LAWYERSCHILE EL MUNDO INTERNACIONAL DEL ABOGADO

Rodrigo González Fernández y un grupo de egresados de la Facultad de Derecho de la Universidad la Republica en Chile ha decidido poner al alcance de todo el mundo de la profesion legal importantes materias en Ingles para ir practicando el trabajo en materia de Tratados internacionales y que nuestra profesión estará en primera linea. Invitamos a todos a opinar, debatir, participar activamente.Es el primer blog legal en inglés de latinoamerica.

Friday, July 17, 2009

biocombustibles: biofuel digest

Daily Biofuels News Digest

July 17, 2009

Circulation: 2.6 million per year

Sponsors

Algae 2020:
Biofuels Markets, Strategies,
Players, and Commercialization Outlook
460 pages, published June 2009
www.emerging-markets.com

YSI instruments

Social Networks

Network with the Digest LinkedIn group, 1200+ members

The Digest Facebook group

Follow Digest news alerts on Twitter

Editor's Column
Jim Lane
A common sense theory of indirect land use change.

Columnists
Sean O'Hanlon
Will Thurmond

Biofuels Digest.com
American Biofuels Council

Top Story

From the 2008-09 "winter of our discontent" to 2009's "Summer of Algae," biofuels have made a remarkable journey in the past six months. But what has become of the former darling of industry dreams - cellulosic ethanol - a fuel and processing technology that one wag said "always was, and always will be five years away"?

While attention this year has been justly diverted to the entry of ExxonMobil into the algae race, not to mention the heady progress towards commercialization at PetroAlgae, Solazyme, Algenol, Sapphire Energy, Aurora and Solix just to name a few, the industry formerly known as "cellulosic ethanol" has been quietly transformed into something that is just as much about cellulose, but not nearly as much about ethanol.

Cellulosic ethanol was promoted as "not your Dad's ethanol," but the leading companies today are not producing "your Dad's cellulosic ethanol" either.

Here are some trends. More trends and analysis of the cellulosic frontier in "Sugar, Sugar: the transformation of cellulosic ethanol" at biofuelsdigest.com.

It's the cheap sugars, stupid. No matter what anyone describes as the "Holy Grail of Biofuels" or "the mother of all biofuels challenges," they are the same thing. Sugar, sugar. Whether it is tricking algae to convert sunlight and CO2 into sugars that it will later convert to oils, or making fermentable simple sugars from landfill waste or switchgrass, the key to making fuels affordable is the total cost of the simple sugar.

Sustainable, affordable, reliable, available. SARA is the remarkable acronym coined by Tom Murphy of Woodland Natural Resources for what biomass must be if it to be useful as a feedstock for the new fuels and chemicals.

"One word: Plastics". Whatever methanol's or ethanol's shortcomings as a fuel, they are a remarkable platform for chemicals. Upgrading from a base, options like propylene and polyethylene come on to the table, once the simple sugars of biomass have been converted into a simple alcohol. Companies like ZeaChem and LS9 have increasing focus on renewable chemicals, and are finding backers like Dow Chemical who are looking for sustainable sources far away from the Middle East and other hotspots where manufacturing is based to be close to the feedstocks.

More at biofuelsdigest.com.

Producer News

In Washington, the Department of Energy is offering a webinar on July 29th on "How to Estimate the Economic Impacts from Renewable Energy". The webinar will feature a DOE-developed tool to estimate the economic impacts from renewable power generation. Participants will learn to use an online economic model-called Jobs and Economic Development Impacts (JEDI)-to design and run an economic impacts analysis and interpret the results.

In Virginia, Dynamotive announced that independent analysis of upgraded BioOil samples have confirmed 20 percent gasoline, 30 percent jet, 30 percent diesel, and 20 percent vacuum gasoil fractions. The company uses a pyrolysis process to produce BioOil from lignocellulosic biomass, which is then hydro-reformed to a Stage 1 gas-oil equivalent or upgraded to transportation grade fuels in a State 2 hydrotreating process.

In Iowa, POET confirmed that it is targeting payments to farmers of $30 to $60 per ton for corn stover (cobs and stalk), and said that farmers could increase these payments through the Biomass Crop Assistance Program. An Iowa farm averages 1.5 tons of corn stover per acre, or $45-$90 per acre in value before BCAP payments are considered.

Algae Biomass Summit
October 7-9, 2009

San Diego Marriott and Marina (California)
Exploring the emerging industry of algae as feedstock for biofuels and its related products.

Registration, sponsorship and speaking info.

World Opinion

From the New York Times: "The catch is that biobutanol has always been very expensive to produce (which is why it was abandoned after widespread use in the first half of the 20th century). DuPont says it has a new way of making biobutanol, using a microbe. "We will be at a cost-equivalent of ethanol on an energy basis."

From the Energy Tribune: "Methanol makes a fine racing fuel but is entirely unsuited for mass market application. I'm perplexed why one member of Congress would be quoted as saying he wouldn't have supported the Waxman-Markey bill without its methanol provision...Start with the energy side of these drawbacks. Turning natural gas into methanol consumes around 1/3 of the energy content of the gas...We'd be much better off just putting the natural gas directly into cars."

International News

In China, the Motley Fool said that 97 percent of its 806 investors in its CAPS community who have rated Gushan Environmental Energy said that the company will outperform the S&P 500, and that the company has earned a five-star investing ranking from the Fool.

In the UK, an annual review of emissions by the household of Prince Charles revealed that the Prince's estate's reduced overall carbon emissions by nine percent. The remaining 3,775 tons of CO2e emissions were offset with investments in an agency that promoted tree planting and conservation. The Prince's efforts have included a conversion of Jaguar and Land Rover vehicles to used cooking oil-based biodiesel.

In Canada, Lignol Energy reported a full-year loss of $6.2 million compared to a loss of $4.6 million for the previous year, and said that the wider losses reflected an increase in R&D spending to $13.3 million. Lignol CEO Ross MacLachlan said that the company's 2010 goals are to "evaluate specific locations and opportunities for constructing a major commercial demonstration plant."

Research News

In Colorado, BBI International released the first in what it said would be a series of state-level reports on the impact of installing biomass-fired combined heat and power (CHP) facilities at ethanol facilities. The reports analyze the economic impact of the CHP facility, as well as the biomass required to run the plant, the capital costs, and impact of the plant on projected prices for natural gas, electricity, and biomass.

Policy & Policymakers

In North Dakota, Gov. John Hoeven said that he is seeking $35 million in federal energy grants, on behalf of Great River Energy, to install a new steam system at the Spiritwood Industrial Park near Jamestown. Hoeven said that the project's investors would cover the remaining $340 million of the total investment required. Plans are in place to expand the Spiritwood operation to include a biofuel facility.

Consumer, Fleet and Event News

In Brazil, Alkol has developed a 1HourFlex technology, and said that the system "allows any car to run on any amount of gasoline or ethanol in less than 1 hour". The system has 3 components: an Electronic Converter that alters fuel injection timing, an Ignition Remapper to alter spark plug firing time, and a Cold Start System to quickly start on cold days.

Financial News

The Biofuels Digest Index™ (BDI), a basket of public biofuels stocks, gained 1.52 percent to 57.57 on algae and Big Grain advances. For the day, Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) gained 1.90 percent to $28.47, while BP advanced 1.26 percent to $48.94. Among small caps, PetroAlgae (PALG.OB) gained 17.38 percent to $9.39. Overall, advances led declines 2 to 1 for the day.

Hot Topics from Past Issues

ExxonMobil turns on to drop-in biofuels, algae.
Who's Your Daddy?: A Special Report on biofuels investments and investors.
A common sense theory of indirect land use change.
Algae to the rescue? Two reports address the futurescape as advanced biofuels spark "everything vs. fuel" scramble?
Drop In, Tune Out, Turn On: new thinking for new days in bioenergy. The importance of drop in fuels, the unimportance of the current debate over first-gen fuels.
Petro Algae debuts new drop-in fuel process for green diesel from algae: Special Report.
The Blunder Crop: a Biofuels Digest special report on jatropha biofuels development
The Hottest 50 Companies in Bioenergy
One billion gallons by 2014: algal fuel price, capacity projections

These stories and more are available at BiofuelsDigest.com. Your comments and story requests are warmly welcome: email me at jlane@biofuelsdigest.com. Jim Lane, Editor, Biofuels Digest.

Fuente:
Difundan libremente este artículo
CONSULTEN, OPINEN , ESCRIBAN .
Saludos
Rodrigo González Fernández
Diplomado en "Responsabilidad Social Empresarial" de la ONU
Diplomado en "Gestión del Conocimiento" de la ONU

www.consultajuridica.blogspot.com
www.el-observatorio-politico.blogspot.com
www.lobbyingchile.blogspot.com
www.calentamientoglobalchile.blogspot.com
www.respsoem.blogspot.com
Oficina: Renato Sánchez 3586 of. 10
Teléfono: OF .02- 2451113 y 8854223- CEL: 76850061
e-mail: rogofe47@mi.cl
Santiago- Chile
Soliciten nuestros cursos de capacitación y consultoría en LIDERAZGO - GESTION DEL CONOCIMIENTO - RESPONSABILIDAD SOCIAL EMPRESARIAL – LOBBY – ENERGIAS RENOVABLES , asesorías a nivel nacional e internacional y están disponibles para OTEC Y OTIC en Chile

Summary: larry bodine

Summary:
In addition to pushing firms to be more flexible and competitive on fee arrangements, the Barclays Bank has rolled out an e-billing system across all 11 of its panels, and asked all of its newly-appointed panel firms to sign up...

View the entire entry:
http://blog.larrybodine.com/2009/07/articles/clients/major-bank-insists-on-ebilling-and-diversity/index.html

Monday, July 13, 2009

LAWYERSCHILE: Sotomayor Pledges 'Fidelity to the Law'

Sotomayor Pledges 'Fidelity to the Law'

Judge Sonia Sotomayor, making her first substantive public statement in seven weeks, offered a brief defense today against criticisms from conservatives that she would come to the Supreme Court with biases for particular litigants.

Sotomayor, speaking to the Senate Judiciary Committee and to a nationwide broadcast, did not entirely back away from speeches in which she has spoken about the influence of a judge's personal background. But she said that her own experiences merely allow her to listen when others would not, and that her rulings would still depend on the law, precedent, and Congress' intent.

"The process of judging is enhanced when the arguments and concerns of the parties to the litigation are understood and acknowledged," Sotomayor said during an eight-minute statement.

"That is why I generally structure my opinions by setting out what the law requires and then by explaining why a contrary position, sympathetic or not, is accepted or rejected," she added. "That is how I seek to strengthen both the rule of law and faith in the impartiality of our justice system. My personal and professional experiences help me listen and understand, with the law always commanding the result in every case."

Sotomayor spoke in a much more serious tone than she used while visiting senators on Capitol Hill over the last several weeks. She smiled only occasionally – for example, while talking about her role in ending the 1994-95 Major League Baseball strike – and focused instead on reading her prepared text nearly word-for-word.

Either by design or not, her statement alluded to several questions that have circulated around her nomination: What did she mean when she said that a "wise Latina" judge could often reach a better decision than a white male judge? Does a judge's background affect his or her rulings? And why does she write her opinions in a way that some lawyers consider exceedingly cautious and detailed?

Sotomayor also noted that she has so far met with 89 of the 100 senators. Many, she said, asked about her judicial philosophy. "It is simple: fidelity to the law," she told senators. "The task of a judge is not to make the law – it is to apply the law."

Her statement came at the end of the first day of Sotomayor's confirmation hearing for the Supreme Court seat vacated by retired Justice David Souter. It followed four hours of statements from senators who were often equally vague in describing how judges should come to their decisions.

Attention will turn to specific cases Tuesday, when the committee reconvenes at 9:30 a.m. EDT to begin questioning Sotomayor.

Posted by David Ingram on July 13, 2009 at 03:49 PM in Sotomayor Nomination | Permalink

GURUSCHILE: TOM PETERS

Happiness In Execution

Execution and Excellence

Tom's Blogs on Execution

Tom's PPTs on Execution

Tom Peters Times -- July 2009

Happiness In Execution

Great talent finds happiness in execution. -- Goethe

The great teams I know are action obsessed. They have the ambition, the aspiration, the dream, but they also know how to deliver. Without execution, ambition can only take you so far. This is true of any great team, whether an executive board, a town council, a day care staff or ... a rock & roll band.

Now, most people don't think of rock bands as execution-oriented paragons of productivity. In fact some bands brag about their lack-of-work ethic. In the rock classic "Taking Care of Business," Bachman-Turner Overdrive sing "We love to work at nothing all day." But this is just part of the charming mythology of rock & roll--a wonderful narrative of pop hedonism. The reality is a bit different.

Earlier in my career, as a rock musician, I played alongside a lot of good bands, from Cream to the Grateful Dead to Sly & the Family Stone. I NEVER knew a good band that didn't have both ambition and the ability to execute. I never knew a good band that didn't invest significant time in rehearsing & performing in pursuit of their dream--whether to have #1 songs or be masters of their musical craft. In their own way, they were always "taking care of business."

This was especially true of the signature rock bands of the 1960s: the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys. The sheer hard work that these bands demonstrated in their early years is the unwritten story of their success. In their heyday, each of these bands released at least 2 to 3 albums of new material a year while conducting trans-continental tours. In 1964 the Stones recorded more than 50 separate songs while touring. In a little over two years the Beach Boys released 7 albums of new original material.

The Beatles were downright workaholic in their recording habits, frequently staying up all night and sometimes sleeping overnight in the studio, in order to hit product deadlines. In fact, their first great album, Rubber Soul, might qualify as a true WOW! Project. Fresh off a grueling U.S. tour, the Beatles in October 1965 had 30 days to write and record over a dozen new songs for their next album. But they also were restless to break new creative ground. So under corporate-imposed time-to-market pressure and self-imposed artistic pressure the Beatles wrote and recorded 14 high-quality tracks for Rubber Soul. Many of these songs stand out as pop classics 43 years later, with exceptionally innovative melodies and lyrics, aided by unusual--for rock & roll--instrumentation (e.g., the sitar in "Norwegian Wood," the harpsichord effect in "In My Life"). In the same month the band even managed to knock off two additional songs that became a double-sided hit single: "We Can Work It Out" and "Day Tripper." Not bad for a month's work. If this isn't WOW! execution, I'm not sure what is.

Within a year the Beatles retired from touring, but increased their recording hours. They would routinely record songs dozens of different ways to get the specific result they wanted. Whether you call it trial and error, fail fast, or action learning, they just kept at it. One Beatle song, "I Will," was recorded 65 times! (Not exactly "working at nothing all day.")

Yet other top bands have similar stories. I lived briefly with the Grateful Dead and they were ALWAYS rehearsing or jamming--and sometimes performing live for four hours at a time.

What's remarkable is you don't hear of these "rock & roll teams" burning out from overwork or stress. These bands love the work and they feed on the pressure, in good or bad times. It's a GAME to them. It's PLAY--and serious play at that. This is what mainstream business can use more of: teams of people who have ambition and a love of execution.

There are, of course, famous examples of such business teams. The Apple Macintosh team in the 1980s is just one example; under the tutelage of Steve Jobs they set out to "make a dent in the universe" by building an "insanely great" computer. Despite huge technical obstacles and impossible deadlines they delivered--and in the process revolutionized personal computing.

This ambition plus execution is what we need from our teams, large and small--in our businesses, governments, schools, and non profits--to produce real value in a ridiculously challenging economic environment. And the great rock bands may have something to teach us.

John O'Leary
U.S. Facilitator and Speaker
Blog: BusinessLessonsFromRock

Execution and Excellence
Execution and Excellence

The Excellence movement has stayed fresh for a quarter of a century and three generations of managers. Excellence as a hot topic in business circles has survived globalization, automation, the white-collar revolution, the Internet, at least three major economic downturns, and new ideas from a countless series of one-hit-wonder business gurus. But why is that? Opinions will vary.

I find myself agreeing with a recent correspondent at Tom's blog who said "The totemic words in TP's first two book titles were not Excellence, but Search and Passion." It is the emotive words, like Search and Passion, and Pursuit, Remorseless, Revolution, Energy, Enthusiasm, Bias for Action, Wow! Awesome, Freak, Dream, Love, Speed ... that embody what the Excellence movement is about. I expect many TP Times readers will have their favourite hot words to add to this list.

John O'Leary's article above is a timely reminder of the link between Execution and Excellence. Excellence is a bold ambition, but the evidence of excellence is seen in what people do--today, tomorrow and the next day. This daily challenge is what keeps excellence as relevant today as it was back in 1982.

If you are keen to take a healthcheck on how your team is doing on the topic of Execution, take a look at our free sampler from TPC's Excellence Audit™. These selected statements give you a structure against which you can assess your team and make action plans.

See below other Tom Peters resources that may further whet your appetite on Excellence in Execution and give you action ideas for your own team.

Richard King
Managing Partner, UK
Consultant, Non Exec Director, Facilitator

Tom's Blogs on Execution

Execution is Strategy. -- Fred Malek

If you look at the Execution category on tompeters.com, you'll find lots of blogs by Tom on the subject. Below are those we think you might find particularly useful:

Percy's Gang of 125: How Curved Is the Earth??? It's A Small World, After All ???, and a PPT that was posted with this blog: The Getting Things Done MBA

And:
See How Simple What You Cannot Do Is

Tom Topic #1

First Things First! Period!

Finally, Tom's blog post about the book Execution by Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan is from January 2006, but that book is the quintessential resource on the subject, and the blog bears revisiting.

Tom's PPTs on Execution

Excellence in Execution frequently crops up as a theme in Tom's presentations, so there are myriad PPTs to choose from at our website. The Action Master encompasses all of them. Tom designed a PPT in November 2008, just when the economy tanked, with his proposals for surviving economic uncertainty. Now that signs of recovery are beginning to surface, Tom's Advice for Tough Times, Win with the Two E's: Execution, Excellence is an essential read.

.............................!.............................

Subscribe at http://www.tompeters.com/your_world/join_the_fray/

(C) 2009 tompeters!company

Send this mail to a friend