Mandate a switch for green construction products

Mandate a switch for green construction products

“The high cost of rare earths is having a significant chilling effect on wind turbine and electric motor production in spite of offsetting government subsidies for green tech products,” said one of the conference attendees, Michael N. Silver, chairman and chief executive of American Elements, a chemical company based in Los Angeles. It supplies rare earths and other high-tech materials to businesses. CNH's second quarter sales of construction equipment were down -2.8% on the same period last year, at US$ 1.0 billion. The division's operating profit fell -32% to US$ 17 million, for an operating margin of just 1.7%. CNH markets construction equipment under the Case, New Holland and Kobelco brands.
The company said it had seen flat market conditions in North America compared to the start of the year, while conditions were challenging in Europe and Brazil. CNH added that currency effects also had a negative impact. Without these, it said revenues would have been up +4% to about US$ 1.07 billion.
But with light bulbs, especially, the timing of the latest price increases is politically awkward for the lighting industry and for environmentalists who backed a shift to energy-efficient lighting.
In January, legislation that President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007 will begin phasing out traditional incandescent bulbs in favor of spiral compact fluorescent bulbs and other technologies. The European Union has also mandated a switch from incandescent bulbs to energy-efficient lighting.
Despite this weak growth, the company said its market share increased in the second quarter, thanks to gains in the light equipment sector in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, CIS and Asia-Pacific. It also said it gained ground in the North American heavy equipment market.
Including agricultural equipment sales, the company's revenues increased +3.0% compared to Q2 2011, to SU$ 5.03 billion. It made an operating profit of US$ 524 million - level with 2011 - which gave it a margin of 10.4%
Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota is running for the Republican presidential nomination on a platform that includes strong opposition to the new lighting rules in the United States and has been a leader of efforts by House Republicans to repeal it.
Commenting on the figures, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) said, "The June spending sand making plant gains come on top of upward revisions to May and April totals, reinforcing the notion that private construction is now growing consistently. Even more encouraging, the improvement is showing up in a wide range of residential and non-residential categories."