LinkedIn and the Council of Economic Advisors have crunched the numbers and newspapers are the biggest losers in the the new economy:

Damian Carrington via guardian.co.uk

Electricity produced by wind turbines in the UK may be cheaper than that generated by burning gas within five years, even if the climate-warming pollution from the latter is allowed to be pumped straight into the air. That is one startling implication of a comprehensive analysis produced for the Guardian by experts at Imperial College London and the UK Energy Research Centre.

The chart, which is from preliminary analysis, reveals the folly of betting the UK’s energy future on the hope of cheap gas, the preferred option of many of the critics of reneweable energy.

This is not because wind power, or any other energy source, is certain to be cheaper. Instead, says Dr Robert Gross at Imperial College, it is because the principle of targeting subsidy to create viable new energy sources is well founded and the notion of gas as a cheap and relatively low-carbon energy source is not. Look at the range of gas cost forecasts from 2020 onwards: they are much wider than those for wind.

Al Gore has taken on the root cause of most of our modern societal ills: unsustainable business practices. He and David Blood, a partner with Gore in  Generation Investment Management, have written a Manifesto for Sustainable Capitalism:

Before the crisis and since, we and others have called for a more responsible form of capitalism, what we call sustainable capitalism: a framework that seeks to maximize long- term economic value by reforming markets to address real needs while integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) metrics throughout the decision-making process.

Such sustainable capitalism applies to the entire investment value chain—from entrepreneurial ventures to large public companies, seed-capital providers to institutional investors, employees to CEOs, activists to policy makers. It transcends borders, industries, asset classes and stakeholders.

And how would this work? And will capitalists willingly change their ways? Generation has also written a more in depth white paper on Sustainable Capitalism that makes a clear argument: the rejection of short-term thinking is necessary to increase long-term value creation. To allow capitalists to make a transition to a long-term timeframe in their thinking, we have to change the way the game is played. Specifically they recommend five key actions:

Two pieces in the NY Times raise serious questions about China and its pivotal position in the world economy:

China Takes New Step to Prime Its Slowing Economy - David Barboza via NYTimes.com — China cuts the reserve ratio requirement for the biggest Chinese banks to 20.5% from 21%, hoping to free up capital for investment. However, there is a large and growing amount of unreserved debt in China which could be a bubble that would burst in a serious economic downturn, a point that Barboza does not make.

Chinese Labor, Cheap No More - Michelle Dammon Loyalka via NYTimes.com — Growing numbers of China’s migrant workers — essential to the growing manufacturing industries of China — have failed to return to work after the Spring Festival, whenmore than 100M workers traditionally return to their home towns to visit relatives. This will drive up wages, and indirectly, prices for export goods. Again, this will have a braking effect on China’s economy.

These, and other factors, like the economic crisis in Europe and the slow rebound in the US, could combine into a serious problem for China. In the long-term, the growing number of older Chinese poses a demographic challenge to the country, which has historically provided almost no services to citizens.

1. Can America adjust to higher gas prices? - Brad Plummer via The Washington Post — US gas prices are spiking above $3.50/gallon nationally, which threatens the easing economic situation. In 2011, gas prices rose and wiped out the benefits of Obama’s middle-class tax cuts. We can expect a really negative impact if prices reach $4/gallon in May, as many analysts predict. Perhaps this will hasten our slow transition to post-oil transportation.

#gas #economics

2. Get Ready for 1 Billion Smartphones by 2016, Forrester Says - Brian X. Chen via  NYTimes.com — 1B smartphone users in 2016, including 350M workers of which 200M will take their own devices to work. $56B market size, they say. Personally, I think these numbers are too timid.

#smartphones #futureofwork

3. Apple’s Tim Cook hints at something ‘larger’ in firm’s TV arsenal - David Sarno via LAtimes.com — Tim Cook says they have found something larger than plain vanilla TV, and those that have used the product love it. Apple is in the perfect position to create something that integrates the ‘second screen’ experience, since they are the market thought leader in mobile devices.

#secondscreen #appletv #imcook

4. Australia’s Newest Firefighters: Elephants? - Nidhi Subbaraman via Co.Exist — Australia is suffering from longer drought, and wildfires as a result of wild grasses that local animal populations are unable to counter. One solution being considered: importing and releasing African elephants and other large grazing animals to keep the grasses in check.

#elephants #rewilding #wildfires #australia

5. Global Risks 2012 - World Economic Forum —A very frightening assessment of the risks that confront the world, and possible approches to countering them. Includes an assessment of the 50 greatest risks, and a special report on what we can learn from the Great East Japan earthquake.

#daiichi #globalrisks2012 #worldeconomicforum

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