According to the Xinhua news agency, in 2010, total installed power capacity increased just over 10 percent to 962 GW.

According to the report, Hydropower accounted for 213.4 GW, a noticeable improvement, up from 196 GW from 2009.

Wind power capacity almost doubled, with total use in 2010 reaching 31.07 GW. The report also highlights nuclear power, which increased slightly from 9GW in 2009 up to 10.82 GW in 2010.

According to the report, the improvement and larger capacity in renewables meant that China was able to close pollution creating fossil-fuel plants, cutting output from the sector by 11GW.

China plans to raise total power capacity to about 1,440GW by 2015, and hopes that ambitious wind, solar and nuclear projects will raise the level of renewables to more than a third of total capacity.

By 2015, China is hoping to have about 1/3 of its power capacity coming from clean energy sources, even with the goal of increasing total capacity to 1440 GW.

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Formerly trading as SRQ, the company has now taken full control of its business and is in the process of fuelling expansion throughout the Middle East (‘ME') region after a very successful 2010.

As the industry matures and activity continues to increase the shutdown/turnaround and maintenance market has become a focus. With its specialist suite of services, which includes specialist cleaning, mechanical and inspection, RBG Middle East is ideally placed to react to the industry's ever increasing demand.

Graeme Shirreffs, Director at RBG Middle East, said: "Ensuring that equipment and facilities are operating at optimal efficiency is vital as activity and demand picks up. For RBG, this is an excellent position to be in, as the company specialises in maintenance and service support."

2010 saw a number of high profile contract wins across the region including a high pressure water jetting contract with Occidental in Oman and several contract awards in Qatar with Qatargas, Oryx, QChem and Rasgas.

Shirreffs continued: "2010 was a strong year for RBG in the ME following increased awareness of the company's portfolio of services throughout the region. Following excellent growth in the Qatar market RBG Middle East is looking to enhance its footprint and make its mark on the wider ME region. It is an exciting time for the company and we are looking forward to a prosperous 2011."

About RBG

RBG was formed in 2005 through the merger of Mach-ten, MacGregor Energy Services and Rigblast Group. Headquartered in Aberdeen, UK, we operate in the UK and internationally and employ over 4,500 people. Our facilities and offices are located in principal areas of energy exploration and production activity, including Azerbaijan, Italy, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Trinidad & Tobago, the UK and the USA. For more information, please visit www.rbg-group.com.

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Last week in Madrid, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and King Juan Carlos opened a high-speed railroad linking Madrid, the Spanish capital and largest city, and Valencia, the country's third-largest city after Barcelona. The new track means Spain holds the crown of Europe's biggest high-speed rail network, underlining the extent to which infrastructure spending has been at the heart of the country's boom-and-bust economy.

The 242-mile link between Madrid and Valencia extended Spain's high-speed rail lines to slightly more than 1,240 miles. France has 1,178 miles and Germany has about 800 miles.

To achieve Europe's current high-speed rail gold standard hasn't been cheap, with the projecting currently surpassing $15.7 billion, including the construction of a handful of new railway stations - adding to Spain's acute budgetary difficulties, which have recently unsettled investors and sent its borrowing costs soaring.

Spain is also in cahoots with France over a new rail line that will split the Pyrenees mountains, a move that will eventually lead to a cross-border, high-speed rail link connecting Paris, Barcelona and Madrid.

China currently possesses the most significant investment in high-speed rail which will increase further when it plans to cover 8,125 miles by 2012 and 10,000 miles by 2020. Overall China will have 42 high-speed routes. In comparison, across the Atlantic President Obama has insisted the US will improve on its ailing rail infrastructure. However despite planned high-speed rail networks in California, the US will still lag well behind China and Europe.

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The new train will be in operation from 2012, and initially will run between Beijing and Shanghai, effectively halving the original journey time of 10 hours.

The new high-speed track will add to existing high-speed infrastructure. China already has the world's longest high-speed rail network, and it plans to cover 8,125 miles (13,000 kilometers) by 2012 and 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) by 2020. China will have 42 high-speed routes, while the US plans to have two.

The CRH380A train was revealed in Beijing at the China National Convention Center, and has already received interest from other countries keen to impart similar high-speed rail infrastructure.

After attending a briefing by China South Locomotive, an Iranian government official said Iran is considering buying the Chinese high-speed train.

"We definitely want to import it," an Israeli railways executive also said.

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"We hope to set up the special purpose vehicle and determine what the projects are by year-end. By the first quarter of next year, the fund will be launched," he said at the 7th Asean Finance Ministers Investor Seminar in late November.

Malaysia had pledged US$150 million to the fund, which would have a (fund) target size of US$800 million, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said in his keynote address. He also highlighted how infrastructure financing support is important to Asean's growth. A one percent increase in infrastructure spending in Asia can increase private consumption by one percent to two percent of GDP (gross domestic product), and will benefit the wider investment community as well as Asean nations.

Currently, total Asean trade is valued at US$1.7 trillion per year.

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The move comes in light of a number of high profile incidents involving A380s used by Qantas over the last 10 days. A Sydney-destined A380 was forced to land in Singapore after part of an engine disintegrated in midair. The incident caused Qantas to ground its fleet of six A380s, while engineers ascertained the cause of the explosion was limited exclusively limited to the Trent 900 engine.

Qantas, Singapore Airlines Ltd. and Deutsche Lufthansa AG may need to replace one component in each of the engines powering their Airbus SAS A380 fleets, Rolls-Royce, the world's second-largest maker of engines, said in an email.

"Over a period of time, it is likely we will replace the relevant module on all engines," Rolls-Royce said. "We seek to minimize disruptions and this program will enable our customers progressively to bring the whole fleet back into service."

A380s out of service

Singapore Air had pulled three A380s out of service last week to change one engine each aircraft - Nicholas Ionides, a spokesman for the airline, told Bloomberg that all three airplanes would be back in service today.

The disruption could have a knock-on-effect on further A380 production, with Rolls-Royce expected to deliver over a dozen A380s primarily to Singapore Airlines, Qantas and Lufthansa by the end of 2011.

"Until this problem is fully resolved I think the situation with the delivery of A380 to customers... will be in jeopardy," Standard & Poor's analyst Sukhor Yusof said.

But both Singapore Airlines and Qantas, with a combined 22 A380s still to be delivered, said on Tuesday they had not been informed of any delivery delays.

Qantas fell 2.5 percent to A$2.72 as of 1:44 p.m. in Sydney trading, while Singapore Air dropped 0.1 percent in Singapore. Rolls-Royce declined 2.3 percent in London yesterday, when Lufthansa gained 0.5 percent in Frankfurt.

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'Agility', 'business services' and 'cloud' stand as the ABC of the new CIO lexicon. How do we turn these latest buzzwords into actionable imperatives to produce new business capability for Middle East markets? Which of tomorrow's IT-led initiatives will produce real business advantage? How do we drive the necessary changes to strategy, to operations, and to services to benefit from them?

First the CIO MENA committees, who will be meeting at the CIO MENA summit at the end of November, believe we must identify those technologies and business service trends that could be assimilated into the CIO strategy to help drive new levels of competitive advantage and business value. They also discussed exploring how the changing role of the CIO could best serve the business. No longer solely about capacity, infrastructure or operations, new business demands could push the boundaries as Chief Innovation Officer, Customer Insight Officer or Cloud Interface Officer.

"The role of IT in the next decade must have a shift in its paradigm from focusing on IT to focusing on people. The next decades will even witness further enhancements and many additional technological innovations on top of what exists today," commented representatives from BP - Farhan Mazhar, CIO Middle East & Pakistan, Landmark Group - Kirit Shah, CIO, GE Corporate - Neil Dyke, Corporate CIO EMEA, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank - Lee North, SVP IT, Dubai Holding - Imad Choucair, CIO and Zain Group - Lynne Dorward, Group Chief Regulatory Officer.

It's no coincidence that the smartest run businesses today also boast a strong competency in business intelligence (BI). BI and analytic software is helping organizations of all shapes and sizes to not only ride out the recession but also position themselves strongly when a recovery happens. Strong demand and growth for BI is being driven by enterprises that have begun to maximize cost savings, identify revenue opportunities, mitigate risk and align business performance across all major industry sectors. BI systems are also getting "bigger, faster and smarter" to meet the demands of an increasingly dynamic and competitive business environment. Often the companies that react quickest to threats and opportunities are the ones that make it to the front page.

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Throughout his 22-year tenure in office, Tun Dr. Mahathir was credited with a number of key leadership decisions. He survived leadership contests, splits in UMNO, and challenges from the Islamic Party (PAS). Yet through his term as PM, the Barisan National (a coalition dominated by Tun Dr. Mahathir's UMNO) sustained an overwhelming majority in the federal parliament as a result of successive electoral victories.

Tun Dr. Mahathir was dubbed the ‘father of modernisation' during his time in office, a moniker recognising his commitment to transforming Malaysia from a perceived third-world country into something altogether different. "I travelled a lot and I [didn't] see why Malaysia should look any different from the developed countries that I [had] visited," Tun Dr. Mahathir told MeetTheBoss.tv in an exclusive interview.

Indeed, when Tun Dr. Mahathir took office, there was more than just an ailing infrastructure to focus on. "[First I had] to create jobs for people, then [to] look for other things that [would] be consistent with the ideal of a developed country.
"[To be a developed country] you need to have the necessary infrastructure first. We need[ed] to have electricity supply, water supply, roads, bridges, railways, ports, etc. So the focus was on infrastructure."

Bringing Malaysian infrastructure up-to-date helped bring Tun Dr. Mahathir to the forefront of voters' minds; what cemented it was his commissioning of the Petronas Towers, the largest buildings in the world between 1998 to 2004.

"I used to say that when you are short to be noticed you stand on a soap box. So for me the Petronas Towers are my soap box, because then I can be tall and be seen. So you have to do something that is out of the ordinary so that people will notice you. When I started as Prime Minister, Malaysia was quite unknown. People [kept] on asking, "Where is that? Where is that?" So in order to be noticed we [had] to do certain things that will strike people as something radical and unexpected."

The Petronas Towers certainly struck a chord across the globe; not only has the project been an overwhelming success from a business perspective, but it has captured the imagination of Hollywood, and been included in movies like the 1999 blockbuster Entrapment.

But it needn't have been so successful, and indeed Tun Dr. Mahathir freely accepts that his leadership success was about research and taking calculated risks.

"It takes a long time before you can really get things running smoothly. So unless you have deep pockets you shouldn't try to go into things that you really do not have enough knowledge about. But this is a government entity and it's the government's policy to introduce industries, heaving industries. We know we took a risk. There have been failures among the projects but there have also been successes.

"You must think about things which are achievable. It may be a little bit extraordinary but they must be achievable."

Tun Dr. Mahathir has always had a good relationship with the media, another aspect he attributes to good leadership. Under his tenure he initiated Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia, a government designated zone, designed to leapfrog Malaysia into the information and knowledge age. As part of the initiative the government aims to attract top companies to Malaysia, in exchange for certain concessions. It was through MSC that Tun Dr. Mahathir spoke to MeetTheBoss.TV.

Excited about the future release of MeetTheBoss TV Asia, the Malaysian government approval committee awarded GDS International with the MSC status. GDS International was granted the prestigious Pioneer Status that has been granted for the maximum period of five years, with the opportunity to extend the status again in the future.

"GDS International is an exciting new company with innovative products and unique online offerings made them a perfect candidate for MSC Malaysia status. We are thrilled GDS have chosen Kuala Lumpur as their Asian headquarters and we welcome our new partnership" - Datuk Badlisham Ghazali, CEO of Multimedia Development Corporation, the government implementation agency to drive the MSC Malaysia vision said.

Since retiring from office in 2003, Tun Dr Mahathir bin Mohamed still imparts leadership advice and is now a serving advisor to Malaysian national oil company Petronas and the Malaysian national car company Proton, and heads the Perdana Leadership Foundation.

To catch the full interview with Mahathir bin Mohamed click here.

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By 2020, more than half of new vehicle sales are expected to be hybrid-electric, plug-in hybrid and all-electric models. And in the global race to develop and produce advanced lithium-ion batteries for these vehicles, the United States is well-positioned to be a worldwide leader, according to a new study from Duke University.

It hasn't always been this way. When hybrids first appeared, Japan beat the United States by about 10 years with its Toyota Prius, the report by researchers at Duke's Center for Globalization, Governance & Competitiveness notes. But while the Prius runs on a nickel metal hydride battery, the next generation of hybrid and electric cars will overwhelmingly use lithium-ion batteries, which have yet to be fully developed, commercialized and mass-produced for use in vehicles.

Marcy Lowe, lead author of the report, explains that nearly all lithium-ion batteries for cell phones and laptops today are currently made in Asia, even though a University of Texas professor helped develop the technology in the 1980s. "However, advancing the battery technology so it can power vehicles opens a whole new window of opportunity," she says. "And this time around, the US has learned to be quicker and more strategic."

The report indicates that thanks largely to stimulus funds, the US supply chain has 119 sites spread out across 27 states that could play relevant roles in the production of advanced car batteries. "According to announced capacity expansions, the United States will have a 40 percent share of global capacity to produce lithium-ion batteries for vehicles by 2015," the report says. "Funds from the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 have jumpstarted the US industry from only two battery pack plants pre-ARRA, to 30 planned sites, all playing key roles across the value chain - including materials, components, and production of cells and battery packs."

Lowe says US advantages include advanced research capabilities, a well-established auto manufacturing sector, supportive government policies and the industry's projection that the largest share of electric vehicles in the near future will be made in the US.

The US push includes an effort to tap universities' research strengths and bring new technologies to market. One small startup company, Tec-Cel, grew out of a class project for graduate students in North Carolina State University's MBA program. Tec-Cel aims to commercialize lithium-ion battery applications based on nanofiber technology invented by NC State professor Xiangwu Zhang.

Also, two of the four major cell components that go into a lithium-ion battery have major US manufacturers - Ohio-based Novolyte, with 30 years of experience in electrolytes (also used in other battery types), and North Carolina-based Celgard, with 20-30 percent of the global market in separators. Two additional North Carolina firms, FMC Lithium and Chemetall Foote, together supply nearly 50 percent of the world's demand for lithium.

The Duke research team says the emerging industry still faces fierce competition from Asia, and further domestic capabilities are needed in several aspects of battery cell making, including the production of cathodes and anodes. And competing with low-cost Asian manufacturing will require bringing down costs through advanced, automated production.

As in any new industry, it is difficult to know exactly when the market for electric car batteries will take off, making it tricky to time capacity expansions, Lowe says. Battery firms worldwide seem to be playing a "wait-and-see" game. "What's at stake here is not just batteries, but the very basis of the future auto industry," she explains. "And if you're going to be in the right place at the right time, you have to commit and invest, even if no one can tell you for sure when that ‘right' time will arrive."

Jackie Roberts, Director of Sustainable Technologies for Environmental Defense Fund, the study's sponsor, believes that "tremendous economic opportunities in electric vehicles exist for the US", provided the customer-demand for such products is also created. "Eventually, we think that mandatory limits on greenhouse gases will not only avoid long-term consequences of climate change, but also help create markets and jobs for American workers," she says.

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Such innovations were used by the operators to supplement the pricey voice packages. However, the operators are now finding themselves in the hands of the ever-creative software/hardware companies and a changing consumer culture. iPhone appstore was the first to take fiscal advantage from operators' customers, creating a financial redistribution within the Telecom industry.

With the telecom giants left to maintain the costly infrastructure that supports this ever growing new-media industry, the outlook for today's communication service providers is set to get worse in a new 4G world where broadband is everywhere; LTE, WiMax, FTTX and cloud services to name a few.. The NGT APAC Summit committee is only too aware of this and believes that they must act now to prepare for the future. How can telecom giants sustain increasing costs and avoid being relegated to the sidelines as bit-pipe providers?

To answer this question visionaries from companies such as Skype - Dan Neary, VP and GM Asia Pacific, Telenor - Sanjay Vaghasia, CTO, Vodafone - Durgadas Misha, Head of IT Outsourcing, Deutsche Telekom - Neil Millner, Head of Network & IT Procurement, and Virgin Mobile - Carl Ambrose, CIO, have joined a closed door meeting at the NGT APAC summit in Singapore to provide a unified investment strategy and Long Term Evolution (LTE) across the existing 3G networks. Such increased download speeds will allow the telecom industry to capitalize on the change in consumer habits and provide wider service offerings.

"Such a meeting has been a long time coming, large operators have been losing revenue as the communication market has diversified, network optimization should lend to them finding new revenue streams as the level of service can expand" - NGT Summit Director Asia Pacific.

A lack of focus has brought about inefficiencies related to roaming issues for users, and limited development efforts for each technology, the world is soon to be "unified" under LTE and at that point the industry can expect much greater economies of scale for both hardware makers and services providers, the NGT APAC committee are sure to take advantage of this.

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Last week, in Singapore, a committee compromising of C-Level executives from leading companies across Asia met to discuss the continual growth of APAC and better understand how to utilize the increasing opportunities and to encourage new technology projects, greater business collaboration and maintain growth.
Among the attendees was Alex Siow, the head of business Excellence System Technology & CIO at Starhub and Avery Palos CIO Asia at General Electric and Kevin Noonan Research Director at Ovum opened discussions.

"As information technology leaders in Asia, we have the difficult job of representing not only our business interest in the region; but also acting as the bridge head for communications with our multinational parent organizations. Communicating and adapting bilateral needs between our local markets and global corporations is a critical skill for CIO's to master. Leaning in favor too far in one direction or the other can risk your reputation and make it difficult to accomplish your goals. By carefully balancing between the two worlds you can position yourself in the organization to be a key player for future growth and understanding."

APAC has been facing difficult challenges as it grows and develops and doubts over the political and governmental structure of the region have been raised. To overcome this, incredible drive and enthusiasm to succeed has been seen by large enterprises and APAC can confidently compete with the US and Europe within the telecoms sector.

The cloud offers fantastic opportunity to transform business but discussing the right implications and techniques are vital for a cloud which works throughout the region and offers the same opportunities for all industries. The cloud really will be the next big thing in IT.

"We are at the beginning of the largest and most beneficial wave of change ever to hit the IT industry. This new wave, known as cloud computing, is a new approach to IT that reduces IT complexity, lowers IT costs, improves quality of service, and enables greater IT and business agility." Tim Posney - Regional CTO APAC, ING Investment Management

Cloud computing is set to deliver these benefits by leveraging the efficient pooling of an on demand, self managed, virtual IT infrastructure that can be delivered and consumed as a service. It's commonly accepted that the cloud is the future of data storage but as cloud security is called into question the CIO Committee announced that investing in the private cloud is preferable. The private cloud enables businesses to capture all the benefits of the cloud without losing control of your IT and without increasing your risk.

"Cloud computing is a transformative technology. It is built differently from traditional IT, enabling dynamic pools of virtualized resources. It is operated differently, enabling end-to-end service delivery. And it is consumed differently, making it convenient for IT organizations and for those they support. To unleash its full potential, companies need to recognize that cloud computing is a better investment strategy for IT, and one that can enable them to achieve faster and higher returns on their IT investments." Harmeen Mehta - MD and CIO Global Markets APAC, Bank of America

Organizations such as GE - Avery Palos, CIO Asia, StarHub - Alex Siow, Head Business Excellence and Systems Technology, Bharti Airtel - Rupinder Goel, CIO, ING Investment Management - Tim Posney, CTO APAC and Pfizer - Sirsij Peshin, CIO / VP Business Technology all agreed at the CIO Asia Summit that they must cautiously prepare for growth while evolving their methods of technology implementation. In 2010-2011, CIOs will actively strategize their accelerated IT spending to balance cost and risk while pursuing significant growth. Really a Private Cloud is the only option.

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Russian oil company TNK-BP, which is half-owned by the British oil giant, has made a $1.8 billion for BP's Venezuelan and Vietnamese assets, a source familiar with the decision said.

The acquisitions will be financed entirely through the company's available resources and will not require additional capital from the shareholders of TNK-BP.

"They (the board) decided to make an offer, and then it will be a matter of negotiations," the source said, adding TNK-BP would make a combined offer for both assets.

The bid comes off the back of TNK-BP's continued effort to build a stronger global portfolio.

Breaking down the assets

So what is TNK-BP getting for $1.8 billion? In Venezuela, TNK-BP will acquire a 16.7 percent stake in the PetroMonagas SA extra heavy oil producer, a more substantial 40 percent stake in Petroperija SA which operates the DZO field, and a 26.7 percent stake in Boquerón SA. These assets are operated as joint ventures with PVDSA and have a combined capacity of 25 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day.

In Vietnam, TNK-BP will acquire a 35 percent stakr in Block 06-1, an offshore gas production containing the Lan Tay and Lan Do gas condensate fields, a 32.7 percent stake in the Nam Con Son Pipeline and Terminal, and a 33.3 percent stake in the Phu My 3 power plant.

The combined assets of Venezuala and Vietnam should add an additional 290 million barrels to TNK-BP.

"The acquisitions in Venezuela and Vietnam mark a milestone in TNK-BP's strategic expansion in the global energy market," said Mikhail Fridman, Executive Chairman of TNK-BP Ltd. "Our company's ambitious yet highly focused and disciplined diversification provides TNK-BP with an excellent platform for further growth and profitability, while also helping develop new competencies that can be applied at home. Given Russia's strong relationships with Vietnam and Venezuela, we are sure that this transaction will create significant value both for TNK-BP and our local partners."

For TNK-BP Ltd, Lexicon Partners acted as financial advisor to the Board of Directors. Credit Suisse acted as financial advisor to TNK-BP management, while Goldman Sachs advised BP.

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In 2050, the population will balloon to such an extent that farmers will be required to double food production. "We have 40 years in which to double agricultural output, but we have to do it in a sustainable fashion with the same amount of land, less water and reduced inputs," said Bill Lesher, executive director of Global Harvest Initiative, the consortium of major agricultural companies, including Archer Daniels Midland, Monsanto, DuPont and Deere & Co.

The comment was in relation to the agricultural productivity report, which was in conjunction with the Farm Foundation, NFP, a public policy group, and the U.S. department of Agriculture's Economics Research Service (ERS).

"We need to do more with less and we must start implementing measures and policies that increase productivity today," Lesher said.
And he's right. With current estimates, the global population in 2050 will be 9.2 billion, farmers and food production will need to get smarter with public and private investments in "science and technology" to boost agricultural productivity, according to the report.

The report said doubling agricultural output to meet global demand by 2050 will require an annual average growth of at least 1.75 percent in "total factor productivity" - defined as the increase in output per unit of total resources employed in production. Between 2000 and 2007, USDA's ERS estimates global agricultural total factor productivity growth averaged 1.4 percent per year.

"To close the gap without additional land and resources, we must increase the rate of productivity growth an average of 25 percent more per year over the next 40 years," said Neil Conklin, president of the Farm Foundation.

Currently cereals and root and tuber crops make up more than 60 percent of the global diet, but by 2050 the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization expects those staples will make up only 54 percent of food consumption, while animal proteins like meat and dairy, and vegetable oils will rise to nearly 40 percent of the global diet from about one-third today.

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This is in stark contrast to the IEA 2020 targets of 200 GW of global installed capacity for PV and 148 GW for concentrated solar power. Even the climate change conference in Copenhagen last December, which was seen as an opportunity to set some improved green targets and limit growth in gas emissions failed to accomplish anything concrete.

According to the IEA, countries that adopt a strong policy regime are in a better position to improve renewable infrastructure.

And you don't have to be number one for GDP for this to happen. According to the report Thailand ranks 20th in the world by population, 25th in GDP, and 23rd in electricity-generating capacity, and yet has an established an effective renewable infrastructure, a free-enterprise economy and strong export industries.

Due to its climate, Thailand has focused a large part of its infrastructure on solar energy production, and believes with the right investment and manufacture it could in theory power its whole population. Wisely Thailand hasn't set any figures in stone, but has set the objective to increase its PV capacity 15 times in 15 years, from around 35 MW in 2007 to 550 MW in 2022.

And Thailand is a great example to the 90 percent of countries who have yet to adopt large-scale deployment of RE. The country has over 1 GW of capacity receiving first-phase approval under a feed-in tariff, called an adder (to base electricity prices) of THB8/kWh (US25 cent/kWh), plans to build a $250 million 73 MW thin-film PV solar farm outside Bangkok by 2011 and first-stage moves to rationalise the process for issuing permits.

"Thailand's experience illustrates some of the difficulties faced by a developing solar industry, and may offer lessons on how to avoid them. It suggests that the large-scale growth of solar requires not just selective promotion of one or two large projects, but a wide and coherent set of action programmes," says Raymond Schonfeld, writing for RenewableEnergy.com.

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10. Ryugyong Hotel, North Korea
Sucking up nearly two percent of North Korea's GDP over the past two decades, construction started on the Ryugyong Hotel in 1987 and finished in 1992 and yet it still remains unopened, unoccupied and uncompleted. The 1083-feet giant, even its uncompleted state remains the 22 largest skyscraper in the world.

9. Mets Citi Field, New York, US
This field has countless problems from shorting electricity to water leaks and mould. $850 million was spent on the replacement for Shea Stadium, yet money keeps pouring in to mitigate the mountain of problems. Hunt-Bovis, the contractor that built the field, is being investigated by prosecutors over whether the company over-billed for work on the stadium.

8. Kangbashi District of Ordos City, China
In an effort to increase its GDP, the Chinese government decided to build the Kangbashi District of Ordos about 18 miles away from the original city, back in 2004. Built in just five years, $352 million was spent on roads alone. While a majority of the homes have been sold, most were bought as investment and as such the town intended to house 1 million residents remains empty and deserted. 

7. Olympic Stadia, Athens, Greece
Athens spent $11 billion - about double the country's budget - on more than a dozen sports venues for the 2004 Olympics, including a baseball diamond, a man-made kayak course and a Tae Kwon Do and Handball Olympic stadium. Today, more than half the sites are vacant and have to be patrolled by private security guards.

6. Burj Khalifa, Dubai, UAE
The tallest building in the world was completed in January 2010. However, while it £1.5 billion to build, just one month after its grand opening, the building closed to the public due to electrical problems on the observation deck on the 124th floor. It was even forced to change name from the Burj Dubai to the Burj Khalifa after the economy's debt problems meant they were forced to take bailouts from neighboring Abu Dhabi - part of the loan agreement was that they re-mane the tower after the UAE President, Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

5. The Millennium Dome, London, UK
Designed to house the Millennium Experience, the Millennium Dome cost $1.25 billion to build and $41 million was spent closing it down in December 2000. With only half the number of visitors that were expected actually visited the press largely reported it a flop, despite visitor feedback being extremely positive. The dome was publicly renames The O2 on 31 May, 2005 after a UK£600 million revamp and is now an entertainment district with indoor arena, music club, cinema and exhibition space.

4. Experience Music Project, Seattle, US
Intended to showcase rock memorabilia and offer interactive music exhibitions, The Seattle Music Project was founded in 2000 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and designed by Frank Gehry. New York Times architecture critic Herbert Muschamp described it as: "something that crawled out of the sea, rolled over and died."

3. Dubai Aquarium, Dubai, UAE
Part of the $20 million Downtown Burj Dubai development project, the Dubai Aquarium is located in the world's largest shopping mall, the Dubai Mall. 60,000 tickets were sold in the first five days, but two years in disaster struck when on February 22, 2010, the central part of the mall had to be evacuated after water was found gushing out of a crack in the aquarium's glass. It took six divers to stop the leak.

2. Chelsea Waterside Park, New York, US
Chelsea Waterside Park caused quite a stir when it was renovated in 2000 and Manhattan parents got their first look at the phallic shapes. While some have called for the park to be remodelled, the children still enjoy frolicking here.

1. The Lotus Riverside Complex, Shanghai, China
Rushed and poor construction meant that one of the buildings at the Lotus Riverside complex in Shanghai collapsed on June 27, 2009, killing one worker. The 13-storey apartment building was one of 11 in the complex and was near completion when it toppled. Nine officials, including the real estate developer, contractor and the supervisor for the project were detained by authorities and put under the spotlight for being connected to the massive disaster.

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Russia has long been keen to begin transporting more supplies to the lucrative east, as opposed to the sluggish markets in Europe.

"Russia is ready to meet China's full demand for gas," Igor Sechin, the Russian deputy prime minister, said in Beijing.

However China has leverage to drink a hard bargain, as the state-owned Chinese National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) announced a major gas discovery in Turkmenistan that will help boost deliveries of central Asian gas to China, reducing its need for Russian supplies and allowing for China to hike prices accordingly.

The vast gas reserves in eastern Turkmenistan, discovered by CNPC on the left bank of the Amu Darya river are estimated to hold 100 billion cubic metres of gas.

The proposed Russian pipeline has "limited strategic value for China," says Julia Nanay, senior director at PFC Energy, the Washington-based energy consultancy. "For China to even consider this route, it is likely to demand price concessions," she said.

Russia and China did negotiate a $25 billion loan during the height of the financial crisis in 2009 entitling China to 300,000 barrels of Russian oil a day for 20 years.

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"We've started many natural disaster risk evaluation projects in China since August this year," Zou Ming, director of the disaster relief department of China's Civil Affairs Ministry, told Xinhua in an interview.

Zou highlighted that the ‘risk map' will be a necessary step in countering natural disasters like earthquakes, mudslides and floods, and will be key to China's growing economy. Building and regeneration therefore can be constructed in danger-free zones, where disruption and further rebuilding costs can be avoided.

According to the People's Daily Online, China's western regions have experienced three major natural disasters in recent three years: An 8.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Wenchuan, Sichuan Province in May, 2008; a 7.1-magnitude earthquake that jolted Yushu, Qinghai Province in April, 2010, and devastating mudslides which claimed nearly 2,000 lives in Zhouqu, Guansu Province in August 2010.

China's infrastructural growth has grown rapidly over the past decade, meaning property has been erected without thorough and rigorous construction scrutiny and people have moved into towns and cities, accelerating the increase in urban populations, Shi Peijun, deputy director of National Committee of Disaster Relief, said.
In accordance with the new plan, southwest China's Sichuan Province issued a circular requesting all cities and counties submit an evaluation report, specifically asking for suggestions on improvements and relocation proposals be submitted before Oct. 30.
"We'll re-study all reconstruction projects to double-check their safety," the document noted, "so as to make sure they are located away from earthquake rupture belts and areas prone to floods and geological disasters."

"Avoiding possible dangers and utilizing land rationally is at the top of government agendas," Shi Peijun said.

"That's what we gained from the disasters."

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In an effort to increase solar capture efficiency, American energy company Genie Lens Technologies have created polymer films imprinted with special microstructures that stick over solar panels in an effort to increase solar capture by 10 percent.

The sticker could be used globally and would be particularly pertinent in areas where space for further solar panels is restricted.

The polymer film can be applied to any existing photovoltaic panels, in an effort to lower costs due to increased efficiency.

"Designed to concurrently optimize several principles of physics, FUSION maximizes the boost to conversion efficiency and delivers previously unattainable gains for just pennies per watt," say Genie Lens Technologies on their website.

Genie Lens Technologies project that by 2015, the new stickers will have an annual market value of $5 billion. The proven efficiency gains will likely be around 10 - 12.5 percent, around $0.10 a watt.

"FUSION is engineered using proprietary software that concurrently optimizes multiple design principles, user-specified variables and desired outcomes. The current version of FUSION is a "generic" form that is applicable to a wide cross-section of the market, based upon average insolation and angles of incidence.

However, the world is not "one size fits all." FUSION technology is designed to be incredibly flexible, giving us the ability to develop custom-engineered versions based on specific requirements, such as higher or lower diffuse light conditions, targeted wavelength filtering or the unique specifications of various panel manufacturers. The result? Unparalleled efficiency gains at incredibly low cost," says the website.

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With global demand for solar and wind energy capture rising, the gauntlet has been thrown down to manufacturers and scientists to deliver technological improvements in both photovoltaic cells on solar panels and efficiency and size on wind turbines.
The latter, according to reports, will grow to 447GW in the next five years and by year 2015, Asia will lead the world in installed wind capacity.

According to AlternativeEnergy.com: "Enercon is amongst the other manufacturers who are focusing on 3MV-class wind turbines based on E-82/2.0. Without increasing the component sizes, there are new designs to operate at 3MW power. There will be a 3-6 percent increased yield because of these innovative designs as claimed by the Enercon."

The key, of course, is for wind turbines to operate to maximum efficiency even when the wind isn't necessarily strong. REPower Systems AG presented two new improvements on their 3.XM series for sites with low-wind speed at the European Wind Energy Conference & Exhibition, held in Warsaw in April, which outlined design improvements on turbines in less windy locations, within the UK and Canadian market.

For onshore solutions, Alstom Power displayed a larger turbine which lends itself to easier maintenance and with an ergonomically viable design makes their flagship ECO 110 a successful larger scale rotor wind turbine.

Turbines are also becoming more efficient, with Gamesa and Siemens Energy both announcing a Direct Drive to their G128-4.5 MW wind turbine, and Nordex SE following suit with their N80, N90, and N100 models. Improvements in compact designs and superior specifications make these wind turbines remarkably efficient and should increase the profitability with an assurance and reliability.

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According to Ernst & Young, China joined the list in 2004, and has since risen to the top spot.

"A two point rise for China [...] together with a single-point fall for the US, brings the Asian giant into joint first position with the US. China invested almost twice as much in clean energy projects last year compared with the US, and has emerged as the world's market leader in installed wind power capacity in 2009," says the report.

With the US and China claiming the top two spots, Germany, Italy and India round off the final top five places.

"India has increased two points following the Government's injection of over US$1 billion into the green economy and the unveiling of plans for up to 4GW of wind capacity and 1GW of solar power to be installed in the short to medium term," says the report.

Countries outside the top five

Other countries, from Europe to Australasia, both saw a negative result, with Mediterranean countries like Greece, Spain and Portugal losing points.

"Greece, Spain and Portugal have all suffered negative score changes due to worsening capital markets and a downward revision of sovereign credit ratings by Standard and Poor. Q1 was also a difficult period of Australia, dropping two points following the delay in the planned emission trading scheme until after 2012."

The Ernst & Young country attractiveness indices provide scores for national renewable energy markets, renewable energy infrastructures and their suitability for individual technologies.

The indices provide scores out of 100.

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