UK Government Initiative To Pay 25 Percent Of Electric Car Price

The British government is to give up to 5,000 pounds ($7,668) to anyone who buys an "ultra-low carbon" car from next year and will build recharging hubs, the Department of Transport said on Thursday.

The Plug-in Car Grant of 25 percent toward the purchase price, capped at 5,000 pounds, will be available across Britain for both private and business fleet buyers from January 2011, by which time a range of eligible vehicles should be on sale.

Only battery electric, plug-in hybrids with emissions of less than 75 g/km, or hydrogen fuel cell cars will be eligible for part of the 230 million pound total fund.

The electric vehicles must have a range of at least 70 miles, or 113 km, while hybrids must be able to run for at least 10 miles without using fuel, and all vehicles must be able to go faster than 60 miles per hour.

The government also plans to spend 30 million pounds on a network of electric vehicle hubs, called Plugged-In Places, in car parks, supermarkets and selected streets.

The program is a key part of British efforts to cut emissions of climate-warming carbon from transport, which accounts for about a fifth of the country's total emissions.

Source : REUTERS

Seafood-Guide Lists Seafood To Avoid To Protect the Ecosystems

WWF release a new guide to sustainable fish stocks in the Asia Pacific aims to help, to inform diners in Singapore enjoy their meals without harming one of the world's major marine ecosystems.

Singapore is one of the biggest seafood consumers in the Asia Pacific region, with an average 100,000 metric tons consumed each year, according to environmental group WWF, which launched the Singapore Seafood Guide on Thursday.

The guide is the WWF's second in the region -- a guide for Hong Kong seafood lovers was launched a few years ago.

The guide uses a simple traffic light system: green means recommended eating choice; yellow stands for only eat occasionally and red means avoid eating.

Singapore is a hub for seafood and almost all of it is imported, the WWF said, much of it from the unique, and fragile, marine ecosystem next door known as The Coral Triangle.

"The Coral Triangle is under increasing threat because fish are being taken out faster than they can be replenished," said Geoffrey Muldoon of the WWF's Coral Triangle Programme.

"In the past most people have been unaware of where the fish on their plates comes from or whether the species they are eating are heavily overfished or caught in ways that are damaging to marine environment. Much of the seafood you see in Singapore may be from areas that have been overfished for years."

The Singapore Seafood Guide is available as a free download from the WWF Singapore website (www.wwf.sg) and will also be distributed free of charge throughout the country.

The Coral Triangle, dubbed the nursery of the seas, is the most diverse marine region on the planet, and home to more than 3,000 species of reef fish and commercially valuable species such as tuna, in addition to 500 species of reef-building coral.

It covers around 6 million sq km (2.3 million sq mile) of ocean across six countries -- Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands, and East Timor -- and directly sustains the lives of more than 120 million people, the WWF said.

Source : REUTERS