2008 - the year of green IT

The United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, which runs from December 3 to 14 this year, looks set to send a clear and unambiguous message to the developed world: reduce your carbon footprint now before it is too late.

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Acergy and Subsea 7: deal signals a new reality in the oil and gas market

The planned merger between Acergy and Subsea 7, like the similar deal agreed by Schlumberger and Smith International earlier this year, illustrates the new environment in the oil and gas services market. With firms looking to become stronger so that they can overcome costs and complexity challenges, consolidation is likely to emerge as a popular strategy.

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Adoption of home energy management systems restricted by cost and control issues

While home energy management systems are a useful way of reducing energy use, with benefits for consumers and utilities alike, the adoption of this technology is likely to be hampered by a number of factors including concerns over privacy and a lack of return on investment. As a result, uptake is likely to be optional and driven by sophisticated users and utilities struggling to meet peak demands.

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Africa: a great hope for oil producers but a forgotten continent for global media

Recent media coverage of the social unrest in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya has referred to a "Middle Eastern crisis." However, these important oil producing nations are firmly African. The oversight is indicative of a broader media tendency to ignore similar problems taking place across Africa, where a number of elections throughout 2011 could further threaten the continent's oil and gas production.

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Air freight: carriers need to look to alternative modes to address margin declines

Soaring oil prices are rendering air freight an increasingly less economically viable choice for logistics carriers and shippers alike. Profit margins in the air freight business are being hurt by the rising fuel costs; thus, multi-modal carriers need to focus on fuel-efficient modal choices to maintain their margins.

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Algerian gas: a small step toward gas market liberalization

In its quest to further gas liberalization in Europe, the EU has recently reached an agreement with Algeria on the thorny issues of profit sharing mechanisms and gas resale destination clauses. Given that Algeria supplies around 15% of Europe's natural gas consumption, this represents a small but crucial step towards gas market liberalization.

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Asian power firms look to international markets for growth opportunities

Energy security concerns and business expansion plans are driving Asian power generation companies to venture into international markets. However, various technical, commercial and political risks pose significant challenges to these companies' plans to establish an international footprint.

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Back to BASICs for India at Cancun

It's COP time again, and the world will resume its yearly chant about the need to address climate change. The baby steps taken in Copenhagen at the COP15 will be the focus of attention as most developed nations push to make these into more binding agreements. There will therefore be a lot of interest in the four BASIC countries - Brazil, South Africa, India, and China - and what they come up with.

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Banking reform: addressing the sustainability of banking business models

The financial crisis has highlighted the fragility of banking business models which are based on high levels of risk and low reserves. In the aftermath of the crisis, many banks are aiming to demonstrate that sustainability is making its way onto their agendas. However, there is currently little evidence that this is indeed the case.

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BG: unlocking Italy with Tony's help

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