The site acts as a marketplace for hundreds of millions of micro-payments using its digital currency, Moola.

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New ways of dealing with micro-payments are emerging, such as by deduction from a prepaid account with a computer company, Internet-service provider or mobile-phone company.

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His not-for-profit organization, Carbon Manna Unlimited, has developed a system of direct micro-payments to rural people who offset their carbon production through the use of high-efficiency stoves.

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These micro-payments can add up.

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As if that wasn't enough, the whole thing also promises to be funded entirely by micro-payments from the public (which would also determine its final size), and be completely self-powered, with it relying on a combination of solar power and regenerative braking from the lifts in the towers.

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The surviving 12: Hanover Insurance ( THG, 42 ), Cree ( CREE, 45 ), Owens-Illinois ( OI, 25 ), Alleghany ( Y, 375 ), URS ( URS, 42 ), Northern Trust ( NTRS, 53 ), Sandridge Energy ( SD, 5.7 ), Great Plains ( GXP, 22 ), General Cable ( BGC, 34 ), Whiting Petroleum ( WLL, 49 ), RF Micro Devices ( RFMD, 5.3 ) and Global Payments ( GPN, 50 ).

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