Cheap, waterless toilet that turns waste into clean water and power to be trialed in Africa

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Nano Membrane toilet prototype

Nano Membrane toilet prototype (Credit: Cranfield University)

A cheap, easy to maintain, “green” toilet that uses no water and turns human waste into electricity and clean water will be trialed in 2016, possibly in Ghana. Dubbed the “Nano Membrane Toilet” by its creators from Cranfield University, UK, this new approach to managing waste could help some of the world’s 2.3 billion people who have no access to safe, hygienic toilets.

The toilet’s magic happens when you close the lid. The bottom of the bowl uses a rotation mechanism to sweep the waste into a sedimentation chamber, which helps block any odors from escaping. The waste is then filtered through a special nanotech membrane, which separates vaporized water molecules from the rest of the waste, helping to prevent pathogens and solids from being carried further by the water.

The vaporized water then travels through to a chamber filled with “nano-coated hydrophilic beads”, which helps the water vapor condense and fall into a collection area below. This water is pure enough to be used for household washing and farm irrigation.

The residual solid waste and pathogens are driven by an archimedean screw into a second chamber. This part of the design is still being finalized, but the current plan is for the solid waste to be incinerated to convert it into ash and energy. The energy will power the nanomembrane filtration process, with enough left over to charge mobile phones or other small devices.

The only waste product of the whole process is ash from the burning of solids, which is nutrient-rich and pathogen free, and therefore, usable in farming. The toilet can manage the waste generated by households of up to 10 people.

Funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, and winner of the CleanEquity Monaco 2015 award, the nano membrane toilet is to be trialed and tested in 2016, possibly in Ghana.

Currently, more than 650 million people in the world do not have access to clean water, and more than 2.3 billion don’t have access to a safe, private toilet. Researchers around the world are working to help solve this problem, but high-tech solutions, such as adding solar panels, are usually too expensive to be practical.

Sociological issues also play a role. As toilet infrastructure deteriorates, people prefer to go outside rather than use a smelly room inside their house. This makes women vulnerable to rape, and creates further sanitation and hygiene issues.

The nano membrane toilet is clean, odorless and aspirational, and it should be capable of working in environments that lack sewage, external power and water. So it will be interesting to see how it works in the field.

The plan is for the toilet to be rented to households through a local organization, helping to spread the costs to stay within the Gate Foundation’s challenge of keeping the cost of the toilet below US 5 cents per person per day.

If all goes well, the toilet could also find applications elsewhere like the military, construction industry, yachts, or outdoor events.

 

Winter in Sweden

By Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Stockholm, Jan. 27(Greenpost)–Hi, I’m a Chinese, but I came to Sweden ten years ago. Why? Because my name is Snow. Xue means snow. I was born in this month 49 years ago. It was snowing and cold.

So actually I feel like at home in Sweden. In winter, the snow makes it feel better. The worst time I tell you is november. But Swedes are used to this kind of weather. Those who cannot tolerate it choose to go to Thailand for a few months.

That is why in 2005 Christmas time, more than 400 Swedes died during the Trunami in Thailand.  Many people go to Spain to have a winter house too. I mean over there it is always warm!

But Sweden is not bad. I mean in winter you can stay inside and the heating is very even. That temperature is better than anywhere else. It is neither too cold nor too warm.

People can go to the north to ski and live in the wooden house.  You can go to skate outside and swim inside a swimming pool. There are a lot of gyms.

To deal with the dark winter, Stockholm city lighted brighter lights in the city center. It hosts international film festival in November.

Christmas makes everybody happy and be busy with presents and food, visiting relatives and friends.

The sun sometimes is too bright because it is low, just hanging above the buildings.

Snow makes it very beautiful and the trees look like paintings. A lot of exhibitions are held indoor.

But this winter has a lot of accidents that make people feel upset. The problem was that a 22 year old girl who worked in an immigration center was stabbed to death by a 15 year old boy who migrant to Sweden.

The boy belongs to those thousands of single boy who has no parents or relatives to accompany them to Swedish border.  Do they really have no parents or relatives? No one knows.

But they came and stay together, sometimes they have problems. Now the police said they need more resources. They got more calls from immigration center and immigrants related issues.

Is this winter different from the previous one? Yes, it gets cold later than before and it gets warmer earlier. Just about lest than two weeks below zero, now it is above zero. The ice and snow all melt.

More people go to gym to exercise and many shops closed. I guess the gym will be a good business in the future.  One can get everything on website but you can’t exercise on internet.

Swedish winter is not too cold, it is around zero, sometimes above and sometimes below.

 

Spotlight: Chinese president starts Egypt visit to synergise development plans

CAIRO, Jan. 21 (Greenpost) — Chinese President Xi Jinping started Wednesday his visit to Egypt, a country to which his last trip dates back to 16 years ago and which now looks forward to boarding the development train of the world’s second largest economy.
Xi’s visit is aimed at aligning the development plans of the two nations.
CHINA’S PARTICIPATION
“My visit to Egypt is to cement and deepen the China-Egypt relationship in an all-round way, and advance practical cooperation between our two nations for new achievements,” Xi said when meeting Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail shortly after his arrival in Cairo in the afternoon.
The Chinese government encourages and supports qualified enterprises to participate in large-scale projects in Egypt, Xi said.
He proposed that the two sides make more efforts to synergize their development strategies and step up cooperation within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, so as to translate their consensus into concrete results as soon as possible.
Prior to Xi’s visit, experts from both countries have agreed that as Egypt eyes a series of mega projects, the new Suez Canal for instance, to revitalize the economy, China’s experience could certainly help.
“China stands ready to boost cooperation with Egypt in infrastructure construction and continue pushing ahead industrial capacity cooperation,” the president said.
Words have already been put into practice. China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Co., Ltd said it had reached a deal with its Egyptian partner to build a 1,210 km power transmission line at 500 KV in the southeast of the Nile Delta in Egypt.
As the largest project of its kind in Egypt, the line will be used to transmit electricity for three gas-fired power plants and one nuclear power station, the company, which attended the China Science and Technology Exhibition in Cairo on Wednesday, told Xinhua.
Meanwhile, China’s CGC Overseas Construction Group is working to combine China’s agricultural technology, Egypt’s natural resources and global capital to help the North African country develop agriculture on the west side of the Nile, the company told Xinhua at the exhibition.
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE
Egypt was the first Arab and African country to establish diplomatic relations with China, and this year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties.
The two sides, treating each other with mutual understanding, respect, trust and support, have been developing their ties in a healthy and stable manner, Xi said in his written remarks upon arrival.
Xi recalled the visit of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi to China in December 2014 when Beijing and Cairo elevated their relationship to a comprehensive strategic partnership, saying that bilateral relations are at an important phase now, and the pair should well inherit their past traditions and break new grounds for the future.
Xi said he is happy to see that the Egyptian people are working hard to maintain social stability, develop the economy and better people’s livelihood.
“We believe that the people of Egypt, with their diligence and wisdom, can surely overcome difficulties and challenges, and continue to make progress in realizing the Egyptian dream of building a strong country in which people are better off,” he said.
To welcome the first visit of a Chinese president in 12 years, Egypt sent eight fighter jets to escort Xi’s plane when it entered the country’s airspace, and Sisi was also at the airport to welcome Xi.
When meeting with Sisi in the evening at Abdeen Palace, the main workplace of the Egyptian president, Xi also voiced China’s support to Egypt’s greater role in regional and international affairs.
WARM RESPONSE
Sisi told Xi that Egypt admires China’s development achievements and is eager to learn from China’s experience in many aspects.
Ismail also said Egypt cherishes its traditional friendship with China and will bolster cooperation with China in various fields.
Egypt supports the Belt and Road Initiative, will actively participate in the cooperation within such framework and become a corridor connecting trade between China and Europe, the prime minister added.
Egypt’s official Middle East News Agency reported that the country’s cabinet spoke highly of Xi’s highly-anticipated visit, saying it reflected the deeply-rooted relations between the two countries.
Meanwhile, the country’s official Al-Ahram newspaper in a special report of 20 pages on Wednesday recalled the historical moments in bilateral relations, and expected China and Egypt to sign an array of cooperative documents in such areas as small and medium-sized enterprises, agriculture, tourism, electricity and education during Xi’s visit.  Enditem

Source  Xinhua

Editor   Xuefei Chen Axelsson

Sri Lankan PM announces to go ahead with China-funded Port City project

COLOMBO, Jan. 21 (Greenpost) — Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has announced that his government will go ahead with a multi billion U.S. dollar port city project in the capital funded by China after it was suspended earlier last year.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wickremesinghe said that his government also invited Chinese investors to Sri Lanka.
When asked by the media about China’s role in Sri Lanka’s development, Wickremesinghe noted that China is one of the largest economic powers in the world, and within Sri Lanka, there is a large number of projects in infrastructure development which were funded by the Chinese government.
“So we are going ahead with many of those projects including the Port City, the further development of the Hambantota Harbour. But we’ve also said we would like to see Chinese investments,” the prime minister said.
He further said that infrastructure development alone is not sufficient and that his government is now discussing of bringing in Chinese investments into Sri Lanka.
“I think the Chinese government has also decided that some of its manufacturing industries should move out and Sri Lankan seems to be one of the locations for their industries to move out,” he said.
“We are looking at the Chinese participation in the logistics hub of Sri Lanka as well as further investments in the real-estate sector.”
The 1.4 billion dollar mega port city project is Sri Lanka’s largest foreign investment and is set to attract millions of dollars as investments upon its completion.
The project was suspended by the Sirisena administration in March due to a review on its agreement and some other aspects of the project, but the government has now said that project will resume by February.
The government has already said that it will include the project in its megapolis development plan in order to develop the capital Colombo. Enditem

Source  Xinhua

 

Beijing reports 6.9-pct GDP growth in 2015

BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Greenpost) — Beijing’s GDP growth was 6.9 percent in 2015 and it will maintain steady growth for the next year, the statistics bureau announced Thursday.
Beijing’s GDP was about 2.29 trillion yuan (about 350 billion U.S. dollars) in 2015 and its growth was 0.4 percent lower than in 2014.
“Although growth is among the slowest posted during the last five years, Beijing’s economy has maintained quality growth, with growth in company revenue, people’s income, tax revenue and improvement of the environment,” said Xia Qinfang, spokesperson with the bureau.
The service industry has seen particularly fast growth, at 23.8 percent from January to November. The finance, information, science and technology sectors have seen double digit growth, statistics show.
Per capita disposable income for Beijing residents was 48,458 yuan in 2015, up 8.9 percent year on year.
In the next year, Beijing will continue to face a complex economic situation, Xia said, and the coming period will be critical for Beijing’s economic restructuring. It faces grand tasks to address urban ills and push forward the relocation plans to Tianjin and Hebei.
Nevertheless, Beijing will maintain steady development for the next year, Xia said. Enditem

China ranks first worldwide in PV power capacity

BEIJING, Jan. 21 (Greenpost) — China overtook Germany in 2015 to become the world’s number one in terms of photovoltaic (PV) power capacity, official data showed on Thursday.
China added 15 gigawatts of PV power capacity last year, a 40 percent rise year on year, bringing the total capacity to 43 gigawatts, according to China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA).
Many PV companies began to turn a profit last year thanks to the government’s positive stance on green and innovative energy production and investment, said CPIA secretary general Wang Bohua.
Wang said the areas of technology research and development, and company financing needed more attention, and 2016 will see policies related to PV power grid connection and subsidies.
By the end of 2020, China aims to increase non-fossil energy to 15 percent of total primary energy consumption, and sharply enhance the ratio of renewable energy in production, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).
NEA predicts that China’s PV power capacity will hit 150 gigawatts by 2020.  Enditem

Source  Xinhua

 

 

图片新闻--瑞典“好莱坞”电影金羊奖颁奖典礼精彩回放

北欧绿色邮报网报道(记者陈雪霏)--1月18日瑞典“好莱坞”一年一度的电影金羊奖颁奖典礼在斯德哥尔摩著名的Circus举行。瑞典首相勒文和前左翼党党首雷夫都出席了隆重的颁奖仪式。

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为了准备这个隆重的仪式,人们穿出自己认为最美的服装。

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瑞典电视台记者也把自己打扮得和明星一样,采访最佳女主角候选人。

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本届最佳女主角在颁奖前还不知花落谁家是接受采访。

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大碗明星拉斯苟德。曾经在蒙坎尔德犯罪影片中演主角,风靡欧洲。这次在《有个男人叫乌沃》担任主角,得到提名。颁奖前接受电视台采访。

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颁奖开幕式的大厅。

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瑞典电影学会执行主任塞内尔首先致词。

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首先出来提名的是三位年轻演员。

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最佳外语影片奖。

Best Foreign Language Film

 Leviatan
Director: Andrej Zvjagintsev

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最佳化妆奖。

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最佳外国影片奖。

Best Foreign Language Film

 Leviatan
Director: Andrej Zvjagintsev

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表演。

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终生成就奖。

Lifetime Achievement Award    The board of the Swedish Film Institute has decided to give the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award to:

 

Birgitta Andersson

Actress

 

DSC_6027 最佳男主角。拉斯苟德。《有个男人叫乌沃》

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最佳女主角。《小偷》。

Best Actress in a Leading Role

 Malin Levanon
for her role as Minna in Drifters

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Best Actress in a Leading Role

Malin Levanon
for her role as Minna in Drifters

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最佳电影《从此以后》的男主角。这个在影片中经常被打的主角就是这样,他说,影响想要反映的是,我们其实有恶。恶就在我们身边。可是,我们也没什么办法,只能揭示它,也要包容。

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《有个男人叫乌沃》获得三项大奖,最佳男主角,最佳化妆和最高人气奖。

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最佳男演员奖

Best Actor in a Leading Role

 Rolf Lassgård
for his role as Ove in A man called Ove

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最佳化妆奖。 《有个男人叫乌沃》。

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《从此以后》获得最佳电影制片人奖,最佳导演奖和最佳配角奖。

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最佳制片人,最佳导演,最佳配角。制片人Ekman说这是她从事电影制片25年来首次获奖。非常开心。这是一部非常沉重的反映社会问题的影片。这个配角演的是父亲。主角的年轻小伙在从精神病院回来以后,一直受到歧视,欺负,挨打。

Best film The Here After
Producer: Madeleine Ekman & Mariusz Wlodarski

 Best Director    最佳导演 Magnus von Horn

for The Here After

Best Actor in a Supporting Role

 Mats Blomgren

for his role as Martin in The Here After 

 

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获奖人员合影。大部分记者都不让进到大厅,只能在这里守候。

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Best Actress in a Supporting Role

 Eva Melander
for her role as Susanne in Flocking

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最佳男主角。

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终生成就奖。

Lifetime Achievement Award

 The board of the Swedish Film Institute has decided to give the 2016 Lifetime Achievement Award to:

 

Birgitta Andersson

Actress

 图/文 陈雪霏

图片专题:北欧室内设计的匠心与精华

北欧绿色邮报网报道(记者陈雪霏)--1月20日北欧春季室内设计展在斯德哥尔摩国际展览中心埃尔湖举行。和往年一样,展览依然是种类齐全,错落有致,从屋里到屋外,从床头到花园,从天使到精灵,应有尽有,全面反映北欧人民既重视实用,又重视审美,脚踏实地,精心设计,不断创新的精神。

DSC_6429这首先要从烛台说起。蜡烛是瑞典人的生命。冬天屋里屋外,人们都喜欢点蜡烛。

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用铁制作的各种漂亮装饰品。这都是瑞典的特色。设计者劳塔对记者说,瑞典的设计理念就是在实用的基础上想让它有美感,不要单纯想美,也要实用。二者有机结合是我们的理念。

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各种花盆。瑞典人喜欢在家里放花,房前屋后都喜欢放,因此,都处都有花店,到处都有卖各种花盆的。

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各种各样的枕头沙发垫。

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不同颜色的容器,玻璃容器。这个产品在NK可以买。

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圣诞节必备的各种星星灯。圣诞用品。

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古典座椅,但很有可能是新绷的面儿。以前,我家附近就有这样的两名女子专门重新制作古典沙发。但后来生意不好还是关门了。这里的冬天日子不是很好过啊!

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但这古色古香还是很吸引人,宁可藏它500年啊。DSC_6185

这肯定是从南半球淘来的。

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华丽古朴的沙发。

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Bolife的100%天然印染技术亮相室内设计展。老板张毓接受记者采访。

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两名瑞典女子开启服装店,这也是保证从源头设计到制作加工都要注意环保的产品。

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一看就知道这是在谈染料问题。

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Lotta 说他们生产这些羊毛制品是在做好事。收集北部羊群的羊毛做成羊毛制品,否则,羊毛都浪费了。不过瑞典人对是不是纯羊毛也不是太在意。他们还是在意时尚和品质相结合。不像冰岛人那样真的使劲放羊毛,织毛衣,然后穿它几十年。

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这是瑞典Bergadala地区的专利和特色,离南方宜家老板的家乡不远。设计者不让我照相。我亮出记者证,才让我照。这个颜色,这个工艺,都是让人情不自禁地要收藏的那种货色。美不胜收。

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看看这包,也象筐。都是塑料制品。但是这颗白树上挂的却是由有机植物油提炼制作的可降解的塑料制成的。是绿色产品。墙上挂的是塑料产品。

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这可以是屋里,也可以是屋外,在后花园货阳台上吊吊花盆。

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这是花园产品,水壶,喷壶,铁锹,耙子应有尽有。

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这些东西可都是瑞典人发明的,因为瑞典在北边的基律纳有个大铁矿19世纪就开采了,那里有铁器博物馆,就在矿井里为证。 DSC_6330

铁公鸡。

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人都说是达拉木马是瑞典的名片。这回也做了布马了。

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圣诞小人儿。

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真正的达拉木马。

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北欧精灵和萨米人。

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这位芬兰大姐专门做木质厨具。这个小木勺是用来舀黄油的。她说,“我发现,我要是在这奶酪铲子上刻上瑞典的字眼,人们就爱买。没有任何字样,人们就不买。”

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各种形状的杯子,各种花样的杯子,都是对准儿童的。

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青花系列瓷器。红色也是很受人们喜爱的。

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小精灵是北欧特产。

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花盆座,盘子,都可以。

当然,展出的还有地毯,羊皮和其他商品。