Please enjoy our end of
year “round-up” of
some of the more positive news events, trends, research and
initiatives that occurred in 2006.
Congratulations! You are Time
magazine’s “Person
of the Year.”
The annual honour for 2006 went to each and every one of
us – “citizens of the new digital democracy” -
as Time Magazine cited the shift from institutions to individuals.
As stated in Time: ”Look at 2006 through a different
lens and you'll see another story, one that isn't about conflict
or great men. It's a story about community and collaboration
on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium
of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people network
YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace.”
This year’s winners included anyone creating innovative
content on the World Wide Web; what Silicon Valley consultants
are now calling Web 2.0.
“If you choose an individual, you have to justify
how that person affected millions of people,'' said Richard
Stengel, who took over as Time's managing editor earlier
this year. “But if you choose millions of people, you
don't have to justify it to anyone.''
The magazine did cite 26 “People Who Mattered,'' (for
better and for worse) from North Korean dictator Kim Jong
Il to Pope Benedict XVI to President Bush, Vice President
Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
This is not the first time the magazine has strayed away
from naming an actual person for its “Person of the
Year'' award. In 1966, the 25-and-under generation was cited;
in 1975, American women were named; and in 1982, the computer
was chosen.
Said Stengel, “We just felt there wasn't a single
person who embodied this phenomenon.''
Increased Spending of Renewable Energy
for 2006
New Energy Finance, a UK corporation that prepares analyses
for investors in the fields of renewable energy and biofuel
low-carbon technologies, recently stated that the past
year saw a surge in the development of these fields.
According to New Energy Finance, in 2006 more than $100
billion in financing was made available to various renewable
energy projects. The corporation also estimated that wind
energy raised $1.2 billion worldwide on the public markets,
compared to $1.1 billion in 2005. The investment
in wind was driven in part by the production tax credit in
the U.S.
New Energy Finance stated that the reason for the large
quantities of transaction is partly due to the fact that
there were many clean energy-related independent public offerings
(IPOs). According to the company, interest in clean energy-related
independent public offerings (IPOs) was exceptionally strong
in the first four months of the year, following President
Bush's "addiction to oil" remarks in his State
of the Union address.
According to the corporation, there are several promising
IPO's ready for 2007, particularly in the areas of biofuels,
solar energy and wind technologies.
Optimists may have longer lives
People who are optimistic in their youth have a greater chance
of living to old age than their pessimistic peers, a long-term
study recently published in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings
medical journal has found.
The study, led by Dr Beverly H. Brummett of Duke University
Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, followed approximately
7,000 people for the last 40 years.
Amongst their citings, researchers found that, on the average,
pessimists are “42 per cent more likely to die of any
cause than the most positive participants,” Reuters
reported.
The results are similar to a number of past studies on personality
factors and health, including research that has linked optimism
to longer life. One study of elderly adults found that those
with a positive view of the future were less likely than
pessimists to die over the next decade -- regardless of their
health at the start of the study.
Reuters quoted Dr Brummett as saying that “There are
many aspects of personality that can be modified to a certain
degree if an individual is motivated to do so.'
Canada sets biofuel targets
The Canadian government has set 2010 as the benchmark for
at least five per cent of its gasoline to contain more
air-friendly biofuels, and two per cent of its diesel
by 2012.
Looking at different ways to encourage and increase more
biofuel production, the Canadian government will give tax
incentives, pay for a percentage of production costs, and
help fund research and development. It will also offer incentives
to farmers to invest in new plants that can be used in Canadian
biofuels production.
Canada is already the largest producer of canola oil, which
it exports for use in Europe's biodiesel industry. Canadian
canola producers say if they can get government help then
they can supply the Canadian biodiesel industry as well.
As Reuters reported: “The regulations could take at
least two years to develop, and the government plans consultations
and studies through 2007.”
Technology Links Families Together
In an attempt to bring far-flung family members together
again, technology consulting company Accenture is working
on developing a system that will allow relatives to meet – virtually – as
often as they’d like. Called “The Virtual Family
Dinner,” the concept is just as the title suggests.
As one sits down to dinner, the system lets the dining table
extend virtually into a screen where their family and friends
sit down to their meal as well. The system works much like
a Web camera with a big screen, and the “Virtual Family
Dinner” will incorporate computers, television sets
and broadband setups already available in many people’s
homes.
With a prototype expected to be available within the next
two years, the system is estimated to cost about $500 to
$1000 per household.
“We are trying to really bring back the kind of family
interactions we used to take for granted,'' said Dadong Wan,
a senior researcher for Accenture.
Australia to build largest solar plant
As part of a strategy to address the realities of global
warming, the Australian government has pledged $95 million
in funding
for two major
projects, one of which is the construction of the world's
largest solar power plant.
Criticized over its refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol on
reducing greenhouse gas emissions, the government has decided
to contribute $57 million to
build a 154 megawatt
solar power plant in Victoria state. The plant will use mirrored
panels to concentrate the sun's rays, Treasurer Peter Costello
said in a press release.
The plant, which is to be built by the Melbourne-based company,
Solar Systems, begins operations in 2008 and is estimated
to reach full capacity by 2013.
''The project aims to build the biggest photovoltaic project
in the world,'' Costello told The Australian Broadcasting
Corporation.
The government also announced that it will help fund a project
to reduce carbon emissions from an existing coal-fired power
house in Victoria. Environmental
groups and opposition lawmakers have been urging the government
to do
more to address
Australia's
reputation
as one of the world's worst greenhouse gas polluter per
capita.
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