What Caught My Eye Today

Monaco - Next up on our list of victims from the global economic meltdown--Monaco. Monaco has shelved a multi-billion-dollar plan to extend the tiny Mediterranean principality into the sea due to the global economic crisis and environmental concerns. Oh the humanity. How much suffering can we be expected to endure. The huge artificial peninsula would have been the size of 20 soccer fields, packed with housing, shops and tourist facilities. It had drawn comparisons with the artificial islands off Dubai. The development would have increased Monaco's territory by 5% and was expected to cost between $5 and 10 billion. The densely populated Mediterranean city state - made rich by tourism and banking - has little room for new building on its narrow strip of land trapped between a steep hillside and the stunning French Riviera. Don't your hearts just bleed for these poor schmucks? But, fear not. All is not lost. Other projects in the principality will continue, including a new hospital, two housing projects, and a yacht club. Thank goodness. The Riviera just wouldn't be the same without a shiny new yacht club for the annual jet-set regatta.

Abu Dhabi - Say what you will about these dudes, when they commit to doing something, they do it BIG time. Abu Dhabi has embarked upon an ambitious plan to build a zero-emission clean-tech centre in the desert. The world’s grubbiest people, measured by emissions of greenhouse gases per head, are the citizens of the United Arab Emirates. The country’s huge oil wealth allows many of them to drive big, fuel-guzzling cars and live in huge, power-guzzling homes. Abu Dhabi, the biggest of the country’s seven princely city-states, has a huge vested interest in the continued domination of the world economy by fossil fuels. It sits atop some 8% of the world’s proven reserves of oil. At current rates of extraction, the oil will last for another 92 years. In 2006 Abu Dhabi’s development agency unveiled the Masdar Initiative. The initiative consists of a research institute to develop environmental technologies, an investment arm to commercialise and deploy them, and an eco-city to house these two outfits and to serve as a test-bed for their ideas. It is Masdar city that has attracted the most scrutiny. To reduce its emissions, especially in such an unwelcoming environment, the city will employ all sorts of innovative and outlandish technology. All the buildings, naturally, will be supremely energy-efficient. Water will be recycled, to reduce the need for desalination. I hear they've already contacted NASA to buy one of those urine converters that is being tested out on the International Space Station There will be dew-catchers, rainwater harvesting and electronic sensors to raise the alarm in case of leaky pipes. There will be green spaces, but with drought-resistant plants rather than the thirsty lawns and flowers that are the norm in Abu Dhabi. No cars will be allowed. Instead, people will have to walk, or take "personal rapid transit"-—small pods that will zoom around the city on tracks, akin to metro cars for individuals. Goods will be moved in the same way. The city will be walled, to keep out the hot desert wind. So much for that ocean view. The lack of cars will allow for narrow, shaded streets that will also funnel breezes from one side of the city to the other. Roofs, canopies and a large patch of land on the edge of the city will be given over to solar panels. The city is already testing 41 types of panel from 33 different manufacturers, to see which work best in the sunny, hot and dusty desert conditions. There will also be the odd wind turbine, solar water-heaters and small waste-to-energy facilities (the city’s planners do not like to call them incinerators). Like I said, these guys don't appear to be fooling around. However, I'm not sure how big I'd consider this initiative. So far Abu Dhabi has invested $15 billion in this initiative. $15 billion? Peanuts. That's barely an economic bailout package.

Potpourri - Here's another installment in our on-going series of news tidbits.

• Nearly 300,000 people have applied for the approximately 7,000 available jobs in the Obama administration.
  Do you think that number would be as high if the unemployment rate wasn't so high. I hear public sector jobs don't pay that well...though the health care benefits are supposed to be rather good.
• Gas stations are making an average of 5 cents per gallon more in profit than they were when gas prices topped $4 a gallon. Gas prices have fallen 55% since July, but oil prices have plunged even further and gas stations are pocketing the difference.
  Honestly, can you blame them? Being a gas station operator these past several months had to be one of the lousiest jobs around. I know it wasn't their fault, but when I was paying $80 to fill up my tank, gas station attendants weren't real high up on my Christmas card list.
• Television watching has hit an all-time high, with the average American watching 142 hours of television a month, up 4% over last year. The average home now gets 119 channels.
  Where to begin? First, you'd think that with 119 channels, there would be something decent to watch...you'd think that, but you'd be wrong. Second, 142 hours? That doesn't seem too bad. On a good sports weekend, I'm good for almost half that amount. And lastly, I'm not sure this is that big of a surprise. When you are out of work and out of money, what else are you going to do to pass the time??