Canada: New Brunswick wind farm starts operating
6 January 2009 - TransAlta Corp said on Monday its C$170 million ($143 million) Kent Hills wind farm in New Brunswick has begun operating, producing up to 96 megawatts of power for Canada's biggest investor-owned power company. TransAlta said the facility uses 32 3-megawatt wind generators to produce electricity at the Kent Hills site, 30 kilometers (19 miles) southwest of Moncton, New Brunswick, and will produce enough power for 17,300 homes. The Calgary-based company has said the Kent Hills wind farm can be further expanded to add an additional 54 megawatts of power. (more)

Cuba opens Hemingway archives to scholars
6 January 2009 - Cuba on Monday made the first of thousands of digitized documents, photographs, and books that belonged to writer Ernest Hemingway available to scholars after the items languished for decades in the basement of his home outside of Havana. Most of the papers have never been published and will give new insight into the 21 years Hemingway spent at Finca Vigia in San Francisco de Paula where he wrote some of his greatest works, said Ada Rosa Alfonso Rosales, director of Museo Ernest Hemingway. The project is part of a joint effort by the Cuban National Cultural Heritage Council and the US Social Science Research Council, working together under a 2002 agreement to preserve the archives that were stored in Hemingway's basement. (more)

Israel test bed for car chargers
6 January 2009 - California-based electric car operator Better Place unveiled in Israel last month its first charging stations as part of a network it hopes will replace gasoline-powered engines worldwide. The $200-million venture-backed company is still in an early stage, testing charge spots in Israel with plans to follow in Denmark, and is working with Renault and Nissan to develop electric car infrastructure. (more)

Kenya and Uganda plan new railway to Mombasa port
6 January 2009 - Kenya and Uganda plan to build a new railway from the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa to cope with increased trade between the east African countries and their landlocked neighbours, officials said on Tuesday. Kenyan Transport Minister Chirau Ali Mwakwere told a meeting of Ugandan and Kenyan government officials that Mombasa handled more than 16 million tonnes of cargo annually and this was expected to rise to 30 million tonnes per year by 2030. (more)

Nicaragua begins wind power project
6 January 2009 - Energy-starved Nicaragua is turning to wind as it tries to reduce its dependence on oil-based power. In January, the country began operating 19 windmills that have the potential to generate 40 megawatts of energy. Energy Minister Emilio Rappaccioli said the $90 million project will be operating at full capacity by the end of January and contribute 6 per cent of the country's total energy needs. The country has also turned to geothermal power from volcanoes. (more)

Smoking ban in cafes puts French off cigarettes
6 January 2009 - Cigarette sales in France dropped to a record low in 2008, research by British American Tobacco (BAT) shows, challenging old cliches of Parisians hooked to their Gitanes in smoke-filled cafes. A ban on smoking in most public places came into force in early 2007 as part of government efforts to reduce smoking for health reasons. (more)

US: Pacific ocean areas designated protected
6 January 2009 - US President George W. Bush will designate nearly 200,000 square miles (518,000 sq km) of the Pacific ocean on Tuesday as a protected region, White House officials said, making the areas hands-off for oil drilling or other extraction procedures. The new protected areas will comprise the largest area of ocean set aside as marine protected areas in the world, at 195,280 square miles (505,500 sq km). The areas are home to huge underwater mud volcanoes, coral reefs, and rare species of whales, among other things. (more)