IMX Green

Everyone is talking about the price of gold on the global markets and there usually a few things you can guarantee are going to be mentioned. The American dollar is low and there is a great deal of demand of investment that is only continuing to grow. Central banks are not selling as much as they used to and there are not as many producers of gold.

However, one factor is rarely discussed: China. Market analysts are starting to focus on China as the one of the most important pieces of the puzzle. The country is estimated to be the biggest source of future demand for the commodity. The reason might have something to do with the fact that retail investment demand is on the rise in the country.

At the same time, there are renewed concerns abound about the inflation on asset prices in China. The Chinese government has recently taken action to counteract excessive bank lending after the situation got completely out of control over the previous year. Since gold is an absolute value system, these fears of inflation led to an increased in the nation for the precious metal.

In global economic news, one of Italy’s biggest energy firms, Eni, has capitulated in a battle to purchase the Heritage Oil oil fields in Uganda. Yesterday, the group lost a hard-fought battle against Tullow’s $135 billion deal that made the oil fields their own.

The deal was signed in December of last year and it’s only now that the Ugandan government has sided with Tullow. This deal means that Tullow and Heritage Oil, partners of Ugandan oil fields, now own all of the larger oil fields in the country.

However, the government does not want a monopoly, and Tullow has promised the Ugandan government that they will sell half of the assets to either Cnooc or Total. Cnooc is a firm in China and the favoured candidate, while total is from France.

The country of Uganda as a whole is estimated to have around 2 billion barrels of oil. The nation produces around 150,000 a day.

The price of crude oil has been on the rise for the past couple days, and chances are it will continue to rise. Manufacturing in New York also continues to rise at a rate not seen since August 2004 and this may be a sign that gasoline consumption may continue to rise in the US economy.

Oil hasn’t risen to this degree in over four weeks and it may be in part due to a higher factory index at the Institute for Supply Management. The index exceeded all expectations and rose a whopping 4.5 points over the past month. European companies have raised their output and continued to manufacture at large rates. This is an attempt to meet the global demand for oil which is also on the rise.

Though it’s clear that manufacturing is on the rise, experts would still like to see the numbers backed up with solid inventory data. Crude oil gained $1.01 a barrel for delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while the US manufacturing figure has exceeded anticipated forecasts from 67 economists questioned by Bloomberg News.

Investors are still wary of gold prices. After three straight weeks of decline, the price has reached $1,080 as of today. At the same time the US dollar has risen, while their government has put forth a proposal to limit bank risks.

Because of the rise of the dollar, commodities have been hit across the board. The Reuters-Jeffries CRB index, which tracks over 19 future markets, ended down 6% as of the month of January. They haven’t seen a loss like this since November 2008 when they saw a decline of 10%

The reason for this of course is that a stronger dollar makes commodities specialized in by that currency more expensive to purchase for holders of other currency.

While gold may seem a vulnerable investment at the moment, share holders in Hong Kong remain confident. The reason? There is plenty of physical buying to offset fund selling and $1,074 an ounce is solid support for investors.

However, it may still be possible that the increase of the dollar might weigh on gold in the second half of the year, especially with the expected interest increase around the bend.

A large amount of our fossil fuels are used to power Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) every year, contributing greatly to the problem of greenhouse gases. Since these planes are so close to the sun anyway, wouldn’t it make sense to power them using solar power instead? Research and Developers at the Queensland University of Technology certainly think so. They are currently looking at ways of modeling UAVs powered through solar power and are checking their findings round the clock. They have named their prototype the Green Falcon and are aspiring to save lives as well as millions of dollars by updating all UAVs with their specially developed green technology. Their goal? To make their prototype available through the commercial market within 24 months.

A lofty goal, some might say, but here at IMX green we are cheering for them. Their “Green Falcon” certainly has the potential to revolutionize its field. This prototype introduces a whole new generation of warning systems that use remote sensors and new and improved visual data capabilities.

Network communications companies are trying to get into the 21^st century by making their communications systems more green friendly. Bell Lab, a division of Alcatel-Lucent, is one of the forerunners of the field in this regard. Alcatel-Lucent claims that when they have finished revamping their network, it will be 1,000 times more energy efficient. Their five year program is called “Green Touch” and they hope it will allow them to keep on track towards this ambitious goal. The company has many affiliates including AT&T, MIT, Stanford University and more. These affiliates along with the support of the United States Secretary of Energy and governments of Britain, France, South Korea and Portugal hope to make the project a success.

The company is holding its first meeting with regard to the project in February. There, the five year plan will be mapped out and responsibilities will be handed out to the various members of the company along with how they will help reach the overall goal.

The project Green Touch will require some research and Alcatel-Lucent is relying on Bell Labs to provide the data to reach the efficiency goal. The lab has already been working on analyzing data from various telecommunications networks. It’s incredible the progress being made in this field and let’s hope it carries over to many others as well.

The University of Nevada in Reno houses many talented researchers in the field of alternative energy. Some of these researchers have joined forces to develop a solar technique that will take care of terminus lakes and their ecosystems. They have developed a solar distillation system that will eliminate the salinity of lake water. This is possible because of a specialized and inexpensive solar pond with a specially-designed membrane that will distil the water using renewable energy.

Examples of these types of lakes include the Great Salt Lake, the Salton Sea, the Aral Sea and Walker Lake. They all see declines in their water levels and an increase in salinity which is not conducive to sustaining aquatic life.

The mechanism being developed to power this device is an artificial salt-gradient stratification process. This process accumulates heat at the bed of the solar pond. This heat is then used to power the distillation system patented by the University.

According the UK’s minister of energy and climate change, the North Sea contains an abundance of resources that can be used for alternative energy development. However, the minister also sees many opportunities for the UK to join forces with other countries. As a result of this enthusiasm, several North Sea countries have come together to support a good cause. These countries are aiming to create a green energy supergrid which will connect the wind farms of countries like Scotland with the solar panels of Germany. The hydro-electric dams of Norway will contribute to this grid also which will allow these nations to distribute their energy amongst themselves quickly and easily. The project is already being developed and if all goes well the network of cables running thousands of kilometres under water will be expanded, a project that will cost around 30 billion Euros.

The supergrid will also house a gargantuan 30GW battery to serve Europe’s alternative and clean energy needs. The battery will function as an energy storage unit when there is a surplus of energy being generated by these various countries.

It is such a tragedy that the general public is still not aware of a source of alternative that is growing in waves, literally. It is called wave power and it is essentially involves harvesting the kinetic energy of breaker waves in the sea. This energy is then transformed into electrical energy which can be used for whatever purpose necessary. Wave power could very well be the ultimate renewable energy source. Incredibly, it is not a widely used method of generating electricity, yet it has been around since the 1890s.

There are good reasons for this. There are some obstacles in the way of making wave power come off efficiently. Converting the motion of the waves into electricity can be very different. The reason? Ocean waves do not move in any single direction; their motions are highly complex and multidirectional. Most electric generators used for other types of electricity like hydroelectric and geothermal operate at higher speeds, which ocean waves do not provide. Ocean waves also can be quite sporadic and turbines are used to continuous motion.

Equipment that can stand up to the brutal of the waves is also difficult to find. Storms can cause huge amounts of damage to equipment very easily and saltwater can corrode with prolonged exposure. Because of these factors, seizing bearings, damaged welding and snapped mooring lines are all too common. Repairs are expensive and often futile. As a solution, companies may over-produce their products, making the expenses overwhelming and unjustifiable.

 The good news is more research is being done in this field all the time so hopefully we will see this industry really take off!