Natural Resources

El-Erian, CEO Pimco, interpretes the last Bernanke appearance before the Joint Economic Committee of Congress:

CNBC: What Bernanke Is Trying to Tell the Markets: El-Erian, June 7, 2012

Keywords: Monetary Policy, Economic Conditions, Fiscal Policy

High tech measuring to make optimal use of resources such as copper:

Keywords: Swiss High Tech, Swiss Measuring

Keywords: Central Planning, Environmentalism

Becker Posner Blog: Fracking and Self-Sufficiency in Gas and Oil-Becker, April 1, 2012

Gary does not neglect that government can give the impetus but private investors normally have to take the lead to industrialization:

The early progress in fracking techniques was very much aided by federal support and the work of engineers in the Energy Department. However, fracking was made into a profitable technique mainly through the ingenuity of people like George Mitchell in search of financial gains from finding ways to expand domestic production of gas and oil.

read Becker's whole post

Keywords: Energy, Oil, Gas, Fracking Techniques

AESA Cortaillod is a leader in providing measuring products and solutions for such optimizations:

The raw material costs associated with cable manufacture are continuously reaching unexpected peaks. Typically, a cable manufacturer today pays around EUR 5,500.00 for a ton of copper and EUR 1,930.00 for a ton of aluminium.

To remain competitive in the market, cable manufacturers need to control their raw material consumption very accurately to conserve their sales margins. Moreover, due the limited amount of raw material stocks available worldwide, the supply chains needed to be adapted to avoid any problem with the delivery of those raw materials. In other words, today's cable manufacturer needs more than one supplier from whom to buy copper and aluminium. The obligation to work with different suppliers means that different material qualities will be purchased and consequently different material specifications, which requires a lot of attention when working to achieve optimum material consumption.

The only way to save raw material is very strict and consistent control of the resistance of each manufactured product, thus reducing the extra material margin to its absolute minimum. To do so, highly accurate resistance bridges, with high measurement repeatability, are required.

AESA Cortaillod Homepage

Keywords: Energy Cable Testing, Raw Material Savings

The chairman of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, the chief scientist of Greenpeace, an energy and environmental policy expert, and an environmental activist/politician talk about nuclear energy:

Keywords: Energy, Nuclear Energy

Forbes: The Rising Price Of the Falling Dollar, by Charles Kadlec, March 19, 2012

Do you know why oil and prices are moving sharply higher? Some blame the oil companies, charging they are manipulating prices. Others cite U.S. sanctions on Iran and the threat of a military encounter that would disrupt the flow of oil from the Middle East.

Speculators, too are blamed for ostensibly bidding up the price of oil. In the political arena, President Obama is taking credit for increased domestic oil production even as his critics point out the slow pace of drilling permits issued by his Administration soon will hamper additional increases in the U.S. oil production.

Yet, the basic reason for higher energy prices is being overlooked, even though it is right before our eyes: Oil prices are up because the value of the dollar is down. read more on Forbes

Keywords: US Dollar, Oil Prices

Project Syndicate: Germany’s Sunshine Daydream, by Bjørn Lomborg, Feb. 16, 2012

One of the world’s biggest green-energy public-policy experiments is coming to a bitter end in Germany, with important lessons for policymakers elsewhere.

Germany once prided itself on being the “photovoltaic world champion”, doling out generous subsidies – totaling more than $130 billion, according to research from Germany’s Ruhr University – to citizens to invest in solar energy. But now the German government is vowing to cut the subsidies sooner than planned, and to phase out support over the next five years. What went wrong? read more on Project Syndicate

Keywords: Subsidizing "Clean Energy", Solar Technology

Book about the environment, efficiency and the real path to sustainability. Provoking and mind-changing thoughts:

The Conundrum, by David Owen

Keywords: Environment, Environmental Initiatives

The Oil Drum: Is It Really Possible to Decouple GDP Growth from Energy Growth? Nov. 21, 2011

Keywords: Energy Consumption, GDP Growth

Keywords: Solyndra, Government Loans to Private Cleantech Companies

Since copper is used in so many industrial applications, many believe a dramatic fall in price, as happened lately, reflects an economic slowdown, and by extension, a likely future decline in stock prices. Looking into the past shows that the existence of this correlation is not at all clear:

Minyanville: Is Copper Predicting a Bear Market for Stocks? Sept. 29, 2011

Keywords: Stock Prices, Copper Prices, Correlation between Stock Prices and Copper Prices

Sept. 26, 2011

Keywords: Gold, Gold Price, Asset Bubbles

Keywords: Solyndra, "Green Jobs", Government as Venture Capitalist

Related:

When government becomes a venture capitalist - with taxpayer's money

Find here interesting slides about BP's world energy outlook until 2030:

BP Energy Outlook 2030

Two major elements seem of key importance:

Page 22: CO2 Emission targets will by far not be met due to the growth of Emerging Countries.

Page 26: Over time, the US will become less and less dependent on OPEC oil whereas emerging countries such as China will become more and more dependent. This could have a tremendous effect on the geopolitical landscape.

Keywords: World Energy Sources, World Energy Consumption

Here is an excerpt from Mark Perry's post "Behold, The Circle of Government Life" about the bankruptcy case, solar panel manufacturer Solyndra:

So to recap: massive government subsidies created 1,100 "green jobs" that never would've existed but for those massive government subsidies. And when those fake jobs disappeared because the subsidized employer company couldn't compete in the market, the workers blamed China (instead of what's easily one of the worst business plans ever drafted) in order to receive... wait for it... more government subsidies.

It was obiously a political motivation for investing ... and a political explanation for failure...

Read the whole entry of Prof. Mark Perry on his weblog:

Carpe Diem: Behold, The Circle of Government Life, Sept. 18, 2011

Keywords: Government as Investor, Green Jobs

With its decision for a nuclear phase out, Germany has to rely on nuclear energy from neighboring nuclear plants which are not always known for the safety:

Spiegel Online International: Greenwashing after the Phase-Out; German 'Energy Revolution' Depends on Nuclear Imports, Sept. 15, 2011

Germany's decision to phase out its nuclear power plants by 2022 has rapidly transformed it from power exporter to importer. Despite Berlin's pledge to move away from nuclear, the country is now merely buying atomic energy from neighbors like the Czech Republic and France. read more

Keywords: Energy Policy, Nuclear Phase Outs

August 24, 2011

Keywords: Gold, Gold Price

FT: 'Me want shiny stuff'; Financial Times Video on the 1970 gold bubble, August 23, 2011

Keywords: Gold, Gold Bubble, Irrational Excuberance

... another bubble we dealt with and will continue to observe: the Swiss Franc ... wait for further posts to come

According to estimates by the US Geological Survey, more than 80% of total gold has been produced after 1900. The total amount of gold produced has an estimated weight of 160'000 tons. All this gold put together would create a cube with a length of approx. 20 meters. Surprised by the small size of the cube?

Keywords: Gold, Gold Amount