The EU has become an increasingly important environmental policy factor. Since the Maastricht treaty in 1992 environmental protection is one of the central objectives of the EU. Meanwhile, about 80 percent of German legislation on environmental affairs comes from community law. The German Government intends to prioritise the following environmental policy objectives during its EU Presidency from January 1 - June 30, 2007: Climate protection, energy policy, sustainable and environmentally compatible mobility as well as maintaining biodiversity.
http://www.bmu.de/english/europe_and_environment/german_eu_presidency/overview/doc/38295.php
The advantages and limitations of the energy carrier hydrogen are described in the paper of VGB "Future of a Hydrogen Economy". It can be summarized that hydrogen cannot compete with the direct use of electricity due to high efficiency losses at the different hydrogen pathways. Hydrogen can be used in special riche applications and in the transport sector in the long term.
The document is available as pdf-file:
http://www.vgb.org/data/vgborg_/News/Position_Paper_H2O.pdf
More information:
mailto:ulrich.langnickel@vgb.org
As every year VGB-FORSCHUNGSSTIFTUNG (Research Foundation) requests your proposals for awarding the 10,000 Euro Heinrich Mandel-Prize to young engineers from practical fields of work or science. Candidates should not be older than 35 years. This year the prize is awarded on the occasion of the VGB Congress in Salzburg/Austria. Deadline for proposals is March 31, 2007.
http://www.vgb.org/research_mandel.html
Main topics of the January/February issue are: VGB Congress Power Plants 2006: Generator Market in Europe: Perspective and Challenge; The Clean Power Technology Platform: Where Oil, Gas, Electricity - Meet to Prepare the Future; Potentials and Technologies of Renewable Energies in International Markets.
Abstracts of all articles are available here:
http://www.vgb.org/current_issue.html