It is useful to remind ourselves of the climate change trajectory we are on. This will have a significant impact for business, in terms of: Disruption/removal of production and supply chains Disruption/removal of customers willing or able to buy products and services Disruption/removal of capital as it is refocused instead to fund the protection from …
Category archives: Energy / Environment
US mortgage rate under 4%
Average US 30 year mortgage rates have fallen under 4% (variable). The 15 year fixed rate has also fallen, to 3.26%. However, widespread negative equity and more stringent qualification standards for mortgages mean that demand is expected to remain low. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/568cbb3c-f025-11e0-977b-00144feab49a.html
US economy stronger than expected
New figures on US manufacturing showed better than expected figures, lightening fears of a double-dip recession. At the same time US car sales rose strongly in September. (GM up 20%, Ford up 9% and Chrysler up 27% on a year ago.
Manufacturing and mid-sized companies are unexpected sources of growth
New research shows that just seven percent of companies, mid-sized, created half of all new jobs since 2002. These fast growers are spread across all sectors and industries, and Government is looking at whether anything can be done to help them grow faster. At the same time, with the global manufacturing sector in the worst …
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Gold still falling in price
Gold is still falling in price as investors seek safety in the US dollar in preference to gold, silver and the euro.
Massive die-off of trees, worldwide
This piece in the New York Times tells how trees “worldwide” are experiencing “devastation”.
Pessimistic outlook for economy, x4
The UK building industry, PwC, the new director general of the IoD all have a pessimistic outlook on the economy. And the Treasury is concerned about the “very great” risks to the UK economy, if the euro were to break apart.
The plenitude economy / plenitude society
As Einstein famously pointed out, you cannot solve a problem by using the same thinking that created the problem in the first place. This short video proposes one idea for how we could move forward: shorten the working week from five days to four, and increase the number of employees (all on lower salaries).
Britain facing “energy gap”
Pages 20-21 of this report, the journal of the parliamentary and scientific committee, describe how: “It is clear that we are facing an energy gap” “8GW of coal-fired plant must come offline by the end of 2015.”
An opportunity to save or destroy our last remaining coral reefs
This document summarises evidence recently presented to a parliamentary committee. http://www.vmine.net/scienceinparliament/sip66-4.pdf Pages 30-31 talk about the British Indian Ocean Territories, containing 20,000 square km of coral reefs — around half the coral reef in the Indian Ocean. The reefs there are in good condition because the islands have remained almost uninhabited (apart from one military …
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