What's New

A New Era of China-Africa Trade, Investment, and Business Partnership: Lessons and Opportunities

My presentation at the 2nd African Banking & Financial Institutions Conference at the La-Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Accra, Ghana, 27-28 April, 2011

Download 2011 Ghana Presentation - A New Era of China-Africa Trade, Investment, and Business Partnership- Lessons and Opportunities

This follows on the heel of my presentation at the First Conference in Ghana the year before and builds on my special research paper on a New China-Africa Financial, Investment and Business Partnership dated March 2010. 

Sunset on the Bosphorus

A recollection on the banks of the Bosphorus, 23 April, 2011

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Writing on the wall for the Age of Oil?

Remember the famous quotation by Sheik Yamani, the ex-Saudi oil minister and chief architect of OPEC - 'The Stone Age ended not for lack of stones'? Would the following signal the beginning of the end of the Age of Oil?

Researchers close in on technology for making renewable petroleum

'Researchers have taken a crucial step toward making renewable petroleum by figuring out how to use a protein to transform fatty acids produced by the bacteria into ketones, which can be cracked to make hydrocarbon fuels.', reported on Science Daily on 29 March 2011

Click here

Car that runs on nothing but water unveiled in Japan

'Japanese company Genepax presents its eco-friendly car that runs on nothing but water. The car has an energy generator that extracts hydrogen from water that is poured into the car’s tank. The generator then releases electrons that produce electric power to run the car.  The electric powered car can run on any type of water (you can even use tea and soda…etc).  The car can run for an hour at about 50 miles per hour  on just a liter of water; about 2 cans of soda worth.  Genepax, the company that invented the technology, aims to collaborate with Japanese manufacturers to mass produce it.

Unlike other electric cars, the Genepax car does not require that batteries be recharged and has no emission. The water electrical generator is located in the back of the car and when water is poured it is then broken down in order to create electricity to power the car. Imagine what such a generator could do to the oil industry, the nuclear plants and the electrical grid.'

- Article posted on 26 March 2011 on Press Core, a non-profit online news channel created in 2001 by Paul W Kincaid, formerly of Upper Dorchester, New Brunswick Canada.

To view a video introduction - Click here

Vertical solar farm to adorn Chicago's Willis Tower

'Willis Tower, or formerly Sears Tower, is all set to don its green attire by integrating a pilot solar electric glass project on the south side windows of its 56th floor. This in effect will transform the skyscraper into a giant solar plant with 2 MW capacity, which is almost equal to the power generated by a 10-acre field of solar panels,' posted on Ecofriend.com on 23 March, 2011.

Click here

Andrew

www.andrewleunginternationalconsultants.com

Two worrying examples of the creeping corruption of Capitalism

CBS 60 Minutes - The Second Mortgage Meltdown Crisis - Is this an example of Capitalism gone mad, or corrupted at the core? Adam Smith could be turning in his grave as only the 'Invisible Hand' of his 'Wealth of Nations' is worshipped but his 'Theory of Moral Sentiments' conveniently forgotten?

Click here

'The Truth, Still Inconvenient' by Paul Krugman, New York Times, 3 April, 2011 - How a Congressional hearing could be a joke on the human race.

Click here

The largest and fastest urbanization drive in human history

Shanghai 1990 and 2010 Click here is only an example of many Chinese cities springing up from paddy fields in just a few decades. Look at how Shenzhen was built in about the same timeline at Click here

Or have a glimpse of what China's 100 cities now look like Click here (You'll have to ignore the stupid 'racist' warning at the beginning of the video.)

For a more in-depth study, read McKinsey Global Institute's 'Preparing for China's Urban Billion', February 2009 Click here

Or visit a research note on China's MegaTrends (1) Massive Urbanization- A Billion Urbanites by 2030 Click here

But there is no substitute to visiting China, both her cities and her rural heartland, in order to grasp the 'the sorriness underlying the grandest things and the grandeur underlying the sorriest things' (Thomas Hardy, 'Far From the Madding Crowd').

Whatever way you look at it, this is the largest and fastest urbanization drive in human history!

Best regards,

Andrew