Search Results for: Austria

THE EUROPEAN Commission has welcomed the results of a European Union (EU) research project Surfuncell which has developed a nanotechnology-based coating able to strengthen yarns. Its scientists have created coatings that toughen the surface of materials, to “prevent deterioration of the compound structure, or matrices holding the materials together,” said a Commission note.…

THE EUROPEAN Commission has released a detailed action plan designed to boost energy innovation and new technology across the European Union (EU). Written as a ‘communication’ policy paper, it stresses: “EU energy technology and innovation strategy is an integral part of the EU energy policy.”…

EUROPEAN Union (EU) heads of states and governments have urged their ministers to agree important pieces of draft EU legislation that could potentially curb tax evasion in the bloc.

Meeting during a European Council meeting in Brussels last week (May 22), leaders were under pressure to act from media reports revealing how much untaxed incomes politicians, companies and rich business owners have stashed in tax havens.…

AFTER many false starts and delays, Pakistan appears to be finally ready to expand its bagasse and biomass co-generation output by persuading the 83 sugar mills in the country to start production of electricity on commercial basis. The government is planning incentives such as an attractive upfront power purchase tariff and help in capital financing.…

SUMMER 2013 marks an important milestone in the evolution of the European Union (EU) regulatory framework and financial support for Trans-European Energy Networks (TEN-E) that will contribute towards the European Commission’s goal of a single-energy market for gas and electricity. Oil and carbon dioxide (CO2) transport from carbon capture and storage systems also figure in the picture.…

A EUROPEAN Union (EU) research project has developed new means of rearranging molecules helping pharma companies manufacture more effective medicines for less money. The four-year Euro EUR3.6 million EUMET project has, claimed a European Commission report “made the process of synthesising compounds simpler, more efficient and greener.”…

THE ORGANISATION for Economic Cooperation & Development (OECD) has made a lot of noise about its anti-bribery convention. But some countries are failing to comply, and where others do – otherwise honest companies can lose trade. David Hayhurst and Keith Nuthall report.…

A SLOW revolution in the use of biomass for firing or co-firing power generation is picking up pace this year as a number of competing technologies for the production of ‘biocoal’ move more convincingly towards full commercialisation.

Biocoal produced through torrefaction – in which dry biomass such as wood, paper, food waste and even sewerage waste is slow-heated anoxically (to avoid combustion) at 200C to 300C to reduce moisture and drive off low-energy volatile chemicals – offers slightly degraded fuel with lower emissions and carbon footprints (it is carbon neutral) than traditional biomass and, certainly, than coal.…

THE EUROPEAN Court of Justice has ruled Austria has broken European Union law by staging environmental impact assessments (EIA) only when airport expansions increase annual air traffic movements by 20,000 or make certain runway modifications. Judges said this was arbitrary and that EU directive 85/337/EEC insists EIAs be held into any project “likely to have significant effects on the environment”.…

THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank (EIB) will invest USD1.1 million in improving airports in the Pacific Ocean countries of Samoa and the Cook Islands, which is associated with New Zealand. The money will improve runway safety at the Cook Islands’ Rarotonga airport, upgrade its terminal and examine ways of using more renewable energy.…