Almere-Digest

March 3, 2014

European Space Agency: Space inventions free for ESA and Canadian Member Corporations

Space companies and organizations from ESA Member States and Canada are invited to submit their interest in using ESA’s inventions.

As a research organisation, ESA encourages, protects and licenses innovations or inventions resulting from its own activities in order to fulfil its mission of cooperation among Member States in space research and technologies and their applications, and supports the worldwide competitiveness of European industry.

ESA patents up to 20 inventions a year and has a portfolio of about 450 patent applications and patents, which cover subjects such as radio-frequency payloads and systems, structures and pyrotechnics, electromagnetic technologies and techniques, material and processes, robotics, optics, electrical power and propulsion.

ESA makes its inventions available free of charge via its Technology Transfer Programme Office on a non-exclusive basis to space industry within its 20 Member States. For use by companies outside of ESA’s

Member States or for non-space applications, a different licensing model is in place, allowing the Agency to request royalties.

Licensing templates can be downloaded via the link below as well as more information about ESA’s Intellectual Property policy.

The goal of this call for interest is to make ESA’s portfolio and licensing conditions more openly visible to European space industry and to encourage its use and licensing. The deadline for the call is 5 March 2014. Further information click here

March 1, 2014

Ukraine: With Military Moves Seen in Ukraine, Obama Warns Russia - by D. M. Herzenhorn, M. Lander and A. Smale

Ukraine’s fragile new government accused Russia of trying to provoke a military conflict by invading the Crimea region on Friday, while in Washington President Obama issued a stern warning to the Kremlin about respecting Ukraine’s sovereignty, in an effort to preclude a full-scale military escalation.

American officials did not directly confirm a series of public statements by senior Ukrainian officials, including the acting president, Oleksandr V. Turchynov, that Russian troops were being deployed to Crimea, where Russia has a major naval base, in violation of the two countries’ agreements there.

Mr. Obama, however, cited “reports of military movements taken by the Russian Federation inside of Ukraine,” and he said, “Any violation of Ukrainian sovereignty would be deeply destabilizing.”

“There will be costs,” Mr. Obama said in a hastily arranged statement from the White House.

The pointed warning came after a day in which military analysts struggled to understand a series of unusual events in Crimea, including a mobilization of armored personnel carriers with Russian markings on the roads of the region’s capital, Simferopol, and a deployment of well-armed masked gunmen at Crimea’s two main airports.

Note EU-Digest: This situation should be a clear indication to all the member states of the European Union that they should be making haste in coming to an agreement on a European Energy Pact in order to strengthen the arsenal of potential economic sanctions they could muster against Russia in case they are needed.

Alternative Energy: US data show wind energy works and is cost-effective -- by Robert H. Owen Jr.

Occasionally a misinformed reader asserts wind turbines produce insignificant electrical output. That's simply untrue.

MGE reports the energy produced by its wind turbines annually. According to reports, its Rosiere Wind Farm in Kewaunee County produced 19,513,000 kilowatt hours in 2011 and 20,279,000 in 2012, the former at an operating cost of 2.11 cents per kilowatt hour.

MGE reported that its Top-of-Iowa Wind Farm produced 80,592,300 kilowatt hours in 2011 and 74,147,900 in 2012, the former at an operating cost of 1.48 cents per kilowatt hour.

MGE also reports the energy it buys from two Iowa and one Wisconsin wind farms owned by others. It reported total wind energy purchases of 275,932,000 kilowatt hours in 2011 and 290,540,000 in 2012 at a net cost of about 6 cents per kilowatt hour.

By contrast, MGE's inefficient Blount Street Plant, which burns natural gas, produced only 47,689,100 kilowatt hours at an operating cost of about 14 cents per kilowatt hour in 2012.

Modern wind turbines are being widely adopted in other states in the Midwest because they are productive and cost-effective.

Finland: Alternative Energy: Google Buys More Swedish Wind Power For Its Finnish Data Center - by Jason Verge

will buy the entire electricity output of four new wind farms to support its data center operations in Hamina, Finland, the company said this week. The new power purchase from Eolus Vind AB in Sweden follows an earlier wind power deal in which Google purchased the entire 10-year electricity output of the new wind farm at Maevaara, in Övertorneå and Pajala municipality in northern Sweden.

“We’re always looking for ways to increase the amount of renewable energy we use,” said Francois Sterin, Director Global Infrastructure at Google. “Long term power purchase agreements enable wind farm developers to add new generation capacity to the grid – which is good for the environment – but they also make great financial sense for companies like Google.”

Eolus will commence construction of the four new wind farms in Alered, Mungseröd, Skalleberg and Ramsnäs, Sweden. The 29-turbine project, with a total combined capacity of 59 megawatts, already has all its planning approvals and permits. The wind farms will become fully operational in early 2015.

“Our agreement with Google is a further endorsement of the potential of wind power in the Nordic countries,” said Hans-Christian Schulze, deputy CEO of Eolus. “We’re looking forward to building our new wind farms over the year and helping Google stay ahead of its commitment to carbon neutrality.”

All of this Swedish wind power will power Google’s Hamina, Finland facility. This cross-border arrangement is possible thanks to Europe’s increasingly integrated energy market. Scandinavia’s Nord Pool market allows Google to buy renewable energy with Guarantee of Origin certification in Sweden, and consume an equivalent amount of power elsewhere in Europe.

The move helps the environment, but also protects Google from future increases in power prices through long term purchasing. The company is investing in new renewable energy projects that will deliver a return for its money. Over $1 billion has been committed to such projects in the U.S., Germany, and South Africa.

Read more: Google Buys More Swedish Wind Power For Its Finnish Data Center | Data Center Knowledge

February 28, 2014

Ukraine pleads for U.S., U.K. help after Russian 'invasion' - by Mark Mackinon

The new Ukrainian government says it has been invaded by Russia, and has appealed for the United States and United Kingdom to protect it, as they guaranteed under a 1994 agreement.

The move came after pro-Russian gunmen seized both main airports on the Crimean Peninsula early Friday, a day after other militiamen took control of the regional parliament building. With gunmen in the building and the Russian flag flying from the roof, deputies appointed a new government and passed a motion Thursday calling for a referendum on the future as part of Ukraine.

The armed takeovers sharply escalate what had already been an extremely volatile situation in Crimea, a Russian-speaking region that has rejected the overthrow of the Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovych and the rise to power of pro-Western forces in Kiev.

Swiss accuse Yanukovych of “aggravated money laundering.”

Also on Friday, Swiss police raided the premises of a Geneva firm owned by Mr. Yanukovych and his son Oleksander in an investigation into “aggravated money laundering.”

In Kiev, Ukraine’s parliament adopted a resolution on Friday demanding that Russia halt steps it says are aimed against Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and called for a UN Security Council meeting on the crisis.

The parliament also called for guarantees of the memorandum signed by Ukraine, Britain, Russia and the United States in Budapest in 1994. That agreement guaranteed Ukraine’s sovereignty and current borders in exchange for surrendering the nuclear weapons that were left after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It wasn’t clear whether the gunmen who seized the airports were Russian soldiers or pro-Russian militiamen. They wore no insignia, but carried automatic weapons and Russian flags into the airport.

Read more: Ukraine pleads for U.S., U.K. help after Russian 'invasion' - The Globe and Mail

Healthcare: Netherlands Scores Poorly (25) Listing Efficient Global Health Care Systems

A study by Bloomberg shows: Among advanced economies, the U.S. spends the most on health care on a relative cost basis with the worst outcome.

The Netherlands considered to have a good healthcare system also scores poorly (25) when it comes to cost and efficiency.

Read more: Most Efficient Health Care: Countries - Bloomberg Best (and Worst)

EU-Economy: George Soros says he's a euro believer, looks to invest in Europe banks

Billionaire investor George Soros, the man made famous for breaking the Bank of England by shorting the pound in 1992, reportedly told a German newspaper over the weekend that he’s a euro believer. The full article at Der Spiegel isn’t available without a subscription, so we turned to Reuters for a translation and breakdown.

“I believe in the euro. Therefore my investment team is looking forward to making [sic] a lot of money soon in Europe by, for example, pumping money in banks which urgently need capital,” Soros reportedly said in the interview, adding that the euro zone needs this type of private investment now.

He said his management team was even looking at Greece, given improving economic conditions, but before doing that they need to be assured that money can be earned on a sustainable basis.

Soros also reiterated his view that efforts by Germany to save the single currency have only made things worse. A sustainable recovery for the region still doesn’t exist, even if markets are far from the turmoil of a couple of years ago. “I fear that the euro zone could experience a long phase of economic stagnation similar to Japan’s in the past 25 years.”

Read more: George Soros says he's a euro believer, looks to invest in Europe banks - The Tell - MarketWatch