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Category: economics – Page 100

Fossil fuel electricity generation has peaked worldwide

“Emerging markets have no need to build up huge electrical infrastructure based on fossil fuels. Instead, they are leapfrogging this stage and meeting growth in demand by deploying clean energy systems — such as wind and solar — with huge potential to boost economic development and bring electricity to millions more people.”

Fossil fuel electricity generation has peaked worldwide as emerging markets seize the opportunities of low-cost renewables, according to a report published this week by India’s Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW) and the financial think tank Carbon Tracker.

Renewables are already the cheapest source of new electricity additions in 90% of the world, the report notes. Emerging markets (non-OECD nations plus Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Costa Rica) therefore have no need to build up huge electrical infrastructure based on fossil fuels. Instead, they are leapfrogging this stage and meeting growth in demand by deploying clean energy systems – such as wind and solar – with huge potential to boost economic development and bring electricity to millions more people.

Delaying Aging Would Bring Trillions of Dollars in Economic Gains, Study Finds

Now researchers have used US economic, health, and demographic data to put a price on just how valuable such an intervention could be. In a paper in Nature Aging, they showed that treatments that slow down aging could be worth US$38 trillion for every extra year of life they give people.

This isn’t the first time someone has tried to pin a number on the benefits of slowing aging. The authors reference a 2013 study in Health Affairs, which estimated that a 2.2-year increase in life expectancy could be worth as much as $7.1 trillion over 50 years.

The new study uses a different methodology, though, known as value of statistical life. This is the measure used by various US agencies and represents how much people would be willing to pay to reduce their risk of dying. It incorporates concepts like health, consumption, and leisure, and therefore measures not just quantity but quality of life.

Superfluid raises $9M To Build the Real-Time Finance Economy

When thinking of the crypto community, or any other movement for that matter, it’s common to think of where it is now. Hundreds of projects, thousands of developers, millions of users. But crypto started, not so long ago, with a nobody, Satoshi Nakamoto.

By building a small, but incredibly dedicated community of supporters, crypto has become an unstoppable force which will define this century, changing the core of our economic system: money itself.

At Superfluid, we are incredibly excited to be a part of this monumental shift, contributing our own innovation to magical internet money: modular asset streaming.

A Fully Automated Economy–How Can It Work?

Circa 2019

Imagine we go through the disruptive transition between an economy where we need to work to make a living, to one where we don’t. It is hard to imagine because in North America; we haven’t been in this situation since the colonial era. Back in the colonial era, most people were farmers and families had to build their own homes. Neighbors traded with each other and with the closest town with what they had to get what else they needed. Those were difficult days with minimal supply chains established in North America. It is not a period we want to go back to, but we may learn from our forebears to prepare us for what is to come.

It is no surprise, in this age where automation is threatening to replace all employees, that we have concerns about how we can still function as a society when automation will take over most jobs. Fortunately, the same systems that threaten our livelihoods can bring us to a Golden Age of civilization where people live free, happy lives, without the concern for survival. I talk about the future of work in an article I published earlier this year. In a nutshell, and for the purpose of this article, I’ll jump to the conclusion: there won’t be enough demand for humans to have jobs within the next 20 years to sustain an employment-taxation type of economy.

We need to transform our economy to one that fits our aspirations and available technologies.

Vote for the President and Board of Directors Space Renaissance

The 2021 Space Renaissance Congress Acta is now online, and the voting session for the new President and Board of Directors is now open.

Dear SRI friends and supporters.

Two key milestones of our 3rd World Congress are now accomplished.

**1) The complete acta of the presented papers and speeches** is now online, for all of us to be viewed and reviewed. https://2021.spacerenaissance.space/index.php/2021-space-ren…ress-acta/

On this page you can find: * The presented papers, for download * The pointer to each live presentation, in the recorded videos on YouTube (hyperlink-pointer to the hour: minutes: seconds)

When watching to any video on the YouTube Space Renaissance channel, don’t forget to subscribe to the channel! (the channel is relatively recent, and increasing the number of subscribers is key to our web reputation).

Continue reading “Vote for the President and Board of Directors Space Renaissance” | >

Startup Wants to Build Tiny Nuclear Reactors That Run Off Nuclear Waste

Experts are excited by the concept of microreactors because nuclear facilities have historically relied on economies of scale — a paradigm this tech could reverse.

“Microreactors promise to turn this paradigm on its head by approaching cost competitiveness through technological learning,” Alex Gilbert from the nuclear power think tank Nuclear Innovation Alliance, told CNBC.

Oklo’s “fast reactor” plant uses energy from already-spent nuclear reactor fuel, technology that has been around since the 1950s, according to CNBC.

Live streaming is the gig economy of the pandemic era, Uplive says

Livestreaming is a trillion-dollar industry in China, where social networking and entertainment meet marketing and e-commerce. China’s retail economy has become influencer-driven, with almost all online consumers buying products based on recommendations by their idols. That trend has enabled livestreaming and video platforms like Kuaishou and Douyin, which cultivated a roster of hugely popular influencers, to participate in the e-commerce market through partnerships with the online sales platforms.

Many people and businesses would not have survived the pandemic if it were not for the gig economy, says the co-founder of Asia Innovations Group, the start-up behind the live-streaming platform Uplive.