The country's electric utilities have expressed overwhelming support for reducing carbon emissions. 80% of U.S. electricity customers are served by utilities aiming for 100% carbon reduction, according to the Smart Electric Power Alliance, and utility executives have touted their sustainability plans at the UN climate conference in Davos and beyond.So why is it so hard to get help switching to a climate-friendly heat pump?A wonder of modern engineering, heat pumps provide heating and cooling by moving warm or cool air into or out of the home, eliminating the need to generate heat. They have been shown to significantly reduce consumer…
Author: ricardofrancois
During my five years as a physician in the Los Angeles County corrections system, I personally saw hundreds of patients with hepatitis C who were untreated for this potentially fatal but curable disease. Although treatment for hepatitis C has gradually improved during my tenure, the system remains woefully incapable of making the kind of concerted efforts that could significantly reduce the toll of infection inside and outside prisons.Hepatitis C, a viral disease that affects the liver and is transmitted through blood, is very common in prisons. More than a third of the inmates tested tested positive. That suggests the number…
Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.UBS has promised to buy back up to $2 billion in shares, bringing the total European lenders have pledged to return to investors this year to more than $130 billion.The Swiss bank announced a new share buyback program on Tuesday, after suspending its previous plan a year ago after bailing out former rival Credit Suisse.UBS shares hit a 16-year high last week and have risen more than 60 percent since it agreed to take over Credit Suisse last March, but the bank…
The UBS logo in an office building in Krakow, Poland on February 22, 2024.Jakub Purzycki | norphoto | Getty ImagesUBS on Tuesday announced a new stock buyback program worth up to $2 billion, with up to $1 billion of that total expected to take place this year.“As previously announced, in 2024 we expect to repurchase up to US$1 billion of our shares, starting with the completion of the merger of UBS AG and Credit Suisse AG, which is expected to take place by the end of the second quarter,” the bank said. In the current situation.“Our ambition is for share…
In 2023, rising egg prices provide an opportunity for alternative protein companies to demonstrate their ability to compete with traditional egg manufacturers. A year on, prices have calmed, but the wave of activity in producing more sustainable egg products is still booming. One place seeing a flurry of activity is Onego Bio, a food biotech company based in Finland, which is using the Trichoderma reesei fungus and microfermentation to create an animal-free egg white alternative called Bioalbumen. Maija Itkonen, co-founder and CEO of Onego Bio (pronounced on-eh-go), will spin off the company with microfermentation expert Christopher Landowski of VTT (Technical…
Open Editor's Digest for freeRula Khalaf, editor of the Financial Times, picks her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.This article is an on-site version of our Unhedged newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent directly to your inbox every weekdayGood morning. Unhedged spent much of last week trying to understand two newly listed companies: Reddit and Trump Media & Technology Group. On Monday, both were sold off strongly. TMTG shares lost more than 20 percent after reporting 2023 revenue of $4 million, less than half of what the average Chick-fil-A franchise makes. Email us: robert.armstrong@ft.com and ethan.wu@ft.comThe previously…
When Paul Smith first started running a pub in Stirling, in central Scotland, in 1981, the standard in the hospitality industry was for wages to represent about 10 per cent of turnover. He now runs bars, clubs and other venues across the country in an industry where staff costs absorb about 36 to 38 percent of sales.“It has tripled in number during my time in hospitality,” says Smith, managing director of Castle Leisure Group. “There's no doubt that in the early 1980s, hospitality was rightly criticized as a low-wage sector. The industry has taken up that. You can no longer…
This article is part of the FT Globetrotter's guide to LondonImagine a system of driverless electric cars that transport packages and mail through specially designed tunnels across the city in a matter of minutes, oblivious to the busy streets above. En route, mechanisms at convenient stopping points move loads quickly to and from street level, integrating seamlessly with other transportation systems.Sounds like an ambitious dream for a modern tech mogul, right? Well, you might be surprised to learn that the UK Postal Service has such a system, completely separate from the commuter underground network, operating efficiently in London since 1927…
A federal judge rejected Hunter Biden's bid to dismiss several charges for tax-related crimes in an 82-page ruling released Monday, clearing the way for the president's son to face court proceedings during the contentious 2024 election cycle.U.S. District Judge Mark C. Scarsi, appointed by then-President Trump, appeared skeptical of allegations of egregious government misconduct and retaliatory prosecution made by Biden's legal team during a hearing in downtown Los Angeles last week. In his ruling Monday night, he rejected all eight of Biden's attempts to dismiss the case. Biden, 54, was indicted on nine tax-related crimes in December, including allegations that…
Shares of Chinese real estate developer Vanke fell 11 percent as trading resumed in Hong Kong, after the state-linked company revealed last week that its profits would halve in 2023.Partly owned by Shenzhen Metro, the southern city's rapid transit system, Vanke is the latest focal point in a nationwide real estate slowdown that has led to many of its peers defaulting on their debts.The cash crisis emerged with the failure of the China Evergrande project in 2021, and has since greatly affected construction and confidence in the housing market.Shares of Country Garden, which defaulted in October, were suspended from trading…