The Aurora Borealis as we have never seen

Yesterday, the British Sky was overrun by red and green lights, a fantastic spectacle of the Aurora Borealis â€" a phenomenon typical of the regions of the Arctic and Antarctica. According to British media, the regions of Norfolk, Essex, South Wales, Cumbria and Scotland were the privileged by the northern lights.

Many of these photos were taken by meteorologist Chris Bell and placed on Twitter. Bell says he saw the lights at 8:0 pm yesterday at his home in Foxley, Norfolk.

"There is a thing called the solar wind, which are electronically charged particles and it takes between two and three days to arrive. When they do, that these gas atoms in the sky begin to shine. It's as simple as this ", explained to the BBC Mark Thompson, of Stargazing Live.

Countries such as Canada or the region of Alaska are some of the other privileged to see, on a regular basis, this Aurora Borealis. In the United Kingdom, he took place for the first time in twenty years. See some of the pictures.

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Spur, Lipor, UCASUL and Companhia das Lezírias win EBAEpis (with LIST)

Spur, Lipor, UCASUL and Companhia das Lezírias are the big winners of the European Business Awards for the Environment-innovation award for sustainability (EBAEpis). The winners were revealed a few minutes ago, in the course of the Conference "innovation and sustainability in the cities of the future", held at Culturgest.

During the ceremony were distinguished three categories of entities: management, process, products and services, and was also awarded the Biodiversity.

In category Management the great winner was Li, with the project "sustainability strategy of Lipor", which is based on an integrated approach of the values and principles of sustainability management systems, operations and activities, practices and decisions, giving particular emphasis to dialogue and interaction with stakeholders in a transparent and open relationship.

The award category was assigned to Process UCASUL, with the REFINOLEA project that focuses on the valorization of olive-residue oil extratado (residue after extraction of olive-residue oil) and the study of its implementation of technically and economically feasible way, to allow recovery of the entire integrated biomass.

In the category of products and services won the Spur with a project of sustainable agricultural production, in which bet on improving the health of their soils and plants, preserving natural resources. In addition to the preservation of biodiversity, the project aims to protect and study almost extinct vine varieties in the country and establish auxiliary fauna, fundamental in natural control crop pests.

The Companhia das Lezírias won the prize the Biodiversity with EVOA project, which aims at the promotion of natural values, being the primary motivation avifauna conservation. In addition to the increase of areas of refuge for nesting and tide, the project, which has the support of Breeze since its founding, intends to attract birds and generate ideal conditions for the observation of the same, maintaining its tranquillity.

Sonae Sierra, WeDoTech, EPAL and Docapesca were distinguished with honourable mentions.

The EBAEpis is organized by the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA) in collaboration with the Directorate-General of economic activities, the BCSD Portugal and the GCI and has been responsible for the selection phase of Portuguese candidates to European Business Awards for the Environment (EBAE), which will be unveiled in November. The EBAE are an initiative of the European Commission which aims to recognise and promote businesses and organizations that give a relevant contribution to sustainable development.

The GPA Portugal and the EBAEpis-innovation award for sustainability initiated last year a merger, having regard to the common objectives and synergies. So, from this year, national candidates EBAE premiums are named by Portugal GPA.

Foto: epSos.de/Creative Commons

Category: Management

Category: Process

Category: products &amp; services

Prize

The Biodiversity

EVOA â€" Space of Visitation and birdwatching

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Sustainability: trade can contribute to the change of behaviors

Trade has a proximity factor with the consumer and, therefore, can contribute to behavioural change, in the sense of a larger appeal to sustainable consumption. This was the main idea advocated by the Director-General of the Portuguese Association of distribution Companies (APED) during the first GPA Conference 2014, dedicated to sustainable cities.

"The Portuguese consumer is wise," said Isabel Moral Wheat. "Sustainable consumption is central to the distribution sector, so the proximity factor of trade can contribute to this behavioral change", advanced the responsible.

On sustainable cities, one of the great pillars will be the technology. According to Miguel Moreira, administrator of Portugal Telecom (PT), this may "respond very well to the challenges of the cities of the future, both in terms of improving living conditions or resource efficiency. Here, the Manager gives an example.

"There is a blatant misuse of resources. The average rate of occupation of offices around the world, is 50%. They are there, they cost millions, consume energy, resources and are semi-vazios. Technology can help end this, "he explained.

The administrator of PT gave another example: the absence of telework strategies in companies. "The so-called commute to compute is ridiculous. In the cities, there are people moving 30 kilometers every day to stay hours in front of the computer. They could be making your work much closer to home, "he explained.

"This makes no sense. That person will pollute, will travel by car and contribute to the traffic ... technology can be an essential tool for improving the lives of people living in cities and reduce business costs, "concluded Michael Moreira.

The debate brought together the President of still waters of Portugal, Afonso Lobato Faria, and the Managing Director of Dalkia, José Manuel Bandeira. You can read the main conclusions of the two managers in this link.

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Green Project Awards launches series of conferences in 2014

The Green Project Awards organization intends to create, through 2014, great moments of reflection and debate on the most pressing issues for sustainable development. Sustainable consumption, sustainable cities, green economy and Natural Capital give the motto for the development of a series of conferences, which will be promoted in partnership with a number of prominent entities in different practice areas.

This cycle of conferences kicked off today with the debate on "innovation and sustainability in the cities of the future", taking place at Culturgest, and with the intervention of different speakers: Ana Morais Wheat, Director-General of the APED â€" Associação Portuguesa de Distribution Companies, Miguel Moreira, Director of PT, José Manuel Bandeira, Managing Director of Dalkia, and Afonso Lobato Faria, President of Águas de Portugal, the newest partner of the Green Project Awards.

Sustainable consumption is another preferential areas, giving name to one of the new categories of Green Project Awards. Thus, the Conference will be held June 5, in partnership with Ikea and the Continent. To help draw the themes and projects to be addressed in this area, the Green Project Awards counted with the collaboration of APED, DECO, and the Institute of social sciences of the University of Lisbon.

The Green Project Awards and EDIA-development company and the Alqueva infrastructures will create an award for the promotion of sustainability in the region of Alqueva, in 2014. And in this context, the EDIA is also a partner in the GPA in conducting a Conference on Natural Capital, where agriculture, forest, sea and biodiversity will be highlighted.

In 2014, the theme of the green economy will continue to earn featured, ending the cycle of conferences, together with the delivery of prizes to the winners of the 7th Edition of the Green Project Awards.

Present in Portugal, Brazil and Cape Verde, the Green Project Awards already received over 1000 applications and recognized more than 60 projects. The GPA aims to arrive later this year to Angola and Mozambique.

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Viewpoints of Portugal featured in Condé Nast Traveler

The Portuguese Lisbon belvederes â€" and not only â€" were highlighted this month by the Spanish edition of Condé Nast Traveler magazine that devotes an extensive article to these sites.

The text begins by the miradouro de São Pedro de Alcântara (1st photo gallery), in Lisbon, described as a "balcony overlooking downtown, downtown", passing then to the Miradouro de Santa Luzia Sanctuary (2), in Viana do Castelo, a perfect place to enjoy the sunset over the estuary of the river Lima.

Again in Lisbon, the highlight goes to the miradouro do Castelo de São Jorge (3), where there is one of the best panoramic views of the Portuguese capital, followed by the Moorish Castle (4), in Sintra, from where the landscape that can be seen largely compensates for the effort of the climb.

Note, also, to the Miradouro de Santa Luzia (5), in Lisbon, whose walls are lined by hundreds of tiles, and once again coming out of the Portuguese capital, the journalist draws the attention of the reader to the currency scenario from Monsanto (6), presented as "the most Portuguese village of Portugal".

Read the article.

The following are the Palácio da Pena (7), in Sintra, formerly Kings scenario, the Cabo da Roca (8), located in the westernmost point of continental Europe, passing then to the North, more specifically to the Miradouro da Serra do Pilar (9), which provides a magnificent view of the city of Porto.

The article, signed by Alvaro Anglada, ends in Marvão (10), Alentejo village where the landscape you enjoy from your Castle is odd.

Fotos: Cebete, MiguelVieira, Bernt Rostad, tiseb, guymoll, guymoll, Angel T., Bert Kaufman, Leandro's World Tour, Jsome1/Creative Commons

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New portal utilizes Google Maps to locate the deforestation

The Global Forest Watch is a portal that gathers information about the forest cover of the planet and allows users to view, almost in real time, the areas that have lost or gained forest, through data collected by satellite, crowdsourcing and open data.

The interactive map was organized by the World Resources Institute (WRI), who collaborated with Google Maps and more than 40 organizations for the development of the project. Through the Global Forest Watch any user can gain access to the database on the loss and gain of forest cover between 2000 and 2013. The data are updated with a monthly periodicity, the sustainable planet.

The application allows the user to analyze data from all locations on the planet and calculate the estimate of reforestation or deforestation of certain area. The portal also allows the download of data so that they can be used for other initiatives or scientific purposes. In the future, the WRI intends that the system permits the insertion of another type of information which may be created new maps.

The map is especially harmful for the Portuguese and Spanish forest â€" the literal North Portuguese and Northern Spain have been severely affected by the loss of forests, as you can see here.

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Eco-Cooler: heat released by ships ' engines exhaust will feed refrigerating plants

The project Eco-Cooler plan to reuse the heat released by the exhaust of the engines of ships and convert it into energy to feed the refrigerating plants of holds of fishing vessels. The project, managed by the sea economy business forum, was developed in partnership with the shipyard Nautiber, financial consultant Linear momentum and the INOVA Research Center â€" and has already been approved.

The Eco-Cooler arises from a pilot action which was adopted by the program and PROMAR, by reusing the heat, allow possible reducing energy consumption of the cooling system.

With the development of the prototype, the Consortium hopes, as stated in a statement, "contribute to increased profitability through the implementation of innovative technologies without increasing catch capacity, the improvement of safety at work on Board of vessels, a major contribution to energy efficiency, savings in the consumption of fossil fuels, reducing imports and increased exports of Portugal".

Once the shipyard where it will be implemented the project in Vila Real de Santo António, the Consortium hopes to have the Spanish fishing fleet as a client of this installation, thus contributing to national exports of technology.

Foto: marcusrg/Creative Commons

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