Green Options

At the peak of the rolling blackouts in South Africa, one of the indirect consequences was an enormous snarl up in traffic flow as robots (traffic lights) went down. This significantly increased energy consumption and wasted productive time.

Yes we do call traffic lights robots in South Africa, presumably because its “A machine or device that operates automatically or by remote control”. The Department of Transport’s magazine was titled Robot until 1998 but they now seem to use Traffic Light in formal documentation.

The Central Energy Fund (CEF) of South Africa has announced a drive to install solar-powered traffic lights at critical intersections in South Africa’s major cities. The CEF foresaw an investment of R 100 million and installations at 400 intersections. This was justified by “Quantified in monetary terms, productivity losses, accidents at uncontrolled intersections, and exhaust emissions from stationary motor vehicles all have an adverse effect on the economy,”

What sort of efforts does the US Army undertake to protect and manage it impacts on the environment? Perhaps surprisingly to some, the legislative muscle behind Army programs to protect the environment is actually quite robust.

According to a recent Reuters report, China will miss its 2010 ethanol as fuel target. This is because China is not relaxing control over non-grain feedstocks, at the same time as restricting ethanol production through grain.

“We are unable to meet the ethanol target. The major reason is because of a shortage of raw material,” said Ren Dongming, a deputy director with Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission.

This is quite significant, since China has been ranked as the third largest ethanol producer in the world.