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Shafaq News
21-05-2025
- Business
- Shafaq News
CBI unleashes green finance: Billions for eco-projects
Shafaq News/ The Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) began issuing specialized banking licenses to support climate action and environmental sustainability, Governor Ali Al-Alaq announced on Wednesday. During the first Conference on Carbon Economics in Iraq, Al- Alaq said that Iraq's monetary policy promotes green finance by offering incentives for environmental projects and urging banks to manage climate risks. He added that the CBI is coordinating with international networks to align regulations and assess environmental impacts within the financial sector. As part of these efforts, Al-Alaq highlighted a 1 trillion Iraqi dinar (about $766.9M) initiative launched by the CBI in coordination with the Cabinet's Higher Lending Committee to help transition from traditional energy sources to renewable ones and reduce carbon emissions. The initiative is already financing projects such as waste recycling, palm cultivation, the Abu Ghar fields in the Samawah desert, and the Green House Project. The Central Bank of Iraq has partnered with the World Bank to develop a green finance model as part of its 2023–2029 sustainability roadmap, aiming to manage ESG risks and make Iraq's banking sector a leader in environmentally responsible practices. Al-Alaq also announced that the CBI has allocated 500 million dinars (about $383.4K) per facility to help rehabilitate brick factories transitioning from heavy-polluting black oil to cleaner liquefied gas. In addition, the Central Bank has contributed 1 billion dinars (about $766.9K) to Iraq's Environmental Protection and Improvement Fund to help combat air pollution, expand green spaces, and lower harmful emissions. It has also financed waste recycling projects under the CBI's Energy Initiative, which is currently being implemented to reduce soil pollution, particularly in landfill areas that pose long-term environmental risks to housing and agricultural development. The bank is also supporting small-scale agricultural projects through its Prospects program, in partnership with the International Labour Organization, the Iraqi Guarantee Company, and private banks. Around 3 billion dinars have been allocated to displaced communities in Nineveh and Duhok for this purpose. He also announced that the Central Bank had contributed nearly 350 billion dinars to Iraq's urban afforestation initiative. The initiative aims to create green belts around provincial capitals to serve as natural barriers against dust storms and pollutants while helping mitigate desertification.
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Fusion energy: Unlocking the power of the stars
If it looks like the set of some Hollywood sci-fi show, perhaps that's fitting, because what they are doing here is making stars on Earth. "We are able to make miniature stars, 'cause fusion is the same reaction that powers the Sun and stars," said Tammy Ma, who leads the Fusion Energy Initiative at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California. It's part of the same government laboratory that ensures the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear stockpile. "Every time we do a fusion experiment on the NIF, we are actually the hottest place in the entire solar system, hotter than the center of the Sun," Ma said. The scientists here are using the largest laser ever built. It's 1,000 times more powerful than the entire U.S. electrical grid, and is housed in a massive room the size of a three football fields. Here, 192 laser beams travel nearly a mile, and then focus in on a tiny target, or fuel pellet, smaller than a peppercorn. When the lasers hit the pellet, the atoms "fuse" together, releasing energy in the process. That little fuel pellet is only about two millimeters in diameter. But the consequences could be huge. Fusion is a process that merges atoms together, and releases more energy than fission (which splits atoms apart). Fission is used by today's nuclear power plants and creates hazardous nuclear waste; fusion does not. Fusion would theoretically provide a nearly-limitless source of clean and safe energy, powering our world without the fossil fuels that are warming the planet and contributing to climate change. It would make energy-intensive technologies like vertical farming and water desalination much cheaper, potentially solving the world's food and water problems. Ma said, "It is completely clean. There's no carbon anywhere in the equation. There's no high-level nuclear waste. You can place fusion power plants nearly anywhere. It could help meet all of the energy needs for the U.S. now and into the future, even as our energy needs rise." But fusion is hard. After 60 years of research by scientists at NIF, they finally generated a reaction (also called "ignition") that produced more energy than it consumed. The breakthrough, in 2022, crucial to ever creating a fusion power plant, made headlines around the world. Humans had unlocked the power of the stars. Inside the nuclear fusion breakthrough that could be a step to unlimited clean energy in the distant future ("60 Minutes") They have achieved ignition several times since then, and now the race is on to generate enough energy to consistently power a commercial fusion plant. Bob Mumgaard is CEO and co-founder of Commonwealth Fusion Systems outside of Boston, one of more than two dozen fusion startups getting billions of dollars in funding from the government and investors. "It's gonna take time, it's gonna take work, but this is the birth of an industry," Mumgaard said. Instead of lasers, Commonwealth uses a cloud of super-heated plasma that burns at around 180 million degrees Fahrenheit, held in place by massive magnets that the company manufactures on site. "The magnets in this machine will be the strongest magnets in the world," Mumgaard said. "[They] could lift up an aircraft carrier." Commonwealth expects to complete its demonstration reactor next year. It just announced plans to build its first full-scale power plant in Virginia, but that won't deliver energy to the grid until sometime next decade. The demonstration reactor, Mumgaard said, "is the penultimate step to that." Critics point out that fusion power has been an ever-elusive holy grail, always 20 to 30 years away. But startups like Commonwealth say this time is different. The technology is advancing as fast as the need for clean energy is rising – stars aligning in the quest to create stars here on Earth. "This is not a paper exercise for us," Mumgaard said. "We're putting this machine together, we're buying the parts, we're machining the parts, and it's all coming together at the exact time the world really needs something like this. I think that's a really cool story." For more info: Fusion Energy Initiative, National Ignition Facility, Livermore, Fusion Systems, Devens, Mass. Story produced by Chris Spinder and John Goodwin. Editor: Emanuele Secci. See also: Big Tech's big bet on nuclear power to fuel artificial intelligence ("Sunday Morning")Apple CEO Tim Cook on creating a clean energy future ("Sunday Morning")Inside Scotland's hydroelectric marvel ("CBS This Morning: Saturday")"Engine Trouble": How greenhouse gases threaten our world ("Sunday Morning")Suing over climate change: Taking fossil fuel companies to court ("Sunday Morning")Batteries and the new "lithium gold-rush" ("Sunday Morning") Trump sends Iran a warning while ordering strikes against Houthis in Yemen Retail giants like Macy's, Walgreens face financial turmoil Senate passes short-term funding bill, averting a government shutdown
Yahoo
16-03-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Fusion energy: Unlocking the power of the stars
If it looks like the set of some Hollywood sci-fi show, perhaps that's fitting, because what they are doing here is making stars on Earth. "We are able to make miniature stars, 'cause fusion is the same reaction that powers the Sun and stars," said Tammy Ma, who leads the Fusion Energy Initiative at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in Livermore, California. It's part of the same government laboratory that ensures the safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear stockpile. "Every time we do a fusion experiment on the NIF, we are actually the hottest place in the entire solar system, hotter than the center of the Sun," Ma said. The scientists here are using the largest laser ever built. It's 1,000 times more powerful than the entire U.S. electrical grid, and is housed in a massive room the size of a three football fields. Here, 192 laser beams travel nearly a mile, and then focus in on a tiny target, or fuel pellet, smaller than a peppercorn. When the lasers hit the pellet, the atoms "fuse" together, releasing energy in the process. That little fuel pellet is only about two millimeters in diameter. But the consequences could be huge. Fusion is a process that merges atoms together, and releases more energy than fission (which splits atoms apart). Fission is used by today's nuclear power plants and creates hazardous nuclear waste; fusion does not. Fusion would theoretically provide a nearly-limitless source of clean and safe energy, powering our world without the fossil fuels that are warming the planet and contributing to climate change. It would make energy-intensive technologies like vertical farming and water desalination much cheaper, potentially solving the world's food and water problems. Ma said, "It is completely clean. There's no carbon anywhere in the equation. There's no high-level nuclear waste. You can place fusion power plants nearly anywhere. It could help meet all of the energy needs for the U.S. now and into the future, even as our energy needs rise." But fusion is hard. After 60 years of research by scientists at NIF, they finally generated a reaction (also called "ignition") that produced more energy than it consumed. The breakthrough, in 2022, crucial to ever creating a fusion power plant, made headlines around the world. Humans had unlocked the power of the stars. Inside the nuclear fusion breakthrough that could be a step to unlimited clean energy in the distant future ("60 Minutes") They have achieved ignition several times since then, and now the race is on to generate enough energy to consistently power a commercial fusion plant. Bob Mumgaard is CEO and co-founder of Commonwealth Fusion Systems outside of Boston, one of more than two dozen fusion startups getting billions of dollars in funding from the government and investors. "It's gonna take time, it's gonna take work, but this is the birth of an industry," Mumgaard said. Instead of lasers, Commonwealth uses a cloud of super-heated plasma that burns at around 180 million degrees Fahrenheit, held in place by massive magnets that the company manufactures on site. "The magnets in this machine will be the strongest magnets in the world," Mumgaard said. "[They] could lift up an aircraft carrier." Commonwealth expects to complete its demonstration reactor next year. It just announced plans to build its first full-scale power plant in Virginia, but that won't deliver energy to the grid until sometime next decade. The demonstration reactor, Mumgaard said, "is the penultimate step to that." Critics point out that fusion power has been an ever-elusive holy grail, always 20 to 30 years away. But startups like Commonwealth say this time is different. The technology is advancing as fast as the need for clean energy is rising – stars aligning in the quest to create stars here on Earth. "This is not a paper exercise for us," Mumgaard said. "We're putting this machine together, we're buying the parts, we're machining the parts, and it's all coming together at the exact time the world really needs something like this. I think that's a really cool story." For more info: Fusion Energy Initiative, National Ignition Facility, Livermore, Fusion Systems, Devens, Mass. Story produced by Chris Spinder and John Goodwin. Editor: Emanuele Secci. See also: Big Tech's big bet on nuclear power to fuel artificial intelligence ("Sunday Morning")Apple CEO Tim Cook on creating a clean energy future ("Sunday Morning")Inside Scotland's hydroelectric marvel ("CBS This Morning: Saturday")"Engine Trouble": How greenhouse gases threaten our world ("Sunday Morning")Suing over climate change: Taking fossil fuel companies to court ("Sunday Morning")Batteries and the new "lithium gold-rush" ("Sunday Morning") Trump sends Iran a warning while ordering strikes against Houthis in Yemen Retail giants like Macy's, Walgreens face financial turmoil Senate passes short-term funding bill, averting a government shutdown
