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"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

US speciality brass mill Ansonia Copper and Brass Inc. has announced that it will lay off 85 of the 102 employees at its Liberty Street, Ansonia, factory in Connecticut. The plant manufactures copper alloy rod and wires. Company President Raymond McGee said "it's a very, very difficult situation". He blamed the redundancies, on top of 76 employees laid off in April 2007, on the company's struggle with escalating costs. Since 2002 electricity costs have soared 239%, natural gas 200%, fuel oil 125%, and copper and nickel 500% apiece. Ansonia's other facility in Waterbury, CT, which manufacturers copper alloy tube is unaffected by the announcement.

Further evidence of the impact of the North American economic slowdown on copper demand has recently been published by the ABMS and government statistical bodies. North American copper wirerod production plummeted 9.6% year-on-year to 174,000 tonnes in April. Output had been on a downward trend but the magnitude of the deterioration in April has still come as something of a surprise. A year-on-year increase of 2.0% in North American output January had been followed a 1.0% fall in February and a 2.7% drop in March. In April Canadian output was flat year-on-year due to improving export sales to the US, while US production fell 9.8% year-on-year and Mexican shipments slumped by 17.5%. On a year-to-date basis North American wirerod production was 2.9% lower in the four months to April 2008. Weakening demand from the automotive industry, coupled with a resurgance in copper prices and the return of Russian wirerod imports has clearly led to a deteriorating market situation for domestic mills.

Mueller Industries second quarter results highlight the tough times that the US brass mill industry is facing, but that companies can still operate profitably in a challenging market environment. The company's plumbing and refrigeration segment saw sales fall 11% to US$404m, while its operating profits dropped 32% to US$35m. The company blamed lower shipment volumes and lower spreads for the weaker performance. Sales at the company's OEM division, which includes its brass rod activities, rose 10% year-on-year to US$354m, while its operating profits rose 5% to US$19m. The improvement here is due to acquisition of Extruded Metals. Commenting on the results Harvey Karp, Chairman of Mueller Industries said "Mueller's earnings for the first half of 2008 were achieved despite the continuing decline in the housing industry, the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, the turbulence in the financial markets, rising metal costs, sky-high energy prices and a slowing national economy. Considering these adverse circumstances, we are pleased with the results."

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

Sony Corp will invest $369 million (40 billion yen) to power up its lithium-ion battery production operations, adding new facilities and augmenting existing lines. The infusion, which Sony said is the first phase of investment in lithium-ion batteries the company is undertaking as part of efforts to reinforce core areas of its component and semiconductor business over the next three years, will be used to construct new production facilities and to enhance existing lines at Sony's lithium-ion battery production sites in Japan, the Motomiya Technology Center and Tochigi Technology Center of Sony Energy Device Corp. Sony said it is making the investment in response to the growing demand for lithium-ion batteries and that the new production facilities will focus on electrodes, battery cell production lines, and charge and discharge equipment, among other technologies. Sony further reminded its expanding lithium-ion battery production in Singapore and China, and said that in total its monthly production capacity will increase from the current level of 41 million cells per month to 74 million cells in 2010. Sony's $369 million investment will start in its current fiscal year and continue through the second half of its fiscal year 2010. Sony's fiscal Q1 2008 concluded in June. Meanwhile, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co recently committed $923 million (100 billion yen) to build a plant in Osaka, Japan, that is expected to bring its cell production to about 75 million a month from its current 25 million cells per month. Sanyo Electric Co has also reportedly announced plans to invest, promising $1.15 billion (125 billion yen) to develop its rechargeable-batteries business over the next three years. That investment is expected to increase cell output to 90 million per month from Sanyo's current 70 million cells per month. All three of the Japan-based companies last year suffered from loses brought on by their battery operations. Sony-made lithium-

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

Xinxing Zhunguan, a Zhejiang-based manufacturer of copper wirerod, plans to increase production at its facility to 165,000t in 2013, up by 10% from 150,000t in 2012. Despite low profitability at Chinese wirerod producers, an official at the company said Xinxing Zhunguan still plans to increase output in 2013 in order to enhance competitiveness. The company said it expects orders to be subdued in the run up to the Chinese Lunar New Year, but then expects a strong rebound after the holiday period. This is consistent with another report on 11th January from Reuters which cited several Chinese copper traders as expecting the period between now and the holiday to be quiet, followed by a strong rebound.

According to an official from Chinalco Kunming Copper Co., the Chinese wirerod manufacturer, the company produced 10,000t of copper wirerod in March, up from 7,000t in February. The official said that March's output of wirerod had risen because of a week-long shutdown in February for the Chinese New Year. However, output had still fallen short of the company's 13,000t target. Chinalco Kunming plans to produce 150,000t of wirerod in 2013, utilising around 68% of its 220,000t/y capacity. According to a report from Asian Metal, the company has recently settled its long-term charges for processing 8.0mm wirerod at RMB1,150/t (US$183/t).

Wirerod production at Hebei Dawufeng Copper has been temporarily suspended since early April in order to carry out maintenance. The company elected to halt production for a month in order to carry out equipment maintenance, owing to the currently sluggish wirerod market. Production at the plant, which has a wirerod production capacity of 100,000 t/y is scheduled to re-start in early May.

South Korea has experienced a sharp decrease in its entire copper semis range production in November 2008 according to the Korean Nonferrous Metal Association. Copper wirerod totalled 46,007 tonnes, falling by 18% y-o-y. Copper plate and strip plunged by almost 42% y-o-y to 10,744 tonnes. Copper tube also declined by approximately 26% to 9,448 tonnes, while copper and copper alloy bar production fell to 16,191 tonnes, a decline of approximately 8%. Overall, copper semis production in November 2008 dropped by 21.4% y-o-y. For the first eleven months of 2008, copper semis output amounted to 1,097,154 tonnes compared to 1,193,092 tonnes from the same period in 2007, declining by 8%. The economy has been hit by shrinking exports and weakening domestic demand. In response to the downturn, the government announced that it will invest 50 trillion won within the next four years in infrastructure and environment projects.

It was reported that China's Amer International expects to complete construction of its new 250,000t/y copper rod production line, located in its Chaohu City facility in Anhui Province, by year-end. The expansion project will bring Amer's production capacity to 500,000t/y and its total copper rod production is anticipated to reach 200,000t in 2011. A spokesperson for the company said that it will manufacture rod for both domestic and foreign export markets. In addition, Amer also intends to source copper cathode for rod-processing from within China and also overseas. Total investment for the project amounted to RMB2.5B.

Southwire, the US-based aluminium and copper cablemaker, has said that while the use of copper in most electrical applications is unlikely to change, some manufacturers are likely to move toward the use of aluminium wire. The auto industry is increasingly using aluminium wire for traditional copper applications. This is occurring most predominantly outside of the US, however domestic autos companies have also been using aluminium wire for battery cable and aluminium wire harnesses for lights. Southwire stated that for most electrical applications copper usage will remain dominant because of its overall reliability.

Guangzhou Jiangtong Copper products, a subsidiary of Jiangxi Copper, announced that it began trial production at its new 400,000t/y copper wirerod plant this week. The company expects to supply nearby consumers in southern China as well as those in foreign markets in Southeast Asia. Capital investment expenditure totalled RMB2.0B.

The Japan Copper & Brass Association reported Japanese copper rolled product import fell by 2.5% y-o-y to 50,057t in the fiscal year ending March 2008. While volume of import was still high, it has fallen y-o-y the first time since the fiscal year ending March 2002. Copper tube import decreased by 19% y-o-y to 10,661t, partly due to the slowdown of new housing starts after the Japanese imposed new building standard law. Biggest importers to Japan are reported to be South Korea, China, Germany, Taiwan and North America.

According to the Japan Copper and Brass Association, total production of copper and copper alloy semis fell by 4.1% y-o-y to 72,770t in July. Output also contracted by 0.5% m-o-m in July, a second consecutive monthly decline. The fall is attributed in large part to the struggling automotive sector, which has been strongly impacted by the 11th March disaster.

Production for domestic shipments contracted by 6.6% y-o-y to reach 51,112t, whilst output for export markets fell more rapidly in January, reaching 8,898t after a 23.1% y-o-y decline (this however, was narrower than the December drop in exports of 30.7% y-o-y). Copper strip still represented the most heavily produced brass mill semi-fabricated product (27.7% of overall production in gross weight) but output decreased by 11.3% y-o-y, amounting to 16,600t in January. This was principally attributed to weak interconnector demand, the impact of the flooding in Thailand and the highly appreciated yen affecting the export market. Copper tube output decreased by 14.5% y-o-y to 9,750t in January, on weak demand from air conditioner manufacturers caused by bad weather and a slow world economy. Brass bar production fell by 7.7% y-o-y but rose by 900t since December to reach 14,206t in January. The change was attributed to improving demand from the domestic automotive and plumbing sectors.

Aurubis AG reported that its production of copper wirerod was down by 22% y-o-y and 14% q-o-q to reach 155,000t in Q2 2012, marking a faster decline from the 17% y-o-y fall in Q1 2012. The company said that the decrease in volumes was driven by slower demand from cable and enamelled wire producers. This came despite stronger demand from the automotive sector and signs of a pick-up in demand from the infrastructure sector in late Q2. Aurubis also produces copper and copper-alloy shapes, pre-rolled products, finished flat rolled products and speciality wire. Output of shapes fell by 25% y-o-y and 13% q-o-q to reach 41,000t in Q2, due to weak demand from semi-fabricators. However at Schwermetall, the company's 50%-owned subsidiary, production of pre-rolled strip decreased by only 5% y-o-y to reach 49,000t in Q2, as demand from semi-fabricators for this product held-up better. The year-on-year change in finished flat rolled products output was distorted by the acquisition of Luvata's rolled products division (RPD). However, volumes in the division did fall by 5% q-o-q reaching 57,000t in Q2, contributing towards across-the-board sequential declines for Aurubis' copper products output in Q2.

ICSG 1 Feb 09 - Based on existing facilities and announced project developments, annual mine production capacity in the period 2009-2013 is expected to grow at an average rate of around 4.3% per year (%/yr) to reach 23.1 Mt in 2013, an increase of around 3.6 Mt (19%) from that in 2009. Of the total increase, copper in concentrate capacity is expected to increase by 2.7Mt (4.3%/yr) to reach 17.9 Mt and solvent extraction-electrowinning (SX-EW) production by 820,000t (4.4%/yr) to reach 5.2 Mt. Most of the new mine projects and expansions are located in Brazil, Chile, Congo, Mongolia, Peru, the United States and Zambia, which together account for around 2.6 Mt (73%) of the projected mine capacity increase during this period. Annual smelter capacity is projected to grow by an average of 2.6%/yr to reach 20.2 Mt in 2013, an increase of 2 Mt (11%) from that in 2009. Asia will be the leading contributor to growth (1.8 Mt), with expansions and new projects expected mostly in China, but also in India, Indonesia and Iran. Africa is the second leading contributor owing to developments in Zambia. North American smelting capacity will fall by 12% (250kt) due to closures of plants in Canada. The ICSG tabulations indicate that world refinery capacity will reach 26.6 Mt in 2013, an increase of 3.2 Mt (13%) from that in 2009. About 2.3 Mt of the expansion is expected to come from electrolytic refineries and 820,000t from electrowinning capacity. Electrolytic refinery capacity growth is projected to average 3.1%/yr, exceeding the projected growth in smelter capacity, and electrowinning capacity growth (at the refinery level) is expected to average 4.3%/yr. About one half (1.5 Mt) of the world refinery capacity increase during this period is expected to come from electrolytic refineries in China; about 25% (830,000 t) from electrolytic capacity increases in India, Indonesia and Iran; and about 20% (600,000 t) from electrowinning capacity increases in Congo, Peru and Zambia.

Aurubis AG, the Germany-headquartered refined copper cathode and copper products fabricator, reported a weak performance in sales of copper products in the first quarter of this year. In Q1, the outputs of wirerod; pre-rolled strip; continuous cast shapes; rolled products and speciality wire reached 179,000t, 41,000t, 47,000t and 60,000t, down by 17% y-o-y, down by 15% y-o-y, up by 2% y-o-y and up by 329% y-o-y, respectively. Generally, the seasonal upswing in Q2 was weaker than expected, however, there was a mixture of performances in the sectors within each market, as some wirerod market sectors ordered strongly but European semi-fabricators and customers of strip and speciality wire continued to order shrinking quantities at late notice.

Aurubis reported a growth outlook for its copper products business unit. The company said that the performance of copper wirerod depends upon the progress of power grid expansion projects in Europe. The automotive sector is expected to continue to support growing wirerod sales for the next few months, however the enamelled wire industry is expected to remain weak attributed to poor demand in southern Europe. North American demand is anticipated to support growth in shipments of copper shapes as well as the company's market for flat copper products. In this regard, the US electronics and electrical industry, engine cooling and distribution segments are expected to continue improving. Stagnant European and Asian demand for flat copper products will partially undermine growth in North America. The company added that it does not anticipate the Asian copper products market to recover until the end of Summer 2012, at which time, demand in the US is expected to be good and demand from European-based operations will be recovering.

According to a study carried out by Sindicel, the Sao Paulo based non-ferrous metals association, Brazil's per capita copper consumption rose by 50% in 2002-2008 to 2.1 kg. Copper usage has grown 30% higher than the GDP growth in the same period. Sindicel's president Sergio Aredes said that the significant rise in copper usage reflects the growth in construction and high-tech products in the Brazilian economy. The association also announced that copper semis production in 2008 generated US$4.0B in revenues. Robust demand in 2008 was supported by strong consumption in the construction, energy, automotive, mining and steel sectors. But Sindicel anticipates that sales in 2009 will decline (construction by 15%, infrastructure by 19% and telecommunication wire and cable by 10%).

LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) said Monday it expects to generate between $2.8 billion and $3 billion in revenue and ship between 1.45 gigawatts and 1.55 gigawatts of silicon wafers in 2009. The Chinese company also said its wafer manufacturing plant has reached 1 gigawatt of annual capacity. It's a noteworthy milestone on the way to production capacity targets of 1.2 gigawatts by the end of the year, 2.2 gigawatts by the end of 2009 and 3.2 gigawatts by 2010 that the company announced earlier this month. LDK shares rose more than 8 percent to reach $49.63 per share in recent trading. The wafer maker's stock has climbed since it posted blockbuster second-quarter earnings on Aug. 11. LDK's net income grew more than fivefold year-over-year to reach $149.5 million, or $1.29 per share. Second-quarter sales more than quadrupled to $441.7 million from $99.1 million from the year-ago period (see LDK 2Q Profit Triples, Margin Falls). Strong demand for its wafers has prompted the company to expand its production capacity quickly. LDK also plans to start making it own polysilicon, in addition to buying the raw material for making the wafers. Production at LDK's first polysilicon plant is expected to begin soon and produce between 100 metric tons and 350 metric tons by December. The company is also building a second plant (see LDK Silicon Confirms Plant Is on Track). LDK CEO Xiaofeng Peng told analysts two weeks ago that the company had a backlog of more than 12 gigawatts of wafer orders. LDK expects to generate between $1.65 billion and $1.75 billion in revenue and ship between 750 megawatts and 770 megawatts of wafers for the whole of 2008.

Sindicel, the Brazilian electric conductors and non-ferrous metals association, expects sales of copper and copper alloy wire, cable and semis to rise by 10% y-o-y in 2011. Domestic production is also predicted to increase by 10% y-o-y in the same period. The sector's output and sales has been boosted by demand from the automotive, construction and telecommunications industries. In addition, a poll of Brazilian copper products producers revealed that half were operating above 80% capacity utilisation. Ibram, the national mining association, also reported that wire and cable production will grow by 39% by 2016. This will be primarily driven by the construction industry due to events such as the 2014 World Cup, the 2016 Olympics and also government programs. According to Ibram, Brazilian output of copper products was 230,000t in 2010 and is anticipated to grow to 475,000t by 2014.

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.

The Copper and Brass Fabricators Council said that US imports of brass mill products in May declined by 34.9% y-o-y to 35,348,294 lbs whilst exports plummeted by 43.9% y-o-y to 16,120,361 lbs. The leading exports destination in May was Canada and most imports came from China. Imports of flat rolled products reached 6,855,548 lbs, while exports amounted to 5,671,217 lbs. Imports of tube products were 20,966,908 lbs and exports 5,259,454 lbs. Rods, bars and sections imports were 5,810,096 lbs whilst exports 3,628,657 lbs. Finally, imported alloy wire added up to 1,715,743 lbs and exports totalled 1,561,033 lbs.

The Japan Copper and Brass Association released an estimate of the total domestic fabrication of copper and copper alloy products in November, which showed that production fell by 10.4% y-o-y to 65,940t. Copper strip production amounted to 18,240t, down by 18% in November and has experienced year-on-year declines for twelve consecutive months. The segment was negatively impacted by weak demand from the semiconductor and electronic industries since autumn 2011. Conversely, brass strip output rose by 3.3% y-o-y to reach 9,895t in November supported by a rebounding automotive sector. Copper tube output in November amounted to 9,895t, down by 20% y-o-y, due to base year effects caused by a rise in production after the hot summer in 2010 (the November level is higher than the same month of 2009). Brass bar output contracted by 5.3% y-o-y in November to reach 14,993t attributed to weak end-use demand from the Japanese construction and electrical sectors, especially in the latter half of this year.

Newmont Mining Corp. posted a sharply higher second-quarter profit Thursday, with record-high gold prices and production gains pumping revenue past most analysts' expectations. Newmont (NEM:Newmont Mining Corporation News, chart, profile, more Last: 49.02+0.25+0.51% 2:30pm 07/25/2008 Delayed quote dataAdd to portfolio Analyst Create alertInsider Discuss Financials Sponsored by: NEM 49.02, +0.25, +0.5%) shares rose $1.82, or 3.9%, to close at $48.77. The stock is up 12% over the past 12 months. Newmont reported net income for the three months ended June 30 swung to $277 million, or 61 cents a share, from a year-ago loss of $2.06 billion, or $4.57 a share. The year-ago numbers were heavily skewed by a $1.67 billion write-down tied to the company's exit from merchant banking and a $460 million charge for settling price-capped forwards contracts. Adjusted earnings from ongoing operations more than doubled to $230 million, or 51 cents a share, from $103 million, or 23 cents, a year earlier. Gold sales during the quarter totaled 1.27 million equity ounces, fetching on average $900 an ounce, as the precious metal rode a huge spike in commodity prices. Gold prices were averaging about $600 an ounce a year ago. Costs per ounce rose, however, to $440 an ounce from $417 a year ago. Copper sales accounted for $183 million during the quarter, down from $340 million a year earlier. Newmont stood by its earlier 2008 production forecast of 5.1 million to 5.4 million ounces of gold, with production cost expected to range from $425 to $450 per ounce.

Aurubis AG, a leading producer of unwrought copper and copper semis, announced its third quarter results. It reported pre-tax profits to have risen by 41% y-o-y to €111M and total net revenues of €3.294B, up by 32% y-o-y. The company produced 198,000t of copper wirerod, down by 6% y-o-y, whereas production of copper shapes was up by 10% y-o-y, amounting to 55,000t. Within this area, Aurubis' product mix is characterised by an increasing proportion of speciality products. The company noted cooling demand for its copper products during April to June 2011, attributed to seasonal factors.