Earth hour around the world

Sydney - Landmarks such as Sydney's Opera House, Beijing's Forbidden City and Taiwan's Taipei 101 office tower temporarily went dark on Saturday as nations dimmed the lights for Earth Hour 2010 to call for action on climate change.

The symbolic one-hour switch-off, first held in Sydney in 2007, has become an annual global event and organisers World Wide Fund for Nature said they expect this year's to be the biggest so far.

The remote Chatham Islands was the first of more than 100 nations and territories to turn off the power at 8.30pm local time, in a rolling event around the globe that ends just across the International Dateline in Samoa 24 hours later.

Tiny Tuvalu, which fears being wiped off the map from rising sea levels, tried to go carbon-neutral for the event, pledging to cut power to its nine low-lying Pacific atolls and asking car and motorcycle owners to stay off the roads, WWF said.

Far to the south in Antarctica, Australia's Davis research station pledged to dim the lights. More

Blanket of Darkness marks earth hour
By Aarif Saib and Sapa

AT 8.30pm on Saturday the lights went out at Moses Mabhida Stadium as the city observed the Earth Hour environmental initiative.

It started when Sydney Opera House went dark, followed by Taiwan's skyscrapers and Beijing's Forbidden City.

Millions of people worldwide turned off lights and appliances for an hour in a gesture to highlight environmental concern and call for a binding pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Cape Town joined in on the WWF global environmental campaign, Earth Hour, by switching off the lights on Table Mountain and the lights of the Cape Town stadium for one hour along with the rest of the world.

Organised by the World Wildlife Fund, this was the fourth annual Earth Hour and featured 4 000 cities in more than 120 countries.

"We have everyone, from Casablanca to safari camps in Namibia and Tanzania are taking part," said Greg Bourne, CEO of the fund.

Germany's Brandenburg Gate and Cologne Cathedral went dark, while in London it was Buckingham Palace, the Houses of Parliament, St Paul's Cathedral and the Royal Albert Hall.

South Africa still hooked on coal, and plans to stay that way
Tom Slater

South Africa’s economy has grown by two-thirds since 1994 and its demand for electricity has kept pace. But, despite near-perfect wind conditions, its minister of finance, Pravhin Gordhan, has decided to keep coal at the heart of the country’s energy policy.

Here’s his logic:

1. Local coal resources are abundant and cheap.

2. Coal plants can be built faster and require less maintenance than nuclear reactors.

3. Brownouts are not an option in South Africa. (When energy demand exceeds supply in the U.S., the lights dim — when it happens in Africa, thousands may go without clean water or safe food).

4. Five other countries rely on South Africa for electricity. Failing to meet this demand could send these satellites deeper into poverty, and strain relations.

5. Coal keeps South African miners employed. The industry accounts for 18 percent of the country’s GDP.

Gordhan isn’t necessarily the world’s biggest fan of coal. He emphasized that he would prefer that the country invest in renewable and nuclear sources of energy, but that the money and technology just aren’t there. If there was any other way to meet the region’s power needs, South Africa would be interested, he said.

Instead, the country is seeking a $3.75 billion loan from the World Bank, with $3 billion of it going toward the construction of a cutting edge coal-fired power plant capable of generating 4,800 megawatts. The remainder will be used to fund efficiency, wind and concentrated solar projects. More

Farmers fear ruin as fever spreads
By Leila Samodien

The number of people infected with Rift Valley Fever is increasing by the day, and fears are mounting that the virus may spread to the Western Cape.

Sixty-three South Africans are infected, according to the latest figures released by the Department of Health yesterday.

This number went up from 52 on Thursday, to 60 on Friday and then to 63 yesterday.

Two people in the Free State have also died in recent weeks.

Rift Valley Fever causes disease in livestock, such as sheep, goats and cows, as well as in human beings.

The outbreak began last month, with the first case of human infection reported on February 13. More

Joule to create 10 000 jobs
Elsabé Brits, Beeld

Grahamstown - Not only will the Joule, South Africa's first electric car, be manufactured in the country and create about 10 000 job opportunities, it will be available as soon as the middle of 2013.

Annie Bekker, an engineer at Optimal Energy, the company responsible for developing the car, said at the science expo Scifest Africa that they'll be manufacturing the car on a small scale this year already, to prove that the technology works and so that it can be further developed.

She also said the mass production of the car in South Africa should start by the end of 2012, but she would not say exactly where this will happen yet.

The plan is to build 50 000 units per year, of which about 10% will be sold in South Africa, with the rest being exported.

The Joule was well received at auto shows in Paris and Geneva, and an announcement is expected this year that a German car manufacturer will become involved in the Joule's manufacturing.

Over the last few months, the Joule has changed from a six-seat to a five-seat car, in order to leave more room in the boot. The interior was also given a significant amount of attention.

The car doesn't make a sound when it's idling or driving slowly and otherwise it makes very little noise.

The design is also different in respect of the wind and road noise which must be blocked out to a far greater degree, because it doesn't, as is the case with other cars, have the sound of the engine to mask the wind and road noise.

The Joule's entry-level model should cost about R245 000 and it will need a service every two years.

Since the battery is charged each time one brakes, the Joule will be very economical in the city.

The prototype can cover 300km in the city before its battery needs recharging. On the open road, the battery lasts for 250km.

Learn more on the website: www.dontbeapassenger.com.

- Beeld

Toxic toads get the death penalty

Sydney -Thousands of toxic cane toads have been captured in Australia's northeast so they can be converted into fertiliser for farmers, an organiser of the second annual round-up said on Sunday.

Toad Day Out's Lisa Ahrens said she was hopeful that 10 000 of the loathsome animals - the equivalent of one ton of toads - had been captured and killed in the Queensland initiative.

"I'm hoping we did," she told AFP from the northern city of Cairns.

The cane toad, which carries a poisonous sac of venom on the back of its head, toxic enough to kill snakes and crocodiles, is regarded as a noxious pest in Australia because it wreaks havoc on the environment.

Ahrens said Australians had little love for the warty amphibian which is known to kill domesticated pets and had no problems collecting the animals so they could be killed humanely.

"They just take over anything. They are quite industrious," she said of the toads. "They are an introduced species and they need to be out."

Residents were asked to collect the toads, which come out at night, on Saturday evening and then place them plastic bags in their refrigerators. They were then, still alive, assessed as cane toads by organisers on Sunday.

The toads were then killed humanely in freezers with their bodies to be used in the most part to create fertiliser for the cane farmers which have battled them for decades.

Australia is beset by millions of cane toads after they were introduced to control scarab beetles in the 1930s.

Prolific maters, the toads eat anything and are incredibly tough, with all attempts to fight their spread - including driving cars over them and smashing them with cricket bats - having failed.

Ahrens said the biggest toad hauled in to Cairns was an 18.4cm long monster which weighed close to half a kilogram.

"It's as big as a kitten," she said, adding that the beast would be stuffed and used as a trophy in future Toad Day Out events.

- AFP