EU
July 6, 2011
Greece Referendum is set to become the hottest media topic related to the European Debt Crisis in the coming months.In a totally surprising move Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou called a referendum and a parliamentary confidence vote on 31st October just a week after the European leaders had agreed on a package to .Papandreou’s personal and government popularity have plunged amid fresh austerity measures that sparked a wave of social unrest.The PM is calling this vote probably to bolster his government as it loses support of the masses
July 5, 2011
According to reports coming from Europe where the summit of major European leaders took place to resolve the growing debt crisis,a deal has been reached on Greek debt.The Euro 350 billion debt which dwarfs the size of the negatively growing Greek economy has been a major source of instability in the last 2 years.The private holders of the Greek government bonds have agreed to take a 50% writeoff on their holdings.This means that if they hold Euro 100 of bonds they have become Euro 50 now as the rest has been written off as bad debt.Not that it was not apparent as Greek CDS and Greek bonds were touching all times lows in the secondary market.In fact the only buyers of Greece bonds were the European Central Bank and the Greek banks.The capital markets had been going up in the last month in the hope of some sort of resolution.The deal does not look like a win win as there will be some big losers in this deal (though they were already losing for some time).Nicolas Sarkozy announced the deal which would be voluntary in nature so that the CDS would not be invoked.Here are the winners and losers from this deal
May 14, 2011
Electronic Waste is a massive problem in the Developed and Developing world with Thousands of Tons of Hazardous Electronic Waste being generated each year.With Electronics getting more ubiquitous and costs falling rapidly,Electronic Waste Problem is only going to increase.E-Waste is responsible not only for releasing dangerous substances into the environment it also causes deaths and injuries to poor in countries like India,China and Africa who are forced to work in extremely bad conditions.Electronic Waste Recycling is the need of the hour but the governments around the world have not pushed hard enough.Europe has been at the forefront with the WEEE directive passed in 2002 while USA has been a laggard as usual failing to prevent toxic waste from being dumped in landfills and shipped to poor countries with lax environmental regulations.Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 has been passed in California which again as usual has been leading the federal government on clean technology legislation.
May 13, 2011
WEEE refers to the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive issued by the European Community on Electronic and Electrical Waste alongwith the ROHS Directive in 2003 which regulates the collection,recycling and disposal of electronic and electrical equipment.The Directive are 2002/96/EC and 2002/95/EC.WEEE makes it mandatory for the producers of to dispose of the Electronic Waste.Unlike the USA which does not have such a strict policy,the companies must do so in an environment friendly way and can't just export all the electronic junk ot Africa,India and China which has been the way of the industry till then.
The legislation provides for the creation of collection schemes where consumers return their used e-waste free of charge. The objective of these schemes is to increase the recycling and/or re-use of such products. It also requires heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and hexavalent chromium and flame retardants such as polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) or polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) to be substituted by safer alternatives.The EU’s WEEE and RoHS laws simply serve as a template for national laws. They are transposed into national law at national level.Member States are required to draw up a register of producers and collect information on an annual basis on the quantities and categories of electrical and electronic equipment placed on their market, collected, re-used, recycled and recovered within that Member State and on collected waste exported.
May 12, 2011
Poland is one of the largest countries in Europe to have such a high dependence on Coal Energy to meet its Electricity Needs.Note European Union has a target to meet 20% of its Energy by 2020 from Renewable Energy sources which has mad the fossil fuel dependent Eastern European countries looks towards Wind,Solar and Biomass Energy.Note Eastern European countries like Romania have seen a boom in wind energy driven by incorrect Green Energy subsidy policies while the Solar Boom in Czech led to a drastic increase in electricity prices forcing the government to Bust it with a combination of FIT cuts,tax increases and strict regulation.Poland which is the largest Eastern European country in the EU has traditionally depended on Coal to meet most of its Energy Needs.Despite the major disadvantages of Coal,Poland has resisted reducing the support given to the Thermal Power Industry.The cheapness and abudance of Coal has made it hard for Poland to shift its Energy Policy like other Coal dependent nations like South Africa,China and India.
April 15, 2011
Spain has started cracking down on Solar Power Plants which are making huge profits through illegal Feed in Tariffs which they should not get.Note Spain had seen a massive boom in solar installations in 2008 due to unusually large ROI driven by high Feed in Tariffs.FIT are electricity rates which are higher than wholesale electricity rates paid to renewable energy power plants in order to make them competitive with cheaper fossil fuel power plants.Seeing a huge increase in the subsidy burden Spain has pretty much killed the solar market in 2009,however the problems of Fiscal Deficit has made Spain reconsider the tariffs being given to even older solar power plants.After a lot of controversy,Spain changed the FIT rules in the middle of the game through a retroactive FIT Law drawing howls of protest from solar investors like pension funds which have sued the government
March 28, 2011
The Green Party in Germany has continued its massive upsurge in popularity in Germany winning a huge slice of votes in key German states which have gone to polls recently.Green Party in Germany which is founded on the principles of social justice, reliance on grassroots democracy nonviolence, and an emphasis on environmentalism has remained a fringe player.However the recent backlash against the nuclear power plant extension by Merkel,the planning on high speed rail in Stuttgart and the frustration with the foreign and Euro policies of the ruling CDU has led to huge gains.Note Green Parties are found in most European countries though they remain non-existent in major Anglo-Saxon countries.However the recent Japanese nuclear disaster may give a fresh impetus as global warming effects continue to increase and nuclear energy comes under attack.Mass protests against nuclear power continue to be held in different cities in Germany
October 7, 2010
Renewable Energy is Easter Europe has boomed driven by government incentives and subsidies.Many of these countries like Estonia,Bulgaria and Czech are cutting or already have cut generous feed in tariffs paid to Green Energy Investors.While Czech has seen an unprecedented Solar Boom leading to a massive public backlash,Estonia and Bulgaria have seen huge wind energy projects.The Green Energy has boomed in the last 2 years mainly as governments in these countries try to meet the Renewable Energy Target of 20% by 2020 set by the European Union.These East European countries have been hit hard by these EU directives as the costs have spiralled
September 5, 2010
Now Japan has warned China that it will lose FDI if it continues to use such policies against foreign companies.Recent labor unrest in Honda and Toyota factories have become a sticking point for the Japanese.Opaque and confusing rules,export controls over rare earth minerals and heavily biased judiciary have made life quite difficult for the foreign companies.The European Union on the other hand has complained of the lack of access to the Chinese market.Rules meant to deter foreign investment has made EU companies look elsewhere.
August 31, 2010
Japan is the latest country to raise concerns over the Chinese Monopoly over Rare Earth Minerals.These 17 Minerals are essential for High Technology and Green Industries of the Future and China has a control over 97% of the global deposits of these minerals.The EU had recently warned over the adverse effect over the shortage of these rare minerals while USA is contemplating taking China to the WTO over the same matter.China has defended its action saying that mining of these minerals leads to environmental degradation has reduced the export quota drastically by 72% in the 2nd half of 2010 compared to the First Half.Japanese automakers like Honda,Toyota and Nissan have big plans in the Green Vehicle Sector which uses big amounts of these minerals imported from the mainland.However China's cracking down over illegal exports and tightening control over these rare minerals has sent down tremors in Japan.
August 27, 2010
Czech Republic came out with a Renewable Energy Framework which will finish off the Solar Sector in the country if passed in the current form.Czech despite […]
August 19, 2010
Nuclear Energy currently accounts for 21% of the electricity supply and would be replaced by renewable sources by that timeframe.However utilities which have a huge amount to lose want the reactors to stay.They are using the common language of anti-Green lobbies that it would lead to Job Losses and Energy Insecurity.They don't think that Renewable Energy can replace the cheap Nuclear Power.This is the same argument being used by the opponents of California's AB32 Law.Like the Solar Feed in Tariff Controversy earlier in the year,this fight too promises to be an interesting one though I think the Nuclear Lobby will lose.
August 16, 2010
This almost 30% decline in US yield is due to a combination of factors like expectations of more monetary easing by Fed,deflation worries and disappointing US economic data.In lockstep with the the US Treasury yields,the German bunds have also been rising.The rise in German Bunds is despite very strong German economic data.The German economy expanded at the fastest pace in 23 years on Rising Exports.So the fall in Bund yield is confusing when seen in terms of the US Treasury and Economy relationship
August 13, 2010
Germany which was a Reluctant Rescuer of Spain and Greece during the Greek Contagion has emerged as the surprise beneficiary of the crisis.The country’s economists and […]
August 2, 2010
Spain has been in the media spotlight for its proposed retroactive solar subsidy cuts which were strongly opposed by the Solar Industry Association in Spain.These Feed […]
July 19, 2010
The recent recovery in Euro from 1.2 to 1.3 USD and the strength of the stock markets would make you think that the Greek Contagion is […]
July 15, 2010
European Power Utilities are increasingly looking towards private capital in order to fund their renewable energy projects.The European Union has a target of generating 20% of […]
July 14, 2010
.The almost 20% peak to trough fall has led to Germany's already strong exporting machine to generate even greater exports.While the rest of the European countries like Spain,Greece and Portugal don't really have the industry to benefit from Euro weakness,Germany has a massive industries to do so.
July 13, 2010
There has been reports of massive debt distress in Eastern European countries following the Global Financial Crisis.One of the major factors leading to this is the […]
July 5, 2010
China’s powerful Economic Growth Engine is showing definite signs of a major Moderation.Earlier reports indicated a sharp slowdown in Industrial PMI levels even as a US […]
June 26, 2010
Most of these reports had been quite vague but a recent report explicitly mentions that Danish Pension Funds writing to Spanish and EU investors voicing their concerns.With such Big Players joining the fray,its no wonder that Spain is reconsidering its whole Energy Policy.
June 26, 2010
European countries have been hit hard by the Greek Contagion and are trying to outdo each other in reducing their fiscal deficits.Renewable Energy which is looked […]
June 17, 2010
According to the Spanish Solar Power Lobby ASIF,the Spanish government (under Pressure with Spanish Banks facing Funding Problems and Spanish Bond Yields Rising) is proposing a […]
June 16, 2010
Spain,European Union and IMF all denied that a Spanish Bailout of Euro 250 Billion was being formulated by the international agencies.There are some people who think […]
June 14, 2010
Bear Sterns was brought down as trading partners refused to provide short term funding to the bank.With Banks losing trust and faith in Bear Sterns solvency […]
June 2, 2010
Spanish Cajas have been in the news recently acting as the equivalent of the “subprime sector” during the US financial crisis.CajaSur was seized by the Spanish […]
May 26, 2010
Europe has been recently been rocked by problems in Spain’s Banking sector as Spain’s central bank was forced to seize a Priest led Bank “CajaSur” which […]
May 25, 2010
The Greek Contagion continues to negatively affect the world markets and the Euro.Despite a short covering rally in the Euro last week,it has not managed to […]
May 20, 2010
A Chronology of the Greek Contagion 1) Markets get spooked by the Greek crisis ; IMF/EU Bailout deemed insufficient 2) European markets and risky assets take […]
May 19, 2010
Twin Shocks Hit Markets as Germany Bans Naked Short Selling and US Senate puts Curbs on Credit Cards
Markets have become a very risky place both on the long and short side with governments coming up with new “bailouts” and “regulations” almost each day […]