THE GREEN PLANET BLOG - Our World and Environment...

All about conservation, ecology, the environment, climate change, global warming, earth- watch, and new technologies etc.

Monday, August 22, 2011

Cottonsoft supports rainforest destruction - Greenpeace claims...


Cottonsoft supports rainforest destruction...




Greenpeace claims:




:

Only 400 or so Sumatran tigers are left in the wild

Only 400 or so Sumatran tigers are left in the wild...


A well-known toilet-tissue brand is being accused of sourcing its paper from Indonesian rainforests, the home of critically-endangered Sumatran tigers.




Greenpeace, the Green Party, and WWF New Zealand have spent eight months investigating Cottonsoft, and sent samples to a US laboratory for testing.


Greenpeace spokesman Nathan Argent says traces of mixed tropical hardwoods were found.




"Cottonsoft is owned by one the world's most notorious rainforest destroyers, Asia Pulp and Paper, and over the years Greenpeace has repeatedly shown that Asia Pulp & Paper's suppliers are trashing tiger habitats to feed its paper mills."




Cottonsoft has refused to divulge where it sources its paper.






Greenpeace says companies such as Kraft, Nestle, Unilever, Tesco and Carrefour have stopped working with Asia Pulp & Paper because of its actions.



"We're asking customers to tell retailers to stop selling toilet paper that has come from trashed rainforests," says Mr Argent

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One in four rolls of toilet paper sold in New Zealand are made of paper sourced from Indonesia.
There are only about 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild.



Read more: Cottonsoft supports rainforest destruction - Greenpeace - Story - Environment/Sci - 3 News

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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Solar company announces solar cell breakthrough...




Solar Company Announces Solar Cell Breakthrough...







Ecospree


By Antonio Pasolini of Energy Refuge



A Californian company called HyperSolar earlier this week announced that new solar design models “show potential magnification of 300%”. HyperSolar develops technology that increases the power output of solar cells, one of the technological challenges the industry faces.



“We believe that a critical advancement will be to actually control the delivery of sunlight onto solar cells. We are developing the world’s first thin and flat light magnification layer for direct application on top of standard solar cells to increase their power output”, said HyperSolar’s CEO, Tim Young. “Our plan is to move to the prototype stage early next year and then to a commercial product.”



The magnification layer employs thousands of very small light collectors on the surface that funnel light into a proprietary light routing network in the middle. From there, light is carried to a smaller output area on the bottom where a solar cell can be attached.



Instead of using three solar cells to cover an area on a solar panel, only one solar cell is needed underneath a 300% layer called HyperSolar layer. The company says this will allow solar panel manufacturers to reduce the number of expensive solar cells in their panels by 66%, reducing the cost per watt of their solar panels.



“The higher the light magnification in the HyperSolar layer, the higher the power magnification of the attached solar cell. As part of our development plan, we are exploring various designs and microphotonic elements to increase the magnification by as much as 400% in the final product”, Mr. Young said.

Eco Spree - Solar Cell Breakthrough

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