Search Results for: Germany

BY MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL

THE RUSSIAN government is welcoming anticipated talks with the European Union (EU) to negotiate a nuclear partnership agreement that would facilitate nuclear trade and exchange of knowledge on safety issues. The EU’s executive arm, the European Commission was given a mandate to begin talks just before Christmas, and the new college of commissioners taking office for five years this month (February) will be responsible for moving the process forward.…

BY MONIKA HANLEY

THE CLOSURE of the last functioning reactor in Lithuania’s Ignalina nuclear power plant facilities on December 31 has laid focus on the daunting decommissioning process currently underway with the help of several international agencies. Funding for this work is chiefly being made available by an Ignalina International Decommissioning Support Fund (IIDSF), which is managed by the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD).…

BY PHILIPPA JONES

WITH so much competition in design and price within the apparel and textile sector, manufacturers are always looking for an edge. One way in which they can steal a march on competitors is with fibre innovation. And with new technology allowing the incorporation of increasingly complex arrays of chemicals and particles, even on the nano-scale, the opportunities to develop a revolutionary new fibre or mix of fibres are maybe greater today than ever before.…

BY ALAN OSBORN

THE JUST-PUBLISHED review of 2009 and a forecast for the near and medium term future from the European Wind Energy Association (EWEA) are providing cause for both satisfaction and unease where wind power financing is concerned.

On the first count, there is no doubt that the sector is growing rapidly.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

CO2 emissions statistics released by the European Commission show that while British motorists are ignoring government calls to buy smaller cars, their vehicles are at least getting greener. Across the European Union (EU) the CO2 emitted by passenger cars is falling fast: looking at 2008, a report said the average specific CO2 emissions from passenger cars were 153.5g CO2/km.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

THE CONSORTIUM operating the Nord Stream project gas pipelines between Russia and Germany has decided on the three companies who will supply the million tonnes of steel required to build a second line. Europipe (Germany), OMK (Russia) and Sumitomo (Japan) will share a Euro 1 billion contract: Europipe will supply 65% of the steel; OMK 25 %; and Sumitomo 10%.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

RUSSIA and Ukraine appear to have headed off an oil transit dispute that could have created a repeat of last year’s major disruption of European natural gas supplies. Moscow and Kiev have signed an agreement increasing by 30% the fees Ukraine charges on transporting Russian oil to the European Union (EU) – this alters a 2004 contract and the change had sparked a diplomatic tussle.…

BY EMMA JACKSON

THE EUROPEAN Commission has committed Euro 17.9 million to market dairy products over three years across the European Union (EU). The money will be spent by dairy industry organisations in 11 member states, who will also contribute funds, along with their national governments.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL

AFTER the disappointment of the Copenhagen summit on climate change, it is perhaps encouraging to note that the auto industry – so often painted as the bad boy of the climate change issue – really is reducing its vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions.…

BY MARK ROWE and KEITH NUTHALL

THIS April, the UK will launch a feed-in tariff for electricity, which the government said will accelerate take-up of green energy among the general public. According to the European Commission’s energy directorate-general, the European Union (EU) already uses at least 20% more energy than is justified, which has led to twin concerns – the need to reduce consumption of fossil fuels and to encourage consumers to switch to green energy tariffs and sources.…