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The redeveloped World Trade Center will be "one of the largest fuel cell installations in the world" according to the New York Power Authority (NYPA). Under the US$10.6 million agreement between NYPA and fuel cell developer and provider UTC Power, fuel cells with a total capacity of 4.8MW will provide an on-site supplement to the renewable and other clean energy that will power the rebuilt centre. The first fuel cells will be delivered to the Freedom Tower in January 2009, and will be owned and operated by the Port Authority, which also owns the building. The fuel cells for the other three towers will be owned and operated by World Trade Center Properties, LLC. "Fuel cells are one of the environmentally beneficial technologies that the Power Authority is investing in under Governor Paterson's leadership to combat greenhouse gas emissions and diversify the state's energy mix. To date, we've installed 15 fuel cells in New York City and other locations, and expect to add to this total in support of the Governor's ambitious goals for significant increases in the state's renewable power," says Roger B Kelley, NYPA President and Chief Executive Officer.

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

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward Rendell has approved a bill that establishes a $500 million fund to support alternative energy projects. Special Session House Bill 1 authorizes the Commonwealth Financing Authority to borrow $500 million, most of which will be split into six funding sources relating to energy efficiency and renewable energy: $80 million in grants and loans for solar energy projects; $100 million in grants, loans, and rebates for up to 35 percent of the cost of solar energy projects at residences and small businesses; $165 million in grants and loans for alternative energy projects, excluding solar energy, at businesses and local government facilities; $25 million for wind and geothermal energy projects; $40 million to help start-up businesses involved in energy efficiency technologies; and $25 million in grants and loans to improve the energy efficiency of new and existing homes and small business buildings.

South African steel producer Highveld Steel & Vanadium on Friday announced that the disposal of vertically integrated assets Vanchem and its 50% stake in South Africa Japan Vanadium (SAJV), to Swiss firm Duferco Investment Partners, would be effective from August 29. The producer said in a statement to shareholders, that it had received approval from the European competition authorities, the South African competition authorities and the South African Reserve Bank, as well as the consent of the other shareholders of SAJV. The Competition Tribunal earlier this month announced that it had approved the sale of the assets, which formed part of the European competition regulatory body's conditions of the 2007 Highveld Steel acquisition by Evraz.

Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA) and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) announced that they will set up a joint venture to produce high voltage cables. The plant will be located in Jebel Ali and will be operational next year. Annual output will be 30,000 tonnes of high voltage cable, supplying the local market and GCC countries. The investment will amount to Dh500 million (US$136 million) and is expected to break even in the third year of the project.

But the new technologies-which could help consumers cope with these prices-are unlikely to arrive in large numbers in time for the next oil spike. According to the authors of "The Impact of Plug-in Hybrids on U.S. Oil Use and Greenhouse Gas Emissions," a chapter in the new book Plug-in Electric Vehicles: What Role for Washington, published by the Brookings Institution, cars are durable goods that last well over a decade. "The transformation of the light-vehicle fleet to new internal combustion technologies or to hybrid and plug-in hybrid technologies will take decades from the time such vehicles are widely available at competitive prices," according to the authors, Alan Madian, Lisa Walsh and Kim Simpkins, researchers at consulting firm LECG. They believe it could take another decade from now until the new technologies compete on a price basis, and begin the process of replacing current fleets.

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.

"Light vehicle sales in Russia are expected to grow from 2015 to 2021 as the economic recovery is set to push organic growth. Global original equipment manufacturers (OEM) based in Russia are estimated to increase manufacturing localization from the current 45% level in response to the devaluation of the Russian ruble. The dynamics of local production of B-subcompact vehicles are set to continue driving demand within the segment. Over 5 interviews were conducted face-to-face and over the phone by senior consultants/industry analysts with vehicle manufacturers, OEMs, regulation authorities, and distributors in Russia."

LUSAKA, July 18 (Reuters) - Zambian authorities have granted a licence for the new Mkushi copper project where production of copper concentrate is scheduled to start in mid-2010 and peak at 59,000 tonnes

Aneel's College Board of Directors has authorized Copel (Paraná Electric Energy Company) to implement the pilot-project which determines the selling of exceeding energy, derived from animal waste, produced in small rural proprieties in Paraná. The project, named Distributed Generation with Environmental Sanitation Project, will allow the elimination of organic matter resulting from the hog creation, which will stop being released over rivers and deposits such as Itaipu's. Such residue will be transformed, via biodigesters, in biogas, a fuel used in the generation of electric energy.

Unlike most metals, "amorphous metals" known as bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) do not form crystal structures when they are cooled rapidly after heating. Although they seem solid, they are more like a very slow-flowing liquid that has no structure beyond the atomic level - making them ideal for molding fine details, said senior author Jan Schroers of the Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science.

BHP Billiton, the Australian mining company, on Thursday said US antitrust authorities had largely cleared its proposed $170bn acquisition of rival Rio Tinto.

South Africa's competition authorities have recommended approval of BHP Billiton's takeover of mining rival Rio Tinto

BOSTON - There's gold in the sea floor. Silver, copper, zinc and lead, too. The problem is, it's a mile or two underwater and encased in massive mineral deposits that layer a dark, mysterious world. But new technology and worldwide demand have combined to make mining for these metals economically feasible for the first time. A breakthrough project is moving forward in New Guinea, and new rules to govern deep ocean mining will be set by an international authority this spring.

Economic Growth, The Financial Crisis, and Peak Oil For several years, a swelling subculture of commentators (which includes the present author) has been forecasting a financial crash, basing this prognosis on the assessment that global oil production was about to peak. (2) Our reasoning went like this: Continual increases in population and consumption cannot continue forever on a finite planet. This is an axiomatic observation with which everyone familiar with the mathematics of compounded arithmetic growth must agree, even if they hedge their agreement with vague references to "substitutability" and "demographic transitions." (3) This axiomatic limit to growth means that the rapid expansion in both population and per-capita consumption of resources that has occurred over the past century or two must cease at some particular time. But when is this likely to occur? The unfairly maligned Limits to Growth studies, published first in 1972 with periodic updates since, have attempted to answer the question with analysis of resource availability and depletion, and multiple scenarios for future population growth and consumption rates. The most pessimistic scenario in 1972 suggested an end of world economic growth around 2015. (4)