A trek across a frozen lake proved to be a deadly journey for hundreds of reindeer last week.  Sami herders in Sweden were leading 3,000 reindeer to “greener pastures” across a frequently-traveled route during their annual migration to their winter grazing grounds when tragedy struck.

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A new report, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB), attempts to bring to the world’s attention the truly great economic value of ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as the benefits of taking these into account when making policies.

The value of the world’s natural ecosystems and biodiversity is something lacking in most economic analyses. Lack of value for what is truly priceless doesn’t just hurt the environment, however. It is also a sort of economic suicide. This new report, hosted by the United Nations Environment Programme and supported by key EU, UK, German, Swedish, Dutch, and Norwegian bodies, attempts to bring all of this to our attention more and show some positive case studies of how taking the environment into consideration can actually save us money.

As the report says: “the failure of markets to adequately consider the value of ecosystem services is of concern not only to environment, development and climate change ministries but also to finance, economics and business ministries.”

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Just a few minutes ago I received this rather nonchalant tweet from one of the movie’s Swedish creators, Fredrik Gertten: http://bit.ly/IoQ96 DOLE dismissing the BANANAS!* law suit it seems.

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A group of researchers at Uppsala University in Sweden have discovered that a particular type of algae — with a bad reputation for causing damaging algal blooms in oceans throughout the world — produces a substance that can be used to make inexpensive, non-toxic, simple-to-build, flexible, thin and durable batteries that, after optimization, are expected to perform on par with today’s most advanced lithium-ion batteries.

The key to the discovery lies in the way in which the algae, Cladophora, produce a unique type of cellulose with a very large surface area (approximately 80 square meters of surface area per gram of material).

By coating this algal cellulose material with a thin layer of a well-known, conductive polymer, called polypyrrole (PPy), the team has “succeeded in producing a battery that weighs almost nothing and that has set new charge-time and capacity records for polymer-cellulose-based [non-metallic] batteries,” according to Gustav Nyström, a doctoral student in nanotechnology and one of the main researchers.

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Officials in Sweden have introduced a shoot to kill and cull campaign in an effort to reduce the amount of vehicle accidents and damage to forests due to the growing number of moose in the country.  42 people have been killed and almost 2,000 people have been injured in road collisions involving moose over the past five years.

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The Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc. and Nissan North America win a $99.8M grant from the Department of Energy to support the largest deployment of electrical vehicles (EVs) and charging infrastructure in U.S. history.

The project will use Nissan’s LEAF, an early stage zero-emission EV to study and develop the logistics and necessary scale behind the implementation of a national charging infrastructure, that will in turn, support large-scale EV deployment.  Initial stages of the project include the deployment of 5,000 EVs and EV charging stations in Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.  Don Karner, President of eTec, sums up the industry e-coup:

By studying lessons learned from electric vehicle operations and the infrastructure supporting these first 5,000 vehicles, the Project enables the streamlined deployment of the next 5,000,000 electric vehicles…Nissan and over 40 government and industry partners, will enable this Project to successfully pave the way for electric transportation nationwide.

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/08/06/ecotality-and-nissan-to-get-100m-from-department-of-energy/feed/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/31/could-fossil-free-fossil-fuels-be-in-our-future/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/31/could-fossil-free-fossil-fuels-be-in-our-future/#comments Fri, 31 Jul 2009 00:01:29 +0000 Ariel Schwartz http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/31/could-fossil-free-fossil-fuels-be-in-our-future/

Our race to find alternative fuels is critical not only because gasoline-powered vehicles emit lots of CO2–it’s also important because we’re running out of the sticky stuff. But what if the Earth could produce fossil fuels without the fossils?

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/31/could-fossil-free-fossil-fuels-be-in-our-future/feed/ http://ecochildsplay.com/2009/07/30/nowali-moccasins-keep-toddlers-feet-warm-and-they-dont-fall-off/ http://ecochildsplay.com/2009/07/30/nowali-moccasins-keep-toddlers-feet-warm-and-they-dont-fall-off/#comments Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:00:12 +0000 Jennifer Lance http://ecochildsplay.com/2009/07/30/nowali-moccasins-keep-toddlers-feet-warm-and-they-dont-fall-off/ Nowali Cable Knit Moccasin are adorable, cozy, and actually stay on little one’s feet!  If you have a toddler, you’ve probably experienced what usually happens with slippers designed for little ones…they always slip off!  Not with Nowali, which are made in Sweden and are great on any floor surface.

Diane Reznik, Nowali’s Sales Manager and co-designer, describes these great slipper socks:

Our feature product is our famous Swedish moccasin.  This item is a unique combination of a sock and a shoe: knit sock upper with a leather sole and color coordinated foxing. The moccasins are still stitched together by hand in the traditional Swedish way.

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]]> http://ecochildsplay.com/2009/07/30/nowali-moccasins-keep-toddlers-feet-warm-and-they-dont-fall-off/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/30/european-birds-dying-from-lack-of-vitamins/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/30/european-birds-dying-from-lack-of-vitamins/#comments Thu, 30 Jul 2009 10:30:07 +0000 Andrew Williams http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/30/european-birds-dying-from-lack-of-vitamins/

Swedish scientists have discovered that vast numbers of wild birds in the Baltic Sea area are dying of a strange paralytic disease caused by advanced thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency in eggs, young, and adults.

In a new research paper the team, from Stockholm University, Sweden, report that levels of Thiamine, vital for the proper functioning of the nerves, were found to be deficient in the eggs, livers and brains of several local bird species, contributing to significant declines in many bird populations over the last few decades.

Hearteningly, it seems that paralysed individuals can be successfully remedied by thiamine treatment

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]]> http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/30/european-birds-dying-from-lack-of-vitamins/feed/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/29/the-eu-and-mtv-team-up-copenhagen-prelude/ http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/29/the-eu-and-mtv-team-up-copenhagen-prelude/#comments Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:16:59 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/29/the-eu-and-mtv-team-up-copenhagen-prelude/
The European Union (EU) and MTV are working together to get young people involved in the climate debate. The major entities started their “Play to Stop – Europe for Climate” campaign this month. Working with international music artists and other international celebrities, this is a major campaign to mobilize the youth around the topic of climate change, and especially for the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December.

The campaign targets 11 EU countries — Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The campaign will involve celebrities from the various participating countries.

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]]> http://planetsave.com/blog/2009/07/29/the-eu-and-mtv-team-up-copenhagen-prelude/feed/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/07/25/europe-says-financial-crisis-doesnt-trump-climate-change/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/07/25/europe-says-financial-crisis-doesnt-trump-climate-change/#comments Sat, 25 Jul 2009 13:30:03 +0000 Zachary Shahan http://ecoworldly.com/2009/07/25/europe-says-financial-crisis-doesnt-trump-climate-change/
In a meeting with environment and energy ministers from other European countries yesterday, Sweden’s Minister of Environment, Andreas Carlgren, said that global economic problems should in no way slow movement to address climate change. Other leading European ministers agreed.

Economic problems today are in many ways a result of environmental missteps in the past. If we want a healthy economy in the future, we have to take the environment into account more than we have. The Swedish Minister of the Environment agrees and says that there should be no hesitation to combat climate change due to the current economic situation.

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2009/07/25/europe-says-financial-crisis-doesnt-trump-climate-change/feed/ http://gas2.org/2009/06/18/saab-buy-out-brings-koenigsegg-quant-solar-electric-supercar-closer-to-reality/ http://gas2.org/2009/06/18/saab-buy-out-brings-koenigsegg-quant-solar-electric-supercar-closer-to-reality/#comments Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:17:12 +0000 Andrew Williams http://gas2.org/2009/06/18/saab-buy-out-brings-koenigsegg-quant-solar-electric-supercar-closer-to-reality/

Swedish supercar manufacturer Koenigsegg acquired a controlling interest in Saab so that it could get its hands on the company’s electric car production facilities.

The claim, made on Swedish language website realtid, cites unnamed sources in saying that the move is likely to bring the cutting-edge solar-powered Quant EV concept car (pictured) a step closer to production reality.

Sources also suggest that low volume production of the ZEV Quant (video) is expected to begin in a couple of years. The car was designed by Swedish outfit NLV Solar AG, a world-leader in photovoltaics and electrical-power technology.

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]]> http://gas2.org/2009/06/18/saab-buy-out-brings-koenigsegg-quant-solar-electric-supercar-closer-to-reality/feed/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/04/07/europes-largest-wind-farm-gets-approval-in-sweden/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/04/07/europes-largest-wind-farm-gets-approval-in-sweden/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:16:03 +0000 Dave Tyler http://cleantechnica.com/2009/04/07/europes-largest-wind-farm-gets-approval-in-sweden/

In this current gold rush climate for green energy words such as “biggest” and “largest” get thrown around all the time in an effort to grab some headlines.  But this project in Sweden is big no matter how you parse it.

With 1,101 turbines it would be Europe’s biggest wind farm, and as organizers told the Norrbotten county board in the region where the project would be built, possibly the biggest in the world. It would cost 55 billion kronor or roughly $6.9 billion. It would be located in the northern part of Sweden, near Markbygden and occupy 175 square miles.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/04/07/europes-largest-wind-farm-gets-approval-in-sweden/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/04/02/recycled-paper-is-a-good-start-but-this-is-even-better/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/04/02/recycled-paper-is-a-good-start-but-this-is-even-better/#comments Thu, 02 Apr 2009 13:00:22 +0000 Paul Smith http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/04/02/recycled-paper-is-a-good-start-but-this-is-even-better/ These days it seems everybody has some sort of recycled/eco friendly paper offering. So what’s the big deal about a Swedish offering making its US debut on Earth Day this year?

White Lines factory reuses their carbon emissions in a closed loop, making for zero CO2 emissions, for one. Then they offset what they can’t reuse (transportation, etc) via planting trees in Africa, as coordinated by environmental consultancy U&W (interestingly pronounced “You & We” in Swedish) The wood used for the paper comes from locally sourced, sustainably managed forests, and woodchip waste from sawmills. And every package tells you the precise carbon footprint, the materials traced back to the source.

And then it gets interesting.

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/04/02/recycled-paper-is-a-good-start-but-this-is-even-better/feed/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/02/08/swedish-antibiotics-could-spawn-drug-resistant-bacteria-in-india/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/02/08/swedish-antibiotics-could-spawn-drug-resistant-bacteria-in-india/#comments Sun, 08 Feb 2009 12:38:35 +0000 Bryan Nelson http://ecoworldly.com/2009/02/08/swedish-antibiotics-could-spawn-drug-resistant-bacteria-in-india/ Research from the University of Gothenburg has revealed that 31% of antibiotics sold in Sweden contain drugs manufactured near Hyderabad, India, where porous wastewater treatment has led to widespread contamination.

The questionable water treatment facilities were found to release levels of the antibiotic ciprofloxacin which were 5 times higher than the daily consumption of the entire country of Sweden. At levels that high, there is an increased risk of breeding “super germs”, drug-resistant bacteria which have evolved an immunity to antibiotics.

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2009/02/08/swedish-antibiotics-could-spawn-drug-resistant-bacteria-in-india/feed/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/12/swedish-inventor-unveils-solar-powered-water-purifier/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/12/swedish-inventor-unveils-solar-powered-water-purifier/#comments Mon, 12 Jan 2009 15:04:08 +0000 Andrew Williams http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/12/swedish-inventor-unveils-solar-powered-water-purifier/

A Swedish inventor has unveiled a solar-powered water purifier that could provide billions of the world’s poorest people with access to clean and disease-free drinking water [video].

The device, called the Solvatten, (Swedish for ’sun water’), looks much the same as a standard jerrycan and can be filled with up to ten liters of water, opened out, and left in the sun. A simple indicator shows either a red or green face to let users know when the water is safe to drink (typically after 3-4 hours), thus avoiding the risk of contracting water-borne diseases.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/12/swedish-inventor-unveils-solar-powered-water-purifier/feed/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/05/dead-people-will-provide-heat-to-crematorium-facilities/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/05/dead-people-will-provide-heat-to-crematorium-facilities/#comments Mon, 05 Jan 2009 19:26:20 +0000 Ariel Schwartz http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/05/dead-people-will-provide-heat-to-crematorium-facilities/

If you’re dead and worried about the carbon emissions created from your cremation, relax. The Swedish town of Halmstad has a solution. After an environmental review showed that Halmstad’s crematorium was pumping too much smoke into the air, the facility’s director decided to re-use heat from the cremations to warm up the crematorium’s buildings.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/01/05/dead-people-will-provide-heat-to-crematorium-facilities/feed/ http://cleantechnica.com/2008/09/11/solar-powered-lamp-tracks-home-energy-consumption/ http://cleantechnica.com/2008/09/11/solar-powered-lamp-tracks-home-energy-consumption/#comments Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:54:34 +0000 Ariel Schwartz http://cleantechnica.com/2008/09/11/solar-powered-lamp-tracks-home-energy-consumption/

If you’re worried that your family is using more than its fair share of energy, Beverly Ng’s Spark Lamp may be for you—if you live in Sweden. The lamp, which resembles a potted plant, was created as a response to the Swedish government’s announcement that future homes will come with smart meters that provide energy usage data to homeowners on the Internet. But who wants to constantly check online to keep track of power consumption?

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2008/09/11/solar-powered-lamp-tracks-home-energy-consumption/feed/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/09/09/germany-opens-clean-coal-demonstration-plant/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/09/09/germany-opens-clean-coal-demonstration-plant/#comments Tue, 09 Sep 2008 15:13:20 +0000 Amiel Blajchman http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/09/09/germany-opens-clean-coal-demonstration-plant/ Germany’s Secretary of the Chancellery, Thomas de Maizière, and Prime Minister of Brandenburg, Matthias Platzeck, together with Swedish Minister for Higher Education and Research Lars Leijonborg opened on Tuesday the world’s first “clean coal” plant, one that is ready to capture and store its carbon dioxide emissions. The 30-megawatt, $100 million Schwarze Pumpe pilot plant will burn washed lignite coal in an atmosphere of oxygen instead of regular air, producing some 10 tons per hour of compressed CO2. This compressed CO2 will then be captured and buried under a depleted gas field.

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