Search Results for: Climate change

DISTRICT heating is an efficient way to provide heat, that can reduce carbon emissions compared to individual property-based heating. So, it is maybe heartening to learn that the Chinese central government and its municipalities are both growing district heating and encouraging the use of cleaner energies to power them.…

THE INCOMING new European Union (EU) energy Commissioner has pledged to increase the role of the Euro in energy markets, instead of the US dollar. Former Estonian minister for economic affairs and infrastructure Kadri Simson, then responsible her country’s energy policy, is expected to assume her new EU role on November 1, when a new European Commission takes office.…

THE PHILIPPINES and Thailand cigarette industries are still fighting a long trade dispute that has seen litigation rumble through the World Trade Organisation (WTO) since 2008. That year, the Philippines government lodged a series of complaints with the WTO’s disputes settlement body (DSB) that the Thai Customs Department had imposed unjust restrictions on imports of cigarettes from the Philippines.…

While the USA-China trade war currently dominates headlines, nonwovens analysts predict it will be a “relatively short-term” issue and not harm north America’s growing nonwovens market in the longer term.

With smart applications and sustainability driving the sector worldwide, the north American nonwovens market looks set to capitalise on these growth areas, aiding recovery from a past 10 years marred by economic weakness and volatile crude oil prices.…

MILITARIES try to outsmart the enemy, and researchers tasked with producing textiles to aid effective missions are often told to create materials that could defeat imagined as-yet unconfirmed threats.

“Intelligence shares what threats might look like and we look to address them before anything happens,” said Richard M Arndt, public affairs officer with the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (CCDC) Chemical Biological Center, based in Maryland.…

VIETNAM’S garment-makers have been worrying that a draft revised Labour Code will reduce their competitiveness, but four months after the draft was published there remains a strong chance it will never be enshrined in law.

The draft, which was officially submitted to the National Assembly in May 2019 for an envisioned passage in November, outlines a reduction of working hours from 48 hours per week to 44 hours which, according to the Vietnam Textile and Apparel Association, would reduce the industry’s export value by at least USD3 billion per year, as businesses would struggle to recruit workers.…

From the creation of nanotube coatings to the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in modelling to reduce production flaws, saving costs, textile composite manufacture is becoming smarter “on a near daily basis, according to researchers.

Uday Vaidya, chief technology officer at the Tennessee, USA-based Institute for Advanced Composites Manufacturing Innovation (IACMI), told Future Textiles described how thermography applies heat using maps to fabrics; when they cool, systems reveal the difference in effects and defects “which saves a lot of time”.…

The UK is failing when it comes to tackling domestic bribery and corruption, according to a July 2 report from the Fraud Advisory Panel, a British non-governmental organisation helping raise awareness about the damage caused by fraud. The panel said that the government and law enforcement has given insufficient priority to fighting UK-based fraud: “The heavy emphasis placed on overseas corruption in recent years has taken our eye off the ball at home.…

Described by environmental campaigners as “the elephant in the COP21 negotiations room” when climate change proposals were agreed in Paris during 2015, today – the electrification of shipping is moving ahead apace.

From inland ferries to cargo barges and cruise ships, vessels are being built or retrofitted with renewable power propulsion sources, curbing the shipping industry’s major emissions.…

Novel food ingredients and products are becoming increasingly common in branded products across Europe, finding new markets by offering twists to traditional tastes. These new technologies are enabling manufacturers to identify new untapped taste demands, which many big corporations have missed or failed to develop a product that fits a potential new market.…