While the existing "New Source Review" regulations and the Clear Skies proposal both call for reducing emissions of mercury, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide, the difference lies in implementation. The current system relies on public advocates to engage utilities in lengthy legal battles to reduce emissions. Meanwhile, Clear Skies calls for the institution of a "cap-and-trade" system whereby utilities could buy and sell the right to generate limited amounts of pollution. While Bush administration environmental officials say a similar cap-and-trade system successfully mitigated acid rain during the 1990s, critics point out Clear Skies would allow major utilities to actually increase emissions if they were willing to buy credits from those polluters willing to cut back. That could lead to more mercury releases in some areas, which concerns observers since the heavy metal is such a potent toxin.

The National Academy’s report was released just as Congress began debating passage of Clear Skies. If implemented, the new regulations would replace the existing New Source Review system, which first went into effect in 1977 as part of the Clean Air Act.

In his testimony, Nadel emphasized two major points:

* Energy efficiency policy action is the best way to bring down natural gas prices over the next five years. Recent ACEEE analysis, using the same computer models employed by the National Petroleum Council, showed that reducing natural gas and electricity by 4-5% over the next five years could reduce gas prices by about 25% before 2010, saving over $100 billion for American consumers and businesses.

* The Senate energy bill from 2004 (S. 2095) contained sound building blocks for such an effort, but new measures should also be added in the areas of appliance efficiency standards, an efficienc? resource standard that would set energy savings targets for utilities, and tax incentives for consumers? largest gas-saving opportunities.

ACEEE’s full list of recommended policy solutions includes: setting end-use efficiency resource targets for electric and gas utilities; creating tax incentives for high-efficiency technologies; accelerating federal appliance efficiency standards; supporting advanced building energy codes; expanding support for combined heat and power (CHP); increasing funding for energy efficiency research, development, and deployment; and conducting a national efficiency and conservation campaign.

ACEEE research results have shown that energy efficiency is the most viable near-term strategy for moderating natural gas prices, and is vital for stabilizing longer-term gas markets. Our proposal is based on a recent ACEEE analysis, which illustrated that if we reduce gas and electricity demand by 4-5% over the next five years, we would reduce wholesale natural gas prices by more than 25%. These savings would put over $100 billion back into the U.S. economy at a cost of $30 billion in new investment, of which less than one-quarter would be federal and state public funds.

Moreover, this investment would help bring back U.S. manufacturing jobs that have been lost to high gas prices, and would help relieve the crushing burden of natural gas costs experienced by many lower-income households. Importantly, much of the gas savings in our analysis comes from electricity efficiency measures, because so much electricity is generated by natural gas, often inefficiently.

Along with this filing, other key natural gas research results and references are available on ACEEE?s Web site at [url=http://aceee.org/energy/natlgas.htm]http://aceee.org/energy/natlgas.htm[/url]

About ACEEE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy is an independent, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing energy efficiency as a means of promoting both economic prosperity and environmental protection. For information about ACEEE and its programs and publications, contact ACEEE, 1001 Connecticut Avenue, N.W., Suite 801, Washington, D.C. 20036-5525 or visit [url=http://aceee.org]http://aceee.org[/url]

"This GMO shipment should never have been sent to Europe, and we call on the French public to go to the port in Lorient on Friday to take part in a peaceful protest against GE soy entering the French food chain," says Arnaud Apoteker. "Millions of tons of GE soy are imported each year to feed cattle, hogs and poultry in Europe. This is a slap in face for all European citizens who have rejected GMOs in their food."

The Golden Lion is expected to arrive in Lorient, France, Friday this week. The Monsanto ‘Roundup Ready’ soy onboard the ship is destined for use in animal feed. The GMO soy expansion in Argentina has caused the destruction of millions of hectares of rainforest and driven small farmers and indigenous people off their land.

In Europe, strong and consistent public opposition to GMOs has forced food producers and retailers not to use GMO ingredients directly in food, but a big loophole in EU labelling legislation means that eggs, meat and dairy products from animals fed with GMOs do not have to be labelled. As a consequence food producers are able to hide the use of GMO soy and maize in animal feed from consumers.

Together the three organisations demand a ban on the import of GMOs to France, and specifically call on the ports of Brittany to reject GMO imports in line with the wishes of the regional government, which recently declared its intention to become a GMO-free zone (1).

"GMO crops represent the ugly head of destructive industrial agriculture, threatening both the environment and the livelihoods of small farmers," says Jose Bov?. "We denounce the increasing dominance of a few transnational GMO seed and pesticide companies over the worlds farmers. We want to end this sick trade cycle where European farmers have become dependent on dirty protein crops shipped across the Atlantic. GMOs simply have no place in sustainable agriculture or in quality food production."

According to a study by U.S. agronomist Charles Benbrook published last week, the planting of 14 million hectares of herbicide-resistant soy in Argentina has created a highly vulnerable agricultural system that has also had severe social impacts (2). An estimated 2.3 million hectares of forest and savannah have been destroyed since 1996 to make room for new GMO soy plantations, and areas that used to grow potatoes, beans and rice and were pasture for be?f and dairy cows have been replaced with soybean production destined for export markets.

"Cutting down rainforests and threatening the home of jaguars and pumas only to produce animal feed for European factory farming is down-right crazy," says Arnaud Apoteker. "I don’t think any food producer or retailer in Europe can defend forests being destroyed to produce animal feed used to make their food products, and we expect the food industry to move swiftly to protect their reputation among consumers."

Greenpeace, Conf?d?ration Paysanne and Les Faucheurs Volontaires are calling on their supporters and the public to join a peaceful and non- violent protest against the import of GMO soy in the port of Lorient on Friday morning when the Golden Lion is due to arrive.

For more information, footage and stills, please contact
Dan Hindsgaul, GE campaigner Greenpeace International, +33 144 640 207 or +45 2810 9021
Anne Castelein, Greenpeace France press desk, + 33 1 4464 0215 or 33 6 8425 0825
Maartje van Boekel, Greenpeace International press desk, +31 6 4616 2021

For reports, updated weblogs and cyber action: [url=http://www.greenpeace.org]www.greenpeace.org[/url]

Notes to the editor

1. With EU governments on the verge of caving in to US and WTO pressure to allow (more) GMOs, European regions, cities and rural communities have responded by taking their own steps to keep GMOs away from European fields and dinner plates. Brittany is the 17th out of France’s 22 regions that has adopted a form of anti-GMO resolution, thereby joining a rapidly growing movement in Europe where now 100 regions and 3500 sub-regions have declared themselves as GMO-free zones. For more information on French and European GMO-free zones, see [url=http://www.infogm.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=231,]http://www.infogm.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=231,[/url]
[url=http://www.genet-info.org/Europe.html]http://www.genet-info.org/Europe.html[/url] and [url=http://www.foeeurope.org/]http://www.foeeurope.org/[/url] GMOs/gmofree/index.htm

2. Benbrook, C.M. (2005), "Rust, Resistance, Run Down Soils, and rising Costs: Problems Facing Soybean Producers in Argentina", Ag Bio Tech InfoNet, Technical Paper Number 8, see [url=http://www.greenpeace.org/]www.greenpeace.org/[/url] international_en/reports

Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organisation that uses non- violent, creative confrontation to expose global environmental problems, and to force the solutions which are essential to a green and peaceful future.

The proposed Subpart I was contained in a larger rulemaking first published in April 2002 that was intended to make NRC regulations on the transportation of radioactive materials compatible with international standards set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). That rule was issued as a final rule in January 2004 (and became effective Oct. 1, 2004), without Subpart I.

Subpart I would have created a new type of package certification, Type B(DP), for casks used for storage
and transportation of spent nuclear fuel. It would have authorized holders of Type B(DP) certificates to make some non-safety-related changes to the package design and procedures without NRC approval under certain conditions. There is a similar authority in NRC regulations for non-safety-related changes to storage casks.

The NRC received several public comments on the proposed Subpart I and in a public workshop on the proposal held in April 2004. Several cask vendors and certificate holders said the proposal would impose significant regulatory costs and burdens. In addition, some non-safety-related changes to transport cask designs are already authorized under current NRC regulations.

Researchers from the St?nford Center for Conservation Biology took into account all 9,787 living and 129 extinct bird species and examined current conservation efforts. Then they fed the enormous data into their computers along with bird distribution data, ecological functions of birds and their life histories. Then they extrapolated the results via the computer to give the ecological picture in next 100 years. The picture is not so good.

The simulation of ecosystem on the computer shows that by 2100 ten percent of all bird species will become extinct. It showed that although only 1.3 percent of bird species have disappeared since 1500, the global number of individual birds has been reduced by 20 percent to 25 percent. The results were published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences.

This is not good news as extinction of birds denies the ecosystem of crucial services by birds such as decomposition, pollination and seed dispersal etc.

The imbalance created in the ecosystem will affect everyone including us. One such glaring example is of India. Around 35,000 to 50,000 people died of rabies in 1997 as stray dog and rat populations exploded after the decline of vultures.

The results go hand in hand with World Conservation Union?s report saying that 12 percent of all bird species were threatened with extinction. They had also reported that one-fourth of the world’s mammals, a third of amphibians and 42 percent of all turtles and tortoises are on the brink of extinction.

Yesterday the United States agreed to participate in a seminar to be held in 2005 with an aim to discuss emissions and their controls combined with climate change generally. This has been a global effort and it is a positive step forward albeit a small one in bringing the US back to the table and into the discussion.

Held in Buenos Aries, the agreement came in what can only be described as the 11th hour with only two hours remaining at the climate change conference. ?It’s a finger-hold?, the climate negotiator Michael Zammit Cutajar of Malta commented, and it is progress for climate control campaigners and activists.

It was business as usual however regarding negotiation of reductions in carbon dioxide emissions for the US, who failed to make any commitment to negotiate as has been the norm since 2001.

The US instead of concentrating on emissions reductions and targets would prefer to concentrate on programmes under development in the United States for cleaner burning energy technology. The US agreement to participate in the climate change and control seminar next year came after compromise to also discuss these clean burn fuel technologies.

Fossil fuels to power our favourite

form of transport, the automobile will soon be a thing of the past ac?ording to Vice President of research and development at G.M, Larry Burns, who claims that although currently prohibitively expensive, by 2010, hydrogen powered cars could be in mass production.

G.M. is hoping to have a driveable version of their prototype hydrogen vehicle, the Sequel, which will be a sports utility vehicle, ready by late 2005. ?Our most significant step yet in the reinvention of the automobile, the ultimate answer to eliminating the automobile from the environmental equation.? Was the view of General Motors Chief Executive, Rick Wagoner and it does seem that he has a point.

Many of the major car manufacturers are pushing research funds and resources toward the development of the hydrogen powered option as a means of transport.

Reducing our reliance on petrol and in turn oil to run our cars and autos would be a great achievement, in fact possibly one of the greatest in recent decades as it will be a huge step forward on the road to reducing green house gasses and emissions caused by the hundreds of millions of cars, which currently kick out pollution in almost every city across the world today. The only discharge caused by green and environmentally friendly hydrogen powered cars is, water.

Since initial publishing General Motors (GM) have tempered down the claims of mass produced hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles. General Motors now just aims to have a validated hydrogen fuel cell powertrain designed by 2010.

If you are interested as an investor, a potential buyer or user of wind power and other renewable energy sources and keen to see development in this sector, keep an eye on these conferences and seminars for the latest information and progress.

January 2005 USA
5th Annual HARVESTING CLEAN ENERGY Conference, January 20-21 2005, Heritage Inn, Great Halls MT, USA.
Contact: Liz Reese, Climate Solutions, 716 NE 10th Street, North Bend, WA 98045, USA; [email]lizre@centurytel.net[/email]; [url=http://www.harvestcleanenergy.org]www.harvestcleanenergy.org[/url]

January 2005 USA
Air Quality, Global Climate Change & Renewable Energy, January 24-26 2005, Westin La Paloma Resort, Tucson, Arizona.
Contact: Prabhu Dayal, C Trade, 5860 N. Calle Grandeza, Tucson, AZ 85718, USA. Tel: +1 520-615-3535; Fax: 1-602-296-0199; [email]pdayal@euec.com[/email]; [url=http://www.euec.com]http://www.euec.com[/url] or [url=http://www.ctrade.org]http://www.ctrade.org[/url]

January 2005 Germany
CLEAN ENERGY POWER 2005, January 26-27 2005, Fairground Berlin, Germany.
Contact: Elisabetta Alberti, erneuerbare energien, Unter den Linden 15, 72762 Reutlingen, Germany. Tel: +49-(0)7121-3016-0; Fax: +49-(0)7121- 3016-100; [email]redaktion@energie-server.de[/email]; [url=http://www.energy-server.com]http://www.energy-server.com[/url]

February 2005 USA
5th Wind Energy & Power Markets ConferenceI, February 2-3 2005, Marriott Denver City Center, Denver, Colorado, USA.
Contact: Anjali Schulte, Electric Utility Consultants, Inc. (EUCI), Tel: +1 303-770-8800; [email]aschulte@euci.com[/email]; [url=http://www.euci.com]http://www.euci.com[/url]

February 2005 USA
CleanTech Investing Conference, February 2-3 2005, The Lodge at Rancho Mirage, 68-900 Frank Sinatra Drive, Rancho Mirage, CA, USA.
Contact: Jennifer Fauci, Marketing, International Business Forum (IBF), 575 Broadway, Massapequa, Long Island, NY, 11758, USA. Tel: (516) 765- 9005, Ext. 19; Fax: (516) 765-9015; [email]jennifer@ibfconferences.com[/email]; http:// [url=http://www.ibfconferences.com]www.ibfconferences.com[/url]

February 2005 USA
Wind Power Finance & investment, February 8-10 2005, Rancho Bernardo Inn, San Diego, California, USA.
Contact: Chelsea Levengood, Event Manager, Infocast. Tel: +1 818.888.4445 Ext. 21; [email]chelseal@infocastinc.com[/email]; http:// [url=http://www.infocastinc.com/wind.html]www.infocastinc.com/wind.html[/url]

February 2005 USA
Wind Generation in Power Systems: A Short Course on the Integration and Interconnection of Wind Power Plants into Electric Power Systems, February 14-16 2005, Palm Springs, California, USA.
Contact: Sandy Smith, Communications Coordinator, Utility Wind Interest Group, Tel: (865) 691-5540, ext. 141; Fax: (865) 691-5046; [email]sandy@uwig.org[/email]; [url=http://www.uwig.org]http://www.uwig.org[/url]

February 2005 Spain
Grid Connection of Wind Turbines, February 15 2005, Madrid, Spain.
Contact: Bernd Neddermann, German Wind Energy Institute (DEWI), Tel: +49(0)4421-4808-65; [email]b.neddermann@dewi.de[/email]; [url=http://www.dewi.de]http://www.dewi.de[/url]

February 2005 Brazil
RIO 5World Climate & Energy — Latin American Renewable Energy Fair, February 18-20 2005, Fortaleza, Brazil.
Vanessa Espi, RIO 5 LAREF. Tel: +55-21-22335184; Fax: +55-21- 25182220; [email]info@rio5.com[/email]; [url=http://www.rio5.com]http://www.rio5.com[/url]

February 2005 USA
Marketing Green Power: Profit Opportunities in Selling Renewable Energy, February 23?24 2005, Marriott Denver City Center, Denver, Colorado, USA.
Contact: Anjali Schulte, Electric Utility Consultants, Inc. (EUCI), Tel: +1 303-770-8800; [email]aschulte@euci.com[/email]; [url=http://www.euci.com]http://www.euci.com[/url]

February 2005 Australia
4th Annual Australian Wind Energy Conference, February 24-25 2005, Stamford Grand, Adelaide, Australia.
Contact: John Wilson, Marketing Manager, Informa Australia Pty Ltd, Level 2, 120 Sussex Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia. Tel: +61 (0)2 9080 4364; Fax: +61 (0)2 9290 2577; [email]john.wilson@informa.com.au[/email]; [url=http://www.informa.com.au]www.informa.com.au[/url]

February 2005 Germany
Erneuerbare energien 2005 and Passiv- Haus 2005 CCB, February 25-27 2005, B?blingen, Germany.
Contact: Elisabetta Alberti, erneuerbare energien, Unter den Linden 15, 72762 Reutlingen, Germany. Tel: +49-(0)7121-3016-0; Fax: +49-(0)7121- 3016-100; [email]redaktion@energie-server.de[/email]; [url=http://www.energy-server.com]http://www.energy-server.com[/url]

February 2005 USA
Conference on Renewable Energy in the Upper Midwest, February 23-24 2005, Alerus Center, Grand Forks, ND, USA.
Contact: LaRae Foerster, Event Coordinator, Tel: +1 (701) 777-5246; [email]lfoerster@undeerc.org[/email]; [url=http://www.undeerc.org/re]http://www.undeerc.org/re[/url]

March 2005 Belgium
EU-India Wind Energy Network (EIWEN) Seminar, final date to be announced, Brussels, Belgium.
Contact:Hugo Chandler, EWEA. Tel: +32 (0)2 546 19 43; [email]hugo.chandler@ewea.org[/email]; [url=http://www.ewea.org]http://www.ewea.org[/url]

March 2005 Austria
World Sustainable Energy Days, March 2-4 2005, Wels/Austria.
Contact: Christine ?hlinger, O.?. Energiesparverband, A-4020 Linz, Landstrasse 45. Tel: +43-732-7720-14861; Fax: +43-732-7720-14383; [email]christine.oehlinger@esv.or.at[/email]; [url=http://www.esv.or.at]www.esv.or.at[/url]

March 2005 New Zealand
National Power New Zealand 2005, March 3-5 2005, Hilton, Auckland, New Zealand.
Contact: James Matthews, Tel: +61 2 9005 0729; [email]james.matthews@terrapinn.com[/email]; [url=http://www.terrapinn.com/2005/npnz_nz]www.terrapinn.com/2005/npnz_nz[/url]

March 2005 Finland
Boreas VII Conference, March 7-8 2005, Saariselk?, Finland.
Contact: Kirsi Virolainen, Tel: 358 9 1929 3301; Fax: 358 9 1929 4129; [email]boreas@fmi.fi[/email]
March 2005 USA Siting Wind Power Projects in the Eastern U.S, March 8-9, 2005, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Contact: Stefanie Brown, American Wind Energy Association, 550 S. Barrington Avenue, #1214, Los Angeles, CA 90049, USA. Tel: +1 (310) 476-7139, Fax: +1 (310) 471-1184; [email]sbrown@awea.org[/email]

March 2005 Germany
Global Alternative Fuels 2005 Exhibition and Forum, March 8-10 2005, Berlin, Germany.
Contact: Ana Mandaric, Marketing Manager, The Energy Exchange Ltd. Tel: + 44 (0) 20 7067 1802; [email]a.mandaric@theenergyexchange.co.uk[/email]; http:/ /www.theenergyexchange.co.uk

March 2005 Poland
ENEX New Energy 2005, March 21-23 2005, Fairground Kielce, Poland.
Contact: Elisabetta Alberti, erneuerbare energien, Unter den Linden 15, 72762 Reutlingen, Germany. Tel: +49-(0)7121-3016-0; Fax: +49-(0)7121- 3016-100; [email]redaktion@energie-server.de[/email]; [url=http://www.energy-server.com]http://www.energy-server.com[/url]

March 2005 USA
GLOBALCON, Energy, Power and Facility Management Strategies & Technologies, March 23 – 24 2005, Atlantic City Convention Center, Atlantic City, NJ , USA.
Contact: Ted Kurklis, Tel: +1 770-271-7869; Fax: +1 770-271-7981; [email]ted@aeecenter.org[/email]; [url=http://www.aeecenter.org/globalcon]www.aeecenter.org/globalcon[/url]

March 2005 Canada
Transmission Workshop: Wind Energy Delivery and Reliability, March 30-31, 2005, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Contact: Stefanie Brown, American Wind Energy Association, 550 S. Barrington Avenue, #1214, Los Angeles, CA 90049, USA. Tel: +1 (310) 476-7139, Fax: +1 (310) 471-1184; [email]sbrown@awea.org[/email];?http:// [url=http://www.ibfconferences.com]www.ibfconferences.com[/url]

April 2005 The Netherlands
Short course: Technology of offshore wind energy, April 4-5, 2005, Delft, The Netherlands.
Contact: Michiel Zaaijer, Delft University of Technology, Kluyverweg 1, Room 520, 5th floor, P.O. Box 5058, 2600 GB Delft, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 (0)15 278 6426; Fax: +31 (0)15 278 5347; [email]M.B.Zaaijer@lr.tudelft.nl[/email]; [url=http://www.windenergy.citg.tudelft.nl]www.windenergy.citg.tudelft.nl[/url]

April 2005 Scotland
Fifth International Workshop on Large-Scale Integration of Wind Power and Transmission Networks for Offshore Wind, April 7-8 2005, Glasgow, Scotland.
Contact: Thomas Ackermann, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Department of Electrical Engineering (ETS), Teknikringen 33, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel: +46-(0)8-7906639; Fax: +46-(0)8-7906510; [email]Thomas.Ackermann@ieee.org[/email]; [url=http://www.ekc.kth.se/ees/workshop/]http://www.ekc.kth.se/ees/workshop/[/url] offshore/

April 2005 Republic of Ireland
Irish Wind Energy Annual Conference, April 7-8 2005, Fairways Hotel, Dundalk, Co Louth, Ireland.
Contact: Ann Cureen, Irish Wind Energy Association, Tel: +353 71 9646072; [email]office@iwea.com[/email]; [url=http://www.iwea.com]http://www.iwea.com[/url]

April 2005 Thailand
The IASTED International Conference on ENERGY AND POWER SYSTEMS (EPS 2005), April 18-20 2005, Krabi, Thailand.
Contact: Kristina Crooks, IASTED, #80, 4500-16th Ave. NW, Calgary, AB. T3B 0M6. Tel: +1 (403) 288-1195; Fax: +1 (403) 247-6851; [email]kristina@iasted.org[/email]; [url=http://www.iasted.com/conferences/2004/florida/]http://www.iasted.com/conferences/2004/florida/[/url] pes.htm

April 2005 USA
EnergyOcean 2005 Conference, April 2628, 2005, Washington Convention Center, Washington D.C., USA.
Contact: Mj McDuffee, Conference Coordinator, EnergyOcean 2005, 7897 SW Jack James Dr, Suite A. Stuart, FL, 34997, USA. Tel: +1 772-221- 7720; Fax: +1 772-221-7715; [email]info@energyocean.com[/email]; [url=http://www.energyocean.com]www.energyocean.com[/url]

May 2005 UK
Clean Energy Technology & Investment Show, May 5-7 2005, The Business Design Centre, London, UK.
Contact: LPB Events Ltd, 18 King Edward Buildings, 629 Fulham Road, London SW6 5UH, UK: Tel: (44) 020 7751 9998; Fax:(44) 020 7751 9996; [email]info@clean-energy-expo.com[/email]; [url=http://www.clean-energy-expo.com]www.clean-energy-expo.com[/url]

May 2005 Canada
North American T&D Conference & Expo, May 9-11 2005, Metro Toronto Convention Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Contact: Lee Baker, Tel: +1 888-253-1718; Fax: +1 416-398-2786; [email]leebaker@exposition.com[/email]; [url=http://www.natd.ca/]http://www.natd.ca/[/url]

May 2005 USA
Windpower 2005 Conference and Exhibition, May 15-18 2005, Colorado Convention Center, Denver, CO, USA.
Contact: American Wind Energy Association, 122 C Street, NW, Suite 380, Washington, DC 20001, USA. Tel: +1 (202) 383-2500; Fax: +1 (202) 383- 2505; [email]windmail@awea.org[/email]; [url=http://www.awea.org]http://www.awea.org[/url]

May 2005 China
REAsia 2005 — 2nd Asian Renewable Energy Fair & Conference, May 21-25 2005, China International Exhibition Center, Beijing, China.
Contact: Harry Xu, REAsia 2005, A-804, Huazhan Plaza, No.12 Yumin Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China. Tel: 86-10-82252695, Fax: 86- 10-82252651; [email]harry@gracefair.com[/email]; [url=http://www.gracefair.com/]http://www.gracefair.com/[/url] reasia_home.htm

May 2005 UK
World Renewable Energy Congress (WREC2005), May 22-27 2005, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.
Contact: Victoria Withy, WREC2005 Congress, Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre, Bridge of Don, Aberdeen AB23 8BL, Scotland, UK. [email]vwithy@aecc.co.uk[/email]; [url=http://www.wrec2005aberdeen.co.uk]http://www.wrec2005aberdeen.co.uk[/url]

May 2005 Cuba
4th International Conference for Renewable Energy, Energy Savings and Energy, May 25-28 2005, Varadero Beach, Cub?.
Contact: Conrado Moreno, CIER 2005, CETER, Calle 114 nr 11901, CUJAE, Marianao, Havana, Cuba. Tel: 53 7 260 5060; [email]cier@ceter.cujae.edu.cu[/email]; [url=http://www.cujae.edu.cu/eventos/cier]http://www.cujae.edu.cu/eventos/cier[/url]

June 2005
Hong Kong Renewable Energy Finance Asia, June 15-16, 2005, Hong Kong.
Contact: Sarah Ellis, Green Power Conferences, 2nd Floor, 145-157 St John Street, London EC1V 4PY, UK. Tel: +44 870 758 7808; [email]sarah.ellis@greenpowerconferences.com[/email]; [url=http://www.greenpowerconferences.com]www.greenpowerconferences.com[/url]

June 2005 USA
West Coast Energy Management Congress, June 28 – 29 2005, San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, CA, USA.
Contact: Ashley Clark, Exhibit Manager, Tel: +1 770-279-4392; Fax: +1 770-381-9865; [email]ashley@aeecenter.org[/email]; [url=http://www.aeecenter.org/emc]www.aeecenter.org/emc[/url]

September 2005 Czech Republic
Green Power Central & Eastern Europe, September 7-9, 2005, Prague, Czech Republic.
Contact: Sarah Ellis, Green Power Conferences, 2nd Floor, 145-157 St John Street, London EC1V 4PY, UK. Tel: +44 870 758 7808; [email]sarah.ellis@greenpowerconferences.com[/email]; [url=http://www.greenpowerconferences.com]www.greenpowerconferences.com[/url]

September 2005 USA
28th World Energy Engineering Congress, September 14 – 15 2005, Austin Convention Center, Austin, TX, USA.
Contact: Ted Kurklis, Exhibit Manager, Tel: +1 770-271-7869; Fax: +1 770-271-7981; [email]ted@aeecenter.org[/email]; [url=http://www.aeecenter.org/weec]www.aeecenter.org/weec[/url]

September – October 2005 Italy
EOLICA EXPO MEDITERRANEAN, September 29 – October 1 2005, Rome, Italy.
Contact: Solar Energy Group, Tel. +39 0266301754; Fax. +39 0266304325; [email]info@eolicaexpo.com[/email]; [url=http://www.eolicaexpo.com]http://www.eolicaexpo.com[/url]

October 2005 Republic of Ireland
Irish Wind Energy Autumn Conference, October 14 2005, Holiday Inn Hotel, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, Ireland.
Contact: Ann Cureen, Irish Wind Energy Association, Tel: +353 71 9646072; [email]office@iwea.com[/email]; [url=http://www.iwea.com]http://www.iwea.com[/url]

October 2005 Canada
CanWEA 2005, 21st Annual Conference and Trade Show, October 16-19, 2005, Toronto Congress Convention Center (Airport), Toronto, Canada.
Contact: Janice Taylor, Executive Coordinator, Tel: +1 403-851-0836; Fax: +1 403-851-0834; [email]canwea@telus.net[/email]; [url=http://www.canwea.ca]www.canwea.ca[/url]

October 2005 Denmark
Copenhagen Offshore Wind Conference and Exhibition, October 26-28 2005, Bella Center, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Contact: Jakob Lau Holst, Danish Wind Industry Association, Vester Voldgade 106, DK-1552 Copenhagen V, Denmark. Tel: +45 3373 0330; Fax: +45 3373 0333; [email]jh@windpower.org[/email]; [url=http://offshore.windpower.org]http://offshore.windpower.org[/url]

November 2005 Italy
Green Power Mediterranean, November 15-16, 2005, Rome, Italy.
Contact: Sarah Ellis, Green Power Conferences, 2nd Floor, 145-157 St John Street, London EC1V 4PY, UK. Tel: +44 870 758 7808; [email]sarah.ellis@greenpowerconferences.com[/email]; [url=http://www.greenpowerconferences.com]www.greenpowerconferences.com[/url]

Fifty thousand ships and 14.5 million tourists visit the region every year.

Other concerns center on the rising tide of household and industrial wastes contaminating the land, underground freshwater supplies and coastal waters. For example, only 13 per cent of the population of Saint Lucia is connected to the sewage system.

Dwindling quantities of freshwater for drinking and agriculture is a worry in many islands. Some countries in the eastern Caribbean, like Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and Saint Kitts and Nevis, are already officially listed as "water scarce".

Tourism in the form of luxury hotels and golf courses can intensify the problems unless carefully managed. Tourist resorts use on average of five to ten times more water than similar residential areas in the Caribbean.

Climate change may, among its many potential impacts, aggravate water shortages. Experts are predicting that rainfall in the eastern Caribbean will decline by 4 per cent in the coming years unless drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions occur.

Global warming is also likely to affect agriculture in the region. Bananas, a key crop, are very thirsty plants and are prone to Black Sigatoka disease under dry conditions.

An estimated 70 per cent of the Caribbean?s population lives in cities, towns and villages located in vulnerable low-lying coastal areas threatened by rising sea levels and increasing frequency and intensity of storms and hurricanes. In 2004, several of the Caribbean small island developing States experienced severe devastation, the loss of thousands of lives and millions of dollars in damages because of intense hurricanes.

Meanwhile, alien invasive species, transported to the region in ships? ballast waters or in imports such as horticultural products, may also threaten the existence of native and often unique plant and animal species found nowhere else on Earth.

The Dominican Republic, with an estimated 186 known alien species, has the highest number of invaders followed by Puerto Rico, 182; the Bahamas, 159; and Jamaica, 102.

Alien species may increase the number of native or endemic species already threatened with extinction as a result of habitat loss, deforestation and the clearance of land for farming and urbanization.

Currently Jamaica has, at 254, the highest number of threatened animal and plant species in the Caribbean followed by Cuba with 225.

These are among the findings from a series of reports released by UNEP on small island developing States around the world.

The reports, an international effort involving scientists and collaborating centers across the world, cover the Caribbean and the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Ocean and small island developing States.