China & India Change the World - APEC

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By Andres Oppenheimer. The agreement sealed the last week between China and India to dramatically increase its economic relations will have a major impact on Latin America, and will not be something quite positive for the region.

Earlier this week, leaders of the two powers of the world's fastest-growing emerging met in Beijing to end decades of tension and increase their bilateral trade ties.

The prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, and the prime minister of China, Wen Jiabao, announced that by 2010 bilateral trade reached U.S. $ 60.000 billion - far more than the U.S. $ 40,000 million that were expected - and that the two countries begin talks on a preferential trade agreement.

While international summits often produce big promises and then not met, there is reason to take very seriously the commitments between China and India. Since China and India signed a 'strategic partnership' in 2005, bilateral trade has soared. Although the two countries were committed that year to reach a bilateral trade of U.S. $ 20.000 billion in 2008, that figure reached as early as 2006.

"The figures exceeded the forecasts when it comes to the India-China trade," said an editorial in the newspaper "The Times of India" on Wednesday. "It is possible that China will soon become the largest trading partner of India." The growing trade ties between China and India, as well as the free trade agreement signed in 2005 between China and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), likely to change the map of world trade. And have a great impact in many Latin American countries that are increasingly dependent on their exports to China.

The good news is that increased trade between China and India produce more economic growth in Asia, which will require increasing amount of oil, copper, iron ore, soybeans and other Latin American raw materials. That would help countries like Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Venezuela, which are the main exporters of raw materials to China in the region. In the past 5 years, Chinese purchases of commodities made in Latin America grow the region's economy to an average of 5% per annum. That has contributed to who is going through its best growth cycle in the past 40 years, according to the UN.

In addition, a growth of the Asian economy will create an even bigger market for all types of Latin American exports, say Asian diplomats. "Bringing India and China and increasing their trade will make both countries more prosperous, and open up more opportunities for Latin America," he said in a telephone interview the ambassador of India in Argentina, R. Viswanathan. "What America needs is growing markets, especially at a time when the U.S. economy is slowing. The situation is very advantageous to the region."

But many economists warn that China and India have complementary economies. China is stronger in manufacturing, while India is in information technology, and that their preferential trade agreements will make it more difficult for Latin American countries to export manufactured goods or technology to the two Asian giants. "The growth of trade between China and India will make it harder to move toward Latin America exports more sophisticated, higher value-added," I said Antoni Estevadeordal, one of the leading economists of the Inter-American Development Bank Washington, DC .

My opinion: I hope I am wrong, but I fear that the growing Asian economic integration will hinder the further export of industrial products in Latin America to Asia, and that will increase the dependence of many Latin American countries for their exports of raw materials, which in many cases produce less jobs and profits that the finished products.

The world is divided into three trading blocs, particularly with regard to exports of heavy products, whose transport is expensive: the bloc of the United States, Canada, Mexico and its neighbors, the European Community, and Asia. And the new agreements between China and India seem to indicate that this division will increase more and more.

(Comment from Oscar Granda)

It is clear that in these times we are witnessing a reordering of global geo-economic. At the gates of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) this month of November 2008 in Peru, Latin American countries must refine our strategies to cope with the strong financial crisis and attract investment to achieve that provides our growth and sustained development.

The Space Tourism Taking off

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(elpais.com) Virgin Galactic presents the mothership 'White Knight Two,' which will launch the first test flights in late 2008. More than 250 people have already booked their passage across the world suborbital.

The multimillionaire Richard Brandson and his company Virgin Galactic have presented Monday to the world the gigantic mother ship White Knight Two, which will be the rocket that will transport the Space Ship Two with the first space tourists from 2009.

More than 250 people from 30 countries have already booked all over the world his suborbital flight with Virgin Galactic, at a price of $ 200,000 per passenger (about 127,000 euros). In Europe, Spain is a leader in number of reservations, with a total of 12 passengers, among them Ana Bru, the first Spanish woman to travel into space. With the appearance of a large catamaran for the sky, with a wing of 42 meters long, the ship emerged from the hangar where he designed and built for four years in the Mojave Desert in California.

Its mission is to lead off and the Space Ship Two up to 15 km in height. Then, the rocket was undocked and lets you enjoy a few minutes in space. The Space Ship Two, which can carry six space tourists and two pilots, will be completed in the coming months and is expected to begin in 2009 will be the first test flights and travel with the first space tourists. The initial frequency is a way out of the week, although it is expected gradually to reach the two daily trips.

Despite the fact that their sub-orbital flights off on a principle from the Mojave airport space, Virgin Galactic is planning to build a new one in the State of New Mexico, designed by British architect Norman Foster, who became his base of operations from 2010. The company is not ruling out a future in building new airports in other countries such as Sweden, northern Scotland and Spain.

The president of Virgin Galactic, Will Whitehorn said it is in contact with Spanish authorities and local authorities to study a project in a "secret place" near Barcelona, which would be operational within three to four years.

(Comment from Oscar Granda)

Space tourism; own so many futuristic novels, will be a reality soon, thanks to the tenacious English multimillionaire venture of Richard Brandson. This accomplishment highlights the importance not only of the relevant technological advances but also of the strength that human beings should have to realize larger projects. With this conquest man undoubtedly consolidate its presence in the universe.

Two Earth Planets for the Humanity at 2030

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PARIS (AFP) — At its current pace, humanity, to meet their needs in the early 2030, will need to have at its disposal two planets, says the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The ecological footprint of humanity, which assesses its consumption of natural resources, has already exceeded 30% of the planet's capacity to regenerate, says the WWF's Living Planet Report 2008.

The pressure of humanity on the planet has doubled in the past 45 years for two reasons, by population growth and the increase of individual consumption, says the report.

This is over-depleting ecosystems and waste accumulate in the air, land and water, said. As a result, deforestation, water shortages, the decline of biodiversity and climate chaos, caused by the emission of greenhouse gases, "placed increasingly at risk the welfare and development of all nations," explains WWF.

The "Living Planet Index", a calibrated instrument to measure the evolution of global biodiversity, and that includes 1686 species of vertebrates in all regions of the world, has decreased almost 30% over the past 35 years, states the report.

In view of the decline of this index, "it appears increasingly unlikely that we will reach the goal, however modest, pointing to the Rio Convention on Biodiversity: to reduce the erosion of global biodiversity by 2010", the inference WWF.

In addition to the global ecological footprint and the Living Planet Index, the report presents a third measuring instrument, "the footprint of water", which assesses the resulting pressure of consumerism on the water resources at national, regional and global levels.

The problem is that water is distributed unevenly across the world. Thus, some 50 countries are currently facing a moderate or severe water stress, stresses the WWF. And the number of people suffering from shortages of water, either all year or seasonally, will increase due to climate change, he adds.

(Comment from Oscar Granda)

Urgent measures must be adopted around the world, between others ... more birth control, more resource-saving, more efficient, more education ... less pollution, less waste, less pets (seriously), less inequality ... to achieve a sustainable planet.

Hybrid Cars or Electric Cars ???

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(Wikipedia) A hybrid electric vehicle is an alternative fuel vehicle driven by electricity from batteries and, alternatively, an internal combustion engine that drives a generator.

Normally, the engine can also drive the wheels in directly. In designing a hybrid car, the engine heat is the energy source that is used as a last option, and provides an electronic system for determining which engine to use and when to do it.

In the case of gasoline-electric hybrids, when the internal combustion engine works, what does with its optimum efficiency. If it generates more energy than necessary, the electric motor is used as a generator and charging the batteries of the system.

In other situations, it works only the electric motor, feeding on the energy stored in the battery. In some it is possible to recover the kinetic energy under braking, which is usually dissipated as heat in the brakes, turning it into electricity. This kind of brakes are often called "regenerative".

The combination of a combustion engine always operates at peak efficiency, and energy recovery braking (especially useful in the city), makes these vehicles achieve better returns that conventional vehicles. All electric cars use batteries charged by an external source, which causes problems for them autonomy of operation without recharging. This complaint is avoided with hybrid cars.

The great problem existing in which the electric motor to replace the heat on the vehicle is the ability of accumulating power, which is very low compared to the ability of accumulation of energy in the form of fuel. Approximately 1 kg of batteries can store the energy equivalent of 18 grams of fuel, although this calculation does not take into account the limited energy of that energy in a combustion engine, compared with an electric motor. Even so this represents a major technological barrier to an electric motor.

However, the energy storage capabilities in a mobile vehicle forcing designers to use a complicated multi-channel energy, and hybrid, to replace a simple and cheap energy chain classic tank-engine-wheels. Electricity, energy and currency exchange, facilitating the use of many different technologies, as the electric motor consumes electricity, regardless of the source used to generate it.

While the surcharge for a hybrid vehicle is repayable over the life of a car, the consumer rarely chooses to make a strong initial investment in a vehicle of this type. In contrast, in a medium-term future, in which the price of oil will shoot for its scarcity and the only way to fill this gap is increasing efficiency and using biofuels (higher cost of production that oil at present) The hybrid vehicle will pass just to be a luxury for wealthy, and environmentalists are convinced, the only viable road transport.

Thanks to the use of hybrid technology achieves reductions in consumption up to 80% and 40% in city road, in comparison between hybrid and conventional vehicles of similar benefits. Pollutant emissions will have a parallel.

(Comment from Oscar Granda)

For economic and ecological reasons, the capacity of the batteries are still a limiting factor for the autonomy of electric cars that require points of reload for certain distances according to your requirement and use. Given that reality, hybrid cars are currently the best option, since it achieved great levels of efficiency and autonomy, providing greater opportunities, to conveniently combine the technology of electric car technology with the car to fossil fuels.

Renewables Energies, a Great Business

BERLÍN (AFP) — Massive investment in renewables energies could calm the emergence of an industry with an annual turnover of 360,000 million dollars, according to a study presented by the environmental organization Greenpeace on Monday in Berlin. The industry of renewable energy would supply half the world's electricity and saving for the future 18 trillion (a trillion is a million billion) dollars in oil costs, in addition to protecting the climate, according to the report that outlines a action plan to reduce CO2 emissions. The investment in climate protection is economically profitable, says Greenpeace when, in full financial crisis, rising voices against plans to combat global warming. "The global market for renewable energy may increase so that by 2050 would be the size of the fossil industry today," said Oliver Schaefer, a director of the European Renewable Energy (EREC), coauthor of the project along with Greenpeace International. "Currently, the market for renewable energy has a value of 70,000 million dollars and doubles in size every three years," he added. "Because of the economies of scale, renewable energies such as wind, are already in a position to compete with conventional energy," said Schaefer, who says that there are no technical barriers to this development, but political.

(Comment from Oscar Granda)

The energy alternatives are no longer a utopian illusion, to become an urgent reality. At a time when the effects of global warming are already felt strongly in all parts of the world, renewable energy thanks to God are a reality due to their economic feasibility, off the energy derived from fossil. In the industrialized world are considered a big business in the long run, definitely a big business and a great hope for our planet altered.

ECOPOLIS: Alternatives for Sustainable Cities in the Future

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(From Analitica.com) Since the first week of October, the channel Discovery Channel deliver its latest production on environmental issues.

This is Ecopolis, an avant-garde series of six episodes that revolves around a virtual city of the same name: a mega-metropolis of 2050 in which 18 million people live under an environment totally polluted. Each week, the program leads viewers to different parts of the globe to study amazing technologies that seek to reduce carbon emissions in this city, fighting as a result of climate change.

Focusing on different topics such as construction, transport, waste and energy, Ecopolis will be issued every Wednesday at 11:00 pm, until the day Nov. 12. The following is a brief description of the episodes that make up this series:

Episode 1 Premiere: Oct. 8 at 11:00 pm. The scientist won a Nobel Prize, Dan Kammer, explore four technologies that aim to transform pioneering Ecopolis, the imaginary city of the future. More specifically, this episode explores how to provide water and food to 18 million hungry mouths of the city without filling trash the planet. Episode 2 Release: October 15 at 11:00 pm. This episode examines how best to adapt means of transport to the rapid population growth, without the need to strangle the city. Episode 3 Release: October 22 at 11:00 pm. The time has come to find out how we can prevent a sea of garbage in continuous expansion is able to immerse Ecopolis, without generating pollution emissions and out of control. Episode 4 Release: October 29 at 11:00 pm. The scientist Dan Kamman tested five leading technologies of the series with the aim of discovering which of them has the greatest potential to transform Ecopolis, the mega-city's imaginary future. Episode 5 Premiere: Nov. 5 at 11:00 pm. The main objective of this program is to explain how to fill power to a city of 18 million people without causing harm to the environment. Episode 6 Release: November 12 at 11:00 pm. In this episode we focus on the potential to revolutionize our buildings, to prevent them from becoming a bottomless pit of energy lost.

(Comment from Oscar Granda)

Excellent documentaries on Discovery Channel, which analyzes the potential for technology to prevent the ecological collapse of our cities. Warn about the dangers of uncontrolled growth of peoples around the earth. Emphasize the importance of respect for the environment and ecology. Encourage people to seek solutions to minimize the impact of environmental pollution, product of the evolution of our populations in the world. Finally, alternatives for sustainable development of cities, our battered planet.

Toward a New Economic Order Facing World Financial Crisis

From BBC Mundo. Sarkozy said the world must overcome the "odious practices" that have triggered the financial crisis. The U.S. president, George W. Bush, in his country offered to host an international summit on the current global financial crisis.

In a statement issued after a meeting with Bush with the presidents of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the European Commission (EC) Jose Manuel Barroso, says that in the coming weeks other leaders will be consulted on the proposal. Bush met with Barroso and Sarkozy to discuss the details of a G8 summit, with the participation of India, China and other emerging economies.

European leaders want this summit will serve to pave the way for a reform of global financial regulation. Upon receiving Sarkozy and Barroso at the presidential house of rest at Camp David, Maryland, Bush offered to host the summit "in the near future." Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU), said that the meeting could take place before the end of November.

(Comment from Oscar Granda)

Inadequate policies regulating real estate market in the U.S. were formed in a "boom", which finally caused a global stock crisis and that until the end of October 2008 can not control. Among other results, to get security solutions with billionaire costs, a shortage of liquidity and credit in the markets, greater gap between rich and poor and a new world economic order.