WELLNESS FOR PEACE: ASIA: Singapore with Most-Efficient Health-Care System & Medical Services Supports Aging Population

The Southeast Asian nation was rated first among 51 countries, according to an annual ranking compiled by Bloomberg that tracks factors including life expectancy, the cost of health care as a percentage of gross domestic product and total medical expenditure for each person. Hong Kong dropped to second place and Italy was ranked third, while the U.S. was 44th and Russia last. Singapore has increased health-care spending in recent years as the workforce ages and the government faces political pressure to ease the burden of the country’s poor. The city-state subsidizes some medical expenses and patients are required to take on more of the costs if they choose premium services, with citizens using mandatory savings set aside for health-care needs.

WELLNESS FOR PEACE: EUROPE: Improving health system performance has been on the political agenda in all member states over the past couple of years

Well-performing health systems make Europe 'politically stable'. This is crucial, because health systems are at the heart of the EU's social model, the Commission says. At the European Health Forum Gastein on Thursday (2 October) Martin Seychell, deputy director general at the Commission's DG Sanco, stated that efficiency is important for the European health systems these days, as healthcare expenditure has been growing steadily in most countries. The drivers behind the expenditure have also increased, and therefore it's appropriate to strive for higher efficiency levels. "Efficiency is an economic concept, but in the health arena we should also talk more about performance. Performance goes beyond the pure concept of the economic efficiency. A good healthcare system must also address a number of other dimensions," he said. Seychell pointed out that a healthcare system is not an end in itself. It's a tool and an instrument to pursue a political, public policy goal. Whatever decisionmakers decide to do with the health systems, the systems must be effective in improving the health status of our population. "A good health system also includes good equity. If we don't, as policymakers, respond to patients' expectations, the response will be negative. People will not feel satisfied and it will lead to a political issue," the Commission representative stressed. Health systems play a vital role in societies, Seychell noted. They are part of social protection, as they guard citizens against unexpected shocks, which also have a beneficial effect on the economy and social security.

UPDATE: Global Warming: The deeper half of the ocean did not get measurably warmer in the last decade, but surface layers have been warming faster than we thought

Sea level change from Year 2005 to Year 2013: The overall rise, on average, was 2.78mm per year. The estimated contribution of melting land ice was 2mm per year. The contribution from warming and expanding shallow layers (above 2km) was approximately 0.9mm per year. This leaves -0.13mm per year for depths beneath 2km (corresponding to a slight cooling of the deep water. However, the error associated with that "residual" is 0.72mm per year - meaning the results are too blurred by uncertainty to indicate significant warming or cooling at depth. The deeper half of the ocean did not get measurably warmer in the last decade, but surface layers have been warming faster than we thought since the 1970s, two new studies suggest. Because the sea absorbs 90% of the heat caused by human activity, its warmth is a central concern in climate science. The new work suggests that shallow layers bear the brunt of ocean warming. Scientists compared temperature data, satellite measurements of sea level, and results from climate models. Both the papers appear in the journal Nature Climate Change. Source: Nature Climate Change

UPDATE: Australia’s First Community-Owned Retailer of Renewable Energy

Northern Rivers Energy, a company being formed by a consortium of “forward thinking citizens” in the area has won a $54,000 grant to develop a business plan and conduct a feasibility study. The plan includes creating a company with both retailing and generation, and an asset management arm that could invest in generation, help finance rooftop solar and distributed generation for poorer households and, maybe some time down the track, even help buy back the grid. Community owned retailers are common in Europe and the US, particularly in Germany where it is common for retailers and local network operators to be owned by local councils. In recent years, many of the network management contracts have returned to community ownership out of frustration with the actions – or lack of them – of major utilities. A similar theme is running through Australia, with renewable energy popular with the community, solar penetration running at the highest in the world, and growing frustration with energy retailers. Source: http://cleantechnica.com/2014/10/04/australias-1st-community-owned-energy-retailer-way/

UPDATE: Chile becomes the first South American country to tax carbon

(Reuters) - President Michelle Bachelet of Chile enacted new environmental tax legislation - making the country the first in South America to tax carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Part of a broad tax reform, Chile's carbon tax will target the power sector, particularly generators operating thermal plants with installed capacity equal or larger than 50 megawatts (MW). These installations will be charged $5 per tonne of carbon dioxide (CO2) released. Thermal plants fueled by biomass and smaller installations will be exempt. The new tax is meant to force power producers to gradually move to cleaner sources to help reduce the country's greenhouse gas emissions and meet its voluntary target of cutting these gases 20 percent from 2007 levels by 2020. Earlier this year, Mexico imposed a tax on the sale of several fossil fuels, based on their carbon content, averaging $3 per tonne of CO2. In Mexico, companies are able to use carbon credits to reduce their tax bills, a provision not considered in Chile. Central-American country Costa Rica also has an environmental tax, but it targets gasoline sales. Around 80 percent of Chile's energy is based on fossil fuels, mostly imported oil and coal. Chile's government will start measuring carbon dioxide emissions from thermal power plants in 2017 and the new tax would be charged from 2018. Four companies are expected to pay the bulk of the new tax: Endesa, AES Gener, Colbún and E.CL. The companies have said that the tax will raise the price of electricity. They have also complained that other industrial sectors were not targeted. The government said it expects to collect about $160 million from the carbon tax, a relatively small share of the forecast $8.3 billion in additional revenue the broader tax reform will bring in. (Reporting by Marcelo Teixeira. Editing by Andre Grenon)