Archive

KEITH NUTHALL
THE UK government has been given permission by the European Commission to go-ahead with exempting certain environment-friendly services from its general climate change levy, ruling that because they promote environmental good-practice and public transport, the concessions should not be considered as illegal state aid.…

Keith Nuthall
AN APPEAL has been made at the United Nations, by the Global Environment Facility organisation, to private utilities and government organisations, asking them to invest in sustainable energy development in the world’s poorer countries

Mohamed El-Ashry, the GEF’s Chief Executive Officer was speaking at a ministerial meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.…

BY MIKE FOX
AZURIX, the troubled water subsidiary of the giant energy company Enron, has confirmed that it would like to sell its north American water interests.

Azurix has a company policy of not commenting on its plans for acquisitions or divestments, but the potential sale of its north American subsidiary was revealed when it put in a bid to develop a US$150million water treatment plant that would eventually form part of a US$2billion distribution system in Houston Texas, home to the corporate headquarters of both companies.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
THE NEW Electricity Trading Arrangements (NETA) introduced in the UK on 27

March have begun smoothly, in spite of warnings earlier in the year from

electricity companies that insufficient testing of the system had taken

place and that market conditions were not favourable.…

BY MIKE FOX
THE CANADIAN energy company Hydro-Quebec has been ordered to pay more than CAN$20 million plus interest to a group of 15 Vermont utilities, to compensate for loss of power during the January 1998 “ice storm”. Quebec Hydro was selling them electricity under a 30 year contract from 1991, but cut off supplies for 66 days after the storm brought down power lines and transmission towers across Quebec, as a result of thick ice building up on all exposed equipment.…

KEITH NUTHALL
THE SUPPLY and quality of water services and their environmental management have been near the top of the research agendas of institutions of the European Union this year, with the European Commission’s directorate generals (DG) for research and the environment being particularly active.…

BY KATE REW
IN the 21st century, water may be as important to the Texas economy as oil and gas were in the last. In an American state where the urban population is expected to double over the next 50 years and where the majority of surface reservoirs have already been developed, the importance of ground water sources is paramount.…

BY MONICA DOBIE
International Chamber of Commerce

Anti-Counterfeiting Technology Guide

Pluses: The catalogue is a well-written comprehensive guide, which offers a general overview of technologies. It offers a thorough listing of manufacturing and suppliers of the products.

Minuses: Smaller companies may feel left out because much of the equipment would be better suited for the needs of large brand-owning companies with big budgets.…

BY KATE REW
S500 Mercedes ‘Guard’

Pluses: Unlike competitors it’s built from outset as armoured car – although

it doesn’t look like one.

Minuses: Are you really in enough danger to justify spending Pounds 130,000, (US$150K in the US), on this when you could be spending it on a yacht?…

Keith Nuthall
ASK the man propping up the bar in a smoky pub who is Britain’s top expert on secret codes, and he would probably say James Bond. Which is probably why many companies are hiring experts from a government agency linked to its intelligence unit GCHQ for advice on computer cryptography and other IT security issues.…