IFC Focus On Philippines, Papua New Guinea And Indonesia

The IFC is expanding its role in sustainable development of mining in Asia and this year is focusing on South East Asia, particularly Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Indonesia.

IFC senior investment officer Karsten Fuelster, based in Jakarta, says each of these countries has significant mining prospects but they also face challenges such as developing regulatory frameworks and evolving social and environmental standards.

IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and its role is to finance private sector projects in developing countries. It acts as a partner to achieve international standards in corporate governance and environmental and social practices. Its objective is poverty alleviation through private sector investments.

Karsten Fuelster says: "We are looking at investment opportunities where our global environmental and social expertise can help mining companies implement projects in challenging environments and where we can act as a catalyst in raising project funding."

IFC finances advanced mining exploration as well as mine construction and operation through a variety of financial products ranging from equity, mezzanine, subordinated to senior debt. IFC also invests in mining services, mine expansion and provides corporate funding. Increasingly, it is looking to make equity investments in junior companies during the early stages of project development. In these cases, IFC typically supports the completion of feasibility studies and assists in setting-up community development programs that help to secure a "social licence to operate" among local people.

As an example of the IFC's focus on sustainable mining through early equity investments, Karsten Fuelster says: "We have recently invested in Far East Energy Corporation, a coal bed methane exploration project in China, promoting cleaner energy technology in a country that seeks to produce energy in ever cleaner ways."

A sustainable approach to mining is no longer an altruistic endeavour - it is a business imperative. IFC points out that mining companies are guests in remote impoverished areas, often for 20-40 years. To ensure long-term success, mining operations must be strategic, transparent and equipped with qualified human resources to address the challenge of making mining sustainable in the long-term.

IFC has developed performance standards for corporations covering social and environment assessment and management systems. Effective local stakeholder management happens by design and many problems are avoidable with good planning, starting as early as during the exploration stage. Karsten Fuelster explains: "The earlier we engage with companies the more we can support their project development and assist in addressing environmental and social issues."

As of June 2006, IFC's investment portfolio in all industry sectors in East Asia and the Pacific stood at US$3253 million, with almost US$1500 million in China, US$606 million in Indonesia, US$407 million in the Philippines, US$20 in Thailand, and US$104 million in Vietnam.
"We are looking selectively at investment opportunities throughout Asia and are currently talking to a number of potential clients. With IFC's financial, technical, environmental and social in-house expertise, we offer an attractive value proposition to clients," Karsten Fuelster says.

Yolanda Torrisi - Managing Editor and Director of The ASIA Miner, the international online mining magazine and Mining News service for Mining Asia.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Yolanda_Torrisi

New Technology Offers Clean Environements for Commercial Buildings

ith the current climate of energy efficiency so high up on everyone's agenda, from both consumer and commercial points of view, a new report makes for surprising reading. According to Robert Chiste, CEO of New Jersey-based clean technology company Comverge, businesses are once again guilty of losing focus on energy saving methods. What makes this even more surprising is that thanks to the new technology that's available today, a clean and energy efficient workspace has never been easier to achieve.

Of course, the other benefit of having clean technology is that apart from the costs it will save your company, it also cuts down the effect of both air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. With this in mind, these are just some of the ways you can use clean energy and save on your business energy costs at the same time:

Fuel Cell Technology
One of the newest advances, fuel cells generate clean energy by combining a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen, which in turn produces electricity. Because they emit no air whatsoever, they're highly efficient as well as reliable, and can make a difference of 33% in your overall energy costs.

Silicon Wafer PV Solar Cells
Although they can sometimes be less popular due to the high cost of crystalline silicon, newer materials such as amorphous silicon has seen this form of energy saving increase its usage again. However, for maximum benefit, silicon wafer PV solar cells are still best used for powering anything that uses under 50 watts.

Tankless Electric Water Heaters
Ideal for residential as well as commercial buildings, tankless electric water heaters offers one of the best energy management systems available today. Not only are they fairly inexpensive at around $700-800, but they are also rated 98% efficient at saving energy. They also don't require ventilation, due to them being electric, so once more they're being far more environmentally conscious.

LED Lighting
One of the key factors in any area of energy management is lighting. After all, regardless if it's a one-bedroom home or a large hundred-acre stretch of land full of commercial buildings, you're going to need light in your everyday comings and goings. By switching to LED lights, your efficiency rating will skyrocket. For example, a normal 45-watt bulb will use 21,681 kWh per year. Compare that to an LED light bulb, which only needs 2.75 watts to emit the same light, and you can see the difference immediately. If you want to take it an extra step when it comes to your energy costs, by installing solar- powered LED lights, you can save just under $30 per year, per bulb.

Structural Soy-based Insulation
Made from renewable soybeans, this new method of insulation can grow to at least 100 times its size, to ensure that every shell is completely sealed on walls, windows and doors. Its green credentials include zero damage to the ozone, due to its non-CFC use, and it can make as much as 50% savings on your utility bills. This is achieved by lowering the size requirements of HVAC units, should you be thinking of using them as well.

From energy savings to clean technology, these new methods of cutting down on waste are finding themselves more in demand every day. With the difference they make to commercial buildings and their business energy costs, it's not too much of a surprise.

About the Author

Danny Brown is the owner and Managing Director of Press Release PR, providing search engine optimized press releases and SEO-friendly web content for the commercial and consumer market. With a BA in English and a Certified Associate of Marketing degree, Danny now resides in Canada, where Press Release PR continues to draw plaudits and clients alike.

What is the Outlook for the Availability of Fossil Fuels?

I think this article is comparable to the people who slow down on the highway to look at an automobile accident. You are not involved in the accident, yet you surely are curious about what is happening. At the present time we can sense the presence of a disaster, but we do not have enough information to feel that we can get involved. My push to adopt renewable energies is based on our continued polluting of the environment with the burning of fossil fuels. We know that we must slow down this pollution so that our quality of life will not be severely degraded. There is another piece of information needed to prod us into action, and that is how long do we have before we run out of fossil fuels? As a current member of the earth, I am concerned that we leave future generation's sufficient energy to bridge the gap from fossil to renewable fuels. This, to me, is looking at the car wreck. How long do we have until we are the ones involved in the wreck?

The majority of Americans now think that climate change is a problem and that global warming is real. But there still is not a sense of urgency. Every year the US emits CO2 that equals the equivalent weight of 1.2 billion elephants (2 trillion pounds using average size elephants). It is time to stop ignoring 1.2 billion elephants in the room. It is time to implement a plan that will adopt renewable energies at a pace to stabilize the environment from CO2 pollution and then, hopefully, start to reduce the amount of pollution we must derive this plan with an eye to how long our reserves of fossil fuels will last. Once we derive this plan we then can look at future generations and inform them "Here is the plan".

The development of modern civilization has been dependent on both the availability and the advancement of energy. We have witnessed a progression from animal and steam power to the internal combustion engine and electricity generation and to the harnessing of alternative sources of energy. Because of our reliance on energy sources, it is also important to understand the impact of energy use on the environment. All aspects of energy, the way it is produced, distributed, and consumed, can affect local, regional, and global environments through land use and degradation, air pollution and global climate change via greenhouse gas emissions. Over the foreseeable future, it is very likely that fossil fuels will remain our largest source of energy. However, fossil fuels are finite resources and there is concern not only about both domestic supply and U.S. reliance on foreign supplies but, also, with the increasing cost of these fuels.

The research on the longevity of fossil fuels is an exciting adventure in itself. I will touch on some of the theories before I conclude this series of articles. Given the slack of a decade or two, the best summation of the longevity of fossil fuels is presented in "Wikipedia, Fossil fuel: Years of production left in the ground with the most optimistic reserve estimates (Oil & Gas Journal, World Oil)".

Oil: = 45 years Gas: = 72 years Coal: = 252 years

With the slack of plus or minus 10 years, most projections are consistent with the Wikipedia numbers. . The popular Hubert peak theory projects that for any given geographical area, from an individual oil-producing region to the planet as a whole, the rate of petroleum oil production tend to follow a bell-shaped curve. "Olduvai revisited 2008" from The Oil Drum blog is an amazing study. This theory was first laid out by Richard Duncan in1989 when he observed that world energy per capita had been declining for a decade. The Olduvai waveform for oil starts in 1950 which is consistent with the Wikipedia projections that the waveform will be completed by 2053.

The energy consumption of a nation is proportional to its Gross National Product (GNP).i.e. (The higher the GNP of a nation, then the higher its consumption.).To maintain our accustomed standard of living, we require the amount of energy that we are burning now to maintain our lifestyles. With the depletion of fossil fuels this will require renewable fuels to fill in the gap.

How do we hammer this information into a plan? A roadmap needs to be derived that utilizes the adoption of solar, wind, geothermal and biomass energies into our energy consumptions needs. Technologies such as stuffing CO2 into caves should not be adopted until they are proven. A plan that incorporates renewable energies with fossils fuels usage would be more realistic for our country to follow.

How do we proceed?

We must continue tax incentives for the renewable energy sectors to incubate their growth. Our House of Representatives in Congress has passed a bill to renew the energy tax incentives that are due to expire December 31, 2008. President Bush threatens to veto this bill because it taxes the Oil Industry $19 billion dollars from multi-billion dollar profits. The president's premise is that the oil companies require these profits to continue exploration of new oil. Politics aside, we desperately need to find new sources of renewable energy.

We need to demand that our local and national leaders produce renewable energy action plans. There are pockets of leadership like Arizona and California. This leadership needs to be at a national level to be successful for the USA. Once this is accomplished we will be well on our way for future generations.

About the Author

have a BS and MS in Metallurgical Engineering. Thirty six years spent in the development of semiconductors. Business experience in start up business plan. Currently, an oyster farmer and interested in helping the environment by deploying solar energy. Visit my Blog, http://environmentalhelp.typepad.com/ for continued information on renewable energy E Mail: p_calhoun@bellsouth.net

Energy Wise Home Improvements

If you're a homeowner, you're well aware than energy costs are on the rise. Your home improvement plans should include ways to incorporate cosmetic improvements and energy efficient changes. Investing a few dollars today can quickly pay off with savings on your monthly utility costs and your mortgage.

It takes money to make money, and your energy saving home improvements will require a certain amount of cash outlay. If you don't have a large budget on hand, there are options available.

If you are making plans to renew or refinance your mortgage, talk to your bank about borrowing a little extra to invest in making your home more energy wise. These improvements will immediately lower your monthly energy bills, and the interest on your home equity loan and mortgage may be tax deductible.

Energy Efficient Mortgages

An energy efficient mortgage is another good option to consider. Think about your car, and the real costs like maintenance and operating expenses that come with it. The same holds true for a home. Utility costs are always going up, so you'll need to factor this into your estimated costs of home ownership. An Energy Efficient Mortgage, or E. E. M., can increase your comfort and save you money whether you are buying, selling, refinancing or remodeling your home.

This type of plan is available with most home mortgages and can provide special benefits to borrowers who are either buying energy efficient homes or installing energy efficient improvements. When you utility bills are lower, you'll have more money in your pocket at the end of each month. Then, you are free to allocate a larger portion of your income to housing expenses.

There are many benefits to financing your energy efficient home improvements through an EEM:

* Qualifying for a larger loan amount allows you to purchase a better, more energy efficient home.

* Your cost-effective energy saving measures may factor in to your mortgage.

* Improving and updating older homes can make them more comfortable and efficient

* Stretch your debt-to-income qualifying ratio with a loan for energy-efficient homes.

* This type of plan can increase your overall buying power.

Other Financing Options

Some utility providers and energy-efficient businesses offer loans and incentives to homeowners. As a property owner, you can use these incentives for projects like new heating and air conditioning systems, insulation, windows and other energy efficiency improvements. You might also find a range of improvements offered by utility companies to help you enjoy greater efficiency. In the United States, the Edison Electric Institute (E. E. I.) provides a list of member company programs that offer energy efficient services to businesses, homeowners and industrial plants.

Many more energy efficient services and ideas are available online. Try searching for information on the National Energy Affordability and Accessibility Project (N. E. A. P. P) site.

If you're thinking of renovating, make energy efficient home improvements your first priority. Your monthly savings will quickly make up for the initial building costs, and you'll be helping to preserve our priceless energy resources.

About the Author

Author Tobias Reibber is a writer for a variety of web magazines, on family matter and home repair topics.