February 20, 2011, (Coal Geology/NewsUSA) – A combination of legislation and activism is inspiring companies to consider the “green” side to their business.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows environmentally related occupations are projected to grow 38 percent more than all other occupations combined by 2016. The report, “Current and Potential Green Jobs in the U.S. Economy,” predicts the highest growth of green jobs will be in renewable power generation, retrofitting residential and commercial areas and in renewable transportation fuels. As a result, universities are increasingly integrating economic, environmental and social issues into their curriculum.

One of these institutions, DeVry University, has created several green-focused specializations to build on the school’s core degree programs — including business administration with a specialization in sustainability management, and electronics engineering technology with a specialization in renewable energy.

“Education needs to reflect this trend for the future leaders who will build economic and technological capital while considering the impact on social and natural resources,” said Jesus Fernandez, associate provost for curriculum at DeVry University. “DeVry University’s green curriculum adds focus on sustainability and environmental impact to the core business and electronics engineering technology degree programs.”

Fernandez offers three main growth areas:

Sustainability Management

An emerging area for leadership involves resource conservation, pollution prevention and the regulation and enforcement for process and procedure to be made more efficient and with greater

sustainability. Those interested in sustainability management should explore coursework that provides a sound foundation of business and management principles while emphasizing green considerations, technologies and economic factors.

Renewable Energy

Relating to the production, transmission and storage of sustainable energy sources — wind, solar, geothermal and biomass power — many of the skills needed in engineering, design, planning or project management for renewable sources of energy are similar to those needed in traditional energy fields.

A strong engineering technology and electronics foundation, like DeVry University’s Renewable Energy specialization, provides an emphasis on alternative power sources and the economics of green engineering.

“Changing Skill” Occupations

With the increasing cultural shift toward environmental stewardship, there is a substantial need for employees of all levels to understand the green process. Students now have the opportunity to add desirable green skills to their existing area of expertise ? be it marketing, operations, finance or management.

Green job growth won’t slow down anytime soon — it is currently outpacing even total job growth. Between 1998 and 2007, U.S. green jobs increased by 9.1 percent with little government investment — almost 150 percent more than total job growth of 3.7 percent for the same period. Moving forward, companies will require employees to understand “green,” and it will be essential for graduates to prepare themselves for this changing environment. Students interested in these exciting programs and careers should visit www.devry.edu for more information.

Federal agencies develop and issue hundreds of rules and regulations every year to implement statutes written by Congress. Almost every aspect of an individual’s life is touched by federal regulations, but many do not understand how rules are made or how they can get involved in the process. This video contest is an opportunity for everyone to learn more and participate in an open government.

With a short 60 to 90 second video, citizens should capture public imagination and use creativity, artistic expression and innovation to explain why regulations are important to everyone, and motivate others to participate in the rulemaking process.  Individuals and groups of all ages may participate. Entries must be received by May17, 2010.  The winner will be awarded $2,500, and their video posted on the Regulations.gov and EPA Web sites.

More information on the contest: http://www.epa.gov/lawsregs/videocontest

Total emissions of the six main greenhouse gases in 2008 were equivalent to 6,957 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. The gases include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride. Though overall emissions dropped in 2008, emissions are still 13.5 percent higher than they were in 1990.

The Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2008 is the latest annual report that the United States has submitted to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The convention sets an overall framework for intergovernmental efforts to tackle the challenge posed by climate change. EPA prepares the annual report with experts from multiple federal agencies and after gathering comments from a broad range of stakeholders across the country.

The inventory tracks annual greenhouse gas emissions at the national level and presents historical emissions from 1990 to 2008. The inventory also calculates carbon dioxide emissions that are removed from the atmosphere by “sinks,” which occurs through the uptake of carbon by forests, vegetation and soils.

More information: http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/usinventoryreport.html

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and visiting US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who signed the partnership agreement here, also discussed steps to further reform the global financial system to prevent recurrence of another economic crisis like the one witnessed in 2008.

‘This partnership creates a framework that is commensurate with the growing influence of our economic relationship,’ Geithner, who is on a two-day visit to India, told reporters at a joint press conference with Mukherjee.

The partnership would facilitate more trade, investment and job creation in the two countries, he added.

‘Our expanded partnership will build on our existing dialogue regulatory issues to serve as a vehicle to discuss strategies to promote in both countries, financial sector reform and deepen capital markets.’

Said Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee: ‘We just concluded a very productivity discussion on global and bilateral issues. These included monetary and fiscal polices. All this will reinforce our ties’.

‘I am confident that this partnership will unleash the energy and enterprise of people of the two countries and help address global challenges,’ he added.

Both countries also discussed the impact of the undervalued Chinese currency Yuan.

The two sides said their talks sought to push India-US economic ties in general and dwelt on greater participation of American firms in India’s infrastructure development.

Mukherjee said India would need at least $600 billion for its infrastructure sector for developing ports, roads and other sectors of the economy.

‘The PPP (Public Private Partnerships) model has a potential for further developing infrastructure across the country,’ he said, adding this would unlock private sector financing for critical investment.

Geithner said American companies saw opportunities in India’s infrastructure sector.

In a prepared statement earlier, he said US and India needed to work more closely.

‘Our ability to cooperate on economic and financial issues will be critically important to the success of global efforts to create conditions for a more stable global financial system, more balanced global economic growth that is less dependent on the willingness of Americans to live beyond our means, more effective and representative international financial institutions and a more open global trading system,’ Geithner said.

Geithner will visit Mumbai Wednesday to meet top Indian chief executives.

The other partners of the consortium are Global Transit, Google, KDDI Corporation, Pacnet and SingTel.

The 9,620 km submarine cable — Unity cable system — provides direct connectivity between Chikura, located on the coast near Tokyo, and West Coast network points-of-presence in Los Angeles, Palo Alto and San Jose.

‘Bharti Airtel’s investments in Unity is part of its plans to expand it global network through its ownership of the i2i submarine cable system and consortium ownership in other global undersea cable systems like SEA-ME-WE 4, EIG, I-ME-WE and AAG,’ the company said in a statement.

Through the deployment of state-of-the-art submarine cable technology, the five fibre pair cable system will deliver up to 4.8 terabytes per second of bandwidth across the Pacific, with each fibre pair having a capacity of up to 960 Gigabytes per second, it said.

First announced in February 2008, the cable system was built at a cost of around $300 million.

The announcement is part of a broader pledge by President Barack Obama to shift the US economy towards cleaner forms of energy and curb climate change, though efforts to achieve comprehensive reforms have so far floundered in Congress.

The Obama administration will by 2016 require carmakers to reach an average of 15.1 km per litre across their fleet of models, up from the current 11.6 km per litre. The rule also requires an average carbon dioxide emission level of 155 grams per kilometre.

The new standards will be introduced gradually, starting in 2012. Lisa Jackson, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), called it a ‘historic’ standard that would be a ‘win-win programme for our economy and our environment’.

Obama first directed his administration to raise fuel economy standards in May 2009 in an effort to curb pollution from vehicles, which account for about one quarter of all climate-damaging emissions from the US.

The new rules were welcomed by environmentalists and carmakers, who had agreed to back the higher fuel economy requirements after talks with the Obama administration last year.

General Motors Co in a statement said: ‘While these requirements are very challenging, we feel confident that GM will be able to achieve the mandated fleet fuel economy targets.’

Separately, GM announced that the first Chevy Volt had rolled off the factory production line. The plug-in hybrid, which enters mass production later this year, is a central element of GM’s strategy to green its car fleet.

The Volt is powered by an electric motor with a range of about 64 km, after which a petrol motor kicks in that extends its range by nearly 500 km.

GM’s plans are part of a wider trend in the industry towards petrol-electric hybrids and other greener vehicles. Japanese maker Nissan will later this year begin selling its all-electric Leaf model.

The higher fuel economy standards were estimated to cost carmakers $52 billion and will add about $950 to the cost of each vehicle by 2016, the EPA estimated.

Jackson argued consumers will make up the difference in lower petrol costs. The administration also argues the new standards will ultimately save 1.8 billion barrels of oil.

Obama supports a more comprehensive clean energy bill that would impose a pollution cap on most industries. Yet talks have stalled in the US Senate amid stiff opposition from conservatives and some fellow Democrats over its potential costs to the economy.

For the week:

• U.S. coal production totaled approximately 21.7 million short tons (mmst)
• This production estimate is approximately the same as in last week’s estimate,
and 10.6 percent higher than the production estimate in the comparable week in 2009
• Production east of the Mississippi River totaled 9.3 mmst
• Production west of the Mississippi River totaled 12.4 mmst

For more information:

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/weekly/weekly_html/wcppage.html

The New York-based Conference Board’s monthly index of consumer confidence climbed to 52.5 from 46.4 in February. The index stood at 56.5 in January.

The higher figures were spurred by some optimism over employment prospects in the coming months as the economy recovers from a deep recession.

But Lynn Franco, director of research at the Conference Board, noted the index has been relatively stagnant over the past year. She said households ‘continue to express concern about current business and labour market conditions.’

‘Stovekraft has consistently outperformed the market and demonstrated over 50 percent compounded growth annually. We are backing the company in building a high-quality consumer franchise,’ Sequoia managing director Sandeep Singhal said in a statement here.

The Bangalore-based Stovekraft’s flagship brands, Pigeon and Gilma, address the needs of consumers through an array of products complementing their lifestyle. Gilma branded products are targeted at the premium segment.

‘Our flagship brands are synonymous with quality kitchenware products. The confidence reposed in us by Sequoia is a testimony to our success. We have aggressive growth plans to expand our footprint across India,’ Stovekraft managing director Rajendra Gandhi said.

Sequoia Capital manages funds capitalised at $1.8 billion and invests in diverse companies across verticals. It has invested in about 50 Indian firms over the last nine years.

Cafe Coffee Day, Comviva (Bharti Telesoft), Dr Lal Pathlabs, Edelweiss, Firstsource, GVK Biosciences, Idea Cellular, Ind-Barath Power, Just Dial, Shaadi.com and SKS Microfinance are some of the firms in which Sequoia has made strategic investments for medium and long term returns.

Sequoia was also an early investor in global tech firms such as Google, Cisco, Yahoo, YouTube, Oracle, and Apple Computers.

‘India and the US have taken an important step towards implementing the civil nuclear cooperation agreement, by completing negotiations on arrangements and procedures for reprocessing US-obligated spent nuclear fuel,’ the external affairs ministry said in a statement here.

The US state department in Washington also announced the conclusion of negotiations on a reprocessing pact, which was concluded during the last round of negotiations held in New Delhi March 2-4 this year. The first round was held in July last year.

US ambassador Timothy J. Roemer hailed the wrapping up of reprocessing negotiations much before the July 2010 deadline and lauded India’s ‘outstanding track record on non-proliferation issues.’

‘This important step is part of the great, win-win narrative of the US-India global partnership, affirming the commitment of our two countries to realize the full potential of our landmark civil nuclear agreement,’ the US envoy said.

These arrangements, the envoy pointed out, will open the door for US firms in India’s rapidly expanding energy sector, creating thousands of jobs for the citizens of both our countries.

‘The US and India are close to completing an historic partnership on civil nuclear cooperation, an issue of global significance,’ he said.

These arrangements, negotiated pursuant to Article 6(iii) of the 123 bilateral India-US civil nuclear agreement, will enable Indian reprocessing of US-origin nuclear material under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards.

Setting a positive tone for Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington April 12-13 to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, the envoy said the US recognised that the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh shared US President Barack Obama’s bold vision for a nuclear weapons-free world.

‘We applaud India’s outstanding track record on non-proliferation issues, and we look forward to our continuing cooperation in this area,’ he said.

The pact was finalised after the third round of negotiations early March between India’s Department of Atomic Energy officials led by R.B. Grover and the US delegation led by Richard Stratford, the non-proliferation and disarmament expert in the State Department.

The Indian government, on its part, is pushing hard for passing the Civil Nuclear Liabilities Bill, that limits damages to be paid by foreign nuclear companies in case of nuclear accidents, in the budget session of parliament.

The civil liability legislation is the last step India is required to complete before the two sides can commence nuclear commerce.

The reprocessing negotiations were expected to be completed during Manmohan Singh’s Nov 26 state visit to Washington last year, but differences over some issues and the drafting of the text delayed the pact.

Following months of hard-nosed negotiations, the US side has accepted India’s proposal for multiple dedicated national facilities for reprocessing spent fuel, reliable sources said.

The two sides have also been able to find a way out to accommodate each other’s concerns over India’s right to reprocess in case it conducts a nuclear test.

India has also agreed to security levels at reprocessing facilities, followed by nuclear powers like the US.