“È stata una scelta particolarmente azzeccata quella di occuparsi del tema delle nuove tecnologie in relazione ai giovani, alle loro passioni ma anche alle nuove possibilità di formazione e di occupazione che da questi strumenti stanno scaturendo”.
Così ha esordito la presidente della Provincia, Marcella Zappaterra, rivolgendo un saluto a relatori e partecipanti al convegno GenerazionInternet, inaugurato ad Argenta mercoledì 25 novembre (con oltre 150 presenze) e proseguito a Ferrara (sala dei Comuni in Castello Estense) con la seconda sessione di lavoro giovedì 26 novembre.
“Voglio sottolineare la piena volontà dell’amministrazione provinciale – ha proseguito Marcella Zappaterra – di affrontare il tema delle “politiche giovanili” in maniera nuova, avvicinandoci senza alcun timore ai nuovi linguaggi e, soprattutto, concentrandoci su ciò che i giovani stessi intendono per “politiche giovanili”, piuttosto che continuare con progettualità già superate nella vita reale”.
Una scelta che si manifesta in una nuova e rafforzata collaborazione tra Provincia, Comune di Ferrara e con tutti gli altri Comuni del territorio e con l’assunzione di “un impegno preciso – ha detto la presidente – che ho in parte esplicitato firmando qualche giorno fa l’appello del presidente della Provincia di Roma, Nicola Zingaretti, dal titolo:  la banda larga come servizio universale”.
“Il superamento del digital divide – ha ricordato Marcella Zappaterra – è da tempo un tema caro agli enti locali. Già nel 2004 è stato sottoscritto con la Regione Emilia-Romagna un accordo di programma per la rete a banda larga Lepida tra le pubbliche amministrazioni. L’intervento seguito alla firma dell’accordo ha consentito la costruzione di due reti: la prima è la rete Lepida, la seconda è un’infrastruttura commerciale fruibile da parte dei privati (cittadini e imprese), anche nelle zone non appetibili per i competitor del mercato delle telecomunicazioni. Oggi – ha concluso – essere costretti a rinunciare a quanto l’accesso alla rete consente, rappresenta un danno concreto”.
Il convegno GenerazionInternet Immagini e suoni tra comunicazione ed educazione è organizzato dalla Provincia di Ferrara, con la collaborazione dei Comuni di Ferrara ed Argenta, dell’Università di Ferrara e con il contributo della Regione Emilia-Romagna.

Fonte: http://www.provincia.fe.it/

The 26/11 hit Taj Hotels have two brands competing with ITC’s Fortune and others in the mid-market segments like the Quality Inn. However Only Fortune and Taj’s Gateway have plans to be in the Tier II towns dotting the country’s landscape like the pilgrim towns and those with significant merchant trade. The Taj Gateway for example wants to add 30 new hotels by 2015 in locations like Jalandhar, Mysore, Raipur and Gondia ( Mint – November 18 ) 

The answer is nto that simple however. The available accommodation would definitely make a profitable niche but wll not reduce the shortage of boarding and lodging nor will it address viability concerns of the Taj and ITC Hotels, not to mention home grown players like East India Hotels and the Club Mahindras.

Indian consumer spending in B towns is definitely slated to pick up and double in every 2-3 years for some time to come, but this country hs been in the midst of such boom and not seen enough clientele in this industry yet. Business Travellers and the 5% of GDP that is accumulated by Tourism remain formidable targets to maintain each year even during the good time, Costs of Real Estate, F&B related inflation, wage inflation and the seasonality of tourist arrangements coupled with India’s non voice in international leisure and lifestyle forums , lack of negotiated tarriffs in travel and hospitality all count towards a tremendous dearth of new traffic for any such tourism business. A lot remains to be done and while more and more deluxe 5 star facilities are slowly becoming available because of rush hour and the consequent unavailability that plagues travellers scheduling a trip, too many ventures like the recent Indian Maharaja ( TC/Cox & Kings IPO now open) trins and the 15 year old plans of Gateway and ITC fortune have been non starters. Costs for 5 stars have easily climbed to an average of Rs 5 Crore per room, while the Marriott has managed the same in Mumbai for less tan 3 crore and the Fortune and the Gateway chains have to manage with Room Rents of not more than Rs 800000 to 1000000 per room and 20-30% contribution from F&B implying a 100 room hotel cannot earn a topline of more than $2.7 million a year, a measly Rs 12 crores, a pretty small cake for the employee family. A cosmopolitan venture like Ginger on the other hand would not be acepted easily outside the metros of DElhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore.  

Also a significant competitor to these brands would be Oakwood and Marriott Suites that provide furnished flats for unlimited duration as they would segment that population of expats that need such spacious living and confine their target market to backpack tourists and pilgrimage bound couples/families

Posted via web from The investment blog on Post

In aceasta perioada trec printr-un stagiu de acomodare cu frameworkul Symfony, iar primele impresii nu sunt deloc placute.

Primul lucru peste care dai indata ce incepi sa studiezi Symfonyul este modul in care acesta stocheaza setarile, si anume in format YAML. Acest lucru prezinta overhead in citirea configurarilor, si nu pot intelege de ce fisiere de configurare PHP nu sunt de ajuns. Overheadul nu pot zice cat este de mare, dar nevoia de a invata modul de folosire al YAML in cadrul Symfony e mult mai putin decat intuitiv. Asta nu in cazul celor evidente, pe cat in cazul definirii structurilor tabelelor (si nici in documentatie nu am gasit exact cum sa descriu anumite coloane de sql, a trebuit sa recurg la google pentru asta).

Daca ziceam ca se foloseste intensiv YAML, nu va speriati, aveti la dispozitie si XML, doar pentru definirea tabelelor. Si ca suntem cu vorba la definirea tabelelor, sa stiti ca acel YAML/XML este convertit in syntaxa SQL si rulat. Asta e cu siguranta cel mai bun lucru pe care l-au putut realiza.

Un alt aspect care din fazele incipiente pare “enervant” consta in trecerea constanta la console si la rularea unor serii de comenzi pentru fiecare modul, modificare db, configurare in parte. Si sa nu uitam de modul dezordonat in care parametrii acestuia se prezinta; pentru unele optiuni avand variante scurte, iar pentru majoritatea nu.

SVN aruncat de umplutura in documentatie.

Ce este Criteria()? Da, stiu ca este folosit pentru criterile de cautare in baza de date, dar in documentatie nu apare.

Modelul MVC implementat e supra-gandit. Sapte fisiere pentru generarea de pagini. Se vede ca sistemul de templateting a fost gandit de programatori mai vechi. Si termenii sunt aiurea: layout, template, fragment. Unde parca template nu e acelasi lucru cu fragment.

Tranzactiile sunt database independent, adica sunt facute din partea de PHP. Poate doar mie mi se pare acest lucru ciudat. De asemenea frameworkul e gandit astfel ca el la treceri db sa fie functional fara modificari de setari la db. Si acum ma gandesc, la un proiect de cate ori schimbi baza de date? Cel mai probabil niciodata.

Helperul de formuri nu mi se pare atat de bine gandit, precum nici validarea. Din nou YAML, in loc sa foloseasca un model precum cel de la CodeIgniter (desigur si el ar putea fi imbunatatit, dar e un pas spre bine).

Folosinta excesiva de setter/getter pattern devine enervanta la un moment dat mai ales datorita numelor foarte lungi ale metodelor.

$this->getRequest()->getParameterHolder()->get($name)
// si varianta "scurta"
$this->getRequestParameter($name)

Pana acum nu a fost o experienta foarte placuta, iar aceste ganduri “negre” mi s-au format dupa doar o zi de utilizare. Poate a fost scris putin in graba caci vroiam sa zic cele enumerate inainte sa imi iasa din minte.

Cat despre cele placute in framework, singurul lucru care ma atras a fost scaffoldingul pus la dispozitie, eficace si simplu.

Cat despre faptul ca tutorialele acestora merg pe metodologia XP (Extreme Programming) nu a putut sa faca altceva decat sa ma irite si mai tare. Scrie intai, regandeste dupa.

Pana acum, doar eficace nu e termenul care sa imi vina in minte cand ma gandesc la Symfony.

Once upon a time there is a company.  They purchase patents cheaply from entities not actively seeking to enforce them and then enforce patents against purported infringers to obtain bucks.  We called the company, a patent troll.

Generally, patent trolls do not seek out new applications for the technology nor commercialize products related to patents they owned.  Their focus is buying patents to monetize them.  Here is a classic example of a well-known patent troll, St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants (“St. Clair“) in Grosse Pointe, Michigan.

Between 1995-2001, St. Clair purchased U.S. patents: No. 5,138,459; No. 6,094,219; No. 6,233,010; and No. 6,323,899 (collectively, “patents-in-suit”) relating to electronic still video camera from a group of inventors (Marc K. Roberts, Matthew A. Chikosky, and Jerry A. Speasl) for $65,000.00.  And then they sued major electronics and smart-phones corporations (Sony, Canon, Casio, Seiko, Epson, Fuji Photo, Fuji Film, Kyocera, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Samsung, Panasonic, JVC, Nokia, Eastman Kodak, Siemens, BenQ, Audiovox, UTStarcom, Sprint Nextel, Cingular, Verizon, Vodofone, Cellco, LG, Motorola, Palm, Sanyo, Concord, Vivitar, Petters, Polariod, Aiptek, HTC, Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile, Research in Motion (RIM), and General Imaging), alleging infringement of its patents.

St. Clair also sued Eastmen Kodak and requested that U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) institute an investigation into violation of Section 337 arising from the unlawful and unauthorized importation into the United States, the sales for importation, and/or the sale with the United States after importation, of certain digital cameras that directly contributory, or by inducement, infringe one or more claims of its patents.

In the Section 337 complaint, St. Clair indicated that certain asserted claims of the patents cover (1) technology that relates to formatting of captured images in a digital camera in a choice of file formats such as JPEG, MPEG, or TIFF, to make it easy to use the captured images in popular software programs on personal computers and (2) technology that relates to a digital camera’s formatting of storage media such as a memory card from an Apple-compatible memory format to an IBM-compatible memory format.

St. Clair seek an exclusion order and a cease-and desist order to prevent Eastmen Kodak from continuing to import products that infringe its patents into the United States and sell those products once imported.

During the course of the complaint initiated by St. Clair, Sony filed multiple reexamination requests 90/006,435; 90/006,436; 90/006,437; and 90/006,438 and for all four patents in litigation.  The United States of Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) issued ex parte reexamination certificates confirming the patentability of all claims in all four patents in litigation.

So far St. Clair has collected in excess of $60 millions from Sony ($25 millions), Canon ($35 millions), and (Fuji Photo and Fuji Film ($3 millions), alleging infringement of its patents.

Sony, Canon, Casio, Koycera, Minolta, Nikon, Olympus, Seiko Epson, Eastmen Kodak, Samsung, LG, Motorola, Sanyo, General Imaging, Pentax have since entered into an agreement with St. Clair to license the patents-in-suit.

On October 26, 2009, St. Clair filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple Inc. in Federal District Court in Delaware, alleging that Apple has, by its advertising, product instruction, import and/or sale of electronic still video cameras in the United States infringes on the patents-in-suit.

In the complaint, St. Clair claims that the infringement by Apple of the patents-in-suit has injured St. Clair and will cause St. Clair added irreparable injury and damage in the future unless Apple is enjoined from infringing the patents-in-suit.  However, the complaint does not specify which hardware is believed to be in violation of the patents-in suit.

Tune in for further updates…

Jeder der mich kennt, weiss das mir das Thema Tibet sehr am Herzen liegt. Ich finde es erschreckend das vor allem so Staaten wie USA überall ihre Finger im Spiel haben wo sie in irgendeiner Art und Weise wirtschaftlich profitieren können. Dort wo es aber not tut und man sich auch die Finger verbrennen könnte hört man von der selbsternannten Weltpolizei gar nichts!!! SHAME ON YOU!

Eines dieser Themen ist die Unterdrückung der Tibeter. Wer ist nicht weiss, Tibet wurde 1965 von den Chinesen anektiert. Das diese Übernahme nicht freundlich erfolgt ist, dürfte klar sein. Das Volk muss seitdem sehr viel leiden, und man hat es geschaft im Jahr der Olypischen Spiele in Peking/ China wieder auf die Problematik hinzuweisen. Leider waren die Proteste in Tibet und in den Chinesischen Provinzen wo Tibetaner wohnen nur ein Strohfeuer. Man schafft es nicht in die Weltöffentlichkeit Bewegung reinzubringen, geschweige den eine große Nation wie die USA dazu zu bewegen sich für was sinnvolles einzusetzen.  Im Zuge der Demonstrationen wurden mehrere Tibeter gefangen genommen, die bis heute noch wegen friedlichen Demonstrationen im Gefängnis sitzen.  Am 27.10.2009 musten die chinesischen Behören zugeben das die Tibeter Lobsang Gyaltsen und Loyak am 20.10.2009 in Lhasa hingerichtet worden sind.  Man bezichtigte diese Menschen der gewaltsamen Demonstration.

Ich schliesse mich dem Protest von “International Campaign for Tibet” an und Verurteile das Vorgehen der Chinesischen Behörden und fordere die Chinesische Regierung auf von weiteren Hinrichtungen abzusehen.

Auch Hannes Jaenicke unterstützt diese Aktion:

Um diesen Forderungen Nachdruck zu verleihen sende ich heute meine Karte aus der Aktion Missing Voices unterschrieben zurück an die Internation Campain for Tibet zur Übergabe an die chinesischen Behörden.

Informationen findest Du auf:

www.missingvoices.net

www.savetibet.de

Die Welt darf es nicht erlauben das Menschenrechte aus wirtschaftlichen Gründen mit Füssen getreten werden!!

IT Sistem Services, partenerul roman al producatorului german de software de securitate a datelor G Data, anunta aparitia unui nou tip de malware-spam, care ii urmareste pe detinatorii de carduri de credit si pe utilizatorii de online banking. Expertii de la G Data avertizeaza ca, incepand din data de 18 noiembrie a.c., infractorii cibernetici au trimis deja milioane de e-mail-uri cu cereri de plata false. Ei cer presupusilor clienti sa plateasca suma aflata in sold sau sa foloseasca un instrument atasat, pentru a refuza plata. Instrumentul atasat este unul de tip “module.zip” si contine un fisier executabil “module.exe”, care instaleaza un troian, dupa ce este executat. Acest soft malitios are ca scop sa spioneze si sa obtina informatii privind numarul cardului de credit si datele de autentificare in online banking.

MAI MULT

Recent mi’a parvenit o jucarie ca cea din poza de mai jos. Desi nu sunt neaparat un fan al sistemelor ansamblate, cel de mai jos are niscavai potential sa devina un server datorita capacitatii de calcul. Singurul lucru care ma impiedica sa rezolv aceasta problema este faptul ca sursa computerului este arsa. Codurile de identificare ale sursei se gasesc pe eticheta portocalie de pe aceasta si sunt urmatoarele: 218583-001 si 224060-001. Fiind un sistem proprietar Compaq inlocuirea ei nu se poate face decat cu o sursa identica. Daca cineva are un asemenea sistem si nu il mai foloseste si crede ca se poate lipsi de sursa acestuia, mi’ar fi de mare ajutor. Pentru sursa sunt dispus sa ofer 20-25 de lei si sa suport costurile transportului in tara cu o firma de curierat aleasa de mine. Plata se face ramburs prin firma de curierat. In eventualitatea in care nu se gasesc ofertanti sunt dispus sa vand sistemul cu totul. Caracteristicile lui sunt urmatoarele.

Procesor:  Intel Socket 370 la 1.0 GHz.

Memorie:  256 SDRAM 133 MHz.

Video: Voodoo 3 16MB pe PCI + placa video integrata 8MB.

Harddisk:  Seagate 10GB IDE.

Optic:  CD-ROM 52X.

Retea: 10/100 Mbps integrata pe placa de baza.

Sunet: Integrat pe placa de baza cu jackuri disponibile frontal atat pentru casti cat si microfon.

Porturi: 2 x USB 1.1 , 2 x Serial , 1 x Paralel, 1 PS/2 keyboard , 1 PS/2 mouse.

Pretul sistemului este de 60 de RON. Sistemul este ideal pentru munca de birou sau pentru browsing. Dimensiunile acestuia sunt destul de reduse.

Este de prisos sa precizez ca nu doresc sa fiu contactat decat de cei cu adevarat interesati, fie sa ma ajute sau sa cumpere sistemul. Detaliile necesare abordarii le gasiti in pagina de Contact.

Cari amici,

vi invito di consultare la pagina aggiornata “cos’è LabDU?”.  Include il documento informativo che mi ha mandanto Flora l’altro giorno.  Purtroppo non la posso inserire qui nella pagina principale perchè come aggiungiamo dei “post” i vecchi post scorrono giù e dopo un mese passano all’archivio.  Le altre pagine sono create appunto per evitare questo.  Perciò, prendete visione dell’aggiornamento.

Purtroppo, io non posso venire all’incontro questa sera poichè in aula fino alle 7.  Vi communico brevemente ciò che avrei avuto da contribuire sulla questione “blog” e “TIC”.

1) con studenti ormai generalmente tecnologicizzati, trovo di esperienza personale che lo strumento blog funziona benissimo come mezzo di diffusione d’informazione.  Il lato positivo è che diventa un modo di garantire l’accesso all’informazione attinente alle lezioni e oltre.  Come con questo blog, posso caricare documenti e articoli di dispensa in un contesto creato proprio per gli studenti.  In altre parole, a differenza dei siti dove il materiale può essere caricato si – ma contestualizzato no, un blog mi permette di offrire agli studenti non solo materiale ma anche un’ambiente di materia.  Vedo che le risorse che ci carico sono scaricati quasi tutti i giorni, nel caso mio sono sia file word che file audio.  Si potrebbe considerare punto di debolezza il fatto che il blog non è un strumento troppo amplio di feedback.  Ne è UN canale, ma non ho trovato che sia utilizzato troppo spesso.  Come con questo blog, i commenti sono piuttosto rari; ancora come questo blog, quando arrivano i commenti tendono ad essere interessanti.  Questione feedback:  non penso che dobbiamo considerare il feedback di essere immediato e ovvio. A mio avviso, gli studenti non hanno tanta voglia di communicare con noi – in parte per timidezza e in parte perchè rappresentiamo un’altra cultura – una piuttosto gerarchica e necessariamente distaccata dalla loro realtà.  Un blog non colma questa fossa.  Allo stesso tempo, però, non lo deve fare.  Noi siamo qui per offrire un servizio sia direttamente agli studenti, sia alla communità in senso più amplio.  In questo senso il blog funziona benissimo poichè funge da punto di contatto molto utile, da risorse molto usata, e di messaggio di “contemporaneatà” molto efficace.

2) Problema: armonizzazione.

Uno dei problemi principali del sistema online dell’ateneo è la mancanza di armonia grafica e strutturale dei nostri siti.  Sembra quasi sciocco dirlo, ma quando una persona cerca un’informazione importante e deve rivolgersi a più facoltà, si trova d’avanti a più strategie comunicative diverse – ogni volta dovendo impegnarsi ad imparare una logica nuova.  Questo fatto presenta un senso di disordine al livello operativo dell’ateneo – e qui intendo il commento nello spirito della critica costruttiva – creato nel tempo come diversi amministratori, professori e tecnici si sono impegnati per migliorare il servizio nelle loro facoltà e nei loro uffici.  Sarebbe il caso nel prossimo futuro di armonizzare i siti sia graficamente che strutturalmente.  Questo anche per i blog.  Invece di dovere usare strumenti esterni, ma efficace, sarebbe anche utile creare un servizio blog disponibile anche ai professori – ma con un formatto di base standarizzato ma personalizzabile.  Qui penso, ad esempio, ai cellulari.  Tutti riconoscono un Nokia o un Samsung quando lo vedono e sanno come funziona, ma le applicazioni sono personalizzabili.  Questo è il messaggio del “new market environment” che insegnamo agli studenti, ma non è ancora implementato al livello di ateneo.  Con un servizio blog interno all’ateneo, con il formato base unico e attinente alla grafica dell’ateneo, comunichiamo un messaggio di integrazione, inclusione, logica e armonizzazione – messaggio subito percepito da tutti quando lo vedono, come lo è la frustrazione percepito dai siti disordinati e discordanti.

Così, almeno riguardo al lato “online” del uso dei TIC, c’è ancora molto da fare per migliorare la comunicazione sia diretta in termini di dialoghi e materiale usati per le lezioni, sia in termini indiretti ma non meno importanti della comunicazione istituzionale.  Se abbiamo successo nel nostro lavoro, molti dei nostri studenti andranno all’estero per studiare e lavorare e farsi esperienze di vita.  E’ anche la politica dell’ateneo essere ancora di più coinvolti sul piano internazionale.  Sarebbe molto interessante aggiornare i nostri servizi online – incluso TIC di didattica – per stare al passo con il meglio dei modelli stranieri attinenti alle nostre esigenze.

In tanto – COMMENTI!!! heh heh

e buon lavoro a tutti!

Pete Cullen

U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and U.S. Congressman Dave Camp (R-MI) announced the Solar Manufacturing Jobs Creation Act last week. The bi-partisan legislation will offer a tax credit to support solar manufacturing in the U.S. These tax incentives are designed to encourage U.S. companies to produce solar equipment, create green jobs and invest in a domestic clean energy economy. Senator Stabenow joined fellow Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) to introduce the legislation in the Senate. In addition, Congressman Camp will be introducing related legislation in the House later this month. The Solar Manufacturing bill will provide additional tax credits for solar equipment manufacturers that will help the U.S. compete in the global clean energy race with countries such as China, South Korea and Taiwan.

Currently, the United States is falling behind in the global market for solar technology, as other countries provide incentives to invest in solar manufacturing. According to the Solar Energy Industry Association, the U.S. produced more than 40 percent of the world’s solar photovoltaic (PV) cells a decade ago. In 2008, the U.S. produced only 5 percent of the world’s solar cells. As a result, U.S. Congressman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) authored the Solar Technology Roadmap Act, which is designed to support domestic research and development (R&D) and manufacturing.

Currently, a 30 percent federal Solar Investment Tax Credit (SITC) exists for the investment in or installation of solar power technology, which was extended in the Recovery Act. Under the Solar Manufacturing Jobs Creation Act, equipment and facilities used to manufacture solar power technology would be included in the property list for the SITC. These technologies include solar cells, silicon, evacuated tubes, and flat-plate solar collectors. It has been estimated that the tax credits in this legislation will generate 315,000 new domestic green jobs.

Although China produces over 30 percent of the world’s solar photovoltaics, installed PV in China only reached a total of 140 (megawatts) MW in 2008, according to the state-owned newspaper, China Daily, accounting for less than 1 percent of the global market share. Today, however, solar PV is starting to increase its share in China’s energy portfolio due to favorable government support, decreasing solar power generation costs, and rising demand in response to emerging regulations ongreenhouse gas emissions. In fact, China recently revised its 2020 target for solar power capacity from 1.8 gigawatts (GW) to 20 GW, according to a recent report by Beijing’s state-own China Daily.

In order to promote the Chinese solar market, the Government has enacted several policies to support the expanding industry, including a regional feed-in tariff (FIT) and national subsidies for solar PV installations, as similar policies in Germany and Spain facilitated their world leadership with respect to deployment in recent years.

These policies have had an impact in East China’s Jiangsu province, which is home to more than 160 Chinese PV manufacturers, including Suntech and Trina Solar. In June, the Jiangsu government approved a feed-in tariff program. As a result, the price offered for each kWh of electricity from PV solar farms, rooftop projects and building integrated photovoltaics projects built this year is US $0.31, $0.54 and $0.63, respectively, which nearly covers project costs, according to Renewable Energy World. Several leading PV manufacturers such as Suntech and Trina Solar have pursued the opportunity and developed 80-MW and 30-MW rooftop PV facilities, respectively. However, state solar incentives and expanding renewable energy portfolio standards are attracting foreign companies to manufacture solar products in the U.S as well. For instance, Suntech, who exhibited its solar products at the recent International Greenbuild Expo in Phoenix, Arizona recently announced it will build a solar panel plant in this area in response to the state’s new solar tax credit.

The Beijing-based China Electricity Power Research Institution has stated that China would fail to meet 6.4 percent of the country’s electricity demand in 2010 and 10.7 percent in 2020. Thus, solar PV is considered a vital source to cover the missing resources.

But as the U.S. remains slow to act in setting a national renewable energy portfolio standardcompared to other major countries or a cap-and-trade system to stimulate sufficient demand for solar and other forms of clean energy across the country, many domestic solar cell manufacturers recognize the increasing demand in China. For example, Evergreen Solar recently announced it will be outsourcing its solar panel assembly manufacturing line in Devens, Massachusetts to China. This statement was made years after it received $58 million in state aid and being lauded by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick as a symbol of the state’s economic future. The announcement came as the company announced that it lost $167 million in the first nine months of this year. Approximately half of the 577 full-time and 230 contract employees at the Devens factory involved in panel assembly are expected to be laid off. Thus, this issue only strengthens the need for detailed national and state legislation without loopholes allowing companies to capitalize on incentives without making a long-term investment.

In order to deal with similar situations and to institute a balanced U.S.-China trade partnership, U.S. President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao announced a comprehensive clean energy agreement between the two countries during their joint talks this week. The two Presidents revealed several new programs including a new U.S.-China Renewable Energy Partnership. Under the Partnership, the two countries will develop roadmaps for large-scale renewable energy deployment in both countries. The Partnership will also provide technical and analytical resources to states and regions in both countries to support renewable energy installations and will facilitate state-to-state and region-to-region collaborations to share experience and best practices. A new Advanced Grid Working Group will bridge U.S. and Chinese policymakers, regulators, industry leaders, and civil society to initiate strategies for grid modernization in both countries. A new U.S.-China Renewable Energy Forum will be held annually as well.

In addition, the two presidents announced the creation of a new U.S.-China Clean Energy Research Center. The Center will facilitate collaborative R&D in clean energy technologies by teams of scientists and engineers from the U.S. and China. Furthermore, this Center will be supported by public and private funding of at least $150 million over five years and be split equally between the two countries. Initial research priorities will be focused on building energy efficiency, clean coal including carbon capture and storage, and clean vehicle technology using advanced batteries and biofuels.

Similarly, a U.S.-China Energy Cooperation Program (ECP) will be established. This particular program will capitalize on private sector resources for project development work in China across a wide spectrum of clean energy projects, to the advancement of both nations. More than 22 companies are already listed as founding members of the program. The ECP will include collaborative projects on renewable energy, smart grid, clean transportation, green building, clean coal, combined heat and power, and energy efficiency.

Overall, the new U.S.-China partnership coupled with the Solar Manufacturing Jobs Creation Act will enhance America’s competitiveness in the clean energy race- not to become simply be a consumer of renewables to meet emissions standards, but a producer as well.

Source:http://www.examiner.com/x-8178-Phoenix-Green-Business-Examiner~y2009m11d18-New-clean-energy-policies-target-US-China-trade-balance