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Pollution, obesity, poverty affect London's poorest children | Poor children in London are at risk from polluted air, obesity and poverty, often resulting in lifelong health problems, according to a study by the FIA Foundation. Of the city schools most affected by pollution, 85% had pupils from deprived areas, while 90% also showed higher than average levels of obesity, according to the research. Of the worst affected primary schools, 86% had catchment areas with below average car ownership. Toxic air is “the biggest public health emergency of a generation”, said London mayor Sadiq Khan.
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/19/poorest-london-children-face-health-risks-toxic-air-poverty-obesity | 2017-09-18 22:00:00 | Tens of thousands of the poorest children in London are facing a cocktail of health risks including air pollution, obesity and poverty that will leave them with lifelong health problems, according to a new report.
The study found that schools in the capital worst affected by the UK’s air pollution crisis were also disproportionately poor, with high levels of obesity.
Saul Billingsley, from the FIA Foundation, an international environmental and road safety charity which carried out the study, said: “Children from some of London’s most socially deprived areas are not only affected by unacceptable levels of air pollution around their schools, they also face compounding health risks.”
The report found:
85% of the schools most affected by air pollution have pupils that come from deprived neighbourhoods
Almost nine in 10 of the secondary schools most affected had levels of obesity higher than the London average
86% of worst affected primary schools were in catchment areas with lower than average car ownership
Jonathan Grigg, professor of paediatric respiratory and environmental medicine at Queen Mary University of London, said the health consequences for these children could be “very serious”.
“This is going to have major consequences not just in childhood but over the whole of the life course.”
Professor Grigg, a founding member of the Doctors Against Diesel campaign group, said children from disadvantaged backgrounds often did have access to green spaces but when they did go outside, they were more likely to be breathing dangerously polluted air.
“This is a dangerous combination of factors … childhood is a critical time in terms of health. Children should have the right to breathe air that does not cause them harm.”
Doctors Against Diesel said ‘children should have the right to breathe air that does not cause them harm’. Photograph: Guy Bell/Rex/Shutterstock
Earlier this year the Guardian revealed that children at more than 800 schools, nurseries and colleges in London, and more than 2,000 across England and Wales, are being exposed to illegal levels of air pollution.
The analysis of government data revealed how dangerous levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 ) pollution from diesel traffic are not limited to large metropolitan centres, but threaten the health of children and young people in towns and cities from Newcastle to Plymouth.
Pollution from diesel traffic causes 23,500 of the 40,000 premature deaths each year attributed to air pollution, with young people particularly vulnerable, according to figures from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.
Last week London mayor Sadiq Khan described air pollution as “the biggest public health emergency of a generation”. |
Over 40 million people in slavery: UN | An estimated 40.3 million people were victims of slavery last year, with children comprising 25% of this total, according to global slavery statistics released on Tuesday by the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO) and campaign group the Walk Free Foundation. The figures, which show a marked increase on previous ILO estimates of 21 million, include cases of forced marriage, which was found to affect 15.4 million people, for the first time. The remaining 24.9 million people were trapped in forced labour. Of these, 50% were in debt bondage. Slavery was most prevalent in Africa, followed by Asia and the Pacific. | https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/sep/19/latest-figures-reveal-more-than-40-million-people-are-living-in-slavery | 2017-09-18 22:00:00 | An estimated 40.3 million people were victims of modern slavery in 2016, a quarter of them children, according to new global slavery statistics released today.
The figures, from the UN’s International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation, show 24.9 million people across the world were trapped in forced labour and 15.4 million in forced marriage last year. Children account for 10 million of the overall 40.3m total. The 2017 Estimates of Modern Slavery report calculates that of 24.9 million victims of forced labour, 16 million are thought to be in the private economy, 4.8 million in forced sexual exploitation and 4.1 million in state-sponsored forced labour including mandatory military conscription and agricultural work.
“What is startling about these new estimates is the sheer scale of the modern slave trade and the fact that we have 40 million people across the world in some form of modern slavery is simply not acceptable,” said Fiona David, executive director of global research at the Walk Free Foundation.
“When you have 24.9 million people working under threat or coercion in farming, fishing and construction or in the sex industry and yet according to the United Nations only 63,000 victims of slavery were reported to the authorities last year, the gulf between the problem and the insufficient global response becomes very clear.”
The research also indicates that while many forced labourers reported violence or threat, the majority of them are exploited through debt bondage and non-payment of wages.
“We found that 50% of the 24.9m people in forced labour are in debt bondage, often arriving at a job with high recruitment debts to pay off or forced to take a job to pay off debt and with 7% of forced labourers saying their employers are forcing them to pay fines while at work,” said Michaëlle de Cock, senior statistician at the ILO.
“How forced labour affects the whole family is also very clear with 18% of male forced labourers surveyed saying that their employers directly threatened their families or children.”
The new global estimate also deals with forced marriage, the first time it has been included in any reporting of modern slavery figures.
“It isn’t clear why forced marriage has often been overlooked as a form of slavery in data reporting,” said David. “If you have a situation where someone is sold into marriage and is providing free domestic labour and has no sexual autonomy, then when you take the label of marriage away from this situation it’s often nothing less than slavery and we need to shine a light on this so that people can see it for what it is.”
According to the new global estimates, modern slavery is most prevalent in Africa, followed by Asia and the Pacific, although the ILO and Walk Free say that these results should be interpreted “cautiously”, due to a lack of available data from the Arab states and the Americas.
“We believe that the global estimate of 40.3 million is the most reliable data to date, although we believe it to be a conservative estimate as there were millions of people we couldn’t reach in conflict zones or on the refugee trail and places where we couldn’t be sure of collecting robust data such as the Gulf states, where access and language barriers prevented us from reaching the migrant worker communities,” said de Cock.
Researchers found that more than 70% of the 4.8 million victims of sex trafficking were in the Asia and Pacific region, while forced marriage was found to be the most prevalent across African countries. The global estimates were calculated by drawing on a range of data over a five-year period, including interviews with more than 71,000 people across 48 countries. The ILO and Walk Free Foundation also used figures from the UN’s International Office for migration (IOM) and other UN agencies.
These figures are a marked increase from the ILO’s previous estimates of 21 million people in forced labour worldwide. The ILO and Walk Free attribute the rise to better reporting and research methodologies and the inclusion of forced marriage as a form of modern slavery.
The research was carried out as part of the drive to meet the sustainable development goal on slavery, which calls for the eradication of all forms of slavery, human trafficking and child labour. |
Global warming may be happening less quickly than predicted | Global warming may be occurring more slowly than previously estimated, according to new research. The study found that the earth's warming has been slower than models used a decade ago predicted, meaning that the chance of limiting temperature increases to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, as set out in the Paris Climate Accord, is slightly better than feared. The previous scenario allowed for the planet to emit a total of 70 billion tonnes of carbon after 2015 to keep temperature rises within this range. The new models permit an additional 240 billion tonnes.
| http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change-global-warming-paris-climate-agreement-nature-geoscience-myles-allen-michael-grubb-a7954496.html | 2017-09-18 19:00:00 | Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planet Get our free Climate email Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
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Computer modelling used a decade ago to predict how quickly global average temperatures would rise may have forecast too much warming, a study has found.
The Earth warmed more slowly than the models forecast, meaning the planet has a slightly better chance of meeting the goals set out in the Paris climate agreement, including limiting global warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
Scientists said previous models may have been “on the hot side”.
The study, published this week in the journal Nature Geoscience, does not play down the threat which climate change has to the environment, and maintains that major reductions in emissions must be attained.
But the findings indicate the danger may not be as acute as was previously thought.
Myles Allen, professor of geosystem science at the University of Oxford and one of the study’s authors told The Times: “We haven’t seen that rapid acceleration in warming after 2000 that we see in the models. We haven’t seen that in the observations.”
The original forecasts were based on twelve separate computer models made by universities and government institutes around the world, and were put together ten years ago, “so it’s not that surprising that it’s starting to divert a little bit from observations”, Professor Allen added.
According to The Times, another of the paper’s authors, Michael Grubb, a professor of international energy and climate change at University College London, admitted his earlier forecasting models had overplayed how temperatures would rise.
Recommended Correction to satellite data shows 140 per cent faster warming
At the Paris climate summit in 2015, Professor Grubb said: “All the evidence from the past 15 years leads me to conclude that actually delivering 1.5C is simply incompatible with democracy.”
But speaking to The Times he said: “When the facts change, I change my mind, as [John Maynard] Keynes said.
“It’s still likely to be very difficult to achieve these kind of changes quickly enough but we are in a better place than I thought.”
Professor Grubb said the reassessment of the situation was good news for low-lying countries and island states in the Pacific, which would be swamped by sea-level rises if average temperatures rose by more than 1.5C.
The previous scenario allowed for the planet to emit a total of 70 billion tonnes of Carbon after 2015, in order to keep temperature rises to just 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.
But the reassessment allows for a “carbon budget” of another 240bn tonnes of emissions before catastrophic damage is done.
“That’s about 20 years of emissions before temperatures are likely to cross 1.5C,” Professor Allen said.
“It’s the difference between being not doable and being just doable.” |
Insurers challenged by New York State over role in opioid crisis | Health insurance providers are being questioned over their role in the proliferation of opioid abuse associated with prescription drugs. The New York State attorney general's office has sent letters to three major pharmacy benefit managers asking how they are addressing the growth of opioid abuse among patients. According to an investigation conducted by the New York Times and ProPublica, patients have been denied access to less risky drugs due to their higher cost compared with opoids, which are more addictive.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/health/opioid-painkillers-insurance-companies.html?mcubz=3&_r=0 | 2017-09-18 15:40:06.713000 | Insurers say they have been addressing the issue on many fronts, including monitoring patients’ opioid prescriptions, as well as doctors’ prescribing patterns. “We have a very comprehensive approach toward identifying in advance who might be getting into trouble, and who may be on that trajectory toward becoming dependent on opioids,” said Dr. Mark Friedlander, the chief medical officer of Aetna Behavioral Health, who participates on its opioid task force.
Aetna and other insurers say they have seen marked declines in monthly opioid prescriptions in the past year or so. At least two large pharmacy benefit managers announced this year that they would limit coverage of new prescriptions for pain pills to a seven- or 10-day supply. And bowing to public pressure — not to mention government investigations — several insurers have removed barriers that had made it difficult to get coverage for drugs that treat addiction, like Suboxone.
Experts in addiction note that the opioid epidemic has been changing and that the problem now appears to be rooted more in the illicit trade of heroin and fentanyl. But the potential for addiction to prescribed opioids is real: 20 percent of patients who receive an initial 10-day prescription for opioids will still be using the drugs after a year, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.
Several patients said in interviews that they were terrified of becoming dependent on opioid medications and were unwilling to take them, despite their pain.
In 2009, Amanda Jantzi weaned herself off opioids by switching to the more expensive Lyrica to treat the pain associated with interstitial cystitis, a chronic bladder condition. |
Resolute completes shift to Delaware-only driller with Aneth sale | Resolute Energy has agreed to sell a unit that holds interests in Aneth Field for $195m to an affiliate of Elk Petroleum. Resolute will receive cash consideration of $160 million at closing and additional cash consideration of up to $35 million if oil prices exceed certain levels in the next three years. "This sale is the final step in our previously announced strategy to transform Resolute into a pure-play Delaware Basin company", said Resolute CEO Rick Betz.
| http://www.oilandgasinvestor.com/resolute-energy-agrees-sell-aneth-field-195m-1657836 | 2017-09-18 14:23:59.010000 | Resolute Energy Corp. (NYSE: REN) entered into a definitive agreement to sell its subsidiary, which holds interests in Aneth Field, for total potential consideration of $195 million to an affiliate of Elk Petroleum Ltd, on Sept. 14.
UPDATE: Resolute’s Paradox Sale Creates Newest Delaware Basin Pure Play
Resolute will receive cash consideration of $160 million at closing and additional cash consideration of up to $35 million if oil prices exceed certain levels in the next three years.
The Aneth Field is located in the Paradox Basin of Southeastern Utah.
“This sale is the final step in our previously announced strategy to transform Resolute into a pure-play Delaware Basin company. Closing this transaction will significantly improve our cost structure, strengthen our balance sheet and position the company to accelerate the development of our prolific Delaware Basin property and continue our strong growth profile,” Rick Betz, Resolute’s CEO, said.
Resolute's current 2017 production guidance is 24,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) to 28,000 boe/d. Assuming the closing of the divestiture occurs by Nov. 1, its 2017 production will be reduced by about 1,000 boe/d.
As previously disclosed, actual July production was 23,600 boe/d in the Permian Basin and 29,500 boe/d for Resolute as a whole.
Under the terms of the definitive agreement, the buyer will fund a performance deposit of $10 million creditable against the purchase price.
Pursuant to the contingent consideration provisions of the agreement, the buyer will pay Resolute $40,000 for each day in the twelve months after closing that the WTI spot oil price exceeds $52.50 per barrel (up to $10 million), $50,000 for each day in the twelve months following the first anniversary of closing that the oil price exceeds $55.00 per barrel (up to $10 million) and $60,000 for each day in the twelve months following the second anniversary of closing that the oil price exceeds $60.00 per barrel (up to $15 million).
The transaction is expected to close in late October and become effective as of Oct. 1. The transaction is subject to customary covenants, closing conditions and purchase price adjustments.
Petrie Partners LLC and Barclays Capital Inc. (NYSE: BCS) acted as financial advisors to Resolute on the Aneth Field sale transaction. Resolute was represented by Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP. |
Reserve Bank of India examines issuing digital currency | The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is examining the possibility of issuing a fiat cryptocurrency that could become an alternative to the Indian rupee for digital transactions. RBI's bitcoin would be named “Lakshmi” after the Hindu goddess of wealth. The State Bank of India has already taken the lead with its “Bankchain” initiative, which brings lenders and tech companies together to collaborate on blockchain technology. | http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/policy/another-experiment-with-currency-rbi-is-looking-at-its-own-bitcoin/articleshow/60710700.cms | 2017-09-18 13:58:33.270000 | It seems demonetisation is not India's last experiment with currency. The Reserve Bank of India ( RBI ) is now looking at the brave new world of cryptocurrency The success of Bitcoin , a popular cryptocurrency, may have encouraged the central bank to consider its own cryptocurrency since it is not comfortable with this non-fiat cryptocurrency, as stated by RBI executive director Sudarshan Sen a few days ago.Despite RBI's call for caution to people against the use of virtual currencies, a domestic Bitcoin exchange said it was adding over 2,500 users a day and had reached five lakh downloads. The company, launched in 2015, said the increasing downloads highlighted the "growing acceptance of Bitcoins as one of the most popular emerging asset class."A group of experts at RBI is examining the possibility of a fiat cryptocurrency which would become an alternative to the Indian rupee for digital transactions.According to a media report, RBI's own Bitcoin can be named Lakshmi, after the Hindu goddess of wealth.RBI's cryptocurrency could be a part of creating its own Blockchain , a distributed digital ledger and technology that supports cryptocurrencies.State Bank of India has taken the lead in bringing lenders and tech companies together for using Blockchain technology to share information among banks which will eventually help prevent frauds and tackle bad loans which are almost one-fifth of banks' loan book. The SBI's initiative, christened Bankchain, is in partnership with IBM, Microsoft, Skylark, KPMG and 10 commercial banks.Blockchain, the technology behind cyber currency Bitcoin, follows the concept of a centralised registry that can be accessed by all members, and every event is registered as an unalterable 'block'.Despite a distrust of non-fiat cryptocurrencies, central banks all over the world have taken note of their effectiveness and popularity.The People’s Bank of China has done trial runs of its prototype cryptocurrency, taking it a step closer to being the first major central bank to issue digital money, according to a Bloomberg report. The Bank of Japan and the European Central Bank have launched a joint research project which studies the possible use of Blockchain.The Dutch central bank has created its own cryptocurrency for internal circulation just to better understand how it works, says the report. Ben Bernanke, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve who has said digital currencies show "long term promise," will be the keynote speaker at a blockchain and banking conference in October hosted by Ripple, the startup behind the fourth largest digital currency. |
JLL calls on Sri Lanka to allow REIT investments | Real estate consultancy Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has called on Sri Lanka to review the regulatory framework for Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs). Current restrictions on foreign ownership of property are a significant barrier to investment in the country, but JLL has said REITs could provide a solution, allowing property investment without transferring the title of an asset to foreign investors. The trusts were created in the USA in the 1960s, and allow investors to take a diversified stake in real estate.
| http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/reits-holds-potential-to-drive-growth-job-creation-and-fdi-in-sri-lanka/ | 2017-09-18 13:53:50.750000 | Sept 18, 2017 (LBO) – Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) has called for a re-evaluation of the regulatory and legal mechanisms around Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) as a vital first step towards their introduction into the Sri Lankan market.
“In a global context, REITs have become an integral part of the investment landscape, accepted by individual and institutional investors, alike, as providing greater access to commercial real estate projects,” JLL said.
In Sri Lanka too, the potential benefits to the domestic economy from the introduction of REITs are significant, the real estate consultancy said.
“Their introduction will likely signal stronger economic growth and job creation, but, moreover, REITs provide a platform for much needed foreign direct investment in Sri Lanka without transferring the ownership of the real estate asset to the foreign investor,”
“Given the current regulations around foreign ownership, we believe that REITs are one of the most viable mechanisms for attracting investment into Sri Lanka’s commercial real estate sector.” JLL observed.
However, they say that prior to the introduction of REITs to the domestic market, significant reforms would be necessary in relation to Sri Lanka’s legal and regulatory frameworks in order to ensure sufficiently robust safeguards and procedural mechanisms to enable a secure foundation for REITs to flourish.
“Establishing REITs in a new market depends heavily upon support from local regulatory bodies and authorities including the implementation of a Unit Trust Code, but there also needs to be an efficient and stable tax regime in place to instill confidence in investors,”
“In addition to transparent taxation policies, that are required to be applied in an equitable fashion, there is a need for certain limited tax concessions to stimulate yields and make REITs more attractive.”
Several studies have shown that the socio economic benefits provided by REITS outweigh any losses in tax revenue, and supportive policies, along with international standards of corporate governance are essential to entice foreign investors who are, in turn, the lifeblood to the longer term prosperity of REITs in the country.
Current restrictions on foreigners owning land in Sri Lanka have been a significant hurdle to foreign capital inflows in Sri Lanka, however JLL noted that if regulations were enacted to help mitigate these challenges while still ensuring that the title of a given property is not directly transferred to a foreign investor, then a significant obstacle to the establishment of REITs in Sri Lanka would have been cleared.
First established in the USA in 1960, REITs are widely regarded as investment vehicles that democratize real estate ownership, enabling retail investors to take a diversified stake in real estate, something that they, in all probability, could not achieve as individual investors. |
Central bank cryptocurrencies offer cash-like potential: BIS | The peer-to-peer element of consumer-facing, retail central bank cryptocurrencies (CBCCs) could offer the anonymity of cash but in digital form, according to the Bank for International Settlements. In a blog post, it suggests the creation of CBCCs would require universal accessibility, thus removing the need for central bank clearance when transacting CBCCs. The BIS warned, however, that such a move could increase the threat of bank runs and may pose risks to the business models of commercial banks. Moreover, the impact of CBCCs is down to the public perception of the necessity for anonymous payments, otherwise broader central bank accounts would be sufficient.
| https://www.bis.org/publ/qtrpdf/r_qt1709f.htm | 2017-09-18 13:15:40.080000 | New cryptocurrencies are emerging almost daily, and many interested parties are wondering whether central banks should issue their own versions. But what might central bank cryptocurrencies (CBCCs) look like and would they be useful? This feature provides a taxonomy of money that identifies two types of CBCC - retail and wholesale - and differentiates them from other forms of central bank money such as cash and reserves. It discusses the different characteristics of CBCCs and compares them with existing payment options.1
JEL classification: E41, E42, E51, E58.
Central bank cryptocurrencies (1:58) Morten Bech outlines the development of the "money flower", a taxonomy for classifying past, present and future forms of money.
In less than a decade, bitcoin has gone from being an obscure curiosity to a household name. Its value has risen - with ups and downs - from a few cents per coin to over $4,000. In the meantime, hundreds of other cryptocurrencies - equalling bitcoin in market value - have emerged (Graph 1, left-hand panel). While it seems unlikely that bitcoin or its sisters will displace sovereign currencies, they have demonstrated the viability of the underlying blockchain or distributed ledger technology (DLT). Venture capitalists and financial institutions are investing heavily in DLT projects that seek to provide new financial services as well as deliver old ones more efficiently. Bloggers, central bankers and academics are predicting transformative or disruptive implications for payments, banks and the financial system at large.2
Lately, central banks have entered the fray, with several announcing that they are exploring or experimenting with DLT, and the prospect of central bank crypto- or digital currencies is attracting considerable attention. But making sense of all this is difficult. There is confusion over what these new currencies are, and discussions often occur without a common understanding of what is actually being proposed. This feature seeks to provide some clarity by answering a deceptively simple question: what are central bank cryptocurrencies (CBCCs)?
To that end, we present a taxonomy of money that is based on four key properties: issuer (central bank or other); form (electronic or physical); accessibility (universal or limited); and transfer mechanism (centralised or decentralised). The taxonomy defines a CBCC as an electronic form of central bank money that can be exchanged in a decentralised manner known as peer-to-peer, meaning that transactions occur directly between the payer and the payee without the need for a central intermediary.3 This distinguishes CBCCs from other existing forms of electronic central bank money, such as reserves, which are exchanged in a centralised fashion across accounts at the central bank. Moreover, the taxonomy distinguishes between two possible forms of CBCC: a widely available, consumer-facing payment instrument targeted at retail transactions; and a restricted-access, digital settlement token for wholesale payment applications.4
But what might the two types of CBCC offer that alternative forms of central bank money cannot? For the consumer-facing kind, we argue that the peer-to-peer element of the new technology has the potential to provide anonymity features that are similar to those of cash but in digital form. If anonymity is not seen as important, then most of the alleged benefits of retail CBCCs can be achieved by giving the public access to accounts at the central bank, something that has been technically feasible for a long time but which central banks have mostly stayed away from.
On the wholesale side, the assessment of CBCCs is quite different. Wholesale payments today do not offer cash-like anonymity. In particular, transactions that occur in wholesale systems are visible to the central operator. Hence, the case for wholesale CBCCs depends on their ability to improve efficiency and reduce settlement costs. Here, the answer depends on a number of technical issues that still need to be resolved. Some central banks have experimented with wholesale CBCCs, but none has announced yet that it is ready to adopt this technology.
The first section presents the taxonomy underlying our definition. The following two sections discuss the features of the two basic CBCC types, retail and wholesale, drawing on historical examples and projects that are currently under way. A concluding section reflects on some of the issues that central banks need to consider in this area going forward.
A new form of central bank money
Our starting point for defining CBCCs is a report on cryptocurrencies published in 2015 by the Committee on Payments and Market Infrastructures (CPMI (2015)).5 This report sought to provide a definition of the new class of currencies represented by bitcoin and altcoins (alternatives to bitcoin) that had emerged using the same technology. The report identifies three key characteristics of cryptocurrencies: they are electronic; are not the liability of anyone; and feature peer-to-peer exchange.6
Cryptocurrencies utilise DLT (Box A) to allow remote peer-to-peer transfer of electronic value in the absence of trust between contracting parties. Usually, electronic representations of money, such as bank deposits, are exchanged via centralised infrastructures, where a trusted intermediary clears and settles transactions. Previously, peer-to-peer exchange was restricted to physical forms of money.
Some - but not all - of these features are also common to other forms of money (Graph 2, left-hand panel). Cash is peer-to-peer, but it is not electronic, and it is a central bank liability. Commercial bank deposits are a liability of the bank that issues them. Nowadays, they are in electronic form and are exchanged in a centralised manner either across the books of a given bank or between different banks via the central bank. Most commodity monies, such as gold coins, may also be transferred in a peer-to-peer fashion but are neither the liability of anyone nor electronic.7
It may seem natural to define CBCCs by adapting the CPMI's definition to say that they are electronic central bank liabilities that can be used in peer-to-peer exchanges. But this ignores an important feature of other forms of central bank money, namely accessibility. Currently, one form of central bank money - cash - is of course accessible to everyone, while central bank settlement accounts are typically available only to a limited set of entities, mainly banks (CPSS (2003, p 3)). In this spirit, Bjerg (2017) includes universally accessible (ie easy to obtain and use) in addition to electronic and central bank-issued in defining the new concept of central bank digital currency (Graph 2, right-hand panel).
Box A What is distributed ledger technology? Distributed ledger technology (DLT) refers to the protocols and supporting infrastructure that allow computers in different locations to propose and validate transactions and update records in a synchronised way across a network. The idea of a distributed ledger - a common record of activity that is shared across computers in different locations - is not new. Such ledgers are used by organisations (eg supermarket chains) that have branches or offices across a given country or across countries. However, in a traditional distributed database, a system administrator typically performs the key functions that are necessary to maintain consistency across the multiple copies of the ledger. The simplest way to do this is for the system administrator to maintain a master copy of the ledger which is periodically updated and shared with all network participants. By contrast, the new systems based on DLT, most notably Bitcoin and Ethereum, are designed to function without a trusted authority. Bitcoin maintains a distributed database in a decentralised way by using a consensus-based validation procedure and cryptographic signatures. In such systems, transactions are conducted in a peer-to-peer fashion and broadcast to the entire set of participants who work to validate them in batches known as "blocks". Since the ledger of activity is organised into separate but connected blocks, this type of DLT is often referred to as "blockchain technology". The blockchain version of DLT has successfully powered Bitcoin for several years However, the system is not without drawbacks: it is costly to operate (preventing double-spending without the use of a trusted authority requires transaction validators (miners) to employ large amounts of computing power to complete "proof-of-work" computations); there is only probabilistic finality of settlement; and all transactions are public. These features are not suitable for many financial market applications. Current wholesale DLT payment applications have therefore abandoned the standard blockchain technology in favour of protocols that modify the consensus process in order to allow enhanced confidentiality and scalability. Examples of protocols currently being tested by central banks include Corda and Hyperledger Fabric. Corda replaces blockchain with a "notary" architecture. The notary design utilises a trusted authority and allows consensus to be reached on an individual transaction basis, rather than in blocks, with limited information-sharing.
We combine the properties discussed in CPMI (2015) and Bjerg (2017) to establish a new taxonomy of money. Our properties are: issuer (central bank or other); form (electronic or physical); accessibility (universal or limited); and transfer mechanism (centralised or decentralised, ie peer-to-peer). This taxonomy reflects what appears to be emerging in practice and distinguishes between two potential types of CBCC, both of which are electronic: central bank-issued and peer-to-peer. One is accessible to the general public (retail CBCC) and the other is available only to financial institutions (wholesale CBCC). Again, a Venn diagram is useful for illustration.8 The four-ellipse version in Graph 3, which we call the money flower, shows how the two potential types of CBCC fit into the overall monetary landscape.
In principle, there are four different kinds of electronic central bank money: two kinds of CBCCs (the shaded area) and two kinds of central bank deposits. The most familiar forms of central bank deposits are those held by commercial banks - often referred to as settlement accounts or reserves. The other form is, at least in theory, deposits held by the general public. Tobin (1987) refers to this form as deposited currency accounts (DCAs).9 So far, central banks have generally chosen not to provide DCAs.
Universally accessible forms of money that are not issued by the central bank include (privately created) cryptocurrency, commodity money, commercial bank deposits and mobile money.10 Cryptocurrency borders CBCC given that only one of its properties differs. The other three currency forms are more removed because they are, in addition, either physical or "not peer-to-peer". A number of other forms of money are not universally accessible. Local (physical) currencies, ie currencies that can be spent in a particular geographical location at participating organisations, populate the right-hand petal of the flower. The upper left-hand petal contains virtual currencies, which are "electronic money issued and usually controlled by its developers, and used and accepted among the members of a specific virtual community" (ECB (2012)). There is also the possibility of a private sector wholesale version of cryptocurrency. It would be transferred in a peer-to-peer fashion by means of a distributed ledger, but only between certain financial institutions.
Box B uses this taxonomy to classify different examples of money from the past, present and future according to where they would fit in the money flower. The remainder of this feature discusses the two types of CBCC in further detail and highlights some of the many issues central banks will need to consider if they ever chose to adopt them. We start with the retail variant and then turn to the wholesale one.
Box B The money flower with selected examples Graph B fills out the money flower with examples of money from the past, present and possibly the future. Starting at the centre, we have Fedcoin, as an example of a retail CBCC. The concept, which was proposed by Koning (2014) and has not been endorsed by the Federal Reserve, is for the central bank to create its own cryptocurrency. The currency could be converted both ways at par with the US dollar and conversion would be managed by the Federal Reserve Banks. Instead of having a predetermined supply rule, as is the case with Bitcoin, the supply of Fedcoin would, much like cash, increase or decrease depending on the desire of consumers to hold it. Fedcoin would become a third component of the monetary base, alongside cash and reserves. Unlike Bitcoin, Fedcoin would not represent a competing, private "outside money" but would instead be an alternative form of sovereign currency (Garratt and Wallace (2016)). CADcoin is an example of a wholesale CBCC. It is the original name for digital assets representing central bank money used in the Bank of Canada's proof of concept for a DLT-based wholesale payment system. CADcoin has been used in simulations performed by the Bank of Canada in cooperation with Payments Canada, R3 (a fintech firm), and several Canadian banks but has not been put into practice. In Sweden, the demand for cash has dropped considerably over the past decade (Skingsley (2016)). Already, many stores do not accept cash and some bank branches no longer disburse or collect cash. In response, the Riksbank has embarked on a project to determine the viability of an eKrona for retail payments. No decision has yet been taken in terms of technology (Sveriges Riksbank (2017)). Hence, the eKrona is located on the border between deposited currency accounts and retail CBCCs. Dinero electrónico is a mobile payment service in Ecuador where the central bank provides the underlying accounts to the public. Citizens can open an account by downloading an app, registering their national identity number and answering security questions. People deposit or withdraw money by going to designated transaction centres. As such, it is a (rare) example of a deposited currency account scheme. As Ecuador uses the US dollar as its official currency, accounts are denominated in that currency. Bitcoin is an example of a non-central bank digital currency. It was invented by an unknown programmer who used the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto and was released as open-source software in 2009 along with a white paper describing the technical aspects of its design (see Box A for further details). PokéCoin is a currency used for in-game purchases in the Pokémon Go game and an example of a virtual currency. Utility Settlement Coin (USC) is an attempt by the private sector to provide a wholesale cryptocurrency. It is a concept proposed by a collection of large private banks and a fintech firm for a series of digital tokens representing money from multiple countries that can be exchanged on a distributed ledger platform (UBS (2016)). The value of each country's USC on the distributed ledger would be backed by an equivalent value of domestic currency held in a segregated (reserve) account at the central bank. The Bank of Amsterdam (the Amsterdamse Wisselbank) was established in 1609 by the City of Amsterdam to facilitate trade. It is often seen as a precursor to central banks. A problem at the time was that currency, ie coins, was being eroded, clipped or otherwise degraded. The bank took deposits of both foreign and local coinage at their real intrinsic value after charging a small coinage and management fee. These deposits were known as bank money. The Wisselbank introduced a book-entry system that enabled customers to settle payments with other account holders. The Dutch central bank was established in 1814 and the Bank of Amsterdam was closed in 1820 (Smith (1776), Quinn and Roberds (2014)). The 1934 series gold certificate was a $100,000 paper note issued by the US Treasury and used only for official transactions between Federal Reserve Banks. This was the highest US dollar-denominated note ever issued and did not circulate among the general public. It is an example of non-electronic, restricted-use, government-backed, peer-to-peer money. Examples of privately issued local currencies include the Bristol Pound and BerkShares, located in the right-hand petal. Stores in Bristol, United Kingdom, give a discount to people using Bristol Pounds, whereas BerkShares are purchased at 95 cents on the dollar and are accepted at retail stores in the Berkshires region of Massachusetts at face value. Precious metal coins are examples of commodity money. They can be used as an input in production or for consumption and also as a medium of exchange. This is in contrast to fiat money, which has no intrinsic use. Although commodity money is largely a thing of the past, it was the predominant medium of exchange for more than two millennia. E-gold account holders used commercial bank money to purchase a share of the holding company's stock of gold and used mobile phone text messages to transfer quantities of gold to other customers. Payments between e-gold customers were "on-us" transactions that simply involved updating customer accounts. E-gold ultimately failed. But before it shut down in 2009, it had accumulated over 5 million account holders. Many current private mobile payment platforms, such as Venmo (a digital wallet with social media features popular with US college students) and M-pesa™ (a popular mobile money platform in Kenya and other East African countries), employ a similar "on-us" model. Users transfer either bank deposits or cash to the operator, who gives them mobile credits. These credits can be transferred between platform participants using their mobile devices or redeemed from the operator for cash or deposits. The daily number of M-pesa transactions dwarfs those conducted using Bitcoin. However, in terms of value, worldwide Bitcoin transfers have recently overtaken those conducted on the M-pesa platform (Graph 1, right-hand panel).
Retail central bank cryptocurrencies
Retail CBCCs do not exist anywhere. However, the concept of a retail CBCC has been widely discussed by bloggers, central bankers and academics. Perhaps the most frequently discussed proposal is Fedcoin (Koning (2014, 2016), Motamedi (2014)).11 As discussed in Box B, the idea is for the Federal Reserve to create a cryptocurrency that is similar to bitcoin. However, unlike with bitcoin, only the Federal Reserve would be able to create Fedcoins and there would be one-for-one convertibility with cash and reserves. Fedcoins would only be created (destroyed) if an equivalent amount of cash or reserves were destroyed (created) at the same time. Like cash, Fedcoin would be decentralised in transaction and centralised in supply. Sveriges Riksbank, with its eKrona project, appears to have gone furthest in thinking about the potential issuance of a retail CBCC (Box C).
A retail CBCC along the lines of Fedcoin would eliminate the high price volatility that is common to cryptocurrencies (Graph 1, centre panel).12 Moreover, as Koning (2014) notes, Fedcoin has the potential to relieve the zero lower bound constraint on monetary policy. As with other electronic forms of central bank money, it is technically possible to pay interest on a DLT-based CBCC. If a retail CBCC were to completely replace cash, it would no longer be possible for depositors to avoid negative interest rates and still hold central bank money.
Any decision to implement a retail CBCC would have to balance potential benefits against potential risks. Bank runs might occur more quickly if the public were able to easily convert commercial bank money into risk-free central bank liabilities (Tolle (2016)). There could also be risks to the business models of commercial banks. Banks might be disintermediated, and hence less able to perform essential economic functions, such as monitoring borrowers, if consumers decided to forgo commercial bank deposits in favour of retail CBCCs. These benefits and costs are, however, not unique to retail CBCCs. They are the same for DCAs. What, then, is the key difference between retail CBCCs and DCAs? The answer lies with the peer-to-peer aspect of CBCCs and, more specifically, with anonymity.
Anonymity
Bitcoin was designed to be a "peer-to-peer version of electronic cash" (Nakamoto (2009, p 1), and this allows transactions to be anonymous. All bitcoin transactions are publicly recorded using the payer's and the payee's public addresses.13 However, very much like e-mail addresses, bitcoin public addresses do not need to reveal the true identity of users.14 This means that a person sending bitcoin to a public address need not reveal his/her true identity to the recipient (counterparty anonymity) or to other members of the Bitcoin community (one form of third-party anonymity).15
Box C The case of Sweden Sweden has one of the highest adoption rates of modern information and communication technologies in the world. It also has a highly efficient retail payment system. At the end of 2016, more than 5 million Swedes (over 50% of the population) had installed the Swish mobile phone app, which allows people to transfer commercial bank money with immediate effect (day or night) using their handheld device (Graph C, left-hand panel; see also Bech et al (2017)). The demand for cash is dropping rapidly in Sweden (Graph C, right-hand panel). Already, many stores no longer accept cash and some bank branches no longer disburse or collect cash. These developments are a cause for concern for the Riksbank (Skingsley (2016)). Will the payment system continue to be safe and efficient without cash? Even if cash is not used every day, it is a backup option in crisis situations. Will those without access to bank services still be able to manage their payments? The Riksbank currently has a so-called eKrona project under way to determine whether it should supply digital central bank money to the general public. The project is considering different technical solutions, but no decision has been taken as to whether to focus on a DCA or a retail CBCC structure. The project is expected to be finalised in late 2019 (Sveriges Riksbank (2017)).
Kahn et al (2005) and McAndrews (2017) emphasise legitimate reasons for counterparty anonymity in transactions. Payees and payers may want to reduce the risk of identity theft, the possibility that the counterparty might follow them home and rob them, or more innocuous annoyances like directed advertising and solicitations (spamming). Similarly, a lack of third-party anonymity may be regarded as revealing too much information about a person's private activities. In his proposal for Digicash, David Chaum (1983) makes this argument by pointing out that "knowledge by a third party of the payee, amount, and time of payment for every transaction made by an individual can reveal a great deal about the individual's whereabouts, associations and lifestyle".16
Counterparty anonymity seems less controversial than third-party anonymity. Many observers have argued that third-party anonymity in payments should not be allowed because it facilitates criminal activity, such as tax evasion, terrorist financing or money laundering. Rogoff (2016) argues that $100 bills should be removed from circulation for the same reasons.
It is unclear how much consumers actually value anonymity of either sort in order to protect their privacy. Athey et al (2017) look at how much effort people make to protect their privacy in relation to digital currencies. In an experimental setting, they find that subjects, in general, do not devote the small amount of time needed to read through the e-wallet description that is necessary to meet their own stated preferences for privacy. Similar findings emerged from a survey of economics students at the University of California, Santa Barbara, on usage of Venmo (a digital wallet with social media features). Of the 669 respondents, 80% were users. Of these users, 44% allowed their Venmo transactions to be public (visible to everyone on the internet) and another 21% allowed all of their Facebook friends to see their transactions. Finally, while Digicash is regarded as a precursor to bitcoin, there may not have been sufficiently high demand for the third-party anonymity it provided as it was never widely adopted. It filed for bankruptcy in 1998.17
The technology behind CBCCs could allow central banks to provide a digital cash substitute with anonymity properties similar to those of cash. In its role as issuer, the central bank would need to decide whether or not to require customer information (the true identity behind the public address). This would determine the extent to which the retail CBCC would provide third-party anonymity.
While it may look odd for a central bank to issue a cryptocurrency that provides anonymity, this is precisely what it does with physical currency, ie cash. Perhaps a key difference is that, with a retail CBCC, the provision of anonymity becomes a conscious decision. It is worth recalling that the anonymity properties of cash are likely to have emerged out of convenience or historical happenstance rather than intent.
Wholesale central bank cryptocurrencies
While CBCCs for retail payments remain at the conceptual stage, some central banks have completed proofs of concept for DLT-based applications.18 One of the reasons for the interest in DLT is that many central bank-operated wholesale payment systems are at the end of their technological life cycles. The systems are programmed in obsolete languages or use database designs that are no longer fit for purpose and are costly to maintain.
Projects Jasper and Ubin
Project Jasper at the Bank of Canada (Chapman et al (2017)) and Project Ubin at the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS (2017)) simulate real-time gross settlement (RTGS) systems on a DLT platform. In an RTGS system, payments are processed individually, immediately and with finality throughout the day (CPSS (1997)).
Unlike the retail payment applications discussed above, wholesale systems have restricted access, ie they are permissioned rather than permission-less. Usually, access is restricted to financial institutions. Moreover, the costly proof-of-work validation (Box A) needed to prevent double-spending in retail schemes is replaced by less energy-consuming alternatives, such as a trusted notary (eg the central bank).
A key challenge in any CBCC application is how to transfer central bank money to the distributed ledger.19 Both Jasper and Ubin chose a digital depository receipt (DDR) approach. A DDR is a claim on central bank reserves held in a segregated account against which the central bank issues digital tokens on the distributed ledger. In Jasper, the digital tokens - initially known as CADcoins20 - are created at the beginning of the day and redeemed at the end. In Ubin, banks acquire or redeem digital tokens at any point during the day and can keep them on the distributed ledger overnight. Hence, transfers on the DLT platform of the Singaporean proof of concept are not restricted to the opening hours of MAS.
Project Jasper also implements a liquidity-saving mechanism (LSM) on the DLT platform. While RTGS systems minimise settlement risk, they can be demanding in terms of liquidity. Consequently, many RTGS systems around the world are augmented by mechanisms that periodically seek to offset payments against each other in a queue and settle only the net amounts (Bech and Soramäki (2001)). Distributed ledgers are decentralised, so implementation of a centralised queue requires a clever work-around (Project Jasper (2017)).
The two projects show that central bank money can be transferred on a distributed ledger in real time, in realistic volumes and with an LSM. Nevertheless, none of the current initiatives to update or replace existing wholesale payment systems are considering the adoption of DLT. Both the Bank of England (2017) and Bank of Canada (Ho (2017)) conclude that DLT is not yet mature enough for current adoption. Yet most central banks that are considering modernising their core payment infrastructure stress the need to make new systems inter-operable with future DLT platforms.
Securities settlement
Looking beyond the immediate horizon, many industry participants see significant potential for DLT to increase efficiency and reduce reconciliation costs in securities clearing and settlement.21 One potential benefit of DLT-based structures is immediate clearing and settlement of securities, in contrast to the multiple-day lags that currently exist when exchanging cash for securities (and vice versa).22 Progress in this direction was recently achieved by a joint venture between the Deutsche Bundesbank and Deutsche Börse, which developed a functional prototype of a DLT-based securities settlement platform that achieves delivery-versus-payment settlement of digital coins and securities (Deutsche Bundesbank (2016)).
Conclusion
As it stands, cash is the only means by which the public can hold central bank money. If someone wishes to digitise that holding, he/she has to convert the central bank liability into a commercial bank liability by depositing the cash in a bank. A CBCC would allow consumers to hold central bank liabilities in digital form.23 But this would also be possible if the public were allowed to have central bank accounts, an idea that has been around for a long time.24 We argue that the main benefit that a consumer-facing retail CBCC would offer, over the provision of public access to (centralised) central bank accounts, is that the former would have the potential to provide the anonymity of cash. In particular, peer-to-peer transfers allow anonymity vis-à-vis any third party. If third-party anonymity is not of sufficient importance to the public, then many of the alleged benefits of retail CBCCs can be achieved by giving broad access to accounts at the central bank.
Whether or not a central bank should provide a digital alternative to cash is most pressing in countries, such as Sweden, where cash usage is rapidly declining. But all central banks may eventually have to decide whether issuing retail or wholesale CBCCs makes sense in their own context. In making this decision, central banks will have to consider not only consumer preferences for privacy and possible efficiency gains - in terms of payments, clearing and settlement - but also the risks it may entail for the financial system and the wider economy, as well as any implications for monetary policy (Bordo and Levin (2017)). Some of the risks are currently hard to assess. For instance, at present very little can be said about the cyber-resilience of CBCCs, something not touched upon in this short feature.
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Employers should aid first-time buyers: Localis | Employers should help younger people save for a deposit on their first home, according to London think-tank Localis. The centre-right organisation included the recommendation in the interim findings of its forthcoming report, titled Disrupting the Housing Market. The policy would extend the principle of auto-enrolment currently in place for pensions, and would be aimed at helping young people build up the funds needed to get on the housing ladder. "This crisis of saving transcends people of all tenures, ages, regions and socio-economic classes yet these consequences are underappreciated, least of all by non-homeowners themselves", said Jack Airey, senior researcher at Localis.
| http://www.localis.org.uk/news/employers-government-must-help-first-time-buyers-save-deposit-money-break-housing-impasse-localis-urges/ | 2017-09-18 12:32:21.943000 | Employers and government must help first-time buyers save deposit money to break housing impasse, Localis urges
18/09/2017
To boost young people’s chances of getting on the property ladder, employers and government should both contribute to first-time buyers’ deposit-savings using auto-enrolment of monthly pay-packets – a think-tank has today urged.
The call comes as centre-right think-tank Localis produces the interim findings of its report ‘Disrupting the Housing Market’.
The report will present three key policy recommendations: –
Extension of principle of auto-enrolment from pensions to saving deposits among 18-40 year olds to radically speed up the time it takes young people to earn the deposit for their first house;
Let local authorities re-designate greenbelt land through the creation of ‘yellowfield registers’ – allowing the sustainable release of land for new homes in areas where green belt protection is unwarranted;
Providing greater protections to private-rented tenants by allowing them to choose their initial tenancy length at six month intervals up to thirty-six months, with a one month break option after six months.
Jack Airey, senior researcher at Localis, said: “Whether out of choice, or simply because they do not have enough money at the end of each month to do so, a majority of people are not building any financial capacity with which to get a mortgage and purchase a home in the future.
“This crisis of saving transcends people of all tenures, ages, regions and socio-economic classes yet these consequences are underappreciated, least of all by non-homeowners themselves. Under this auto-enrolment scheme, rather than relying on the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’, employers and government would help young people onto the housing ladder.”
Liam Booth-Smith, chief executive at Localis, said: “The available evidence overwhelmingly points to the vast majority of people still wanting to own a home. It is an important life ambition, one that recent generations have enjoyed and future generations should too.
“The housing market is everyone’s problem – those who already own their home are dependent on someone else buying it. If the first rung of the housing ladder is lifted too high, there will be fewer and fewer buyers to sell to in the future.
“A Burkean intergenerational contract needs to be restored between those who wish to own their home, those that already do; and those that want to leave for retirement.”
Read more; for a full breakdown of the interim housing report findings, please visit : https://www.localis.org.uk/news/policies-for-a-fairer-housing-market/ |
Hewlett Packard and GE to provide cybersecurity support in Africa | UK-based IT company Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has announced a three-year partnership with General Electric (GE) to develop cybersecurity systems for projects in Africa, the Middle East and Turkey. The $25m deal will involve making GE's digital solutions available to HPE's existing partners and combining the companies' security capabilities for IT infrastructure. GE's OpShield system, which is designed to protect critical infrastructure from cyber-related damage, will be among the first products to be offered. The companies also intend to develop applications for GE's Predix, a cloud-based operating system designed for digital industries.
| http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=164914:GE-HPE-partner-on-cyber-security-in-Africa&catid=77 | 2017-09-18 12:07:12.320000 | Johannes Koch, MD, Middle East and Africa for HPE, and Ali Saleh, senior vice president and chief commercial officer for GE Digital MEA.
Information technology enterprise Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) has entered into three-year partnership with General Electric (GE) to provide cyber security solutions in the Africa, Middle East and Turkey regions.
According to the two companies, the partnership, which is valued at $25 million, is the first collaboration of this scale and scope in the region and will see GE Digital's industrial solutions de-ployed in the areas.
The companies will use a combined network of more than 1 500 partners in the region to deliver the solutions. "HPE's Partner Ready Program will ensure that more than 340 HPE specialists and channel partner technical and sales resources will be trained and certified on GE Digital solutions to deliver the solution on HPE storage and server infrastructure. In addition, HPE's own security capabilities for information technology infrastructure will complement the solutions provided by GE for the operational technology environment," the companies said.
Ali Saleh, senior vice president and chief commercial officer for GE Digital MEA, adds that in the first year, the partnership will be focusing on South Africa, Northern Africa, the Gulf, Levant and Turkey. "This partnership will enable our most important customers and partners in the region to begin the journey of digital transformation in a secure environment. HPE has the strongest partner programme among peers to manage a partnership of this scope and scale, to bolster a secure digital ecosystem, and reach customers quickly through an innovative business model."
According to the pair, one of the first solutions that will be focused on is OpShield from GE Digital. OpShield is an operational technology cyber security solution that is specialised to protect critical infrastructure and reduces risk of cyber-related unplanned downtime; heightens asset protection from cyber-related damage; helps safeguard protected health information and reduces risk of damage to reputation and intellectual property theft due to cyber incidents.
The companies further announced that discussions around bringing Predix-based applications to the market are currently underway. Predix is a cloud-based operating system for the industrial Internet that was purpose-built for the digital industrial era. It captures and analyses the "unique volume, velocity and variety of machine data in a secure, industrial-strength cloud environment".
Johannes Koch, MD of HPE in the Middle East and Africa, notes that the partnership is mutually beneficial. "This agreement for Middle East, Africa and Turkey builds on our global partnership with GE to help our customers and partners take advantage of the industrial Internet of things and drive digital transformation across their business. The requirement for security in both information technology and operational technology environments, and the need to protect critical infrastructures, makes this an ideal opportunity for our partners." |
Electric rickshaws and buses to take to the streets of India | India is to put almost 100,000 battery-powered autorickshaws and buses into service in the coming weeks. Rather than set up a network of charging stations, the government wants to create battery-swapping points, where drivers deposit a depleted battery in exchange for a fully charged one. The government intends all new vehicles on sale to be electric by 2030. Some 1.2 million deaths a year in India are caused by pollution, according to Greenpeace. | https://phys.org/news/2017-09-rickshaws-india-all-electric.html?utm_source=menu&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=item-menu | 2017-09-18 11:38:54.767000 | A sales executive talks about Mahindra's electric car "e2o Plus", on display at a showroom in New Delhi
India will roll out nearly 100,000 battery-powered buses and autorickshaws onto its sulphurous city streets in the coming weeks, setting it on the bumpy road to making new vehicle sales all-electric by 2030.
India, one of the world's most polluted nations, has one of the most ambitious plans to kick its fossil fuel addiction.
Analysts say the target is "daunting".
Transport is a major source of India's carbon emissions and the Greenpeace group blames at least 1.2 million deaths a year in the country on pollution.
Getting off diesel and petrol would improve the nation's health and bolster India's bid to meet the bold climate change targets it pledged in Paris in 2015.
India is not alone in wanting all-electric cars, though it is aiming to go faster than others.
Britain and France have said they want to end the sale of fossil fuel cars by 2040.
But electric and hybrid models make up just three percent of all cars on the road worldwide, say London-based consultancy firm PwC.
That figure is even lower in India, underscoring the enormity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's electric challenge.
On top of gradually bringing in electric rickshaws and buses in New Delhi, the government has issued a tender to auto makers for 10,000 cars to replace pollution producers at four government ministries.
"To go all electric is a daunting task," said PwC partner Abdul Majeed.
Ankur Bhatia (R), head of marketing at Mahindra Electric Mobility, checks his mobile phone while driving Mahindra's electric car "e2o Plus", in New Delhi
"Electric vehicles have a few huge challenges to deal with before they can take off in a big way."
Low-cost solutions
The government does not want to pay for a network of charging stations for millions of future green motorists to power up depleted car batteries.
Instead it hopes private energy companies will invest in "swapping bays", where drivers can exchange empty batteries for fresh ones, Ashok Jhunjhunwala, principal advisor to the power minister and the official spearheading the efforts, told AFP.
It plans to lease batteries separately for public transport and taxi fleets. It also wants more work on smaller, easier to use batteries.
Amara Raja Batteries, an Indian battery manufacturer, would be part of the "swapping model", said its chief executive S. Vijayanand.
"The headache of managing and charging the battery will not be with the driver then," he said.
Other ideas include setting tougher efficiency standards so new vehicles use less power.
"The idea is to keep it as low-cost as possible," Jhunjhunwala said. "Vehicles and chargers must happen without subsidies and must make business sense."
Mahesh Babu, chief executive at Indian conglomerate Mahindra, said it was an exciting project but government efficiency targets are "idealistic and might lead to compromise on consumer needs and safety."
Others are more optimistic.
Mahindra's electric car "e2o Plus" is plugged in for charging, at a showroom in New Delhi
Reductions in the size and cost of electric vehicles, coupled with rapid technological advances, mean India's ambitions were "very feasible", said Bill Hare, chief executive of the Berlin-based Climate Analytics consultancy.
'India's challenges'
Foreign car majors are not ready to bring their electric offerings to India.
Mercedes said it needs a reasonable timeline and improved incentives for motorists—currently a tiny sum that could be withdrawn at any time—to bring in electric cars.
Tesla boss Elon Musk—who in July launched Model 3, a mass-market version of Tesla's pricier cars—has postponed entry to the Indian market.
But at $35,000, even the cheapest Tesla is out of reach for most Indians. Most of the three million new cars added to India's roads every year are far cheaper, compact vehicles.
Nissan Motor is test driving its Leaf model to see how it performs on Indian roads and copes with pollution and extreme weather conditions.
That leaves the field wide open for Mahindra, currently the only company selling electric cars in India.
Its hatchback, sedan and van sell in Delhi from $11,000 to $15,000, after a subsidy of $2,300.
The company hopes to sell up to 5,000 units this year, including autorickshaws.
So far it has tied up with cab firms in a handful of cities, logistics firms and start-ups that offer a sharing system of self-driving cars.
"We want to meet India's challenges," Babu said.
© 2017 AFP |
Christian Candy remortgages and sells £340m of property assets | UK property mogul Christian Candy has mortgaged and sold up to £340m ($460m) worth of assets, including a villa on the French Riviera, a penthouse above the Plaza Hotel in New York and a seven-bedroom house in London. A spokesman for businessman Mark Holyoake, who took legal action against Christian and his brother Nick Candy after they fell out over a loan, said Holyoake was "extremely concerned" at the reshuffle. Judgment in the case is expected in October.
| https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/sep/16/christian-candy-developer-brother-nick | 2017-09-18 11:37:45.857000 | The controversial property mogul Christian Candy, whose luxury developments attracted some of the highest prices ever paid for London real estate, has sold and mortgaged assets worth an estimated £340m in less than a year.
The sum is a significant part of the £600m joint fortune Christian and his elder brother and business partner, Nick, disclosed to a British court last year.
A trawl through the land registry, property websites and news reports suggests that eight homes and developments have been sold, borrowed against or placed on the market between July 2016 and June of this year.
They include a villa on the French Riviera, a penthouse above the Plaza Hotel in New York, and a seven-bedroom, seven-bathroom house in London with a swimming pool and staff quarters.
Known as the “brothers bling” for their private jet, their yachts and collections of Swiss watches and sports cars, the Candys were the poster boys for London’s super-luxe real estate boom. Their developments, including One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge, attracted oligarchs, Nigerian petro-bosses and Middle Eastern royals.
But the five-year high-end property rush has stalled, with too many competing developments and an oil price slump curbing interest from potential buyers. Christian Candy, it seems, has decided to cash in some of his chips.
Nick and Christian Candy at the launch of their One Hyde Park development in 2011. Photograph: Dave M. Benett/Getty Images
“Players at this level often shuffle their chess pieces around,” said property agent and market commentator Henry Pryor. “The market, even for the Candy brothers, is no longer as sweet as it was a couple of years ago – but, having enjoyed some of the most impressive returns over the years, they can probably weather a modest downturn.”
However, the disposals have prompted legal letters from the businessman Mark Holyoake, who is suing the brothers for £132m in damages after they fell out over a loan. The trial was held in February and March, and judgment in the case is expected in October.
Many of the transactions took place during and after the trial. Holyoake’s solicitors wrote to the Candys in July threatening to ask for a court ruling to freeze their assets. Such an order would prevent the brothers from making any further disposals. However, Holyoake has yet to take any such action.
His spokesman said: “We are extremely concerned at the level of recent Candy property disposals in the UK and abroad. Mr Holyoake and his legal team are currently investigating these issues as a matter of urgency and will not hesitate to take appropriate action if assets are being dissipated.”
The Candys declined to comment on the disposals and dismissed Holyoake’s concerns as misplaced and without foundation. They have fully defended the claims brought by Holyoake and expect to be successful in their defence. They say their remaining assets would, after the disposals, be sufficient to cover any penalty were Holyoake’s case to succeed.
Loans have been taken out against properties, including a two-floor penthouse in block D at One Hyde Park, where security measures include iris scanners and SAS-trained guards. The proprietor is a company registered at the Guernsey address used by Christian Candy’s CPC Group.
In July 2016, it raised a mortgage from the Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank, according to the title deed, which states that the bank is under obligation to “make further advances”.
The Plaza hotel in New York, where Christian Candy sold a £31m apartment. Photograph: Lisa Carpenter
This June, Christian Candy was reported to be under contract to sell his three-floor Plaza penthouse for just under $40m (£31m). The property, which occupies the attic floors of a famous New York hotel once owned by Donald Trump, was acquired for $25m in 2012 and, after a revamp, was placed on the market a year later with a price tag of $59m. A buyer was found after a decision to drop the price earlier this year, according to reports.
In May, Villa l’Horizon in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, one of the most expensive locations on the French Riviera, was sold to an undisclosed buyer – for nearly 30% less than the original €35m (£31m) asking price.
Hugh House on Eaton Square was refinanced in March with Swiss bank UBS. It appears to have been put up for sale and then withdrawn. Once the property of Lily Safra, widow of billionaire banker Edmond Safra, it was marketed at £45m by the estate agent Savills, according to an advert which states it has now been “removed by the agent”.
Clermont Trust (Switzerland) SA, which appears to be a Geneva-based wealth manager, is now named as the proprietor of three other addresses.
A large property at Cornwall Terrace, used by Christian as his London family home, has been transferred to Clermont for just over £39m according to a land registry entry from December 2016. The Swiss group is also named on the title deeds of two associated houses at Cornwall Terrace Mews: one was acquired for £2m, and the other, valued at £1.2m, previously belonged to Christian Candy’s wife Emily Crompton.
Cornwall Terrace next to London’s Regent’s Park. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian
Finally, the Financial Times reported in June that the Duke’s Lodge development was for sale. The 1930s mansion block was bought for £85m, according to the title deed, and Christian Candy’s CPC Group obtained planning permission to refurbish the building as luxury flats. Rather than developing the property itself, CPC is now reported to be seeking buyers at a discounted £75m.
In 2016, a judge imposed restrictions on disposals by the Candys. He forbade them from selling assets worth more than £1m without notifying Holyoake first, after deciding there was “risk of dissipation” ahead of the damages trial, which took place in the high court in February and March of this year.
The judge later varied the restriction significantly, including allowing for no notice on “transactions in the ordinary and proper course of business”. In October the court of appeal decided the notification order should be completely lifted, with a judge concluding there was “insufficient evidence showing a real risk of dissipation”.
One Hyde Park, London. Photograph: View Pictures/REX
The properties
1. One Hyde Park Penthouse D, London – valued at £120m in 2011, was refinanced in July 2016 according to the land registry
2. Plaza Penthouse, New York – reported in June 2017 to be under contract with a buyer at just under $40m
3. Hugh House, London – mortgaged in March 2017, advertised for sale at £45m
4. Villa L’Horizon, Cap-Ferrat – the French Riviera villa was originally marketed at €35m, but reported in May to have been sold for €25m
5. Cornwall Terrace, London – Britain’s “most expensive terraced house”, overlooking Regent’s Park, was bought for £35m in 2012. In February of this year it was recorded as transferred to Clermont Trust (Switzerland) SA, at a value of £39m.
6. Cornwall Terrace Mews – Originally in the name of Emily Crompton, Christian’s wife, the property was transferred in February 2017 to Clermont Trust for £1.2m.
7. Cornwall Terrace Mews – a second mews house associated with the main property at Cornwall Terrace was transferred to Clermont Trust for £2m in January 2017.
8. Duke’s Lodge, London – The 1930s mansion block in Holland Park was bought for £85m in 2015, and refinanced with a loan from Credit Suisse in February 2017. A newspaper report says it is now on the market for £75m.
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Device measures atmospheric carbon compounds from fossil fuels | Scientists at the US National Institute of Standards and Technology have developed a device that can measure the level of fossil fuel-derived carbon in the atmosphere, according to an article published in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. The team made several changes to cavity ringdown spectroscopy technology, including chilling the cavity to minimise temperature fluctuations, to improve its sensitivity, before injecting a sample of heavy CO2 and measuring the wavelengths of light absorbed. Possible applications include the airline industry and bioplastics. | https://phys.org/news/2017-09-method-carbon-compounds-derived-fossil.html | 2017-09-18 11:34:28.370000 | Carbon atoms occur in heavy and light forms, or isotopes, and measuring the relative amounts of each can reveal the source of the carbon. Oxygen atoms are represented in gray and carbon isotopes are in orange. Credit: Kelly Irvine/NIST
Scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a laboratory instrument that can measure how much of the carbon in many carbon-containing materials was derived from fossil fuels. This will open the way for new methods in the biofuels and bioplastics industries, in scientific research, and environmental monitoring. Among other things, it will allow scientists to measure how much of the carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the atmosphere came from burning fossil fuels, and to estimate fossil fuel emissions in an area as small as a city or as large as a continent.
This is possible because carbon atoms occur in heavy and light forms, or isotopes, and measuring the relative amounts of each can reveal the source of the carbon. Using carbon isotopes in this way is not a new idea, but it requires extremely precise—and expensive—measurements. The new instrument, developed by NIST chemists Adam Fleisher and David Long and based on a technology called cavity ringdown spectroscopy (CRDS), promises to dramatically reduce the cost of those measurements. They described the instrument's performance in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters .
"Measuring carbon isotopes is an extremely useful technique, but until now, it has found limited use because of the cost," said Long. "Lowering the cost will open the way for new applications, especially ones that require testing a large number of samples."
The key to these measurements is carbon-14, a radioactive (yet harmless) isotope of carbon that is formed in the upper atmosphere. That carbon-14 finds its way into all living things. Unlike regular carbon, carbon-14 is unstable, with a half-life of 5,730 years. When living things die, they stop incorporating carbon into their bodies, and their carbon-14 starts to decay away.
Scientists can calculate how long ago something died by measuring how much carbon-14 is in its remains. That technique is called carbon dating, and scientists use it to date things like Neanderthal bones and ancient plant fibers.
Fossil fuels also are the remains of living things, mainly plants that died hundreds of millions of years ago. Virtually all their carbon-14 decayed away eons ago, so anything derived from them is marked by the absence of measurable amounts of carbon-14.
But carbon-14 is extremely rare, and to use it for identifying fossil fuels, scientists need to be able to measure it at concentrations as low as 1 part in 10 trillion. That's the equivalent of a single grain of sand in 60 dump trucks full of the stuff.
To measure concentrations that low, you need an extremely sensitive measurement technique, and such a technique already exists. Archaeologists have been relying on it for decades. But that technique requires a particle accelerator to separate the isotopes (the heavier carbon-14 accelerates more slowly than everyday carbon-12), along with a facility to house it and a team of PhDs to run it.
The CRDS instrument that Fleisher and Long have developed can sit on a laboratory benchtop and is relatively inexpensive to operate.
Credit: Kelly Irvine/NIST
CRDS instruments analyze gases by detecting the wavelengths of light they absorb. For instance, CO 2 that contains carbon-14—so-called heavy CO 2 —absorbs a slightly different wavelength than regular CO 2 .
To measure how much heavy CO 2 you have in a CO 2 sample, you first inject the sample into the instrument's measurement cavity (the "C" in CRDS), which is a tube with mirrors inside at either end. You then tune a laser to the exact wavelength that only heavy CO 2 absorbs and shoot a burst of it into the cavity. As the laser light bounces between the mirrors, some of its energy is absorbed by the gas. The greater the absorption, the greater the concentration of heavy CO 2 .
To achieve the required sensitivity, Fleisher and Long enhanced existing CRDS technology by engineering a system that chills the cavity to a uniform minus 55 degrees Celsius and minimizes temperature fluctuations that would throw off the measurement. Making the cavity very cold allows their instrument to detect very faint signals of light absorption, the same way that you might be able to hear a pin drop if you made a room extremely quiet.
This and other improvements boosted the instrument's sensitivity enough for accurate carbon dating.
To test biofuels and bioplastics, you would first burn those materials, then collect the resulting CO 2 for analysis. This would allow you to test a fuel mixture to determine what fraction of it is biofuel. In the airline industry, for example, this would be useful because some countries require that aviation fuels include a specific biofuel percentage. Such tests could also be used to verify that bioplastics, which sell for a premium, do not contain petroleum-derived compounds.
To estimate fossil fuel emissions in a geographic area, you would collect many air samples across that area and analyze the atmospheric CO 2 in those samples. Areas with high fossil fuel emissions, such as cities and industrial zones, will have below-normal concentrations of heavy CO 2 .
"Fossil fuel emissions dilute the concentration of heavy CO 2 in the air," said Fleisher. "If we can accurately measure that concentration after it's been diluted, we can calculate how much fossil fuel emissions are in the mix."
A report from the National Academy of Sciences estimated that 10,000 samples a year, collected at carefully chosen locations around the United States, would be enough to estimate national fossil fuel emissions to within 10 percent of the actual value. Such a system of measurements can increase the reliability of national emissions estimates. This would be especially useful in parts of the world where high-quality emissions data are not readily available.
"There is a need for this type of measurement in many industries," Fleisher said. "We've demonstrated a path to meeting that need in a cost-effective way."
More information: Adam J. Fleisher et al. Optical Measurement of Radiocarbon below Unity Fraction Modern by Linear Absorption Spectroscopy, The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters (2017). DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b02105 Journal information: Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters |
Quantum tech raises hydrogen productivity from water splitting | Scientists at Lancaster University are turning to quantum technology to find innovative ways of developing hydrogen fuel using water and sunlight. In a recent study, published in Scientific Reports, physicists increased the productivity of splitting water molecules by demonstrating how the novel use of nanostructures could increase the maximum photovoltage generated in a photoelectrochemical cell. "To the authors' best knowledge, this system has never been investigated either theoretically or experimentally, and there is huge scope for further work to expand upon the results," said Dr Manus Hayne from the department of physics. | https://phys.org/news/2017-09-hydrogen-power-closer.html | 2017-09-18 11:31:25.303000 | Fossil fuels accounted for almost 90 percent of energy consumption in 2015. Credit: Lancaster University
Physicists at Lancaster University are developing methods of creating renewable fuel from water using quantum technology.
Renewable hydrogen can already be produced by photoelectrolysis where solar power is used to split water molecules into oxygen and hydrogen.
But, despite significant research effort over the past four decades, fundamental problems remain before this can be adopted commercially due to inefficiency and lack of cost-effectiveness.
Dr Manus Hayne from the Department of Physics said: "For research to progress, innovation in both materials development and device design is clearly needed."
The Lancaster study, which formed part of the PhD research of Dr Sam Harrison, and is published in Scientific Reports, provides the basis for further experimental work into the solar production of hydrogen as a renewable fuel.
It demonstrates that the novel use of nanostructures could increase the maximum photovoltage generated in a photoelectrochemical cell, increasing the productivity of splitting water molecules.
Dr Hayne said: "To the authors' best knowledge, this system has never been investigated either theoretically or experimentally, and there is huge scope for further work to expand upon the results presented here."
Fossil fuels accounted for almost 90% of energy consumption in 2015, with absolute demand still increasing due to a growing global population and increasing industrialisation.
Dr Manus Hayne said: "Fossil-fuel combustion releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, causing global climate change, and there is only a finite amount of them available for extraction. We clearly need to transition to a renewable and low-greenhouse-gas energy infrastructure, and renewable hydrogen is expected to play an important role."
Photovoltaic solar cells are currently used to convert sunlight directly into electricity but solar hydrogen has the advantage that it is easily stored, so it can be used as and when needed.
Hydrogen is also very flexible, making it highly advantageous for remote communities. It can be converted to electricity in a fuel cell, or burnt in a boiler or cooker just like natural gas. It can even be used to fuel aircraft.
More information: S. Harrison et al, Photoelectrolysis Using Type-II Semiconductor Heterojunctions, Scientific Reports (2017). DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-11971-x Journal information: Scientific Reports |
Brazil registers 48 GW of renewables projects for December auction | EPE, Brazil's energy agency, has registered 1,676 renewable-energy projects amounting to 48 GW of capacity for an auction to be held in December. Wind accounted for the majority, with 954 projects totalling 26.6 GW. There were 574 solar projects with 18 GW of capacity. The remainder were hydropower and biomass. | https://www.pv-tech.org/news/brazil-registers-more-than-18gw-of-solar-for-december-auction | 2017-09-18 11:28:34.767000 | Brazil’s energy agency EPE has registered 574 solar PV projects, totalling 18,352MW in capacity, for it’s A-4 Reserve energy auction that will be held in December.
Wind energy saw strongest interest with 954 projects registered totalling 26,604MW, and covering more than half (55.5%) of the capacity submitted by all technologies.
There were 1,676 projects submitted across all technologies combined, including biomass, wind, solar and hydro. This came to 47,965MW.
The states with the highest solar registrations were:
Bahia – 4,758
Piaui – 3,354
Rio Grande do Norte 2,978
Ceara – 1,575
Sao Paulo – 1,243
Mato Grosso do Sul – 1,220
Pernambuco – 1,201
Minas Gerais – 1,145
Until 15 November, EPE will be analysing submissions to be able to technically qualify projects for the auction and participate effectively in the auction. The Auction will take place on 18 December. Grid-connection for winning projects is due by January 2021.
The other power auction, the A-6 for hydro, biomass, coal, gas and wind, will take place two days later on 20 December, and has seen 53,424MW of capacity registered.
Ciel & Terre Brasil, a subsidiary of French floating PV specialist Ciel & Terre, recently completed Brazil’s first floating solar project. |
Medicaid pilots telehealth programme for new mothers in Arizona | A live video chat service for new and expectant mothers is being piloted in Arizona for those on the state's Medicaid programme. The Pacify service is available around the clock and connects users to lactation consultants, dietitians and other pregnancy management specialists. It operates on Android and iOS platforms and also features push notifications, alerts and other educational resources. While developer Pacify Health has arrangements with other insurers, CEO Ben Lundin said it's "awesome" to be able to make the technology accessible through Medicaid, whose users tend to be less affluent Americans.
| http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/arizona-health-plan-rolls-out-pacify-video-chat-app-new-moms-need | 2017-09-18 11:28:03.030000 | Care1st Health Plan Arizona has launched a pilot program offering Pacify Health’s live video chat app to new and soon-to-be mothers enrolled in the state’s Medicaid program.
The Pacify service, which is also available to consumers on Android and iOS platforms, quickly connects users to lactation consultants, dietitians, and other pregnancy management specialists. The video chat service is now available to all of the health plan’s expectant mothers and those up to 12 months postpartum, explains Pacify Health CEO Ben Lundin, and on average will connect mothers and experts in 25 seconds at any time of the day or night.
“When it’s 2 o’clock in the morning and you’re struggling with breast feeding, the last thing you want to see from an application is that the first available appointment is tomorrow at five,” Lundin told MobiHealthNews. “The moms who are creating these accounts and accessing these services are experiencing a radically higher level of care, and are showing much higher levels of satisfaction as a result.”
Traditionally, new mothers in need of assistance during off hours had few options outside of calling a knowledgeable friend, visiting an emergency room, or waking up their doctor during the middle of the night, Lundin said. A service capable of offering 24-7 consulting is capable of not only reassuring hysterical mothers, he continued, but would also greatly reduce unnecessary emergency services and their accompanying expenses.
“The key component to the technology development has precisely been solving that issue: how do you take a service like lactation consulting or dietetics … and connect them in under 30 seconds to the moms who need them?” Lundin said. “It’s partly an Uber-like technology for call routing and availability identification … and it utilizes a lot of push notifications."
While Care1st Health Plan Arizona is the first in the state to work with Pacify, the company currently has arrangements with additional insurers. What’s more, Lundin said that his company is comfortable working within the framework of Medicaid, public health networks, and regulations.
“We don’t see state Medicaid agencies as a hurdle at all,” Lundin said. “What we’ve found is that state regulators are overwhelmingly excited about programs that can transform the level of care in these populations. So many technology companies out there are providing fee-for-service or high-cost platforms that are targeting the commercial market or wealthier families, and it’s really awesome to be able to offer a program like this that is accessible in the Medicaid space and that has the possibility of transforming the way Medicaid participants access care.”
Along with live video chat, Pacify also features regular push notifications, alerts, and various educational resources related to prepartum and postpartum wellbeing. |
Instagram verification increasingly elusive for emerging brands | Smaller businesses seeking verification on Instagram are finding it increasingly difficult, thanks to the "mysterious and rigid" nature of the verification process, and the sheer number of business users on the social media site, according to several advertising executives. Instagram verification, which gives brands and celebrities a blue tick, is regarded as a mark of credibility, and is of the "utmost importance for brands". At the end of July 2017, Instagram said it had 15 million business profiles, compared to eight million in March. | https://digiday.com/marketing/emerging-brands-finding-harder-get-verified-instagram/ | 2017-09-18 11:23:20.853000 | To many brands, a verification badge on a social media platform represents that they are legitimate businesses. Out of all platforms, a verification badge on Instagram has become the most exclusive. Agency executives say Instagram is only becoming more secretive and selective.
The main way agencies and brands get verified is by proving to a rep their Instagram accounts are being impersonated or are likely to get impersonated, said multiple agencies. Major brands seeking verification can use their size and popularity to prove fake accounts are impersonating their own. Strong connections with Facebook and Instagram and big budgets don’t hurt either. “The easiest way [to get verified] is to, frankly, spend money on advertising,” said Matt Britton, CEO at digital agency Crowdtap.
Small brands, however, cannot as easily demonstrate that other accounts want to steal their identities, and they are finding more and more roadblocks to verification.
The process
Instagram introduced verified badges to brands and celebrities in December 2014 to deter users from impersonating real accounts. Users could apply for verification, just as they would through Facebook or Twitter, according to Britton. But in September 2015, Instagram suddenly started prohibiting users from applying for badges, leaving agencies and brands to go through a rep at the platform. “It’s not currently possible to request or purchase a verified badge,” reads the platform’s current help page.
Allison Brito, associate director of media and marketing at Wondersauce, works with emerging brands on getting verified accounts on Instagram and noticed the process has become even more mysterious and rigid in the past year. She recalled that in early 2016, she contacted her Facebook rep directly without speaking to someone at Instagram when she wanted to get clients verified on both platforms.
“We were told from our Facebook rep that because Facebook and Instagram are the same company, that getting verified on Facebook was the easy way in,” she said. Essentially, because a brand was verified on Facebook meant it was likely the brand would also get verified on Instagram. But an “in” with a rep at Facebook no longer necessarily means a brand can get verified on Instagram, she said. “It’s not necessarily a shoo-in anymore,” said Brito, who is now undergoing the process for a client. “They are talking about the two platforms separately.”
Agencies also claim they are no longer notified whether or not a brand will be verified. Instead, verification badges will randomly appear on accounts, regardless of whether brands are working for them. “It’s like it’s a complete surprise, like, ‘Oh, we woke up one morning, and [the badge] was there,'” said Brito. And rather than taking a few days, agencies said the process can last from a few weeks to a few months.
A status symbol
Being verified on Instagram is of utmost importance for brands, numerous agency executives said. The blue check gives brands credibility in consumers’ eyes, especially now that Instagram users are accustomed to seeing blue badges next to familiar brands. “A user may be less inclined to reach out to a brand that isn’t verified,” said Jill Sherman, svp of social strategy at DigitasLBi.
Verification helps brands gain credibility among industry peers, too. “Being able to say we are recognized as a legitimate brand that other people would want to impersonate is important to get recognition within their industry,” said Brito.
What’s more, brands with verification badges receive early access to Instagram features that can help monetize accounts, like outgoing links on Instagram Stories. Instagram’s algorithms are also rumored to favor verified brands, with their content getting better placement and more engagement, said Gil Eyal, CEO of agency Hypr.
Jason Schlossberg, managing director at digital agency Huge, said that if a brand is not verified, it sends the message that the account is not significant enough to verify. “The verification itself becomes an implied endorsement that the brand or celebrity is ‘worthy’ of verification,” he said.
The desire for verification has led to the use of shady methods to get it. At the beginning of September, Mashable uncovered a black market where middlemen with contacts at Instagram have charged up to $15,000 for verification. But that approach is in jeopardy. One influencer named James, who sells verifications for up to $7,000, told Mashable that Instagram is firing employees involved in this scheme. While he could pass five names per week to his Instagram contact a year ago, he can now only send two names a week.
Brands have complained on their blogs or to Instagram itself about the difficulty of becoming verified. Amber Boyes, PR account supervisor and content strategist at creative agency Marcus Thomas, follows home organization e-commerce brand The Home Edit on Instagram. She said she saw the brand ranting about not being verified a few weeks ago on its Instagram Stories. Since then, The Home Edit brand has received a badge, and Boyes presumes it’s because the brand spoke out. The brand could not be reached for comment.
‘No official system’
Because of the mysterious nature of the Instagram verification process, agencies don’t know why they experience roadblocks. “There’s no official system,” said Schlossberg. “It all goes on behind the scenes.”
Mostly, experts believe that as the platform attracts more businesses, it wants to remain in complete control of its verification process, ensuring fake branded accounts don’t become as prevalent as they were in its early days.
Stephen Boidock, director of marketing and business development at digital agency Drumroll, believes the platform is making the verification process harder, but notes the platform is doing the same with its application programming interface approval process. Although Instagram would not comment on whether it is strengthening its grip on the verification process or how many requests it receives, a spokesperson said, “We take spam, inauthentic and other abusive behavior very seriously.”
Another belief is Instagram doesn’t have time to review all requests. Indeed, businesses have joined Instagram at an impressive rate. Nearly 71 percent of U.S. businesses are using Instagram this year, nearly double the amount of businesses (about 49 percent) that used the platform in 2016, according to eMarketer. At the end of July, Instagram announced it had 15 million business profiles, up from 8 million in March. With more new business users, the platform is likely seeing more verification requests, making it harder for emerging brands to receive it, said Eyal.
Experts believe Instagram’s verification system is not automated, with human beings reviewing each account, no easy feat with all the new businesses. Plus, the platform fields verification requests from influencers and celebrities. When Instagram introduced verification badges, it had 300 million users. Today, it has 700 million users. “Instagram must be inundated with these kind of requests,” said Schlossberg.
Instagram might not be the only platform becoming stricter about verifying accounts. Brito recently saw Twitter’s verification process become more tedious as well. Around three months ago, Wondersauce sent a brand’s Twitter handle to its rep at the platform for verification. The rep said the handles “go to a separate team” and that they would review the brand’s account, according to Brito. After “several doors closed,” the brand has still not been verified. “These platforms are looking for more authentic ways of verifying and not just giving out a badge because you apply,” Brito said. “I don’t think it’s just with Instagram anymore.” |
Apple restricts ad trackers to 24-hour window | Apple is changing the rules for ad tracking through its web browser Safari, in a move that advertisers say will harm their ability to target effectively. Third-party advertisers won't be able to track users for more than 24 hours after they land on a website, once the rules come into effect. Six advertising industry groups have published an open letter warning that the move will severely damage online business, gutting advertisers' ability to categorise users under particular demographics. | https://digiday.com/marketing/forget-duopoly-apples-anti-tracking-moves-rattle-digital-media/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170918 | 2017-09-18 11:10:53.407000 | Ad industry groups are pissed off at Apple, but there’s not much they can do about it.
Apple is limiting ad tracking in its Safari browser, which will make it harder for ad buyers to target niche audiences. Although this move protects users’ data privacy, it’s likely to hurt advertiser conversions and reduce CPMs for publishers that rely heavily on third-party data.
On Tuesday, Apple will update the operating system of its web browser Safari so users can’t be tracked by third parties for more than 24 hours after visiting a website. In response, six ad industry groups let Apple know they were frustrated, publishing an open letter last week stating that this move will sabotage the internet’s economy. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.
Apple’s Safari update is just the most recent example that displays company’s ambivalence about digital advertising. In 2014, Apple CEO Tim Cook criticized ad supported businesses like Facebook. Last year, Apple shut down its mobile ad platform iAd. While other tech giants like Amazon and Google are growing their revenue by creating new ad products, Apple has fully invested in getting people to pay for products like $1,000 cellphones.
Julie Rezek, North American president at ad agency HackerAgency, said Apple’s restrictions on retargeting data could hurt conversions and reduce reach by making it harder for advertisers to find users who fit specific demographics. Two other ad buyers said Apple’s reduction of third-party tracking will make it harder for them to drive sales and that if their ad performance declines, publishers will ultimately suffer since their CPMs will drop due to a reduction in demand.
But not all publishers will be harmed. Publishers that rely on third-party data vendors to sell the majority of their ads programmatically on open exchanges are most likely to be affected. The issue doesn’t hurt publishers that get most of their revenue from direct sales, said Todd Sawicki, CEO of native ad platform Zemanta.
Just as the General Data Protection Regulation will force advertisers to buy ads on sites with recognizable brands rather than target audiences whenever they wind up on the web, Apple’s data-gathering restrictions could benefit premium publishers not reliant on hypertargeting, said a product head at a comScore 200 publisher.
Although Ranker gets about 90 percent of its revenue through programmatic, Apple’s new rules should only affect 1 to 2 percent of its revenue, said Ranker CEO Clark Benson. This is because Ranker, like many publishers, is ramping up its private marketplace deals where it sells its proprietary data to advertisers. Meanwhile, Apple is clamping down on third-party data collection, which Ranker does not depend on in its PMPs.
By protesting Apple, the trade groups show they’re upholding their members’ interests, said media industry analyst Rebecca Lieb.
“But Apple is uniquely positioned to not care,” said Lieb, referring to how the vast majority of Apple’s revenue comes from selling devices, unlike Facebook, Google and Amazon. If Apple wants to change how users can be tracked in its browser, there’s really no one in ad land who can stop it, she said.
By making advertising slightly more difficult on the web, Apple is playing its card against ad giants like Amazon, Facebook and Google, Sawicki said. But unlike how Facebook algorithm changes can suddenly cut off a publisher’s primary revenue stream, the impact of Apple’s ploy will be more subtle, given that only 4 percent of desktop traffic and 29 percent of mobile traffic runs through Safari, according to NetMarketShare.
“As always in these kind of situations, the industry is saying, ‘The sky is falling,’” said independent ad tech consultant Brad Holcenberg, noting that Google’s Chrome browser is also restricting intrusive advertising by blocking the sound on autoplay videos. “Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but the industry has to be prepared to evolve quickly to a more user friendly one. Only a few companies hold the keys to users on the internet, and as [Google and Apple] show, that means changes can come fast and have broad implications.” |
Google rolls out sound-enabled cash-transfer app Tez in India | Google has rolled out Tez, a payment app for the Indian market that uses sound to identify a transaction. When set to the Cash Mode Option, app-enabled phones negotiate connections via ultrasonic frequencies that should be inaudible to humans. All that's required is a handset with a microphone and speaker, rather than near-field communication chips, which are rarely used by Indian consumers. Available on iOS and Android, Tez works with all 55 banks on India’s Unified Payments Interface, enabling secure, peer-to-peer payment. Google said it plans to also introduce the service in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia.
| https://www.theverge.com/2017/9/18/16325004/tez-google-india-audio-qr-cash-payments | 2017-09-18 11:02:11.487000 | Google has introduced a new payment app in India called Tez (the Hindi word for “fast”). Tez features a technology called audio QR that allows users to transfer money using sounds to pair two devices. Called the “cash mode option,” phones negotiate a connection using audio to identify the payer and payee. (The sounds should be inaudible to human ears though because they’re sent using ultrasonic frequencies, according to the Financial Times.) The feature is therefore similar to cash transactions which don’t require the exchange of personal details like bank accounts and phone numbers. Cash Mode works with any phone with a mic and speaker and Tez app installed, and doesn’t require an NFC chip. Google’s Audio QR technology is similar to Chirp, which also sends data encoded in ultrasonic audio.
There are 300 million smartphone users in India, and phones with NFC are still relatively rare and expensive, with many users instead favoring entry-level and mid-tier devices. Tez is a step beyond Android Pay, because it allows users to link payment apps from Indian banks — it works with all of the country’s 55 banks on India’s Unified Payments Interface (UPI). UPI is a system that allows numerous bank accounts to be linked into one mobile app, and enables secure peer-to-peer payment. According to Bloomberg, digital transactions have surged after the Indian Government banned high-value cash notes late last year.
Tez also facilitates bank-to-bank payments and is protected by Tez Shield, a data security platform from Google that detects fraud and protects user identity. Tez behaves like a chat app, using your contact list as a way to keep transaction history organized. People or businesses you’ve sent or received cash from grouped together “like a conversation,” Google says. |
MTN deal enables mobile payments into Uganda's pension fund | The Ugandan subsidiary of mobile telecoms giant MTN Group is partnering with the country's biggest pension fund to enable payment of contributions using the company's Mobile Money platform. The move allows small and medium-sized businesses who remit less than UGX4m ($1,112) per month to the National Social Security Fund (NSSF), as well as users of the NSSF Voluntary Membership Plan, to make transactions. Almost nine million Ugandans depend on MTN Mobile Money, most of whom had no previous access to banking services.
| http://www.samenacouncil.org/samena_daily_news.php?news=64350 | 2017-09-18 10:55:01.370000 | MTN and NSSF partner on mobile payments
MTN Uganda and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) have announced a partnership that enables payment of social security contributions using Mobile Money.
The partnership enables NSSF members on the NSSF Voluntary Membership Plan as well as small and medium sized entities to conveniently make payments using MTN Mobile Money. NSSF on the other hand will be able to receive contributions promptly, thus enhancing its contributions process efficiency.
At a joint press conference today held at Workers House, Wim Vanhelleputte, the MTN Uganda CEO noted that this was part of fostering financial inclusion through easing the payments process of pensions that are critical to avoiding poverty in old age.
“In the last eight years, MTN Mobile Money has had significant impact in the transformation of people’s lives. Now we are further enabling people to pay for their NSSF Contributions using MTN Mobile Money. This will enable a significant part of our customers pay their pension and ensure they don’t retire into poverty,” Wim said.
Adding, “MTN Mobile Money is an enabler and we believe that on top of facilitating transactions, we can also have real impact on the lives of people.”
NSSF Uganda Managing Director Richard Byarugaba also emphasized that the MTN Mobile Money payments will ease the payments process since it is convenient.
“MTN Mobile Money benefits both our members and the Fund. In a survey we conducted last year on voluntary contributions, 67% of respondents cited mobile money as a preferred transaction method when remitting their social security contributions.”
Adding; “in addition to guaranteeing convenience for our voluntary contributors, it will ease reconciliation with an option of automating the upload of contributions onto members’ accounts. It will greatly improve data accuracy, as well as instant confirmation of received contributions through SMS to the contributors”.
Byarugaba clarified that MTN Mobile Money can be used by both voluntary contributors under the NSSF Voluntary Contributions Plan as well as established entities, especially those that remit less than 4 million shillings in social security contributions per month.
MTN Mobile Money, since its launch in 2009 has been a major facilitator of financial inclusion in the country. Over 8.8 million Ugandans depend on MTN Mobile Money, of which the majority had little or no access to any formal banking structure. MTN Mobile Money has also evolved from just being sending and receiving tool to one that enables people to borrow and save using MoKash. Now it is ensuring people save with NSSF, Uganda’s largest pension fund, and earn a return once they retire or are unable to work.
MTN Uganda recently concluded the MTN Mobile Money month that celebrated its over 8.8 million customers for having transformed their lives.
Estimates indicate that millions of Ugandans do not have any form of social security in old age.
NSSF launched the Voluntary Contributions Plan to provide an opportunity to workers not covered by the mandatory provisions of the NSSF Act, as well as those in gainful self-employment that were previously contributing to the Fund to voluntarily save.
To make the payment, VMS members only need to dial *165*3*4# and follow the prompts to make their payments.
Source: http://www.biztechafrica.com/article/mtn-nssf-partner-mobile-payments/12841/ |
Texan engineers develop a permanently seabed-based pigger | Engineers at Texan firm NOV are developing a pigging machine that can be permanently installed on the sea bed. The Subsea Automatic Pig Launcher (SAPL), can be operated remotely, has an internal cassette capable of holding up to 10 pigs, while a ROV-operated ball valve barrier enables deployment with no disruption to production. NOV is building a prototype off the west coast of Norway, and expects tests to be completed during Q1 2018. It is also examining an all-electric version of the SAPL. | http://www.upstreamonline.com/upstreamtechnology/1344818/out-of-the-loop | 2017-09-18 10:41:11.063000 | Subsea field design involves a lot of time spent weighing options and considering the costs and benefits of various technologies.
If a production line is likely to require frequent pigging, for example, a twin pipeline, or loop system, may be justified. But the cost to build and install a second pipeline is significant, especially in very long subsea tie-back developments.
Subsea pig launchers enable pigging with a single pipeline. The downside is that they must be deployed and retrieved with a vessel and remotely operated vehicle (ROV), which is costly — and time-consuming if the pigging operation is not part of a scheduled maintenance programme. |
Australian small businesses poorly protected against cyberattacks | Most small businesses in Australia lack proper protection from cyber attacks, according to a survey by business services company MYOB Group. The company found that just 13% of the 400 small businesses questioned had plans in place to protect their money and client data, and this lack of security could make them attractive targets for hackers. The Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network received 11,851 reports of cyber crime in the June quarter of this year, and the Australian government last week warned businesses of a new threat from scam emails linked to malware.
| http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2017/09/18/small-business-needs-cyber-security-plan | 2017-09-18 10:37:59.810000 | Many small- and medium-sized businesses could be at risk of losing money and customers because they don't have a cyber security plan.
Only 13 per cent of small businesses have a plan to protect their money and valuable client data, according to a monthly survey of 400 small business owners by online business management solutions provider MYOB Group.
MYOB chief operating officer Andrew Birch says all types and sizes of business may be susceptible to cyber attack, but attackers may consider smaller businesses more vulnerable because they are unlikely to be as well prepared as larger enterprises.
Cyber attacks can involve individuals in a business being tricked into clicking on a download, email or attachment that may contain a virus or ransomware.
A cyber attack may also involve a false invoice being sent to a business and money being paid to a fraudulent party.
The Australian Cybercrime Online Reporting Network (ACORN) received 11,851 reports of cybercrime in the June quarter of 2017, 51 per cent of which related to scams or fraud and 19 per cent to purchases or sales.
Last week the Australian government's StaySmartOnline service, which provides information on how home internet users and small businesses can protect themselves from cyber security threats, warned of scam emails under the guise of "E-toll Account statement" or "AusPost Delivery".
These scam emails invited email users to click on a "View in OneDrive" link which could lead to the installation of malware onto the user's computer.
Earlier in September, a fake email circulated claiming to be an invoice for an eBay purchase, and another email claiming to be "Voice Message from 017234512978 - name unavailable" aimed to download ransomware onto the user's computer.
Mr Birch says cyber attackers are typically after money already in a business's bank account or looking to divert money that should be flowing into that account.
A business can have its bank account emptied in a cyber attack, which could force the enterprise to close down.
Also, cyber attackers seek client information which can be used in identity fraud.
Mr Birch says businesses that turn over more than $3 million a year are obliged under the Privacy Act to protect information and if they have taken no measures to protect themselves, they may be liable for prosecution.
Also, clients who have personal information stolen may have a case to take legal action against the business that was attacked.
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John Lewis offers overnight stays in 'try-before-you-buy' flats | UK retailer John Lewis is offering customers the opportunity to stay overnight in special, fully fitted-out flats at its Oxford Street, Cambridge and Liverpool branches. Each Residence is filled with items from the store's autumn/winter range, and everything in each flat is for sale. Customers, who are invited by random ballot, can stay in the Residence on Saturdays only, from 6.30pm to 9am the following day, while the flats are open to the public during trading hours.
| http://www.homesandproperty.co.uk/home-garden/interiors/try-before-you-buy-stay-overnight-in-john-lewis-fully-furnished-instore-apartment-where-everything-a113746.html | 2017-09-18 10:34:35.120000 | D epartment store John Lewis is offering customers the chance to stay overnight at special in-store apartments — where everything is for sale.
The fully fitted out apartments in the Oxford Street, Cambridge and Liverpool branches are being offered via random ballot for shoppers to stay over and test out a range of John Lewis products — including that all-important bed.
Each apartment has a fully furnished bedroom, dining and living room boasting a £3,000 sofa, £2,000 dining table and a £2,800 widescreen plasma television, for guests to curl up in front of.
The Oxford Street branch offers a fitted kitchen (complete with £1,300 coffee machine and wine cooler), a study and an indoor terrace overlooking Cavendish Square.
The latest Autumn Winter products can be found in every cupboard and wardrobe with an expert Residence team on hand to answer any questions.
Only available on Saturdays, those staying over will have private use of the apartment from 6.30pm until 9am the next day, with a Waitrose breakfast basket and newspapers delivered as a wake-up call.
There is also the choice of a 60-minute after hours private shopping time or an access all-areas tour of the department store included in the stay.
The Residence at John Lewis 1 / 8 The Residence at John Lewis The Residence Opening exclusively at John Lewis' Oxford Street, Cambridge and Liverpool stores, the retail giant is offering customers the chance to stay overnight at one of the special in-store apartments. The Residence Everything in the apartment will be for sale and exclusive to John Lewis as part of their "Only Here" Autumn campaign The Residence Only available on Saturdays, those staying over will have private use of the apartment from 6.30pm until 9am the next day, with a Waitrose breakfast basket and newspapers delivered as the wake-up call. The Residence Customers can chose to stay overnight or host their own intimate dinner party for up to 10 friends. The Residence The expert Residence team will be on hand to answer any questions about the apartment. The Residence For those unable to book an exclusive sleepover or dining experience, The Residence remains open to all throughout shop opening hours, and will host a series of free customer workshops.
London customers can also hire out the the Residence for dinner parties for up to 10 people, catered by a professional chef with cocktails prepared by the Residence's mixologist.
For those unable to book a sleepover or dining experience, the Residence remains open to all throughout shop opening hours.
The venue will also host a series of free customer workshops including how to pick the right duvet, tips on creating mood lighting and advice for hosting the perfect dinner party. |
US financial planners favour outsourcing portfolio management | More than half of certified financial planners (CFPs) outsource their portfolio management so they can focus on building good relationships with clients, according to a study by Cerulli Associates. It revealed that 46% of CFPs prefer to keep it in-house, while almost a third of independent insurance business development advisers outsource to save time and money. The study also found that the cost of implementing the Department of Labor's fiduciary rule encouraged outsourcing by advisers, and that advisers' returns often underperformed those of a dedicated investment manager. | http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20170914/FREE/170919964/cerulli-advisers-increasingly-outsourcing-portfolio-management | 2017-09-18 10:30:33.557000 | Investment advisers are increasingly outsourcing portfolio management and concentrating on building client relationships, according to a study by Cerulli Associates.
Outsourcing has three advantages, according to Cerulli, and the first is that it allows advisers to concentrate on building client relationships, which is especially important to those holding Certified Financial Planner designations. “They are trained to focus their client interaction on holistic financial planning instead of managing portfolios,” the report said.
Several CFPs echoed that sentiment. “I outsource investment management, and I firmly believe that CFPs should not manage client portfolios,” said Wade Brittingham, CFP, of Voya Financial Advisors Inc. “I want to spend my time with clients adding value to their lives with my financial planning expertise.”
Mr. Brittingham said it’s wise for a certified financial planner to keep with his skill set, and that it saves a huge amount of time that’s better spent meeting with clients.
“We have a fee-only, hourly/project based financial planning firm and choose not to manage client money,” said George Reilly, CFP, of Safe Harbor Financial Advisors. “In fact, one of our mission statement sentences is that, ‘We help clients manage their own money.’” Portfolio management is not something we want to do.”
Mr. Reilly uses First Ascent Asset Management (FAAM) of Denver for that portfolio management. Clients engage separately with FAAM, he said. “We are the client-facing advisers, and they are, in effect, our back office,” Mr. Reilly said.
The financial planning industry isn’t unanimous on the issue. According to Cerulli, 54% of CFPs outsource portfolio management, and 46% keep it in-house.
“We don’t outsource our management,” said Evan Beach, a financial planner for Campbell Wealth Management. “We have a CFA in-house that does nothing but watch the markets and our portfolios. He is analytical, disciplined and experienced — not always the same things you want in a planner.”
Leon LaBrecque of LJPR Financial Advisors, was more succinct: “We insource it. That is what we are paid to do.”
Financial planners aren’t the only advisers that lean towards outsourcing, the Cerulli report said. “Outsourcers can also be found among insurance B-D advisers, for whom investment management is often an afterthought to selling insurance. Independent B-Ds, who often are strapped for resources and time, show a preference for outsourcing. Almost one-third (31%) of outsourcers are in the IBD channel, whereas 25% of insourcers are IBD representatives.”
Independent registered investment advisers are the least likely to outsource portfolio management, according to Cerulli. About 18% show a preference for insourcing, versus 5% for outsourcing.
Implementation of the DOL fiduciary rule is the second reason outsourcing has become more popular, the Cerulli report said. “Home offices will require even the most sophisticated advisers to document each action to protect themselves from future inquiries. These documentation processes may become cumbersome and expensive to many advisers and the home offices who are working to increase due diligence.”
Finally, there’s the matter of investment returns. While many in the advisory business feel they can produce superior returns than a fully dedicated investment manager, the evidence doesn’t support it, the report said. “Cerulli research finds that advisers are quick to leave a falling equity market, but slow to enter when the market recovers. Since they miss a significant portion of a market upswing, their portfolios underperform over the long term.” |
South African grocer Pick n Pay pilots in-store bitcoin payments | South African grocery chain Pick n Pay has piloted in-store payments using bitcoin. The exercise used Electrum's cloud-based payments platform on infrastructure provided by global bitcoin company Luno. Customers at the company's Cape Town head office campus store were able to use the cryptocurrency to buy groceries and services, checking out using a QR code scanner on their smartphones. Deputy CEO Richard van Rensburg said the trial was limited and that there were no plans to enable bitcoin payments until a more comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrency use was in place.
| https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/companies/retail-and-consumer/2017-09-19-no-paying-via-bitcoin-just-yet-says-pick-n-pay/ | 2017-09-18 10:23:54.540000 | The ICT services and telecom company says it is waiting for more information on the offer, including the proposed offer price |
South African grocer Pick n Pay pilots in-store bitcoin payments | South African grocery chain Pick n Pay has piloted in-store payments using bitcoin. The exercise used Electrum's cloud-based payments platform on infrastructure provided by global bitcoin company Luno. Customers at the company's Cape Town head office campus store were able to use the cryptocurrency to buy groceries and services, checking out using a QR code scanner on their smartphones. Deputy CEO Richard van Rensburg said the trial was limited and that there were no plans to enable bitcoin payments until a more comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrency use was in place.
| https://electrum.co.za/bitcoin-accepted-at-pick-n-pay/ | 2017-09-18 10:23:54.540000 | In what is potentially a world first for a major grocery retailer, Electrum has enabled Pick n Pay to accept Bitcoin payments in-store. As a result of this ground breaking innovation project, for a limited time customers at Pick n Pay’s head office campus store have been able to use the Bitcoin cryptocurrency to purchase groceries and services. The checkout process is as simple as scanning a QR code using a Bitcoin wallet app on the customer’s smartphone.
Jason Peisl, IS Executive at Pick n Pay, explains, "At Pick n Pay one of our key values is to embrace change and encourage innovation and leadership. To deliver on that promise we are constantly working with our technology partners to find ways in which we can deliver valuable, innovative services to our customers. Cryptocurrency and Bitcoin are still relatively new payment concepts, yet we have been able to effectively demonstrate how we are able to accept such alternative payments."
Electrum provided the cloud-based enterprise payments platform used for the transactions. Electrum MD Dave Glass says, "We've worked closely with PnP for several years as a key technology provider. Our mission is to support innovative enterprises like Pick n Pay, and together we use the advanced Electrum software-as-a-service technology to move quickly on new opportunities, whilst at the same time delivering the best possible shopping experience".
The Bitcoin infrastructure for the project was provided by Luno, a global Bitcoin company, active in Southeast Asia and Africa, and with an office in Cape Town. Luno enables South African consumers to easily buy, sell, send and spend Bitcoin.
*update* Business Day has picked up this blog post - No paying via bitcoin just yet, says Pick n Pay |
PwC UK’s BAME workers paid 12.8% less than white staff | UK firm PwC has released data showing that its black, Asian and minority-ethnic (BAME) employees earn 12.8% less than other staff. The company blamed the discrepancy on the fact that many BAME employees worked in junior and administrative roles. PwC stated that it had released the information in order to encourage efforts to tackle “ethnicity challenges”. "The more transparent we are with our diversity and social mobility data, the more we hold ourselves accountable to achieving real change", said Kevin Ellis, chairman at PwC.
| https://www.pwc.co.uk/who-we-are/annual-report/our-people.html | 2017-09-18 10:19:06.837000 | Investing in technology, tools and training for our people and communities
We’ve invested heavily in technology this year, with more than two-thirds of our people agreeing that ‘those I work with actively seek out new ways to use technology’. Our firmwide Tech For All digital learning programme has given our people knowledge of key technologies and, in line with our flexible working approach, is available on mobile, anytime, anywhere. We’ll continue to build on this investment in the coming year by upskilling our entire workforce and creating a place for our people to learn about working with different technologies and sharing this across our business.
Technology is helping us allocate work fairly and efficiently, and we’ve deployed an AI tool matching our people to the right client projects. We’ve also built technological capabilities into our new development programme for senior managers, ensuring they have the skills they need to become our future leaders.
Our investment goes beyond the people who currently work for us and this year we’ve been using immersive experiences and interactive videos to bring our culture to life for potential graduate and school leaver recruits. We’re also continuing to inspire young women to pursue a career in technology via our Tech She Can Charter. |
Harvey shows vulnerability of oil storage tanks to excessive rain | The record rainfall from Hurricane Harvey exposed the lack of adequate measures to protect refineries, chemical plants and oil production sites in and around Houston, according to data from reports submitted to state and federal regulators. Some smaller above-ground oil storage tanks were not big enough to resist flood waters, while the roofs on 14 of 400 large storage tanks collapsed under the weight of 20 inches of rainwater. Louisiana State University professor John Pardue, who has researched storage tanks, said: "There’s no requirement that says when you’re in a hurricane zone you’ve got to do things differently.” | https://apnews.com/0485b3c424be4ce3bb555cf16a88f3bd/Tank-failures-in-Harvey-reveal-vulnerabilities-in-storm | 2017-09-18 10:17:31.947000 | More than two dozen storage tanks holding crude oil, gasoline and other contaminants ruptured or otherwise failed when Harvey slammed into the Texas coast, spilling at least 145,000 gallons (548,868 liters) of fuel and spewing toxic pollutants into the air, according to an Associated Press analysis of pollution reports submitted to state and federal regulators.
The tank failures follow years of warnings that the Houston area’s petrochemical industry was ill-prepared for a major storm, with about one-third of the 4,500 storage tanks along the Houston Ship Channel located in areas susceptible to flooding, according to researchers.
More of the massive storage tanks could be put to the test in coming days as Hurricane Irma bears down on Florida. The tanks are prone to float and break during floods, and Harvey’s unprecedented rainfalls revealed a new vulnerability when the roofs of some storage tanks sank under the weight of so much water.
Federal and state rules require companies to be prepared for spills, but mandate no specific measures to secure storage tanks at refineries, chemical plants and oil production sites.
Although Florida has no oil refineries, it has more than 20 petroleum product storage terminals in coastal communities and about 30 chemical companies with a presence in the state, including a significant number of facilities in the Tampa Bay area, according to the American Chemistry Council and U.S. Energy Information Administration.
“Tampa Bay is one of the most vulnerable cities in the country” to hurricanes, said John Pardue, a Louisiana State University professor who has researched problems with storage tanks during storms.
“But there’s no requirement that says when you’re in a hurricane zone you’ve got to do things differently,” Pardue added. “If we’re going to continue to put some of these facilities in harm’s way, it would be great to have some specific regulations” to safeguard storage tanks.
The storm surge from Harvey was small enough that the refineries in the Houston Ship Channel appear to have avoided the huge spills associated with past storms such as Hurricane Katrina, when ruptured storage tanks released several millions of gallons of oil including into residential areas, according to Jamie Padgett, an associate professor at Rice University who has inventoried the Houston Ship Channel’s storage tanks.
One difference during Harvey was that prior to the storm, some refineries apparently were able to fill up their storage tanks to make them less buoyant and therefore less prone to floating and being damaged, said Kyle Isakower, vice president of regulatory policy at the American Petroleum Institute.
That wasn’t the case with about a dozen smaller storage tanks that experienced spills in Fayette County west of Houston, said Ron Whitmire with EnerVest, the Houston-based company that operated the tanks. The capacity of those tanks ranged from about 250 to 400 barrels, which he said was not large enough to resist the force of the floodwaters that swept them away.
“Do we plan for storms and hurricanes? Absolutely,” Whitmire said. “But nobody plans for 50-plus inches of rain.”
The record rainfall also exposed problems among almost 400 large storage tanks in the Houston area that have “floating roofs” that go up or down depending on how much fuel is inside the containers. The unprecedented rains that came with Harvey caused 14 of those roofs to sink, in some instances allowing the chemicals inside them to escape, according to company reports and Padgett of Rice.
There are no government rules dictating how tanks are designed. But the American Petroleum Institute has established industry standards for tank construction that call for tanks to be able to drain at a minimum 10 inches (25 centimeters) of rain over a 24-hour period. Rain was falling at more than twice that rate during Harvey, Padgett said.
At least two of the floating roof failures occurred in gasoline storage tanks at Shell Oil’s Deer Park refinery and another occurred at Exxon Mobil’s Baytown refinery.
Pollution reports submitted by the companies to Texas regulators blamed the roof problems on Harvey’s excess rainfall. The reports said air pollutants including benzene, toluene and xylene were released into the atmosphere. Long-term exposure to such pollutants can cause cancer, although Texas officials said they never reached concentrations high enough in the storm’s wake to cause health concerns.
A Shell representative said in a statement to the AP that the roof problems presented an “extremely rare” circumstance and that company workers had quickly responded by spraying the spilled fuel with foam to suppress any harmful vapors. All the gasoline that was released was contained on-site, Shell spokesman Ray Fisher said.
Exxon Mobil spokeswoman Charlotte Huffaker said safety was a priority for the company and it was able to lessen environmental damage from Harvey by shutting down equipment in advance. Huffaker said Exxon “reported and responded to the event as soon as it was identified.”
As state and federal officials investigate the impacts from Harvey, it’s uncertain how much spilled material flowed off-site from the storage yards, oil production areas and refineries.
It’s expected to take about two weeks from the time of the spills for any contamination in the ship channel to reach Galveston Bay, according to Hanadi Rifai, director of the graduate program in environmental engineering at the University of Houston.
Texas has rules governing protections for underground storage tanks during floods, but not for above-ground tanks found at many refineries and chemical plants, according to Andrea Morrow, a spokeswoman for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
Morrow declined to say if the agency planned to investigate the Harvey-related tank failures and whether tanks that failed had been properly secured before the storm.
“We have established a Unified Command with other state and federal partners, and are in the field conducting rapid needs assessment at this time,” she said. “Due to the widespread impact from Harvey, the TCEQ anticipates conducting many storm-related investigations over the next several months.”
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Associated Press Correspondent Matthew Brown reported from Billings, Montana. AP data journalist Larry Fenn reported from New York City.
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Follow Matthew Brown on Twitter at www.twitter.com/matthewbrownap and get the best of the AP’s all-formats reporting on Irma and Harvey in your inbox: http://apne.ws/ahYQGtb . |
Low academic achievement tied to lack of broadband in Florida | Poor access to broadband in rural areas of Florida is connected to low educational attainment, according to research by Ed Moore, President of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida. Moore found that in counties with the least internet access, people are more likely to have poor educational records and lower incomes. His research suggests that across the US, 10% of people lack access to minimum standards of internet access.
| https://campustechnology.com/articles/2017/09/15/link-between-low-broadband-access-and-lower-degree-achievement-noted-in-florida.aspx?admgarea=news | 2017-09-18 10:15:41.977000 | Technology's Impact on Learning
Link between Low Broadband Access and Lower Degree Achievement Noted in Florida
A lack of widely available broadband is correlated to a smaller percentage of residents with college degrees or certificates. That's the suggestion of a presentation made recently in Florida to the Higher Education Coordinating Council. The gap will hold back the state from achieving its goal of having 55 percent of its working-age population obtain a degree or professional certificate by 2025, according to Ed Moore, president of Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida. Moore's organization has 30 non-profit institutions that deliver undergraduate, graduate, first-time professional and continuing education programs throughout the state, many of which are online.
For the purposes of his argument, Moore used the Federal Communications Commission's definition for internet access speed — 25 Mbps for download and 3 Mbps for upload — as the minimum required for residential access to distance learning programs. As Moore put it, almost 700,000 Floridians are "stranded on the wrong side of a distance learning divide." The FCC estimates, Moore added, that a tenth of all Americans — 34 million people — lack access to this benchmark service level.
But the biggest identifiable shortage occurs in rural areas, where 39 percent of people across the country lack broadband. In Florida, the more isolated rural counties — those away from large metropolitan areas — have fewer people with fast internet access and "are also more likely to have lower educational attainment and lower income levels per capita," Moore stated.
The 13 "trailing" counties with the least amount of internet access, ranging from Madison County, where 41 percent of residents have no access, to Dixie County, where 99 percent lack access, show a smaller percentage of residents with college degrees or certificates (from 12 percent to 27 percent). In the 19 counties where the total without internet access is zero percent, the share of residents with degrees or certificates runs from a low of 16 percent to a high of 54 percent.
Moore explained that while his organization's member schools "now offer more than 590 fully online degree and certificate programs," the access to those programs "should not be driven by where one lives." Limits on broadband access, he said, "slams the door on accessibility. You cannot get ahead if you cannot get online."
Reporting by the Gainesville Sun quoted Marshall Criser, chancellor of the state university system, who advised education leaders to work "collaboratively" with the business community on developing policy recommendations for expanding broadband services. Criser, a former president of AT&T in Florida, called the gap a "chicken or egg" kind of problem, pointing out that "there were sound reasons for broadband development to follow population densities."
According to reporter Lloyd Dunkelberger, the council may "invite the companies that provide broadband access and infrastructure to talk about the issue." |
Portable DNA sequencer could speed up diagnosis of dengue fever | Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a portable DNA sequencer to help hospitals in developing countries diagnose dengue fever more quickly and trace its path of infection. After separating serum from blood samples, the researchers converted it to DNA fragments which are amplified for sequencing. A computer linked to the device then cross-references the DNA with a database of genetic information to determine which virus type the patient is infected with. Currently, diagnosis of dengue fever relies on advanced genetic sequencers or a polymerase chain reaction, which are too costly for healthcare budgets in the developing world.
| https://asia.nikkei.com/Tech-Science/Science/Portable-device-speeds-up-dengue-virus-identification | 2017-09-18 10:13:25.067000 | TOKYO -- A team led by a professor from the University of Tokyo has devised a fast and cost-effective method of determining dengue fever virus types using a portable DNA sequencer.
Use of the palm-sized device will hopefully be able to speed up diagnosis at hospitals in developing countries and also help trace the path of infection. |
Teledyne Cormon updates pipeline corrosion monitoring system | UK-based subsea technology company Teledyne Cormon offers a low-logistics method of collecting data on the corrosion of pipelines. The company said its updated transfer and data storage instrumentation, combined with an online transmitter system, can offer real-time data on corrosion and erosion rates in pipelines. Within the next decade, more than half of the world's oil rigs will have been in service for more than 30 years, one reason that corrosion costs the oil and gas industry more than $1.3bn a year, according to NACE International. | http://www.epmag.com/offshore-industry-taps-technology-corrosion-monitoring-1657681#p=full | 2017-09-18 10:10:38.133000 | Corrosion can be considered one of the offshore oil and gas industry’s worst enemies.
The cost of corrosion in the oil and gas production industry surpasses $1.3 billion each year, according to NACE International’s estimates.
Subsea technology-focused Teledyne Cormon, which specializes in corrosion monitoring equipment as well as the design and manufacture of corrosion sensors among other types, sees global spending on corrosion and erosion monitoring for the topside and subsea markets combined at more than an estimated $150 million.
The offshore industry has seen advances in recent years with corrosion-resistant alloys designed for harsh offshore environments, intelligent pigs that detect cracking and pitting corrosion, biocides that aim to prevent or stop corrosion in its tracks and high-temperature corrosion inhibitors. Yet corrosion is still considered one of the leading causes of subsea pipeline failures.
“We estimate about half of [subsea pipeline] failures to be related to corrosion or erosion within the equipment,” Teledyne Cormon’s Tom Wollam said in a statement. “Costs can vary to replace a subsea pipeline but include much more than simply the cost of materials and labor to replace it. Often the cost is driven up exponentially by ancillary costs such as offshore vessels, engineering, testing and any environmental or safety impact the failure may have caused.
However, having an “effective asset integrity program can be an operator’s best insurance against preventable corrosion-related problems. … The risk of pipeline failure far outweighs the costs associated with installing, monitoring and maintaining effective corrosion control systems.”
Effective pipeline corrosion control comes down to quality design and installation of equipment, proper technologies and ongoing maintenance and monitoring by trained professionals, he added.
Corrosion and all of the problems it comes with is not new to the oil and gas industry. But the topic still commands attention considering its potential impact on oil and gas operations as facilities—particularly those in areas such the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico (GoM)—get older. About half of the platforms in the GoM are more than 20 years old, while some in the North Sea are even older. More than 50% of the world’s oil rigs will be more than 30 years old within the next decade, said Wollam, regional sales manager for Teledyne Cormon.
“Older infrastructure is at higher risk of corrosion damage, especially as operators face tighter budgets and are faced with tough choices such as extending the life of aging rigs, or reducing monitoring programs and personnel,” he added. “The simple fact of the matter is that as soon as a steel platform hits the saltwater it begins to corrode and therefore should be subject to monitoring, inspection and maintenance soon after deployment.”
The industry has typically used corrosion coupons with electrical resistance (ER) probes for monitoring. Ultrasonic inspections also have been used to measure wall thickness to determine corrosion and erosion rates in pipelines. Pigging is another common technique.
Improvements in the corrosion monitoring area continue.
Teledyne recently updated its data storage and transfer instrumentation for its ER probes to help determine metal loss caused by corrosion or erosion.
“Our transmitters now offer direct Modbus RS485 output straight from the transmitter without the need for any post processing or conversion. The updated transmitter is especially well paired with our CEION technology, which offers unrivalled response time and probe life,” Wollam said. “Often there is a tradeoff between these two aspects of ER probe monitoring; however, with CEION we combine both, giving the customer a very fast response time without the traditional concern of a short probe life.”
For real-time data acquisition, the technology can be combined with an online transmitter system.
Robotics is also playing a role in combating corrosion.
Companies are using AUVs and ROVs for close-up inspections of assets using lights, cameras and multi-beam sonar systems. “This application is gaining traction in the offshore industry as a low-logistics method to collect data on structural integrity of pipelines or other equipment,” Wollam said.
But the advent of Big Data and machine learning could usher in another way of advances for corrosion monitoring.
While the measurement of metal loss, described by Wollam as the “principal benchmark of corrosion monitoring” is unchanged, technology has brought to the industry higher resolution measuring electronics that speeds up the detection of changes in measurements.
“The value of this faster detection lies in the ability to respond more quickly to increases in the metal loss rate, which can reduce the total metal lost, and thereby extend asset life,” Wollam added. “We now can see real-time changes in metal loss, enabling the operator to respond more quickly to issues that may arise or develop an optimized maintenance plan with greater confidence with the help of data to support and justify the plan.”
However, these same advances could pose obstacles. One challenge could lie in technology itself, specifically the ability to get large amounts of data quickly.
Wollam posed these questions:
How do you manage, store and use all the data in a practical sense?
What kind of IT infrastructure needs to be in place to handle all the data coming in?
How can operators ensure the data give them actionable information?
“Without applications or analysis to transform the data into recommendations, alerts or reports, the data are essentially worthless regardless of the quality or size,” Wollam said. “The measurement technology has evolved, but our data management systems may be in need of upgrades as well.”
This article originally appeared in Hart Energy’s Subsea Engineering News newsletter. |
Utah-based fintech Square applies for industrial loan licence | Payments company Square has applied for a charter to become a Utah-based industrial loan company. The move would enable Square to continue to sell its payment card readers, which it would be banned from doing under a traditional banking licence. Although Square Capital already offers small businesses loans through its partnership with Celtic Bank, by opening a banking wing, Square would be able to establish direct relationships with regulators, which would assist it as it grows, said Jacqueline Reses, the head of Square Capital. Square will also be able to improve the scope of financial services it offers businesses.
| https://dyernews.com/square-wants-to-be-a-bank/ | 2017-09-18 10:00:59.110000 | Square Wants to Be a Bank Too
Just a few weeks ago it was announced that the mobile-only bank Vary Money had applied for a national bank charter. Now another popular FinTech company also has its sights set on becoming a bank: Square. However, unlike Varo’s charter, Square intends to become an industrial loan company and will be based in Utah. According to the Wall Street Journal, this route was chosen since, under a traditional banking license, the company would no longer be able to engage in other businesses like selling their famed card readers. Similarly, WSJ reports that some of Square’s other financial efforts, including their P2P money-sending app Square Cash, would be separate from this new venture. Should the charter be approved, the new bank would be known as Square Financial Services Inc.
Square’s plan to open a banking wing isn’t exactly out of left field. While it may mostly be known for its small business point of sale solutions, they’ve also offered small business loans since 2014 under their Square Capital initiative. This program was in partnership with Celtic Bank — a bank also based in Utah. WSJ reports that Square Capital has loaned $1.8 billion to 41,000 small businesses to date.
So, if Square is already lending large amounts of cash to businesses through its partnership with Celtic, why bother going solo? As Jacqueline Reses, who currently heads Square Capital and will be the chairman of Square Financial Services Inc., explains, “As we scale, it’s becoming increasingly important that we have direct relationships with regulators.” This would certainly imply that Square has larger plans for its FinTech operations and suggests Jack Dorsey and co. could continue to push the envelope when it comes to small business (and perhaps consumer?) finance.
Another major reason Square might want to expand into banking is so that it can be a one-stop shop. The more services that Square can offer to its customers, the more likely they are to stay loyal and within their “ecosystem.” Therefore, if the company can role out small business banking solutions on par with their other services, they could prove to be an even bigger powerhouse in the industry and a major ally for entrepreneurs
Of course, like with Varo Money charter, this is also an exciting development for FinTech. Although many (like I have) will surely lump the two together due to timing, the charters they’re applying for are actually quite different. While Varo’s national bank aspirations aim to show that banks can be exclusively mobile, Square’s plans to become an industrial loan company displays the belief that nonfinancial entities can still provide great financial services. In the end both of the assertions may prove controversial but, once affirmed, could mark a big leap for the FinTech industry. |
US insists on post-Harvey inspection of oil and gas pipelines | The US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) has issued a directive following Hurricane Harvey requiring that all offshore oil and gas facilities in the storm's path are inspected and reported on to BSEE by the end of March 2018, and repairs made by 1 June the same year. Among the inspection requirements included in the directive are the visual inspection of pipeline tie-ins and crossings in less than 200 feet of water, and all pipelines must undergo a two-hour leak test before returning to service. So far the bureau has not received any reports of damage.
| http://www.upstreamonline.com/upstreamtechnology/1345625/picking-up-after-the-storm-path | 2017-09-18 09:45:21.930000 | Hurricanes can wreak devastation on offshore infrastructure. In the case of pipelines, a physical impact, such as a dragging anchor, can breach a pipeline and cause pollution.
Strong waves and currents can move a pipeline, causing stress and potential ruptures.
Pipeline crossings may also be damaged by wave and current action, and waves can even expose buried pipelines in water depths of less than 200 feet.
The connectors between risers and surface facilities also can succumb to stress from wind and wave action.
“We |
UK's ESI Media plans to double its video team to increase output | ESI Media, the owner of UK news website the Independent and Evening Standard newspaper, plans to double its video team to 50 staff, as it seeks to satisfy growing audience appetite for the format. Next month, the Independent will package all its video content under a new name and separate landing page, but editor Christian Broughton is unwilling to formalise how much content will be produced and published each week. In July, the Independent had 140 million views of its videos, almost all from Facebook, where they were viewed on average about 570,000 times. | https://digiday.com/media/independent-doubling-video-team-50/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170918 | 2017-09-18 09:40:32.443000 | After shuttering its print paper in March 2016, The Independent is profitable again and can spend more on what its audience wants — and that’s video.
Over the next six months, ESI Media, the parent company of The Independent and the Evening Standard, plans to double its video team to 50. Each title currently has a team of 10 video specialists, and a central team of five works across both brands on bigger projects. The Independent needed to get its video offering right before growing its team, according to editor Christian Broughton.
Broadly speaking, The Independent’s original video falls into three categories: foreign correspondence, like reporting on a fire in a refugee camp in Syria; explainers with journalists, such as one with economics editor Ben Chu about whether austerity is over in the U.K.; and mini-documentaries about subjects like a teenage drug dealer. All are under five minutes long.
“We have been focusing on international and foreign reporting and putting a spotlight on the lives people who are struggling in some way,” said Broughton. “These are the ideas that represent the brand and mission of [The Independent].”
In the next month, The Independent will make its documentary videos easier to identify by packaging them under a new name and on a separate landing page. The Independent’s previous documentaries will be rebadged and housed here, too.
In a platform era, publishers struggle to get readers to recognize their brands. As The Independent exists solely on digital, this is a challenge it knows all too well. “Video is one of the more chaotic parts of online media; it comes out in an unruly way,” said Broughton.
According to analysis by the News Media Association and NewsWhip, news brands account for 47 percent of all social media engagements with U.K. content, stoking the fire for publishers that don’t feel they are getting a fair reward from platforms for the content they provide. But publishing on Facebook has been a big driver in growing The Independent in the U.S., where it gets a third of its traffic.
In July, The Independent had 140 million views on its videos, almost all of which came from Facebook, where each video has an average of 570,000 views, according to Tubular Labs. Many of these views come from videos licensed from news agencies or aggregated from the web.
“As media houses, we have less control on how and where content is consumed,” said Zach Leonard, managing director of digital for ESI Media. “That’s not an expression of relaxing, but recognition that a 14-year-old won’t be having a relationship with a newspaper but will be gathering their news by osmosis. It behooves us as brands to make sure we’re there.”
Broughton admits the size of The Independent’s video team is smaller than that of most other news brands. By comparison, the Guardian has around 35 people on its video team. Last year, The Telegraph reported it had 30 people on its video team, News UK’s title The Sun had about a dozen people working on video and the Financial Times had about 15 staff dedicated to video.
With the increase in team size, the number of videos it makes will increase, but Broughton is reluctant to establish a formal schedule for how many videos it plans to produce a week, saying this misdirects effort and focus.
“There are some areas we can strongly influence,” said Leonard. “In our case, that’s intense focus on the quality and efficacy of accurate journalism.”
We’ll recognize this year’s Best Video Publisher Partner for Brands at the Digiday Video Awards. Learn more about entering here. |
'Dieselgate' scandal blamed for 5,000 European deaths a year | Almost half the 10,000 deaths in Europe a year caused by small particle pollution from diesel engines could have been avoided had diesel vehicles' emissions matched levels measured in labs, according to a study. Researchers from Austria, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden found Europe had more than 100 million diesel vehicles, with Italy, France and Germany having the largest share. About 4,000 of the 5,000 premature deaths could have been avoided if the diesel vehicles' NOx emissions were no worse than those of petrol-engined vehicles. The figures are consistent with earlier research into the "dieselgate" scandal over Volkswagen cheating emissions tests.
| https://phys.org/news/2017-09-dieselgate-deaths-europe-year.html | 2017-09-18 09:38:46.027000 | Emissions from diesel cars rigged to appear eco-friendly may be responsible for 5,000 air pollution deaths per year in Europe alone, according to a new study
Emissions from diesel cars rigged to appear eco-friendly may be responsible for 5,000 air pollution deaths per year in Europe alone, according to a study published on Monday.
The numbers are in line with previous assessments of deaths due to the so-called "Dieselgate" scandal, which erupted when carmaker Volkswagen admitted in 2015 to cheating on vehicle emissions tests.
Many other carmakers have since fallen under suspicion.
In May this year, a study in the journal Nature said "excess" emissions from diesel vehicles exceeding certification limits were associated with about 38,000 "premature" deaths globally in 2015.
The new study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, focuses on the perils for Europe.
The researchers from Norway, Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands calculated that about 10,000 deaths in Europe per year can be attributed to small particle pollution from light duty diesel vehicles (LDDVs).
Almost half of these would have been avoided if emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from diesel cars on the road had matched levels measured in the lab.
Volkswagen admitted installing illegal software devices in cars that reduced emissions only for the duration of tests.
If diesel cars emitted as little NOx as petrol ones, almost 4,000 of the 5,000 premature deaths would have been avoided, said the authors.
The concentration of fine particulate matter due to excess NOx emissions from diesel cars, vans and light commercial vehicles across Europe. Blue colors indicate low concentrations, orange and red indicates high extra pollution. Unit: microgram PM2.5 per cubic metre, annual average 2013. Credit: Jonson et al 2017
The countries with the heaviest burden are Italy, Germany, and France, the team added, "resulting from their large populations and high share of diesel cars in their national fleets."
Touted as less polluting, the share of diesel cars in Europe rose fast compared to petrol since the 1990s, and now comprise about half the fleet.
There are more than 100 million diesel cars in Europe today, twice as many as in the rest of the world together, said the study authors.
Diesel engines emit less planet-warming carbon dioxide than petrol ones, but significantly more NOx.
Number of premature deaths due to excess NOx emissions from diesel cars, vans and light commercial vehicles in Europe (left column). Almost 50% could be have been avoided if diesel emission limits had been respected on the road (center column). Almost 80% could have been avoided had diesel cars emitted no more NOx than petrol cars (right column). Credit: Jonson et al 2017
Road transport, said the study authors, contributed about 40 percent of NOx emissions in the countries of the European Union plus Norway and Switzerland.
Composed of nitric oxide and nitrogen dioxide, NOx gases contribute to acid rain and suffocating smog.
Through long-term exposure, they can cause breathing problems, eye irritation, loss of appetite, corroded teeth, headaches, and chronically reduced lung function.
The central value is 9,830 premature deaths annually in EU28+NOR+SWI, with an uncertainty range from 6,300 to 13,000 premature deaths. Direct health impacts from NO2 have not been included to avoid double-counting. Remaining 20 EUR countries: Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Rep., Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden. They account for 23% of the population, but only for 10% of the premature deaths from dieselgate. For comparison the top four countries have 50% of the population and 70% of the dieselgate premature deaths. Credit: Jonson et al 2017
"Excessive premature deaths will continue into the future until LDDVs with high on-road NOx emissions have been replaced," said the study authors.
Earlier this month, tougher emissions tests came into force in Europe.
© 2017 AFP |
Why Are Drug Prices So High? We’re Curious, Too | This much is clear: The public is angry about the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs. Surveys have shown that high drug prices rank near the top of consumers’ health care concerns, and politicians in both parties — including President Trump — have vowed to do something about it.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/insider/insider-high-drug-prices-opioids.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth | 2017-09-18 09:34:09.377000 | Along the way, we’ve asked readers to share their stories about their struggles with high drug costs. We’ve heard from nearly 1,000 people.
In recent weeks, a few stories caught our eye. A woman in Texas, for example, told us that the company that manages her drug benefits, OptumRx, was going to start asking her to pay more out of pocket for Butrans, a painkilling patch that contains the drug buprenorphine. As a “lower cost alternative,” OptumRx, which is owned by UnitedHealth Group, suggested she try painkillers like OxyContin, according to a letter she shared with us, even though they carry a higher risk of abuse and dependence.
“The whole point of pain management is to take the least amount of medication possible to manage your pain, so that you always have somewhere to go when the pain increases or changes,” she wrote to us. “This is irresponsible and scary ‘cost management.’ ” She did not want us to use her name, saying her employer prohibited her from identifying herself, but she allowed us to share OptumRx’s redacted letter.
Her pharmacy benefit manager, she wrote, is “effectively contributing to the ‘opioid crisis’ with its own policies.” |
New CA Legislation Will Widen Healthcare Access | On Sept. 11, the California legislature passed health care bill SB 17, which requires pharmaceutical companies to release critical information on how major drugs are priced. SB 17 — although not yet signed by Gov. Jerry Brown — received support from both Republicans and Democrats in the waning hours of the 2017 legislative session.
| http://dailytrojan.com/2017/09/17/new-ca-legislation-will-widen-health-care-access/ | 2017-09-18 09:32:35.930000 | On Sept. 11, the California legislature passed health care bill SB 17, which requires pharmaceutical companies to release critical information on how major drugs are priced. SB 17 — although not yet signed by Gov. Jerry Brown — received support from both Republicans and Democrats in the waning hours of the 2017 legislative session. Many proponents from both sides believe that the bill could revolutionize national health care policy, as it would check the power of an increasingly monopolized business.
Specifically, the measure requires that pharmaceuticals make three important pieces of information public: the 25 most commonly prescribed drugs, the 25 most costly drugs and the 25 drugs with the largest annual increase in price. In addition, SB 17 forces manufacturers to report any increase in the cost of their products at least 60 days in advance if it exceeds a certain threshold.
Unsurprisingly, drug manufacturers are not pleased. If SB 17 goes into effect, big pharmaceutical companies would no longer have the power to raise the price of major drugs without receiving at least some kind of backlash. Public silence is what these companies feed on, allowing them to get away with limiting free enterprise and maximizing profit on their products.
Pharmaceutical companies’ ability to take advantage of that monopoly is highlighted in a 2014 Express Script report, which states that Americans consume 80 percent of the world’s supply of opioids despite representing only 5 percent of the population. Powerful painkillers are, undoubtedly, addictive and have serious side effects, and the fact that most Americans have a full bottle stocked in their cabinets at home is not to be taken lightly. In fact, the opioid epidemic, now deemed a national emergency by the Trump administration, was responsible for 28,000 American deaths in 2014, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Most of these fatalities were from prescribed medications.
The issue is indicative of most manufacturers’ reckless disregard for public health; knowing that doctors over-prescribe drugs without properly weaning patients off of them, pharmaceuticals have made a business out of creating potentially harmful products and selling them to consumers who likely did not need the medication in the first place. Indeed, the more money rolls in from the hordes of drug-abusing Americans, the easier it is to push ethical boundaries in the industry. Put simply, big manufacturers undermine national health care policy by shifting the focus from the well-being of American citizens to the potential profits that can be made by big business.
The aforementioned evils of Big Pharma are personified in one formidable public enemy: Martin Shkreli. Those familiar with his name might remember him as the former CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, a manufacturer that primarily markets the drugs Daraprim and Vecamyl. In 2015, Shkreli — otherwise known as the “most hated man in America” — sparked national uproar after he raised the price of Daraprim, which treats malaria and AIDS, by over 5,000 percent. Shkreli was later arrested for fraud.
Like Shkreli, a large number of these companies do not care about meeting public health needs because they have more important things on their minds — like money. In other words, major manufacturers can sleep well at night knowing that they jeopardized the health of millions if it meant making a quick billion. And, while it is true that some pharmaceuticals may be unfairly demonized by a bad apple, the impersonality embodied by Shkreli is still largely characteristic of the direction the industry is going in.
The California legislature should be commended for its decision to tackle pharmaceuticals like Turing during this year’s session. In addition to SB 17, lawmakers introduced measure AB 265, which cuts discounts to pricier drugs when more affordable alternatives are available. If successful, the bill would limit manufacturers’ ability to manipulate consumers by tempting them with seemingly less expensive brands. Also notable is AB 315, a bill that focuses on regulating pharmacy benefit managers, who are largely responsible for driving up the cost of prescription medication.
Missing from the equation in these measures, however, is public knowledge of the situation — which is why SB 17 will be critical if signed into law. In matters as important as healthcare, each citizen deserves to know how his or her access to essential medication is being impacted by big pharmaceutical companies. College students, and those transitioning into a life of self-sufficiency, should be able to know much their EpiPens might cost in a few years.
While insurers usually take much of the blow from rising drug prices, SB 17 is a step in the right direction. Our legislators cannot have informed, productive conversations with pharmaceuticals if there is not at least some level of transparency. As mentioned before, drug companies have too long been held unaccountable for the prices of their products, and measures like SB 17 are necessary checks on their power, albeit small ones.
If Brown signs this bill, perhaps other states will follow suit — and the nation can take back public health for the sake of health. |
Will Epic's new record-sharing tool solve interoperability challenges? | By most accounts, Epic Systems Corp.'s announcement that it was releasing a digital tool allowing patients to share their medical records with any provider was a huge leap toward reaching the ever-elusive digital exchange of medical information.
| http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20170916/NEWS/170919908 | 2017-09-18 09:31:27.700000 | "This sounds like a very positive incremental improvement in the use of patient portals in the Epic customer base," said Dr. David Kibbe, CEO of the not-for-profit governance group DirectTrust. "But it doesn't seem to me to be a global solution. The most obvious limitation is that it's available only to customers of Epic who also have MyChart accounts," he said, referring to Epic's patient portal.
According to Charles Christian, vice president of technology and engagement at the Indiana Health Information Exchange, Share Everywhere doesn't quite count as interoperability. "It's not really moving data around but providing access to it."
Pamela McNutt, chief information officer at Dallas-based Methodist Health System, agreed, calling Share Everywhere "another vehicle for access to very important information. It's really exciting, and it's moving us closer to a patient having a personal health record that they can control." Her system, which uses Epic, will advertise the new feature on its website and when it encourages new patients to sign up for MyChart.
Epic argues that this kind of data exchange does indeed qualify as interoperability and, more importantly, makes that interoperability patient-directed, said Sean Bina, Epic's vice president of access applications. "Whether traveling internationally, receiving home care, or simply seeking a second opinion, patient-driven interoperability is now a reality even when the caregiver doesn't have an interoperable EHR," he said.
Patient control over medical records is a requirement under meaningful use, which specifies that patients are supposed to be able to view, download and transmit their data. Epic's Share Everywhere achieves the crucial "transmit" portion of that trio, centering the data around the patient rather than around a single provider and maintaining a patient's privacy under HIPAA along the way, since the patient is the one moving the information.
The industry has long touted the potential benefits of patient-centered care, calling it an important part of the Triple Aim, since it will improve outcomes and lower costs. But, Christian said, "at times, we may be asking too much of the patients." Sometimes, he said, patients want providers to initiate the exchange of data.
"It's an idea that makes a ton of sense, to put patients in the middle of interoperability," said Dr. Christopher Longhurst, CIO for UC San Diego Health. But, he said, he's found that "when you ask our patients, most of them tell you they don't want to be in the middle."
Epic's Care Everywhere—not to be confused with Share Everywhere—helps in that quest. Using the technology, organizations exchange 2 million records per day with Epic and other vendors' systems. Epic is also a member of Carequality, an initiative of the Sequoia Project whose framework supports data transfer among its members. Carequal- ity members will soon be able to exchange data with members of the Commonwell Health Alliance, co-founded by Epic market rival Cerner Corp., greatly expanding interoperability.
Share Everywhere will be available for free in November to Epic users. Epic declined to say what the average cost of implementing its EHR is. But installing new systems can be expensive: The installation of an Epic EHR at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville this fall, for instance, is estimated to cost $214 million.
Asked if providers might be drawn to purchase Epic because of Share Everywhere. Longhurst said likely not. "It's not a game-changer," he said. |
CBO: ACA markets to see premium increases, stunted enrollment | Premiums in next year’s Affordable Care Act plans will be about 15% higher than this year because of short-term market uncertainty, according to a report the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released Thursday.
| http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/cbo-aca-markets-to-see-premium-increases-stunted-enrollment/505045/ | 2017-09-18 09:30:46.030000 | Dive Brief:
Premiums in next year’s Affordable Care Act plans will be about 15% higher than this year because of short-term market uncertainty, according to a report the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released Thursday.
The analysis also found that enrollment in these marketplace plans will increase slightly, but will be limited by reduced federal advertising and outreach efforts, as well as the higher premiums.
The reduced federal outreach includes cuts of up to 98% for community groups that help people enroll in ACA plans. The organizations began receiving notice of their new budgets late Wednesday, about two weeks after their previous funding ran out, Vox reported.
Dive Insight:
The CBO report lends credence to the theory that efforts from President Donald Trump’s administration to hamstring the ACA are working as intended. Trump hasn't backed away from his plan of letting the individual market “implode” in order to gain a bargaining chip for future healthcare reform discussions.
At the beginning of the month, HHS said the overall advertising budget for the ACA was being cut by 90%. With massive budget cuts and the delay in receiving the funding, ACA navigator groups have been laying off employees and suspending some of their projects.
HHS argues the navigator groups are ineffective and have accounted for only a small number of enrollees each year. Advocates for the navigators say the numbers don’t tell the whole story. In addition to coaching ACA enrollment, the navigators help people access care after they obtains insurance and work with employers on ACA compliance. They also reach out to minority groups in their community to further knowledge of coverage options.
The CBO’s finding of premium increases because of likely market instability mirrors other analyses that show higher costs in early premium rate filings. The agency said one major cause for the instability is the uncertainty that payers will continue to receive cost-sharing reductions (CSR). Insurers have strongly urged future payments be assured, warning that otherwise they will have to leave the ACA marketplaces or substantially increase premiums. The CBO agrees.
There have been bipartisan talks in support of legislation to secure the future of CSR payments, but some Republicans instead continue to push for full ACA repeal. Meanwhile, 58 counties are at risk of having no ACA plan options next year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. |
One Little Medicaid Waiver Could Spell Big Changes | Medicaid may have escaped deep cuts this summer, after several repeal and replace bills foundered in the Senate, but the administration has another vehicle for implementing conservative-friendly changes on a state-by-state basis through the waiver process.
| http://www.medpagetoday.com/publichealthpolicy/medicaid/67968 | 2017-09-18 09:30:06.107000 | WASHINGTON -- Medicaid may have escaped deep cuts this summer, after several repeal and replace bills foundered in the Senate, but the administration has another vehicle for implementing conservative-friendly changes on a state-by-state basis through the waiver process.
One particular waiver, crafted by Arkansas, if approved, could create a pathway for other "red" states to expand the program on their own terms by allowing a "partial expansion" of the program. In Arkansas's case, which already technically expanded Medicaid -- albeit in a nontraditional fashion -- the effect would actually be to disqualify some 60,000 current enrollees from the program.
The state's amended "Arkansas Works" waiver would roll back the income threshold for Medicaid eligibility from 138% of the federal poverty level to 100%. Those no longer qualifying could try to enroll in plans supported by federal tax credits or find employer-sponsored insurance. the state's Medicaid agency said.
Arkansas also wants a "work requirement" for enrollees ages 18-49 who are "able-bodied" with no dependents. They must find paying jobs, volunteer positions, or participate in work training programs for at least 20 hours a week, J.R. Davis, a spokesman for Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), told MedPage Today in a phone interview.
"If you want this coverage you have to be able to put some skin in the game," Davis said.
Those who do not meet the requirement, and who lack an exemption, will be dropped from the program and blocked from re-enrollment, the ARMedicaid website noted.
Arkansas Expansion
Arkansas initially expanded Medicaid under a different waiver under Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe in 2013. That waiver allowed the state to use Medicaid expansion dollars to provide private insurance. This was known as the "private option."
So instead of increasing Medicaid eligibility the state directed those federal dollars to would-be Medicaid recipients who could then choose plans on the exchanges, Nicholas Bagley, JD, of the University of Michigan, explained in The Incidental Economist.
For the 60,000 people who are expected to lose coverage by scaling back Medicaid expansion eligibility, Davis said the subsidies will allow them to access coverage, just as it does for those who are currently on the exchanges.
"With the limited amount of resources from the state, we want to focus those resources on those who need it most," Bagley wrote.
Medicaid is jointly run by the states and federal government. Under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid expansion was intended to increase eligibility to most adults earning up to 138% of the federal poverty level. The federal government would provide 100% of the funding for the expansion population, in the first few years, with that percentage tapering off after that.
The ACA allows states to seek waivers from some of its requirements. Several states contemplated expanding Medicaid eligibility only to those at 100% of the federal poverty level instead of the usual 138%, but that idea was soundly rejected by the Obama administration.
The new administration under Trump may take a rosier view of similar proposals.
If "red" states needed a sign, Seema Verma, the new administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), helped craft Indiana's "Republican-friendly [Medicaid] expansion." Indiana's program required Medicaid recipients to make small monthly payments or lose coverage.
Reactions
If the new Arkansas waiver is approved it could have a trickle-down effect on states that had resisted expansion in the past, said Matt Salo, executive director of the National Association of Medicaid Directors.
"I think it would certainly send a signal to the Rick Scotts and the Greg Abbotts to say ... 'Potentially we could do this,'" Salo told MedPage Today, referring to the Republican governors of Florida and Texas, respectively.
While some states may choose to expand eligibility to 138% of federal poverty level, the right cut-off for others may be 100% or even 75%.
But expansion, even on a lesser scale, is still a win for the enrollees in most states, he said.
"People, single adults, between 0% and 100% of poverty are uninsured. If Florida does an expansion up to 70% or 80%, that's a whole bunch of people who would have coverage who didn't before," Salo said.
Marquita Little, health policy director for Arkansas Advocates for Families and Children, is skeptical that people will easily transition to a marketplace plan and receive comparable coverage at comparable costs using tax credits. She noted the uncertainty surrounding the exchange marketplaces given the atmosphere in Washington.
The state doesn't have a good track record for smooth transitions, she added, pointing to a a renewal process in 2015 that left some people not realizing their coverage had lapsed until they showed up for doctor's appointments.
Waivers are intended to pursue the objective of the Medicaid program, observed Joan Alker, executive director for the Center for Children and Families.
"Taking coverage away from people ... unless you're 100% certain everybody's going to get coverage and they're going to get just as good coverage," doesn't meet that objective, she argued.
Davis, the governor's spokesman, insisted the transition wouldn't be a problem.
"There's facts versus fiction. The facts are they will be able to go onto the exchange and we have staff at the Department of Health and Human Services who will be able to help them," he said.
'On CMS Time'
Bagley told MedPage Today in an email that advocacy groups "can and probably will bring lawsuits," but there are credible arguments on both sides.
"On the one hand, it's a little awkward to say that restricting Medicaid eligibility advances the objectives of the program," he said. But, he added, "Arkansas might be able to argue that the 100-to-138 expansion population will have more choices if they can use premium tax credits to shop for coverage instead of Medicaid dollars."
The courts generally defer to HHS on waivers, but will "definitely put the agency through its paces," he wrote.
Four other states -- Indiana, Kentucky, Iowa, and Massachusetts -- currently have Medicaid expansion waivers pending with CMS, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. All but the Bay State's include a work requirement, and Indiana and Kentucky would lock out enrollees if they fail to renew eligibility by certain deadlines.
As for when a decision on Arkansas's application is expected, William Golden, MD, medical director for Arkansas Department of Human Services/Medicaid, said in an email that he expected to have a decision by now but heard it had been delayed by the recent hurricanes.
"We are on CMS time," he wrote.
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Buried Inside Bernie Sanders’s Bill: A Fallback Plan | The Bernie Sanders “Medicare for All” plan promises rapid, sweeping change to the American health care system, with the elimination of all private insurance and the creation of a costly new government insurance program that will cover everyone and nearly every medical service.
| https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/upshot/buried-inside-bernie-sanderss-bill-a-fallback-plan.html | 2017-09-18 09:29:35.230000 | The Bernie Sanders “Medicare for All” plan promises rapid, sweeping change to the American health care system, with the elimination of all private insurance and the creation of a costly new government insurance program that will cover everyone and nearly every medical service.
But deep in its back pages is a more modest fallback plan.
The bill, introduced this week, has attracted the endorsement of 15 Democratic senators, including several of the party’s most ambitious liberals. But many more Democrats this week said they’d like to pursue more limited steps to expand health insurance coverage and the government’s role in the system. It turns out that the Sanders bill also has provisions along those lines. Taken together, the bill encapsulates much of the coming Democratic debate about the direction of health care.
In the statements of the bill’s co-sponsors, one can detect an openness to less transformational approaches to health reform. “This bill is aspirational, and I’m hopeful that it can serve as a starting point for where we need to go as a country,” Senator Al Franken of Minnesota wrote in a Facebook post. He described the bill as a “marker” and “one way to achieve universal coverage.”
Parts of the Sanders bill help establish a road map for what some other strategies might look like.
The provisions are tucked into Title X of the bill and describe the four-year transition between current policy and the Sanders bill’s goal of a Medicare-for-all system. During that interim, some younger Americans would be able to buy access to the traditional Medicare program, which is now mainly for those 65 and up. The provisions would also establish an option for Americans to buy access to a Medicare-like government plan that would be sold on the Obamacare exchanges. |
How Trump Is Making Obamacare More Expensive | President Trump’s threats and actions to undermine Obamacare come at a cost: In a report released Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office projects that premiums for benchmark silver plans will increase by an average of 15 percent next year.
| http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/2017/09/15/How-Trump-Making-Obamacare-More-Expensive | 2017-09-18 09:27:58.153000 | President Trump’s threats and actions to undermine Obamacare come at a cost: In a report released Thursday, the Congressional Budget Office projects that premiums for benchmark silver plans will increase by an average of 15 percent next year.
The nonpartisan budget referee expects premiums for those plans to rise by 5 percent a year until 2027. But the projected jump for next year is much steeper, the CBO says, “largely because of short-term market uncertainty—in particular, insurers’ uncertainty about whether federal funding for certain subsidies that are currently available will continue to be provided— and an increase in the percentage of the population living in areas with only one insurer in the marketplace.”
The Trump administration has not yet said whether it will continue to pay roughly $7 billion a year for so-called cost-sharing reductions — subsidies that help reduce deductibles and co-pays for low-income enrollees. In the meantime, it has slashed spending on advertising and outreach, and shortened the enrollment period to six weeks from about three months. This week, the Department of Health and Human Services told groups that assist with Obamacare enrollments that their budgets will be cut, in some cases by more than 90 percent. (For more on the effects of these cuts, check out this piece at Vox by Lori Lodes, the former director of the office of communications at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.)
As a result of those cuts to programs driving signups and of the higher premiums it expects, CBO also projects future enrollment through Obamacare exchanges to be lower than it had previously forecast. A March 2016 CBO report projected that about 18 million Americans would be covered through the Obamacare marketplaces by 2018. The new report projects that enrollment will climb from 10 million this year to 11 million next year and then stabilize at around 12 million from 2019 through 2027.
CBO last month said that if President Trump followed through on his threat to cut federal cost-sharing subsidies, silver plan premiums would rise by an average of 20 percent next year and, as a result, the federal deficit would climb by $194 billion through 2026 as the cost of government tax credits increased along with the rising premiums.
Insurers have until September 27 to decide whether and how they will participate in Obamacare markets. |
Windsor retirement community celebrates 80 years in Glendale | Windsor, a continuing-care retirement community in Glendale, celebrated its 80th anniversary last week. Elderly residents say frequent social activities are just part of living there. The 3.5-acre facility invited its roughly 140 residents, as well as friends and family, to mark the occasion with food, dancing and live music.
| http://www.latimes.com/socal/glendale-news-press/news/tn-gnp-me-windsor-80-story.html | 2017-09-18 09:21:49.787000 | Residents enjoyed a musical performance Wednesday by Ann Louise Christensen on piano and Jennifer Hall on the saxophone, at Windsor Retirement Community, which is celebrating its 80th anniversary.
Windsor, a continuing-care retirement community in Glendale, celebrated its 80th anniversary last week.
Elderly residents say frequent social activities are just part of living there.
The 3.5-acre facility invited its roughly 140 residents, as well as friends and family, to mark the occasion with food, dancing and live music.
Almost 200 attendees were joined by Councilwoman Paula Devine and representatives from Mayor Vartan Gharpetian’s and state Sen. Anthony Portantino’s offices to award a special commendation to Windsor.
“I truly commend your passion and dedication in providing excellent health and patient care services to our community,” Gharpetian wrote in the letter.
Opened in 1937 as a United Presbyterian home for Glendale seniors, the facility later became Windsor and is the only senior community that offers a residential retirement housing, assisted living and skilled nursing facility in one location.
Windsor is part of the nonprofit senior housing organization HumanGood.
Looking ahead, Leif Cameron, who joined Windsor as executive director a year and a half ago, said the community is transitioning from long-term custodial care to short-term stays.
He added that the community social outings will remain consistent.
“We allocated a little more money to [the anniversary] but we try and make all of our community events special,” Cameron said.
Barbara Estlow, 82, worked at Windsor as a type of do-all receptionist for 16 years before she decided to spend 14 years as a resident.
“There isn’t any resident here that I can’t eat a meal with,” Estlow said.
Roger Thisdell, 87, and Patricia Wayner, 81, met while living on the third floor. They’ve been in a relationship for almost a year.
Wayner arrived to Windsor about two years ago after her husband died. Her daughter, living near Windsor, recommended the community.
“Little by little, I found that this is a very good place to live,” she said.
Thisdell has lived in Glendale for 60 years and made the community his home after his wife died.
“There’s a lot of entertainment and mixing with all the other different people here,” Thisdell said.
[email protected]
Twitter: @JeffLanda |
Talking to older adults about health prognosis may be helpful | Prognosis is the term for the most likely outcome of a medical condition. When it comes to health care, talking about your prognosis can be difficult for you, your family/friends, and even your healthcare providers. However, many of us prefer to talk to our healthcare providers about the expected course of an illness and about our life expectancy when living with a chronic or terminal illness.
| https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-09-older-adults-health-prognosis.html | 2017-09-18 09:20:51.300000 | Prognosis is the term for the most likely outcome of a medical condition. When it comes to health care, talking about your prognosis can be difficult for you, your family/friends, and even your healthcare providers. However, many of us prefer to talk to our healthcare providers about the expected course of an illness and about our life expectancy when living with a chronic or terminal illness. This is according to new research on advanced care planning (the technical term for having early conversations with our healthcare providers about our care needs, preferences, and expectations).
In a new study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, researchers examined how older adults with disabilities later in life might react to learning their prognosis, and how they evaluated their own prognosis compared to "official" estimates.
The study participants were 35 adults 70-years-old and older from four geriatrics clinics in the San Francisco Bay area. All the participants required help with daily activities, and they all participated in a 45-minute interview as part of the study.
The researchers asked older adults questions about how they would want to receive information about their life expectancy. For example, did they prefer hearing or reading news about their prognosis? Would they prefer receiving information about their prognosis while at home by themselves?
Additionally, participants circled the shortest, longest, and most likely number of years they thought they might live on a scale from zero to 30 years. Researchers then offered to give the participants an estimate of life expectancy with a visual presentation using an estimate system created for people older than age 50. Next, participants were given the option to see their prognosis. If they chose to see it, they discussed their reactions with the researchers. Afterward, researchers asked the participants 10 questions about their feelings based on hearing about estimated life expectancy. The researchers called the participants two to four weeks later to check on their reactions as a follow-up.
Over the course of the study, the researchers learned that:
16 participants (46 percent) had life expectancy estimates that were within two years of the "most likely" estimate from a healthcare professional.
15 participants (43 percent) over-estimated their own life expectancy by more than two years compared to the "most likely" estimate.
4 participants (11 percent) under-estimated their own life expectancy by more than two years compared to the "most likely" estimate.
Overall, 30 participants (86 percent) estimated their life expectancy in a way that at least overlapped with the "official" estimated calculation.
The researchers concluded that most older adults wanted a health care practitioner to be present when discussing life expectancy. People in the study did not react with sadness or anxiety when they learned about life expectancies, though several disputed the calculated results.
"Health care practitioners may offer to discuss life expectancy with their older, disabled patients and expect the patients to tie the information into their own life narratives," said the researchers.
According to other research, key reasons for a healthcare professional's reluctance to have these discussions with their older adults may include:
Fear of taking away hope
Concern for a negative reaction
Time restraints
Poor training
Worry about giving someone a mistaken prognosis, leading to incorrect information about a person's future
Addressing these and other important concerns remains key to advance care planning, which has been shown to improve the quality of care we receive as we age.
More information: Theresa W. Wong et al, Prognosis Communication in Late-Life Disability: A Mixed Methods Study, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (2017). DOI: 10.1111/jgs.15025 Journal information: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society |
Young Africans' professional development boosted by edtech | Online education is helping to provide young people in Africa with access to professional development in business and leadership. Regional providers of online courses have appeared throughout the continent, along with global institutions such as Birmingham Business School, which provides an online MBA. These may help to address a leadership skills gap that has opened up between countries with good educational provision, such as Kenya and South Africa, and others such as Somalia, which are lagging behind.
| http://www.businessbecause.com/news/mba-distance-learning/4794/edtech-development-online-learning-africas-future | 2017-09-18 09:17:51.593000 | Young Africans are honing their business leadership skills through online courses
Jens is an African edtech expert and founder of Apps-for-learning.com, a comparison site that presents the various e-learning and m-learning providers available in Africa and compares them in terms of their prices, and the type and quality of courses on offer.
The population of Africa is getting younger. Young people make up on average two thirds of the African population—and counting.
Drawing on these figures, the UN recently questioned whether Africa's increasingly youthful population is, ‘A Ticking Time Bomb Or An Opportunity?’
With old people traditionally occupying the roles of leaders simply due to their age, new models of leadership are needed to harness the power of Africa's growing numbers of young people.
Young Africans can emerge as the global and national leaders of the future. But, adhering to traditional models of 'leadership through age' may make this difficult to achieve.
Young people in Africa are in need of educational technology—edtech—and strategies to develop their leadership skills. Learning technologies such as mobile apps and online courses are the way forward when it comes to inspiring and teaching a new generation of leaders in this continent.
Access
Inadequate infrastructure, poverty (and hence the need for young people to prioritise work over education), lack of trained teachers and a scarcity of schools are some of the key hurdles to education in Africa.
These problems are most acute in Sub-Saharan Africa, though they are improving. Statistics show that net enrolment in primary school education right across Sub-Saharan Africa has grown from 58% in 1999 to 87% in the present day. This is promising as it demonstrates that there is a large appetite for education across Africa. The next generation of leaders is ready to spring into action.
This appetite needs to be met with appropriate learning resources. Online education is key here. In countries where infrastructure is poor, online education enables students to learn from their own homes. And, in big universities such as Cape Town or Kenyatta University, online courses can provide valuable supplements to classroom based studies.
Throughout Africa, both global and regional online course providers have sprung up, each with different approaches and pricing models.
Globally too, 100% online MBA and master’s programs—like Birmingham Business School’s AMBA-accredited Online MBA or Nottingham Business School’s Online MBA With Big Data Analytics—give Africans easy access to high-quality education from top tier institutions.
Bridging the skills gap
Far from being a nebulous concept, leadership is something that can (and should) be taught. Though to an extent good leaders may be said to be born, not made, anyone can be taught to grasp and apply leadership skills like clear communication, dispute resolution, managing teams and resources.
Providing young Africans with access to educational institutions which teach them leadership skills is crucial. However, as it stands, some countries (such as Kenya and South Africa) lead the way in terms of their density of schools and the quality of their universities. Other countries (such as Somalia) are lagging behind.
A leadership skills 'gap' is developing between students in countries with good quality education infrastructure and a high level of living standards, and students in countries with poorer living standards and an inadequate education infrastructure.
E-learning and m-learning, because they make learning available to all, help to bridge this skills gap. When you have access to online courses, you can study wherever you are. |
Payment platform Vindi secures $1.8m from Criatec2 | Brazilian payment platform Vindi has raised $1.8m in funding from the Criatec2 venture capital fund. Vindi's platform provides the retail and service sector with payment solutions from an array of banks and credit card acquirers. The new funds will be used to invest in technology, growth, and acquisitions, as well as enabling the company to move to a bigger headquarters.
| http://www.finsmes.com/2017/09/brazilian-payment-platform-vindi-raises-u1-8m-in-funding.html | 2017-09-18 09:05:16.800000 | São Paulo, Brazil-based payment platform Vindi raised U$1.8M (R$ 5.8m) in funding.
Criatec2 fund, managed by Bozano Investimentos, made the investment.
The company intends to use the funds to move to new headquarters to accommodate around 80 employees, to make investments in technology, growth, and acquisitions of other fintechs.
Founded in 2013 by Rodrigo Dantas, CEO, Vindi provides is the leader in payment solutions in signatures, plans and monthly payments in Brazil targeting the retail and service sector. The company’s payment processing platform features more than hundreds of different integrations with banks, credit card acquirers and financial solutions.
Clients include Multiplus, Editora Abril, Thomson Reuters, VivaReal, Movile and some of the fastest growing startups in the country.
In four years, Vindi has has accumulated acquired Aceita Fácil (2016) and Smartbill.
SP
Tel.: (Vindi) +55 (11) 5904-7380
https://www.vindi.com.br | https://www.smartbill.com.br |
Japan becomes dominant bitcoin market following Chinese bans | Japan has overtaken the US to become the world's largest bitcoin exchange market. The move follows the Chinese authorities' order to bitcoin exchanges and trading platforms to cease trading by the end of September. Traders subsequently switched in huge numbers to the Japanese market, giving it a 20% greater market share than the US. Many see the Chinese ban as beneficial for the global bitcoin exchange market, as the Japanese and South Korean exchanges, with their improved regulations and increased standards, may bring stability to the sector.
| https://www.cointelegraph.com/news/japan-becomes-largest-bitcoin-market-as-traders-leave-china | 2017-09-18 08:54:29.563000 | Japan has once again become the largest Bitcoin exchange market with 50.75 percent market share of the global Bitcoin exchange market. Analysts including BitFury Vice Chairman George Kikvadze attributed the surge in the trading volume of the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market to the exit of Bitcoin traders in China.
Earlier this week, the Chinese government, local authorities and financial regulators officially requested Chinese Bitcoin exchanges and trading platforms to halt their services by the end of September. OKCoin and Huobi, the two largest exchanges in China, were granted leeway to operate until Oct. 30, considering the fact that they have not been involved in any initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the past.
But, it seems as if traders are not willing to take any chances with the Chinese government and their unpredictable nature. The Chinese Bitcoin exchange market’s daily trading volume has halved within a period of three days, from 15 percent to less than seven percent.
According to various trusted Bitcoin market data providers such as CryptoCompare, China only accounts for 6.4 percent of global Bitcoin trades at the time of reporting.
CryptoCompare shows that Japan accounts for over 50% of all #bitcoin trades. Chinese traders have already moved to Japan. China less than 7% pic.twitter.com/t7YRaL5jv3 — Joseph Young (@iamjosephyoung) September 17, 2017
US market benefits
Prior to the nationwide Bitcoin exchange ban by China, the US exchange market had consistently secured its position as the largest market in the world.
However, almost immediately after the announcement of the country’s three largest Bitcoin exchanges, BTCC, Huobi and OKCoin, were released, traders moved over to the Japanese Bitcoin exchange market. The abrupt migration of traders led to the short-term surge in the trading volume of Japan, allowing the market to overtake the US by over 20 percent in global Bitcoin exchange market share.
Contrary to many negative reports, prominent developers, analysts, researchers and experts within the cryptocurrency and Blockchain sectors including Litecoin creator Charlie Lee and billionaire investor Tim Draper expressed their optimism toward the shutdown of the Chinese Bitcoin exchange market. Lee emphasized that the Chinese government will no longer be able to manipulate the market, as it had done since 2013.
Lee says:
“This is a good thing. China can no longer play with the markets by banning Bitcoin. Cryptocurrency cannot be killed by any country. One solution to centralized exchanges is decentralized ones. I hear the Decred Project team has something cooking that helps with that.”
Bitcoin stabilization
As Lee emphasized, the exit of the Chinese Bitcoin exchange market should really only have affected around 10 to 15 percent of traders in the global Bitcoin exchange market. Yet, speculators and impatient traders initiated a major sell-off as the Chinese government banned exchanges, leading to a major correction on Bitcoin price.
Over the next few weeks, the global Bitcoin exchange market will stabilize, as traders move from the Chinese market to South Korea and Japan, two markets that have developed significantly more efficient regulations, industry standards and policies for both cryptocurrency exchanges and users.
It is likely that as Lee and Draper noted, the closure of the Chinese Bitcoin exchange market could lead to the stabilization of the global Bitcoin exchange market, which may be beneficial for Bitcoin in the long run. |
Californian biotech start-up aims to 3D print organs | A US biotech start-up is developing a system for 3D printing human organs, which could ease the shortage of donor organs. San Francisco-based Prellis Biologics has raised $1.8m in seed funding for the project, in a round led by True Ventures. The process would use a patient's own cells to cultivate and grow the organs, eliminating the possibility of rejection. The scientists estimate it would take between two and four months and cost about $80,000 to make a kidney, which is similar to the price tag for a donor organ. | http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/09/17/early-stage-the-startup-3d-printing-human-organs-save-lives/ | 2017-09-18 08:46:21.270000 | Startup of the week:
Who they are: Prellis Biologics
What they do: Make 3D-printed human organs
Why it’s cool: Every day, 20 people die waiting for an organ transplant, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The country is facing a massive organ shortage — there were more than 116,000 people on the national transplant waitlist as of last month, but in 2016 just 33,611 transplant surgeries were performed. That’s because it’s difficult to find usable organs. Patients have to wait for a willing donor who is a match.
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Oakland startup delivers lunch, pulls young people out of poverty Technology | Meet the startup that’s prevented 25 child and teen suicides so far To solve the supply shortage, San Francisco-based startup Prellis is working on building human organs using a unique 3D printing technology. If a patient needed a new liver, for example, doctors would take a biopsy from his or her existing liver, and the Prellis scientists would harvest those liver cells and cultivate them, allowing them to multiply until there were enough to create a new organ. Then the scientists would embed those cells into a collagen-based goo, and use a laser light to shape the mixture into a liver.
“We think we’re going to extend the lives of millions of people with this technology,” said Noelle Mullin, who co-founded the startup in 2016 with fellow scientist Melanie Matheu.
And unlike with traditional organ donation, there’s no danger of a patient rejecting one of Prellis’ organs, because the organ is made from the patient’s own cells. That means there’s no need for the patient to take immunosuppressant drugs for the rest of his or her life.
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The process would be relatively speedy — the founders estimate it would take between two and four months to print an organ. They anticipate making a kidney for about $80,000, which is roughly the same price as a donor kidney.
Where they stand: Mullin and Matheu estimate they’ll be ready to print their first human organ in the next four to six years. In the meantime, they’re showcasing their technology by printing less complicated tissues. The scientists already have made working lymph nodes, which have successfully produced antibodies that Prellis can market to drug companies.
Next, the founders are going to try printing the cells that make insulin — called islet cells — which are found in the human pancreas. Those working cells can be implanted in a patient with diabetes, eliminating the need for insulin shots and daily blood sugar tests. Prellis hopes to start clinical trials with its islet cells by 2021.
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The company on Tuesday secured $1.8 million in seed funding, led by True Ventures.
To learn more, visit www.prellisbio.com.http://www.prellisbio.com
What will they think of next?
It’s a common scenario: you’re enjoying a day out and about in San Francisco, and you run into a problem — the city has very few public bathrooms. Even places like Starbucks won’t always let you use their facilities. Good2Go, an app that launched Thursday in San Francisco, hopes to help users find clean restrooms in nearby businesses. Once users enter a business that’s registered with the app, they join the virtual line for the bathroom, and the app notifies them when it’s their turn. The app even unlocks the bathroom door as they approach.
Users can download Good2Go free for a limited time. The app gives them access to restrooms in San Francisco at several Peet’s Coffee locations, Sextant Coffee Roasters and The Creamery. Additional locations soon will be available at Rigolo Cafe, Church Street Cafe, Cafe La Boheme, Fifty-Fifty Cafe and more.
To learn more or download the app, visit www.good2go.global.
Run the numbers:
More than half of young adults eschew traditional TV and instead watch most of their favorite shows online, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. About 61 percent of U.S. adults ages 18 to 29 primarily use online streaming to watch TV, compared with 31 percent who use a cable or satellite subscription. But older Americans are less likely to turn to online streaming. Just 10 percent of adults ages 50 to 64 primarily watch TV online, as do 5 percent of adults 65 and older. The study highlights how the internet is changing the way we access entertainment, news and other information, and the growing threat online streaming poses for traditional cable and satellite providers. |
Pioneer of key AI technique casts doubt on the technology's future | Geoffrey Hinton, co-author of the 1986 paper that brought the back-propagation neural network to the attention of the AI community, has said that the technique should now be jettisoned. Back-propogation uses labelled data to train a network, reweighting the calculations made by its artificial "neurons" repeatedly until the labels produced as outputs match the labels on the data used for the training inputs. Hinton now suggests that that this is not how the human brain works, and that back-propagation needs to be replaced with "unsupervised" learning methods to move AI forward. | https://www.axios.com/ai-pioneer-advocates-starting-over-2485537027.html | 2017-09-18 08:29:00.247000 | In 1986, Geoffrey Hinton co-authored a paper that, three decades later, is central to the explosion of artificial intelligence. But Hinton says his breakthrough method should be dispensed with, and a new path to AI found.
Speaking with Axios on the sidelines of an AI conference in Toronto on Wednesday, Hinton, a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto and a Google researcher, said he is now "deeply suspicious" of back-propagation, the workhorse method that underlies most of the advances we are seeing in the AI field today, including the capacity to sort through photos and talk to Siri. "My view is throw it all away and start again," he said.
The bottom line: Other scientists at the conference said back-propagation still has a core role in AI's future. But Hinton said that, to push materially ahead, entirely new methods will probably have to be invented. "Max Planck said, 'Science progresses one funeral at a time.' The future depends on some graduate student who is deeply suspicious of everything I have said."
How it works: In back propagation, labels or "weights" are used to represent a photo or voice within a brain-like neural layer. The weights are then adjusted and readjusted, layer by layer, until the network can perform an intelligent function with the fewest possible errors.
But Hinton suggested that, to get to where neural networks are able to become intelligent on their own, what is known as "unsupervised learning," "I suspect that means getting rid of back-propagation."
"I don't think it's how the brain works," he said. "We clearly don't need all the labeled data." |
EHarmony recruits marketers to get more traction on social | Matchmaking site eHarmony is expanding its marketing team to help it take on rivals Tinder and Bumble. CEO Grant Langston said he wanted to bring in "fresh perspectives and try new tricks" to boost the site's social media presence and engage with singles aged 30 and over. Part of the plan is to expand the use of social media beyond brand building and use it to generate direct responses from users. Between 1 January and 7 September, eHarmony gained 15,291 Facebook followers, compared with Bumble's 24,499 and Tinder, which racked up 50,350, according to Socialbakers.
| https://digiday.com/marketing/eharmony-eyes-direct-response-social/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170918 | 2017-09-18 08:06:43.090000 | After years of resistance, eHarmony is ready to commit to social media. The brand is recruiting marketers to turn the medium, which it has previously used for brand building, into a direct-response channel.
The popular matchmaking site’s CEO, Grant Langston, plans to expand its marketing team in a bid to reassert eHarmony’s credentials in an online dating market enamored with apps like Tinder and Bumble. In February, Langston revealed eHarmony had around 750,000 paid subscribers and 10 million active users, about the same as it has had since 2012. Tinder, on the other hand, had 1.8 million premium users and 50 million people using the app in February.
To quicken eHarmony’s growth, Langston, who was previously CMO, is looking for marketers who can “help us get more from paid social, more from content and more from digital video.”
EHarmony has taken ROI for the “workhorses” of search, display and affiliates as far as they can go, said Langston. While profitable for the business, none of those three formats “is going to be massive” for driving subscriptions, he conceded.
“We have all these [search, display, affiliate and social] functions, but we want to bring in fresh perspectives and try new tricks,” added Langston.
He was coy about what those “new tricks” could be but revealed the lifestyle articles it publishes on social networks such as Facebook are its “best-performing tool.” Despite the observation, those articles amount to a fraction of the content in the site’s social media feeds, which are filled with user-generated posts from couples it has brought together. Targeted ads are also used, though the marketing team doesn’t have access to individual profiles and instead targets against demographic and census data.
EHarmony’s most recent social media efforts have focused on brand building by using humor. Last year, it revealed engagement with its brand jumped after it injected humor into content such as emoji quizzes and dating tips.
While that approach works, helping the business capture a 66 percent share of the 175,000 interactions on Facebook to eHarmony, Tinder and Bumble pages that Socialbakers tracked between Jan. 1 and Sept. 7, it is becoming harder for the brand to scale its presence. Over the same period, eHarmony gained 15,291 Facebook followers, per Socialbakers, which was noticeably less than Bumble (24,499) and Tinder (50,350).
Facebook strangles the organic reach of business accounts on its platform, meaning brands like eHarmony have to pay to reach their target audience. However, with the reach Facebook says it delivers in question, focusing on tangible outcomes from articles like driving visits to eHarmony’s site and increasing registrations with calls to action means it can get closer to seeing a value on its spend beyond reach.
“If a channel is bringing incremental increases in acquisition, I’m very comfortable giving it incremental increases in budget. We’re still leaning to the TV side in terms of budget, but that’s changing every day,” Langston said. “While TV will continue to be part of the way we talk to the public, it’s going to be far less of a focus. The problem we have to overcome with digital is that they look good when you spend moderately, but when you decide to really commit, then they’re inefficient.”
The move comes as eHarmony rolls out a new logo across its ads to reflect a series of changes to its service, including a faster sign-up process, a smarter matchmaking algorithm and sleeker page designs on its site. But rather than attempt to go toe-to-toe with Tinder and Bumble for 20-something singles, the changes are aimed at winning over those in their 30s, an audience better suited to the long-term relationships eHarmony tries to encourage.
“When I became CEO a year ago, there were a number of things that needed changing,” said Langston. “The apps, communications and design all felt antiquated — it was like we stopped working on the product in 2010.”
Image courtesy of eHarmony |
DOE lab to use AI to analyse and reinforce US electricity grid | The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory will lead a three-year project using artificial intelligence and machine learning to reinforce the grid, enabling it to automatically deal with power fluctuations or external weather events. The $6m Grid Resilience and Intelligence Project (GRIP), is part of the DOE’s Grid Modernisation Initiative, and will use satellite imagery, utility operations and other sources to develop machine learning algorithms, based on how electrical distribution systems function. The tools developed by the project will be passed on to partners including the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), which represents 834 distribution cooperatives that provide electricity to an estimated 42 million people in 47 states. | https://www6.slac.stanford.edu/news/2017-09-14-slac-led-project-will-use-artificial-intelligence-prevent-or-minimize-electric-grid | 2017-09-18 07:57:31.303000 | Menlo Park, Calif. — A project led by the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory will combine artificial intelligence with massive amounts of data and industry experience from a dozen U.S. partners to identify places where the electric grid is vulnerable to disruption, reinforce those spots in advance and recover faster when failures do occur.
The eventual goal is an autonomous grid that seamlessly absorbs routine power fluctuations from clean energy sources like solar and wind and quickly responds to disruptive events – from major storms to eclipse-induced dips in solar power – with minimal intervention from humans.
“This project will be the first of its kind to use artificial intelligence and machine learning to improve the resilience of the grid,” said Sila Kiliccote, director of SLAC’s Grid Integration, Systems and Mobility lab, GISMo, and principal investigator for the project. “While the approach will be tested on a large scale in California, Vermont and the Midwest, we expect it to have national impact, and all the tools we develop will be made available either commercially or as open source code.”
Called GRIP, for Grid Resilience and Intelligence Project, the project builds on other efforts to collect massive amounts of data and use it to fine-tune grid operations, including SLAC’s VADER project. It’s one of seven Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium projects aimed at boosting grid resilience that will receive up to $32 million in funding as part of the DOE’s Grid Modernization Initiative. GRIP was awarded up to $6 million over three years.
The project will use both machine learning, where computers ingest large amounts of data and teach themselves how a system behaves, and artificial intelligence, which uses the knowledge the machines have acquired to solve problems.
SLAC’s GISMo lab, which works with Stanford University, utilities and other industry partners on smart grid technology, will develop machine learning algorithms that digest data from satellite imagery, utility operations and other sources and build knowledge about how electrical distribution systems work.
“One of the first places we will test our data analytics platform is at a major California utility,” Kiliccote said. “The idea is to populate the platform with information about what your particular part of the grid looks like, in terms of things like solar and wind power sources, batteries where energy is stored, and how it’s laid out to distribute power to homes and businesses. Then you begin to look for anomalies – things that could be configured better.”
For instance, she said, a grid can be divided into “islands,” or microgrids, that can be isolated to prevent a power disruption from spreading and taking the whole system down.
“You can also learn a lot just from satellite imagery,” Kiliccote said. “For example, you could see where vegetation is growing with respect to the power lines, and anticipate when trees are likely to grow over the power lines and pull them over during a storm.”
The knowledge and tools developed by the project will be passed along to another partner in the project, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), which represents 834 distribution cooperatives that provide electricity to an estimated 42 million people in 47 states. The association will help deploy the tools the team develops on standard utility industry platforms, make them available to its members and help the team integrate them into existing industry planning and operational workflows.
One of those members, Vermont Electric Cooperative, has already been working with Packetized Energy, which develops software and hardware that adjust the power consumption of water heaters and other thermostat-controlled devices when the grid becomes overloaded or the power supply from renewables fluctuates. “We’re working with both of them to build additional controls into that system and demonstrate how we can absorb grid events by reducing loads and moving them around,” Kiliccote said.
Another partner, the DOE’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, will be deploying and validating control systems it has developed for solar inverters that automatically convert the variable direct current from photovoltaic systems to AC current that’s fed into the grid.
“Berkeley Lab has pioneered the development of algorithms that can optimally manage distributed energy resources, like wind, solar and batteries, and are completely plug and play,” said Dan Arnold, a research scientist who is leading the Berkeley Lab part of the project. “In this project we're partnering with SLAC to deploy and test our approach in a real utility network. With these algorithms, we hope to be able to create an electric grid that can use distributed energy resources to automatically reconfigure itself to maximize reliability during normal operations or emergencies.”
-Written by Glennda Chui
Press Office Contact: Manuel Gnida, [email protected], (650) 926-2632
SLAC is a multi-program laboratory exploring frontier questions in photon science, astrophysics, particle physics and accelerator research. Located in Menlo Park, California, SLAC is operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. To learn more, please visit www.slac.stanford.edu.
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
The DOE’s Grid Modernization Initiative (GMI) works with public and private partners to develop the concepts, tools, and technologies needed to measure, analyze, predict, protect, and control the grid of the future. The Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium (GMLC) was established as a strategic partnership between DOE and the national laboratories to bring together leading experts, technologies, and resources to collaborate on the goal of modernizing the nation’s grid. |
Facebook forced to turn over Russia-linked ads to special counsel | Facebook has given up copies of suspect ads to special counsel Robert Mueller after he obtained a search warrant. The social media giant also handed over information about the accounts that bought the ads, believed to come from a Russian troll farm, and how they were used to target US users. Senator Mark Warner, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, expressed frustration that neither the Senate nor the House Intelligence Committees were given the information, after Facebook cited its strict privacy rules. Mueller is investigating alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential election. | http://money.cnn.com/2017/09/15/media/facebook-mueller-ads/ | 2017-09-18 07:30:57.650000 | Special counsel Robert Mueller and his team are now in possession of Russian-linked ads run on Facebook during the presidential election, after they obtained a search warrant for the information.
Facebook gave Mueller and his team copies of ads and related information it discovered on its site linked to a Russian troll farm, as well as detailed information about the accounts that bought the ads and the way the ads were targeted at American Facebook users, a source with knowledge of the matter told CNN.
(On Sunday, Facebook told CNN in a statement that it was providing information to Mueller, "including ads and related account information.")
The disclosure, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, may give Mueller's office a fuller picture of who was behind the ad buys and how the ads may have influenced voter sentiment during the 2016 election.
Facebook did not give copies of the ads to members of the Senate and House intelligence committees when it met with them last week on the grounds that doing so would violate their privacy policy, sources with knowledge of the briefings said. Facebook's policy states that, in accordance with the federal Stored Communications Act, it can only turn over the stored contents of an account in response to a search warrant.
"We continue to work with the appropriate investigative authorities," Facebook said in a statement to CNN.
Facebook informed Congress last week that it had identified 3,000 ads that ran between June 2015 and May 2017 that were linked to fake accounts. Those accounts, in turn, were linked to the pro-Kremlin troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency.
In those briefings, Facebook spoke only in generalities about the ad buys, leaving some committee members feeling frustrated with Facebook's level of cooperation.
Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, told CNN last week that Facebook had not turned over the ads to Congress. Warner has also called Facebook's review "the tip of the iceberg," and suggested that more work needs to be done in order to ascertain the full scope of Russia's use of social media.
Warner also indicated that his committee may call Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks in for "some level of public hearing."
As CNN reported Thursday, Facebook is still not sure whether pro-Kremlin groups may have made other ad buys intended to influence American politics that it simply hasn't discovered yet. It is even possible that unidentified ad buys may still exist on the social media network today.
The special counsel's spokesman declined to comment. |
Bot reviews hamper retailers and brands on Amazon | Retailers and brands have complained of bots placing fake reviews on their Amazon product listings. One-star reviews from unverified customers on the site are potentially hugely damaging to sellers, whose sales figures can suffer as a result of low scores. Amazon said it is investing heavily in an algorithm to give more weight to helpful reviews, but retailers say the process for flagging the issue is not effective, and Amazon has refused to remove some of the offending entries. | https://digiday.com/marketing/amazon-reviews-bot-problem/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170918 | 2017-09-18 07:13:39.557000 | Bot reviews continue to be a growing concern for retailers and brands selling on Amazon.
Multiple small companies report they’re seeing one-star reviews of unverified purchases on their pages that are written with bad grammar, coupled with remarks like, “Great product satisfaction guaranteed.” The problem seems to run across both the first-party and third-party sellers on the platform.
In most cases, the only recourse brands have is to click “report abuse” and then potentially start a conversation with their Amazon contacts. “We live and die by our reviews,” said one brand that sells as a hybrid seller. “[Fake bot reviews] are for sure a pain point.” The brand, which didn’t want to speak on the record for fear of damaging its relationship with Amazon, said it has a customer-solutions team dedicated to monitoring, responding and engaging with customer feedback.
A brand that sells as a vendor both on the U.S. and European sites for Amazon, which also wished to remain anonymous because of fear of retribution from Amazon, said bot reviews are definitely an issue. This brand is seeing more fake reviews in Europe than in the U.S. Because merchandise managers don’t have control over this, the issue is passed onto a separate team. Some fake reviews have been removed, but in some cases, this vendor said Amazon has refused to remove reviews. The big question, said this person, is why bots exist. In some cases, it may be competitors doing this. But when consumers search for products according to reviews, this brand gets “burned” and has lost sales. Companies like Fakespot, which search reviews to see how many are fake, help, said this person.
An Amazon spokesperson said it invests heavily to ensure customers can trust reviews on Amazon, saying, “We use a machine-learned algorithm that gives more weight to newer, more helpful reviews, apply strict criteria to qualify for the Amazon Verified Purchase badge and enforce a significant dollar amount requirement to participate, in addition to other mechanisms which prevent and detect inauthentic reviews.” The company says even one inauthentic review is unacceptable. All reviewers in the U.S. must have an account, used for at least $50 in purchases on Amazon.
In 2016, Amazon filed a suit against companies like Amazonverifiedreviews.com and Buyamazonreviews.info that sold fake reviews. Those companies are slightly different in that they offer “verified” reviews and often give people product in exchange for reviews.
Amazon’s approach to policing this is unclear. Elaine Kwon, who now runs an Amazon consultancy called Kwontified and previously handled the luxury division at Amazon, said the brand can call Amazon to get fraudulent reviews removed.
It’s important to note that Amazon has its own review program. Dubbed Amazon Vine, it’s essentially a way to get trusted reviewers to post their opinions on new products. It’s one way sellers and vendors generate reviews for their pages, but it isn’t free. The program costs about $2,000 for every 30 reviews, and they have to pay for shipping and the product they provide. Amazon stopped accepting incentivized reviews and has cracked down on so-called “professional reviewers” that review items for a living.
“Reviews are critical to your success on Amazon,” said Fred Killingsworth, CEO of Amazon consultancy Hinge. “This goes back to brand management. If you’re not policing or managing your reviews, it can really hurt.” He added that negative reviews, whether fake or real, affect brands on and off Amazon, even in brick-and-mortar situations. “Amazon is this great equalizer in that competitors can come out of anywhere,” he said. “But bot reviews skew the entire experience.” |
Mobile marketing is key to brand growth, says Facebook executive | Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) brands looking to get more out of their mobile advertising must optimise their reach and frequency and ensure their creative works well on mobile, according to William Platt-Higgins, vice-president of global client partnerships at Facebook. Platt-Higgins said mobile ad campaigns did not need to focus on brand loyalty, but rather on consumers whose behaviour was influenced by mental and physical availability. He also said that Facebook had strong relationships with FMCG brands and was being brought in earlier to campaigns' strategy and planning stages.
| http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/18/facebook-exec-says-focus-mobile-helps-soften-the-impact-fmcg-giants-reduced-digital | 2017-09-18 07:01:00.507000 | As the world’s biggest advertisers like Unilever and Proctor & Gamble continue to operate on lower advertising budgets and spend less on media buys in 2017, Facebook believes that putting its faith in mobile advertising will help it ride the storm going into the next year.
Ever since P&G's top marketer Marc Pritchard announced that the Ariel and Pampers advertiser will review all of its agency contracts and called for more transparency in the media supply chain at the start of year, the advertising industry has seen some major shakeups.
Unilever dropped half of its creative agencies under its employment and reduced spend to $200m, while P&G reduced up to $140m of its ad spend and stopped investing in areas where it was unsafe for its brands, on top of its move to stop targeted ads on Facebook in 2016.
The cutbacks by the FMCG giants were necessary to clean up the supply chain and remove fraudulent inventory, acknowledges William Platt-Higgins, vice president, global client partnerships at Facebook in an interview with The Drum in Singapore, and notes that it is in everybody's interest that fraud be eliminated from the ecosystem.
“We have seen various marketers and agencies taking a hard stance on this publicly and some clients very surgically try and cut out as much of that as possible. They have done so without any negative impact on their business because the inventory that they are weeding out is actually not good inventory to begin with,” explains Platt-Higgins.
“It won't be eliminated completely, but I think all the clients that we work with in all regions of the world are focused on reducing fraud as much as they can and getting transparency into the supply chain by using third party verification.”
While Facebook has previously come under fire for reporting miscalculated metrics and for a lack of transparency because of its closed marketplace around its user data, brands and agencies still trust the social media giant, according to Platt-Higgins, which is why all Facebook verticals are growing, including FMCG.
He also accuses critics of being green-eyed about Facebook’s strong, growing partnership with P&G and other big FMCGs, claiming that it is being brought earlier into the creative and strategy planning stages.
"People don’t appreciate that we have a strong, growing partnership with P&G and other big CPGs that are pushing these industry trends. If anything, we’re being brought earlier into the mobile creative and strategy planning," says Platt-Higgins.
“They (Unilever and P&G) are very focused on maximising value for their investments and cleaning up as much of their supply as they can. They are looking to hold all media choices, not just digital media choices accountable.
“One of the things we are starting to hear is the advantage of any digital investment is it is more measurable than traditional offline investments. Digital channels, because they are measurable, the amount of data available on their efficacy and attribution to sales is large.
“What we are seeing from these conversations is 'It is great that I am holding all my digital investments super accountable, because that is the right thing to do and I want to hold all my other investments as accountable as well'. What you will see increasingly is that investments will flow to media channels that are providing the higher returns of investment and the higher value, and they will recede from those that aren't."
He then repeats a well-trotted out company line about its closed marketplace, as he says that the Facebook ecosystem does not qualify it as a 'walled garden'.
“We certainly hear it (walled gardens) and I don't think that we would agree with that,” he says, adding that the requests tend to boil down to various people or entities wanting more data on individuals, which breaches Facebook’s terms of service and the trust that people give when they join.
“That is something that we will and must protect. So that's our stance on it,” asserts Platt-Higgins.
Quoting a book called 'How Brands Grow' by professor Byron Sharp at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, Platt-Higgins says Sharp’s words inspired Facebook to shift its focus to mobile advertising to cope with the FMCG giants’ lower ad spend and media buys. Sharp wrote that in order for brands to grow they need to bring new users into the franchise, and that consumers are not uniquely loyal to brands and instead tend to shop on a 'consumer regiment' of products because of mental and physical availability.
He claims that this approach by Facebook has seen it reach 500,000 households in the Philippines for Nestle's all-purpose cream product campaign using Facebook and Instagram. While in the UK, 37 FMCG campaigns that made use of its tools drove a 3.7% increase in sales, and of those people buying those products 60% were non-brand buyers. In the US, 200 campaigns on Facebook and Instagram drove an increase in household penetration, bringing new users in 72% of the time.
“Over the last number of years, as people shifted to mobile devices, the concept of both mental and physical availability has changed. If you are in the business of growing your brand, what you need to master is mobile marketing,” says Platt-Higgins.
“This is where we have been spending most of our time. Not only is Facebook and Instagram driving sales, but they are disproportionately driving household penetration and bringing new users in because of mobile.
“In Indonesia or India, where there might be power outages from television, the opportunity to reach people with mobile and bring top-of-mind awareness and mental availability is huge.”
However, Platt-Higgins admits that simply porting assets from television onto mobile does not necessarily work and Facebook is constantly reminding itself that the way people consume content is different. He adds that if a brand is not building for the mobile environment intentionally and with craft, care, seniority, thoughtfulness and senior stakeholder-management stewardship, as well as optimising for mobile, then it is a missed opportunity.
“Brands need to optimise in three areas. One is the reach, where often what we find is that clients have gone too narrow with their reach and that can be a drag on their results. We see that the frequency is not optimised and not reaching people enough or too often. The most important thing is how the creative is being optimised for mobile,” explains Platt-Higgins.
“We spend a lot of time trying to audit and show whether or not the work has been optimised for mobile and if it has, how we can make it even better.
“If we can get those three things right, we find that we can disproportionately drive sales and Facebook has a direct attribution to sales. That is the only equation that people are interested in.”
Platt-Higgins' advice on mobile certainly carry weight, as a report by eMarketer found that FMCG brands are expected to invest 28% more in mobile advertising in 2017 in the UK. |
Unilever and NHS to pilot team-building chatbot | A team-building chatbot is being tested by companies including Unilever, Logitech and a local NHS Trust. CoachBot, developed by London-based HR firm Saberr, asks users about workplace dynamics and provides reports based on its conversations with employees. Staff have to introduce themselves to the bot, and answer a range of questions about their jobs. It uses their responses to identify goals and suggests activities to help improve a team's dynamics. There is evidence that people may be more likely to speak frankly to a chatbot than to reply honestly to a written questionnaire. | https://www.newscientist.com/article/2147634-the-nhs-is-using-a-chatbot-to-do-tedious-corporate-team-building/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&campaign_id=RSS%7CNSNS- | 2017-09-18 07:00:44.570000 | Team discussions could be different if a chatbot joins in, but will they get better? sturti/Getty
Are your colleagues lousy at communicating with each other? A chatbot could help, specifically one called CoachBot. Developed by the London-based HR company Saberr, it asks about workplace dynamics and provides the team with reports. A unit within the UK’s National Health Service is trialling it, as are 10 companies, including Unilever and Logitech.
When Coachbot arrives in the workplace, staff have to introduce themselves to it.
“Team members start by saying hello to CoachBot, and are then asked about who they are and what they do,” says Tom Marsden, Saberr’s CEO. After 10-minute sessions to identify problems and delve into grievances, “CoachBot then creates a plan to try to improve the team’s overall performance,” he says.
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Engaging its services costs £8 per month per employee. One early adopter is Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust, which specialises in mental health. The trust is now using it for 30 staff members over a 12-month period to see if it helps improve outcomes for patients and employees’ perception of the effectiveness of their teams.
Bite-size coaching
“It has great potential for us because it offers bite-size coaching that the teams can work on at a time that suits them,” says staff member Jess Lievesley. “It means we don’t have to take days out of service for long courses, and if we need to move things around due to patient needs we can do so without incurring extra cost.”
Questions Coachbot asks include “Is your team productive?” and “Do you trust each other?” This questioning eventually leads to CoachBot identifying some team-wide and individual goals that it will keep tabs on. If they aren’t being met or team morale is low, CoachBot suggests activities to try to improve things. These come straight out of “management science”, and include options like changing the way meetings are run or recommending the team plays a board game together.
There’s some evidence that people may prefer to divulge their woes to a chatbot. In one study, members of the US army were more likely to admit to mental health issues, using illicit drugs or drinking alcohol when talking to a chatbot than in an old-fashioned written questionnaire. If this extends to office politics, people may be more willing to speak their mind to CoachBot than via other means.
But don’t expect too much beyond that. “One of the key skills of any [human] coach is to pick up on the emotional aspects of a group – something which a bot is probably not so good at doing,” says André Spicer at Cass Business School in London.
Read more: The road to hell is paved with corporate wellness
Even if the technology develops, not everyone is convinced that it will ultimately be beneficial. “I think it could be successful in a rather cruel and sinister way because it will force people to record every little move they make,” says Carl Cederström at Stockholm University, Sweden. “If it turns out that when this data is processed that a person is not performing as efficiently as they should, they could be left out of a team,” he says.
“There is also a real danger that a coachbot could actually get in the way of doing the job,” says Spicer. “This would happen when employees spend more time interacting with the robocoach than each other.”
This could also mean that managers are lulled into complacency and fail to do their jobs properly. Marsden says that’s not their intention. “We’re not trying to replace human conversation,” says Marsden. “We’re trying to augment it with better information.” |
Amazon's search engine provides competition for Google | Amazon is becoming a rival to Google and Facebook in terms of advertising revenue, as customers increasingly use the site as a search engine for products. Research has shown that up to 72% of people visit Amazon to research products before making a purchase. This trend is reported to have disrupted Google's advertising dominance, with Amazon doing a better job of monetising its own searches. Facebook is also losing market share to the online retailer, although Amazon's lack of a social network is expected to limit this effect. | http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/18/how-amazon-becoming-the-third-force-advertising-and-turning-the-duopoly-oligopoly | 2017-09-18 06:59:22.460000 | As Amazon wields a growing power as a search engine, it is also becoming a more compelling advertising platform and, as a result, is posing the first real challenge to Google and Facebook, which have long commanded digital advertising budgets virtually unopposed. Of the two, Google initially stands to lose more, but as Amazon’s ad offerings expand, Facebook could also bleed ad dollars.
At the same time, it is unlikely Amazon will overthrow this so-called 'duopoly' until it starts to do more with online media and command a larger chunk of consumers’ time. So, instead, we’re likely to end up with three digital advertising powerhouses instead of two.
Here’s how that’s likely to play out:
Research shows many consumers turn to Amazon when looking for information about products. Figures vary from 31% to 55% when it comes to first-time research – and a study from marketing technology company Kenshoo found 72% of people visit Amazon at some point before making a purchase when they want to research products online.
According to Collin Colburn, analyst on the B2C marketing team at market research firm Forrester, use of Amazon as a search engine will continue to grow for two reasons:
Amazon is built like a product-specific search engine – consumers can search for anything product-related and get relevant results better and quicker than they can with Google.
Second, Colburn noted Amazon is unique in that its product listing pages have virtually everything a shopper could want to know – including price, description, pictures and reviews – which gives customers a one-stop shop for research even if they aren’t actually going to buy from Amazon.
Nathan Grimm, director of marketing at Seattle-based agency Indigitous, agreed Amazon's share of search will grow.
“They have built a sizeable lead in selection and service over their competitors and continue to grow their market power,” he said. “As retail stores continue to struggle and close down, even more business will shift to Amazon. Their share of search is very much a function of them being a preferred channel for purchasing products. Until someone else upsets their model, it will grow.”
In addition, Kevin Mannion, chief strategy officer at business intelligence firm Advertiser Perceptions, said he believes Amazon has growing influence on how advertisers view search.
“Our data shows that advertisers are increasingly ready to shift down their spend in traditional digital search and [are] more likely to see alternate search opportunities. Amazon is one. And perhaps the most important,” he said. “Searching within the Amazon environment is essential to the data story that Amazon can share with marketers and agencies. And as the shopper leaves [its] walled garden, Amazon is able to track and retarget shoppers who have explored a product category and…considered contender brands.”
Amazon the ad platform
It’s this knowledge about consumer behavior that makes Amazon such a powerful foe against Google and Facebook, which have long ruled the digital marketing landscape.
In fact, Advertiser Perceptions’ Q4 2016 Programmatic Intelligence Report found Amazon’s nascent ad business was the most-used DSP and the most preferred DSP – and Mannion said Amazon also performed well in a forthcoming study, confirming Amazon is a “significant player” among DSPs. That’s in part because it has its own exclusive placements on Amazon.com and other Amazon properties that other DSPs can’t reach, as well as because Amazon can offer targeting based on what consumers are shopping for on Amazon and it can report on sales, as well as on how purchase and search behavior changed while ads were running.
In fact, at Dmexco, Marc Pritchard, chief brand officer at P&G, said advertising on platforms like Amazon enable the brand to better understand consumer behavior and deliver ads when they are most likely to result in sales. (A Samsung rep at Dmexco, however, told The Drum the brand respects Amazon, but sees it primarily as an ecommerce platform rather than a marketing platform.)
Amazon v. Google
Of the two players in the duopoly, Amazon is more like Google – which means they’re now squaring off for consumers looking for information.
And, according Joe Migliozzi, managing director of e-commerce and retail media unit Shop+ and lead of media company Mindshare North America, Amazon’s business model is not dependent on advertising revenue, which gives it the freedom to change the competitive landscape.
“For example, Amazon Echo's main ambition is to sign up more Prime subscribers and sell more goods, not to sell ads,” he said. “However, Echo has disrupted the search business both by voice, as well as the singularity of its answers: There is no room, or at least very limited space, for paid search advertising in a world of single voice answers to queries.”
Jason Hartley, senior vice president and national head of search and paid search at digital marketing agency 360i, agreed the challenge from Amazon is significant because it has disrupted Google’s virtual monopoly on search – and as Google loses market share in product searches, it is also losing revenue from the ads it used to serve consumers making those searches. And, as Amazon does a better job of monetizing its own searches, Google could see further losses in the consumer product and retail budgets it used to command.
In addition, Hartley noted that advertising is a means to an end for Amazon, which wants to sell more products. For Google, however, advertising is the end “because, with few exceptions, they don’t sell anything or make any money off the goods they direct people to via searches,” he continued.
At the same time, Hartley also noted Amazon has some limitations – for example, if it doesn’t sell a given product, the brand behind it can’t advertise on the platform. There are also verticals like travel that Amazon probably won’t touch.
“There will be a lot of competition for traditional retail and CPG searches in the future, and Amazon will be on par in terms of search volume, but not necessarily advertising because, again, it’s not a revenue priority for them, selling the product is,” he added.
Amazon v. Facebook
Facebook also stands to lose market share to Amazon, but it isn’t as much of a direct competitor as consumers use the platform for different reasons. Facebook could, however, still be hurt if budgets moved to Amazon as its ad offerings expand, a 360i rep noted.
“Until Amazon starts competing more for online media they aren't directly challenging Facebook,” Grimm said. “Amazon does have inroads with Amazon Video and Amazon Music, but they don't have a social network or a news portal with wide adoption.”
The Oligopoly
Hartley noted Amazon is likely to follow a similar path as Facebook and Google in digital advertising.
“In the next year, I think you’ll see the maturation of the digital advertising products on Amazon, which will mean early gains for those who understand how the system works, followed by a rapid rise in competition as more players get to know how to leverage the advertising opportunity effectively, and then in the crowded space it will become a lot harder for brands to win and create ROI,” he said. “This is the same trajectory Facebook and Google faced in their early days. But with Amazon’s growth, there is probably another three-to-five years of being able to find strong performance without particularly sophisticated strategies.”
However, he also noted Amazon is known to move quickly, so this time period could be compressed if Amazon prioritizes advertising and works closely with brands and agencies and “shares data more effectively.”
Grimm believes that Amazon can carve out “a nice chunk” of the digital ad market by serving ads to shopping customers.
“However, consumer awareness and preferences are primarily built elsewhere, so Amazon will have to control a lot larger chunk of consumers' time before they steal a large chunk of ad dollars from Facebook and Google,” he added. “I see them becoming a third pillar of Internet advertising, but not replacing Facebook or Google.”
Colburn agreed that consumers more likely to end up with three powerhouses than two. That’s in part because many companies are investing in Amazon advertising from their shopper marketing or retail teams and not their marketing budgets. This means they’re not necessarily taking dollars away from Google, but rather putting more money in Amazon.
“It doesn’t really change the duopoly – it just sort of props Amazon up more,” Colburn said. “But it doesn’t take share away from Google.”
Additional reporting by Rebecca Stewart. |
Major web browsers will soon support payment request APIs | Major web browsers, including Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Webkit, could soon support Web Payments Working Group's Payment Request API implementation, according to a post on the Web Payments Working Group's site. The company said it would be focusing on browser interoperability for the API, as well as the Payment Method, after both were advanced to candidate recommendation status. Discussions surrounding "beyond basic card" payments, including encrypted and tokenised cards and interledger payments, are still ongoing. | https://www.w3.org/blog/wpwg/2017/09/14/payment-request-api-now-being-implemented-in-all-major-browsers-advances-on-the-recommendation-track/ | 2017-09-18 06:52:25.640000 | In early September I learned with excitement that the status of Payment Request API implementation in Webkit went from “Under Consideration” to “In Development.” That means that the API is being implemented in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Webkit, as well as Samsung Internet Browser and Facebook. If you know about more implementations, please let me know.
The timing couldn’t be better. Today the Web Payments Working Group advanced both Payment Request API and Payment Method identifiers to Candidate Recommendation Status. This step in the W3C Recommendation Track means that the specification is stable and we will now focus on browser interoperability, primarily by developing a comprehensive test suite. If you would like to help us work on the test suite, please contact me.
For more information about the Candidate Recommendation announcement, see our media advisory and FAQ.
In parallel, the Working Group continues to work on:
Payment Handler API, which enables Web sites to be payment apps in the Payment Request API ecosystem. Google and Samsung have been working on experimental implementations on the browser side of the API, and Klarna and others working on payment apps. I expect that the Working Group will devote more attention to payment apps now that Payment Request API is a Candidate Recommendation.
Payment Method Manifest, which supports the secure deployment of third-party payment apps for proprietary payment methods.
Ongoing discussion of payment methods “beyond Basic Card,” including discussions of encrypted and tokenized cards, as well as credit transfers and interledger payments.
The Working Group’s charter expires 31 December, so we have begun to discuss what’s next. If you are interested in shaping the group’s agenda, now is a great time to get involved, especially as our next face-to-face meeting is around the corner: 6-7 November at TPAC 2017.
Congratulations to the Web Payments Working Group for reaching this milestone!
Update: Many thanks to everyone who responded to this post urging the Working Group to include support for cryptocurrencies. I have turned off comments for now, most of which speak to the same request. |
India lenders reveal a 45% annual jump in wilful defaulters | The number of wilful defaults in India rose by 45% to INR109,594 crore ($17bn) in March 2017, compared to INR74,694 crore in the same month the previous year, according to a report by credit information firm TransUnion CIBIL. The general secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association, CH Venkatachalam has argued that wilful default of bank loans should be made a criminal offence.
| http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/economy/banks-see-45-yoy-jump-in-wilful-defaults-to-rs-109594-cr-as-on-mar-this-year-2390347.html | 2017-09-18 06:50:41.777000 | Moneycontrol News The number of wilful defaulters who have the resources to pay has been on the rise, reports the Indian Express, quoting data from a report by the TransUnion CIBIL, a credit information firm. Local lenders have seen a 45 percent jump of Rs 34,900 crore in loan defaulters from last year. According to the report, the wilful defaults jumped to Rs 1,09,594 crore in March 2017 from Rs 74,694 crore in the same period last year. Over the last five years, defaults have risen by over Rs 84,000 crore. In FY16, wilful defaulters rose 31 percent while in 2015, it grew 47.5 percent, according to the report. The State Bank of India tops the default list with Rs 15,069 crore stuck in 997 accounts. In FY17, this amount grew by Rs 2,759 crore. Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda are next in the list with Rs 10,989 and Rs 4,785 crore worth defaults, respectively. In SBI, the default account includes accounts of GET Engineering with default of Rs 424 crore and Zenith Birla with Rs 139 crore default. PNB has put accounts of Zoom Developers with Rs 410 crore defaults, Forever Precious (Rs 747 crore) and Winsom Diamond with Rs 899 crore under the default list. On the other hand, wilful defaults with the LIC reduced to Rs 1,034 crore in March 2017 from Rs 1,304 crore in the same period last year. All India Bank Employees Association General Secretary CH Venkatachalam told Indian Express that such wilful default accounts should be declared as a criminal offence and action must be taken against them.
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French asset managers sign on to blockchain platform | Four french asset managers have signed on to be involved in a blockchain record-keeping platform, created by London-based SETL. OFI Asset Management Group, GroupAMA AM, La Financiere de L’echiquier, and Arkéa Investment Services form the pan-European collective participating in the platform's initial stage. The platform, dubbed Iznes, allows asset and wealth managers to record client relationships and transactions via a distributed ledger. | https://www.law360.com/articles/964287/asset-managers-on-board-for-european-blockchain-tool | 2017-09-18 06:39:00.597000 | By Paige Long (September 15, 2017, 7:34 PM BST) -- London-based financial blockchain company SETL said Friday it has partnered with four of the largest asset managers in France to launch a pan-European fund record-keeping platform based on blockchain technology, in the latest collaborative tie-up for the financial sector....
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Chinese 'Sponge Cities' could absorb and reuse 70% of rainwater | Lingang is aiming to become China's flagship "Sponge City", with its government investing $119m in innovations such as permeable pavements and scenic wetlands for rainwater storage. The Sponge City initiative, launched in 2015 across 16 cities, aims to enable urban areas to absorb and reuse 70% of all rainwater by enhancing and distributing absorption capacities. However, the plan is under threat from a lack of investment and regulatory enforcement.
| http://edition.cnn.com/2017/09/17/asia/china-sponge-cities/index.html | 2017-09-18 06:33:17.457000 | Editor’s Note: Asit K. Biswas is a distinguished visiting professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore. Kris Hartley is a lecturer in city and regional planning at Cornell University.
Story highlights Chinese cities are struggling with flooding in urban, concrete areas Sponge cities aim to capture and utilize this rainwater
CNN —
Asian cities are struggling to accommodate rapid urban migration, and development is encroaching on flood-prone areas.
Recent flooding in Mumbai was blamed in part on unregulated development of wetlands, while hastily built urban areas are being affected by flooding across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.
This is not a trend only in developing countries; floods in Houston, United States, highlighted the risks of development in environmentally sensitive and low-lying areas. In 2012, a severe flood in Beijing wreaked havoc on the city’s transportation systems, and in 2016 floods overwhelmed drainage systems in Wuhan, Nanjing, and Tianjin.
The challenges are clear.
Read: A third of Bangladesh under water as flood devastation widens
Groundwater over-extraction, waterway degradation, and urban flooding are forcing China’s cities to address a vicious cycle. Sprawling urban development and use of impervious material prevent soil from absorbing rainwater, prompting further investment in infrastructures that typically impede natural processes and worsen flood impacts.
China’s “sponge city initiative” aims to arrest this cycle through the use of permeable surfaces and green infrastructures.
However, the initiative faces two challenges: lack of expertise of local governments to effectively coordinate and integrate such a complex set of activities, and financial constraints.
The concept
Engineering solutions are popular interventions, but cities cannot simply pipe away flood risks.
To address the issue, China’s sponge city initiative has an ambitious goal: by 2020, 80% of urban areas should absorb and re-use at least 70% of rainwater.
Parts of China are especially prone to floods. In summer 2016, torrential rains caused damage across northern China. STR/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
Launched in 2015 in 16 cities, the initiative seeks to reduce the intensity of rainwater runoff by enhancing and distributing absorption capacities more evenly across targeted areas. The resulting groundwater replenishment increases availability of water for various uses. This approach not only reduces flooding but also enhances water supply security.
The initiative is similar to the North American concept of low-impact development (LID), which according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mimics natural processes in order to protect water quality.
The case of Lingang, a planned city in Shanghai’s Pudong district, illustrates typical sponge city measures. These include rooftops covered by plants, scenic wetlands for rainwater storage, and permeable pavements that store excess runoff water and allow evaporation for temperature moderation.
The skyline in Pudong, Shanghai -- Lingang city will stand in this district. JOHANNES EISELE/AFP/AFP/Getty Images
With ambitions to be China’s largest sponge city project, the Lingang city government has invested $119 million in retrofits and innovations that could be a model for the majority of Chinese cities lacking modern water infrastructure.
Chinese cities are making noteworthy efforts. In a pledge to expand coverage of urban greenery, Shanghai announced in early 2016 the construction of 400,000 square meters of rooftop gardens.
The project is a collaborative effort among city regulators, property owners, and engineers. Sponge city projects in Xiamen and Wuhan have performed effectively during heavy rainfall.
Improved policies and budgets
The sponge city initiative requires a holistic and sustained effort, including effective environmental governance. However, concerns persist about weak regulations and selective enforcement. Local officials cannot simply turn the other way when violations are discovered.
The unsung tedium of tightening controls is less exciting than bold innovations, but equally crucial for managing water. Gains from sponge city programs should not be offset by poor environmental governance.
Funding is also a persistent constraint. To date, more than $12 billion has been spent on all sponge city projects. The central government funds roughly 15-20% of costs, with the remainder split between local governments and the private sector.
Wetland restoration being carried out in Denver, Colorado in 2016. Seth McConnell/Denver Post/Getty Images
Unfortunately, the initiative coincides with a burgeoning municipal debt crisis spurred in part by restrictive financial reforms, bond ratings cuts, and nervous bond markets. China’s cities may soon find borrowing costs even higher and avenues for reducing debts narrower.
Investment in sponge city initiatives is also proving to be an increasingly difficult sell, with only tepid interest from domestic private investors. The government should improve conditions that encourage investment, including tax incentives, better project transparency, and looser credit markets.
Gains from sponge city programs should not be offset by poor environmental governance.
Until this happens, sponge city initiatives will have to compete against visible and familiar infrastructure such as roads, transit, and utilities. They will also have to be attractive in a market with numerous other investment options.
Innovative water initiatives have been adopted worldwide, including wetland restoration in the American Midwest, flushing systems using collected rooftop water in Oregon USA, bioswales in Singapore, and public spaces as flexible water retention facilities in the Netherlands.
A rooftop garden in Amsterdam. Michael C Corder/AP
China has an opportunity to strengthen its emerging global leadership role in urban sustainability.
However, it must first implement an effective vision for how sponge city initiatives complement broader environmental governance efforts.
Improving regulatory enforcement and reviving interest in related private investment opportunities are two steps it can take. |
Bank of England raises concerns over £60bn of car loan exposure | The Bank of England has expressed concern about the high number of UK personal contract purchase (PCP) financing deals, which have left banks exposed to £20bn ($27bn) of debt and manufacturers to twice that amount. PCPs make up 80% of all new credit car sales, but rising default rates, swift depreciation and a wave of vehicles swamping the second-hand market have sparked fears of instability. Analysts suggested the Bank of England may impose tougher affordability criteria, while the Financial Conduct Authority is studying whether there is irresponsible lending in the market.
| https://inews.co.uk/essentials/lifestyle/cars/car-features/facing-car-loan-credit-crunch-facts/ | 2017-09-18 06:26:58.627000 | David Bailey, Professor of Industry at Aston University and Colin Chapman, Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching, Aston University
Sales of new cars in the UK fell for the fifth month in row during August, with demand for diesel cars falling more than a fifth, according to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
But looking at longer term trends, sales are still near record levels and on a par with pre-credit crunch levels. Last year, some 1.2m of the 2.7m new cars sold in the UK went to private individuals, a 47% increase on 2011 figures.
These private sales are overwhelmingly fuelled by credit: 86% of them were financed by members of the Finance & Leasing Association who lent over £18 billion to private individuals buying new cars. This is a 164% increase on 2011. Finance provision on secondhand cars is roughly the same amount again.
No wonder the Bank of England is looking at this closely – and others are warning it could lead to another credit crunch.
How it works
Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) financing deals now account for over 80% of new car credit sales. To many, PCPs are essentially a form of rental agreement; after paying a deposit, the consumer pays a fixed monthly payment to use the car for an agreed time period and number of miles.
But the mechanics and options of a PCP deal are a little different to a traditional lease (or Personal Contract Hire). In many PCPs, the deposit is fairly small, and often comes with a contribution from the manufacture or dealer, albeit in lieu of a discount.
So once registered, the value of the finance will be close to the asset’s value.
A guaranteed minimum future value (GMFV) is set for the end of the term – usually 24 or 36 months – with this GMFV based on a forecast of the vehicle’s value at that stage, allowing for depreciation.
The consumer’s monthly payment is based on paying back the difference between the amount financed and the GMFV, with interest often calculated and payable during this term based on the total amount financed.
At the end of the agreed term, the consumer hands back the car, or can purchase it for the pre-agreed GMFV, also known as a “balloon payment”, or use any positive equity (that’s excess value over the GMFV) as a deposit towards a new car – assuming there is any.
It all sounds simple, and has kept the champagne corks popping in dealerships. What could possibly go wrong?
The catch
First, think of consumer expectations. Fees are payable if the car is handed back with more than the agreed miles on the clock, or if the car is deemed to have more than reasonable wear and tear. This often catches consumers out.
Early termination is also usually penalised, although dealers target mid-term upgrades, and consumers often have an expectation of some equity being available at end of the term. Being sold a new car upgrade at the end or during the contract will likely require a further injection of cash – or the rollover of any deficit.
Second, let’s think how the finance industry works. To hit high volumes, many lenders have made credit acceptance easier, thus making PCPs more readily available to those with less than prefect credit records – think of the subprime housing market in the US and how it led to the last credit crunch.
But this credit “boom” relies on a number of elements.
First, low default rates. But the Bank of England reported an increase in “voluntary terminations” of late which usually means losses for finance houses, perhaps linked to the fact that prices are rising faster than wages. And any rise in interest rates will put further pressure on household budgets, whether that’s owners or renters.
A stable boom also relies on stable underlying assets. But PCPs use as security a car, a fast depreciating asset.
If a large percentage of consumers upgrade at the end of their term, whether to avoid the balloon payment or just to keep up with the Joneses, this could also mean a tidal wave of end-of-contract cars hitting the secondhand market.
The risk here is of values falling and a spiralling effect setting in, as those seeing the actual value of their car falling below the GMFV also decide to return it to the dealership.
Secondhand values of diesels have already fallen sharply according to auction specialist Autorola thanks to environmental pressures and consumers becoming spooked by bad news about diesels and concerns over future residuals.
This could also cause material losses to lenders through their GMFV risk. Here, the entwined relationship between auto makers and lenders means it is not actually that clear who is ultimately underwriting these risks; indeed, around half of the finance comes from lenders which are actually owned by the manufacturers. For example, Volkswagen’s financing division had over €150 billion of loans to customers on its books in March this year.
What next?
The Bank of England is now concerned about the financial stability of these products as banks have a £20 billion exposure, and manufactures as much again. It is concerned that the industry’s growing reliance on PCPs has made it more vulnerable to macroeconomic downturns.
The Bank reckons that a 20% fall in used car values could lead to losses as high as £1.2 billion, in turn denting what’s termed “Common Equity Tier 1 Ratios”, a key measure of banks’ financial stability.
This is possible as average prices for used fleet cars fetched at auction fell 19% during the global financial crisis, according to BCA figures.
A likely outcome of the Bank of England review could well be tougher affordability criteria, to improve the quality of the loan book, and this reduction could in theory lead to a credit crunch.
Some of the car loans in the UK and US have been sliced up and packaged into asset-backed securities (ABSs) and sold on to investors (like pension funds). These ABSs played a big part in the last global financial crisis of course. Last year, €4.8 billion of auto loan ABSs were sold in the UK alone, with around €18 billion of auto bonds placed in Europe.
Auto loan ABSs involve numerous banks; HSBC, Lloyds, Wells Fargo and BNP Paribas were all involved in a £1.3 billion ABS issued by PSA Finance, for example.
At the same time, the Financial Conduct Authority, which is responsible for regulating consumer credit, has concerns about the sales practices involved in PCPs, and is studying whether there is a lack of transparency, potential conflicts of interest, and irresponsible lending in the motor finance industry. Others have joined the clamour.
Most dealerships are only authorised in a non-advisory capacity for finance, and cannot recommend specific finance deals. But it is suggested that the full implications to the consumer are not always clearly disclosed. Other options (like leasing which could work out cheaper) may be ignored in favour of “drive away” PCP packages which are a great tool to help dealers meet car and finance targets, and make commission in the process.
Are we likely to see a crash? That’s unlikely in the UK, as the market is smaller than in the US, and the Bank of England is relatively vigilant, and likely to impose controls that will gradually adjust the situation without causing a snowball effect. It may well be a far bigger problem in the US, however.
Nevertheless, greater public exposure may be welcome news for one sector: the potential PCP mis-selling scandal may soon become the ambulance chasers’ next meal ticket. Think PPI all over again.
David Bailey, Professor of Industry, Aston University and Colin Chapman, Associate Dean, Learning and Teaching, Aston University
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. |
Regus Regus moves in with Google and Nike in Melbourne's Collins Street | Office space provider Regus is to open a co-working space in Pembroke Real Estate's T&G building at 161 Collins Street in Melbourne. The office will be Regus's 25th co-working hub in Melbourne. Regus will share the building with tech giant Google and sportswear brand Nike. Currently, Regus's co-working space at 90 Collins Street hosts Google's Melbourne-based employees. Regus is likely to pay rent of about AUD520 ($416) a sq metre for the space.
| http://www.theage.com.au/business/property/google-nike-to-sign-collins-street-lease-deals-with-pembroke-20170914-gyhpen | 2017-09-18 06:26:51.280000 | Tech giant Google will set up its first Melbourne office in the heart of corporate Australia, leasing space in US property group Pembroke Real Estate's signature Collins Street building.
Pembroke has been busy undertaking a major refurbishment of the T&G building at 161 Collins and is close to sealing a deal with Google as well as another key multinational tenant, sportswear brand Nike.
Renders of the planned refurbishment of the T&G Building at 161 Collins Street, now owned by Pembroke Real Estate.
A third deal is also in the offing with co-working firm Regus Spaces.
Between them the three businesses have stitched up 10,500 square metres in the "Paris" end of Collins Street, a premium stretch likely to see them paying net face rents around $520 per square metre. |
Chinese insurers face more supervision of overseas investments | China's Insurance Regulatory Commission will focus on "irrational stock market fundraising and overseas acquisitions" as it steps up its supervision of foreign investments, according to Guo Jing, vice head of the commission’s finance and accounting department. Guo added the regulator would also call on insurance companies to carry out self-checks on their property investments. The moves followed last month's announcement by the State Council that it would limit overseas investments in several sectors to stem capital outflows.
| http://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2111656/china-step-supervision-overseas-investment-risks-insurance | 2017-09-18 06:13:50.693000 | The regulator said it will prevent risks stemming from “an excessively rapid growth in overseas investments”. Photo: Handout |
Esure Esure shares rise on reports Sir Peter Wood wants to sell his stake | Esure shares rose 5% after the Sunday Times reported that Sir Peter Wood, the firm's biggest shareholder, has been in talks with would-be buyers of the motor insurer. Wood, who owns a 30.7% controlling position, is seeking to close a deal next month, the Sunday Times said. Despite private equity firms' interest in Esure, an American insurance company is most likely to buy the stake in the firm, the report said. Esure's pre-tax profits rose 44.6% to £45.1m in the six months to 30 June. A sale of Wood's stake could trigger a sale of the whole business.
| http://www.independent.ie/world-news/esure-shares-soar-on-1-billion-sale-speculation-36142200.html | 2017-09-18 06:06:51.777000 | Teen used ‘survival games’ to keep her and her siblings alive for 40 days lost in Colombian jungle |
Shanghai Fosun to buy 74% of India's Gland Pharma for $1.1bn | The board of Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group has agreed to purchase a 74% stake in Indian drug company Gland Pharma in a deal worth $1.1bn, according to a company statement. The move revives Fosun Pharma's attempt to buy an 86% stake in Gland Pharma last year, which was blocked by the Indian government; foreign firms investing more than 74% in Indian companies must obtain government approval. | http://ehealth.eletsonline.com/2017/09/fosun-to-buy-74-stake-in-gland-pharma/ | 2017-09-18 05:41:51.387000 | For continuing, Please agree our Terms & Conditions and acknowledge our Privacy Policy. This same account can be used across all Elets News portals. |
Google and Facebook forecast to dominate over half of UK market | Earnings from Google and Facebook will comprise 54% of all UK digital ad revenue this year, according to a forecast from eMarketer. The two companies will take £6.3bn ($8.5bn) in ad revenue between them for 2017, eMarketer predicted. Google's total digital ad revenues are expected to reach £4.43bn this year, with Facebook set to earn £1.87bn from digital advertising on its social network and media-sharing site Instagram. By 2019, Google is on track to earn £5.1bn from digital advertising, while Facebook will earn £2.57bn, eMarketer reported. | http://www.thedrum.com/news/2017/09/18/google-and-facebook-digital-ad-dominance-grows-latest-survey | 2017-09-18 05:37:15.593000 | The latest snapshot of the UK digital ad market has reaffirmed the dominance of Google and Facebook with both tech titans combined expected to account for over half of all UK digital ad revenues by the end of the year.
Google and Facebook digital ad dominance grows
Compiled by eMarketer the forecast foresees that both tech companies will account for 54% of all digital ad revenues this year, taking home £6.3bn between them. |
Point Bridge introduces right-wing political ETF | Texas-based asset manager Point Bridge Capital has launched the MAGA exchange-traded fund (ETF), which tracks 150 companies highly supportive of the US Republican Party. Managing director Hal Lambert, who says the product represents "politically responsible investing" said offering clients the chance to make investments based on their political bias was important, as "companies are giving millions and millions of dollars, affecting the outcomes of elections, and may be contributing to candidates they may not want to support". | http://www.pionline.com/article/20170918/PRINT/170919891/new-etf-filters-for-political-leanings?utm_campaign=saxo_rss&utm_source=topic_rss&utm_medium=rss | 2017-09-18 05:34:44.747000 | Want to invest in line with your political ideals and the Grand Old Party? A new exchange-traded fund and index will let you to do just that.
Point Bridge Capital LLC launched its MAGA ETF, which tracks the Point Bridge GOP Stock Tracker index. The rules-based methodology follows the performance of companies whose employees and political action committees are highly supportive of Republican Party candidates.
"I have been in the investment business as a portfolio manager for over 20 years, and (have) also been very involved in politics," said Hal Lambert, founder and managing director of the firm in Fort Worth, Texas. Mr. Lambert, in a telephone interview, said he had noticed "companies were getting more and more politically active, making public statements and really affecting, I think, stock prices in their companies."
Stock selection begins with the S&P 500, screening for PACs and employee contributions. Point Bridge then uses proprietary rules to select the top 150 Republican-supporting companies. "That is what makes up the ETF. (It is) important because companies are giving millions and millions of dollars, affecting the outcomes of elections, and companies may be contributing to candidates that investors may not want to support," he said. Mr. Lambert declined to comment on whether the MAGA ticker stands for "Make America Great Again," the slogan adopted by President Donald Trump for his 2016 campaign. Mr. Lambert has dubbed the development of the ETF and index "politically responsible investing. I view it as a new category for investors," he said.
He said he'll be looking to launch more politically linked funds in the near future.
Further information is available on the ETF website.
— Sophie Baker and Lydia Parker |
San Leon San Leon faces financial difficulties while waiting for payments | Independent gas and oil exploration firm San Leon Energy will struggle to meet payments of €8m ($9.6m) and almost €7m, due in October and November to Polish company Avobone, as it continues to wait for payments from its stake in a Nigerian oil field. While auditors KPMG expressed doubt about San Leon's ability to continue to trade, in a statement, the Irish company said: "The directors have assumed that additional loan facilities of €12m will be obtained in October 2017 and a further €7m will be obtained in November 2017 to meet the group's payment commitments."
| http://www.independent.ie/business/world/san-leon-launches-review-of-corporate-governance-36138969.html | 2017-09-18 05:20:31.637000 | 'The company is looking to shore up its financial footing as it seeks to meet payments due on foot of a dispute with former partner Avobone.' (stock photo) |
Drax plans to build largest grid storage battery in the world | Drax Group said it plans to build a 200 MW energy storage facility in North Yorkshire in what would be the largest battery storage project in the world, double what Tesla is providing to Australia's Hornsdale wind farm in the coming months. The proposal also includes converting up to two coal units to natural gas, which could result in 3.6 GW of new gas generation. The plans are subject to a positive investment decision and will need to be backed by a 15-year capacity market contract. | https://renewablesnow.com/news/uks-drax-plans-200-mw-battery-storage-583361/ | 2017-09-18 05:09:01.717000 | Drax Group plc (LON:DRX) has outlined intentions to build a large-scale battery storage of 200 MW and repower up to two coal units to gas at Drax power station in North Yorkshire, England.
The company said on Wednesday it has given notice to the Planning Inspectorate of its plans to consult on the options that could result in up to 3.6 GW of new gas generation. The plans are subject to a positive investment decision and would have to be backed by a 15-year capacity market contract, the power generator added. It noted that at the moment, at the start of the planning process, the figures provided are the maximum parameters of the project.
Drax expects to start consultations on the plans with local communities and national stakeholders in the coming weeks. It first said it was considering gas options for the site in June.
The upgrade would increase the ability of the company to provide flexible generation and grid support services that are increasingly needed as the UK shifts to low-carbon generation and removes coal from the grid. Drax has already converted three of the plant's six units to biomass and is exploring converting a fourth unit.
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DNA-sized robots transport cargo through blood | Scientists in Pasadena have developed a microscopic robot, consisting of a single strand of DNA, that is capable of transporting microscopic loads from one location to another. In tests, the robot successfully moved across a flat surface, collected coloured dyes, and carried them to its destination. Although each movement took five minutes, the team said that enzymes could be added to speed up the device. The ultimate aim of the project is to develop nanomachines which can deliver medicine ultra-precisely to infected cells within the human body. | https://www.newscientist.com/article/2147493-robot-made-from-a-dna-strand-could-deliver-cargo-in-your-blood/ | 2017-09-18 04:07:59.227000 | Nano-cargo carrier Ella Maru Studio
You won’t read about a smaller robot than this one any time soon. It consists of just a single strand of DNA, and moves by taking tiny 6-nanometre steps – around a hundred-millionth the size of a human step. The robot can pick up and deliver microscopic cargo, so its creators hope it will one day be used to transport medicines to individual diseased cells or help assemble hard-to-make chemical compounds.
Just as robots have been sent to places too distant for humans to visit, such as other planets, mastering molecular robotics would allow us to “send them to places that are perhaps too small for humans to go to, for example inside the bloodstream”, says Lulu Qian at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
But while plenty of tiny robots exist, and some have even been used in the bloodstream, they had to be much bigger than a DNA strand to be useful. “It is one of the first steps towards developing general-purpose DNA robots,” says Qian.
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The robot consists of a leg with two feet attached to two arms for carrying cargo. To test it, Qian created a flat 58-by-58-nanometre surface with little DNA stepping stones for it to hop between. As one foot lands, the other lifts up, causing it to randomly move from stone to stone until it eventually comes into contact with the desired cargo. It then picks up the load and continues to hop around until it finds the drop-off point.
The objects collected and the drop-off point are pre-programmed by the robot’s chemical composition, which causes it to bind to particular substances. So although the path taken is random, the final destination is predictable.
In experiments, the robot successfully picked up six fluorescent dyes – three yellow and three pink – and moved them to one of two destinations.
Speed boost
All this hopping might sound quick, but a single step between stones takes a rather lengthy 5 minutes, meaning that covering the entire surface takes a whole day. Qian and her colleagues say they could boost the speed by adding an enzyme to give extra thrust, or giving the robot a chemical motor.
Or you could just add more robots: the saying “many hands make light work” applies at the nanoscale too.
“This is the ultimate example of minuscule robotics, and yet it is still programmable and predictable,” says Robert Cross at the University of Warwick, UK. That will be important for ultra-precision medicine. Once inside the bloodstream, specific signals or markers could be used to get the molecular bots to deliver a drug only to cells that show signs of disease, leading to more effective treatments.
Cross believes the work could also be useful for building things at the nanometre scale, such as chemical compounds. “This would allow focused assembly,” he says.
Journal reference: Science, DOI: 10.1126/science.aan6558 |
Weatherford unveils autonomous pipe makeup system AutoTong | US-based oil and natural gas servicing firm Weatherford International has released AutoTong, which it claims is the world's first autonomous pipe makeup system. It determines the correct connection parameters based on criteria specified by the original equipment manufacturer. It also eliminates the need for a human joint-makeup analyst by using high-resolution data to automatically evaluate the connection quality. “By eliminating the element of human error from the physical makeup and connection validation processes, the AutoTong system sharply increases the safety and efficiency of well construction operations", said Aaron Sinnott, vice president of well integrity at Weatherford. | https://www.oilfieldtechnology.com/drilling-and-production/15092017/weatherford-introduces-automated-pipe-makeup-and-connection-evaluation-system/ | 2017-09-18 03:37:26.187000 | Weatherford International plc has announced the commercial release of the AutoTong™ system featuring AutoEvaluate connection-makeup software. The AutoTong system is the world’s first technology to automate pipe makeup and to provide autonomous connection evaluation.
Using the AutoTong system, the final pipe-makeup process is initiated with the push of a button. The system autonomously determines the appropriate connection parameters based on the pipe and thread criteria specified by the original equipment manufacturer. Providing complete control throughout the final makeup sequence, the system continuously monitors the torque and adjusts the rotational speed of the casing to achieve the optimal torque value. The integrated AutoEvaluate software automatically evaluates the connection quality based on high-resolution data and does not require a joint-makeup analyst to interpret the data.
“By eliminating the element of human error from the physical makeup and connection validation processes, the AutoTong system sharply increases the safety and efficiency of well construction operations,” said Aaron Sinnott, Vice President of Well Integrity at Weatherford. “The addition of automation to the makeup process represents a real turning point for tubular management.” |
Diversity Project releases benchmark study on investment sector | A benchmarking study for the Diversity Project, which was established last year to promote diversity within the UK’s investment industry, has shown that the average employee in the sector is a straight, white male, likely to have been privately educated. The study, carried out by Mercer, revealed that 38% of investment managers went to a private school, compared to 7% of the population as a whole. Women accounted for 23% of the industry, while people with disabilities accounted for just 4%. Improving flexible working was identified as the key method for increasing diversity in the sector.
| http://diversityproject.com/2017-09-18/uk-investment-and-savings-industry-commits-diversity-and-inclusion | 2017-09-17 22:00:00 | London, Monday 18th September 2017, Almost a year since launching, the Diversity Project has today provided an update on its progress to develop a more inclusive and diverse culture within the investment and savings profession over the next 4 years.
Over the last 12 months, the Diversity Project, led by a CEO/Chair Advisory Council with a Steering Committee from a selection of UK investment and savings institutions, has embarked on a wide range of initiatives and educational programmes.
This includes this week’s launch of a Returners Database, a portal for individuals who have taken an extended career break and are keen to return to the investment sector.
Other important initiatives underway include, focused work streams aimed at attracting more diverse talent, including a wider range of socio-economic backgrounds and improved ethnic representation.
The Project is also working on cultural aspects to encourage diverse talent to stay and develop their careers within the industry, with the aim of achieving more diversity among fund managers of flagship funds.
Measuring progress is crucial to gauging the Diversity Project’s success.
The Project commissioned Mercer to undertake a Benchmarking study (Q2 2017) to survey over 3,755 participants from 24 firms including 650 investment managers, to understand the experience, backgrounds, qualifications and motivations of those working in the sector and importantly, what actions are needed to improve diversity.
The key insights and actions from the research highlight areas such as supporting individuals returning to the industry after a leave of absence, introducing broader recruitment practices and exploring greater flexibility across the workplace.
The research looks for new ways to help personal development and enhance the reputation of the sector to encourage more people from a wider variety of backgrounds to apply for roles.
The Diversity Project Advisory Council has also developed a ten-point commitment to diversity and inclusion’ to further strengthen the industry’s intention to deliver change.
The Commitment sets out ways to support the industry to launch schemes aimed at ensuring diverse recruitment, helping a wider range of talent to rise to top roles within firms, as well as the sharing of best practice and the development of new collaborative initiatives.
Founder of the Diversity Project, Helena Morrissey comments: |
UK government launches Green Finance Taskforce | A new group of investors and figures from the City of London has been established by the UK government to encourage “green finance” in the country. The Green Finance Taskforce will spend six months working on proposals, in conjunction with banks and other financial organisations, to increase investment in the low-carbon economy. The group, which will be chaired by former lord mayor of London Sir Roger Gifford, will consider ways of making the UK’s infrastructure investments more sustainable, and may produce guidelines for those wishing to invest in greener stocks.
| https://www.gov.uk/guidance/green-finance | 2017-09-17 22:00:00 | Green Finance Strategy
The UK launched the Green Finance Strategy on 2 July 2019. The Strategy supports the UK’s economic policy for strong, sustainable and balanced growth, the delivery of our modern Industrial Strategy and our domestic and international commitments on climate change, the environment and sustainable development.
It is informed by the private sector and wider stakeholders, and is, in part, a response to the recommendations of the Green Finance Taskforce, chaired by Sir Roger Gifford. The Taskforce is a leading example of the cross-sector collaboration that the strategy seeks to advance. To this end the government has already taken action to implement its recommendations ahead of the publication of this strategy, such as announcing the establishment of the Green Finance Institute ( GFI ).
The Strategy is an ambitious package, bringing together work from across the government, regulators and the private sector. It has 3 core elements:
greening finance: ensuring current and future financial risks and opportunities from climate and environmental factors are integrated into mainstream financial decision making, and that markets for green financial products are robust in nature
financing green: accelerating finance to support the delivery of the UK’s carbon targets and clean growth, resilience and environmental ambitions, as well as international objectives
capturing the opportunity: ensuring UK financial services capture the domestic and international commercial opportunities arising from the ‘greening of finance’, such as climate related data and analytics, and from ‘financing green’, such as new green financial products and services.
It also outlines how we will be coordinating closely with our international partners to achieve our objectives, and areas where government will seek to lead by example.
An important announcement within the strategy is the launch of the Green Finance Institute.
Green Finance Institute
As the UK’s principal forum for collaboration between the public and private sector with respect to green finance, the Green Finance Institute ( GFI ) will play an integral role in supporting delivery of our Green Finance Strategy.
On the 2 July, the government and the City of London Corporation launched the GFI to foster greater cooperation between the public and private sectors, create new opportunities for investors, and strengthen the UK’s reputation as a global hub for green finance.
Green Finance Taskforce
In September 2017, the government asked leading finance expert and former Lord Mayor of the City of London, Sir Roger Gifford, to chair an independent taskforce to accelerate growth of green finance and the UK’s low carbon economy.
The Green Finance Taskforce report sets out a series of recommendations on how the government and the private sector can work together to make green finance an integral part of our financial services sector. The government has subsequently published the Green Finance Strategy which takes forward the key themes of the taskforce. |
UK government launches Green Finance Taskforce | A new group of investors and figures from the City of London has been established by the UK government to encourage “green finance” in the country. The Green Finance Taskforce will spend six months working on proposals, in conjunction with banks and other financial organisations, to increase investment in the low-carbon economy. The group, which will be chaired by former lord mayor of London Sir Roger Gifford, will consider ways of making the UK’s infrastructure investments more sustainable, and may produce guidelines for those wishing to invest in greener stocks.
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/18/green-finance-taskforce-business-investment-clean-energy-infrastructure | 2017-09-17 22:00:00 | A new group led by investors and leading figures from the City of London has been brought together by the government to draw up measures to encourage “green finance” in the UK.
The Green Finance Taskforce will have six months to come up with proposals on how to increase investment in the low-carbon economy and will work with banks and other financial institutions. Chaired by Sir Roger Gifford, former lord mayor of London, the taskforce will look at measures to make the UK’s planned investments in infrastructure, for instance on energy and transport, more environmentally sustainable.
The government also wants to give investors assurances about how their money is being looked after, and promote ways for consumers to benefit, for instance through green mortgages, which make borrowing cheaper for those who have insulated their homes.
Claire Perry, minister for climate change, said the UK already showed strong investment in low-carbon activities, and should build on its strengths.
“The transition to a low-carbon economy is a multi-billion pound investment opportunity and a key part of this government’s industrial strategy,” she said. “Developing standards to promote responsible investment in sustainable projects and establishing the Green Finance Taskforce will help ensure businesses across the UK take full advantage of it.”
Stephen Barclay, economic secretary to the Treasury, added: “Financial services are a British success story. It is a priority of mine that people are able to access financial products that support their values, whether that be sharia-compliant loans or green mortgages that have a positive environmental impact. This taskforce will keep the UK at the forefront of green finance and help deliver choice for consumers.”
However, the government made it clear that its approach is likely to be based on voluntary standards, to be adopted by companies, banks and investment institutions if they wish. These could include standards for companies to disclose their exposure to risks from climate change, which some companies already attempt.
As a result, although the taskforce may provide guidelines for investors wishing to ensure they put their money in greener stocks, it is unlikely to have much effect on the behaviour of core fossil fuel companies, or those companies that prefer to stay invested in the fossil fuel economy.
Friends of the Earth, the green campaign group, urged the government to go further. “Coming only a few days after it was revealed that the cost of offshore wind has plummeted, this is another welcome boost to the green economy,” said Simon Bullock, senior climate campaigner. “But ministers must also do far more to reduce investment in climate-wrecking fossil fuels, such as fracking and deep sea oil exploration. If we want to stop climate change, 80% of the world’s coal, oil and gas reserves must be left in the ground.”
Members of the Green Finance Taskforce include the chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, a senior adviser to the Bank of England, representatives from Barclays, HSBC and Aviva, and representatives from the public sector and academia.
The UK government made the announcement on the taskforce to coincide with the opening of Climate Week in New York. There, some UK companies including Aviva, WPP and Marks & Spencer joined with others from around the world to endorse the disclosure of climate risks to investors.
Nigel Topping, chief executive of the We Mean Business coalition, said: “There is a great need among the investor community to have consistent climate-related financial risk disclosures from businesses in order to make more informed decisions on capital investment.” |
Female hedge fund managers outperform male peers | Hedge funds run by women have outperformed those managed by men during H1 2017, according to the HFRX Women index, which collates data on female hedge fund managers. The index returned 9.95% for the first seven months of this year, while the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index, which analyses the performance of hedge funds across genders and strategies, returned 4.81%. The data supports previous research that offers similar findings. Just 10% of UK fund managers are women, according to the Financial Times.
| http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/hedge-funds-women-run-men-gender-financial-services-city-london-a7952351.html | 2017-09-17 21:00:00 | For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emails Sign up to our free breaking news emails Please enter a valid email address Please enter a valid email address SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice Thanks for signing up to the
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An index measuring the performance of hedge funds run by women dramatically outperformed a gauge for a broader range of funds during the first half of the year, data has revealed.
The HFRX Women index, which pulls together data for female hedge fund managers, returned 9.95 per cent during the first seven months of this year, according to data compiled by the Financial Times.
The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite index, which measures the performance of hedge funds across all strategies and genders, returned just 4.81 per cent, according to the paper.
Recommended Hurricanes are an unlikely reminder that gender bias could kill
Women are still dramatically under-represented across the wider investment management world, but the latest data echoes similar statistics that have in the past shown that female-run hedge funds do better than male-run ones – even over longer time frames.
Helena Morrissey, who heads up personal investing at Legal & General Investment Management, told the Financial Times that, although the latest HFRX data only looks at a short timeframe, other research has in the past found that women are “at least as good as men” when investing.
Nicole Boyson, associate professor of finance at Northeastern University in Boston, told the paper that while it is hard to say unequivocally that women make better hedge fund managers than men, “we can say pretty definitively that women are not worse performers”.
She also said that women still face several disadvantages in the industry, including a lack of visibility.
Business news: In pictures Show all 13 1 / 13 Business news: In pictures Business news: In pictures Flybe collapses Airline Flybe has collapsed. All future flights on the Exeter-based airline have been cancelled – leaving more than 2,300 staff facing an uncertain future, and wrecking the travel plans of hundreds of thousands of passengers. The chief executive, Mark Anderson, said: “Europe’s largest independent regional airline has been unable to overcome significant funding challenges to its business. AFP via Getty Business news: In pictures Future product placement will be 'tailored to individual viewers' Marketing executives say that product placement in films and televison shows on streaming services such as Netflix may be tailored to individuals in future. For instance, if data shows that a viewer is a fan of pepsi, a billboard in the background of a shot would host an advert for pepsi, while for a viewer known to have different tastes it could be for Coca-Cola Paramount Business news: In pictures Corbyn wishes Amazon a happy birthday In a card sent to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos on the company's 25th birthday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn writes: "You owe the British people millions in taxes that pay for the public services that we all rely on. Please pay your fair share" Business news: In pictures No deal, no tariffs The government has announced that it would slash almost all tariffs in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Notable exceptions include cars and meat, which will see tariffs in place to protect British farmers Getty Business news: In pictures Fingerprint payment NatWest is trialling a new bank card that will allow people to touch their hand to the card when paying rather than typing in a PIN number. The card will work by recognising the user's fingerprint NatWest/PA Wire Business news: In pictures Mahabis bust High-end slipper retailer Mahabis has gone into administration. 2 Jan 2019 Mahabis Business news: In pictures Costa Cola Coca-Cola has paid £3.9bn for Costa Coffee. A cafe chain is a new venture for the global soft drinks giant PA Business news: In pictures RIP Payday Loans A funeral procession for payday loans was held in London on September 2. The future of pay day lenders is in doubt after Wonga, Britain's biggest, went into administration on August 30 PA Business news: In pictures Musk irks investors and directors Elon Musk has concluded that Tesla will remain public. Investors and company directors were angry at Musk for tweeting unexpectedly that he was considering taking Tesla private and share prices had taken a tumble in the following weeks Getty Business news: In pictures Jaguar warning Iconic British car maker Jaguar Land Rover warned on July 5, 2018 that a "bad" Brexit deal could jeopardise planned investment of more than $100 billion, upping corporate pressure as the government heads into crucial talks AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures Spotif-IPO Spotify traded publically for the first time on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday. However, the company isn't issuing shares, but rather, shares held by Spotify's private investors will be sold AFP/Getty Business news: In pictures French blue passports The deadline to award a contract to make blue British passports after Brexit has been extended by two weeks following a request by bidder De La Rue. The move comes after anger at the announcement British passports would be produced by Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto when De La Rue’s contract ends in July. The British firm said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process. Business news: In pictures Beast from the east economic impact The Beast from the East wiped £4m off of Flybe’s revenues due to flight cancellations, airport closures and delays, according to the budget airline’s estimates. Flybe said it cancelled 994 flights in the three months to 31 March, compared to 372 in the same period last year.
Citing a report-co-authored by Professor Boyson, The Wall Street Journal last year reported that women are struggling to get their hands on capital, partly because of the low level of news media attention that the funds they run get compared to those run by their male counterparts.
The research found that funds run by women tend to be smaller than those run by men and also showed that fewer than one in 20 hedge funds employed a female portfolio manager.
According to the Financial Times, only about 10 per cent of UK fund managers are female. |
Bauer increases e-commerce revenue from motoring sites by 10% | Bauer Media has increased e-commerce revenue from its digital automotive sites by 10% since the start of 2017. In the last 12 months, the company has added further advertising tools and changed its editorial approach. Bauer offers search tools for car reviews, sales listings for hundreds of thousands of cars, valuation services and financial advice, with the majority of its traffic coming from car reviews. In total, advertising revenue across its automotive brands has reached seven figures, with an additional six figures in revenue made from sending leads to the manufacturers that advertise on its digital sites.
| https://digiday.com/media/bauer-medias-auto-sites-grew-e-commerce-revenue-10-percent/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170915 | 2017-09-15 16:35:09.937000 | Bauer Media has run classified ads for cars on its digital auto sites for about a decade, taking a modest cut of the sales. In the last year, it’s switched gears to keep up with growing competition, adding more tools that generate useful data and adapting the way its editorial team communicates to audiences.
Each year, Bauer earns six figures in revenue from sending leads to car manufacturers across its digital auto brands, Parkers and Car magazine. The publisher wouldn’t disclose specific numbers, but it said revenue from these e-commerce sales leads has grown 10 percent since the beginning of 2017. Meanwhile, advertising revenue across Bauer’s auto brands is in the seven figures. Like other publishers, Bauer wants to reduce reliance on a singular revenue stream.
Parkers, run by Bauer Xcel Media, Bauer’s global digital division, is the publisher’s most transactional site, with a fifth of its revenue coming from e-commerce and sales leads. It offers tools for people to search for reviews for specific cars, listings for over 200,000 cars for sale that are pulled in from automatic feeds from tens of thousands of partnering dealerships, car valuations and finance advice that directs people to third-party vendors. The majority of its traffic, 2.1 million monthly uniques, according to comScore, comes from car reviews. Search drives 80 percent of its traffic; Parkers’ car tax calculator tool ranks fourth in Google search listings for car tax calculators.
“Parkers is like a Swiss army knife; that’s why people come to us, and car manufacturers see that,” said Tim Pollard, Bauer’s editorial director of motoring and specialist digital divisions. “[The buyers] are not tire kickers; they are people who buy.”
In the last year, Parkers started emphasizing selling cars on monthly financial payments rather than for one-off big-ticket prices like £20,000 ($27,000) because 85 percent of people in the U.K. buy cars through monthly finance deals, according to Pollard. Now, Parkers’ car finance tool, in partnership with aggregator CarFinance247, is integrated at key points in the customer journey so the option to make monthly payments is visible.
Last year, Bauer’s motoring division hired an auto finance editor to write articles helping people find the right payment plan. These articles, like “How to dodge dealers’ sneaky tricks,” contain links to other finance articles and advice, plus its car finance tool, where audiences can click through to off-site vendors for financial advice or dealers to buy a car. In the last 12 months, Bauer’s editorial team within its motoring division nearly doubled head count to 14 people. There are six people across the motoring division’s commercial team, and 10 people from Bauer’s digital marketing team are focused on e-commerce implementation across U.K. brands.
“Finance is at the heart of our storytelling,” said Pollard. “That’s a key strength and strong commercial lever ad agencies and manufacturers want to pull.”
Bauer gets a cut from selling additional services like tax and insurance as well. Spotting an opportunity to gather valuable first-party data, Bauer launched Mustard, an insurance aggregator site, 18 months ago. Despite a competitive price-comparison space, Bauer has 107 magazine brands it can funnel toward Mustard. Parkers is the top referrer to the insurance aggregator, according to Pollard.
Since launch, Mustard has delivered over a million insurance quotes. That first-party data on potential car buyers can inform its ad campaigns, like a newsletter sponsorship targeted to people who have searched for insurance on vehicles of a specific size. Bauer is only just starting to use this data for e-commerce to inform where it reaches potential buyers in their purchase journey.
“In the car purchase journey, you are often selling your car and buying a new one; we operate on both sides of that coin,” said Pollard.
Bauer has also started siphoning off motoring coverage to other brands based on audience needs. The auto team is reviewing cars for Mother & Baby magazine, as 43 percent of people are more likely to buy a car when they start a family. It’s also reviewing first-time buyer cars for Kiss, the radio station targeted at young people.
“In digital, it’s about marginal gains; the little things add up,” said Pollard. “We work hard to remove any pinch points where people drop off, like recently integrating PayPal or adding infinite scroll on Car magazine, which led to doubling pageviews.”
Image courtesy of Parkers, via Facebook |
Canadian scientists create 'bio-ink' for 3D-printed human organs | A team of engineers at the University of British Columbia have developed a substance called "bio-ink", a type of gelatin that could be combined with live human cells to create 3D-printable human organs. 3D-printed organs are, at present, prohibitively expensive and too structurally unstable for use in a transplant. The new technology could be a step towards saving millions of lives by making mass-produced, ready-for-transplant human organs a reality.
| https://futurism.com/a-new-bio-ink-could-be-used-to-3d-print-artificial-organs/ | 2017-09-15 16:03:14.477000 | Lifesaving Gel
Patients in need of an organ transplant face a grim reality: according to the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, in the US alone there are over 116,000 people on the life-saving transplant waiting list. But so far, in 2017, there have only been 10,866 donors. A new innovation could change that reality by creating artificial human tissues and organs from bio-ink.
Developed by engineers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) Okanagan, bio-ink is made of cold-soluble gelatin (which can dissolve without heat), which served as a building block in hydrogel alongside living cells to mold 3D-printed tissues. The hydrogel performed better than others made of pig or fish skin, forming healthy tissue scaffolds for new cells to grow on while remaining stable at room temperature.
"A big drawback of conventional hydrogel is its thermal instability," explained Keekyoung Kim, an assistant professor at UBC Okanagan's School of Engineering in a press release. "Even small changes in temperature cause significant changes in its viscosity, or thickness."
The cold-soluble gelatin is also inexpensive, allowing for a much cheaper alternative to traditional organ transplants.
3D printed models of human organs are already helping surgeons better plan for surgery, but we've yet to see an artificial organ transplant; a 3D printed-tibia is as close as we've come.
"We hope this new bio-ink will help researchers create improved artificial organs and lead to the development of better drugs, tissue engineering and regenerative therapies," Kim said. "The next step is to investigate whether or not cold-soluble GelMA-based tissue scaffolds are can be used long-term both in the laboratory and in real-world transplants."
With another person added to the organ transplant list roughly every ten minutes, this new method can't come soon enough. |
Snap searches for head of brand integration | Snapchat’s parent company, Snap, is looking for to fill the position of head of brand integration. The role will involve overseeing the company’s content team and advertisers to create campaigns for Snapchat Discover, as well as further opportunities for brand integrations and agency partnerships. The business is looking for a sales executive with 12 years of experience across traditional and digital media. | https://digiday.com/marketing/snap-ramps-effort-sell-brand-integrations-shows/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=digidaydis&utm_source=uk&utm_content=170915 | 2017-09-15 15:38:14.783000 | Snap is searching for a head of brand integration, who would be responsible for working with Snapchat’s content team and advertisers to insert brands into shows on Snapchat Discover.
According to a description of the role obtained by Digiday, the head of brand integration, which would be a new position at Snap, will be based in either New York or Los Angeles and will “drive brand integration and go-to-market strategy for Snapchat content.” Responsibilities will include working with Snapchat’s content team to identify opportunities for brand integrations, informing Snap’s ad sales team of said opportunities and generally bringing more brand and agency partners into the fold.
In the listing, Snap said it’s looking for a sales executive with at least 12 years of experience with branded integrations in TV, film or digital media, which aligns with the company’s growing entertainment ambitions.
Sources said this role would primarily oversee brand integrations inside Snapchat shows, which air alongside publisher content and live stories on Snapchat Discover.
Snap did not respond to a request for a comment.
Multiple ad buyers said the role is a signal to brands that Snap is easing up on its restrictions on branded content. Earlier this summer, Ad Age reported that Snap had started discussing the possibility of brand placements inside its shows.
Historically, Snap has tried to maintain a strict distinction between editorial and branded content on Snapchat. Its preference was for brands to buy into Snap through products such as Snap Ads, geofilters and lenses. With this new role, Snap is saying it’s more willing to invite brands into one of its premium content offerings: Snapchat shows.
“It’s a sea change, philosophically, for them,” said Noah Mallin, head of content for MEC. “When they first went to market, one of the things they were clear about was the bright line between what happens organically and what happens from an ad perspective. By adding brand integrations, which is a familiar product for marketers, it also gives them the opening to talk about their whole suite of products — ‘If you’re doing integrations, you should also look at Snap Ads and filters.’”
Since Snap embarked on its shows initiative last year, the company has rolled out more than 22 short-form shows from major media partners such as NBC, ESPN, A&E and Viacom. Snap has previously said it plans to increase the number of shows it airs every day from one earlier this summer to three per day by the end of the year.
Snap’s search for a brand integration specialist comes as the company struggles to grow ad revenue. In the second quarter, Snap made $182 million, which fell short of Wall Street’s expectations. Under revenue pressure, Snap launched a self-serve ad service earlier this year to bring more advertisers to Snapchat and, more recently, started to verify Snapchat stars, who for a long time have felt ignored by the company.
“Brand integrations would benefit Snap in two ways: It would help drive view and brand exposure metrics, and it would give them another item to monetize and drive revenue,” said one ad buyer, speaking anonymously. “Shows are supposedly doing well for them, so they can strike while the iron is hot.”
Snapchat’s shows initiative has been one of the sole bright spots for the company. Shows such as E! News’ “The Rundown,” A+E Networks’ “Second Chance” and Vertical Networks’ “Phone Swap” are pulling in as many as 10 million unique viewers (or more) per episode.
That said, even with the initial success of Snapchat shows, some ad buyers have expressed skepticism about the product — citing expensive prices as high as $300,000 for a mid-roll slot as one reason why.
Four media buyers approached by Digiday said Snap has not contacted them about brand-integration opportunities, with some not knowing Snap is looking to hire an executive to lead the effort. But such a role does benefit Snap, giving marketers a single person to go to for any discussion related to brand integrations.
“A struggle is often figuring out who the point person is for stuff like this,” said a second ad buyer, speaking anonymously. “Brand integrations would definitely be good for Snapchat. It’s a smart, competitive move.”
While Snap remains committed to working with advertisers inside its premium sections — instead of helping them build promoted accounts — brand integrations are a natural extension for a company that has invested in creating more professionally produced, TV-like programming.
“If their shows continue to do well, integrations are a natural next step,” Mallin said.
Shareen Pathak contributed reporting |
IBM simulation of largest molecule could boost drug research | IBM's quantum computer could have made a major chemistry discovery by simulating the largest molecule to date. The IBM Q simulated beryllium hydride’s molecular structure to examine how it interacts with various compounds, enabling researchers to test chemical model theories for safety and efficacy. IBM Q’s seven qubit processor can cut the time-consuming process of testing approximate models by calculating the stable configuration of the compound.
| https://www.engadget.com/2017/09/14/ibms-simulated-molecule-could-lead-to-drug-and-energy-advances/ | 2017-09-15 15:36:05.047000 | IBM's quantum computer has made a small advance that could ultimately lead to a major chemistry breakthrough. A team of IBM researchers has successfully used IBM Q to accurately simulate the molecular structure of beryllium hydride (BeH2), the largest molecule ever to be simulated by a quantum computer to date. This is pretty important, because simulating any molecule on a quantum level is no easy task, never mind a big one.
The point of simulating molecules is to determine how they will interact with other compounds, so researchers can create safe and effective chemical models for things like medicine and batteries. To do this, scientists need to find the molecule's most stable configuration, known as its ground state. In theory, this should be straightforward enough, but to truly understand the molecule's behavior, you have to figure out how each electron in each atom will interact with all the other atom's nuclei, including the unusual quantum effects that take place on such small scales.
So there's a lot going on, and today's computers can quickly become overwhelmed with the magnitude of options and outcomes, leaving chemical modellers to make approximations about how a molecule might behave and then test their theories -- which can be time-consuming -- in the real world. So the IBM team demonstrating that its seven-qubit chip is up to the job by calculating the ground state of BeH2 has significant connotations for the future of chemistry as we know it. As the team outline on the IBM blog, simulating chemical reactions accurately is an important step in discovering new drugs, fertilizers and even new sustainable energy sources. It's big news on a small scale. |
SparkMeter analyses smart-grid power use in developing world | Smart meter provider SparkMeter has analysed data from approximately 22,500 devices to develop a better understanding of microgrids in emerging markets. The company found that the maximum load per user was usually less than 200 amps in rural settings, such as those in Nigeria, India and Cuba, with peak loads under 500 W. For a typical microgrid of fewer than 200 users, demand is only 2 KW or less. Payments are usually around a dollar a time, which are made twice or more a month. The information could prove vital for planning business models for the expansion of microgrids in rural areas.
| https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/what-smart-meters-are-telling-us-about-microgrid-use | 2017-09-15 14:16:58.557000 | Data from up to around 22,500 smart meters provides one of the most advanced analyses of rural microgrid use to date.
The data revealed by smart meter developer SparkMeter, which specializes in microgrids for emerging markets such as Haiti, Nigeria and India, shows that the microgrid setups tend to deliver only small amounts of power and make only small amounts of money.
While SparkMeter’s product portfolio contains meters of up to 200 amps, the company has found the maximum load per user is usually capped at a low level in most rural settings.
Peak loads, meanwhile, are usually much less than the maximum allowance. Most customers draw less than 500 watts of power.
Since most SparkMeter-equipped rural microgrids have fewer than 200 users, this means the peak load each microgrid must support is also correspondingly small, around 2 kilowatts or less.
Similarly, over the course of a month the average consumption per user is only around 2 kilowatt-hours.
Payments are small, too, with customers rarely paying more than a dollar at a time.
This is an important factor to bear in mind when planning business models to support the rollout of rural microgrids, said Arthur Jacquiau-Chamski, SparkMeter’s vice president of product management, at this month’s Microgrid Global lnnovation Forum in Barcelona, Spain.
Yet while payments are small, they are also made frequently, the data shows. Most users pay for electricity at least twice a month, with payment peaks coming at the beginning and the end of every 30-day period.
The data, culled from up to 90 percent of SparkMeter’s 25,000 meter deployments in 17 countries, also shows there are four major load profiles in the rural microgrid world.
Perhaps the most demanding profile, which SparkMeter has dubbed "daytime baseload," is found in 31 percent of sites and accounts for 39 percent of energy consumption. It is characterized by steady daytime usage and an evening peak.
Another 31 percent of sites have what SparkMeter calls "evening only" usage, where consumption is minimal except for an 8 p.m. peak. This has the lowest consumption profile, accounting for just 7 percent of power consumed on SparkMeter-equipped microgrids.
A further 21 percent of sites have "daytime bump" consumption, with relatively high diurnal use ending in a marked evening peak. This profile accounts for 23 percent of energy consumption.
Finally, 15 percent of sites have "mostly daytime" use, where consumption is generally high throughout daylight hours and there is no evening peak to speak of.
Accounting for 30 percent of energy consumption, this pattern may indicate the presence of light commercial or industrial activity.
The data comes from SparkMeter’s worldwide installed base, which has processed more than 100,000 payments at an average of around $1.75 each.
The smart meters have dished out more than 320 megawatt-hours, which equates to an average electricity cost of around $0.55 per kilowatt-hour.
Further analysis of the SparkMeter data shows the average monthly revenue per user per site is usually less than $5 and never more than $9.
Jacquiau-Chamski highlighted the challenge facing rural electrification programs by noting that SparkMeter’s basic meters cost $35, yet the average value of energy they had delivered so far was just $7.
The fact that rural microgrid investors may face a lengthy payback period is one reason why SparkMeter is keen to share its data. Investors cannot turn to traditional analysts for information upon which to base decisions, Jacquiau-Chamski noted.
“It’s really important the data from the field can be used by operators to scale up,” he said.
Update: Jacquiau-Chamski clarified that the "ARPU per site" chart is showing monthly figures -- each data point is the Average Revenue Per User per month for a given site. As a consequence, it is the monthly average revenue per customer that varies between $5 per month and $9 per month depending on the site. These numbers reflect the reality of village microgrids better than the figure of $7 of energy delivered per meter on average, because the $7 figure doesn't reflect the fact that the majority of meters sold were installed in the recent past or at sites that are not fully commercially operational yet. In any case, Jacquiau-Chamski said, the low value of this monthly ARPU (under $10 per month per connection) illustrates the challenges facing rural electrification programs and rural utilities, which make innovation and optimization at every level a necessity. |
Goldman Sachs to buy $300m worth of solar loans from Mosaic | Goldman Sachs will purchase $300m of solar loans from provider Mosaic for its own use, offering Mosaic the opportunity to finance further loans and bolstering its credibility. The company also recently partnered with Wave Solar, a marketing software firm for solar installers, to offer discounts to dealers on its platform. Mosaic currently controls by far the largest market share in the solar loans sector, having tripled between 2015 and 2016. | https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/mosaic-will-sell-300-million-of-solar-loans-to-goldman-sachs | 2017-09-15 13:45:12.020000 | Solar loan provider Mosaic reached an agreement with Goldman Sachs in which the bank will buy $300 million in loans over time.
This deal will clear up space on Mosaic's balance sheet to finance more loans, and signals a prestigious bank's willingness to buy and own solar loans for itself.
Mosaic this week also finalized a partnership with Wave Solar to give Mosaic's dealer partners a pre-negotiated discount on the lead-generation platform. That service tracks and analyzes interactions with customers, potentially giving long-tail installers more resources to pursue their sales.
Banks have the lowest cost of funds, making them an ideal partner for loan sales, said Amir Friedman, vice president of bank partnerships. However, that money comes with stringent requirements in terms of compliance and information security.
"To be a lender to a bank, the bar is very high," Friedman said. "We were able to meet all of [Goldman Sachs'] vendor requirements and get them satisfied and purchasing from Mosaic."
That rounds out Mosaic's tool belt for ways to finance loans.
The company employs a hybrid model, choosing to keep some loans on its balance sheet via warehousing and securitization, while moving others off the balance sheet through whole loan sales. The presence of both options allows for maneuverability.
"If one particular market opportunity isn’t there, there will be another leg to the strategy to pick up that slack," Friedman said.
Mosaic issued a $139 million asset-backed securitization in February comprising 6,000 projects, which was oversubscribed, indicating market demand for such securities.
In the newly announced deal, Goldman Sachs will purchase the loans with its own balance sheet, Friedman noted.
"These are assets that they really want to hold and are comfortable holding," he said. "Once banks see we were able to get a bank comfortable with our compliance, other banks are taking interest."
For Mosaic, the bank deal could serve as a differentiator that other competitors don't have. The company ranked first for solar loan provider market share in 2016, followed by GreenSky Credit and EnerBank, according to GTM Research's April U.S. Residential Solar Update.
Mosaic's market share nearly tripled from 2015 to 2016, and it more than doubles the next runner-up. GreenSky and EnerBank, the report notes, offer other home improvement loans and are not necessarily trying to expand their solar business.
Mosaic's rise has coincided with a market shift away from third-party-owned leases and PPAs to customer-owned deals. Roughly three-quarters of residential deployments by companies outside of the top three are now customer-owned, while third-party owned continues to dominate among the top three.
The lower cost of capital from this sort of bank transaction could eventually help lower prices for loan customers, creating an additional pull toward that form of ownership. |
Take-up of renewables not fast enough to meet Paris climate goal | Efforts so far to move to renewable energy are not enough to meet global climate goals, according to Moody’s Investors Service and energy consultant DNV GL. Despite reaching a “critical watershed” in terms of wind, solar and storage options, as well as lower costs of production and increased investment, the rate of growth in renewable use is not enough. DNV has predicted that solar, wind and hydropower will represent 85% of global electricity production by 2050. However, the planet will still warm by 2.5C, 0.5C higher than the target agreed in the Paris accord that would avert the worst consequences of climate change.
| https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/renewable-energy-growth-is-still-not-enough-to-meet-climate-goals | 2017-09-15 13:05:36.003000 | The pieces of a renewable-forward future are falling into place. Wind, solar, and storage are accelerating. Plummeting costs and greater security in investment mean countries are increasingly looking to renewable technologies as a safe bet. And prices for offshore wind and battery storage are dropping faster than expected.
One hitch, though: That renewable future still won’t mean the globe reaches its climate goals.
New reports from Moody’s Investors Service and energy consulting firm DNV GL outline the unstoppable momentum behind renewables. But even what DNV GL calls a “critical watershed” in the electricity industry doesn’t appear to move the needle fast enough on the Paris climate agreement.
Moody’s report finds that the falling costs of renewables will make it easier for countries to meet their individual Paris goals. But according to DNV GL’s analysis, the world will still be on track for 2.5 degrees of warming, half a degree higher than the agreement’s temperature target to prevent the most dangerous consequences of climate change.
Aside from that large problem, the granular business trends laid out in the reports should come as yet more positive news for renewable energy companies and advocates.
DNV GL’s model predicts that oil use will peak in the next 10 years and gas use in the next 20. By 2050, fossil fuels will decline from 81 percent of the globe’s current energy mix to just 52 percent. Oil and gas will become the world’s largest energy source in 2034, but solar, hydropower, and onshore and offshore wind will account for 85 percent of global electricity production in 2050.
“By the end of our forecast period in 2050, the electricity system, its culture and its personnel will be unrecognizable,” DNV GL’s report reads.
Moody’s tells a similar story. Levelized cost of energy (LCOE) has dropped substantially since 2010. Costs for solar and wind have fallen drastically, making both more globally competitive with traditional fuel sources.
Both reports describe recent shifts in country subsidy programs, from guaranteed technology-specific rates to more technology-neutral auctions. Under auctions, wind and solar have been able to compete on price with incumbent fossil fuels. For example, new auctions for offshore wind have brought record-low prices that rival nuclear in the U.K.
A May 2017 solar bid in India that was 18 percent below the average price for coal projects set a record low tariff there. Moody’s also cites record-setting prices for offshore wind in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands; onshore wind in Mexico; and solar in Chile and South Africa.
By 2050, DNV GL predicts solar generation will increase 85-fold, with China and India at the helm. Solar installs will near 600,000 megawatts by the end of 2019.
Wind prices have already reached lows not expected until 2020. DNV GL predicts onshore wind will continue to dominate offshore. China will be a leader here, too, with a third of the world’s capacity by 2050. Per Moody’s, the world will have nearly 700,000 megawatts in wind capacity by the end of 2019.
There’s more: Battery costs, too, have tumbled 75 percent since 2009. As prices fall and efficiency increases, batteries will stake out an even more important position in allowing flexibility in the deployment of more renewables faster.
The only question remaining is how big of an impact these technologies will have on our changing climate.
Moody’s analysis suggests that the U.S. exit from the Paris Agreement will not have a significant negative effect on global emissions, although it will make further global cooperation harder to achieve. And DNL GV posits there are ways to improve climate scenarios: essentially by deploying more of what’s already being deployed, but at a speedier clip.
“This report model, it wasn’t a low scenario or a medium scenario or a high scenario. It modeled our best view,” says Ray Hudson, global solar segment leader at DNV GL. “Certainly there are ways to go faster with more renewables more quickly.” |
Slowing US home solar market signals first annual decline | Growth in the US residential solar energy market has slowed and is predicted to shrink for the first time ever this year, according to analysts GTM Research and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). The US Solar Market Insight report showed growth in the US residential PV sector was 563 MW in Q2 this year -- up 1% on the previous quarter but down 17% on Q2 2016. GTM has changed its earlier forecast for limited or flat growth this year to a 3% decline. The weakening of the residential sector is masked by strong overall growth in the PV industry. | https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/us-residential-solar-market-forecast-to-decline-for-the-first-time | 2017-09-15 12:55:43.967000 | The U.S. solar industry has grown accustomed to record-breaking growth. New capacity additions have increased every year since record keeping began. Last year, the U.S. market installed 14.8 gigawatts of solar PV -- nearly doubling the capacity installed the year prior. In 2016, solar also became the top-ranked source of new electric generating capacity for the first time ever.
This year, things look different -- particularly for the residential solar segment.
The U.S. residential PV sector grew 1 percent from the first quarter to the second quarter of 2017, according to the latest U.S. Solar Market Insight report from Wood Mackenzie, Limited and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). The industry installed 563 megawatts of residential solar in Q2. But while this represents a slight uptick quarter-over-quarter, it represents a 17 percent decline year-over-year, which comes on the heels of a sluggish Q1.
GTM Research, a Wood Mackenzie company, is now forecasting residential PV will experience its first down year ever. The U.S. home solar segment is expected to shrink by 3 percent this year. GTM previously forecast flat or limited growth in 2017.
The news is not all bad. Overall, the U.S. market installed 2,387 megawatts (DC) of solar PV in the second quarter of 2017 -- which marks an 8 percent increase year-over-year, and the largest second quarter ever. “This report shows once again that solar is on the rise and will continue to add to its share of electricity generation,” said Abigail Ross Hopper, SEIA’s president and CEO, in a statement.
But looking only at industry-wide performance hides the growing pains within the residential segment.
“Residential solar is just not seeing growth rates as high as in the past -- which is fine; it’s what happens when an industry matures, but it’s no longer fair to frame it as though rooftop solar is explosive,” said Austin Perea, GTM Research solar analyst and lead author of the new U.S. Solar Market Insight report. In recent years, the residential sector has led the PV market in terms of growth. Today, that’s simply no longer the case.
FIGURE: U.S. Quarterly PV Installations, Q1 2012-Q2 2017
Major state markets slow down
The decline is primarily due to weakness across major state markets, including California and several states in the Northeast, which are feeling the effects of a pullback from national providers. Tesla’s SolarCity and Vivint Solar in particular have been reorienting their strategies to optimize profitability over growth, according to Perea. The two companies have been scaling back operations in certain key geographies and transitioning to a direct ownership model, which has resulted in lower overall sales volumes.
Because of their disproportionate size relative to the rest of the residential market, slower growth rates at SolarCity and Vivint have a meaningful impact on the broader residential segment.
California was the first state to see a slowdown in the residential sector this year, which was due in part to bad winter weather, but also because national installers have been devoting less resources to making sales in saturated regions. Northeast markets started to feel the impact of that strategic shift more recently.
Last quarter, New York, Maryland and Massachusetts saw installation volumes fall between 15 and 60 percent year-over-year. SolarCity had a particularly slow second quarter in the Bay State, with growth down more than 75 percent from the same period in 2016.
After last quarter’s performance, GTM Research has revised down its residential PV forecasts for New York, Maryland and Massachusetts. New Jersey’s market is still expected to grow this year, however, while growth in Connecticut’s residential market is expected to be flat.
New markets for rooftop PV are opening up across the country, thanks to cost reductions and favorable policies. But growth in these states -- such as Texas, Utah and Florida -- is not robust enough to offset the declines in established areas, Perea said.
Business models shift
Vivint leadership has acknowledged that the company is experiencing slower growth, partially because it’s retraining staff to sell loans and not only leases. The company is currently aiming to have 30 percent of its sales be direct ownership by the end of 2017, up from 19 percent at the start of this year.
SolarCity relaunched its loan offering last summer, after its original loan product failed to gain traction. Since then, the nation’s largest residential solar installer was acquired by Tesla, and announced that it is quitting the practice of door-to-door sales and transitioning to selling solar through Tesla stores. As a result of these changes, “residential solar deployment will be impacted over the short term but is expected to resume growing in Q4 compared to Q3,” according to Tesla’s latest earnings report.
The portion of Tesla solar customers who elected to purchase rather than lease a solar system grew to 37 percent of deployments in the second quarter of this year, up from 6 percent a year ago. As its conventional solar business shifts, Tesla is also focused on ramping up production of its solar roof -- which some believe is the key to bringing home solar to the masses, although that remains to be seen.
Customer acquisition costs remain stubbornly high across all solar market segments, but the issue is especially pronounced among large residential solar players, said GTM’s Perea. How easy or hard it is to win customers factors heavily into the residential solar segment’s overall performance. In major state markets, there’s a sense of customer fatigue -- people have been getting their doors knocked on for years and are generally familiar with the solar sales pitch, Perea said. For whatever reason, these customers have decided not to make the investment.
“The low-hanging fruit has been picked, and installers need to figure out how to crack that code -- how to reduce the cost of customer acquisition and find meaningful growth,” Perea said.
Justin Baca, vice president of markets and research at SEIA, acknowledged that customer acquisition costs are a challenge, but was optimistic that the solar industry would succeed at bringing them down.
“Someone is going to figure it out, and they’re going to get bigger faster,” he said, in an interview at Solar Power International on Sunday night. “There are probably other trades we can also learn from -- the roofing industry, for one. We don’t hear about customer acquisition being a huge portion of their cost structure. Our industry is still figuring it out.”
Baca also took a generally positive view of the residential solar industry’s performance last quarter.
“What we’re seeing in the residential market isn’t a big downturn, it’s more of a leveling out,” he said. “We can’t expect the industry to grow 20 to 50 percent per year indefinitely. Those growth rates are great, but something less is still very good by traditional industry standards.”
Utility-scale solar continues to be the bedrock
Meanwhile, other segments of the solar industry have fared relatively well so far this year. In the second quarter of 2017, non-residential solar grew 31 percent year-over-year, with 437 megawatts installed. Growth was driven in large part by favorable time-of-use rates in California and expiring incentives in Massachusetts. The non-residential market in New York also experienced its largest quarter on record with the completion of several remote net-metered projects.
Non-residential PV is expected to grow 9 percent this year, following a record-shattering 58 percent growth in 2016. Continued growth in 2017 is due in part to the growing adoption of community solar, which remains on track to add more than 400 megawatts (DC) this year -- nearly doubling community solar installations from 2016.
The utility-scale segment “continues to serve as the bedrock of the U.S. solar market,” according to the report. A total of 1.4 gigawatts (DC) of utility PV projects came on-line in the second quarter of 2017, accounting for 58 percent of all PV capacity installed during the three-month period. Q2 represents the seventh consecutive quarter in which utility PV added more than 1 gigawatt of new capacity.
The threat of losing the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) was a big part of the reason why 2016 was such a strong year for U.S. solar. Developers rushed to take advantage of the incentive before it was scheduled to expire, which caused the utility-scale solar market to more than double. Today, the market is recalibrating.
GTM Research expects the overall U.S. solar market to shrink year-over-year in 2017 and 2018 before rebounding in 2019, due in large part to trends in utility PV procurement. With the extension of the ITC and project spillover from 2016, GTM Research continues to forecast a strong 8.1 gigawatts (DC) of utility-scale solar PV will be deployed in 2017. The market is expected to take a more noticeable downturn next year, with 6.5 gigawatts (DC) deployed for in 2018.
But growth won’t lag for long. The combination of competitive pricing, new procurement plans and developers looking again to benefit from the 30 percent ITC before the incentive steps down prompted GTM Research to increase its 2019 forecast for utility-scale PV by 14 percent to 9.0 gigawatts (DC). The return to growth in 2019 will come from the expansion of new state markets, and as both distributed and utility solar reach tipping points in terms of economic attractiveness.
More than 75 percent of the current utility-scale pipeline is slated to come from voluntary procurement -- or projects driven by cost-competitiveness with natural-gas alternatives rather than renewable energy mandates. For residential PV, more than 30 states are forecast to have surpassed grid parity by 2019, based on current rate structures.
U.S. solar installers will still have to innovate around customer acquisition and push into new markets in order to see more record-breaking growth. The industry will also have to hope for low or no tariffs in the Suniva/SolarWorld Section 201 trade case. If the International Trade Commission approves a minimum price of 78 cents per watt on modules, GTM Research estimates it could reduce U.S. solar demand by 50 percent cumulatively over the next five years.
Without tariffs, total installed U.S. solar PV capacity is expected to nearly triple over the next five years. By 2022, more than 16 gigawatts of solar PV capacity will be installed annually. Residential solar stands to make up a significant portion of the overall market, if installers can overcome the business challenges they face today.
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Download the free executive summary here. |
Australian energy market operator says coal plant can close | Renewable energy, improved management of consumer demand and upgrades to existing power plants will help meet the 1,000 MW shortfall in capacity when the Liddell coal power station closes, said Australian Energy Market Operator CEO Audrey Zibelman. Although Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is pressuring Liddell's operator, AGL, to keep the power station open for five more years, the company has no plans to do so. The current five-year notice period until the coal plant closes is long enough to develop reliability mechanisms, such as auctions, to bridge the power gap, Zibelman said. | http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/energy-market-operator-says-liddell-doesnt-have-to-stay-open-as-tony-abbott-casts-doubt-on-paris-pledge-20170914-gyhdoe.html | 2017-09-15 12:51:56.980000 | The Turnbull government's insistence that the ageing Liddell coal-fired power plant must stay open longer has been cast into doubt by the operator of Australia's electricity market, who says there are other ways to head off a predicted power shortfall.
Australia's energy quandary dominated question time on Thursday, as the government and Labor tussled over who was responsible for rising power prices and how best to deliver a reliable, affordable power supply.
Appearing at a hearing in Canberra on Thursday, Australian Energy Market Operator chief executive Audrey Zibelman said battery storage, renewable energy, management of consumer demand and upgrading existing power plants could all help meet a predicted 1000-megawatt shortfall in flexible, dispatchible capacity – power that can be created on demand – when energy giant AGL closes its Liddell power plant in 2022.
The Turnbull government is pressuring AGL to keep the Liddell station open for five more years. However, the power company insists it has no plans to sell the plant or keep it open. |
ToneTag AudioPod emits sound to activate mobile payment | The ToneTag AudioPod enables mobile payments through sound, with mobiles tapped on the device activating a sound wave that translates into a mobile payment when the mobile device responds with a note of its own. The device takes less than three seconds to complete a transaction and does not require an internet connection. The system can work with any bank application or e-wallet, and any type of merchant can use the AudioPod. The device could help expand payment infrastructure in places with limited and unreliable internet connections.
| https://paymentweek.com/2017-9-15-tonetag-audiopod-enables-payment-sound/ | 2017-09-15 12:45:28.217000 | ToneTag AudioPod Enables Payment by Sound
September 15, 2017 By: Steven Anderson
Mobile payments have ultimately proven so valuable for their end users that we’ve seen a host of new ways to make and receive payments. From near-field communications to quick response (QR) codes, we’ve seen a lot of movement. Enter the ToneTag AudioPod, which reports note allows users to make mobile payments without that connection to the internet that isn’t always available in some places.
The ToneTag AudioPod turns to sound as its primary interface, hence the name AudioPod. Users need only tap their phones on the AudioPod to activate the device, which promptly emits a sound wave that contains a strand of data. The phone, meanwhile, picks up the sound and responds in kind, which effectively completes the mobile payment.
Reports further note that it works quickly—each transaction takes less than three seconds to complete—speeding up checkout operations. The system works with any currently-operating banking application or e-wallet function, and any merchant can put the AudioPod to work quickly. Since it doesn’t require a data connection, it works anywhere that there’s power for it.
ToneTag’s CEO and co-founder Kumar Abhishek commented “ToneTag Audio Pod is a device that can be used by any merchant irrespective of their scale of operations or nature of the business. This device can be that trigger which enables mass acceptance of digital mode of payments amongst merchants. In our push towards a digital economy, a device like the ToneTag Audio Pod can bring in both the merchant and the consumer segment to accelerate the digital drive.”
It’s an exciting notion, particularly for developing economies that are increasingly embracing mobile payment systems but don’t always have the infrastructure available to back these up. Mobile payments offer convenience and speed of transaction that’s hard to improve on, so they’re desirable systems for the merchant and the customer alike. They improve the customer experience, and increase the chances of repeat business, so they’re the kind of thing businesses should look to have.
Without that internet connectivity to back things up, though, it can be tough to put these systems in place. Tools like the AudioPod may really be able to help here, and open up the concept of mobile payments to places that have never had the opportunity to put them to work previously. |
Turkey looks to develop renewable energy sector with investments | Turkey plans to invest $11bn in its energy sector from 2017 to 2023 in order to become less dependent on imports, said Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak. As part of the scheme, Turkey will increase its share of renewable energy to 30% of the country's installed power. Moreover, the government will build 10 wind power stations across the country and create 3,750 jobs. | https://www.azernews.az/region/118986.html | 2017-09-15 12:39:44.550000 | 14 September 2017 13:43 (UTC+04:00)
By Kamila Aliyeva
Turkey, an energy-importing country, has plans to develop its renewable energy sector in order to be energy secure and independent.
The country seeks to invest $11 billion in the energy sector of the country during the period from 2017 to 2023, according to the Turkish Ministry of Energy and Natural Resources.
The energy sector is an important area for investment, given the country's high dependence on energy imports.
Over the past two years, $1.9 billion have been invested in the country's energy sector. As many as 30 percent of these funds are invested in the development of renewable energy sources.
The ministry noted that Turkey plans to build 10 wind power stations in five different provinces of the country.
Turkish Energy Minister Berat Albayrak earlier stated that the construction of new power plants will increase Turkey's energy security and reduce its dependence on other countries.
Albayrak also stressed that the new project of renewable energy sources will generate about 3,750 jobs.
Turkey held a tender for the construction of wind farms on August 3. German company Siemens became the winner. The German-Turkish consortium Siemens -Turkerler- Kalyon was established in order to carry out the construction work.
Wind farms will be located in five regions of Turkey, including the capital - Ankara, he added.
Turkey's demand for energy and electricity is increasing rapidly and heavily dependent on expensive imported energy resources [around 70 percent] that place a big burden on the economy.
At the same time, Turkey is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of renewable resources – hydro, wind, solar, geothermal and others. For geothermal energy the country is ranked first in Europe and seventh in the world. In addition, the solar energy is abundant due to its geographical position in the world.
Turkey is also one of the countries in the world possessing high hydroenergy potential. Wind energy potential in Turkey is estimated at 160 TWh.
Encouraging policies backed by favorable feed-in tariffs are expected to increase their share in the national grid in the coming years. The Turkish government has made it a priority to increase the share of renewable sources in the country’s total installed power to a remarkable 30 percent by 2023.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz |
Goldman throws weight behind online lending platform | Goldman Sachs plans to generate $1bn extra revenue from Marcus, its digital consumer lending arm, over the next three years. The bank expects to earn as much from its trading operations over the same period. Although Marcus launched in the US in October last year, the company expects to have issued loans worth $2bn by the end of 2017. Marcus will debut in the UK next year, the Financial Times reported.
| https://qz.com/1077463/goldman-sachs-gs-thinks-its-fintech-lending-arm-marcus-can-make-as-much-extra-revenue-as-trading/ | 2017-09-15 12:31:13.157000 | Goldman Sachs has been pilloried for lackluster results from its trading division (paywall), so this week the bank gave investors a peek into its plans (pdf) for making more money. Surprisingly, the Wall Street powerhouse thinks it can generate as much revenue from online consumer loans—a market targeted by many fintech startups—as from buying and selling securities.
Specifically, Goldman thinks it can make $1 billion in extra revenue from its consumer lending business over the next three years, as much as it expects for its trading operations. Combined with new lending for the wealthy and companies, the bank expects to bring in $2 billion in additional sales from loans. Goldman co-chief operating officer Harvey Schwartz said it’s one of the fastest-growing lending platforms ever launched, even though he says the bank is taking its time with the nascent business. The bank’s digital consumer-lending arm called Marcus is expected to have lent out $2 billion by the end of the year.
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Goldman isn’t known for consumer lending, but stricter rules have forced banks to look for new ways to make money. CEO Lloyd Blankfein pointed out earlier this year that while Goldman doesn’t have branches, thanks to technology that isn’t a shortcoming anymore. Post-crisis regulations have put restrictions on trading but tend to give incentives for lending. The investment bank is launching Marcus in the UK next year, according to the Financial Times (paywall).
Goldman knows a lot about what technology companies are up to because it invests in a bunch of them. Its push into digital retail lending also challenges the notion that venture capital-backed fintech firms are poised to disrupt the banking industry. If these startups’ advantage is their technology, they may not be able to stay ahead of the armies of engineers at companies like JPMorgan and Goldman.
Meanwhile, big banks have access to cheaper funds than peer-to-peer lenders like Lending Club or Zopa. With consumer deposits and the billions of dollars they routinely borrow in credit markets, banks can undercut the loan rates offered by smaller companies.
That said, Schwartz acknowledged that consumer lending isn’t immune to economic downturns, and analysts cited by Bloomberg were skeptical about Goldman jumping into a market outside its core expertise.
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Goldman’s revenue projections are based on the assumption that markets remain placid (which isn’t ideal for banks’ trading desks) and that regulations that crimp trading profits remain in place. While more volatile markets or bank-friendly regulatory changes could make Goldman’s traditional businesses more profitable, it seems the bank isn’t counting on it.
That’s noteworthy given the Trump administration is stocked with Goldman alumni who could, theoretically, make banking rules more palatable to their former employer. The tone of this week’s presentation suggests the investment bank isn’t planning on it. |
Facebook, Microsoft collaborate on open exchange for AI resources | Microsoft is working with Facebook to establish an open-source AI resource repository, called the Open Neural Network Exchange. The facility will allow developers to work on both companies’ AI offerings, PyTorch and Caffe2, to expand the machine learning ecosystem. By providing interoperability, developers will easily be able to convert their PyTorch models into Caffe2 models at any stage in the development process. "People experimenting with new models, and particularly those in research, want maximum flexibility and expressiveness in writing neural networks", said developers at Facebook.
| http://gadgets.ndtv.com/apps/news/microsoft-facebook-announce-open-neural-network-exchange-simplify-pytorch-to-caffe2-conversion-1747700 | 2017-09-15 12:26:34.367000 | Microsoft, which last week announced it is was partnering with Amazon to let their respective AI-powered virtual assistants talk, said this week it has joined forced with Facebook to launch an open source AI resource repository called Open Neural Network Exchange (ONNX).
The AI resource repository, the companies said, will allow developers to swiftly switch between the company's respective AI engines - PyTorch and Caffe2 - at any stage of the development. The Open Neural Network Exchange addresses one of the key issues that is hindering the growth of the machine learning ecosystem. There are various frameworks for executive neural networks but they are all different and not interoperable.
Developers have long desired for a common ground among these different frameworks, as each offers its own advantages. Kovas Boguta, a developer at Twitter, said "Looks like the long-awaited 'export pytorch to caffe2' has dropped. Interesting development."
Facebook maintains two different AI modules -- FAIR and AML. The company uses FAIR to handle bleeding edge research, while AML to bring AI-powered solutions to consumer-facing services. FAIR supports PyTorch, while AML supports Caffe2. The collaboration between Facebook and Microsoft will enable developers to easily convert models built in PyTorch into Caffe2 models.
It's a welcome move from the two companies, but developers who prefer Google's TensorFlow and other key frameworks, and Apple's CoreML are still in their wallet chambers, as both only allow limited conversions to other models.
"People experimenting with new models, and particularly those in research, want maximum flexibility and expressiveness in writing neural networks - ranging from dynamic neural networks to supporting gradients of gradients, while keeping a bread-and-butter ConvNet performant," developers at Facebook wrote.
"Researchers also want to iterate rapidly, which means that they need excellent tooling for interactive development and debugging. PyTorch has been built to push the limits of research frameworks, to unlock researchers from the constraints of a platform and allow them to express their ideas easier than before." |
Brazilian regulator allows testing of Enel solar project | Enel Green Power has been given the green light by Brazilian power regulator Aneel to begin testing part of its 292 MW Nova Olinda solar complex. Enel will initially put seven 30 MW plants, located in Ribeira do Piaui into testing. The Nova Olinda, dubbed by Enel as the largest of its kind in all of Latin America, is set to produce 600 GWh per year, enough to power around 300,000 local homes. | https://renewablesnow.com/news/brazil-okays-210-mw-of-enel-solar-parks-to-start-test-operations-583140/ | 2017-09-15 12:02:26.857000 | Brazilian power sector regulator Aneel has given the go-ahead to 210 MW of solar plants by Enel Green Power SpA (BIT:EGPW) to commence test operations.
Sited in the city of Ribeira do Piaui, Piaui state, each of the seven 30-MW plants will include 32 systems of 937.5 kW each. They are part of the 292-MW Nova Olinda photovoltaic (PV) complex, according to the company's website.
Spread over 690 hectares, Nova Olinda was dubbed by Enel as the largest of its kind in all of Latin America. Once completed, the PV complex is expected to generate 600 GWh per year, enough to meet the demand of about 300,000 local homes.
Under Aneel's resolutions, only after the test period, if these plants present positive results, the government will allow Enel to start the commercial operations.
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Indian spot market prices peak after less generation from wind | Spot market power prices in India reached a three-year high of INR9 ($0.14) per unit, as coal-based power plants ramped up production following a 70% drop in wind-based electricity last month, compared to August 2016. Less rainfall in southern and western states during the same period resulted in a 12% reduction in hydro power generation. The buoyant spot prices are expected to last until the weather turns cooler. | http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/stocks/news/spot-power-prices-hit-three-year-high-of-rs-9-per-unit/articleshow/60497586.cms | 2017-09-15 11:49:14.657000 | NEW DELHI: Spot market power prices have peaked Rs 9 per unit, a threeyear high, while the average price on India Electricity Exchange also rose to Rs 5 per unit on low electricity supply. The prices are expected to remain high until the warm weather conditions recede.Industry sources said while the power demand remained at the same level as last year, supply was low due to lesser generation from wind and hydropower plants . The development, however, comes as a relief to coal-based power plants that have ramped up production.There has been growth of 17% in coal-based thermal power generation, on account of reduction in hydro power generation by 12%, in nuclear power generation by 36% and others by 7% in August 2017 over August 2016, a statement issued by the coal ministry said.Data available with the Central Electricity Authority showed that the thermal power plants operated at 58% last month against 51.59% in the same period last year. Sources said wind-based generation dropped by 70% due to unfavourable weather conditions across states like Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.The hydro generation declined 12% due to less rainfall in southern and western states and nuclear generation was down by over 36%. Data available with India Energy Exchange showed that the trading volume on Wednesday stood at an all-time high of 183 million units, while prices peaked to Rs 9.2/unit on Tuesday across India for a 15-minute slot. The maximum clearing price on Wednesday was Rs 7.90/unit.Spot power prices have been rising since August, typically an irrigation period. They rose by 8.5% last month over previous month due to increase in electricity demand by the southern states. The market clearing price at Rs 3.13 per unit last month was 26% higher from price in July 2017 (Rs 2.49 per unit) and 44% higher than August 2016 (Rs 2.17 per unit).Meanwhile, coal secretary Susheel Kumar had on Tuesday reviewed coal stock position at various power plants and directed to raise loading to 250 railway rakes per day. “For every power plant, one subsidiary of Coal India (CIL) has been assigned the role of lead company. The lead company shall be responsible to monitor and ensure that power plants linked to it are out of criticality. A control room at CIL will monitor coal supply position to the TPPs on 24x7 basis,” the statement said. |
Harvey revives debate over 'undergrounding' of power lines | The recent power outages wrought by Hurricane Harvey in the US have reopened the debate surrounding burying electricity lines, or "undergrounding". While a study found a quarter of all new electricity cables in the US and in some parts of Europe are laid underground, burying existing power lines costs about $1m per mile, which cannot be passed on to the consumer. Instead, some US states are adopting a holistic approach, with improved vegetation management practices to avoid trees falling on power lines or transformers. | https://futurism.com/should-the-us-put-power-lines-underground/ | 2017-09-15 11:44:04.433000 | Undergrounding
It is the height of a highly destructive hurricane season in the United States. The devastation of Harvey in Texas and Louisiana caused nearly 300,000 customers to lose electricity service, and Hurricane Irma has cut service to millions of people. Soon, winter storms will bring wind and snow to much of the country.
Image Source: dphinton2003
Anxious people everywhere worry about the impact these storms might have on their safety, comfort and convenience. Will they disrupt my commute to work? My children’s ride to school? My electricity service?
When it comes to electricity, people turn their attention to the power lines overhead and wonder if their electricity service might be more secure if those lines were buried underground. But having studied this question for utilities and regulators, I can say the answer is not that straightforward. Burying power lines, also called undergrounding, is expensive, requires the involvement of many stakeholders and might not solve the problem at all.
Where Should Ratepayer Money Go?
Electric utilities do not provide service for free, as everyone who opens their utility bill every month can attest. All of the costs of providing service are ultimately paid by the utility’s customers, so it is critical that every dollar spent on that service provides good value for those customers. Utility regulators in every state have the responsibility to ensure that utilities provide safe and reliable service at just and reasonable rates.
But what are customers willing to pay for ensuring reliability and mitigating risk? That’s complicated. Consider consumer choices in automobile insurance. Some consumers choose maximum insurance coverage through a zero deductible. Others blanch at the higher premiums zero deductibles bring and choose a higher deductible at lower premium cost.
To provide insurance for electricity service, regulators and utilities must aggregate the preferences of individual customers into a single standard for the grid. It’s a difficult task that requires a collaborative effort.
The state of Florida’s reaction in the wake of the 2004-2005 hurricane seasons provides a model for this type of cooperative effort. Utilities, regulators and government officials meet every year to address the efficacy of Florida’s storm hardening efforts and discuss how these efforts should evolve, including the selective undergrounding of power lines. This collaborative effort has resulted in the refinement of utility “vegetation management practices” – selective pruning of trees and bushes to avoid contact with power lines and transformers – in the state as well as a simulation model to assess the economic costs and benefits of undergrounding power lines.
Nationally, roughly 25 percent of new distribution and transmission lines are built underground, according to a 2012 industry study. Some European countries, including the Netherlands and Germany, have made significant commitments to undergrounding.
Burying power lines costs roughly US$1 million per mile, but the geography or population density of the service area can halve this cost or triple it. In the wake of a statewide ice storm in December 2002, the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the electric utilities explored the feasibility of burying the state’s distribution lines underground and concluded that the project would take 25 years to complete and increase electricity rates by 125 percent. The project was never begun, as the price increase was not seen as reasonable for consumers.
A 2010 engineering study for the Public Service Commission on undergrounding a portion of the electricity system in the District of Columbia found that costs increased rapidly as utilities try to underground more of their service territory. The study concluded that a strategic $1.1 billion (in 2006 dollars) investment would improve the reliability for 65 percent of the customers in the utility’s service territory, but an additional $4.7 billion would be required to improve service for the remaining 35 percent of customers in outlying areas. So, over 80 percent of the costs for the project would be required to benefit a little more than one third of the customers. The Mayor’s Power Line Undergrounding Task Force ultimately recommended a $1 billion hardening project that would increase customer bills by 3.23 percent on average after seven years.
Shifting Risk
In addition to the capital cost, undergrounding may make routine maintenance of the system more difficult, and thus more expensive, because of reduced accessibility to power lines. This may also make it more difficult to repair the system when outages do occur, prolonging the duration of each outage. Utility regulators and distribution utilities must weigh this cost against the costs of repairing and maintaining the electricity system in its overhead state.
Electricity service is valuable. A 2009 study from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimated an economic cost of $10.60 for an eight-hour interruption in electricity service to the average residential customer. For an average small commercial or industrial customer the cost grew to $5,195, and to almost $70,000 for an average medium to large commercial or industrial customer. The economic benefits of storm hardening, therefore, are significant.
Beyond the economic value of undergrounding, one could consider other benefits, such as aesthetic ones, which may be more difficult to quantify. But all costs and benefits must be considered to ensure value for the customer’s investment.
In terms of reliability, it is not correct to say that burying power lines protects them from storm damage. It simply shifts the risk of damage from one type of storm effect to another.
For example, it is true that undergrounding can mitigate damage from wind events such as flying debris, falling trees and limbs, and collected ice and snow. But alternatives, such as proper vegetation management practices, replacing wood poles with steel, concrete or composite ones, or reinforcing utility poles with guy wires, may be nearly as effective in mitigating storm damage and may cost less.
Also, undergrounding power lines may make them more susceptible to damage from corrosive storm surge and flooding from rainfall or melting ice and snow. Areas with greater vulnerability to storm surge and flooding will confront systems that are less reliable (and at greater cost) as a result of undergrounding.
So, the relocation of some power lines underground may provide a cost-effective strategy to mitigate the risk of damage to elements of a utility’s infrastructure. But these cases should be evaluated individually by the local distribution utility and its regulator. Otherwise consumers will end up spending more for their electricity service, and getting less. |
Enel prize seeks to spark ideas on H2S cuts in geothermal plants | Italian renewable energy firm Enel Green Power has launched a competition to find new ways of maximising hydrogen sulphide abatement in geothermal power plants. A prize of €15,000 ($18,000) is available for the winning solution, which the rules state must be easy to install, low-cost and adaptable to typical geothermal plants. Also, it must have no harmful impact on the environment nor interfere with current processes.
| http://www.thinkgeoenergy.com/enel-seeking-for-innovation-proposals-on-h2s-abatement-from-geothermal-operations/ | 2017-09-15 11:35:00.817000 | Enel seeking for innovation proposals on H2S abatement from geothermal operations
Geothermal well in Italy (source: Enel)
Alexander Richter 15 Sep 2017
Enel Green Power is looking for novel solutions to maximize H2S abatement in geothermal power plants and at the same time reducing the OPEX associated with needs of chemicals in a challenge published and announces a reward of $17,800 for the winner.
Enel Green Power is looking for novel solutions to maximize H2S abatement in geothermal power plants and at the same time reducing the OPEX associated with needs of chemicals. Moreover, the present end-cycle effect of the AMIS® (Abatement of Mercury and Hydrogen Sulfide) process is quite good: no materials from the reactions outcomes are handled as solid waste nor sulfur cake are produced to be reprocessed. These condition should not be penalized (or even better improved) by the proposed solutions.
Challenge Expiration Date: October 12, 2017
Reward: EUR 15,000 – ca. $17,800
Challenge: An alternative solution for H2S abatement in geothermal power plants
Description
Scenario
Sustainable integration of geothermal power plants and related infrastructures, abatement of the gaseous emission and of the cooling tower drift, reduced noise level, etc., allow the preservation of natural beauties, environmental features and life quality of the people living near the plants.
One of the major problem of the geothermal energy is related to the atmospheric emission of the power plants, mainly hydrogen sulphide and mercury in elemental form.
Hydrogen sulphide is characterized by an odor threshold concentration of few ppb (part per billion), remarkably lower than the reference value of 100 ppb (as 24 hours average) established by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the protection of the population health.
Hydrogen sulphide concentrations in the ambient air, measured both by ENEL and ARPAT (the Environmental Protection Agency of Tuscany) are much lower than WHO reference value, so that this compound doesn’t pose any problem for the population health. However, the bad smell of hydrogensulphide is often perceived in the geothermal areas, depending on the atmospheric conditions and represents a real nuisance.
As for mercury, the emissions of this element are quite low, but there is some concern about possible build-up in the long term operation even at significant distances from the power plants, due to the mobility of this element.
Emission cleaning and in particular the elimination of the bad smell of hydrogen sulphide is a crucial point for the perfect compatibility between geothermal exploitation and valuable use of the territory, fundamental requirement for the consensus of the local communities.
Owing to the particular features of the Italian power plants (small and unattended) and of the geothermal fluids (high content of non condensable gases), the abatement technologies available on the market were not suitable and entailed excessive costs. As a consequence, it became necessary to develop an innovative process. This objective was achieved through the invention of AMIS® technology below outlined.
The invention of a proprietary technology (AMIS® – acronym for “Abatement of Mercury and Hydrogen Sulfide” in Italian language) for the abatement of hydrogen sulphide and mercury emission and its application both to new geothermal plants and to the retrofit of the existing one’s is a cornerstone of the New Geothermal Deal in Italy. Hydrogen sulphide is responsible of the bad smell often perceived in the geothermal areas.
AMIS® is an environmentally friendly process because doesn’t produce sulphur based by-products to be landfilled or recycled.
At present, all power plants are equipped with AMIS® systems. The process consists of three basic steps:
Removal of mercury by chemical absorption;
Selective catalytic oxidation of hydrogen sulfide to sulfur dioxide;
Sulfur dioxide scrubbing by a side stream of cooling water.
According to the ammonia content of the steam, which contributes to neutralize the absorbed SO2, the process may require the addition of chemicals (e.g. sodium hydroxide) to maintain the cooling water within the desired pH range. NaOH is injected in the column feed. Unfortunately, the cost of sodium hydroxide is getting an operative issue.
Therefore, Enel GP is looking for novel solutions to maximize H2S abatement and at the same time reducing the OPEX associated with needs of chemicals.
The Challenge
Enel GP is looking for novel solutions to maximize H2S abatement in geothermal power plants and at the same time reducing the OPEX associated with needs of chemicals. Moreover, the present end-cycle effect of the AMIS® (Abatement of Mercury and Hydrogen Sulfide) process is quite good: no materials from the reactions outcomes are handled as solid waste nor sulfur cake are produced to be reprocessed. These condition should be considered in the proposed solution and should not be penalized (or even better improved) by the new proposed solutions
Any proposed solution should address the following Solution Requirements:
The proposed solution must maximize H2S abatement in geothermal fluids, without using or minimizing chemicals The proposed solution must be economical (including capital, installation and maintenance costs) in order to be amenable to mass deployment in geothermal plants The solution must be easy to install and require low maintenance The proposed solution must be adaptable to typical geothermal plants The solution must use no toxic chemicals or have any negative impact on the environment The proposed system should offer the Seeker “freedom to practice” or be available for potential licensing. There should be no third party patent art preventing the use of specific equipment and materials for their commercial application.
The submitted proposal should include the following:
Detailed description of the proposed solution that can meet the above Solution Requirements. Rationale as to why the Solver believes that the proposed solution will work. This rationale should address each of the Solution Requirements described in the Detailed Description and should be supported with any relevant examples. Data, drawings, case studies, patent and journal references or any additional material that stitionupports the proposed solution.
Details of AMIS process are available in the attached Regulation, as annex 1.
The following links can be used by Solvers as a first introduction to the AMIS® technology:
Baldacci A., 2001. Italian Patent #01305033 dated 10 April 2001 (applied for 16 October 1998).Baldacci A., M. Mannari and F. Sansone, 2005: “Greening of Geothermal Power: An Innovative Technology for Abatement of Hydrogen Sulphide and Mercury Emission.” Proceedings of World Geothermal Congress 2005, Antalya, Turkey, 24-29 April 2005. Cesare Pertot, Fabio Sabatelli, Massimo Messia, Marco D’aleo, 2013: “Assessment of Geothermal Power Plants Impact on Air Quality – Effect of H2S Abatement with AMIS® in the Larderello-Travale-Radicondoli Geothermal Area (Tuscany)”. Proceedings of European Geothermal Congress 2013, Pisa, Italy, 3?7 June 2013 Fabio Sabatelli, Massimo Mannari, and Roberto Parri, 2009: “Hydrogen Sulfide and Mercury Abatement: Development and Successful Operation of AMIS® Technology”, GRC Transactions, Vol. 33, 2009
Challenge rules
This challenge has a specific Regulations and it is available as attachment at the end of this page. Read the Regulations to see terms and conditions of this challenge and to see if you can take part to the contest. All proposers are invited to read it keeping in mind that submitting a solution they automatically accept the Regulations other than the Terms of Usage of this platform.
What happens next?
An Enel technical panel will evaluate your proposal and might contact you to gather additional information.
Your innovative proposal will be evaluated based on technical parameters, economic and business impact for Enel. The presentation of the proposal will also be evaluated.
At the end of the assessment, you will receive feedback.
In case of success, an Enel contact person will get in touch with you to discuss the next steps.
Source & Details via: Enel |
VC firm uses IPO capital to invest in tech start-ups | A "blank cheque" venture capital company is using share capital to invest in private tech firms. Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings, which raised $600m for its recent IPO, plans to use the raised funding to invest in tech start-ups. The investments will grant the start-ups some of the benefits of being a public company, like access to capital, without having to go through the IPO process themselves. It also means portfolio companies will not have to meet financial expectation of short-term orientated shareholders. Social Capital's backers include Tony Bates, former CEO of Skype, and Adam Bain, former COO of Twitter.
| http://uk.businessinsider.com/chamath-palihapitiya-raises-600-million-ipo-social-capital-hedosophia-holdings?r=US&IR=T | 2017-09-15 11:21:07.587000 | Brian Ach/Getty Images for TechCrunch
Chamath Palihapitiya, a "Midas touch" investor, has raised $600 million in the initial public offering for his new firm, Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings.
Its shares, priced at $10 under the ticker IPOA.U, were up on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.
The firm will use its IPO money to fund other well-performing private tech startups.
Chamath Palihapitiya, founder of the venture-capital firm Social Capital, is setting himself up to become the Warren Buffett of tech investing. To that end, he has launched a new "blank-check" company in partnership with the London-based VC firm Hedosophia, aptly named Social Capital Hedosophia Holdings Corp.
On Wednesday, Social Capital Hedosophia announced it had raised $600 million in its initial public offering, an increase from the $500 million the company originally filed for at the beginning of September. The shares were listed on the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday at $10 and were up 3.5% in the first half of Thursday.
Despite the high price tag, Social Capital Hedosophia doesn't have any products or customers, and it doesn't own anything yet. The company plans to buy stakes in private tech companies — from minority stakes to controlling interests to full ownership.
The idea is to give these tech companies the benefits of being a publicly traded company — like easier access to capital — with fewer drawbacks, like the "distraction" of doing the actual IPO and the bother of the quarterly, short-term view of investors, Social Capital Hedosophia explained in the documents it filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This tactic also gives public investors access to the wealth created by well-performing private tech companies. Right now, most of that wealth is going to a small pool of investors, mainly the VCs and private-equity firms that get invited to the investment table.
Social Capital Hedosophia estimates that as of May, there were about 150 tech startups valued at over $1 billion, compared with about 200 public technology companies with a market cap of $1 billion. In years past, those 150 startups would have become public companies. Today, they can hold out as private ones indefinitely because there's so much money available to fund their growth from private investors.
Such blank-check public companies, which raise money first and then figure out how to invest it, are in vogue, according to The Wall Street Journal's Maureen Farrell. Twenty-two such funds have been launched on US exchanges so far this year, raising $6.9 billion, Farrell reports, citing Dealogic data.
That's not necessarily to say Palihapitiya's will succeed in picking tech companies that will make its investors wealthy. But it is being backed by a who's who in the Valley circles — Tony Bates, a Social Capital partner who's best known as the former CEO of Skype, is on the holding company's board.
Also on the board is Adam Bain, the well-liked former chief operating officer of Twitter who has been relishing in time off from a full-time job since he left in November. Bain has been advising startups and doing some other investments and board work, such as joining that of the sneaker company Goat last summer. There has been a lot of speculation about which company will finally talk Bain out of his retirement and back into an exec role.
But Palihapitiya will be the CEO of Social Capital Hedosophia. He's well known as one of the original executives of Facebook and an owner and board member of the Golden State Warriors. As an investor, he has backed companies like Box, Palantir, Pure Storage, Slack, and Yammer. |
New Australian energy policy would not rule out more coal power | Any investment policy for the energy sector will need to keep coal-fired power stations open, said Australia's deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce. Although the Australian government is due to decide on a new investment mechanism, the Coalition will not introduce clean energy targets modelled by Alan Finkel, Australia's chief scientist. Finkel's targets would deny certificates to new coal power stations. The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said: “I don’t foresee there being any barrier to a new coal-fired power station being built.” He added that the government had a technology-agnostic approach. | https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/aug/30/coalitions-finkel-response-wont-rule-out-new-coal-power-stations-pm-says | 2017-09-15 11:10:26.550000 | Malcolm Turnbull has signalled the government’s eventual response to the Finkel review will not create any barriers to building new coal-fired power stations, as he secured additional undertakings from energy retailers to be more transparent with customers.
After a meeting with energy retailers in Sydney on Wednesday, the prime minister was asked whether a clean energy target would be set at a threshold allowing for a new coal plant.
The prime minister said “I don’t foresee there being any barrier to a new coal-fired power station being built”.
Turnbull said the government had a technology agnostic approach to energy policy and his view was “all of the above”.
It was the second meeting in a month with energy retailers, and extracted undertakings that retailers would write to customers to inform them of more cost-effective plans.
The retailers agreed to write to 2 million customers on standing offers by Christmas and give them information that should help them obtain better rates.
The energy minister, Josh Frydenberg, said the companies had also agreed to move to a system where customers could access their consumption data and their payment data on a bar code on their bill, “and by using a smartphone or a similar device, they can click on that barcode and then automatically get access to better deals that are available in the market”.
The government also wants energy retailers to issue monthly accounts to customers in an effort to prevent bill shock but the companies say there are practical difficulties with this if customers are not hooked up to smart meters.
Last time they met the government, the energy companies delivered a message that they were not interested in prolonging the life of their ageing coal plants and they were looking for certainty about whether the government would legislate a clean energy target as recommended by the Finkel review.
Internal Coalition divisions have prevented a quick resolution on how to proceed with the clean energy target and the government is also waiting for a report from the Australian Energy Market Operator about the dispatchable power requirements of the electricity grid after the closure of two ageing coal-fired power stations.
That report is due imminently.
The Finkel review modelled a scheme where the threshold for the clean energy target was set at 0.6 tonnes of CO2 per megawatt hour – which would rule out coal operators being eligible for certificates.
The chief scientist, Alan Finkel, told Guardian Australia in mid-June the government could set the threshold anywhere it liked but it would be “surprising” if governments endorsed a scheme that “incentivised” coal-fired power.
Since the Finkel report was published, the Minerals Council of Australia has launched a fierce lobbying effort in Canberra to ensure the clean energy target threshold is set high enough to include “clean” coal.
The Nationals have also made it plain they want coal to remain in Australia’s energy mix as part of the government’s reset on energy policy, either through new capacity or refurbishing existing plants.
In mid-July, the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, told Guardian Australia he was prepared to support a clean energy target if the Liberals agreed to set a threshold allowing high-efficiency coal in the mix.
Various members of the government have said different things at different times about coal and the desirability of government intervention to build new plants.
The prime minister earlier this week told the ABC the government had no plans to build a coal-fired power station.
Asked whether he would rule out funding any coal-fired power stations, Turnbull replied: “Well, we have no plans to do so.”
Asked on Wednesday whether he had now ruled out building a power station, Turnbull said: “No, what I said was – I was asked if we had any plans to build a coal-fired power station, and I said we didn’t”.
Turnbull repeated arguments he has made previously that there is a case for Australia to have a next-generation coal-fired power station. “I would certainly welcome that.”
“We are the largest exporter of coal in the world,” he said. “Coal has a big future to play, not just in our electricity generation, for many, many years to come, but in the world’s.
“We have a vested interest in demonstrating that coal has a high-efficiency, low-emissions future, so I would welcome a high-efficiency, low-emissions coal-fired power station being built in Australia.
“It would be a good thing.”
The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said on Wednesday the country needed “real solutions, not just window dressing” on energy prices.
Shorten said nothing would improve on energy prices until Australia had a new climate and energy policy to give investors certainty.
He said the No 1 cause of rising prices was policy uncertainty. “We need a clean energy target”. |
TalkTalk TalkTalk appoints Kate Ferry as chief financial officer | Kate Ferry has been made TalkTalk chief financial officer, effective from 9 October. The present chief financial officer, Iain Torrens, will step down from the board on 30 September.
| http://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/talktalk-TALK/share-news/TalkTalk-Telecom-Group-PLC-Directorate-Change/75655899 | 2017-09-15 10:46:33.207000 | Talktalk Telecom (LSE:TALK)
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TIDMTALK
RNS Number : 8891Q
TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC
15 September 2017
RNS Announcement
15 September 2017
For Immediate Release
TalkTalk Telecom Group PLC
Directorate Change
Further to our announcement on 10 July 2017 we are pleased to confirm that Kate Ferry's appointment as the group's Chief Financial Officer will commence on 9 October 2017. Iain Torrens will step down from the Board on 30 September 2017.
There is no further information to disclose under paragraph 9.6.13 of the Listing Rules in respect of this appointment.
- End -
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Mal Patel, Investor Relations: +44 (0) 20 3417 1037 Tim Morris, Company Secretary: +44 (0)203 417 1000
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September 15, 2017 05:52 ET (09:52 GMT) |
EU safety study on glyphosate copied from Monsanto report | Glyphosate, the major ingredient in Monsanto’s RoundUp weedkiller, was recommended as safe for public use by the European Food Safety Authority (Efsa) based on an EU report that copied and pasted elements of a Monsanto study, according to The Guardian. Glyphosate has been linked to cancer, and EU countries have been divided over whether to re-license the chemical in November. The Efsa's recommendation is based on a report published in 2015, dozens of pages of which are identical to those in a Monsanto application on behalf of industry body, the Glyphosate Task Force.
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/sep/15/eu-report-on-weedkiller-safety-copied-text-from-monsanto-study | 2017-09-15 10:44:09.257000 | The European food safety authority (Efsa) based a recommendation that a chemical linked to cancer was safe for public use on an EU report that copied and pasted analyses from a Monsanto study, the Guardian can reveal.
Glyphosate is the core ingredient in Monsanto’s $4.75bn (£3.5bn) a year RoundUp weedkiller brand and a battle over its relicensing has split EU countries, with a final decision on its authorisation expected in early November.
That decision will largely be informed by an Efsa opinion, which is based on a 4,300-page renewal assessment report (RAR) published in 2015.
In June, Efsa said that where the RAR was concerned, “every scientific study is scrutinised for relevance and reliability by EU risk assessors based on the evidence contained within the study”.
But dozens of pages of the paper are identical to passages in an application submitted by Monsanto on behalf of the Glyphosate Task Force (GTF), an industry body led by the company.
These sections analyse peer-reviewed studies into links between glyphosate and genotoxicity (how likely it is to cause cell mutations), carcinogenicity and reproductive damage.
Franziska Achterberg, Greenpeace EU’s food policy director, said: “Whether this is a question of negligence or intent, it is completely unacceptable.
“It calls into question the entire EU pesticide approval process. If regulators rely on the industry’s evaluation of the science without doing their own assessment, the decision whether pesticides are deemed safe or not is effectively in the industry’s hands.”
Efsa insists that it has a “robust, well-balanced independence policy” and that it views the RAR as separate from the authority’s conclusion which follows it. The RAR is prepared by an EU state’s regulator – in this case Germany’s BfR – rather than Efsa itself.
An Efsa spokesperson said: “It is important to stress that these are extracts from and references to publicly available studies submitted by the applicant as part of their obligation under the pesticide legislation to carry out a literature search. In other words, these are not Glyphosate Task Force studies but rather studies available in the public scientific literature.”
Even so, the Efsa paper repeats descriptions – and analyses – verbatim from the 2012 GTF review. One of these, by former and current Monsanto employees John Acquavella and Donna Farmer, challenges the results of a study which found an association between pesticide use and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
It says: “The major limitations of this study were: the reliance on reported pesticide use (not documented exposure) information, the small number of subjects who reported use of specific pesticides, the possibility of recall bias, the reliance on secondary sources (next-of-kin interviews) for approximately 43% of the pesticide use information, and the difficulty in controlling for potential confounding factors, given the small number of exposed subjects.”
Some other sections are differentiated from the GTF paper by additions of text and reference numbers, different marking of headings and tables, capitalisations, changes from US to British spelling and some text cuts.
Most paragraphs dealing with peer-reviewed papers, though, are copied word for word. A Monsanto spokesperson said that Efsa allowed renewal reports to be written this way because of the large volume of toxicological studies submitted.
“There was an explanation by Efsa that direct passages from the industry application were included,” the spokesperson said. “This should by no means be understood as Efsa’s conclusion on glyphosate.”
The row over glyphosate’s safety has pitted scientists against each other – and regulators – with one branch of the World Health Organisation assessing that the substance was unlikely to be carcinogenic, while another ruled that it probably was. |
US-Norwegian firm wins part funding for Nordic data centre | Investors including Fast Track Venture Capital have invested $2.5m in Kolos, a US-Norwegian company that plans to build a 600,000 sq metre green data centre in Narvik, Norway. The 1,000 MW data centre will operate entirely on hydro and wind power sources, and the water from surrounding fjords will be used to cool its servers. US investment fund Headwaters MB has pledged to raise the remaining $250m of funding needed for the project.
| http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/content-tracks/design-build/fast-track-venture-capital-backs-kolos-in-25m-funding-round/98959.fullarticle | 2017-09-15 10:37:28.623000 | Last month, the newly formed US-Norwegian company made public its plan to build the 600,000 sq m (6.46m sq ft) green facility in Narvik, Norway, with up to 1,000MW of power capacity. Kolos joins the ranks of Facebook , Apple , Google , and companies involved in the Lefdal Mine project, all of which have their own massive data centers in the Nordics.
Data center developer Kolos has received $2.5m from a consortium of investors which includes the Fast Track Venture Capital, to fund its massive data center project in the Arctic Circle.
When the campus was announced, Kolos had already obtained part of the necessary funding for the project, and was in talks with US investment fund Headwaters MB - which has since agreed to raise $250m for the company - to secure the remaining cash.
The data center will rely entirely on hydro and wind power sources, which are said to hold enough energy locally to provide twice the amount required for the facility, while using water from the surrounding fjords to cool its servers.
Construction of the first module, which will support up to 60MW of IT equipment, is planned to begin in early 2018. |
Global hunger rose in 2016, for first time this century | The number of chronically undernourished people in the world rose by 38 million to 815 million in 2016, signalling the first rise this century, according to a report by five United Nations agencies. The study states that the increase is largely due to conflict and climate-related factors. Of the 815 million, 60% live in countries affected by conflict. The report also stated that the number of people experiencing chronic hunger rose from 10.6% in 2015 to 11% last year. Researchers stated that it was unclear whether the rise was a blip or the sign of a long-term trend.
| https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/sep/15/alarm-bells-we-cannot-ignore-world-hunger-rising-for-first-time-this-century | 2017-09-15 10:24:02.303000 | The number of hungry people in the world has increased for the first time since the turn of the century, sparking concern that conflict and climate change could be reversing years of progress.
In 2016, the number of chronically undernourished people reached 815 million, up 38 million from the previous year. The increase is due largely to the proliferation of violence and climate-related shocks, according to the state of food insecurity and nutrition in 2017, a report produced by five UN agencies.
The study also noted a rise in the number of people globally who are chronically hungry, from 10.6% in 2015 to 11% in 2016.
Cindy Holleman, a senior economist at the Food and Agriculture Organisation, said it was hard to know whether the increase was a blip or marked the reversal of a long-term trend. However, she said the rise in conflict and climate change – factors that rank alongside economic slowdown, which makes food hard to access for poor people, as key drivers of food insecurity – was cause for concern.
“Whether it has been a blip and it’s going to go back down again, we’re not sure,” said Holleman. “But we’re sending warning signals. We are sending a message that something is going on.
“If you look at the 815 million [chronically undernourished] people, 489 million or 60% of them are located in countries affected by conflict. Over the last decade we’re seen a significant increase in conflict. We also see that conflict combined with climatic effects is having a significant effect.”
A foreword to the report, written jointly by the heads of the five UN agencies, said: “Over the past decade, conflicts have risen dramatically in number and become more complex and intractable in nature.
“This has set off alarm bells we cannot afford to ignore: we will not end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030 unless we address all the factors that undermine food security and nutrition. Securing peaceful and inclusive societies is a necessary condition to that end.”
Oxfam’s head of food and climate change, Robin Willoughby, said:
“This must act as a wake-up call for international leaders and institutions to do more to resolve the catastrophic cocktail of climate change and conflict around the world. Global failure to tackle these issues affects us all, but it’s the world’s poorest who will suffer most.”
The report is the first UN global assessment of food security and nutrition following the adoption of the sustainable development goals, which aim to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030.
Progress has been made on reducing global hunger, which affected more than 900 million people at the turn of the century. Over the past year, however, hunger has reached an “extreme level” in many parts of the world, with famine declared in South Sudan in February, and Yemen, north-east Nigeria and Somalia considered on the brink.
People living in countries affected by protracted crisis are nearly two and a half times more likely to be undernourished than those living elsewhere, the report said.
Fuelled partly by extreme weather patterns resulting from El Niño, food security “deteriorated sharply” in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, and in south-east and western Asia, said the report.Chronic child malnutrition continues to fall, but at a slower rate in some regions, the report found. Wasting remains a threat to the lives of 52 million children.
Overweight and obesity rates in children are rising in most regions, and in all regions for adults. Such “multiple burdens” for malnutrition is a “cause for serious concern”, said the report.
Africa has the highest levels of severe food insecurity, affecting 27.4% of the population – almost four times that of any other region. Higher food insecurity was also observed in Latin America, rising from 4.7% to 6.4%. |
Global hunger rose in 2016, for first time this century | The number of chronically undernourished people in the world rose by 38 million to 815 million in 2016, signalling the first rise this century, according to a report by five United Nations agencies. The study states that the increase is largely due to conflict and climate-related factors. Of the 815 million, 60% live in countries affected by conflict. The report also stated that the number of people experiencing chronic hunger rose from 10.6% in 2015 to 11% last year. Researchers stated that it was unclear whether the rise was a blip or the sign of a long-term trend.
| http://www.fao.org/state-of-food-security-nutrition/en/ | 2017-09-15 10:24:02.303000 | The world is in a very different place to where it was six years ago when it committed to the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030.
At the time, we were optimistic that with transformative approaches, past progress could be accelerated, at scale, to put us on track to achieve that goal.
Yet, the past four editions of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) revealed a humbling reality.
The world has not been generally progressing either towards ensuring access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food for all people all year round (SDG Target 2.1), or to eradicating all forms of malnutrition (SDG Target 2.2).
Conflict, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns are the major drivers slowing down progress, particularly where inequality is high. The COVID-19 pandemic made the pathway towards SDG2 even steeper.
So, if the world is at a critical juncture, where do we stand now? And what can be done to help us build forward better and put us on track to achieving Zero Hunger? |
Viridian to pay $80m dividend to US private equity firm owner | New York-based private equity firm I-Squared is in line for an $80m dividend once Northern Irish energy company Viridian restructures its debt. The Belfast-based group plans to redeem €540m ($645m) of existing bonds and issue the equivalent of €600m of cheaper notes in euro and sterling, with the existing debt carrying an interest rate of 7.5%. In September, the company became able to exercise an option for early redemption of the debt, which was not due to mature until 2020. I-Squared set up Viridian's parent company, Viridian Topco, earlier this year, which will receive the dividend payment.
| https://www.irishtimes.com/business/energy-and-resources/viridian-s-new-york-owners-in-line-for-66m-dividend-amid-debt-refinancing-1.3218007 | 2017-09-15 09:56:21.047000 | Belfast-based energy group Viridian plans to pay a €60 million dividend up to its ultimate parent group, majority owned by US private equity firm I-Squared, as it undergoes a refinancing of its debt.
The onwner of electricity and gas supplier Energia and Power NI has confirmed it plans to redeem in full its €540 million of existing bonds and issue the equivalent of €600 million of cheaper notes, denominated in sterling and euro.
The company plans to pay a £60 million (€66mn) dividend to its recently-formed Cayman Islands-based parent, Viridian Topco Limited, which was set up by I-Squared earlier this year as it sold a minority stake in Viridian to an unknown investor.
The existing debt, issued in February 2015, carries a 7.5 per cent interest rate and Viridian's chief executive Ian Thom noted on a call with analysts late last month that its rivals' funding costs are currently below 4 per cent, given how bond yields have fallen in the past two-and-a-half years.
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Viridian passed a milestone on September 1st where it could exercise an option for early redemption of the debt, which was ordinarily not due to mature until 2020.
I-Squared, founded in 2012 by former executives from Morgan Stanley, bought Viridian in an estimated €1 billion deal last year from Bahrain’s Arcapital Bank, which owned the power company for almost decade. |
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