Offshore galore! Wind farms go on the block as valuations spike

© Reuters/Jean-Paul Pelissier FILE PHOTO: 

Power-generating windmill turbines are seen near Port Saint Louis du Rhone

By Arno Schuetze and Christoph Steitz

3/26/2021

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European utilities are offering a slew of offshore wind farms, eager to cash in on high valuations as investors hungry for stable returns increasingly flock to the sector, people close to the matter said.

Demand for such assets has surged as environmentally-conscious investors and industries such as oil and gas seek green power in order to meet goals to achieve net zero emissions in line with the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Denmark's Orsted, Switzerland's Axpo, Germany's EnBW and Sweden's Vattenfall are all marketing offshore wind assets that are either at project stage or completed, four people familiar with the matter said.

Specialised infrastructure investors including FSI, Equitix, PGGM, APG, MIRA, Omers, Glennmont, IFM, CDPQ, Omers, Ardian, as well as oil majors are being targeted in the various auctions, the people said.

"There is a massive influx of capital and it is driven by pension funds and insurance companies," said Mortimer Menzel, partner at Augusta & Co, which specialises in renewables deal advisory.

"It drives utilities to recycle their assets because, quite frankly, they're getting a higher price today than they did last year and the window won't be open forever," he said, adding there was a huge scarcity of assets at the moment.

For utilities, selling stakes in farms or projects is part of their strategy to get these assets, which usually require spending of at last 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) apiece, off the ground.

Orsted, the world's No.1 developer of offshore wind farms, is in talks to sell part of its 900 megawatt (MW) Borkum Riffgrund 3 project to an investor in a deal worth up to 2 billion euros, the people said.

Glennmont Partners has been seen in pole position as a buyer but talks have not yet been finalised, they added.

Meantime, Axpo has already kicked off the sale of its 24.1% stake in the 400 MW Global Tech I farm, located about 100 kms (62 miles) off Germany's North Sea coast, the people said.

Axpo has already approached potential buyers including owners of adjacent wind parks like APG and Macquarie as well as EnBW, which may be able to reap synergies from a potential combination, one of the people added.

VIDEO Duration 2:54 Deutsche Post DHL CEO 'very optimistic' about company's sustainable fuel target


Other investors in Global Tech I, which entered operation in 2015 and produces enough electricity to supply about 450,000 households, have also signalled their willingness to exit, and a buyer could get a majority in the business, the people said.

Orsted, Glennmont and Axpo declined to comment.

GRAPHIC: European offshore wind investments -

 https://graphics.reuters.com/ENERGY-EUROPE/dgkpleqbqvb/chart.png

Valuations for renewables assets have soared, with the global FTSE cleantech index more than doubling over the past year on demand from investors, including oil majors who are under increasing pressure to find new sources of profit.

"The historical gap between returns from oil & gas upstream and renewables has significantly narrowed," said Maria Garijo, co-head of EMEA power investment banking at Bank of America.

"However, big oil is likely to prefer to tread carefully when investing in renewables in the near term as they continue to adapt their financial frameworks and fulfil their dividend commitments."

Despite the pandemic, 2020 has been a record year for offshore wind financing in Europe, climbing to 26.3 billion euros last year, according to industry body WindEurope.

EnBW is expected to mandate advisors for the sale of a stake in its 900 MW He Dreiht project, to be located about 110 kms west of Heligoland in the North Sea, in autumn, potentially launching an auction later this year or in 2022, the people said.

The company said that while for now its operating focus regarding He Dreiht remained developing the project until an investment decision has been taken, funding partnerships are part of its renewables business model.

In May, Vattenfall is expected to send out information packages in the planned sale of a stake in its Dutch 1.5 GW Hollandse Kust Zuid wind park, which is slated to go online in 2023, the people said.

Vattenfall, which communicated the sales plans last year, declined to comment on the timeline of the deal, adding that RBC Capital Markets is helping it to find an investor. "We call this asset ownership flexibility," it said.

In a sign of how big interest in renewables assets currently is, Spain's Iberdrola is getting unsolicited bids for some of its wind farms, including Germany's 476 MW Baltic Eagle project, the people said.

But while the company, which in 2019 sold a stake in its East Anglia One wind park, is looking for partners to finance the construction of Baltic Eagle, it is aiming to retain full ownership, they added.

Iberdrola declined to comment.

($1 = 0.8472 euros)

(Additional reporting by Isla Binnie and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

Oil nations tipped for political instability if the world moves away from fossil fuels

Elliot Smith 
3/26/2021

In its 2021 Political Risk Outlook on Thursday, Verisk Maplecroft said countries that had failed to diversify their economies away from fossil fuels faced a "slow-motion wave of political instability."
The most vulnerable countries are higher-cost producers that are heavily dependent on oil for revenues, have lower capacity to diversify and are less politically stable, the report said.

© Provided by CNBC The Egina floating production storage and

 offloading vessel, the largest of its kind in Nigeria, is berthed in

 Lagos harbor on February 23, 2017.

LONDON — Algeria, Chad, Iraq and Nigeria will be among the first countries to experience political instability as oil producers feel the effects of a transition to low carbon energy production, according to a new report from risk consultancy Verisk Maplecroft.

In its 2021 Political Risk Outlook, published Thursday, the firm cautioned that countries that had failed to diversify their economies away from fossil fuel exports faced a "slow-motion wave of political instability."

With the move away from fossil fuels set to accelerate over the next three to 20 years, and the Covid-19 pandemic eating into short-term gains gains in oil export revenues made in recent years, Maplecroft warned that oil-dependent countries failing to adapt risk sharp changes in credit risk, policy and regulation.

Though some countries are increasing fossil fuel investment in the short term, consensus estimates indicate that "peak oil" will be reached in 2030, after which the transition toward a low carbon economy will gather steam and force oil-producing countries to adapt their revenue streams.

Analysts suggested the worst-hit countries could enter "doom loops of shrinking hydrocarbon revenues, political turmoil, and failed attempts to revive flatlining non-oil sectors."

Oil will play 'big part' of energy mix in next 10-20 years, says Ineos Energy Chairman

Since the oil price crash of 2014, most exporters have either stagnated or reversed efforts to diversify their economies, Maplecroft data highlighted, with many doubling down on production in the ensuing years in a bid to plug revenue holes.

"Despite this, the majority took a hit on their foreign exchange reserves anyway, including Saudi Arabia, which has burnt through almost half of its 2014 dollar stockpile," the report added.

Break-even costs, the capacity to diversify and political resilience were identified as the three key factors determining the severity of the impact on stability when the expected energy transition begins to bite.

"Currently, if countries' external break-evens – the oil prices they need to pay for their imports – remain above what markets can offer, they have limited choices: draw down foreign exchange reserves like Saudi Arabia since 2014, or devalue their currency like Nigeria or Iraq in 2020, effectively rebalancing their imports and exports at the expense of living standards," the report explained.

Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, relies on crude sales for around 90% of its foreign exchange earnings and has devalued its naira currency twice since March last year. The IMF last month urged the country's central bank to devalue once again, but met with resistance.

How Saudi Aramco will navigate rocky oil markets and a shifting energy sector

Verisk Maplecroft researchers suggested that recent currency devaluations were a "harbinger of the bleak options" ahead for oil-producing countries, who will have to either diversify or face forced economic adjustments.

"Many, if not a majority, of net oil producers are going to struggle with diversification largely because they lack the economic and legal institutions, infrastructure and human capital needed," said Head of Market Risk James Lockhart Smith.

"Even when such institutions are in place, the political environment, corruption or governance challenges and entrenched interests mean some may not reform their way out of trouble, even where it is the rational course."

The most vulnerable countries are higher-cost producers that are heavily dependent on oil for revenues, have lower capacity to diversify and are less politically stable, the report said, identifying Nigeria, Algeria, Chad and Iraq as the first to be hit "if the storm breaks" due to their fixed or crawling exchange rates.

Read more

An industry 'operating on borrowed time’: Energy experts on the increasing risks ahead for Big Oil

OPEC sees most of 2021 oil demand recovery in second-half as COVID-19 impact lingers

Oil price won't influence transition to clean energy: CEO

Lower-cost Gulf producers with stronger economic institutions and resources that enable easier diversification, such as the UAE and Qatar, were seen as least susceptible to political upheaval. However, Lockhart Smith suggested that even they will not emerge unscathed.

"Authoritarian political stability is anything but stable over the long term and, as lower-for-longer oil prices cut into social spending, additional pressure will pile on these deceptively fragile political systems," he said.

"Even diversification could come with its own political risks by challenging traditional petro-state social contracts: legitimacy to rule in return for hydrocarbon largesse."

Scientists show direct evidence of humans' role in climate change

Michael J. Coren 1 day ago

© Provided by Quartz

Every year, the sun sends radiation toward Earth equivalent to more than 7,000 times humans’ annual energy consumption. Much of it is reflected out into space (about 30%), ricocheting off the atmosphere; the rest is absorbed or reflected back out after reaching Earth’s surface. Global warming happens when the greenhouse gases dumped into the atmosphere act like a warm, insulating blanket, capturing this energy rather than letting it escape.

For decades, scientists have relied on models to predict exactly how fast the world is warming due to human activities. And they’ve gotten very good at them. But scientists publishing in the journal Geophysical Research Letters on March 25 reported the first direct global observations of how much aerosols and greenhouse gases released by humans are driving climate change. “It’s direct evidence that human activities are causing changes to Earth’s energy budget,” said Ryan Kramer, co-author of the paper and a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Since 1977, NASA has been continuously studying Earth’s energy budget by flying instruments aboard satellites with the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) project. These have delivered detailed measurements of the planet’s radiation budget: how much enters, how much escapes, and how much soaks into the oceans. The new study is the first to account for human activities—as well as natural factors such as water vapor, clouds, and surface reflectivity—to precisely pin down the Earth’s energy imbalance, the “distinct fingerprints of anthropogenic activity in Earth’s changing energy budget.”

The study concluded human activities increased this imbalance, also known as “radiative forcing,” by about 0.5 watts per square meter between 2003 to 2018, mostly due to rising greenhouse gas concentrations. For context, that’s about the equivalent of keeping nearly 5 trillion 60-watt light bulbs lit across the Earth’s surface all the time.

Zeke Hausfather, a climate scientist at the environmental research group Breakthrough Institute, said the study “largely validates what we already know but in a more straightforward observation-based way,” pointing to a 2015 study in Nature that measured CO2 radiative forcing on the Earth’s surface as another example.

That data lines up well with scientists’ climate models, but it also offers a faster way to monitor how mitigation efforts are working and to test computationally-intensive models. It might also influence those who continue to doubt the overwhelming climate consensus among 97% of publishing climate scientists. “In my experience,” said Hausfather, “skeptics tend to be more swayed by observations than models, so it’s certainly helpful. It creates a pretty high bar to explain away.”

Challenges arise for crop storage as planet warms

 

India's farmer protests: Why new farm laws have sparked outrage

Angry Indian farmers have abandoned their fields to stage one of the country's biggest ever protests.

© DIPTENDU DUTTA/AFP/AFP via Getty Images Indian protesters at a rally against the new farming laws in Siliguri, West Bengal, on February 6.

By Jessie Yeung, CNN

3/26/2021

Since November, tens of thousands of farmers have been living in tents at sprawling camps pitched on highways outside the capital New Delhi.

Large barricades erected by the police and topped with barbed wire stand a few hundred meters from the camp, preventing the farmers from encroaching any closer to the center of Delhi. At times, violence has broken out during demonstrations.

The farmers are fighting new farming laws passed last September, which they say will devastate their livelihoods. The government says the reforms are needed to modernize the country's agricultural industry.

With negotiations between the government and the farmers' unions at a standstill, the protests don't appear to be ending anytime soon. Here's what you need to know about the situation.


Why are the farmers protesting the new laws?

For decades, the Indian government has offered guaranteed prices to farmers for certain crops, creating a stable guide to make decisions and investments for the following crop cycle.

Under the previous laws, farmers had to sell their goods at auction at their state's Agricultural Produce Market Committee, where they were guaranteed to receive at least the government-agreed minimum price. There were restrictions on who could buy, and prices were capped for essential commodities.

Three new laws, initiated by the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, dismantled this committee structure, instead allowing farmers to sell their goods to anyone for any price.

Modi says this gives farmers more freedom to do things such as sell directly to buyers without a middle man, and sell to other states or large grocery chains.

But many farmers argue the laws will allow big companies to drive down prices. While farmers could sell crops at higher prices if the demand is there, conversely, they could struggle to meet the minimum price in years when there is too much supply.


Why is this a political issue?

This isn't the first time that large protests have rocked India, the world's largest democracy -- but this time, it poses a unique challenge for Modi.

Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India's 1.3 billion residents, and farmers are the biggest voter bloc in the country, making farming a central political issue. Angering the farmers could see Modi lose a significant chunk of votes at the next general election in 2024.



Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have tried to win over farmers with a number of policy proposals in recent years. In 2014, the BJP said all crop prices should be fixed at a minimum of 50% higher than production costs. And in 2016, Modi set a target of doubling the income of farmers by 2022.

The government insists that the new laws are a good thing, since increasing market competition could boost farmers' income. Modi says the new laws could also open India's agricultural industry to global markets, and attract private investment.

"These reforms have not only served to unshackle our farmers but also given them new rights and opportunities," Modi said in November.


When did the protests start?

The mass protests began soon after the laws passed in September.

In November, infuriated farmers drove in tractor conveys from around India to set up multiple blockades at New Delhi's borders. Thousands marched from other nearby states to the city, where violence soon erupted, with police firing tear gas and water cannons to stop them from entering the capital.

The protests continued throughout December, with supporters across the country participating in labor and hunger strikes. At times, demonstrations swelled to more than 100,000 people on Delhi's outskirts -- though largely peaceful, there were occasional flare-ups of violence and scuffles with police.

The government has faced criticism for how it has handled the protests, particularly the violent clashes between farmers, their supporters and Delhi police during a tractor parade on Republic Day in January.

In a joint statement after the confrontation, 16 opposition parties accused Modi and the BJP of using excessive force, and being "arrogant, adamant and undemocratic in their response."

Soon afterward, authorities imposed several internet shutdowns, citing the need to maintain public safety.

At the camps on the Delhi border, security forces keep watch from the outer edges -- they have not tried to clear the camp, likely because it would be politically unpopular.

According to Samyukta Kisan Morcha, the umbrella body representing protesting farmers, at least 147 farmers have died during the protests due to causes including suicide, road accidents and exposure to cold weather. Authorities have not given an official figure on protester deaths.


Has there been any progress with negotiations?

Government leaders have failed to reach any agreement or compromise with leaders of more than 30 farmers' unions despite months of negotiation.

Officials suggested amendments to the three laws in December, including a proposal that state governments would be able to impose fees on private firms -- but farmers rejected these overtures, alleging the government was "insincere" in its efforts.

In mid-January, India's Supreme Court temporarily suspended the three laws, in the hopes the farmers might "come to the negotiating table with confidence and good faith."

Several days later, the government announced that it was willing to suspend the laws for another 12 to 18 months, while it worked with farmers' unions to seek a long-term compromise.

But protests have continued, with some farmers vowing not to leave until the laws are fully repealed.

The past week alone has seen farmers block highways and hold rallies in several states, with police detaining a number of protesters.

Elizabeth Warren clashed with Amazon over unionization and said she'd break up Big Tech so that it can't 'heckle senators with snotty tweets'

gdean@insider.com (Grace Dean) 

3/26/2021

EL WAR VS LEX LUTHOR

© Provided by Business Insider Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. Mandel Ngan/Pool/Getty Images, Elif Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren slammed Amazon's anti-union tactics on Thursday night.

Warren also said Amazon exploited tax loopholes and "heckled" senators with "snotty tweets."

"You make the tax laws @SenWarren; we just follow them," Amazon tweeted.

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren clashed with Amazon on Twitter on Thursday night, calling the tech giant out for exploiting "loopholes and tax havens," opposing unionization, and "heckling" senators on Twitter.

Tensions between Amazon and some Democratic lawmakers, including Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, are running high just as Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, vote on whether to unionize. It would be the first Amazon union in the US.

Read more: Amazon's Asian employee group asks for 'explicit' support following Atlanta spa shootings, while leadership stays mostly silent - read the full email here

Warren had uploaded a video to Twitter from a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Thursday in which she discussed how companies were "manipulating the tax code to avoid paying their fair share."

During the hearing, Kimberly Clausing, the Treasury's deputy assistant secretary of tax analysis, said that Amazon paid a tax rate of 4.5% between 2018 and 2020, despite the corporate-tax rate standing at 21%.

Warren said Amazon achieved this through "loopholes and tax shelters."


After she posted the video on Twitter, saying that companies like Amazon "pay close to nothing in taxes," the tech giant quickly fired back.

"You make the tax laws @SenWarren; we just follow them," it tweeted from its official news account.

"If you don't like the laws you've created, by all means, change them," it added.

Amazon said that it had paid "billions of dollars" in corporate taxes over the past few years alone.

Warren hit back, saying: "I didn't write the loopholes you exploit, @amazon - your armies of lawyers and lobbyists did.

"But you bet I'll fight to make you pay your fair share," she added. "And fight your union-busting. And fight to break up Big Tech so you're not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets."


In early March, Warren proposed an annual "ultra-millionaire" tax on individuals with net worths of more than $50 million. Under Warren's proposals, departing Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos would have paid an estimated $5.7 billion tax in 2020.

During Thursday's hearing, she also said she planned to introduce a tax on book profits for the nation's most profitable companies.
Amazon has clashed with lawmakers over its anti-union tactics

Amazon has come under fire for aggressively opposing workers' efforts to form what would be the company's first union in the US. It has placed anti-union ads on Twitch, reportedly posted anti-union messages in warehouse-bathroom stalls, and pushed the National Labor Relations Board to require in-person votes.

Warren isn't the first lawmaker whom Amazon has clashed with this week.

On Wednesday, the company asked Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan on Twitter whether he believed its workers urinate in bottles after he criticized Amazon's claim that it's a "progressive workplace."

The company also snubbed Sen. Bernie Sanders, an outspoken critic of Amazon's anti-union push, ahead of his visit to meet Alabama warehouse workers voting on unionization.

"If you want to hear about $15 an hour and health care, Senator Sanders will be speaking downtown," Dave Clark, Amazon's consumer chief, said.

"But if you would like to make at least $15 an hour and have good health care, Amazon is hiring."

Read the original article on Business Insider

Orangeville students call on Royal Bank to divest from fossil fuels

Students from Orangeville District Secondary School have brought the fight to save the environment from greenhouse gas emissions to the doorstep of a local financial institution, saying it can do a lot more to further the cause.

A group of activists from the school protested outside the Royal Bank of Canada Tuesday, telling management they'll be withdrawing their finances from them if they don’t change their practices.

The practices in question are outlined in a report by For Our Kids, which found that since member countries of the United Nations signed the Paris Agreement, RBC has financed more than $178 billion in fossil fuel projects, the most of any Canadian bank and fifth-most in the world.

“I am looking into it right now,” Grade 12 student Olivia Rowan said of closing down her account. “I don’t feel comfortable banking with an institution that is not supporting a livable and sustainable future for all.”

The student protesters held signs reading, “keep the oil in the soil,” “RBC don’t let us down,” and “stop funding fossil fuels,” — all while chanting outside the building at 136 Broadway.

“I think we can all agree, fossil fuels are a dying industry, and the future is in green energy,” said Rowan. “I can’t understand why anybody would be considering investing in pipelines and coal. We know that’s not a viable investment for a safe and sustainable future.”

Canada's five biggest banks have together financed more than $610 billion in fossil fuel projects since 2016, according to the report. This includes projects opposed by First Nations, including Coastal Gas Link, the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline, and the Dakota Access pipeline.

According to Bloomberg, RBC CEO David McKay said any shift to a more climate-friendly economy still depends on fossil fuels. He notes it will be a transition.

Further, the bank has recently added $500 billion to funds earmarked for net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, according to the Globe and Mail.

Environmental groups, however, still believe the banks are “greenwashing” or making false commitments when they remain one of the world’s largest funders of fossil-fuel projects.

A report by Green Energy Canada found Canada's clean energy sector will employ 559,400 Canadians by 2030 — in jobs like insulating homes, manufacturing electric buses, or maintaining wind farms. And while 50,000 jobs are likely to be lost in fossil fuels over the next decade, clean energy will create just over 160,000, a net increase of 110,000 new energy jobs in Canada, according to the report.

“It’s already been proven many times and many ways that the green energy can produce just as many, if not more jobs than the fossil fuel industry,” said Rowan. “There is no need to worry that people will be out of work.”

Joshua Santos, Local Journalism Initiative reporter, Orangeville Banner

The imaginary part of quantum mechanics really exists!

FACULTY OF PHYSICS UNIVERSITY OF WARSAW

Research News

 

IMAGE: THE PHOTON SOURCE USED TO PRODUCE QUANTUM STATES REQUIRING DESCRIPTION BY COMPLEX NUMBERS. view more 

CREDIT: SOURCE: USTC

For almost a century, physicists have been intrigued by the fundamental question: why are complex numbers so important in quantum mechanics, that is, numbers containing a component with the imaginary number i? Usually, it was assumed that they are only a mathematical trick to facilitate the description of phenomena, and only results expressed in real numbers have a physical meaning. However, a Polish-Chinese-Canadian team of researchers has proved that the imaginary part of quantum mechanics can be observed in action in the real world.

We need to significantly reconstruct our naive ideas about the ability of numbers to describe the physical world. Until now, it seemed that only real numbers were related to measurable physical quantities. However, research conducted by the team of Dr. Alexander Streltsov from the Centre for Quantum Optical Technologies (QOT) at the University of Warsaw with the participation of scientists from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Hefei and the University of Calgary, found quantum states of entangled photons that cannot be distinguished without resorting to complex numbers. Moreover, the researchers also conducted an experiment confirming the importance of complex numbers for quantum mechanics. Articles describing the theory and measurements have just appeared in the journals Physical Review Letters and Physical Review A.

"In physics, complex numbers were considered to be purely mathematical in nature. It is true that although they play a basic role in quantum mechanics equations, they were treated simply as a tool, something to facilitate calculations for physicists. Now, we have theoretically and experimentally proved that there are quantum states that can only be distinguished when the calculations are performed with the indispensable participation of complex numbers," explains Dr. Streltsov.

Complex numbers are made up of two components, real and imaginary. They have the form a + bi, where the numbers a and b are real. The bi component is responsible for the specific features of complex numbers. The key role here is played by the imaginary number i, i.e. the square root of -1.

There is nothing in the physical world that can be directly related to the number i. If there are 2 or 3 apples on a table, this is natural. When we take one apple away, we can speak of a physical deficiency and describe it with the negative integer -1. We can cut the apple into two or three sections, obtaining the physical equivalents of the rational numbers 1/2 or 1/3. If the table is a perfect square, its diagonal will be the (irrational) square root of 2 multiplied by the length of the side. At the same time, with the best will in the world, it is still impossible to put i apples on the table.

The surprising career of complex numbers in physics is related to the fact that they can be used to describe all sorts of oscillations much more conveniently than with the use of popular trigonometric functions. Calculations are therefore carried out using complex numbers, and then at the end only the real numbers in them are taken into account.

Compared to other physical theories, quantum mechanics is special because it has to describe objects that can behave like particles under some conditions, and like waves in others. The basic equation of this theory, taken as a postulate, is the Schrödinger equation. It describes changes in time of a certain function, called the wave function, which is related to the probability distribution of finding a system in a specific state. However, the imaginary number i openly appears next to the wave function in the Schrödinger equation.

"For decades, there has been a debate as to whether one can create coherent and complete quantum mechanics with real numbers alone. So, we decided to find quantum states that could be distinguished from each other only by using complex numbers. The decisive moment was the experiment where we created these states and physically checked whether they were distinguishable or not," says Dr. Streltsov, whose research was funded by the Foundation for Polish Science.

The experiment verifying the role of complex numbers in quantum mechanics can be presented in the form of a game played by Alice and Bob with the participation of a master conducting the game. Using a device with lasers and crystals, the game master binds two photons into one of two quantum states, absolutely requiring the use of complex numbers to distinguish between them. Then, one photon is sent to Alice and the other to Bob. Each of them measures their photon and then communicates with the other to establish any existing correlations.

"Let's assume Alice and Bob's measurement results can only take on the values of 0 or 1. Alice sees a nonsensical sequence of 0s and 1s, as does Bob. However, if they communicate, they can establish links between the relevant measurements. If the game master sends them a correlated state, when one sees a result of 0, so will the other. If they receive an anti-correlated state, when Alice measures 0, Bob will have 1. By mutual agreement, Alice and Bob could distinguish our states, but only if their quantum nature was fundamentally complex," says Dr. Streltsov.

An approach known as quantum resource theory was used for the theoretical description. The experiment itself with local discrimination between entangled two-photon states was carried out in the laboratory at Hefei using linear optics techniques. The quantum states prepared by the researchers turned out to be distinguishable, which proves that complex numbers are an integral, indelible part of quantum mechanics.

The achievement of the Polish-Chinese-Canadian team of researchers is of fundamental importance, but it is so profound that it may translate into new quantum technologies. In particular, research into the role of complex numbers in quantum mechanics can help to better understand the sources of the efficiency of quantum computers, qualitatively new computing machines capable of solving some problems at speeds unattainable by classical computers.

The Centre for Quantum Optical Technologies at the University of Warsaw (UW) is a unit of the International Research Agendas program implemented by the Foundation for Polish Science from the funds of the Intelligent Development Operational Programme. The seat of the unit is the Centre of New Technologies at the University of Warsaw. The unit conducts research on the use of quantum phenomena such as quantum superposition or entanglement in optical technologies. These phenomena have potential applications in communications, where they can ensure the security of data transmission, in imaging, where they help to improve resolution, and in metrology to increase the accuracy of measurements. The Centre for Quantum Optical Technologies at the University of Warsaw is actively looking for opportunities to cooperate with external entities in order to use the research results in practice.

CAPTION

Photons can be so entangled that within quantum mechanics their states cannot be described without using complex numbers.

CREDIT

Source: QOT/jch

CONTACTS:

Dr. Alexander Streltsov
Centre for Quantum Optical Technologies, University of Warsaw
tel.: +48 22 5543792
email: a.streltsov@cent.uw.edu.pl

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS:

"Operational Resource Theory of Imaginarity"
K.-D. Wu, T. V. Kondra, S. Rana, C. M. Scandolo, G.-Y. Xiang, Ch.-F. Li, G.-C. Guo, A. Streltsov
Physical Review Letters 126, 090401 (2021)
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.090401

"Resource theory of imaginarity: Quantification and state conversion"
K.-D. Wu, T. V. Kondra, S. Rana, C. M. Scandolo, G.-Y. Xiang, Ch.-F. Li, G.-C. Guo, A. Streltsov
Physical Review A 103, 032401 (2021)
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.103.032401

LINKS:

https://qot.uw.edu.pl/

The website of the Centre for Quantum Optical Technologies, University of Warsaw.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Godel, Cantor, Wiener and Schrodinger's Cat (plawiuk.blogspot.com)

 One of The Earliest Stone Tool Types Could Date Back 2.6 Million Years, New Data Show

Figuring out when the earliest human species first developed and used stone tools is an important task for anthropologists, since it was such an important evolutionary step. Remarkably, the projected date of early stone technology just got pushed back by tens of thousands of years

.

© Didier Descouens/CC BY-SA 4.0

 An Acheulean handaxe.

Using a recently introduced type of statistical analysis, researchers estimated the proportion of stone tool artifacts that might be lying undiscovered based on what has been dug up so far. In turn, this gives us clues about how old the tool remnants we don't yet know about are likely to be.

These calculations reveal that ancient hominins may have been using basic Oldowan tools 2.617-2.644 million years ago (up to 63,000 years earlier than previous findings suggest), and the slightly more sophisticated Acheulean tools may have been used 1.815-1.823 million years ago (at least 55,000 years earlier than previously thought).

"Our research provides the best possible estimates for understanding when hominins first produced these stone tool types," says paleolithic archaeologist Alastair Key from the University of Kent in the UK.

"This is important for multiple reasons, but for me at least, it is most exciting because it highlights that there are likely to be substantial portions of the artifact record waiting to be discovered."

The optimal linear estimation (OLE) statistical analysis applied here has already been deployed to judge how long species carried on living before extinction, based on the most recent fossils that have been found. The process has been shown to be reasonably accurate, and in this study it was used in reverse.

It's unlikely that the oldest stone tools that archaeologists have dug up so far are in fact the oldest that were ever used – experts think many are lost forever, and dating what does get found is difficult – but OLE offers a way to extrapolate from existing artifacts.

While OLE is still an emerging approach in archaeology, the researchers behind the new study are hoping that it becomes more widely accepted. While the best points of reference are still real findings in the field, these physical discoveries don't tell the full story of what was actually going on millions of years ago.

"The optimal linear estimation modeling technique was originally developed by myself and a colleague to date extinctions," says conservation scientist David Roberts, from the University of Kent.

"It has proved to be a reliable method of inferring the timing of species extinction and is based on the timings of last sightings, and so to apply it to the first sightings of archaeological artifacts was another exciting breakthrough."

The ability of hominins to chip away at stones and use them for specific purposes opened up new horizons for these early humans: in terms of what they could hunt, what they could build, how they could work with food and materials, and so on. It's been called a "momentous threshold" in human evolution.

To give you an idea of how long ago we're talking about, it's been suggested that the first use of stone tools predates the development of opposable thumbs in hominins: we were smashing rocks before we could properly get a grip on anything.

The oldest stone tools ever found actually date back 3.3 million years, discovered at the Lomekwi site in Kenya. While there isn't enough material at this site to run an OLE analysis, the researchers think stone tool use could go back even further than that – though they also admit that their estimations are likely to change as further digs and discoveries are made.

"Identifying when hominins first produced Lomekwian, Oldowan, and Acheulean technologies is vital to multiple avenues of human origins research," write the researchers in their published paper.

The research has been published in the Journal of Human Evolution.

The Part Played by Labor in the Transition From Ape to Man

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1876/part-played-labour/index.htm

New Data Reveals This Early Stone Tool Type May Be 2.6 Million Years Old...

https://www.msn.com/en-us/video/watch/new-data-reveals-this-early...

1:42

2021-03-26 · New Data Reveals This Early Stone Tool Type May Be 2.6 Million Years Old. Duration: 01:42 1 hr ago. SHARE. SHARE. TWEET . SHARE. EMAIL. Archaeological data suggests early humans used stone tools ...

• Author: Amaze Lab      

IMPERIALISM

China rare earths extend surge on worries over Myanmar supply, inspection threat

By Tom Daly 

3/26/2021

© Reuters/China Stringer Network FILE PHOTO: 

Miners are seen at the Bayan Obo mine containing rare earth minerals, in Inner Mongolia

(Reuters) - Looming inspections and concerns over Myanmar supplies are adding fresh momentum to a rally in prices of the rare earth minerals used in industries from turbines to telecoms that are already at their highest in nearly a decade.


A price index published by China's rare earths association shot up more than 40% from October last year to the end of January, and has climbed an additional 25% since, fuelled by the risks to supply.

These are unrest in neighbouring Myanmar following a Feb. 1 military coup and worries over environmental inspections planned in a key Chinese rare earths production hub.

While analysts say there have been no disruptions yet to supply from the southeast Asian nation, there are market concerns there could be in the wake of the coup.

Prices for ingredients of rare earth magnets, used in wind turbines and electric vehicles, have been on a tear since the fourth quarter of 2020.

The surge was driven by booming demand and concerns that dominant producer China would seek to limit rare earths exports and tighten control of a strategic industry.

The rally has extended into this year, with terbium oxide and dysprosium oxide, used as magnet inputs, gaining 36% and 58% each, to touch levels this month unseen since 2012, Asian Metal data shows.

Graphic: China rare earth prices hit multi-year highs on ramped up demand, Myanmar supply disruption - https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/ce/nmoparoakva/ChinarareEarthPrices.png

"The current magnet rare earth price levels in China have baked in a high probability that Myanmar supplies could be disrupted," said Ryan Castilloux, managing director of consultancy Adamas Intelligence.

But this has not happened yet, he added.

"So far our sources in China confirm this has not been the case."

About half of China's feedstock of heavy rare earths comes from Myanmar, and the coup unleashed fears of a supply cutoff even though the mines are in northern areas controlled by autonomous militias that face no clear threat.

Graphic: China's 2020 rare earth imports by country - https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/ce/ygdvzeqrrpw/myanmar.png

Television images of attacks on Chinese businesses by protesters in Myanmar who believe Beijing backed the coup have done little to ease concerns, however.

While China's rare earth imports held firm in January and February, a March 21 report in the state-backed Global Times newspaper said material could not be shipped, but did not delve into the problem further.

The Myanmar volumes go to state-run producers, mainly in southern Jiangxi province and its rare earth hub of Ganzhou, to be separated and processed so they can be used by magnet makers.

Jiangxi-based China Minmetals Rare Earth Co and China Southern Rare Earth Group Co declined to comment when asked about supply disruption, while Chinalco Rare Earth & Metals Co did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

INSPECTORS IN TOWN

Castilloux believes a new round of environmental inspections in Ganzhou, where authorities held a videoconference last week to schedule the Beijing-mandated audits, could play a bigger role in tightening supply, as they cause small plants to halt output.

Rare earth mining and smelting has a chequered environmental record in China, producing toxic waste that requires careful disposal. In 2012, China said it needed to spend 38 billion yuan ($5.8 billion) to repair the environmental damage in Ganzhou.

Graphic: China's half-year rare earth output quotas in tonnes - https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/ce/rlgpdexmbvo/quotas.JPG

Downstream, a source at a Chinese maker of auto parts based in eastern Zhejiang province told Reuters this week a shortage of rare earths supply was hitting the company's deliveries to multinational clients, though it does not rely on imports and attributed the squeeze to tighter domestic controls.

Chinese makers of electric vehicle batteries Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL) and BYD Co Ltd said they were not aware of any impact on production from tighter supply, when asked about Myanmar disruption.

There is no significant shortage of feedstock from Myanmar now, but any stoppage would be "pretty catastrophic" for China, said David Merriman, a manager at consultancy Roskill.

In that case, the restart of mines in southern China closed for environmental reasons would be the only short-term feasible option to fill the gap, despite dealing a setback to Beijing's efforts to clean up the industry's image, he added.

($1=6.5452 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Tom Daly; Additional reporting by Zoey Zhang, Min Zhang and Yilei Sun; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)