NIST released a draft report on the SmartGrid interoperability standards yesterday. The roughly 80 initial standards and 14 priority action plans are available for public review and comment for 30 days. Following this comment period the first phase of NIST’s 3 phase approach will be completed with the final release of the NIST Framework and [...]
2008 proved to be a year of extremes for both the economy and energy around the world. Not surprising since fuel prices are so closely tied to world economic growth and in 2008 one of the longest periods of sustained economic growth can crashing to a halt. This sent record oil prices of $140 per [...]
Department of Energy Secretary Chu announces $93 million from the Recover Act to support the development of additional wind energy in the United States. The money will support R&D and testing for wind turbine drivetrains, support university and industry consortia focusing on critical wind energy challenges, advanced technology development in the private sector and a [...]
Bob Metcalfe, using the history of the Internet as a guide, provided his list of things to look for and look out for in the changing energy sector. Metcalfe gave an optimistic view of the environmental challenge suggesting not only are we in a Global Warming Bubble but that cheap, clean energy will be so [...]
McKinsey’s Matt Hirschland interviewed economist Nicholas Stern in Brussels this past January. You can read the transcript here or click below to watch the video.
Trading activity picks up for carbon financial instruments (CFIs) after the release of President Obama’s budget. Even though the budget does not include revenue from carbon allowances until 2012, future contracts prior to this date moved higher. Some people believe these instruments can be used as early action credits in a federal cap and trade [...]
So just what is a cap and trade system and how does it work? MSNBC has a Frequently Asked Questions page that answers this question. While President Obama signaled his desires in his budget, congress is required to pass the legislation and the details. Many experts are suggesting legislation is unlikely this, however “Powerful Democrats [...]
Earlier this week, the White House stated a climate bill passed in 2010 would be fine as long as it included the critical components President Obama included in his campaign promises. This is consistent with President Obama’s budget which includes revenue for carbon cap and trade allowances of $658 billion in total for the years [...]
2008 was a bumper year for wind energy investment. The US added 8,300 megawatts (MW) of wind energy to lead the world with 25,170 MW. 42% of the country’s new power-producing capacity came from wind. The 50% increase in wind power generation also created 35,000 jobs bringing the total employee bast to 85,000. Worldwide over [...]
The New York Times reports that Venture Capitalist invest in 922 deals in the first quarter of 2008, compared to 861 in the same period last year. The total amount invested was down 5% causing the times to lead with the headline Venture Capitalists Invest Less In First Quarter – New York Times. “We do [...]
Speaking of the TXU purchase, Mr. Bonderman said the company was adept at running a profitable company and equally bad at politics from price increases to ecology to labor relations. These shortcomings lead tothe opportunity which focused on addressing these public concerns.Opportunities for private equity include exploiting public investorsfocus on short term focus, their dislike [...]
Meeting the fast growing energy needs of the world just may be the most daunting task mankind has faced to date. No doubt many things must be done to address this issue before fossil fuels are depleted and without destroying economic progress or the environment. McKinsey and Company has produced a paper on Energy Productivity [...]
Tom Evslin’s post Web 2.0 – Greater Initial Investments Required suggests that early Web 2.0 companies seized the advantage of low cost technical infrastructure and low cost marketing to gain cost advantages. These companies were able to get big cheaper and faster than the first generation internet companies. While he agrees with Fred Willson that [...]
During the next few years, western countries will face a more intense labor shortage than last felt in the first two years of this century. Very few companies are prepared for this with hardly any looking to utilize the aging workforce to fill this shortage. Initially, offshore workers will be able to handle some of [...]
FactCheck.org Bush’s State of the Union: Social Security “Bankruptcy?”: FactCheck.org MoveOn.org Social Security Ad The folks at FactCheck.org are equally critical of Bush’s use of agressive projections and language as he pushed his plan to revamp Social Security in his State of the Union address and MoveOn.org’s use of false claims regarding cuts in benefit [...]
Do Pharmaceutical Companies Have an Effective Business Models? Has the Pharmaceutical Blockbuster Model Gone Bust? Bain & Company Press Release 12/8/2003 Rebuilding Big Pharma’s Business Model In Vivo 11/1/2003 by James Gilbert, Preston Henske and Ashish Singh The blockbuster business model that underpinned Big Pharma’s success is now irreparably broken. The industry needs a new [...]
Here are a few of my own observations: • OUTSOURCING · It looks like a hit-or-miss business but every company wants to do it. The key for the provider is getting to scale quickly enough to be able to provide services superior to in-house folks at a cost effective price. Also the expertise needs to [...]
Offshoring – Relocating the back office Dec 11th 2003 From The Economist print edition The Organizational Implications of Offshore Outsourcing 24 October 2003 Diane Morello Acrobat Version Offshoring: Is it a Win-Win Game? McKinsey Global Institute August, 2003 The Irony of Outsourcing By Kevin Laws on November 18, 2003 09:03 PM supports the argument that [...]
This posting by Kevin Brancato suggest that our view of healthcare cost in the US is distorted. While the data seems to lead to the conclusion that we’re buying much more healthcare at sky-high prices, economists doubt the validity and applicability of the offical data because it does not appropriately adjust for quality.
Technology Review unveils its annual selection of hot new technologies about to affect our lives in revolutionary ways—and profiles the innovators behind them. Universal Translation Synthetic Biology Nanowires Bayesian Machine Learning T-Rays Distributed Storage RNA Interference Power Grid Control Microfluidic Optical Fibers Personal Genomics
TM Lutas provides an alternative economic analysis of the Internet to those provided by Adam Thierer at Cato, Howard Dean’s Principles for an Internet Policy, David Weinberger’s analysis of the Cato article, and Lawrence Lessig’s commentary on same.
The top 12 topics of interest to our readers in 2003 as seen by the editors of Portals Magazine: 1. Consolidation 2. Outsourcing 3. Mid-Market Grind 4. Portals 5. Integration Evolves 6. Supply Chain Gains 7. BI/Analytics 8. CRM Crossroads 9. Offshore 10. IT meets Business 11. RFID 12. Business Process Management
Rob Greenlee, Host WebTalk Radio, predicts: 1. The decline of the web browser usage on the desktop as a way to get to web content 2. The growth of Internet applications – the executable Internet 3. All things wireless 4. Digital media enters the living room 5. Professional journalistic weblogs are syndicated through RSS 6. [...]
Stephen Downes in his predictions for 2004 suggest that a form of “non-blog blogging” will begin to emerge. He describes this as a way to tap into the views and opinions held by the vast majority of people who will not write publicly. Downes also predicts that 2004 will be the year of personalization. He [...]
Connections: The Impact of Schooling December 2003 – Jay Cross Cross writes, “Most learning is informal; a network approach makes it easier, more productive and more memorable to meet, share and collaborate. Emotional intelligence promotes interoperability with others. Expert locators connect you to the person with the right answer. Imagine focusing the hive mind that [...]
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