German TV film on Tel Aviv

This is a really nice overview about Tel Aviv's history:

Green Buildings Are Becoming Fashionable

In the land of Hesse municipalities signed an agreement that they would elaborate an action plan to reduce CO2 emmissions and to report regularly on results. It is evident that a lower consumption of energy saves money, but first, the municipalities have to invest and many do not have a budget for this. Why do they make an effort anyway? It is very simple: if you can proof that you have been working on a reduction of emissions, with positive results, you have access to more subsidies from the Government and the EU. The goal is to team up with100 municipalities, so far 55 are on board. Here is the list.

The municipalities want to refurbish residential blocks and public buildings to reduce CO2 emissions. Frankfurt also signed the agreement in 2009. Until 2025 the reducion of CO2 emissions could come to 41%, a huge potential. 

But green buildings are on the list of the European Union already, this is not only a German initiative. On 16 April the European Union awarded the best green buildings.  The prize is for architects that have developed buildings that are ahead of their time. 13 buildings have been awarded in 4 different categories.

More about the Green European Building Programme you can find here.

International Cost of Living Index Rank 2010

Author: Steven Coleman

The January 2010 International Cost of Living Ranking covers 276 global locations across the world.

We have reported the 10 most expensive countries to live in, the 10 fastest movers up and down in ranking and the 10 most expensive locations per basket item.

Tokyo is still the most expensive place for an expatriate to live with the highest overall cost of living index while Tianjin in China takes over from Zimbabwe with the lowest cost of living index.

The 10 most expensive ranked international cost of living locations as at January 2010, together with the previous Quarter's rank as at October 2009, is as follows: