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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (2820)	10/25/2005 12:35:56 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24226

Soaring Energy Costs to Hit Dirty Laundry Baskets USA: October 24, 2005 NEW YORK - The cost of airing your dirty laundry in public is about to go up. It is not only the motorist who has been socked in the wallet by soaring energy prices -- people who use Laundromats will also feel like they have been taken to the cleaners this winter. Natural gas, propane and electricity prices continue their march to new heights, and with those higher prices come higher utility bills for retail laundry centers -- much, much higher. "We're a business that absolutely lives on utilities and essentially reselling utilities to our customers through the use of our facilities," said Brian Wallace, chief executive of the Coin Laundry Association. The association represents about 14 percent of the 35,000 "retail self-service laundries" throughout the country. Its members are now contending with the prospect of both having to raise prices and install more efficient machines in order to make ends -- to say nothing of socks -- meet. Some are raising wash prices in small increments, while others are adjusting dryer cycles, giving not the national average eight minutes per 25 cents but rather anywhere from five to seven minutes. (Or setting the start price at 50 cents.) "The Catch-22 is that ours is really an industry that serves a segment of the population that can really least afford price increases," said Patti Andresen-Shew, a spokeswoman for Alliance Laundry Holdings LLC, owner of the well-known Laundromat brand SpeedQueen. Alliance's customers, like many in the industry, are switching to more energy-efficient machines that use less hot water and give greater control over the length and the temperature of cycles. "You're seeing the trend toward more front-load equipment, whether that be on the washing side or the drying side," Andresen-Shew said. NEW MACHINES NOT A CURE-ALL But there are some trade-offs with energy-efficient machines, among them that such units tend to run slower, or at lower temperatures. "I could put in one of these 40-minute dryers, but I would lose customers," said Thomas Rhodes, owner of Sunshine Coin Laundries, a Florida chain. "People, they want to get in and out of a Laundromat. They don't want to sit there an extra 10 minutes because you've lowered the temperature 10 degrees." Rhodes, whose family started the seven-store chain in 1977, is part of a group that buys propane for fuel under a long-term contract with caps. That group has been paying around the cap price of $1.18 per gallon for five months now, he said, though people outside the group are paying market rates about $1.40. But for lack of any other relief Rhodes and some of his colleagues are considering alternatives like solar -- not hanging laundry out on a line in the sun like the old days, but solar panels for electricity. "We're going to seriously consider taking advantage of some of the credits the government is offering," he said. With other energy-intensive pursuits like driving or home heating, people can sometimes cut back to keep their costs down. But with a sweaty T-shirt or a stained pair of pants, there really is no option. "Really what we're providing is a basic public health service," the Coin Laundry Association's Wallace said. "The fact of the matter is, dirty laundry has to be done. It's not something that can be rationed or put off until energy prices come down." Story by Ben Berkowitz REUTERS NEWS SERVICE planetark.org

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (2820)	10/25/2005 12:49:03 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24226

Uganda Threatened By Looming Desert New Vision (Kampala) October 24, 2005 Posted to the web October 24, 2005 Fred Ouma Kampala UGANDA'S woodland is fast shrinking. The country's exposure to natural hazards is escalating as human activities drastically alter the delicate ecological balance to a mere windswept desert. Persistent droughts, floods, reduced river flows, shrinking lakes, decreasing agricultural outputs and famine are all part of the problem. Where there were once lush vegetations, are now bare patches of land. The vast arable land can merely support a few tufts of grass. "We used to have two rainy seasons of three months each. But now the rains come at unexpected times. Sometimes it does not even rain for a whole year ," says Perusi Kyakuhaire, 63, from Pakanyi Village in Masindi. Masindi is one of the main charcoal producing districts hit hard with climate change. Scientists warn that the country's shrinking forests, may be gone by 2025, if no action is taken. "The very survival of Uganda is threatened by a looming desert," says Paul Drichi, coordinator of inventory and surveys at the National Forestry Authority (NFA). Drichi says the situation on the country's woodland is getting worse with the growing population and infrastructure. "The demand for forest products is increasingly more than supply and this is disrupting the ecosystem that support life," he says. Uganda has an annual wood consumption of about 26 million tonnes. Charcoal, which is produced using traditional kilns with efficiency as low as 10%, accounts for between 15% to 20% of the wood supply, mainly used in urban areas. According to the 2002 national population and housing census, woody biomass caters for 97% of Uganda's energy needs, about 30 times petroleum and electricity combined. The NFA study on national biomass in 2004 showed that the demand for wood will triple to over 60 million tonnes by 2025. Moreover, the high tariffs imposed on insufficient alternative sources of energy like electricity and petroleum dictate that wood will continue to dominate as a source of energy. John Kuteesakwe, an energy officer in the Energy \Advisory Project (EAP) at the ministry of energy, says there are indicators of environmental disaster. "Today, the distance moved to collect firewood in the charcoal-producing districts of Masindi, Nakasongola, Kiboga and Mubende has increased from 0.06 to 0.73km between 1992 and 2002. Meaning an increase of more than 12 times in a period of only eight years," he says. "In many areas like Bushenyi, Mbale and Tororo, unusual sources of fuel like plastics and dry banana leaves are used for cooking." People continue to cut trees for fuel, construction and to clear land for agriculture. "We all need to embark on a major campaign to promote a culture of planting trees," Drichi told district environmental officers during a recent charcoal workshop in Masindi. State minister for environment, Lt. Gen. Jeje Odongo, says it is unfortunate that people look at tree-planting and management as government's role despite their involvement in the destruction of the forests. "There is unsustainable use of wood. Many trees are cut without a replacement because people don't mind ," says Odongo. The Forestry Act 2002 promotes community participation in tree planting and management as a solution to challenges of deforestation. However, Kuteesakwe said it is unfortunate that using firewood and charcoal is cheaper than using electricity, blaming the Government for failure to recognise the charcoal sub-sector. "There is no reason why the government can't control environmental degradation, but quite often they make excuses. We say the people are poor and they can't impose taxes on charcoal." allafrica.com