EU Bans Incandescent Lightbulbs To Save Energy
[photo via]
The European Union (EU) decided to follow Australia’s example and faze out the use of incandescent lightbulbs, starting from 2009. The fluorescent bulbs that will replace the old technology use five times less energy and last ten times longer, than the old counterpart, which in turn compensates the extra cost. Europeans are expected to save ?5-8 billion from this move. This will not only help reduce the CO2 emissions but also lighten the burden on each country’s power plants.
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UNASUR: South American Regional Union Is Now Established
It seems that the example of the European Union is being repeated and this time a few thousand miles away, in South America. The twelve most prominent nations in South America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela) met in Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, to form the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).
It will take a lot of time and energy to reach the level of unity of the EU as many of the participant states have to solve a lot of issues between them.
This “new country” has a population of 361 million and its “capital” will be Brasilia.
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The New Design for the Two Euro Coin Is Here!
The European Union is celebrating a decade from the launch of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the introduction of the euro in our lives. A voting took place for EU citizens to choose their favorite design. The voting closed on the 22th of February and the winner is….
After the 141675 votes were counted it was found that a staggering 41.48% of went toward the winning design, the work of George Stamatopoulos from Greece.
The official description behind the new design is:
“The euro is the latest step in the long history of trade, from pre-historic barter ? evoked by the deliberately primitive design ? to economic and monetary union.”.
These new coins will be distributed to all euro-area Member States by January 2009. The winner of the voting is Michal Milewski from Poland, who won a high-value set of euro collector coins.
VOTE Your Favorite Design for the 2 Euro Coin
The European Union (EU) is celebrating the 10 years from the launch of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) and the introduction of the euro in our lives. All the countries that participate in the euro will issue a 10 year anniversary 2 euro coin with a common, to all, design. This edition will hit the streets in the beginning of 2009.
Which is the face of the anniversary edition of the euro? That is entirely up to you! The Mint directors across Europe started a design contest and ended up with the following 5 options:
The final winner is up to you, and all you have to do is go to the EU webpage and vote for your favorite.
All EU citizens are eligible to vote (one vote per person) and the ones who voted for the winning design will enter a contest to win a set of high-value euro collector coins. Have in mind that the voting will be closed on 22 February 2008.
[Photo from Alphaquark.com]
2008: The year of Feta cheese, Kermit the frog and potatoes
It seems that we got a lot to look forward to for 2008 according to Nature. According to the famous journal various organisations and countries have declared 2008 to be many things. Lets take a look at the headlines:
-United Nations declared 2008 to be many things such as the international year of potato (suggestion by Peru), international year of sanitation (2.6bn people are with out it), the international year of planet earth (which lasts for 3 years) and the international year of languages.
-Amphibian Ark (a zoo community) declared 2008 to be the year of the frog (to prevent the extinction of 500 species)
-International Coral Reef Initiative declared 2008 (second year running) to raise coral reef awareness and their importance
-Virgin Galactic declared 2008 the year of the spaceship (hoping to make it a reality)
-Greece declared 2008 to be all about campaigning the well known fact that Feta cheese is Greek (apparently some Danish and UK companies dont think so when it comes to money)
-Australia declared 2008 to be the year of boy scouts (why?)
-England declared 2008 the year of the gardens
-European Union declared 2008 the year of intercultural dialogue
So…you got many things to do for 2008
potatoes
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