Archive

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PARIS-based International Energy Agency (IEA) says more efforts must be undertaken to decouple energy consumption and economic growth. Although its report ‘Oil Crises and Climate Challenges’ found that since the 1970’s wealth has increased much faster than energy use, it found 1970’s oil crisis sparked more effective energy conservation measures and greenhouse gas emission reductions than recent Kyoto Protocol linked policies.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EURO-ZONE telephone utilities should check how they dealt with the transfer of prices from national to the European single currency for price-per-minute rates, according to a preliminary ruling from a European Court of Justice (ECJ) advocate general. Miguel Poiares Maduro advised that under EU law, telecom operators were allowed to round converted rates to the nearest Euro cent, but – crucially – provided this “does not entail a systematic increase in the monetary amounts to be paid.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank has drawn up plans to lend the city of Amsterdam up to Euro 170 million to extend the capacity of an existing waste-to-energy plant by 85 per cent to 500,000 tonnes of household waste per year, much of it water service waste.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN, France, Finland, Spain and Germany are joining 15 countries in supplying experts to a new International Nuclear Safety Group, run by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The group will provide authoritative advice and guidance on safety approaches, policies and principles at nuclear power plants and other nuclear facilities.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
EUROPEAN Union (EU) electricity federation Eurelectric has warned against the use of centralised planning and price caps in any future move to improve the EU’s security of energy supplies. A new report says “though price caps may be viewed in some quarters as an effective political instrument, such intervention is in fact potentially destructive to the competitive market and a means of discouraging investments.”…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE PORTUGUESE government is being threatened with legal action at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) for failing to ensure European Union (EU) nuclear safety standards are applied at the country’s nuclear technology institute. The European Commission claims that Portugal is not complying with various demands from Euratom and the EU basic safety standards directive, such as continuously monitoring local radioactivity and alerting Brussels about any records.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union (EU) is signalling growing confidence in the ability of Romanian public authorities to handle complex large-scale utility projects, through the award of loans and grants for development schemes. Romanian administrative standards have been criticised in the past few years for holding up the country’s progress towards joining the EU.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A SURVEY by European Union (EU) market research organisation Eurobarometer has revealed that there is immense potential for growing Internet usage in southern Europe. A survey showed not only were 43 per cent of EU citizens still unconnected to the Internet, there were huge regional variations.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
WATER utilities involved in development work overseas can now tap a Euro 1 billion budget approved last week (22-3) by the European Union (EU) Council of Ministers, earmarked for water and sanitation projects in African, Caribbean and Pacific island developing countries.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
A CONSORTIUM of seven major power companies is to apply for a license to build a new commercial power plant in the United States. EDF International North America, a subsidiary of Électricité de France, and the Westinghouse Electric Company, a BNFL subsidiary, are participating.…