news20100109jt1

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[BUSINESS NEWS]
Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010
Rehab planners: Ax JAL's global routes
Bankruptcy filing, route spinoffs to ANA, Skymark?
Kyodo News

The government and state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Corp. of Japan are considering extensively shrinking the international operations of Japan Airlines Corp. as part of the carrier's rehabilitation plan, which is likely to entail court-backed bankruptcy filing, sources said Friday.

ETIC, tasked with JAL's reconstruction, is aiming to announce a bailout package later this month and will work to persuade JAL's key commercial creditor banks, which have favored an out-of-court reorganization through debt forgiveness, to heed its plan.

The government is making final arrangements to turn around Japan's top airline through the filing of bankruptcy under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law in a bid to ensure transparency in a process that is likely to entail a massive use of public funds.

Several proposals on JAL's rehabilitation plan are being floated, including JAL's withdrawal from international routes that compete with rival All Nippon Airways Co., on the back of concerns that a successful turnaround would not be possible without ditching its loss-making routes.

Under the turnaround plan being compiled, ETIC is considering investing about ¥300 billion and will expand its credit line for JAL to around ¥450 billion, up about ¥50 billion from its initial plan, the sources said.

About ¥100 billion of that credit line to be extended by state-owned Development Bank of Japan may also be guaranteed by ETIC, which can currently raise up to ¥1.6 trillion in government-guaranteed funds.

The plan will aim to reduce about ¥700 billion of JAL's loans by seeking ¥350 billion in debt waivers by financial institutions, including regional banks, and through cuts in corporate pension benefits.

The move to expand the credit line is aimed at ensuring the smooth continuation of JAL's key operations even if it files for bankruptcy.

"We've done our best so far to avoid any interruption to JAL's operations," Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama told reporters following a meeting with transport minister Seiji Maehara. "I understand we will continue to make similar efforts in that direction."

Growing fears of bankruptcy, however, sent JAL's share price plunging nearly 12 percent to ¥67 at the close of Tokyo trading Friday.

Following a morning meeting with Cabinet members, including new Finance Minister Naoto Kan, Maehara denied the government has decided on the bankruptcy option, but emphasized that JAL's operations will be protected regardless of which restructuring process is pursued.

"We are making arrangements with each party with emphasis on how to revive JAL by carrying out drastic reform, while making sure its aircraft continue to fly," Maehara, minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, said, adding a failure to fix JAL's problems will lead to more use of taxpayer money.

Even if JAL files for bankruptcy, the government is expected to work with creditor banks to ensure it can finance daily business transactions, including fuel purchases.

The government and banks have reportedly called for a further review of JAL's already announced plan to eliminate 16 of its international routes, which they view as insufficient.

There is also a proposal for JAL to effectively withdraw from international services outside of Asia and rely on potential partner carriers, particularly Delta Air Lines Inc., in maintaining trans-Pacific and other services through code-sharing arrangements where JAL would sell seats under its own airline code on flights operated by other carriers, the sources said.

Transport ministry officials have even suggested transferring part of JAL's Asian routes to Skymark Airlines. Senior Vice Finance Minister Naoki Minezaki and other officials have even proposed having JAL totally spin off its international routes to ANA.


[NATIONAL NEWS]
Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010
Ship collision coverage exposes media bias
By NATSUKO FUKUE
Staff writer

This week's collision in which a Japanese whaling ship chopped off the bow of an antiwhaling boat off Antarctica not only highlights the international tussle over the contentious hunt but has also led to a clash between Japanese and Western media as well.

The environmental group Sea Shepherd said its high-tech antiwhaling boat, the Ady Gil, was deliberately rammed by the Japanese whaling vessel Shonan Maru No. 2, while Japanese officials claim the collision couldn't be avoided because the activists' boat slowed suddenly in its path. The Ady Gil was hit on the port bow.

Six crew members from the Ady Gil were reportedly rescued and Sea Shepherd members said the damaged boat eventually sank Friday while being towed toward a French base in Antarctica. One crewman reportedly suffered broken ribs.

How the incident unfolded depends on whom you ask.

The Australian Broadcasting Corp., the country's public broadcaster, reported the accident with the headline "Whalers hit Sea Shepherd boat" on its Web site. In the article, it quoted a Sea Shepherd spokesman saying the Japanese vessel perpetrated "completely and absolutely a willful act."

The report said the Fisheries Agency in Tokyo is investigating the incident, but did not mention that the agency also claimed the activists slowed suddenly, thus causing the collision.

London-based Reuters published a story from Canberra headlined: "Japan whalers sink boat." Its initial report Wednesday quoted only the activists.

An article titled "Japanese cut in half antiwhaling ship Ady Gil" by the Australian tabloid The Daily Telegraph also failed to mention the Japanese government's contention that the vessel could not avoid the collision.

It also said "the Japanese refused to respond to mayday calls and fled the scene," quoting Sea Shepherd leader Paul Watson, who was aboard the Ady Gil.

The Sydney Morning Herald gave space to the Japanese angle. Its article "Japan criticizes NZ over collision" mentioned the Japanese government has lodged a complaint with New Zealand over Wednesday's clash between the protest boat Ady Gil and the Shonan Maru No. 2.

The reporter also mentioned that most Japanese are not interested in the whaling issue as very few eat whale meat regularly.

Japanese newspapers had a different take on the incident, with most calling it a collision between two ships. The Sankei Shimbun ran a front-page story Thursday claiming the Ady Gil had sailed too close to the Japanese vessel and suddenly slowed down, based on statements from the Fisheries Agency.

Although the article stated that Sea Shepherd members said they were suddenly rammed while idling, it also pointed out that the Nisshin Maru, another Japanese whaling boat, was harassed by the activists. The Asahi Shimbun's headline on the story referred to "a collision with an antiwhaling boat," and described the Ady Gil trailing a line from its stern in an attempt to snag the Japanese vessel's rudder and propeller earlier. It said "the Ady Gil did not send out a distress call after the collision," contradicting Sea Shepherd's claim.

The Yomiuri Shimbun's headline was worded more strongly. "Sea Shepherd boat cuts into the path of a patrol vessel," it said, and the article stated "the Japanese vessels repeatedly warned the Ady Gil, but it did not stop approaching."

When it comes to media coverage of international disputes that touch on value-laden cultural issues, truth, like beauty, seems to be in the eye of the beholder.

news20100109jt2

[TODAY'S TOP STORIES] from [The Japan Times]

[NATIONAL NEWS]
Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010
Ozawa aides face charges in fund scam
Kyodo News

Prosecutors may charge two ex-aides of ruling party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa without arrest for allegedly failing to list more than \400 million in his funds management body's 2004 political funds report, sources said Friday.

The two are Lower House member Tomohiro Ishikawa, 36, of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, and Takanori Okubo, 48, a former state-funded secretary to Ozawa.

Ishikawa was one of the secretaries to Ozawa at that time. Ishikawa won a Lower House seat from the Hokkaido proportional representation block for the first time in 2007 and was re-elected in the August 2009 general election.

Both are expected to be indicted on charges of violating the Political Funds Control Law for allegedly failing to list the funds involved in the political funds report.

The funds involved were more than ¥400 million, which was used to purchase a tract of land in Tokyo in October 2004 to build a dormitory for Ozawa's secretaries.

Ishikawa, who oversaw clerical work at Ozawa's funds management body, Rikuzankai, at that time, is suspected of having briefed Okubo, who was Rikuzankai's chief accountant and performed the body's accounting work in detail.

Okubo has been on trial over a separate case of accounting irregularities involving Rikuzankai and alleged illegal donations from Nishimatsu Construction Co.

During questioning on a voluntary basis by investigators at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office, Okubo denied any involvement in Rikuzankai's purchase of the land in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.

He has told the investigators that he looked for land for the dormitory but he was not involved in the purchase process.

The sources said Ishikawa accepted more than ¥400 million in cash from Ozawa to purchase the land in Setagaya Ward around October 2004. But Okubo did not list the funds in Rikuzankai's report.

Earlier, Ozawa's office said it received \400 million in loans and spent \340 million to purchase the land. However, the payment was done just before the management body received the loans, according to investigative sources.

In spring 2007, Rikuzankai paid out ¥b;400 million to Ozawa but skipped listing the funds flow in its political funds report. The investigators suspect Rikuzankai apparently paid the money back to Ozawa.


[OPINION]
Saturday, Jan. 9, 2010
Europe's latest revolution
By CARL BILDT

STOCKHOLM — History often moves with small steps, but such steps sometimes turn out to have big implications.

On Dec. 31, Sweden made history in a small way by ending the last rotating foreign and security policy presidency of the European Union. After years of rotation every six months, we handed the job over to the EU's new permanent structures, established in Brussels in accordance with the Lisbon Treaty.

What might look like a small step for mankind is certainly a giant leap for Europe.

Those with a sense of history will also see the significance of Europe's nation states, which not long ago fought each other continuously, now pooling their foreign policies in order to assert them more vigorously on the global stage.

The years since the European revolutions of 1989 have been a period of extraordinary success for the rapidly evolving EU. The EU has expanded from only 12 members then to 27 today, and has brought stability and new prosperity to approximately 100 million people in the eastern and central parts of the Continent. The introduction of the euro by a number of them — Estonia is likely to follow shortly — has also been a remarkable success story.

It is, to a large degree, the magnetism of the EU model that, during these two decades, transformed Europe from perhaps the world's leading security problem to one of the most important global partners on virtually any issue.

But what the future will bring is by no means predetermined. In essence, it boils down to whether Europe in the decades ahead will be seen as a model for the future or as a museum of the past. Decisions taken during the next few years will be crucial to determining the outcome.

To be a model for the future, Europe's governments and peoples must remain committed to an open Europe in an open world. In more practical terms, that means continuing to honor Article 49 of the Treaty of Rome, which keeps the door to membership open to any European country willing and able to share the EU's values, interests and policies.

About 150 million people in southeastern Europe — the Western Balkans, Ukraine and Turkey — aim at becoming EU citizens. Membership will obviously take time, but the accession process will drive modernization and democratic reform in a way that will strengthen all of Europe. A Europe that closes its door to those willing and able to enter will be a Europe that diminishes its own future.

Equally important is a renewed commitment to economic reform in the EU itself. Economic success or failure in the decade up to 2020 will be another critical element in whether we are seen as a model or as a museum. This will require a more committed approach than that pursued under the so-called Lisbon Agenda during the past decade.

It remains a shame that only two of the EU's 27 countries have met the target of spending 2 percent of GDP on research and development. It is imperative that the EU build societies that are seen as global leaders in social, political, and technological innovation — all will be urgently needed in the transition to the low-carbon economy that is coming.

An open Europe must also be fully committed to an open global economy. A sustainable globalization process is not only a paramount interest for Europe itself, but also the only way that we can continue to lift billions of people out of poverty and create better foundations for the rule of the law and global governance in countries still lacking in these respects.

This will require a Europe able to build deep strategic relationships with all the key players in our increasingly multipolar world. The year that has just passed has demonstrated — in the handling of the financial crisis and in trying to tackle climate change — both the need for and the difficulties of creating a new paradigm of global governance. Small elite bodies like the Group of Eight no longer work, but neither do mammoth meetings of the sort we saw in Copenhagen.

The EU has cooperation and integration embedded in its very DNA. That is why it truly has the potential to be a model not only for its own region, but also globally. Few things will be needed more in the years to come.

If we are to succeed, we must make the most of our new Lisbon institutions, maintain our commitment to an open Europe, accelerate reform of our economies, and take the lead in forging a new framework for global governance that supports a truly sustainable process of continued globalization.

Nothing less will do.

Carl Bildt is foreign minister of Sweden.© 2010 Project Syndicate

news20100109lat1

[Today's Newspaper] from [Los Angeles Times]

[Environment > Business > Energy]
By Todd Woody
January 9, 2010
Pasadena's ESolar lands 2,000-megawatt deal in China
The firm will provide technology and assistance in setting up a series of solar farms for China, in the nation's first big venture into solar thermal power production.

ESolar Inc. of Pasadena signed an agreement Friday to build a series of solar thermal power plants in China with a total capacity of 2,000 megawatts, in one of the largest renewable energy deals of its kind.

Coming four months after an Arizona company, First Solar, secured a contract to build an equally large photovoltaic power plant in China, the ESolar deal signals China's emergence as a major market for renewable energy.

"They're moving very fast, much faster than the state and U.S. governments are moving," said Bill Gross, ESolar's chairman and the founder of Idealab.

Under the agreement, ESolar will provide China Shandong Penglai Electric Power Equipment Manufacturing Co. the technology and expertise to build solar "power tower" plants over the next decade. Those solar farms would generate a total of 2,000 megawatts of electricity; at peak output that would be equivalent to a large nuclear power plant. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

The initial project, which includes a 92-megawatt solar power plant to be built this year, will be located in the 66-square-mile Yulin Energy Park in the Mongolian desert in northern China. The region has become a hot spot for renewable energy, with the 2,000-megawatt First Solar project planned 60 miles to the north.

Penglai Electric will manage the ESolar power plants' construction and another firm, China Shaanxi Yulin Huayang New Energy Co., will own and operate the first projects.

Although China is the world leader in producing photovoltaic panels such as those found on residential rooftops, the ESolar deal is the country's first big venture into large-scale solar thermal power production.

ESolar's power plants use fields of mirrors called heliostats to focus the sun's rays on a water-filled receiver that sits atop a slender tower. The intense heat vaporizes the water, and the resulting high-pressure steam drives an electricity-generating turbine.

"We chose ESolar because of its demonstration in commercial maturity, sustainability and long-term potential to compete against fossil fuel," Eric Wang, a Penglai Electric spokesman, wrote in an e-mail from Beijing, where the deal was signed.

ESolar already manufactures its heliostat arrays in China, and under the terms of the agreement with Penglai it will also build its power plant receivers there. Gross said that ESolar would retain control of the intellectual property behind the technology's design and operation.

Nathaniel Bullard, a solar energy analyst with consulting firm Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said the ESolar deal indicated China was moving aggressively to pinpoint technologies around the world that could help it meet its ambitious renewable energy goals.

"If you're identified by China as a leading technology developer, the technology will be imported with the implication that your technology will over time become local," he said. "You effectively have one stakeholder, the government, which makes development much easier."

In August, ESolar, which is backed by Idealab, Google Inc. and other investors, threw the switch on its first project, the 5-megawatt Sierra SunTower demonstration power plant in Lancaster that supplies Southern California Edison.

"We have almost half a year of production and enough convincing data to convince a company that the technology works as advertised," Gross said.

He said negotiations with Penglai Electric began about six months ago after executives approached ESolar and then flew to Los Angeles to see the Sierra plant.

Although the power tower concept is not new, ESolar relies on a sophisticated software system and imaging technology to control 176,000 small mirrors that form arrays at its standard 46-megawatt power plant. The software positions the mirrors to create a virtual parabola to focus the sun on the receiver tower.

The mirrors' dimensions -- each is about the size of a television screen -- allow ESolar to make and install them cheaply and use less land for the power plant.

news20100109lat2

[Today's Newspaper] from [Los Angeles Times]

[Environment > Business > pollution]
By Ronald D. White
January 9, 2010
Cleaner port air, but how?
Legal tussles on trucker rules bedevil Los Angeles and Long Beach ports.

Not too long ago, the 10,500-acre complex at the southern tip of Los Angeles County wasn't just the home of the nation's busiest seaports, it was the graveyard where old trucks went to die.

Dented, rusting 1988-and-older rigs hauled cargo containers to and from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, earning the harbor the nickname of "diesel death zone."

On Jan. 1, the neighboring ports cruised past a major pollution-fighting milestone, banning trucks made before 1994 and those that don't meet at least 2004 emissions standards -- trucks such as the 15-year-old Freightliner once owned by Guido Perez. The Lancaster resident now drives a 2008 ultra-low-emission Peterbilt, one of more than 6,000 new trucks brought into cargo service at the ports in the last 15 months.

"It's a beautiful truck," Perez said. "I can't even smell the exhaust."

But for all the progress since mayors Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles and Bob Foster of Long Beach launched the nation's most ambitious clean-trucks program at a ceremony Oct. 1, 2008, a new lawsuit shows that hardly anyone is completely happy with how the changes are being carried out.

At the heart of the conflict is the issue of whether drivers must work for trucking companies, as the Los Angeles clean-trucks program requires, or can remain self-employed, as Long Beach's plan allows. The Los Angeles effort is seen as pro-union because working for a trucking company makes drivers more likely to be recruited by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club recently sued Long Beach officials, accusing them of cutting a deal with the trucking industry that puts "the wolf in charge of the henhouse." They charged in Los Angeles Superior Court that Long Beach, in reaching a settlement that got it out of a lawsuit against the two ports brought by the American Trucking Assn., failed to seek public input. The settlement, the groups' lawsuit said, would leave Long Beach unable to "stop trucking companies from using dirty trucks that fail to meet environmental and safety standards."

Long Beach City Atty. Robert Shannon said municipal officials "believe these allegations have no merit."

On Monday, the American Trucking Assn. is to head to federal court seeking a summary judgment to prevent Los Angeles from executing its plan. The ATA says the Los Angeles port is violating federal deregulation laws by requiring drivers to give up independent owner-operator status and work for trucking companies, a mandate that is being phased in.

Perez, 53, is an owner-operator who says the clean-trucks program is working for him. Perez found his Peterbilt for $80,000 after the company he drives for said it would no longer give him work if he were using his old 1995 truck.

On Oct. 1, 2008, the ports had barred all 1988 and older trucks. As of Jan. 1 this year, all 1993 and older trucks are banned. Trucks built from 1994 to 2003 will be allowed access only if equipped with verified diesel emission control retrofits. Only 2004 and younger rigs can enter without question.

Since the restrictions were set, the California Air Resources Board has adopted similar rules for all ports and railroad yards in California.

The only thing Perez finds daunting is the economy, which he says is still slower than it has been in several years. Perez's usual gig is hauling borax from Trona, Calif., for a trucking company that seems committed to getting him enough work to keep up with his $1,600 monthly truck payment. He says it's "a lot more than my home mortgage."

But Rafael Dominguez, 31, said he has had a nightmare experience. Dominguez gave up his rig, a 1997 Volvo, after learning that a retrofit would cost more than the truck was worth. He said he worked out a "lease-to-own" deal in March of last year on a new rig bought by a local trucking company.

But Dominguez said the company, which he declined to identify, kept changing the rules on him, raising what he would have to pay for the lease, which began at $1,640 a month. Dominguez said the company set up an unfairly competitive system under which drivers who did the most work would be allowed to pay less. In November, Dominguez walked away from what he had already paid on the lease and became an employee of another firm.

"As an independent driver, I wasn't really independent at all. I had no rights, no benefits, no paid time off. The trucking company could say 'take it or leave it' and do anything they wanted," Dominguez said.

John Holmes, deputy executive director of operations for the Port of Los Angeles, doesn't know Dominguez or his situation. But he said that the port was trying to push the industry away from a system in which drivers were compelled to "undercut one another, always trying to be $5 cheaper than the next guy, at the expense of the environment."

Toward that end, the port shelled out $44 million in the form of $20,000-per-truck incentives.

"It was pretty clear to us that we were going to have to change the industry in order for this to be successful and sustainable," Holmes said.

Mayor Foster, who went out to view port operations Monday, said the Long Beach plan was "succeeding better than our best hopes" and was proof that his port "can have robust commerce and cleaner air."

Mike Fox has a different perspective. He's owner and chief executive of Fox Transportation Inc., a trucking company in Rancho Cucamonga. He's also one of the principals of the Clean Truck Coalition, a group of 10 small to medium-size family-owned companies that was among the first to apply for the incentive money from Los Angeles, ultimately buying 600 vehicles.

Fox said he wanted the L.A. and Long Beach ports to get out of their court battles and work together on a single plan. That, he said, would end the apprehension some customers feel because of the disputes.

Without a single plan, some businesses might go to other ports where the situation is less confusing.

"Our businesses work with both Los Angeles and Long Beach," Fox said. "We are the home teams, and what we want to see is more business at the ports."

news20100109gdn1

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Energy]
Foreign firms gain most from off-shore wind power deals
Germans set pace in winning orders for difficult projects in deeper waters
Terry Macalister
guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 January 2010 19.20 GMT Article history

Foreign-owned firms today seized the lion's share of the development contracts to kickstart a wind revolution in offshore Britain that ministers say will eventually match the glory days of the North Sea oil industry. But Gordon Brown said he was still confident that UK supply firms could win many of the £75bn-worth of contracts needed to build enough clean power to generate 25% of the country's electricity.

Nine wind power consortiums have signed agreements with the Crown Estate, which has responsibility for renewable power in UK waters, to take their proposals through the planning stage.

Only five of the nine have British companies involved in the partnerships – two of those with minority stakes – and the pace was largely set by Germany with E.ON, RWE and Siemens, who were all substantial winners. Centrica, the parent group of British Gas, was the only British group with a majority holding in any of the winning consortiums, but Scottish Power and SSE Renewables took a stake in development areas such as the Dogger Bank and Firth of Forth.

The proposed windfarms will be further away from the coast and in deeper waters than any existing offshore project, and therefore more difficult to build. But they will also be far less likely to be held up by planning objections that have blighted the development of onshore wind power.

Britain already leads the world in the deployment of offshore wind and has more projects installed, in planning or in construction than any other country.

But the issue of British jobs has become politically sensitive since E.ON awarded 90% of the £2bn-worth of supply contracts for the world's biggest windfarm – the London Array off Kent – to German and other overseas firms.

Brown said the new round of wind licences provided a substantial platform for investing in local industrial capacity. "The offshore wind industry is at the heart of the UK economy's shift to low carbon and could be worth £75bn and support up to 70,000 jobs by 2020," he said, adding: "I am definitely going to do everything I can to bring these jobs to Britain."

The business secretary, Lord Mandelson, and the energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, were similarly upbeat, saying there were already engineering and other companies around the UK gearing up to win a slice of the action. Miliband said it would damage British companies' exports if the government at home insisted developers used UK suppliers.

Many of the developers represented at the contract awards in London expressed their own optimism that UK firms could rise to the challenge, but made clear they would press on regardless. Eddie O'Connor, chief executive of Mainstream Renewable Power, a partner of Siemens on the Hornsea zone, said: "We have to buy the cheapest wherever you can get it."

The new windfarms announced should produce as much power as eight Drax coal-fired stations.

Today's were welcomed by Greenpeace, which said the technological challenge should be relished.

"Throughout its history Britain has shown the determination and ingenuity to tackle the great industrial challenges of each era. In the 21st century these qualities are being called on once again, to enable the transition from fossil fuels to clean, renewable sources of energy. Our country is home to some of the best engineers, mechanics and construction professionals in the world. Their expertise will be crucial if we are to harness the massive potential that new technologies like offshore wind have to offer," said Greenpeace executive director John Sauven.

But while ministers and the developers were excited about the prospects of making a substantial difference to Britain's security of supply as North Sea oil and gas run out, as well as helping beat UK climate change targets, they also acknowledged the scale of the difficulties. The Crown Estate said it hoped to see 32GW of new wind power come on stream, but set no minimum, and its director of marine estate, Rob Hastings, admitted that "it depends on what we encounter" on the way.

O'Connor said there were potentially "millions of problems" but he was confident that none was insuperable. He singled out skills shortages and the need for a supergrid linking power networks around the North Sea to make up for the intermittent nature of wind.

Wind developers say research and development breakthroughs were also vital if the economics of wind were to improve sufficiently offshore. The government has spent £170m on grants for R&D but is still struggling to convince a major wind turbine developer such as Siemens or Mitsubishi to establish a blade manufacturing plant in the UK.

The £75bn challenge

The vision of building 6,500 turbines in deep waters around Britain that will generate enough power to provide 25% of the country's electricity is an exciting prospect, but a tough challenge.

Many developers admit it will only make financial sense – even with big government subsidies – if technological breakthroughs are made to drive down the £75bn-£100bn estimated cost. That could involve designing gigantic new blades or using new floating platforms on which seven or eight turbines could be erected, as is being pioneered by Swedish firm Hexicon.

Mainstream Renewable Energy, one of the development licensing winners, argues that the goal of producing 32 gigawatts of power offshore will also only be credible if a supergrid is built.

That could cost up to £15bn to link Britain with Norway and the continent using giant electrical cables through which power could be imported or exported depending on whether the wind was blowing, and which firm needed power at any one time. ­Denmark's offshore wind sector already produces too much power during some parts of the day and exports it to other countries.

news20100109gdn2

[News] from [guardian.co.uk]

[Environment > Wind power]
£75bn for UK's biggest offshore wind programme signals new era for renewables
Crown Estate has revealed successful bidders for nine windfarm sites expected to create tens of thousands of new jobs and help the UK meet clean energy and carbon emission targets
Alok Jha, green technology correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 January 2010 11.57 GMT Article history

The UK government announced a £75bn programme today to build thousands of offshore wind turbines that will kickstart the next phase of renewable power generation in Britain.

The Crown Estate revealed the successful bidders for at least 25GW of windfarms across nine zones in the seas around the UK.

The nine winning bidders are: Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd, SeaGreen Wind Energy Ltd, the Forewind Consortium equally owned by each of SSE Renewables, RWE Npower Renewables, Statoil and Statkraft, Siemens Project Ventures and Mainstream Renewable Power, East Anglia Offshore Wind Ltd equally owned by Scottish Power Renewables and Vattenfall Vindkraft, Eon Climate and Renewables UK, Eneco New Energy, RWE Npower Renewables and Centrica Renewable Energy and involving RES Group.

The developments could create tens of thousands of new jobs, which will be crucial if the UK is to meet its targets for clean energy and carbon emission cuts.

Gordon Brown said: "This new round of licences provides a substantial new platform for investing in UK industrial capacity. The offshore wind industry is at the heart of the UK economy's shift to low carbon and could be worth £75bn and support up to 70,000 jobs by 2020."

The UK has the biggest wind resource in Europe – some estimates put the UK's share at one-third of the continent's total. Secretary of state for energy Ed Miliband said: "Today's news shows we're creating the right conditions for the energy industry to invest in harnessing it." Taking advantage of the country's potential wind power will be critical in meeting the targets set by government for the UK to meet 15% of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020.

Round three will be the biggest wind programme announced by the Crown Estate so far and aims to accelerate the deployment of wind energy on a massive scale.

The nine sites in line for development include Dogger Bank, the Bristol Channel, the seas off Norfolk and the Firth of Forth. The proposed windfarms will be further away from the coast and in deeper waters than any existing offshore project, and therefore more challenging to build.

According to Greenpeace, Britain already leads the world in the deployment of offshore wind and has more projects installed, in planning or in construction than any other country. Almost 700MW of offshore turbines are already installed across nine projects, with around another 1.2GW under construction and a further 3.5GW in planning stages. By comparison, a large coal-fired power station generates about 1GW of electricity.

In advance of today's announcement, Greenpeace executive director, John Sauven, said: "Throughout its history Britain has shown the determination and ingenuity to tackle the great industrial challenges of each era. In the 21st century these qualities are being called on once again, to enable the transition from fossil fuels to clean, renewable sources of energy. Our country is home to some of the best engineers, mechanics and construction professionals in the world. Their expertise will be crucial if we are to harness the massive potential that new technologies like offshore wind have to offer."

The winning consortia will face several challenges, including a lack of offshore connections to the national electricity grid and limited capacity in the supply and installation chain for windfarms. "The scale of round three will require a dramatic increase in manufacturing capacity for offshore wind, such as turbines, foundations, offshore electrics and installation vessels," said the British Wind Energy Association. It estimates that more than 55,000 jobs could be created in the planning, construction and maintenance of the thousands of wind turbines that will be built in the next decade.

However, Britain currently has no commercial-scale wind turbine manufacturing plants, following the closure of the Vestas plant on the Isle of Wight last year.

Another issue is that existing subsidies for offshore wind are only guaranteed until 2014, but very few of the round three projects will have begun operating by then.

The winning developers

> Moray Firth Zone, Moray Offshore Renewables Ltd which is 75% owned by EDP Renovaveis and 25% owned by SeaEnergy Renewables – 1.3 GW
> Firth of Forth Zone, SeaGreen Wind Energy Ltd equally owned by SSE Renewables and Fluor – 3.5 GW
> Dogger Bank Zone, the Forewind Consortium equally owned by each of SSE Renewables, RWE Npower Renewables, Statoil and Statkraft – 9 GW
> Hornsea Zone, Siemens Project Ventures and Mainstream Renewable Power, a consortium equally owned by Mainstream Renewable Power and Siemens Project Ventures and involving Hochtief Construction – 4 GW
> Norfolk Bank Zone, East Anglia Offshore Wind Ltd equally owned by Scottish Power Renewables and Vattenfall Vindkraft – 7.2 GW
> Hastings Zone, Eon Climate and Renewables UK – 0.6 GW
> West of Isle of Wight Zone, Eneco New Energy – 0.9 GW
> Bristol Channel Zone, RWE Npower Renewables, the UK subsidiary of RWE Innogy – 1.5 GW
> Irish Sea Zone, Centrica Renewable Energy and involving RES Group – 4.2 GW


[Comment is free > Cif green]
Anti-whalers collide over tactics
I find it hard not to admire Sea Shepherd's bold activism, but a more moderate approach may well save more whales
Philip Hoare
guardian.co.uk, Friday 8 January 2010 15.00 GMT Article

Last month in Hobart harbour I watched as Ady Gil, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's latest weapon in their justified war against Japanese whalers, readied itself for departure. The black-painted and futuristic trimaran – a former racing vessel donated by a wealthy supporter and resembling nothing so much as a watery version of the Batmobile – was about to do battle with a whaling fleet that persistently breaches Australian waters to hunt for whales under the guise of "scientific research".

As I looked on from the quayside, the dreadlocked and tattooed crew – who looked like they might have been more at home at Glastonbury than on a seagoing vessel – got tooled up for the fight. It occurred to me, even then, that for all its apparent power, their craft would prove flimsy in the face of ocean waves – let alone Japanese resistance. Nevertheless, this week, they met their foe in the freezing waters of the Southern Ocean – and suffered a collision, the rights and wrongs of which are still unclear.

Sea Shepherd's founder, Paul Watson – a modern Ahab if there ever was one – claimed the Japanese ship deliberately rammed the Ady Gil. However, one very experienced whale man of my acquaintance (a man who's spent all his life at sea, saving whales) said that Watson's vessel was clearly attempting to get close to the Japanese ship, and that the latter could not have avoided the resulting collision.

But there's a greater collision here, too. Sea Shepherd's heroic, piratical efforts (they fly both the Aboriginal flag, and a black skull and crossbones) are laudable, certainly. The deliberate killing of any whale for economic reasons (as Japan's certainly are) in the 21st century is unforgiveable and entirely unnecessary. But the 1986 International Whaling Commission (IWC) moratorium on whaling worldwide – which Japan circumvents with its "scientific" charade – is both temporary, and voluntary.

Out on the Tasman Peninsula – fresh from watching humpback whales besporting themselves in the same Southern Ocean – I met a young shaven-headed disciple of Sea Shepherd. His voice tinged with passion, he was messianic about Watson and his cetacean crusade. Indeed, I could barely get a word in edgeways.

Sea Shepherd feeds on such passion. But as Bibi van der Zee argues in her piece on liberty central, what's needed here is dialogue, not violence in return for the violence of the explosive harpoon. Indeed, the more pragmatic among whale conservationists even envisage allowing Japan a local quota for whaling – thereby curtailing their unregulated pelagic fleet – in return for some kind of control. They reason that if the Japanese are pushed to anger any further, they may abandon all pretence of abiding by the IWC, and thus we (the largely western nations devoted to anti-whaling) will lose all semblance of control over the issue.

The Australian government, under Kevin Rudd, is determined to end Japanese whaling in their waters. But as more than one whale expert in Australia confided to me, Sea Shepherd's antics, for all its popular support in Australia and elsewhere (the rock group Red Hot Chili Peppers are just one of the donors to their cause), may be actively shackling the Australian government's more diplomatic attempts to end the slaughter. One is left to wonder: is Paul Watson's project a mere act of vanity? Maybe – but the rebel in me still applauds his Ahabian madness.

news20100109bbc1

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 01:47 GMT, Saturday, 9 January 2010
Neanderthal 'make-up' discovered
Scientists claim to have the first persuasive evidence that Neanderthals wore "body paint" 50,000 years ago.

The team report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) that shells containing pigment residues were Neanderthal make-up containers.

Scientists unearthed the shells at two archaeological sites in the Murcia province of southern Spain.

The team says its find buries "the view of Neanderthals as half-wits" and shows they were capable of symbolic thinking.

Professor Joao Zilhao, the archaeologist from Bristol University in the UK, who led the study, said that he and his team had examined shells that were used as containers to mix and store pigments.

Black sticks of the pigment manganese, which may have been used as body paint by Neanderthals, have previously been discovered in Africa.

"[But] this is the first secure evidence for their use of cosmetics," he told BBC News. "The use of these complex recipes is new. It's more than body painting."

The scientists found lumps of a yellow pigment, that they say was possibly used as a foundation.

They also found red powder mixed up with flecks of a reflective brilliant black mineral.

Some of the sculpted, brightly coloured shells may also have been worn by Neanderthals as jewellery.

Until now it had been thought by many researchers that only modern humans wore make-up for decoration and ritual purposes.

There was a time in the Upper Palaeolithic period when Neanderthals and humans may have co-existed. But Professor Zilhao explained that the findings were dated at 10,000 years before this "contact".

"To me, it's the smoking gun that kills the argument once and for all," he told BBC News.

"The association of these findings with Neanderthals is rock-solid and people have to draw the associations and bury this view of Neanderthals as half-wits."

Professor Chris Stringer, a palaeontologist from the Natural History Museum in London, UK, said: "I agree that these findings help to disprove the view that Neanderthals were dim-witted.

But, he added that evidence to that effect had been growing for at least the last decade.

"It's very difficult to dislodge the brutish image from popular thinking," Professor Stringer told BBC News. "When football fans behave badly, or politicians advocate reactionary views, they are invariably called 'Neanderthal', and I can't see the tabloids changing their headlines any time soon."

Hybrid boy?

Another study published in the same issue of PNAS provides intriguing evidence about the relationship between humans and Neanderthals.

An international team of researchers examined teeth from the skeleton of a human child that was discovered in Portugal in the late 1990s.

It was suggested by some scientists at the time that this skeleton, which dates from the Upper Palaeolithic period - between 10,000 and 40,000 years ago - might have been the product of human and Neanderthal interbreeding.

The researchers found that the skeleton's teeth shared some features with Neanderthals rather than modern humans.

Although this does not settle the argument of whether the child was a hybrid, it does indicate, the researchers write, that "these earlier Upper Palaeolithic humans are not simply older versions of [today's] humanity".


[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 02:15 GMT, Saturday, 9 January 2010
Royal Institution former chief suing for discrimination
{Baroness Greenfield is credited with modernising the RI}
The former director of one of the UK's oldest science organisations is expected to sue for sex discrimination after losing her job.

The Royal Institution (RI) is reported to have made Baroness Greenfield redundant because the role of a full time director was no longer affordable.

Neurologist Lady Greenfield is one of the UK's best-known female scientists.

She said she was "saddened and dismayed" by the decision and was taking legal advice.

Her supporters say that as director she modernised the RI, which some had regarded as stuffy and outdated.

As well as initiating a £22m refurbishment of its buildings, Lady Greenfield used her own glamorous image to promote not just the RI, but science generally.

Contesting

But the RI was not able to recoup the investment through hiring out its facilities and found itself in financial difficulties.

Following a review, the organisation's trustees decided that they could not afford the post of a full-time director, the Times newspaper reports.

In a statement, Lady Greenfield said: "As well as contesting the legitimacy of the process, I will be presenting a claim in the Employment Tribunal which will include allegations of sex discrimination.

"I am the only female who has been appointed to this iconic post throughout the 211 year history of the Royal Institution and cannot see how this decision can be in the best interests of the organisation or its members."

The Royal Institution is a registered charity which aims to connect the public with the world of science. It is famous for its annual Christmas lectures to young people.


[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 17:26 GMT, Friday, 8 January 2010
By Doreen Walton
BBC News
Lancet urges China to tackle scientific fraud
{China's scientific contribution has grown significantly in the past decade}
The British medical journal the Lancet has urged China's authorities to do more to tackle scientific fraud.

Recently, dozens of papers were found to be faked. "China's government must assume stronger leadership in scientific integrity," the Lancet says.

China ranks second behind the United States in the number of academic papers published every year.

Following a wave of scandals in 2006, China's government announced reforms aimed at preventing misconduct.

Richard Horton, editor in chief of the Lancet, believes the authorities have not gone far enough and the pressure on academics to publish papers for degrees and job promotions creates problems.

"In China, unfortunately, there are great incentives to commit fraud," he said.

"The measures haven't got to the root cause which are these conditions which encourage scientists to lie.

"When you make prestigious jobs and large amounts of money closely tied to publication, that creates conditions for fraud."

{{ If science in China cannot be trusted in certain areas, that undermines China's economic growth}
Dr Richard Horton
The Lancet }

Last December, two teams of researchers at Jinggangshan University in central China were found to have falsified 70 papers published in 2007.

"It's very tricky. The problem has existed for a long time," says Dr Lu Yiyi, Associate Fellow at Chatham House's China programme.

She believes universities need to teach about the importance of honesty but that the government will have a very difficult job stamping out fraud.

"There weren't strict rules established in the first place so a large number of people went though the system and got their professorship.

"If you apply stricter rules retroactively then their past work would be vulnerable to criticism," said Dr Lu.

China wants to become a research superpower and its influence is booming economically and scientifically.

Dr Horton said it is vital China's government takes action.

"Science in any country is a major source of economic growth," he said.

"The concern is if science in China cannot be trusted in certain areas that undermines China's economic growth."

news20100109bbc2

[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]

[Science & Environment]
Page last updated at 16:36 GMT, Friday, 8 January 2010
'Wildlife in crisis' in frozen UK
{Gardens have become havens for birds searching for food, the RSPB says }
Britain's wildlife is being pushed to "the brink of a crisis" as sub-zero temperatures continue to grip the nation, according to conservationists.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is organising emergency feeding of several threatened species, including bitterns and cirl buntings.

The RSPB is also asking people to feed garden birds, which are struggling to find food in the freezing weather.

The harsh winter could hit bird numbers "for many years to come", they warn.

The UK's Met Office recorded the winter's coldest day on Friday, when temperatures plunged to -22.3C (-8.1F) in Scotland's Highlands.

{{With the icy weather predicted to last at least another week, this winter could be the single greatest wildlife killer of the new millennium}
Dr Mark Avery,
RSPB conservation director}

Severe weather warnings of heavy snow are in place for eastern England, and forecasters warn that the coming days could be even colder.

"The extremely hard winter spanning 1962 and 1963 was arguably the single event that had the greatest impact on wildlife within living memory," said Mark Avery, the RSPB's conservation director.

"With the icy weather predicted to last at least another week, this winter could be the single greatest wildlife killer of the new millennium."

Dr Avery said that recent conservation measures - combined with mild winters - had seen a welcomed increase in the number of some threatened species, such as the bittern.

But he added: "Now that the barometer has swung rapidly in the other direction, some species face a crisis, forcing us to take immediate action."

RSPB volunteers have begun "emergency feeding initiatives", which include putting out sprats at key sites for bitterns.

The birds are finding it difficult to catch fish in ice-locked wetland areas.

The society says that it is being inundated with calls from the public, who are reporting unusual visitors to bird feeders in gardens - including woodcock, snipe and grey wagtails.

The freezing weather means that gardens have become havens for wildlife, it adds, as birds and animals are forced to venture further afield in the search of food.

The RSPB has joined forces with other conservation groups - including Natural England, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust - to urge people not to disturb flocks of wetlands birds.

They say ducks, swans, geese and other wading birds cannot afford to waste energy that they cannot readily replace.

news20100109cnn1

[Top stories] from [CNN.com]

[World Sport]
January 9, 2010 -- Updated 1258 GMT (2058 HKT)
African Cup of Nations to go ahead after Togo attack

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> African football body says Cup of Nations will go ahead despite attack on Togo team
> Angolan prime minister, football chiefs to meet Saturday to discuss security
> Bus carrying Togolese national team fired on with machine guns
> Togo players to decide if they will take part in tournament, coach says it should be called off

CNN) -- The organizers of the Africa Cup of Nations say the tournament will go ahead in Angola despite a machine gun attack on a bus carrying Togo's national football team, including star striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

However, Togo coach Hubert Velud believes they should consider calling off the 16-team event.

Confederation of African Football President Issa Hayatou will meet Saturday with Angolan Prime Minister Antonio Paulo Kassoma "to take decisions to guarantee the smooth running of the competition," a statement on the organization's Web site said.

"The Confederation of African Football is terribly saddened by these events and expresses its total support as well as sympathy to the entire Togolese delegation," the statement said.

Velud told French radio station RMC that the staging tournament must now be in doubt, with his players still to decide whether to take part.

"We can at least pose ourselves that question," he said on Saturday. "It's an act of barbarism while we are here to celebrate African football.

"We left the hospital a short time ago to come to the center for the teams in the competition. We stayed in the hospital a long time so that we could be very united.

"In these situations you become a bit paranoid, you doubt everything. We don't feel that the authorities are taking this very seriously. I don't mean that they want to hush up the matter, but almost.

"What will happen I don't know. We will have a meeting with the players and technical staff to take a decision."

Football's world governing body FIFA said it was "deeply moved" by the incident and expressed "utmost sympathy with the Togolese players. It said it expected a full report from the CAF on the situation.

Hosts Angola are due to kick off the tournament against Mali on Sunday in Luanda. The competition is Angola's first major sporting event since a 2002 peace deal brought the southern African country's decades-old civil war to an end.

It also marks the beginning of a year in the spotlight for African football with South Africa set to become the continent's first country to host the FIFA World Cup, football's showpiece event, in June.

There were conflicting reports over the casualties caused by Friday's attack which occurred in Cabinda, a disputed oil-rich enclave separated from the rest of Angola by Democratic Republic of Congo territory, shortly after the team bus had crossed the border.

Togolese striker Thomas Dossevi, who was on the bus, said the bus driver was killed in the attack and three others were wounded. But Angola's official press agency, ANGOP, reported nine people were wounded -- eight Togolese and one Angolan.

We are all in shock because it's an act of war. There was a lot of blood and fear in the bus

--Togo coach Hubert Velud
An armed wing of a separatist group, the Forces for Liberation of the State of Cabinda, claimed responsibility for the attack. CNN cannot independently verify the claim.

Velud thanked the Angolan army for averting an even bigger disaster.

"What's sure is that the army saved our lives," he told RMC. "Without them, the rebels would have destroyed us because we didn't have any defense. And I wouldn't be here to speak to you now.

"I was hit in the arm but it's nothing compared to what happened to the assistant coach, who took a bullet in the stomach, as did the press attache.

"Goalkeeper Kodjovi Obilale took one in the kidney. My case is minor in comparison to them.

"But we are all in shock because it's an act of war. There was a lot of blood and fear in the bus.

"I'm thinking of people I know, but there is also a huge thought for the driver who was killed."

We were attacked by armed rebels who used Kalashnikovs. We had just passed the border and we were attacked from both sides

--Togo striker Thomas Dossevi
Angola, which was wracked by civil war for nearly three decades, brokered a peace deal in 2006 with separatists seeking an independent republic of Cabinda. The southern African country is one of the world's largest energy producers and a major supplier of petroleum and liquefied natural gas to the U.S. market.

Dossevi, 30, who plays for French side Nantes, told CNN "armed rebels" with AK-47s had opened fire.

"We were attacked by armed rebels who used Kalashnikovs. We had just passed the border and a couple of minutes later we were attacked from both sides.

"We hid below the seats -- we had police protection in front and behind but we were attacked from both sides. As soon as I heard the bullets I went to the floor. ... The attack lasted for 10-15 minutes, " Dossevi said.

Togo are due to play their opening match of the competition on Monday against Ghana but Dossevi said the players didn't want to play in the tournament.

"The players are shocked. They don't want to play in the competition anymore," he said. "We will meet all night long to decide what we are going to do. Right now, we don't even have all our clothes."

Togo's star player Adebayor, who plays for Manchester City, was among those on the bus but the English Premier League club said he was unhurt in the attack.

"Manchester City can confirm that striker Emmanuel Adebayor is uninjured after this afternoon's attack on the Togo team bus in Angola," a statement on the club's Web site said. "Club officials have spoken with Adebayor and though shaken by the terrible events, he is unharmed."

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini expressed condolences for the wounded players and their families.

"Our thoughts are with the Togo team, their football association and the people. We send them our best wishes at this traumatic time," he said.

The Africa Cup of Nations is one of the world's biggest football tournaments, bringing together stars including Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Michael Essien, Inter Milan's Samuel Eto'o and Barcelona's Yaya Toure and watched by television audiences of tens of millions.

This month's tournament has been eagerly anticipated as an early chance to assess the form of African powerhouses such as Drogba's Ivory Coast, Essien's Ghana and Eto'o's Cameroon ahead of the World Cup.


[World]
January 9, 2010 -- Updated 1232 GMT (2032 HKT)
Afghan president nominates new Cabinet list

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Afghan President Karzai presents new list of 16 nominees for his cabinet
> Afghan parliament rejected most of Karzai's first choice-list last week
> Karzai under pressure to stamp out corruption and establish legitimacy
> No date announced for a parliamentary vote

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai attempted once again to solidify his administration by presenting a new batch of Cabinet nominees Saturday, a week after parliament rejected a majority of his first choices.

Included are three women to lead the ministries of public health, women's affairs and public and social affairs.

Karzai offered 16 new names, one less than the 17 rejected by parliament last weekend.

Cabinet selection comes at a critical stage for Karzai. He is under pressure to stamp out widespread corruption in Afghanistan and establish legitimacy for his administration -- tainted by allegations of vote fraud last August -- both at home and abroad.

Members of parliament did not approve of nominees on the initial list who were viewed as corrupt or unqualified. Among them was Ismail Khan, a powerful warlord who was tapped to lead the ministry of water and energy.

Vice President Abdul Karim Khalili read out the names on the second list and lawmakers will be briefed by the president's office on the nominees.

No date has been announced for a parliament vote.

news20100109cnn2

[Top stories] from [CNN.com]

[Tech]
By John D. Sutter, CNN
January 9, 2010 -- Updated 1244 GMT (2044 HKT)
What is a tablet, anyway?

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Tablet computers get buzz at CES, but people disagree about what they are
> Most are characterized by their size: They are smaller than laptops and bigger than phones
> HP says tablets have keyboards and "slate" computers only have touch-screens
> Computer makers are trying out new categories to see what will stick with consumers

Las Vegas, Nevada (CNN) -- For all the buzz about "tablet computers" in recent weeks, one fundamental question about this supposedly break-through computer category remains unanswered:

What exactly is a tablet?

Computer industry representatives here at the massive and hype-heavy Consumer Electronics Show can't seem to agree.

Some say a computer just needs a touch-sensitive screen to be a tablet. Others say a person should be able to write on it with a pen. Still others say it's screen size that's important -- tablets must fit somewhere between phones and laptops. For Philip McKinney, vice president and chief technology officer at Hewlett-Packard, it's partly the keyboard -- a tablet should have one of those.

Break off the keyboard, leaving only a touch-screen device, he said, and the gadget falls into another buzz-worthy category: the slate.

Others say the terms slate and tablet are synonymous.

So what's a confused consumer to do? And how can anyone judge the many products here that claim to be from tabletland when there's no consensus on what one is?

Simple. Just get over the name, said Steve Baker, vice-president of industry analysis at the NDP Group, a market research firm.

Computer makers are introducing a shotgun spray of newish -- or at least newly named -- products in hopes that one will be a big recession-era hit with consumers, he said. None of these new devices, which he said are characterized only by their medium size, fix any obvious problem consumers have with their current computers, he said.

Companies are releasing these new products without knowing exactly why consumers would want to use them, he said.

"That's the problem, but the exciting part of it is that we really don't know what the right product is for people -- what they want to do with this."

Hot products

The tablet buzz at CES is somewhat overshadowed by a tablet that Apple is rumored to announce later this month. Still, the array of tablet-esque devices here is getting tons of attention from show attendees.
The two most talked-about tablets at CES are Lenovo's IdeaPad U1, which the company refers to not as a tablet but as a "hybrid-notebook;" and a yet-to-be named and largely unseen "slate" tablet from HP.

Lenovo's device looks like a smallish laptop on first glance. But the screen on the gadget pops off of a plastic shell and can be carried around separately from its keyboard. That's the tablet part of the hybrid.

{Asus was among several companies offering touch-screen tablet computers at the Consumer Electronics Show.}

When separated from its keyboard home, the slender touch-screen tablet -- which looks like a stretched-out iPhone -- is well suited for watching movies, browsing photos and reading books, said Michael Littler, who markets the device. The touch-sensitive screen, made possible by Microsoft's Windows 7, lets users spin photos and scroll through text with their fingers, which might seem more intuitive than a pushing a computer mouse. Watch CES attendees get acquainted with the dual laptop-tablet

That product will debut in six months and will cost less than $1,000, Littler said.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer briefly trotted out HP's unnamed "slate" device during his opening keynote address at the show, stirring up lots of interest. The device was thin and flat, without a keyboard, and with a touch-sensitive screen. HP decided not to show off the unnamed product at CES, however.

McKinney, the company's CTO, said the HP slate has been in development for five years and will be sold to consumers sometime in 2010. He would not discuss the product's price or provide further specifics.

Tablet origins

Part of the tablet confusion comes from the fact that the term is not new.

In the 90s, Microsoft and others introduced tablet PCs with swivel-around screens and keyboards. Consumers couldn't touch the screens with their fingers to control the tablets, but many had stylus pens that let people write on the screen.

While popular in niche markets, those older-generation tablets never took off like expected, said Lance Ulanoff, editor in chief of PC Magazine.

"I think major companies are still a little hesitant to go all-in," he said.

Why now?

The current resurgence of the tablet term -- and the mid-sized, touch-screen gadgets that go with it -- appears to have several precipitating factors.

First, said Ulanoff, is the popularity of the iPhone. Apple's smartphone showed people how helpful touch-screen technology can be.

"I think people got the idea that -- 'Well, what if [the iPhone] was bigger?" he said.

Next is the recession. Consumer electronics sales were down considerably in 2009. That gives computer companies an incentive to try some potentially wacky ideas in an effort to differentiate themselves from competitors, said Baker, the industry analyst.

This touch-screen "clamshell" style device from viliv falls loosely within the tablet computer category.}

Technological advances are also pushing the idea. Windows 7, which Microsoft released last year, incorporates touch-screen technology, and many people consider to be a cornerstone of the tablet experience.

Also throw in a truckload of hype about Apple's rumored tablet. Tech blogs have been drooling over the supposed announcement for months.

And, while tablet makers here say they've been working on the technology for years, several admitted the Apple tablet buzz doesn't hurt their efforts.

People expect everything Apple makes to be sexy and popular. And that could rub off on an entire category of devices.

What's in a name?

The flurry of newly named computer products, however, could have negative consequences for the tablet computer industry, said Ken Lee, vice-president of sales and marketing at viliv, another tablet maker exhibiting at CES.

The industry is on the verge of confusing consumers so much that they won't know what products they do or don't want, he said.

{{I think people got the idea that -- 'Well, what if [the iPhone] was bigger?"}
--Lance Ulanoff, editor in chief of PC Magazine.

Still, he added, it's exciting to work in a time of experimentation. Viliv is focusing on a number of mid-size computing devices -- from its $500 N5 "clamshell" device, which looks like a sunglasses case when it's closed and is small enough to fit in a coat pocket; to a $550 S10 tablet with a swivel touch-screen and a keyboard; and, finally, a soon-to-be-unveiled "media slate," which has an 10-inch touch-screen and no keyboard.

The names are important from a marketing perspective, he said. Viliv didn't call its "media slate" a tablet because that name sounds expensive, he said. The company didn't want to call it a plain old slate either, he said, because that sounded heavy, like slate rock, when the media slate is actually rather light. Slate also sounds industrial, he said, and he wants this media-consumption device to be fun.

"We tried to give it a little bit more of a casual, lighter feeling," he said.

Other companies have introduced mid-sized, pseudo-tablet products under a host of names -- smartbooks, mini-notes, touch-screen netbooks, dual-book e-readers that also surf the Web.

At its CES product office this week, Littler, from Lenovo, was commenting on this development when a woman abruptly joined the conversation.

"I just call it a computer," she said.

news20100109reut1

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
WINNIPEG, Manitoba
Thu Jan 7, 2010 5:08pm EST
Canada to study biofuel's environmental impact
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - The Canadian government has ordered a study of the environmental impact of making ethanol and biodiesel just as a government regulation mandating fuel blending is set to take effect.

The study, ordered on Wednesday, comes after evidence of harmful environmental effects from ethanol plants and amid growing criticism of biofuel technology, according to a government document from the environment ministry, Environment Canada.

"Experiences in the U.S. and Brazil now suggest that existing biofuels production facilities are responsible for the generation of a range of new air- and water-related problems as well as recent concerns over human health," the document states.

The study will help government scientists understand the environmental implications of making biofuel, it states.

Canada has invested heavily in the biofuel industry as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It has committed to distributing subsidies for biofuel plants totaling up to C$1.5 billion ($1.45 billion) over nine years.

In September 2010, a federal mandate takes effect requiring 5 percent renewable content in gasoline.

A spokesman for Environment Canada was not available for comment by late Thursday afternoon.

On Wednesday, the Canadian Press quoted department spokeswoman Paula Franchellini as saying: "The commissioning of this study does not presuppose that there are any harmful effects from these facilities, nor does it change the government of Canada's commitment to renewable fuels."

Gordon Quaiattini, president of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association, was unavailable for comment.

Canadian plants make ethanol from corn and wheat and make biodiesel from animal fat, soybeans and canola. Canadian biofuel production is expected to grow by 76 percent before the end of 2011, according to the document.

Environment Canada also ordered on Wednesday a study of the environmental impact of using "marginal lands" -- such as contaminated sites and buffer strips along roads and rivers -- for the production of biofuel crops or for production plants. The U.S. and European biofuel industries have come under criticism for taking up traditional farmland to grow biofuel crops, Environment Canada said.

($1=$1.03 Canadian)

(Reporting by Rod Nickel; editing by Peter Galloway)


[Green Business]

TOKYO
Fri Jan 8, 2010 2:59am EST
Japan nuclear plant usage rises to 3-year high
TOKYO (Reuters) - The nuclear power plant utilization rate at Japan's 10 nuclear power companies rose to its highest in more than three years in December as many companies boosted output for peak winter demand, helping cut the need for thermal fuel.

The average run rate rose to 74.0 percent in December, from 62.5 percent in December 2008, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said on Friday.

That was the highest since 75.9 percent in August 2006 and compared with 66.6 percent in November.

The average run rate for calendar 2009 was 64.7 percent, up from a five-year low of 58.0 percent in 2008,

But that was still much lower than 70.2 percent in 2006, before the rate dropped due to earthquake-related shutdowns at plants including Tokyo Electric's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in 2007 and Chubu Electric's Hamaoka plant in August last year, a METI official said.

In late December, Hokkaido Electric Power Co started commercial operations at the 912-megawatt Tomari No.3 reactor, the first new operations in Japan since Hokuriku Electric Power's Shika No.2 reactor in March 2006.

With the start of the new Tomari unit, Japan now has 54 reactors for commercial use, for a total generating capacity of 48,847 megawatts, the world's third-biggest nuclear generation capacity after the United States and France.


[Green Business]
LOS ANGELES
Fri Jan 8, 2010 8:26am EST
JA Solar, Solarfun up as analyst lifts estimates
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The shares of Chinese solar power companies JA Solar Holdings Co Ltd and Solarfun Power Holdings Co Ltd rose as much as 13 percent on Wednesday after an analyst raised price estimates for the companies.

Results for the companies and other Chinese solar players, such as Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd, Canadian Solar Inc and Yingli Green Energy Holding Co Ltd "will likely prove stronger than seasonal," Oppenheimer and Co analyst Sam Dubinsky wrote in a note to clients on Wednesday.

Demand for solar power products has rebounded after a difficult 2009, when the global credit crisis dried up available financing for new projects and panel prices plummeted.

Chinese players in particular have seized on rising demand, turning their low cost structures into sales, and several plan to boost production capacity in 2010.

Dubinsky noted that in Germany, the world's top solar market, installers are rushing to build systems because of anticipated government cuts to solar aid later this year.

That rush is expected to pull in demand, bolstering shipments of solar panels and parts and creating expectations that many solar players will report bright financial results for the fourth quarter of 2009 and first quarter of 2010.

The shares of JA Solar, one of the solar power sector's lowest cost producers of the silicon cells that help convert sunlight into electricity, hit a new 12-month high of $6.95 on Wednesday on the Nasdaq. Its shares closed at $6.80 each, up more than 7 percent.

The shares of Solarfun, which also makes photovoltaic solar cells, closed up 13 percent at $9.99 each on the Nasdaq.

The jump in share prices mirrored brisk movement in the options markets, where some speculated there would be a further run-up in the solar sector.

Activity in JA Solar and Solarfun was heavy as calls far outpaced puts, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert.

A total of 9,986 call options changed hands in JA Solar, more than three times its average daily turnover compared to 1,099 puts traded.

Traders exchanged about 27,000 contracts in Solarfun, 11 times its average daily turnover, with 23,000 calls and 3,359 puts traded.

Investors often turn to equity call options, which give them the right to buy the stock at a fixed price within a specified period, to speculate on share price appreciation. A put option conveys the right to sell the stock at a given price and time.

(Reporting by Laura Isensee in Los Angeles and Doris Frankel in Chicago)


[Green Business]
SAN FRANCISCO
Fri Jan 8, 2010 9:56am EST
Tesla, Panasonic partner on electric car batteries
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. electric sports carmaker Tesla Motors will partner with Japan's Panasonic Corp for the next generation of lithium-ion batteries, the companies said on Thursday.

California-based Tesla, best known for its $109,000 all-electric Roadster, plans to use Panasonic's battery cells in its newest battery packs for electric cars.

Panasonic is pushing aggressively into the green technology sector and recently acquired a majority stake in Sanyo Electric Co Ltd, the world's largest rechargeable battery maker.

Panasonic also runs a joint venture with Toyota Motor Corp to develop and make hybrid and electric car batteries.

Lithium-ion batteries are seen as the most practical option available now for electric vehicles as they have the higher energy density required to feed the electric motors that power the car instead of an engine.

Tesla, which has delivered more than 900 electric cars to customers in North America and Europe, currently uses cells from multiple battery suppliers in its battery packs.

Separately, Tesla also said it has hired former Fiat SpA executive Cristiano Carlutti to lead the electric vehicle manufacturer's European operation.

(Reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)


[Green Business]
Fri Jan 8, 2010 10:35am EST
China's Solarfun to increase capacity in 2010
(Reuters) - Chinese photovoltaic cell maker Solarfun Power Holdings Co Ltd said on Friday it would increase its production capacity this year, anticipating higher demand.

The company said it would increase its photovoltaic (PV) module production capacity to 700 megawatts (MW) from 550 MW by April and its PV cell production capacity to 480 MW from 360 MW by July.

"We are expecting to see strong demand from areas with increased subsidies to solar projects such as China and the United States," Solarfun President Peter Xie said in a press release.

Demand for solar power products has rebounded after a difficult 2009, when the global credit crisis dried up available financing for new projects and panel prices plummeted.

Chinese players in particular have seized on rising demand, turning their low cost structures into sales, and several plan to boost production capacity in 2010.

(Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

news20100109reut2

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Amy Westervelt - SolveClimate http:www.solveclimate.com
Fri Jan 8, 2010 10:39am EST
Energy efficient gadgets that could change the game in 2010
(SolveClimate) - The Consumer Electronics Show, that huge once-a-year celebration of the latest, fastest, sleekest gadgetry that runs Jan. 7 to 10 in Las Vegas, has been getting greener every year, with more and more companies touting the energy efficiency of their products.

In 2008 the folks behind the show (Consumer Electronics Association) even bought the Green Gadgets show, and those exhibitors are now well-represented at CES, particularly in the Sustainable Planet section, which seems to grow exponentially by the year.

The green ghetto is great, but this year it seems energy efficiency is a major selling point for all the vendors, not just those with an ostensibly green product. Perhaps more telling, the tech journalists and taste-makers covering the event also seem to be most interested in the products that are smaller, thinner and more energy efficient than their predecessors.

In general, what happens at CES sets the tech and gadget trends for the year, so it's encouraging to see a general trend toward energy efficiency, helped along in part by the banner year smart grid had in 2009, the federal stimulus funds flowing toward various energy efficient technologies and California's recent move to put a cap on the energy consumed by televisions.

Here's a peek at seven energy efficient CES debuts that could be game-changers in the coming year:

Home Energy Manager from Direct Energy

Brought to us by a collaboration among Direct Energy, Whirlpool Corp., Best Buy, Lennox and OpenPeak, the "Home Energy Manager" connects all energy-using devices in the home (appliances, heating and cooling units, lights, electronics) to an easy-to-use, touch-screen interface that allows users to set budgets for energy use and operational parameters for appliances.

According to the companies involved, alerts will warn consumers when they are close to reaching their budget threshold for the month and offer personalized recommendations about how to reduce costs for the rest of the billing period.

Consumers will also be able to program the system directly or remotely to avoid energy consumption during peak periods. The system will be pilot-tested in Houston this spring.

"What's most important is that the Home Energy Manager isn't all about energy," spokeswoman Cybele Diamandopolous told SolveClimate. "As we've learned, this is a low-interest category for the average consumer. Operating on the OpenPeak OpenFrame platform, the Home Energy Manager integrates energy management information with other useful information such as real-time traffic reports, weather, news and access to social networks — serving as a key information terminal that's part of everyday life for residential consumers."

Low-Power Computing from Marvell Semiconductor

Of several ultra low-power technologies Marvell is unveiling at CES, the most interesting is the latest version of its Plug Computing platform, Plug Computer 3.0 (top photo).

Aimed at developers, the Plug Computer 3.0 is about the size of the average laptop battery pack and is embedded with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and a built-in hard drive, all with low power requirements, which means they can be on all the time but draw less power.

The devices, which are essentially small Linux computers, require less than 2 watts to run and could be used to provide computing power to products like home automation systems, which need to be on all the time.

LightSpeaker from Klipsch

This is a classic CES gadget with a green twist: It's an energy-efficient LED light bulb that's also a speaker. You just screw in the LightSpeaker like you would any bulb, select your music source (stereo, laptop, etc.), connect the included transmitter, and the sound plays wirelessly through the speaker.

Yes it's a bit on the gimmicky side, but the breakthrough is this: It's still not easy to find LEDs in form factors that work well for the home, and these fit the bill, plus the bulbs offer major energy savings and last about 15 years, which is about 14 years longer than the average incandescent bulb and 12 years longer than the average compact fluorescent. The speaker thing is just an added bonus, but it was enough to win Klipsch a 2010 CES Innovations Award.

SilverStat 7 from SilverPAC

There are plenty of smart thermometers either on or heading to the smart home market, but what makes this one unique is the attention paid to its design and to its ability to integrate information from the local utility — two things that have so far been left to home energy monitoring displays.

Created by a company better known for universal remotes and digital picture frames, the SilverStat 7 is super sleek with a 7-inch touch screen display. The number in the product's name refers not only to its size but also to its functionality: The thermostat can program lighting and HVAC controls according to local energy utility billing cycles for up to seven days. So, when it's expensive to run your lights and your washer they'll be off, waiting for off-peak times to roll around.

So far, SilverStat is not an automated system; once programed with info from a consumer's zip code and utility it will notify the consumer when they should turn things on or off to save energy (and money), but it still requires action on the consumer's part.

Mirasol Display from Qualcomm

Mimicking a butterfly's wings, the Mirasol display works by reflecting light so that specific wavelengths interfere with each other to create color. Because the display relies on reflection between two membranes, it requires power only when the screen is refreshed. E-readers that use similar technology (called MEMS) often refer to it as "e-ink," but Qualcomm's latest version, unlike other e-ink displays, can handle video.

Right now it's being pitched as a display for e-readers, but it could make its way to other devices if proven successful. The technoratti are waiting to see if it lives up to the hype.

LG's Ultrathin LCD TVs

The Consumer Electronics Association, which organizes CES, made a big stink last month when California moved to mandate energy efficiency in TVs, but that isn't stopping a ton of exhibitors from bringing their low-energy LED-lit LCD displays to the show floor.

The most impressive of them is LG's line of ultrathin Infinia TVs. Less than an inch thick they boast the world's thinnest displays and are backlit by LEDs, minimizing their energy needs.

Casio Green Slim Projectors

The first projector on the market to strip out mercury without sacrificing performance, Casio's Green Slim Projectors should by all rights replace projectors in most corporate offices.

In addition to containing no mercury, the projectors are equipped with a laser and LED hybrid light source capable of achieving brightness levels of up to 3000 lumens and lasting for up to 20,000 hours (that's tens of thousands of hours longer than any traditional projector on the market today, and no LED projector out there can deliver this level of brightness). They're also far smaller than the average projector; about the size of an 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper, the Green Slim projectors are just 1.7 inches thick and weigh only five pounds.


[Green Business]
Fri Jan 8, 2010 11:32am EST
Conergy shares soar on MEMC talks progress
FRANKFURT/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares in German solar company Conergy soared on Friday, boosted by statements that negotiations with peer MEMC aimed at an amicable agreement in an ongoing wafer contract dispute were progressing.

"Principals of the parties have continued direct discussion on a weekly basis since the mediation sessions at the beginning of October," a Conergy lawyer wrote in a letter to a U.S. court that was obtained by Reuters.

"There appears to have been good progress, and we believe it will be clear very soon whether the parties will be able to reach a settlement."

Conergy, whose shares were up 19 percent by 1503 GMT, declined to comment on the statement and a spokesman for MEMC declined to comment, citing company policy not to discuss ongoing negotiations. MEMC shares were up 2.1 percent.

German business daily Handelsblatt had earlier reported that both companies were close to an agreement, citing a statement by Conergy lawyers.

In August, a New York court partly denied motions by polysilicon maker MEMC against Conergy, a move relating to Conergy's efforts to declare invalid a wafer supply contract it had agreed with MEMC two years ago.

Under the contract, which was signed in late 2007, MEMC supplies solar wafers to Conergy over a 10-year period, with pre-determined pricing, on a take-or-pay basis starting in the third quarter of 2008.

Analysts have said terms of the contract were unfavorable, such as annual price decreases that are slower than the decline of market prices, resulting in above-market costs for Conergy.

(Reporting by Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt and Matthew Daily in New York; Editing by Erica Billingham)

news20100109reut3

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
LONDON
Fri Jan 8, 2010 10:52am EST
EU carbon up, short players buy back permits
LONDON (Reuters) - European Union carbon emissions futures rose on Friday, as financial players who had sold permits short bought them back and as technical levels pointed toward consolidation, traders said.

The benchmark contract for EU Allowances was up 18 cents or 1.41 percent at 12.91 euros ($18.49) a tonne at 1519 GMT, with very heavy volume at 9,305 lots. EUAs hit an intra-day high of 13.24 euros.

"The year is finally getting going. Many people haven't been involved before now with the auctions, snow and a European holiday.

The benchmark EUA contract's 100-day moving average broke below the 200-day trend line for the first time since August, indicating medium-term momentum has stalled compared to the rising long-term trend.

The benchmark certified emissions reduction (CER) contract's 50-day moving average is also poised to slip below the 200-day trend line early next week.

EUAs have been largely bearish this week due to three separate permit auctions. Prices started to recover after a UK permit auction on Thursday, which surprised some players.

Traders said, however, technical levels pointed toward a gradual rebound.

Utilities, who have typically hedged forward power sales, have quite long EUA positions, meaning they have surplus EUAs to their requirements.

However, the increase in open interest and selling ahead of the UK auction suggests financial players were short of permits and took advantage of low prices to buy back, creating a short squeeze.

European carbon permit prices will rise by some 10 percent to average 14 euros a tonne in 2010 as companies begin in the second half to hedge a permit shortfall set to arise in 2013, Barclays Capital said on Thursday.

German Calendar 2011 baseload power on the EEX fell 0.57 percent to 51.90 euros per megawatt hour.

UK natural gas prompt prices dropped 10.71 percent to 37.50 pence per therm.

The benchmark CER contract was up 17 cents or 1.53 percent to 11.28 euros a tonne.

The United Nations Environment Programme cut its CER supply forecast to 2012 to 1.092 billion tonnes from 1.149 billion on Friday.

(Reporting by Nina Chestney; Additional reporting by Michael Szabo; Editing by Keiron Henderson)


[Green Business]
Laura Isensee - Analysis
LOS ANGELES
Fri Jan 8, 2010 2:49pm EST
Some question First Solar's tech status
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Shares in First Solar Inc,, one of the early stars of the emerging solar power sector, have had a choppy ride lately, raising a question for investors: Is it a tech play or something more down-to-earth?

Investors should place First Solar among industrial companies that see slower, steady growth rather than in the realm of high-flying technology players like Apple Inc and Google Inc., some analysts say.

First Solar, which went public in 2006, drew investors on ecstatic hopes that its thin film technology would fuel growth in clean technology and renewable energy.

But shares of the Tempe, Arizona-based company have fallen -- along with some of its peers' -- to end 2009 down more than 50 percent from a peak in May 2008.

That means First Solar's price to earnings ratio once soared above even the typical techs, but now is down at industrial levels.

The tech sector typically has a price-to-earnings ratio of about 24 while industrial companies see a ratio of about 16. Fast-growing companies get higher ratios as investors bet future performance will improve.

In its first year of public trade, shares of First Solar enjoyed ratios in the hundreds. In 2009, its ratio hit a high of 47.7 and saw an average of 30. But the company started 2010 with a price to earnings ratio of 18.

For J.P. Morgan analyst Christopher Blansett, First Solar is more of an industrial company than a traditional tech player like Intel.

"It doesn't subscribe in any way, shape or form to Moore's Law type of characteristics," Blansett added, referring to the semiconductor industry's guideline that the number of transistors on a chip will double about every two years.

"It's large, large-scale manufacturing and very low-cost stuff," Blansett said.

Blansett adds a premium to First Solar because of its high profile green status and because of strong government supports fueling growth in the sector.

That brings his target for the shares -- a price of $140 each based on a multiple of 22.5 times his estimate of $6.30 earnings per share in 2010 -- in line with others who view it as a tech play.

Over time, Blansett said, the solar sector will become commoditized and investors will increasingly evaluate First Solar as an industrial play, lowering its multiple to that sector's range.

MORE ADVANCES TO COME

Some analysts do hold that First Solar is a tech company.

Much of the company's popularity stems from its unique technology: Its cadmium telluride-based thin film solar panels are cheaper to make than traditional silicon-based panels.

First Solar has driven down its production costs to be the lowest in the industry and has become an industry bellwether, setting the pace for the renewable energy sector.

"To say that they're an industrial company -- that's not true because they are still going through phases of technology enhancements," Pacific Crest Securities analyst Mark Bachman said in an interview.

Bachman said First Solar has room to improve how efficiently its solar panels convert sunlight to electricity, which could take its technology and growth to new heights.

He also cited First Solar's advances to replicate its factories with the same toolset, layout and recipe of cadmium telluride and to cut the overall cost of solar power systems.

First Solar could return to previous growth rates depending on how much it expands production capacity and on government aid to the sector, Bachman said.

The analyst believes the company's shares are fairly valued at a price of $140 each based on 20 times earnings. Longer-term investors who look a year ahead can target a higher share price of $160 each, based on 20 times estimated earnings per share in 2011, Bachman added.

In 2010, First Solar expects to see a greater mix of revenue from building solar power systems and its core business of making solar power panels.

The systems business brings much lower profit margins than its module sales, but the strategy is meant to grow the overall market and spur future sales. Other solar players, such as SunPower Corp, also develop solar power systems.

For Kaufman Brothers analyst Theodore O'Neill, First Solar's panels are a commodity.

O'Neill bases his $86 price target on a multiple of 14 times his estimate of $6.00 earnings per share in 2010.

"I'm expecting, over time, that the pricing will become whatever the pricing is for those two sheets of glass that they put around the panels and the metal trim that goes around the whole thing," O'Neill said.

"There won't be any real cost for that stuff that's in the middle," O'Neill added.

(Reporting by Laura Isensee; additional reporting by David Gaffen and Christopher Sanders in New York; Editing by Gary Hill and Gunna Dickson)


[Green Business]
LONDON
Fri Jan 8, 2010 11:53am EST
Carbon market lobby group appoints new director
LONDON (Reuters) - The Carbon Markets and Investors Association (CMIA) appointed as its new director Miles Austin and said 2010 will be a pivotal year for the $136 billion global carbon markets.

Austin joins the lobby group from JPMorgan-owned carbon credit aggregators EcoSecurities, where he was head of European regulatory affairs.

"Following the outcomes of the Copenhagen summit, 2010 will undoubtedly be one of the most challenging and interesting years for the future of international climate change policy," Austin said in a statement.

"Amongst the many pressing topics we will be focusing on will be the fate of draft U.S. and Australian domestic emissions trading legislation."

National climate change bills, which would launch emissions trading markets in both countries, faced fierce opposition late last year, casting doubt on their successful passage in 2010.

Carbon market sentiment is also raw following a failed United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen in December, where efforts to seal a legally-binding global pact to cut greenhouse gas emissions were stalled.

The international market for carbon credits edged up to $136 billion last year, compared with a World Bank estimate of $126 billion for 2008, Oslo-based Point Carbon said in a report on Wednesday.

news20100109reut4

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
Diane Bartz
WASHINGTON
Fri Jan 8, 2010 6:39pm EST
ITC finds for Mitsubishi in GE wind turbine dispute
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. International Trade Commission said on Friday that it found no violation of General Electric wind turbine patents by Mitsubishi, and it terminated its investigation.

General Electric has been battling with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries over patents in a trade agency proceeding that was closely watched by some U.S. lawmakers.

The ITC said on Friday that it found no violation of GE patents by Mitsubishi, and it terminated its investigation.

GE filed the lawsuit in 2008, alleging Mitsubishi infringed two GE patents. It later added a third patent to the lawsuit, according to Mitsubishi.

The ITC administrative law judge ruled in August that Mitsubishi violated two of the patents.

GE spokesman Dan Nelson said the company was "extremely disappointed" by the decision.

"GE believes strongly in the merits of its case against MHI, and we will continue to protect its technology in the U.S. and around the world," he said in an emailed statement. "GE will explore all of its legal options and will continue to vigorously protect its intellectual property."

A number of U.S. lawmakers wrote to the ITC to point out the potential for lost American jobs if General Electric were to lose the case.

In his letter, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson wrote that 4,000 people worked at GE renewable energy facilities in Pensacola, Florida and elsewhere in the United States.

In a separate letter, Democrats Sen. Charles Schumer, Sen Kirsten Gillibrand and Rep. Paul Tonko noted that Schenectady, New York was the global headquarters for GE Wind's business, with more than 3,600 workers. "It is critical that in reviewing this case, the commission consider the importance of the domestic industries and ensure that intellectual property rights are upheld," their letter said.

Similar letters were sent to the commission by Republicans Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, Sen. Lindsay Graham and Rep. Bob Inglis of South Carolina.

The ITC is a popular venue for patent lawsuits because it can bar the importation of devices made with infringing technology. If the ITC orders an import ban, that order would go into full effect only after a standard 60-day executive branch review. The executive branch rarely overturns the ITC's decisions.

During this review period, the banned goods can be imported but only if the importer posts a bond equal to 100 percent of the value of the imports.

The case before the International Trade Commission is 337-TA-641.

(Editing Bernard Orr and Carol Bishopric)


[Green Business]
LONDON
Fri Jan 8, 2010 4:13pm EST
Citi, BlueNext auction 400k Kyoto carbon offsets
LONDON (Reuters) - Investment bank Citi and French emissions exchange BlueNext sold at auction 400,000 Kyoto Protocol carbon offsets for 11.21 euros ($16.05) each, auction hosts BlueNext said late on Friday.

Under Kyoto's Joint Implementation scheme, companies can invest in clean energy projects in countries with greenhouse gas reduction targets under the global climate pact, and in return receive offsets called Emissions Reduction Units, or ERUs.

Companies regulated by the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme can use ERUs for compliance.

Although the auction raised 4.5 million euros in revenues, BlueNext would not confirm the identity of the buyers or the origin of the credits.

BlueNext said demand was equivalent to nearly 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

"It was the first ERU auction ever. It was oversubscribed and it went off without a hitch," Keiron Allen, BlueNext's marketing and communications director, told Reuters.

BlueNext is a joint venture between NYSE Euronext and France's state-owned Caisse des Depots.

The ERU market is small and trade historically has been dominated by opaque, over-the-counter deals.

The World Bank estimated the ERU market was worth just under $300 million in 2008, a far cry from Kyoto's $6.5 billion Clean Development Mechanism scheme, which funds projects in emerging countries like India and Brazil.

Almost 4.5 million ERUs have been issued so far, mainly to projects in eastern European countries like Ukraine and Hungary, meaning the auction represented around 9 percent of market's supply to date.

The auction's closing price was 22 cents lower than Friday's closing price of 11.43 euros for CDM offsets on BlueNext.

(Reporting by Michael Szabo; Editing by Walter Bagley)


[Green Business]
Alister Bull
WASHINGTON
Fri Jan 8, 2010 6:57pm EST
Obama awards $2.3 billion clean energy tax credits
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama unveiled a $2.3 billion tax credit on Friday to boost jobs by promoting clean energy, as new data showed the country's unemployment rate remained stuck in the double digits.

Obama said the credit, from funds earmarked under a $787 billion stimulus package he signed last February, would create 17,000 U.S. jobs and be matched by an additional $5 billion in private capital.

"Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future, jobs that pay well and can't be outsourced," Obama said.

"This initiative is good for middle-class families. It is good for our security. It is good for our planet," he said.

High unemployment is one of Obama's most pressing domestic challenges and a monthly payroll report released on Friday served as a reminder labor market conditions remain grim. U.S. unemployment was unchanged at 10 percent in December, while businesses unexpectedly shed 85,000 jobs.

"The jobs numbers that were released by the Labor Department this morning are a reminder that the road to recovery is never straight," Obama said.

Climate change, alongside healthcare and financial regulation reform, is a core goal of Obama's White House.

All require support from Congress, where his Democratic Party may suffer a setback in November congressional elections unless he can start to push the jobless figures down.

The tax credits have been granted to 183 projects across the country involved in technologies that include solar, wind and other initiatives to improve energy efficiency.

On top of the employment resulting directly from the tax credit, Obama said it would lead to "tens of thousands" of additional new jobs.

The White House says the stimulus money has helped prevent the deepest U.S. recession in 70 years from getting much worse, and has renewed its push to boost job creation, which many analysts say warrants more public spending.

Obama held a jobs summit and met with bankers last month to boost lending to small businesses in the hope that would encourage them to hire more workers.

In addition, the House of Representatives has approved an additional $155 billion jobs package to boost hiring, although the Senate has yet to take up its version of the legislation and will first tackle Obama's signature healthcare reforms.

"We have to continue to explore every avenue to accelerate the return to hiring," he said.

Companies that will benefit from the clean energy tax credit include Itron Inc, based in Liberty Lake, Washington, PPG Industries, Inc, based in Pittsburgh, and TPI Composites, Inc, based in Scottsdale, Arizona.

(Reporting by Alister Bull; Editing by Peter Cooney)


[Green Business]
AMSTERDAM
Fri Jan 8, 2010 10:11am EST
Activists urge legal action against Japan whalers
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Anti-whaling activists have asked the Dutch public prosecutor to launch a criminal investigation into a clash between protesters and Japanese whalers which led to the sinking of a protest boat.

The hardline Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which has its mother ship registered in the Netherlands, said the Ady Gil powerboat sank in the Southern Ocean on Friday after its bow was sliced off on Wednesday by a Japanese harpoon vessel.

Each side has blamed the other for the incident in which one crewman aboard the protest boat was injured.

Liesbeth Zegveld, lawyer for the activist group, said it appeared the ship that struck the boat had been sent out with the specific purpose to prevent the protesters, including Dutchman Laurens de Groot, from reaching the whaling ships.

"We filed a complaint for criminal prosecution with our prosecutor, requesting the start of an investigation into what we consider to be a crime -- piracy, actually -- committing violence on the high seas," Zegveld said.

"This particular ship that attacked the Ady Gil was at a close distance all the time since they left the Australian harbor," Zegveld added. "It was sent out and equipped for following and harassing the Ady Gil."

Australia voiced official concern about safety in the Southern Ocean on Friday, and Canberra said it was keeping open the option of an international legal challenge to Japanese whaling if diplomacy failed to reach an outcome.

Sea Shepherd Captain Paul Watson said the Japanese whalers ignored all distress calls after the boat was crippled, with the six crew picked up by a second Sea Shepherd boat nearby.

Zegveld said the fact that the group's mother ship, the Steve Irwin, is Dutch-registered, combined with the presence of a Dutch citizen among the six crew on board the boat, provided a legal basis for pursuing a criminal case in the Netherlands.

She expected a response from the prosecutor within two weeks.

(Reporting by Catherine Hornby, editing by Peter Millership)

news20100109reut5

[Top News] from [REUTERS]

[Green Business]
BEIJING
Sat Jan 9, 2010 1:32am EST
China says achieved goal in Copenhagen climate deal
BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese negotiators achieved their goal at Copenhagen climate talks in ensuring financial aid for developing nations was not linked to external reviews of China's environmental plans, its top climate envoy said on Saturday.

Britain, Sweden and other countries have accused China of obstructing the climate summit, which ended last month with a non-binding accord that set a target of limiting global warming to a maximum 2 degrees Celsius but was scant on details.

China would never accept outside checks of its plans to slow greenhouse gas emissions and could only make a promise of "increasing transparency," Xie Zhenhua, deputy head of the powerful National Development and Reform Commission, said at a forum.

Developed nations' promise of $100 billion in financial aid by 2020 to help poorer countries adapt to climate change offered a good stepping stone for negotiations, he said.

"Next time, we can talk about when will they pay the money and how much each country will pay," he said.

Xie also said that China was well on track to meeting its goal of cutting energy intensity -- or the amount of energy consumed to produce each dollar of national income -- by 20 percent over the five years through 2010.

It had already made a 16 percent cut as of the end of last year, he said.

"As long as we continue to make efforts, we are likely to achieve the targeted 20 percent cut this year," he said.

Xie added that China was drafting tough guidelines for reducing the carbon intensity of its growth in its next five-year plan for economic development, which will cover the 2011-2015 period.

China has pledged to cut the amount of carbon dioxide produced for each unit of economic growth by 40-45 percent by 2020, compared with 2005 levels.

(Reporting by Zhou Xin and Simon Rabinovitch; Editing by Alex Richardson)


[Green Business]
Richard Cowan
WASHINGTON
Fri Jan 8, 2010 5:17pm EST
Beleaguered U.S. climate bill seeks Obama lift
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech to Congress could indicate how badly he wants a global warming bill, which opponents say will cost U.S. jobs and raise prices -- a scary prospect for politicians trying to ride out a horrible economy in an election year.

Obama, who played a dramatic role in negotiating a nonbinding international climate change accord last month in Copenhagen, now faces a tough economic and environmental balancing act to win the climate change legislation in 2010.

Administration officials insist it can be done despite the political difficulties in an election year. "President Obama and this administration ... expect that a comprehensive energy bill, which includes a climate portion, to be passed this year," Energy Secretary Steven Chu told reporters Wednesday.

For that to happen, Obama must put a "job-creation focus" on the bill to build a U.S. economy that would run more on alternative energy than dirty-burning coal and oil, said Daniel Weiss of the Center for American Progress. "The more specifics the better" in the State of the Union speech, Weiss added.

On Friday, Obama announced new tax credits to encourage investments in clean energy development that he said would help combat climate change and create jobs.

"This initiative is good for middle-class families. It is good for our security. It is good for our planet," Obama said.

A House-passed bill is floundering in the Senate, where Obama has to convince 60 of 100 members to back a bill.

In one area -- government incentives for expanding nuclear power -- Senate sources said progress has been made in closed-door talks in search of a "sweet spot" for a compromise on the legislation that they hope to pass in coming months.

Even so, Senate backers and environmentalists off Capitol Hill say they are uncertain of climate change victory in 2010.

Difficult negotiations are expected between senators who want to require industries to cut their carbon emissions and those who see a climate bill as a vehicle for also helping domestic producers of nuclear power and oil and natural gas.

And, many Republicans are working hard to cast doubt on claims the climate change bill will create jobs.

Within the next few weeks, Senator Lisa Murkowski could force a Senate vote to stop the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon emissions as a fallback if more comprehensive climate legislation is not enacted.

"This is a vote about the economy, not about the climate -- whether these regulations will harm the economy," said a Senate Republican aide.

If Murkowski, whose state of Alaska is a major oil and gas producer, manages to get a strong vote, even if less than needed to pass her measure, some undecided Republicans and Democrats could have second thoughts about voting later this year on a more comprehensive climate bill.

SENATORS SEEKING COMPROMISE

Despite all the hurdles, a bipartisan group of senators is forging ahead on a bill to cut carbon emissions by utilities, refineries and factories over the next four decades by 17 percent from 2005 levels.

Senator John Kerry, who is leading the effort, expects to be recovered from surgery and back in Washington when the Senate reconvenes on January 20, to huddle with independent Senator Joe Lieberman and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, according to a spokeswoman. The two are key to winning support from moderates and conservatives.

One Senate staffer said 17 pro-nuclear senators have had input into what could become a major provision of the bill aimed at luring Republican votes. "That part (nuclear power) ironically is in fairly good shape at this point."

While nuclear power plants do not emit the greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming, the industry has been weighed down by prohibitively high construction costs and controversy over nuclear waste storage.

Expanding domestic oil and gas drilling is another important goal for Republicans and that component of a climate bill is "still 100 percent in flux," said the Senate source.

While producing more oil and gas here will do nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it would reduce dependence on foreign oil and potentially lure Republican votes.

On the sidelines of the U.N. climate meeting in Copenhagen, Kerry left open the possibility that the core of the climate bill could be scrapped. That is the "cap and trade" system for reducing carbon emissions through ever-dwindling pollution permits that could be traded on a new exchange.

A carbon tax and a "cap" without the "trade" component are among possibilities. But for now, Kerry, Lieberman and Graham are sticking with cap and trade, aiming to quell nervousness over the scheme by including tougher market controls.