Colin Bennett's Public Library

Global carmakers are trying to define a future market for electric vehicles. To reach beyond affluent, environmentally conscious, or technically enamored buyers, these companies will need to develop products that satisfy the consumers’ main concern—good value for money. Given the current cost of energy storage, that is a considerable challenge.

A recent McKinsey study suggests that one way companies can achieve this goal would be to focus on tailoring battery-powered vehicles to the actual driving missions of specific consumers—that is, to the way they use their vehicles.

Construction will start next week on the £42 million Wave Hub marine energy project in South West England.

The Wave Hub, which will be located 10 miles off the north Cornwall coast, will serve as a test bed for wave energy devices by providing an electrical connection from the seabed at a depth of around 50 m to the national grid.

Initially, the Wave Hub will have four berths for wave energy devices up to a maximum capacity of 20 MW, but has the potential to scale up to 50 MW in the future.

Ocean Power Technologies has signed up to take the first berth when it becomes available to test the performance of its PowerBuoy wave energy converter.

The first devices are expected to be deployed in 2011, once the cabling and connectors have been constructed. Starting on Monday, civil engineers will drill ducts from Cornwall coast at Hayle to connect to the subsea cable and a new electricity substation on the site of a former nearby power station.

Chile's state copper think tank, Cochilco, on Wednesday raised its 2009 average copper price outlook to $2.30 per lb from $1.95, but slightly trimmed its 2009 copper output forecast to 5.38 million tonnes.

The think tank also raised its copper price forecast for 2010 to an average of $2.70 per lb from $2.10 per lb, citing dynamic Chinese demand and expectations of a recovery of developed economies from global crisis.