This will give manufacturers the ability to dramatically increase capacity while reducing unit costs.

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China still has perhaps 200m underemployed rural workers who could move to factories over the next two decades, so wages for low-skilled workers are rising more slowly than productivity, reducing China's unit labour costs.

ECONOMIST: More pain than gain

Further improvement is needed in energy efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP, with carbon taxation preferable to emissions trading.

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They can carry five to 20 times more current in the same unit area while reducing the amount of energy lost as heat by 75-97% (depending on whether the current is alternating or direct), even after accounting for all the nitrogen-cooling paraphernalia.

ECONOMIST: Inside story

As Congress gets a view of the actual costs, it responds by slowing procurement or reducing the final numbers, which drives up unit costs and usually leads to far smaller numbers in the final acquisition.

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Some cars get hotter than 150 degrees inside when parked in the sun, so reducing the temperature could mean Toyota could use a smaller AC unit, he added.

CNN: Solar cars still a way off

To boost margins, Starboard suggests that Office Depot increase higher-margin services in its North American retail unit and carry more private-label products, while reducing store size and the total number of goods sold.

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The premium isn't actually that great - it costs just under 11p a unit - and this one small act will contribute more to reducing the carbon emissions of my home than anything else I have done this month.

BBC: 28 MARCH

In addition, the short-cycle businesses concentrated in the unit are more vulnerable to near-term contract delays and terminations as the government grapples with ways of reducing budget deficits.

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