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Sony blames slump for $1bn loss
Electronics giant Sony has reported its first annual loss in 14 years, after being hit by a big drop in sales.
The Japanese firm announced a loss of 98.9bn yen ($1.04bn; £685m) for the year to the end of March - blaming the global economic downturn and the weak yen for its poor performance.
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Scientists make new fuel cell catalyst with two metals - Technology News - SINA English
WASHINGTON, May 14 (Xinhua) — Material scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technique for a bimetallic fuel cell catalyst that is efficient, robust and two to five times more effective than commercial catalysts. The study was published online in Science on Thursday.
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Hopes of new BHP approach puts Rio on positive footing
Rio Tinto gained ground -yesterday as brokers gave credence to hopes of a new proposal from BHP Billiton .
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Efficiency debate: The pros and cons of consumer electronics
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy issued a report yesterday touting the role that semiconductor-based technologies have played in making the U.S. economy more efficient. At the same time, the International Energy Agency issued its own report calling on governments around the world to be more aggressive with efficiency standards for ICT and consumer electronics, which are expected to demand twice as much power by 2022 and three times as much by 2030 — creating a need for another 280 gigawatts of power generation (i.e. like adding another Japan to the world, or more than 230 nuclear reactors). “This will jeopardize efforts to increase energy security and reduce the emission of greenhouse gases,” according to an IEA news brief.
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Building off sharp growth in 2007‐2008, US wind power development in 2009 has been impacted
dramatically by the current economic climate–and US wind players must readjust their strategies
in the wake of this new competitive environment. The US wind power industry finished 2008 at a
record pace with 8,546 MW of new wind plant added, led by Texas, Iowa, New York, Kansas, and
Wyoming. EER forecasts a sharp decline in 2009, but a rebound in 2010 and growth of 12 GW per
year on average from 2010‐2020 to supply nearly 14% of total US power demand. -
Grupo Mexico positive on ‘09 copper prices, demand
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Copper giant Grupo Mexico (GMEXICOB.MX: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said on Thursday strong demand from China coupled with tight global supply meant prices for the red metal were unlikely to fall below $2 per lb in 2009, although the company maintained its annual guidance of $1.75 per lb.
“We believe that the infrastructure plans in the United States and China are going to lead to important demand,” Grupo Mexico’s Chief Financial Officer Daniel Muniz said at the Reuters Latin American Investment Summit in Mexico City.
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U.S. copper imports should remain strong throughout year
U.S. copper imports rose in March and should remain strong for the rest of year, boosted by a revival in the moribund housing sector.
The uptrend in imports of the key industrial metal, widely used in construction and automobile manufacturing, is expected to continue in the coming months. Analysts see it as a good sign for the economy.
“You’re starting to see some of the stimulus taking place,” said Michael Gross, futures analyst with Optionsellers.com in Tampa, Florida.
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Solar power will not be able to compete with conventional energy until there is a breakthrough in the technology, BP’s chief executive has said, in a further sign of the company’s move away from renewables towards oil and gas.
BP has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in making solar cells and components, but in the past six months it has been closing factories around the world, and announced a sharp cut in its investment in alternative energies, such as solar, from $1.4bn last year to $1bn (£658m) this year.
Tony Hayward, chief executive, yesterday told a conference in California: “I think solar is probably the most challenged of all of BP’s alternative energy interests.”
He added: “It is not going to make the transition to be competitive with more conventional power, the gap is too big.”
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Air-air Heat Exchangers Save Costs
Extracting heat from within the enclosure and releasing it into the surrounding environment, the exchangers’ operation is based on the counterflow principle. Completely separate airflows are routed through the heat exchanger module by powerful fans that control the internal and external airflows. (Thermal winding protection on the fan motors is provided as an added safety feature). The exchanger matrix, which is made of aluminium, makes the unit light and offers good durability.
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Research and Markets: The German Solar Photovoltaic Market: A New Era of Competition Dawns
Although Germany’s geographical position on the world map does not make it an ideal location for solar energy due to it receiving only moderate levels of solar radiation, it ranks second place in the photovoltaic (PV) market, generating about one quarter of the total world market.
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World’s first first triple-hybrid fuel cell passenger bus hits the road | Energy Efficiency News
The world’s first triple-hybrid fuel cell passenger bus launched at the end of last week in Germany.
The new vehicle is the result of a collaboration between Skoda Electric, UJV Nuclear Research Institute Rez and Proton Motor.
Skoda Electric provided the bus itself and its electric drive system. Fuel cell producer Proton Motor supplied the triple hybrid fuel cell propulsion system. The project was coordinated by UJV, a Czech research institution.
The propulsion system has a 50 kW PM Basic A 50 fuel cell system at its heart, integrated with a combination of batteries and ultra-capacitors. The system stores braking energy and uses 50% less energy than a conventional diesel bus. And, of course, no emissions.
The 120 kW (163 HP) propulsion system is housed in a standard 12 m bus – of the type deployed in thousands of cities around the world.
Once filled with 20 kg of gaseous hydrogen at 350 bar, which takes less than 10 minutes, the bus has a top speed of 65 km/h and a range of more than 250 km.
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Wind energy: health, cost, performance
Wind energy: health, cost, performance
I’ve got a two-story series in the Toronto Star that ran this week on wind energy. The first looks at claims that wind farms are causing some people living near them to become sick. The second looks at claims that wind energy costs too much, doesn’t achieve the claimed emission reductions, and simply fails to perform as promised.
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Scientists Discuss Climate Change at World Ocean Conference
Scientists and politicians have gathered in the Indonesian city of Manado for the World Ocean Conference. They are discussing the role of oceans in mitigating climate change and how climate change affects the world’s seas, but their efforts are hampered by a lack of knowledge about the oceans.
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Carbon Nanotubes Making Printable Supercapacitors Possible | Batteries
The energy density of the flexible nanotube supercapacitors compares well with existing supercapacitors, made using other technologies - even higher. The energy density is of about 70kW/kg, higher than that of commercial devices. The prototype, though, doesn’t have enough capacity to do anything useful, but the researchers are now studying methods to increase the energy density, so that one day supercapacitors could replace old lithium-based batteries for good, and spare important environmental resources now ruined by mining for lithium.
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Renewable Energies in the USA: Global Report Shows -Transition of World Market Continues
The REN21 Renewables Global Status Report released today shows that the fundamental transition of the world’s energy markets continues.
Solar heating capacity increased by 15 percent to 145 gigawatts-thermal (GWth), while biodiesel and ethanol production both increased by 34 percent. More renewable energy than conventional power capacity was added in both the European Union and United States for the first time ever.
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Survey: Regulations pose concerns for green data centres
An independent survey of senior data centre professionals from across Europe carried out on behalf of Digital Realty Trust has revealed heightened concerns about government regulation in the European data centre industry.
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UK Government announces water efficiency measures for new homes | Energy Efficiency News
UK Housing Minister Iain Wright has tightened up standards for efficient and safe water use in new homes.
Under the measures, which come into force this October, newly built homes will have to meet a minimum water efficiency standard of 125 litres per person per day.
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Information technology key to energy efficiency
Information technology may not be the much-maligned energy guzzler but the key to more efficient technologies, according to a report from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE).
The basis of IT, semiconductor technology, is central to energy efficiency improvements that could allow the US economy to grow by more than 70% between now and 2030 while reducing electricity use by 11%.
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Chemical Management: ICMM launches Minerals and Metals Management 2020 Strategy
n the context of the second session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management, ICMM has launched Minerals and Metals Management 2020, an action plan for chemicals management in the mining and metals sector.
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South Korea Copper Demand May Improve ‘Gradually’ Later in 2009
LS-Nikko Copper Inc. forecast copper demand in South Korea, Asia’s third-biggest metals buyer, may improve “gradually” later this year and in 2010 buoyed by economic stimulus measures and a shortage of scrap material.
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UK energy regulator relaxes grid connection rules for renewables | Energy Efficiency News
UK energy regulator Ofgem has relaxed the rules for connecting low-carbon generation sources to the national grid, which could see over 450 MW of wind capacity in Scotland come online as soon as operational.
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UK Government unveils national smart meter roll out plan
The UK Government has revealed more details today about its plans to roll out smart meters to all households in the country by 2020.
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Chinese Hybrid and Electric Cars Are Overhyped
Frost & Sullivan, a global market research firm, believes the pace of growth for China’s hybrid and electric car market has been exaggerated. “While we believe hybrids have a good future, the sales in China’s future market have been overhyped,” wrote Tristin Lin, senior consultant of automation & transportation, Frost & Sullivan China, in an email to HybridCars.com. “Hybrid development in China will not change over one night considering the sales were only 2,100 units in total [last year]. It takes time.”
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The Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management
CIWEM’s Annual Conference 2009 – Water and the Global Environment
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A special report on waste: Talking rubbish | The Economist
Entrepreneurs were queuing up to scour rubbish for anything that could be recycled. There was even talk of mining old landfills to extract steel and aluminium cans. And waste that could not be recycled should at least be used to generate energy, the evangelists argued. A brave new wasteless world seemed nigh.
But since then plummeting prices for virgin paper, plastic and fuels, and hence also for the waste that substitutes for them, have put an end to such visions. Many of the recycling firms that had argued rubbish was on the way out now say that unless they are given financial help, they themselves will disappear.
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Electric cars should make a noise | The sound of silence | The Economist
A bill going through the American Congress wants to establish a minimum level of sound for vehicles that are not using an internal-combustion engine, so that blind people and other pedestrians can hear them coming.
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Bioelectricity vs biofuels: which is most efficient? | Energy Efficiency News
According to researchers from the Carnegie Institution, the University of California, Merced and Stanford University, converting biomass to electricity delivers 80% more miles per acre of crops and doubles the potential for greenhouse gas offsets.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
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