Body heat generated by the 250,000 passengers who travel through Stockholm’s central railway station each day will provide up to one-fifth of the heat needed in a neighbouring 13-storey office building – the first time such excess heat will be transferred from one building to another. Standard heat exchangers in the station’s ventilation system can convert the excess heat to hot water which will be pumped to the nearby office block and converted to basic heating in the offices. It is hoped that this will meet 5-15% of the building’s heating requirements.

This innovative approach for Kungsbrohuset, which will be built by Jernhusen AB in a district of Stockholm that will be in the city's centre within 10-15 years, attracted worldwide media attention before construction had even begun. "It's based on old technology," says

High fuel prices encourage Thai farmers to use buffalo for ploughing, manure and cash

"Buffaloes are like having capital," Kongsin Wilaikham, from Norgpue in Khon Kaen Province in northeast Thailand, told IRIN. "I rely on my buffaloes because the tractor is now so much more costly, given fuel prices. I use them for ploughing, for their manure and for cash when needed." Five years ago, Kongsin took a 100,000 baht (US$2,940) loan from the government's Agricultural Bank to buy four buffaloes. From the offspring he has kept 11 and sold another 10 to supplement his income. Like many farmers with buffaloes, Kongsin uses more manure and less chemical fertiliser. The surplus manure he sells for 12 baht per sack. "One application of manure can last two or three years if

Farmer's invention revolutionizes cotton industry in Gujarat

Mansukhbhai Patel, a farmer with a 10th-grade education, has revolutionized the cotton industry in the western Indian state of Gujarat with a cotton spinner he invented to cope with the region’s unique harvesting challenges. An equally unique network set up to find and support India’s grassroots inventors helped him refine his invention.

Gujarat’s farmers grow a tough variety of cotton, called V-797, that does not need much water and can withstand the harsh, arid climate. But its sturdy pods must be picked off the plant and cracked manually to extract the fibers. This task, performed by women and children, often cannot be finished in time, and also keeps children out of school.

Mr. Patel, a self-taug

A small group of a dozen Israelis have, since 2002, stayed in touch with the residents of two Palestinian villages in the Nablus area, Salem and Deir El Hatab, in what they feel could be seen as a model for other similar partnerships between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Villages Group's visits began in 2002 in answer to calls for life-saving help from people of the two villages, located just east of Nablus between its refugee camps and the Israeli settlement of Elon More, which were isolated by curfews and closures. Then they began supplying medicines to village clinics, and linked seriously ill residents with Israel's Physicians for Human Rights, in order to arrange treatment within Israel