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Fujikura Dia Cable (FDC), the joint venture of Fujikura and Mitsubishi Cable Industries, announced a 14% year-on-year decline in their building cables shipment for the period April-September 2008. FDC describe the current situation as a difficult one, especially due to weak demand. The manufacturer, facing decreased inventory value due to falling copper prices, has to sell at relatively low prices reducing profit margins. FDC cable shipments fell by 8% in 2007 and the initial target for 2008 was to grow back to the 2006 level. However, this was revised down because of sales results. Overall profitability is also affected by rising prices of insulating and sheathing materials.

Japanese electric wire and cable manufacturer Fujikura Ltd reported consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended 30 June 2009. The company achieved sales of ¥112.93b (US$1.19b) for the first quarter, 28.7% lower than the same period a year ago. Operating income for the first quarter was ¥1.84b (US$19.4m), 50.3% lower than the year-ago level. Net income for the same period was ¥111m (US$1.17m), 94.3% lower than a year ago. The company is expecting to make a net loss of ¥800m (US$8.43m) for the first half ending 30 September 2009.

Japanese electric wire and cable manufacturer Fujikura Ltd reported consolidated financial results for the first quarter ended 30 June 2009. The company achieved sales of ¥112.93b (US$1.19b) for the first quarter, 28.7% lower than the same period a year ago. Operating income for the first quarter was ¥1.84b (US$19.4m), 50.3% lower than the year-ago level. Net income for the same period was ¥111m (US$1.17m), 94.3% lower than a year ago. The company is expecting to make a net loss of ¥800m (US$8.43m) for the first half ending 30 September 2009.

The world's first commercial-scale tidal power turbine has delivered electricity into the British grid for the first time in preparation for full-scale operation, Marine Current Turbines announced yesterday. "SeaGen is the world's first commercial-scale tidal stream generating system by a large margin. It is more than four times as powerful as the world's second most powerful tidal current system, which is our own 300kW SeaFlow, installed off Lynmouth on the north Devon coast more than five years ago." Secretary of State for Energy, John Hutton said: "This kind of world first technology and innovation is key to helping the UK reduce its dependency on fossil fuels and secure its future energy supplies" Marine Current Turbines' next project, announced in February 2008, is a joint initiative with npower renewables to take forward a 10.5MW project using several SeaGen devices off the coast of Anglesey, north Wales. It is hoped the tidal farm will be commissioned in 2011 or 2012. The company is also investigating the potential for tidal energy schemes in other parts of the UK, and in North America.

REpower Systems AG has successfully installed the first of six wind energy turbines for the Belgian offshore wind farm Thornton Bank. The project, located about 30 kilometers off the coast, is the first Belgian offshore wind farm. For the first of three construction phases, REpower is providing six 5-megawatt (MW) offshore turbines, adding up to a total capacity of 30 MW. Gravity based foundations were erected and carried out to sea to form the foundation for the six wind turbines in Thornton Bank. All work at sea is performed in a water depth of approximately 25 meters using jack-up drilling platforms. The 5-MW turbine which has just been erected in Belgium is the twelfth of the model installed by REpower.

You've heard of hybrids, electric cars and vehicles that can run on vegetable oil. But of all the contenders in the quest to produce the ultimate fuel-efficient car, this could be the first one to let you say, "Fill it up with air." That's the idea behind the compressed air car, a vehicle its backers say could achieve a fuel economy of 106 miles per gallon. Plenty of skepticism exists, but with many Americans trying to escape sticker shock at the gas pump, the concept is generating buzz. The technology has been the focus of MDI, a European company founded in 1991 by a French inventor and former race car engineer. New York-based Zero Pollution Motors is the first firm to obtain a license from MDI to produce the cars in the United States, pledging to deliver the first models in 2010 at a price tag of less than $18,000.

Johannesburg - Preliminary figures released by the International Stainless Steel Forum show that global stainless steel crude steel production decreased in the first half of 2008 by 1.8 percent compared with the previous year. The drop in output was 2.9 percent in the first quarter but just 0.6 percent in the second and all major regions have recorded lower production volumes. The smallest drop came from Western Europe and Africa, which together represent the world's second largest producing area, after it reported a 0.8 percent decrease in stainless steel production during the first six months of 2008. Total production was 4.9 million tonnes for the half year.

"It exceeded 780,000 tons on the half term basis, for the first time since the first half of fiscal 2010. "

"The aluminum building wire products grew to 9.4% of net sales in the quarter, driven by a unit sales increase of 11.8% in the first quarter of 2015 versus the first quarter of 2014. "

The Yukon Environmental and Socio-Economic Assessment Board (YESAB) has recommended that the controversial Carmacks copper mine project can go ahead, providing that the Western Copper Corporation (TSX: WRN) complies with 148 conditions to mitigate potential adverse impacts. The tiny community of Carmacks with a year-round population of 500 is still considered an important service center for mining and for transportation, a century after it was a popular rest stop for the Yukon gold rush. However, members of the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation want Western Copper to negotiate a better environmental engineering solution as part of an Impacts Benefits Agreement with the community. Located 38km northwest of the Village of Carmacks and 192 km north of Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory, the Carmacks copper project is planned to be an open-pit operation that will yield about 14,000 tonnes of copper cathode annually. Western Copper has targeted production to begin during the fourth quarter of 2010. Among the comments and concerns raised with the YESAB were routing of mining-related traffic, the heap leach detoxification process, sludge management, heap leach liner performance, and the estimates of closure costs. Among the comments and concerns raised with the YESAB were routing of mining-related traffic, the heap leach detoxification process, sludge management, heap leach liner performance, and the estimates of closure costs. The YESAB Executive Committee said it was satisfied that: Western Copper adequately consulted with the First Nations in whose territory, and the residents of any community in which the project will be located or might have significant or socio-economic effects; The project proponent provided sufficient information in the project proposal to allow for the assessment of potentially significant effects; Significant adverse environmental or socio-economic project and cumulative effects identified within the scope of the scre

"Donald Sadoway: The missing link to renewable energy Tweet this talk! (we'll add the headline and the URL) Post to: Share on Twitter Email This Favorite Download inShare Share on StumbleUpon Share on Reddit Share on Facebook TED Conversations Got an idea, question, or debate inspired by this talk? Start a TED Conversation, or join one of these: Green Home Energy=Hydrogen Generators-alternative sources Started by Kathleen Gilligan-Smith 1 Comment What is the real missing link in renewable energy? Started by Enrico Petrucco 8 Comments Comment on this Talk 60 total comments Sign in to add comments or Join (It's free and fast!) Sort By: smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Nice smily raichel 0 Reply Less than 5 minutes ago: Good David Mackey 0 Reply 3 hours ago: Superb invention, but I would suggest one more standard mantra that they should move on from and that is the idea of power being supplied by a centralised grid. This technology seems to me to be much more beneficial on a local scale, what if every home had its own battery, then home power generation becomes economically more viable for everyone. If you could show that a system like this could pay for itself in say 5 years then every home would want one. Plus for this to be implemented on a large scale requires massive investment that could be decades away. Share the technology and lets get it in homes by next year. Great ted talk. Jon Senior 0 Reply 1 hour ago: I agree 100%. Localised energy production would also make energy consumers more conscious of their consumption and encourage efforts to reduce it. We can invent and invent all we want, but the fast solution to allowing renewable energies to take centre stage is to reduce the base energy draw. With lower baseline consumption, smaller "always on" generators are required to keep the grid operational. Town and house-l

\nCadiz, Spain - While significant challenges remain and large-scale applications appear relatively far out on the horizon, smaller scale applications, such as organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), are already being built into a variety of electronic products. Industry pioneers, such as G24i, have begun manufacturing their first generation of products, which in G24i's case includes a DSC-powered mobile phone charger and an award-winning "Lighting Africa" portable lamp that marries cutting-edge LED and dye-sensitized thin-film PV technologies. \n\nLooking to bring off-grid electrical power options to people in Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and a still growing range of African countries, G24i in May was awarded the World Bank Group's 2008 "Lighting Africa Development Marketplace" prize for its solar-powered LED light, which uses the company's proprietary dye-sensitized thin-film solar cells in concert with light emitting diodes (LED) produced by Dutch lighting manufacturer Lemnis. \n\nG24i dye-sensitized thin-film solar cells are proving themselves rugged enough to endure some of the harshest conditions on the planet. Besides enduring the rigors of operating in various African locations, the company's DSC cells were used to generate electrical power for British explorer Robert Swan and his team during their two-week 'E-Base Goes Live' project in which they traveled to Antarctica. Despite poor sunlight, the cells contributed to the successful powering of satellite, digital and video conferencing and other communications equipment throughout the two-week long expedition.\n\nThe first person to walk to the North and South Poles, Swan is moving on to an educational sailing around the world project and G24i is working on sails for his craft that will have thin-film dye-sensitized PV cells embedded in them. \n

this first-of-a-kind motor converts light directly into mechanical energy,

Venture capital is one of the pulses of the industry, and so a headline that VC investments are dropping by double digits is enough to catch the eye of anyone involved in the high tech ecosphere. But when you look at more data, things don't look bleak. On one hand, according to Dow Jones VentureSource, investment is down:\n\nIn the second quarter of 2008, quarterly venture capital investment in U.S. companies slipped below the $7 billion mark for the first time in 18 months. According to the Quarterly U.S. Venture Capital Report released today by Dow Jones VentureSource (http://www.venturecapital.dowjones.com), investment fell 12% in the second quarter compared to the same period last year with $6.64 billion put into 602 deals, the lowest quarterly deal count since 2005. The $7.58 billion invested in second quarter of 2007 was the second-highest quarterly totals recorded since the end of the dot-com boom in 2001.\n\nYet it's not all bad news because there was " steady deal activity and investment in the first half of the year," according to Dow Jones VentureSource director of global research Jessica Canning.\n\n"The movement of venture dollars from the traditional areas of information technology and health care toward burgeoning sectors like renewable energy, power management, and agriculture - or 'clean technology' areas - proves that venture capitalists are making good on their promise to tap opportunities in the massive energy market," said Ms. Canning.

African Eagle Resources (AIM: AFE; AltX: AEA) today announced a 20% resource increase at its first copper project, Mkushi in Zambia, that will extend the life of the mine by two years. The project is the company's most advanced project and will generate first revenue for African Eagle over the next three to five years. Mark Parker, managing director of African Eagle, told Mineweb today the Mkushi project's feasibility study was scheduled to be completed by the fourth quarter of this year and the company plans to be in open pit production here by 2010. A full mining licence for the project has also been approved. The project's larger resource of 18.5mt at a grade of 0.83% copper has been upgraded to the indicated category which gives the company and investors greater confidence in it. The bigger resource has extended the life of the mine from six to about eight years, while its profitability level will still be further refined. Parker said the feasibility study has not produced any unwanted surprises at this stage and the company has covered any "unknown unknowns" around the project. Mkushi will produce about 30,000t of contained copper annually once the project is up and running.

It looks ordinary, like a razor-thin metal ribbon. But the high-temperature superconductor power transmission cable the Long Island Power Authority recently installed in Ronkonkoma revolutionizes how electricity is delivered, utility and federal officials said. The cable -- which is a fraction of the size of a traditional copper wire but can carry three times the power -- made its ceremonial debut yesterday with officials from LIPA, the U.S. Department of Energy and officials from the company that makes the cable. It went online April 22, the world's first use of the new technology in a commercial power grid. Utilities around the world are looking at superconductivity to improve efficiency of their grids and make them less vulnerable to blackouts. LIPA has buried three 2,000-foot wires in its right-of-way, and it will be installing a second generation of the wire in the same area as a test. "We view superconductor power cables as an important option that will help us further enhance the reliability of our grid as we meet our customers' increasing demands for electric power," LIPA chief executive Kevin Law said. He said the new cable allows the utility to increase capacity where its system has bottlenecks while increasing reliability and longevity and lowering costs. The wire, manufactured by American Superconductor Corp., conducts 150 times the electricity of the same sized copper wires, strand-for-strand. This means transmission cables can be far smaller and still conduct as much as three to five times more power in a smaller right-of-way.

China will begin subsidizing the production of wind power turbines, according to an announcement made last Friday. The subsidy will only be available to Chinese majority-owned turbine manufacturers, who will be eligible to receive $88 per kilowatt for the first 50 units capable of generating at least 1.5 megawatts of power. In addition, the subsidy can only be used for research and development. This is the first Chinese subsidy specifically focusing on the wind power industry and it is meant to make Chinese companies more competitive with turbine makers like GE (NYSE: GE) in the U.S., Vestas Wind Systems (VWS.CO) in the Netherlands and India's Suzlon (SUZL.BO).

H1 reports from China's metal companies have revealed difficult operating conditions as rising energy prices, investment in environmental protection and an increase in resource tax have squeezed margins. Shares in the metal index fell 58.6% in the first half of the year, underperforming the SSE Composite Index which saw a 48% decrease. Copper companies fared better than most as the copper price remained at historically high levels and prices of sulphuric acid - a byproduct of the copper treatment process - soared. Jiangxi Copper, China's biggest producer, reported strong results with a 55% surge in revenues year-on-year. Net profit grew at the slower rate of 32.8%, reducing the company's profit margin to 10.4%, from 12.1% in the first half of 2007. The company has a slightly bearish outlook for the rest of this year, as the continued slowdown in the global economy takes its toll on copper demand and the appreciation of the dollar puts downward pressure on copper prices. However, it suspects copper supply will remain tight, which should support prices on the downside. Yunnan Copper Company struggled in the first half as revenue fell 18.9% and net profit plunged 29.5% y-o-y. The companies profit margin was cut to 3.8%, from 4.4% in the first half of 2007. A 45-day machine overhaul was blamed for the poor sales figures as output remained flat, whilst high energy prices pushed up production costs. Tongling Nonferrous Metals saw similar problems to Yunnan as rising raw material prices and fluctuations in the copper price cut the gross margin in the firm's copper unit to just 0.59%. Company-wide results were improved greatly by the strong performance of sulphuric acid, where gross margin increased to 71.6%, bringing Tongling's profit margin to 2.9%, up from 2.0% in H1 2007.

This week, GE announced that in the first quarter of next year the company will "introduce" energy management-enabled appliances that can be controlled remotely by the local utility. GE says it is working on smart refrigerators, ranges, washer and dryers, dishwashers and microwave ovens, and it will use some of the first smart appliances in select homes in a pilot program in Louisville, Ky., with Louisville Gas and Electric Company.

Samsung unveiled the world's first carbon nanotube color active matrix electrophoretic display (EPD) e-paper recently at a conference in Korea.