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LONDON, UK, August 12, 2008. Analyst New Energy Finance says the days of easy carbon trading may be over as the low hanging fruit of the cheap carbon credits in the developing world have now been harvested. To date, the cheapest way of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have come from projects eliminating high global warming potential (GWP) gases in developing countries, notably China. These projects involve the destruction of two waste gases from industrial facilities: the hydrofluorocarbon HFC-23 and nitrous dioxide, or 'laughing gas' (N2O), both of which are several thousand times more potent in terms of global warming that CO2. The size of the emissions reductions achievable from these projects relative to the scale of the investment required, that these carbon credits are so cheap - around €1/tCO2e. In comparison, costs claimed by project developers of renewable energy and energy efficiency projects are €5-15 per tonne and the global market price for carbon countries from developing countries are around €20/tCO2e.

LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Australia's Minara Resources Ltd (MRE.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday it had to defer its Australian $300 million ($273.5 million) nickel expansion plan due to high costs and reported an 80 percent drop in profits for the first half year. Minara, Australia's second-largest nickel miner after BHP Billiton Ltd/Plc (BHP.AX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(BLT.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), posted a net profit after tax for the half year to 30 June 2008 of $50.9 Australian million, down from $245.9 Australian million in the same period in 2007.

LONDON (Thomson Financial) - EMED Mining (News) Public Ltd., a European-based minerals exploration and development company, said Spain's largest mine, the Rio Tinto (News) (News/Aktienkurs) Mine, is advancing towards copper production restart. The AIM-listed company said in its mining quarterly report, for the three months to June that recruitment of a large workforce and mobilisation of a mining contractor is expected to proceed in the first half of 2009 and production six months later.

CHENNAI: Sterlite Industries India Limited (SIIL), a leading non-ferrous metals and mining company and the flagship of Vedanta Resource of London, is planning to increase the installed capacity of its copper smelter at Tuticorin (Tamil Nadu) to 4.20 lakh tonnes by implementing a de-bottlenecking programme.

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Chinese demand for commodities, and copper in particular, won't disappear but will moderate in the near term, Bret Clayton, chief executive of copper at Rio Tinto PLC (RTP) said Wednesday.

LONDON -(Dow Jones)- Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto PLC (RTP) expects historically high levels of copper supply disruptions to keep the market tight in the coming years, Chief Executive for copper Bret Clayton said Thursday.

SINGAPORE -- Copper prices were steady in London and Shanghai on Friday, after modest overnight gains, but trade was thin as investors awaited the cobbling of a plan to preserve the economy from septic debt.

London, January 5 (ANI): A ground-breaking technology that broadcasts electricity may render electrical wiring ancient history, say its inventors. The device called WiTricity beams power to laptops, mobile phones and stereos without cables or sockets.

Renewable energy needs to become a lot more renewable - a theme that emerged at the Financial Times Energy Conference in London this week.

LONDON - Copper prices fell on Wednesday as investors retreated on fears about global economic growth and lower demand from China and the United States, the world's top two consumers.

Credit-crunched Londoners grabbed pocketfuls of pennies today at the launch of a 20-foot billboard advert made entirely from one-pence coins. The unique installation - made using over 20,000 pennies - only lasted 30 minutes as hundreds of opportunistic passers-by seized their moment to pick up a penny or two

Yet another use for copper

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain will outline its plan on Thursday for meeting its renewable energy targets that environmental groups cautiously welcome but others say is unrealistic.

LONDON (Reuters) - Copper prices could hit fresh record highs this year as the Chinese economy continues to expand despite a slowdown in the United States, the chief economist of miner Rio Tinto (RIO.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Thursday.

LONDON (Reuters) - The booming mining sector may have peaked in terms of net profit margins after costs surged more than revenues last year for top firms, a report released on Tuesday by PricewaterhouseCoopers said.

Commodity stocks slumped to fresh lows last night after recessionary fears took root across the London market, sending the FTSE 100 down towards the 4,000-point mark.

The Policy Brief for a Global Green New Deal, developed by economists and the UN ahead of the G-20 meeting of world leaders in London in early April, highlights the benefits of investing a significant amount of the $3 trillion-worth of global stimulus packages in five areas. According to a news release issued by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), these areas include raising the energy efficiency of old and new buildings, as well as renewable energies including wind, solar, geothermal and biomass.

Focus on European Smart Grids by Michael Setters, Smart Electric News London, UK [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] A host of initiatives across Europe has led to an explosion in interest into how -- and where -- smart grids will be implemented and deployed. According to Jose Antonio Vanderhorst-Silverio, a leading voice in the Electricity industry, "It is clear that dramatic change is coming in the future for the electric utility industry...the way energy is generated, delivered and consumed [is] substantially changing the whole business model. This change is coming to a piece of the industry that hasn't been known for radical change over its 120 plus year history... Implementation of the Smart Grid will require a complete rethinking of the utility business model and business processes."

The London Stock Exchange listed Indian company, Vedanta, will build a US$15M (Dh55M) continuous copper rod plant with annual capacity of 100,000 tonnes in Fujairah, UAE, which will be operational by December to capture the strong demand from regional infrastructure projects. Copper rods manufactured by the plant will be used in cables for power grids for the region and the company is expecting more demand coming from not only the UAE and the GCC but the whole Middle East.

LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The market for copper scrap is set to tighten as competition for the secondary raw material, eagerly sought as a cheaper alternative to refined copper cathode, rises globally.