Latest news with #Jaffe
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
BP's chief U.S. economist worries China is winning the global energy war. Here's why
The U.S. may produce triple the amount of crude oil, but China is leading the global energy race because of its dominance in building up supply chains for renewable energy and electric vehicles, the chief U.S. economist for BP said. Even as crude oil, natural gas, and coal still lead global energy, clean energy and EVs continue to rise—despite near-term economic headwinds—and that upward trajectory is unlikely to change regardless of politics and tax credits, said Michael Cohen, BP chief US economist and head of oil and refining, speaking May 13 as a keynote at the Enverus Evolve oil and gas conference in Houston. 'The winners over the short term are those that have built up clean technology supply chains. Front and center is China,' Cohen said, noting that China is selling half of the 'new energy' personal vehicles sold worldwide, led by BYD Auto and others. Cohen projects that renewable energy's share of the global energy marketplace will rise from about 15% now to 30% by 2050. Global oil demand likely will peak for good in about 10 years. And U.S. oil production may have plateaued for good near its current highs. The U.S. and others risk failing 'Econ 101' if they believe the renewable energy industry is dying just because of current supply chain and interest rate speed bumps, as well as political headwinds from the Trump administration for renewables, he said. That doesn't mean the U.S. is in a weak place, but it depends on China's supply chains for solar, wind, and, especially, for battery parts for energy storage and EVs. Despite ebbs and flows, the costs for renewables and batteries should continue to fall, Cohen said, along with U.S. decarbonization efforts. Amy Myers Jaffe, director of the Energy, Climate Justice, and Sustainability Lab at New York University, went a step further than Cohen. China is building EVs that can charge in five minutes, Jaffe said, and, pretty soon, self-driving cars will charge themselves while you run errands. The U.S. shouldn't be worried about China trying to funnel cars into the U.S. through Mexico. The U.S. should be worried about trying to sell a gasoline-fueled Chevrolet Suburban that cost 'six figures' (Chevy lists the 2025 Suburban price range from starting at $62,500 to fully loaded at well more than $100,000). 'The question is where will American car companies be able to sell a gasoline truck?' Jaffe asked. 'How is that going to compete in the international marketplace with a $20,000 EV that can charge in five minutes. You need to ask yourselves that question.' Climate change isn't slowing down and changing societal behaviors and purchasing patterns are hard to predict, they said. 'The question is when does that inflection point happen? No one really knows,' Cohen said. 'It doesn't matter,' Jaffe countered, citing the timing and Trump's political actions against renewables. 'The Chinese are coming out with vehicles that are less expensive that are going to eventually be able to charge in five minutes.' China also is winning in the seas, Jaffe said. 'China is now the largest shipbuilder in the world,' she said, and it's focused on utilizing low-carbon marine fuels, which other countries haven't prioritized. 'And they're updating their major ports, like in Shanghai and other ports, to include low-carbon alternatives.' While gas production is bullish in the U.S. amid construction booms for data centers and liquefied natural gas export plants, Jaffe also warned that data centers may not rely on natural gas power as much as anticipated. 'You can't really build a new, natural gas thermal plant in the United States in a year,' Jaffe said, citing concerns on the timing of building new power infrastructure. 'But you could throw some batteries on the grid.' This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
New York Times
03-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Ever Worried About Being Laid Off? Read This.
Steve Jaffe was laid off for the first time in 2001. But that wasn't the last time for Mr. Jaffe, now 52 and a self-employed marketing strategist in Altadena, Calif. He was laid off three more times over the course of his career, he said, and wrote a book about his experiences that he self-published in February. In addition to writing about jobs he has lost, Mr. Jaffe has been reading the layoff stories of others in Laid Off, a new Substack newsletter. 'A support group like this for laid-off people has always been needed,' he said. Melanie Ehrenkranz, 35, started Laid Off last August, about a year after she lost her job at a financial technology company that has since closed. After being laid off, she said, 'I didn't really feel like I had access to a community or to stories of layoffs outside of a group chat with two of my former colleagues.' By the time she introduced the newsletter, Ms. Ehrenkranz, who lives in Los Angeles, had started working for Business Class, an online entrepreneurship course created by the '#Girlboss' author Sophia Amoruso, where Ms. Ehrenkranz is still employed. Within two months of debuting, Laid Off had about 5,000 subscribers. It now has about 9,000, with more than 150 paying $5 a month or $50 a year for full subscriptions that include additional resources like access to private group chats. Many subscribers work in layoff-prone industries like media, marketing and advertising, Ms. Ehrenkranz said, adding that she had recently noticed an uptick in subscribers with careers in government and technology. Laid Off's audience is a fraction of the size of more established Substack business publications like Feed Me. Its growth in readership comes at a time when posting about work online has become commonplace, whether it be 'LinkedIn-fluencers' sharing hot takes on corporate trends or people making TikTok videos about office outfits. And at a time when there have been growing concerns about a recession and a rise in unemployment. Some of those featured in the newsletter reached out to Ms. Ehrenkranz after losing jobs; others were chosen after completing a survey that she had posted on LinkedIn, which 'received hundreds of responses right away,' she said. More women have been featured than men, Ms. Ehrenkranz added, because more women have approached her about participating. Among the layoff stories the newsletter has told are those of a former Wall Street Journal editor, a former recruiter for Meta, a former content manager at Tesla and a former financial analyst at Disney who was with the company for nearly a decade. Laid Off's Q&A interviews touch on topics people sometimes avoid when talking about unemployment. Ms. Ehrenkranz's go-to questions for subjects include 'What were the reasons given for your layoff?' and 'What was the first thing you did after getting laid off?' She said the newsletter's tone was meant to be edgy and fun; a tagline on its website reads: 'The coolest place on the internet to talk about being laid off.' 'It's definitely that vibe,' Ms. Ehrenkranz said. 'The whole point of Laid Off is to show that it's not a personal failure.' Anu Lingala, 33, spoke to Ms. Ehrenkranz about losing her job at Nordstrom in a feature published in March. 'Her interviews are so humanizing,' said Ms. Lingala, who lives in Brooklyn and now works in marketing at a jewelry company. 'They unpack the shame around being laid off.' The newsletter has a confessional-like quality that Lindsey Stanberry, a former editor of the Money Diaries column on the website Refinery29, appreciates. 'There's a voyeuristic element to it,' said Ms. Stanberry, 44, who now writes The Purse, a Substack newsletter about women and money. 'It's like, it could happen to me, or it has happened to me, and, like, I want to feel this camaraderie.' Maya Joseph-Goteiner, 41, was among Laid Off's first subjects: Her interview about losing her user-experience job at Google ran in the newsletter last August. In it, Ms. Joseph-Goteiner recalled going bowling with her family the day she was laid off and how the experience pushed her in new professional directions. Participating was an opportunity to offer a 'counter narrative' to the desperation and shame that can bubble up when talking about losing a job, she said. 'My story felt like one of resilience, and I want there to be more stories like that,' said Ms. Joseph-Goteiner, who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., and now runs her own research and design agency called Velocity Ave. Ochuko Akpovbovbo, the writer of As Seen On, a Substack newsletter about business trends that is geared toward her fellow Gen Z-ers, said some in that cohort had shown less interest in careers in media and technology than members of older generations. Laid Off's interviews with people who have lost jobs in those industries have helped contribute to 'the end of Big Tech and journalism worship,' added Ms. Akpovbovbo, 26, whose newsletter was introduced last May and has about 22,000 subscribers. For Joya Patel, Laid Off is a platform to remind people of the importance of certain careers. She pitched herself to Ms. Ehrenkranz after losing her job as the director of communications and external affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services in February. Ms. Patel, 34, who also subscribed to the newsletter around that time, said she had been motivated to share her story after reading another Laid Off interview with a former communications specialist at the U.S. Agency for International Development. 'I really wanted people to understand, OK, what does working at H.H.S. mean?' said Ms. Patel, referring to the federal health agency. 'The American people don't know what each agency does for them and what we sit in there to do.' Ms. Patel, who is now consulting and whose Laid Off feature was published in April, likes how the newsletter lets readers 'hear from the people,' she added. 'I'm tired of companies being able to direct us and lead stories. As humans, we have that power, and I like to hear from people like, 'Hey, I walked in, it was awkward. Things were awkward that day. This is why they told me they're doing it.' Because no company is ever going to say that.'
Associated Press
15-04-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Team USA Athlete Noah Jaffe Appointed to Board of Directors of Nonprofit WAWOS
San Francisco, CA April 14, 2025 --( )-- Team USA Paralympian Noah Jaffe, has been appointed an Honorary Board Member of WAWOS (We're All Working On Something), a national nonprofit dedicated to shifting the perception of physical disability in children and teens. Jaffe's appointment comes in the wake of his incredible performance at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, where he shattered expectations and demonstrated the immense strength and resilience of athletes with disabilities. Noah Jaffe, celebrated for his incredible tenacity at the Paralympic Games, is setting a new standard for how physical disabilities are perceived in the world of sports and beyond. He made his major international debut at the World Championships in the summer of 2023 and came home with four medals, including a world title in the 100-meter freestyle S8. Jaffe chose to take the 2023-24 year off from pursuing his biochemistry major at the University of California, Berkeley to dedicate himself full-time to training. His performance at the 2024 Paris Paralympics validated that move, as he earned Silver and Bronze medals. 'I am deeply honored to join the WAWOS board,' said Jaffe. 'This organization has been instrumental in fostering an environment where kids and teens of all abilities can thrive and pursue their passions. Having grown up with cerebral palsy, I've always believed that true inclusion goes beyond physical spaces – it's about changing the mindset and breaking down barriers. I'm excited to bring my experiences and advocacy to WAWOS, and I'm eager to work with a team that's committed to making the world a more accessible and welcoming place for everyone.' WAWOS has been dedicated to promoting the inclusion of individuals with disabilities for the past eight years through a series of initiatives from coast to coast. Across its programs, WAWOS emphasizes the importance of access to activities that challenge physical and mental limits, championing that no one is excluded from opportunities with their peers, engage with nature and activities, and discover their potential. Founded on the principle that we're all connected, WAWOS has been a beacon for change, advocating for greater access to outdoor adventures, sports, and personal development activities for kids and teens with disabilities. Their initiatives have provided countless opportunities for young people to engage in experiences that are often unavailable to them due to societal and physical barriers. 'Adding Noah to our board is a powerful moment for WAWOS,' said Jacquie Robison, Founder and Executive Director of WAWOS. 'His passion for sports, commitment to challenging norms, and dedication to creating a world where people of all abilities are recognized for their strengths will have a profound impact on our organization and the communities we serve. We are excited to have his leadership inspire a new generation of kids and teens to believe in themselves and their abilities.' Jaffe will join a team of leaders at WAWOS that include SF Giants Pitcher Tristan Beck, Tina White, Chief Commercial Officer at Ingenuity Brands, Dr. Stacy Menz, Founder at Starfish Therapies, and Jeremiah Robison, Founder of bionics company, Cionic. For more information about WAWOS and to support their mission, visit About WAWOS (We're All Working On Something): WAWOS is a registered 501(c)(3) WAWOS is a multinational non-profit organization committed to shifting perception of physical disability, advocating access to adventure for all, and promoting inclusion. With headquarters in San Francisco, their sister organization, WAWOS Canada, is based in Toronto. Media Contact: Jacquie Robison / Executive Director, WAWOS Phone: (510)610-6267 Email: [email protected] Contact Information: WAWOS Jacquie Robison 510-610-6267 Contact via Email Read the full story here: Team USA Athlete Noah Jaffe Appointed to Board of Directors of Nonprofit WAWOS Press Release Distributed by
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
China's EV battery titan is coming for Europe
Northvolt filed for bankruptcy last month after burning through $15 billion. The Swedish EV battery maker was considered Europe's best hope for a homegrown battery manufacturer. Europe's battery industry is likely to be dominated by Chinese companies, with CATL eyeing expansion. Europe's best hope for an EV battery manufacturer reached the end of the road last month. Northvolt, the EV battery maker founded by two former Tesla executives and backed by the likes of Volkswagen and Goldman Sachs, filed for bankruptcy after running out of cash. The startup's demise after burning through $15 billion poses big questions for European policymakers — and leaves the field open for a Chinese battery titan to continue its global expansion. CATL, the world's biggest battery producer, is already building three factories in Europe — in Germany, Hungary, and a joint venture with Jeep owner Stellantis in Spain. A spokesperson told Business Insider the company was considering expanding its manufacturing facilities further, in line with market demand. CATL is also embarking on a hiring spree, recruiting about 1,800 employees at its German plant and planning to add more than 1,300 staff in Hungary by the end of the year. As scrutiny over Chinese firms operating in Europe escalates in recent years, manufacturers including CATL and BYD have sought to localize production by building factories in European countries. In CATL's case, the push to blend in reportedly included adding bratwurst and German barbecue to the menu at its German factory. As well as building batteries, CATL is also looking at ways to recycle them. A spokesperson told BI the company was "exploring strategic partnerships" with local firms to build a battery recycling network in Europe. The European scale-up comes at a key moment for CATL, which has grown rapidly thanks to enormous state support and China's stranglehold over the global battery supply chain. CATL is gearing up to go public in Hong Kong in a $5 billion offering and recently struck a deal with Chinese EV maker Nio to develop a battery-swapping network for electric vehicles in China. The demise of Northvolt, widely seen as the continent's most promising battery startup, has left Europe's home-grown battery industry struggling to compete. "Northvolt bit off more than it could chew," said Sam Jaffe, principal at 1019 Technologies, which advises companies on the battery industry. "They were trying to build six gigafactories in different parts of the world all at once, and they should have just concentrated on just one." Jaffe said Northvolt's investors were expecting unrealistic "venture-like" returns from the capital-intensive business. While Northvolt's failure won't be a "death knell" for Europe's efforts to build EV batteries, he said ownership of the continent's battery industry was likely to be dominated by Chinese and Asian companies. That prospect has sparked some soul-searching in Europe. Julia Poliscanova, a senior director of the Transport & Environment thinktank, said the European Union had failed to turn world-class battery R&D into a successful manufacturing sector: "Northvolt is just a symptom of the problems that we have in Europe." She said the EU should learn from the "Chinese playbook" as it looks to build a competitor to CATL, sticking with consistent EV policies and overhauling trade rules that allow Chinese battery makers to import their products at a 1.3% tariff. Poliscanova also urged Europe to explore measures that would force Chinese manufacturers to partner with European rivals and share vital knowledge if they want to do business on the continent. China adopted similar joint-venture rules with its auto industry in the 1990s. They proved a powerful tool in helping Chinese carmakers catch up with Western competitors. "The Chinese didn't wake up being good at battery manufacturing — they've simply been doing it for a lot more years," said Poliscanova. "The problem is that today in Europe, we don't have all those years to learn and fail." Shifting geopolitical tensions are likely to only make Europe a more tempting target for Chinese firms. China's EV giants such as BYD have been locked out of the US by high tariffs, but are expanding rapidly in Europe due to less restrictive trade barriers. Jaffe said the battery industry could follow a similar playbook. "I think we're going to see a clear demarcation between the North American battery industry, which is going to be mostly Korean partnerships with local companies, and the European battery industry, which is going to be more partnerships with Chinese manufacturers," he said. Read the original article on Business Insider Sign in to access your portfolio
Forbes
25-03-2025
- Science
- Forbes
Why A Rocket Scientist Built An AI-Free Certification
A new AI-Free Certification service enables writers, artists and creatives to "brand" their work as ... More human-created content. Seth Jaffe started his career as an aerospace engineer and landed a job at NASA where he was, well, a rocket scientist — so he's always been pretty smart. He's also always been pretty creative as a photographer and book author. "I like to write science fiction books. It's one of my hobbies," he explained during a Zoom call. "I have all these books, and I thought, 'You know what? Later in my career, I'm going to publish these books.' But then I came across an article where someone used AI to generate a children's novel, including all the illustrations. And I thought, 'Great, just as I come to market, someone else can use AI to create a similar book in minutes.'' Lucky for Jaffe, later in his career he also became a corporate intellectual property attorney. As he recognized the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence across creative and artistic ventures – he saw a need to help creators, artists and writers classify their unique human-made work as separate from AI-generated content. Jaffe recently launched AI-Free Certification, an online repository and certification archive that seeks to establish a new standard for human creativity and ingenuity in a time when AI-generated books, artwork and music flood the market. The rise of generative AI and its rapidly improving artistic abilities makes it tricky for most of us to tell the difference between AI-created content and authentic creative outputs from humans. Multimodal AI solutions such as Sora, ChatGPT and Midjourney quickly churn out videos, text and still images that are as good as those created by a human. Jaffe says while AI has tremendous brainstorming and production capabilities, human creators who rely solely on their own ingenuity needed a way to distinguish and 'brand' their work. "You may spend 30 minutes writing a single sentence," Jaffe says. "I wanted to showcase that my book was not done with AI. And as an intellectual property attorney, I'm familiar with trademarks. There's something called a certification mark, like ENERGY STAR or Underwriters Laboratories, which shows the nature and quality of something rather than its origin. That's when it clicked — AI-Free Certification could be a great use of a certification mark.' Jaffe said his AI-Free Certification is based on the honor system, where humans describe the amount of AI used — if at all — in a particular creation. For a piece to be eligible to receive the 'AI-Free' badge and be listed on the website, it must have been created without AI assistance or with only permissible AI use, such as minor formatting suggestions or spell checking. Jaffe says those types of automated tweaks are allowed since they predated generative AI by decades as part of word processing and image editing software. Once that content is uploaded to the AI-Free Certification server, the digital badge is generated and can be added to the creative piece signaling the author's pledge of human authenticity. When I uploaded my own piece of content to the AI-Free Certification platform, the following unique 'AI-Free' badge was generated. The distinct QR code connects directly to the archived AI-Free piece of content. Each document is also assigned a custom certificate number — for the document represented below, the unique certificate number is #3770. Customized QR Code badge with unique certificate number for eligible AI-Free content. Document creators can also download an actual certificate that can be added to physical files or stored at a real-world location. The AI-Free digital certificate contains a custom QR Code the links directly to the archived ... More document, the date of issuance, content title and author name as well as the piece's unique certificate number. Jaffe is quick to point out that certification is not verification. "A lot of people ask, 'How do you verify that the work was created without AI?' And my response is, well, you really can't these days. It won't be long — if not already — before AI can defeat detection systems. So, we base it on the honor code, just like the U.S. Copyright Office does. We're not here to catch cheaters. We're here to allow artists to represent to the world that their work was created without impermissible AI use,' he explains. While it might no be a perfect step at this stage, it's definitely a first step in the right direction toward empowering creatives and consumers with a tool to distinguish between AI and human produced content. 'The goal here is to support artists. I'm a writer. I've been a professional photographer. I want to make it easy for artists to showcase their human ingenuity,' he said. Jaffe added that his certification solution has gained interest and attention from a number of creative professionals who want to protect their work. He envisions expanding the service's reach through collaborations with creative guilds, professional organizations and schools. "If we can get people interested in the arts at a young age and give them a way to showcase that they did it themselves, that's a win. I also want to partner with writing associations, music associations and film organizations," he added. He also sees the strong possibility that his certification platform can upgrade and expand in the future. Jaffe says a natural progression would include some type of blockchain layer to provide an immutable record of authorship as well as a premium verification service that could include a group of human examiners — much like a patent examiner — who reviews submissions providing a deeper level of authentication. But Jaffe recognizes the challenges of creating a full-proof, AI-free verification service. "The more I look at what AI is doing, the more I'm convinced that verifying AI-free work is going to be extremely difficult. AI is advancing so fast that it's nearly impossible to tell. But we're gauging interest in a more hands-on verification process,' he said. As AI-generated content becomes more prevalent, the value of human-created work may increase according to Jaffe. He says human creativity will ultimately find its place alongside AI, rather than being replaced by it. 'Think about vinyl. It was the gold standard, then cassette tapes came along, then CDs. But vinyl is back because people appreciate its uniqueness. I think AI will take over certain areas, but human ingenuity will come back when people realize that originality has value. In my mind, the fact that something was created by a human will become a key part of its value,' he concluded.
