A blog from University of Borås

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Food crisis and our duty

For a couple of years ago, the price of corn was increased from its average price of about 100 USD to around 300 USD. It was in a parity of the oil price that made a record of more than 130 USD at the same time. These two prices are representative of an imbalance in food and energy supply and demands, which was partly dumped because of the global economical crisis. However, the problem is still out there. We see now the demonstration in e.g. Tunisia which was partly because of high price of food. We should accept that our resources is not enough to support food and energy of the current required global welfare. It is the duty of the polititions, scientists and the decision-makers in industry and agriculture to search for new sources of food as is done for energy!


(Price development of crude oil vs. corn since 2000)

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Syria toward 10% renewables?

Syria is relatively small, but one of the oldest countries in the world. The places in the old damascus show a history of several thousands years. The city has now about 5 million inhabitants, which is about 1/4 of the entire country. The country has not so much renewable energy at the moment, but they are planning to reach 10% by solar, wind, bioenergy and hydraulic energies. One of the resources that they own, without noticing, is their wastes. Just the city of Damascus produces 2,500 tons/day municipal wastes, by which 250 tons are composted and the left are landfilled. In our recent trip to Damascus, we tried to make the initial connections toward waste recovery and its conversion to energies. Let's hope for their success with our help!


(The landfill of Damascus with 35,000 ha in size and 20 m height of the wastes)

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

You, me, facebook and environment

We have recently heard that facebook passed google as the most visited website. There are now many people, particularly younger generation on facebook or similar social media. These media, therefore, become particularly important in spreading information on our environment and resource recovery. I have recently visited a Swedish facebook on waste management and resource recovery. My colleage, Hans Björk is also active on Twitter on this subject. Let's hope to see more active bloggers and websites regarded our environment!


(My photo at the headquarters of facebook in Palo Alto nearby San Francisco)