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It would be hard for most Americans to look around and conclude that we are in the middle of an historic shift in our energy sector. Gas-powered cars still dominate the roads, most of us don’t own a solar PV system, and more than 70 percent of homes still rely on 100-year-old incandescent light bulbs. But within the energy industry, there are major improvements in the economics of renewables, electric vehicles and lighting that are accelerating an increasingly rapid shift in certain sectors.
Four Charts That Prove the Future of Clean Energy Is Arriving : Greentech Media
At least six of 10 largest U.S. homebuilders led by KB Home are including the photovoltaic devices in new construction, according to supplier SunPower Corp. (SPWR) Two California towns are mandating installations, and demand for the systems that generate electricity at home will jump 56 percent nationwide this year, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
FuturePundit: Home Solar Installations Rising Sharply
Woman gets £20k Orange bill for Facebook uploads from Turkey. Sunk almost £3k a day on the social network
Woman gets £20k Orange bill for Facebook uploads from Turkey- The Inquirer
LITTLE KNOWN HARDWARE MAKER Kogan has announced a quad-core Android phone to rival Samsung, HTC and Sony that costs just £149 SIM-free.
Kogan announces a £149 quad-core Android phone to rival Samsung, HTC and Sony- The Inquirer
solar panel costs were 60% lower in the second quarter (Q2) of 2013 than they were in early 2011. Overall solar PV system prices, on average, were 40% lower, and they were 50% lower than average solar PV system prices in early 2010.
Cost Of Solar Power 60% Lower Than Early 2011 In US | CleanTechnica
Societe Generale forecast a lengthy emerging markets rally on Friday, becoming the latest bank to turn bullish on the sector following the Federal Reserve’s surprise decision to maintain its $85 billion per month asset purchases.
Emerging market ‘multi-week rally’ may loom
Japan’s stocks may have surged more than 40 percent so far this year, but some analysts believe they are poised to climb even higher.
Are Japan’s stocks ready to storm higher?
Fed researchers and top outside academics are coming around to the view that the Fed’s purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds don’t actually do that much for the economy. Instead, they argue, the real action comes from something called “forward guidance.” That’s when Fed officials tell traders what factors will affect the future path of short-term interest rates.
Fed Repudiates Its Own Economists – Bloomberg
Faced with stubbornly high and persistent unemployment in 2003-05 the German government implemented far-reaching labour-market reforms, the so-called Hartz reforms. This column shows that these reforms were highly successful in bringing down the non-cyclical component of unemployment in Germany but also argues that the Hartz reforms created winners and losers.
German labour reforms: Unpopular success | vox
What happened in 2008? Why didn’t the cut in interest rates prevent Aggregate Demand from falling? Was it just that the cut in interest rates wasn’t big enough?
Worthwhile Canadian Initiative: Interest rates and Aggregate Demand
Given that health-care spending is almost one-fifth of our economy, that means the health problems of 15 million Americans are consuming almost one-tenth of our GDP — around $1.5 trillion.
The two most important numbers in American health care
In interviews with more than a dozen people who have worked closely with Yellen, the portrait that emerges is of a careful and deliberate thinker who has been mostly right in her assessments over the tumultuous past six years of crisis, recession and grinding recovery.
When Olympus demonstrated the camera, it was put on a wildly vibrating pad, and streamed video to a monitor. There was no jitter or movement whatsoever. It was rock solid.
Why You Should Buy Olympus’ Awesome New Camera | PCMag.com
He’d just weighed in for the fight, wearing long underwear tucked into wool socks. He’d tipped the scale at 247 pounds, nearly 30 more than his fighting weight. “I just ate!” he cried.
