In The News

When Life, and Not Just Carnival, Is a Gas

Andy Webb-Vidal January 26, 2005
With the discovery of large natural gas reserves, Trinidad and Tobago, the Caribbean island state, has transformed into the biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas in the Americas. Already, foreign companies like British Gas are building the largest natural gas production units ever constructed. With foreign investment pouring in at an unprecedented rate, the Trinidadian government must wisely...

Japan's Nuclear Nightmare

Eric Johnston January 19, 2005
A recent fatal accident in a nuclear power plant in Mihama highlighted many often neglected aspects of nuclear plant safety and power regulation in Japan. Plants are now older and inspections less thorough, as utility companies seek to maximize operations and minimize costs in an age of deregulation. Scandals and accidents throughout Japan's nuclear history have been serious problems that...

A Thaw in South Asia? – Part I

Michael Krepon December 23, 2004
India and Pakistan's feud over the disputed region of Kashmir may at last be subsiding, says nuclear proliferation expert Michael Krepon. The issue has long been a dangerous sticking point between the two nuclear powers. Yet after a year-long cease fire along the Line of Control, both Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf seem willing to compromise on...

Beyond Cheap Labor: Lessons for Developing Economies

Diana Farrell December 21, 2004
The specter of China and it's massive fleet of low-cost laborers haunts developing economies worldwide. However, for middle-income countries, focusing on cheap labor is not the answer for sustained economic growth, according to The McKinsey Quarterly. Using Mexico as a basis for discussion, this report offers alternative strategies for successful competition. More effective routes to...

Invisible Export – A Hidden Cost of China's Growth: Mercury Migration

Matt Pottinger December 20, 2004
When an American hockey player suffered symptoms from mercury contamination, he never expected that he might have power plants half way across the world in China to blame. With its growing appetite for energy, China is finding its many coal-burning power plants hard at work generating the much needed electricity power – as well as huge amounts of air pollutants like sulfur dioxide and mercury....

From Free Market to "Our Power"

Liam Salter December 13, 2004
Though enshrined in the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals, clean sustainable energy looks a long way off in much of Asia. Demand for coal in India and China has risen exponentially in recent years, fuelling fears of an imminent pollution crisis. Efforts to steer Asia away from the "hard energy path" – reliance on traditional energy sources – have met with only gradual...

The EU Loses its Rag

December 8, 2004
Ten years ago, trade negotiators set a deadline to end global quotas on textile exports. But with less than a month before the agreed-upon expiration date, the EU is growing increasingly worried about China's likely dominance of the international textile trade. Yet considering the EU's hopes to install its former trade commissioner as head of the World Trade Organization, efforts to...