The growing scandal with Solyndra has clouded the national outlook on solar technology and the solar industry in general. Despite this and other high-profile bankruptcies, the solar industry is still doing well–at least if the measurement is by job growth. The solar industry has added almost 7,000 jobs in the past year bringing[This content is [...]
In the face of adversity, we often see great innovation. Nippon Steel, the premier producer of steel in Japan has found a way to turn the tsunami disaster into a positive. Here is an excerpt of the story from Sendai News: SENDAI–Nippon Steel Corp. said Sept. 14 it has found a way to turn [...]
Although cotton prices haven’t been hit hard in the US, in Pakistan, they are spiking. More than 7% of the cotton crop has been destroyed in late season rains. The crop will yield likely far less than this 7% figure, officials were trying to show the lighter side of the damage in order to try [...]
The Baltic Dry Index is climbing. We’ve talked about this a lot over the past several months and gave you an update on it last week. The BDI continues to rise despite the negative Wall Street sentiment. So, what could possibly be making it return to “normal”? First, the BDI was at one time [...]
Global cotton prices did not take a sharp uptick as a result of predictions that Hurricane Irene would deal a heavy dose of rain to the region. In fact, some analysts are now re-evaluating their forecasts and [This content is for MEMBERS ONLY. Please click Subscribe in the upper right corner to continue.]
Elk Creek, Nebraska could be the site of the next group of millionaires – created overnight. The small town has discovered that it has perhaps one of the largest (if not the largest) global deposit of rare-earth materials – especially one that is critical in making super-hard steel. [This content is for MEMBERS ONLY. Please [...]
All one has to do is Google “raw materials” in the news section and you’ll see wave after wave of earnings reports over the past two weeks suggesting that profits would have been much higher had raw material costs not risen so much. Everyone from Michelin to Ashland, DANONE to ArcelorMittal said that raw materials [...]
Discovery News.com has issued a new story today that might be worth thumbing through. The long and short of it is this: scientists have studied the healing capabilities of dolphins and have found properties in the dolphin blubber that allow it to heal much faster than humans. When I first saw the story, I was [...]
The Baltic Dry Index is showing that the number of raw materials leaving the Australian market has been dropping in the most recent weeks. This is a trend that many analysts have been pointing to as a sign that the global economy could be finding some deeper weak spots than previously thought. [This content is [...]
The World Trade Organization has ruled against China in a 2009 complaint filed by the United States, EU, and Mexico for limiting certain items for export. China alleges that the move to restrict exports of certain materials was aimed at helping to protect the natural resources and environment in the country, but the WTO found [...]
