Cleantech ticker: 15 June 2009

Cleantech news as it happens — check back for regular updates:

• For the first time scientists and technicians from the Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences in Kiel, Germany, successfully used an offshore observing system to study environmental changes — in particular, acidification — in the oceans;
• Space researchers and enterprise experts from the University of Leicester have teamed up to offer a new business facing service that harnesses space technology for Earth-bound benefits;
• The world’s longest sofa was built this weekend in Sykkylven, Norway. More than 800 metres long, seating 1500 persons, it is also the greenest sofa so far that got an environmental product declaration. In the future you can read on a tag that comes along with the price tag whether the sofa of your choice has a large environmental impact, or not;
• Using open international standards and new technology will contribute substantially to a sustainable development of the Norwegian construction industry, according to the buildingSMART group at SINTEF;
• Officials from Boeing, TenCate Advanced Composites BV, Stork Fokker and the University of Twente have signed an agreement to establish the Thermoplastic Composites Research Centre (TPRC) at the University of Twente in the Netherlands;
• Australia’s greenest university building — the Bond University Mirvac School of Sustainable Development on the Gold Coast — has won the Sustainability in the Built Environment award at the 2009 EPA Sustainable Industries Awards;
• The Swedish company EcoEnergy Scandinavia and the Ukrainian government today signed an agreement on constructing and operating waste incineration plants in the country. With state-of-the-art technology, these facilities will lead to large environmental advantages as well as a new cost efficient energy source for Ukraine;
• A new report from Pike Research forecasts that, despite overcapacity and economic challenges, the combined biodiesel and ethanol markets will reach $247 billion in sales by 2020, up from just $76 billion in 2010;
• Sterecycle Ltd, a UK waste recycling technology company, today announces a £200 million expansion programme that will create 300 new jobs while reducing Britain’s dependence on landfill for the disposal of domestic and commercial refuse;
• Nearly 40 years after the first of its 210 nuclear tests, France is preparing to compensate people affected by the fallout. The move leaves the UK isolated in its policy of rejecting liability for illnesses suffered by test participants, the BBC reports;
• Changes to the ocean caused by carbon dioxide emissions could lead to an “underwater catastrophe,” damaging wildlife, food production and livelihoods, the Telegraph reports.