Connected watches, virtually absent but still creating buzz at Baselworld
Basel, Switzerland (AFP) March 30, 2014 -
Watches that connect to your smartphone or even a satellite to ensure perfect time, regardless of where you are in the world, or alert you if you leave your phone behind?
Although not on prominent display they were a hot topic of discussion this past week at Baselworld, the world's largest watch and jewellery fair.
The show in the northern Swiss city was yet again dominated by intricate ...
more
Learn energy lessons from Ukraine, North Dakota Sen. says
Washington DC (UPI) Mar 28, 2014 -
Energy security threats in Eastern Europe are indicative of how important it is for North America to develop its own reserves, a North Dakota senator said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said ousted President Viktor Yanukovych left the economy in ruins. A Yanukovych decision in November to suspend efforts to move closer to the European Union sparked national protests that la ...
more
Quest for oil threatens Africa's oldest wildlife reserve
Goma, Dr Congo (AFP) March 30, 2014 -
The quest for oil may be the latest threat to Africa's most venerable wildlife reserve, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and already hard hit by deforestation, poaching and armed conflict.
Early in March, European Development Commissioner Andris Piebalgs warned that "with oil production there would be a major risk of pollution at this site, located near the sources of the Nile." ...
more
GDF Suez to send U.S. LNG to Taiwanese market
Washington DC (UPI) Mar 28, 2014 -
French energy company GDF Suez said Friday it signed an agreement with counterparts in Taiwan to deliver liquified natural gas sourced from the United States.
Under the terms of an agreement with CPC Corp. of Taiwan, GDF Suez will deliver 800,000 tons of LNG from the Cameron export facility in Louisiana for a 20-year period starting in 2018.
"This sales agreement, the first of it ...
more
Unrest hurting Libya's oil economy, Europe says
Washington DC (UPI) Mar 28, 2014 -
Political conflict in Libya means an economy that's largely dependent on oil production has no room to grow, the European Union said.
A progress report on Libya from the European Commission said a blockade on oil exports by eastern federalists has "severely" affected Libya's fiscal situation.
The report, published Thursday, said the closure of eastern export terminals has cut Lib ...
more
Lukoil starts output from massive Iraq oilfield
Basra, Iraq (AFP) March 29, 2014 -
One of the biggest undeveloped oilfields in the world has begun commercial production in south Iraq, officials said Saturday, part of ambitious plans by Baghdad to dramatically ramp up output.
The announcement was made during a ceremony attended by Oil Minister Abdelkarim al-Luaybi and Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani, as well as officials from Russian energy giant Lukoil, the pr ...
more
Oil traffic by rail grows, industry says
Washington DC (UPI) Mar 28, 2014 -
About 10.3 million barrels of petroleum and petroleum products traveled the U.S. rail system last week, the Association of American Railroads said.
AAR released its rail traffic report for the week ending March 22. It said 14,811 railcars, or about 10.3 million barrels barrels of petroleum and petroleum products, were delivered last week, a 10.3 percent increase year-on-year.
Las ...
more
Taiwan leader makes concessions on eve of rally
Taipei (AFP) March 29, 2014 -
Taiwan's embattled President Ma Ying-jeou offered concessions to protesters Saturday, the eve of a planned mass demonstration against a controversial trade pact with China.
Around 200 student-led demonstrators have occupied parliament for more than a week and are urging people to take to the streets of Taipei Sunday to increase the pressure on Ma's Kuomintang government.
In a bid to plac ...
more
Balcombe, target of fracking protests, greens up
Washington DC (UPI) Mar 28, 2014 -
Solar installations in Balcombe, a village at the heart of the British fracking debate, is a rebuttal of national energy policy, Friends of the Earth say.
British shale explorer Cuadrilla Resources last year was the target of major protests after it started exploratory drilling in the region. Protesters were concerned the drilling campaign was a prelude to a hydraulic fracturing operati ...
more
China's Xi begins Belgium visit on last leg of Europe tour
Brussels (AFP) March 30, 2014 -
Chinese leader Xi Jinping began a three-day visit to Belgium Sunday on the last leg of his European tour that will include meeting the Belgian royals and seeing giant pandas ahead of an historic EU visit, the first ever by a Chinese president.
Xi was welcomed at the airport by Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo and he is set to go to the royal palace in central Brussels to meet Belgium's Ki ...
more
In new social networks, anonymity is all the rage
Washington (AFP) March 30, 2014 -
When mobile social app Yik Yak swept into Auburn University, some of the coolest kids were quick to start posting on it.
But no one knows who is saying what because the comments are anonymous.
"It spread pretty fast," says Nickolaus Hines, a junior at the school in the US state of Alabama.
"The majority of things are jokes or things which are obviously funny," said the 21-year-old. B ...
more
Andrews Space Completes Qualification Of New 6U Solar Panel
Seattle WA (SPX) Mar 31, 2014 -
Andrews Space (Andrews) today announced that they have successfully completed space qualification of their new 6U solar panel. This qualification effort extends the qualified power systems products for small satellites applications beyond batteries and satellite power management to now include solar panels.
The solar panels provide a simple power generation solution for 6U CubeSat form fac ...
more
2000 Different Inverters Work with Tigo's Smart PV Tech
Los Gatos CA (SPX) Mar 31, 2014 -
Tigo Energy has announced that its PV optimisation solutions for the solar industry reached another milestone. Tigo Energy solutions are now successfully operating with over two thousand (2000) different types of inverters from over eighty (80) different suppliers.
These inverters range from small residential to large utility, covering a widespread geography including: Antarctica, Australi ...
more
Small Oil Companies Eye Huge Prize in Ghana
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 31, 2014 -
Since the first discovery of the massive Jubilee oilfield in Ghana by a start-up company, the West African playing field has begun to change, and so too have investor sentiments, disappointed most recently by the low fourth-quarter 2013 results of major integrated oil companies like Exxon, Shell, Chevron and BP.
But while the supermajors are struggling with soaring project costs and poor b ...
more
Innovative Microgrid Project Is Centered Around A Solar Village
St. Louis MO (SPX) Mar 31, 2014 -
St. Louis-based Microgrid Solar is proud to be the engineer-of-record and installer of the first microgrid in the U.S. to be centered around a "Solar Village". Missouri University of Science and Technology (Missouri S and T) created the Solar Village, which consists of multiple houses built by the university's students, from 2002 to 2009, for competition in the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar ...
more
New Energy Unveils largest SolarWindow prototype
Columbia MD (SPX) Mar 31, 2014 -
New Energy Technologies has made public never-before-seen images of the Company's largest area, high-performance SolarWindowarrays. These SolarWindowarrays measure over 232 cm2, a significant achievement for size, improving upon New Energy's previous achievements at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), and produced with highly-uniform, colored tints prefer ...
more
Cost reductions and global expansion critical to SMA Solar's future
Englewood CO (SPX) Mar 31, 2014 -
SMA's full year financial results have enforced IHS' previous predictions of a major decline in the European PV inverter market. IHS estimates that PV installations in Europe declined by 37% in 2013. This slump in demand ignited a severely competitive price war which led to European PV inverter market revenues declining by a huge 46% to $2.1 billion. Europe accounted for 33% of the global invert ...
more
Czech Moravian-Silesian Region Fundamental To Temelin AP1000
Ostrava, Czech Republic (SPX) Mar 31, 2014 -
Westinghouse Electric Company president, Europe, Middle East and Africa Yves Brachet and a high level delegation visited the city of Ostrava, the industrial heartland of the Czech Republic and administrative center of the Moravian-Silesian Region. Mr. Brachet met with key regional political and business leaders in preparation for the potential construction of Westinghouse AP1000 nuclear power pl ...
more
Why Ukraine's Next President Doesn't Matter
Washington DC (SPX) Mar 31, 2014 -
Having ridden roughshod over Ukraine, Russia's annexation of the Crimea is now over and a new chapter in Ukrainian politics is about to begin-but it won't be much different than the last chapter, with the same old faces surfacing for May presidential elections.
In the aftermath of the Maidan protests that overthrew president Viktor Yanukovych in February and Russia's retaliatory annexation ...
more
Lithium-ion batteries pass key ageing test
Hamburg, Germany (SPX) Mar 31, 2014 -
The BPT-S 5 Hybrid from Bosch uses lithium-ion batteries, which continue after years of intensive use to reliably provide households with electricity from its own PV system without the need for maintenance. This has now been proven through ageing tests, which have been carried out by the independent Institute for Power Electronics and Electrical Drives (ISEA), RWTH Aachen University and the Cent ...
more
Turkey sacks defence official involved in China arms talks
Istanbul (AFP) March 28, 2014 -
Turkey has sacked a top defence official who had been involved in negotiations over a multi-billion-dollar missile deal with a Chinese firm, media said Friday.
Murad Bayar, who had been the secretary of state for defence industries for 10 years, was sacked with immediate effect, the Anatolia news agency said, citing the official gazette but without stating the reason.
Bayar had been a k ...
more
Japan berates China's Xi over Nanjing remarks in Berlin
Tokyo (AFP) March 30, 2014 -
Tokyo on Sunday criticised Chinese President Xi Jinping for making remarks during a trip to Germany about Japan's wartime atrocities, adding that the government had lodged a protest.
At a think tank forum Friday in Berlin, Xi criticised Japan's wartime atrocities, saying the Japanese military killed more than 300,000 people in Nanjing in 1937 when it occupied the Chinese city, Jiji Press and ...
more
Russia has 'absolutely no intention' of crossing Ukraine border: Lavrov
Moscow (AFP) March 29, 2014 -
Russia has absolutely no intention of ordering its armed forces to cross over the Ukrainian border and the divisions between Moscow and the West on the crisis are narrowing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday.
"We have absolutely no intention and no interests in crossing the Ukrainian border," Lavrov told Russian state television in an interview, appearing to firmly rule ou ...
more
Philippines signs military aircraft contracts for $528mn
Manila (AFP) March 28, 2014 -
The Philippines on Friday signed agreements to buy $528 million worth of military aircraft from South Korea and Canada amid ongoing territorial disputes with China.
"After more than four decades of stagnancy in its dream of improving its capability, our air force has found a promise of new life with the realisation of our (military) modernisation programme," Philippine Defence Secretary Volt ...
more
Taiwan stages mass anti-China trade pact rally
Taipei (AFP) March 30, 2014 -
Tens of thousands of Taiwanese protesters took to the streets in Taipei on Sunday in a bid to pressure embattled President Ma Ying-jeou to retract a controversial trade pact with China.
The protesters, many wearing black shirts and headbands reading "defend democracy, retract service trade pact," crowded the streets leading to the presidential office, despite fresh concessions offered by Ma ...
more
