Germany's car industry

The European Commission introduced new emission limits for carmakers.
It seemed that the German carmakers will have the most work. The new limits brought howls of protest and not least from the German chancellor, Merkel. Now the proposed ceiling was raised a little, to 130 grams of CO2 per kilometre to be met by 2012.

However, the makers of the well known prestigious German cars, have still the most work because in the European Unio only six German-made models meet the target. And this is nothing compared with the cars made by competitors. 34 non-German models stay under the new emission limit.
Of course this is not nice to hear. Although the German cars are really beauties.. If you look from the green side, the score very badly.
Also for a country that likes to lead the way on the environment isn't this good news.
Spending more money to research and development instead of making greater volume of cars can be a solution, but that seems not quite easy for most of the German constructors, like BMW or Mercedes.
In the future the rules for carmakers will definately become more strictly, so it's a must for the carmakers, en in special the Germans, that they keep going on with finding solutions for the huge CO2 emissions of cars.

SOURCE

A region awash with oil money has one or two clouds on the horizon

THE Gulf is full of towers that measure more than 600 metres like hotels that will be suspended under the sea. Like that, people can’t see the resonance of Imperial College London’s gleaming diabetes centre in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The building is decorated with tessellated plates of aluminium.

The hospital (since 2006) now cares for 6,000 patients, who pass through its chain of tests and treatments in a single visit. Almost a fifth of the UAE's native population suffers from diabetes.

The sickness is a consequence of the region's economic transformation. Before 1961, Abu Dhabi lacked even a paved road. Since then, it has enjoyed a startling transition from pearling to petroleum, from souk to mall and from sand to glass.
This prosperity has bought a sedentary lifestyle and a sugary diet, which may have triggered a genetic predisposition to diabetes among Arabs. In the neighbouring emirate of Dubai shoppers are invited to enrol in “Mall Walkers”, a power-walking club that promises to give more than your credit card a workout.

Diabetes is a big problem for the Gulf. The region is struggling to absorb petrodollars without thinking about the consequences, it shouldn’t go like that, but nowadays, money is the most important for many people.

Source: The Economist

Crude estimates

On April 16th, in nominal terms, the oil prices reached a new record of of $115.07 a barrel. We say in nominal terms, because by other measures oil is not so expensive as it seems. Although these high prices were unimaginable a few years ago, the demand for oil continues to rise in many countries.

Research compares past and present oil prices. About inflation, you can compare with two price indexes. If historic prices are inflated in line with America's producer-price index, the previous record (1980s) would be the equivalent of $94 in today's money. But if you take the consumer-price index than the oil price has to rise just to $118 to hit a new record.
Of course wages in Western Europe are also increased in the past years and in that way, we can conclude that oil isn't that much more expensive as a few years ago.


A member of Deutsche Bank, who did this survey, notices that if the spend of energy would be to the same level as in the 1980s (8% against 6,6% now - USA), the price of crude would be rise to $145!

Although almost everybody complains about the prices of oil these days, we can conclude that those high prices are just not more than normal. It's even positive to see that the spending on energy is going down. And this certainly will continue for the near future!

SOURCE

Power plays

More cross-border energy deals are in the pipeline

The Energy map of Europe is heading towards a new formation again this summer. The reason of this redrawn is France EDF, the biggest European energy group. The greatest strength of EFD is the fact that 85% of its shares are held by the French government. That’s why they can spread out their wings all over the continent. To improve their dominance they first tried to gain control in Italy but since that failed they have turned their attention to Spain and Britain.

In order to protect the two main Spanish firms (Iberdrola and Gas Natural) against EFD the prime minister of Spain wants them to merge and protect themselves with a bunch of loyal shareholders so that they can fend off EDF. Especially Iberdrola is interesting for EFD because it’s the world leader in wind-power generation.
In Britain EDF is interested in buying the stakes that the British government’s wants to sell. But there are others who are also interested. The British government prefers a consortium of bidders, to avoid that one foreign firm gets to powerful on the British energy market. The most suitable alternative is that a big British firm teams up with an experienced nuclear operator such as EDF.
The government however is planning to invest in more nuclear plants because it is worried about climate change. It’s a fact that nuclear energy is clean but it isn’t always safe and it produces a lot of garbage. So for EFD it would be better to invest in new nuclear plants then in the old ones because they will last longer.

Source

A warm welcome

Peru's prime minister says that his country will be a net exporter of energy.
Instead of tightening the screws of foreign investment in oil and gas, Peru is courting it.

The government decided to open up swathes of the country tot exploration, and spend $1 billion to modernisate a state-run oil refinery and the construction of an export terminal for a huge liquefied natural gas project. Those investments would be the biggest in the history of the country, Peru.
Peru's president (Garcia) has a clear vision. He dreams of a petrochemical industry that creates thousands of new jobs. All this he will finish by mid-2011, because than he leaves office.
Big dreams, but if all this will become real... We'll see in the future.
Ofcourse not everybody is so enthousiastic as the president is. People of the environment think that the rush to develop Peru's oil and gas, will endanger the Amazon and coast, and also the welfare of some of the country's citizens.
Understandable that some people react like that, because when a country becomes more industrial, mostly the positives are highlighted but the many negatives will not have enough attention. And some people than will have difficulties in their lifes...
On the other hand, it's good that a country as Peru will make their country stronger and more open.
The future brings us more information if the plans will work or not ...

SOURCE

Protectionism is adding to Japan's expensive electricity bill

Apr 10th 2008 | TOKYO

Akira Amari, Japan's trade minister, says that Japan is open to foreign investments. He says also that J-Power, a wholesaler of electricity, is different. They deserve a special treatment because of their strategic importance: they are building a nuclear reactor.

Japan is a country that has to import all their needs so they are sensitive about investments in energy. The country is devoid of oil, gas, uranium and other fuels.
The European Commission is struggling to persuade the governments of European Union countries that they should allow foreigners to buy their national energy champions. But Japan's energy sector seems particularly in need of the fresh capital and new ideas that outsiders might provide.

Energy prices in Japan have a fall thanks to deregulation, they are still among the highest in the world. Between 1995 and 2005 they fell by almost 40%, even as consumption rose by around 20%.

In 2003, the government privatised J-Power in the hope that the rigours of the market would instil greater efficiency. Ten private firms now handle generation, transmission and distribution in specific regions, supplemented by two big wholesalers, of which J-Power is one.

J-Power shares have sunk by one-third over the past year. It included recommendations to sell directly to large customers, eschew minority stakes in overseas ventures for majority control, and shed its cross-shareholdings, which total ¥68 billion. Many of the ideas seemed sensible. Yet they were immediately dismissed by J-Power's president, Yoshihiko Nakagaki.

Source: the economist