Friday, March 28, 2008

German free market for Electricty

FYI .. Germany has a free market for electricty. Every household can CHOOSE where to buy the energy from. One can elect to buy from green-power companies, compare prices and switch provider, FREELY.

A website called http://www.stromseite.de/ offers a computer-generated list of providers!
One can selectively search for only such providers that offer power from renewable resources. Sustainable is no longer just a catch-phrase!

Here is a screen-shot:


The list of electricity suplliers is long... while not all of them offer AC-current in everyone's area.. the list is still impressive:

1·2·3energie --- 24sieben GmbH --- Abita Energie Otterberg GmbH --- AggerEnergie GmbH --- Albstadtwerke GmbH --- Albwerk GmbH & Co. KG --- Allgäuer Kraftwerke GmbH --- Allgäuer Überlandwerk GmbH --- Aschaffenburger Versorgungs-GmbH --- AVU Aktiengesellschaft für Versorgungs-Unternehmen --- Bad Honnef AG --- badenova AG & Co. KG --- Bauer Elektrounternehmen GmbH & Co.KG --- BELKAW Bergische Licht-, Kraft- und Wasserwerke GmbH --- BEW Bayreuther Energie- und Wasserversorgungs GmbH --- BEW Bergische Energie- und Wasser-GmbH --- Bezirksverband Kraftwerk Köhlgartenwiese Wies --- Blomberger Versorgungsbetriebe GmbH --- Bocholter Energie- und Wasserversorgung GmbH --- Bonus Strom GmbH --- Braunschweiger Versorgungs-AG & Co. KG --- Bröltaler Elektrizitätsgenossenschaft --- C. Ensinger Elektrizitätswerk --- Clevergy GmbH & Co. KG --- Cleverle Sparstrom --- Cramer Mühle KG --- Dessauer Stromversorgung GmbH --- Donau-Stadtwerke Dillingen-Lauingen --- Dortmunder Energie- und Wasserversorgung GmbH --- DREWAG - Stadtwerke Dresden GmbH --- E WIE EINFACH Strom & Gas GmbH --- e-ben GmbH & Co. KG --- E-Werk Meckenheim --- e-werk Reinbek-Wentorf GmbH --- E-Werke Haniel Haimhausen OHG --- E.ON Avacon AG --- E.ON Bayern AG --- E.ON edis AG --- E.ON Hanse AG --- E.ON Mitte AG --- E.ON Thüringer Energie AG --- E.ON Westfalen Weser AG --- e.wa riss GmbH & Co KG --- EGF EnergieGesellschaft Frankenberg mbH --- EGT Energie GmbH --- EGT Energievertrieb GmbH --- Ehinger Energie Wendelin Maunz GmbH --- Eichenmüller GmbH & Co. KG --- Eichsfelder Energie- und Wasserversorgungsgesellschaft mbH --- Eisenacher Versorgungs-Betriebe GmbH --- Elektra-Genossenschaft Effeltrich eG --- Elektra-Genossenschaft Pinzberg eG --- Elektrizitäts- und Wasserversorgungsgenossenschaft Vagen eG --- Elektrizitäts-Genossenschaft Dirmstein eG --- Elektrizitäts-Genossenschaft Hauingen eG --- Elektrizitäts-Genossenschaft Nordhalben und Umgebung eG --- Elektrizitäts-Genossenschaft Röthenbach eG --- Elektrizitäts-Genossenschaft Schlachters eG --- Elektrizitäts-Genossenschaft Schonstett eG --- Elektrizitäts-Genossenschaft Vogling & Angrenzer eG --- Elektrizitäts-Genossenschaft Wolkersdorf und Umgebung eG --- Elektrizitäts-VersorgungGenossenschaft Perlesreut eG --- Elektrizitäts-Werk Mainbernheim GmbH --- Elektrizitäts-Werk Ottersberg --- Elektrizitätsgenossenschaft Engelsberg e.G. --- Elektrizitätsgenossenschaft Hasbergen eG --- Elektrizitätsgenossenschaft Karlstein eG --- Elektrizitätsgenossenschaft Oesterweg eG --- Elektrizitätsgenossenschaft Ohlstadt eG --- Elektrizitätsgenossenschaft Rettenberg eG --- Elektrizitätsgenossenschaft Tacherting Feichten e.G. --- Elektrizitätsgenossenschaft Unterneukirchen eG --- Elektrizitätsgenossenschaft Wittmund eG --- Elektrizitätsgesellschaft Levern eG --- Elektrizitätsvereinigung Böbing --- Elektrizitätsversorgung (EVU) der Gemeinde Gochsheim --- Elektrizitätsversorgung Otterstadt --- Elektrizitätsversorgung Rheinzabern --- Elektrizitätsversorgung Waldsee --- Elektrizitätsversorgung Wattenheim --- Elektrizitätsversorgungsunternehmen Hettenleidelheim --- Elektrizitätswerk Aach eG --- Elektrizitätswerk Braunsbach - Tullau GmbH --- Elektrizitätswerk Calw GmbH --- Elektrizitätswerk Dahlenburg AG --- Elektrizitätswerk des Kantons Schaffhausen AG --- Elektrizitätswerk Diessen Stadler GmbH --- Elektrizitätswerk Gemeinde Glattbach --- Elektrizitätswerk Georg Grandl --- Elektrizitätswerk Geschwister Geiger --- Elektrizitätswerk Goldbach-Hösbach GmbH --- Elektrizitätswerk Haimmerer --- Elektrizitätswerk Hammermühle Versorgungsgesellschaft mbH --- Elektrizitätswerk Hauenstein --- Elektrizitätswerk Heinrich Schirmer --- Elektrizitätswerk Hindelang eG --- Elektrizitätswerk Kandern Bissinger GmbH --- Elektrizitätswerk Kappelrodeck Gustav Ziegler KG --- Elektrizitätswerk Karl Stengle GmbH & Co KG --- Elektrizitätswerk Landsberg GmbH --- Elektrizitätswerk Leitlein --- Elektrizitätswerk Ley --- Elektrizitätswerk Markt Obernzell --- Elektrizitätswerk Max Peißker --- Elektrizitätswerk Mittelbaden AG & Co. KG --- Elektrizitätswerk Müller Tauberrettersheim --- Elektrizitätswerk Oberwössen eG --- Elektrizitätswerk Ottenhöfen Moser OHG --- Elektrizitätswerk Rieger GmbH & Co. KG --- Elektrizitätswerk Rohmund GmbH --- Elektrizitätswerk Rosenmühle --- Elektrizitätswerk S. Bachmeier --- Elektrizitätswerk Satrup --- Elektrizitätswerk Schweiger OHG --- Elektrizitätswerk Simbach GmbH --- Elektrizitätswerk Späth Lohberg --- Elektrizitätswerk Tegernsee Carl Miller KG --- Elektrizitätswerk Wanfried von Scharfenberg KG --- Elektrizitätswerk Weißenhorn AG --- Elektrizitätswerk Wennenmühle Schörger KG --- Elektrizitätswerke Reutte GmbH & Co KG --- Elektrizitätswerke Schönau Vertriebs GmbH --- Elektro-Trück GmbH --- Elektroversorgungsverein Winterborn --- EMB Energieversorgung Miltenberg-Bürgstadt GmbH --- Emscher Lippe Energie GmbH --- EnBW Ostwürttemberg DonauRies Aktiengesellschaft ODR --- EnBW Vertriebs- und Servicegesellschaft mbH --- eneREGIO GmbH --- Energie AG Iserlohn-Menden --- Energie Plus Handels- und Vertriebs-Gesellschaft mbH --- Energie SaarLorLux AG --- Energie und Versorgung Butzbach GmbH --- Energie und Wasser Potsdam GmbH --- Energie und Wasser Wahlstedt/Bad Segeberg GmbH & Co KG --- Energie und Wasserversorgung Aktiengesellschaft Kamenz --- Energie Waldeck-Frankenberg GmbH --- Energie- und Medienversorgung Schwarza GmbH --- Energie- und Wasserversorgung Altenburg GmbH --- Energie- und Wasserversorgung Bitz GmbH (EWB) --- Energie- und Wasserversorgung Bruchsal GmbH --- Energie- und Wasserversorgung Rheine GmbH --- Energie- und Wasserversorgungs-GmbH Alzey --- Energie- und Wasserwerke Bautzen GmbH --- Energie-Gesellschaft Unterkirnach mbH --- Energiedienst AG --- Energieried GmbH & Co. KG --- EnergieSüdwest Aktiengesellschaft --- Energieversorgung Alzenau GmbH --- Energieversorgung Apolda GmbH --- Energieversorgung Beckum GmbH & Co KG --- Energieversorgung Buching-Trauchgau GmbH --- Energieversorgung Filstal GmbH & Co.KG --- Energieversorgung Gaildorf OHG --- Energieversorgung Gemünden GmbH --- Energieversorgung Gera GmbH --- Energieversorgung Greiz GmbH --- Energieversorgung Hildesheim GmbH & Co. KG --- Energieversorgung Inselsberg GmbH --- Energieversorgung Leverkusen GmbH & Co. KG --- Energieversorgung Limburg GmbH --- Energieversorgung Lohr-Karlstadt und Umgebung GmbH --- Energieversorgung Markt Kipfenberg --- Energieversorgung Mittelrhein GmbH --- Energieversorgung Münchberg-Schwarzenbach/Saale (EMS) GmbH & Co. KG --- Energieversorgung Oberes Wiesental GmbH --- Energieversorgung Oberhausen AG --- Energieversorgung Oberstdorf GmbH --- Energieversorgung Oelde GmbH --- Energieversorgung Offenbach AG --- Energieversorgung Ottobrunn GmbH (EVO) --- Energieversorgung Oy-Kressen e.G. --- Energieversorgung Rudolstadt GmbH --- Energieversorgung Rupert Heider & Co. KG --- Energieversorgung Schmid --- Energieversorgung Schwerin GmbH & Co. KG --- Energieversorgung Sehnde GmbH --- Energieversorgung Selb-Marktredwitz GmbH --- Energieversorgung Südbaar GmbH --- Energieversorgung Sylt GmbH --- Energieversorgung Trossingen GmbH --- Energiewerke Isernhagen GmbH --- Energiewerke Lottstetten --- Energiewerke Zeulenroda GmbH --- energis GmbH --- ENNI Energie Wasser Niederrhein GmbH --- ENRW Energieversorgung Rottweil GmbH & Co KG --- ENSO Strom AG --- entega Vertrieb GmbH & Co. KG --- envia Mitteldeutsche Energie AG --- enwag energie- und wassergesellschaft mbH --- enwor - energie & wasser vor ort GmbH --- eprimo GmbH --- Erdgas Südsachsen GmbH --- Erlanger Stadtwerke AG --- ESWE Versorgungs AG --- evd energieversorgung Dormagen GmbH --- EVH GmbH --- EVI Energieversorgung Ihmert GmbH & Co KG --- EVN Energieversorgung Nordhausen GmbH --- EVU der Ortsgemeinde Gerolsheim --- EVU Winden c/o Stadtwerke Bad Bergzabern GmbH --- EVV Elektrizitätsversorgungsgesellschaft Velten mbH --- EWE Aktiengesellschaft --- EWE NaturWatt GmbH --- EWG Elektrizitätsversorgung Werther GmbH --- EWK Energie- und Wasserversorgung Kirchzarten GmbH --- EWR AG --- EWR GmbH - Energie und Wasser für Remscheid --- EWV Energie- und Wasser-Versorgung GmbH --- EZV Energie- und Service GmbH Untermain --- F.X. Mittermaier & Söhne GmbH & Co. KG Accum.-Fabrik und Elektrizitäts-Werk --- FairEnergie GmbH --- Feuchter Gemeindewerke GmbH --- FlexStrom GmbH --- Freiberger Stromversorgung GmbH --- Freisinger Stadtwerke Versorgungs-GmbH --- FREITALER STROM+GAS GMBH --- Fürstlich Fugger´sches Elektriziätswerk --- Gammertinger Energie- und Wasserversorgung GmbH --- Gas- und E-Werk Singen der Thüga AG --- Gebrüder Eirich GmbH & Co KG Elektrizitätswerk --- Gebrüder Heinzelmann GmbH & Co KG Elektrizitätswerk --- Gebrüder Miller KG Elektrizitätsversorgung --- Gemeinde Bayerisch Gmain Stromversorgung --- Gemeinde Burtenbach Elektrizitäts- und Wasserwerk --- Gemeinde Heroldsbach Stromversorgung --- Gemeindebetriebe Raisdorf GmbH --- Gemeindewerk Fußgönheim --- Gemeindewerk Hördt --- Gemeindewerk Krickenbach c/o Verbandsgemeinde Kaiserslautern-Süd --- Gemeindewerk Obrigheim c/o Verbandsgemeindewerke Grünstadt-Land --- Gemeindewerk Stelzenberg c/o Verbandsgemeinde Kaiserslautern-Süd --- Gemeindewerke Baiersbronn --- Gemeindewerke Bobenheim-Roxheim --- Gemeindewerke Bovenden --- Gemeindewerke Budenheim --- Gemeindewerke Cadolzburg --- Gemeindewerke Dudenhofen --- Gemeindewerke Ebersdorf --- Gemeindewerke Eppelborn GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Frammersbach --- Gemeindewerke Gangkofen --- Gemeindewerke Garmisch-Partenkirchen --- Gemeindewerke Georgensgmünd --- Gemeindewerke Grefrath GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Großkrotzenburg --- Gemeindewerke Gundelfingen GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Halstenbek --- Gemeindewerke Hardt --- Gemeindewerke Haßloch GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Heikendorf GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Hermaringen --- Gemeindewerke Herxheim --- Gemeindewerke Heusweiler GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Hohentengen Strom- und Wasserversorgung --- Gemeindewerke Holzkirchen GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Hütschenhausen c/o Stadtwerke Ramstein-Miesenbach --- Gemeindewerke Jestetten --- Gemeindewerke Kahl Strom- und Wasserversorgung --- Gemeindewerke Kiefersfelden --- Gemeindewerke Kirkel GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Kleinblittersdorf GmbH & Co. KG --- Gemeindewerke Klettgau --- Gemeindewerke Krauchenwies --- Gemeindewerke Lam --- Gemeindewerke Lambsheim --- Gemeindewerke Langenpreising --- Gemeindewerke Leck GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Lilienthal GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Markt Lichtenau --- Gemeindewerke Münchweiler a. d. Rodalb --- Gemeindewerke Neuendettelsau --- Gemeindewerke Niedermohr c/o Stadtwerke Ramstein-Miesenbach --- Gemeindewerke Niefern-Öschelbronn --- Gemeindewerke Nüdlingen --- Gemeindewerke Nümbrecht GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Oberaudorf Elektrizitäts- und Wasserwerk --- Gemeindewerke Partenstein --- Gemeindewerke Peißenberg Strom- und Wasserversorgung --- Gemeindewerke Pleinfeld --- Gemeindewerke Ritterhude GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Rückersdorf --- Gemeindewerke Rülzheim --- Gemeindewerke Schönkirchen --- Gemeindewerke Schutterwald --- Gemeindewerke Schwalbach GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Schwarzenbruck GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Sinzheim --- Gemeindewerke Stammbach --- Gemeindewerke Steinhagen GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Steißlingen --- Gemeindewerke Stockstadt am Main --- Gemeindewerke Waging --- Gemeindewerke Weidenthal --- Gemeindewerke Wendelstein --- Gemeindewerke Wickede (Ruhr) GmbH --- Gemeindewerke Wildeck Obersuhl --- Gemeindewerke Wilhermsdorf --- Gemeindl. Werke Hengersberg --- Gemeindliche Stromversorgung Röttenbach --- gemeinsames Kommunalunternehmen Oberes Egertal --- GENO Strom GmbH --- Getreidemühle Zwiefalten e.G. --- GEW Wilhelmshaven GmbH --- Gewerbepark Nürnberg-Feucht Versorgungs- und Abwasserentsorgungs GmbH --- GGEW Gruppen-Gas- und Elektrizitätswerk Bergstraße AG --- GGV Stadtwerke Groß-Gerau Versorgungs GmbH --- Greenpeace energy eG --- GSW Gemeinschaftsstadtwerke GmbH Kamen - Bönen - Bergkamen --- GWS Stadtwerke Hameln GmbH --- Halberstadtwerke GmbH --- Harz Energie GmbH & Co KG --- Havelstrom Zehdenick GmbH --- Hermann Geuder Elektrizitätswerk --- Hertener Stadtwerke GmbH --- Herzo Werke GmbH --- HEW Hof Energie & Wasser GmbH --- HEWA-Hersbrucker Energie- und Wasserversorgung GmbH --- HH-EL Energie Hanse GmbH --- infra fürth gmbh --- Johann B. Schmid GmbH Elektrizitätswerk, Elektroinstallation --- Karl Kuhn Elektrizitätswerk Markelsheim --- KBG KraftstromBezugsgenossenschaft Homberg eG --- KES Kommunale Energiedienstleistungsgesellschaft Südsachsen mbH --- KEW Karwendel Energie und Wasser GmbH --- KEW Kommunale Energie- und Wasserversorgung AG --- Koblenzer Elektrizitätswerk und Verkehrs-AG --- KommEnergie GmbH --- Kommunale Energieversorgung GmbH Eisenhüttenstadt --- Köthen Energie GmbH --- Kraftwerk Farchant A. Poettinger & Co KG --- Kraftwerke Haag GmbH --- Kreis-Energie-Versorgung Schleiden GmbH --- Kreiswerke Gelnhausen GmbH --- Lechwerke AG --- Licht- und Kraftwerke Helmbrechts GmbH --- Licht- und Kraftwerke Sonneberg GmbH --- Licht-, Kraft- und Wasserwerke Kitzingen GmbH --- LichtBlick - Die Zukunft der Energie GmbH und Co. KG --- Lister- und Lennekraftwerke GmbH --- LSW LandE-Stadtwerke Wolfsburg GmbH & Co. KG --- Ludolf Stamer GmbH Kraftwerk Bleckede --- MAINGAU Energie GmbH --- Mainova Aktiengesellschaft --- Maintal-Werke-GmbH --- Mark-E Aktiengesellschaft --- Markt Thüngen --- MEGA - Monheimer Elektrizitäts- und Gasversorgung GmbH --- Meißener Stadtwerke GmbH --- MVV Energie AG --- N-ERGIE Aktiengesellschaft --- NaturEnergie AG --- Naturstrom AG --- Neubrandenburger Stadtwerke GmbH --- NEW Energie GmbH --- Niederrheinische Versorgung und Verkehr Aktiengesellschaft --- Niederrheinwerke Viersen GmbH --- Niedersachsen Ports GmbH & Co.KG Niederlassung Emden --- Nuon Deutschland GmbH - Berlin --- Nuon Deutschland GmbH - Heinsberg --- nvb Nordhorner Versorgungsbetriebe GmbH --- OIE Aktiengesellschaft --- Ortsgemeindewerke Waldfischbach-Burgalben --- ovag Energie AG --- P & M Rothmoser GmbH & Co KG Elektrizitätswerk --- PCC Energie GmbH --- Pfalzwerke AG --- PVU Prignitzer Energie- und Wasserversorgungsunternehmen GmbH --- REWAG Regensburger Energie- und Wasserversorgung AG & Co KG --- RheinEnergie AG --- Rheinhessische Energie- und Wasserversorgungs-GmbH --- rhenag Rheinische Energie AG --- Richard Westenthanner Elektrizitätsversorgung --- Rupert Buchauer Elektrizitätswerk Frasdorf-Oberprienmühle --- RWE Rhein-Ruhr AG --- RWE Westfalen-Weser-Ems AG --- Schleswiger Stadtwerke --- Schwerter Strom GmbH & Co KG --- SECURA Energie GmbH --- SEW Stromversorgungs-GmbH --- Sömmerdaer Energieversorgung GmbH --- Stadt Röttingen Elektrizitätswerk --- Stadt- und Überlandwerke GmbH Luckau-Lübbenau --- Stadtbetriebe Lauenburg/Elbe AöR --- Städtische Betriebswerke Luckenwalde GmbH --- Städtische Werke AG Kassel --- Städtische Werke Borna GmbH --- Städtische Werke Magdeburg GmbH --- Städtische Werke Rothenburg o. d. Tauber --- Städtische Werke Spremberg (Lausitz) GmbH --- Stadtwerk Haßfurt GmbH --- Stadtwerk Tauberfranken GmbH --- Stadtwerke Aalen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Achim AG --- Stadtwerke Ahaus GmbH --- Stadtwerke Ahlen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Altdorf GmbH --- Stadtwerke Altensteig Strom Wasser Wärme --- Stadtwerke Amberg Versorgungs GmbH --- Stadtwerke Annaberg-Buchholz Energie AG --- Stadtwerke Annweiler --- Stadtwerke Ansbach GmbH --- Stadtwerke Arnstadt GmbH --- Stadtwerke Aschersleben GmbH --- Stadtwerke Attendorn GmbH --- Stadtwerke Aue GmbH --- Stadtwerke Augsburg Energie GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Aibling --- Stadtwerke Bad Bergzabern --- Stadtwerke Bad Bramstedt GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Brückenau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Dürkheim GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Harzburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Herrenalb --- Stadtwerke Bad Hersfeld GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Kissingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Langensalza GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Lauterberg im Harz GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Nauheim GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Neustadt a. d. Saale --- Stadtwerke Bad Pyrmont --- Stadtwerke Bad Reichenhall --- Stadtwerke Bad Rodach --- Stadtwerke Bad Sachsa GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Säckingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Salzdetfurth --- Stadtwerke Bad Salzuflen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Saulgau --- Stadtwerke Bad Sooden-Allendorf --- Stadtwerke Bad Tölz GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Vilbel GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bad Windsheim --- Stadtwerke Bad Wörishofen --- Stadtwerke Baden-Baden --- Stadtwerke Baiersdorf --- Stadtwerke Balingen --- Stadtwerke Bamberg Energie- und Wasserversorgungs GmbH --- Stadtwerke Barmstedt --- Stadtwerke Barth GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bebra GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bernau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bernburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Beverungen --- Stadtwerke Bexbach GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bielefeld GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bietigheim-Bissingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Blankenburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bliestal GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bochum GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bogen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Böhmetal GmbH --- Stadtwerke Boizenburg/Elbe GmbH --- Stadtwerke Borgentreich --- Stadtwerke Borken/Westfalen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bramsche GmbH --- Stadtwerke Brandenburg an der Havel GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bräunlingen --- Stadtwerke Bredstedt GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bretten GmbH --- Stadtwerke Brühl GmbH --- Stadtwerke Buchen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Buchholz in der Nordheide GmbH --- Stadtwerke Bühl GmbH --- Stadtwerke Burg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Burgbernheim --- Stadtwerke Burgdorf GmbH --- Stadtwerke Buxtehude GmbH --- Stadtwerke Cham --- Stadtwerke Chemnitz AG --- Stadtwerke Clausthal-Zellerfeld GmbH --- Stadtwerke Coesfeld GmbH --- Stadtwerke Cottbus GmbH --- Stadtwerke Crailsheim GmbH --- Stadtwerke Crimmitschau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Dachau --- Stadtwerke Deggendorf GmbH --- Stadtwerke Deidesheim GmbH --- Stadtwerke Detmold GmbH --- Stadtwerke Dettelbach --- Stadtwerke Dillingen/Saar GmbH --- Stadtwerke Dingolfing --- Stadtwerke Dinkelsbühl --- Stadtwerke Dinslaken GmbH --- Stadtwerke Döbeln GmbH --- Stadtwerke Dorfen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Dreieich GmbH --- Stadtwerke Duisburg AG --- Stadtwerke Dülmen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Düren GmbH --- Stadtwerke Düsseldorf AG --- Stadtwerke Eberbach Strom-Gas-Wasser-Verk.Bäderbetr./Hafen --- Stadtwerke Ebermannstadt Versorgungsbetriebe GmbH --- Stadtwerke Eberswalde GmbH --- Stadtwerke Eckernförde GmbH --- Stadtwerke Eichstätt Versorgungs-GmbH --- Stadtwerke Eilenburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Einbeck GmbH --- Stadtwerke Eisenberg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Elbtal GmbH --- Stadtwerke Elmshorn --- Stadtwerke Elzach Versorgungs- und Kurbetriebe --- Stadtwerke Emden GmbH --- Stadtwerke Emmendingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Emmerich GmbH --- Stadtwerke Emsdetten GmbH --- Stadtwerke Engen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Erkrath GmbH --- Stadtwerke Eschwege GmbH --- Stadtwerke ETO GmbH & Co. KG --- Stadtwerke Ettlingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Eutin GmbH --- Stadtwerke EVB Huntetal GmbH --- Stadtwerke Feuchtwangen --- Stadtwerke Finsterwalde GmbH --- Stadtwerke Flensburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Forchheim --- Stadtwerke Forst GmbH --- Stadtwerke Frankenthal GmbH --- Stadtwerke Frankfurt (Oder) GmbH --- Stadtwerke Freudenstadt GmbH & Co KG --- Stadtwerke Friedrichsthal GmbH & Co. KG --- Stadtwerke Fröndenberg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Fürstenfeldbruck GmbH --- Stadtwerke Furth im Wald GmbH & Co KG --- Stadtwerke Gaggenau --- Stadtwerke Garbsen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Geesthacht GmbH --- Stadtwerke Geldern GmbH --- Stadtwerke Gelnhausen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Gengenbach --- Stadtwerke Georgsmarienhütte GmbH --- Stadtwerke Germersheim GmbH --- Stadtwerke Gießen AG --- Stadtwerke Glauchau Dienstleistungsgesellschaft mbH --- Stadtwerke Glückstadt --- Stadtwerke GmbH Bad Kreuznach --- Stadtwerke GmbH Kirchheimbolanden --- Stadtwerke Goch GmbH --- Stadtwerke Görlitz AG --- Stadtwerke Gotha GmbH --- Stadtwerke Greven GmbH --- Stadtwerke Grevesmühlen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Gronau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Grünstadt GmbH --- Stadtwerke Gunzenhausen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Güstrow GmbH --- Stadtwerke Gütersloh GmbH --- Stadtwerke Hagenow GmbH --- Stadtwerke Haiger --- Stadtwerke Haldensleben GmbH --- Stadtwerke Haltern GmbH --- Stadtwerke Hamm GmbH --- Stadtwerke Hammelburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Hanau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Hannover AG --- Stadtwerke Haslach --- Stadtwerke Havelberg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Heide GmbH --- Stadtwerke Heidenheim AG --- Stadtwerke Heiligenstadt GmbH --- Stadtwerke Heilsbronn --- Stadtwerke Hemau --- Stadtwerke Herborn GmbH --- Stadtwerke Herne AG --- Stadtwerke Herzberg/Elster GmbH --- Stadtwerke Hilden GmbH --- Stadtwerke Hockenheim Strom-, Gas- und Wasserversorgung --- Stadtwerke Hollfeld --- Stadtwerke Homburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Hüfingen --- Stadtwerke Hünfeld GmbH --- Stadtwerke Husum GmbH --- Stadtwerke Ilmenau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Ingolstadt Energie GmbH --- Stadtwerke Iserlohn GmbH --- Stadtwerke Itzehoe GmbH --- Stadtwerke Jena-Pößneck GmbH --- Stadtwerke Jülich --- Stadtwerke Kaltenkirchen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Kamp-Lintfort GmbH --- Stadtwerke Karlsruhe GmbH --- Stadtwerke Kelheim GmbH & Co. KG --- Stadtwerke Kempen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Kirn --- Stadtwerke Kleve GmbH --- Stadtwerke Klingenberg am Main --- Stadtwerke Konstanz GmbH --- Stadtwerke Kusel GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lambrecht (Pfalz) GmbH --- Stadtwerke Landau a. d. Isar --- Stadtwerke Landshut --- Stadtwerke Langen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Langenzenn --- Stadtwerke Laufenburg --- Stadtwerke Lauterbach GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lebach GmbH --- Stadtwerke Leinefelde GmbH --- Stadtwerke Leipzig GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lemgo GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lengerich GmbH --- Stadtwerke Leutershausen --- Stadtwerke Lichtenstein GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lindau (B) GmbH & Co. KG --- Stadtwerke Lingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lippstadt GmbH --- Stadtwerke Löbau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Löffingen --- Stadtwerke Lübbecke GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lübeck GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lübz GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lüdenscheid GmbH --- Stadtwerke Ludwigsburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Ludwigsfelde GmbH --- Stadtwerke Ludwigslust-Grabow GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lünen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lutherstadt Eisleben GmbH --- Stadtwerke Lutherstadt Wittenberg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Malchow --- Stadtwerke Marburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Meerane GmbH --- Stadtwerke Meiningen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Menden GmbH --- Stadtwerke Mengen --- Stadtwerke Merseburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Merzig GmbH --- Stadtwerke Mosbach GmbH --- Stadtwerke Mössingen --- Stadtwerke Mühlacker GmbH --- Stadtwerke Mühldorf am Inn --- Stadtwerke Mühlhausen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Mühlheim am Main GmbH --- Stadtwerke München Versorgungs GmbH --- Stadtwerke Munster GmbH --- Stadtwerke Münster GmbH --- Stadtwerke Nettetal GmbH --- Stadtwerke Neu-Isenburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Neuburg an der Donau --- Stadtwerke Neuffen AG --- Stadtwerke Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz --- Stadtwerke Neunburg vorm Wald --- Stadtwerke Neuruppin GmbH --- Stadtwerke Neustadt am Rübenberge GmbH & Co. KG --- Stadtwerke Neustadt an der Aisch GmbH --- Stadtwerke Neustadt an der Donau --- Stadtwerke Neustadt an der Orla GmbH --- Stadtwerke Neustadt an der Weinstraße GmbH --- Stadtwerke Neustadt bei Coburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Neustadt in Holstein --- Stadtwerke Neustrelitz GmbH --- Stadtwerke Neuwied GmbH --- Stadtwerke Niebüll GmbH --- Stadtwerke Niesky GmbH --- Stadtwerke Norden GmbH --- Stadtwerke Norderstedt --- Stadtwerke Nordseeheilbad Borkum GmbH Elektrizitäts- und Wasserwerk --- Stadtwerke Nortorf --- Stadtwerke Nürtingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Oberkirch GmbH --- Stadtwerke Ochtrup --- Stadtwerke Oelsnitz (Vogtland) GmbH --- Stadtwerke Oerlinghausen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Olbernhau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Olpe GmbH --- Stadtwerke Oranienburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Osnabrück AG --- Stadtwerke Osterholz-Scharmbeck GmbH --- Stadtwerke Pappenheim --- Stadtwerke Parchim GmbH --- Stadtwerke Pasewalk GmbH --- Stadtwerke Passau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Peine GmbH --- Stadtwerke Pfarrkirchen --- Stadtwerke Pforzheim GmbH & Co. KG --- Stadtwerke Pfullendorf Elektrizitätswerk --- Stadtwerke Pinneberg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Pirmasens Versorgungs GmbH --- Stadtwerke Plattling --- Stadtwerke Pritzwalk GmbH --- Stadtwerke Quedlinburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Quickborn GmbH --- Stadtwerke Radevormwald GmbH --- Stadtwerke Radolfzell GmbH --- Stadtwerke Ramstein-Miesenbach GmbH --- Stadtwerke Ratingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Reichenbach/Vogtland GmbH --- Stadtwerke Rendsburg --- Stadtwerke Rhede GmbH --- Stadtwerke Riesa GmbH --- Stadtwerke Rinteln GmbH --- Stadtwerke Rödental --- Stadtwerke Rosenheim GmbH & Co KG --- Stadtwerke Rostock AG --- Stadtwerke Rotenburg (Wümme) GmbH --- Stadtwerke Roth --- Stadtwerke Röthenbach GmbH --- Stadtwerke Rottenburg --- Stadtwerke Saalfeld GmbH --- Stadtwerke Saarlouis GmbH --- Stadtwerke Sangerhausen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Schaumburg-Lippe GmbH --- Stadtwerke Scheinfeld --- Stadtwerke Schifferstadt --- Stadtwerke Schkeuditz GmbH --- Stadtwerke Schlitz --- Stadtwerke Schneeberg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Schneverdingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Schorndorf --- Stadtwerke Schramberg GmbH & Co. KG --- Stadtwerke Schüttorf GmbH --- Stadtwerke Schwabach GmbH --- Stadtwerke Schwäbisch Gmünd GmbH --- Stadtwerke Schwäbisch Hall GmbH --- Stadtwerke Schwarzenberg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Schwedt GmbH --- Stadtwerke Schweinfurt GmbH --- Stadtwerke Schwetzingen GmbH & Co KG --- Stadtwerke Senftenberg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Sigmaringen --- Stadtwerke Sindelfingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Soest GmbH --- Stadtwerke Solingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Soltau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Sondershausen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Speyer GmbH --- Stadtwerke St. Ingbert --- Stadtwerke St. Wendel GmbH & Co KG --- Stadtwerke Stade GmbH --- Stadtwerke Stadtroda GmbH --- Stadtwerke Staßfurt GmbH --- Stadtwerke Stein GmbH & Co. KG --- Stadtwerke Steinheim GmbH --- Stadtwerke Stendal GmbH --- Stadtwerke Stockach GmbH --- Stadtwerke Stollberg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Straubing GmbH --- Stadtwerke Strausberg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Suhl/Zella-Mehlis GmbH --- Stadtwerke Sulzbach/Saar GmbH --- Stadtwerke Teterow GmbH --- Stadtwerke Thale GmbH --- Stadtwerke Tirschenreuth Strom-, Wasser-, Wärmeversorgung --- Stadtwerke Tönisvorst GmbH --- Stadtwerke Torgau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Tornesch GmbH --- Stadtwerke Traunstein GmbH & Co KG --- Stadtwerke Treuchtlingen --- Stadtwerke Trier Versorgungs GmbH --- Stadtwerke Troisdorf GmbH --- Stadtwerke Trostberg --- Stadtwerke Tübingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Tuttlingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Überlingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Uelzen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Uffenheim --- Stadtwerke Unna GmbH --- Stadtwerke Uslar GmbH --- Stadtwerke Velbert GmbH --- Stadtwerke Verden GmbH --- Stadtwerke Viernheim GmbH --- Stadtwerke Villingen-Schwenningen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Vilsbiburg --- Stadtwerke Vilshofen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Völklingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wachenheim --- Stadtwerke Wadern GmbH --- Stadtwerke Waiblingen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Waldkirch GmbH --- Stadtwerke Waldkirchen --- Stadtwerke Waldkraiburg --- Stadtwerke Waldmünchen --- Stadtwerke Waldshut-Tiengen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Walldorf --- Stadtwerke Walldürn GmbH --- Stadtwerke Warburg --- Stadtwerke Waren GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wasserburg a. Inn --- Stadtwerke Wedel GmbH --- Stadtwerke Weilburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Weimar Stadtversorgungs-GmbH --- Stadtwerke Weinheim GmbH --- Stadtwerke Weißenburg GmbH --- Stadtwerke Weißenfels GmbH --- Stadtwerke Weißwasser GmbH --- Stadtwerke Werdau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Werl GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wernigerode GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wertheim GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wildbad --- Stadtwerke Willich GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wilster --- Stadtwerke Windsbach --- Stadtwerke Winsen (Luhe) GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wismar GmbH --- Stadtwerke Witten GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wittenberge GmbH --- Stadtwerke Witzenhausen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wolfen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wolfenbüttel GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wolfhagen GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wolmirstedt GmbH --- Stadtwerke Wülfrath GmbH --- Stadtwerke Würzburg AG --- Stadtwerke Zeil am Main --- Stadtwerke Zeitz GmbH --- Stadtwerke Zeven GmbH --- Stadtwerke Zirndorf --- Stadtwerke Zittau GmbH --- Stadtwerke Zweibrücken GmbH --- Stadtwerke Zwiesel --- star.Energiewerke GmbH & Co. KG --- STAWAG Stadtwerke Aachen Aktiengesellschaft --- Stern Strom GmbH --- Strom Germering GmbH --- Strom- und Gasversorgung Versmold GmbH --- Strombezugsgenossenschaft Saig eG --- stromistbillig --- Strommixer GmbH und Co. KG --- Stromversorgung Ahrensburg GmbH --- Stromversorgung Angermünde GmbH --- Stromversorgung der Gemeinde Hemhofen --- Stromversorgung Greding eG --- Stromversorgung Greifswald GmbH --- Stromversorgung Inzell eG --- Stromversorgung Markt Egloffstein --- Stromversorgung Neunkirchen GmbH --- Stromversorgung Pirna GmbH --- Stromversorgung Ruhpolding GmbH --- Stromversorgung Schierling eG --- Stromversorgung Seebruck eG --- Stromversorgung Sulz GmbH --- Stromversorgung Unterwössen Döllerer & Greimel GmbH --- Stromversorgung von Berg GmbH --- Stromversorgung Zerbst GmbH & Co. KG --- strotög GmbH Strom für Töging --- StWL Städtische Werke Lauf a.d. Pegnitz GmbH --- SÜC Energie und H2O GmbH --- Süwag Energie AG --- SVH Stromversorgung Haar GmbH --- SVI - Stromversorgung Ismaning GmbH --- SVO Energie GmbH --- SVS-Versorgungsbetriebe GmbH --- SWB Energie- und Wasserversorgung Bonn/Rhein-Sieg GmbH --- SWB Stadtwerke Biedenkopf GmbH --- swb Vertrieb Bremen GmbH --- swb Vertrieb Bremerhaven GmbH & Co. KG --- SWE Energie GmbH --- SWF Stadtwerke Fellbach GmbH --- SWH Stadtwerke Heidelberg Handel und Vertrieb GmbH --- SWK Energie GmbH --- SWN Stadtwerke Neumünster GmbH --- SWN Stadtwerke Northeim GmbH --- SWS Energie GmbH --- SWS Stadtwerke Schönebeck GmbH --- SWU Energie GmbH --- SWW Wunsiedel GmbH --- Technische Werke Delitzsch GmbH --- Technische Werke der Gemeinde Losheim GmbH --- Technische Werke Friedrichshafen GmbH --- Technische Werke Ludwigshafen a. Rhein AG --- Technische Werke Naumburg GmbH --- Technische Werke Osning GmbH --- TelDaFax ENERGY GmbH --- Teutoburger Energie Netzwerk eG --- Trianel Energie GmbH --- TWK Technische Werke Kaiserslautern Versorgungs AG --- TWS - Technische Werke der Gemeinde Saarwellingen GmbH --- Überlandwerk Eppler GmbH --- Überlandwerk Erding GmbH & Co KG --- Überlandwerk Fulda AG --- Überlandwerk Krumbach GmbH --- Überlandwerk Leinetal GmbH --- Überlandwerk Rhön GmbH --- Überlandwerk Schäftersheim GmbH & Co. KG --- Überlandzentrale Wörth/Isar-Altheim AG --- Unterfränkische Überlandzentrale Lülsfeld --- Vattenfall Europe Berlin Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG --- Vattenfall Europe Hamburg AG --- Vattenfall Europe Sales GmbH --- Verbandsgemeinde Weilerbach Elektrizitätsversorgung --- Verbandsgemeindewerk Bruchmühlbach-Miesau --- Verbandsgemeindewerk Dannstadt-Schauernheim --- Verbandsgemeindewerke Dahner Felsenland --- Verbandsgemeindewerke Eisenberg --- Verbandsgemeindewerke Enkenbach-Alsenborn --- Verbandsgemeindewerke Hochspeyer --- Vereinigte Stadtwerke GmbH --- Vereinigte Wertach-Elektrizitätswerke GmbH --- Versorgungsbetrieb Waldbüttelbrunn GmbH --- Versorgungsbetriebe Bordesholm GmbH --- Versorgungsbetriebe Hann. Münden GmbH --- Versorgungsbetriebe Helgoland GmbH --- Versorgungsbetriebe Hoyerswerda GmbH --- Versorgungsbetriebe Kronshagen GmbH --- Versorgungsbetriebe Seesen/Harz GmbH --- Versorgungsbetriebe Zellingen --- VGM Versorgungsgesellschaft Marktredwitz mbH --- Vorarlberger Kraftwerke AG --- Wärmeversorgung Würselen GmbH --- Warsteiner Verbundgesellschaft mbH --- Wasser- und Energieversorgungsgesellschaft mbH Salzgitter --- Watt Deutschland GmbH --- wbm Wirtschaftsbetriebe Meerbusch GmbH --- Weißachtal-Kraftwerke eG --- WEMAG AG --- Wendelsteinbahn GmbH --- WestEnergie und Verkehr GmbH --- Wirtschaftsbetriebe Norderney GmbH --- WSW Energie & Wasser AG --- Yello Strom GmbH --- ZEAG Energie AG --- Zwickauer Energieversorgung GmbH


The difference in price can be drastic:

a year's supply of 4,000 kwh can cost 637 euro


or 867 euro



The price per kilowatthour and the base-price go into the calculation, or course! One can also choose SHOW ONLY PROVIDERS WITH PRICE GUARANTEE.. now that's nifty!


While the change of providers in a capitalist robber-baron-fifedom can be challenge and SOMETIMES DOES NOT WORK... consumers in germany are certainly nor without options.
It goes without saying that this keeps providers on their toes and that's what free market competition is all about, right?

Well, we much rather have a STATE-OWNED enterprise that simply distributes the BURDEN of electric poser generation onto the broadest set of shoulders and offers EVERYON a rock-bottom price, but in the meantime the germany experience of a regulated marketplace that IS DESIGNED TO BE COMPETITIVE is the next best thing. Remember. Markets need to be regulated to be a level playing field!!

If you are really interested in this subject, you must read Alexander Ruestow:
Freedom and Domination: A Historical Critique of Civilization
http://u2r2h-documents.blogspot.com/2007/09/winning-by-failing-disaster-murder-is.html

of course the anglo-american way is to exploit as much as possible and keep the dependence on OIL as long as possible
http://u2r2h.blogspot.com/2008/02/kosovo-protects-us-pipeline.html

In case you wonder about the amount of power needed ... WAVE POWER offers a way out:
http://wireless-mesh-fm-radio-tv-media.blogspot.com/2007/07/wave-power-swell.html
There is plenty plenty abundant energy ready to be harvested and sold to the gadget-hungry world ;-)

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posted by u2r2h at Friday, March 28, 2008 0 comments

Friday, March 21, 2008

World Finance in SPECULATION DEAD END

Brian Gaynor: Bursting of the global liquidity bubble

5:00AM Saturday March 22, 2008 -- By Brian Gaynor

The collapse of Bear Stearns, the depressed housing market and the problems with ING's Diversified Yield and Regular Income funds have one thing in common, namely the bursting of the global liquidity bubble.

To understand this phenomenon we have to look at recent developments in the financial sector which are best illustrated by the accompanying graph of global liquidity.

International liquidity comprises four basic ingredients: power money (notes and coins), broad money (cheque accounts, credit cards etc), securitised debt (mortgages and other packaged products) and derivatives (futures, options, swaps etc).

Forty years ago power and broad money accounted for almost 100 per cent of global liquidity but they now represent only 12 per cent with securitised debt and derivatives accounting for 13 per cent and 75 per cent respectively.

The financial sector, particularly Wall St, is populated by Masters of the Universe who have invented a huge number of new and complex ways to increase liquidity.

These include:

* Securitised products. Banks used to keep mortgage loans on their balance sheets but they now package them into bundles of 50, 100 or more mortgages and sell them to individuals or institutions through investment products.

Securitisation allows financial institutions to create more and more loans without having to raise additional equity capital.

* Derivatives are another form of leverage as they allow investors to obtain an economic interest in an asset for a relatively small outlay.

For example, investors can obtain an effective 1 per cent economic interest in Telecom through derivatives for a fraction of the cost of a 1 per cent shareholding in the company.

* When Tokyo housewives invest 100 million in New Zealand because of our high interest rates they effectively create $1.2 million of new liquidity in this country.

The 100 million doesn't disappear from Japan as it continues to be a financial asset as far as the Japanese investors are concerned.

The top two trapeziums in the inverted pyramid have grown dramatically in recent years as a myriad of innovative securitised products and derivatives have led to a huge increase in global liquidity.

This surge in liquidity has been the catalyst for a borrowing binge that has resulted in a sustained rise in asset prices, including property, sharemarkets and commodities.


It would probably be more appropriate if the top two sections of the inverted pyramid were bubbles instead of trapeziums.

Major cracks in the top half of the pyramid began to appear in mid-2007 when the sub-prime mortgage crisis surfaced in the United States.

The root cause of this problem was too much global liquidity.

In other words when financial institutions have too much money they lend to individuals who are not creditworthy and who are unlikely to be able to repay the principal or meet their interest payments.

These low-quality mortgages were packaged into securitised debt products and sold to the investing public with a variety of high credit ratings from Standard & Poor's, Moody's or other major rating agencies.

When US house prices began to fall, and foreclosures increased, investors realised that these sub-prime mortgage securities were highly dodgy.

This concern has spread throughout most of the securitised debt market, which represents an estimated 13 per cent of global liquidity and is now deeply distressed.

Interest rates are rising - and prices are falling - and there are no buyers for a large percentage of these securitised products. This is why Macquarie Fortress Notes, ING Diversified Yield Fund and ING Regular Income Fund, which have all invested in securitised debt, have experienced a sharp decline in value or have closed for redemptions. Investors in these products, particularly the ING funds, probably didn't realise that they were exposed to the lightly regulated securitised debt sector.

There are a number of important points to note about the four sections in the pyramid including:

* Retail banks traditionally operate in the power and broad money areas where they are under strict central bank control and there is a high level of disclosure.

* Investment banks operate in the securitised debt and derivatives areas where there is little central bank oversight and disclosure is extremely poor, particularly by hedge funds.

* The deregulation of the finance sector in the 1990s has given retail and investment banks much greater opportunities to enter each others' traditional areas of operation.

Retail banks have expanded rapidly into the securitised debt and derivatives sections where there is little central bank oversight and disclosure requirements are relatively low.

For example, the four major New Zealand trading banks have total balance sheet assets, mainly power and broad money, of $269.3 billion and off-balance sheet exposures, mainly securitised debt and derivatives, of $1106.4 billion (or $1.1 trillion).

In the past 12 months their total balance sheet assets have grown by 12.8 per cent while their off-balance sheet exposures have increased by a whopping 51.5 per cent.

The effective bailout of US investment bank Bear Stearns, which is a big player in the securitised debt market, is another clear sign that this market is severely distressed.

The bailout also indicates that the Federal Reserve Board is extremely concerned about the state of the US financial system because it usually only rescues commercial banks that operate in the power and broad money areas.

The clear message is that global liquidity, which expanded far too rapidly over the past decade through the widespread use of securitised debt and derivatives, is now contracting. This is having a negative impact on most asset prices as investors are forced to de-leverage.

US Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke, who is an expert on the 1930s Depression, is doing everything he can to pump liquidity into the system.

He took a number of important steps this week as there are major concerns that the securitised debt problems will spread to the upper and lower trapeziums of the liquidity pyramid. The next big worry is hedge funds, which are big players in the derivatives sector.

The one big certainty is that the securitised debt and derivatives sectors are going to be more closely regulated in the future, particularly as central banks have had to rescue organisations operating in these areas.

Liquidity problems in the financial sector impact on the real economy because global liquidity is now approximately 10 times world GDP whereas 40 years ago the real economy was bigger than the financial sector.

The clear message for New Zealand is that the highly rewarding borrowing game of the past decade is over.

Blue Chip investors are probably the most unfortunate group as they joined the leverage game just seconds before the final whistle blew.

New Zealand is in a particularly precarious position because we have taken full advantage of the global liquidity explosion to borrow heavily for consumption purposes and to invest in residential housing.

With the contraction in global liquidity expected to continue, the next big issue for the domestic economy is the Tokyo housewives and their New Zealand dollar deposits.

If these investors take their money home there will be a reduction in New Zealand liquidity, we may then have to offer higher interest rates to attract alternative liquidity and the kiwi dollar could come under pressure at the same time.

This is not a particularly attractive proposition for highly leveraged domestic companies and individuals.

Disclosure of interest: Brian Gaynor is an executive director of Milford Asset Management.

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posted by u2r2h at Friday, March 21, 2008 0 comments

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Ruthless Elite Controls Society

Anticipations of The New Republic: The Vision of H.G. Wells

By Daniel Taylor

In 1901, when Herbert George Wells was around 35 years old, he wrote a book titled Anticipations: Of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress upon Human life and Thought. This work contains many of the same themes as his later 1928 book The Open Conspiracy, as he details the rise of the "New Republic", a system of world governance and scientific control.

Anticipations is a no holds barred explanation of Wells' vision of the New Republic. A watered down version of these ideas can be found in The Open Conspiracy, but it is my opinion that Anticipations will give us a much clearer and honest view into what Wells truly foresaw.

When reading Anticipations, it is difficult not to be reminded of later works such as Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. A scientific, ruthless elite gains effective control of society - in the case of H.G. Wells New Republic by proclaiming altruistic motives to the general population - and directs the affairs of mankind.

Anticipations was one of the first books dedicated to surveying the future. Binghamton University history professor and futurist W. Warren Wagar writes regarding Wells' Anticipations,

"Anticipations ranged widely in its subject matter, from the future of transport to the future of world order... Wells looked ahead to the first aircraft and to broad highways teeming with automobiles, busses, and trucks. Suburbia would triumph over city and countryside... one vast unbroken sprawl of middle-class life would reach from Boston to Washington. [Wells] foresaw the collapse of capitalism and the nation state system in great technologically advanced total wars that the tycoons and the politicians could not, ultimately, understand or control. Power would slip through their fingers. They would be swiftly replaced by the technically competent, by scientists and engineers and managers, who would learn from their errors and build a world state of peace and plenty."

Anticipations contains many startling predictions that have come to pass to one degree or another. In this book, Wells bluntly states the goals and intentions of his envisioned New Republic that will, among many other things, "...have an ideal that will make killing worth the while," and inflict upon deviants, "good scientifically caused pain, that will leave nothing but a memory." Wells even predicts the rise of a union of European states complete with "...homologization of laws and coinage and measures..." through which "...the final peace of the world may be assured for ever." This "peace" however, means certain enslavement for a large portion of mankind.

Wells states - again, this is written in 1901 - that the New Republic will,

"...aim to establish, and it will at last, though probably only after a second century has passed, establish a world-state with a common language and a common rule. All over the world its roads, its standards, its laws, and its apparatus of control will run."

The organization of the New Republic is described by wells as consisting of wealthy men who "will presently discover with a sort of surprise the common object towards which they are all moving." Wells writes,

"Now, the more one descends from the open uplands of wide generalization to the parallel jungle of particulars, the more dangerous does the road of prophesying become, yet nevertheless there may be some possibility of speculating how, in the case of the English-speaking synthesis at least, this effective New Republic may begin visibly to shape itself out and appear. It will appear first, I believe, as a conscious organization of intelligent and quite possibly in some cases wealthy men, as a movement having distinct social and political aims, confessedly ignoring most of the existing apparatus of political control, or using it only as an incidental implement in the attainment of these aims. It will be very loosely organized in its earlier stages, a mere movement of a number of people in a certain direction, who will presently discover with a sort of surprise the common object towards which they are all moving."

Wells describes the New Republic as an "outspoken Secret Society" and an "open freemasonry" controlling the apparatus of government. He states,

"In its more developed phases I seem to see the New Republic as a sort of outspoken Secret Society, with which even the prominent men of the ostensible state may be openly affiliated."

"The New Republicans will constitute an informal and open freemasonry. In all sorts of ways they will be influencing and controlling the apparatus of the ostensible governments..."

The new ethics of death

Wells' New Republic is largely driven by eugenic policies aimed at what Wells calls the "people of the Abyss." These classes of people are those who the New Republic deems inferior, be they Jews, Blacks, the diseased, the incurably melancholy, etc. The supposed superiority of the scientific elite, who have purified themselves of ancient, outdated ideas and restraining morality, places them in a position of dominance in Wells' New Republic. A "reconstructed ethical system" gives rise to a "new ethics" in the New Republic.

Wells writes regarding this new ethics,

"...the ethical system of these men of the New Republic, the ethical system which will dominate the world state, will be shaped primarily to favour the procreation of what is fine and efficient... and to check the procreation of base and servile types..."

Death, writes Wells, must be called to the aid of mankind,

"And the method that nature has followed hitherto in the shaping of the world, whereby weakness was prevented from propagating weakness, and cowardice and feebleness were saved from the accomplishment of their desires... the method that must in some cases still be called in to the help of man, is death."

A "reconstructed ethical system" governs the elite of the New Republic which allows for the killing of lesser types as a greater service to the whole of mankind, but a more selfish motivation of total domination seems to cut to the core of this elite. These men of the New Republic have a "moral justification" for every action. Scientific management and a compulsive desire for efficiency guide their hands. They do display some amount of compassion - if you can call it that - as Wells describes their allowance of some defectives to live, but on the condition that they do not reproduce. If this agreement is violated, murder is not out of the question.

"They will hold [the men of the New Republic], I anticipate, that a certain portion of the population--the small minority, for example, afflicted with indisputably transmissible diseases, with transmissible mental disorders, with such hideous incurable habits of mind as the craving for intoxication--exists only on sufferance, out of pity and patience, and on the understanding that they do not propagate; and I do not foresee any reason to suppose that they will hesitate to kill when that sufferance is abused."

All of this will stand on the "faith" of the men of the New Republic. Wells elaborates,

"The men of the New Republic will not be squeamish, either, in facing or inflicting death, because they will have a fuller sense of the possibilities of life than we possess. They will have an ideal that will make killing worth the while; like Abraham, they will have the faith to kill, and they will have no superstitions about death. They will naturally regard the modest suicide of incurably melancholy, or diseased or helpless persons as a high and courageous act of duty rather than a crime."

The great synthesis

Part of Wells vision for the world state was the division of the world into regions. "The larger synthesis" writes wells, would include a "...federation having America north of Mexico as its central mass..." and a union of European states.

"I am inclined to believe that there will be such a synthesis, and that the head and centre of the new unity will be the great urban region that is developing between Chicago and the Atlantic, and which will lie mainly, but not entirely, south of the St. Lawrence. Inevitably, I think, that region must become the intellectual, political, and industrial centre of any permanent unification of the English-speaking states. There will, I believe, develop about that centre a great federation of white English-speaking peoples, a federation having America north of Mexico as its central mass (a federation that may conceivably include Scandinavia) and its federal government will sustain a common fleet, and protect or dominate or actually administer most or all of the non-white states of the present British Empire, and in addition much of the South and Middle Pacific, the East and West Indies, the rest of America, and the larger part of black Africa.

By the year 2000 all its common citizens should certainly be in touch with the thought of Continental Europe through the medium of French; its English language should be already rooting firmly through all the world beyond its confines, and its statesmanship should be preparing openly and surely, and discussing calmly with the public mind of the European, and probably of the Yellow state, the possible coalescences and conventions, the obliteration of custom-houses, the homologization of laws and coinage and measures, and the mitigation of monopolies and special claims, by which the final peace of the world may be assured for ever. Such a synthesis, at any rate, of the peoples now using the English tongue, I regard not only as a possible, but as a probable, thing. The positive obstacles to its achievement, great though they are, are yet trivial in comparison with the obstructions to that lesser European synthesis we have ventured to forecast. The greater obstacle is negative, it lies in the want of stimulus, in the lax prosperity of most of the constituent states of such a union."

This great synthesis comes at a price to American sovereignty and independence. Wells acknowledges that,

"The American constitution and the British crown and constitution have to be modified or shelved at some stage in this synthesis..." [emphasis added]

Where did Wells get these ideas?

Wells brushed shoulders with and had intimate relationships with some of the most prominent people of his day. Could it be that a close relationship with contemporary elites had something to do with his uncanny ability to predict the future shape of the world?

Thomas Henry Huxley, often referred to as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his strong promotion of Darwinian ideals, tutored H.G. Wells and taught him biology. Wells went on to teach biology himself until 1893. Interestingly, Aldous Huxley and Julian Huxley were T.H. Huxley's grandsons.

Sir Julian Huxley served as the first director general of UNESCO, founded in 1945. Huxley echoed the Darwinian ideals that T.H. had promoted so strongly in his statements on UNESCO's purpose and direction. Wells' vision of a world directorate with eugenic aims came a step closer when Julian Huxley stated,

"Even though it is quite true that any radical eugenic policy will be for many years politically and psychologically impossible, it will be important for UNESCO to see that the eugenic problem is examined with the greatest care, and that the public mind is informed of the issues at stake so that much that what is now unthinkable may at least become thinkable."

H.G. Well's love affair with Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, is yet another connection in Wells life with an individual who shared his belief in eugenics. In fact, Wells wrote the introduction for Sanger's 1922 book Pivot of Civilization, where he portrays a hypothetical conversation between the "New civilization" and the old. He writes that the elite cannot go on giving the gifts of freedom, wealth and prosperity to the world if "...all our gifts to you are to be swamped by an indiscriminate torrent of progeny." He continues, "...we cannot make the social life and the world-peace we are determined to make, with the ill-bred, ill-trained swarms of inferior citizens that you inflict upon us."

H.G. Wells' belief in world government led him to be a strong advocate for the League of Nations. He was also instrumental in writing the Sankey Declaration of the Rights of Man which would later become the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights.

As the world moves toward global government and regional rule, as massive sterilization campaigns are unleashed on the third world, a reflection on what H.G. Wells forecasted 107 years ago seems to be in order.

H.G. Wells' Anticipations can be downloaded here:

http://www.archive.org/details/anticipationsofr00welluoft

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posted by u2r2h at Tuesday, March 18, 2008 0 comments

Friday, March 14, 2008

Rage On

The strange politics of millionaire rock stars

Brian Doherty -- October 2000

"A good song should make you wanna tap your feet and get with your girl. A great song should destroy cops and set fire to the suburbs. I’m only interested in writing great songs."

So says Tom Morello, guitarist for the Los Angeles—based band Rage Against the Machine. He and his bandmates are not simply against cops and the suburbs, of course. They also stand for the Zapatistas and the Shining Path, for freeing Mumia Abu-Jamal and Leonard Peltier, for giving California back to Mexico, and for destroying stores where rich people like themselves shop.

http://991.com/newgallery/Rage-Against-The-Machine-Killing-In-The-Na-53546.jpg

That’s pretty strong stuff coming from work-for-hire employees of one of the great cogs in the global capitalist machine, the megaconglomerate Sony, which wholly owns and distributes Rage’s music and even is a co-owner of the group’s publishing. Since 1992, Rage has sold nearly 7 million records, and it’s safe to say that nobody has benefitted more from that commerce than the band’s unabashedly capitalist paymaster.

In the world of high-profile popular music, Rage Against the Machine is far from alone in advocating a radical leftism, even one that shades into old-style, let’s-nationalize-everything-but-the-music- industry communism. Indeed, Rage has plenty of fellow travelers, most of whom are equally unironic about being fabulously wealthy rock stars.

http://img.mp3sugar.com/album/cover271_10157.jpg
Comrades in the struggle to overthrow "late capitalism" include Chumbawamba, a collective of British anarchists who hit major pop stardom with their rousing 1997 sing-along drinking anthem "Tubthumping."

http://blog.jinbo.net/files1/85/neoscrum/images/200410/310309153.jpg
Chumba (as their fans call the group) declares on its Web site that it wants "to destroy the moral code that says you can only have what you can afford to pay for." And it wants a social order where nothing happens without everyone–everyone!–agreeing to it.


Folk-rocker Ani DiFranco is best known for refusing to be part of a "corporate" machine, saying that the record business is "dehumanizing and exploitative, not much different from any other big business."
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r119/butchgyrrl/itsaprotectedbygoddess.gif
Thus, refusing to work on Maggie’s Farm no more, she operates her own corporate machine, Righteous Babe Records (and pockets far more per record as a result).

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B000002VQP.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Then there’s Patti Smith, the over-the-hill punk poetess who once wowed Madison Square Garden audiences with songs about adolescent alienation and all-night sex. Smith includes a 10-minute-plus tribute to Ho Chi Minh and a snappy pop tune against the World Trade Organization on her latest album, Gung Ho.

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The members of the British band Primal Scream, who originally gained fame as drug-addled hedonists, have taken a page from Rage Against the Machine’s little red playbook, lately recasting themselves as born-again followers of Noam Chomsky, the tenured MIT professor and favorite "dissident" intellectual of politicized rock bands everywhere.
http://www.greenworldcenter.org/Chomsky.jpg

If pop stars’ politics aren’t hard left, they can at least be counted on to be firmly liberal, as evidenced by the anti-nuke, pro-green activism of the likes of Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Sting, and Bono (who has also met with the pope and Bill Clinton to help forge policy on debt forgiveness for the Third World). Oddly, this even holds true for ostensibly redneck bands. When George magazine, that self-styled arbiter of what’s important in politics and popular culture, devoted a 14-page spread to rock and politics in March, it found notable such glorious rockin’ moments as the Allman Brothers’ endorsement of Jimmy Carter. The Georgeists suffered no mental strain reconciling support for Jimmy Carter with their declaration that "rock is the music of rebellion and freedom of expression. [It] pushes limits and challenges the established order." Jimmy Carter, the ultimate Ramblin’ Man.

To be sure, fighting The Man has its rewards: Rage Against the Machine has landed on the covers of both Rolling Stone and Spin to promote its capitalist products. There’s no social capital to be lost, and much to be gained, by being a socialist.

http://anandamide.files.wordpress.com/2007/04/ted_nugent.jpg

Despite such occasional freakish and unrespected outliers as that pro-gun and anti-immigrant Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent (whose music is mostly a distant memory as his stage pronouncements against non—English speakers still get negative press attention), and the Ayn Rand—grokking band Rush (which produced a screed about trees who end up getting hacked with axes when they try to enforce equality among themselves–"that song about the trees who join a labor union," as Village Voice music editor Chuck Eddy once put it), leftism in one form or another is the backbeat of much modern pop. If a political message is an integral part of any pop band’s image or music, it’s bound to be leftist. If otherwise nonpolitical bands make public comments, those comments are almost inevitably left-leaning.

This nearly ubiquitous connection is, to put it mildly, rather strange. Pop music–especially that expansive, vague subcategory known as rock–is universally recognized as the soundtrack of rebellion, whether the authority in question is Daddy taking the T-bird away or the Soviet Union. (The former Czechoslovakia’s Velvet Revolution was so named in part because its participants drew inspiration from those poster children of bourgeois decadence, the Velvet Underground.) While rock hugely, hilariously upset right-wing record burners in the ’50s and ’60s, it was also officially outlawed in all the great Worker’s Republics of the same era–indeed, it was seen as the very apotheosis of capitalist hedonism. (But then if only Richard Nixon, that notable Elvis fan, could go to China, then perhaps only Rage Against the Machine, those millionaire communists, could bring Mao back across the Pacific.)

As important, rock and the larger pop music scene are so clearly a function of the wealth, innovation, and leisure time thrown off by capitalism that it should be nothing less than mind-boggling that pop stars themselves mutter incessantly about toppling the very system that pays them so well. But to most rock stars and rock critics, the link between the music and left-wing politics is so natural and so expected that it is simply assumed.

The connection, however, is a matter of attitude and style, not logic. In truth there isn’t even any necessary connection among the varied elements of most "progressive" causes: Rage Against the Machine tries to jerry-rig such a link, but it doesn’t really argue it so much as assert it. Of course, the band’s members assume, someone who doesn’t want women raped also hates the rich, wants to return California to the Mexicans, and craves the utter abolition of private property–but there is no logical link between those attitudes.

As impossible as such givens may be to justify intellectually, they are of great importance culturally. By insisting on a connection between a set of logically unconnected propositions, people can forge powerful coalitions that make these fake categories real. For examples of this sort of group building, look no further than the Democratic and Republican parties, neither of which is particularly philosophically consistent–try to find the logical link between socializing medicine and expressing support for free speech, say, or between prayer in school and lowering the capital gains tax.

Or consider the inchoate American gang identified as "Bohemian" in New York Times rock critic Ann Powers’ new book, Weird Like Me: My Bohemian America. Powers casually links rock music with her version of bohemia, that world of young and not-so-young hipsters living and behaving in nontraditional ways. Rock, she writes, "inspires fans to dye their hair green and wear thigh-high leather boots; to defy their parents, skip school, and tell off the boss; or even, sometimes, to take a new turn and change their lives completely." Her bohemia is inexorably linked with progressive politics, not holding down a decent job, being kind to gays and minorities, and all else that’s "cool."

Powers fails to recognize that her bohemia is predicated upon a market liberalism that throws off so much wealth that you can live like a Pharaoh just by scavenging what other people throw out–as she and her slacker buddies did in San Francisco in the ’80s and early ’90s. Her bohemian lifestyle is part of the same system that underwrites free markets, consumerism, and tolerance for all sorts of offensive speech and alternative lifestyles. In other words, the liberty to be bohemian is a glorious result of the very capitalist reality that Powers says a real bohemian must be against.

In a slightly different vein, well-known rock critic Dave Marsh asserts a necessary connection between the progressive left and rock music. Marsh, a former Rolling Stone mainstay, brings it all back home to race and class in Rock and Rap Confidential, the monthly newsletter he’s edited since 1983. Rock, he says, was the result of breaking down traditional race and class barriers. It represents, Marsh writes, "a chance to communicate across all the gaps in our society–gaps of class, race, region, gender, generation, education, you name it. Used this way rock ’n’ roll became not just a ‘way out’ of impoverished working class or straight-jacketed middle class existence but a method of absolutely transforming yourself, a means of becoming who you’d always dreamed of being…Of such things is freedom constructed."

A certain poetic internal freedom, yes. But about more mundane freedoms–to earn money, say, and spend it how you see fit, or to not have decisions made for you by a nanny state–Marsh is as quiet as audiences at a Canned Heat reunion.

Unlike many leftists, Marsh understands the oppressive potential of government clearly enough to tell me this in an interview: "The difference between a left-progressive-socialist or communist, or whatever the fuck anyone wants to call me, and a liberal is precisely the degree to which you trust the government. And the difference on gun control is precisely the degree to which you trust the government. The First Amendment is first for a reason, and the Second Amendment is second for a reason."

But Marsh can’t sensibly reconcile the liberty whose praises he sings with the kind of state necessary to forge the classless egalitarianism that he wants. "I’m trying to find a way to develop a society where people work cooperatively most of the time in order to act on individuality some of the time," he tells me.

But Marsh’s conflation of rock as class-and-race mixer with rock as progressive force foists a narrow, partisan political agenda on a more general form of pre-political expression. Certainly such fathers of rock as Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, and Elvis Presley shattered race and class taboos: Crossing such lines explains in large part why they were loved and hated by so many.

More than that, though, such figures helped craft the legend of being young and being American as very heaven. Their foot-tapping, ass-shaking rhythms communicate Dionysian excess, a liberating, often frenzied release from all sorts of restraint and control. It is precisely this aspect that cultural conservatives on both the right and the left have always found suspicious about rock ’n’ roll. Rock inspires a devil-may-care sense of fun in both individuals and groups, one that doesn’t crave any social purpose higher than making the listener feel a particularly energetic and lively brand of good.

http://www.meaus.com/elvis-and-boy.JPEG

Elvis, Chuck Berry, and the rest did this as artists, not proselytizers. If they were the voice of those suffering social injustice and prejudice, they broke free by standing up for a joyous liberty of pleasure and expression, not by campaigning for campesinos and a ban on nuclear power. They were about flamboyance and excitement–especially their own highly individualized visions of such things–not dour attempts to institute Chumbawamba’s dream of endless town meetings.

It’s easy, of course, simply to accuse stinking rich entertainment celebs who talk about overthrowing the system that pays them so well of being hypocrites. Easy, perhaps, and necessary, since of course they are. It’s a pose that, however stylish, is just that. But there’s something more interesting going on than either conscious or naive hypocrisy.

What rockin’ leftists have the hardest time facing up to is rock’s reality as a product of capitalism. Chumbawamba claims it is playing the game of "exist[ing] within [the capitalist system] and at the same time trying to find ways to bring the bastard down." The members also admit that, thanks to their deal with a major label, they have "a decent standard of living for the first time in their lives." (These quotes all from the FAQ on their official Web site, www.chumba.com. On the site, they also fend off accusations from young fans who complain that Chumba should never suggest that it’s all right to get drunk if you enjoy it–that beer money, after all, could have been spent helping the downtrodden.)

To justify its compromised position, Rage Against the Machine drags Noam Chomsky into the debate, making the twisted analogy that Chomsky wouldn’t object to Barnes & Noble–a big, bad company–selling his books, because that’s where people buy books. That analogy might explain why Rage would allow its records to be sold at Tower megastores, but not why its members would become employees of and sell ownership of their music to Sony, which makes far more money selling Rage records than Rage itself does.

Leftists desperately want to avoid real discussion of such contradictions. That’s because such contradictions suggest that if it’s impossible to escape acting like capitalists, maybe there isn’t anything wrong with openly being one.

In a curious way, left-leaning rockers and critics are abetted in their cognitive dissonance by right-wingers, who are similarly uncomfortable with the liberating and wild aspects of capitalist culture, especially its willingness to give people whatever they want regardless of the "morality" of the desire. Right-wingers, every bit as much as their left-wing counterparts, are fundamentally troubled by the cultural implications of capitalism.

As Bill Bennett’s periodic jeremiads against advertising that exhort consumers "to break the rules" and "to peel off inhibitions" suggest, ostensibly pro-market conservatives are among the last ones to sell capitalism for what it is: a realm of groovy freedom filled with a dizzying and ever-expanding panoply of strange and wonderful and disturbing lifestyles and identities in which even the lousiest jobs can buy enormous amounts of leisure and the coolest movies, music, video games, and whatever else you want.

Both the right and the left are fully invested in a Puritan-work-ethic version of capitalism, no matter how at odds with reality such an approach is. For the right, Max Weber’s world of long hours and forgone pleasure is precisely what is good about the system: It creates a society of God-fearing, hard-working, well-behaved individuals. For the left, capitalism not only immiserates all but the top 1 percent of income earners, it crushes difference, breeds racism, and regiments free expression; hence the need for revolution. (Precisely how Ho’s Vietnam, say, or Mao’s China, two alternatives invoked by rockers as preferable to contemporary America, provide models for a freer world is left unspecified.)

It’s not clear who is listening to Bennett and his ilk’s worries that record companies and others are "exploiting the youth rebellion instinct." Nor is it clear that music fans either understand or pay much heed to their favorite performers’ anti-capitalist rants. Beyond the question of whether the lyrics are actually intelligible, one great truth of capitalism is that the consumer is king and often, perhaps typically, uses products in unintended ways. (Just ask manufacturers of model airplane glue.)

This is certainly the case with music, often with comical results. During his 1984 re-election run, for instance, Ronald Reagan–dubbed Ronnie Ray-Gun by punk wags–coopted Bruce Springsteen’s anguished vet’s lament "Born in the U.S.A." as a feel-good campaign anthem. Springsteen and his leftish admirers cried foul and asked Mr. Ray-Gun–if he could read–to read the lyrics, for God’s sake. The song’s lyrics are about a shell-shocked vet with "no place to run, nowhere to go." But who’s to say Reagan wasn’t right to insist the song was an upper? When I hear those notes and that drumbeat, and the Boss’ best arena-stentorian, shout-groan vocals come over the speakers, I feel like I’m hearing the national anthem.

For its part, Rage Against the Machine performs music that eloquently conveys anger and the desire to tear things up; indeed, that inchoate destructive energy may be the real draw for the band’s largely adolescent male fan base. But what the lyrics actually convey is another matter. Not only are they frequently impossible to decipher, they are frequently incomprehensible even on paper. Try figuring out the specific call to action embedded in lines such as: "Merge on the networks, slangin’ nerve gas/Up jump the boogie then bang, let ’em hang/While the paranoid try to stuff the void/Let’s capture this AM mayhem/Undressed, and blessed by the Lord/The power pendulum swings by the umbilical cord/Shock around the clock from noon til noon/Men grabbing they mics and stuff em into the womb."

Politically engaged pop artists don’t like to think about the fact that most people don’t get what they’re trying to say. Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, arising from a punk rock bohemia that saw intolerant, stupid mainstream dudes and dudettes as the enemy, killed himself at least partially because of this dilemma. Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine believes he doesn’t have to worry about fan misunderstanding (a much hardier type than Cobain, Morello presumably would just picket that Guess? Jeans store with an extra ounce of determination if his fans weren’t quite getting his band’s message). Morello doesn’t see Rage as educating its fans. He says, "It’s not at all the case where our audiences are empty glasses that we pour knowledge in…a lot of them are pretty pissed off and have got their own ideas."

Do they ever. If you surf Rage Against the Machine fan Web boards, you find kids shouting things like, "Spring break! Woooo!" On one board, an earnest Rage fan gives a long definition and defense of democratic socialism, while another, not clearly trying to be a wise-ass, replies, "Sweden is run by social democrats–All it really is is super high taxes."

The medium is resolutely not the message when it comes to rock songs and rock style. Aping their favorite performers, fans may dress like Che, sport a stylish, pre-Monica beret, or even get a tattoo of him. But that doesn’t mean they’re signing on to Guevara’s economic plan, which helped sink the Cuban economy during the ’60s.

On another popular Rage message board, a fan told of spotting a fellow high school student wearing a Rage T-shirt. The fan engaged the shirt wearer in a discussion of Rage’s socialism. But the shirt wearer didn’t believe it: How could his rockin’ rebels be socialists, since "socialists were fascists who stifle freedom"? The wounded reporter of this exchange noted, "I hope people will actually find out what a shirt stands for before they wear it."

But the other kid knew what he knew. And in the market system that pays Rage so handsomely for its anti-capitalist songs, he’s the one who imposes value on the objects that he uses to create his public personality. No matter what Rage’s members might think, he knows they stand for freedom when he listens to them.

www.reason.com/news/show/27818.html
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posted by u2r2h at Friday, March 14, 2008 2 comments

Thursday, March 06, 2008

Supercapacitor Bus Service Shanghai

Supercapacitor, NOT superconductor!!

China is experimenting with a new form of electric bus (capabus) that runs without powerlines using power stored in large onboard supercapacitors, which are quickly recharged whenever the electric bus stops at any bus stop (under so-called electric umbrellas), and fully charged in the terminus. A few prototypes were being tested in Shanghai in early 2005. In 2006, two commercial bus routes began to use supercapacitor buses; one of them is route 11 in Shanghai.

In August 2007, a research team at RPI developed a paper battery with aligned carbon nanotubes, designed to function as both a lithium-ion battery and a supercapacitor (called bacitor), using an ionic liquid, essentially a liquid salt, as the electrolyte. The sheets can be rolled, twisted, folded, or cut into numerous shapes with no loss of integrity or efficiency, or stacked, like printer paper (or a Voltaic pile), to boost total output. As well, they can be made in a variety of sizes, from postage stamp to broadsheet. Their light weight and low cost make them attractive for portable electronics, aircraft, automobiles, and toys (such as model aircraft), while their ability to use electrolytes in blood make them potentially useful for medical devices such as pacemakers. In addition, they are biodegradable.

Supercapacitors


Capacitors are electronic devices. Conventional capacitors have enormous power but store only tiny amounts of energy. Batteries can store lots of energy but have low power . they take a long time to be charged or discharged. Supercapacitors offer a unique combination of high power and high energy.

How It Works Batteries are charged when they undergo an internal chemical reaction. They deliver the absorbed energy, or discharge, when they reverse the chemical reaction. In contrast, when a supercapacitor is charged, there is no chemical reaction. Instead, the energy is stored as a charge or concentration of electrons on the surface of a material. Advantages Supercapacitors are capable of very fast charges and discharges, and apparently are able to go through a large number of cycles without degradation. Applications Supercapacitors found their first application in military projects . for example, starting the engines of battle tanks and submarines or replacing batteries in missiles. Common applications today include starting diesel trucks and railroad locomotives, actuators, and in electric/hybrid-electric vehicles for transient load leveling and regenerating the energy of braking. NASA has used 30 large supercapacitors in its turbo-electric city bus.

Supercapacitor Bus

Shanghai China has a system of buses based on Supercapacitors rather than batteries. They can be charged much faster than batteries (even the Nanosafe), but hold less energy (at the current time). It is quite possible that supercaps will be superior to the Nanosafe batteries in this application, as they charge faster, with the ability to do many more charge/discharge cycles. Currently, they have somewhat poor energy/weight ratio compared to Lithium batteries. Their fast recharge time, however allows them to be charged at every, or every other stop without inconveniencing the passengers or driver.

The ideal system, would then be to combine the high capacity of Lithium batteries, with the faster charge and higher cycles of Super Capacitors. Between these two technologies, it would seem that the Nanobus is now practical and feasible.

Over the next few years, with new emphasis on EV and Plug-in Hybrids, that the differences between Super Capacitors and Advanced batteries will likely converge

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posted by u2r2h at Thursday, March 06, 2008 0 comments

Monday, March 03, 2008

BtL GtL Choren Biofuel or Cellulose?

CELLULOSE

Cellulosic ethanol companies leading the industry:


Abengoa Constructing the world's first commercial scale cellulosic ethanol biorefinery in Babilafuente (Salamanca), Spain using some components from SunOpta. Commissioning is expected to start in the summer of 2007. In 2006 Q4, a partnership was announced with Dyadic. Later this year, Abengoa plans to start conversion of a corn-based ethanol plant they own in York, Neb., into a bio-mass ethanol facility, which would initially use small grain straw and corn stover as the bio-mass feedstock.View or Post Comments
Alico In early 2007 the Dept of Energy announced it would award the company up to $33 million. The proposed plant will be in LaBelle (Hendry County), Florida. The plant will produce 13.9 million gallons of ethanol a year and 6,255 kilowatts of electric power, as well as 8.8 tons of hydrogen and 50 tons of ammonia per day. For feedstock, the plant will use 770 tons per day of yard, wood, and vegetative wastes and eventually energycane.
Archer Daniels Midland ADM is agressively studying how to produce cellulosic ethanol out of parts of the corn kernal that are traditionally not used for ethanol. ADM's new CEO Patricia Woertz (formerly the head of petroleum refining at Chevron) was quoted in March of 2007 saying: "We believe this process would boost our production of ethanol by 15% without requiring an additional ear of corn. Cellulosic applications such as this, on existing feedstocks, may be as little as 2 years away."
American Process, Inc. Inventor of AVAP technology which will be used at the Flambeau River Biorefinery project in Park Falls, WI. It will be the first modern U.S. based pulp mill biorefinery to produce cellulosic ethanol from from spent pulping liquor. Project engineering has commenced with a production of ethanol expected to begin as early as 2009.
BRI Energy Developed a process that uses gasification, fermentation and distillation to produce ethanol and electricity from a wide array of carbon-based wastes.
BlueFire Plans to use the Arkenol Technology Process (which has been used in Izumi, Japan since 2002) for creating cellulosic ethanol. View or Post Comments
Ceres Privately-held plant biotech company utilizing genomics technologies to develop energy crops, such as switchgrass, for cellulosic ethanol.
Colusa Though its stock is not for the faint of heart, the company is highly regarded by industry peers. Colusa has already harvested the rice straw which it expects to convert to ethanol when its California bio-refinery comes online in Q4 2007.
DuPont Partnering with Broin to bring cost-effective ethanol derived from corn stover to market. A pilot cellulosic ethanol production program is planned for South Dakota later in 2007.
Dyadic Spent over a decade of R&D in the design and development of enzymes for the increasingly efficient extraction of sugars from biomass. In 2006 Q4, a partnership was announced with Abengoa. View or Post Comments
Globex Developing supercritical fluid (SCF) which will be used along with enzymatic hydrolysis for the production of cellulosic ethanol.
Green Star Products Inc. Developed a waterless continuous flow process reactor system which will be used in upcoming cellulose ethanol plants planned for North Carolina and the Northwest.
Iogen Corp. Operates a demonstration scale facility to convert biomass to cellulose ethanol using enzymatic hydrolysis technology. Full scale commercial facilities are being planned. It is very likely they will annouce plans for an Idaho plant that will make ethanol from wheat straw.
Lignol Energy Corporation A western Canadian company, Lignol plans to build biorefineries for ethanol and co-products produced from Canadian forests. The Company has acquired and modified a solvent based pre-treatment technology originally developed by a subsidiary of General Electric (.GE.). Lignol also acquired the original GE pilot plant that is now being integrated with recently developed process capabilities to convert cellulose to ethanol.
Mascoma With a new CTO who spent over 10 years with SunOpta, Mascoma is developing bio and process technology for cost-effective conversion of cellulosic biomass. Khosla Ventures is a Mascoma investor.
Nova Fuels (maker of Novahol) Develops biomass-to-fuel conversion facilities (that use gasification technology) with joint venture partners.
Novozymes Developing enzymes that can convert cellulose into simple sugars, for fermentation into fuel ethanol. Has had collaboration/partnerships with Abengoa and Broin. View or Post Comments
Poet The Broin Companies changed their name to Poet on March 30, 2007. The largest dry mill ethanol producers in the US, Poet is collaborating with Novozymes in the research and development of cellulose ethanol technology. Poet will expand their Emmetsburg, Iowa facility to include cellulosic ethanol production from corn hulls and cobs. Completion is expected in 2009.
PureEnergy Developed a two-stage dilute acid hydrolysis technology process which will be used in the forthcoming Green Star Products, Inc projects.
Range Fuels The Colorado based company, formerly known as Kergy is funded by Khosla Ventures. It claims it can produce more cellulosic ethanol for a given amount of energy expended than is possible with any other competing process. Just as noteworthy: The design allows them to "bring systems to sources where biomass is most plentiful, instead of having to transport biomass to a central processing site." It should be known that some in the cellulosic industry tend to scoff at Range's process because they use gasification instead of fermentation. Regardless, the Dept of Energy still awarded the company up to $76 million to build a commercial cellulosic ethanol plant in the U.S. at a site near Soperton, Georgia.
SunOpta Built the first cellulosic ethanol plant 20 years ago, in France. Has four cellulosic ethanol projects which are or will be operational using SunOpta's technology and equipment to produce ethanol from cellulosic biomass: 1.SunOpta provided its systems and technology to China Resources Alcohol Corporation (CRAC) in September 2006 and the plant began production of ethanol from local corn stover in October 2006. 2.Key components of SunOpta's equipment and technology have recently been shipped to Spain for the start up of the Abengoa wheat straw to ethanol facility located in Salamanca, Spain. This project is expected to start up in the summer of 2007. 3.SunOpta's equipment and technology will be used in a new Celunol facility being built in Jennings, Louisiana, to produce ethanol from sugarcane bagasse and wood. This will be the first commercial production of cellulosic ethanol plant in the United States and is scheduled to start up in the summer of 2007. 4.Recently announced the formation of a Joint Venture with GreenField Ethanol Inc., Canada's largest producer of ethanol. The purpose of this Joint Venture is to design, build and jointly own and operate plants producing ethanol from wood chips. View or Post Comments
Verenium In June of 2007, Verenium was formed from a merger between Celunol and Diversa. Partnering with Dupont and researching multiple enzyme "cocktails" to break down cellulosic biomass. Purchased biomass-to-ethanol technology from SunOpta. The system will complement its own proprietary technology. In February 2007, Verenium broke ground on a 1.4 million gallon per year (MGY) demonstration facility located adjacent to its cellulosic pilot facility in Jennings, Louisiana. The facility is designated to operate on diverse regional feedstocks including sugarcane bagasse and specially-bred energy cane. The facility is slated for first operations in early 2008. Commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol facilities are slated for completion by 2010. Khosla Ventures is a Verenium investor.
Virgin Fuels In September 2006, Sir Richard Branson pledged an estimated $3 billion to fight global warming. A large chunk of that is expected to be invested in cellulosic ethanol research and production.
Xethanol Recently announced aggressive plans for its new BlueRidgeXethanol company to begin producing cellulose ethanol in Spring Hope, NC by Feb. 2007 using acid hydrolysis. Plans to construct a 50 million gallon per year cellulosic ethanol plant in Augusta, GA which would begin producing ethanol by mid-2007.


BtL

Biomass to liquid (BTL) or BMTL is a (multi step) process to produce liquid biofuels from biomass:

The process uses the whole plant to improve the CO2 balance and increase yield.


The Fischer Tropsch process is used to produce synfuels from gasified biomass. While biodiesel and bio-ethanol production so far only use parts of a plant, i.e. oil, sugar, starch or cellulose, BTL production uses the whole plant which is gasified by gasification. The result is that for BTL, less land area is required per unit of energy produced compared with biodiesel or bio-ethanol.
Flash Pyrolysis - producing bio-oil, char and gas at temperatures between 350-550°C and residence times < 1 second (also called anhydrous pyrolysis).
Catalytic depolymerization - using heat and catalysts to separate usable diesel fuel from hydrocarbon wastes.

Shell Takes Minority Stake in Biomass-to-Liquids Producer CHOREN 17 August 2005

CHOREN.s Carbo-V Biomass Gasification Process

Shell Deutschland Oil GmbH has acquired a minority equity stake in CHOREN Industries, the producers of a synthetic diesel.SunDiesel.via a Biomass-to-Liquids (BTL) process.

Shell.s buy-in sets the stage for construction of a 15,000 tonnes/year commercial facility for the BTL production of the synthetic diesel.

The heart of CHOREN.s technology is its patented Carbo-V Biomass-gasification process that converts biomass into ultra-clean tar-free synthetic gas.

The Carbo-V Process is a three-stage gasification process using:


Low-temperature gasification. Biomass (with a water content of 15%.20%) is continually carbonized through partial oxidation (low-temperature pyrolysis) with air or oxygen at temperatures between 400º C and 500° C, i.e. it is broken down into a gas containing tar (volatile parts) and solid carbon (char).


High-temperature gasification. The gas containing tar is post-oxidized using air and/or oxygen in a combustion chamber operating above the melting point of the fuelâ..s ash to turn it into a hot gasification medium.


Endothermic entrained bed gasification. The char is ground down into pulverized fuel and is blown into the hot gasification medium. The pulverized fuel and the gasification medium react endothermically in the gasification reactor and are converted into a raw synthesis gas. Once this has been treated in the appropriate manner, it can be used as a combustible gas for generating electricity, steam and heat or as a syngas.

The syngas can then be converted into synthetic biofuels using the same Shell Middle Distillate Synthesis (SMDS) technology that Shell has developed for Gas-to-Liquids production (conversion of natural gas into synthetic oil products). Shell.s SMDS is a low-temperature, cobalt catalyst-based version of the Fischer-Tropsch GTL process.

The BTL fuels are identical in composition and properties to GTL fuels.and they have the added advantage of being based on renewable feedstocks.

BTL Fuel is as clear and virtually free of sulfur and aromatic substances. Its ignition qualities (as measured by a very high cetane number) are excellent, thereby reducing noise and resulting in cleaner combustion than with conventional diesel. Greenhouse gas emissions from BTL Fuel are less than 10% of those from fossil fuels. Moreover, BTL Fuel can either be used as a pure product or in a blend with conventional diesel fuel.

Unlike biodiesel production, BTL uses the entire plant, thus theoretically requiring less land use per unit of energy. The combined process of energy conversion and Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, however, is energy intensive.and more so when using biomass as a feedstock than natural gas. On a Well-to-Wheels basis, BTL diesel is far better from a greenhouse gas emissions perspective than any other variant of synthetic or conventional petroleum fuel (except for DME from biomass) or conventional biofuel, but the worst in terms of energy requirement.

In the next two to three decades, liquid fuels will continue to dominate the market. Climate protection measures will mean that the share accounted for by biofuels is set to increase. We want to proactively participate in this shift as part of our commitment to the concept of sustainable mobility and maintain our leadership in formulating advanced fuels.
.Rob Routs, Executive Director Downstream, Shell


Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler have been collaborating with Choren on the production SunDiesel since 2002 due to the cleaner-burning characteristics of the fuel. Tests have shown that Euro 3 engines can achieve Euro 4 level emissions when using SunDiesel.

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