GENEVA, SWITZERLAND – A rundown of some of this week’s news highlights:
Nestlé charged with lack of protection, death of former worker
Charges were filed against Vevey-based multinational Nestlé in Zug by a Colombian trade union and a human rights group for not adequately protecting a former employee, Luciano Romero, who was murdered in Colombia by paramilitaries in 2005. The case could have broad implications according to Germany-based human rights group ECCHR (European Centre for Constitutional and Human Rights) because it is the first filed against a Swiss company in Switzerland for a crime committed outside the country. ECCHR – Nestle, Newsletter French, pdf (Fr)
The charges come as world media are focused on the safety of foreign multinational workeres in conflict areas, notably in Nigeria, with the deaths Thursday 8 March of two foreigner workers in Nigeria. In separate news, Nestlé announced Friday morning that it is offering scholarships to a number of its trainees in Nigeria, to bring them to Switzerland to see home office operations.
Solar Boat evades pirates, navigates way to world record
PlanetSolar, the world’s only entirely solar-powered boat, whose home is Yverdon, made it through the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden. The MS Tûranor PlanetSolar is now navigating the waters of the Red Sea and expects to arrive 4 May 2012 in Monaco, at which point it will become the first solar boat to circumnavigate the globe.
Crans-Montana says yes to Women’s World Cup in 2013 in a turn-about (correction)
World Cup in Crans-Montana, 2012
The Valais resort of Crans-Montana said Monday it would not be hosting the 2013 Women’s World Cup in skiing, despite the success and nearly 50,000 visitors to the men’s event in late February.
A turn-around was announced Thursday 8 March after a meeting Wednesday night when the concerns of some players about hosting the event at the height of the ski season, which could mean closing to the public the popular Nationale run for several days.
The group of communities in the region, ACCM, has thrown its support behind not only a bid for the Cup next year, but an investment of CHF400,000 a year to keep Crans-Montana on the World Cup circuit. The funds require final approval, but the signal at the end of the week was clear: the resort is ready to fight to get the events.
Also under discussion are the re-creation of two or three significant runs.
One former Swiss president gets pie in face, another joins Rousseau protesters in NY
Micheline Calmy-Rey, who completed her year as president of Switzerland in December 2011, was shocked, as were many in the political world, by a pie that was shoved in her face earlier this week by a man angry over her role in the losses incurred by bank BCGE several years ago. The incident, outside the human rights film festival in Geneva, appeared to be more a form of aggression than a humorous incident.
Another former Swiss president, Pascal Couchepin, joins a group in New York Friday 9 March, for Occupy Rousseau, to hold up the Geneva philosopher’s example of fighting inequality and social injustice.
Cern technology behind Geneva airport’s solar panels
The airport in Geneva Friday received delivery of the first of some 300 high-temperature solar thermal panels that will cover a surface of 1,200m2 on the roof of the main terminal building. The panels will be used to heat the buildings during winter and cool them in summer. Their vacuum technology was developed at Cern for particle accelerators.
Nuclear power plant told by judge it must close early
Muehleberg, Switzerland’s aging nuclear power plant that has been the focus of protesters’ calls for closure because of the high cost of keeping it safe, was told it must shut down by June 2013. Safety issues were cited as the reason. The decision was made by the Swiss Administrative Court 1 March but announced the 7th, Wednesday. It is one of five nuclear power plants in the country and was scheduled to be phased out as Switzerland gets rid of its nuclear energy programme, but the decision speeds up the process by several years.
Solar panels are being tested in a solar park on top of the EPFL polytechnic institute in Lausanne, by Romande Energie, one part of a Swiss push to develop solar power
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Solar panels have the potential to supply far more home heating, including heating water, than previously thought, a new Swiss study shows. “Home heating that relies entirely on renewable energy, leaving untouched the limited biomass potential, is on our doorstep,” an Energy Office statement on the study notes.
Homes in rural areas could have 75 percent of their home’s heating requirements taken care of by solar panels, using wood to make up the difference, the study mandated by the Swiss Federal Energy Office concludes, based on a review of 1,000 homes in the Fribourg area.
Solar energy could supply 13 percent of home heating needs in urban areas, based on a study of some 200 homes in Zurich. The difference is due in large part to the tendency to have several floors in city buildings, rarely the case in rural areas.
Two types of houses were taken into consideration:
- the first a standard home today, eight litres with a 104kWh/m2 consumption = 8 litres heating oil for ambient temperature and 24kWh for hot water
- the second in line with recent energy standards, three litres, with a consumption of 54 kWh/m2 = 3 litres heating oil, 24 kWh for hot water.
Each of these was studied with two options, either a 100-litre thermal accumulator/m2 of solar panel or an optimized thermal accumulator, which will soon be available, thanks to technological progress.
Green go the Russians, oh!
Electric vehicles only, with parking in Sierre
Aminona's existing 3 towers (white) likely to see several more as part of new luxury resort project
Sierre, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The controversial CHF350 million resort complex that Russia’s Mirax company is planning to build in Aminona, near Crans-Montana in canton Valais, is suddenly looking greener than its original plans showed.
Swiss environmental groups in December 2009 filed appeals against the project to build a 2,500 resort with several towers and a five-star hotel plus 32 chalets.
WWF and the Swiss Fund for the Protection of Nature said at the time that they “fear[ed] a fiasco for nature and the surrounding countryside, as well as for the region itself.”
Concerns focused particularly on the supply of drinking water and protecting the dry prairies in the region, which are considered to be of national importance.
Mirax announced plans in 2007 to build on the 60,000m2 stretch to the east of Crans-Montana.
Mirax’s emphasis has now shifted from luxury resort to luxurious and green: the company says it will invest CHF250 million in green technologies for the resort, reports Le Nouvelliste, Valais newspaper.
The total expected cost of the resort has risen to at least CHF600m, with Mirax saying it will be not just the most ecological resort in Valais, but in all of Switzerland.
Mark Platt, Multistack, left and Michael Christensen, US State Dept, right (click on images to view larger)
Updated 16:30 Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Wednesday was the 39th annual Earth Day in the US, which explains much of the flurry of talks, blogs and activities designed to get us thinking along greener, cleaner lines. The Huffington Post carried blogs by filmmaker Robert Redford on taking a stand, and author Michael Pollen, who praises the new vegetable garden at the White House, the first since Eleanor Roosevelt.
Meanwhile, here in Geneva, the US Mission to the United Nations put into operation a piece of new technology that will contribute significantly to Geneva’s reputation as a green city and to the United States government’s efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of its embassies and missions. The State Department sees Geneva as an ideal place to spotlight emerging green technologies because of its reputation as an environmental centre, US staff say, but also because during the past four years the Mission has developed excellent working relations with the canton’s energy department and Geneva’s SIG (industrial services) department. “They’re very forward thinking,” says Michael Christensen, a green engineer from the US State Department, who praises SIG’s efforts “to do everything they can to prevent fossil fuel use.”
Hillary Clinton met with international diplomats in Washington to discuss “Greening Diplomacy” where she mentioned the US Geneva’s Mission and its new air conditioning system.
Geneva’s US Mission goes for maglev air conditioners
The Mission’s new air conditioning system gives the US an opportunity to showcase cutting edge technology, an air cooling chiller system that uses no lubrication oil and a minimal amount of refrigerant in comparison to typical chilling systems. It is a long-awaited commercial application of a solution to a decades-old engineering dilemma of how to maintain a magnetic levitation motor shaft within microscopic tolerances. Magnetic levitation dates back to the 1940s, but nanotechnology was required for this step.
