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Bioplastic applications advancing new development routes
Don Rosato EngineeringThe bioplastics market based on "renewable carbon" is expanding from single-use compostables to durable applications with greater performance demands. The demand for renewable materials in durables is accelerating R&D to meet higher property requirements. Bio-based raw materials will shift to nonfood sources. New technologies will reduce manufacturing costs, and bring new bio-based products to market.
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The safety benefits of peer-to-peer observations
Michael S. Haro, Ph.D. Business Management, Services & Risk ManagementWe constantly demonstrate behaviors that are observable to others. In a workplace, these observations are significant for preventing accidents and injuries and need to be encouraged, supported and taken seriously. Peers (co-workers) are critical to the implementation and success of observation, feedback and safe work practices.
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Metals Thoughts: Short shorts
Brad Yates Natural ResourcesFriday's nonfarm payrolls report was a seemingly bearish first blush, with the headline number coming in at the high end of the consensus range (211K), a positive revision to October's big number, and growth in the participation rate. The noise of a monthly number notwithstanding, you would have expected gold and silver to sell off, but that was not to be.
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The demise of Keystone XL redefines America’s ‘national interest’
Lucy Wallwork Natural ResourcesAfter five years of breath-holding, President Barack Obama finally sounded the death knell for the Keystone XL project last month. In doing so he made clear that "the national interest of the United States would be best served by denying TransCanada a presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline."
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9 surprising consequences of climate change
Dave G. Houser Waste Management & EnvironmentalClimate change is without question the environmental hot-button issue of our time. While scientists, politicians and industrialists have long argued whether its causes are naturally occurring or human-induced, the fact is that climate change is happening and the consequences of it are becoming widely apparent and far reaching.
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Metals Thoughts: Fed solo
Brad Yates Natural ResourcesAs U.S. traders return from the Thanksgiving holiday, not a lot has changed in the macro picture. The market is still factoring in the likelihood of a December rate hike — 74 percent currently — and asset prices are moving accordingly.
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IEA report is ‘arrow in the quiver’ for climate change opposition
Lucy Wallwork Natural ResourcesIn October, amid dramatic reports of plane crashes and stranded migrants across Europe, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released a report keenly awaited by the environmental crowd — its Energy Efficiency Market Report 2015.
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Metals Thoughts: All about the Benjamins
Brad Yates Natural ResourcesGet the U.S. dollar right, and you can basically nail gold's movements of late and probably for the foreseeable. With rolling 10-day correlations near 85 percent, it is clear that everything for the yellow metal is driven by Fed hike expectations.
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Metals Thoughts: Cold November pain
Brad Yates Natural ResourcesGold technically eked out an "up" day Monday, closing about $2 above where it opened (depending on how you measure a close), which ended a streak of eight straight losing days. March was the last time that had happened, and 10 times in a row never happens. Ever.
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Clean cold marches on in Europe
Andrew Gaved ManufacturingThe technology of cryogenic cooling is continuing to live up to its billing of being one of the most disruptive technologies the industry, following a high-profile launch event in London earlier this month. The Birmingham Energy Institute Policy Commission — the organization backing the technology — is proving equally disruptive in the often-low-key world of refrigeration by gaining support among academics, politicians and commercial interest alike for its aim to take a systems approach to low-emission cooling.
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