Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all and thank you for your continued support, may we all reap the benefits of more sustainable 2008!

Invest in the worlds future - Generation Global Sustainability Fund

Introducing Generation Investment Management LLP

Co-founders, Al Gore and David Blood, had a vision to position ‘sustainable investing’ as a mainstream investment option aiming to deliver superior investment returns over the long-term.

Generation Investment Management LLP (‘Generation’) was established in 2004 and manages approximately US $1 billion. Al Gore is the Chairman of Generation and David Blood is the Managing Partner.

Sustainable investing is fundamentally different to ethical or socially responsible investing. Generation’s investment approach is based on the idea that sustainability factors – economic, health, environment, social and governance – will ultimately drive a company’s share price over the long-term. Generation invests in the companies whose securities are attractively priced, with strong management teams that they believe best understand and respond to these factors and have the potential to out-perform over the long-term.

Why consider the Generation Global Sustainability Fund?

1. True integration of sustainability and fundamental equities’ analysis

   Generation is one of a very short list of investment managers from around the world that has integrated sustainability research and fundamental equity analysis into the one investment process.

2. Excellent investment credentials

   Generation’s team of investment analysts and portfolio managers have very strong investment credentials. David Blood was the former global CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management. Chief Investment Officer, Mark Ferguson has more than 13 years investment experience gained from some of the world’s leading investment managers.

   Generation’s investment capability has also been highly rated by leading investment consulting firm, Mercer.

3. Excellent sustainability credentials

   Al Gore is one of the world’s most respected sustainability advocates. Generation’s Advisory Board, chaired by Al Gore, consists of some of the world’s pre-eminent economic, political and environmental thinkers. The Advisory Board meets twice annually and assists the Generation investment team in understanding long-term sustainability themes that feed into their investment decision-making process.

4. High conviction investing

   Generation will only invest when there is high conviction in the company, and they believe that a concentrated stock portfolio (of between 25 to 60 companies) provides the potential to gain the most from their intensive research process.

5. Client alignment

   Generation is privately owned with 15 of the 26 employees having a stake in the company. In addition, a preference for performance fees coupled with significant employee investment in the firm’s funds aligns the Generation team’s interest with investors.

Fund snapshot - Generation Global Sustainability Fund

Objective:
To deliver superior investment performance by taking a long-term investment view and integrating sustainability research within a rigorous fundamental equity analysis framework.

Strategy:
The fund’s strategy is to invest in high-quality businesses whose securities are attractively priced, with strong management teams that are capable of delivering superior long-term returns. A crucial element of this sustainable investing strategy is to select companies that demonstrate practices and processes that will sustain their profits in a changing, challenging environment. Sustainable investing is the explicit recognition that economic, health, environmental, social and governance factors directly affect long-term business profitability. The fund will invest in anywhere between 25 and 60 companies. Whilst hedging may be used to manage currency exposures against the relevant benchmark (MSCI World ex Australia Index (AUD)), overall currency exposure will not be hedged back into Australian dollars.

Minimum suggested investment timeframe:
5 to 7 years

Performance*:
There are currently no past performance figures available, because the Generation Global Sustainability Fund is a new fund available to Australian investors from 3 September 2007. However, Generation’s investment managers have been investing in global equities since February 2005. In that time, Generation has been managing other global portfolios that have outperformed the relevant benchmarks since inception.

*The newly established Generation Global Sustainability Fund available to Australian retail investors from 3 September 2007 is a newly created fund and will therefore have different returns to other global portfolios managed by Generation. Past performance and ratings are no indication of future performance for either the new fund or the other global portfolios managed by Generation.

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Every Drop Shower Saver

Great new gadget for saving water.

The Every Drop Shower Saver is a lever (or paddle-like) device which can be retrofitted to the base of the shower stem which enables the water to be switched on and off while maintaining the water temperature.

features and benefits
• makes saving water easy
• saves you money on utility bills
• can save up to 100 litres per shower!

save water the easy way
The Every Drop Shower Saver facilitates the turning on and off of the water because the lever is positioned at eye level. The sheer simplicity of this design invites anyone taking a shower to flick the water off whilst soaping, shampooing or shaving, making saving water easier than ever before.

New efficient bulb sees the light - BBC News

A new type of super-efficient household light bulb is being developed which could spell the end of regular bulbs.

Experts have found a way to make Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) brighter and use less power than energy efficient light bulbs currently on the market.

The technology, used in gadgets such as mobile phones and computers, had previously not been powerful enough to be used for lighting.

But Glasgow University scientists said they had resolved the problem.


The days of the humble light-bulb could soon be over
Dr Faiz Rahman
University of Glasgow

The project, being developed along with the Institute of Photonics at the University of Strathclyde, involves making microscopic holes in the surface of LEDs to increase the level of light they give off.

This is a process known as nano-imprint lithography.

Dr Faiz Rahman, who is leading the project, said: "As yet, LEDs have not been introduced as the standard lighting in homes because the process of making the holes is very time consuming and expensive.

"However, we believe we have found a way of imprinting the holes into billions of LEDs at a far greater speed, but at a much lower cost."

He added: "This means the days of the humble light-bulb could soon be over."

The Forecast in the Streets

A new report called The Age of Consequences, just released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Center for a New American Security, tries to bring the social sciences, in particular history, geography, and political science, into the forecast of climate change in the coming century. It makes for fascinating if frightening reading.

Refer to the Centre for Strategic and International Studies

Thousands of walruses killed as sea ice melts

THOUSANDS of Pacific walruses above the Arctic Circle were killed in stampedes this year after the disappearance of sea ice caused them to crowd onto the shoreline in huge numbers, it was revealed yesterday.

Many of the youngest and weakest animals, mostly calves born in the spring, were crushed. Scientists blamed the mass deaths on global warming.

The deaths took place during the late northern summer and autumn on the Russian side of the Bering Strait, which separates Alaska from Russia. "It was a pretty sobering year - tough on walruses," said Joel Garlach-Miller, a walrus expert for the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Unlike seals, walruses cannot swim indefinitely. They typically clamber onto the sea ice to rest, or haul themselves onto land.

But ice disappeared in the Chukchi Sea this year because of warm summer weather, ocean currents and persistent eastern winds, Mr Garlach-Miller said.

As a result, walruses came ashore earlier and stayed longer, congregating in extremely high numbers, with herds as big as 40,000 at Point Shmidt, a spot that had not been used by walruses as a "haulout" place for a century, scientists said.

Walruses are vulnerable to stampedes when they gather in such large numbers. The appearance of a polar bear, a hunter or a low-flying airplane can send them rushing into the water.
Source: The Sun-Herald

Earth feels the cost of humanity staying cool

THE humble air-conditioner, quietly purring away in millions of homes and cars this summer, has become the unknown player in Australia's growing contribution to global warming.

The refrigerant gases in every air-conditioner and fridge have the potential to be far more devastating than car emissions, yet they barely rated a mention at the UN climate conference in Bali earlier this month.

So hidden is the problem to the public that, unknown to most NSW MPs, even State Parliament runs an ageing air-conditioning plant beneath Macquarie Street using nearly a tonne of hydrochlorofluorocarbons.

HCFCs, the refrigerant gases used to replace ozone-depleting CFCs in the 1990s, have a ferocious global warming impact out of all proportion to the often small amount of gas involved.

The air-conditioning system under Macquarie Street, which keeps things cool in the NSW Parliament and the adjacent State Library, contains HCFC gases equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of about 2500 four-wheel-drives. The gas used there is now being rapidly phased out around the country and can no longer be imported because it is deemed to be too damaging.

Parliament is not alone - the cooling systems in many large, older buildings still rely on bulk synthetic refrigerant gases, although the Federal Government plans to phase out HCFC use in Australia altogether by 2030.

A growing proportion of HCFCs and the less damaging hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, are captured and either recycled or destroyed by a plasma treatment process that turns them into salt water.

But of the 7000 tonnes of refrigerant gases imported annually, about 4000 tonnes remain unaccounted for, and leakages are endemic.

"We need to dispel the myth that refrigerant gases are somehow safe," said Michael Bland, an environmental consultant who has been involved in the problem of refrigerant gas capture and storage for two decades. "They are very dangerous and a growing part of our greenhouse problem."

Car air-conditioners, now fitted as standard in new models, are among the most leaky and dangerous. On average 15 per cent of the kilogram or two of refrigerant gases used to run a vehicle air-conditioner seep out into the atmosphere every 12 months.

Michael Bennett, the general manager of Refrigerant Reclaim Australia, said that figure is distorted because, compared to many other developed nations, Australians tend to drive older-model cars with less robust air-conditioning. "We are aiming to get it up world best practice, which would be about7 or 8 per cent per annum," Mr Bennett said.

Refrigerant Reclaim Australia, an organisation funded by the main refrigerant gas importation companies, is destroying gases in old air-conditioners, fridges and fire extinguishers at an increasing rate, rendering about 440 tonnes safe at a national reprocessing plant in Melbourne in the 12 months to June.

Leaking refrigerant gases make up between 1 and 2 per cent of total Australian emissions. But they account for about 12 per cent of

the "radiative forcing" of the atmosphere, which can reduce heat loss and add to global warming.

And when the energy used to keep the machinery running is taken into account, the refrigeration and air-conditioning industry creates about 7 per cent of total Australian emissions, according to a report published in 2005 and jointly funded by the main industry players and the Federal Department of Environment.

But even that proportion is rising rapidly, as Australia becomes one of the world's most air-conditioned nations and households now run an average of just over two cars. And there are roughly 14 million fridges and cold stores across the country, each with their load of refrigerant gas.

The Department of Environment and Climate Change maintains that the damage from leaks is minimal, as long as air-conditioners are serviced regularly and disposed of by an engineer licensed to recapture the gas when they break down.

"The estimated emissions from refrigerant leakage is a small proportion - around 20 per cent - of the total lifetime emissions from a piece of refrigeration or air-conditioning equipment," said a Department of Environment spokeswoman, Heike Phillips. "While HFCs have a high global warming potential, they are a very efficient refrigerant."

The department is urging Australians to cease the habit of simply putting old whitegoods out on the pavement, and have the gas professionally removed. It issued guidelines last week pointing out that it is illegal to tamper with refrigerant gases.

"If you just pull that old air-conditioner off the wall and let its two kilograms of refrigerant escape or leave it to slowly leak away at the tip, you will have emitted the equivalent of four tonnes of carbon dioxide - the same as six months of driving your car," it said.