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Giant Retailers Look to Sun for Energy Savings - 0 views

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    In recent months, chains including Wal-Mart Stores, Kohl's, Safeway and Whole Foods Market have installed solar panels on roofs of their stores to generate electricity on a large scale. One reason they are racing is to beat a Dec. 31 deadline to gain tax advantages for these projects. So far, most chains have outfitted fewer than 10 percent of their stores. Over the long run, assuming Congress renews a favorable tax provision and more states offer incentives, the chains promise a solar construction program that would ultimately put panels atop almost every big store in the country. The trend, while not entirely new, is accelerating as the chains seize a chance to bolster their environmental credentials by cutting back on their use of electricity from coal.
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PV's "Moore's Law" Required To Drive Increased Material Efficiency - 0 views

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    The road to grid parity for PV power generation will be difficult, needing five or more years to compete with utility power, unsubsidized, on a large scale, noted Mark Thirsk, managing partner at Linx Consulting, at a recent SEMI PV forecast luncheon (Sept. 18) in Santa Clara, CA Most input materials for PV production are in relative oversupply and will not constrain production, Thirsk pointed out - and for this reason manufacturers are conservative about capacity investment. In particular, his PV module production forecast (see Fig. 1, above) shows an overstep in demand in 2008. One reason for suppliers' reluctance to build capacity for entering the silicon supply chain is that it is an inefficient process. "Only about 15% of all the silicon going into the supply chain goes into the wafers, so it's a pretty wasteful and capital intensive process, so there is a lot of reluctance to build capacity," said Thirsk. Despite the efficiency challenges, Thirsk's forecast indicates that an oversupply may occur in 2009 Because >40% of PV grade silicon is lost at the wafering step, Thirsk believes this represents a significant opportunity for the right technology. Additionally, diamond wire is a potential replacement for slurry technology, but this technology is still immature. In the crystalline silicon (c-Si) value chain, Thirsk sees opportunities for optimizing mono-crystalline wafers with metal wrap technology and backside contacts; process optimization and material improvements would improve cell efficiency, and glass, wafer, backsheet, and grid improvements can enable more efficient light capture. Looking ahead, Thirsk told the audience that while thin-film technologies will enjoy strong growth "and may be more attractive to value-add materials and equipment suppliers, thin-film cell production will remain a minority share for the medium term." (see Fig. 3, below) He closed his presentation encouraging the creation of a Moore's Law type of roadmap for the PV
Panos Kotseras

Finland - Luvata to prepare for upturn by improving its supply chain - 0 views

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    Finish copper fabricator Luvata intends to improve its supply chain with the prospect of economic recovery. The company anticipates that the market will recover by the end of Q1 2010 and recognises that it needs to prepare so as to regain market share. Senior Vice President of procurement Bob Kickham said that once the market starts to recover, copper prices may increase again. Given the ongoing fears of substitution toward aluminium, a more streamlined and efficient supply chain will provide considerable support to copper.
Colin Bennett

Myanmar power infrastructure - 0 views

  • As the economy attempts to take off from the current position, the power sector holds the key to support rapid economic growth in the currently power starved country. This is likely to create significant investment opportunities in the power sector. Currently, there exists a major power crisis in the country. The scope to bridge the impending power demand-supply gap offers huge investment opportunities for both the multinational and domestic companies across the power industry value chain from generation to transmission and distribution and in distributed power generation including power rental sector.
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    As the economy attempts to take off from the current position, the power sector holds the key to support rapid economic growth in the currently power starved country. This is likely to create significant investment opportunities in the power sector. Currently, there exists a major power crisis in the country. The scope to bridge the impending power demand-supply gap offers huge investment opportunities for both the multinational and domestic companies across the power industry value chain from generation to transmission and distribution and in distributed power generation including power rental sector
Colin Bennett

UL service helps unravel conflict-minerals reporting for cable, connector, other electr... - 1 views

  • The opacity of today’s complex and dynamic global supply chains can easily obscure the source of minerals and other raw materials, and hide all kinds of surprises. In fact, the conflict-minerals challenge illustrates how far industries still are from supply-chain transparency, and the key role that transparency plays in achieving sustainability goals.
Hans De Keulenaer

Strategies for reducing the carbon footprint of copper : New technologies, more recycli... - 0 views

  • Existing approaches to reducing environmental impacts along the metal production and consumption chain are focused largely at the plant scale for primary production, rather than considering the whole metal cycle. As such, many opportunities for systemic improvements are overlooked. This paper develops an approach to designing preferred futures for entire metal cycles that deliver reduced carbon footprints. Dynamic material flow models in Visual Basic® are used to provide life-cycle-impact-assessment indicators, which help identify key intervention points along the metal cycle. This analysis also identifies which actors or agents along the value chain are responsible for, or can influence, behaviour which affects environmental performance. With this information, it is possible to evaluate different scenarios for transition paths to achieve reduced impact. These scenarios consider combinations of new technology, increased metal recycling and demand management strategies. A case study for the copper cycle in the USA shows that to meet a CO2 reduction target of 60% by 2050, innovative technologies for primary processing of mined ore will play a limited role, due to their increasing impacts in the future associated with mining ever lower ore grades. To compensate for this whilst meeting demand projections, recycling of old scrap would be required to increase from 18% to 80%, requiring extensive collaboration between primary and secondary producers. An alternate scenario which focuses on demand reduction for copper by 1% per year, meets the CO2 target whilst only requiring an increase in the recycling rate from 18% to 36%. Together, these suggest that there is merit in examining the 'metal-in-use' stage of the metal value chain more closely in order to achieve targeted reductions in CO2. The approach also highlights the inherent trade-offs between different aspects of environmental performance which are required when pursuing CO2 reduction targets.
Colin Bennett

Coronavirus: 5 important lessons to boost supply chain efficiency - 1 views

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    we have focused so exclusively on leanness that it has made us blind to the importance of resilience.
Colin Bennett

Wave and tidal - Scotland future demand for subsea cable - 0 views

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    Figure 8.2.2.1 illustrates the lengths of subsea cable that may be required year by year. It is based on expected device spacings, farm layouts and likely distances from offshore substaons to shore. The final lengths required will depend on exact site layouts and separaon distances between devices as well as the method of connecon between devices, which could have dedicated connecons to the transformer or be chained together. The chart has the same profile as that of the number of devices installed, but offset as cables are purchased in advance of installaon. Export cables installed as part of a project's inial phase may be specified with sufficient capacity to accommodate later phases as well.
Colin Bennett

Meeting China's Global Resource Needs - Managing Sustainability Impacts to Ensure Secur... - 0 views

  • China’s large and growing inbound supply chains are among the most direct ways in which China’s rise impacts economies worldwide. For exporting countries this trade brings economic benefits such as employment, income and investment, but can also be associated with social and environmental (or “sustainability”) problems. Negative impacts on land, water, air, biodiversity and communities can translate back into supply chain problems for China, whether through short-term disruptions or the broader impact on China’s “brand” in international markets, which can affect the ability of Chinese enterprises to access international capital, resources, markets and talent.
Colin Bennett

Lack of technical talent to help drive substitution - 0 views

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    "The retirement of experienced copper industry executives and the lack of trained technical replacements is helping to drive substitution and is likely to lead to more mergers and acquisitions as the industry adapts, senior industry executives said. A group of panelists at Metal Bulletin-American Metal Market's copper seminar in New York this week said that the copper sector needed to be far more proactive in attracting new talent and ensuring the gap in the professional supply chain is filled. "One thing that is driving substitution is the retirement of engineers that were very tied into the thought that copper wiring was the only alternative and that aluminium was unsafe," said Stu Thorn, CEO of Southwire. Thorn said the idea that aluminium was unsafe "almost became a psychological obsession" despite the development of new technologies to make it safe. "Now that generation of engineers is retiring, the new generation coming up doesn't necessarily have that same level of bias [towards copper], but what they do have is the drive to make more money, to reduce costs, and find cheaper alternatives," he told the seminar. "There is a shift..."
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Solar and Semiconductors Come Together In San Francisco - 0 views

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    The solar industry and semiconductor industry are intimately connected. Both industries rely on silicon and both use much of the same processing technology and supply chain to produce their products. Nowhere has this connection been on better display than last week at the Moscone Center in San Francisco California, where the Intersolar North America made its debut in conjunction with SEMICON West 2008. The show provided an opportunity for those in the two industries to connect and allowed those companies that work in both spaces to showcase their collective efforts. According to Chris O'Brien, Head of Market Development and Government Relations for North America for Oerlikon Solar, holding the two conferences together gave companies greater exposure and showed the promise of the U.S. solar market. In recent months a number of traditional semiconductor companies including Intel and National Semiconductor have made announcements that they are making plans to enter the solar industry in one way or another. Intel spun off it's solar research area into a new solar company called SpectraWatt. National Semiconductor announced that it will be introducing it's first solar product, SolarMagic, that could raise the efficiency of residential and industrial solar systems. Kevin Kayser, Senior Marketing Manager at National said that he product will be targeted at installers and integrators and much planning went into the company's decision to enter the solar space. "Photovoltaics currently has less than 1% of the energy market, but we think it has potentially one of the fastest growth rates of any alternative energy source. Now certainly we're looking at wind, we're looking geothermal, we're looking at other sources, but from an electronics point of view we saw that we had the most immediate potential impact in solar photovoltaics," Kayser said.
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Schneider acquires Xantrex - 0 views

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    RUEIL-MALMAISON, FRANCE, August 15, 2008. Schneider Electric has signed a CAD 498 million definitive arrangement agreement with Xantrex Technology Inc for the acquisition of all common shares of Xantrex. Xantrex is said to be a top three global player in the solar and wind inverter market with strong growth potential. It also has a leadership position in the North America. Awaiting approval from Xantrex shareholders, the deal is expected to be closed by October 2008. Schneider Electric says it expects to realise significant synergies in acquiring Xantrex, leveraging the strengths of both companies. Xantrex provides experience in advanced power electronic technology for renewable energy, and dedicated solar and wind channel access. Schneider Electric boasts a wide international footprint with solution centres and leverage with APC in purchasing, technology and operations. Xantrex Chairman Mosaadiq Umedaly comments: "We think it is the best way to develop our business, taking advantage of our leading technology, products, market knowledge, and distribution channels together with Schneider Electric's global sales, service, supply chain, and solutions capabilities."
Susanna Keung

Luvata expects mid-2010 pick up in copper demand - 0 views

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    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.
Colin Bennett

Global Wind Turbine Manufacturing Capacity has Far Surpassed Demand - 3 views

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    "Overcapacity, however, persists in most, though not all areas of the supply chain, providing purchasers with more choice, flexibility, and cost control. "
Colin Bennett

HVDC Transmission Market Worth $13.54 Billion by 2020 - 0 views

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    "The competitive landscape of the market presents a very interesting picture. The market is witnessing new product launches and large scale collaborations, and agreements and partnerships, across the value chain, with a number of tier-one players around the globe. "
Hans De Keulenaer

Sustainable business in Asia: 5 trends that will impact a decisive decade | GreenBiz - 1 views

  • The decisive decade of the 2020s has arrived and will deliver the impact of key sustainability trends on business in Asia.
Hans De Keulenaer

Report Report: ESG, supply chains, net zero and EVs | GreenBiz - 2 views

  • The Report Report is a periodic article produced by Corporate Eco Forum, a by-invitation membership organization comprised of large, global companies that demonstrate a serious commitment at the senior executive level to sustainability as a business strategy issue.
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    16 recent trend reports on climate and sustainability
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