Top Stories
"Germany to Raise Alarm Over China Rare
Earths Restrictions at G-20"—reliability high.
The German government is concerned about China's dominance of the
supply of some rare earth minerals and plans to raise the issue at the
G20 summit. "German companies say they are being pressed by Chinese
officials to increase their investments in China if they want to be
assured of access to rare earth minerals and two other obscure
elements, tungsten and antimony. ... Three industry officials told The
New York Times this week that China, which has been blocking all
shipments of crucial minerals to Japan for the past month, has now
quietly halted some shipments of those materials to the United States
and Europe." More on mineral supply and trade issues. See The
New York Times. [Just as rare earth
minerals are becoming increasingly important to many high-tech
industries, customers are realizing that they are highly dependent on
China for supplies. Expect extraction to increase at other sources.
Higher prices will help drive diversification of supplies. For a while
China may be able to use rare earths and other raw materials sort of
the way Saudi Arabia used oil in 1973.]
"Lake Mead sinks to a new historic low"—reliability
high.
Lake Mead, the reservoir behind Hoover Dam, is at its lowest level
since it was first filled in 1937. Drier conditions in the Colorado
watershed over the past decade, and increasing water demand, have
brought the lake close to the level where withdrawals for some farmers
would start to be restricted. From the Arizona Republic. [NOAA
expects the Southwest to be warmer and drier than normal through
February 2011 due to La Niña conditions. Those same conditions will
produce wind in the Pacific Northwest, boosting wind energy output.]
Companies,
Industries, Markets and Supply Chains
"Data shows growth in demand for global green
expertise"—reliability high.
Another report on sustainability employment trends. "The latest
careers and salary benchmark report produced by Environment Analyst and
international recruitment specialist Allen & York concludes that
sustainability skills are currently in strong demand in Latin America
and the Asia Pacific region – and this is reflected in rising salary
trends in these areas. ... In contrast to the UK and elsewhere in
Europe - where sustainability/environmental teams are more likely to be
contracting than growing in the wake of recession - the general trend
globally is for an increase in the number of sustainability staff. ...
The average salary for a global sustainability professional, according
to the online survey, is €51,200 (US$65,400)". More highlights of
report. See Environmental
Analyst. Summary of report here
(registration required).
"$1B Market for Wind Energy Storage By 2015"—reliability
high.
NanoMarkets has published a new report estimating that the market for
energy storage for wind power will hit $1.1 billion by 2015, one-third
of which will be in China. It says the key technologies that will
benefit include lead-carbon, sodium-sulfur and flow battery systems,
pumped hydro, and compressed air storage. "The utility-scale energy
storage market as a whole is expected to reach $35.3 billion by 2020,
according to a separate analysis." From Sustainable
Business.com.
"The New Silicon Valley: Why Entrepreneurs
Are Flocking to Energy"—reliability medium.
Seth Kisch posts about the seismic shift in Silicon Valley toward
clean energy startups and investments. He interviewed Jigar Shah,
founder of SunEdison, who says, "I think the energy business is the
largest wealth creation sector on the planet. If you are an
entrepreneur and you are smart, this is where you should be. ... there
is more money chasing renewable energy than there are projects." He
sees a big gap still in financial products. Other predictions. See CleanTechies
blog.
"PC Power Management Tools Reduce Energy Use
by 45%"—reliability high.
A study shows that "more than 100 million corporate and government PCs
are left 'powered on' 94 percent of the time", and that "a centralized
PC power management solution reduced PC energy consumption by 45
percent." The study used software agents running on 11,000 PCs to
monitor their activity. The research was done by Verdiem, a maker of PC
power management software. Desktop PCs were found to be on more than
93% of the time overnight and on weekends. Even laptops were on half
the time overnight and on weekends. The study calculates savings from
automated, centralized power management for large organizations. See Environmental
Leader. PDF of the report here.
"Walmart and General Mills Bullish on
Sustainable Palm Oil"—reliability medium.
Mindy S. Lubber posts about recent Wal-Mart and General Mills
commitments to sustainably produced palm oil. Palm oil is widely used
in foods, health & beauty aids and other consumer products.
"Companies that ignore supply chain risks such as deforestation put
their company's reputation and profits at risk, and investors are
starting to notice," she writes. More on palm oil supply chains and
issues. From GreenBiz
blog.
Science and
Economics
"Return to previous Arctic conditions is
unlikely"—reliability high.
An "Arctic Report Card: Update for 2010" from the U.S. National
Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration says "the Arctic is
continuing to move into a new and different climate state." The report
summarizes changes in several areas, including loss of sea ice, which
could be bringing colder weather to southern locations, and more rapid
ice loss from Greenland than in previous decades. Changes in the Arctic
are affecting Northern Hemisphere weather. See NOAA site.
And . . .
"Cool It--Movie Review"—reliability
medium.
Review of new documentary about controversial "Danish political
scientist Bjørn Lomborg and his views on how the world should, and
should not, address climate change. ... For a mere $250 billion a year,
he calculates, we could deal with climate change, and eliminate disease
and poverty too." He says our current strategies for addressing climate
change, which he agrees is a big problem, are "broken" and won't work.
From Doc's
Green Blog.
