Category Archives: Resource Based Economy

Oslo, 23 October 2019 The Aker Group, REV Ocean and The Resource Group (TRG) today announced a joint pledge of USD 11 million to three initiatives dedicated to developing disruptive technology solutions for a healthy and productive ocean.

Throughout its 180-year history, the Aker group has been a driving force in the development of knowledge-based industry related to ocean resources. All our industrial activities are part of the ocean economy, said Aker President and CEO yvind Eriksen.

Today, our ocean is at risk and changes are needed. I strongly believe that solutions for the ocean are developed more robustly and swiftly if businesses like Aker join forces with governments, NGOs and other stakeholders. A healthier ocean is a shared interest, he said.

The USD 11 million pledge will go towards three initiatives, covering costs for the next three years. The initiatives include the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (C4IR) in Norway, which will receive USD 6 million, the Ocean Data Platform receiving USD 3 million, and the Plastic REVolution which is being granted USD 2 million. The initiatives will contribute towards preserving and sustainably using the ocean and marine resources through strong private sector engagement and technology drivers.

We will create disruptive technology solutions for Our Ocean, starting with gathering and sharing facts. The Ocean Data Platform, launched yesterday, will gather and liberate data, enabling solutions and people for one healthy ocean. Secondly, we will unite the right people. In the technology centre for the Ocean, we invite public and private partners to create collaborative solutions for the environment. And lastly, we translate ideas into action, through initiatives such as the Plastic REVolution Foundation, which was created to develop commercially viable and scalable solutions to fight plastic pollution, said Nina Jensen, CEO of REV Ocean.

About the three initiatives:

The Affiliated Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution in Norway (C4IR Norway) is being developed by the Aker Group and TRGs philanthropic initiatives. Focusing on the ocean health and wealth, it will be the only center in the World Economic Forums C4IR Network that is dedicated to the environment. The Centre will cooperate with the business community, research institutions, and in close dialogue with the Government of Norway, the High-Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy and others to design and pilot technology solutions and innovative policy frameworks. The center, which will be a non-profit foundation, aims to take a global leadership role in environmental innovation for the ocean leveraging on emerging 4IR technologies.

The Ocean Data Platform (ODP) is being developed by the Ocean Data Foundation, a philanthropic initiative by Kjell Inge Rkke, in close cooperation with REV Ocean. The ODP aims to liberate ocean data and connect people, data and technology to drive an ocean sustainability movement. The platform enables the entire ocean community such as academia, business and ocean policy /management to collaborate and share data for one healthy ocean by offering digital tools and services with easy access to data, immersive visualisation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools.

The Plastic REVolution Foundation is a philanthropic entity founded by Kjell Inge Rkke. It works closely with REV Ocean. It is created to develop commercially viable and scalable solutions to fight plastic pollution. The Foundations initial project is a plastic-to-liquid chemical recycling plant in Accra, Ghana, coupled with plastic waste collection systems.

-Ends-

For further information, please contact:

Aker group:Atle Kigen, Head of Communicationsatle.kigen@akerasa.comTel: +47 907 84 878

REV Ocean:Lawrence Hislop, Communications Managerlawrence.hislop@recocean.org Tel: + +47 48 50 05 14

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Aker and REV Ocean Pledge USD 11 million to Technology Initiatives for a Healthy Ocean - GlobeNewswire

Accountants belong to a fulfilling and challenging profession, with tremendous opportunities for employment and growth. CPAs are in demand for all types of organizations, and the OnPay2019 Small Business Finance and HR Reportstates that the most trusted advisor for many small businesses is their accountant (http://bit.ly/2lWnJpA). Approximately 86% of survey respondents agreed or strongly agreed that their accountant is a trusted counselor. Interestingly, entrepreneurs who had the most faith in their accountant were more likely to expect revenue growth for the coming year, indicating that accountants are key figures in a positive economy.

Students and second-career candidates have many options for future engagement, but often know little about accounting opportunities. This months column looks at two great web-sites for accounting students, as well as for those mentoring future CPAs. Accounting instructors will also find helpful advising information and useful classroom materials. While there is some overlap in the topical coverage, each website has some unique features that make it worthwhile to explore.

Discover Accounting (https://discoveraccounting.org/) offers extensive materials covering accounting education, career options, and certifications, as well as a job board. It presents state-by-state information on requirements to sit for the CPA exam, as well as topical coverage on the exam. The websites News section (https://discoveraccounting.org/news/) contains several blog posts concerning careers in accounting.

The Accounting Degrees and Certifications Guide explains the value of an accounting degree; provides a list of the various common academic accreditations for colleges and universities; compares associates, bachelors, and masters degrees and the positions to which they may lead; and describes several accounting certifications (https://discoveraccounting.org/degree/). The bottom of this page provides hyperlinks to a mix of professional organizations and CPA exam information. An extensive discussion of national and state scholarship information is located athttps://discoveraccounting.org/scholarships/.

Career Resources (https://discoveraccounting.org/careers/) presents 24 career options or job titles and is the perfect place to send students who ask what they can do with an accounting degree. The content of the specific job pages varies, but, as an example, the Tax Accountant subsidiary page (https://discoveraccounting.org/careers/tax-accounting/) discusses background information on the tax accounting field and the tax specialization, such as business tax accounting and international tax accounting. The educational requirements and certification options for tax accountants are briefly covered, and the summary concludes with median salaries and career outlook.

The Resources section of the website is quite extensive and includes information on scholarships, salaries, public versus private accounting, and the CPA exam, among many other topics (https://discoveraccounting.org/resources/). The main page provides an overview of some of the website offerings, including brief descriptions of accounting associations, links to study resource websites, links to open access journals (includingThe CPA Journal), and links to certification study resources, among many others. Another option is use the sitemap to scan for specific items of interest (https://discoveraccounting.org/sitemap-resources/).

The Become a CPA main page (https://discoveraccounting.org/become-a-cpa/) offers background information on certification and licensure requirements, including the role of state boards of accountancy, and provides connections to state-specific details. The New York page, for example, covers education requirements for accounting, general business, ethics and professional responsibilities, and business and accounting communications (https://discoveraccounting.org/become-acpa/new-york/). There is also information on how to apply and sit for the CPA exam in New York, registration fees, required experience, and licensing and renewal requirements. The final item is average accounting salaries in the state, including in various geographic regions.

Accounting.com is another great website for anyone interested in learning more about accounting education and careers, as well as accounting information for small businesses. The site map (https://www.accounting.com/sitemap/) is an easy way to see a quick snapshot of website contents and focus in on specific resources. Another option is to start with the Resources main page (https://www.accounting.com/resources/), which contains a large collection of guides and groups content by featured, career resources, college planning, financial aid, and accounting knowledge. The guides are thorough and thought provoking, provide links to external resources, and are presented in webpage format and easily accessible on any electronic device or computer.

Top Reasons to Choose a Career in Accounting, (http://bit.ly/2lztpFW) by Susan Lowe, CPA, is a featured resource and provides excellent talking points for mentoring a student interested in pursuing accounting. The related Career section (https://www.accounting.com/resources/career-resources/) has several beneficial resources, including an Essential Guide to the CPA Exam, with a thorough discussion of eligibility, registration, and preparation, as well as multiple hyperlinks to AICPA materials.

Prospective CPAs need to pursue the appropriate accounting education, and the College Planning section contains more than two dozen guides, such as How to Choose a Program, SAT and GMAT guides, and undergraduate and graduate college application guides (https://www.accounting.com/resources/college-planning-resources/). The Internships and Practicums guide starts by explaining what an internship is, how it will help the student, and what to expect. It suggests that students look to their universitys career center, attend job fairs and recruiting events, reach out to an alumni network, and check out internship databases, such as the seven linked websites provided.

The Financial Aid Overview and Scholarships webpage has an extensive overview of information on the costs of higher education and options to help pay for expenses (https://www.accounting.com/resources/financial-aid/). Prospective students are reminded that education costs include not only tuition and housing, but books, equipment, and travel or commuting costs. The financial aid information covers the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) process, how to use personal and retirement savings, and how to obtain scholarships, grants, and private loans. The segment on federal student aid programs is especially helpful, with explanations of the Federal Direct Loan Program, Federal Perkins Loans, federal work-study programs, school-based financial aid, state aid, and veterans benefits.

The In Your State section is particularly well developed and includes background information on each state, a comprehensive directory of colleges and universities with accounting programs in that state, salaries for selected job titles and degree levels, top-paying cities in the state, and major CPA firms headquartered in the state. There is also a summary of requirements to become a CPA in that state, the costs to sit for the exam, and contact information for the state board and the NYSSCPA.

Susan B. Anders, PhD, CPA/CGMA is the Louis J. and Ramona Rodriguez Distinguished Professor of Accounting at Midwestern State University, Wichita Falls, Tex. She is a member ofThe CPA JournalEditorial Advisory Board.

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Accounting Career and Education Resources - The CPA Journal

SEATTLE The first thing Chris Caculitan mentions, when asked how the Emerald City has changed in the years since he grew up here, is the tech companies. Theyre everywhere now.

Local media refer to the Pacific Northwest citys recent tech-fuelled economic boom as the second gold rush to hit town.

But that wealth hasnt lifted all boats, as Caculitan, 28, has seen first-hand. Caculitan, who studied social work at Seattle University, works for the Low-Income Housing Institute, a Seattle non-profit. Born in the Philippines, Caculitan immigrated to Seattle as a child. The support his working-class family received from the government and community members influenced his career choice, he said. I kind of saw what that struggle was like, so I wanted to make it a career, helping those who needed more.

As money poured into Seattle in recent years, some of Caculitans family and friends have been forced out. That will sound familiar to many Vancouverites, particularly renters. But in Seattle, even longtime homeowners with full-time jobs have had their property taxes soar beyond what theyre able to pay, forcing them to leave town.

Caculitan manages one of the tiny house villages that the City of Seattle has supported in recent years in response to the citys increasing homelessness. He works at the village in South Lake Union, a rapidly changing neighbourhood, home to expensive residential highrises and some of the citys and the worlds largest tech companies.

Chris Caculitan, a special projects manager for the Low Income Housing Institute, a Seattle non-profit housing provider, in the Lake Union Village, one of the citys tiny house villages for formerly homeless people.Dan Fumano / PNG

The village, which was an underutilized city-owned parking lot until last year, is home for 28 previously homeless Seattleites living in 22 wooden sheds. The homes are less than 100 sq. ft. each, but the villagers are happy to have a locking door and a roof that keeps out the rain.

The day before Caculitan gave The Vancouver Sun a tour of the village this month, a different Seattle was on display a six-minute Uber ride away, in a downtown hotel ballroom.

There was no shortage of optimism among government officials and business leaders from B.C., Washington and Oregon, gathered for the Cascadia Innovation Corridor Conference. The governor of Washington and premier of B.C. sat together on stage discussing big goals they share as allies, and the mayors of Vancouver and Seattle met to discuss their cities shared opportunities. There was much talk of how the Cascadia mega-region of 10 million people can be a bigger global competitor than any of its three urban centres Portland, Seattle and Vancouver could be on their own.

Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, told the crowd his trillion-dollar company has been so excited to see Vancouver increasingly take off.

We at Microsoft have been so enthusiastic about our development centre in Vancouver, said Smith, adding that its not surprising so many Seattle-based tech companies are moving north to Vancouver.

Microsoft isnt the only Washington giant growing in Vancouver. When Seattle-based online retailer Amazon unveiled plans last year to create 3,000 jobs in Vancouver in a 416,000-square-foot complex being built on top of the old Canada Post facility on West Georgia, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was there for the announcement.

B.C.s leaders have worked for years to boost the provinces tech sector. Government officials often talk about boosting the innovation economy as a way to produce high-paying jobs, generate tax revenue, and help move the economy away from dependence on resource-based industries and towards a more climate-friendly future.

Hours after Microsofts Smith sang the praises of Vancouver and Surrey, Premier John Horgan and Wash Gov. Jay Inslee took to the same stage.

The tech sector has certainly developed here, and then as it blossoms into British Columbia, we see synergies between the two jurisdictions that are compelling to investors, Horgan said. The opportunities are immense.

Some of B.C.s traditional industries, such as forestry, are struggling, but the provinces technology sector has been setting records for revenue and job numbers. The latest government numbers show more than 114,200 people are employed in B.C.s high-technology sector, with $31 billion in revenue in 2017, a 6.9 per cent increase over the previous year.

Sitting in the governors Seattle offices, Horgan listed Metro Vancouvers advantages in competing for top companies and talent from the U.S. and abroad: an educated population, top research universities, good health care, multicultural cities, order and stability.

And as U.S. immigration has tightened under President Donald Trump. it has become harder for American companies to bring in top international talent. But a Seattle-based company with a Vancouver office can attract foreign recruits to its northern outpost. That, Horgan said, represents a competitive advantage for us.

The B.C. government wants, Horgan said, to focus on lifting wages. We dont want to be the lowest common denominator.

That touches on one of B.C.s competitive advantages in the tech industry: cheap labour or at least relatively cheap. In 2017, when cities around North America made pitches to Amazon seeking to host its second headquarters, Vancouvers application highlighted: We have the lowest wages of all North American tech hubs.

Vancouvers bid, which drew criticism locally for boasting about its low-earning tech workers, cited an average salary for a software engineer in Vancouver as US$60,107 compared to $92,380 in Atlanta and $113,906 in Seattle. That means while a Vancouver software engineers average salary was almost half that of a Seattle counterpart, its still 65 per cent higher than Metro Vancouvers average market income. By some estimates, the wage gap between tech workers and other occupations is even wider in Seattle.

With the federal election days away, Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart said he hasnt heard anything on the campaign trail about promoting economic co-operation and development in Cascadia.

I havent heard it mentioned once, Stewart said after the Cascadia conference. It would be my job to make this Cascadia corridor idea clearer to the feds. The province and John Horgan are all over this. But whoever wins the federal election, I think one of the things that Ill be talking to them about is that weve got to take this more seriously.

Im a passionately proud Canadian, Horgan said, but I see there are obstacles because our east-west linkages often times get in the way of expanding our north-south relationship. Ottawa is 3,000 miles away from British Columbia physically, and sometimes, it feels like theyre a couple of light years away. So we have more in common north-south, quite often, than we do east-west.

B.C. Premier John Horgan in the Seattle offices of Washington Gov. Jay Inslee.See Notes / Direction / PNG

As a former NDP MP representing Burnaby, Stewart knows about that distance between B.C. and Ottawa. His first term was under Stephen Harpers Conservatives and his second under Justin Trudeaus Liberals, and both parties, he said, seemed Ottawa-centric and out of touch with the West Coast.

International companies are looking at us in a serious way, and I dont think were ready for that, Stewart said. Im getting ready for it, but we have to have a real conversation as a community about what we want this city to be. Because I think the opportunities are there, but its just weve got to make sure we take the right ones.

Leaders on both sides of the border acknowledge concerns about the dark side of the boom.

Metro Vancouver has grappled for years with a housing affordability and homelessness crisis. But the Seattle-King County area, with a similar overall population, has almost four times as many homeless people, including many full-time workers and families with children. Researchers have found Seattles recent surge in homelessness is not linked to increases in either population or poverty in the region, but instead to rising housing costs and wealth inequality.

Vancouvers chief planner, Gil Kelley, made a prediction on the subject of local wealth inequality in 2017, when he presented the citys new 10-year housing strategy to the previous mayor and council.

Kelley, whod arrived in Vancouver a year earlier from San Francisco, where he was director of citywide planning, said both cities faced housing challenges, but there were notable differences. One key element of San Franciscos housing crisis, that hasnt quite hit Vancouver yet, but likely will, with its growing high-tech economy, was the growing wage gap between high-technology workers and regular folks in San Francisco, Kelley said.

Gil Kelley, general manager of planning, urban design, and sustainability, at Vancouver City Hall.Arlen Redekop / PNG

Vancouver had high housing prices but not very high wages, and its housing affordability woes were instead largely driven by a very extreme level of speculative investment in real estate, he said.

To deal with Vancouvers near-zero rental vacancy rate, Kelleys housing strategy sought to boost construction of rental housing, a direction broadly supported by the current mayor and council.

Over the past decade, 77 per cent of homes built in Vancouver were condos and houses. Only 17 per cent were market rental homes and five per cent were social housing. That includes the uptick in rental housing in recent years, as Vancouver adopted policies to encourage private-sector apartment construction.

Its a dramatically different picture from Seattle, where the one saving grace has been the immense amount of apartment construction, said a University of Washington professor, Margaret OMara.

Policies in Seattle have been welcoming for big rental projects, while Vancouver developers have long complained their citys onerous approval process threatens the viability of such projects. A Seattle planning official recently gave a presentation to a room full of Vancouver developers, The Province reported in August, that elicited envious sighs when he talked about approving a proposed Seattle apartment tower in about a year.

Vancouver developers many increasingly active in Seattle point to Seattles rental construction boom and say Vancouver must build its way out of its own housing crisis. While Vancouvers rental vacancy rate remains below one per cent, Seattles vacancy rate is around 10 per cent, and rents in some Seattle neighbourhoods have started to drop.

But while Seattles rental supply increase has helped, somewhat, to ease the tight market, those apartments are still too expensive for many locals. And the fact that thousands of Seattleites are homeless while one in 10 apartments sit empty suggests a rental construction boom is not, on its own, the solution to the housing crisis.

Its market-rate housing, its meeting the tech workers needs, not the needs of a lower-income population, OMara said. Thats been the knock on Seattle.

Downtown Seattle.Dan Fumano / PNG

In the years since Kelleys 2017 presentation, government interventions such as Vancouvers empty homes tax and B.C.s speculation tax have been credited with helping cool the housing market.

In that context, it makes sense that a large enough influx of new people earning far above median local incomes could potentially undo the recent efforts to moderate the housing market, said Trevor Barnes, a professor of geography at the University of B.C.

San Francisco and Seattle provide examples of what a tech gold rush can do if it gets big enough, Barnes said. Vancouvers tech industry, he said, is not big enough, I think, at the moment to have that kind of effect, but it is a fast-growing sector, so I dont know how long its going to be before the tide turns.

Canada also has many locally born and bred tech companies, many of which have criticized the federal government for failing to give priority to the countrys homegrown digital economy. This month, more than 100 Canadian tech CEOs signed an open letter to the leaders of the federal Liberals, Conservatives, NDP and Greens, urging them to develop economic policies that advance innovative Canadian companies, claiming Canadas productivity is lagging.

There are concerns, too, about foreign tech companies coming here to exploit our comparatively cheap labour and take home most of the benefit.

Of course, thats the story of B.C., historically, Barnes said. Foreign companies that have come in to exploit resources here, lumber and minerals. Maybe this is another version of that. Except its our talent thats being exploited.

Its up to our governments, Barnes said, to ensure enough of that prosperity benefits regular Canadians, and not only a small number of tech executives in the U.S. He isnt sure those governments are up to the task, noting its certainly not been a major issue in the federal election.

B.C. Finance Minister Carole James is aware of concerns around upward pressure on housing prices. Indeed, she said, she hears directly from the tech sector about the importance of creating affordable housing options to attract and maintain skilled workers.

Good jobs and affordable communities go hand-in-hand and we are committed to delivering both, James said in an emailed statement. Our government has made tech and innovation a priority for economic growth across the province, from Surrey to Victoria to Kelowna, because we recognize British Columbias potential to be a global hub of innovation My ministry continually monitors the housing market, and so far I am cautiously optimistic the measures implemented by our government are beginning to bear results, with strong indications that moderation and stability are returning to B.C.s housing market.

Amazons presence in Seattle is especially large as thats where it is headquartered. But even if Vancouver becomes home to a number of branch offices for tech companies, it could be enough to bring unintended consequences, Stewart said, adding it could actually be more of a risk because the company has less of a connection with the community.

Microsoft touted its deep connection with the Seattle when, earlier this year, it announced an unprecedented commitment of US$500 million in loans and grants to support middle- and low-income housing in the area.

Of course, Stewart said, his cautious approach doesnt mean he doesnt want economic growth and job creation in Vancouver.

These opportunities might be the best that ever happen to us. We just have to be able to evaluate this, as a community, Stewart said. What can we learn from Seattle and San Francisco? Whats happened to them, both good and bad?

I like a bowl of ice cream. But I dont want to eat a bucket of ice cream. And I think thats what this kind of growth can be: It can have detrimental effects if you get too much of a good thing all at once.

dfumano@postmedia.com

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LISTEN: B.C. voters are two years away from the next provincial election and the NDP is starting to be saddled with mid-term baggage, Mike Smyth digs into his interview with Speaker Darryl Plecas, and some Liberal MLAs have started to announce their retirementjust not the ones the party had hoped for. Mike Smyth and Rob Shaw detail the weeks news in B.C. politics.

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Seattle offers lessons in the dark side of the tech industry boom - Vancouver Sun

It might be described as an inconvenient truth that the scope of outdoor adventuring in B.C. has been greatly enhanced by forestry.

This tension is explored in the 40-minute doc On the Verge, screening at Centennial Theatre on Friday (October 25) following a presentation by the U.S. rock-climbing legend Jim Donini.(The show is presented by the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival in partnership with the British Columbia Mountaineering Club.)

The sleekly photographed film captures one community at a pivotal moment. Powell River has been a little-known haven for rock climbers since its nearby granite faces were first explored in the 90s by local pioneers, including Rob Richards, who compares the region to the U.S.s Yosemite National Park in Robin Munshaws film. Repurposed logging roads deliver climbers to a remote camp named in Richardss honour. Now the areas remaining old-growth forest is marked for destruction, and recreationists find themselves between a rock wall and a hard place.

The story just seemed like a really good example of something we see and hear a lot in B.C., Munshaw says during a call to the Georgia Straight. As a veteran mountain biker, the Chilliwack native is familiar with what he calls the transience of the infrastructure built by fellow enthusiasts. A logging company can come through and just log a trail thats had thousands and thousands of man-hours put into it, and thats part of our sport. But people will fight back and argue against it in the same day that theyre driving up forestry roads to access the areas they build their mountain-bike trails in, right?

Its an uneasy accord, reflected by one of the films participants, who states: Im not opposed to the logging; its whats being logged. For Powell River, transitioning from an industry- to a tourist-based economy offers a solutioneven if it means giving up the relative anonymity enjoyed by the climbing community during the past few decades.

They loved having this area that was their one little spot in the world, but they realized that the conservation issues they were seeing really meant that they had to share this and get more eyes on the area, Munshaw explains. Rock climbing is a very niche sport, but its part of a broader mosaic of what this region has to offer for people who want to do big adventures and big wilderness experiences.

It was a serendipitous visit to Powell River that sparked Munshaws interest in the issue, not least of all because he managed to capture Richards on camera before his untimely passing in 2018. More generallyand with the concurrent news that the Haida Nation has lost its latest battle to preserve culturally significant forest in the Blue Jackets area near MassetOn the Verge asks us to again consider the cost of sacrificing the provinces most ancient living resource. Munshaw sounds a familiar reverent note when asked about the sublime experience of visiting an old-growth forest.

I agree with everyone else whos ever spent time there. Its really difficult to describe the feeling, he answers. It makes you feel so small and so connected to it at the same time. As someone whos not a religious person, its the closest I can come to understanding spirituality.

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On the Verge finds Powell River climbers between a rock wall and a hard place - Straight.com

Senate legislators, energy investors and utilities are looking to the next generation of energy storage to achieve "deep decarbonization," but few researchers are confident that today's experimental technologies will ensure wind and solar become the dominant sources of power.

Over the past decade, power companies have cultivated a taste for lithium-ion storage, stringing together battery packs into a giant sponge that soaks up electricity and later delivers it for four- to eight-hour increments.

Markets for that kind of short-term battery storage are modest, but they've grown eighteenfold since 2009, according to a count by Environment America, a green advocacy group.

Some believe that with sufficient resources, scientists and entrepreneurs could pioneer a kind of storage that multiplies the current four-to-eight-hour period of power delivery several times over. States, cities and companies have put out a flood of 100% renewable or zero-emission plans, which count on development of technology that can store electricity for days or weeks.

"There's a sense that this is coming," said Scott Litzelman, a program director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).

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Yet energy storage could hit a wall if power companies aren't already moving to replace most nonrenewable generation with wind and solar. Few energy analysts say they believe long-term storage would serve the same purpose as nuclear, gas or coal plants that produce a constant stream of "baseload" power.

On a highly renewable grid, power companies would still have to encourage consumers to use less power at certain hours. And expanding transmission connections between regions could, in some cases, improve reliability in ways similar to storage, they say.

Tim Grejtak, an analyst at the New York-based market research firm Lux Research Inc., noted in a presentation last year that the applications for long-duration systems were so far "vaguely defined."

Early deployments might take place on island grids or remote areas, he predicted. But "in our minds, it's sort of a solution of last resort. And as such, we don't think it will see a huge deployment, in terms of pure numbers of projects."

Even so, much of the energy sector is banking on the viability of the idea, as underscored in recently unveiled net-zero emission targets. For supporters, the goal is for storage to eventually solve renewables' intermittency challenges and dependence on the daily weather, creating a grid on which Monday's sunlight can help meet Thursday's power demand.

Duke Energy Corp., the power sector's largest emitter, said last month its new 2050 goal for carbon neutrality would depend on the emergence of long-term storage or advanced nuclear or carbon capture. It's one of several utilities and companies releasing low-emission targets. Xcel Energy Inc., which has a midcentury target for carbon-free electricity, says technology that saves months' worth of power would be "an important part" of its mix.

Democratic presidential candidates, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have also promised tens of billions of dollars in research funds for long-duration systems as part of their Green New Deal plans.

Sanders, for instance, has a $30 billion plan "with a goal of commercializing technologies that can provide energy lasting 24 hours to multiple days at a capital cost lower than $1,000 a kilowatt to support the renewable energy needed to phase out coal."

The Trump administration has been making a push on energy storage, calling for $30 billion as part of an advanced storage initiative for fiscal 2020.

Scott Litzelman. ARPA-E

Perhaps the federal program most eyeing a 100% renewable grid is ARPA-E an agency Trump proposed eliminating. An ARPA-E program known as Duration Addition to electricitY Storage (DAYS) is shooting to develop systems that can deliver 10 to 100 hours of power at 5 cents per kilowatt-hour.

For comparison, four-hour storage systems currently have a leveled cost of electricity of about 12 cents per kWh, according to a May study published in Nature Communications.

"We're trying to develop technology that's ready so that when people say, 'We need to procure something for my system,' we have technology options for them that blow away anything they've had before," said ARPA-E's Litzelman.

However, a revolutionary breakthrough at DAYS or other national labs would probably not eliminate the need for other, nonrenewable technologies, he added.

One study published in Energy & Environmental Science last year found that wind and solar paired with 12-hour energy storage could power 80% of the grid. Getting to 100% would require storage with several weeks of capacity.

"A 100% renewable target is beyond what DAYS is doing," said Litzelman.

Switzerland-based startup Energy Vault has developed a six-arm crane that takes advantage of gravity and potential energy to store electricity. Energy Vault/Business Wire

A handful of startups are taking more explicit aim at advancing storage that undercuts the use of natural gas for power production.

Switzerland-based Energy Vault, which announced a $110 million funding round in August, says it's on the way to commercializing a concept that could provide "around-the-clock baseload power" at a much cheaper price than what is currently available. Its investors include SoftBank Vision Fund, one of the world's largest tech investment funds.

Another startup, U.S.-based Form Energy, raised $40 million this summer for a flow battery that executives think could eventually serve as a resource for well beyond 100 hours. Its investors include Saudi Arabian Oil Co., Italian oil and gas major Eni SpA and Breakthrough Energy, a global coalition for clean energy investment spearheaded by Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates.

Neither company, nor any of the projects housed at DAYS, is pursuing lithium-ion battery solutions.

The falling costs of lithium batteries, and their adoption for short-term uses, may have helped drive investment and policy attention for storage as a concept.

But many analysts and researchers consider huge installations of lithium-ion batteries impractical because of their large spatial footprint and unlikely to be cost-effective. And recent fires at installations in Arizona have kept alive questions about safety. Some technology experts also have warned of "technology lock-in," where R&D money keeps flowing to expand lithium ion but never gets to a different type of model that can back up renewables more permanently (Greenwire, Sept. 19, 2018).

National labs and the startups spun off from them are delving into a universe of alternative battery chemistries that could save larger amounts of power for more cheaply than lithium ion.

Some store power in a different form altogether, like heat or hydrogen or water, then use it to drive turbines.

"You have so many potential development pathways," said Jason Burwen, vice president for policy at the Energy Storage Association. "I don't think anybody can tell you right now that any of them is going to win. It's truly a moment where the field's wide open."

Congress also is weighing legislation that would allocate more funds for advanced storage, a technology that often wins favor on both sides of the aisle. Yesterday, Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) announced a subcommittee hearing on "building a 100% clean economy" in the power sector, a topic that likely will address the next generation of storage. Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) introduced a bill that would, among other things, create a new R&D program to study how geothermal energy could serve as a source of seasonal energy storage.

And late last month, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee passed a bill package that would set aside $270 million per year for research, development and demonstration of new technologies.

Much of that funding would go toward developing systems that could deliver power for days, months or even entire seasons.

A spokesperson for Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a co-sponsor of the package, told E&E News that the legislation did not yet have a date scheduled for a vote on the full Senate but expressed confidence that "the package has broad, bipartisan support."

One bill included in the Senate package, the "Joint Long-Term Storage Act," would link up the Energy Department with the Department of Defense's Environmental Security Technology Certification Program, which tests "environmental technologies."

Under the plan, the new joint program would aim to make "promising" long-duration storage technologies commercially viable. And having the military as an early adopter would itself sign off on the promise of a system, said David Hart, a senior fellow at the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based tech policy think tank.

"DOD's a lead customer that's willing to pay more, for good reason," Hart said.

"We've seen in other technologies that if you have customers willing to pay more, they could pilot the systems, and costs could come down. That's what these programs do," he added. With the market for short-term storage taking off, said Hart, attention should move onto the next generation.

"It seems to me that this is the next big challenge to tackle," he said.

Continued here:

ENERGY TRANSITIONS: The conundrum: 100% renewables and energy storage - E&E News

Energy, transportation, and building experts all agreed: Implementing the New York state Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act would require collaboration and major planning.

At a panel discussion held at Columbia Law School on Wednesday night, industry experts spoke about how to achieve the ambitious benchmarks set by the states newest legislation on carbon neutrality.

With aims to reach zero emissions by 2050, the CLCPA has set strict benchmarks for the state to uphold.

The CLCPA is the nations most aggressive example of the bold action that is needed, Julie Tighe, president of New York League of Conservation Voters, said. This law can help ensure that communities that need resources can get them. The opportunities are enormous, but much work remains to ensure this law is implemented effectively.

The CLCPA requires the state to use 70 percent renewable energy by 2030 and 100 percent renewable energy by 2040. The legislation also requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent based on 1990 levels by 2030 and 85 percent by 2050.

Once the legislation is enacted, the state will create a Climate Action Council composed of 22 members12 of whom will be state agency heads. The council will work with a climate justice working group to draft a scoping plan and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation to issue binding regulations.

People who do not comply with act by 2024 will incur penalties regulated to up to $6 per square foot from the state, Craig Schwitter, a Columbia Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation professor, said. Additionally, under the legislation, individual citizens can also take legal action when the act is not followed, according to Columbia environmental law professor Michael Gerrard.

In 2018, only 29 percent of the states energy consumption came from renewable energy, he added. The majority came from fossil fuels and nuclear power.

Panelists also discussed challenges that remain in implementing the legislation. According to Gerrard, New Yorks gradual phaseout of gasoline and nuclear power will place more demand on electric power, which will require the costly process of upgrading battery storage and renewable technology throughout the state.

To address these stipulations, panelists said collaboration with the community and major restructuring of the transportation and power sectors will be necessary in implementing the act.

The transformation that has to take place in the power sector is going to be the engine by which we achieve all the other reductions in the economy, said Jackson Morris, a panelist and representative from the environmental advocacy group the Natural Resource Defense Council.

Panelist Jessica Ottney Mahar, a representative from the Nature Conservancy, said the bulk of the implementation work will deal with appealing to residents to take part in energy conservation. The panelist added that the Climate Action Committee should include residents from committees who are directly impacted by climate change.

At the end of the day, communities are going to have to say yes, Ottney Mahar said. Land use decisions are made at the local level, so were thinking about how to do that.

Additionally, Kate Slevin, senior vice president of Regional Plan Association, an organization which aims to strengthen environmental resiliency, suggested a tax on vehicles entering Manhattan and a tax based on miles travelled as opposed to gas in order to disincentivize privately owned cars.

When asked about the cost of implementing the CLCPA, Morris said the cost will be substantial but necessary.

Staying business as usual is not sustainable, and its not free, he said.

Staff writer Stephanie Lai can be contacted at stephanie.lai@columbiaspectator.com. Follow her on Twitter @stephaniealai.

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What it takes to implement the climate protection act in New York - CU Columbia Spectator

The Potential Of The Flexible Workspace Industry Is Unquestionable At the Work Spaces Day Conference in Barcelona, panellists unanimously agreed that the coworking industry will continue to grow throughout Europe.

During last weeks Work Spaces Day Conference in Barcelona, there was one topic that most attendees and presenters agreed on: the coworking industry is not only here to stay, but it will continue to grow.

Ramiro Rodrguez, Associate Director of Research & Insight at Cushman & Wakefield Spain presented findings from the report Spains Flexible Workspace Industry 2019. His presentation started with the statement that the potential of the flexible workspace industry is unquestionable.

Philippe Jimnez, Country Manager Spain for IWG; scar Garca Toledo, Founder & CEO of FIRST WORKPLACES; Sergi Tarragona, Founder of Cloudworks; and Jesse Derkx, Head of Sales at ONE COWORK agreed with the above claim during a panel.

Tarragona stated that the industry will continue to grow because there has been a paradigm shift in the way people work. Flexible workspace is a fundamental part of this shift. Jimnez for his part, believes that one of the main growth drivers of the industry is the growth of the knowledge-based economy. Companies with a knowledge-based workforce need space that can be tailored to specific needs and demands.

Garca Toledo believes that the flexible workspace industrys success is due to social change. Society is changing, its not just about the way people work, but also how they live. Technology is evolving faster than ever, and this means that we all need to be on our toes; flexible space enables companies to be resilient and able to adapt to any upcoming social and technological changes.

In Spain, Cushman & Wakefield found that hybrid workspace operators operators that are both property owners and workspace operators are the ones getting the most activity. According to the report, these types of operators are expected to grow in Spain and across Europe.

One issue that stood out in the panel moderated by Javier Bernades was the statement that, for the most part, corporates (in Spain) are starting to use flexible space more out of necessity than conviction that its the way of the future.

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This is particularly concerning, especially as, in Garca Toledos words, corporates are making the flexible workspace business more lucrative and viable. The good news is that, so far, once large companies try flexible workspace, they stay.

More importantly, Derkx made the observation that flexibility is the way of the future. Companies today and in the future will need to be flexible, and thats our main value proposition. Even if large enterprises are not yet convinced of the value of flexible workspace solutions, the reality is that in their efforts to attract and retain talent, flexible workspace is a valuable tool and resource.

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The Potential Of The Flexible Workspace Industry Is "Unquestionable" - Allwork.Space

The Invesco QQQ ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ) once again is trading within a few points of its all-time high with a really impressive performance in recent months, essentially tearing down the proverbial "wall of worry". The fund is up 25% year to date on a total return basis, driven by a combination of better-than-expected earnings from the leading stocks, along with more bullish overall sentiment supported by the recent Fed rate cuts. In September, a breakthrough in the U.S.-China trade dispute reaching what was called a "phase one agreement" potentially opened the door for more upside through the end of the year. On the other hand, lingering concerns over decelerating global growth and a more uncertain outlook for the U.S. economy may limit a clear breakout to the upside. This article looks at the recent performance and valuation metrics of QQQ, along with our view on where the fund is headed next.

(Source: Finviz)

What else is there to say about QQQ - the quintessential large-cap growth fund with technology sector stocks representing 44.5% of allocations? While traditionally recognized as a tech-based index, the actual sector breakdown from the NASDAQ 100 are largely arbitrary, as many stocks blur the lines between technology and other sectors like consumer discretionary and healthcare. From an industry perspective, software application represents 15.6% of the fund, and this is an area of the market that has been very strong considering the move by companies towards the "software-as-a-service" model and of utilization of cloud-based infrastructure that offers centralized and more resource efficient solutions. The theme is generally high segment leadership and product innovation.

(Source: Invesco)

QQQ is up 392% over the past decade, significantly outperforming a broad market index like the S&P 500 (SPY), highlighting the attraction of the fund as a long-term winner. It's hard to find any fund with a better historical return. Volatility has increased in recent years, but time and time again the leaders in the group have been able to prove skeptics wrong with continued strong growth.

Data by YCharts

The context of the big gains in QQQ and underlying stocks this year go back to the historically volatile period of Q4 2018 when the stocks briefly approached "bear market" territory, as QQQ fell by as much as 23% in late December. More dovish policing signaling by the Fed in the new year, along with better-than-expected earnings in conjunction with a resilient economic environment, has brought back many of these stocks to trade near their 52-week and, in some cases, their all-time high. In this regard, many of the impressive percentage gains are more based on a "rebound" from the depressed levels at which the stocks began the year.

Apple (AAPL), for example, traded down to $140 in January and has since climbed 69% from that low. Among the top 25 holdings, Netflix (NFLX) is the only stock with a negative return year to date, down 0.4% through October 22nd. The company has traded at an aggressive growth premium for many years, while more recent weaker-than-expected subscriber growth has pulled some of that enthusiasm. The stock is down about 31% from its 52-week high.

Top 25 QQQ Holdings Performance

Source: Data by YCharts / Table by author

Looking at our data set with from the full list of 103 current equity holdings, we highlight the following points to present a rounded picture of the underlying performance.

QQQ Holdings Performance Distribution

Source: Data by YCharts / Graph by author

YTD %TR

A group of chip stocks are among the biggest winners in QQQ this year. KLA Corp. is the best performer so far in 2019, up an impressive 85.5%. The company, which is a leader in process control systems for the industry, has presented revenue growth in the 20% range this year, coupled with double-digit EPS growth. The theme between Lam Research Corp., Advanced Micro Systems, ASML Holding, and Applied Materials has been industry leadership in their respective segments, with generally better-than-expected growth and earnings this year. Semiconductors as an industry has been weak this year given lower chip shipments and more tepid demand in Asia, but these companies are clearly outperforming the market. MercadoLibre, recognized as the leader in e-commerce in Latin America, is up 83% year to date, benefiting from growth in its payments solutions. The stock has been more volatile recently and down 23% from its high of the year.

The Kraft Heinz Co.

Among the 10 worst performing stocks in the fund this year, it's a mixed bag from an otherwise unrelated group that includes Chinese search giant Baidu down 35%, The Kraft Heinz Co. down 31%, Tesla down 23%, and American Airlines Group down 11.2%. Without sharing a common industry theme, the weakness here is generally company-specific, as evident from weaker-than-expected earnings this year. Biogen is still down by 6.3% year to date, but we note the stock has been rallying this month on an improved outlook and is up 21% just this October.

One of the bullish trends for QQQ is that for the underlying holdings, current valuations appear relatively reasonable at the fund level. Beyond a couple outliers like Amazon.com (AMZN) and Netflix with a P/E ratio at 73.3x and 85.2x each respectively, most stocks in the fund trade at much more down-to-earth earnings multiples. Fund manager Invesco notes that the weighted harmonic average P/E for QQQ is currently at 22.6x. While we can make the case that certain stocks within the fund may be cheap or expensive, simply looking at the numbers without any bias over the individual names would make a compelling case for QQQ as a worthy investment.

We note that 30 stocks, or one-third of the holdings and representing 50% of the total weight, have reported revenue growth above double digits in the last quarter. Another point we like is that the balance sheets on average of the underlying firms within QQQ are overall under-leveraged, with a number of high-profile companies like Facebook (FB) and Alphabet (GOOGL, GOOG) carrying no long-term debt. This isn't necessarily a reason to buy on its own, but is nevertheless is a strong point for QQQ as an ETF.

Top 25 QQQ Holdings Valuation

Source: Data by YCharts / Table by author

We think it's a delicate period in the market cycle considering signs of decelerating economic growth and a more uncertain outlook which has been acknowledged by the Fed in justifying recent rate cuts. Recent bullish sentiment driving QQQ to approach a new all-time high has been in part based on favorable developments in the U.S.-China trade dispute with an easing of tensions in recent months, along with expectations that the trend lower in interest rates will help extend economic growth. Our own opinion is to be more cautious recognizing the momentum lower in global economic indicators and potentially peaking U.S. consumer dynamics that will be hard to sustain. The 2020 Presidential election in the U.S. represents a number of risks given the uncertainty, and we expect volatility to remain elevated over the next year.

The setup here is simple. If you are bullish on the economy, bullish that the Fed will be successful in its attempt at reviving growth expectations, and bullish that the tech continues to lead, then QQQ likely has more upside. On the other hand, a more bearish view on global macro conditions likely represents significant downside potential for the fund given the high cyclical exposure of the core names. For the record, we see risks as tilted to the downside with a bearish macro outlook and a belief that the underlying holdings of QQQ will be challenged to exceed current growth expectations. Take a look at the fund's prospectus for a full list of risks and disclosures.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Additional disclosure: I am long and short numerous stocks via options including underlying components of QQQ.

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QQQ: Performance And Valuation Update - October 2019 - Seeking Alpha

If preparation is everything, then young learners at Career College North East are destined to go into the world of work forearmed and forewarned.

Uppermost among the breadth of skills they learn during their two years on this unique, vocationally-driven training path are those that target project based learning.

Currently topical, it is in no way new but it is an important component in the skills armoury of people moving from education into industry who may be tasked with developing new systems.

Happily, we are leading the way in factoring this into our programmes, having picked up a Career Colleges Trust award for this element of our work earlier this year.

Our focus on project based learning links us firmly to businesses seeking to employ talented youngsters who can easily demonstrate their ability in this arena.

In a way, it is a simple concept how to get from start to finish of any project without costly or time-consuming mishap, yet it is fraught with the potential for major mistakes.

Being able to demonstrate a skilled grasp of a projects beginning and end point takes time and effort to develop, yet can be immensely rewarding in terms of professional development and career progress.

In a similar fashion to undertaking the weekly shop without a list and paying over the odds for unwanted items, much can go wrong, but with more careful planning, little will.

Career College North East, which delivers expert vocational courses in engineering, ICT and maritime to 14-16 learners, takes a hands-on approach to teaching the fundamentals of project based learning.

This is demonstrated through each of our year groups being set a task that requires them to learn and develop skills specific to it.

These can include resource planning, such as the manpower needed, the costs involved and the materials required, and overall project management, which takes in geographical location and siting.

In a real-life project undertaken by our current Year 11 pupils those who joined us in September 2018 and are now on their second and final year this involved planning the construction of a small education centre for special needs students.

Known as a learning shed, it is about to be constructed in a pleasant quadrangle at South Tyneside College, one of two centres where Career College North East undertakes learning.

To get to this point took many weeks of planning and saw students carry out a series of project analysis tasks, all monitored on a self-developed GANTT chart on which was plotted the precise project requirements and progress, stage by stage.

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Starting with a plan to visit multiple retailers to find best price, getting materials delivered to the right location at the correct time and buying the tools needed to put the shed together, were also incorporated.

Other features were ensuring the sheds foundations were level, acquiring the right contents to go inside - and even placing them in the correct position to be of use to the students who will ultimately use them.

Before the final scheme left the drawing board, students also had to present their ideas to career college managers, a process useful in developing their confidence to competently address those in positions of authority.

While many of these points seem simple concepts, at any level of project based learning the skill is in the planning and ensuring that every element required for success is in place at each point and at the right time.

From little acorns mighty oaks grow, and with an understanding of these fundamentals, our students are ingrained with a workplace concept that can bring rich rewards for themselves and for the companies they will one day work for.

Overall, project based learning fits easily within the progressive, high-quality vocational and academic learning model on which Career College North East is based.

It is a model that is giving young people the skills to power them into well-paid and meaningful employment in crucial sectors on which the UK economy relies.

Alison Maynard,Deputy Chief Executive, Tyne Coast College

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Excellence in Project-Based Learning - FE News

The government is awarding 1 million of funding to technology companies to help fund smart waste tracking systems and tackle UK waste crime.

As part of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) 20-million GovTech Catalyst fund, which supports the development of innovative solutions for public sector challenges, grants of 500,000 each will be going to digital specialists Anthesis and waste analytics company Topolytics in order to develop more effective waste tracking systems.

Illegal waste activity costs the UK economy around 600 million every year. Fly-tipping is a particularly big issue, causing local authorities and councils to spend 57.7 million to clear illegally dumped waste in 2016/17.

Organised criminals mislabelling waste to avoid landfill tax or illegally export it is a further scourge, with an independent review ordered by former Environment Secretary Michael Gove in 2018 recommending mandatory electronic tracking of waste to combat such behaviour. This measure was included in the Resources and Waste Strategy along with the creation of a Joint Unit for Waste Crime and increasing powers available to the Environment Agency (EA) and has now been included in the Environment Bill.

Large businesses not been immune to accusations of mishandling waste, with waste management company Biffa ordered to pay 599,812 for breaching waste export regulations after being found guilty of attempting to send heavily contaminated waste labelled as mixed paper to China in 2015.

In being awarded the GovTech Catalyst grants, Anthesis and Topolytics have been tasked by the government with building prototypes of the UKs first comprehensive digital waste tracking system, which would replace what Defra calls outdated paper-based tracking systems.

Commenting on the grant, Environment Minister Rebecca Pow said: Waste crime causes economic, environmental and social harm in every community it blights. Thats why our transformative Environmental Bill will be a driving force for change improving the way we manage our waste by creating powers to introduce an electronic waste tracking system.

Both companies put forward impressive proposals to help modernise the waste system and help level the playing field by ensuring all businesses are adopting legitimate waste management practices. This is great news for the environment but bad news for those determined to exploit the system.

Minister for Implementation Simon Hart added: "Cutting down on waste is a top concern for the public, so I'm delighted to see these innovative proposals moving forward. They're a great example of why we're investing in the GovTech Catalyst programme to improve public services and solve some of society's biggest challenges."

Both companies, picked from a shortlist of five, will aim to prove the feasibility of using emerging technology such as Blockchain (cryptocurrency) and electronic chips and sensors to record and track individual movements of waste through the economy so authorities can check shipments contain what they state.

The smart waste tracking prototypes developed by Anthesis and Topolytics will be field tested and ready for expert review in beta version within 12 months. The prototypes will include all international waste shipments, tracking waste prior to shipping through to final destination.

Anthesis plans to use QR codes on mobile devices to record the ID of consignments uploaded to their Vastum Blockchain system so transactions will be faster and error-free. Vastum will digitise the current paper-based system of waste transfer notes, consignment notes and other documentation required by legislation. Every waste movement will be a three-party transaction between the waste producer, waste carrier and the site receiving it. The only information that will travel with the waste will be a unique transaction ID.

Simone Aplin, Technical Director at Anthesis, said: We are thrilled to further develop and test Vastum. We believe it will deliver economic and environmental benefits that are truly transformational.

A successful system will significantly reduce the administrative burden for the sector and generate the data needed to tackle waste crime, inform policy and guide vital investment in the circular economy.

Meanwhile, Topolytics plans to utilise data from a range of devices including apps and sensors on waste containers or vehicles. It will work with the Ordnance Survey, Google Cloud and software developer SAP to build a working version of a data-driven tracking system, based around the company's WasteMap analytics platform. The system will track all inert and hazardous waste from households, local authorities, businesses and the construction sector, inputting and analysing data from invoicing records and weighbridge and bin weighing systems, amongst other sources.

Commenting on the project, Dr Michael Groves, Topolytics Founder and CEO, said: "This is a truly ground-breaking project and one that we are proud to be working on. It will transform waste regulation and the industry in the UK and has significant international potential. It further validates our use of machine learning, mapping, sensor systems and cutting-edge software to enable the waste industry to maximise the utility of materials and enable the circular economy.

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Government invests 1 million in smart waste tracking to tackle waste crime - Resource Magazine