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The parents at Wonderland Avenue Elementary in Laurel Canyon were irate about the proposed education cuts from the state budget. So instead of going to Sacramento, they went straight to Hollywood.

The school’s PTA president came up with the idea of creating a video, and one parent suggested they ask Brian Austin Green (of "Beverly Hills, 90210" fame) to star in it. Green, whose son attends the school, agreed, and he got his girlfriend, actress Megan Fox, to costar.

The result was a four-minute short called “Hot for Teachers” that went live on Funny or Die, a viral comedy video site, on Wednesday.

It begins with the Wonderland principal addressing a group of parents yelling about the budget cuts. Then Green gets a call on his phone from Fox.

“People are freaking out about these budget cuts,” he says into the phone. “It’s like Attica in here.”

Green tells Fox to wait for him in the library, and on her way there, she encounters a group of fifth-graders sprawled on the floor and on top of cabinets because of overcrowding. They mistake her for their new teacher.

The kids tell Fox their teacher was laid off and their class was combined with another.

“The kids in this class are multiplying faster than my head lice,” said one of the students as she scratches  her head.

“It’s no wonder so many of us end up in prison,” laments another.

The video ends with Green and Fox urging viewers to sign a petition on the Say No to Cuts website and to “call, write, and annoy the governor until he cries for his mommy.”

Wonderland parents wrote the script and and produced the video with the help of Funny or Die, said John Koch, an entertainment public relations expert whose daughter attends the school. He helped write the script.

“The video is an exaggeration. It’s meant to be funny, but the question is, when is enough enough?” Koch said. “How far are these cuts going to go? It’s a tough situation for a lot of people.”

— My-Thuan Tran

Mohamed El-Erian of PIMCO blasted a warning in this morning’s Financial Times on the continuing European sovereign debt crisis.

Greece is still a shambles because no one is willing to lead on the EU-IMF plan, according to El-Erian.

And he says game theory explains it all.

• No one wants to act first on Greece
• Acting first would make that leader and state lose more
• But if all actors abide by the same logic, no one will act
• Greece will remain mired in its crisis and the crisis will spread to banks as individuals pull out money and choose not to invest in the country
• If the euro zone continues this inaction, it will have an even harder time dealing with potential future crises, like Spain and Italy

Now Check Out What Banks, Insurers, And Sovereigns Get Crushed In A Greek Default >

Join the conversation about this story »

Spirit Airlines announced this week that it will begin charging between $20 and $45 for carry-on bags that don’t fit underneath a seat. That’s in addition to similar fees already in place for checked luggage. This has many travelers fuming, annoyed by this latest attempt by an airline to nickel-and-dime them through additional fees. But really, consumers are better off with more a la carte pricing: it provides more spending discretion, should lower overall fares and will make for a smoother airport experience.

In the press release, Spirit CEO Ken McKenzie explains the airline’s rationale:

“In addition to lowering fares even further, this will reduce the number of carry-on bags, which will improve inflight safety and efficiency by speeding up the boarding and deplaning process, all of which ultimately improve the overall customer experience,” says Spirit’s Chief Operating Officer Ken McKenzie. “Bring less; pay less. It’s simple.”

Obviously, many people are cynical about the assertion that ticket prices will decline as a result of this move. But as long as the airlines remain competitive, they will have to. If fares don’t change, then that means airlines weren’t charging enough for tickets in the first place. Given the airline industry’s troubles in recent years, that’s certainly plausible. So either way, fliers would ultimately have been responsible for the same total cost.

Let’s consider the three benefits of a la carte pricing McKenzie alludes to:

More Spending Discretion

Let’s say you think it’s worth packing lighter and saving $20 to $45 on the cost of your flight. Now you have the ability to do so. Before, that cost would have been unavoidable, since it was included in the price of the ticket. Consumers should welcome this flexibility.

Lower Ticket Prices

Travelers now have a clear incentive to pack as lightly as possible. That should result in more fliers deciding to bring less baggage. Consequently, planes will use less fuel. Airlines will then face lower fuel costs, and ticket prices should decline.

A Smoother Airport Experience

Probably the dumbest thing that airlines have done over the past decade was to charge luggage fees on only checked bags. That encouraged people to carry on more baggage, slowing the boarding and security processes, which resulted in more delays and headache. Airlines should have done what Spirit is doing now: charge customers the same for a bag, whether checked or carried-on. Now, travelers will be indifferent to those storage options, if they need to bring along a suitcase. In fact, there’s a slight advantage to checking — since you can generally pack more in a checked-bag for the same price. This should result in shorter delays.

For these reasons, consumers should hope that all airlines also adopt Spirit’s new policy. More a la carte pricing options allows travelers greater flexibility to control their flying experience based on their affordability.

(Nav Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Filing this under “Things That Make It Difficult To Keep Our Breakfast Down….” As we’ve all heard by now, Lindsay Lohan’s estranged father Michael is set to marry Kate Major, the former girlfriend of Lohan’s ex-bud Jon Gosselin. On Tuesday, Lohan, 49, announced his engagement to Major, a 27-year-old ousted tabloid reporter who quit her job with Star Magazine in pursuit of a shortlived relationship with a then-married Gosselin.

However, wedding bells aren’t the only big plans the loving twosome has in mind for the future: With at least eight “babymaking” years (As my Grandma would say….) left on the old biological clock, Kate’s convinced her husband-to-be — already a father of four children with ex-wife Dina — that he has the energy to raise at least one more Little Lohan.

“Kate wants a baby. Since I’m getting no younger, we practice at least four times a night. We agreed, that if she does get pregnant, one is enough….” Michael told NBC’s Access Hollywood on Wednesday, noting that the 23 year age difference between he and Kate is only a problem for other people.

The couple will wed in their native New York City later this and Michael hopes his four children will be able to attend.

“The wedding will be at Oheka Castle on Long Island,” he continued. “I hope that Lindsay and the rest of my kids will be there…..”

Found under: Symbian, Freeware, Calculators, Graphs, Functions,

Graphing Calculator is a free app for Symbian S60 3rd edition phones designed to turn your cell phone into a Graphing Calculator.Graphing Calculator Current functionality- Up to three equations plotted simultaneously- Zoom and pan around the graph press enterok5 to switch mode- Supports the following- Operators – power and parenthesis – Trig. functions sin cos tan asin acos atan- Log exponential functions log exp- Other functions sqrt ab

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John Berdner, vice president, technology at GroSolar, the solar panel distributor and installer, has joined PV monitoring solutions company SolarEdge Technologies as general manager for North America.

Prior to GroSolar, Berdner launched the North American subsidiary of SMA, the German manufacturer of solar inverter technology.

Commenting on his appointment, Berdner said:

I am thrilled to join an incredible team at SolarEdge and I look forward to expanding market penetration of this revolutionary power conversion solution in North America.

Hacía unas cuantas horas que venía circulando la noticia de la futura colaboración estratégica entre Renault-Nissan y Daimler AG en cuanto a futuros productos de ambos grupos, compras cruzadas de cierta cantidad de acciones entre ellos y algunos otros puntos más que le dan vida a esta nueva alianza. Vamos a ver los puntos más importantes para la industria y cuál será la colaboración de cada uno en cuanto a futuros productos.

Parece que el Smart y el Renault Twingo han sido los coches sobre los que más han girado las negociaciones de acuerdo. El coche pequeño está entrando muy fuerte en los mercados y había que aprovechar la oportunidad para una puesta al día de ambos modelos. El acuerdo logrará la próxima generación del Smart ForTwo, un nuevo Smart de cuatro plazas. Además la próxima generación del Renault Twingo, serán diseñados a partir de una arquitectura en común.

Siguiendo con el Smart/Twingo, todos los vehículos serán claramente diferentes entre sí, en términos de diseño de producto. La principal característica de la nueva arquitectura será su concepto único de tracción trasera aplicado actualmente a los vehículos Smart. El lanzamiento de los modelos desarrollados conjuntamente está previsto a partir de 2013. La fábrica Smart de Hambach, Francia, fabricará la versión de dos plazas, mientras que la planta de Renault en Novo Mesto, Slovenia, se hará cargo de la producción del modelo de cuatro plazas. Desde su lanzamiento al mercado, los vehículos desarrollados conjuntamente estarán también disponibles en versión eléctrica.

La Alianza Renault-Nissan suministrará a Daimler motores de 3 y 4 cilindros gasolina y diesel que se adaptarán y modificarán según las características de Mercedes. Además se impulsará el uso común de un motor diesel y una caja de velocidades de la Alianza Renault-Nissan para el vehículo comercial Mercedes-Benz Vito.

Participación cruzada en una sola operación, correspondiente al 3,1% de las acciones propias de cada socio.

Daimler suministrará a Infiniti motores gasolina y diesel, que complementarán su actual oferta. Esto incluye motores de 4 y 6 cilindros gasolina y diesel. Ambas partes saldrán beneficiados: Infiniti podrá utilizar los motores Daimler, mientras Daimler optimizará su capacidad productiva.

Fuente | Nissan Comunicación

Where things stand after the UN climate conference in Copenhagen, and the key steps to ensure progress in Cancun.

Despite positive momentum in the lead-up to Copenhagen, including greenhouse gas reduction pledges by all major economies, COP-15’s conclusion did not go as most had planned or many had hoped. The outcome has unleashed countless interpretations, opinions, emotions and recommendations. Some see the meeting as a major failure, others as a stepping stone, still others as a moderate success. Three months on, the time is overdue for countries to rise above the “blame game” and take advantage of the momentum created both by the Accord and significant (albeit unfinished) UNFCCC draft decisions of December 2009. The first step for that occurs this week in Bonn, Germany.

The prospects for progress are good. Over 100 UNFCCC parties have either associated themselves with the Accord or submitted pledges to the Secretariat. Countries have also signaled their attachment to the UN process. The imperative for action is greater than ever. Countries must formalize and begin to implement the commitments—both on actions and finance—that emerged out of Copenhagen, and lay the groundwork for a successful UN climate conference in Mexico this December.

Forums, Processes and Texts to Move Climate Talks Forward

It seems most logical and expedient for countries to integrate the Copenhagen Accord into other negotiating texts and processes underway. The Accord and the texts that emerged from the two UNFCCC negotiating tracks (Kyoto Protocol and Long-term Cooperative Action) share enough substance to pave the way to one or more new legally binding instruments. Countries will doubtless continue to disagree over whether the optimal outcome is a new amendment or protocol to the UNFCCC, or a revision of the Kyoto Protocol. But the Accord should provide sufficient political guidance and momentum to push forward its substantive implementation, as well as the conclusion of one or both negotiating tracks over time.

A post-Copenhagen consensus seems to have emerged that—despite the breakdown in process at COP-15—the UNFCCC remains the only legitimate multilateral forum for concluding a global deal. However, it is not the only forum from which conversations, helpful actions, or momentum could originate. Bilateral and plurilateral (involving many but not all UNFCCC parties) discussions can provide useful venues to move issues forward toward an outcome in Cancun. If the Copenhagen meeting and the process leading up to it teach us anything, it is that complex issues such as climate change need as many strategic and focused gatherings as possible, so long as they support a commonly shared outcome.

Moving Toward COP-16 in Cancun

We can’t get hung up on what should or should not have happened in Copenhagen, but we do need to learn from it. Process questions must be sorted out before Cancun, particularly in the next UN negotiating session in April, so that by the June session negotiators are talking substance, not fighting over process.

In December, COP-16 must focus on reaching decisions that strengthen the institutional and procedural framework around the pledges that heads of state and government made at and subsequent to Copenhagen. In other words, the Accord should provide the minimum political baseline from which upward progress should be measured. Those that have supported the Accord should not retreat from it; those that remain skeptical should work to strengthen it. Common ground should be found in agreeing to the details that will strengthen the content, as well as the legal and institutional character of countries’ pledges. Doing so will help to build trust between nations that pledges will be honored.

Clearly, it would be optimal to get closure on the legal form of a new global climate agreement in Cancun. However, if that is not possible, countries should agree a set of “activation decisions.” At a minimum, these should ensure that support for developing countries is delivered (whether for reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation, adaptation or technology transfer), and that systems are finalized for all countries to transparently communicate their actions to counter climate change.

Nailing Down the Details: Key Issues and Priorities for 2010

Finance

The Copenhagen Accord outlined two significant funding commitments from developed countries to the developing world, that together finance adaptation, forest loss prevention (REDD+), technology development and transfer, and more. The first commitment is an upfront “fast start” investment of $30 billion over three years; the other is a long-term commitment of $100 billion per year by 2020.

Priorities in 2010 should include that countries 1) deliver their commitments to the fast start funding, 2) clarify the sources of the $100 billion, and 3) figure out how to distribute funding so that it both helps the most vulnerable countries and catalyzes low-carbon development. There are a number of places where movement will occur this year; the World Bank, and G20 all have climate finance on the agenda. The UN Secretary General’s High Level Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing is also an opportunity for countries to make recommendations on sources of finance.

Movement on finance is the key to making progress on other issues in the negotiations. Ideally, these discussions will lead to the establishment of an enhanced finance mechanism at the UNFCCC meeting in Cancun. How country finance pledges are going to be tracked and accounted for in the UNFCCC system should also be spelled out in this decision. (Click here for more on current pledges, and watch for upcoming WRI publications on this topic.)

Forests

Since COP-15, Norway and France have taken the lead in coordinating interim finance mechanisms for developing countries that are preparing and taking a variety of actions to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and management (REDD+). The Accord commits countries to “the immediate establishment of a mechanism including REDD-plus,” and negotiators separately reached a workable, first draft on many of the key components of such a mechanism. This urgently needs to be finalized and adopted in Cancun in order to guide the interim finance processes. Other venues may also take action on REDD this year. Watch for whether advancing U.S. climate legislation incorporates REDD, and whether the European Union decides to include REDD in the next phase of its emissions trading scheme.

Adaptation

The question for adaptation is no longer if, but how to support the world’s poorest countries in adapting to a changing climate. This year, the priority should be quickly getting the pledged funds into a functional system. This system should give developing countries the flexibility to develop and implement national adaptation strategies that are both appropriate for their countries and that complement their development. Adaptation negotiators were close to reaching a final decision on these matters and this should be finalized and adopted in Cancun. Coupled with the finance decision, we could see real progress on this issue.

Technology

The Copenhagen Accord establishes a Technology Mechanism for transferring emissions reduction and adaptation technologies to the developing world. Several initiatives inside and outside the UN negotiations can help move this forward. The UN negotiating text, for example, currently includes a climate technology center, supported by regional centers and a climate technology network, which would boost developing country capacity and speed technology transfer.

Several new and existing partnerships—such as the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, the Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas, and bilateral MOUs between countries like the United States and China—can catalyze capacity building and technology sharing now. Watch for a Clean Energy Ministerial meeting convened by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu in July in Washington, DC, at which the United States could take the lead in moving these efforts forward.

Foundational Elements: Creating a System to Track Progress

The Accord has specific language for both developed and developing countries concerning the measurement, reporting and verification of financial and emissions reduction pledges. Developed countries committed to use a set of “rigorous, robust and transparent” accounting standards for their financial and emission reduction commitments. This commitment should be integrated into the formal negotiations this year to ensure that actions taken by developed countries are comparable and transparent. A decision in Cancun on how countries report their actions and finance will build trust for other issues in the negotiations.

In addition, the Copenhagen Accord provides quite detailed guidance on how developing countries should report on actions using an enhanced version of the UNFCCC national communications, and a process of “international consultations and analysis.” A decision in Cancun, informed by the commitments enshrined in the Copenhagen Accord, should articulate the guidelines and processes that UNFCCC countries will use to report on their respective obligations.

Strengthening Kyoto Protocol and Copenhagen Accord Emissions Pledges

It is clear that pledges to date are not adequate in light of the scientific estimates of what’s needed to avoid 2 degrees Celsius warming (or the 1.5 degrees Celsius most climate scientists think is more appropriate and is included in the Accord).

WRI analysis shows the highest possible calculation of those developed country targets to be in the range of 12-18% below 1990 levels by 2020 (depending on assumptions regarding the details of the pledges)—far from the level of action needed. It is therefore essential that the science review, which the Accord states must be completed by 2015, be initiated this year. It is also essential that the review includes a clear, agreed-upon procedure for integrating new scientific findings into the UNFCCC process, and assessing emissions reduction efforts in light of the 1.5 degrees C goal.

In addition to avoiding further warming, stronger targets and actions would better position countries in the race for clean energy. In particular, the world’s largest emitters need to step up. Europe should commit to a 30% reduction to ensure that it keeps its frontrunner position in the low carbon economy. Japan, Canada, Australia and Russia should increase their targets, adopt credible and binding domestic laws to meet current pledges, and show a clear pathway to a zero carbon economy by 2050. This would assist in catalyzing further change in emerging economies.

The world is most closely watching the United States, due to its size and share of historical emissions. Adopting comprehensive climate legislation before Cancun would signal serious intent to meet the 17% target to which President Obama committed in Copenhagen, and should be a top agenda item for this Administration and the U.S. Congress. The United States was committed and involved in Copenhagen. It now needs to match pledges, both for emissions reduction and finance, with implementation. Lack of such decisiveness could seriously endanger any progress in Cancun.

Wade Roush wrote:

The remaining assets of San Diego’s Veoh Network, which shut down in February after years of litigation with Universal Music Group, have been sold to Los Angeles-based social video startup 2Peer, according to a report today in VentureWire. Veoh had raised some $70 million from Boston-based Spark Capital as well as Goldman Sachs, Time Warner, Intel Capital, and former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

UNDERWRITERS AND PARTNERS

Malibu has asked the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board to reconsider its Nov. 5 decision to prohibit septic systems in the coastal city’s civic center area, saying the ban’s broad scope makes it technically unfeasible.

After years of tussling with the city over water quality, the board adopted a septic prohibition encompassing about 550 residences and businesses. The ban awaits approval by the State Water Resources Control Board.

"The current plan leaves the city with a whole lot of treated water and nowhere to put it," City Manager Jim Thorsen said Tuesday in a statement.

Complying with the regional water board’s resolution, he said, would require the city to install an "ocean outfall" or to discharge treated water into the Malibu Creek aquifer. Either approach, he added, would face staunch opposition.

The city said recent scientific studies support the city’s conclusion that civic center septic systems, governed by strict rules regulating new systems, are not a significant source of groundwater contamination or a significant cause of reduced water quality in the ocean or Malibu Creek.

The city said it advocates a "community-based" wastewater treatment solution that would focus on homes and businesses closest to Malibu Creek.

Mark Gold, president of Heal the Bay, said his group opposed Malibu’s proposals to "voluntarily clean up their act."

"Enough is enough," he said. "Their cleanup actions must be legally required and include a moratorium with deadlines."

— Martha Groves

Almost a year after announcing their plans to charge passengers for using toilets on their planes, discount airline Ryanair is finally pushing ahead with not only installing the pay potties on their jets, but cutting down the number of toilets available to passengers.

Or as the very British Daily Mail puts it: “Spending a penny on a flight will soon cost as much as a pound.”

Ryanair is currently redesigning their cabins to install the pay toilets on 168 of their planes, which will cost about $1.40 per trip to the loo. Additionally, they are cutting the number of toilets on the plane to make room for extra seats.

Says a rep for Ryanair:

By charging for the toilets we are hoping to change passenger behaviour so that they use the bathroom before or after the flight… That will enable us to remove two out of three of the toilets and make way for at least six extra seats on board.

Which is worse — this or Spirit Airlines charging for carry-on bags?

Ryanair confirms it WILL bring in charges for on-board toilets [Daily Mail]

by Agence France-Presse

Urbanization in the third world: Haitian slum outside of Port-au-PrinceGENEVA  – The U.N. health agency on Wednesday launched a global “1,000 cities, 1,000 lives” drive to combat a triple threat to health in fast-growing urban areas, now home to more than half of the world’s population.

The World Health Organization predicted that most population growth in coming decades will take place in overcrowded, polluted, and often impoverished cities that house a concentrated array of the health problems faced by local societies.

“Urban health matters in critical ways for more and more people,” said WHO Director General Margaret Chan on World Health Day, urging cities to place health concerns at the centre of their planning. “Poor health, including mental health, is one of the most visible and measurable expressions of urban harm,” she told a WHO meeting.

The world’s urban population passed 3 billion in 2007, exceeding the rural population for the first time, according to the United Nations.

The WHO warned that urban areas condense a threefold burden: infectious diseases exacerbated by poverty; chronic diseases such as heart trouble, cancers, and diabetes fueled by smoking, unhealthy “convenient” diets, and sedentary lifestyles; and injuries caused by accidents or crime.

One of the WHO officials behind the drive, Lori Sloate, said a global network of cities could influence urban planning and management, “while there’s still time because we’ve just passed the tipping point.”

By 2030, six out of 10 people will be city dwellers, rising to seven out of 10 people by 2050, with explosive growth in Asia and Africa, according to Chan.

“In many of these cities, slums have become the dominant type of human settlement,” she warned. “Slums are productive breeding grounds for TB, hepatitis, dengue, pneumonia, cholera, and diarrhoeal diseases that spread very easily in highly concentrated populations.”

Big cities are also growing far more quickly than in the past, outpacing the ability of authorities to build or plan for essential infrastructure including adequate health services, water, and sanitation, the WHO said in a report.

Living and working conditions vary widely both within and between cities across the world and are the “causes of the causes” of ill health, according to the agency.

The WHO warned that cities in both rich and poor nations can house huge disparities in health. They include a 28-year difference in the life expectancy of people living in different neighborhoods within Glasgow, Scotland. Meanwhile, in Nairobi, a child living in a slum is four times more likely to die before the age of five than one in another part of Kenya’s capital.

Chan called the concentration of poverty in cities an “ominous trend.”

“In developing countries, the best urban governance can help produce 75 years or more of life expectancy,” she said. “With poor urban governance, life expectancy can be as low as 35 years.”

Some 1,300 cities in 120 countries have come forward to join the year-long campaign starting on World Health Day, a WHO spokeswoman said. The agency is encouraging them wage clean-up campaigns, foster exercise in parks, and open up public spaces by closing off portions of streets to traffic.

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If Ben Bernanke drops newspapers from a helicopter, will it save the beleaguered publishing industry?

Probably not. But the plucky Hong Kong newspaper The Standard is using a cartoon drawing of such a fantastical occurrence to brag about the paper’s circulation, now above 200,000.

In a so-called house ad (called that because the house, the newspaper, couldn’t sell the page to a paying advertiser), Chairman Bernanke tosses copies of the Standard from a red helicopter over Hong Kong’s skyline. The headline on the paper “WORST LIKELY OVER.”

For all you non-econ wonks, the helicopter reference is to economist Milton Friedman’s idea that in the face of deflation, all a central bank has to do to jumpstart spending is to drop money from a helicopter. People of course would go mad with all that free cash and go buy stuff.

As a Fed governor, Mr. Bernanke evoked the helicopter drop in a 2002 speech entitled “Deflation: Making Sure “It” Doesn’t Happen Here.” Some see that speech as a roadmap for what became the Fed’s response to the financial crisis.

Bernanke foes, most prominently followers of Texas congressman Ron Paul, have nicknamed Mr. Bernanke “Helicopter Ben,” because when the crisis hit, he led the effort to do the equivalent of dropping cash from the sky through the Fed’s quantitative easing program. Mr. Paul and others fear the helicopter drop will cause ruinous inflation.

As for The Standard, it doesn’t have to worry whether its paper will lose value from oversupply. It’s already free.

[JURIST] A special tribunal in Bangladesh on Wednesday convicted 29 members of the paramilitary group Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) on charges relating to their involvement in last year’s border guard mutiny. The military-run court in Panchagarh district sentenced those convicted to jail terms ranging from four months to seven years. The sentences are the first of dozens of cases against approximately 3,500 alleged mutiny participants who are being tried throughout Bangladesh. Civilian courts are hearing more serious charges related to the mutiny, such as murder, arson, and rape, and may impose the death penalty on those found guilty.
In September, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court recommended against military court-martial trials for BDR members who took part in the mutiny, which killed dozens of BDR officers, including the force’s commander. President Zillur Rahman asked for the court’s opinion to determine whether the accused should be tried under the Army Act of 1952 or whether they should face civilian trials. The court took into account the advice of 10 top lawyers and legal experts, seven of whom opposed the use of military trials.

Doug Foy, prominent Massachusetts-based environmental strategist, caught my attention with this quote at the Harvard Business School Think Tank on Energy, Environment and Business. Doug’s point was that the 100 major metropolitan areas in the U.S. are a key lever for addressing carbon emission reductions. He cited that while nationally, 40-50% of carbon emissions come from buildings, in cities, that number goes up to 70%.

Ken Hubbard of Hines, an international real estate firm, expanded further on the building energy efficiency marketplace citing that there are 74 billion square feet of existing building stock, which is replaced at 1% per year. Hence, he emphasized that to address the issue of building energy efficiency,

the focus has to be on retrofits and other supporting strategies, such as financial incentives that are tied to longer term building performance and metering.

In Environmental Defense Fund's efforts to catalyze the marketplace for sustainable urban development, we have taken our cues from this data and focused on both an urban and a business focused strategy, demonstrating that building energy efficiency is both good for the environment and cost effective. A compilation of lessons learned from our urban work, housed in our Living Cities Initiative, is found in this report: Green Renaissance — Guide to Healthy, Sustainable urban Development: A View from Harlem.

At the same time that we are executing on this urban strategy, we are also creating a business movement for energy efficiency embodied in our EDF Climate Corps program. EDF Climate Corps places MBA students with companies for summer fellowships focused on energy efficiency. Much of what these students focus on involves retrofits, which is in line with Ken’s comment. Last year EDF Climate Corps Fellows found energy savings to avoid more than 100,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions every year, all at a net benefit to participating companies of $54 million!

You can find out more about the HBS Think Tank event, including presentations, readings and video, here.

Yesterday, we published an article about how the IMF wouldn’t sell investor Eric Sprott any of the remaining 191.3 tonnes of gold it had left.

We spoke with Alistair Thomson of the IMF and he clearly explained his reasonings behind not being able to sell Mr. Sprott gold.

Among them:

• The IFM only goes through a specific broker.
• It only sells gold to sovereigns.
• Thus, Sprott’s desire to purchase IMF gold did not comply with ‘protocol’.

Of course we want to hear all sides of the story, so today we spoke with Mr. Eric Sprott himself on the matter.

Sprott says that around six weeks ago while in the process of selling the gold trust ETF, he approached the IMF about buying some of the gold they were selling. And why not? If there’s a buyer and seller, it’s a market. Sprott originally wanted to buy only a portion of the available gold for sale but later decided it’d be interesting to see what the IMF would do or say if he tried to buy the whole lot of it.

Says Sprott, “I was prepared to get the bazooka.”

But ultimately, there was no way the IMF was going to deal with Mr. Sprott’s interests. If the IMF wants to sell gold, then it should clearly explain on what terms without making vague references like “phasing out” sales over time. Phase out could mean anything to 2 tonnes per month to 50 tonnes per year. It’s unclear and that creates distortion in the investment world.

On the state of the gold market, Sprott says the following:

“I’m a 100% believer that central banks have suppressed the price of gold. I find it hilarious today that they have these programs to sell gold – it’s of no use. It’s one of the dumbest decisions in the last decade.”

He wonders why the IMF is even selling gold. Gold is tangible and will always have value whereas money is just paper and at this point, digits on a screen. The IMF is going to spend the next few years bailing out nation after nation (PIIGS, anyone?), so why is it even selling gold?

Turning attention to Sprott’s gold trust ETF (PHYS), he tells us that unlike State Street’s SPDR gold ETF (GLD), the gold in his trust is readily available for physical settlement*. As for insurance:  “All physical gold is held at the Royal Canadian Mint which has its own insurance procedures.” Sounds good to us, unless of course another Die Hard With A Vengeance scenario goes down.

On a lark, we asked Sprott his views on the so-called “Plunge-Protection Team” or the Working Group On Financial Markets.

His response was quite intriguing:

“The Fed bought $1.7 trillion in bonds in the bond market. Who knows how much they’ve put into equities? Look at March 9th. The PPT came into the market in the 1987 crash. When things are unstable, the PPT steps in.”

And there you have it.

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TIM GEITHNER is making an unexpected trip to Beijing to meet with officials ahead of next week’s summit in Washington, between Barack Obama and Hu Jintao. Mr Geithner will be speaking with Vice-Premier Wang Qishan, and the currency issue will obviously be front and centre. Speculation is rising that a deal of some sort is in the works, in which an appreciation of the renminbi is combined with an increase in the role of the Chinese currency in the global economy, a shift Mr Geithner has described as a “healthy, necessary adjustment”.

Analysts are also assuming that this high profile diplomacy wouldn’t be taking place unless a deal was likely. The Obama administration has faced considerable criticism at home after delaying the release of a report on currency manipulation, and is no doubt looking for something to show critics for its efforts. The president and the Treasury secretary have made a bet I have endorsed—that an emphasis on diplomacy and multilateralism is far more likely to generate results than a policy of confrontation and unilateral punitive action. So far, the diplomatic course seems to be the right one:

China has begun to prepare the ground publicly for a shift in exchange rate policy, days after the US Treasury said it would postpone a decision on whether to name China a “currency manipulator”.

A senior government economist told reporters in Beijing yesterday China could widen the daily trading band for the renminbi and allow it to resume the gradual appreciation it halted in July 2008 in response to the global credit crisis…

And RMB forwards have continued to rise. Hopefully, the buzz is accurate. A dearer RMB would provide a small but significant boost to the global economy. But perhaps more importantly, a real revaluation would go a very long way toward defusing populist anger in Washington. If China is unable to make good on American diplomatic efforts with a meaningful appreciation, there will be no holding back the demands for punitive tariff measures.

Filed under: Government/Legal, Canada

According to the CBC, the Canadian province of Quebec is saying “No way, Jose” to importing right-hand drive cars for six months. Even though there are 3,000 RHD cars on the roads and none of them have been faulted for anything, the province’s insurance board wants to investigate the safety of such vehicles. The official line is that “they don’t always meet Transport Canada safety standards.” Perhaps the genuine reason will be known soon, but we’re guessing that safety nannies will point to their comparative danger when passing vehicles on single-lane roads.

For now, the board is going to consult accident reports and ask around before lifting the ban. No more Japanese gray imports for you Quebecois in the meantime.

[Source: CBC]

Quebec reportedly bans importation of RHD cars for six months to evaluate safety concerns originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 07 Apr 2010 11:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android superphones are all the rage these days, especially those from handset maker HTC. Google ratcheted up the Android superphone with the Nexus One, and HTC has kept cranking up things a notch at a time with phones getting ready to hit the market. Verizon and Google have been promising the Nexus One would appear on the carrier Real Soon Now for what seems like forever, but it’s still nowhere to be seen.

Verizon Android rumors heated up with the discovery of the HTC Incredible lurking in the Verizon internal computer system. The Incredible is basically a Nexus One with some extras, notably the HTC Sense interface the Nexus One lacks. The rumors had the Incredible appearing at any time on Verizon’s shelves, but it hasn’t been released either.

Big Red has always taken its sweet time “approving” handsets for its network, but it seems at times they do it on purpose. The enthusiast crowd is clamoring for the Nexus One, and when the Incredible hits the market no doubt it will fly off the shelves. The Droid is definitely old news at this point, so get these Android phones released, already.

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Google’s Mobile Strategy: Understanding the Nexus One

Whether you see Apple’s tablet the iPad as the catalyst of a digital media revolution, or just another gadget that Steve Jobs wants you to spend your hard-earned cash on, it’s hard to avoid the black hole that is the iPad buzz this week. But beyond possibly affecting the digital consumption of books, magazines, blogs and newspapers, I think the iPad will have an effect on a less obvious market: home energy.

The home energy market is a nascent ecosystem that’s made up of: utilities that are trying get their customers to consume less energy, startups building smart energy software and energy dashboards that will manage energy data in the home and help customers consume less, large manufacturers dabbling in connected appliances, and investors looking for ways to make money (a dose of skepticism here).

If you’re never heard of the market, it’s because from a consumer perspective it really doesn’t exist yet. According to Texas-based consultants KEMA, 68 percent of Americans haven’t heard of the smart grid, and exuberance in the home energy market “should be tempered to account for the challenge of engaging large numbers of residential customers.”

The preliminary stage of the market is one reason why the iPad could possibly have such a large effect. As Glen Mella, the President and COO of Control4 — a home automation and energy management startup that created a free iPad app — put it to me in an interview yesterday, think of the millions of people that could suddenly have access to a power display with rich media for home energy management. “We’re excited to embrace the iPad as another way to bring home automation and home energy management to the mainstream,” explained Mella.

The iPad has a real chance of playing a key role in “the digital home,” a long-discussed market where consumers are supposed to use a fourth screen to manage home digital entertainment, security, lighting, and heating and cooling. In recent months home automation players like Control4 have added on energy management as another feature, (see Is Energy Management the Killer App For the Home Automation Market?, GigaOM Pro, subscription required).

But the iPad could offer a few unique characteristics specifically for home energy management in comparison to an energy-specific dashboard gadget — like those made by Tendril, EnergyHub and Control4 (yep they make a gadget too) — mobile interfaces with smaller screens like the iPhone, or a website on a computer. Those advantages include a large screen, the ability for rich media and the fact that the device can do an unlimited amount of other tasks. “People aren’t buying the iPad for energy, but now they have this sleek and capable energy device,” says Mella.

So, say iPad buyers do one day embrace home energy apps like Control4’s on the iPad, it could certainly change the newly forming energy management ecosystem. More specifically, it could cause stand-alone energy devices to stall. To that, Mella says “Sure the iPad could replace some of the sales, but let’s do what the consumer wants.”

Other entrepreneurs that make both energy management software and hardware have similar thoughts. Marco Graziano, CEO of energy management startup Visible Energy, which has an iPhone app for energy management and plans to make a native iPad app, explained to me in an email:

I never thought specialized displays were a good idea for monitoring energy consumption. They don’t have any sex appeal and are too expensive anyway as freebies for utilities to give away. We found that interactivity is really a plus when it gets to visualizing energy consumption and to engaging people in energy awareness. In this respect the iPad is a breakthrough.

Seth Frader-Thompson, CEO of energy management company EnergyHub, which makes both an energy dashboard that has rich media, and is also developing an iPhone app, says:

We think it’s important to offer consumers a choice of how they interact with their home energy management system. That includes dedicated devices like our Dashboard for people who don’t have a multi-purpose “Fourth Screen,” as well as apps for the iPhone and iPad, Android phones and tablets, and other platforms that gain significant market traction. Our key value is really in making software that makes personal energy management easy for consumers, and delivering that software in a way that’s accessible to as many people as possible.

The bottom line is that it’s still early days for these startups, which means that they can pretty easily adapt, change business models, and, say, start pushing more software than hardware, if a dominant energy hardware platform emerges. And if the iPad ever does help the energy management market break out into the mainstream, it will also mean that the energy management market has moved solidly into the domain of the consumer, as opposed to being a product distributed by a utility. That will ultimately mean a lot bigger market and a lot more opportunities for these startups.