Liam Halligan writing in the Daily Telegraph shares this piece of jaw-dropping fact in his news-story, “Some electrifying facts about climate change – and how markets can save us” (11th Feb ’07):
“China last year added 102 gigawatts of generating capacity to its electricity network. If you consider that Britain’s total electricity usage is 63 gigawatts, you’ll see why this number knocked my socks off.So the People’s Republic last year increased its power output by more than 1.6 times our entire consumption. And we are the fifth biggest economy in the world….”
Accompanying the story is a graph that I found illuminating. It shows the GDP (on a PPP basis) and oil consumption of US, W Europe, China and other Asia and also shows CO2 emissions per capita.
Click to enlarge. Read the article in full here
February 17th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
China, Development Issues |
no comments
First it was Davos, then the FT 
and now The Economist*
So I guess “Overheating India” is the new cool in circles where they discuss such weighty matters and amongst people who read the FT to work**
On the WSJ’s Davos blog: “Is India Overheated?” Balaji wrote a great comment in reaction to Stephen Schwarman (CEO, Blackstone Group)’s “outsider’s perspective”. But first the “outsider’s perspective” (as reported by Christopher Emsden):
“A couple of years ago, he said, his company decided to start investing in India. He liked India because it was a democracy, the legal system was well established, and the costs seemed low and the potential seemed high.
But when Blackstone tried to find an office in the commercial capital of Mumbai (formerly Bombay), the only space it could find was a hotel room. (”And I thought hotel rooms were for sleeping, not officing,” he said.) Employees, wired into the world, wanted wages competitive with what they would earn elsewhere. And even the investment climate seemed somewhat overheated, with high multiples. Land prices alone, he was told, are more than 10 times what they were 18 months ago.
“Overheated?” asked Mr. Schwarzman, who describes himself as a big India booster. “You decide.”
Here is what Balaji wrote in response:
Keep Reading…
February 2nd, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Development Issues, Economics, Entrepreneurship, India |
7 comments
…and some notes from last week at Cleantech:
- 9% of all VC activity is now in Cleantech – $2bn in 2006!
- Now the third largest VC category? (just under $3bn?)
- On AIM 29 cleantech deals last year raised $1.2bn
- Cleantech city of the year: Frankfurt: 15 clean energy deals raising $2.6bn
- 20% of the world’s population lack access to clean water today
- Cleantech is “the greatest economic opportunity of the 21st century” – Ray Lane, ex-Oracle and now GP, Kliener Perkins
- Europe is a lot more mature about cleantech than US has been
- Huge capital needs in this space – hampers innovation?
- Holy Grail of Energy: Storage: How to store it and not loose it
- AIM/ Frankfurt is seeing all the action…What is the US VC industry doing about rejuvenating NASDAQ/ NYSE and relaxing some of the more onerous regulations…?
- 51k protests out of 80k protests in China last year were related to environmental pollution
- 44% of Indian households do not have electricity (I am not sure this is correct – SB)
- India is the greatest adapter and user of renewable energy in the world (village level/ cow-dung, bio-fuel)
- What is needed is not so much cutting edge technology but immediately applicable technologies that will help satisfy the basic needs at the rural level of water and electricity
- There is (today) 1 car for 143 people in India/ 1 car for 1.6 ppl in US and 1 car for every 60 ppl in China
- China feeds 22% of the world with 7% of arable land; It is also the biggest emitter of SO2 which causes acid rain
January 31st, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
China, Development Issues |
no comments
A few weeks ago, I read an article in BusinessWeek on the 300 millionth baby born in the USA and the implications of US’ large (and growing) population and its enormous consumption of resources for the rest of the world.
As Victoria Markham wrote in that article, “My daughter and I watched the U.S. Census Bureau Population Clock tick its way, second by second, to the magical 300 million mark…At the historic moment (my daughter) asked: “Why does that matter?”
The answer may be more disturbing than she–or any of us–knows, because the U.S. is a world leader not only in gross domestic product, per-capita income, innovative technologies, and many health and educational standards, but also in a more dubious measure: our environmental footprint.”
“The U.S. population has the largest per capita environmental imprint in the world, with greater impact on many of the planet’s resources and ecosystems than any other nation on earth. Indeed, while we represent just 1/20th of the global population, we consume disproportionately higher amounts–at least one-fourth–of practically every natural resource (in the world).”
Keep Reading…
November 18th, 2006
Posted by
Shantanu |
Development Issues, Globalization |
no comments
On the Op-Ed pages of WSJ this morning (Nov 2), I came across a sobering thought against the backdrop of the Stern Review.
The editorial mentioned how the Stern Report had “garnered most of the press…thanks to its claim that global warming might eliminate anywhere from 5% to 20% of world economic output ‘forever’…”
But more importantly, it referred to the “other report” from the Copenhagen Consensus Center which detailed the outcome of the Copenhagen Consensus Conference in New York on 27th and 28th of October, 2006 and which hardly received any media attention.
And what was the outcome…? Unfortunately it appeared routine and humdrum…although it was anything but.
“If 24 United Nations ambassadors and other senior diplomats from countries representing 54 percent of the world’s population had their way, top priority for addressing major world challenges would be given to communicable diseases, sanitation and water, malnutrition, and education.“ As WSJ said, “the point is that, in a world with scarce resources, we can’t fix everything at once and thus need priorities”
Not only are the concerns and issues outlined above more pressing and urgent than worries about climate change, they are real and “here-and-now” as opposed to a guesstimated risk of some future catastrophe happening.
It is a pity (but a fact) that the real problems of the developing world often get eclipsed – either because no one cares (Sudan, anyone?) or they do not make for good copy (providing clean water is not sexy, warning about climate change is).
I would urge all of you to read the Copenhagen Center report and at least become aware of what present ills we face…before worrying about the sky falling on our heads tomorrow.
November 2nd, 2006
Posted by
Shantanu |
Development Issues, Miscellaneous |
2 comments
Click to enlarge. Read the article in full here
