EPA Plans Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards

EPA Plans Greenhouse Gas Emission StandardsNew standards for climate change-causing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and oil refi neries were announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on December 23. Collectively the nation’s roughly 500 fossil fuel-fi red power plants and 150 oil refi neries emit some 2.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases per year， nearly 40 percent of total U.S. emissions. T e EPA proposes to set standards for both existing and new facilities under the nation’s clean air law for greenhouse gas pollution in July and December of 2011 under the new plan， with such standards to take eff ect in 2012.“We are following through on our commitment to proceed in a measured and careful way to reduce [greenhouse gas] pollution that threatens the health and welfare of Americans， and contributes to climate change，” EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said in a prepared statement to announce the eff ort. “T ese standards will help American companies attract private investment to the clean energy upgrades that make our companies more competitive and create good jobs here at home.”Starting January 2， new annual permits for refi neries and power plants will cover greenhouse gas emissions for the fi rst time as well. EPA will directly award such permits in Arizona， Arkansas， Florida， Idaho， Kansas， Oregon， Texas and Wyoming while the remaining states will incorporate greenhouse gas standards into their existing permitting process.T e new plan， developed as part of the settlement of a lawsuit regarding EPA eff orts to reduce greenhouse gas pollution， proposes to include CO2 standards as part of so-called New Source Performance Standards， which set pollution limits for new facilities while addressing ongoing emissions from existing facilities. Such standards have addressed air pollution from cement plants to diesel engines in the past and will now expand in the case of fossil fuel-fi red power plants and oil refi neries to include greenhouse gas emissions.It remains unclear exactly what that standard might be， whether a limit for greenhouse gas emissions per kilowatt-hour of electricity produced， pollution per amount of fuel burned， or a requirement for all coalburning power plants to achieve a certain level of effi ciency， for example， according to the agency. Nor is it clear how burning natural gas might factor into these standards， though natural gas units will be covered under the plan， according to EPA. (www.scientifi camerican.com)Wal-Mart Moves to Invest in China Online RetailerWal-Mart and five other companies have agreed to invest US$500 million in 360buy.com， a fast-growing online retailer in China.Liu Qiangdong， the founder and chief executive 360buy， announced the investment of about RMB 3.3 billion on his Chinese Twitterstyle microblog last week. On December 27， a spokeswoman for 360buy， Li Jing， confirmed that Wal-Mart was one of the new investors that had pledged a combined US$500 million to back the privately owned company， which is based in Beijing.Ms. Li declined to divulge the value of the investment by Wal-Mart， the world’s leading retailer. She said a formal announcement with more details could be made within weeks.Kevin Gardner， a spokesman for Wal-Mart， which is based in Bentonville， Ark.， said in an email on December 25 that the retailer had made no announcement and did not comment on rumors or speculation.But a big investment in online retailing would not be unusual. Many global retailers， including Gap， are expanding aggressively in China and beginning to sell online in the country. WalMart operates more than 200 stores in China.T e 360buy deal seems likely to feed excitement about China’s fast-growing Internet startups. Just a few weeks ago， one of China’s biggest online video sites， Youku.com， raised more than US$200 million in an initial public off ering in the United States. T en， in December， its shares raced up in one of the hottest debuts in years on the Nasdaq.This year， the company said it expected to sell about US$1.5 billion worth of goods， up from US$200 million in 2008. Analysts say e-commerce is growing at an explosive pace in China， with many shoppers ordering goods online and having them delivered quickly， and cheaply， sometimes by local services that use bicycles.Su Huiyan， an analyst at i-Research， a fi rm in Shanghai that tracks Web developments， said online commerce in China could reach US$75 billion in 2010， up from US$8.5 billion in 2007.Mr. Liu， the 37-year-old founder of 360buy， has told Chinese newspapers that he started selling software from a small booth and then began to open chain stores in various cities. (www.nytimes. com)Portable GPS devices head in wrong directionUnit sales of the gadgets， whose purpose is to keep motorists from getting lost， are down 9% through the fi rst 11 months of the year， compared with the same period last year， according to the NPD Group’s retail tracking service. In dollars， NPD says sales have skidded off course by 22%.“In 2007 and 2008， PNDs were the hot items，” says Tom Murray， senior vice president of market development at TomTom， which in the U.S. trails only Garmin in market share. He concedes that top-of-mind products for consumers this holiday are tablets， e-readers and smart phones.Competition from smart phones may be the biggest factor. As of the third quarter， 86% of mobile phones sold in the U.S. had built-in GPS capabilities， according to NPD. Google added to the market disruption when it off ered turn-by-turn directions on Android devices for free.Feature-rich smart phones have put pressure on other gadgets， such as pocket digital cameras and MP3 players. For navigation devices， price erosion and saturation are also causing bumps， says Ross Rubin， an analyst at NPD.Efforts by navigation companies to beat back the trend have been mixed. Garmin tried competing in the mobile handset market by teaming with Asus on co-branded GPS-capable smart phones. Sales went nowhere， and the companies said in October they would not be introducing new handsets.Garmin provides navigation on infotainment systems built into new Chrysler models. And Suzuki is including Garmin portables in some new models.TomTom is selling digital maps. And it’s selling navigation apps for the iPhone starting at US$40. Similar apps are sold by Navigon and Magellan. Garmin says it is developing apps， too. Expect details at the big Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month.Murray isn’t ready to give up on personal navigation devices. He points to advantages including generally larger screen sizes and better audio. He also says stand-alone devices are typically mounted properly， leading to better reception and safety.(www.usatoday.com)New version of Microsoft Windows to be releasedMicrosoft plans to announce a version of Windows in January 2011 that will power tablet computers and other handhelds and run on power-friendly chips designed by ARM. The announcement will come at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.After pushing tablets for years with barely any success， Microsoft opened the way for Apple to redefi ne the market for tablet computers with the iPad. And Microsoft faces competition in the tablet arena from models that are based on Google’s Android operating system， among others.Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg said that “Microsoft needs a credible alternative to these appliance-like computing devices that have sprung up in the space between phone and traditional computers.”ARM designs chips that are made by others， including Qualcomm， Texas Instruments and Samsung， and are mostly used in smart phones. T e latest software also will be able to work on processors made by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices， chips that power PC versions of Windows.Mike Cherry， the lead analyst for operating systems at the independent Directions On Microsoft research firm， says moving Windows to an ARM processor will take “an awful long time”because of the testing involved.T e other logical choice， he says， is to extend Microsoft’s mobile operating system software for phones to tablets. “Now that Windows Phone 7 is out and appears to be successful， you follow Apple’s playbook (with) the iPhone and stretch it a little.”Microsoft is also expected to reveal certain aspects of Windows 8， or whatever the next version of the operating system for PCs is to be called， at CES， where CEO Steve Ballmer is scheduled to speak. Windows 8 may appear sometime in 2012.Whatever is announced at CES， Microsoft has to be careful about not saying something that could slow sales of current computers.“Windows 7 is selling great，” Cherry says.“The minute they start talking about Windows 8 they put an idea in people’s minds that they should wait. Rather than announce Windows 8， I would announce a tablet strategy that makes sense.” (www.usatoday.com)