Energy provides a number of interesting engineering (and business) opportunities. The differential between natural gas prices in the US and Europe is significant, ~ $2 USD per million British thermal units (US price) and ~ 10 USD per million British thermal units (European price) and is an interesting arbitrage problem to think about....keeping in mind that the financial services industry comprises ~4.5% respectively of German and French 'gross value added', 7% for the UK, and ~14% of Switzerland's GDP. Natural gas turbine production by European firms such as Siemens and Alstom and Ultra High Voltage Direct Current (UHVDC) equipment by firms such as ABB may be places to watch/invest. The effects of 3D printing technology upon engineering and manufacturing is also very interesting to think about, while international regulatory questions are always an issue. The bigger question in my mind is, however, getting through the Greece issue and estimating where the bottom is really at with respect to share prices. I am not convinced we are at a capitulation point even though market volumes seem to indicate many retail investors are long gone....

TEXT-Fitch says U.S. shale gas boom threat to euro chemical costs, Wed May 16, 2012 10:30am EDT, Reuters

US wholesale electricity prices are around a third lower than in 2010, and natural gas prices at a 10-year low are a key contributor. Henry Hub gas prices are USD2 per million British thermal units (mmbtu), compared with around USD10/mmbtu for European gas. Pressure is mounting for Gazprom, Europe's main supplier of natural gas, to break the link between its long-term contract prices and oil. However, with no competitive pressure probable from US natural gas exports before 2015, the differential between US and European prices is unlikely to reduce materially in the short term.
EIA, Natural Gas Prices (Dollars per Thousand Cubic Feet, except where noted)
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_pri_sum_dcu_nus_m.htm

European Financial Centres 2012, Special Report, Financial Times, www.ft.com

Siemens, You are here: Home Energy Power Generation Gas Turbines
http://www.energy.siemens.com/hq/en/...nt=Description

The Siemens gas turbine range has been designed and refined to help you meet the challenges of a dynamic market. Our 15 models with capacities from 5 to 375 MW, are designed with your profitability in mind. Whatever the application, our gas turbines meet the requirements for efficiency, reliability and environmental compatibility, giving low life-cycle costs and the best possible return on investment.
Alstom, Home/ Power/ Fossil/ Gas power/ Gas turbines
http://www.alstom.com/power/fossil/g.../gas-turbines/

We have 4 distinctive gas turbines on offer to meet your operational needs:

GT24 and GT26 gas turbines: meeting strict emission standards, reliable supply is combined with excellent fuel efficiency and performance
GT13E2 gas turbine: the best-in-class performance (output, efficiency), with long inspection intervals
GT11N2 gas turbine: a proven gas turbine with more than 1 million fired hours in ambient conditions from -40°C to +50°C
Industries and utilities Power T&D Solutions HVDC HVDC Classic UHVDC
http://www.abb.com/industries/db0003...9002560fd.aspx

The increased interest in recent years for transporting clean and renewable energy from remote hydro generation plants has also increased the interest in higher DC transmission voltage than presently used (i.e. 600 kV DC). This has led to development of Ultra High Voltage Direct Current (UHVDC) at 800 kV DC.

800 kV Ultra High Voltage Direct Current (UHVDC) transmissions are economically attractive for bulk power transmissions of 5,000 – 8,000 MW over 1,000 – 1,500 km or above. 800 kV HVDC transmission projects are already in execution phase, and 800 kV is now an established voltage level for bulk power transmission over long distances.
The printed world, Three-dimensional printing from digital designs will transform manufacturing and allow more people to start making things,
Feb 10th 2011 | FILTON | from the print edition, The Economist

FILTON, just outside Bristol, is where Britain’s fleet of Concorde supersonic airliners was built. In a building near a wind tunnel on the same sprawling site, something even more remarkable is being created. Little by little a machine is “printing” a complex titanium landing-gear bracket, about the size of a shoe, which normally would have to be laboriously hewn from a solid block of metal. Brackets are only the beginning. The researchers at Filton have a much bigger ambition: to print the entire wing of an airliner.
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign..._Practices_Act

Euro-Austritt Griechenlands kostet Deutschland 77 Milliarden Euro von Malte Fischer, 12.05.2012, WirschaftsWoche

Ein Austritt Griechenlands aus der Eurozone, verbunden mit der Einstellung des Schuldendienstes, würde die Euro-Länder 276 Milliarden Euro kosten.
The Endgame in Greece—How a Bank Run Can Be Part of the Solution, by Jacob Funk Kirkegaard | May 16th, 2012 | 02:22 pm, The Peterson Institute for International Economics

If the deposit flight continues unabated, the ECB will be in an awkward position, because it will likely be called upon to provide capital to Greek banks to make up for lost deposits. Presumably the ECB would do so only with a mandate from euro area political leaders, perhaps including explicit euro area sovereign guarantees to continue to lend to Greek banks or allow Bank of Greece Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) to continue. Such a demand would echo what the central bank did when it was forced to accept default-rated Greek bonds after the restructuring in March. As Belgian central bank president Luc Coene said this week: “The issue is one for the politicians…. It will be a political issue—where is the balance of solidarity—rather than a technical issue about whether the banks have been sufficiently recapitalized or not.” The ECB would of course not want to be seen as pushing Greece, leaving that role to elected politicians.

Euro area leaders would then have to decide what to do. They would probably not want to see the Greek banking system collapse immediately, so they would likely go along with the ECB lending money to Greek banks. But they would probably also demand that Greek politicians sign up to the IMF program, or even that they scrap the elections and form a unity or technocratic government. This may seem terribly undemocratic. Such demands would have to be packaged to make them look like the idea came from Greece. But such things have happened before. Only last November, the EU pushed for the installation of technocrats to run the governments of Greece and Italy. Despite the claim by Merkel and Hollande that they would “listen to the Greek people,” Greek bank depositors may speak louder than Greek voters. If a bank run presented an opportunity to win a Greek agreement to stick with the IMF program, European leaders would almost certainly seize it.

More broadly, a devastating domestic bank run in Greece could strengthen the case for keeping the euro area together while it heads toward a fiscal and banking union. Euro area leaders in Germany, France, and elsewhere know that a euro exit by a member state would be very costly throughout the currency region, making them vulnerable to blackmail from opportunistic populists like Alexis Tsipras in Greece. But now the example of Greece has illustrated a new factor—namely, that the threat of a bank run taking place in any country considering a euro exit acts like the functional equivalent of a preemptive nuclear strike on political forces advocating such an exit. Because of the Greek example, populists across the euro area have awakened to a new political reality—that will be blamed for destructive domestic bank run if they pursue their exit strategies.

By bringing forward the economic costs of a euro area exit to the present—before any voters back a euro exit in their country—a bank run in Greece will not only help produce the “right result” in that country (i.e., a pro-IMF program majority), but prevent such policies from even being articulated by populist leaders elsewhere. Such political neutralization of populism would be a huge prize for euro area leaders.

Utilizing the threat of bank runs does take euro area brinkmanship to a dangerous new level. Euro area leaders should think carefully about proceeding down this road. It should only be contemplated if euro area leaders are willing to proceed to pan-euro area bank deposit insurance and other dramatic integration measures to avoid the spread of contagion and bank runs to other member states. If they are prepared to do so, they can call Alexis Tsipras’ bluff by fomenting a bank run in Greece before the new elections are held.
What is market capitulation? by investopedia

The significance of capitulation lies in its implications. Many market professionals consider it to be a sign of a bottom in prices and consequently a good time to buy stocks.