RENTIER CAPITALI$M
Corporate landlords are snatching up mobile home parks and jacking up the rent — here’s why such cheap properties are so appealing to wealthy investors

Vishesh Raisinghani
Mon, January 9, 2023

WHEN THEY GET DESTROYED BY TORNADOES

THE RENTIERS COLLECT ON INSURANCE

Corporate landlords are snatching up mobile home parks and jacking up the rent — 

The hunt for yield has pushed private equity firms and professional investors into new segments of the real estate market.

In recent years, sophisticated investors have snapped up multi-family units and single-family homes. Now, corporate landlords are targeting the most cost-effective segment of the real estate market: mobile home parks.

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The most affordable U.S. housing option

Manufactured homes or mobile homes are considered the most affordable non-subsidized housing option in America. That’s because the owners own only the prefabricated unit and not the land under the home. The land is usually leased from the landlord of a trailer park.

The average monthly rent for a mobile home in 2021 was $593. That’s significantly lower than the average one-bedroom condo rental rate of $1,450. The mobile park rental also often includes utilities and insurance.

Rents typically rise 4% to 6% annually, and renters have the flexibility to move their housing unit to another park. These factors make the manufactured home highly attractive to low-income households.

As of 2020, nearly 22 million Americans lived in mobile homes. That’s 6.7% of the total population, or about one in 15 people across the country.

However, the economic inefficiencies that make these manufactured homes affordable also make them attractive to professional investors.

Investing in mobile home parks

Factors such as below-market rents and disrepair make mobile home parks attractive for investors seeking to add value. The typical mobile home park lot costs $10,000, which means 80 lots would be worth $800,000 on average.

Put simply, the entry price for these parks is much lower than multi-family apartments and condo buildings across the country.

Professional investors can also raise rents significantly to improve the valuation of the property. Attracting tenants with higher incomes or improving the park’s amenities and infrastructure are other value-add strategies that make this asset class appealing.

The fact that moving a typical mobile home costs between $3,000 to $10,000 also means that most tenants are unable to afford the move. This gives landlords immense pricing power.

Meanwhile, the yield is much higher. The capitalization rate (the ratio of net operating income to market price) could be as high as 9%, according to real estate partners Dave Reynolds and Frank Rolfe, who together are the fifth-largest owner of mobile home parks in the U.S.

The largest mobile park landlord is real estate veteran Sam Zell. Zell’s Equity LifeStyle Properties (ELS) owns 165,000 units across the country, and the asset is a key element of his $5.2 billion fortune.

In recent years, larger investors such as Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC and private equity firms such as The Carlyle Group, Brookfield, Blackstone and Apollo have also added exposure to this asset class.

Even Warren Buffett is involved. His firm’s subsidiary, Clayton Homes, is the largest manufacturer of mobile homes in the U.S., and also operates two of the biggest mobile home lenders, 21st Mortgage Corp. and Vanderbilt Mortgage.

You can invest, too

Retail investors looking for exposure to mobile home parks have plenty of options.

Acquiring a park is, perhaps, the most straightforward way to access this asset class. However, publicly listed stocks and real estate investment trusts offer exposure, too.

Sam Zell’s Equity LifeStyle Properties is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker ELS. Sun Communities Inc. (SUI) owns 146,000 units across the U.S. and some in Canada, while Legacy Housing Corp. (LEGH) builds, sells and finances manufactured homes.

Plus, mobile homes aren't the only accessible option for someone eager to get into commercial real estate.

With the help of new platforms, retail investors — not just the ultra rich — can buy shares of institutional-quality properties.

Prime commercial real estate has outperformed the S&P 500 over a 25-year period. Now, with a single investment, investors can own properties leased by brands like CVS, Kroger and Walmart — and collect stable grocery store-anchored income on a quarterly basis.

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VULTURE CAPITALI$M

Sri Lanka’s Lenders Should Cancel Debt, Academics Say in Letter

Chris Dolmetsch
Sun, January 8, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka’s bondholders aren’t living up to their obligations and should cancel debt to allow the country to get out of its economic crisis, a group of international academics said in a letter.

Private creditors own almost 40% of the country’s external debt, mostly in the form of International Sovereign Bonds, but higher interest rates mean they receive more than half of debt payments, the group said in the letter, which was signed by more than 180 professors from around the world.

“Such lenders charged a premium to lend to Sri Lanka to cover their risks, which accrued them massive profits and contributed to Sri Lanka’s first ever default in April 2022,” said the group, which includes University of Massachusetts professor Jayati Ghosh as well as Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics. “Lenders who benefited from higher returns because of the ‘risk premium’ must be willing to take the consequences of that risk.”

The island nation fell into default in May, the first sovereign debt default by the country since it gained independence from Britain in 1948. The government last month held a third round of talks with creditors as it seeks a deal that’s key to unlocking a $2.9 billion International Monetary Fund bailout and other financing to bolster reserves that have been languishing below $2 billion.

The nation’s commercial creditors favor recasting both foreign- and local-currency liabilities to achieve debt sustainability and foster economic growth. The talks are at a crucial stage, the academics said, and all lenders “should share in the burden of restructuring” with the assurance of additional near-term financing.

“Sri Lanka on its own cannot ensure this; it requires much greater international support,” the group said. “Instead of geopolitical manoeuvring, all of Sri Lanka’s creditors must ensure debt cancellation sufficient to provide a way out of the current crisis.”

Could floating solar farms survive out at sea?


Emma Woollacott -

Technology of Business reporter

BBC
Mon, January 9, 2023 

Getting electricity to all of Indonesia's islands is challenging

Indonesia is a nation of more than 10,000 islands, so supplying the whole country with electricity is a huge challenge.

More than a million people are not connected to the electricity grid at all.

"Those people who don't have electricity are living on remote islands, so in this situation it's hard to connect a cable to them and it's hard to install other expensive solutions such as wind turbines," says Luofeng Huang, a lecturer in mechanical engineering at Cranfield University.

Solar power is one option to provide those islands with energy. It has become much cheaper in recent decades - the International Energy Agency (IEA) says that it is becoming the cheapest option for new electricity power plants.

But solar farms take up lots of space - space that might be better used for housing, farming and business.

So scientists and engineers are working on ways to install solar panels on the ocean surface, providing power to those living onshore nearby.

"Floating solar is very convenient because it can just be put on top of the water, and if you need more electricity you can put on more solar panels," says Mr Huang.

Floating solar is already in use at a number of sites around the world, but on lakes, rather than the sea.

SolarDuck puts solar panels on a raised platform to protect them

The reason is obvious: waves can easily swamp and damage solar panels.

But research and testing is under way to find ways of keeping solar panels intact and working in rough water.

Dutch-Norwegian company SolarDuck, for example, is working with German energy company RWE to build a floating solar plant at a North Sea wind farm.

The company says it will be the biggest offshore floating solar plant in the world, with the capacity to power a few hundred homes.

The solar panels will sit on platforms raised several metres above the ocean surface. The plant, due to be operational in 2026, will use the existing cabling for the wind farm to send electricity back to the shore.

Ocean Sun solar panels sit on a flexible floating pad

Meanwhile, Ocean Sun has developed a floating rig, where the solar panels rest on a base which flexes as the waves pass underneath.

"It has the effect that it dampens the waves, and it prevents the breaking of the waves," says founder and chief executive Borge Bjorneklett.

He says that, as the panels are lying completely flat, the forces acting on them are diminished. Being close to the seawater also cools down the cells, which improves their performance.

Both Ocean Sun and SolarDuck are looking at siting solar farms alongside wind turbines, which will smooth the flow of electricity when the wind is not blowing.

Mr Huang argues that both of these approaches have weaknesses. By lifting the panels above the surface of the sea, SolarDuck's system could be a more expensive solution.

"If you lift it, you need some very strong support, so it's just going to cost too much money," he says.

When offered a chance to respond to that, SolarDuck did not reply.

As for the Ocean Sun system, Mr Huang is not convinced that the approach will sufficiently protect the panels from wave damage.

Mr Bjorneklett concedes that his company's system may not be appropriate for the North Sea with its 30ft (9m) waves. But he says the system has survived category four typhoons during a test in a reservoir.

"We believe near-shore locations, with more benign sea states, are more attractive," he says.

Solar2Wave system

Mr Huang's team at Cranfield University is working on an alternative offshore solar plant, which he says will be robust and cheap.

With academic and commercial partners in Indonesia, they hope to have a demonstration system in the Indian Ocean in 12 months time.

Called Solar2Wave, it will have a floating breakwater upstream of the solar panels which, Mr Huang says, has the effect of reducing wave height by about 90%.

The reduced waves then travel through a buffer zone - a small enclosed area of water - which further reduces the wave power before it hits the solar panels themselves.

The key will be to keep the breakwater cheap: "Any damage will be in the breakwater part, which is cheap and very easy to replace and maintain," Mr Huang says.

Luofeng Huang says that engineers are competing to make an offshore solar system work

While the installation and maintenance costs of any ocean solar farm will be high, such farms will, in many cases, be the only way to supply renewable energy in some densely populated parts of the world.

"For instance, in Singapore the cost of land is very high and they have already utilised most of their rooftop surface area," says Mr Bjorneklett.

"If they can utilise the ocean surface outside Singapore, it is actually the only way to provide affordable renewable energy, and there is a similar situation in other large parts of South East Asia as well."

Solar farms could even be sited far out at sea where they could serve as refuelling points for electric ships.

There's definitely a lot of potential," says Cranfield's Luofeng Huang. "Everyone wants to solve this, so we are working quite hard and it's like a competition to see who can bring the first successful design."

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ITS WHAT WORKERS & UNIONS WANT
Ottawa must scrap polarizing term 'just transition': Alberta environment minister

NOTHING POLARIZING ABOUT IT

CALL THE ELECTION

Sun, January 8, 2023 

Alberta Environment Minister Sonya Savage, left, has criticized Ottawa's 'just transition' legislation, calling it 'extremely harmful.' Federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, right, wants to 'dial down the political rhetoric.' (Todd Korol and Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press - image credit)

Alberta's environment minister says Ottawa must stop using the term "just transition" because she believes it is shorthand for phasing out Canada's oil and gas industry.

"The problem with the just transition, it's a polarizing term," Sonya Savage said. "And they've been using it."

Savage told CBC's Rosemary Barton Live on Sunday that the Alberta government and Ottawa agree on many things, including reducing emissions from the oil and gas sector. But she said while the federal Liberals have "walked away" from using the "divisive term," it's still being used on Natural Resources Canada's website.

"Just transition" is a concept that emerged from the 2015 Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change. The goal is to reduce the harm to workers caused by economies moving from high-carbon activities into the green economy.

Some, including Alberta's environment minister, believe it also signals the sunset of the oil and gas sector.

"It means phasing out fossil fuels immediately, keeping it in the ground," Savage said. "Even more than that, it means restructuring societies and economies and redistributing wealth."

For Alberta, she said, "it's a non-starter."

Responding to the Alberta government's latest comments, federal Natural Resources Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said the federal government has no intention of shutting down the province's oil and gas industry.

The Liberals promised during the 2019 election campaign to "move forward with just transition legislation." Wilkinson said he now prefers other language. But his department's website hasn't reflected the change.

"The term I prefer to talk about is sustainable jobs," he told CBC News. "This is about creating a future that will create good, well-paying jobs and economic prosperity in every region of this country."

Wilkinson and others believe the world is undergoing a massive wave of industrialization as it seeks to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to keep global warming to 1.5 C compared with pre-industrial levels. The minister worries there will be too many jobs and not enough workers.

"I said it many times publicly that I do not believe that the challenge we are going to face is that there are workers who are displaced that will not find other good-paying jobs," Wilkinson said in a previous interview with CBC News.

"I am actually quite worried that there are so many opportunities ... we will not have enough workers to fill the jobs."

The minister downplayed any disagreement between Ottawa and the Alberta government. He said he didn't want to "besmirch" his Alberta counterpart, saying he has had productive conversations with his peers in the Prairies.

When Alberta talks about the economic opportunities for the future, Wilkinson, said, it often talks about developing biofuels, hydrogen, small modular reactors, carbon capture, utilization and storage of critical mineral extraction, and processing. He said those are the same areas of development that the federal government has been discussing.

At the same time, he said, the federal government's relationship with Alberta hasn't "always been peachy and rosy."

Screenshot/Natural Resources Canada

In reality, there's a lot everyone agrees on, he said, adding that there's no disagreement with the science of climate change.

"I honestly think it would behoove us all to dial down the political rhetoric," Wilkinson said. "Let's figure out how we actually move forward on all of these areas where I don't think there's much in the way of disagreement."

HIDING OUT AT MAR A LARGO?

Bolsonaro Hospitalized in US After Brasilia Riots, O Globo Says

Daniel Carvalho
Mon, January 9, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Brazil’s ex-President Jair Bolsonaro has been admitted to a US hospital with abdominal pain a day after his supporters stormed Brasilia demanding military intervention against his loss in the October election, according to his wife.

The conservative leader, who traveled to the US on Dec. 30 to skip the inauguration of his successor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is being treated at the AdventHealth Celebration, a hospital near Orlando, O Globo newspaper reported earlier, without revealing how it obtained the information.

Bolsonaro’s wife confirmed he’s hospitalized though she didn’t say where. A former aide to Bolsonaro, who requested anonymity to discuss his heath, said he was being treated for possible intestinal obstruction. The ex-president has undergone several surgeries after being stabbed in the abdomen while campaigning in 2018.

The former president on Monday evening posted a photograph of himself on his Twitter page showing him in a hospital bed, adding that he’s in Orlando. “Thanks for the prayers and messages of speedy recovery,” he said.

Emails and calls to the US hospital went unanswered.

While Lula has alleged that Bolsonaro had been encouraging the riots in Brasilia, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday the Biden administration hasn’t received any requests from Brazil to extradite the former president.

Bolsonaro published on social media on Sunday, speaking out against the depredation of public buildings carried out by his supporters in Brasilia, and again on Monday, touting his government’s achievements.

--With assistance from Felipe Marques.


Bolsonaro hides in Florida while violent supporters do his dirty work in Brazil | Opinion

the Miami Herald Editorial Board
Mon, January 9, 2023 

Marcelo Chello/AP Photo

As former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro retreated to a luxury gated community in Florida — where he has been seen doing mundane things like grocery shopping — his marauding supporters Sunday defaced Brazil’s Congress, presidential office building and Supreme Court.

It’s impossible not to see the irony of another far-right leader who, for years, incited his base with unfounded allegations of voter fraud. He takes off, leaving the dirty work to be done by his army of blind loyalists. He then lands in the Sunshine State, home of Donald Trump, who incited the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol invasion with similar conspiracy theories, and the hotbed of America’s extreme right-wing politics at the hands of Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republicans.

There aren’t two sides to what happened in Brazil’s capital of Brasilia on Sunday — or at the U.S. Capitol in 2021. These weren’t mere expressions of an opinion or dissatisfaction with government. As Brazil’s justice minister rightly described it, these were acts of terrorism and coup mongering.

And it’s not surprising. Ever since Bolsonaro lost an October election to Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva, there’s been the threat and fear of violence. Days before Lula’s inauguration last week, a bomb was discovered on a fuel truck near Brasilia’s airport.

The brand of conservative politics disseminated by Bolsonaro, and Trump, cannot be dissociated from violence. They are steeped in the belief that “progress” should be achieved at all costs, even if it means dismantling the democracy that allowed them to be elected in the first place. Little differentiates them from fascist movements of the 20th century.

It’s no wonder that a political movement that preaches complete annihilation of opponents, that feeds on misinformation and hatred toward minorities culminates in an attack on democratic institutions. It’s disturbing — though expected — that Bolsonaro supporters in Miami greeted as a hero a Brazilian congresswoman and Bolsonaro ally who followed, while pointing a gun, a Black man in Sao Paulo after an argument the day before the elections in October. They act much like Trump rally attendees who cheered when the former president said he would like to punch a protester in the face.

Brazil’s rabid mob acted just days after the two-year anniversary of Jan. 6. In both cases, the intent was to reverse the results of a fair election. One sought to stop Congress’ certification of Electoral College results giving Joe Biden the win. The other demands a military intervention like the 1964 coup that sent Brazil into 20 years of an authoritarian regime that tortured and killed dissidents.

The main difference is that the Brazilian Congress wasn’t in session on Sunday. Unlike Biden on Jan. 6, 2021, Lula had already been sworn in as president. So it’s unlikely that the storming of the buildings in Brasilia could have achieved more than sowing fear and chaos in Latin America’s largest democracy. However, Bolsonaro’s radicals have been convinced by fake news and ludicrous theories circulated on chat apps like WhatsApp that the Brazilian army is just waiting for a signal to interfere.

Rioters broke windows, toppled furniture, punctured a painting by a renowned Brazilian artist, ripped the door off a supreme court justice’s office and more. Not even a watch brought by the Portuguese king to Brazil in 1808 was spared. So far, more than 400 people have been arrested, according to CNN Brazil. Another 1,200 who had been camping outside military headquarters in Brasilia have been detained.

No one expected Bolsonaro to act like a statesman while all this happened. He could be facing criminal charges in Brazil related to his doings as president.

He tweeted Sunday that the depredation and invasion of public buildings are “outside the rules.” He then proceeded to play the victim, writing — while police were clearing out his supporters from inside those same buildings — that he rejects “baseless” accusations by Lula. The next day, as his country still tried to make sense of the violence performed in his name, he made several posts listing what he described as 37 accomplishments of his presidential term.

Trumpism and Bolsonarism aren’t defined by self-reflection and love for country. Their main trait is self delusion. There are no facts, no arguing, no pleading that will stop these men — and their zombie-like followers — from inflicting harm on these democracies.

Bolsonaro’s stay in Florida — where Trump only grew in popularity after his first term — is a shameful reminder that too many people are drinking their poisoned Kool-Aid.

Bolsonaro’s Florida Stay Morphs Into Biden Quandary After Riot

Courtney McBride, Eric Martin and Jennifer Jacobs
Mon, January 9, 2023 



(Bloomberg) -- Jair Bolsonaro’s presence in the US has turned into a diplomatic quandary for President Joe Biden after supporters of the former Brazilian leader stormed government buildings over the weekend.

What initially appeared to be a target for humor — Bolsonaro was photographed eating at a KFC and strolling through a Publix supermarket in Florida after he arrived in the US in Dec. 30 — became far more serious after thousands of his supporters invaded Brazil’s congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace on Sunday. Bolsonaro’s successor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, accused him of encouraging the riots.

The violence bore echoes of the Jan. 6 insurrection in the US, and the Biden administration, which has aligned itself with Lula’s government, is weighing what to do next with Bolsonaro, who was an ally of former President Donald Trump and shared his hard-right populism.

Biden appears to have the power to revoke Bolsonaro’s visa and kick him out of the country, and is already coming under pressure from progressives to do so.

The former president is now hospitalized near Orlando, Florida, with abdominal pains, according to his wife. He’s had several operations since he was stabbed in the abdomen while campaigning in 2018.

He could wage a lengthy legal battle over his status. And then there’s the question of whether Lula and his supporters actually want him back in their country.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday that the US hadn’t received an extradition request from Brazil. Behind the silence from Brasilia, administration officials are considering whether they can do anything to spur Bolsonaro to leave the US, according to people familiar with the conversations.

The White House said on Monday evening that Biden and Lula had spoken by telephone, and the American president “conveyed the unwavering support of the United States for Brazil’s democracy.” Biden also invited Lula to visit Washington early next month. The invitation was accepted, according to the statement, which did not mention Bolsonaro by name.

One challenge for US officials seeking to hasten Bolsonaro’s departure is figuring out how he got into the US. There is uncertainty within the administration about what visa he obtained, the people familiar with the matter said. He may have used his diplomatic passport, or he could have used a personal passport and be visiting Florida on a tourist visa.

The discussions of the options are at an early stage, and have included asking him to depart or exploring grounds to cancel his visa, the people said. They asked not to be identified because no decisions have been made.

Trump Connection

Bolsonaro’s fate isn’t just about Brazil. There are heavy political overtones for the US, too. Bolsonaro and Trump are political allies who pursued nationalist agendas and endorsed each other’s re-election bids. Both also fanned suspicions about their country’s election systems and refused to concede after their defeats. Bolsonaro arrived in the US on Dec. 30 while he was still president, skipping Lula’s inauguration.

Steve Bannon, the former Trump strategist who championed false claims of a rigged 2020 US presidential election, used his War Room podcast and posts on the social-media site Gettr to push the idea that the Brazilian election was stolen and to support the rioters.

After Lula defeated Bolsonaro, Bannon posted on Gettr on Oct. 30 that “this Election Was Stolen in Broad Daylight.” Bannon called the rioters “Brazilian Freedom Fighters” on Gettr and said, “Lula stole the Election, Brazilians know that.”

The comments were in keeping with Bannon’s past support for Bolsonaro and his family. After Trump lost his re-election bid, Bannon advised Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo and suggested Bolsonaro’s Brazil was an embodiment of the style of right-wing nationalism Trump had sought to impose in the US.

“In many ways, Brazil’s movement is actually far more advanced than we are in the United States,” Bannon told Bloomberg News at the time.

Some Democratic lawmakers have urged Biden to extradite Bolsonaro, adding to pressure on the administration. Representatives Joaquin Castro of Texas and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York condemned the actions of Bolsonaro’s supporters as domestic terrorism.

“The US must cease granting refuge to Bolsonaro in Florida,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a tweet. “Nearly two years to the day the US Capitol was attacked by fascists, we see fascist movements abroad attempt to do the same in Brazil.”

Bolsonaro’s Condemnation

Bolsonaro condemned the destruction of public property by some of his supporters, taking to Twitter over the weekend to say “depredations and invasions of public buildings like we saw today, like the acts done by the left in 2013 and 2017, are not within the rules.”

But that hasn’t stopped some officials from demanding that he return.

A Brazilian senator asked top court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Monday to order Bolsonaro’s immediate return to the country. Senator Renan Calheiros said Bolsonaro needs to explain his alleged encouraging of the rioters who stormed Brasilia. He asked the court to issue an arrest order if the former president refuses to cooperate with the investigation.

Moraes, who presides over an investigation of alleged acts against Brazil’s democracy, has already issued several arrest warrants for Bolsonaro’s supporters.

US administrations have moved quickly in the past to respond to extradition requests when they come. In 2018, the US extradited former Panama President Ricardo Martinelli, who was later acquitted on espionage and embezzlement charges.

“We have not as of yet received any official request from the Brazilian government related to this issue,” Sullivan said. “If and when we do we’ll deal with it, and if and when we have any information to provide, we will do it.”

Bolsonaro doesn’t yet face criminal charges in Brazil, meaning the Lula government has no basis for an extradition request. That could change as its investigation into the riots proceeds.

While declining to discuss Bolsonaro individually, State Department spokesman Ned Price said that people who travel to the US on what’s known as an A visa, which is reserved for government officials and diplomats, have 30 days to change their immigration status if they leave their job while in the US.

“It would be incumbent on the visa holder to take that action,” Price said. “If an individual has no basis on which to be in the United States, that individual is subject to removal by the Department of Homeland Security.”

Asked if the US was waiting for Lula’s government to reach out, Sullivan said “I don’t want you to take that as the implication.”

“The United States takes action on visas all the time, for all kinds of reasons,” Sullivan said. “On this particular case, this particular individual, again, I have to proceed with extreme caution in terms of how I talk about it because of the legal issues and precedent issues involved.”

--With assistance from Josh Wingrove.

Bolsonaro backers ransack Brazil presidential palace, Congress, Supreme Court

Sun, January 8, 2023 
By Adriano Machado

BRASILIA (Reuters) -Supporters of Brazil's far-right former President Jair Bolsonaro invaded and defaced the country's Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court on Sunday, in a grim echo of the U.S. Capitol invasion two years ago by fans of former President Donald Trump.

There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries from their rampage, but the invaders left a trail of destruction, throwing furniture through the smashed windows of the presidential palace, flooding parts of Congress with a sprinkler system and ransacking ceremonial rooms in the Supreme Court.

The sight of thousands of yellow-and-green clad protesters running riot in the capital capped months of tension following the Oct. 30 presidential vote.

The uprising, which lasted a little over three hours, underlined the severe polarization that still grips the country days after the inauguration of leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who defeated Bolsonaro in the October election.

"These vandals, who we could call ... fanatical fascists, did what has never been done in the history of this country," said Lula in a press conference during an official trip to Sao Paulo state. "All these people who did this will be found and they will be punished."

Lula, who announced a federal security intervention in Brasilia lasting until Jan. 31 after capital security forces were initially overwhelmed by the invaders, blamed Bolsonaro for inflaming his supporters after a campaign of baseless allegations about potential election fraud.

The president's allies also raised questions about how public security forces in the capital Brasilia were so unprepared and easily overwhelmed by rioters who had been planning on social media for days to gather for weekend demonstrations.

LEGAL RISK

Bolsonaro, an acolyte of Trump's who has yet to concede defeat, peddled the false claim that Brazil's electronic voting system was prone to fraud, spawning a violent movement of election deniers.

"This genocidist ... is encouraging this via social media from Miami," Lula said, referring to Bolsonaro, who flew to Florida 48 hours before the end of his term and was absent from Lula's inauguration. "Everybody knows there are various speeches of the ex-president encouraging this."

Bolsonaro, whose presidency was marked by divisive nationalist populism, was silent for nearly six hours about the chaos in Brasilia before posting on Twitter that he "repudiates" Lula's accusations against him.

The former president, who has rarely spoken in public since losing the election, also said peaceful demonstrations are part of democracy but invading and damaging public buildings "crosses the line."

The violence in Brasilia could amplify the legal risks Bolsonaro faces. It also presents a headache for U.S authorities as they debate how to handle his stay in Florida. Prominent Democratic lawmakers said the United States could no longer grant Bolsonaro "refuge" in the country.

The Bolsonaro family lawyer, Frederick Wassef, did not respond to a request for comment.

By 6:30 p.m. local time (2130 GMT) security forces had managed to retake the capital's most iconic three buildings.

Brasilia Governor Ibaneis Rocha, a longtime Bolsonaro ally facing tough questions after Sunday's security lapses, said on Twitter more than 400 people had been arrested and authorities were working to identify more.

The invasions were condemned by leaders around the world.

U.S. President Joe Biden called the events an "assault on democracy and on the peaceful transfer of power," adding that Brazil's democratic institutions had full U.S. support.

Far from the capital, Brazilian industries were on alert for a fresh round of unrest from Bolsonaro supporters, whose post-election highway blockades have disrupted grains shipments and meatpacking operations in recent months.

State-run oil company Petrobras stepped up security at its refineries, in a cautionary measure after attack threats against assets including Brazil's biggest fuel plant.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, as the company is formally known, said in a statement that all its assets and refineries are operating normally.

Analysts warned the unrest could trigger more volatility in Brazil's financial markets, which have swung sharply in recent weeks on doubts about how Lula will reconcile big spending promises with stretched public finances.

JUDGES DENOUNCE "TERRORISTS"

The Supreme Court, whose crusading Justice Alexandre de Moraes has been a thorn in the side of Bolsonaro and his supporters, was ransacked by the invaders, according to images from social media which showed protesters clubbing security cameras and shattering the windows of the modernist building.

Both Moraes and the court's Chief Justice Rosa Weber vowed punishment for the "terrorists" who had attacked the country's democratic institutions. The heads of both houses of Congress denounced the attacks publicly and moved up plans to fly back to the capital, according to people familiar with the matter.

Rocha, the Brasilia governor, said he had fired his top security official, Anderson Torres, previously Bolsonaro's justice minister. The solicitor general's office said it had filed a request for the arrest of Torres.

Torres told website UOL he was with his family on holiday in the United States and had not met with Bolsonaro. UOL reported he was in Orlando, where Bolsonaro is now staying.

On Saturday, with rumors of a confrontation brewing in Brasilia, Justice Minister Flávio Dino authorized the deployment of the National Public Security Force. On Sunday, he wrote on Twitter, "this absurd attempt to impose the will by force will not prevail."

In Washington in 2021, Trump supporters attacked police, broke through barricades and stormed the Capitol in a failed effort to prevent congressional certification of Joe Biden's 2020 election victory.

Trump, who has announced a third bid for the presidency, in 2024, had pressured his vice president, Mike Pence, not to certify the vote, and he continues to claim falsely that the 2020 election was stolen from him through widespread fraud.

(Reporting by Adriano Machado, Anthony Boadle, Lisandra Paraguassu, Ricardo Brito, Peter Frontini, Gabriel Araujo; Writing by Gabriel Stargardter; Editing by Brad Haynes, Daniel Wallis, Lincoln Feast and Michael Perry)

DESPITE THE NAY SAYERS
Renewable Energy Had A Banner Year In 2022


Editor OilPrice.com
Sun, January 8, 2023

Despite experts saying that the world’s renewable energy capacity is not growing fast enough to support government pledges for a green transition by 2050, several clean energy production records were broken in 2022. A huge amount of wind and solar power came online around the globe last year, and several advances were made across a variety of different renewable energy sources. Energy firms across North America, Europe, and Asia established plans to develop major green hydrogen facilities, hydropower plants, and new tidal and wave operations; as well as to boost the connectivity across different regions to fulfill energy-sharing objectives. While there is still a long way to go if governments want to realize their pledges to reduce global emissions, greater investment in renewable energy over the last year from public and private players is likely to help accelerate the green transition over the coming decades.

Wind power continues to be one of the fastest-growing renewable energy sectors. In the U.K., the National Grid ESO stated that a record level of wind energy was produced in the last week of 2022, with 20.918GW of electricity produced in the half-hour period between 6:00 pm and 6.30 pm on 30 December 2022. This means that wind energy contributed 61.4 percent of the U.K.’s energy supply that day. The previous record was set with an output of 20.896GW on 2nd November 2022.

The CEO of trade body RenewableUK, Dan McGrail, stated of the achievement: “The fact that the UK's onshore and offshore wind farms keep setting new electricity generation records shows just how important this technology has become in our modern energy system.” He added, “Wind is now the UK's cheapest source of new power, so every unit of electricity we generate from it helps consumers by reducing ultra-expensive gas imports.”

The U.K. has some of the best conditions in Europe for wind power generation, with 74 terawatt hours (TWh) of wind energy generation achieved by late December 2022, producing enough energy to power 19 million homes. In August last year, the U.K. reached 25.5 GW of wind power capacity, an increase of 10.5 GW from 2017. This comes from both onshore and offshore wind farms. And the new 1.1-gigawatt Seagreen project from SSE Plc and TotalEnergies SE is expected to come online next summer. Overall, the U.K.’s pipeline for wind projects, both in operation and development, totals 129 GW, of which 93.3 GW are offshore.

In Germany, a new renewable energy production record was set last year, with the country producing 256 TWh of electricity from renewable sources in 2022. Better weather conditions allowed the output of solar power to increase by 23 percent compared to 2021. Renewables contributed to 46 percent of Germany’s power consumption in 2022, an increase from 41 percent the previous year. However, experts suggest that Germany must bring significantly more renewable energy projects online to meet its climate aims. To achieve its target of 600 TWh of renewable energy capacity by 2030 – equating to 80 percent of its power consumption – the 2022 green energy output should have totaled around 270 TWh.

In 2022, China was on track to break both fossil fuel and renewable energy production records, with significant government investments in the development of its green energy sector. Solar power for electricity generation increased by 30 percent between January and October, compared to the same period in 2021. And the contribution of wind power for electricity increased by 25 percent. And China continues to be the largest renewable energy producer in the world.

Overall, the global electricity demand increased by 3 percent in the first half of 2022, compared to the previous year. Renewable energy operations were able to meet the entirety of this demand rise, with wind and solar providing 77 percent and hydrogen the rest. In China, the rise in wind and solar generation provided 92 percent of its electricity demand rise; in the U.S. it met 81 percent, and in India, it was 23 percent.

As well as putting many countries on track to meet renewable energy and climate pledges in the coming decades, the increase in the global green energy capacity has had a more immediate effect in Europe. As Europe faced gas shortages and sharply rising energy prices, several countries turned to renewable energy to meet demand. Between May and August last year, the EU generated 12 percent of its electricity from solar power sources, an increase of 9 percent from 2021. This is equivalent to €29 billion in gas imports saved thanks to solar power projects. Meanwhile, wind contributed around 12 percent of Europe’s generated power while hydro provided 11 percent.

While there is still a long way to go to achieve the ambitious Paris Agreement and COP27 climate pledges through the development of the world’s renewable energy capacity, several noteworthy achievements were made in 2022. Both Europe and Asia saw huge advances in their green energy development, with almost 33 percent of the world’s electricity expected to come from renewables by 2024 compared to 29 percent in 2020.

By Felicity Bradstock for Oilprice.com

GEOTHERMAL

Why Fracking May Start To Embrace A New Form Of Energy


Editor OilPrice.com
Mon, January 9, 2023

With the global transition to clean energy in full swing, traditional renewable energy sources such as solar and wind have, unsurprisingly, been hogging the limelight. Unfortunately, one powerful renewable energy source has been conspicuously missing in the conversation: Geothermal energy. Despite its many obvious benefits, geothermal energy--which taps the heat within the earth’s crust--is criminally underutilized in the United States. In 2019, the U.S. generated ~18,300 GWh from geothermal sources. While that appears impressive at first glance, here’s the kicker: that figure works out to just 0.4% of U.S. power generation.

Geothermal energy has two primary applications: electricity generation and heating/cooling.

Geothermal energy can be found almost anywhere: other than seismically active hotspots, there is a steady supply of milder heat--useful for direct heating purposes--at depths of anywhere from 10 to a few hundred feet below the surface. This heat can be found in virtually any location on Earth since it has its origins from when the planet formed and accreted, frictional heating caused by denser core material sinking to the center of the planet as well as heat from the decay of radioactive elements. Indeed, just 10,000 meters (about 33,000 feet) of the Earth's surface contains 50,000 times more energy than all the oil and natural gas resources in the world. Further, unlike solar and wind which are intermittent energy sources, geothermal is highly reliable with a high capacity factor of 74.3% vs. 24.9% for solar and 35.4% for wind.

Related: Europe’s Warm Winter May Not Be Such Good News For Energy

Another key benefit: geothermal is much cleaner than any fossil fuel out there. Whereas geothermal power plants are frequently associated with sulfur dioxide and silica emissions as well as traces of toxic heavy metals including arsenic, mercury, and boron, the emissions profile of geothermal energy is nowhere near as bad as those of fossil fuels. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says geothermal power plants emit about 99% less carbon dioxide and 97% less acid rain-causing sulfur compounds than fossil fuel power plants of similar size. Further, geothermal power plants are frequently equipped with scrubbers to remove the hydrogen sulfide naturally found in geothermal reservoirs. It’s, therefore, hardly surprising that a country like Iceland--which derives ~two-thirds of its primary energy from geothermal sources--has only one-third the greenhouse gas emission per capita as the United States.

But the same technology that powered the U.S. shale boom might help unlock the full potential of U.S. geothermal resources.
Source: Center for Sustainable Systems

Geothermal ‘Shale’ Boom

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, continental U.S. has over 100 GW of geothermal electric capacity or 40 times the current installed geothermal capacity, meaning geothermal has the potential to supply 10% of the country’s power needs.

Unfortunately, high drilling and production costs compared to other clean energy sources has impeded growth for the geothermal sector. Indeed, in 2021, the Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) for geothermal energy in the U.S. clocked in at $84.80/MWh, much higher than $36.60/MWh for utility-scale solar and $40.90/MWh for onshore wind projects.

LCOE calculates the present value of the total cost of building and operating a power plant over an assumed lifetime. Even more worrying is the fact that geothermal development costs have been expanding, increasing by 47% from 2010-2021 at a time when solar PV costs fell 82%; onshore wind development declined 35% while offshore wind costs decreased by 41%.

Enter “enhanced geothermal systems” (EGS) …

EGS promises to not only boost the energy output of wells over a smaller footprint but also increase the areas where geothermal energy can be exploited.

For the most part, geothermal has only made economic sense in countries such as Iceland, where heat and water can be found close to the surface of the Earth. However, much like shale drilling, EGS creates a subsurface fracture system that increases the permeability of rock and allows for the injection of a heat transfer fluid (typically water). The injected fluid is then heated by the rock and returned to the surface to generate electricity. In June, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a $165 million investment in geothermal energy research and deployment. The Enhanced Geothermal initiative by the DOE aims to lower the cost of EGS projects to $45 per MWh by 2035, thereby vastly increasing the competitiveness of geothermal power. Further, the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law included $84 million for research into EGS projects.

The private sector is also beginning to take tentative steps into geothermal energy, with a slew of geothermal energy startups raising millions of dollars in capital. Last month, Chevron Corp. (NYSE: CVX) partnered its clean energy subsidiary Chevron New Energies with Sweden’s Baseload Capital to develop geothermal projects in the United States. Two years ago, Chevron and BP Inc. (NYSE: BP) invested $40 million in Canadian geothermal energy company, Eavor Technologies. In the same year, Aloha State energy utility Hawaiian Electric unveiled a plan to increase its geothermal generation capacity as part of its goal to lower greenhouse gas emissions by 70% by 2030.

“It’s like solar: If you look at solar 20 years ago, nobody’s interested in solar because it costs too much. But as solar has grown, the cost has come down as it’s improved in scale. We’re kind of on the cusp of moving into the cost-effective range [for geothermal], just like we did with solar, over the next 20 years,” Roland Horne, a professor of earth sciences at Stanford University, has told Yahoo News.

But it’s not just about technology and lower costs, the global energy crisis has triggered a sense of urgency by governments everywhere to enhance their energy security.

“It’s unbelievable how geothermal has gone under the radar. Now, when you see the bills [in] electricity and the gas prices go up everywhere--at least, around us--it doesn’t affect us. This can be done all around the world. you don't need to be the most active volcanic island in the world to use geothermal” Iceland’s environment minister, Gudlaugur Thór Thórdarson, has told Yahoo News.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

Evergreen Marine Corp. hands out 

bonuses equal to 50 months salary

Mon, January 9, 2023 

Yahoo Finance Live anchors discuss reports that shipping firm Evergreen Marine Corp. handed out bonuses that equal up to 50 months of salary to employees.

Video Transcript

BRIAN SOZZI: Taiwan's Evergreen Marine Corp. making quite the impression on its employees as the shipping company reportedly hands out year-end bonuses equal to 50 months' salary or more than four years pay on average. Hat tip to this company just getting it done.

Of course, it's been a very challenging time during the pandemic for workers in this space. Good to see them doing this.

BRAD SMITH: I think this also speaks to the shift that we've seen in terms of some of the operations and in decreasing the reliance on China for some of either its production or shipping necessities, and that's across some of the products-based industries and leaning into other categories-- or other countries where they could see some type of, I don't know, better operational negotiation, perhaps, on the supply-chain front. And Taiwan one of those beneficiaries from that, at least in this interim period of time.

JULIE HYMAN: I mean, this is also just a reflection of how busy it's been in shipping, right, and that it's been-- I'm sure these employees have been working long hours, and they've been working really hard. You know, they also-- remember, this is the same company that had to get a ship loose from the Suez Canal.

- Yes.

- Ever Given, yeah.

JULIE HYMAN: So, you know, they deserve a bonus.

Elon Musk’s Twitter leadership is ‘a Nightmare on Elm Street — it doesn’t end’: Analyst

Twitter further cuts staff overseeing global content moderation -Bloomberg News

Sat, January 7, 2023 
(Reuters) -Twitter Inc made further staff cuts in the trust and safety team handling global content moderation and in the unit related to hate speech and harassment, Bloomberg news reported on Saturday.

At least a dozen more cuts on Friday night affected workers in the company's Dublin and Singapore offices, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

Those laid off at the social media platform owned by Elon Musk include Nur Azhar Bin Ayob, a relatively recent hire as head of site integrity for the Asia-Pacific region, and Analuisa Dominguez, Twitter's senior director of revenue policy, Bloomberg reported.

Workers on teams handling policy on misinformation, global appeals and state media on the platform were also eliminated, the report added.

Twitter's vice president of trust and safety, Ella Irwin, confirmed to Reuters that Twitter made some cuts in the trust and safety team on Friday night but did not give details. "We have thousands of people within Trust and Safety who work content moderation and have not made cuts to the teams that do that work daily," she said via email. Some of the cuts, she added, were in areas that lacked sufficient volume going forward or where it made sense to consolidate.

Twitter laid off roughly 3,700 employees in early November in a cost-cutting measure by Musk, and hundreds more subsequently resigned.

The company was also was hit with a lawsuit last month that claimed the social media company disproportionately targeted female employees in layoffs.

(Reporting by Shubhendu Deshmukh and Anirudh Saligrama in BengaluruEditing by Leslie Adler and Matthew Lewis)

Twitter employees laid off after Elon Musk’s takeover received severance payments today that fall short of expectations

Kylie Robison
Sat, January 7, 2023 

Following further delays this week, some former Twitter employees finally received their official severance agreements on Saturday after months of anticipation, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. However, the compensation is much less than what many expected, and the emails are landing in spam folders.

After Elon Musk assumed control of the social media giant in late October, about three-fourths of the company’s staff of 7,500 were let go in a series of cuts. Musk tweeted that those affected would receive "3 months of severance compensation." Previous Twitter leadership pledged to offer at least two months’ worth of severance pay as well as prorated performance bonuses, extended visa support, money for health care continuation, and the cash value of equity that would vest within three months, according to The Los Angeles Times.

However, as we previously reported, the agreements sent out today provide laid-off employees in the U.S. one month of base pay as severance. Those let go in November have been kept on the payroll and have been paid their regular salaries for the previous 60 days due to requirements of the federal WARN Act, which mandates companies give a 60-day notice before mass layoffs. Although those workers had been barred from the company's internal systems since November, they were formally let go on January 4 in accordance with the law.

What's more, employees will not be receiving their prorated performance bonuses, according to Twitter's severance material viewed by Fortune. Some employees received COBRA, which is money for health care continuation, a source said.

"I mean I expected him to f**k us (he did)," an impacted employee wrote to Fortune. "This is about 1/3 of what he contractually owes us based on his purchase agreement."

Although employees were given two months' pay during a "non-working" period to comply with the federal WARN Act, a lawyer for two class-action lawsuits against Twitter claimed that such money should not be included in the actual severance paid to employees, The Los Angeles Times reported.

Not all impacted employees received their agreements, multiple sources told Fortune. The agreements are being sent out by a third-party service provider called CPT Group, in lieu of in-house HR services. It's not yet clear why only some have received their agreements, but many have been finding the agreements in their spam folder, sources say.

Sources have pointed out some hiccups in the process, too. Those who received their agreements today were provided a unique login and directed to visit a domain, but that domain was set up roughly 5 hours before the severance agreements went out and doesn't have Twitter's name in it, causing many to believe it was a phishing attempt.

After logging in and viewing their severance agreement, former employees have the option to sign or opt out of the agreement, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The website has an accompanying FAQ page stating that impacted employees can anticipate payment within 45 days of their signed agreement. A downloadable "Additional FAQs" document confirms that employees will not be receiving performance bonus payments, which were set to be paid out in March, and that there will be "no negotiation of the agreement or the severance amount listed."

As many as 5,500 laid-off Twitter employees were set to receive the official severance agreements, Fortune previously reported.

Fortune reached out to Twitter outside normal business hours but did not receive an immediate reply.