New mega-players in the markets

business-times.asia1.com.sg :

There's a new group of investors who collectively hold more than US$3 trillion in assets and who have started to invest aggressively, including in equities, high-yield bonds and real estate. An interesting annex in the IMF's latest Global Financial Stability Report discusses the changing behaviour of Asian central banks when it comes to investing their reserves. The numbers as at April: US$895 billion for China, US$841 billion for Japan, US$260 billion for Taiwan, US$223 billion for Korea, US$219 billion for Russia, US$154 billion for India, US$127 billion each for Hong Kong and Singapore, and more than US$50 billion for half-a-dozen others. Total: more than US$3 trillion.

All this does not mean there will be a sudden tidal wave of cross-border investments in Asia. Ever cautious, central banks are likely to move gradually in increasing limits on aggressive investments overseas. Certainly, they would not want to move out of existing US dollar-denominated investments too rapidly - which could precipitate a sharp decline in the value of the dollar and shrink the value of their remaining dollar holdings.

However, the trend is clear. Major new players - both official and private - are entering Asian financial markets, some of them for the first time. This has huge implications for markets for equities, bonds, other financial instruments and real estate. It also portends a major expansion of Asia's asset management business. New financial centres will rise in the region, and existing centres will face both new challenges and new opportunities.

Has the non-renewable fuel industry hit the dimmer switch on solar?

towardfreedom.com :

A bright vision of solar power emerged in the 1970's, as a patriotic response to the oil embargo. Jimmy Carter's energy plan included a goal of powering 20% of the nation with renewables by the year 2000. The president even put solar panels on the White House.

The threat of solar tightened chests in the oil companies, as any free, clean, unlimited fuel source can be sure to do. At this point the oil and gas companies were ready to play hardball. They formed political action committees that contributed almost 3 million dollars to House and Senate candidates with "strong pro-industry voting." In California, Pacific Gas and Electric/Southern California Edison fought hard against the public's right to own and use solar water heaters. By the late 70's Exxon, Mobil, Arco, Amoco and other oil companies had bought out many of the solar companies and the PV cell patents.

Then, none other than former spokesperson for General Electric, Ronald Reagan, was elected president. The Carter solar tax credits ended, the $684 million investment Carter had requested was cut to $83 million, budgets were cut, studies squashed, and researchers fired. Then, adding insult to injury, Reagan removed the solar panels from the White House roof. Denis Hayes, organizer of the first Earth Day and former Department of Energy staffer from the Reagan era says, "It was a clear, calculated campaign by the DOE in the years of the Reagan administration to crush the solar energy program of the federal government, driving many of the most talented people out of the field".

(2006-09-15 12:59:47 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

Nuclear power must displace natural gas share - Russia

en.rian.ru :

Nuclear energy must replace the share of natural gas in Russia's energy balance, the country's civilian nuclear chief said. Russia's reserves of coal and natural gas could be depleted in fifty years. But with around 8% of the world's uranium output, Russia is planning to mine 60-70% of its uranium needs by 2015, with the remainder coming from joint ventures in former Soviet republics, particularly Kazakhstan, which holds 25-30% of the world's uranium reserves.

Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power, told a nuclear power seminar Russia has no other option than to focus on atomic energy. "There is no alternative to the development of nuclear power in Russia, which must replace power generated using natural gas."

Kiriyenko told RIA Novosti that Russia was planning to build 42-58 nuclear power units for its own needs by 2030 and 40-50 units abroad in the next 30 years. Russia currently has 10 operational nuclear power plants with 31 reactors, but Kiriyenko said Russia would need another 300 gigawatts from new plants to cover a projected energy deficit in the next 30 years.

(2006-09-15 12:46:42 SGT) [Energy] Permalink

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