Posts Tagged ‘China’
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
Worldwide CO2, emissions have risen by nearly 50 percent in the past several decades, with 2010 now holding the record as the year with the most greenhouse gas emissions on record. Burning fossil fuels released more than 36 billion metric tons of CO2 in 2010, due primarily to growth in China, India, and the United States. Deforestation is another core cause.
Going back half a century, nothing seems to have set back emissions for many years and that includes the Great Recession that started in late 2008, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Other studies indicate that mankind has burned approximately 50 percent of available fossil fuels if we don’t want the climate to warm by more than two degrees Celsius. More to the point, we’ll need zero or negative emissions and emissions to peak sometime this decade to avoid any further warming.
Emissions rose approximately 510 million metric tons of carbon to reach 9.14 billion tons in 2010, the most in records dating to 1959, according to the Global Carbon Project. That represents a 5.9 percent increase, the largest since 2003, when they jumped six percent. The 2010 global emissions were 33.5 billion tons when converted to carbon dioxide.
“We’re going exactly in the wrong direction for limiting global warming,” said Corinne Le Quere, co-author of the Global Carbon Project’s report and a director of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia, England. “Governments need to develop ways to boost the economy using renewable energy,” she said.
“Global CO2 emissions since 2000 are tracking the high end of the projections used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which far exceed two degrees warming by 2100,” Le Quere said. “Yet governments have pledged to keep warming below two degrees to avoid the most dangerous aspects of climate change, such as widespread water stress and sea level rise, and increases in extreme climatic events.”
There’s growing evidence that 2011 will almost certainly be the 10th warmest on record, and the hottest featuring the La Nina phenomenon that brings cooler waters to the surface of the Pacific Ocean, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). “There’s clearly a warming trend. That’s supported by other indicators such as disappearing Arctic sea ice, melting glaciers and rising sea levels,” Peter Stott, head of climate monitoring at the U.K. Met Office, whose own temperature estimates feed into the WMO data, said.
“The global financial crisis was an opportunity to move the global economy away from a high-emissions trajectory. Our results provide no indication of this happening,” according to the study’s authors. The study was issued at a planet-warming gases panelat U.N. climate talks in Durban, South Africa.
Writing on Times’ Ecocentric blog, Bryan Walsh notes that “The study underscores just how little we’ve done to slow the increase in carbon emissions. Since 1990 –the base year for the Kyoto Protocol –carbon emissions from fossil fuels have increased by 49 percent, making a mockery of that global treaty’s ambition to cut emissions by at least five percent. And it’s getting worse –on average, fossil fuel emissions have risen by 3.1 percent a year between 2000 and 2010, three times the rate of increase seen during the 1990s, even as global warming has become a global concern.
According to a Nature blog, “What’s new in this analysis is that it puts the recovery in context with previous global crises. It also updates a novel type of carbon dioxide accounting pioneered by lead author Glen Peters, who is at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research in Oslo. Usually, and under the Kyoto Protocol, carbon dioxide emissions are identified with the nation that produces them. Yet rich countries have largely achieved cuts in CO2 emissions since 1990 by importing goods made elsewhere. Around one-fifth of China’s emissions, for example, come from making goods demanded by consumers in other nations. If you count the CO2 emissions embodied in final consumer demand, the study shows, Kyoto’s ‘developed’ countries are consuming more carbon dioxide now than they did in 1990 — although they report cuts in domestic production. Even so, 2009 marked the first time that developing countries consumed more carbon dioxide than developed countries. The crisis may not have fully passed, and it’s too early to tell whether the green stimulus packages introduced in recent years will have a positive impact, the study says. For the moment it’s sobering to think that the pain caused by the financial crisis made but a small dent in global CO2 emissions.”
Tags: Arctic sea ice, Center for International Climate and Environmental Research, China, CO2, Deforestation, Emissions, fossil fuels, Great Recession, greenhouse gas emissions, India, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Kyoto Protocol, La Nina phenomenon, Nature Climate Change, U.N. climate talks, United States, World Meteorological Organization
Posted in General, Green | No Comments »
Tuesday, November 1st, 2011
The midnight oil burned in Brussels as European finance ministers, heads of state, bankers and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) try to reach an agreement to restructure Greek debt. In the deal, private banks and insurers would accept 50 percent losses on their Greek debt holdings in the latest bid to reduce Athens’ immense debt load to sustainable levels. Although it required more than eight hours of negotiations that did not end until 4 a.m., the deal also anticipates a recapitalization of hard-hit European banks and a leveraging of the bloc’s rescue fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), to give it €1 trillion ($1.4 trillion).
Significant work remains to be done to assure that the rescue works as envisioned. Several aspects of the deal, including the technicalities of boosting the EFSF and providing Greek debt relief, could take weeks to firm up; the plan to rebuild confidence after two years of crisis could unravel over the details. “I see the main risk is that we are left waiting too long again for the implementation of these agreements,” European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Ewald Nowotny said. “Speed is very important here.” According to Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, “The debt is absolutely sustainable now. Greece can settle its accounts from the past now, once and for all.”
European Union (EU) President Herman Van Rompuy said that the deal will slash Greece’s debt to 120 percent of its GDP by 2020. Under current conditions, it would have soared to 180 percent. Achieving this will require that banks assume 50 percent losses on their Greek bond holdings — a hard-to-swallow pact that negotiators now must sell to individual bondholders. According to Van Rompuy, the eurozone and IMF — which have both propped up Greece with loans since May of 2010 — will give the country another €100 billion ($140 billion). That’s slightly less than amount agreed in July, primarily because the banks now must pick up more of the slack. “These are exceptional measures for exceptional times. Europe must never find itself in this situation again,” European Commission President Jose Manuel Barros said.
While some question whether Greece will be able to meet its debt obligations by the drop-dead date, the fact that leaders were able to finally put concrete numbers to what had previously been little more than vague promises represents an important step forward. “It’s great news that we’ve got an agreement,” said Deutsche Bank economist Gilles Moec. “When Europe puts its heads together, they do actually begin to cooperate.”
Greece, whose crippling debt load has in principle been cut in half in the deal that Papandreou says marks “a new day for Europe and for Greece,” emerges as the biggest winner. Although the necessary austerity measures will be tough for the Greek people to live with, the new plan has set the country on a sustainable debt trajectory, according to Moec. “At least the deal gives Greece a fighting chance. It’s not great, it would be much better if we could get the debt below 100 percent…but it’s doable.”
Germany, which had been the driving force behind compelling the banks to take a bigger “haircut” or write down on Greek debt, is another winner. “If you look at the vote in German parliament outlining what Germany was going to ask for at the summit, and then you see the results of the summit, it’s basically identical,” Moec said. German Chancellor Angela Merkel believes that the deal is a victory for Europe in general. “Everybody was aware that the whole world was looking at this meeting,” she said. “I think that tonight we Europeans have taken the right measures.”
Writing for Reuters, Global Economics Correspondent Alan Wheatley sees some reason for skepticism. “Greece, however, has become something of a sideshow. Investors long ago judged that it was not just illiquid, but insolvent. Much more critical is what the eurozone could do to prevent the debt rot from spreading to bigger, systemically important but stagnant economies, notably Italy. Markets will have to wait for details as to how the EFSF will be scaled up; whether the likes of China will top up the bailout fund; and how operationally it will enhance the credit of member states’ new bonds. But some analysts are skeptical. Economists at Royal Bank of Scotland said they expected markets to re-price sovereign debt across the euro area given the size of the losses imposed on Greece. Expressed as the ‘net present value’ of the bonds, the proposed loss will be close to 70 percent, much more than the 40 percent hit that banks had volunteered to take, RBS said. What’s more, the EFSF will be too small to offer help to any country that might need it for any length of time. And a promise by governments to help banks regain access to long-term bond market funding implies they will have to assume extra contingent liabilities, thus adding to their debt burdens.”
Time’s Bruce Crumley is more hopeful. According to Crumley, “Let’s hope that upbeat attitude persists, but let’s not be stunned if it doesn’t. Because let’s be honest about another reality of Thursday’s development: it was only the most recent play by governments in a global confidence game that’s certain to shift and surge again before it’s all over. That’s not ‘confidence game’ in the usual, illicit ‘con’ sense. Instead it more literally describes attempts by EU leaders to inspire confidence and calm in financial markets so they’ll cease the doubt-inspired dumping of bonds, and bets against iffy sovereign debt that severely complicates efforts by eurozone officials to overcome current crisis. To that end, the relatively timid action taken earlier by European leaders was subsumed by the far more dramatic measures adopted – an emphatic upward ratcheting designed to prove their determination to tackle the evolving catastrophe once and for all.”
Tags: Angela Merkel, Austerity measures, Brussels, China, Deutsche Bank, euro, European Central Bank, European Commission, European Financial Stability Facility, European Union, Eurozone, GDP, Greece, Greek debt, Herman Van Rompuy, International Monetary Fund, Italy, Jose Manuel Barros, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sovereign debt
Posted in Economics, Financing, General | No Comments »
Thursday, October 27th, 2011
The renewable energy industry is facing serious challenges from competition subsidized by foreign governments and restrictive regulations on the home front. This was the consensus at the recent Solar Exchange East 2011, attended by academics, solar entrepreneurs, engineers, investors, supporters and government officials at the McKimmon Center at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
Larry Shirley, director of the Green Economy program at the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Energy Division, said that “Policies and incentives are the building blocks” for the solar industry. Participants generally called for an end to government preference for fossil fuels, while critics believe the traditional means of letting private investors and the market dictate the industry’s direction is the optimal policy.
“Subsidies are basically a waste of taxpayers’ money, a form of corporate welfare,” said Roy Cordato, the John Locke Foundation’s vice president for research and resident scholar and one of the critics. “These (renewable energy ventures) are grossly inefficient. If they weren’t, they wouldn’t need government subsidies.”
“This is a robust environment,” said Rick Myers, director of the Solar Vertical Market Management program for Siemens. “The U.S. solar market grew 67 percent, from $3.6 billion in 2009 to $6 billion in 2010. Solar electric installation In 2010 totaled 956 megawatts. There’s no doubt the U.S. government needs to get more involved in this effort from a policy standpoint. The solar panels are 50 percent of the cost for installation and these prices are going way down. The fact of the matter is the competition is extremely difficult in that area. It’s coming from the Pacific Rim and China.”
In a related move that boosts renewable energy, a U.S. Treasury Department grant program that pays for up to 30 percent of a solar project’s costs would add 37,394 jobs to the economy in 2012 has been extended for one year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). The program, part of the 2009 economic stimulus package, was due to expire at the end of 2011 after an initial one-year extension was passed by Congress last December. A second extension will boost solar jobs by 12 percent as developers increase installations by 2,000 megawatts, or enough for about 400,000 homes. More than 100,000 Americans currently work in the solar industry, double the number in 2009, said Rhone Resch, SEIA’s chief executive officer. “Much of the jobs and industry growth has come out of that program,” Resch said. “The last thing the government should do in a fragile economy is eliminate a tax break that creates jobs.”
With the grant program, developers can obtain the equivalent amount in cash and write off assets more quickly. The solar industry has received more money from the grant program than any other renewable energy sectors with the sole exception of wind. “The (program) has been the most effective policy in driving economic and job growth in the past two years,” Resch said. “As we continue to slog through a sluggish economy, the tax equity market remains in a much smaller capacity than where it was in 2007.”
Writing for Renewable Energy World.com, Elisa Wood says that “We hear a lot about the job-building benefits of renewable energy when it draws manufacturers and developers to local communities. Less talked about are those who arrive well before the shovels, steel, factories and jobs. These are the green-energy entrepreneurs – the creative thinkers and risk takers responsible for the rise of clean energy ventures over the last decade. Others entering the industry are veterans of energy, finance, agriculture, telecommunications, high tech, science, transportation, construction, nanotechnology and commerce, all drawn by enormous opportunity, as the largest economies in the world spend an expected $2.3 trillion over the next decade to revamp industrial-age energy apparatus into cutting-edge technology. Green energy entrepreneurs emerge from throughout North America, Europe and Asia, but they tend to congregate in high-tech regions such as Silicon Valley, an area of California becoming as much about energy as it is the internet. ‘You can’t throw a softball around here without hitting another solar company,’ says Dan Shugar, one of the solar industry’s early pioneers and now chief operating officer of Solaria, a Fremont, CA-based company that makes silicon photovoltaic products.”
Tags: China, congress, fossil fuels, Green Economy program, John Locke Foundation, North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Energy Division, North Carolina State University, Pacific Rim, renewable energy, Siemens, Solar Energy Industries Association, Solar Exchange East 2011, solar power, Solar Vertical Market Management, Solaria, Tax credit, Tax equity market, Treasury Department
Posted in Economics, General, Green | No Comments »
Thursday, July 7th, 2011
Venerable Swedish automaker Saab is unable to pay its employees and is likely headed into bankruptcy. Saab and Zeewolde, Netherlands-based owner Swedish Automobile NV, are in talks to raise cash, the company said. Options include selling and leasing-back the factory in Trollhaettan, Sweden. “There can however be no assurance that these discussions will be successful or that the necessary funding will be obtained,” said Swedish Automobile, which was previously known as Spyker Cars NV.
Saab’s chances are “slim,” according to Martin Crum, an analyst at Amsterdam’s Effectenkantoor BV. “The company is still not able to produce cars; that’s the main concern. If you don’t sell cars, you don’t get cash in.” The pending property sale “can provide some badly needed liquidity for the short term, but for the longer term they of course need more,” Crum said. Saab came close to being a casualty of GM’s brand shedding after its government-backed bankruptcy, when it stopped the production of Saturn, Hummer, and Pontiac cars. The Swedish unit was slated to shut down after a group led by Koenigsegg Automotive AB pulled out of talks. Spyker’s bid came after GM had already begun to shut down Saab, ultimately paying $74 million in cash and $326 million in preferred shares.
A spokeswoman for Saab admitted that approximately 2,200 office workers, designers and engineers might not be paid as Sweden goes into a holiday. Apologizing for leaving production line staff without paychecks, she said “The last thing we want is to be forced to come with this very sad news the day before a major Swedish holiday. We would not have done this if we were in a situation where we had an alternative.” She said Saab was not actively preparing for bankruptcy, but the carmaker is making an eleventh-hour bid for cash by negotiating a sale-and-lease back of its Trollhättan factory with unnamed parties. “(Bankruptcy) is not the scenario that we are working with. We are working very intensively on securing short-term financing to improve the situation of the company, of course to pay our employees and to work with suppliers to get production going again.”
Neil King, an analyst at IHS Automotive, said Saab seems to have been left behind by the emerging market boom in nations such as Brazil, China and India. “They suffered as a result of the financial crisis but unlike their peers, they have not capitalized on booming demand for premium cars in the emerging markets.” Saab production fell sharply from 123,000 in 2007 to 33,000 in 2010.
Swedes are mourning the waning of the Saab brand, which was established in 1937 and became one of two internationally known Swedish automakers along with Volvo. At present, Saab appears to be on its last leg as there has been no recent talk of a government bailout or rescue plan. Upon hearing the news, one employee said “It is dreadful. Completely unbelievable. I get chest pains,” worker Fredrik Almqvist said. “How on earth are we supposed to pay our bills?” “I have worked at the factory and know many who worked there. You should never give up hope, but right now it looks extremely bleak,” Veli-Pekka Saikkala, a representative of IF Metall, said.
Writing on the Automobile website, Donny Nordlicht says that Saab appears to have had a bit of a reality check, as its latest press statement says ‘There can, however, be no assurance that these discussions will be successful or that the necessary funding will be obtained.’ Saab’s newfound realistic outlook is not assuaging fears, however. IF Metall is demanding that the automaker pay its members wages, saying it needs to resolve the short-term cash flow issues immediately. If Saab does not pay up, IF Metall has threatened to enter legal proceedings to procure the wages, something that would most likely end only in bankruptcy for the automaker.”
Tags: Automaker, Automobile website, bankruptcy, Brazil, China, Effectenkantoor BV, GM, Hummer, IHS Automotive, India, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn, Spyker Cars NV, Sweden, The Netherlands, Volvo, Zeewolde
Posted in Economics, General | No Comments »
Monday, June 20th, 2011
As gas prices seesaw up and down at the pump and Americans reluctantly pay more to fill their tanks as the economy slows, OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting States) could not agree on whether or not to increase production and provide some relief. The two key factors are Saudi Arabia and Iran. At an unusually contentious meeting, the 12-nation group could not reach agreement on new production targets. That sets the stage for higher prices for oil and gas later this year as world demand for oil rises faster than supplies. Saudi Arabia favored an increase in output, which likely would have translated to lower oil prices. Other countries – such as Iran — resisted, arguing that oil supplies are adequate to meet demand and current prices are on target. “We are unable to reach consensus,” OPEC Secretary General Abdullah Al-Badri said. Saudi oil minister Ali Naimi called the meeting “one of the worst ever.”
Writing on the Salon website,Andrew Leonard points out that China is partially to blame for high prices at the gas pump. According to Leonard, “If you want to know why gas prices are high, and why, in the long run, they will keep getting higher, all you need to do is peruse BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy 2011 report. Bottom line: World oil consumption hit an all-time record high of 87.4 million barrels a day in 2010, driven by a surge in demand from emerging nations, but primarily led by China. China has now overtaken the U.S. as the world’s largest energy consumer, with demand for all kinds of energy growing 11.2 percent in 2010. In 2010, Chinese oil consumption grew by 860,000 barrels a day. Since 2000, China’s oil consumption has grown an incredible 90 percent. Supply, globally, is not keeping up with demand growth. And barring a major global economic meltdown, that dynamic is not going to change. The rest of the world is going to continue to consume more oil, and finding and developing new sources of oil is going to continue to get more expensive. And Obama can’t do a damn thing about it, except to put in place policies that encourage U.S. consumers to consume as little oil as possible.”
The Saudis and the Iranians frequently lock horns over pricing at OPEC meetings. Typically, however, member nations follow Saudi Arabia’s lead, which produces most of the group’s oil. This time the Saudi-Iranian rivalry resulted in a deadlock. The International Energy Agency (IEA) had urged oil producers to put more crude on the market. “Ongoing supply disruptions, as well as the fragile state of the global economy, call for a prompt increase in supply,” the agency said. Iran, the second largest OPEC member after Saudi Arabia, is the leading price “hawk,” favoring expensive oil. Saudi Arabia has consistently acted to moderate prices.
“Looking to the remainder of this year, the expected supply/demand balance indicates a tightening market,” OPEC’s report said. “As a result, global inventories could continue to decline as the market enters a period of high seasonal demand.” OPEC’s member nations include Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
According to the IEA, demand for OPEC crude will average 29.95 million bpd (barrels per day) in the 2nd half of 2011, or 1.2 million bpd more than April production of 28.75 million bpd. Analysts said OPEC’s report had minimal impact on oil prices and a bigger focus would be the IEA’s latest forecasts. “It’s absolutely market neutral,” said Olivier Jakob of Petromatrix. “What’s going to matter more is the IEA report when we will be able to see if there are any more changes.” OPEC’s May oil output rose by approximately 171,000 bpd to 28.97 million bpd as extra supplies from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Iraq offset declining production from Libya. The report said Saudi output totaled 8.86 million bpd in May. Saudi newspaper al-Hayat reported that Riyadh would boost supplies to 10 million bpd in July and oil traders said the kingdom was offering more to Asian customers, because they are driving the increase in global demand. The world is expected to use 1.38 million bpd of oil more this year than in 2010, OPEC’s report said.
OPEC’s daily production is bound by quotas of 26.32 million bpd in May of 2011, according to the group’s monthly report. That’s an increase from 26.17 million bpd in April, OPEC said. Saudi Arabian output climbed to 8.86 million bpd in May, compared with 8.8 million in April. OPEC’s total supply, including Iraq, was 28.97 million bpd May compared with 28.8 million the previous month. Libyan supplies fell to 169,000 bpd in May as the conflict between forces loyal to Muammar Qaddafi and anti- government rebels halted output. That compares with an average 1.56 million last year. OPEC, which provides approximately 40 percent of the world’s crude oil, announced its biggest-ever supply cuts in late 2008 when the financial crisis caused a collapse in global demand. The decision capped production at 24.845 million bpd for all members except Iraq, which is exempt from the quota system.
“Now we are unhappy that we did not reach a decision but this is not the end of the world,” al-Badri said.”It was not political, it was really an economic situation. Of course, for the past six years we have enjoyed a very relaxed atmosphere, now we have some tension. I hope we will overcome it.”
Tags: Abdullah Al-Badri, Ali Naimi, BP's Statistical Review of World Energy 2011 report, China, Gas prices, International Energy Agency, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Muammar Qaddafi, Nigeria, Oil, OPEC, Petromatrix, President Barack Obama, Saudi Arabia
Posted in Economics, General, Office, Residential | No Comments »
Monday, June 13th, 2011
Sluggish job growth in May could be a sign that the economic recovery is losing momentum.According to the ADP May Employment Report, a mere 38,000 jobs were added in the private sector on a seasonally adjusted basis. That was well below consensus estimates of 170,000 new jobs. The report also revised downwards the estimated change from March to April from 179,000 to 177,000. “A deceleration in employment, while disappointing, is not entirely surprising,” the report said. “In the 1st quarter, GDP grew at only a 1.8 percent rate and only about 2¼ percent over the last four quarters. This is below most economists’ estimate of the economy’s potential growth rate and normally would be associated with very weak growth of employment.”
Patrick O’Keefe, director of economic research at J.H. Cohn, said that although some seasonal factors may have been at work in the recent claims data and in the ADP estimates, the report still disappointed. “We can put away our balloons and party hats today,” he said. “We expected a pull back in the rate of acceleration, instead we got deceleration. It appears that the general expansion has lost a bit of momentum and employment numbers, which were already lethargic, are slowing further.”
“This only adds fuel to the argument that the slowdown story is here in the U.S.,” said Tom Porcelli, chief economist at RBC Capital Markets. “I am fairly confident that people are going to be scaling back their estimates for nonfarm payrolls. While it is a good thing that small and medium-sized companies are adding payrolls, there is no doubt that the pace has slowed. This is exactly what we do not want when other significant data shows things are slowing down as well. Having said that, I still do not believe the Fed will initiate QE3.”
Writing in the National Journal, Jim Tankersley takes a more optimistic viewpoint. According to Tankersley, “Reality is a little more positive and a lot more complicated than that. Wall Street analysts are fairly united in their view that the recovery has entered a “soft patch,” just like it did last year, and that sooner or later, growth and job-creation are on track to pick up again. Several analysts and columnists have been reminding Americans that recoveries from financial crises can often feel like stop-and-go traffic on the freeway. For now, the economic brakes seem to be pumping. The 2010 slowdown flowed from worries over Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. This one is likely a combination of several factors. The spike in oil and food prices has spooked confidence — though consumers are still spending apace, dipping into their savings to keep up — and may be driving businesses to scale back hiring.”
On the MarketWatch website, Rex Nutting says that “If you recall that government employment is declining by almost that much every month, the ADP report implies only a very small increase in total employment. This is no way to get the unemployment rate down from nine percent. The economy has been buffeted by both natural and man-made forces. Extremely bad weather earlier in the year depressed activity, as did the surge in commodity prices, especially for energy and food. Then the Japanese earthquake and tsunami knocked out vital supply chains. Global economic growth, which had given a big boost to U.S. exporters, is slowing. Europe is dead in the water, so is Japan. The fast-growing developing nations such as China, India and Brazil are downshifting to avoid overheating. The strongest sector of the U.S. economy — manufacturing — is still growing, but the momentum is fading. The Institute for Supply Management’s closely watched diffusion index (Defined by Investopedia as “A measure of the breadth of a move in any of the Conference Boards Business Cycle Indicators (BCI), showing how many of an indicators components are moving together with the overall indicator index) plunged by 6.9 points to 53.5 percent in May, the largest one-month decline since 1984.
Companies may need to start hiring again as a new report from the Department of Labor is showing that the productivity of American workers slowed in the 1st quarter and labor costs rose as companies boosted employment to meet rising demand. The measure of employee output per hour increased at a 1.8 percent annual rate after a 2.9 percent gain in the prior three months, revised figures from the Labor Department showed today in Washington, D.C. Employee expenses climbed at a 0.7 percent rate after dropping 2.8 percent the prior quarter.
Productivity measures the amount of output per hour of work. A slowdown in growth is bad for the economy if it persists. But it can be good in the short term when unemployment is high because it can mean that companies are reaching the limits on how much extra output they can get from their existing work forces. Output grew 3.9 percent in 2010, the biggest increase since 2002. But many economists believe it will slow to 50 percent of that rate this year. The expectation is that companies will hire new workers to further boost output.
Tags: ADP, ADP’s May Employment Report, Brazil, China, Department of Labor, Federal Reserve, GDP, global economic growth, Government hiring, India, J. H. Cohn, Japanese earthquake and tsunami, job growth, MarketWatch, National Journal, Productivity, QE3, unemployment rate, Wall Street
Posted in Economics, General | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 3rd, 2011
Social networking could gain 1.3 billion new users if a deal goes through that will introduce Facebook to China. Facebook Inc. has signed an agreement with Baidu, Inc. a search engine company, to create a social-networking website in China. “We are currently studying and learning about China, as part of evaluating any possible approaches that could benefit our users, developers and advertisers,” Palo Alto, CA- based Facebook said.
The arrangement follows several recent meetings in China between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Baidu CEO Robin Li. The Baidu website would not be incorporated with Facebook’s international service, and a potential launch date is “not confirmed.” Facebook said it is “currently studying and learning about China, as part of evaluating any possible approaches that could benefit our users, developers and advertisers.” By entering the Chinese market, where the world’s most popular social-networking service is currently banned, Facebook would gain access to the nation’s nearly 500 million Internet users.
According to Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry of MSNBC Business Insider, “The deal makes sense for both sides. On Facebook’s side, it needs a big local partner to break into the huge Chinese market. On Baidu’s side, it is threatened by social network juggernaut Tencent, and it might be a safer bet to build a social network with one of the most successful social companies in the world than to try to build its own.”
Baidu, which is China’s largest search engine, wants to provide more social networking opportunities in China. The impediment has been the Chinese State, which owns the “Great Firewall of China” and has blocked sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Google removed its search engine last year.
Writing on the website Digital Trend, Molly McHugh is curious about how Facebook can compete if it enters the Chinese market. “Facebook has been blocked in China since 2009, when riots in the country’s Xinjiang region led to severe crackdowns on Internet use. Since then, statements from Chinese officials and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have hinted at the possibility of cooperation between the two, if a compromise between the nation’s overbearing censorship and Facebook’s ‘openness’ can be reached. Now it looks as though something is going on. What exactly that may be is still up in the air, but numerous reports say Facebook is working with China to come up with a solution.
“According to Marbridge Consulting, as well as a few blogs,” according to McHugh, “a post on Sina Weibo from Hu Yan Ping, the founder of a Chinese market research firm claims that Facebook will be collaborating with Baidu to build an entirely new social networking site. Ping wrote, ‘Facebook really is about to enter China, the agreement is signed. A domestic website will work with Facebook to create a new site. This new site is not interlinked with Facebook.com. The question is, will this live or die in China?’”
Tags: Baidu, China, Facebook, Google, Great Firewall of China, Inc., Internet use, Internet users, Mark Zuckerberg, Robin Li, search engine, Sina Weibo, social networking, Twitter, YouTube
Posted in General, Industrial | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, April 20th, 2011
The United States has fallen to third place – behind China and Germany – in the development of clean energy sources, according to a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts. Investment in global clean energy expanded significantly in 2010 to $243 billion, a 30 percent increase over 2009. China, Germany, Italy and India were among the nations that were most successful at attracting private investments. China solidified its position as the world’s clean energy leader. Its 2010 investment record of $54.4 billion in 2010 represents a 39 percent increase over 2009. Germany ranked second in the
G-20, up from third last year, after experiencing a 100 percent increase in investment to $41.2 billion. The United States’ 2010 investment totaled just $34 billion, a 51 percent increase over the previous year.
“The United States’ position as a leading destination for clean energy investment is declining because its policy framework is weak and uncertain,” said Phyllis Cuttino, director of Pew’s Clean Energy Program. She said that the U.S. could lag behind even more as competitors adopt renewable energy standards and incentives for investing in solar, wind and other forms of clean energy. “We are at risk of losing even more financing to countries like China, Germany and India, which have adopted strong policies such as renewable energy standards, carbon reduction targets and/or incentives for investment and production,” Cuttino said.
“The United States remains the global leader in clean energy innovation, receiving 75 percent of all venture capital investment in the sector, a total of $6 billion in 2010, but the U.S. has not been creating demand for deployment of clean energy. As a result it is losing out on opportunities to attract investment, create manufacturing capabilities and spur job growth. For example, worldwide, China is now the leading manufacturer of wind turbines and solar panels,” says Michael Liebreich, CEO of Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
China’s goal is to install 20,000 megawatts of solar energy by 2020; the European Union intends to generate 20 percent of its power from renewable sources over the same timeframe. In the United States, 30 states have policies requiring utilities to buy more electricity from renewable sources. Although the federal government has incentives in place to cut project costs, there’s no nationwide mandate for clean energy.
The website 247wallstreet.com believes it doesn’t really matter who leads the world in alternative energy creation – as long as global effort continue. According to Douglas McIntyre, “Most of the data does not matter much. The fact that China invests such a large amount in clean energy does not mean it will not sell products based on that technology to U.S. firms. China will export manufactured wind and solar infrastructure just as it does everything else. Green technology is hardly a strategic asset. The Chinese are as anxious to make money from their investment as U.S. companies. If any proof is needed, many Chinese and US alternative energy firms are listed on stock exchanges. Green is a business as much as it is a movement.”
Unfortunately, McIntyre says, solar and wind energy are not as powerful a source as many believe. Solar energy doesn’t work at night unless the user has a storage device such as a battery; cloudy weather can make the technology unreliable. Solar technologies are also quite costly and need significant land to collect the sun’s energy at useful rates. Wind energy is intermittent in most areas. Additionally, wind turbines typically are not connected to the American power grid, making the energy it produces difficult to deliver effectively to places where it could replace coal-powered electricity.
McIntyre notes that “America has a nearly inexhaustible supply of coal. Nuclear energy projects may be delayed by the effects of the Japan earthquake, but its growth in the U.S. is inevitable because the country needs to produce more energy within its borders. Investment in solar and wind energy may be up, particularly in China. That does not matter much if the two sources do not work as well as others that are currently available.”
Click here to read a discussion about nuclear power by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now.
Tags: 247wallstreet.com, Amy Goodman, Bloomberg New Energy Finance, China, coal, Democracy Now, European Union, G-20, Germany, Green energy, Indiana, Italy, Japanese earthquake, Nuclear energy, Pew Charitable Trusts, Pew’s Clean Energy Program, Power grid, President Barack Obama, Renewable energy standards, solar panels, United States, wind turbines
Posted in Development, Green | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently called for the end of false debate over climate science, saying that we should not assume that China will create green technologies that Americans can adopt and to admit that global warming will impact the globe in coming years. In a speech at the APRA-E Energy Innovation Summit in Washington, D.C., Schwarzenegger said that changing to a green economy, fixing the environment and ending the political stalemate over carbon legislation are well within the power of today’s technology.
“We want a new era of energy independence, a new era of green technology and green jobs, a new era of better health from a cleaner environment, and a new era of American inventiveness,” Schwarzenegger said.
Schwarzenegger connected the green economy of the future to the current unrest in the Mideast. He said that the overthrow of foreign dictators seemed impossible a month ago but now seems inevitable. At the same time, he believes that defeatism about the ability of a green revolution to transform America will soon look incongruous. The former California governor also pointed to the recent volatility in oil prices resulting from upheaval in the Middle Eastern as a clear example of why the United States needs to wean itself off foreign oil. “Why should a dried-up desert country with a crazy dictator like Libya play havoc with America’s energy future?” Schwarzenegger asked.
Schwarzenegger pointed out that California offers a model for tech companies that can help vitalize the economy and cut greenhouse gases, while helping the country reduce its imports of oil. As governor, he signed a global-warming law that mandates reductions in greenhouse gases; California also has a renewable-energy mandate that has resulted in almost 20 percent of electricity coming from renewable sources.
He lamented the national discussion on clean energy, saying too much of it is stuck in the debate over the science of global warming. Instead, people should focus on immediate benefits from investing in green technologies, including improved health, economic growth, consumer savings from efficiency, and reduced dependence on foreign oil.
“Think about what it means that in the Central Valley of California, one in six children has to walk around with an inhaler. I know we can change the debate and win the debate,” he said. “We can’t talk about global warming, because people can’t relate to that.” Instead of creating “forward-looking policies” for energy use, elected officials are debating the science of global warming. “There is a disconnect between what is happening and what is being debated,” Schwarzenegger concluded.
Tags: APRA-E Energy Innovation Summit, Arnold Schwarzenegger, California, Carbon legislation, China, climate change, Energy independence, Green energy, green jobs, Green Revolution, Green technology, Libya, Middle East, Oil, “The Terminator”
Posted in Development, Economics, Financing, Industrial, Office, Residential | No Comments »
Monday, February 7th, 2011
The United States’ 2010 GDP soared at an annualized rate of 3.2 percent, as consumer spending rose by the greatest levels in four years. “The consumer really drove the economy in the 4th quarter,” said Guy LeBas, chief fixed-income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia. “The economy has moved beyond recovery to a stable state of growth.” For all of 2010, the economy expanded 2.9 percent — the biggest one-year jump in five years — after contracting 2.6 percent in 2009. The volume of all goods and services produced climbed to $13.38 trillion, for the first time surpassing the pre-recession peak reached in the 4th quarter of 2007. Tiffany & Co. saw a significant increase in the sale of fine jewelry. Apple reported record 4th quarter sales as consumers bought 7.73 million iPads as holiday gifts. Ford Motor Company’s sales have been so good that the automaker plans to add an additional 7,000 manufacturing jobs over the next two years. The automaker, which did not undergo bankruptcy, did lay off some salaried employees in 2008 as part of a restructuring in the face of slumping sales.
Exports also helped boost the American economy which should boost job creation over the next several years. “The U.S. is expected to be one of the fastest growing developed countries in 2011, largely reflecting the contrast of the ongoing stimulus with other countries, such as the U.K. and other heavily indebted European nations, where austerity measures designed to reduce deficits are stifling domestic demand,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, a London-based research firm. “The acceleration of the U.S. GDP in the 4th quarter, and the changing composition of growth, raises hope that the economic recovery will move into a more self-sustaining phase in 2011 and generate sufficient jobs to reduce unemployment.”
Even the Federal Reserve, which renewed its commitment earlier this week to buying $600 billion in government bonds, agrees that the report shows the economy ended 2010 with moderate strength and breadth, but not enough to bring down the 9.4 percent unemployment rate anytime soon. Personal consumption spending contributed slightly more than three percent to 4th quarter growth. That is in line with retailers’ reports showing a respectable holiday shopping season. Whether that level of spending holds up remains to be seen. Many retailers remain cautious in their forecasts and report that consumers are still bargain-hunting. As gasoline prices rise, disposable income may be limited.
Alter Now does see it as important to note the correlation with an overall increase in consumer credit debt in December, the first spike since 2008. According to the Fed, overall consumer credit debt rose by 6.1 billion, or 3.0%, to $2.41 trillion while revolving credit debt (primarily from credit cards) rose by $2.3 billion (3.5%) to $800.5 billion. No revolving credit rose by $3.8 billion, or 2.8%, to $1.61 trillion. While the spike in GDP is good news, let us remember that it is still being driven by deficit spending.
Compare the U.S. GDP with that of other nations last year and it’s clear who is winning. China, for example, is expected to report an 8.5 percent jump in its GDP, not unexpected in the world’s fastest growing economy. Japan’s real GDP was 3.9 percent higher in annualized terms for the 3rd quarter, beating estimates for a 2.5 percent rise for the year.
In the U.K., the economy shrank by 0.5 percent in the 4th quarter, compared with a 0.7 percent increase in the 3rd quarter. By contrast, the nation with Europe’s largest economy – Germany - recorded a 3.6 percent growth rate in its GDP in 2010.
Tags: 2010 GDP, Apple, China, Commerce Department, consumer spending, Europe, Federal Reserve, Ford Motor Company, Germany, Holiday sales, iPads, Japan, Macy’s, Markit, recovery, Stable growth, Tiffany & Co., United Kingdom
Posted in Economics, Financing, General | No Comments »