The Light Is Green

China cuts energy use, sort of

China has been under fire from the international community lately, due to their high rate of energy consumption. China's installed capacity and electricity generation have leapt to world second place. China is also the world's second oil consumer.

To address this, in 2006 China drafted a five-year plan whereby they pledged to cut energy consumption by 4% per year, for a 20% total drop by 2010.

The problem? Consumption fell by just over 1% last year.

   

"Achieving the target is highly problematic. Energy consumption in some areas and industries just keeps rising," said Fu Zhihuan, chairman of the Financial and Economic Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), according to Chinese news site Xinhuanet.

So now the Chinese legislature has begun to draft an amendment to the Law on Conserving Energy, addressing in particular three major sources of energy overuse:

   
• Construction projects (27 percent of China's total energy consumption in 2005)
   
• Transportation sector (16 percent)
   
• Government buildings (7 percent).

The measures will mandate:

   
• Chinese cities gradually replace antiquated central heating with modern household heating systems that can be individually regulated
   
• Strict control of the indoor temperature of public buildings
   
• Restrictions on decorative lighting for large buildings
   
• Governments shall encourage the use of public transport, and also increase investment there. China is now the world's second auto market; car sales rose 18.8 percent in 2006, and there are now 22 million autos in China.

As you can imagine, the industrial use of energy is growing at a very fast pace.

Electricity, steel, nonferrous metals, construction materials, oil processing and chemicals account for 70 percent of energy consumption and sulfur dioxide discharges of the entire industrial sector in China. These industries grew by 21 percent in the first quarter of 2007, 6.6 points higher than the same period in 2005.

   

"The draft also highlighted energy efficiency in the industrial sector, saying that China will continue to push forward industrial restructuring and technical innovation to gradually weed out outdated production methods.

   

The government will also address industry by issuing preferential policies in financial investment, taxation, price, credit and government procurement to encourage energy-saving."

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Genetic erosion (Part 1)

This is alarming: farm animal species are disappearing at a sustained rate.

The United Nations says that the fast expansion of industrial livestock on a large scale, which is based on a small number of breeds, is a major threat to farm animal diversity worldwide.

Researchers from the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) say the global increase of milk, meat and egg demand causes dependence on high performance animals raised intensively to obtain homogenous products. (You can read more here.)

I think we are all more less aware of this effort towards maximum efficiency in farm output, but could we be ignoring the possible side effects?

And since today genetic material easily circulates around the world, the problem is compounded.

“For the next 40 years, the global population will pass from its current 6.2 billion to 9 billion, due to the concentrated growth in developing countries,” said FAO General Assistant Director, Alexander Müller.

“We need to increase the resistance capacity of our food supply sources, keeping and developing as far as possible our genetic resources, which are vital and irreplaceable.

“Global warming represents an additional threat to all genetic resources, for it increases pressure on biodiversity," Müller added. “Therefore, all genetic resources are needed to help adapt agriculture to climate change.”

The UN report shows that during the last seven years a domestic cattle breed has died-off every month. The experts believe that “the time is coming to an end for 20% of cow, goat, pig, horse and chicken breeds worldwide.”

FAO calls the problem Genetic Erosion.

And they propose a solution. More in an upcoming post.

(From E-campo, with permission...)

Related posts:

• UN dissects bioenergy: Part 1

• UN dissects bioenergy: Part 2

• UN dissects bioenergy: Part 3

Tags: FAO, UN, generic erosion, biodiversity, Alexander Muller, animal extinction

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Japan Car Wars: Here comes Hyundai

The car wars are moving from the U.S., where Japanese automakers have had enormous success, to these manufacturers' home turf.

And Korean carmaker Hyundai, who has also done extremely well in the U.S., is planning a big move in Japan.

Hyundai's global sales reached 3.76 million units in 2006, more than Honda (3.55) and Nissan (3.27), but less than Toyota (7.92). And in the U.S., Hyundai sales have quadrupled; they sold 460,000 units in 2006.

In Japan, Hyundai has had no such luck. Their sales in 2006? A whopping 1,651 vehicles.

But here they come, and this is their plan:

Step 1: Improve quality.

Hyundai already placed ahead of Toyota in the J.D. Power 2006 quality survey.

Step 2: Change sales strategy.

The previous focus was on luxury sedans, but Japanese consumers have been buying minivans and smaller cars for their better fuel economy. So Hyundai will now launch the i30, a compact five-door hatchback. They will accompany this with a major sales promotion effort

Step 3: Impart peace of mind.

Hyundai has implemented an incredible extended warranty for Japanese drivers: a "10 year, 100,000 kilometer" warranty was introduced this year. This includes the repair of any engine problems for free.

Hyundai's goal is to reach sales of 10,000 cars in Japan by 2010. Read more at Asahi.

Tags: Hyundai, Hyundai Japan, Japan auto industry, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry

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Firstborns have higher IQ

The New York Times talks about a very interesting study that says that:

"The eldest children in families tend to develop higher I.Q.’s than their siblings... The average difference in I.Q. was slight — three points higher in the eldest child than in the closest sibling — but significant, the researchers said. And they said the results made it clear that it was due to family dynamics, not to biological factors like prenatal environment.

Researchers have long had evidence that firstborns tended to be more dutiful and cautious than their siblings..."

The study was done in Norway and led by Dr. Petter Kristensen, an epidemiologist at the University of Oslo. His co-author was Dr. Tor Bjerkedal, an epidemiologist at the Norwegian Armed Forces Medical Services.

"In the study, Norwegian epidemiologists analyzed data on birth order, health status and I.Q. scores of 241,310 18- and 19-year-old men born from 1967 to 1976, using military records. After correcting for factors that may affect scores, including parents’ education level, maternal age at birth and family size, the researchers found that eldest children scored an average of 103.2, about 3 percent higher than second children (100.3) and 4 percent higher than thirdborns (99.0)."

Tags: smart kids, IQ, University of Oslo, Petter Kristensen, Tor Bjerkedal

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US towns adopt own currency

Towns in western Massachusetts have adopted a local currency created specifically to support locally owned businesses over national chains. BerkShares come in denominations of one, five, 10, 20 and 50.

There are currently some 844,000 BerkShares in circulation, worth $759,600 at the fixed exchange rate of 1 BerkShare to 90 U.S. cents, reports Reuters. BerkShares are accepted in 280 cafes, coffee shops, grocery stores and other local businesses.

Berkshire Hills Bancorp Inc., a western Massachusetts bank that exchanges BerkShares for dollars, is considering BerkShares-denominated checks and debit cards.

There are a dozen such efforts throughout the United States, in states such as California, Kansas, Michigan, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont and Wisconsin. One of the oldest is Ithaca Hours, which went into circulation in 1991 in Ithaca, New York.

U.S. law does not allow states to issue their own currency. However private groups can print paper scrip, but not coins.

Tags: local currency, state currency, BerkShares, Ithaca Hours

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Renault ultra low cost car

French carmaker Renault says they are considering a super low-cost car specially geared towards emerging markets. It would be priced at under $3,000 dollars (2,200 euros).

Indian manufacturer Tata is supposedly introducing a low-cost car at that price point in January 2008.

This new model would be even cheaper than Renault's very successful Logan which costs around $8,500 dollars (6,400 euros). It will not be sold in major markets as it won't meet Western safety standards.

The ultra low-cost car segment is expected to be huge as emerging markets, especially the BRIC (*) countries, are projected to have large and sustained growth. For example, the Indian market now stands at 1.3 million cars per year, with two thirds of that in small cars. Projected annual growth is 12 percent which means 3 million cars by 2016.

Renault's new car will be made in a new plant to be built in India via a partnership with local manufacturer Mahindra.

(*) BRIC stands for Brazil, Russia, India and China. Goldman Sachs coined the term in 2004 in a report they published that stated that the BRIC countries would surpass the G7 in 40 years.

Tags: Renault, Tata, automotive, auto industry, automotive industry

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Piracy (Part 2): Beyond entertainment

Last time, I spoke about how the U.S. was taking renewed action against the countries included in their "Top Intellectual Property Offenders" list.

When we hear the word piracy, we tend to automatically think of the entertainment and software industries. Remember Jon Stewart's take on piracy in the entertainment industry when he hosted the Oscars in 2006?

   

Lets face facts. It hasn't been the best year for Hollywood. The box office was a little bit down and piracy continues to be a problem. If there is anyone out there involved in illegal movie piracy, don't do it.

Take a good look at these people. these are the people you are stealing from.

(Camera pans to audience. Looks of extreme bewilderment. That wasn't in the script!)

Look at them! Face what you have done! There are women here who can barely afford enough gown to cover their breasts.

But actually, there's a much stickier issue here than downloading the latest Bruce Willis flick: health and poverty.

Example: Thailand is currently in a dispute with U.S. drug companies over the cost of drugs that fight AIDS and other diseases. The Thai government in January issued compulsory licenses allowing the use of much cheaper generic versions of two leading drugs in Thailand. The U.S. does not agree with this stance.

Oxfam America, an international development agency, denounces the Bush administration for what they say is a misstatement of the rights of U.S. companies under international trade rules. (Read more at the Oxfam site.)

   

"The report ignores important international agreements signed by the U.S. government ... which clearly state that developing countries have the right to place public health and the public interest over intellectual property rules," said Rohit Malpani, a policy adviser with Oxfam.

In the 2003 Doha Round of WTO negotiations, the U.S. "... blocked a global deal to provide cheap drugs to poor countries, following intense lobbying of the White House by America's pharmaceutical giants. Faced with furious opposition from all the other 140 members of the World Trade Organization, the U.S. refused to relax global patent laws which keep the price of drugs beyond reach of most developing countries." Read more here.

A tough stance. But let's use our imagination and hypothesize... how would the U.S. act if they were on the short end of the stick in a similar situation?

Luckily, we need not speculate for too long as something analogous occurred not long ago.

Back in 2001, the Bush administration, in the face of the anthrax scare and urgently needing to safeguard public health, threatened to break a drug patent, and was thus able to pressure Bayer into enormous discounting of its Cipro drug.

Can anyone say "double standard"?

Posts in this series:

• Piracy (Part 1): World's worst pirates

• Piracy (Part 2): Beyond entertainment

Tags: AIDS, AIDS drugs, HIV, WTO, Oxfam America, intellectual property, Jon Stewart, Bayer, Cipro

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Fiat mad in China

Fiat is thinking of a joint venture with Chinese carmaker Chery Automobile, through which the latter will build Fiat cars.

Right now, Fiat has a joint venture in place with Nanjing Automobile since 1999, through which they make the Palio and Siena subcompacts and the Perla compact sedan. But Fiat is seemingly unsatisfied with that partnership and has stated they will no longer put new models into production at Nanjing Fiat.

Nanjing recently failed to make a promised investment in the venture, prompting Fiat China president Franco Amadei to say that "the delayed reciprocal investment and inaction by NAC (Nanjing Auto) has been intolerable to Fiat," according to China People's Daily.

Chery, meanwhile is already in much publicized discussions with Chrysler to manufacture a Dodge branded compact car.

Tags: automotive, auto industry, automotive industry, China, Chinese auto industry, Chinese automotive industry, Chery, Chery Automobile, Chery Automobile Co., Fiat, Nanjing Auto, Nanjing Automobile, Franco Amadei, Nanjing Fiat

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India auto industry update (Part 4b): Honda in India, two-wheelers

As a provider of dealer management systems to automobile dealerships in several emerging markets, we closely follow what happens in the auto industry in key regions around the world. I thought it might be interesting to share some of that information.

Last time we talked about Honda's ongoing and upcoming plans for the burgeoning automotive industry in India. As we've been saying in previous posts, India is growing both as a manufacturing hub and as a consumer market.

At the same time that Honda is planning for growth in the auto industry in India, there is another motor industry where they are already very strong: the two-wheeler industry.

Honda and the two-wheeler industry in India

India is the largest manufacturer-exporter of two-wheeled vehicls in the world. The motorcycle market here is extremely large and has been growing rapidly. Sales in 2006 were some 8.5 million units, up 15%.

Honda has a hand in close to 50 percent of the two-wheeler industry in India, and in this segment they have two initiatives.

   

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. has been here since 1999. They sell their Shine and Unicorn motorcycles, and their Eterno, Dio and Activa scooters.

Honda also has a motorcycle production and sales joint venture with local Hero Group, called Hero Honda Motors Ltd., since 1985. They have two plants, with a third coming this year. Annual capacity will reach 4.4 million units by the end of 2007.

Hero Honda sells several motorcycles in India: the Super Splendor, the Glamour, and the CD Deluxe. In January 2006 they launched their first scooter, the Pleasure.

Between all of Honda's enterprises, total sales reached approximately 3.5 million units in 2006, just a bit over the 2005 figure, and up 18% from 2004.

Posts in this series:

• Part 1: Overview
• Part 2: GM in India
• Part 3: VW in India
• Part 4: Honda in India
• Part 4b: Honda in India, two-wheelers
• Part 5: Ford in India
• Part 6: Renault-Nissan in India
• Part 7: Maruti Suzuki in India
• Part 8: Hyundai in India
• Part 9: Toyota in India
• Part 10: Tata Motors in India

Tags: two-wheelers, motorcycle industry, Honda India, India, Honda, Hero Honda, Honda Motorcycle

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Google vs. Microsoft

As you may know, Google and Microsoft are ferocious competitors in the online search business (and online ad business), with Google holding a huge and widening lead.

The latest figures for the search market show this distribution among the major players:

1. Google: 55%
2. Yahoo: 22%
3. MSN: 9%
4. AOL: 5%
5. Ask.com: 2%

But Google also wants to dethrone Microsoft from the desktop arena. Bit by bit, Google has been launching online applications that compete with the different parts of PC-based Microsoft Office.

First it was gmail (Outlook), then Google Docs (Word and Excel), and now they've bought Zenter, an online slide presentation company whose offering competes with PowerPoint, and constitutes the final piece of Google's own business software suite.

An interesting note is that Google also recently launched a browser plug-in that lets you use web applications while offline, called Google Gears. Though still very much a beta product, Google Gears gives some insight into Google's view of the future.

Tags: Google, Microsoft, Zenter, Office, Microsoft Office

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