Group items tagged

A new era for commodities Cheap resources underpinned economic growth for much of the 20th century. The 21st will be different. NOVEMBER 2011 * Richard Dobbs, Jeremy Oppenheim, and Fraser Thompson Source: McKinsey Global Institute, Sustainability & Resource Productivity Practice In This Article Exhibit: In little more than a decade, soaring commodity prices have erased a century of steady declines. About the authors Comments (2) Has the global economy entered an era of persistently high, volatile commodity prices? Our research shows that during the past eight years alone, they have undone the decline of the previous century, rising to levels not seen since the early 1900s (exhibit). In addition, volatility is now greater than at any time since the oil-shocked 1970s because commodity prices increasingly move in lockstep. Our analysis suggests that they will remain high and volatile for at least the next 20 years if current trends hold-barring a major macroeconomic shock-as global resource markets oscillate in response to surging global demand and inelastic supplies. Back to top Demand for energy, food, metals, and water should rise inexorably as three billion new middle-class consumers emerge in the next two decades.1 The global car fleet, for example, is expected almost to double, to 1.7 billion, by 2030. In India, we expect calorie intake per person to rise by 20 percent during that period, while per capita meat consumption in China could increase by 60 percent, to 80 kilograms (176 pounds) a year. Demand for urban infrastructure also will soar. China, for example, could annually add floor space totaling 2.5 times the entire residential and commercial square footage of the city of Chicago, while India could add floor space equal to another Chicago every year. Such dramatic growth in demand for commodities actually isn't unusual. Similar factors were at play throughout the 20th century as the planet's population tripled and demand for various resource

"Water is fundamental to human life and survival-our most fundamental instinct. Because of the forecasted challenges around sourcing adequate quantities of quality water, some feel future wars will be fought over water and not oil. Other challenges are related to the increasing population concentrations and climate-related weather events. This article considers water-related challenges arising out of urbanization and looks at how policies and technology can help make transition to more sustainable use of water work. "

""Our results indicate that areas of eastern Texas, Florida, the south-east and mid-Atlantic are areas where rapid population growth, acting in concert with a warming climate, will lead to a significant increase in exposure to heat extremes," says Jones."

"The Netherlands was aiming to cut its greenhouse emissions by 17 per cent by 2020, but the court has ordered that they must be cut by 25 per cent in the same time frame."

Despite a slowdown in the global economy and a softening in demand for aluminium rolled products in some regions, JSE-listed aluminium reroller Hulamin expected global demand to increase this year. CEO Alan Fourie on Tuesday commented that the company, which exported about 70% of its products, had seen some softening in demand for aluminium rolled products in some regions, but added that demand for these products was expected to grow by between 5% and 7% this year. "Obviously the slowdown of the [global] economy puts pressure on margins, it is an economic consequence, but we are still selling into a growing international market," he said. Locally, however, the softening economic climate was expected to impact on sales volumes for the second half of the year. However, Hulamin expected these high-value products to continue growing as a percentage of its sales in the next few years. Fourie noted that five years ago, these products equated to just over 50% of its sales volumes, while their contribution was just below 60% in 2007. They now comprised about 64% of its total sales volumes. Meanwhile, Hulamin stated that its costs had increased by 16%, influenced by a 58% increase in energy costs, increasing alloying costs caused by magnesium prices rising from $2 000/t to $4 500/t, and increases in other metals. Excluding the cost of increasing energy and metals prices, the company's costs had increased by 6%. Fourie noted that while the rising aluminium costs did not affect its profitability, it did have an effect on its working capital. "We hold aluminium in our working capital. So when the aluminium price increases, the cash tied up in working capital increases and we have seen a significant increase in working capital during this period, because the rand price of aluminium has increased by close to 40% in the last six months," he explained. Further, Fourie did not expect the increasing electricity prices to have too great an impact on its futu

ArcelorMittal (NYSE: MT), a steel manufacturer based in New Deli, launched a clean technology venture capital fund to support ventures that have relevance for the carbon-intensive steel industry. The Fund has made its first investment of US$20 million in Miasolé, a California-based pioneer in the development of thin-film solar panels Miasolé has developed unique high volume manufacturing processes that enable efficient production of Copper Indium Gallium Selenium (CIGS) solar products on a flexible stainless steel substrate. This technology promises to dramatically lowers the installed cost of Photovoltaic (PV) systems and will enable renewable energy from the sun to replace carbon generating fossil fuels. Fund managers will be working with leading venture capital firms, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, to identify worthy cleantech ventures. ArcelorMittal also announced that it has created a new carbon fund in order to strategically engage in the carbon market and promote climate friendly solutions that are relevant for the steel industry. The fund, which has an initial investment commitment of €100 million (US$ 157 million) is currently looking at investment opportunities in renewable energy, energy efficiency, methane capture and greenhouse gas reducing technologies--all of which have the potential to generate carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol. ArcelorMittal intends to use the carbon credits received from these Clean Development Mechanism and Joint Implementation projects for compliance in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced that it will provide $36 million for 15 projects aimed at furthering the development of new and cost-effective technologies for the capture of carbon dioxide (CO2) from the existing fleet of coal-fired power plants. \n\n"Currently, the existing U.S. coal fleet accounts for over half of all electricity generated in this country," U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman said. "The projects announced today will combat climate change and help meet current and future energy needs by curbing CO2 emissions from existing coal-fired plants." \n\n

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK, September 2, 2008. The Danish Ministry for Climate and Energy says a new 400 MW offshore wind farm will be built by 2012. The wind farm comes in addition to the 200 MW Rødsand II (online from 2011) and 200 MW Horns Rev II (online from 2009), and will be built between Anholt and Djursland in the Kattegat Sea between Denmark and Sweden. The location was chosen due to the possibility of connecting the wind farm more or less directly to the existing grid, which means the windmills can be put up quicker. Depending on the capacity of the windmills that will be chosen, the wind farm will have 100-175 wind mills.

Following on from its 2008 report on corporate sustainability, the Economist Intelligence Unit has released a major new research report at its 2009 Sustainability Summit, focusing specifically on climate change and what it means for business. The research was sponsored by the Carbon Trust, KPMG, SAP and Shell.

Google's conference this week on plug-in electric vehicles and related federal policy clearly positions the search company's RechargeIT program as an EV incubator for startups, R&D initiatives and policy discussions. Dan Reicher, Google.org's director of climate change and energy initiatives, opened the conference, which was heavily attended by beltway insiders, by announcing that Google would invest in multiple ventures to make wide-scale plug-in electric cars viable.

Cuts and delays to investment in Europe's energy infrastructure caused by the financial crisis and the recession will weaken future energy security and undermine the fight against climate change, a leading consultancy has warned.

Related article: http://www.tgdaily.com/content/view/35971/113/ Biofuels could actually increase greenhouse gases by a recent study.