Group items tagged

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy John Mizroch announced recently that the DOE will invest up to US $24 million -- subject to the availability of funds -- to develop solar energy products that will hopefully accelerate the penetration of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in the United States. \n\nWhen the projects are combined with the overall industry cost share of up to US $16 million, more than US $40 million in total could be invested in these SEGIS projects, with future federal funding subject to appropriations from Congress.\n\nThe Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems (SEGIS) projects will provide critical research and development (R&D) funding to develop less expensive, higher performing products to enhance the value of solar PV systems to homeowners and business owners. These projects are integral to the Solar America Initiative, which aims to make solar energy cost-competitive with conventional forms of electricity by 2015. \n

Endesa, a Spanish-based (Italian-owned) utility company will be soon distributing to its customers in Santiago Chile an EV car.

It gets its name from its shape - The Bull With No Horns. And it is composed almost entirely of copper ore: two billion tonnes of it. It could become the most productive copper mine anywhere on earth. Now it belongs, in effect, to China.

General Cable Corporation has announced its sales results for Q4 2008. In volume terms, sales in Q4 2008 contracted by 6.3% y-o-y. In the same period, operating income decreased by 17.8% y-o-y to US$76.4 million. The company attributed the decline in its operating income to weak demand in developed economies and lower capacity utilisation. Sales to Europe and North Africa contracted by 7.8% y-o-y, particularly due to lower demand and pricing for construction products in Spain, and weakening activity across Europe. In North America sales fell by 6.6% y-o-y, as the company experienced reduced demand for high metal content copper telecommunication and low voltage cables.

But we heard what Senator Obama had to say at the DNC about outsourcing. He said "he will stop giving tax breaks to companies that are sending jobs offshore and instead give them to companies who create jobs in America".

Could this lead to a retraction of outsourcing work to economies such as India? If yes, copper demand, such as in infrastructure development, might be impacted.

Instead, America's consumption binge drew support from two major asset bubbles-property and credit. Courtesy of cheap and freely available credit, in conjunction with record housing price appreciation, consumers tripled the rate of net equity extraction from their homes, from 3 percent of disposable personal income in 2001 to 9 percent in 2006. Only by levering increasingly overvalued homes could Americans go on the biggest consumption binge in modern history. And now those twin bubbles-property and credit-have burst, and so has the US consumption bubble: real consumer spending fell at an unprecedented 3.5 percent average annual rate in the two final quarters of 2008. While the original excesses were made in America, the rest of the world was delighted to go along for the ride. With the United States lacking in internal saving, it had to import surplus savings from abroad in order to grow-and ran massive current-account and trade deficits to attract that capital. This fit perfectly with the macro-imbalances of the export-led developing countries of Asia, whose exports exceeded a record 45 percent of regional GDP in 2007-fully ten percentage points higher than their share ten years earlier, in the depths of the Asian financial crisis. China led the charge, taking its exports from 20 percent, to 40 percent of its GDP over the past seven years alone. The export-led growth in developing Asia could well be described as a second-order bubble-in effect, a derivative of the one in US consumption.

Rea Magnet Wire has announced that it will lay off the 75 staff employed at its Las Cruces plant located in the West Mesa Industrial Park and suspend production. This is expected to take place by February 2009, however, it depends on the work commitments of the plant. The company produces copper, aluminium and brass insulated magnet wire and bare wire, supplying motor, transformer and coil manufacturers. Rea's workforce in North America exceeds 1,000 staff. The decision to close the plant is attributed to weakening demand for magnet wire in the US. As a result of poor market conditions, the company cannot continue to operate at limited capacity. Rea Magnet reported that the decision is not permanent and it hopes to reopen the plant as long as the market circumstances permit so.

According to a recent report published by Global Industry Analysts, the global copper tube and pipe market will exceed 3.6 million tonnes by 2015. While mature regions such as North America, Western Europe and Japan exhibit flat or negative growth, emerging economies in Asia-Pacific, Eastern Europe and the Middle East will generate significant prospects for the copper tube and pipe industry. The fastest growth will be realised in China because of its ongoing industrialisation and urbanisation activity.

Luvata, a copper semis fabricator, believes that even though destocking in the copper supply chain is over, a significant rise in demand is not anticipated until mid-2010. The company expects that Asia will be the first region to recover, followed by North America and Europe. As a result of destocking, Luvata has got used to operating at a lower level of stock, and therefore became more efficient in its production procedures. The company intends to keep operating at lower stock levels even in periods of growth. While demand before the summer showed some recovery signs, the company is now waiting for the autumn to see whether the positive trend will continue.

IF YOU want to save money, cut the cord. In these difficult times ever more Americans are heeding this advice and dropping their telephone landlines in favour of mobile phones (see article). Despite some of the flakiest mobile-network coverage in the developed world, one in four households has now gone mobile-only. At current rates the last landline in America will be disconnected sometime in 2025.

Aurubis AG, the Germany head-quartered refined copper and copper products fabricator, expressed its interest in pursuing additional acquisitions overseas after recently completing its takeover of Luvata's Rolled Products Division. Aurubis has been interested in companies which operate overseas, primarily in South America, but has so far failed to identify any likely candidates.

"Globally, Bloomberg New Energy Finance expects $7.7 trillion to be invested in new generating capacity by 2030, with 66% of that going on renewable technologies including hydro. Out of the $5.1 trillion to be spent on renewables, Asia-Pacific will account for $2.5 trillion, the Americas $816bn, Europe $967bn and the rest of the world including Middle East and Africa $818bn. Fossil fuels will retain the biggest share of power generation by 2030 at 44%, albeit down from 64% in 2013. Some 1,073GW of new coal, gas and oil capacity worldwide will be added over the next 16 years, excluding replacement plant."

"Canada's mining giant Barrick Gold said Wednesday it has completed a planned 50-50 joint venture with an important Saudi Arabian miner to develop its copper mine in the country, a partnership the firm aims to replicate with other projects such as its halted Pascua Lama in South America."

That plastic pipe systems continue to gain market share through supplanting competing pipe materials such as copper, concrete and steel due to easy and low cost installation as well as long term performance, Stephen Boros who is also VP Engineering for Pipelines Plastics, LLC explained. "In North America, these inherent advantages are now further supported by the development of the shale oil and gas industry. This development not only benefits the energy market but also represents a more secure long‐term supply and cost advantage from a power costs to raw materials stand point. Technology transfer will undoubtedly propel the growth of demand for plastic pipe systems in other world markets."