Copper end use trends

Still, the top 10, which is ranked according to Google's search volume index, offers a glimpse of relative interest in the technology. The numbers represent the likelihood of users in each country searching for "hybrid car," on a scale of 0-100. Google divides the total number of searches for each country by the number of searches for this particular term, and then normalizes the data based on the country's traffic volume. 1. United States: 100 2. Malaysia: 66 3. Canada: 60 4. Singapore: 56 5. Australia: 45 6. New Zealand: 42 7. South Korea: 35 8. India: 30 9. Hong Kong: 23 10. United Kingdom: 22

Washington, Dec 10 : In an effort to combine the properties of plastics and metals, scientists have developed a composite material, which not only conducts electricity like metals but is also light and inexpensive like plastics. The plastic-metal hybrids will be used in the very places where plastic components are equipped with printed circuit boards, for instance in cars or aircraft.

Costs for mining firms are sliding, a rare bright spot in a downturn that will help soften the effect of a crash in metals prices. However, some improved costs, such as labour, will be slow to appear.

Amid the ongoing global economic slowdown, the construction of power grid projects in China is proceeding well, and demand for electrical wire and cable is expected to remain robust. However, even though power consumption has exhibited a growing trend, the month-by-month growth rate has slowed. As a result, copper semis related to electrical equipment have currently shown bearish demand signals. For the first 10 months of 2008, newly built power supply capacity amounted to 58.462m KW, while newly built capacity in October declined by 73% year-on-year.

The agency's intelligence report on copper thefts says the thieves are now impacting critical infrastructure in the U.S. The threat assessment, released Thursday, cites a crime committed at a Polk County electrical substation as a prime example.

Forecasters may be overestimating the global supply of base metals, particularly zinc, Octagon Research said on Thursday, suggesting that hard-hit metal prices may rebound sooner than expected

NICE Car Company, one of London's two electric-vehicle distributors, entered administration yesterday.

Here's the five cleantech trends

Ouglich, November 20, 2008 - Nexans, the worldwide leader in the cable industry, held a grand opening ceremony on November 20 to mark the official launch of production at its Ouglich plant in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russian Federation.

The top five major uses of copper by market segments.

Using three different methods of calculating market potential, results for residential fire sprinkler installations in the United States ranged from $2.9 billion to $3.2 billion annually. Further, four types of labor were analyzed to project the number of additional positions needed as residential fire sprinkler requirements are adopted across the country. "There's no question that the recent passing of residential fire sprinkler requirements to the International Residential Code will change the industry in a breath and timeline never experienced before,"

Nano-graphene platelets (NGPs) have high Young's modulus, high thermal conductivity (five times that of copper), electrical conductivity similar to copper, and are said to be 50 times stronger than steel.\n

DENVER -- Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. said Wednesday it would suspend operations and lay off the bulk of its workers at a New Mexico mine, cut production estimates through 2010 and curb other costs as it struggles to cope with plummeting copper prices

CO2 solutions\nWhat suppliers say will help \nreduce CO2 emissions\n* Fuel injection systems for diesel and gasoline \nengines\n* Exhaust after-treatment systems\n* Turbochargers\n* \nReduced-diameter electrical cables; alternative metals, such as aluminum instead \nof copper, in cables\n* Electric steering\n* Hybrid powertrains\n* Vehicle \nenergy management components, such as power electronics and energy storage \nunits

China's Yunnan province will buy 1 million tonnes of base metals to help smelters in the region that are struggling with weak domestic demand and low prices, a report on the Ministry of Land and Resources' website said on Monday.