| Green group says any progress on pollution during chief executive’s tenure is down to his predecessor | |||||
| Ng Kang-chung May 18, 2012 |
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The city’s air quality has improved only slightly during Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen’stenure because of his lack of action to tackle pollution, a green group says. ?Improvements? in roadside air quality since the handover were instead due largely to measures worked out by the administration of Tsang’s predecessor, Tung Chee-hwa, Friends of the Earth said. It urged Tsang’s successor, Leung Chun-ying, to roll out more assertive measures to combat the problem. “Tung had set clear objectives, such as the retirement of old diesel vehicles and a push for owners of high-emission diesel taxis to use the relatively clean fuel of liquefied petroleum gas, which were effective measures,” Thomas Choi Ka-man, senior environmental affairs officer of the group, said. “But Mr Tsang seemed to like to play around with trial schemes that achieved only minor improvements during his tenure.” In Causeway Bay for example, between 1999 and 2002 the annual average concentration of fine particulate matter fell from 74.6 micrograms per cubic metre to 53.5mcg, a drop of 21.1mcg, the group said, citing a study by the University of Science and Technology. Fine particulate, known as PM2.5, refers to respirable hazardous particles of 2.5 microns in diameter. A microgram is one millionth of a gram. In 2010, the district recorded a PM2.5 concentration of 46.5mcg per cubic metre - a drop of only 7mcg since 2002. Last year it was 45.3mcg. Tsang took over from Tung in 2005. According to air quality guidelines issued by the World Health Organisation, the annual average concentration of PM2.5 should be 10mcg per cubic metre. Other studies also showed roadside air improved at a diminishing rate during Tsang’s tenure, Choi said. The Tsang administration launched a trial for low-emission zones for franchised buses in 2009 and subsidised a trial of six hybrid buses in 2010. Choi said Tung’s policies were more effective than Tsang’s. “Tsang rolled out more voluntary trials and incentive schemes but lacked clear targets,” he said. The green group urged the next government to set clear objectives. “The carrot-and-stick approach should go side by side for policies to be effective,” said Choi, who proposed imposing higher licence fees for vehicles with higher emissions. The government gives high priority to controlling street-level air pollution, the Environmental Protection Department says. A key strategy is to control emissions from cars, power plants, and industrial and commercial processes locally, it says. |
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Tsang ‘did little’ to improve air
Pollution May Be the Cause of Earth’s Expanding Tropical Belt
http://planetsave.com/2012/05/16/pollution-may-be-the-cause-of-earths-expanding-tropical-belt/
Manmade pollutants, such as black carbon and tropospheric ozone, are most likely what’s causing the tropical belt expansion northward, a new study says.
In the Southern Hemisphere, depletion of stratospheric ozone has previously been shown to be the cause of tropical expansion. But, in the Northern Hemisphere, the main cause appears to be black carbon and tropospheric ozone pollution, the study says.
The lead author of the study, Robert J. Allen, notes that continuing expansion will have large-scale impacts on atmospheric circulation worldwide.
“If the tropics are moving poleward, then the subtropics will become even drier,” Allen said. “If a poleward displacement of the mid-latitude storm tracks also occurs, this will shift mid-latitude precipitation poleward, impacting regional agriculture, economy, and society.”
Recent observations have shown that the tropics have been widening by 0.7 degrees every decade, with global warming contributing some, but not all, of the tropical expansion.
“Both black carbon and tropospheric ozone warm the tropics by absorbing solar radiation,” Allen explained. “Because they are short-lived pollutants, with lifetimes of one-two weeks, their concentrations remain highest near the sources: the Northern Hemisphere low- to mid-latitudes. It’s the heating of the mid-latitudes that pushes the boundaries of the tropics poleward.”
As the tropics expand, they also bring with them wind and precipitation patterns, potentially drying out the tropics relative to their current state.
“For example, the southern portions of the United States may get drier if the storm systems move further north than they were 30 years ago,” he said. “Indeed, some climate models have been showing a steady drying of the subtropics, accompanied by an increase in precipitation in higher mid-latitudes. The expansion of the tropical belt that we attribute to black carbon and tropospheric ozone in our work is consistent with the poleward displacement of precipitation seen in these models.”
Black carbon aerosols are tiny particles of carbon created from the burning of biomass, and incomplete fossil fuel combustion, such as in diesel engines.
Tropospheric ozone is a pollutant generated from volatile organic conpounds (VOCs) reacting with sunlight.
Thomas Reichler, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Utah, is quoted as saying, “For a long time it has been unclear to the research community why climate models were unable to replicate the observed changes in the atmospheric wind structure. This work demonstrates now in very convincing ways that changes in the amount and distribution of tiny absorbing particles in the atmosphere are responsible for the observed changes. Since previous model simulations did not account properly for the effects of these particles on the atmosphere, this work provides a surprisingly simple but effective answer to the original question.”
“The question to ask is how far must the tropics expand before we start to implement policies to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases, tropospheric ozone and black carbon that are driving the tropical expansion?” said Allen.
Source and Images: University of California, Riverside
Source: Planetsave (http://s.tt/1c4fa)
Concerns surface about HK chief exec’s ties to Beijing
http://asiancorrespondent.com/82614/concerns-surface-about-hk-chief-execs-ties-to-beijing/
Amid cheers for quick action on some issues, CY looks a bit too close to the masters across the border, reports Asia Sentinel
The majority of Hong Kong’s 7.1 million people were happy that Leung Chun-ying won the small-circle competition to become the territory’s next chief executive against a clearly incompetent opponent. But as July 1 approaches – the date for his installation in power — worries are mounting about what he stands for and whether he is more than just a smart, well-programmed Beijing apparatchik.
Hong Kong’s Chief Eexecutive elect Leung Chun-ying. Pic: AP.
For sure, CY, as he is generally known, is getting a good press for his promise of quick action to increase housing and land supply and in particular to increase production of public rental housing. The latter is urgently needed as high private-sector prices, themselves partly the result of minimal supply and developer land-hoarding, have forced many households to abandon any idea of ownership and to look to the low-cost, public rental sector. There is also a huge need for cheap accommodation for the rapidly growing number of old people currently living in dismal circumstances such as cage homes.
Leung also looks set to move for quick action on other issues of public concern such as pollution, to which the current administration of Donald Tsang has devoted much talk and precious little action. Hopes are high that Leung’s political appointees will be able to take decisions and ensure that they are implemented. Daily public appearances and speeches have given the impression of Leung as a hands-on leader at ease with the public and ready to press the flesh in markets and housing estates.
However, another side to his personality is also coming to the fore, which is likely to become a matter of contention. He has not only proposed a major reorganization of the government but insisted that it be in place very soon – preferably before he takes office and certainly before the current Legislative Council session ends in late July. With legislative elections due in September, the new legislature will not meet till after that.
Leung is presenting the changes as a necessary part of pushing for more pro-active government. However, critics reasonably ask whether enough thought and discussion has gone into the proposals. There is even a question of whether Leung himself initiated them or they were handed down to him by Beijing string-pullers. The fact is that Leung has no experience of government, no experience of the civil service and no experience of being popularly elected.
The proposals are supposed to speed decision-making by creating two new senior political posts of deputy chief secretary and deputy financial secretary. Some bureaus would report directly to either the Chief Secretary or Financial Secretary, others (including education) only to their deputies. The proposals involve a total of some 50 new posts costing HK$72 million a year. Whether this extra layer of political appointees and decision makers would speed decision-making is questionable, as is the political motivation behind it.
C.Y. may have role planned for city’s environment chief
| LAI SEE Howard Winn May 16, 2012 |
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Speculation is mounting that Edward Yau Tang-wah, the secretary for the environment, is in line for a job in chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying’s administration. This may come as a surprise, since his performance has been widely perceived as less than stellar. Should he ever speak about what has been a miserable experience, he will no doubt say that his hands were tied by Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen, who had no desire to move on issues such as improving air quality since this could prevent pet infrastructure projects from going ahead. As a result, Yau spent five years sitting on his hands and when he couldn’t avoid it, fudging environmental issues in the Legislative Council. The big surprise is that he is apparently being considered for director of the Chief Executive’s Office, a position held by Professor Gabriel Leung. He has done a stint as director of government information. Another candidate for this job, according to the speculation, is Richard Yuen Ming-fai, who since last September has been permanent secretary for food and health. If Leung is looking for someone who does what he’s told, Yau is his man. |
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Give … and take
HK Standard
Phila Siu and Eddie Luk
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
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The government gives with one hand and takes away with the other in its new order of pay.
Principal officials will see their monthly salaries rise to HK$322,260 from the current HK$282,080.
But political assistants will be hit hard under the mechanism revealed yesterday as they will get a pay cut or, at best, no increase.
Currently, each bureau can hire one political assistant for between HK$100,000 and HK$160,000 a month. Under the new system, their salaries are capped at HK$100,000 a month.
And while a bureau can hire more than one assistant ,the combined salaries cannot exceed HK$100,000.
Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Raymond Tam Chi- yuen said the new pay scale for principal officials represents a rise of 8.1 percent based on the original salaries of the three key secretaries and 12 bureau chiefs.
They took a voluntary cut of 5.38 percent in 2009 during the economic crisis, and that pay level will be restored, making for an overall rise of 14.2 percent.
Tam argued that this rise is certainly overdue as officials at this level have not had an increase for 10 years despite inflation eroding their purchasing power.
The raise is also similar to that of senior executives in many local companies, Tam added.
“The Independent Commission on Remuneration suggests that we adjust the salary according to inflation over the years, that the increase should be 15.3 percent,” he said. “But the government has not adopted this figure.
“On one hand, we need some balance on this matter because the pay has not been increased for the last decade. But on the other hand, we need to practice self-control, and so the raise will be 8.1 percent.”
If adjustments are passed in the Legislative Council next month, the chief secretary will get a monthly salary of HK$357,300, the financial secretary HK$345,215 and the justice secretary HK$333,540.
All bureau chiefs will get HK$322,260 a month. At present, undersecretaries get either 65percent (HK$197,455) or 75 percent (HK$211,560) of the salary of bureau chiefs. Under the new proposals they will get 70 percent (HK$225,582) of the bureau chiefs’ salary.
The monthly pay for the newly created deputy chief secretary and deputy financial secretary will be 1.75 percent higher than the bureau chiefs.
Tam also said that pay-cut proposals for political assistants is in response to public criticism. “We understand that the public thinks the political assistants are getting high salaries,” he said.
And he hoped that assistants will change their working mode from working “behind the scenes” to meeting the public more.
The government will save HK$5 million a year under this adjustment, he added.
Lawmaker Leung Yiu-chung of the Neighbourhood and Workers’ Service Centre said the percentage of increase is too much.
“The public thinks it is unacceptable. They feel that the principal officials have the special power to give themselves a greater pay rise than the public.”
Labour Party chairman Lee Cheuk- yan thinks the pay rise is too high. Additionally, he fears there will be too many political assistants, which will make it hard for lawmakers to monitor the administration’s performance.
Sinopec unveils massive plans for aviation biofuels production in China
In China, Sinopec wants to produce commercial scale biofuels for airplanes and has sought permission to do so from the country’s national aviation regulator. The company expects it could produce a third of the national aviation fuel demand, 12 million metric tons, from biofuels by 2020.
Sinopec produces about three-quarters of fossil aviation fuel used in China annually. PetroChinaplans to build a refinery for aviation biofuels by 2014 that would produce 60,000 tons annually.
Government that ditches records must have something to hide
SCMP
| LAI SEE Howard Winn May 15, 2012 |
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Government that ditches records must have something to hide In years to come, the period following Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty will be of interest to historians. What were the challenges facing the government? How in practice did the “one-country, two-systems” model work? Did the motherland allow government officials to get on with their work undisturbed or was their influence overly pervasive? We will probably never know the details due to the Hong Kong government’s abysmal approach to vetting and archiving public documents. The records of how senior government officials spend theirtime,and who they meet and where, is not being recorded. Hong Kong’s historical documents are either rotting away or being destroyed. In “The memory hole: why Hong Kong needs an archives law”, a Civic Exchange report published last year, the group reports that when the government moved to its new headquarters, 1,181.7 metres of documents were approved for destruction between April and September of last year. That is almost three times the height of the Two IFC building. Professional archivists say it is impossible for such a volume of documents to have been properly screened. This is why the Archive Action Group, which was founded four years ago by former judge William Waung, has been agitating for the need for an archives law, which Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen’s government has opposed. An Audit Commission report to the Legislative Council last year said the Government Records Service had failed miserably in practically every aspect of its remit. So it would appear that we won’t be reading Donald’s diaries in years to come. This is unfortunate, since interest in his activities has heightened after reports of his schmoozing with tycoons. How often did he meet them, and where, and how did he get there? The government’s steadfast opposition to an archive law is baffling unless it has something to hide. Do they reveal too much of the government’s links with tycoons? Another mess for chief executive-elect Leung Chun-ying to clean up, perhaps? |
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Virgin Atlantic, LanzaTech partner for aviation biofuels in India, China
In the UK, Virgin Atlantic has teamed with LanzaTech to create renewable jet fuel that will power planes Shanghai and Delhi to Heathrow within two to three years. LanzaTech is working on producing its fuel in India and China, making those two destinations easy targets for implementation of the ‘green fleet.’
A flight demo with the new fuel is planned in the next 18 months, and the project will also include Boeing during the trial phases.
Within two to three years Virgin Atlantic plans flights with the new fuel on its routes from Shanghai and Delhi to London Heathrow as LanzaTech and partners develop facilities in China and India. The technology is currently being piloted in New Zealand, a larger demonstration facility will be commissioned in Shanghai this year, and the first commercial operation will be in place in China by 2014. Following successful implementation, a wider roll-out could include operations in the UK and the rest of the world.
LanzaTech estimates that its process can apply to 65 % of the world’s steel mills, allowing the fuel to be rolled out for worldwide commercial use. The energy company believes that this process can also apply to metals processing and chemical industries, growing its potential considerably further.
Virgin Atlantic will be the first airline to use this fuel and will work with LanzaTech, Boeing and Swedish Biofuels towards achieving the technical approval required for using new fuel types in commercial aircraft. A ‘demo’ flight with the new fuel is planned in 12-18 months.
The next generation technology overcomes the complex land use issues associated with some earlier generation biofuels – and detailed analysis suggests the fuel will produce around a 50% saving in lifecycle carbon emissions. The Roundtable for Sustainable Biofuels (RSB), the leading international body to ensure the sustainability of biofuels production, will advise the team to ensure the fuel produced meets key environmental, social and economic criteria.
Virgin Atlantic believes that this development will take the airline well beyond its pledge of a 30% carbon reduction per passenger km by 2020. The investment in renewable fuels is part of our widerprogramme to reduce carbon through measures such as using new, more fuel-efficient aircraft and supporting a global carbon cap and trade scheme, through our involvement in Aviation Global Deal group.
Solena Fuels sets biojet facility construction plan in motion
In California, Solena Fuels expects to put in its planning application with the City of Gilroy for construction of its first biojet facility sometime within the coming year. The company says it still has a lot of development work to do on details and consultations with the community before it asks for permission to build the 16 million gallon per year, $350 million facility.Solena, SAS partner for aviation biofuels project at Stockholm Airportadmin | October 11, 2011ShareSolena and SAS announced a partnership to develop a waste-to-jet fuel project at Arlanda Airport in Stockholm, with a goal of establishing similar projects in Denmark and Norway.The Arlanda project will gasify waste biomass, including municipal solid waste, and process the resulting syngas it into bio-based synthetic paraffinic kerosene, or renewable jet fuel. Solena, which had previously announced a 14 million gallon biofuels project with British Airways, in which BA would take an equity stake, and said that the SAS project would have similar characteristics. Solena and Qantas also recently announced a development effort.http://www.solenafuels.com/node/25
AvioNews – Agreement between Alitalia and Solena Group
Rome, Italy – To start a study on the reconversion of metropolitan solid waste in bio-fuel for aircraft
(WAPA) – Alitalia’s CEO Rocco Sabelli, CEO of Solena Group Robert Do and the one of Solena Italia Stefano Bugliosi, signed a letter of intent with which Alitalia and Solena Group commit themselves to start a feasibility study about the building of a plant capable of converting urban solid waste (promiscuous bio-masses) in a relevant share of the jet-fuel required for aircraft of Alitalia, ensuring the reduction of greenhouse gases and the stability of supplies. The signing of the agreement was attended by the Honorable Willer Bordon, president of Enalg SpA, company partner of Solena Group SpA and holding of Solena Italia SpA.
The study is finalised to assess the feasibility of a plant capable of converting hundreds of thousands of tonnes of urban solid waste (promiscuous bio-mass) in bio fuel for aircraft, in order to meet part of the fuel needs of Alitalia, reducing the consumption of conventional jet fuel with the consequent reduction (up to 96%) of CO2 emissions into the atmosphere.
The use of Solena Group’s technology will allow to produce alternative fuel for aircraft, through an high temperature gasification process of the waste that will be transformed into a so-called “Syngas”. This gas then will be converted into liquid thanks to an industrial chemical process called Fischer-Tropsch.
Alitalia and Solena Group think that this innovative technological process for the reconversion can contribute to drastically reduce the greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) generated by aircraft.
Solena Group wants to involve in the realization of the plant also institutions at local and international level. The technology offered by Solena Group can also be considered as a solution to the problem of the dispersion of urban solid waste in dumps, avoiding gaseous emissions harmful to health and environment.
The agreement between Alitalia and Solena Group is part of the innovative program called Green Sky which already saw Solena Group reaching an agreement with British Airways Group for the conversion of significant shares of urban solid waste of London’s metropolitan area in jet fuel for the aircraft operating at the airport of Heathrow. (Avionews)
AvioNews – Agreement between Alitalia and Solena Group
http://www.solenafuels.com/node/25
Rome, Italy – To start a study on the reconversion of metropolitan solid
waste in bio-fuel for
aircraft
(WAPA) – Alitalia’s CEO Rocco Sabelli, CEO of Solena Group Robert Do and
the one of Solena Italia Stefano Bugliosi, signed a letter of intent with
which Alitalia and Solena Group commit themselves to start a feasibility
study about the building of a plant capable of converting urban solid
waste (promiscuous bio-masses) in a relevant share of the jet-fuel
required for aircraft of Alitalia, ensuring the reduction of greenhouse
gases and the stability of supplies. The signing of the agreement was
attended by the Honorable Willer Bordon, president of Enalg SpA, company
partner of Solena Group SpA and holding of Solena Italia SpA.
The study is finalised to assess the feasibility of a plant capable of
converting hundreds of thousands of tonnes of urban solid waste
(promiscuous bio-mass) in bio fuel for aircraft, in order to meet part of
the fuel needs of Alitalia, reducing the consumption of conventional jet
fuel with the consequent reduction (up to 96%) of CO2 emissions into the
atmosphere.
The use of Solena Group’s technology will allow to produce alternative
fuel for aircraft, through an high temperature gasification process of
the waste that will be transformed into a so-called “Syngas”. This gas
then will be converted into liquid thanks to an industrial chemical
process called Fischer-Tropsch.
Alitalia and Solena Group think that this innovative technological
process for the reconversion can contribute to drastically reduce the
greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) generated by aircraft.
Solena Group wants to involve in the realization of the plant also
institutions at local and international level. The technology offered by
Solena Group can also be considered as a solution to the problem of the
dispersion of urban solid waste in dumps, avoiding gaseous emissions
harmful to health and environment.
The agreement between Alitalia and Solena Group is part of the innovative
program called Green Sky which already saw Solena Group reaching an
agreement with British Airways Group for the conversion of significant
shares of urban solid waste of London’s metropolitan area in jet fuel for
the aircraft operating at the airport of Heathrow. (Avionews)