Word discovery: bourse

Citation: Hard copy: “How to Seize the Initiative,” Time magazine, April 3, 2006, p. 47. Online: How to Seize the Initiative online (may require registration or purchase of the article).

Usage: “For now, U.S. firms that want to trade emissions must join the Chicago Climate Exchange, a voluntary but legally binding bourse whose members, according to founder Richard Sandor, account for 8% of the greenhouse emissions from stationary sources in the U.S.”

Meaning: an exchange or trade, usually meant in terms of a European stock exchange. See Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary.

Examples: U.S. power plants may purchase credits through a bourse from other power plants that meet their pollution-reduction targets.

Comments: I don’t see much need to use bourse when “exchange” is so much clearer.