Siemens, Deutsche Bank, RWE and E.on ready to invest in ambitious plan to power Europe with clean electricity from AfricaTwenty blue chip German companies are pooling their resources with the aim of harnessing solar power in the deserts of north Africa and transporting the clean electricity to Europe.The businesses, which include some of the biggest names in European energy, finance and manufacturing, will form a consortium next month. If successful, the highly ambitious plan could see Europe fuelled by solar energy within a decade.The consortium behind what would be the biggest ever solar energy initiative will first raise awareness and interest among other investors for the project, known as Desertec, which is estimated to cost around €400bn (£338bn).Torsten Jeworrek, board member of Munich Re, the German reinsurer which is leading the project, said: "We want to found an initiative which over the next two to three years will put concrete measures on the table."
Twenty blue chip German companies are pooling their resources with the aim of harnessing solar power in the deserts of north Africa and transporting the clean electricity to Europe.
The businesses, which include some of the biggest names in European energy, finance and manufacturing, will form a consortium next month. If successful, the highly ambitious plan could see Europe fuelled by solar energy within a decade.
The consortium behind what would be the biggest ever solar energy initiative will first raise awareness and interest among other investors for the project, known as Desertec, which is estimated to cost around €400bn (£338bn).
Torsten Jeworrek, board member of Munich Re, the German reinsurer which is leading the project, said: "We want to found an initiative which over the next two to three years will put concrete measures on the table."
With the planned Desertec project, Europe wants to build a giant solar power plant to convert the endless sun in the Sahara Desert into CO2-free electricity. The mega project isn't without its critics, but most German commentators are welcoming Tuesday's announcement that the ambitious solar plans may soon move forward. The vision is an attractive one. Imagine a gigantic solar thermal power plant stretching across the deserts of North Africa, sending huge quantities of energy across the Mediterranean to Europe -- and emitting no CO2 in the process. Workers in China putting together a solar energy facility in Shanghai in preparation for the 2010 Expo. That, at least, is the idea behind Desertec, a €400 billion ($555 million) project which has been in the works for years. On Tuesday, a group of 20 companies, groups and governments revealed they would meet in mid-July to discuss the way forward. Should the venture ultimately become reality, it could cover up to 15 percent of Europe's energy needs as well as provide power to North African countries. Perhaps the most attractive part of the plan is the relative simplicity of the technology involved. Massive fields of collectors would concentrate sunlight to heat water, with the resulting steam then driving energy-producing generators. A similar power plant has been in operation in California since the 1980s and three of them have recently been built in Spain. The Desertec project, though, would be the largest of them all. The current consortium hopes to be able to present concrete plans for the facility within two to three years. German commentators on Wednesday take a look at the project.
With the planned Desertec project, Europe wants to build a giant solar power plant to convert the endless sun in the Sahara Desert into CO2-free electricity. The mega project isn't without its critics, but most German commentators are welcoming Tuesday's announcement that the ambitious solar plans may soon move forward.
The vision is an attractive one. Imagine a gigantic solar thermal power plant stretching across the deserts of North Africa, sending huge quantities of energy across the Mediterranean to Europe -- and emitting no CO2 in the process.
Workers in China putting together a solar energy facility in Shanghai in preparation for the 2010 Expo. That, at least, is the idea behind Desertec, a €400 billion ($555 million) project which has been in the works for years. On Tuesday, a group of 20 companies, groups and governments revealed they would meet in mid-July to discuss the way forward. Should the venture ultimately become reality, it could cover up to 15 percent of Europe's energy needs as well as provide power to North African countries.
Perhaps the most attractive part of the plan is the relative simplicity of the technology involved. Massive fields of collectors would concentrate sunlight to heat water, with the resulting steam then driving energy-producing generators. A similar power plant has been in operation in California since the 1980s and three of them have recently been built in Spain.
The Desertec project, though, would be the largest of them all. The current consortium hopes to be able to present concrete plans for the facility within two to three years. German commentators on Wednesday take a look at the project.
This week marks the end of the dollar's reign as the world's reserve currency. It marks the start of a terrible period of economic and political decline in the United States. And it signals the last gasp of the American imperium. That's over. It is not coming back. And what is to come will be very, very painful. Barack Obama, and the criminal class on Wall Street, aided by a corporate media that continues to peddle fatuous gossip and trash talk as news while we endure the greatest economic crisis in our history, may have fooled us, but the rest of the world knows we are bankrupt. And these nations are damned if they are going to continue to prop up an inflated dollar and sustain the massive federal budget deficits, swollen to over $2 trillion, which fund America's imperial expansion in Eurasia and our system of casino capitalism. They have us by the throat. They are about to squeeze. There are meetings being held Monday and Tuesday in Yekaterinburg, Russia, (formerly Sverdlovsk) among Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other top officials of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The United States, which asked to attend, was denied admittance. Watch what happens there carefully. The gathering is, in the words of economist Michael Hudson, "the most important meeting of the 21st century so far."
This week marks the end of the dollar's reign as the world's reserve currency. It marks the start of a terrible period of economic and political decline in the United States. And it signals the last gasp of the American imperium. That's over. It is not coming back. And what is to come will be very, very painful.
Barack Obama, and the criminal class on Wall Street, aided by a corporate media that continues to peddle fatuous gossip and trash talk as news while we endure the greatest economic crisis in our history, may have fooled us, but the rest of the world knows we are bankrupt. And these nations are damned if they are going to continue to prop up an inflated dollar and sustain the massive federal budget deficits, swollen to over $2 trillion, which fund America's imperial expansion in Eurasia and our system of casino capitalism. They have us by the throat. They are about to squeeze.
There are meetings being held Monday and Tuesday in Yekaterinburg, Russia, (formerly Sverdlovsk) among Chinese President Hu Jintao, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and other top officials of the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The United States, which asked to attend, was denied admittance. Watch what happens there carefully. The gathering is, in the words of economist Michael Hudson, "the most important meeting of the 21st century so far."
YEKATERINBURG, Russia -- Leaders of the four largest emerging market economies discussed ways to reduce their reliance on the United States at their first formal summit meeting on Tuesday. But they concluded with only a cautious statement suggesting a move away from the dollar's role in global commerce and a call for greater representation of developing countries in global financial institutions.By some predictions, the four nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China, a group referred to as the BRIC group, will surpass the current leading economies by the middle of this century, a tectonic shift that by this reckoning will eventually nudge the United States and Western Europe away from the center of world productivity and power. Russia's president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, said the main point of the meeting was to show that "the BRIC should create conditions for a more just world order." The four countries produce about 15 percent of the world's gross domestic product and hold about 40 percent of the gold and hard currency reserves, but they are not a unified bloc and do not do enough business among themselves to justify a trade alliance.
By some predictions, the four nations, Brazil, Russia, India and China, a group referred to as the BRIC group, will surpass the current leading economies by the middle of this century, a tectonic shift that by this reckoning will eventually nudge the United States and Western Europe away from the center of world productivity and power.
Russia's president, Dmitri A. Medvedev, said the main point of the meeting was to show that "the BRIC should create conditions for a more just world order."
The four countries produce about 15 percent of the world's gross domestic product and hold about 40 percent of the gold and hard currency reserves, but they are not a unified bloc and do not do enough business among themselves to justify a trade alliance.
This week marks the end of the dollar's reign as the world's reserve currency. It marks the start of a terrible period of economic and political decline in the United States. And it signals the last gasp of the American imperium. That's over. It is not coming back.
Good. Long overdue. In the end, might makes right. Nothing has changed since the caveman.
This is silly. worse, it's stupid. In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
Hungary, severely hit by the economic crisis, has said it is to close four embassies worldwide to save money, including one in Europe. Budapest intends to close its representations in Luxembourg, as well as in Malaysia, Chile and Venezuela. It will also shut down eight consulates - in Lyon (France), Dusseldorf (Germany), Krakow (Poland), Chicago (US), Toronto (Canada), Sao Paolo (Brazil), Sydney (Australia) and Hong Kong, Hungarian foreign minister Peter Balazs announced on Tuesday (16 June). Crisis-hit Hungary will be closing four embassies and eight consulates worldwide in a bid to save money "With the reorganisation, the ministry will save two billion forint (around €7 million) annually," Mr Balazs said at a press conference in Budapest, French news agency AFP reported.
Hungary, severely hit by the economic crisis, has said it is to close four embassies worldwide to save money, including one in Europe.
Budapest intends to close its representations in Luxembourg, as well as in Malaysia, Chile and Venezuela.
It will also shut down eight consulates - in Lyon (France), Dusseldorf (Germany), Krakow (Poland), Chicago (US), Toronto (Canada), Sao Paolo (Brazil), Sydney (Australia) and Hong Kong, Hungarian foreign minister Peter Balazs announced on Tuesday (16 June).
Crisis-hit Hungary will be closing four embassies and eight consulates worldwide in a bid to save money
"With the reorganisation, the ministry will save two billion forint (around €7 million) annually," Mr Balazs said at a press conference in Budapest, French news agency AFP reported.
His Excellency, Mr Moonlighter - Mail & Guardian Online: The smart news source
This month a diplomat based in Austria committed suicide, reportedly in a state of depression after receiving an eviction notice. She was buried in Harare after friends and relatives chipped in to pay for transporting her body home. Stories abound of diplomats who are surviving on foreign currency sent by the extended families back in Zimbabwe and on hand-outs from friends. Many are deep in debt after resorting to overdrafts for their everyday needs.
WASHINGTON -- President Obama's plan to reshape financial regulation, which he will unveil on Wednesday, is the product of weeks of meetings among government officials, financial experts, lawmakers, industry executives and lobbyists, many of whom were invited to help the White House draft the proposal.Mr. Obama told reporters on Tuesday that a "lack of oversight" allowed what he called "wild risk-taking." He said it led to "very dangerous" conditions that imperiled the global economy. But executives from an array of industries caught up in the financial crisis came to Washington over the last several weeks to make their case for how the new regulatory landscape should look. They came from big banks and small ones, insurance companies and stock exchanges, hedge funds and mutual funds, and were joined by officials from consumer groups and big labor -- often with conflicting views. Now, lobbyists who lost the initial skirmish inside the administration will head to Congress to try to influence the final product.
Mr. Obama told reporters on Tuesday that a "lack of oversight" allowed what he called "wild risk-taking." He said it led to "very dangerous" conditions that imperiled the global economy.
But executives from an array of industries caught up in the financial crisis came to Washington over the last several weeks to make their case for how the new regulatory landscape should look. They came from big banks and small ones, insurance companies and stock exchanges, hedge funds and mutual funds, and were joined by officials from consumer groups and big labor -- often with conflicting views.
Now, lobbyists who lost the initial skirmish inside the administration will head to Congress to try to influence the final product.
we'll pull out in time, we promise! ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
among government officials, financial experts, lawmakers, industry executives and lobbyists
in other words, amongst the finance industry, its employees and its servants.
What about consumers? Representatives of other sectors of the economy? Services that deal with homeless people, bankrupt people, and so forth? Even representatives of small banks? And taxpayers?? In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes
