A team led by researchers at MIT in the United States has discovered large molecules containing carbon in a distant interstellar cloud of gas and dust.
This is exciting for those of us who keep lists of known interstellar molecules in the hope that we might work out how life arose in the universe.
But it’s more than just another molecule for the collection. The result, reported today in the journal Science, shows that complex organic molecules (with carbon and hydrogen) likely existed in the cold, dark gas cloud that gave rise to our Solar System.
Furthermore, the molecules held together until after the formation of Earth. This is important for our understanding of the early origins of life on our planet.
Difficult to destroy, hard to detect
The molecule in question is called pyrene, a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon or PAH for short. The complicated-sounding name tells us these molecules are made of rings of carbon atoms.
Carbon chemistry is the backbone of life on Earth. PAHs have long been known to be abundant in the interstellar medium, so they feature prominently in theories of how carbon-based life on Earth came to be.
A pyrene molecule, consisting of carbon atoms (black) and hydrogen atoms (white). Jynto/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY
We know there are many large PAHs in space because astrophysicists have detected signs of them in visible and infrared light. But we didn’t know which PAHs they might be in particular.
Pyrene is now the largest PAH detected in space, although it’s what is known as a “small” or simple PAH, with 26 atoms. It was long thought such molecules could not survive the harsh environment of star formation when everything is bathed in radiation from the newborn suns, destroying complex molecules.
In fact, it was once thought molecules of more than two atoms could not exist in space for this reason, until they were actually found.
Also, chemical models show pyrene is very difficult to destroy once formed.
Last year, scientists reported they found large amounts of pyrene in samples from the asteroid Ryugu in our own Solar System. They argued at least some of it must have come from the cold interstellar cloud that predated our Solar System.
So why not look at another cold interstellar cloud to find some? The problem for astrophysicists is that we don’t have the tools to detect pyrene directly – it’s invisible to radio telescopes.
Using a tracer
The molecule the team has detected is called 1-cyanopyrene, what we call a “tracer” for pyrene. It is formed from pyrene interacting with cyanide, which is common in interstellar space.
The researchers used the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia to look at the Taurus molecular cloud or TMC-1, in the Taurus constellation. Unlike pyrene itself, 1-cyanopyrene can be detected by radio telescopes. This is because 1-cyanopyrene molecules act as small radio-wave emitters – tiny versions of earthly radio stations.
As scientists know the proportions of 1-cyanopyrene compared to pyrene, they can then estimate the amount of pyrene in the interstellar cloud.
The amount of pyrene they found was significant. Importantly, this discovery in the Taurus molecular cloud suggests a lot of pyrene exists in the cold, dark molecular clouds that go on to form stars and solar systems.
A wide-field view of part of the Taurus molecular cloud ~450 light-years from Earth. Its relative closeness makes it an ideal place to study the formation of stars. Many dark clouds of obscuring dust are clearly visible against the background stars. ESO/Digitized Sky Survey 2. Acknowledgement: Davide De Martin.
The complex birth of life
We are gradually building a picture of how life on Earth evolved. This picture tells us that life came from space – well, at least the complex organic, pre-biological molecules needed to form life did.
That pyrene survives the harsh conditions associated with the birth of stars, as shown by the findings from Ryugu, is an important part of this story.
Simple life – consisting of a single cell – appeared in Earth’s fossil record almost immediately (in geological and astronomical terms) after the planet’s surface had cooled enough to not vaporise complex molecules. This happened more than 3.7 billion years ago in Earth’s approximately 4.5 billion history.
For simple organisms to then appear so quickly in the fossil record, there’s just not enough time for chemistry to start with mere simple molecules of two or three atoms.
The new discovery of 1-cyanopyrene in the Taurus molecular cloud shows complex molecules could indeed survive the harsh conditions of our Solar System’s formation. As a result, pyrene was available to form the backbone of carbon-based life when it emerged on the early Earth some 3.7 billion years ago.
This discovery also links to another important finding of the last decade – the first chiral molecule in the interstellar medium, propylene oxide. We need chiral molecules to make the evolution of simple lifeforms work on the surface of the early Earth.
So far, our theories that molecules for early life on Earth came from space are looking good.
Maria Cunningham has received funding from The Australian Research Council. In the past she has collaborated with Anthony Remijan, one of the co-authors on the Science paper discussed in this publication. Their last co-authored paper was in 2015.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments
Speech by Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland.
Location:
Dublin, Republic of Ireland
Delivered on:
(Speaker’s notes, may differ from delivered version)
Good afternoon. It’s a great pleasure to be with you all today.
Go raibh míle maith agaibh.
I would like to extend my thanks to John McGrane and Paul Lynam for your very kind invitation and sharing my congratulations to Marie Doyle on her recent appointment as President of this wonderful organisation.
Now, many people in Britain might assume that the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce has a long and distinguished history. It is certainly distinguished but it’s not very long, having been founded only in 2011. But it feels to me and I’m sure to you much older, such is the strength of the ties that bind our two countries together.
Two countries that share so much… in terms of history, culture, ideas, politics and friendships.
And it is a story that runs like a thread through these islands and through the lives of so many of our families, including my own: on my side, it was an Ulster Scot from Fermanagh who took that journey that millions made across the Atlantic to Ohio from where my mother came and, on my wife’s side, Irish Catholics from Mayo and Kilkenny and Cork, her grandfather was born in Monkstown.
And talking of families, you may be aware that I come from a family best known for politics. What you may be less aware of is that two of my great grandfathers were Victorian entrepreneurs.
One – Peter Eadie – designed and made ring travellers for the textile industry working out of the upstairs of a terraced house in Galashiels, in Scotland.
The other – John Benn – was very good at drawing and decided to found a furniture trade magazine which, with great prescience – given the posts that his son, grandson and great grandson – that’s me – all went on to hold, he decided to call it “ The Cabinet Maker.“ You couldn’t make it up.
Both of those grandfathers entered politics as elected councillors as they put their business minds, industriousness and civic virtues at the service of the public.
So, if I may say so, it is in that spirit of innovation and constructive endeavour that I address you today.
Now the history of these islands has not always been benign. Over the centuries there have been terrible wrongs, great violence, revolution, bitterness but in recent years – reconciliation and progress in ways that would have seemed impossible in the past.
It was a great pleasure last night to see the play Agreement at the Gate Theatre, which so powerfully depicts the events leading up to that miraculous Good Friday in 1998. That agreement eventually resulted in something – I must be frank – I never thought I would see in my lifetime. I grew up watching reporting of the Troubles on the television, reading about it in the papers, and to witness a unionist and a nationalist sitting side by side in government together – that truly was the impossible made possible. And today Northern Ireland is a very different place.
Why?
Because of the courageous political leadership shown in the play last night and many others showed.
We must never lose sight of how far we have come across these shared islands since then. I want to say very clearly and directly: The Government’s commitment to the Good Friday Agreement – in letter and in spirit – is absolute. And that our support for the European Convention on Human Rights, which underpins the Agreement, and to the rule of law is unwavering.
My priority as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland – above all else – is to support political stability and economic growth.
And critical to that stability and critical to that growth in Northern Ireland is a healthy and constructive relationship between the Irish and UK governments.
And from day one, this new Government has been absolutely determined to seize the opportunity to restore trust, friendship and collaboration between our two countries. And as Paul just set out, the Prime Minister and the Taoiseach have made their joint commitment to this reset, which will be underpinned by annual summits, in addition to the existing Strand 3 institutions.
You’ve heard about the visits the British ministers have made and colleagues from here over to Westminster, and all of those are practical expressions of that commitment to a new and better relationship.
And talking of new relationships, the restoration of the Executive and Assembly in February was a hugely important moment for Northern Ireland – after too many years in which devolved government was not functioning. And it is vital that we now do all we can to ensure that this stability endures.
Stable and devolved government and political representation at Stormont matters above all for the people of Northern Ireland – they need a government and an Assembly that work for them.
But it also matters enormously for businesses right across Ireland, the United Kingdom and beyond. What do businesses and potential investors say they want? Stability. Political stability.
I am really impressed by the partnership that Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly have forged and the Executive now has a Programme for Government and a Fiscal Sustainability Plan.
And Northern Ireland has a great opportunity to make the most of its unique access to both the British and the European markets to help the economy to grow and to create jobs.
And that is what you do as the British Irish Chamber in promoting trade, prosperity and progress across these islands.
Now we are still having to manage the consequences of the UK’s decision to leave the European Union, in a way that does not unnecessarily inhibit trade and commerce across the Irish Sea. That is why this Government is absolutely committed to fully implementing the Windsor Framework, pragmatically and in good faith.
It is not without its challenges – I think that is probably the understatement of the year – but it is necessary. And there is a much bigger prize in sight.
The Government is committed to improving the UK’s trading relationship with the EU, including through the negotiation of a sanitary and phyto-sanitary agreement which would have the potential to dramatically smooth the movement of food, animals and plants across the Irish Sea.
One of the joys of my job is that everywhere I go in Northern Ireland I see talent, ingenuity and enterprise.
I see world class businesses operating in the life sciences, high-tech engineering, making composite aircraft wings and building the buses of the future – electric and hydrogen – services and film and television, education.
I am really struck that all these firms have seen something in Northern Ireland and its people.
And my message to investors is simply this.
Come, look, see, believe, invest in Northern Ireland.
Just look at the opportunities for the UK and Irish Governments to work collaboratively on areas and projects to help improve growth in Northern Ireland, in the Republic of Ireland including in its border regions.
Areas which are summed up by the four pillars which will form the basis of the annual leaders’ summits.
We need this collaboration not only because it is in our mutual economic interest, but because in these very uncertain times, we face shared challenges which our shared values and our shared commitment to democracy and the rule of law, will help us to face up to.
What do we need to do?
We need to ensure stability in an unstable world.
We need to build economic growth.
We need to make sure we have the infrastructure to enable that growth and attract that investment.
We have got to invest in skills.
We’ve got to make the transition to net zero – what a fantastic opportunity for businesses if you just think about changing the way we heat our homes. There are a lot of heat pumps that will have to be built and installed, and we together on these islands should be making them.
Building new energy infrastructure which will be required to power those heat pumps and the electric buses, cooperating on energy resilience – not least given the huge potential across these islands for more wind power – and the investment in Northern Ireland from GB Energy, the UK’s new publicly owned, clean energy company, which in turn will support the Shared Electricity Market.
At the same time, we only have to look around us to see the risks from conflict, climate change and the loss of biodiversity. Biodiversity is not a like-to-have, it is the very stuff on which human existence is based.
If you pause for a moment and look around you, every single thing we see is a gift from what is on the surface of the earth and beneath it. The genius of the human mind is that we have taken those gifts and look at what we have built. Look at what we have created, look at what we have fashioned.
And given the increasingly uncertain geopolitics of the world, it also makes sense for the UK and Ireland to collaborate on confronting the threats we face, whether in relation to cyber security, terrorism, organised crime or the threat from Russia and other states.
And in doing all of this, the sense I get from the vast majority of people is they would like us to move forward and to try and build a better future that we can jointly embrace.
So let us be bold, let us get on with it and let us take inspiration from those who 26 years ago truly made the impossible possible.
Finally, why do the relationships that I have spoken about matter so much?
They are clearly important economically, but they are also about something else – it’s about building alliances so we can deal with the risks and take advantage of the opportunities.
All of these are powerful reasons why we should work together closely.
Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Two proud nations with everything to gain from a close partnership, for as the great W B Yeats reminded us:
“There are no strangers here. Only friends you haven’t yet met.”
Bian Zhigang, deputy head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), speaks at the payloads handover ceremony held by CNSA in Beijing, capital of China, Oct. 24, 2024. [CNSA/Handout via Xinhua] The scientific payloads for space breeding and other sci-tech experiments carried by China’s first reusable and returnable satellite, Shijian-19, were delivered to Chinese and foreign users on Thursday. At the payloads handover ceremony held by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) in Beijing on Thursday, the CNSA and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation signed payload delivery certificates with domestic and international users, including those from Thailand and Pakistan. Bian Zhigang, deputy head of CNSA, said the Shijian-19 mission fully leverages the advantages of the new generation retrievable space experiment platform, conducting space breeding experiments of about 1,000 species of germplasm resources, providing crucial support for the innovation of germplasm resources in China. The mission has also offered a valuable in-orbit validation opportunity for domestically produced components and raw materials. According to Meng Lingjie, director of the Earth Observation System and Data Center under the CNSA, the Shijian-19 mission has made a breakthrough in its recovery module. The satellite platform can be reused more than 10 times, significantly reducing manufacturing costs and improving operational efficiency. The satellite serves as a space testing platform that enables convenient transportation of payloads between Earth and space, offering high-quality experimental services, said Meng, adding that it has wide-ranging applications in space sci-tech experiments such as space breeding as well as space pharmaceutical and material manufacturing.
China successfully retrieved its first reusable and returnable test satellite, Shijian-19, at the Dongfeng landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 10:39 a.m. (Beijing Time), Oct. 11, 2024, said the China National Space Administration (CNSA). [Photo/Xinhua] The satellite carried 500 kg of experiment payloads back to Earth, greatly enhancing the capability for payload recovery, according to Meng. It can also provide a high-quality microgravity environment for experiments. When the satellite was in orbit, seven new technology experiments were carried out, including microgravity hydrogen production, low-frequency magnetic communications, inflatable sealed cabin and wireless power transmission. The satellite also carried nine space science payloads to conduct research in fields such as carbon nanomaterials and devices, solid catalyst materials, and oral and dental science materials. According to Liu Luxiang, executive director general of the Institute of Crop Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, the Shijian-19 mission carried seeds of about 1,800 plant materials and more than 1,000 species of microorganisms, encompassing nearly all major kinds of agricultural products. The mission not only provides solid support to China’s space breeding, but also creates a collaboration platform for international counterparts, said Liu, who is also the chief scientist of China’s space breeding project. The satellite carried rice seeds from Thailand, seeds of wheat, rice, corn and beans from Pakistan, as well as crop seeds from other countries. “In face of the challenge of global food security, it is necessary to continuously enhance food production, develop new genetic resources that promote nutrition and health, and cultivate new grain varieties that are more resilient to climate change with improved stress tolerance,” Liu said. Over the past 30 years, China has developed over 300 crop varieties through its space breeding technologies. These varieties cover an annual cultivation area of about 2 million hectares, with remarkable social and economic benefits, according to Liu. The Shijian-19 satellite was sent into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Sept. 27. It returned to Earth on Oct. 11.
Headline: Siemens and Microsoft scale industrial AI
Siemens and Microsoft have taken the Siemens Industrial Copilot to the next level, to handle demanding environments at scale
Over 100 customers in Europe and the US are using the Siemens Industrial Copilot to improve efficiency, cut downtime, and address labor shortages
thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering is planning a global rollout of Copilot beginning 2025
More than 120,000 engineers can now leverage the Copilot, upskilling experts and workers in programming with Gen AI
BERLIN — Oct. 24, 2024 — Siemens is revolutionizing industrial automation with Microsoft. Through their collaboration, they have taken the Siemens Industrial Copilot to the next level, enabling it to handle the most demanding environments at scale. Combining Siemens’ unique domain know-how across industries with Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service, the Copilot further improves handling of rigorous requirements in manufacturing and automation.
Over 100 companies, including Schaeffler and thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering, are currently using the Siemens Industrial Copilot to streamline processes, address labor shortages, and drive innovation. With 120,000 users already leveraging the Siemens engineering software, they now have the opportunity to enhance their work with the Gen AI-powered assistant.
Co-creation partner thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering is now the first to plan to use the Copilot globally. Beginning in early 2025, their machines will be engineered with the assistant, fully unleashing its potential across their entire product range. The rollout will take place globally. Siemens is pioneering the offering of Gen AI for automation engineering in the industry and has made this capability easily accessible on the Siemens Xcelerator open digital business platform.
“The collaboration between Siemens and Microsoft marks a pivotal moment in the industrial sector; one where AI Transformation becomes a cornerstone for innovation and operational efficiency,” said Judson Althoff, executive vice president and chief commercial officer at Microsoft. “By integrating Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service into Siemens’ industrial solutions, we are equipping companies with cloud-based AI tools to simplify complex challenges, drive productivity, and help them stay competitive in an increasingly dynamic environment.”
“Together with Microsoft we scale industrial AI, empowering our customers throughout the industry to become more resilient, competitive and sustainable. thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering shows how customers can use Siemens Industrial Copilot even in highly demanding environments as a major efficiency boost,” said Cedrik Neike, Member of the Managing Board of Siemens AG and CEO of Digital Industries.
Since the product’s availability in July 2024, customers across various sectors have started using Siemens Industrial Copilot for Engineering to boost efficiency. Engineers can now create panel visualizations in 30 seconds and generate code that requires only 20% adaptation.
This streamlines workflows, reducing manual effort and addressing the skilled labor shortage. The chat function also provides instant, precise answers, eliminating the need for lengthy searches. By leveraging the Copilot, companies are driving productivity and innovation.
Transforming battery quality assurance with Siemens Industrial Copilot
thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering exemplifies the Siemens Industrial Copilot’s transformative potential at scale, particularly in complex control, such as development of automated systems for the production of battery and hydrogen assembly lines. One of their machines helps ensure quality of batteries for electric cars, a crucial factor in the sustainable energy transition and the industry’s reliance on 100% reliable batteries. Sensors, cameras, and measurement systems are integrated to monitor battery cell quality across multiple stages, conducting complex evaluations to detect discharges beyond set thresholds.
The Siemens Industrial Copilot supercharges the development and operation of this battery machine by automating repetitive tasks like data management, sensor configuration, and the crucial reporting of each step necessary to meet strict battery inspection requirements. Generally, the Copilot supports engineering by handling both routine and essential documentation tasks. This allows the engineers to focus on complex, value-added work, while its real-time problem-solving capabilities minimize downtime and ensure smooth production.
“Siemens Industrial Copilot will prospectively ease our workload and address the pressing challenges of labor shortages and increasing complexity in battery testing. This AI-powered solution will be a game-changer for our industry, and we will actively roll it out across our machines,” said Dr. Volkmar Dinstuhl, Member of the Executive Board of thyssenkrupp AG and CEO of thyssenkrupp Automotive Technology.
Siemens will share more details on Siemens Industrial Copilot at the SPS expo in Nuremberg, Germany, in November 2024.
This press release along with press photos and other materials can be found at:
https://sie.ag/2s6zEA
Contacts for journalists
Siemens AG
Jil Huber
Phone: +49 162 3474144; email: [email protected]
Microsoft
WE Communications for Microsoft
Phone: (425) 638-7777; email: [email protected]
thyssenkrupp AG
Sarah Grassmann
Phone: +49 152 28277427; email: [email protected]
Follow us at www.x.com/siemens_press
For further information: www.siemens.com/industrial-copilot and siemens.com/sps-fair
Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a leading technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, mobility, and healthcare. The company’s purpose is to create technology to transform the everyday, for everyone. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers customers to accelerate their digital and sustainability transformations, making factories more efficient, cities more livable, and transportation more sustainable. Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company, Siemens Healthineers, a leading global medical technology provider shaping the future of healthcare.
In fiscal 2023, which ended on September 30, 2023, the Siemens Group generated revenue of €74.9 billion and net income of €8.5 billion. As of September 30, 2023, the company employed around 305,000 people worldwide on the basis of continuing operations. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) creates platforms and tools powered by AI to deliver innovative solutions that meet the evolving needs of our customers. The technology company is committed to making AI available broadly and doing so responsibly, with a mission to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
About thyssenkrupp Automotive Technology
thyssenkrupp Automotive Technology is a leading supplier and development partner to the international automotive industry. Its range of products and services includes high-tech components and systems as well as automation solutions for vehicle production. The product range includes chassis technologies such as steering and damping systems and the assembly of axle systems as well as drive train components for conventional and alternative drives. thyssenkrupp Automotive Technology also develops assembly lines for body-in-white construction and produces lightweight body parts in series. The business area generated sales of 7.9 billion euros in fiscal year 2022/23. We also specialize in the production of springs and stabilizers for various vehicle types, as well as components and systems for tracked vehicles. Automotive Technology has a global production network with more than 90 locations in Europe, Asia, and North and South America.
Source: The Conversation – UK – By Christopher Hill, Associate Professor (Research and Development), Faculty of Business and Creative Industries, University of South Wales
Nuclear detonations were the backdrop to Teeua and Teraabo’s childhood. By the time the sisters were eight and four, the Pacific island on which they grew up, Kiritimati, had hosted 30 atomic and thermonuclear explosions – six during Operation Grapple, a British series between 1957 and 1958, and 24 during Operation Dominic, led by the US in 1962.
The UK’s secretary of state for the colonies, Alan Lennox-Boyd, had claimed the Grapple series would put Britain “far ahead of the Americans, and probably the Russians too, in super-bomb development”. Grapple, the country’s largest tri-service operation since D-Day, also involved troops from Fiji and New Zealand. It sought to secure the awesome power of the hydrogen bomb: a thermonuclear device far more destructive than the atomic bomb.
Britain’s seat at the top table of “super-bomb development” was emphatically announced in April 1958 with Grapple Y: an “H-bomb” 200 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. This remains Britain’s largest nuclear detonation – one of more than 100 conducted by the UK, US and Soviet Union in 1958 alone.
More than six decades later, the health effects on former servicemen based on Kiritimati, as well as at test locations in South and Western Australia, remain unresolved. Greater Manchester’s mayor, Andy Burnham, has called the treatment of UK nuclear test veterans “the longest-standing and, arguably, the worst” of all the British public scandals in recent history.
Over the past year, the life stories of British nuclear test veterans have been collected by researchers, including myself, for an oral history project in partnership with the British Library. Whether from a vantage point of air, land or sea, the veterans all recall witnessing nuclear explosions with startling clarity, as if the moment was seared on to their memories. According to Doug Herne, a ship’s cook with the Royal Navy:
When the flash hit you, you could see the X-rays of your hands through your closed eyes. Then the heat hit you, and it was as if someone my size had caught fire and walked through me. To say it was frightening is an understatement. I think it shocked us into silence.
British servicemen describe their nuclear test experiences. Video: Wester van Gaal/Motherboard.
But what of the experiences of local people on Kiritimati? I have recently interviewed two sisters who are among the few surviving islanders who witnessed the nuclear tests. This is their story.
‘A mushroom cloud igniting the sky’
At the start of Operation Grapple in May 1957, around 250 islanders lived on Kiritimati – the world’s largest coral reef atoll, slap bang in the centre of the Pacific Ocean, around 1,250 miles (2,000km) due south of Hawaii. The island’s name is derived from the English word “Christmas”, the atoll having been “discovered” by the British explorer James Cook on Christmas Eve 1777.
In May 2023, I visited Kiritimati for a research project on “British nuclear imperialism”, which investigated how post-war Britain used its dwindling imperial assets and resources as a springboard for nuclear development. I sought to interview islanders who had remained on the atoll since the tests, including Teeua Tekonau, then aged 68. In 2024, I visited her younger sister, Teraabo Pollard, who lives more than 8,000 miles away in the contrasting surroundings of Burnley, north-west England.
Far from descriptions of fear and terror, both Teeua and Teraabo looked back on the tests with striking enthusiasm. Teraabo recalled witnessing them from the local maneaba (open-air meeting place) or tennis court as a “pleasurable” experience full of “excitement”.
She described having her ears plugged with cotton wool before being covered with a blanket. As if by magic, the blanket was then lifted to reveal a mushroom cloud igniting the night sky – a sight accompanied by sweetened bread handed out by American soldiers. So vivid was the light that Teraabo, then aged four, described “being excited about it being daytime again”.
An Operation Grapple thermonuclear test near Kiritimati, 1957-58. Video: Imperial War Museums.
In view of the violence of the tests, I was struck that Teeua and Teraabo volunteered these positive memories. Their enthusiasm seemed in marked contrast to growing concerns about the radioactive fallout – including those voiced by surviving test veterans and their descendants. As children, the tests seem to have offered the sisters a spectacle of fantasy and escapism – glazed with the saccharine of American treats and Disney films on British evacuation ships.
Yet they have also lived through the premature deaths of family members and, in Teraabo’s case, a malignant tumour dating from the time of the tests. And there have been similar stories from other families who lived in the shadow of these very risky, loosely controlled experiments. Teraabo told me about a friend who had peeked out from her blanket as a young girl – and who suffered from eye and health problems ever since.
‘Only a very slight health hazard’
Kiritimati forms part of the impossibly large Republic of Kiribati – a nation of 33 islands spread over 3.5 million square kilometres; the only one to have territory in all four hemispheres and, until 1995, on either side of the international date line. Before independence from Britain in 1979, Kiribati belonged to the Gilbert and Ellice Island Colony, which in effect made Kiritimati a “nuclear colony” for the purpose of British and American testing.
In 1955, Teeua and Teraabo’s parents, Taraem and Tekonau Tetoa, left their home island of Tabiteuea, a small atoll belonging to the Gilbert group of islands in the western Pacific. They boarded a British merchant vessel bound for Christmas Island nearly 2,000 miles away. Setting sail with new-born Teeua in their arms, the family looked forward to a future cutting copra on Kiritimati’s British coconut plantation.
The scale of this journey, with four young children, was immense. Just how the hundred or so Gilbertese passengers “managed to live [during the voyage] was better not asked”, according to one royal engineer who described a similar voyage a few years later. “There were piles of coconuts everywhere – perhaps they were for both food and drink.”
The Insights section is committed to high-quality longform journalism. Our editors work with academics from many different backgrounds who are tackling a wide range of societal and scientific challenges.
Within two years of their arrival, the family faced more upheaval as mother Taraem and her children were packed aboard another ship ahead of the first three sets of British nuclear tests in the Pacific. Known as Grapple 1, 2 and 3, they were to be detonated over Malden Island, an atoll some 240 miles to the south of Kiritimati – but still too close for the comfort of local residents.
According to Teeua, the evacuation was prompted by disillusioned labourers brought to Kiritimati without their families, who went on strike after learning how much the British troops were being paid. But the islanders’ perspectives do not feature much in the colonial records, which give precedence to British disputes about logistical costs and safety calculations.
The Grapple task force resolved that the safe limit set by the International Commission on Radiological Protection should be reduced, to limit the cost of evacuations. A meeting in November 1956 noted that “only a very slight health hazard to people would arise from this reduction – and that only to primitive peoples”.
Shocking as this remark sounds, it is typical of the disregard that nuclear planners appear to have had, both for Indigenous communities and the mostly working-class soldiers. These lives did not seem to matter much in the context of Britain’s quest for nuclear supremacy. William Penney, Britain’s chief nuclear scientist, had bemoaned how critics during tests in Australia were “intent on thwarting the whole future of the British Empire for the sake of a few Aboriginals”.
Tekonau, Teeua’s father, was one of the 30 or so I-Kiribati people to stay behind on Kiritimati during the Malden tests in May and June 1957. As one of the only labourers to speak English, he had gained the trust of the district commissioner, Percy Roberts, who invited Tekonau to accompany him during inspections of villagers’ houses in Port London, then the island’s only village. On one occasion, Teeua said, the islanders did not recognise her father as he had been given a “flat top” haircut like the Fijian soldiers. “This means he had a nice relationship with the soldiers,” she told me. “Thank God for giving me such a good and clever dad.”
Since the initial tests did not produce a thermonuclear explosion, the task force embarked on further trials between November 1957 and September 1958, known as Grapple X, Y and Z. In view of expense and time, these were conducted on Kiritimati rather than Malden Island – and this time, the residents were not evacuated to other islands. Rather, families were brought aboard ships in the island’s harbour and shown films below deck.
After these tests, the islanders returned to find the large X and Y detonations had cracked the walls of their homes and smashed their doors and furniture. One islander found their pet frigate bird, like so many of the wild birds on Kiritimati, had been blinded by the flash of Grapple Y. No compensation was ever paid to the islanders, although the Ministry of Supply did reimburse the colony for deterioration of “plantation assets”, including £4 for every damaged coconut tree (equivalent to £120 today).
A month before Grapple Y, Teraabo was born. Her earliest and most vivid childhood memories are of the US-led Operation Dominic four years later, by which time evacuation procedures had been abandoned altogether.
This series of tests was sanctioned by Britain in exchange for a nuclear-powered submarine and access to the Nevada Proving Grounds in the US – regarded as pivotal to the future of British weapons technology ahead of the signing of the Test Ban Treaty in October 1963, which would prohibit atmospheric testing.
Dominic’s 24 detonations on Kiritimati – which usually took place after sunset around 6pm, between April and November 1962 – were “awesome”, according to Teraabo. Recalling the suspense as the “tannoy announced the countdown”, she described “coming out of cover [and] witnessing the bomb [as] an amazing experience … When the bomb set off, the brilliance of the light was tremendous.”
Each explosion’s slow expiration would re-illuminate the Pacific sky. One, Starfish Prime, became known as a “rainbow bomb” because of the multi-coloured aurora it produced over the Pacific, having been launched into space where it exploded.
So spectacular were these descriptions that I almost felt I had to suspend disbelief as I listened. At one point in my interview with Teraabo, she leaned in to reassure me that she had no interest in exaggerating these events: “I’m a very proud person,” she whispered, “I would never lie.”
‘In our blood’
More than six decades on from the Grapple tests, I was sitting in Teeua’s kitchen in the village of Tabwakea (meaning “turtle”), near the northern tip of Kiritimati. I had driven here in a Subaru Forester, clapped-out from the many potholes on the island’s main road, itself built by royal engineers over 60 years ago.
Teeua Tekonau in her kitchen during the author’s visit to Kiritimati in 2023. Christopher R. Hill., CC BY
Teeua’s home, nestled down a sand track, had a wooden veranda at the front where she would teach children to read and write under shelter from the hot equatorial sun. Handcrafted mats lined the sand and coral floor, fanning out from the veranda to the kitchen at the back.
The house felt full of the sounds of the local community, from the chatter of neighbours to the laughter of children outdoors. No one could feel lonely here, despite the vastness of the ocean that surrounds Kiritimati.
As Teeua cooked rice and prepared coffee, we discussed the main reason for my visit: to understand the impacts of the nuclear tests on the islanders, their descendents, and the sensitive ecosystem in which they live. Teeua is chair of Kiritimati’s Association of Atomic Cancer Patients, and one of only three survivors of the tests still living on Kiritimati. She pulled up a seat and looked at me:
Many, many died of cancer … And many women had babies that died within three months … I remember the coconut trees … when you drank [from the coconuts], you [were] poisoned.
Both Teeua’s parents and four of her eight siblings had died of cancer or unexplained conditions, she said. Her younger brother, Takieta, died of leukaemia at the age of two in November 1963 – less than a year after Operation Dominic ended. Her sister Teraabo, who discovered a tumour in her stomach shortly after the trials, was only able to have her stomach treated once she moved to the UK in 1981, by which time the tumour had turned malignant.
Teeua’s testimony pointed to the gendered impacts of the nuclear tests. She referred to the prevalence of menstrual problems and stillbirths, evidence of which can be inferred from the testimony of another nuclear survivor, Sui Kiritome, a fellow I-Kiribati who had arrived on Kiritimati in 1957 with her teacher husband. Sui has described how their second child, Rakieti, had “blood coming out of all the cavities of her body” at birth.
A rare military hospital record from 1958 – stored in the UK’s National Archives at Kew in London – also refers to the treatment of a civilian woman for ante-partum haemorrhage and stillbirth, though it is unclear whether this was a local woman or one of the soldier’s wives on the passenger ship HMT Dunera, which visited briefly to “boost morale” after Grapple X.
Members of the Kiritimati Association of Atomic Cancer Patients. Courtesy: Teeua Taukaro., CC BY-ND
Having re-established the Association of Atomic Cancer Patients in 2009, Teeua has continued much of the work that Ken McGinley, first chair of the British Nuclear Tests Veterans Association, did after its establishment in 1983. She has documented the names of all I-Kiribati people present during the tests, along with their spouses, children and other relatives. And she has listed the cancers and illnesses from which they have suffered.
In the absence of medical records at the island hospital, these handwritten notes are the closest thing on the atoll to epidemiological data about the tests. But according to Teeua, concerns about the health effects of the tests date back much longer, to 1965 when a labourer named Bwebwe spoke out about poisonous clouds. “Everyone thought he was crazy,” Teeua recalled.
But Bwebwe’s speculations were lent credibility by Sui Kiritome’s testimony, and by the facial scars she bore that were visible for all to see. In an interview with her daughter, Sui explained how she was only 24 when she started to lose her hair, and “burns developed on my face, scalp and parts of my shoulder”.
In a similar manner to claims made by British nuclear test veterans, Sui attributed her health problems to being rained on during Grapple Y – which may have been detonated closer to the atoll’s surface than the task force was prepared to admit.
When I asked Teeua why her campaigning association was only reformed in 2009, she explained it had been prompted by a visit from British nuclear test veterans who “told us that everyone [involved in the tests] has cancer – blood cancer”. They had been told this in the past but, she said, “we did not believe it. But after years … after our children [also] died of cancer, then we remembered what they told us.”
After some visiting researchers explained to Teeua and the community that the effects of the tests were “not good”, she concluded that “our kids died of cancer because of the tests … That’s why we start to combine together … the nuclear survivors, to talk about what they did to our kids”.
I found Teeua’s testimony deeply troubling: not only because of the suffering she and other families have been through, but in the way that veterans had returned to Kiritimati as civilians, raising concerns among locals that may have lain dormant or been forgotten. The suggestion that radiation was “in her blood” must have been deeply disturbing for Teeua and her community.
But I reminded myself that the veterans who came looking for answers in 2009 were also victims. They made the long journey seeking clues about their health problems, or a silver bullet to prove their government’s deception over the nuclear fallout.
As young men, they were unwittingly burdened with a lifetime of uncertainty – compounded by endless legal disputes with the Ministry of Defence or inconclusive health studies that jarred with their personal medical histories. And, like the islanders, some of these servicemen died young after experiencing agonising illnesses.
The scramble for the Pacific
My research on British nuclear imperialism also sheds light on how imperial and settler colonial perceptions of “nature” shaped how these nuclear tests were planned and operationalised.
British sites were selected on the basis of in-depth environmental research. When searching the site for Britain’s first atomic bomb (the Montebello Islands off the west coast of Australia), surveyors discovered 20 new species of insect, six new plants, and a species of legless lizard.
Monitoring of radioactive fallout from nuclear tests fed into the rise of ecosystem ecologies as an academic discipline. In the words of one environmental specialist on the US tests, it seemed that “destruction was the enabling condition for understanding life as interconnected”.
Since H-bombs would exceed the explosive yield deemed acceptable by Australia, Winston Churchill’s government in the mid-1950s had been forced to look for a new test site beyond Western and South Australia. British planners drew on a wealth of imperial knowledge and networks – but their proposal to use the Kermadec Islands, an archipelago 600 miles north-east of Auckland, was rejected by New Zealand on environmental grounds.
So, when Teeua and her family landed on Kiritimati in 1955, their journey was part of “the scramble for the Pacific”: a race between Britain and the US to lay claim to the sovereignty of Pacific atolls in light of their strategic significance for air and naval power.
The British government archives include some notable environmental “what ifs?” Had the US refused the UK’s selection of Kiritimati because of its own sovereignty claim, then it would have been probable, as Lennox-Boyd, Britain’s colonial secretary, admitted, that “the Antarctic region south of Australia might have to be used” for its rapidly expanding nuclear programme.
Instead, this extraordinary period in global history recently took me to a Victorian mansion in the Lancashire town of Burnley, where I interviewed Teeua’s younger sister, Teraabo, about her memories of the Kiritimati tests.
‘No longer angry’
Teraabo’s home felt like the antithesis of Teeua’s island abode 8,300 miles away: ordered instead of haphazard, private instead of communal, spacious instead of crowded. And our interview had a more detached, philosophical tone.
Teraabo Pollard with her father’s nuclear test veteran medal. Christopher R. Hill., CC BY-ND
Like her sister, Teraabo has worked to raise awareness about the legacy of the nuclear tests, including with the Christmas Island Appeal, an offshoot of the British Nuclear Test Veterans Association that sought to publicise the extent of the waste left on Kiritimati from the nuclear test period.
The appeal succeeded in persuading Tony Blair’s UK government to tackle the remaining waste in Kiritimati – most of which was non-radiological, according to a 1998 environmental assessment. The island was “cleaned up” and remediated between 2004 and 2008, at a cost of around £5 million to the Ministry of Defence. Much of the waste was flown or shipped back to the UK, where 388 tonnes of low-grade radioactive material were deposited in a former salt mine at Port Clarence, near Middlesbrough.
Yet Teraabo’s views have evolved. She told me she is “no longer angry” about the tests, a stark contrast to her position 20 years ago, when she told British journalist Alan Rimmer how islanders had “led a simple life with disease virtually unknown. But after the tests, everything changed. I now realise the whole island was poisoned.”
Whereas the Teraabo of 2003 blamed “the British government for all this misery”, she has since become more reflective. In the context of the cold war and the nuclear arms race, she even told me she could understand the British rationale for selecting Kiritimati as a test site. This seemed a remarkable statement from a survivor who had lost so much.
Over the course of the interview, it became clear Teraabo had grown tired of being angry – and that she had felt “trapped” by the tragic figure she was meant to represent in the campaigns of veterans and disarmers. Each time Teraabo rehearsed the doom-laden script of radiation exposure, she admitted she was also suppressing the joy of her childhood memories.
A turning point for Teraabo seems to have come in 2007, when she last visited Kiritimati and met her sister Teeua. By this time, the atoll’s population was 4,000 – quite a leap from the 300 residents she grew up with. “It is no longer the island I remember,” she said.
The Kiritimati of Teraabo’s memory was neat and well-structured. The one she described encountering in 2007 was chaotic and unkempt. She had come to the realisation that the Kiritimati she had been campaigning for – the pristine, untouched atoll of her parents – had long since moved on, so she should move on with it. The sorrow caused by the test operations would not define her.
Radioactive colonialism
Not long after I left Kiritimati in June 2023, the global nuclear disarmament organisation Ican began researching the atoll ahead of a major global summit to discuss the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. Descendants of Kiritimati’s nuclear test survivors were asked a series of questions, with those who provided the “right” answers being selected for a sponsored trip to UN headquarters in New York.
The chosen representatives included Teeua’s daughter, Taraem. I wondered if the survivors of Kiritimati are doomed to forever rehearse the stories of their nuclear past – a burden that Teeua and Teraabo have had to carry ever since they stood in awe of atomic and thermonuclear detonations more than 60 years ago.
They have had to deal with “radioactive colonialism” all their adult lives – the outside world demanding to see the imprint of radioactivity on their health and memories. But the sisters’ fondness for British order, despite all they have been through, prevails.
Their positive memories of Britain may in part reflect the elevated role of their father, Tekonau Tetoa – a posthumous recipient of the test veteran medal – within the British colonial system. During my visit, I happened upon an old photo of Tekonau, looking immaculate as he hangs off the side of a plantation truck in a crisp white shirt. Knowing Teeua did not possess a photo of her parents, I took a scan and raced to her house down the road.
“Do you recognise this man?” I asked, holding up my phone.
She flickered with recognition. “Is that my father?”
I nodded, and she shed a tear of joy.
Tekonau Tetoa, father of Teeua and Teraabo, hangs off the door of a coconut plantation truck in Kiritimati. Courtesy: John Bryden., CC BY-ND
Memories of Teeua and Teraabo’s father are preserved in the island landscape of their youth: pristine, regimented by the ostensible tidiness of colonial and military order.
But such order masked contamination: an unknown quantity that would only become evident years later in ill-health and environmental damage. It was not only the nuclear tests: from 1957 to 1964, the atoll was sprayed four times a week with DDT, a carcinogenic insecticide, as part of attempts to reduce insect-borne disease. In the words of one of the pilots: “I had many a wave from the rather fat Gilbo ladies sitting on their loos as I passed overhead, and gave them some spray for good measure!” British tidiness concealed a special brand of poison.
Today, the prospect of a meaningful response from the UK to the concerns raised by the islanders and servicemen alike seems slim. In October 2023, the UK and France followed North Korea and Russia in vetoing a Kiribati and Kazakhstan-proposed UN resolution on victim assistance and environmental remediation for people and places harmed by nuclear weapons use and testing.
Over in Kiritimati, meanwhile, Teeua still tends to a small plot where Prince Philip planted a commemorative tree in April 1959, shortly after the British-led nuclear tests had ended. It is rumoured he did not drink from the atoll’s water while he was there.
To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. Subscribe to our newsletter.
Christopher Hill receives funding from the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, UK Cabinet Office. The research for this article was also supported by funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), UKRI. The author wishes to thank the following for their support with this article: Fiona Bowler, Ian Brailsford, Joshua Bushen, John Bryden, Jon Hogg, Brian Jones, Rens van Munster, Wesley Perriman, Maere Tekanene, Michael Walsh, Rotee Walsh and Derek Woolf. Sincere thanks to Teeua Tekonau and Teraabo Pollard for sharing their family stories.
Source: The White House
Brookings InstitutionWashington, D.C.
Good morning, everyone. And thank you so much, David, for that introduction and for having me here today. It’s great to be back at Brookings.
As many of you know, I was here last year to lay out President Biden’s vision for renewing American economic leadership, a vision that responded to several converging challenges our country faced: the return of intense geopolitical competition; a rise in inequality and a squeeze on the middle class; a less vibrant American industrial base; an accelerating climate crisis; vulnerable supply chains; and rapid technological change.
For the preceding three decades, the U.S. economy had enjoyed stronger topline aggregate growth than other advanced democracies, and had generated genuine innovation and technological progress, but our economic policies had not been adapted to deal effectively with these challenges. That’s why President Biden implemented a modern industrial strategy, one premised on investing at home in ourselves and our national strength, and on shifting the energies of U.S. foreign policy to help our partners around the world do the same.
In practice, that’s meant mobilizing public investment to unlock private sector investment to deliver on big challenges like the clean energy transition and artificial intelligence, revitalizing our capacity to innovate and to build, creating diversified and resilient global supply chains, setting high standards for everything from labor to the environment to technology. Because on that level playing field, our logic goes, America can compete and win. Preserving open markets and also protecting our national security and doing all of these things together with allies and partners.
Since I laid this vision out in my speech at Brookings last year, I’ve listened with great interest to many thoughtful responses, because these are early days. Meaningful shifts in policy require constant iteration and reflection. That’s what will make our policy stronger and more sustainable.
So, today, I’m glad to be back here at Brookings to reengage in this conversation, because I really believe that the ideas I’m here to discuss and the policies that flow from them are among the most consequential elements of the administration’s foreign as well as domestic policy, and I believe they will constitute an important legacy of Joe Biden’s presidency.
I want to start by reflecting on some of the questions I’ve heard and then propose a few ways to consolidate our progress.
One overarching question is at the core of many others: Does our new approach mean that we’re walking away from a positive-sum view of the world, that America is just in it for itself at the expense of everyone else?
In a word, no, it doesn’t. In fact, we’re returning to a tradition that made American international leadership such a durable force, what Alexis de Tocqueville called “interest rightly understood.” The notion that it’s in our own self-interest to strengthen our partners and sustain a fair economic system that helps all of us prosper.
After World War Two, we built an international economic order in the context of a divided world, an order that helped free nations recover and avoid a return to the protectionist and nationalist mistakes of the 1930s, an order that also advanced American economic and geopolitical power.
In the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, we took that order global, embracing the old Eastern bloc, China, India, and many developing countries. Suddenly, the major powers were no longer adversaries or competitors. Capital flowed freely across borders. Global supply chains became “just in time,” without anyone contemplating potential strategic risk.
Each of these approaches was positive-sum, and each reflected the world as it was.
Now, the world of the 1990s is over, and it’s not coming back, and it’s not a coherent plan or critique just to wish it so.
We’re seeing the return of great power competition. But unlike the Cold War era, our economies are closely intertwined. We’re on the verge of revolutionary technological change with AI, with economic and geopolitical implications. The pandemic laid bare the fragilities in global supply chains that have been growing for decades. The climate crisis grows more urgent with every hurricane and heat wave.
So we need to articulate, once again, de Tocqueville’s notion of interest rightly understood. To us, that means pursuing a strategy that is fundamentally positive-sum, calibrated to the geopolitical realities of today and rooted in what is good for America — for American workers, American communities, American businesses, and American national security and economic strength.
We continue to believe deeply in the mutual benefits of international trade and investment, enhanced and enabled by bold public investment in key sectors; bounded in rare but essential cases by principled controls on key national security technologies; protected against harmful non-market practices, labor and environment abuses, and economic coercion; and critically coordinated with a broad range of partners.
The challenges we face are not uniquely our own and nor can we solve them alone. We want and need our partners to join us. And given the demand signal we hear back from them, we think that in the next decade, American leadership will be measured by our ability to help our partners pull off similar approaches and build alignment and complementarity across our policies and our investments.
If we get that right, we can show that international economic integration is compatible with democracy and national sovereignty. And that is how we get out of Dani Rodrik’s trilemma.
Now, what does that mean in practice? What does this kind of positive-sum approach mean for trade policy? Are we walking away from trade as a core pillar of international economic policy?
U.S. exports and imports have recovered from their dip during the pandemic, with the real value of U.S. trade well above 2019 levels in each of the last two years. We’re also the largest outbound source of FDI in the world.
So, we are not walking away from international trade and investment. What we are doing is moving away from specific policies that, frankly, didn’t contemplate the urgent challenges we face: The climate crisis. Vulnerable, concentrated, critical mineral and semiconductor supply chains. Persistent attacks on workers’ rights. And not just more global competition, but more competition with a country that uses pervasive non-market policies and practices to distort and dominate global markets.
Ignoring or downplaying these realities will not help us chart a viable path forward. Our approach to trade responds to these challenges.
Climate is a good example. American manufacturers are global leaders in clean steel production, yet they’ve had to compete against companies that produce steel more cheaply but with higher emissions intensity. That’s why, earlier this year, the White House stood up a Climate and Trade Task Force, and the task force has been developing the right tools to promote decarbonization and ensure our workers and businesses engaged in cleaner production aren’t disadvantaged by firms overseas engaged in dirtier, exploitative production.
Critical minerals are another example. That sector is marked by extreme price volatility, widespread corruption, weak labor and environmental protections, and heavy concentration in the PRC, which artificially drops prices to keep competitors out of the marketplace.
If we and our partners fail to invest, the PRC’s domination of these and other supply chains will only grow, and that will leave us increasingly dependent on a country that has demonstrated its willingness to weaponize such dependencies. We can’t accept that, and neither can our partners.
That’s why we are working with them to create a high-standard, critical minerals marketplace, one that diversifies our supply chains, creates a level playing field for our producers, and promotes strong workers’ rights and environmental protections. And we’re driving towards tangible progress on that idea in just the next few weeks.
In multiple sectors that are important to our future, not just critical minerals, but solar cells, lithium-ion batteries, electric vehicles, we see a broad pattern emerging. The PRC is producing far more than domestic demand, dumping excess onto global markets at artificially low prices, driving manufacturers around the world out of business, and creating a chokehold on supply chains.
To prevent a second China shock, we’ve had to act.
That’s what drove the decisions about our 301 tariffs earlier this year.
Now, we know that indiscriminate, broad-based tariffs will harm workers, consumers, and businesses, both in the United States and our partners. The evidence on that is clear. That’s why we chose, instead, to target tariffs at unfair practices in strategic sectors where we and our allies are investing hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild our manufacturing and our resilience.
And crucially, we’re seeing partners in both advanced and emerging economies reach similar conclusions regarding overcapacity and take similar steps to ward off damage to their own industries, from the EU to Canada to Brazil to Thailand to Mexico to Türkiye and beyond. That’s a big deal.
And it brings me back to my earlier point: We’re pursuing this new trade approach in concert with our partners. They also recognize we need modern trade tools to achieve our objectives. That means considering sector-specific trade agreements. It means creating markets based on standards when that’s more effective. And it also means revitalizing international institutions to address today’s challenges, including genuinely reforming the WTO to deal with the challenges I’ve outlined.
And it means thinking more comprehensively about our economic partnerships. That’s why we created the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework and the Americas Partnership for Economic Prosperity. That’s why we also gave them such catchy names.
Within IPEF, we finalized three agreements with 13 partners to accelerate the clean energy transition, to promote high labor standards, to fight corruption, and to shore up supply chain vulnerabilities before they become widespread disruptions. And within APEP, we’re working to make the Western Hemisphere a globally competitive supply chain hub for semiconductors, clean energy, and more.
And that leads to the next question I’ve often been asked in the last year and a half: Where does domestic investment fit into all of this? How does our positive-sum approach square with our modern industrial strategy?
The truth is that smart, targeted government investment has always been a crucial part of the American formula. It’s essential to catalyzing private investment and growth in sectors where market failures or other barriers would lead to under-investment.
Somehow, we forgot that along the way, or at least we stopped talking about it. But there was no plausible version of answers on decarbonization or supply chain resilience without recovering this tradition. And so we have.
We’ve made the largest investment ever to diversify and accelerate clean energy deployment through the Inflation Reduction Act. And investments are generating hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment all across the country; rapid growth in emerging climate technologies like sustainable aviation fuels, carbon management, clean hydrogen, with investments increasing 6- to 15-fold from pre-IRA levels.
This will help us meet our climate commitments. This will advance our national security. And this will ensure that American workers and communities can seize the vast economic opportunities of the clean energy transition and that those opportunities are broadly shared. And that last part is crucial.
The fact is that many communities hard hit in decades past still haven’t bounced back, and the two-thirds of American adults who don’t have college degrees have seen unacceptably poor outcomes in terms of real wages, health, and other outcomes over the last four decades.
For many years, people assumed that these distributional issues would be solved after the fact by domestic policies. That has not worked.
Advancing fairness, creating high-quality jobs, and revitalizing American communities can’t be an afterthought, which is why we’ve made them central to our approach.
In fact, as a result of the incentives in the IRA to build in traditional energy communities, investment in those communities has doubled under President Joe Biden.
Now, initially, when we rolled this all out, our foreign partners worried that it was designed to undercut them, that we were attempting to shift all the clean energy investment and production around the world to the United States.
But that wasn’t the case, and it isn’t the case.
We know that our partners need to invest. In fact, we want them to invest. The whole world benefits from the spillover effects of advances in clean energy that these investments bring.
And we are nowhere near the saturation point of investment required to meet our clean energy deployment goals, nor will markets alone generate the resources necessary either.
So, we’ve encouraged our partners to invest in their own industrial strength. We’ve steered U.S. foreign policy towards being a more helpful partner in this endeavor. And our partners have begun to join us. Look at Japan’s green transformation policy, India’s production-linked incentives, Canada’s clean energy tax credit, the European Union’s Green Deal.
As more and more countries adopt this approach, we will continue to build out the cooperative mechanisms that we know will be necessary to ensure that we’re acting together to scale up total global investment, not competing with each other over where a fixed set of investments is located.
The same goes for investing in our high-tech manufacturing strength. We believe that a nation that loses the capacity to build, risks losing the capacity to innovate. So, we’re building again.
As a result of the CHIPS and Science Act, America is on track to have five leading-edge logic and memory chip manufacturers operating at scale. No other economy has more than two. And we’re continuing to nurture American leadership in artificial intelligence, including through actions we’re finalizing, as I speak, to ensure that the physical infrastructure needed to train the next generation of AI models is built right here in the United States.
But all of this high-tech investment and development hasn’t come at the expense of our partners. We’ve done it alongside them.
We’re leveraging CHIPS Act funding to make complementary investments in the full semiconductor supply chain, from Costa Rica to Vietnam.
We’re building a network of AI safety institutes around the world, from Canada to Singapore to Japan, to harness the power of AI responsibly.
And we’ve launched a new Quantum Development Group to deepen cooperation in a field that will be pivotal in the decades ahead.
Simply put, we’re thinking about how to manage this in concert with our allies and partners, and that will make all of us more competitive.
Now, all this leads to another question that is frequently asked: What about your technology protection policies? How does that fit into a positive-sum approach?
The United States and our allies and partners have long limited the export of dual-use technologies. This is logical and uncontroversial. It doesn’t make sense to allow companies to sell advanced technology to countries that could use them to gain military advantage over the United States and our friends.
Now, it would be a mistake to attempt to return to the Cold War paradigm of almost no trade, including technological trade, among geopolitical rivals. But as I’ve noted, we’re in a fundamentally different geopolitical context, so we’ve got to meet somewhere in the middle.
That means being targeted in what we restrict, controlling only the most sensitive technologies that will define national security and strategic competition. This is part of what we mean when we say: de-risking, not decoupling.
To strike the right balance, to ensure we’re not imposing controls in an arbitrary or reflexive manner, we have a framework that informs our decision-making. We ask ourselves at least four questions:
One, which sensitive technologies are or will likely become foundational to U.S. national security?
Two, across those sensitive technologies, where do we have distinct advantages and are likely to see maximal effort by our competitors to close the gap? Conversely, where are we behind and, therefore, most vulnerable to coercion?
Three, to what extent do our competitors have immediate substitutes for U.S.-sensitive technology, either through indigenous development or from third countries, that would undercut the controls?
Four, what is the breadth and depth of the coalition we could plausibly build and sustain around a given control?
When it comes to a narrow set of sensitive technologies, yes, the fence is high, as it should be.
And in the context of broader commerce, the yard is small, and we’re not looking to expand it needlessly.
Now, beyond the realm of export controls and investment screening, we will also take action to protect sensitive data and our critical infrastructure, such as our recent action on connected vehicles from countries of concern.
I suspect almost no one here would argue that we should build out our telecommunications architecture or our data center infrastructure with Huawei.
Millions of cars on the road with technology from the PRC, getting daily software updates from the PRC, sending reams of information back to the PRC, similarly doesn’t make sense, especially when we’ve already seen evidence of a PRC cyber threat to our critical infrastructure.
We have to anticipate systemic cyber and data risks in ways that, frankly, we didn’t in the past, including what that means for the future Internet of Things, and we have to take the thoughtful, targeted steps necessary in response.
This leads to a final, kind of fundamental question: Does this approach reflect some kind of pessimism about the United States and our inherent interests?
Quite the contrary. It reflects an abiding and ambitious optimism. We believe deeply that we can act smartly and boldly, that we can compete and win, that we can meet the great challenges of our time, and that we can deliver for all of our people here in the United States.
And while it’s still very early, we have some evidence of that. This includes the strongest post-pandemic recovery of any advanced economy in the world. There’s more work to do, but inflation has come down. And contrary to the predictions that the PRC would overtake the U.S. in GDP either in this decade or the next, since President Biden took office, the United States has more than doubled our lead. And last year, the United States attracted more than five times more inbound foreign direct investment than the next highest country.
We are once again demonstrating our capacity for resilience and reinvention, and others are noticing. The EU’s Draghi report, published last month, mirrors key aspects of our strategy.
Now, as we continue to implement this vision, we will need to stay rigorous. We will need, for example, to be bold enough to make the needed investments without veering into unproductive subsidies that crowd-out the private sector or unduly compete with our partners.
We’re clear-eyed that our policies will involve choices and trade-offs. That’s the nature of policy. But to paraphrase Sartre, not to choose is also a choice, and the trade-offs only get worse the longer we leave our challenges unchecked.
Pointing out that it’s challenging to strike the right balance is not an argument to be satisfied with the status quo.
We have tried to start making real a new positive-sum vision, and we have tried to start proving out its value. But we still have our work cut out for us.
So I’d actually like to end today with a few questions of my own, where our answers will determine our shared success:
First, will we sustain the political will here at home to make the investments in our own national strength that will be required of us in the years ahead?
Strategic investments like these need to be a bipartisan priority, and I have to believe that we’ll rise to the occasion, that we won’t needlessly give up America’s position of economic and technological leadership because we can no longer generate the political consensus to invest in ourselves.
There is more we can do now on a bipartisan basis.
For example, Congress still hasn’t appropriated the science part of CHIPS and Science, even while the PRC is increasing its science and technology budget by 10 percent year on year.
Now, whether we’re talking about investments in fundamental research, or grants and loans for firms developing critical technologies, we also have to update our approach to risk. Some research paths are dead ends. Some startups won’t survive. Our innovation base and our private sector are the envy of the world because they take risks. The art of managing risk for the sake of innovation is critical to successful geostrategic competition.
So, we need to nurture a national comfort with, to paraphrase FDR, bold and persistent experimentation. And when an investment falls short, as it will, we need to maintain our bipartisan will, dust ourselves off, and keep moving forward. To put it bluntly, our competitors hope we’re not capable of that. We need to prove them wrong. We need to make patient, strategic investments in our capacity to compete, and we need to ensure fiscal sustainability in order to keep making those investments over the long term.
The second question: Will we allocate sufficient resources for investments that are needed globally?
Last year, here at Brookings, I talked about the need to go from billions to trillions in investment to help emerging and developing countries tackle modern challenges, including massively accelerating the speed and scale of the clean energy transition.
We need a Marshall Plan-style effort, investing in partners around the world and supporting homegrown U.S. innovation in growing markets like storage, nuclear, and geothermal energy.
Now, trillions may sound lofty and unachievable, but there is a very clear path to get there without requiring anywhere near that level of taxpayer dollars, and that path is renewed American leadership and investment in international institutions.
For example, at the G20 this fall, we’re spearheading an effort that calls for the international financial institutions, the major creditors in the private sector, to step up their relief for countries facing high debt service burdens so they too can invest in their future.
Or consider the World Bank and the IMF. We’ve been leading the charge to make these institutions bigger and more effective, to fully utilize their balance sheets and be more responsive to the developing and emerging economies they serve. That has already unlocked hundreds of billions of dollars in new lending capacity, at no cost to the United States. And we can generate further investment on the scale required with very modest U.S. public investments and legislative fixes. That depends on Congress taking action.
For example, our administration requested $750 million — million — from Congress to boost the World Bank’s lending capacity by over $36 billion, which, if matched by our partners, could generate over $100 billion in new resources. This would allow the World Bank to deploy $200 for every $1 the taxpayers provide.
We’ve asked Congress to approve investments in a new trust fund at the IMF to help developing countries build resilience and sustainability. Through a U.S. investment in the tens of millions, we could enable tens of billions in new IMF lending.
And outside the World Bank and the IMF, we’re asking Congress to increase funding for the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, which we launched at the G7 a couple of years ago.
This partnership catalyzes and concentrates investment in key corridors, including Africa and Asia, to close the infrastructure gap in developing countries. It strengthens countries’ economic growth. It strengthens America’s supply chains and global trusted technology vendors. And it strengthens our partnerships in critical regions.
The private sector has been enthusiastic. Together with them and our G7 partners, we’ve already mobilized tens of billions of dollars, and we can lever that up and scale that up in the years ahead with help on a bipartisan basis from the Congress.
We need to focus on the big picture. Holding back small sums of money has the effect of pulling back large sums from the developing world — which also, by the way, effectively cedes the field to other countries like the PRC. There are low-cost, commonsense solutions on the table, steps that should not be the ceiling of our ambitions, but the floor. And we need Congress to provide us the authorities and the seed funding to take those steps now.
Finally, will we empower our agencies and develop new muscle to meet this moment?
Simply put, we need to ensure that we have the resources and the capabilities in the U.S. government to implement this economic vision over the long haul. This starts by significantly strengthening our bilateral tools, answering a critique that China has a checkbook and the U.S. has a checklist.
Next year, the United States is going to face a critical test of whether our country is up to the task. The DFC, the Ex-Im Bank, and AGOA, the African Growth and Opportunity Act, are all up for renewal by Congress. This provides a once-in-a-decade chance for America to strengthen some of its most important tools of economic statecraft.
And think about how they can work better with the high-leverage multilateral institutions I just mentioned. The DFC, for example, is one of our most effective instruments to mobilize private sector investments in developing countries.
But the DFC is too small compared to the scope of investment needed, and it lacks tools our partners want, like the ability to deploy more equity as well as debt, and it’s often unable to capitalize on fast-moving investment opportunities. So, we put forward a proposal to expand the DFC’s toolkit and make it bigger, faster, nimbler.
Another gap we need to bridge is to make sure we attract, retain, and empower top-tier talent with expertise in priority areas.
We’re asking Congress to approve the resources we’ve requested for the Commerce’s Bureau of Industry Security, Treasury’s Office of Investment Security, the Department of Justice’s National Security Division.
If Congress is serious about America competing and winning, we need to be able to draw on America’s very best.
Let me close with this:
Since the end of World War Two, the United States has stood for a fair and open international economy; for the power of global connection to fuel innovation; for the power of trade and investment done right to create good jobs; for the power, as Tocqueville put it, of interest rightly understood.
Our task ahead is to harness that power to take on the realities of today’s geopolitical moment in a way that will not only preserve America’s enduring strengths, but extend them for generations to come. It will take more conversations like this one and iteration after iteration to forge a new consensus and perfect a new set of policies and capabilities to match the moment.
I hope it’s a project we can all work on together. We can’t afford not to.
So, thank you. And I look forward to continuing the conversation, including hearing some of your questions this morning.
A vessel carrying specialized insulated tanks containing liquid hydrogen arrived at Yantian Port in the south China metropolitan of Shenzhen on Tuesday, after a voyage of about 20,000 km from Europe.
The pioneering long-distance transport of the liquid hydrogen was jointly carried out by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) and French industrial gases giant Air Liquide, which marked a significant milestone in global energy transportation.
The shipment covered over 20,000 km from Rotterdam to Shenzhen, emphasizing the potential of hydrogen as a sustainable energy source.
The International Renewable Energy Agency predicted that by 2050, more than 30 percent of global hydrogen production will be used for international trade. China’s annual hydrogen production has amounted to 40 million tonnes, and long-distance offshore shipping of liquid hydrogen has been eyed as a new transport initiative to explore hydrogen energy trade.
CERRITOS, Calif., Oct. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Sapphire Technologies, a developer of energy recovery systems for hydrogen and natural gas industrial applications, is expanding into new markets in Asia through a partnership with CCYS, a leading Chinese enterprise in green energy recovery. As carbon emissions are projected to peak in China by 2030, the partnership seeks to reverse that trajectory. Sapphire’s advanced FreeSpin® In-line Turboexpander technology will be integrated into key infrastructure projects. This cutting-edge technology captures and converts wasted pressure energy into clean electricity, improving the efficiency of natural gas use and supporting China’s broader emissions reduction objectives.
BP projects that China’s natural gas consumption will rise to 550 billion cubic meters by 2030, up from approximately 395 billion cubic meters in 2023, increasing its global energy share from 6% to over 10%. If the available natural gas pressure in China (1.6-4.0 MPa) is fully utilized using Sapphire’s FreeSpin® In-line Turboexpander, it could recover 13 million MWh of pressure energy, enabling the installation of at least 1,517.7 MW of power generation capacity. This advancement would contribute to annual CO2 reductions of up to 12 million tons.
“Our partnership with CCYS marks an exciting step forward for both companies as we work together to meet China’s growing demand for sustainable energy solutions,” said Freddie Sarhan, CEO of Sapphire Technologies. “By leveraging our turboexpander technology, we are expanding into new markets and helping enhance the efficiency of natural gas operations all while contributing to the country’s environmental goals.”
“This partnership allows us to leverage Sapphire Technologies’ energy recovery systems to significantly improve the efficiency of our infrastructure projects,” said Changgang Guo, CEO of CCYS. “With this advanced technology, we are now able to capture and repurpose energy that would otherwise be wasted, directly supporting China’s transition to a greener, more sustainable energy landscape.”
This partnership will initially focus on deploying Sapphire’s technology across multiple projects in China’s natural gas sector, including energy recovery systems at gas city gate stations, and LNG regasification facilities. Notable projects include those with Beijing Gas and Heating Engineering Design Institute, CNPC Lanzhou Petrochemical Equipment Company, and ENN Energy. Overall, this collaboration sets the stage for broader implementation of Sapphire’s solutions, helping drive China’s move toward a more energy-efficient future.
About Sapphire Technologies Sapphire Technologies is driving global decarbonization through developing and manufacturing energy recovery systems that harness the power of gas expansion to produce reliable and clean electricity. Sapphire Technologies’ systems are designed to convert energy wasted in pressure reduction processes into electric power without interrupting operations. By recovering this wasted pressure energy, Sapphire Technologies helps customers maximize efficiencies, improve productivity, reduce carbon emissions, offset electrical costs and achieve substantial financial returns. For additional information visit: https://www.sapphiretechnologies.com.
About CCYS Over the past decade, CCYS has focused on the R&D, production, sales, and service of thermal insulation products. In 2023, the company expanded a new branch company, CCYS(Beijing), to focus on green energy recovery, leveraging advanced technologies in the Oil & Gas, hydrogen, air, and CO2 sectors. It now specializes in pressure energy recovery and waste heat recovery, continually enhancing the efficient closed-loop utilization of zero-carbon electricity and cooling energy across these areas to help meet the “China 3060” Carbon Peak/Neutral target. For additional information, please visit: http://www.ccysnh.com/
Media Contact: Kite Hill PR Lara Schembri Sant lara@kitehillpr.com
Source: United States House of Representatives – Congressman Mark DeSaulnier Representing the 11th District of California
Walnut Creek, C.A.– Today, Congressman Mark DeSaulnier (CA-10) announced he will present federal funding to improve transit in Livermore and public safety in Dublin on Tuesday, October 29th. This funding was part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (H.R. 4366), which included a total of $15.2 million in federal funding Congressman DeSaulnier secured for 15 projects across Contra Costa County and Alameda County.
These events are open to press and photographers. Media interested in attending the event should RSVP to Mairead Glowacki at (202) 760-1365 or mairead.glowacki@mail.house.gov.
First Event (Transit) TIME: 11:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. PT WHERE: 875 Atlantis St., Livermore, CA 94551 WHAT: Congressman DeSaulnier will present funding he and Congressman Eric Swalwell (CA-14) secured for the Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA) to add an extra hydrogen fueling tank to support their entire fleet of zero-emission buses. WHO: U.S. Congressman Mark DeSaulnier LAVTA Executive Director, Christy Wegener LAVTA Board of Directors Chair, Evan Branning (City of Livermore) Alameda County Supervisor, District 1, David Haubert Mayor of Dublin, Michael McCorriston Mayor of Pleasanton, Karla Brown
Second Event (Public Safety) TIME:12:00 p.m. – 12:30 p.m. PT WHERE:Dublin City Hall – 100 Civic Plaza, Dublin, CA 94568 WHAT: Congressman DeSaulnier will present funding he secured to the City of Dublin to increase community safety through purchase and installation of situational awareness cameras near public parks and schools. WHO: U.S. Congressman Mark DeSaulnier Mayor of Dublin, Michael McCorriston Vice Mayor of Dublin, Sherry Hu Dublin Councilmember, Jean Josey Dublin Councilmember, Kashef Qaadri Dublin Councilmember, Janine Thalblum Dublin Police Chief, Nat Schmidt Dublin City Manager, Colleen Tribby Superintendent of Dublin Unified School District, Chris Funk
ARLINGTON, Texas, Oct. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Greenway Technologies, Inc. (OTC: GWTI), (“Greenway”), is an advanced gas-to-liquids (“GTL”) and gas-to-hydrogen (“GTH”) technology development company. Greenway has developed and marketed a patented system, the G-Reformer®, that converts natural gas (methane) from various sources to a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide (syngas). Continued ongoing research has developed a new version of the G-Reformer®, named the “H-Reformer®,” which converts natural gas to hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The H-Reformer® system is modular and small enough to be deployed in areas close to consumption, eliminating the cost of compressing and transporting the resultant hydrogen while separating and removing created carbon dioxide.
Two significant changes have been made to the original G-Reformer® to make a reforming system focused on hydrogen creation rather than syngas creation. First, enhancements to the controlling software have modified the G-Reformer® to convert approximately 50% of the created carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide while also producing additional hydrogen. The H-Reformer® also includes an extension to the reforming vessel used in the G-Reformer®. This module will house the physical components needed to convert the remaining carbon monoxide to hydrogen and carbon dioxide within the reforming unit. The result is the generation of considerably more hydrogen per unit of natural gas input than the original G-Reformer® produces and high conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is externally separated from resultant hydrogen by commercially available processes, yielding highly pure hydrogen and liquid carbon dioxide, which will be removed, sold, or sequestered. This new reforming system is named the H-Reformer®.
Created hydrogen will be available for use at the point of manufacture. Hydrogen compression or liquefaction costs are also eliminated for applications that do not need compressed hydrogen (e.g., electrical power generation). In cases where compressed hydrogen is required, the hydrogen can undergo the compression process at the consumption site while eliminating hydrogen transportation.
Unlike other natural gas-to-hydrogen technologies, the Greenway reforming process does not require external heating sources, resulting in a highly efficient and lower carbon-generating process. When pipeline-quality fossil natural gas is the input, the system will make “blue hydrogen.” When renewable pipeline-quality methane is the input, the system will make “green hydrogen.” These distinctions are important for associated clean air credits, which depend on the input natural gas source and the resultant carbon’s disposition.
The Greenway system is modular and can be scaled by adding additional H-Reformer® modules. The system produces hydrogen at an extremely low cost per unit compared to other technologies.
Currently, Greenway is in discussions with several prospective parties interested in creating hydrogen for various potential uses.
Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:
This news release contains “forward-looking statements,” as that term is defined in Section 27A of the United States Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Statements in this news release which are not purely historical are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. Such forward-looking statements include, among other things, the ongoing effects of the pandemic on delays and orders regarding Greenway’s proprietary gas-to-liquids system, potential business developments and future interest in our clean fuel technologies.
Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. Such factors include, among others, general economic and political conditions, the continuation of the JV withThe University of Texas at Arlington, and the ongoing impact of the pandemic. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release, and we assume no obligation to update the forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Although we believe that the beliefs, plans, expectations and intentions contained in this news release are reasonable, there can be no assurance that such beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions will prove to be accurate. Investors should consult all the information set forth herein and should also refer to the risk factors disclosure outlined in our annual report on Form 10-K for the most recent fiscal year, our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q and other periodic reports filed from time-to-time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
India Charts Path for Global Leadership in Frontier Technologies at “Technology Dialogue 2025” Dr. Jitendra Singh Unveils “Vision India Techade”, envisaging global leadership role for India
Cites ANRF, Quantum Mission and AI Push
The Minister Highlights AI Summit and UN Quantum Science Contributions
Dr.Jitendra Singh Stresses Cross-Sector Synergies to Harness AI and Quantum for Societal Impact
Posted On: 24 JAN 2025 8:08PM by PIB Delhi
Addressing the “Technology Dialogue 2025”, held at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) here, Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, unveiled “Vision India Techade”, envisaging global leadership role for India, particularly in innovation and technology.
Dr. Jitendra Singh emphasized that science and technology form the cornerstone of India’s vision to transform into a global hub for innovation, economic growth and solutions to pressing global issues such as climate change and public health. Highlighting the government’s initiatives like the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), National Quantum Mission, and the India AI mission, he affirmed India’s commitment to making the 2020s a “Techade for India.”
Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh virtually addressing the “Technology Dialogue 2025” conducted by Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
“Strategic international collaborations are essential for India to cement its place as a global technology leader,” Dr. Jitendra Singh noted. He underscored the need to partner with like-minded nations to advance critical technologies like quantum computing, artificial intelligence, and green hydrogen.
India’s leadership role in global technology governance was highlighted through its co-chairmanship of the Summit for Action on Artificial Intelligence, set to take place in France next month, and its active contributions to the United Nations’ International Year of Quantum Science and Technology in 2025. “Our aim is to foster equitable partnerships that address global challenges while enhancing India’s integration into the global value chain,” he said.
The Minister also focused on integrating cross-sectoral synergies, such as combining AI with biotechnology or quantum computing with secure communication systems, to amplify societal and economic impact. Ethical technology governance, responsible innovation, and robust intellectual property protections are pivotal, he emphasized, for ensuring that technological progress benefits all.
India’s vibrant StarUp ecosystem, with over 100 unicorns and a supportive policy environment, was described as a magnet for foreign direct investments in frontier technologies. Dr. Jitendra Singh stressed the importance of strong intellectual property rights frameworks to attract global investors while fostering equitable technology sharing.
The Indian diaspora’s vital role in strengthening international partnerships was another key point. Dr. Jitendra Singh highlighted initiatives like the VAIBHAV Summit and OCI Scientist Scheme, which connect Indian innovators abroad with domestic stakeholders to drive co-innovation and capacity-building.
In conclusion, the Minister said, “India’s technological journey is about contributing meaningfully to global progress while ensuring sustainable and inclusive growth.” With its talent, dynamic startups, and global partnerships, India is poised to lead the world into a future powered by transformative technologies.
The event brought together dignitaries, industry leaders, and academics from around the world to discuss priorities for India’s International Technology Engagement Framework (ITEF).
India Energy Week (IEW) 2025, spanning over 1 lakh Sq mts, will be the second-largest energy event globally, event in terms of participation, exhibition space, and sessions said Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas in Mumbai today.
Scheduled to be held from February 11-14, 2025, at Yashobhoomi, Dwarka, New Delhi, IEW 2025 promises unparalleled global participation from Ministers, CEOs, and industry leaders, setting new benchmarks in the energy sector.
While interacting with media, the Minister highlighted the Clean Cooking Ministerial to be hosted on the sidelines of IEW 2025. This event will serve as a vital platform to strengthen collaborative efforts for accelerating the global adoption of clean cooking solutions. India’s highly successful Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) will take centre stage, showcasing valuable insights and best practices as a global template for addressing energy access challenges.
IEW 2025 is set to achieve remarkable growth in scale and participation compared to previous editions. The exhibition space will expand by 65% to 28,000 square meters, while the number of conference sessions will increase to 105, and global delegates will exceed 70,000. Over 500 speakers, including key international voices, will participate, reflecting the growing global significance of the event. The conference will also host 10 country pavilions from leading nations such as the U.S., UK, Russia, Japan, Germany, and the Netherlands, alongside eight thematic zones focusing on hydrogen, renewables, biofuels, and petrochemicals.
The event will see participation from 20+ Foreign Energy Ministers or Deputy Ministers, along with Heads of International Organizations and 90 CEOs from Fortune 500 energy companies. This reflects India’s rising influence in shaping the global energy transition dialogue. Shri Puri also highlighted initiatives to engage youth and innovators, with leading IITs, startup platforms like “Avinya“ and “Vasudha,” and 500 students from Delhi/NCR participating to showcase innovation and technology-driven solutions.
A key highlight of IEW 2025 is the focus on compelling themes, including energy security, just and orderly transitions, collaboration, resilience, capacity building, and digital advancements. The event’s Clean Cooking Ministerial will further amplify India’s leadership role in ensuring access to sustainable and affordable energy solutions, reinforcing its global commitment to energy equity.
With its unparalleled scale and focus on innovation, India Energy Week 2025 is poised to position India at the forefront of global energy transitions and strengthen its role as a catalyst for change in the energy sector.
On Jan. 24, 1985, space shuttle Discovery took off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida on STS-51C, the first space shuttle mission entirely dedicated to the Department of Defense (DOD). As such, many of the details of the flight remain classified. Discovery’s crew of Commander Thomas “T.K.” Mattingly, Pilot Loren Shriver, Mission Specialists Ellison Onizuka and James Buchli, and Payload Specialist Gary Payton deployed a classified satellite that used an Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) to reach its final geostationary orbit. The three-day mission ended with a landing at KSC. Postflight inspection of the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) revealed the most significant erosion of O-ring seals seen in the shuttle program up to that time, attributed to unusually cold weather before and during launch.
In October 1982, NASA assigned astronauts Mattingly, Shriver, Onizuka, and Buchli as the STS-10 crew for a dedicated DOD flight aboard Challenger then scheduled for September 1983. Payton joined the crew as a payload specialist in the summer of 1983 with Keith Wright assigned as his backup. The failure of the IUS on STS-6 in April 1983 delayed the STS-10 mission, that also used the IUS, until engineers could identify and fix the cause of the problem. By September 1983, NASA had remanifested the crew and the payload on STS-41F with a July 1984 launch, that changed to STS-41E by November 1983. Additional delays in fixing the IUS delayed the mission yet again, by June 1984 redesignated as STS-51C and slated for December 1984 aboard Challenger. STS-51C marked the third spaceflight for Mattingly, selected in 1966 as part of NASA’s fifth group of astronauts. He served on the prime crew for Apollo 13 until exposure to German measles forced his last-minute replacement by his backup. He then flew on Apollo 16 and STS-4. For Shriver, Onizuka, and Buchli, all three selected as astronauts in the class of 1978, STS-51C marked their first trip into space. The U.S. Air Force selected Payton and Wright in August 1979 in its first class of Manned Spaceflight Engineers, and STS-51C marked Payton’s first and only space mission. In November 1984, NASA decided to delay STS-51C from December 1984 to January 1985 and swap orbiters from Challenger to Discovery. Postflight inspections following Challenger’s STS-41G mission in October 1984 revealed degradation of the bonding materials holding thermal protection system tiles onto the orbiter, requiring the replacement of 4,000 tiles. The time required to complete the work precluded a December launch. Tests conducted on Discovery prior to its November STS-51A mission revealed the bonding material to be sound.
On Jan. 5, 1985, Discovery rolled out from KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building, where workers mated it with its External Tank (ET) and SRBs, to Launch Pad 39A. There, engineers conducted the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, essentially a dress rehearsal for the actual countdown, on Jan. 6-7, with the crew participating in the final few hours much as they would on launch day. The astronauts returned to KSC on Jan. 20 to prepare for the planned launch on Jan. 23. The day before, NASA managers decided to delay the launch by one day due to unseasonably cold weather, with concern about sub-freezing temperatures causing ice to form on the ET and possibly coming loose during ascent and damaging the vehicle. The DOD had requested that NASA keep the actual launch time secret until T minus nine minutes, with most of the countdown taking place hidden from public view.
Liftoff of Discovery on its third mission, STS-51C, came at 2:50 p.m. EST on Jan. 24, beginning the 15th space shuttle flight. Eight and a half minutes later, Discovery and its five-man crew had reached orbit. And, at the DOD customer’s request, all public coverage of the mission ended. Although NASA could not reveal the spacecraft’s orbital parameters, trade publications calculated that Discovery first entered an elliptical orbit, circularized over the next few revolutions, prior to Onizuka deploying the IUS and payload combination on the seventh orbit. Neither NASA nor the DOD have released any imagery of the deployment or even of the payload bay, with only a limited number of in-cabin and Earth observation photographs made public.
To maintain the mission’s secrecy, NASA could reveal the touchdown time only 16 hours prior to the event. On Jan. 27, Mattingly and Shriver brought Discovery to a smooth landing at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility after a flight of three days one hour 33 minutes, the shortest space shuttle mission except for the first two orbital test flights. The astronauts orbited the Earth 49 times. About an hour after touchdown, the astronaut crew exited Discovery and boarded the Astrovan for the ride back to crew quarters. Neither NASA management nor the astronauts held a post mission press conference. The U.S. Air Force announced only that the “IUS aboard STS-51C was deployed from the shuttle Discovery and successfully met its mission objectives.” Later in the day, ground crews towed Discovery to the Orbiter Processing Facility to begin preparing it for its next planned mission, STS-51D in March. Postscript Following the recovery of SRBs after each shuttle mission, engineers conducted detailed inspections before clearing them for reuse. After STS-51C, inspections of the critical O-ring seals that prevented hot gases from escaping from the SRB field joints revealed significant erosion and “blow-by” between the primary and secondary O-rings. Both left and right hand SRBs showed this erosion, the most significant of the program up to that time. Importantly, these O-rings experienced weather colder than any previous shuttle mission, with overnight ambient temperatures in the teens and twenties. Even at launch time, the O-rings had reached only 60 degrees. Engineers believed that these cold temperatures made the O-rings brittle and more susceptible to erosion. One year later, space shuttle Challenger launched after similarly cold overnight temperatures, with O-rings at 57 degrees at launch time. The Rogers Commission report laid the blame of the STS-51L accident on the failure of O-rings that allowed super-hot gases to escape from the SRB and impinge on the hydrogen tank in the ET, resulting in the explosion that destroyed the orbiter and claimed the lives of seven astronauts. The commission also faulted NASA’s safety culture for not adequately addressing the issue of O-ring erosion, a phenomenon first observed on STS-2 and to varying degrees on several subsequent missions.
Unlike wind and solar, nuclear power plants and hydropower offer dispatchable energy, meaning they are able to adjust their output to meet electricity demand. Additionally, the expanded use of nuclear power for non-electric applications, including district heating, hydrogen production, desalination and heat for industrial processes, offers further options to reduce emissions.
To support this increasing nuclear energy demand, the IAEA is actively assisting countries by providing technical expertise and capacity building to help them establish or expand nuclear power plants.
Integrated Nuclear Infrastructure Reviews (INIR) are an example where the IAEA assists countries to assess the status of their national infrastructure as they embark on establishing nuclear power plants. INIR missions enable countries to engage in discussions and receive guidance from experts about recommendations and best practices in nuclear power infrastructure development.
These missions ensure that the infrastructure necessary for the safe, secure and sustainable use of nuclear power is developed and implemented in a responsible and orderly manner.
In 2009, the IAEA conducted the first INIR Mission to a country initiating the use of nuclear power. Since then, INIR missions have been hosted by various states including the United Arab Emirates, that has successfully established the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant. This year, it is expected to supply around 25 per cent of the UAE’s electricity, up from its current contribution of 20 per cent, reducing the country’s carbon emissions by 22 million tonnes annually.
Similarly, countries like Sweden, France and Finland have utilized nuclear energy combined with hydro and renewables to largely decarbonize their electricity production. France has an extremely low level of CO2 emissions from electricity generation, since over 90 per cent of its electricity is from low-carbon sources, 70 per cent of that from nuclear power. And 94 percent of Sweden’s electricity comes from low carbon sources in Sweden with more than a third coming from nuclear, according to the IEA.
Newcomer countries
The IAEA is also supporting newcomer countries and developing countries in their transition to nuclear energy, with trainings, technical assistance, and technology transfer of tools and methodologies to help them evaluate the role of different technologies in meeting their future energy needs while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
“A few years ago, discussions might have been about phasing out nuclear energy. Today, at the World Economic Forum, we’re on the road to tripling nuclear capacity. This shows a shift in how nuclear energy is increasingly seen as essential for net-zero and energy transition,” said Mr Grossi this week at the first ever public session on nuclear energy at the World Economic forum Annual Meeting in Davos.
The IAEA’s latest projections indicate that world nuclear capacity will increase 2.5 times the current capacity by 2050. At present, 31 countries operate power plants, with 419 reactors in operation, a combined electrical capacity of 378.1 gigawatt GW, producing about 10 per cent of the world’s electricity. Additionally, over 62 reactors are currently under construction, highlighting the growing adoption of nuclear energy worldwide.
“I am confident 2025 will see commitments translated into concrete projects. Nuclear energy is still providing the world with a quarter of its low-carbon power and supporting the roll out of intermittent renewables like solar and wind. In future we will see even more nuclear deliver the clean, reliable, and secure power the world needs. As always, IAEA will be there to assist countries in making it happen,” said Mr Grossi.
DUBLIN, Jan. 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — via IBN – Fusion Fuel Green PLC (Nasdaq: HTOO) (“Fusion Fuel” or the “Company”), a leading provider of full-service energy engineering and advisory solutions, is pleased to announce several significant developments in its Al Shola Gas (“Al Shola”) subsidiary, which continues to serve as a core driver of growth and profitability for the Company.
Between November 2024 and January 2025, Al Shola secured new orders and renewals valued at approximately USD $3.5 million. These include the renewal of an exclusive LPG supply contract in the residential sector and multiple supply and installation projects across diverse customer segments, such as manufacturing, hospitality, and construction.
Commenting on the commercial progress, JP Backwell, CEO of Fusion Fuel, said: “Our gas business continues to generate meaningful cash flows in its core markets in the Middle East, representing a strong and profitable foundation for Fusion Fuel. The recent orders and renewals underscore the trust our customers place in us and our ability to deliver both fuel and value-added solutions safely and reliably. Looking ahead, we see tremendous potential for growth with additional investment in our infrastructure, particularly to expand our bulk LPG supply capabilities. We are excited about the opportunity to broaden our geographical reach, expand our service offerings, and increase our capacity, which we believe will unlock new revenue streams and enable us to meet the growing demand from our customers, both in the Middle East and beyond. With our Al Shola Gas and BrightHy operating businesses, Fusion Fuel is well-positioned to drive sustainable growth and create long-term value for our shareholders by delivering innovative energy solutions across the full energy value chain.”
About Fusion Fuel Green plc
Fusion Fuel Green PLC (NASDAQ: HTOO) is an emerging leader in the energy services sector, offering a comprehensive suite of energy engineering and advisory solutions through its Al Shola Gas and BrightHy subsidiaries. Al Shola Gas provides full-service industrial gas solutions, including the design, supply, and maintenance of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) systems, as well as the transport and distribution of LPG to a broad range of customers across commercial, industrial, and residential sectors. BrightHy, the Company’s newly launched hydrogen solutions platform, focuses on delivering innovative engineering and advisory services that enable decarbonization across hard-to-abate industries.
This press release includes “forward-looking statements.” Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “estimate,” “plan,” “project,” “forecast,” “intend,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “seek,” “target”, “may”, “intend”, “predict”, “should”, “would”, “predict”, “potential”, “seem”, “future”, “outlook” or other similar expressions (or negative versions of such words or expressions) that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, conditions or results, and involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other important factors, many of which are outside the Company’s control, that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Fusion Fuel has based these forward-looking statements largely on its current expectations, including but not limited the ability of the investment reported on to be consummated as anticipated. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties (including those set forth in Fusion Fuel’s Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission) which could cause actual results to differ from the forward-looking statements.
Source: Australian Government – Minister of Foreign Affairs
Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister: I’ve just come from the opening session of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting here in Samoa. And apart from what was a rather extraordinary cultural display, including all the countries of the Pacific, including Australia, the speech of His Majesty King Charles was, of course, a highlight. King Charles spoke about the existential threat of climate change to our region. He also spoke about the need to not divide, but to come together in our common interest as a Commonwealth. And it was very well received by the heads of government and by the delegates to this important conference that comes at an important time, and the first time, of course, that CHOGM has been held here in the Pacific. We also heard from the Prime Minister Fiamē, and I was able to have a bilateral meeting with the Samoan Prime Minister this morning, after which, I had a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of the UK, Keir Starmer, as well as I had a range of informal meetings while we were waiting for CHOGM to occur, with other Commonwealth leaders. The Pacific is, of course, a global leader in climate action, and Australia respects and supports that leadership. The meeting that we had today with the Prime Minister of Samoa, and other Pacific partners who we discussed with, was about galvanising action in our region, and it will be front and centre of the next two days deliberation. Australia and the United Kingdom, of course, are old friends, but we’re also close friends. And more than friends, we’re partners, and I’ve enjoyed a positive relationship with Prime Minister Starmer for some time. It’s the first time we’ve been able to meet face to face as Prime Ministers of our respective nations. We today discussed, importantly, our new climate and energy partnership that we will be delivering on. We have a common view about the challenge, but also the opportunity, that climate change action represents. We both are on the path to net zero through the transition, and we see that as an opportunity for new industries, new jobs and a new industrialisation of our respective countries. From Australia’s perspective, of course, a future made in Australia, from the UK’s perspective, a future made in the UK. And there’s a real opportunity for us to develop technologies together to make a difference, as well as look at cooperation in areas such as climate finance. The new partnership will allow us to explore cooperation right across the board in all of these areas. Today, also, we’re announcing grants on our Australia-UK Renewable Hydrogen Innovation Partnership Program. This is six companies in Australia, six companies and entities in the United Kingdom, cooperating and collaborating to make a difference with the emerging green hydrogen industry that has such promise to play a critical role in the transition to net zero, in the production of green metals, in a range of areas that will make a difference of lowering our emissions whilst producing new industries and new jobs and new opportunities for Australia, but also for the United Kingdom. Of course, we also discussed AUKUS and the progress that we are making together. And in December, the Foreign Minister and Defence Ministers of both countries will meet, and that will be the next step in making sure that we continue on that pathway, the optimum pathway, for the delivering of AUKUS, and both of us expressed our support for the progress that has been made. I will hand to the Foreign Minister, and then we’re happy to take some questions.
Penny Wong, Minister for Foreign Affairs: Thanks very much, Prime Minister. Look, it’s fantastic to be here with the Prime Minister for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Obviously I had the Foreign Minister’s track yesterday and today is the important Head of Government Meeting, and it’s been a fantastic opportunity to engage with all members of the Commonwealth. Can I just say in relation to the partnership the Prime Minister has announced with Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. This is the Prime Minister’s first formal bilateral with the incoming government, and what a cracking start. Straight away, we’re set to work, working together on transforming our economies, on dealing with not just the existential threat, which is climate change, but all that we need to do economically for our own economies and for the world. So it’s a very exciting announcement that the Prime Minister is making today.
Prime Minister: Happy to take some questions.
Journalist: Prime Minister, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu has said that Australia is not doing enough to curb fossil fuel emissions. What do you say to that?
Prime Minister: Well, I had positive discussions with Prime Minister Teo and other Pacific leaders here. They recognise that the challenge of climate change doesn’t mean that you can just flick a switch and act immediately. We need to make sure that energy security is prioritised in order to make sure that we have that support going forward. But we’ve worked very closely with our Falepili agreement with Tuvalu. The Prime Minister of Tuvalu was in Perth recently as well to pick up the vessel which will provide support there in Tuvalu. And I must say that the feedback I’ve had from Pacific leaders has been very welcoming of Australia’s leadership here in the Pacific when it comes to climate action.
Journalist: Can I ask you further about climate change? Because the King’s speech was very interesting on the existential threat. He made some very dire warnings about what climate change could lead to without, well, global action, and I guess that means an agreement here. Now the King is usually meant to be above politics, isn’t he, but climate change is a very political issue. And in fact, politicians like Nigel Farage, for instance, once likened him to an eco-loony for taking a position on climate change. Admittedly, before he ascended the throne. Has he gone too far and beyond his official duties by being so political about climate change, or is he absolutely right to warn of division and conflict?
Prime Minister: His Majesty is very passionate about the world in which he lives and about the responsibility that we have to future generations. It’s an issue which has characterised his public comments over a long period of time. He also made very strong comments in the Great Hall in Canberra. And in most parts of the world, with very few exceptions, climate change is above politics. It is about existential threat that exists to countries like Tuvalu and Kiribati. It’s about the world in which we live. It’s about our native fauna and flora. It’s about the natural disasters that we were warned would increase in intensity and in frequency. And that is precisely what we are seeing in Australia, but in other parts of the world as well, increased impact of climate change, whether it be rising sea levels, increased cyclones, increased bushfires, increased droughts, we are seeing the impact of climate change, that’s recognised by scientists around the world, and indeed one of the first world leaders to recognise the challenge of climate change and the need to act was Margaret Thatcher.
Journalist: The King also talked about misinformation and the dangers of social media. It’s an area your government has worked on reform for. Have you discussed this topic with the leaders here today, and do you consider this an endorsement from the King?
Prime Minister: Well, His Majesty, of course, speaks for himself, and he made comments about the world in which he resides. And social media is having an impact. It’s having an impact around the world, and much of that impact, of course, is positive. The capacity to communicate with each other is an important one. The use of new technologies to get information out there can be very important, but we also know that there can be a very negative impact as well. With misinformation, we’ve seen the use of artificial intelligence, including, fake information, and indeed, fake videos and a range of materials. And we know that social media when it comes to young people is having an enormous impact, and that’s what my government is doing. It’s something that we see discussed, I think, at the site of every tennis court on the weekend, netball court, football oval, swimming pool, we see parents after school, they’re very concerned about this impact. And I think that the fact that His Majesty, King Charles, is very conscious about the modern world and prepared to engage in debate about that discourse is, I think, of course, up to him, but it’s something that I think brings him credit.
Journalist: If I could just ask, Keir Starmer and others have talked about conflicts, including that in the Middle East. Jim Chalmers has talked about the need for a ceasefire in the Middle East to prevent persistent global inflation. Do you agree that a ceasefire would go some way to doing it?
Prime Minister: Well, we have been very clear about our view, and it’s a view we signed with Sir Keir Starmer and other leaders in the 13 countries that signed up to the statement some time ago. Quite clearly, we do need a resolution. We have said very clearly that we also want to see the hostages released. We want to see both Israelis, but also Palestinians and Lebanese to be able to live in peace and security. I note that Secretary Blinken is there in the region, and the Secretary of State has played a critical role in trying to bring about a reduction in conflict in the region, and we certainly wish him well,
Journalist: Just, obviously, the legacy of colonialism is being discussed, and there are calls from African and Caribbean nations for Britain to pay reparations or engage in a process of reparatory justice for the evils of slavery. It’s something the UK Prime Minister has ruled out, but given Australia’s own history of black birding, is it something you’d support other Commonwealth nations in calling for, or at least for truth telling processes?
Prime Minister: Well, the Australian Government has recognised black birding for a number of decades now. Paul Keating in 1994 said that black birding represented a sorry chapter in Australia’s history, and it does. What my government is focused on very much is a forward agenda of, how do we close the gap? How do we make a difference when the gap is there between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in so many areas? We need to do better.
Journalist: Prime Minister, just briefly back on climate change, if that’s all right. The King also spoke about the way that climate change could fuel social division and inequalities between nations. Is this something the Government’s examined in our own region, as temperatures rise and as natural calamities increase, the way that, for example, water shortages or other problems could fuel conflicts between countries, and given the ONA has done some assessment on this, ONI rather, sorry. Why should that assessment not be made public to the Australian people?
Prime Minister: Because ONI that’s the job that it does so, I think with respect Stephen, you know the answer to why intelligent briefings are just that. But we know as well, it is no secret, and the Australian Government has made information available. That is one of the contexts of the discussions that take place at places like the Pacific Island Forum and indeed, CHOGM here, as well as bilateral visits. We’ve had visits, if you speak about the region, from the leaders of Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tuvalu, Tonga, a range of countries in our region, Fiji too, since I’ve been Prime Minister, it’s always front and centre. And there is an equity aspect to climate change because of its impact is not even across the board, and so it is part of the context of the debate is making sure that Australia and those countries that, of course, are largely responsible for the emissions which are there, have a greater responsibility to act. That’s something that’s been recognised in, that’s part of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. We need to act together as the world. And I think that was a theme of, Commonwealth essentially means common good, and it is something that was a theme of His Majesty’s speech. And I think it was a very fine speech, which will be well received by Commonwealth nations.
Journalist: Could I ask Minister Wong about the work with women that you’ve been doing over the last couple of days. The Queen has obviously, you know, spoken extensively about ending violence in the Pacific against women. When we talk about Australia engaging with the Pacific nations, we often talk about rugby league. What’s our in with women to help the Pacific, a platform for us, for Australia to help the Pacific?
Minister Wong: Well, thanks for the question. I appreciate it. And you know, one of the points that I made yesterday and Her Majesty also made, is that if you’re serious about progress and development and peace, then you have to ensure you deal with women’s experience of violence, women’s access to education, women’s access to economic empowerment. In other words, a country cannot be all that it could be unless women and girls are enabled to fulfil their potential. We’ve really sought to integrate this work into our development assistance programs. And so you will see in Australian development programs, there’s a much greater emphasis than under previous governments, on making sure that there is a perspective around gender. In other words, if you’re funding an economic initiative, what is needed to enable women to participate as well as men? Education, similarly, what is the infrastructure needed for women and girls to participate so there is no peace and stability and prosperity without women taking their full place in a society. And we’ll continue to talk with the region about that.
Prime Minister: Thanks very much. One more.
Journalist: Two more?
Minister Wong: You’ve had one.
Journalist: The King also said you can’t change the past, which is clear, but do you think the Lidia Thorpe’s outburst or protest in Parliament indicates the Commonwealth collectively has not progressed?
Prime Minister: Well, Lidia Thorpe’s outburst was, of course, about Lidia Thorpe, and she achieved her objective because I’m getting a question about it now. I thought it was rude, outrageous and entirely inappropriate.
Journalist: If the ocean declaration is signed tomorrow what would Australia’s commitment be?
Prime Minister: Well, I’m not going to pre-empt the processes. I’m hoping to end this press conference so that I can go to, the sessions haven’t begun yet, they begin this afternoon. We’ll be working this afternoon in a couple of sessions, but then again, tomorrow. I can indicate about tomorrow, just to get this in your diaries as well, the Pacific Policing Initiative, a number of, particularly Samoa, but other countries as well, have recognised that this is the first time it’s operated. We announced it just months ago. There are 11 countries, 46 police officers, including three from Australia, participating, providing security here. There’s also the people who are looking after me here from the local police, were trained by Australians in the past, and tomorrow, we’ll be first thing meeting with the nations of the Pacific who are participating, because this will be something to really celebrate. This is a great example of how Australia can provide practical support with, of course, the three prongs. One is the joint operations such as this one. The second will be the centre there at Pinkenba in Brisbane, that will provide the training. And then the four Centres of Excellence, one of which will be in Papua New Guinea, another which will be in Fiji. This is an example of Australia really making a difference in the region. And I conclude with that, but to thank all the journalists as well who made the effort to come here. This is an important gathering, and I appreciate, and I think Australia appreciates, the fact that you’re here as well. Thanks very much.
Shri Sarbananda Sonowal Dedicates Key Maritime Projects at 2nd Indian Lighthouse Festival Steps to Enable Coastal Communities around Lighthouses to Preserve, Protect & Promote as Tourist Hubs: Shri Sonowal
The Union Minister announced Two New Lighthouses at Chaumuck and Dhamra on Odisha’s Coastline
Shri Sarbananda Sonowal dedicates ‘New Kalwan Lighthouse’ in Jamnagar, Gujarat along with Stacker-cum-Reclaimant & a Flyover at the Paradip Port Authority, Odisha, to the nation
Under the Visionary leadership of PM Shri Narendra Modi ji, Lighthouse Tourism soared by more than 400% since 2014: Shri Sonowal
Shri Sonowal inaugurates multifaceted celebration with beach activities like Sand Art, Boat Art competition, Yoga session
Shri Sarbananda Sonowal leads Swachhata Abhiyan at Niladri Beach, lauds efforts of people’s Participation
2nd edition of Indian Lighthouse Festival witnessed electrifying performances by noted singers like Papon, Sona Mohapatra among others
The Chief Minister of Odisha, Mohan Charan Majhi joined Union Minister Shri Sarbananda Sonowal at the Valedictory Session of the Festival
Assam & Odisha share a close spiritual, historical, cultural, commercial ties as Srimanta Sankardeva, Lakshminath Bezbarua & Bholanath Barooah strengthened it over the years: Shri Sonowal
Posted On: 20 OCT 2024 7:21PM by PIB Delhi
The Union Minister of Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Sarbananda Sonowal dedicated key maritime projects to the nation during the 2nd Indian Lighthouse Festival here today. At the valedictory session here, the Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also announced that the Ministry of Ports, Shipping & Waterways (MoPSW), Govt of India, would take necessary steps to enable coastal communities around the Lighthouses in order to empower them to preserve & promote the lighthouses – the rich heritage of India’s marine sector. The Union Minister also announced two new lighthouses on Odisha’s coastline – one at Chaumuck at Narayanpur in Balasore district and another at Dhamra in Bhadrak district of the state. The Chief Minister of Odisha, Mohan Charan Majhi joined Sonowal as the second edition of Indian Lighthouse Festival draws a closure here today.
The Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced that the coastal communities of the country would be developed as societies in order to enable and empower the communities within the vicinity of lighthouses. The effort is aimed at community engagement to take pride in the lighthouses for their preservation, protection, and promotion. A central association of all these societies would be created to give a national momentum to celebrate the lighthouse as national icons as cultural heritage & legacy of India’s rich maritime sector.
The new Kalwan reef Lighthouse at Jamnagar in Gujarat as well as two projects in Padadip Port, Odisha; i.e., Stacker-cum-Reclaimant & a Flyover bridge, were inaugurated. The Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal also inaugurated Sand Art Competition, Boat Art Competition, Beach run, Beach Yoga and many other activities at the second day of the 2nd edition of multifaceted Indian Lighthouse Festival. Sonowal also led a Swachata Abhiyan at the Niladri beach where the collective effort led to removal of garbage.
Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, said, “The Indian Lighthouse Festival or Bharatiya Prakash Sthamb Utsav has been receiving laurels from all quarters of the country as we continue our effort to further bolster facilities for the tourists – both domestic and foreign – for a memorable experience at these wonderful monuments. Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, the government is taking all steps to realise the full potential of India’s rich cultural heritage as well as its historical legacy in propelling the economic growth of the country. Modiji’s call for an Atmanirbhar Bharat has resonated well with people and we, the Ministry, remain committed to usher in a new chapter of growth in India’s blue economy. Lighthouse Tourism is part of this vision of Modi ji. It gives me immense pleasure to inform you that a rise of more than 400% footfall of tourists in the lighthouses since 2014. From 4 lakhs in 2014, it reached 16 lakhs tourists in the last fiscal. We have already crossed 9 lakhs in the first half of the current fiscal, and it is evident, that the growing trend of lighthouses as tourists hotspots to continue. For years, the guardians of our shores have remained unnoticed, even while they guided vessels and seafarers through the most challenging nights. The ‘Lighthouse Festival’ is our effort to shift this perception. Our goal is to raise awareness, foster involvement, and enlighten people about the significant contribution these iconic structures have made to our country’s maritime legacy.”
Shri @sarbanandsonwal, Union Minister, MoPSW said that this initiative seeks to showcase the significance of India’s centuries-old lighthouses, spread across our vast coastline & celebrate their rich heritage at the inauguration of the 2nd Lighthouse Festival. @PIBBhubaneswarpic.twitter.com/7YZYbSwoE9
— Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (@shipmin_india) October 19, 2024
Highlighting the importance of coastal communities in preservation of the Lighthouses, the Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced, “In order to rope in the coastal community, the government is keen to enable and empower them to preserve, conserve, and promote these iconic structures. A national framework is being mooted to ensure that a well thought out system is in place for the coastal communities to preserve, protect & promote the lighthouses as the torchbearers of India’s rich maritime history and legacy.”
During the festival, the Chief Minister of Odisha, Mohan Charan Majhi and the Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal felicitated eminent personalities from the fields of education, sports and culture. Among them, Odishi dancer, Mamta Ojha; artist Dr Ramesh Prasad Panigrahi; sand sculptor, Om Prakash Sahu; Mariner Nividita Acharya; Oriya Literary figure & poet, Dr Haldar Nath; footballer Sasmita Malik and social worker Sujit Mahapatra, were felicitated. Eight employees of the Directorate General of Lighthouse & Lightships (DGLL) were also felicitated for their good performance.
Earlier, the 2nd edition of Indian Lighthouse Festival was inaugurated by the Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. The festival, in its second avatar here, aimed at rejuvenating the rich maritime history of India iconic lighthouses in a culturally vibrant atmosphere. The festival showcased rich flavours of coastal cuisine, amusement park, folk dance & music, coastal hut among many other interesting performances.
On the historic relationship between Assam and Odisha, Sarbananda Sonowal added, “Assam & Odisha have always shared a close spiritual, historical, cultural, commercial ties through the lives of great saint Srimanta Sankardeva, literary genius Lakshminath Bezbarua & visionary trader Bholanath Barooah which has only strengthened over the years. It is heartening to witness cultural show by the artists of both Assam and Odisha here today celebrating the vibrancy of this festival.”
The Chief Minister of Odisha, Mohan Charan Majhi joined the Union Minister Sarbananda Sonowal at the valedictory session of the festival. The event was also attended by Shantanu Thakur, Union Minister of State, MoPSW; Pravati Parida, the Deputy Chief Minister, Odisha; Suresh Gopi, the Union Minister of State of Tourism & Petroleum and Natural Gas; Sambit Patra, MP as well as TK Ramachandran, IAS, Secretary, MoPSW among others.
During the first day, the festival witnessed sessions on ‘Lighthouse Tourism & Heritage,’ ‘Preservation and conservation of Lighthouse.’
The festivities began with the invocation dance, Ganesh Vandana, followed by a captivating medley of traditional Assamese performances, showcasing the rich cultural heritage of Assam. The concluding performance began with the invocation dance, Shiva Stuti, followed folk dance. The festival was enthralled by some electrifying performances by noted singer Papon on the first night of the festival while Sona Mahapatra was slated to perform on the concluding night.
With an investment of ₹60 crore, 75 iconic lighthouses across 9 coastal states and 1 union territory have been developed under the visionary leadership of the Hon’ble Prime Minister. Each lighthouse has become a beacon of both heritage and recreation, with modern amenities such as museums, amphitheaters, children’s parks, and more. In Odisha, five lighthouses—Gopalpur, Puri, Chandrabhaga, Paradip, and False Point—have been developed as part of this initiative to promote lighthouse tourism.
In the fiscal year 2023-24 alone, the 75 dedicated lighthouses attracted an impressive 16 lakh visitors. As of September 2024, the current fiscal year 2024-25 has already welcomed more than 10 lakh visitors. These developments have also resulted in job creation, with 150 direct and 500 indirect employment opportunities emerging in nearby hotels, restaurants, tour operators, transportation services, and local shops and artisans.
In 2023, the maiden edition of Indian Lighthouse Festival took place in Goa with a spotlight on 75 historical sites to be developed into tourists destinations. The ‘Bharatiya Prakash Sthamb Utsav’ was conceived with an intent to transform these historical sites into tourist destinations with the help of Public Private Partnerships. The key highlights of India’s First Lighthouse Festival were cultural exhibitions, session highlighting maritime history and culture, classical performances, light and sound shows, melodious evenings with celebrity singers, flavours of the coast and community engagements.
In Odisha, the Sagarmala Programme encompasses 36 projects with a total value of ₹20,200 Cr. Among these, 15 projects, valued at approximately ₹4,330 Cr., have been successfully completed, while 21 projects, totalling around ₹15,850 Cr., are currently in various stages of implementation. One standout achievement of the Sagarmala Programme is the living example of Paradip Port’s growth Story. This Port today is the number one major port in cargo handling. Paradip Port will transform into a mega port with a formidable cargo handling capacity of over 300 MTPA very soon and will exceed 500 MTPA capacity by Amrit Kaal 2047. The mammoth traffic volume growth at the port in the recent years has been due to the successful implementation of Capacity augmentation projects under the Sagarmala projects. The Sagarmala program also envisions uplifting the fishermen community with the Modernization of Paradip Fishing Harbour project, with a project cost of ₹108 Crores. The modern fishing harbour will be a strong step towards the coastal community development initiative in Odisha. For upliftment of fishermen community, a fishing harbour at Chandipur in Odisha has also been sanctioned under Sagarmala at a cost of ₹50 Cr. Paradip port is also being developed as a green hydrogen hub in the country.
Odisha, a principal maritime state situated on the eastern coast of India, has a coastline of about 480 km. Paradip Port (290 MTPA Capacity, Cargo handled in 2023-24 – 145.38 MTPA) is the only Major Port in the State under the control of the Government of India. The Government of Odisha has already identified 14 potential sites for the development of Non – Major Ports, out of which, Dhamra (Adani – 100 MTPA Capacity) and Gopalpur (Shapoorji Pallonji & Odisha Stevedore Ltd. – 25 MTPA capacity) are already functioning.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
SEE attends Singapore International Energy Week in Singapore (with photos) SEE attends Singapore International Energy Week in Singapore (with photos) **************************************************************************
The Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, attended the 17th Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW) today (October 21). SIEW is organised by the Energy Market Authority under the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) of Singapore. The theme this year is “A Connected and Sustainable Energy World”. Mr Tse attended the SIEW Summit to speak on the topic of Asia’s Collaborative Journey to a Sustainable Energy Future, and engaged in in-depth discussions and exchanges with other participants. Speaking at the Summit, Mr Tse said that Hong Kong strives to reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality before 2050. The carbon emissions in Hong Kong peaked in 2014. Compared to the peak, the carbon emissions of Hong Kong have reduced by about a quarter and the target is to reduce them by half before 2035. Hydrogen energy is a low-carbon energy with development potential. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is advancing with prudence to create an environment conducive to the development of hydrogen energy, which includes improving legislation, setting up infrastructure and funding trial projects. He said, “Our country places great emphasis on developing hydrogen technology, and has a number of high-quality products and advanced technology. Hong Kong can grab the opportunity to become a hub for the country to promote different products and technologies, helping Hong Kong and other countries to promote a green transition.” Mr Tse also pointed out that there are three key elements to promote regional collaboration, namely political will to set policy targets, active participation from industries and the establishment of an exchange platform for sharing experiences and seeking co-operation. He expressed his gratitude to SIEW for providing an excellent platform that brings together various parties to explore new opportunities and collaboration. In the afternoon, Mr Tse met with the Senior Minister of State for the MTI, Ms Low Yen Ling, to exchange views on hydrogen development. He later met with officials of the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore to learn more about the latest developments of green maritime fuel in Singapore. Mr Tse also visited a local shipping company today and received a briefing on the supply chain and bunkering operations of green marine fuels, particularly the application of green methanol. Tomorrow (October 22), Mr Tse will visit a local enterprise to understand better the developments and applications of sustainable aviation fuel. He will return to Hong Kong the same evening.
Secretary for Environment & Ecology Tse Chin-wan today attended the opening day of the 17th Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW).
SIEW is organised by the Energy Market Authority under Singapore’s Ministry of Trade & Industry (MTI). The theme this year is ‘A Connected & Sustainable Energy World’.
Mr Tse attended the SIEW Summit, where he gave an address on ‘Asia’s Collaborative Journey to a Sustainable Energy Future’, and held in-depth discussions with other participants.
Mr Tse said Hong Kong is striving to reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality before 2050. He highlighted that hydrogen energy is a low-carbon energy with enormous potential, and explained that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government is taking steps towards creating an environment conducive to its development.
He added that efforts have been made to improve legislation, set up infrastructure and fund trial projects.
“Our country places great emphasis on developing hydrogen technology, and has a number of high-quality products and advanced technology,” he said. “Hong Kong can grab the opportunity to become a hub for the country to promote different products and technologies, helping Hong Kong and other countries to promote a green transition.”
In the afternoon, Mr Tse met Singapore’s Senior Minister of State for the MTI Low Yen Ling, to exchange views on hydrogen development.
He later met Maritime & Port Authority officials to learn more about the latest developments concerning green maritime fuels in Singapore.
Mr Tse also visited a local shipping company and listened to a briefing on the supply chain and bunkering operations associated with green marine fuels, in particular green methanol.
Tomorrow, Mr Tse will visit a local enterprise to hear about developments in and applications of sustainable aviation fuel. He will return to Hong Kong in the evening.
Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Mike Levin (CA-49)
October 18, 2024
WASHINGTON – U.S. Representatives Mike Levin (CA-49), Juan Vargas (CA-52), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), and Scott Peters (CA-50) called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide support to the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District (APCD) as they work to monitor the air quality in communities impacted by Tijuana River Valley pollution.
This summer, South Bay communities were overwhelmed by strong sewage odors from the Tijuana River Valley, and hydrogen sulfide was detected in higher-than-normal amounts for short periods of time. Because exposure to hydrogen sulfide can cause adverse health effects like headaches and difficulty breathing, it is important that our communities have access to continuous and robust air quality monitoring that will give public health officials the information they need to help keep people safe.
“In the past year, researchers discovered that toxins and bacteria from the Tijuana River can be aerosolized and become airborne– unveiling an apparent threat not only to our water ecosystems, but the air in our communities. A recent heat wave in the region intensified the odors, and led constituents to report that the fumes have caused them to wake up in the middle of the night,” wrote the lawmakers.
“The [APCD] needs additional resources to ensure that they can properly measure and respond to the reported increase of noxious fumes,” the lawmakers continued. “That is why we are requesting that the EPA deploy whatever available federal resources to assist the San Diego County APCD with establishing a network of reference-grade monitoring equipment that can provide precise and real-time data.”
Read the full letter HERE.
The San Diego Congressional delegation has been focused on combating pollution in the Tijuana River Valley for years.
Together, the San Diego Congressional delegation has secured $400 million in federal funding which will be used to help improve and expand the South Bay International Wastewater Treatment Plant. Construction on the plant will begin soon.
In May, the Congressional delegation called on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to look into the contaminants in the water, soil, and air in our communities and the potential connection to reported increases in illnesses and other symptoms. Thanks to their request, the CDC has begun an investigation into the public health impacts of the Tijuana River Valley sewage pollution.
Earlier this year, the San Diego Congressional delegation reiterated their call to the President to declare a federal state of emergency to help address the pollution.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
USEE attends Third Belt and Road Energy Ministerial Conference (with photos) USEE attends Third Belt and Road Energy Ministerial Conference (with photos) ****************************************************************************
The Under Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Miss Diane Wong, attended the Third Belt and Road Energy Ministerial Conference in Qingdao today (October 23) and was invited to speak at a thematic forum. The Conference was organised by the National Energy Administration and the Shandong Provincial People’s Government. The theme of the Conference this year is “Together for an Innovative and Win-Win Future”, promoting high-quality green energy co-operation under the Belt and Road Initiative. In delivering her speech at the “Embracing the Green Development Trend and Enhancing Innovation in Energy Policy and Mechanism” thematic forum, Miss Wong highlighted the energy policy measures of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government to support the country’s contribution to combating global climate change, as well as the decarbonisation strategies to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050. Miss Wong said, “The HKSAR Government is actively developing renewable energy, exploring new energy sources for electricity generation and strengthening regional co-operation, with a view to increasing zero-carbon electricity supply, reducing carbon emissions at source and achieving the goal of carbon neutrality in the long run. Our country’s headway in building a sustainable future is also providing the HKSAR with bountiful development opportunities. With our country’s development of top-notch green products and advanced technologies, the HKSAR Government could leverage our unique position and distinctive edge to play a pivotal role in stepping up efforts to promote new energy.” She added that the Chief Executive has promulgated the 2024 Policy Address, themed “Reform for Enhancing Development and Building Our Future Together”, with the announcement that the HKSAR Government will earmark around $750 million under the New Energy Transport Fund to subsidise the taxi trade and franchised bus companies to purchase electric vehicles, and will launch the Subsidy Scheme for Trials of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Electric Heavy Vehicles. Furthermore, the HKSAR Government will earmark $300 million for a new scheme, providing subsidies to the private sector for installing fast-charging facilities. The target is to have a total of 3 000 fast chargers installed by 2030. Regarding hydrogen energy development, the HKSAR Government announced the Strategy of Hydrogen Development in Hong Kong in June and will actively support the industry to establish a solar-to-hydrogen facility for demonstration. It also plans to introduce a bill next year to ensure the safe use of hydrogen fuel, and will also formulate the approach of hydrogen standard certification suitable to Hong Kong. She said that co-operation between the Government and various parties is crucial for spearheading innovation, enacting policies, and cultivating an environment conducive to green transformation. The HKSAR Government will work together with nearby cities and regions under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative to actualise a sustainable future. Miss Wong will return to Hong Kong tomorrow morning (October 24).
Ends/Wednesday, October 23, 2024Issued at HKT 18:12
For more than 100 years, Storrs students have been able hop on buses of varying kinds – from a 1920s jalopy to today’s sleekly designed “Ice Bus” – on their way to their classes, residence halls, and activities around campus.
While UConn Storrs has grown and even the school’s name has evolved, one thing has remained the same: The buses have been powered by fossil fuels, which has been the standard technology for decades in mass transit around the world.
But that’s about to change. As the State of Connecticut pursues more clean energy options, it is providing two new battery electric buses to the Windham Regional Transit District (WRTD), which operates UConn’s bus system, for use on the Storrs campus starting in the spring semester.
The electric buses produce no tailpipe emissions and provide all the features that today’s students need for a comfortable and productive ride. Those amenities include three-position bicycle racks, phone charging ports, comfortable silica cushion seats, on-board electronic information displays, and other features envisioned in the Customer Experience Action Plan of the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT).
The new buses are part of a larger initiative by CTDOT and state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection (DEEP) in partnership with transit providers to transition from diesel to zero-emissions models under an executive order that Gov. Ned Lamont issued in 2021.
The new 32-seat electric buses fit ideally into UConn’s clean-energy transportation vision, which is part of the broader plan to attain carbon neutrality on campus by 2030. Some of the related initiatives in the works include installing a hydrogen fuel dispenser at Storrs next spring; replacing 24 aging utility fleet vehicles with hydrogen-fueled models; and adding nine hybrid buses, which are currently on order.
Many more electric vehicle charging stations are also being added at Storrs, UConn Health, and other locations statewide. Like the hydrogen fuel station, they will be accessible for public use.
“Transportation is a critical piece in the puzzle at UConn as we work toward carbon neutrality by 2030 and the goal of net carbon zero by 2040,” says Stan Nolan, UConn’s interim associate vice president for facilities operations, which include transportation and fleet services.
“Transitioning our University vehicles to models that operate on more sustainable fuel sources will significantly enhance our progress, along with providing amenities like the charging stations to support and encourage others to adopt green-friendly transportation in our community,” he says.
All told, the University’s fleet vehicles are driven a combined total of about 2,000 miles per day on and around its campuses. About three-quarters of them run on gasoline or diesel fuel, but that percentage is decreasing as vehicles reach the end of their serviceable lives and many are being replaced with clean-energy vehicles.
President Radenka Maric, an internationally recognized expert in clean energy technology, says the impact of transitioning UConn’s fleet to green-energy sources will be an important step in the work toward carbon neutrality.
It also establishes UConn and the State of Connecticut as a partnership model for other states to emulate and underscores ideals of UConn’s Strategic Plan, in which the wellness of people and the planet – starting right on its campuses – are among the six top focus areas.
The two electric buses are expected to be added to the Storrs routes in the spring semester once the charging infrastructure is installed and ready for use at the WRTD bus garage.
The electric buses can run for about 150 to 180 miles per charge in winter, and about 200 to 220 miles per charge in summer. That range is ideal for a location like the Storrs campus, where the buses are constantly circulating on a typical day and the per-charge mileage is expected to be on the higher side since they will travel on flat topography at low speeds, officials say.
They will be around the same size as the current buses, most of which are seven or eight years old. Many of those buses will be taken off the road in coming years as they reach the end of their service life, with more clean-energy vehicles envisioned in their place.
The two new electric buses will include UConn’s logo and other recognizable branding, along with a white noise sound for safety to ensure pedestrians can hear the bus even if they are wearing headphones, ear buds, or other clothes and gear.
The new buses also will include the current audio warnings that are broadcast to indicate to people nearby whenever a bus is turning.
The two new electric buses being deployed at Storrs are part of the State of Connecticut’s initiative to electrify at least 30% of the medium and heavy-duty transit fleet statewide by 2030, and 100% by 2035.
Of the 50 new buses being delivered this year, 34 have been deployed across the various CTtransit divisions in addition to 11 already operating in the Hamden and Stamford areas from the 2022 Electric Bus Pilot program.
“Transitioning our fleet from older diesel models to newer zero-emission buses reduces greenhouse gas emissions and harmful air pollution,” says Benjamin Limmer, CTDOT’s Bureau Chief of Public Transportation. “These state-of-the-art buses are quieter, provide a smoother ride, and offer additional amenities that today’s riders deserve. We’re excited to see them running on the Storrs campus this spring.”
Though UConn is moving into a new generation of clean energy mass transit, bus service at Storrs dates back to the days when it was still the Connecticut Agricultural College.
A news story from a 1921 version of the Connecticut Campus student paper includes a colorful description of transportation options in previous years, including a 25-passenger Kissel car that often lost its front wheel on Route 195’s Spring Hill and a faster but short-lived Studebaker.
One of the most famous – or infamous, some would say – was an old Pierce-Arrow they jokingly called the “Black Maria,” a common nickname for police vehicles.
“Students will remember a good many times when they gave vent to their feelings because of Maria’s mulish behavior,” the newspaper wrote in an April 1921 profile of the driver, who transported students three times daily between Willimantic and the campus.
The idea of a 32-seat passenger bus would have been inconceivable to students then.
In fact, electricity had only arrived on campus starting in 1906 – and only in the chapel, library, and dining hall, not the dorms. Now, almost 120 years later, the two new electric buses and nine new hybrid buses represent the next generation of transportation at UConn.
“UConn has always worked to ensure that its campuses are provided with the most modern, user-friendly, and socially responsible transportation options available. The addition of the new electric buses fits perfectly into that mission,” says Andy Kelly, UConn’s associate director of logistics in its facilities operations division.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 23, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Westport Fuel Systems Inc. (TSX: WPRT / Nasdaq: WPRT) (“Westport” or “The Company”) announces that the Company will release financial results for the third quarter of 2024 on Tuesday, November 12, 2024, after market close. A conference call and webcast to discuss the financial results and other corporate developments will be held on Wednesday, November 13, 2024.
Participants may register up to 60 minutes before the event by clicking on the call link and completing the online registration form. Upon registration, the user will receive dial-in info and a unique PIN, along with an email confirming the details.
The webcast will be archived on Westport’s website and a replay will be available at https://investors.wfsinc.com.
About Westport Fuel Systems At Westport Fuel Systems, we are driving innovation to power a cleaner tomorrow. We are a leading supplier of advanced fuel delivery components and systems for clean, low-carbon fuels such as natural gas, renewable natural gas, propane, and hydrogen to the global transportation industry. Our technology delivers the performance and fuel efficiency required by transportation applications and the environmental benefits that address climate change and urban air quality challenges. Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, with operations in Europe, Asia, North America, and South America, we serve our customers in more than 70 countries with leading global transportation brands. At Westport Fuel Systems, we think ahead. For more information, visit http://www.wfsinc.com.
India to Develop Roadmap Post-20% Ethanol Blending Target, Says Minister Hardeep Singh Puri at G-STIC Conference Shri Puri Highlights Importance of Addressing Energy Trilemma: Balancing Affordability, Availability, and Sustainability
Outlines Role of Ujjwala Scheme in Providing Affordable LPG to Economically Weaker Sections of Society
Posted On: 22 OCT 2024 6:31PM by PIB Delhi
Addressing the 7th G-STIC Delhi Conference on “Accelerating Technologies Solutions for the SDGs,” Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, articulated India’s evolving journey towards sustainable energy solutions. Highlighting the potential for these technological advancements to be replicated across the Global South, Shri Puri provided insights into the complexities of energy transitions within democratic frameworks, emphasizing that there is no clear answer to whether these transitions are inherently easier or more difficult in democracies.
The 7th G-STIC (Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Community) Conference organized by TERI and VITO along with the support of eight other not-for-profit independent technology research institutes, is being hosted in India for the first time. The Conference will deliberate on challenges under the umbrella theme “Harmonizing Technology, Policy and Business Pathways for Sustainable Future and Coexistence”.
Speaking at the inaugural session of the Conference, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri discussed the critical trilemma that democratically elected governments face globally: balancing affordability, availability, and sustainability in energy policy. He pointed out that as global energy demand rises, India’s own energy consumption is projected to increase significantly—from 5.4 million barrels per day today to an anticipated 7 million barrels per day by 2030. This growing demand positions India as a major contributor to global energy consumption, with projections indicating that 25% of the increase in global energy demand over the next two decades will originate from India alone.
Affordability remains a primary concern in addressing this energy transition. The Minister emphasized the government’s commitment to research and development, citing innovative solutions such as hydrogen fuel cell technology being piloted in public transport. Currently, India is operating 15 hydrogen-powered buses, which are still in the demonstration phase. These initiatives reflect a broader vision for sustainable transport solutions that can contribute to reducing the carbon footprint.
A highlight of the address was the substantial progress made in ethanol blending, which has surged from just 1.53% in 2013-14 to 16% today. This achievement has prompted the government to advance its blending target of 20% from 2030 to 2025, showcasing a proactive approach to energy sustainability. Shri Puri noted that discussions have already begun to establish a roadmap for sustainable energy solutions beyond the 20% blending target, indicating a forward-thinking strategy that anticipates future energy needs.
The Minister stressed the need for addressing the energy requirements of developing nations, particularly in the Global South, where many countries rely heavily on energy imports. He expressed confidence that the success of India’s ethanol initiatives could serve as a model for these regions, although he acknowledged that unlike Brazil, India lacks the luxury of abundant arable land for biofuel production. Nevertheless, he emphasized the potential for innovative biofuel strategies to alleviate import dependency while addressing local energy needs.
The Minister also highlighted the transformative impact of the Ujjwala scheme, launched in 2016, which has significantly expanded access to cooking gas. The number of cylinder connections has increased from 140 million to 330 million, providing clean cooking fuels to economically weaker sections of society. This initiative, along with other social schemes of Government, has played a crucial role in lifting approximately 250 million people out of multidimensional poverty under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership.
In his concluding remarks, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri focused on the potential of green hydrogen as a game-changer for India’s energy landscape. He outlined the importance of local demand, production, and consumption in making green hydrogen a viable energy source. The key challenge remains in reducing the cost of production, and he called for ongoing innovation and scaling of technology in this sector.
Source: United Kingdom – Executive Government & Departments 2
Winners of the Transport Research and Innovation Grant (TRIG) will help make travel cleaner, safer and more efficient for everyone in the UK.
32 pioneering projects granted a share of £1.4 million to drive innovation and revolutionise the UK transport sector
visionary designs include an air purification product to tackle pollution and a pedestrian management system to enhance road safety
ideas will boost economic growth by creating jobs – sparking further innovation and cementing the UK’s position as a global leader in green transport
Winners of a £1.4 million competition to transform the transport sector, grow the economy and inspire innovation have been announced by the Department for Transport today (23 October 2024).
Organisations and academics with innovative ideas were able to win up to £45,000 in funding to offer sustainable, forward-thinking alternatives and contribute to the government’s aim of cleaner, greener and more efficient transport networks.
Over the last decade, the Transport Research and Innovation Grant (TRIG) programme has invested over £15 million to support industries in the pursuit for new technologies and collaborations – helping deliver key economic growth throughout the country.
This year sought proposals focused on local transport decarbonisation, maritime decarbonisation and emerging technologies such as AI and drones.
Aviation, Maritime and Security Minister, Mike Kane, said:
Innovation is the driving force behind our transport system and these winning projects are leading the charge by creating cutting-edge solutions that could offer so much benefit for all.
With sustainability at the core of this year’s competition, we’re helping to shape the future of transport – making travel cleaner, safer and more efficient for everyone.
Among the groundbreaking projects awarded funding through the government’s TRIG is Vox Aeris, with an invention that hopes to use sound waves and music vibrations from a speaker to reduce harmful pollution across transport networks.
Selene Sari, founder and CEO of Vox Aeris, said:
We are beyond excited to be a TRIG 2024 winner. This support will be pivotal for developing our technology, assessing feasibility with refined prototypes and engaging early stakeholders. We look forward to collaborating with Connected Places Catapult and the Department for Transport.
The financial backing, expertise, and network support we’re receiving will be crucial for us to advance to the next stage. Having such robust support early in our journey will enable us to move faster and connect with networks that would otherwise be challenging to bring together.
Previous TRIG winners include OpenSpace – a cutting-edge project using digital twinning and AI to tackle rail station disruption. By using special algorithms, it created the world’s first real-time simulated environment of St Pancras station to help operators manage people flow, improve safety and boost customer experience.
TRIG has been running for over a decade, funding more than 430 projects that have ranged from better connecting rural communities with a shuttle bus app to trialling the use of hydrogen to make plane and boat journeys greener.
Erika Lewis, Chief Executive Officer at Connected Places Catapult, said:
Innovation in transport can unlock many benefits for society, the economy and the environment. The Transport Research and Innovation Grants programme has been supporting high-potential innovators for a decade, through funding and dedicated business support, helping them realise their commercial potential.
This year’s TRIG competition drew a fantastic response from innovators, with the ‘critical and emerging technologies’ challenge proving to be especially popular.
Today, the Aviation, Maritime and Security Minister is at the Transport Research and Innovation Grant Awards in Birmingham to celebrate last year’s successful winners and see firsthand what the funding can achieve.
Australia now has a government and parliament wanting timely transition to net zero. We have a government and parliament wanting to build Australia as the renewable energy superpower of the zero-carbon world economy. For the time being, we have favourable international settings for using our opportunity.
The government of Australia has embraced this superpower narrative, taken some big steps towards supporting its emergence, and articulated sound principles for guiding further policy development.
But Australians in business and the community wanting to make large efforts to turn opportunity into reality find themselves in a tangle of policy uncertainty and contradiction.
The source of the problem is the abolition of carbon pricing in 2014. Since then, the Commonwealth government has worked within constraints that rule out success.
We can make a start towards net zero and becoming a renewable energy superpower without moving the constraints, but we can’t get far. This is a problem for any government of Australia, and not only for the current Labor government. We will not rise sustainably out of the post-pandemic dog days until we get energy policy right.
Striking the right balance
Striking the right balance between state intervention and market exchange is always essential for successful economic development, in all places.
The market generally delivers goods and services more cost-effectively than the state where there is genuine competition among suppliers and purchasers of goods and services.
The difference is especially large and important at a time of structural change and uncertainty. State decisions inevitably tend towards continuation on established paths and slow response to new opportunities.
Australia will not make use of more than a small fraction of the superpower opportunities available to it without immense contributions from an innovative, competitive private business sector.
So we have to design energy and related markets that provide the widest possible scope for competition among enterprises within clear rules understood in advance of investment decisions by all market participants.
The state has to do well the things that only the state can do. Because government capacity is a finite resource, it is much more likely that it will do the essential things well if it doesn’t try to do the things that markets do well.
The state must define the boundaries between the services that it delivers and those to be delivered by the market.
In the electricity sector, government must take responsibility for design of the market rules and compliance with them. It must provide the natural monopoly services of electricity transmission and hydrogen transportation and storage. It must take ultimate responsibility for system security and reliability.
For any market to work, individual market participants must be blocked by regulation from damaging others through their business decisions, or subject to a tax equal to the costs they impose on others. And they must be rewarded for large benefits that they confer on others.
This is essential economics. Its understatement in Productivity Commission and financial media commentary on energy and climate policy discussion over the past decade reveals the debasement of Australian political culture that gave us the dog days.
It has been politically incorrect to tell the truth out loud.
It’s time for carbon pricing
A crucial element of post-2030 market design is introduction of a green premium for zero-carbon energy.
It is obviously necessary for low-cost decarbonisation and expansion of the electricity sector and building Australia as a renewable energy superpower. The green premium is crucial for securing international market access for the zero-carbon export industries.
One of the dog days constraints on policy is that there should be no mandatory demands on private investors. Those constraints must be broken for the green premium to reflect the social cost of carbon, as it must if we are to achieve net zero by 2050 and build Australia as the renewable energy superpower.
The economically efficient way of achieving the premium is carbon pricing. It would be most efficient within an economy-wide system, although it could be introduced initially for the electricity sector and extended to other industries later.
Investors now need to know soon that there will be a premium reasonably related to the social cost of carbon after the Renewable Energy Target ends in 2030.
What matters for the superpower industries is the green premiums for which they are eligible in other countries. Pending the emergence of appropriate premiums, the Commonwealth is proposing payments from the budget.
That is appropriate. It can get the early movers started. It would be expensive if it continued for long. The superpower industries will grow rapidly if they have access to premiums corresponding to the social cost of carbon. Over time, payments from the Australian budget will be replaced by market premiums in destination countries.
There are several possible forms of carbon pricing. The system operating in Australia from 2012 to 2014 was economically and environmentally efficient.
It would have been linked to the EU Emissions Trading System from July 1 2014 if it had not been abolished the day before. The Australian carbon price would be equal to the European price. We would be introducing a European-type Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism to ensure that Australian producers were not disadvantaged by competition in the domestic market from suppliers who were not subject to similar carbon constraints. The ETS (emissions trading scheme) would be contributing around 2% of GDP to public revenues – going a substantial part of the way to answering the daunting budget challenge to restoration of Australian prosperity.
Part of that increased revenue could support payments to power users to ensure there was no increase in power prices to users until expansion of renewable generation and storage had brought costs down – along the lines of the A$300 per household introduced in the 2024 budget, but larger.
The arrangements would provide automatic access for zero-carbon Australian goods to the high-priced European market. There would be no need to provide for a green premium for sales to Europe from the Australian market. The green premiums in other markets would at first need to be covered, as they are now, from the Australian public revenue.
A carbon solutions levy
Rod Sims (former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) and I have suggested a carbon solutions levy. It is administratively simpler than the ETS. It would initially raise much more revenue.
We propose exemption for coal and gas exports to countries in which Australian zero-carbon exports attract a premium comparable to the EU carbon price, even if it is not generated through an ETS.
We would hope that if the carbon solutions levy were to be introduced from 2030, our major trading partners would by that time have introduced green premiums that justify exemption from the levy for coal and gas exports to those countries.
The European Union would be exempt from the beginning. The Northeast Asian economies are moving towards eventual justification of exemption. China now has a country-wide emissions trading system.
The carbon price in July 2024 is about A$21 per tonne, having increased by 50% since early in the year. The price is expected to continue rising until it is playing a major role in transformation of Chinese industry.
Incidentally, China undertook to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that its emissions would peak by 2030, but its rapid expansion of renewable energy generation, electric vehicles and zero-carbon industrial technologies suggest that the peak may have come in 2023.
Japan is working on direct budgetary support for importers of zero-carbon products which could pass through into a premium for zero-carbon exports from Australia.
During a visit in April 2024, I was advised that the Japanese government is working towards issue of “green bonds” to pay for the premium. A carbon tax from 2035 would meet the cost of servicing and retiring the bonds.
Korea and Taiwan are introducing their own mechanisms for supporting premiums for zero-carbon imports.
One initial criticism of the carbon solutions levy is that it would cause leakage of Australian exports to competing suppliers of gas and coal. There would be some leakage, alongside substantial transfers from rents to the public revenues, and for metallurgical coal in particular, some increase in export prices.
The price increase would introduce an element of green premium for Australian green iron exports. The Superpower Institute (a non-profit research organisation founded by Sims and I) has commissioned the Centre of Policy Studies at Victoria University to quantify the extent of leakage, transfers from rent and higher export prices. The results will be available for public discussion early in 2025. The study will also calculate the effect of the levy on Australian public finances, real incomes and real consumption.
Regional considerations
Australia’s main competitor in regional coal markets is Indonesia. Its main competitors in gas markets are Papua New Guinea, East Timor, Indonesia, Brunei and the Middle East petroleum producers.
No informed person would suggest that there could be an economic problem with leakage to the Middle East: Saudi Arabia and the small Gulf states extract revenue from petroleum exports at much higher rates per dollar than Australia would after imposition of the levy.
There is a case in the Australian national interest for not seeing expansion of export sales from Papua New Guinea and East Timor as being entirely a waste.
But in their national interest and ours, I suggest that we seek to negotiate a four-way agreement on climate and energy with Indonesia, East Timor and Papua New Guinea.
We would all impose carbon solutions levy-type levies at similar rates. This would be a major source of revenue for all of us.
Participation of Indonesia removes leakage of coal exports. Indonesia already has an emissions trading scheme, although it generates a carbon price of only a few dollars per tonne.
It may choose to remove other imposts on fossil carbon exports at the time of introduction of new carbon-related measures – such as the requirement to make 35% of coal exports available at prices well below international prices for domestic power generation.
Participation of the four countries removes the leakage issue for gas. The four neighbours would cooperate in major development programs based on expansion of zero-carbon energy supply and goods production.
There is active discussion in Indonesia of archipelago-wide electricity transmission infrastructure to allow the superior renewable energy resources of the outer islands – Papua, Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Kalimantan, Sumatra – to contribute to decarbonisation and growth of zero-carbon industry everywhere, including in the Java heartland.
The Indonesian grid would run close to neighbouring Australia, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, East and West Malaysia and the Philippines. It would be the geopolitically practical means of linking Australia and Singapore, as envisaged in the SunCable project in the Northern Territory.
The Indonesian national grid could link to the Australian Sungrid discussed in my book The Superpower Transformation in Darwin and the Pilbara.
The alternatives to carbon pricing are weak
The alternatives to economy-wide carbon pricing are likely to turn out to be short-lived expedients that lead sooner rather than later to the return of today’s incoherence and underperformance in energy and climate policy and performance.
The state must provide reliability of power supply to the general population.
The Commonwealth government can do this without distorting competitive electricity markets by establishing an energy reserve I have proposed in my book The Superpower Transformation.
The superpower industries depend on electricity and hydrogen markets operating efficiently and embodying carbon prices. Otherwise the market design issues relevant to their development are similar to those for electricity.
Negative carbon externalities need to be corrected by taxation or alternative carbon pricing mechanisms. Positive externalities from innovation should be rewarded.
Positive innovation externalities are important in the introduction of new industries, technologies and business models for the zero-carbon economy.
Economy-wide carbon pricing at the social cost of carbon is essential to getting the balance right between state intervention and market exchange.
Once it is in place with fiscal rewards for innovation, the government can let businesses decide which new industries and technologies warrant investment.
Once carbon pricing is known to be coming into place reasonably soon, there is no further need for government underwriting of investment in power generation.
There is no need to include a climate trigger in assessment of a project of any kind: if it emits carbon, it will pay for the climate damage it does.
There is no need for government to take a view on climate grounds about the merits of nuclear power generation. It is zero-emissions generation and, like renewable energy, not subject to the carbon price. If it can compete with other forms of generation, it will find a place in private investment decisions on the energy mix.
There is no need for government investment in nuclear power generation. Private investors will have the same incentives to invest in nuclear as in other zero-carbon generation technologies.
There will be no need for the government to take a view on incentives for carbon capture and storage. If it is effective and emissions are actually reduced, carbon payments will be correspondingly reduced.
The carbon price will allow private investors to get on with the job of expanding renewable energy supply at a rapid pace and decarbonising the economy more generally.
Ross Garnaut is a Director and shareholder of Zen Energy. Together with Rod Sims, Ross is a co-founder and Director of The Superpower Institute, a not for profit think tank.
This undated file photo shows an array of China’s Tianlai Experiment, a project aimed to test key technologies for detecting dark energy, in the Kazak Autonomous County of Barkol in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. [Photo/National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences] China’s Tianlai Experiment, a scientific project aimed at detecting dark energy using a radio telescope array, has been officially granted “pathfinder” status by the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Observatory, according to the National Astronomical Observatories (NAOC) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The SKA is a next-generation giant radio telescope array that is under construction. Once completed, it will be the world’s largest radio telescope array. China, South Africa, the United Kingdom, Australia and six other nations make up the project’s official membership. Facilities involved in SKA-related science and technology studies are called SKA pathfinders or SKA precursors. Several radio telescopes around the world have been certified as SKA pathfinders, said Chen Xuelei, chief scientist of the Tianlai Experiment and a researcher at the NAOC, which operates the project. The latest discoveries from these pathfinders can provide new scientific exploration opportunities for the SKA, and their related technologies may be applied to the construction of the SKA and future radio telescopes, Chen said. Located in the Kazak Autonomous County of Barkol in northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the Tianlai Experiment consists of two arrays: the Tianlai cylinder array, which has three adjacent cylindrical reflectors with a total of 96 receivers, and the Tianlai dish array, which consists of 16 dishes, each six meters in diameter. The project aims to test key technologies for detecting dark energy, which is thought to make up about 70 percent of the cosmos and drive the acceleration of its expansion. Dark energy cannot be detected directly, but its abundance and properties can be analyzed by observing how the expansion rate of the universe changes over time. The “sound” of the Big Bang left an imprint on the matter distribution in the early universe that has now grown into large-scale structures. By studying the large-scale matter distribution, astronomers can derive these “baryon acoustic oscillations” and determine the cosmic expansion rate over time. Tianlai, which literally means “heavenly sounds,” aims to detect these acoustic oscillations. It will search for the 21-centimeter signals emitted by hydrogen atoms, with hydrogen being the most abundant element in the universe. As the universe is expanding, these 21-centimeter signals have gradually shifted to longer wavelengths in a process referred to as “redshift.” The Tianlai Experiment will cover a range of radio wavelengths — thereby also covering redshifted signals — to generate a map of the three-dimensional distribution of matter in the universe, Chen said. The Tianlai research team is composed of scholars and graduate students at the NAOC and other Chinese universities, as well as experts and scholars from foreign research institutions.
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
A wide range of high-tech and high value-added products displayed at the first phase of the 136th China Import and Export Fair, also known as the Canton Fair, proved increasingly popular among overseas buyers, the event’s organizers said on Monday.
The event’s first phase, which focused on China’s advanced manufacturing, concluded on Saturday in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, with digitalized, intelligent and green products emerging as major highlights of the exhibits.
Among the 11,165 participating companies in the first phase, approximately 3,600 are related to digital technology and intelligent manufacturing, according to the organizers. Of these, 57.8 percent are enhancing their industrial chains through technology transformations involving big data, artificial intelligence and the industrial internet.
Chinese exhibitors have showcased a plethora of new products, technologies, materials and processes, with 390,000 digital products on display, marking a 300 percent increase compared with the last session.
High-end products including smart home appliances, new energy vehicles, industrial automation equipment, humanoid robots, intelligent bionic hands and hydrogen-powered bikes are increasingly popular, the organizers said.
They also said the trend indicates that Chinese manufacturing is accelerating its pace toward the high end of the industrial and value chains, while the independent innovation capabilities of Chinese enterprises and the core competitiveness of Chinese products are continuing to strengthen.
Xu Jiadong, sales manager of Skymen Technology Corp, said, “We have seen an increased number of buyers, especially those from emerging markets such as the Middle East and Southeast Asia, visiting our exhibition booth during the fair, showing interest in buying advanced ultrasonic cleaning products.”
The Shenzhen, Guangdong province-based company’s overseas sales of ultrasonic cleaning products steadily increased in the first nine months of this year, reaching more than 60 million yuan ($8.4 million), Xu said.
To meet the increased demand for advanced and intelligent ultrasonic cleaning products in overseas markets, the company launched operation of its manufacturing base in Shaoguan, Guangdong, in late 2023.
More than 130,000 overseas buyers, an increase of 4.6 percent compared with the previous session, visited the fair’s first phase. Of these, 69.7 percent were from countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative, and around 20,000 buyers were from the Middle East, an increase of 44.2 percent compared with the previous session, according to the organizers.
In addition, advanced products with high added value, such as industrial machines manufactured in China, have become increasingly popular in the overseas market, according to Yusuf Kandemir, CEO of Alshamela Group Trading Co.
“The fair provides me with very valuable information, as we are looking for high-end industrial machinery suppliers from China,” said Kandemir, adding that such products are very much in demand, especially in the Middle East.
The second phase of the fair will be held from Wednesday to Sunday, with 10,040 Chinese exhibitors showcasing household items, gifts and decorations, building materials and furniture.
Spanning three phases, with both online and on-site exhibitions, the fair, which will run until Nov 4, aims to serve high-quality development and promote greater opening-up.
The Transport Department today launched a bus parade and exhibition in Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The event features buses from the past and present and is one of the highlights of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government’s National Day celebrations this year.
Speaking at the kick-off ceremony this morning, Secretary for Transport & Logistics Lam Sai-hung noted that bus services have long been an indispensable and important part of Hong Kong’s economy and people’s livelihoods.
“Buses have not only met the travel needs of Hong Kong people every day, but have also witnessed the city’s developments.”
The event marks the evolution of franchised buses in the city from the past to the present, engaging with the public to experience the crucial role of bus services in the public transport system, he added.
The transport chief also highlighted that China’s rapid development of new energy technologies in recent years has enriched Hong Kong’s choices of new energy public transport.
“Numerous electric double-decker buses and hydrogen fuel cell buses introduced into Hong Kong in the past few years were China-made models. Our country has been forging ahead steadfastly in the last 75 years and continuous innovations in such areas as energy and transport technology not only reflect our country’s leading role in this field, but also bring the convenience of technology into the lives of the general public.”
After the ceremony, the officiating guests boarded an open-top bus to lead a parade of eight retired and in-service buses from Victoria Park to Man Kwong Street via Gordon Road, King’s Road, Causeway Road, Hennessy Road, Fleming Road and Lung Wo Road.
The general public enjoyed the parade along the 6km-long route across various districts and took photos.
The convoy also engaged with citizens and tourists at locations such as Hennessy Road near Jardine’s Bazaar in Causeway Bay, Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai and the destination at Central Pier.
In addition, the four-day bus exhibition at the Victoria Park football pitches is open to registered members of the public free of charge from this afternoon.
The department reminded those who have registered to queue up and enter the exhibition via its entrance at Soccer Pitch No. 4 (near the jogging track) with a QR code at the selected time slot.
The exhibition features a total of 10 retired and in-service buses, including the first-generation double-decker bus introduced 75 years ago and the newly introduced China-made new energy double-decker buses.
Bus model exhibits, photo-taking spots simulating a bus driver and passengers, a neon light installation as well as bus service-related memorabilia including bus captain uniforms of different generations and vintage bus tickets are also on display, the department said.
Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
SEE to attend International Energy Week in Singapore SEE to attend International Energy Week in Singapore ****************************************************
The Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Mr Tse Chin-wan, will depart for Singapore tomorrow (October 20) afternoon to attend the Singapore International Energy Week (SIEW). Mr Tse will attend the SIEW Summit on October 21 to speak on the topic “Asia’s Collaborative Journey to a Sustainable Energy Future” and engage in in-depth discussions and exchanges with other participants. During his stay in Singapore, Mr Tse will meet with officials from the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore to exchange views on hydrogen development and green maritime fuel respectively. He will also visit a local enterprise to understand better the application of sustainable aviation fuel. The Director of Electrical and Mechanical Services, Mr Poon Kwok-ying, and officers from the Environment and Ecology Bureau and the Electrical and Mechanical Services Department will also join the visit. Mr Tse will arrive in Hong Kong on October 22. During his absence, the Under Secretary for Environment and Ecology, Miss Diane Wong, will be the Acting Secretary for Environment and Ecology.
Ends/Saturday, October 19, 2024Issued at HKT 18:00
