The News Review:
- Incubator for progress
- A fork in the road
- 3 detained in scrap metal blast
- Alcoa tax phase-in passes Warrick County Council
- Iowa Staters talk biofuels healthy oils and ‘pharma crops’…
- Formosa Plastics ASE get go-ahead for PRC investment
Incubator for progress
Rocky Mountain News – Feb 16, 2008
Sampath figured he could make solar energy panels for $1 a watt if he applied the beer-can logic. That was 1987 and Sampath then a rookie professor of engineering at CSU was studying aluminum use at beer maker Anheuser-Busch’s plant in Fort Collins. Sampath imagined that if like the can plant he used low-cost labor cheaper material and an efficient process he could make solar panels at one-third the cost of competing technologies. ver two decades he translated his theory into reality using cadmium telluride which is commonly found in copper zinc mines to make panels. But there was one hitch. Nobody outside CSU had heard of Sampath’s success.
A fork in the road
The Age – Feb 16, 2008
Gorman has had to make some tough calls recently with sales ofthe Falcon and Territory subsiding and plans to close the Geelongengine plant in 2010. But if the Falcon sales do not improve by a massive 40% or 50%with the introduction of the rion model this year Gorman’ssuccessor — Bill sbourne the former boss of Ford Canada— may have to make an even harder decision on the Broadmeadowsoperation. The plant in Melbourne’s north-west employs about 2500people. “The new Falcon is critical to Ford absolutely critical noquestion about that” says one senior industry figure. At present Ford makes the Falcon the Falcon utility and theTerritory offroader at Broadmeadows and is planning to start makingthe Focus small car in 2011 to take up the slack as large vehiclesales decline. But the Falcon is the lynchpin for the plant. “Ford couldn’t survive on Territory and Focus… It is critical to their localmanufacturing operations” says the industry analyst. There are some concerns about the car itself. The last Commodorewas an all-new design but Ford was not able to match the $1. 2billion budget General Motors stumped up for the VE Commodore. Therion will be based on the current model the BF II with revisionsto all significant areas. The BF II is already a competent vehicleand still rated highly in dynamics and performance. The rion will not be an all-new car because Ford is stillsuffering from the setback that came with the AU Falcon of 1998.
3 detained in scrap metal blast
News & bserver – Feb 16, 2008
ground forces so they didn’t necessarily come from an Army post. They should be traceable though if the normal lot numbers stenciled on them hadn’t deteriorated said Wayne Galloway a munitions disposal expert with the U. Army Engineering and Support Center in Hunstville Ala. which oversees ordnance disposal for the Pentagon. Galloway described a tight “cradle-to-grave” chain of custody when munitions are recycled… McCollum said Thursday that he didn’t think there had been any recent case of a soldier removing munitions to sell for scrap but that he didn’t know whether civilians had ever been caught scrounging on the base. Metal theft has become widespread in recent years with sharp upticks in prices for commodities such as copper. Spotting live ammoGreg Brown the owner of the recycling plant in Raleigh said Friday afternoon that his company routinely gets scrap from the military but doesn’t knowingly accept ammunition. He said he had arranged for a retired Army colonel to help train workers at both facilities on how to recognize live munitions. The workers would get another lesson before the Raleigh plant starts operating again he said. Smith the Sanford police officer said the plant workers probably weren’t the only ones who didn’t understand that the shells were dangerous. The fact that Sanford officers had found live ammo lying around in the scroungers’ yard “makes me believe they just didn’t know what they had” he said.
Alcoa tax phase-in passes Warrick County Council
courierpress.com – Feb 16, 2008
Sally Rideout Lambert Alcoa’s communications and public affairs director said Alcoa is planning improvements in its power plant. The work would increase capacity by 84 megawatts which will help when scrubbers Alcoa is installing to remove sulfur dioxide pollution at its power plant are completed. The board also approved the first step for a tax phase in for a new company Recovery Works that wants to open an addictions rehabilitation center in the Roslin Industrial Park. The first step was for the council to approve the application to make the area an Economic Revitalization Area. The company asked for $3 million over eight years… (Suggest removal) My problem with warrick county having an engineer if the fact he does not engineer anything. Everything Warrick County does is sent out to outside engineering firms. Can someone explain exactly what he does to make 60000+? Posted by spncr on February 16 2008 at 11:15 a. (Suggest removal) How about a tax phase-in for a new home buyer or a home owner remodeling his old home? How about a tax phase-in for home improvement? Shouldn’t there be rewards for improving your property? It seems that businesses gets the mine while the homeowner gets the shaft. Posted by Moose1am on February 16 2008 at 11:28 a.
Iowa Staters talk biofuels healthy oils and ‘pharma crops’…
EurekAlert – EurekAlert (press release) – Feb 16, 2008
Department of Agriculture and a collaborative associate professor of agronomy at Iowa State addressed a 90-minute symposium on Saturday Feb. 16 titled “Crops for Health: Improving the Health-Promoting Properties of Food. Pollak’s message was that traditional plant breeding can be a tool to improve human health. Plant breeders for example have been able to reduce some of the problems with oils from soybeans canola sunflowers and corn. She said plant breeders have developed soybeans with lower levels of fatty acids to help reduce trans fats after processing. Breeders have also developed canola lines with safe levels of toxic erucic acid. And plant breeders have decreased saturated fats and increased monounsaturated fats in canola sunflower and corn oils to reduce the risk of heart disease… 16 titled “Crops for Health: Improving the Health-Promoting Properties of Food. Pollak’s message was that traditional plant breeding can be a tool to improve human health. Plant breeders for example have been able to reduce some of the problems with oils from soybeans canola sunflowers and corn. She said plant breeders have developed soybeans with lower levels of fatty acids to help reduce trans fats after processing. Breeders have also developed canola lines with safe levels of toxic erucic acid. And plant breeders have decreased saturated fats and increased monounsaturated fats in canola sunflower and corn oils to reduce the risk of heart disease. And so Pollak argued traditional plant breeding can still develop better crops for healthier foods.
Formosa Plastics ASE get go-ahead for PRC investment
Taipei Times – Feb 16, 2008
That is part of the latest batch of China-bound investments granted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission. Formosa Plastics Corp (¥x¶?also got the green light for its US$100 million yesterday to build a stainless steel plant in Changzhou in China’s Fujian Province through a joint venture in exchange of a further NT$813. 7 billion) investment at home… That is part of the latest batch of China-bound investments granted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Investment Commission. Formosa Plastics Corp (¥x¶?also got the green light for its US$100 million yesterday to build a stainless steel plant in Changzhou in China’s Fujian Province through a joint venture in exchange of a further NT$813. 7 billion) investment at home. “Both investment projects are positive for Taiwan’s economic development” Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (³¯·?) told reporters after a commission meeting yesterday. ASE planned to spend the new capital on expanding capacities on its Chinese plant in Shanghai in order to meet customer demand company spokesman Freddie Liu (¼B¸?G) said by phone.