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Green Notes - 16 Sep 08

By Chinthana ⋅ September 16, 2008 ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

• The Vatican City State is to get a solar energy installation, craftily sited on the roof of one its few large modern buildings; the Paul VI hall, the vast building where popes traditionally hold weekly public audiences in winter or whenever bad weather rules out St Peter’s Square. Now, the roof is ready for the 2,000 solar panels gifted to the Vatican by Solar World, a German company. The panels are expected to generate about 315.5 megawatts of electricity annually. The Vatican is considering the installation of solar power on roofs of other buildings, although centuries-old landmarks like St. Peter’s Basilica won’t be touched. Zenit.org says “The production of these panels will constitute 60%-70% of the necessary energy in those buildings, thus lessening energy expenses. Of the close to 5,000 square meters (53,810 square feet) of the roof’s surface, around 2,000 square meters (21,527 square feet) will be covered by the panels, while the rest will be used as a screen to increase the amount of captured energy.”
• A new sales tax exemption that encourages Washington car shoppers to choose hybrids and alternative-fuel vehicles will save them an estimated $18.6 million over the next two years. “It’s probably not going to make that big of an impact on hybrid sales in Washington,” said Bill Soholt, general sales manager of Toyota and Honda of Seattle. The tax break, which takes effect Jan. 1, applies only to new vehicles. It also only covers cars and trucks getting at least 40 highway mpg, which includes the Prius and hybrid Honda Civic, but not the Toyota Camry or hybrid SUVs.
• Declining ice thickness and what is looking like the second lowest coverage on record means that Arctic sea ice may well have reached its lowest levels ever in terms of total volume. Dr Martin Sommerkorn, senior climate change adviser for WWF’s Arctic Program, said:
  

  “If you take reduced ice thickness into account, there is probably less ice overall in the Arctic this year than in any other year since monitoring began. This is also the first year that the Northwest Passage over the top of North America and the Northeast Passage over the top of Russia are both free of ice.”

  Final figures on minimum ice coverage for 2008 are expected in a matter of days, but they are already flirting with last year’s record low of 1.59 million square miles, or 4.13 million square kilometres.