Science

Saharan solar project moves closer to reality

This content was published on Jul 14, 2009 The project, dubbed Desertec, has the backing of international heavyweights including Siemens, Deutsche Bank and ABB, the builders of Zurich’s power grid. At a meeting in Munich on Tuesday, German utility companies, United States solar energy entrepreneurs and Swiss transmission experts ABB signed a memorandum of understanding with a dozen groups to analyse and develop…

Climate solutions

A trailblazer remembered

This content was published on Jul 14, 2009 Largely through trading activities, he amassed a fortune that can hardly be dreamed of today. As one popular guide book puts it, in an age when it took an ordinary person ten years to earn enough to buy a single cow, Stockalper could have bought cattle to stretch all the way through Valais and on…

Leuthard wants to learn from Silicon Valley

This content was published on Jul 10, 2009 Speaking during a visit to Silicon Valley in California, she told journalists that Switzerland was well known as an innovative country, and that it was important to move further in the direction of new technology. Switzerland is as advanced as the US as far as innovation and scientific knowledge is concerned, she added, but lags…

Climate solutions

Bear management plan updated

This content was published on Jul 8, 2009 The revised “Bear Strategy Switzerland” defines what measures should be taken with problem bears. The Federal Environment Office plan, in force since 2006, now contains cohabitation guidelines that pay particular attention to rubbish management. Easy access to food from household waste was a key reason that two Swiss bears became dangerously unafraid of humans and…

More than a hundred swine flu cases

This content was published on Jul 7, 2009 There have now been 104 cases since the end of April, spread over 18 cantons. Tuesday’s figures included the first case in the western canton of Jura. So far the worst affected cantons have been Vaud and Zurich. The health office said 96 of the cases involved people who had returned from abroad. It added…

Climate solutions

Summertime

This content was published on Jun 29, 2009 And everyone is drawn outside to the bathing places, street cafes, open air cinemas or the countryside. Record temperatures in May gave the Swiss a taste of the summer to come.

Snails are slowly dying

This content was published on Jun 23, 2009 The updated red list of snails, due to be published in 2010, will show that two more species have become extinct since 1994, BirdLife Switzerland said on Tuesday. There are around 200 species of land snails in Switzerland and 50 species of water snails. Around 80 of these are endangered. The group said that despite…

Authorities set higher taxes on home fuel oil

This content was published on Jun 19, 2009 Officials said that although they had hoped to reduce overall emissions to 86.5 per cent of 1990 levels, they remained at 88.8 per cent. Emissions of CO2 from petrol and diesel were 14 per cent higher in 2008 than in 1990. The Federal Energy Office will triple the tax on home heating oil next year,…

Climate solutions

New 170m long gorge footbridge over the Trift glacier

This content was published on Jun 18, 2009

Climate solutions

Climate charter gets “über cool” iPhone boost

This content was published on Jun 10, 2009 The Jungfrau Climate Charter aims to strengthen the central Swiss region’s commitment to reduce CO2 emissions and better inform the six million annual visitors and local residents about climate change. Taking into account the region’s “marked evidence” of the consequences of global warming such as glacier recession, rockfall, glacial lake formation and flooding, Bern University…

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