Archive

KEITH NUTHALL
CONSULTANTS with expertise in district heating have been asked to bid for a Euro 299,700 contract to advise on improving the system warming the Siberian city of Ulan-Ude. Experts will be expected to identify a rehabilitation programme and compare it with alternative heating options to determine the long-term least-cost solution for heating the city, which is the capital of the Russian Federation republic of Buryatenergo.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
A EUROPEAN Union research project is about to be launched, which will create a new sophisticated model for reducing tyre noise. This ‘microscopic road traffic noise-modelling project,’ (ROTRANOMO), will consider the type of vehicle, tyre-road interaction, traffic management, driver behaviour, environmental planning and vehicle structure changes to develop a more effective noise calculation model.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Union Council of Ministers has reversed changes made by the European Parliament to EU asbestos exposure proposals. MEP’s had voted that workers be not exposed to an average airborne concentration of more than 0.1 fibres per square centimetre, over four hours.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
PRESSURE is being applied to the European Union’s national governments to support both an increase in biofuel combustion and biomass energy production. A European Parliament’s industry committee report has called for EU Member States to ensure bio-combustibles, such as sunflower and colza fuels, supply two per cent of the fuel market by 2006 and 5.75 per cent by 2010.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A RESEARCH team at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, the USA, has warned that the risk of extinction of natural species from the introduction of genetically modified organisms is “greater than believed before.” One surprising finding is that while GM species might be healthier they could also be less fertile and thus lead to a faster reduction in populations.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
GERMANY is set to become the first European country to transpose the controversial EU End-of-Life Vehicle Directive (ELV), while Britain appears to be dragging its feet over implementation.

All 15 Member States failed to meet the ELV deadline of April 21, 2002, for introducing laws on the disposal and recycling of vehicles.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
PROPOSED EU legislation on the labelling of food and food products made from genetically modified organisms, (GMO’s), has been significantly toughened by the environment committee of the European Parliament.

Its members have approved an amendment requiring that the words “this product is derived from an animal fed with GM feed” or “this product contains (an ingredient) derived from an animal fed with GM feed” appear on the label or in any advertising for a product associated with GM technology.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ENERGY consumption is still rising in the European Union, says a new European Environment Agency report, which blames transport growth for the problem; it says energy efficiency is improving only slowly and renewable energies need to expand by at least double the current rate if targets for boosting their market shares by 2010 are to be reached.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
ENERGY consumption is still rising in the European Union, says a new European Environment Agency report, which blames transport growth for the problem; it says energy efficiency is improving only slowly and renewable energies need to expand by at least double the current rate if targets for boosting their market shares by 2010 are to be reached.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN’S fresh-water bathing facilities have returned to the 100 per cent compliance with EU cleanliness standards, according to the European Commission’s latest annual bathing water directive bulletin. The UK’s compliance rate for coastal waters, reached 95.3 per cent, up from 94.4 per cent in 2000.…