but is likely to raise prices on produce. The restrictions announced Wednesday target chloropicrin, a pesticide injected into the ground before planting crops such as strawberries, tomatoes and almond orchards.
federal law still forbids federal funding for the creation of human embryos for research. Such laws may need to be reversed
With all the attention paid to Silicon valley and Alley startups, financing and acquisitions, no one could be blamed for thinking American entrepreneurship is growing at a breakneck pace.
Layoffs, difficulties obtaining credit, and a desert of customers during the recession are still fresh on many minds.
and investors around who know something about hospitality. But theye not the only environments where startups thrive.
has raised $122 million in funding, and is about to go public with a dual U s. and Canada offering.
Hyperconnectivity is pushing globalization to new levels, according to research by The Economist Intelligence Unit and SAP.
get The Economist Intelligence Unit and SAP report here. Want more on forward-focused business strategies?
Chinese company Tiens Group celebrated its 20th birthday by taking 6, 400 employees on a four-day, all-expense paid trip to France.
After all, money isn everything especially for today new generation of workers (who, by the way, just overtook the preceding generation in terms of work numbers.
The SAP Winner Circle is an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii for high-performing employees and their families.
That nearly twice the 7 percent rate of growth for all business and finance professions. Everything about HR and its leading edge, recruitment is being retooled profoundly.
For instance, turnover: Once anathema to the Boomer generation, it now accepted among Millennials that changing jobs is part of working.
In 2009, only 19 percent of students graduated with credits in computer science, down from 25 percent in 1990, according to a report from the U s. Department of education.
The country's tech companies now attract more venture capital and private-equity cash than any European country, according to a report from consulting firm Ernst & young.
especially those in intelligence units, can also build the networks they need--be it access to potential investors
"Frid wants to change that by giving startups founded by Israeli Arabs access to money and expertise.
and a way to bring Israeli Arabs into the country new economy. The Haifa, Israel-based technology incubator,
plans to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in each venture. Unlike Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied parts of the West bank
Israeli Arabs have equal rights under the law. But they have complained long of discrimination in employment
and government services, including the lack of funding for their separate school system. Israeli Arabs have a higher dropout rate, according to government data.
Chemi Peres, son of former President Shimon Peres and cofounder of venture capital firm Pitango said Takwin fulfills a vision he shares with the two people who joined him in establishing the Israeli Arab incubator--Labor parliamentarian and former venture capitalist Erel Margalit and Imad Telhami,
a recruiting and training company. he integration of Israeli investors and entrepreneurs, Arab and Jews alike,
Takwin's investments will focus on mobile, Internet and media technologies, where t is easy to accelerate a startup from zero to impressive in a year to a year
who worked at the Finance Ministry, AOL and was CEO of mobile game publisher Playscape before taking on the incubator.
#Bloomberg the Company Daniela Perdomo credits the absence of basic communication services after superstorm Sandy for inspiring Gotenna Inc. a do-it-yourself wireless network that can carry text
which really drove our interest''said Alberto Escarlate with Collaborative Fund an early investor in Gotenna.
and even survivalists who may stow it in their emergency packs said Charlie O'Donnell with Brooklyn bridge Ventures also an early Gotenna investor.
Bloomberg Beta backed by Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP is also an early-stage investor.
and most of the detectors used in financial institutions are useless against themsays Matsumura. he paper
Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg A counterfeit 100 U s. dollar bank note is placed on a Matsumura Engineering Co. Ltd...
According to a study listed in the Federal reserve website, at the end of 2011, roughly 62 percent of U s. hundred dollar bills were in circulation outside the United states
the country's economy minister, said at the conference on May 22.""We are shifting our economic resources to Bangalore, Africa and China, China, China."
and primed for success."4ltr Press Online will be available for introductory marketing and psychology courses beginning in fall of 2015 at the same price for digital only and digital and print versions.
and the grocery store in the months ahead since everything from transportation to manufacturing to our petroleum-intensive agricultural system is a puppet flailing upon the strings of this volatile commodity.
Inflation increases and economic growth shrinks. At which point we hear renewed calls for energy independence.
Solar advocate and advisor to the Barbados government William Hinds told me that there are already enough private investors who want to produce solar in Barbados that the country would shift to 100 percent solar in less than ten years even without government subsidies
The Barbados government commissioned agreen Economy Scoping Study prepared in partnership with UNEP and released last month in Bridgetown
That this reality is reflected not yet in the real world price for energy is the fault of a political system
#U s. Guarantees $230 Million Loan For Construction of Latin america Largest Solar plant A large solar power plant is coming to Chile Atacama desert
and the U s. is providing financial support to make it happen. Tempe AZ-based First Solar will construct the 141-megawatt Luz del Norte plant with the aid of a loan guarantee of up to $230 million from the Overseas Private Investment Corp. the U s
. government financial development institution the company announced. The loan guarantee partly arises from President Barack Obama desire to work with Chile on expanding the clean energy futures for both nations. ee both very interested in energy
and how we can transition to a clean energy economyobama told The Associated press. nd wel be announcing some collaborations including the facilitation of a construction of a major solar plant inside of Chile that can help meet their energy needs. bama spent time with Chilean President
The U s. is already the largest lender to Chile having approved nearly $900 million of loan guarantees for six renewable energy generation projects in Chile in just over a year.
The International Finance Corp. also approved a $60 million loan for Luz del Norte. he Latin american region has need a growing for innovative and efficient energy solutions right nowsaid Tim Rebhorn senior vice president
of The americas for First Solar. his investment support from OPIC and IFC is instrumental in bringing the project in Chile to life. he Atacama desert receives some of the planet steadiest concentrations of direct sunlight according to First Solar.
PIC is proud to support this investment in Chile while helping an innovative American company like First Solar expand its operations
#New Tech Platform to Take the Nation Solar#Putsolaronit Today Mosaic, the first company to crowdsource investments to finance solar projects, launches Mosaic Places,
However, serious money can be raised to put solar on a place as Mosaic matches supporters with dollars.
whose solar installations may need a few thousand dollars to be financeable by conventional means. For every 50 people that click upporton a Place page, Mosaic will donate $100 to put solar on it.
The company is almost ready to build a $5 billion igafactoryto produce enough lithium-ion batteries to drive down EV prices.
and its 10 brands and most importantly for the environment, said Carnival Corporation CEO Arnold Donald. e believe Carnival Corporation investment in this industry-leading technology will set a new course in environmental protection
Traded on both the New york and London Stock exchanges Carnival Corporation & plc is the only group in the world to be included in both the S&p 500 and the FTSE 100 indices t
The federal government estimates that by catalyzing private sector investments in commercial and industrial building energy upgrades,
and other start-up expenses. As a result, we are able to benefit from leading edge research
IBM) today announced it is collaborating with Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) on a three-year multi-million dollar project to equip British columbia with a monitoring
Western Economic Diversification is also contributing funding to bring online a number of additional underwater observatories and high frequency coastal radars.
BM is making significant investments in technology and skills-training to ensure ONC has the capacity to analyse data from the new sensors coming online
Through a series of investments totaling more than $200 million in the past two years alone IBM has made it a mandate in Canada to collaborate with academia
The trio were hoping to raise 30 000 US dollars over the course of a month via the popular American crowdfunding website just enough to start production of their eco-friendly device.
Today, just a few days into its funding period, the Solartab is already over 80%on its way to meet the funding goal.
and solar investments totaling more than $1 billion. Using Methi, Vestre and Einberger new breed of solar charger,
and other start-up expenses. As a result, we are able to benefit from leading edge research
The sector is helping stimulate our economy, said E2 Executive director Judith Albert. Last year job announcements were about 30 percent lower than in 2012.
I see a strong need for long-term policies that can stimulate private investment in clean energy and energy efficiency.
Businesses in this sector create jobs, save consumers money, and help our environment. ut ongoing regulatory uncertainty takes a serious toll.
Elected officials shouldn be holding back economic growth they should be encouraging it, said Geoff Chapin, CEO of Next Step Living, a Boston-based energy efficiency company.
if Congress reinstates critical tax policies such as the wind industry production tax credit (PTC) and several energy efficiency tax incentives.
Congress let these tax incentives expire at the end of 2013. Clean energy jobs also could benefit from the rollout of the first-ever limits on carbon pollution from power plants
When the Bi-fuel Impala goes on sale later this year it will have a starting price of $38210.
Manufacturer#s Suggested Retail Price includes destination freight charge but excludes tax title license dealer fees and optional equipment.
Founded in 1911 in Detroit Chevrolet is now one of the world largest car brands doing business in more than 140 countries and selling more than 4. 9 million cars and trucks a year.
Weighing less than five pounds and with a cord that's 20 feet long this device offers a range of features including a LED charging indicator waterproofing for outdoor charging all-environment operation and built-in thermal sensors for protection
while a single 240 volt offering will price at $599. You can order them directly from the manufacturer u
California, a usual suspect in the race for investing in clean transportation is working to meet its air quality improvement
Take the announcement today by the U s. Environmental protection agency about its new partnership with Freddie mac the government-backed outfit that provides liquidity to a huge portion of the home loan market.
when it comes to improving efficiency often there little incentive for building owners to make such investments.
PA says the partnership with Freddie mac flows from the president Climate Action Plan and the agency pointed to three ways apartment energy efficiency gains might be made:
The EPA said it already been working with Fannie mae and the U s. Department of housing and urban development on similar efforts and his latest agreement with Freddie mac is another critical step forward in meeting the President goalof making multifamily buildings 20 percent more energy efficient by 2020 n
#Feds Offer Money To Put More Green Buses On Roads The continued expansion of zero-emissions buses across the United states got a boost from the federal government earlier this month
when the U s. Department of transportation Federal Transit Administration (FTA) announced close to $25 million in funding towards the effort.
The money will be made available to communities nationwide, some of which may partner with bus manufacturers on proposals,
on a competitive basis. FTA officials said its Low or No Emission Vehicle Deployment Program (Lono), established under the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act,
will be the source of the funding. It aims towards ommercializing the cleanest and most energy-efficient U s.-made transit buses to help reduce emissions like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.
in the long run, helping transit agencies save money on fuel and maintenance costs. According to the National Renewable energy Laboratory, zero-emission buses can achieve more than double the fuel economy of buses running on diesel and other fuels l
#State Leadership In Financing A Greener Future While crippling paralysis has become standard operating procedure for Congress in the face of mounting climate and energy challenges,
Chief among these efforts is a growing movement to establish state green banks: innovative new financial institutions that use public debt to leverage new and significant private-sector investment in more modern
and less-polluting domestic clean energy infrastructure. Notably, in 2013, the state of New york set the foundation for a $1 billion state green bank to support private investment in New york clean energy economy.
In December 2013, Gov. Cuomo announced an initial capitalization of $210 million to fund the bank launch in early 2014.
Launching this bank is an important act of leadership by the governor and the New york state government to provide better tools to build a stronger,
more competitive, and more resilient economy. The New york Green Bank is launching at a time of mounting evidence of the direct negative impacts of climate change on the nation environment, economy, and energy infrastructure.
Superstorm Sandy exposed this vulnerability with stark urgency and in so doing has underscored the critical investment challenge of rapidly building smart, resilient,
and low-carbon energy infrastructure. At the same time, new clean energy technologies are distinctly ready to meet this challenge, but bringing these technologies to scaled deployment across the economy is contingent on having ready access to capital and strong market structures to support new investment.
In recent years the clean energy sector has demonstrated dynamic growth. U s. solar power capacity, for instance, recently surpassed 10 gigawatts as the price of solar panels has fallen some 75 percent during the past five years
and continues to drop. Furthermore, America largest source of new electrical capacity in 2012 came from wind power,
lifting the total U s. wind capacity to more than 60 gigawatts. These successes are spurring new private-sector attention to the opportunities for clean technology.
The leadership of individual states to utilize their financing authorities to improve access to credit
and better manage financial risk is a bright spot in advancing the development of a clean energy economy powered by a modernized and climate-resilient electricity infrastructure.
low-cost capital is simply not available from institutional investors and bond markets to finance commercialization at scale.
This is where state green banks come into play. These financial institutions are some of the most powerful tools for mobilizing new sources of public and private capital into emerging and necessary clean energy projects.
Independently administered and self-sustaining, green banks offer much-needed certainty and predictability to investors by ensuring reliable access to efficiently priced and long-term sources of credit to finance publically beneficial, clean energy infrastructure.
Although green banks are relatively new institutional mechanisms, they have proven to be well-crafted strategies for stimulating robust private-market participation.
National green banks have been deployed successfully in the United kingdom, Germany, andchina to harmonize policies and systematically marshal public credit supports to build emerging clean energy markets.
In the United states the Connecticut Clean energy Finance and Investment Authority is building a strong track record of success,
while Hawaii, Massachusetts, and California are also establishing similar clean energy financing entities. These emerging green banks also draw on the experiences of infrastructure banks employed in California, Puerto rico, British columbia,
and elsewhere to finance the construction of bridges, roads, transit, and other public facilities. Current state of clean energy financing programs Connecticut The New york Green Bank will join the Connecticut Clean energy Finance and Investment Authority,
or CEFIA, in paving the way for the successful implementation of state green banks and public,
state-level, clean energy financing. Established in 2011, CEFIA featured an initial capitalization of $48 million to provide broad credit support to Connecticut clean energy projects and companies.
CEFIA supports the development of Connecticut clean energy industry through a combination of grants, loans, and other credit supports,
as well as educational programs for businesses and homeowners. These programs include lending for residential solar electricity and hot-water systems,
deep energy efficiency retrofit loans through the Property Assessed Clean energy, or PACE, program for commercial and multifamily buildings,
and a competitive grant program for micro grids. In 2013 CEFIA used $40 million to attract more than $180 million of private investment f
which $20 million will be recovered. This investment supported almost 30 megawats of new clean energy and savings of 9, 000 MMBTU of energy per year.
Hawaii In June 2013, Hawaii enacted S b. 1087, which authorized $100 million in bonds to finance a renewable energy loan fund that can provide low-cost financing for homeowners
and businesses to invest in solar panels and other clean energy projects. The loans, which are designed to offset the upfront cost of photovoltaic systems,
can be paid back through on-bill financing, a payment plan that allows homeowners to pay back the loans through a premium on their utility bills.
The program could be especially beneficial for low-income residents and renters, helping them secure the necessary upfront capital
and extend payback timeframes. California California currently operates two green financing authorities through the state treasurer office:
The California Alternative energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority, orcaeatfa, and the California Pollution control Financing Authority, or CPCFA.
These programs have issued more than $13 billion in tax-exempt bonds to finance low-cost loans for energy-efficiency improvements and tax incentives for clean energy manufacturing.
California has seen recently also a renewed push to establish a dedicated green bank. Democratic State Sen.
Kevin de Leon of California has proposed a green infrastructure bank that would issue loans and financial assistance to public and private economic development projects.
Lieutenant Gov. Gavin Newsom has called for a similar green bank initiative and suggested that proceeds from California cap
and trade auctions could finance it. Such a bank would further augment California ambitious support for a robust clean energy industry
and would represent an efficient use of funds already designated to reduce California emissions. Massachusetts In 2009, Massachusetts established the Massachusetts Clean energy Center,
or Masscec, which invests in early stage clean energy companies and renewable energy projects. Masscecalso provides financing tools to municipalities, homeowners,
and businesses in the form of loans, rebates, and grants. Masscec programs have helped support the growth of Massachusetts clean energy industry, with an 11.8 percent increase in clean energy jobs from 2012 to 2013.
Unlike a true green bank, however, the program remains focused on early stage markets. In 2013
Massachusetts began a Green Bond program to attract environmentally conscious investors. The socially responsible bonds will be used to finance environmentally friendlyinfrastructure initiatives,
including water quality projects, energy-efficiency upgrades for state buildings, river revitalization, and habitat restoration projects. In June 2013, the state sold $100 million worth of green bonds as part of a larger bond sale, attracting some new investors specifically because of the green label.
This program represents a positive step in Massachusetts to prioritize investment in green infrastructure projects and could serve as a strong foundation for a fully capitalized state green bank in the future.
West Coast Infrastructure Exchange Launched in November 2012 the West Coast Infrastructure Exchange, or WCX, is a partnershipof Oregon, California, Washington,
and British columbia that facilitates collaboration by the region four state or provincial governments on small and large infrastructure projects, especially interstate projects.
The states anticipate that $1 trillion of necessary infrastructure investment will be required over the next 30 years.
In order to facilitate efficient financing and project management, WCX will work to build public-private partnerships,
standardize project assessments, and convene working groups to evaluate project-financing needs. The most likely projects for WCX are new development and the retrofit of the region electricity grids and water infrastructure.
WCX will seek to attract large state pension funds such as California State Public Employeesretirement System, or Calpers,
and California State Teachersretirement System, or Calstrs, as well as institutional investors for these capital-intensive but reliable investments.
However, while WCX will serve similar purposes to state green banks, there is no indication that it will provide direct financial support to leverage private investments for infrastructure.
Rather, the exchange will likely facilitate the coordination and streamlining solely of private capital without public enhancement.
Key mechanisms for state green banks State green banks are important but underutilized tools because they attack the very heart of the challenges currently facing renewable energy and energy efficiency in capital markets.
These financial institutions can specifically target some of the most significant and persistent market barriers that have served to slow the development and deployment of new clean energy technologies.
In order to maximize their effectiveness, green banks can employ improved mechanisms to flexibly facilitate the aggregation, credit enhancement, andsecuritization of renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects.
By doing so, states can significantly improve the function and structure of their clean energy markets.
Each of these tools will efficiently inject limited public dollars into transactions in a way that leverages far greater private investment than would have been accomplished otherwise,
thus increasing the scale and scope of public-sector impacts. By allowing private capital to flow more efficiently into publically beneficial projects
a green bank can reduce costs for taxpayers and ratepayers, while significantly increasing the effective use of limited public dollars.
Aggregation State green banks should focus on mechanisms that allow the aggregation of decentralized investments across energy and real estate markets.
Currently, the volume and project size of clean energy transactions are often too small and decentralized to attract private capital efficiently into the market.
As a result, pricing is artificially high, decreasing investment and establishing a vicious cycle that suppresses clean energy deployment.
By serving as a warehouse for energy-efficiency and renewable energy loansnd by providing a clear point of entry into the market for customers
investors, and project developersreen banks can play a critically important function in beginning to build volume,
reduce costs, and achieve scale across statesclean energy markets and within the emerging industries. In addition, green banks should be allowed flexibility to experiment with policy designs
in order to learn which types of aggregating mechanisms are utilized most readily in the market. Credit enhancement A key principle of green banks is that they use public dollars strategically to reduce perceived risks for private investors in undertaking investments in clean energy projects.
By providing well-structured credit enhancements, a green bank can align public investments in a more targeted way to fill gaps in the capital market in order to leverage far greater volumes of private capital into needed projects.
State green banks should employ a range of credit-enhancement mechanisms from establishing loan-loss reserve funds to originating subordinated debt into individual transactions and developing new insurance products or other risk-mitigation strategies.
The particular structures employed, however, must be driven by the needs of different energy technologies, market segments, target investors,
or beneficiary populations within the state, and they will vary across the programs of such a bank.
Securitization Green banks can add great value to a state renewable energy and energy-efficiency market by facilitating the securitization of these asset-backed investments.
There is a substantial disconnect in current markets between the financing and origination of specific clean energy projects and the scaled institutional investment in pooled financial products.
The current inability of project developers to efficiently access institutional capital in the secondary market limits the liquidity of investments
and serves to further inflate pricing, increase complexity in transactions, and decrease overall volume. Acting in this way,
green banks will greatly support the development of clean energy projects across states and will positively impact the cost of clean energy development by offering real consumer protection for ratepayers,
while expanding the deployment of renewable energy and energy-efficiency projects. A key design principle of any proposed green bank is that it is structured to increase private-sector participation in the market for clean energy project financing.
This will gradually reduce the need for public subsidy as the market achieves maturity and commercial scale.
Rather than crowding out participation of private financial institutions, a green bank should use carefully targeted inducements to leverage greater private investment
and bring new participants into these transactions. As previously noted, the tools employed by green banks are understood well
and have been amply proven in other areas of public finance, including affordable housing, community economic development, technology research and development,
and infrastructure investment. Through green banks, these strategies can be employed to meet the specific challenges of clean energy deployment and market transformation.
As free standing and self-sustaining financial institutions, green banks can also offer much-needed support for more effective implementation of widely used state regulations such as Renewable Portfolio Standards,
or RPS, and Energy efficiency Resource Standards, or EERS. Thirty states and the District of columbia currently employ RPS initiatives,
and 25 states haveeers mechanisms to promote clean energy development. Green banks can act as powerful accelerants of these important policies by facilitating the availability of the capital necessary to finance the costs of meeting these goals
and by boosting the expansion of the markets that such policies are intended to support. Green banks can enhance the predictability and stability of renewable energy and energy-efficiency markets and,
if properly administered and fully capitalized, they will accelerate and magnify the impact of these market-driving regulations.
By mobilizing private capital efficiently in the service of meeting strong standards state green banks can prove to be powerful resources in helping utilities, developers,
and state regulators to more effectively meet the ambitious goals and targets laid out in RPS and EEPS statutes across the country.
Finally, green banks offer states a mechanism to reallocate unspent direct subsidies or new revenue from environmental initiatives into establishing durable credit facilities,
which will induce vastly more private capital for vitally beneficial public projects. Establishing a green bank allows states to put dollars to work that would
otherwise provide onetime consumer benefits and instead use those limited public funds to leverage new private capital resources that would
otherwise be unavailable for clean energy investments. Furthermore because green banks are designed to recycle the proceeds from these transactions,
they are able to cycle investments multiple times, thereby reducing the need for further public subsidy over time.
For all of these reasons, a green bank should be preferred a mechanism for inducing new capital investment,
accelerating the maturation of state clean energy markets, and helping the nation as a whole move toward a transformed, clean energy economy.
Conclusion With the initial capitalization of the New york Green Bank, New york has launched a dynamic tool that,
by operating within the market, will yield incentives that are far more enduring than any programs of onetime subsidies.
By establishing a robust green bank Gov. Cuomo has taken bold leadership action. New york green bank offers an evergreen source of capital,
which will continue to invest in clean energy projects and promote overall economic growth long after the Obama administration tenure.
Such a proposal represents smart economic policy, as well as sound energy policy, and it will benefit New york ratepayers
and taxpayers as it improves environmental and community health. New york, Connecticut, and Hawaii are paving the way today with their green banks for new private-sector investment within robust, reliable,
and expanding clean energy markets that meet the needs of a vibrant and growing economy. As clean energy technologies continue to demonstrate their growing competitiveness
they will require access to sufficient streams of affordable capital for successful commercialization. This trend is already underway through new investments in public solar companiesand auto companiesrenewed focus on clean technologies.
Green banks are the right tools to leverage the private financing necessary to bring these technologies to wide-scale commercialization and support their competition within energy markets.
Moreover, state green banks offer great potential to drive innovation, fueling local and regional economic growth and job creation.
America and the rest of the world are facing vast climate and energy challenges. State green banks are a uniquely flexible solution that can operate at the scale of this challenge to accelerate the development and deployment of next-generation technology and infrastructure that is clean
resilient, and vastly more efficient. As our country faces the growing danger of extreme weather and climate change, it is all too clear that investment in state of the-art-the art clean energy infrastructure is essential for the continued strength of the U s. economy.
By advancing this financing strategy, elected officials and regulatory agencies can take bold action to ensure the economic vitality and long-term interests of their citizens, consumers, and ratepayers.
The New york Green Bank represents a bold next step in this growing national movement o
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