germany

Germany’s Most Popular Women’s Magazine to Ban Models

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Brigitte, Germany’s most popular women’s magazine will stop using professional models because the models do not reflect the vast majority of women. Previously, the magazine has been adding weight to the super-thin models using photoshop.

The Guardian has more.

“From 2010 we will not work with professional models any more,” said Andreas Lebert, editor-in-chief, adding that he was “fed up” with having to retouch pictures of underweight models who bore no resemblance to ordinary women.

“For years we’ve had to use Photoshop to fatten the girls up,” he said. “Especially their thighs, and decolletage. But this is disturbing and perverse and what has it got to do with our real reader?”

He said the move was a response to complaints by readers who said they had no connection with the women depicted in fashion features and “no longer wanted to see protruding bones”.

African Sunlight for European Power

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Blue chip companies in Germany are looking at using solar energy to power the European markets, the really neat thing is that all the solar energy stations will be in northern Africa. This will help the EU become more efficient with power generation and help the northern African countries with more revenue.

The energy potential in the deserts south of the Mediterranean is enormous.

According to the European Commission’s Institute for Energy, if just 0.3% of the light falling on the Sahara and Middle Eastern deserts was captured, it could provide all of Europe’s energy needs.

The Desertec project aims to build solar power plants in several locations in north Africa. Jeworrek said the “most important criteria” was that the locations were “situated in politically stable lands”. Morocco, as well as Libya and Algeria have been cited as potential sites, where land is also cheap.

The technique called “concentrating solar power” or CSP, uses banks of mirrors to focus the sun’s rays in a central column filled with water. The rays heat the water, vaporising the it into a steam which is then used to drive turbines which generate carbon-free electricity.

Germans Don’t Like Smog

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

Thanks to the BBCBerlin, Cologne, and Hanover have all decided to implement a neat way to make sure that their air is cleaner than other cities by using stickers. Drivers will have to buy stickers that denote how much pollution their cars emit and will be charge accordingly when driving in designated environmental zones. This is such a neat and simple idea.

Drivers now have to display a coloured sticker on their vehicle to enter the inner city zones. The colour depends on the pollutants the vehicle emits.

The cities are gradually phasing in fines of 40 euros (£29;$58) for anyone caught driving without a sticker.

Other German cities – but not all – plan to have such zones later in 2008.

The stickers – green, red or yellow – are mandatory not only for locals but also for foreign drivers, including tourists.

There is a one-off charge of five to 10 euros for the stickers, issued by Germany’s vehicle registration authority and authorised garages.

Dropping Knowledge

- Adam Clare 1 Comment

This has got to be the coolest thing ever! Dropping Knowledge is getting ” 112 of the world’s most compelling thinkers, artists, writers, scientists, social entrepreneurs, philosophers and humanitarians from around the world” and seating them around the world’s largest table in Berlin. It’s happening in three days on the ninth of September. I wish I could be in Berlin for this.

“Using dropping knowledge’s question-rating system, the public identified 500 questions as those most likely to initate open dialog on a social topic of most relevance to them. This group of questions will yield the final 100 Questions — representing a truly global sampling of cultures, themes and ideas — to be asked at the Table of Free Voices and beyond.”

Some sample questions:
“why is clean water more expensive than gasoline in many countries?” joshua dharma , 34, suratthani, Thailand

“Self serving global corporations are not held accountable in any real sense of the word for their actions, how can this be changed? ” David Anderer , 60, Albany, Oregon, USA

“What is the real reason we punish criminals through a court system?” Mathijs Koenraadt , 25, Oosterhout, Netherlands

Germany Crushes Competition in Solar Market

- Cam Proctor 2 Comments

There really isnt much more to this story than what the title title says. Germany has heavily embraced renewable energy, especially solar power, in every appliciable measure.
Lets see how….

Germany generates enough power from the sun’s rays to meet the needs of households in a city of 590 000, according to the Solar Energy Association BSW.

Last week, a solar electric power plant, billed by its operators as the world’s biggest, went into service in the southern German state of Bavaria. More than 1 400 movable solar modules will collect the sun’s rays and harness them into energy for around 3 500 homes.

Germany accounts for 60% of the world market in solar energy, with some 5 000 firms exporting one-quarter of their products in a sector that employs 45 000

Germans last year invested €3.7bn in solar energy, one of the fastest growing sources of renewable energy along with wind power and biomass. Solar energy accounts for less than 1% of the country’s energy needs, but the figure is expected to grow to more than 5% by 2020, according to the BSW.

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