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Based on low-carbon LED technology, it enables users – especially school children – to read and write after dark, giving the estimated 500 million Africans who live without electricity a safer and brighter alternative to candles and kerosene lamps. My Reading Light can be handheld or placed over the page of a book, freeing hands for writing, and offers a choice of high, middle or low light settings. The built-in rechargeable battery provides between 3.5 and 9 hours of light depending on the light level selected.

Philips plans to launch two versions of the light: a standard model; and a slimmed down, low-cost version with a target price of less than $15. www.philips.com

Version 3.0 of the Enterprise Management Suite from desktop and asset management specialists NetSupport includes an energy-monitoring component that enables customers to calculate the cost of PC energy consumption across the enterprise.

Previous versions of NetSupport DNA kept a record of when each computer was on, off or hibernating. The new component takes this to the next level by providing a method for calculating an indicative energy usage ﬁgure. This can then be used to work out the overall cost of speciﬁc systems (based on each customer’s energy tariff). Another new feature of NetSupport DNA 3 is an Internet Gateway component that provides secure IP communications over the internet for managing assets that may ordinarily be ‘hidden’ on a remote network or behind ﬁrewalls. This ensures that all IT assets can be managed in real time.

The ﬁrst roof tiles from SmallPlanet Building Products, a new business set up by nappy recycling company Knowaste, have rolled off the production line at Mailbox Mouldings in Stalybridge, Cheshire.

Initially, the tiles will be made out of recycled plastic from a variety of sources, but ultimately the aim is to use plastic recyclates produced at the UK’s ﬁrst Knowaste nappy recycling plant.

When it opens in Birmingham early in 2010, the recycling centre will process and sanitise nappies and adult incontinence products, producing cellulose organic residue for green energy and plastic that can be used to create a variety of products including plastic cladding, decking and roof tiles.

Roy Brown, president and chief executive of Knowaste Ltd, said: “More than 750,000 tonnes of nappy waste is disposed of in the UK each year – a ﬁgure that highlights the importance of developing alternative uses for post-consumer nappies.”

 From left to right: Knowaste Marketing Director, Lynnette Pierce and Steve McKenna, Director of Mailbox Mouldings International Ltd celebrate the ﬁrst Small Planet roof tile

Deutsche Bank is aiming to instil a sense of urgency into the climate-change debate by establishing a 70-foot high ‘carbon counter’ outside Madison Square Garden and Penn station in New York City.

The digital billboard keeps a real-time tally of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, based on measurements developed by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

The ﬁgure shows the total estimated tonnage of all 24 long-lived greenhouse gases covered under the Kyoto and Montreal Protocols, expressed as their equivalent amounts of carbon dioxide. At launch this was 3.64 trillion metric tons but the number is increasing by approximately 2 billion metric tons per month.

Ronald Prinn, Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT, said: “The Carbon Counter is a bold new experiment in communicating climate science to the public. This number can help convey how fast these greenhouse gases are increasing and the progress, or lack thereof, in slowing the rate of increase.” The number can also be seen 24 hours a day at