainability: Facts, Figures, Bullshit - Part II: Alternative Energy The European Union should ensure that future climate and energy policies do not undermine the competitiveness of its industry, already weakened by a price gap with the U.S., the bloc’s member states said. Energy ministers from the EU’s 28 nations had their first debate about 2030 carbon-reduction andrenewable energy strategy at their quarterly meeting in Brussels today. It followed yesterday’s gathering of environment ministers, where countries differed over how ambitious Europe’s emissions-cut target should be and how fast new policies should be adopted. The framework for the next decade will next be discussed by EU leaders at their March 20-21 summit. “We need to make sure we combine our objectives for setting ambitious goals with increasing competitveness of the industry and safeguarding energy supply,” Greek Energy Minister Yann...

-- a _kt75 | reprint Download the Quarterly Notes on Sustainable Water Management - Q04/2013   In a rare display of regional cooperation, representatives of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority signed an agreement on Monday to build a Red Sea-Dead Sea water project that is meant to benefit all three parties.   The project addresses two problems: the acute shortage of clean fresh water in the region, especially in Jordan, and the rapid contraction of the Dead Sea. A new desalination plant is to be built in Aqaba, Jordan, to convert salt water from the Red Sea into fresh water for use in southern Israel and southern Jordan — each would get eight billion to 13 billion gallons a year. The process produces about the same amount of brine as a waste product; the brine would be piped more than 100 miles to help replenish the already very saline Dead Sea. Under the agreement, Israel will also provide Amman, the Jordanian capital, with eight billion to 13 bi...

-- a note from _kt75 Cameroon, Namibia, Mozambique - _Grade S+ | outlook: positive Nigeria, Mali, Kongo - _Grade D- | outlook: negative A previous screening of water supply management schemes in Africa revealed preferable conditions for Cameroon, Namibia and Mozambique [ 1 ]. All three countries are characterised by well-organised operative structures both in terms of staff/know-how as well as in terms of infrastructure (_Grade S+ | outlook: positive). Especially Namibia, one of the driest countries in the region, has implemented an excellent and robust water management scheme. Of additional benefit for Namibia might the discovery of another voluminous ground water resource close to the border with Angola [ 2 ]-[ 4 ]. It will pose a challenge to as sustainable as possible use this water deposit. Cameroon, assessed to be one of the most stable countries in the region, participates in the 'Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation' which can assist to maintai...

-- a note from _kt75 Worldwide, the most recent history was characterised by a drastic increase in the price of water [ 1 ], [ 2 ]. There exist a number of diverse (partially contradictory) price drivers: investment into (defective) supply and treatment infrastructure, installation of new infrastructure (incl. expansion of existing infrastructure), real and/or artificially induced water scarcity/depletion of natural water resources, failed financial speculations [ 3 ], targeted non-investment into water supply infrastructure to, for example, increase the sales volume of bottled water, etc. In addition to this there exists still a comprehensive lack of awareness on the limited resource water [ 4 ]. The rise of the price of water (along with an increase of the price of water rights) is a common phenomenon [ 5 ]-[ 8 ], but there exist particularly sensitive regions that may face particular increases in water prices: # Near Eeast (incl. Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Iran...

► LATEST NEWS: _sust invent 0.1 RC 2 is onlin e. go here... -- a note from _kt75 As of today the fourth issue of the Notes is available via: server1 | server2 .    ► As announced previousl y, t his last issue of the Notes is edited as special issue and concentrat es exclu sively on hydro power as an alternative energy source. This in particular in order to encourage critical (re-) consideration of this type of alternative energy. A key region is Africa. The Notes intend to highlight recent political deve lopments , technica l and s cientifi c trends and provide access to relevant information .  Aside this the Notes inform about: _sust invent 0.1 RC1 ( visit: http://kt75-mirror.blogspot.ch/p/kt75-interactive.html ) . _sust invent is a web-based cross-browser service that comprises technical, economic, environmental and geo-political information. In its first version _sust invent provides qualitative and quantitative geographical and technical information of more...