05 Mayo de 2008
PRENSA INTERNACIONAL
PERIODICO TITULAR
Few Details on Immigrants Who Died in U.S. Custody
Word spread quickly inside the windowless walls of the Elizabeth Detention Center, an
immigration jail in New Jersey: A detainee had fallen, injured his head and become
incoherent. Guards had put him in solitary confinement, and late that night, an ambulance
had taken him away more dead than alive.
But outside, for five days, no official notified the family of the detainee, Boubacar Bah, a 52-
year-old tailor from Guinea who had overstayed a tourist visa. When frantic relatives located
him at University Hospital in Newark on Feb. 5, 2007, he was in a coma after emergency
surgery for a skull fracture and multiple brain hemorrhages. He died there four months later
without ever waking up, leaving family members on two continents trying to find out why.
Mr. Bah’s name is one of 66 on a government list of deaths that occurred in immigration
custody from January 2004 to November 2007, when nearly a million people passed
through.
The list, compiled by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after Congress demanded the
information, and obtained by The New York Times under the Freedom of Information Act, is
the fullest accounting to date of deaths in immigration detention, a patchwork of federal
centers, county jails and privately run prisons that has become the nation’s fastest-growing
form of incarceration.
Yahoo under pressure after deal collapse
An expected realignment of the consumer internet sector was thrown into doubt over the
weekend after Microsoft’s surprise abandonment of its $46.5bn offer for Yahoo.
The move is set to put pressure on senior executives of both companies, as one of Yahoo’s
largest shareholders criticised both sides for failing to agree a deal that would have left
Yahoo shareholders with a big gain and given Microsoft a boost in its attempt to compete
with Google.
It will also trigger fresh rounds of talks between some of the biggest players in the internet
industry as both companies now look for other ways to boost their flagging online
businesses, analysts and investors said.
Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s chief executive, called off his company’s three-month pursuit of
Yahoo in a letter - released publicly on Saturday - to Yahoo founder and chief executive
Jerry Yang.
Ballmer said Microsoft had raised its bid to $33 a share, from an original offer of $31, but that
Yahoo had continued to hold out for at least $37.
La financiación autonómica abre una guerra entre barones socialistas
El PSOE y el ministro de Economía tratarán de convencer al presidente catalán y al PSC
para que se avengan a una fórmula "constitucional y socialista"
Que el euro no separe lo que la ideología ha unido. Éste es el lema de la pancarta que
enarbola el presidente de Extremadura, Guillermo Fernández-Vara, como declaración de
principios ante los primeros encontronazos con el presidente catalán, el socialista José
05 Mayo de 2008
Montilla, sobre el futuro modelo de financiación autonómica.
Cataluña quiere que ese modelo sea diferenciado según la realidad económica de cada
autonomía y según la aportación que cada una realice. "La fórmula a la que lleguemos para
nuestra España plural y diversa tiene que ser constitucional, pero también con un
planteamiento muy socialista; el trato igualitario a situaciones desiguales perpetúa la
desigualdad", proclama el presidente de Castilla-La Mancha, José María Barreda.
El texto de la pancarta del gobernante extremeño lo suscriben, además de Barreda, el
presidente andaluz, Manuel Chaves, con propuesta propia muy elaborada para todas las
autonomías; Emilio Pérez Touriño, de Galicia; Vicente Álvarez Areces, de Asturias, y la
vicepresidenta del Gobierno de Cantabria y líder del PSOE cántabro, Dolores Gorostiaga.
Torch Lights a Patriotic Spark
Olympic Symbol Renews Nationalist Fervor, Pride in Games
SANYA, China, May 5 -- After a stormy passage abroad, the Olympic torch began a three-
month relay through the major cities of China proper Sunday in a protest-free celebration of
patriotism and merrymaking.
The first leg of the home-country relay, in Hainan province just off the mainland's southern
rim, provided the Chinese people and their rulers with the televised images of harmony and
Olympic joy that they so bitterly missed over the past month, during disrupted runs through
London, Paris, San Francisco and other stops.
In a scene that set the tone, one middle-aged torch bearer, his ballooning stomach stretching
against a tight running outfit, jumped for joy as the flame was passed to his torch. He set out
with a wide smile to run his section of the all-day relay through Sanya and on to neighboring
cities in Hainan.
The ritual jogging, with the torch passed from hand to hand under a warm tropical sun,
launched what China's leaders hope will be a return to the sense of Olympic amity that to a
large extent was lost as protesters abroad decried China's recent actions in Tibet and
Chinese authorities responded by questioning their goodwill.
Cyclone Rips Through Burma, Killing Hundreds
Winds, Flooding Wreak Havoc a Week Before Referendum on New Constitution
BANGKOK, May 5 -- A powerful cyclone in military-ruled Burma has killed more than 350
people and destroyed homes and infrastructure, state-run television said Sunday, a week
before a planned national referendum on a controversial new constitution.
Packing winds of up to 120 mph, Tropical Cyclone Nargis slammed into Rangoon, Burma's
former capital and its largest city, and the rice-growing Irrawaddy Delta region Saturday.
The powerful winds and heavy flooding knocked out power and telecommunications lines,
lifted roofs from public buildings, and destroyed tens of thousands of bamboo and thatch
homes.
"It has been a catastrophic situation," said Terje Skavdal, regional head of the U.N. Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "It has flattened everything in its way. It will be a
major, major clean-up operation for the government."
State-run television reported that 351 people, including 109 on a small island off the
country's southwest coast, had been killed and that two towns deep in the Irrawaddy Delta
had been virtually flattened.
05 Mayo de 2008
PRENSA INTERNACIONAL / REVISTAS *
REVISTA NOTA TITULAR
The Incredibly Shrinking Democrats
"This election," Bill Clinton said in the hours before the Pennsylvania primary, "is too big to
be small." It was a noble sentiment, succinctly stated, and the core of what Democrats
believe — that George W. Bush has been a historic screwup as President, that there are
huge issues to be confronted this year. But it was laughable as well. The Pennsylvania
primary had been a six-week exercise in diminution, with both Hillary Clinton and Barack
Obama — and Bill Clinton too — losing altitude and esteem on an almost daily basis. Even
as he spoke, the former President was in the midst of a tiny, self-inflicted absurdity, having
claimed in a radio interview that the Obama campaign had played the "race card" against
him. And that was the least of the damage.
Hillary Clinton won a convincing victory in Pennsylvania, but it came at a significant cost to
the Clinton family's reputation and to the Democratic Party. She won by throwing the "kitchen
sink" at Obama, as her campaign aides described it. Her campaign had been an assault on
Obama's character flaws, real and imagined, rather than on matters of substance. Clinton
also suffered a bizarre self-inflicted wound, having reimagined her peaceful landing at a
Bosnian airstrip in 1996 as a battlefield scene complete with sniper fire. After six weeks of
this, according to one poll, 60% of the American people considered her "untrustworthy," a
Nixonian indictment.
Only in America
Barack Obama is a Niebuhr-reading ESPN watcher. The origins of his troubles with the
'other' tag.
Evan Thomas, Holly Bailey and Richard Wolffe
There was a time, not so long ago, when the advisers to John McCain worried a great deal
about running against Barack Obama. "We'll never get those kind of crowds," a McCain aide
admitted, almost mournfully, to a NEWSWEEK reporter as they stood watching television
coverage of a packed Obama rally in South Carolina last January. Obama seemed to have a
kind of transcendent power, an ability to convince voters that he was not just another
politician. Most McCain aides at the time wanted to run against Hillary Clinton, whom they
regarded as a traditional tax-and-spend Democrat with unusually high negative ratings.
But lately, McCain aides have been making gleeful jokes about Obama. On the campaign
trail, at dinner with reporters, they sometimes order the arugula salad, poking fun at some
comments Obama made last summer in Iowa ("Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and
see what they charge for arugula?"). "Do you see how much they are charging for this?" a
McCain aide asked a reporter at one such dinner at a restaurant, pointing to the menu and
feigning shock.
The rise of the Gulf
The Gulf is managing its wealth better during this boom than it did during the last one
Justin PumfreyMOST countries earn their keep through effort and ingenuity. Those of the
05 Mayo de 2008
Gulf owe their living to geological serendipity. The harder China works, the faster India
grows, the higher oil prices climb.
The Gulf swells with confidence or despair depending on the price of ―Arabian light‖ or
―Oman blend‖. Five years ago, though up from its $9 low in the 1990s, the oil price stood at a
mere $26 a barrel. Many of the Gulf's governments were indebted and insecure. Saudi
Arabia was facing an al-Qaeda insurgency. Expatriates, used to a secure if sequestered life,
tried not to think about the tanks parked outside their compounds. Now the same oil fetches
over $100 a barrel and confidence has returned. The insurgency in Saudi Arabia has been
quashed. The Gulf is once again a source of envy more than concern (see article).
Surely only good can come from so much cash? Hardly. In the 1970s the Gulf's money was
a disaster for Latin America, for, recycled through Western banks, it caused a decade-long
debt crisis. The Gulf itself suffered by inflicting stagflation on the West, thus causing a 20-
year-long slump in oil prices.
The Brothers Behind Ultimate Fighting
Matthew Miller 04.16.08, 6:00 PM ET
Billionaire brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta made their first fortunes in casinos. Then in
2001 they paid $2 million for a violent fighting outfit called Ultimate Fighting Championship--
and built it into a money machine. These days, UFC controls more than 90% of the "mixed
martial arts" industry, and is worth perhaps $1 billion.
Ultimate Cash Machine
Matthew Miller 05.05.08, 12:00 AM ET
Casino moguls Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta bought a violent fight club called Ultimate Fighting
Championship--and built it into a billion-dollar sports empire.
On the evening before the Super Bowl a mix of celebrities (including home run king Barry
Bonds and hip-hop impresario Jay-Z), high rollers and rabid fans crammed into the 12,000-
seat arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Like spectators at a gladiator fight, they were
there to witness the highly charged and bizarre spectacle of men bloodying each other in
what's known as mixed martial arts. It was the latest fightfest staged by Ultimate Fighting
Championship, a Las Vegas company that started as a smutlike fight club that's now worth
maybe $1 billion and is drawing competitors like flies to blood.
FORTUNE 500
Our annual ranking of America's largest corporations
Rank Company Revenues ($ millions) Profits ($ millions)
1 Wal-Mart Stores 378,799.0 12,731.0
2 Exxon Mobil 372,824.0 40,610.0
3 Chevron 210,783.0 18,688.0
4 General Motors 182,347.0 -38,732.0
5 ConocoPhillips 178,558.0 11,891.0
6 General Electric 176,656.0 22,208.0
7 Ford Motor 172,468.0 -2,723.0
8 Citigroup 159,229.0 3,617.0
9 Bank of America Corp. 119,190.0 14,982.0
10 AT&T 118,928.0 11,951.0
05 Mayo de 2008
The Midas of Misery
Vulture investors are a changing breed. The new opportunists, with Harbinger's Phil Falcone in
the vanguard, have more clout and more imagination. And they just might kick-start the economy
While Wall Street panicked over the fate of Bear Stearns (BSC) in mid-March, hedge fund
manager Philip A. Falcone enjoyed a notably successful week. The founder of Harbinger Capital
Partners made tens of millions of dollars on an earlier wager that Bear and other financial stocks
would collapse. Then on Mar.17 he scored a coup at the financially struggling New York Times
when publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr. agreed to add two of Falcone's allies to the board. Days
later, the Federal Communications Commission sold off a block of wireless spectrum for billions,
dramatically boosting the value of spectrum that Falcone had purchased on the cheap.
Falcone is a Midas of Misery. With $19 billion—nearly 760 times the grubstake he started out
with seven years ago—he is snapping up troubled assets in bankruptcy, shorting distressed
bonds, and using huge stock positions to agitate for change at underperforming companies. His
holdings read like a who's who of market castoffs: media companies, utilities, and steelmakers.
Last year Harbinger netted $11 billion, thanks in large part to Falcone's gutsy bet against all
things subprime. His personal windfall of $1.7 billion made him one of the highest-paid hedge
fund managers in 2007. "He will look at anything," says one investment banker who works with
Falcone. "If it's cheap, he'll buy it."
05 Mayo de 2008
INDICE GENERAL
TEMA
AENA rechaza el proyecto de parque eólico de Barcelona El Pais
Mediona estrena un parque solar El Pais
El 'hostigamiento' de Cristina Fernández El Pais
Indonesia Oil Woes Tax Budget, But Stocks May Rise WSJ
Microsoft Walks Away WSJ
ELECTRICIDAD California's Energy Colonialism WSJ
'Smart' power meters herald future of our electricity use WPost
Bolivia's Richest Region Votes Solidly for Autonomy WPost
3i pays £32.5m for 34% of SLR FT
Suspend biofuel rules, say MPs FT
British Energy bid war unlikely FT
Smarter electric grid could be key to saving power NYTimes
05 Mayo de 2008
PRENSA INTERNACIONAL
ELECTRICIDAD
AENA rechaza el proyecto de parque eólico de Barcelona EFE - Barcelona -
05/05/2008
El parque eólico que el Ayuntamiento de Barcelona pretende construir en el puerto está paralizado y
no lleva trazas de poder salir adelante. La razón es que Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea
(AENA) ha rechazado el proyecto debido a que el funcionamiento de los tres aerogeneradores
planeados podría afectar a la radiofrecuencia de la navegación aérea.
La segunda teniente de alcalde de Barcelona, Imma Mayol, admitió que se esfuman las posibilidades
de levantar este parque eólico, que debía construirse junto al rompeolas. El proyecto formaba parte
del borrador del Plan de Actuación Municipal 2008-2011, que presentó el pasado mes de enero el
actual equipo, del PSC e ICV.
La edil ecosocialista explicó que el Ayuntamiento contaba ya con todos los informes favorables para el
parque y que estaba únicamente a la espera de la decisión del informe de AENA. "Tenemos los
permisos de impacto ambiental, los del puerto, los de evacuación de electricidad, y sólo faltaba la
autorización de AENA. Incluso había pasado los controles de viento y se habían hecho las catas para
la ubicación de los molinos, pero de momento han dicho que no. Y aunque hemos recurrido, parece
que lo tenemos difícil", lamentó Mayol.
El Consistorio está estudiando una alternativa, cambiar el tipo de aerogeneradores que se deberían
instalar, para tratar de que AENA levante su veto. "Hoy por hoy, es un proyecto con dificultades",
insistió Mayol. La edil subrayó que los molinos habían salvado ya las dudas por su envergadura (unos
80 metros de altura), pero no superaron la barrera de las interferencias.
Inversión mixta
La intención del Consistorio era instalar tres molinos de dos megavatios cada uno y con una previsión
de funcionamiento de 1.400 horas al año, con capacidad para cubrir el consumo energético anual de
unas 3.500 personas. La inversión debía estar alrededor de los nueve millones de euros, con
particiación pública y privada.
Mayol recalcó que, además del valor energético de este parque, el proyecto cuenta con un "interés
pedagógico", porque hubiera dado a conocer a la ciudadanía de Barcelona la energía eólica en el
único lugar de la ciudad en el que sopla viento suficiente para instalar molinos. Y remachó: "Y no es
Collserola, que es un lugar protegido".
Mediona estrena un parque solar PERE LOBATO - Vilafranca
La localidad ingresará 110.000 euros anuales con la venta de energía del Penedès
05/05/2008
El Ayuntamiento de Mediona (Alt Penedès) ha puesto en funcionamiento el primer parque de
generación de energía fotovoltaica que es íntegramente de titularidad municipal. En su primer día en
05 Mayo de 2008
servicio las instalaciones lograron producir 630 kilovatios, una cifra con la que el alcalde de la
localidad, el socialista Servand Casas, se considera más que satisfecho. Si a partir de ahora se puede
producir esta cantidad de energía a diario, las arcas municipales ingresarán cada año de este parque
110.000 euros netos. Con este importe, el Ayuntamiento de Mediona prevé poder llegar a sufragar
hasta el 90% del coste de la factura anual de su alumbrado público.
El parque dispone de 800 placas solares y ocupa 0,5 hectáreas. La superficie es pequeña, pero
responde a las necesidades de la localidad, que en 2007 tenía 2.251 habitantes empadronados. Con
el parque ya en marcha, el Consistorio está elaborando un manual sobre cómo iniciar y ejecutar una
instalación de estas características. El documento estará al alcance de todos los ayuntamientos y
ciudadanos que lo soliciten. "Hemos invertido un esfuerzo que ahora pueden aprovechar otros
consistorios", aseguró Cases. El alcalde añadió que el parque ha suscitado el interés de numerosas
administraciones locales.
El proyecto ha supuesto una inversión de un millón de euros, que el Ayuntamiento ha conseguido en
buena parte gracias a subvenciones de la Generalitat y, sobre todo, del Ministerio de Industria,
Comercio y Turismo. Las aportaciones del Gobierno central se aprobaron cuando José Montilla era el
titular de esta cartera ministerial.
Venta a Fecsa-Endesa
El Ayuntamiento ya está vendiendo la energía que genera el nuevo parque a la compañía eléctrica
Fecsa-Endesa a un precio 578 veces superior a lo que cuesta producirla. La venta de la energía a
este precio es, en opinión de Cases, "la mejor manera de amortizar el parque". El Consistorio admite
que la gestión del proyecto será compleja. Sin embargo, el alcalde se manifestó muy satisfecho por
que se ha "tirado adelante un modelo energético" por el que ha apostado la localidad.
La localidad de Mediona cuenta con varias urbanizaciones dispersas en el término municipal, que
nacieron durante las décadas de 1960 y 1070. Estas zonas están formadas por viviendas
unifamiliares aisladas. Este modelo de núcleo urbano supone ir sumando numerosos kilómetros que
requieren de alumbrado público. El parque fotovoltaico, además de producir electricidad, permitirá
sufragar el coste que supone la dispersión de las viviendas de los ciudadanos del municipio. El
Ayuntamiento también está trabajando en la instalación de un nuevo alumbrado que sea "más
sostenible" y que permita un mayor ahorro energético.
El 'hostigamiento' de Cristina Fernández JORGE MARIRRODRIGA
El Gobierno argentino presiona a las empresas españolas para controlar sectores clave de la
economía
04/05/2008
"Las empresas españolas llevan tiempo en la diana del Gobierno argentino, pero lo de los últimos
meses es muy preocupante". Sentado en un restaurante de Buenos Aires, un alto responsable de una
empresa participada por capital español expresa en voz alta la percepción que tienen las principales
empresas españolas presentes en Argentina ante el aumento de la presión que el Gobierno argentino
ejerce sobre las direcciones de estas empresas para que, en unos casos, cedan parte de su
accionario a grupos locales próximos a los Kirchner y en otros se deshagan de unidades de negocio
que garantizan su presencia en el país.
05 Mayo de 2008
Esta presión, que ha sido calificada por los representantes españoles de "hostigamiento" ante sus
pares argentinos, ha provocado la reacción del Gobierno español, que ha lanzado por diferentes vías
un mensaje claro a la Administración de Cristina Fernández. España ha apoyado a Argentina en los
momentos más difíciles y el mal trato que se está dando a sus inversiones no es precisamente el que
merece quien se ha quedado mientras los demás se marchaban.
La presencia española en los sectores estratégicos es abrumadora. Baste citar las comunicaciones,
donde Telefónica es la primera empresa; el transporte aéreo, donde el Grupo Marsans es dueño de la
compañía de bandera Aerolíneas Argentinas, o el petróleo y los combustibles, donde Repsol es
propietaria de YPF, dueña y señora del mercado local. Autopistas (Abertis), electricidad (Endesa) o
gas (Gas Natural) son otros tres sectores clave con importante presencia española, por no citar la
banca (Santander y BBVA), donde los grupos españoles figuran entre los primeros del país.
La presencia española resulta todavía más notable desde que la situación de inseguridad jurídica
creada a partir de la crisis -congelación de tarifas, cambios en las regulaciones, huelgas salvajes
alentadas desde el Gobierno- ha provocado la salida de otros capitales extranjeros en prácticamente
todos los sectores. Salidas unas veces estrepitosas, como la del grupo francés Suez, a quien Kirchner
terminó arrebatando la concesión del suministro de agua en Buenos Aires, y en otras ocasiones más
discreta, como la italiana Banca Nazionale del Lavoro o el estadounidense Bank of Boston. En este
aspecto, el presidente del Gobierno español, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, recalcó en todas sus
visitas -o de miembros de su Gobierno- a Buenos Aires que la presencia española iba mucho más allá
de una cuestión de rentabilidad, sino que se trataba de un "compromiso" de España con Argentina en
los momentos difíciles.
Pero Argentina, como dicen los Kirchner, "ha salido del infierno" y la argentinización de sectores
emblemáticos es clave en su política, máxime cuando la inflación y las encuestas empiezan a dar la
espalda a la política económica del matrimonio presidencial. En este sentido, la venta del 25% de YPF
por parte de Repsol a Enrique Eskenazi, un banquero sin experiencia previa en el sector, pero
perteneciente al círculo de confianza de Kirchner, marcó la estrategia del Gobierno argentino para
controlar el proceso sin recurrir a las nacionalizaciones -que pondrían en fuga a la inversión
extranjera- y reduciendo al mínimo el coste monetario para las arcas argentinas.
Con el éxito de Repsol bajo el brazo, Fernández ha tratado de repetir estrategia con Aerolíneas
Argentinas, empresa que vive una situación laboral insostenible desde hace al menos tres años -sólo
el año pasado tuvo una media de una huelga cada dos días-, alentada por un alto funcionario del
Gobierno argentino, Ricardo Cirielli, quien cambió la dirección de un sindicato aeronáutico por la
subsecretaría de Transportes.
Cirielli fue apartado del cargo, pero la dirección de la empresa se las ha tenido que ver con Ricardo
Jaime, secretario de Transportes, cuyas formas y fondo han provocado el malestar oficial español.
Fuentes de Exteriores confirmaron el disgusto español cuando se conoció que Jaime había
presentado hace dos semanas a los dueños de Aerolíneas, Gerardo Díaz Ferrán y Gonzalo Pascual,
prácticamente como cuestión cerrada e innegociable la entrada de socios argentinos en el 20% del
capital de la empresa. Díaz Ferrán es además el presidente de la CEOE, y el Gobierno español
considera que una salida forzada del capital español no es buena para las relaciones entre ambos
países. Y así se lo transmitió el embajador español en Argentina, Rafael Estrella, al Gobierno de
Fernández. -
05 Mayo de 2008
Indonesia Oil Woes Tax Budget, But Stocks May Rise By TOM WRIGHT
May 5, 2008; Page C2
JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Over the past 24 months, roaring global fuel and commodity prices have
boosted Indonesia's resource-rich economy and company earnings.
But there's a flip side: Crude oil's surge is posing a major dilemma for the government and could begin
to slow the country's recently impressive growth rate.
Does that mean bad news for the Jakarta stock market, too? Not necessarily, say some analysts.
Indonesia, the only Asian member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, still heavily
subsidizes domestic fuel use, keeping local prices for gasoline and diesel about half that of average
international levels.
As crude oil has soared above $115 a barrel on world markets, the government's 2008 budget has
been thrown out of whack. Subsidies for fuel and electricity could end up costing $20 billion this year,
more than twice an earlier forecast, and a fifth of total government spending -- unless Jakarta takes the
tough decision to cut them.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has so far put off raising fuel prices ahead of next year's
presidential elections but he appears to have few options if he is to stop a budget blowout. In recent
weeks, his vice president and energy minister have publicly announced that fuel-price increases are
likely this year, and a senior central bank official said Saturday that it might happen within a month.
In theory, higher fuel prices and ensuing inflationary pressure, should be bad for the stock market.
Indonesia's central bank will likely have to raise interest rates, at about 8%, as inflation picks up. On
Friday, the government said the consumer price index in April grew 8.96% from a year earlier, above
the 8.17% March gain, reflecting higher fuel and food costs. A fuel-price rise would likely push inflation
into double digits, economists predict.
But some bullish analysts argue the Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index's 15% fall since the
start of the year shows that investors have already priced in possible double-digit inflation as well as
their worries over a possible U.S. recession. That should act as a brake against further sharp declines,
they argue.
What's more, the government still forecasts the economy will grow about 6% this year -- one of the
fastest rates in the world -- as global commodity prices remain high.
Earnings of Indonesian companies that sell palm oil or coal to China and India, for example, coal
producers Bumi Resources and state-controlled Tambang Batubara Bukit Asam should be untroubled
by interest-rate rises. They are cash rich and buoyed by strong prices and overseas demand. That's
good news for Indonesia's stock market, where commodity-related shares account for about 60% of
the daily $650 million turnover.
05 Mayo de 2008
To be sure, higher interest rates are likely to hurt the near-term outlook for consumer-goods
companies like auto-seller Astra International and banks with large retail loan portfolios such as Bank
Danamon.
Another risk is that the government decides to increase fuel prices by only 15% or so -- lower than the
30% rise most analysts agree is needed to take adequate pressure off the budget.
But by taking a tough decision now, the government should be able to restore investor confidence in its
management of the economy, most analysts say.
"It's short-term pain, but long-term gain," says Laksono Widodo, head of equities at Mandiri Sekuritas,
a local brokerage firm. Mandiri is targeting the benchmark Jakarta index to reach 2700 by the end of
2008, a 15% upside from its closing level Friday.
Analysts see good things for companies like Bumi Resources, which runs one of Indonesia's largest
coal mines; Medco Energi Internasional, an oil and gas producer; and Perusahaan Gas Negara, a
state-owned gas-transmission company.
Many see Bumi Resources as a winner from the commodities boom. Despite its shares running up
9.2% so far this year and by more than 500% in 2007, Ferry Wong, head of research at Macquarie
Securities in Jakarta, thinks it can go higher given almost insatiable demand from China and India for
coal.
Medco could also benefit from higher oil prices. Its stock has slipped 22% this year because of
concerns over delays in the start-up of a large gas project. But Medco should get a boost ahead of its
plans to begin production from a Libyan oil field next year.
PGN, the gas distributor, is set to benefit from increased use of natural gas by Indonesian industries.
The company controls 85% of gas transmission in the country, giving it enormous pricing power,
analysts say.
While cuts in fuel subsidizes will hurt consumer-goods companies, some say even the negative impact
could be muted. Joshua Tanja, head of stock research at UBS in Jakarta, points to the market rally
after the last time Indonesia raised fuel prices, by 126% in October 2005.
Indonesia's central bank was forced to raise rates sharply in 2006 to get a grip on inflation, and car
sales dived 40% compared with 2005. Still, the Jakarta stock benchmark rose 55% in 2006, as
investors piled in to profit from Indonesia's commodities-led economic growth. Even shares of Astra,
one of the country's biggest car distributors, grew strongly that year as investors took a long-term view
that more Indonesians will be driving in the years ahead, Mr. Tanja says.
This time, Mr. Tanja expects the inflationary impact of trimmed subsidies to be less severe, given the
smaller expected price increase for fuel.
Astra stock has fallen 23% so far this year on inflation concerns. Yet UBS thinks car sales won't be hit
as badly as in 2006. "The market is pricing in an overly harsh operating environment for Astra," UBS
said in a research note.
05 Mayo de 2008
Banks, like Danamon, with high exposure to auto and motorcycle loans could also face pressure, says
Mr. Wong of Macquarie. But banks with large numbers of floating-rate government bonds on their
books, such as Bank Central Asia and state-controlled Bank Mandiri, will benefit from higher interest
rates, helping to offset potential losses from higher loan defaults, he adds.
Microsoft Walks Away By JAMES WILLHITE
May 5, 2008
Microsoft Corp. said it abandoned its offer for Yahoo Inc., as the two companies failed to bridge a gap
between them on price.
Microsoft on Saturday released a letter from Chief Executive Steve Ballmer to Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang
saying that Microsoft had said it was willing to raise its offer to $33 a share, or $47.5 billion, for Yahoo,
but Yahoo demanded at least $4 a share more.
While Microsoft could eventually pursue Yahoo again, people close to the two sides said they didn't
believe Saturday's withdrawal was a negotiating tactic designed to pressure Yahoo to accept a lower
offer. Yahoo will now likely face pressure from its shareholders to justify why it couldn't reach a deal in
the range of $33.
Read the report by Kevin J. Delaney, Matthew Karnitschnig and Robert A. Guth:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120986002095265343.html
***
WORM INVASION: Surging rice prices are causing distress across the globe. But they may provide
the Ifugao tribespeople of the Philippines with reinforcements in a long, losing battle against giant,
civilization-destroying earthworms.
A slithering, silent invasion of worms -- up to 60 centimeters long and as thick as thumbs -- has been
boring into the rice terraces in this misty, mountainous area of the northern Philippines for 40 years.
They destroy irrigation systems, erode the soil and ultimately cause the terraces to collapse. Farmers
have abandoned a quarter of the ancient, stepped rice paddies that were built more than 2,000 years
ago.
Until recently, rice prices haven't been high enough to enable farmers to finance a sustained
counterattack. But with prices breaching historic highs, the Ifugao elders sense their war against the
worms is about to turn.
Read the report by James Hookway:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120993988168165921.html
***
05 Mayo de 2008
MUSHARRAF SEEKS A DEAL: Aides to Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf are holding secret talks
with the country's leading political party in an effort to secure the former general's presidential position
in return for diminution of his power.
A close aide to the president suggested the embattled leader could accept the restoration of judges
fired by him during his emergency rule last year. He also is willing to agree to a constitutional change
that would restrict the president's power to dismiss Parliament, the aide said. He isn't, however,
prepared to relinquish his power to appoint the chiefs of the armed forces.
While the hostile former judges would be returned, new judges appointed by Mr. Musharraf late last
year to replace them would be retained, diluting the power of the former judges so they would no
longer present a problem for the president.
Read the report by Zahid Hussain:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120993794768465841.html
***
INDONESIA OIL DILEMMA: Indonesia, the only Asian member of OPEC, still heavily subsidizes
domestic fuel use, keeping local prices for gasoline and diesel about half that of average international
levels. As crude oil has soared above $115 a barrel, the government's 2008 budget has been thrown
out of whack. Subsidies for fuel and electricity could end up costing $20 billion this year, more than
twice an earlier forecast, and a fifth of total government spending -- unless Jakarta takes the tough
decision to cut them.
Read the report by Tom Wright:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120993798440365881.html
***
CHINA'S NAVAL SECRETS: Richard D. Fisher Jr. writes on the opinion pages of The Wall Street
Journal Asia: Experts attempting to understand the strategic aims behind China's aggressive military
expansion have generally focused on Taiwan. But a new naval base points at Beijing's significant and
growing interest in projecting power into waters far from the Taiwan Strait. China, in fact, is equipping
itself to assert its longstanding and expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea, and this plan
could raise tensions well beyond the region.
California's Energy Colonialism By MAX SCHULZ
May 3, 2008; Page A11
"When you look at the globe, California is a little spot on that globe," Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said
recently at Yale University's Climate Change Conference. "But when it comes to our power of
influence, it is the equivalent of a whole continent."
05 Mayo de 2008
Perhaps. As an exercise of this influence, Mr. Schwarzenegger has attempted to push climate-change
policy forward, signing the Global Warming Solutions Act. It commits the state to reducing greenhouse-
gas emissions to 1990 levels – roughly 25% below today's – and all but eliminating them by 2050.
"California has the ideas of Athens and the power of Sparta," he said in his state of the state address
last year. "Not only can we lead California into the future; we can show the nation and the world how to
get there."
His words are in keeping with the state's self-perception. Politicians, business titans, academics and
environmental activists proudly point to four decades of environmentally conscious public policy –
while maintaining a dynamic economy, arguably the eighth-largest on the planet, with a gross state
product of more than $1.6 trillion.
In truth, the state's energy leadership is a mirage. Decades of environmental policies have made it
heavily dependent on other states for power; generated crippling costs; and left the state vulnerable to
periodic electricity shortages. Its economic growth has occurred not because of, but despite, those
policies.
Since the early 1970s, California has instituted new efficiency standards for appliances and the
construction of new buildings. It mandated aggressive conservation programs and required a certain
percentage of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources like wind and solar, which it has
subsidized. It implemented far-reaching regulations on emissions from car tailpipes and from stationary
sources like factories. And it has moved to shut down the state's nuclear facilities.
For a time, it worked. Since the mid-1970s, California's economy has grown while per-capita energy
consumption stayed flat – an astounding fact, considering that such consumption has increased by
roughly 50% elsewhere in the country over the same period.
But consider the story of the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station. Opened in 1975, it was
capable of generating over 900 megawatts (MW) of electricity, enough to power upward of 900,000
homes. Fourteen years after powering up, the nuclear reactor shut down, thanks to fierce antinuclear
opposition. Eventually, the facility was converted to solar power, and today generates a measly four
MW of electricity. After millions of dollars in subsidies and other support, the entire state has less than
250 MW of solar capacity.
Rancho Seco helps explain California's energy crisis in 2000 and 2001, when numerous rolling
blackouts and power outages caused billions of dollars in damages. The degree to which rapacious
power-company executives and traders were responsible for the shortages remains open to debate.
Not open to debate is that California had insufficient power to meet demand, with a frayed and
overloaded infrastructure for moving electrons.
California's flat per-capita energy consumption has not saved it from blackouts, either, since its
population had been soaring. From 1979 to 1999, the number of residents jumped from about 23
million people to 33 million. Today, the figure is closer to 38 million, and it could top 45 million by 2020.
The blunt secret is this: California now imports lots of energy from neighboring states to make up for
05 Mayo de 2008
having too few power plants. Up to 20% of the state's power comes from coal-burning plants in
Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Montana. Another significant portion comes from large-
scale hydropower in Oregon, Washington State and the Hoover Dam near Las Vegas.
"California practices a sort of energy colonialism," says James Lucier of Capital Alpha Partners, a
Washington, D.C.-area investment group. "They leave those states to deal with the resulting pollution."
California's proud claim to have kept per-capita energy consumption flat while growing its economy is
less impressive than it seems. The state has some of the highest energy prices in the country – nearly
twice the national average – largely because of regulations and government mandates to use
expensive renewable sources of power. As a result, heavy manufacturing and other energy-intensive
industries have been fleeing the Golden State in droves.
The unreliable power grid is starting to rattle some Silicon Valley heavyweights. Intel CEO Craig
Barrett, for instance, vowed in 2001 not to build a chip-making facility in California until power supplies
became more reliable. This October, Intel opened a $3 billion factory near Phoenix for mass
production of its new 45-nanometer microprocessors. Google has chosen to build the massive server
farms that will fuel its expansion anywhere but in California.
And yet, despite a desperate need for more power, opposition to energy projects remains prevalent.
State law prohibits the construction of new nuclear plants, and legislative efforts last summer to repeal
it went nowhere. Last spring state regulators vetoed a proposal to build a liquefied natural gas terminal
14 miles off the Malibu coast.
Even renewable-energy projects meet resistance. Texas, of all places, is the nation's leader in wind-
power generation. High costs, excessive regulation and environmentalist litigation have hampered
California's efforts. Texas has just built lots of turbines.
None of this has stopped leaders from setting wildly unrealistic goals for safeguarding the
environment, from electric cars to wind-energy production. The latest goal is to drastically reduce
greenhouse-gas emissions.
The details of how the Global Warming Solutions Act is actually implemented don't have to be revealed
until next January. Even the California Energy Commission hints that the targets might be
unreachable. But they'll certainly cost a lot to find out. Analysis from the Electric Power Research
Institute pegs the Act's cost to the California economy at anywhere from $100 billion to $511 billion.
Californians may feel good about their environmental consciousness. But someone needs to build
power plants and oil refineries to fuel their economy. Someone needs to manufacture the cars they
drive, the airplanes they fly, the chemicals and resins and paints and plastics that make their lives
comfortable.
Those things require energy, and lots of it. All the wisdom of Athens and all the power of Sparta won't
change that fact.
Mr. Schulz is director of the Manhattan Institute's Center for Energy Policy and the Environment. This
op-ed is adapted from the Spring 2008 issue of City Journal.
05 Mayo de 2008
'Smart' power meters herald future of our electricity use By MARC LEVY
Sunday, May 4, 2008; 2:27 PM The Associated Press
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. -- Determined to cut his electricity bill, Darrell Brubaker took the usual steps of
raising his air conditioner's thermostat and cooking more on the grill.
But the key to maximum savings _ as much as 6 percent a month last summer _ was his grasp of the
state of the electrical grid and his family's willingness to adjust their power usage accordingly.
His utility, PPL Corp., is among a growing number of electricity providers that are testing pricing plans
in which rates are set higher during the hours of peak demand, roughly following the curves of supply
and demand in the wholesale energy markets.
As more utilities install "smart" power meters that track how much electricity flows into a home in real
time, they are freer to offer alternatives to the average monthly rate that they traditionally charged to
consumers.
The pilot programs are the first step in what's expected to be a complete transformation of the century-
old power grid. Once a silent supplier of electrons to homes and businesses, it's gaining the ability to
talk back _ not only to power companies, but to consumers and their appliances.
Armed with information, Brubaker, 56, took action. Besides switching his lamps to energy-saving
compact fluorescent light bulbs, he chose to run his pool pump and dishwasher at night at his home in
the suburbs and dairy country of south-central Pennsylvania.
"Essentially, it was just more conservation, being more cognizant of, 'Yes there are more savings here
if we do things differently,'" Brubaker said.
By signing up tens of millions of people like Brubaker to change patterns of electric usage, the
companies expect the new power meters and time-based rates to help avoid blackouts, curb
greenhouse gas emissions and beat back the immediate need to build expensive new power plants.
Many utilities hope to make such rates available to all their customers within several years, with an eye
toward shaving usage on the most demanding days of the year when electricity prices rise sharply.
While major industrial and commercial ratepayers have operated on time-based rates for years, the
concept remains relatively foreign to residential users.
Various kinds of smart meters are available and in use around the country. Depending on its
capabilities, a smart meter _ at a cost of about $200 per home _ also can play a role in how much
information about energy use is made available to customers and how much money can be saved.
The most advanced ones allow the utility and the customer to gauge usage and cost immediately,
instead of once a month after a meter reader makes the rounds.
Utilities plan to offer a menu of rate plans. In its pilot, PPL offered something referred to as a "time-of-
05 Mayo de 2008
use" rate, where set periods of higher prices contrast with periods of lower prices. In this case, pilot
participants paid more between noon and 7 p.m. on weekdays and less the rest of the time.
Some rates, called "real time," change throughout the day as the wholesale price floats up and down.
People who sign up for such plans may receive signals, such as e-mails or cell phone messages, to
tell them prices are climbing dangerously.
"Critical peak" rates would apply only on the dozen or more highest-demand days of the year.
So far, pilot programs have found that the average customer usually saves money. Critics note,
however, that's not always the case.
In the pilot program Brubaker signed up for the past three summers, about one in four PPL customers
accumulated bigger bills than they would have logged on the average rate. PPL officials chalked that
up to people flying blind without enough information about how to save money, a shortcoming the
utility is trying to address by things like putting a kilowatt calculator on its Web site.
In a Commonwealth Edison Co. pilot program in Illinois, the average participant paid about 7 percent
more in 2005, a departure from the pilot tests of other years. Company officials blamed the increase on
spiking prices during an unusually hot summer and the disruption of natural gas supplies caused by
Hurricane Katrina.
Last year, about 95 percent of the participants saved money in Commonwealth Edison's open-
enrollment residential real-time pricing program, thought to be the nation's first. The majority saved
between 7 percent to 12 percent, the utility said. To date, about 4,000 of the utility's 3.3 million
residential customers have signed up.
A brochure the utility mailed to customers advises the program might not be for them if, for instance,
they don't work during the day, don't have electric heat or have a medical condition.
Some electricity consumers simply don't have much wiggle room when it comes to changing electricity
consumption. For instance, families with small children who participated in an Ottawa Hydro pilot in
2006-07 later reported difficulty shaping their lives around the rates. They told surveyors that it was
difficult to cut back on laundry loads during the higher-priced daytime periods.
Some consumer advocates remain skeptical. They warn that smart meters and fluctuating rates could
be a multibillion dollar mistake that would shift people from the relative stability of an averaged,
monthly rate and subject them to the unpredictable swings of the wholesale electricity market.
In Washington, D.C., ratepayer advocate Elizabeth A. Noel urged public service commissioners to
ensure the $60 million smart-meter proposal by Potomac Electric and Power Co. will guarantee cost
benefits before the utility can bill customers to recoup its investment plus a rate of return.
The testing ground will be a $2 million pilot set to begin in June, to be paid for by the utility.
"If you don't show consumers that there's something in it for them, then they're not going do to it," Noel
said. "You have to show people what it means to them, and people look at the bottom line of their
05 Mayo de 2008
electric bills."
Gerald A. Norlander, the executive director of the Public Utility Law Project in Albany, N.Y., said that
passing along the volatile price of wholesale electricity could shut down factories and devastate
households. And he suggested that power plant owners could circumvent any conservation efforts by
manipulating the supply of electricity to keep prices high.
Jon Wellinghoff, a member of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission who advocates smart
meters, countered that his agency and state regulators will be closely watching to guard against
market manipulation.
Utility officials say they do not expect such time-based rates to become mandatory for most
ratepayers. Some utilities may offer their ratepayers incentives to enroll, like rebates, discounts and
temporary guarantees against paying more.
"There will be benefits to everyone, but without the technology, it won't happen," said Dennis Wraase,
the chief executive of Pepco Holdings Inc., which wants to install smart meters for the nearly 2 million
customers under its three utilities in Washington, D.C., and the mid-Atlantic.
After all the changes he made, Brubaker, the PPL customer, said shutting off the pool pump during the
day made the biggest impact: The swimming pool never warmed up.
"As far as hardships go," he said, "I can live with that one."
Bolivia's Richest Region Votes Solidly for Autonomy By Monte Reel
Referendum Is Major Rebuke to President Morales Washington Post Foreign
Monday, May 5, 2008; A09 Service
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia, May 4 -- Bolivia's wealthiest region voted Sunday to distance itself from the
central government, directly defying President Evo Morales with a measure that aims to give local
authorities more power over resources.
Morales had urged his supporters to ignore the referendum, but turnout was unofficially reported at 61
percent. Multiple exit polls suggested Sunday about 85 percent of Santa Cruz voters voted in favor of
the proposal, but final results were not expected before Monday.
The measure directs Santa Cruz authorities -- mainly business leaders who detest Morales's socialist
initiatives -- to take more control of locally produced tax revenue, police forces and property ownership
administration.
The measure, considered the most serious challenge yet to Morales's presidency, intensified long-
standing regional divisions that have made social unrest a defining feature of the political landscape.
Scattered clashes between voters and Morales's supporters erupted throughout the day, but the
massive disorder that some had feared did not occur.
05 Mayo de 2008
"It's a historic day, and tomorrow we have more work to do," said Branko Marinkovic, a leader of the
Santa Cruz autonomy movement. "We have to determine a new course for Bolivia, and it won't be an
easy task."
Because the national government considers the referendum illegal, its true effect remains unclear.
Morales, who had likened it to a nonbinding opinion poll, on Sunday night dismissed it as "a failure."
"This poll, which is illegal and unconstitutional, was not the success that they hoped for," Morales said
during a televised speech, which was delivered while thousands filled the streets of Santa Cruz in a
massive victory celebration. ". . . Between the abstention rate of 39 percent, the votes 'no' and the
blank ballots, that is practically 50 percent."
Political analysts predicted that the voters' approval of the measure, however, will give regional leaders
traction that could force negotiations in an ideological stalemate over divisions of power. Or it could
make an eventual collision even more jarring.
Five more of the country's nine regional governments have scheduled or are considering similar
referendums in the coming months, which autonomy supporters contend could dramatically change
the country's political outlook. The six regions together account for most of the country's revenue and
natural resources.
"This is a movement that is just taking root but will help define the country for years and years," said
Vanesa Alvarado, who traveled to Santa Cruz on Sunday with a group of autonomy supporters from
the region of Tarija, which plans an autonomy vote next month. "We're watching everything that
happens here so that we can be experts on the process when we go back home and have our own
referendum."
On Sunday night, Morales suggested that he is willing to talk with regional leaders about addressing
some of their concerns within the framework of a new constitution. For more than two years, Morales's
efforts to rewrite the constitution have been mired by infighting.
"Santa Cruz is showing that the autonomy movement is not just made up of a few people, but has wide
social support," said Gonzalo Chávez, a political analyst in La Paz. "Now they have to develop and
organize the legal and institutional framework to put that support to work. It will take time. But step by
step, I think, Bolivia is in the process of building a new type of political system, a more federal system
where the regions have more power."
Many of the people who elected Morales, however, argue that the changes are unfairly undercutting
presidential democracy. Shortly after Marinkovic, the movement leader, cast his ballot here, protesters
in La Paz burned an effigy of him in one of several demonstrations throughout the country against the
autonomy push. In Plan 3000 -- a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of this city -- Morales supporters
confiscated ballot boxes and set them afire in the street.
Like Morales, many of those protesters were born in the country's western highlands and claim
Aymara or Quechua Indian ancestry. Many autonomy leaders, however, are of European descent.
Some protesters said they believe the autonomy drive is fueled by racism against Morales, who has
said he aims to redress 500 years of discrimination by giving Bolivia's indigenous populations more
05 Mayo de 2008
power.
Fernando Villarroel, 17, gathered with several dozen other opponents of the referendum on a street in
Plan 3000. They spoke of the vote as a clearly drawn class struggle. The leaders of the autonomy
movement -- such as Marinkovic and Rubén Costas, the elected prefect, or governor, of the district --
are considered by many in the indigenous communities of Bolivia to be members of a wealthy elite
who cannot be trusted.
"We're going to burn all the ballots that we can, because this is illegal. We can't let the rich take over
this country again," Villarroel said.
Jhonny Osinaga, 43, who stood nearby over the bonfire of ballots, added: "The autonomy leaders are
a mafia who will only stick their hands in our pockets to take what little money we have. They'll get in
power and charge us more for gas and electricity. We have no choice but to fight."
In most parts of the city, where support for autonomy was overwhelming, the mood was more festive
than angry. Voters lingered outside polling places in the city's affluent zones, buying ice cream from
roadside vendors and listening to music from car speakers. Santa Cruz residents often call themselves
"camba," a term that aims to give cultural identity to the mixed-ethnicity natives of the region. Almost
universally, they view Morales's efforts to elevate indigenous culture within Bolivia as divisive and
racially exclusionary.
"A lot of people in other parts of Bolivia see us in a bad light, because there's a lot of rancor that is
carried over from colonial times," said Dennis O'Connor D'Arlach, 28, a lawyer who voted for
autonomy. "But we're mestizos here. We don't harbor ethnic hatred. This is the 21st century. We have
to move on from that."
"I voted for Morales, but now I'm voting for autonomy," Hilda Altamirano, a hairstylist in Santa Cruz,
said after casting her ballot. "I thought he'd bring a change and help distribute the wealth of the country
more fairly, but he only pays attention to the members of his own party. So I still want change. I want a
government that's fair."
3i pays £32.5m for 34% of SLR By Fiona Harvey,
Published: May 3 2008 03:00 | Last updated: May 3 2008 03:00 Environment
Correspondent
3i has taken a stake in SLR Holdings, one of a small number of environmental consultancies.
The deal, by which the private equity group will buy a 34 per cent stake for £32.5m, values the
consultancy at nearly £100m. Isis Equity Partners, which had held a 25 per cent stake since 2004, has
sold its share to 3i.
SLR had considered a flotation but this proved too difficult in the current markets, said David Richards,
chief executive, and taking on a new private equity investor was "an intermediate step".
Interest from private equity groups had been strong, he added. "We had an extraordinary amount of
interest. We must have been approached by about 30 private equity firms from the UK and the US."
05 Mayo de 2008
SLR will use the funds and £29m of debt provided by Lloyds TSB for acquisitions.
The company has recently bought Insite Environments, an architectural, landscape and planning
company in the UK, and Seacor Environmental, a Canadian environmental consultancy. Earnings
before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for last year were £6.6m (£4.5m) on turnover of
£31.6m (£23.8m).
Employees now own 66 per cent of the company, from 75 per cent previously. Mr Richards is the
biggest shareholder, with about 6.6 per cent: 220 out of 650 employees are shareholders. * Ceramic
Fuel Cells said it would raise £7m through a placing of 35m new shares at 20p each. The company,
which specialises in combined heat and power units, replacements for domestic boilers that can
generate electricity as well as heat, said it was on track to reach commercial production next year and
the funds would be used as working capital.
Shares in the company fell 2p to close at 22½p.
Suspend biofuel rules, say MPs By Ed Crooks and Fiona
Published: May 2 2008 03:01 | Last updated: May 2 2008 04:54 Harvey
Regulations mandating the use of biofuels must be suspended, MPs warned the government on
Thursday amid mounting political alarm.
Ministers have conceded they may have to rethink biofuels policy because of growing concerns about
their effect on food prices and the environment.
The call from the Commons environmental audit committee comes as the industry warned that Britain
would have enough surplus wheat production to support only three large ethanol plants, even though
several more were being planned.
Britain’s biodiesel industry has already undergone a precipitous collapse, hit by cheap foreign imports
including subsidised biodiesel from the US, and suffers from severe overcapacity.
One big ethanol plant using wheat is already under construction on Teesside by Ensus, a small
company backed by private equity. Others are planned by Ethanol Ventures, another privately held
group, and a consortium of BP, Associated British Foods and DuPont.
Abengoa of Spain is also pressing ahead with a planning application for a wheat-based ethanol plant,
and several other projects have been proposed.
Claire Wenner, of the Renewable Energy Association, said. ―An export surplus from the UK of 3m-4m
tonnes of wheat would support about three 250,000-300,000 operations.‖
Raising ethanol production any further would probably turn the UK into a net importer of wheat.
Tim Levy, a director of Ethanol Ventures, said he was ―very confident‖ there would in time be a ―glut‖ of
wheat in Europe as production rose as a result of more land being brought into cultivation, and prices
would fall.
05 Mayo de 2008
However, Richard Lucas, an analyst at Ambrian Partners, said the future of biofuels production in
Europe looked bleak, because costs were too high.
He added that high grain prices, attacks from environmental groups that had previously backed
biofuels and political dithering were damaging the confidence of investors.
He said: ―I was never convinced about the real viability of producing biofuels in Europe without major
government subsidies. Biofuels producers are having a tough time.‖
UK biodiesel producers have been shutting factories and leaving production capacity idle.
They blame cheap imports, which have caused outrage among biodiesel producers across the
European Union.
Brussels is considering tougher social and environmental criteria for imports that the US and some
other big biofuel producers might not be able to meet, shutting them out of European markets.
MPs on the committee repeated their call for the government to suspend the renewable transport fuel
obligation, which compels suppliers to include a set proportion of biofuels in their sales. The proportion
is 2.5 per cent this year, and rises to 5 per cent in 2010.
The committee wants more research to be done into the effects of biofuels on food prices and on the
environment. It said: ―Without standards for sustainability and safeguards to protect carbon sinks we
believe policies that encourage demand for first generation biofuels are damaging.‖
The MPs said the UK had the capacity to produce only 2.5 per cent of transport fuels from plants in an
environmentally sound manner.
To meet the 5 per cent target would require between 10 per cent and 45 per cent of the arable land,
they said.
They rejected ministers’ argument that it would be harmful to investors to renege on their biofuels
targets.
British Energy bid war unlikely By Rebecca Bream in
London and David Ibison in
Stockholm
Hopes of a bidding war for British Energy were dealt a blow on Wednesday after it emerged that
Vattenfall, Suez and Eon were not planning to bid for the UK nuclear group.
This leaves RWE and EDF as the most likely companies to bid for the UK government’s 35 per cent
stake in British Energy before the deadline of next Friday, May 9. Buying this stake could trigger a full
takeover of the company, which at Wednesday’s closing price of 760p, down 8p, had an equity value
of roughly £12.2bn.
Several of Europe’s largest energy companies have been in talks with British Energy, which, as well as
05 Mayo de 2008
being the UK’s largest generator of electricity, owns the best sites for building new nuclear reactors in
the UK.
But many of these companies on Wednesday either ruled themselves out or said they would not
overpay for the British Energy stake, making a bidding war less likely.
Vattenfall, the Swedish state-owned energy company, had been talking to British Energy but decided
at a board meeting earlier this week not to pursue a bid.
That decision came after the Swedish government expressed fears that a bid would contradict its
policy of phasing out nuclear power. Officials for Fredrik Reinfeldt, Sweden’s prime minister, and Maud
Olofsson, the minister for energy, declined to comment, although others who asked not to be named
confirmed the doubts.
Vattenfall is run as a commercial company with an independent board but is 100 per cent owned by
the government.
The company remains keen to expand into the UK power market and is looking at the possibility of
building new nuclear plants on sites owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the UK
government body responsible for shutting down and cleaning up the country’s oldest reactors.
Lars Josefsson, Vattenfall’s chief executive, said he wants to expand the company geographically and
made clear when it announced first-quarter results on Tuesday that he was ―interested‖ in the UK
market.
Franco-Belgian utility Suez and Eon of Germany have also been in talks with British Energy for some
time, but people close to both companies on Wednesday played down expectations that they would
submit bids.
Suez is concentrating on completing its merger with Gaz de France. A person close to the group said it
was ―not Suez’s style‖ to get involved in auctions for assets or bidding wars.
RWE of Germany and EDF are the frontrunners to bid for British Energy, but both have been keen to
stress their discipline when it comes to not overpaying for acquisitions. Jürgen Grossmann, RWE chief
executive, said on Tuesday that it was interested in expanding its nuclear investments outside
Germany, but added ―we won’t engage in bidding wars‖.
Smarter electric grid could be key to saving power ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 4, 2008
Filed at 3:39 a.m. ET
MILTON, Ontario (AP) -- The glowing amber dot on a light switch in the entryway of George Tsapoitis'
house offers a clue about the future of electricity.
A few times this summer, when millions of air conditioners strain the Toronto region's power grid, that
pencil-tip-sized amber dot will blink. It will be asking Tsapoitis to turn the switch off -- unless he's
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already programmed his house to make that move for him.
This is the beginning of a new way of thinking about electricity, and the biggest change in how we get
power since wires began veining the landscape a century ago.
For all the engineering genius behind the electric grid, that vast network ferrying energy from power
plants through transmission lines isn't particularly smart when it meets our homes. We flip a switch or
plug something in and generally get as much power as we're willing to pay for.
But these days the environmental consequences and unfriendly economics of energy appear
unsustainable. As a result, power providers and technology companies are making the electric grid
smarter.
It will stop being merely a passive supplier of juice. Instead, power companies will be able to cue us,
like those amber lights in Tsapoitis' house, to make choices about when and how we consume power.
And most likely, we'll have our computers and appliances carry out those decisions for us.
Done right, the smarter grid should save consumers money in the long run by reducing the need for
new power plants, which we pay off in our monthly electric bills. However, if people fail to react
properly to conservation signals, their bills could spike.
And certainly a smart grid that can encourage us to conserve will feel different. Envision your kitchen
appliances in silent communication with their power source: The fridge bumps its temperature up a
degree on one day, and the dishwasher kicks on a bit later on another.
Smart-grid technologies have gotten small tests throughout North America, as utilities and regulators
scout how to coax people to reduce their demand for power. But there's little doubt it's coming. The
utility Xcel Energy Inc. plans to soon begin a $100 million smart grid project reaching 100,000 homes
in Boulder, Colo.
In Milton, an exurb where dense subdivisions encroach on farm fields, a test with the Tsapoitis family
and 200 other households reveals what will be possible -- and how much more work needs to happen.
Tsapoitis uses his computer to visit an online control panel that configures his home's energy
consumption. He chooses its temperature and which lights should be on or off at certain times of the
day. He can set rules for different kinds of days, so the house might be warmer and darker on summer
weekdays when his family is out.
The family can override those changes manually, whether it's by turning on the porch light or raising
the thermostat to ward off a Canadian chill. But the system guards against waste. If midnight comes
and no one has remembered to lower the thermostat and turn off the porch light, those steps just
happen.
These little tweaks add up nicely for another person testing the Milton system, Marian Rakusan. He's
saved at least $300 on utility bills since the program began in September. Tsapoitis and his wife, Lisa,
aren't certain of their savings but say their 2,400-square-foot home has lower energy bills than a
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friend's 1,800-square-footer.
This alone is not revolutionary, because programmable thermostats and other ''smart home'' controls
let people craft similar resource-saving plans. The big change here is the combination of these controls
with that blinking amber light on the switch -- where the grid talks back.
Milton's local gas and electricity retailer, Direct Energy, will set those amber dots blinking in an
emergency. It might happen a few times in a summer month. Maybe there will be congestion in
Ontario's overtaxed transmission network. Perhaps a power plant will be down for maintenance. Or
rapacious air conditioners will overwhelm electric capacity.
Whatever the cause, at that moment, this section of the grid needs a reduction in demand, fast, or else
outages loom.
People in Milton's test are expected to configure a ''brownout'' setting on their computers, indicating
how their homes should respond in such a situation. In this test, Direct Energy also will enforce
conservation remotely. It can raise the set temperature in a participant's home by 2 degrees Celsius in
the summer (nearly 4 degrees Fahrenheit), reducing its air conditioning load. The company also has
permission to shut off the testers' hot-water heaters and electric pool pumps for four hours at time
during these power emergencies.
Tsapoitis shrugs at that aspect of the arrangement. It's better than rolling blackouts. Rakusan,
however, says he's not sure he likes the idea of the power company tweaking his home's settings.
Indeed, it appears unlikely that broad swaths of the public will accept remote control from the power
company. California officials recently had to back away from a proposal to require remote-controlled
thermostats in new buildings.
So a more likely scenario is that consumers will get powerful economic incentives to make those
decisions themselves.
Typically we pay a flat rate for electricity, even if sometimes it falls below the actual costs of supplying
power at a given moment. In a growing number of places, rates move slightly higher in hours that
typically are busiest.
An advanced notion of this will be tested this summer in 1,100 homes served by Baltimore Gas &
Electric. Pricing plans will vary, but generally the households will pay the cheapest, ''off-peak'' rates
most of the time. Some testers will pay higher rates every weekday afternoon. And all of them will be
subject to ''critical peak'' periods of even higher charges, declared on as many as 12 weekday
afternoons with stress on the grid.
The Maryland utility will have its own version of Milton's amber dots. Most of the homes will get 3-inch-
high orbs that will glow different colors to indicate the price of electricity: red instead of their usual
green, for example, during critical peak periods.
Even this will probably be a primitive step.
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Eventually, the smart grid will let rates fluctuate even more dynamically, depending on conditions. That
already happens in wholesale electricity markets, in which power suppliers buy energy from power
producers. Now that would extend to the retail level -- our homes. The price of electricity would dip
when demand is softest, typically at night or on mild days, and rise in periods of strain.
There's only one problem. ''Consumers are not sitting at home waiting for the latest signal from the
power grid,'' says Rob Pratt, a scientist with the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory. ''To get the kind of widespread response that we'd really like to have, keeping it automatic
is real important.''
In other words, appliances designed to interact with the smarter electric grid will adjust themselves.
Pratt's lab has already built and tested controllers that can make it happen. And over the next decade,
Pratt expects homes to get appliance controls with a sliding scale. At one end people could choose
something like ''maximize my ease and comfort.'' At the other, ''save me the maximum amount of
money.'' The highest-conservation settings might lead dishwashers to start only when electricity prices
are at their lowest, or when wind power has kicked on.
When Pratt and colleagues tested aspects of this in 112 homes in Washington state, they determined
the average household's electricity bills would drop 10 percent.
It says a lot that conservation would be encouraged by the very companies that make money off the
use of electricity. But they have no real choice.
Electricity use per home rose 23 percent from 1981 to 2001, according to the Department of Energy.
Blame increases in electronics and appliances, and our decreasing tolerance for sweating through the
summers. The Census Bureau says 46 percent of single-family homes completed in the U.S. in 1975
had air conditioning. In 2006 that was 89 percent.
Meanwhile, meeting that demand is getting trickier. Raw materials that fuel power plants are soaring in
price and being eyed more skeptically by regulators concerned about air quality and greenhouse
gases. And that's even before the next U.S. president, as seems likely, supports caps on carbon
emissions.
''We just can't keep building more coal plants,'' says Roy Palmer, head of regulatory affairs at Xcel
Energy.
So until some bountiful and clean power source can be delivered cheaply, electric utilities are
pressured to extend the generating capacity we already have.
The effects of well-chosen reductions in usage -- an idea known as ''demand response'' -- can be
huge. A mere 5 percent improvement in U.S. electric efficiency would prevent 90 large coal-fired power
plants from having to be built over the next 20 years, according to Jon Wellinghoff, a member of the
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission who advocates demand response.
Demand response isn't new, but it's existed in low-tech form. Utilities in capacity crunches would call
companies and request that they do something to help, like idling an assembly line for a few hours. In
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some states, residents can get rebates if they let the utility trigger radio transmitters on their air
conditioners that cycle the chillers off for a few minutes in strained summer hours.
Now though, technology can do demand response in a more sophisticated way.
Companies such as EnerNOC Inc. have built software and sensor networks that can remotely dim
lights or raise refrigerator temperatures inside businesses, in an instant. For homes, upgraded electric
meters can offer near-real-time feedback on energy use. And new generations of appliances and
thermostats can coordinate with each other and electric meters over in-home wireless networks.
The key hurdle is figuring out how to pay for it all.
The equipment in Milton's tests costs more than $1,000 per house. That will come down with larger-
scale efforts, and utilities will save money as networked meters free them from sending out human
meter readers each month. But for bigger smart-grid investments, energy companies generally want
regulators to let them recoup the costs through higher electric rates. That can get thorny.
Tsapoitis hopes some kind of smarter system sticks after his test ends in Milton this fall. When asked
why he signed up, he said it might keep his 4-year-old son, Brogan, from worrying about global
warming and other environmental threats. He pointed to a tattoo running down his arm that spells out
Brogan's name in an Old English font.
''That,'' he said, ''is what we do it for.''