All Galaxy chocolate bars in the UK and Ireland will be made with sustainably sourced cocoa by 2010, its maker Mars have announced.

Around 160 million bars of the chocolate – Mars’ biggest seller in the UK – will carry the Rainforest Alliance Certified trademark seal by next year, the company said.

The move is part of a larger commitment by Mars to certify its entire cocoa supply as sustainably sourced by 2020.

In 2008, Mars Drinks achieved Rainforest Alliance certification for three Flavia coffee offerings.

Howard-Yana Shapiro, global director of plant science and external research at Mars, said: “Rainforest Alliance certification will make a positive difference for everyone involved from cocoa farmer to chocolate bar.

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The Independent, Steve Connor: New studies show floating sea ice more vulnerable to sudden melting.

The frozen ocean of the Arctic might disappear far sooner than scientists have previously predicted with the first ice-free summer occurring within the next 30 years – three times earlier than estimated.

A study of computer models of the Arctic region has found that the vast expanse of floating sea ice that covers the region is far more vulnerable to rapid melting than earlier studies had assumed. The latest analysis found that virtually all the sea ice in the Arctic will have melted during the summer months by 2037, and that it may even disappear as soon as the summer of 2020. Previous studies had suggested that this was unlikely to happen until at least the end of the century.

An ice-free Arctic would spell disaster for the polar bear which uses the summer ice pack to hunt seals. It could also increase regional temperatures because open ocean absorbs more heat from sunlight than the reflective surface of the sea ice.

The latest study was carried out by scientists from the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Washington in Seattle using the six most sensitive computer models of the Arctic region.

The findings, published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, found that the ice cover was likely to melt rapidly in the next couple of decades, culminating in an open sea, except for a band of ice bordering the shores of northern Canada and Greenland.

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Viruses have been used to help build batteries that may one day power cars and all types of electronic devices.

The speed and relatively cheap cost of manufacturing virus batteries could prove attractive to industry.

Professor Angela Belcher, who led the research team, said: “Our material is powerful enough to be able to be used in a car battery.”

The team from MIT in the US is now working on higher power batteries.

Scientists at MIT used the viruses to build both the positively and negatively charged ends of a battery, the cathode and anode, the journal Science reports.

A battery typically has four key components – the anode and cathode, an electrolyte that flows between them and a separator to keep the anode and cathode apart.

Essentially, a battery turns chemical energy into electrochemical energy when an electron flow passes from the negative end to the positive end through a conductive chemical, the electrolyte.

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What is the Book of Green?

Book of Green is an A5 annual printed guide for greener living which will be available to the public free of charge from 1st July 2009.  It is brought to you by two online eco directories www.allthingseco.co.uk and www.onegreenearth.com, with a print run of 30,000 on 100% recycled paper, plus an online flip version magazine with clickable links (circa 500,000) and a punchy foreword from passionate environmentalist and author, Tracey Smith.

Book of Green is an inexpensive marketing tool for green businesses wishing to reach the eco conscious consumer.

Who’s distributing the guide?

It’s being distributed by two leading green magazines, The Ecologist and Permaculture Magazine, plus online stores Green Rewards,  Love Eco,  Onya Bags retail shops,  Bags of Change retail shops, and the UK’s digital radio station specialising in health and environmental issues,  Passion for the Planet Radio.

More distribution outlets are to be announced shortly.

How can green business become involved?

Green businesses can take advertising space for as little as £35.00 for a basic listing, plus there’s eighth of a page, a quarter, a half or a full page options. The ad space can consist of adverts, but they would also like to encourage product reviews, features and eco tips giving the general public a great information packed resource.

They can also distribute the guide. This is subject to first come first served, as stocks are limited. There are also Book of Green website badges for advertisers to let their customers know they are in the guide.

What are they trying to achieve?

The creators of this comprehensive eco-guide are providing people with a green directory covering many different sectors, allowing customers to green up many different aspects of their lives, to help them reduce their carbon footprint, live a healthier lifestyle and have a positive impact on their environment.

Who do you contact for more information and to book space?

Katie on 07760 444415 / katie@bookofgreen.co.uk and Sue on 01634 322153 / sue@bookofgreen.co.uk .

Or visit www.bookofgreen.co.uk for more info.

BBC: The first ship carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) has arrived in Pembrokeshire, marking the culmination of one of the largest UK engineering projects of its kind.

The carrier Tembek docked on Friday at Milford Haven.

It began supplying a pipeline which is capable of carrying a fifth of the natural gas needed in the UK, which runs 196 miles (316km) across Wales into Gloucestershire, and which took three years to complete.

Here are the answers to some questions about LNG, and the significance of the project for the UK and its energy supplies.

What is liquefied natural gas?

LNG is a liquid form of the ordinary natural gas which we use in homes and industry. It is almost entirely methane that has been cooled to -162C in processing plants called “trains”. At that temperature it becomes a liquid, reducing its volume by a ratio of 600:1. Large amounts of LNG can then be transported across the globe at atmospheric pressure in insulated tankers. LNG is colourless and odourless but also highly flammable. It is approximately 45% as dense as water. When it reaches its destination, the LNG is reheated, turned back into gas and then distributed through pipelines.

Where does the gas come from?

Natural gas fields are found in many countries across the world, often associated with other fossil fuel reserves, such as oil. LNG is currently being produced from natural gas fields in a number of countries, including Australia, Algeria, Indonesia, Trinidad, Nigeria and Qatar. South Hook at Milford Haven will be supplied with gas from the Qatar North field. Dragon will receive LNG from Algeria, Egypt, Trinidad and Malaysia.

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Green Party, Spencer Fitz-Gibbon: In a week when Britain’s media has been reported yet more dire warnings of climate catastrophe and looming energy shortages, the Green Party’s spring conference is to consider a motion calling for a zero-carbon economy by 2030.

Proposers of the motion will argue that Britain needs a wake-up call, as scientists’ warnings get louder and more urgent.

A strong lobby of delegates at the Blackpool Conference will argue that a zero-carbon target is achievable by 2030, provided the country’s economy is put on something like a war footing, starting very soon.

They will cite studies such as the Centre for Alternative Technology’s Zero Carbon Britain report, which spells out in considerable detail one set of policies to achieve the ambitious target.

The motion will be heard on Saturday following party leader Caroline Lucas’s speech in which she will say Gordon Brown’s so-called Green New Deal is hopelessly inadequate.

The zero-carbon motion, which is expected to achieve a strong degree of support, envisages both massive use of existing technology and the urgent need for further technological developments:

“There should … be a target of a minimum of 10% emissions reductions year on year for the first ten years, by which time emissions would have declined by 65%.

“By then, safe and effective mechanisms for reducing greenhouse has gas concentrations should have been developed, and percentage targets should be replaced by numerical ones to complete the reduction to zero.”

Tracey Smith:  Supermarket giant Tesco will no longer be giving Green Clubcard points for customers who have returned empty items to deposit in their recycling machines.

The machines are designed to take a variety of recyclable materials including plastic, tin and glass and are located in around 40 branches of the store throughout England and there’s one  in Scotland too.

Consumers were encouraged to clean and return their items and place them in the machines after inserting their Clubcards.   The machines usually awarded one point for every four recycled items deposited, however some unscrupulous customers were found to be cutting their plastic bottles in half in order to get  ‘double points’ by putting two items into the machine instead of one whole one.   As a result, from this point on ‘Green Clubcard’ points will only be issued for aluminium cans, which cannot be tampered with.

A Tesco spokeswoman commented on the abusers of the system and told BBC News, ‘We were unable to sustainably award points’.

It’s thought that the idea of cutting corners by cutting up plastic bottles was possibly fuelled by the couple in Hampshire who avidly and legitimately collected various items of recyclable materials to deposit in their local store’s machines.  The proceeds were used to fund air-miles for flights used during their honeymoon.

Tracey Smith, environmentalist and author of The Book of Rubbish Ideas commented, ‘It’s a great shame that Tesco hadn’t thought their scheme through well enough to allow for this not to happen.  They don’t appear to be suffering great financial losses during the recession and could easily appoint staff to oversee the recycling deposits, which would ensure fair play. ‘

‘Tesco have a moral and corporate social responsibility to encourage their customers to make the right green choice.  Encouraging consumers to ‘close the loop’ on the materials economy by getting them to put existing products back into the system, is far better then risking them going off to landfill and that should have a much higher priority over Tesco awarding a few unofficially earned Clubcard points.’

Smith is actively campaigning for all supermarkets and large retailers to provide receptacles at the point of sale for customers to deposit excess and superfluous packaging like plastic, cardboard and cellophane.  Plastic multi-pack holders commonly used on baked beans and tins of drink for example, would take around 400 years to fragment and breakdown in landfill, but they would never biodegrade and disappear.

Details of how to get involved in the campaign can be found on www.BookOfRubbishIdeas.co.uk

Nearly £1billion worth of energy* is wasted each year by leaving appliances on standby.  Priced £34.99, the Energy Saver remote control costs less than the electricity you could save – not to mention the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions!

Trouble is, last thing at night, it just seems too much effort to bend down to switch off the TV and satellite box.  So we simply hit ’standby’ on the remote control and head off for bed.

The Energy Saver remote control from One For All switches off all your a/v equipment completely by pressing one green button – an electricity saving of 90% compared with leaving it on standby.

Simply insert the Power Plug into the wall socket, then use a power strip to connect up to four devices including your TV, DVD and satellite/cable digibox.  You’ll save on batteries too, as you’ll be using one remote control instead of four!

A typical set of a/v equipment uses 9.7 Watts an hour if left on standby but by using the ‘Energy Saver’, this can be cut down to 0.9 Watts!

Research shows** that a TV LCD consumes 1.5 Watts per hour in standby mode, a total of 11.49 Kilowatts per year on standby assuming the TV is in use three hours a day.  A satellite receiver uses 6 Watts an hour or 45.99 Kilowatts annually.  And a DVD recorder consumes 2.2 Watts per hour totalling 16.86 Kilowatts a year on standby.  So, with the One For All ‘Energy Saver’, it’s easy to save up to 75 Kilowatts a year or 44 Kg of carbon dioxide.

And you can relax when you go to bed knowing that by switching off all your devices completely, there will be less risk of a fire.

The One For All Energy Saver remote control is available for £34.99 from stores nationwide including Currys and John Lewis or online at www.maplin.co.uk.

For further information visit:

http://www.oneforall.com/energysaver

*It is estimated that the average UK household could save £37 per year on electricity bills if they always fully switched off home appliances instead of leaving them on standby.  Multiplied by 24.4 million households (National Statistics – 2007) that amounts to £902 million of wasted electricity in a year.

Red, Green and Blue, Amiel Blajchman: A new report on the environmental costs of conflict by the Strategic Foresight Group has highlighted the environmental damage in the Middle East due to constant conflicts and wars throughout the region.

While a sobering read, even more sobering to readers will be understanding how the environmental costs of conflict are not limited only to the Middle East, but that war costs the environment no matter where it occurs.

Among the costs detailed by the Strategic Foresight Group specifically because of conflicts in the Middle East:

1. Stress on water resources (the Israel-Hezbollah war caused severe damage to South Lebanese water networks)
2. Arable land degradation
3. Forest utilization and destruction
4. Oil spills (almost 55 million barrels of oil were spilt in the desert and at sea during the first gulf war)
5. Sewage dumping (since the 2003 Iraq war, over 300 000 tonnes of raw sewage are dumped into the Tigris daily)
6. Habitat loss, leading to increased stress on local species and overall biodiversity levels
7. Increased and significant carbon emissions caused by the machinery of war (as detailed in another report on Red, Green and Blue, an Abrams tank’s fuel efficiency is rated at 0.56 miles per gallon!)

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Reuters, Leonora Walet: China’s campaign to bring cleaner, low-emission vehicles to its roads may take a back seat as the government seeks first to stimulate growth and counter dwindling sales in the world’s largest car market.

Battery and car maker BYD Ltd and other Chinese auto manufacturers with ambitions to be among the first globally to market all-electric vehicles are pinning their hopes on regulatory support to spur demand.

But creating an emission-free vehicle market for China is unlikely to be a priority. While China has made much progress in setting standards regulating vehicle emissions, it has not gone as far as providing incentives for individual buyers of the expensive, but low-polluting cars.

“I hope government subsidies can help boost demand, because this is good technology, though expensive compared to conventional cars,” Henry Li, general manager for BYD’s auto unit, said in an interview at the firm’s Shenzhen headquarters.

China, the fastest growing major market for vehicles, is also the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

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