So Long to Greentech Media’s Eric Wesoff

Sunverge-image-1200x700Greentech Media is one of the most prominent and widely trusted voices in cleantech, which is why the departure of Editor-at-Large Eric Wesoff is such big news.

At this point, the magnificently competent Editor-in-Chief Stephen Lacey, long-time colleague and 2GreenEnergy supporter, will head up GTM.

I met Stephen shortly after he rose to prominence at Renewable Energy World; in fact, I interviewed him for two of my books.  Who wouldn’t be impressed with a guy who came into the clean energy arena as his first job straight out of college, where he had majored in journalism, and, within a few months, had become fully conversant with the entirety of the renewable energy industry? Like me, Stephen thinks of himself as an “energy pragmatist,” meaning that the practical realities of the energy industry and the political milieu in which it resides are more important than our ideological positions and advocacy of sustainability as a tool to ensure the survival of our civilization.

From the article above, Wesoff leaves us these important ideas, which I present here along with my own comments:

  • When I started tracking renewables in 2003 (pre-GTM), non-hydro renewable sources made a meaningless contribution to the grid and nobody was making money. Fifteen years later, non-hydro renewables make a very small contribution to the grid, and some folks are making money. With that in mind, I’ll suggest that the sniping going on over the 100 percent renewables goal modeled by Professor Mark Jacobson is an epic example of Sayre’s law: “Academic politics is the most vicious and bitter form of politics, because the stakes are so low.”

Oooo.  Cuts like a knife.  In reality, I fail to understand the big deal here, as there is no imperative to rid ourselves of the last molecule of fossil fuels.  What’s happening here can be divided into three phases, as follows.  Phase one is the replacement of fossil fuels in the national grid-mix.  The pace at which this is happening, even considering the considerable headwind represented by the Trump administration, suggests that the U.S. will get to a point in which renewables plus natural gas backup will win the day over the coming couple of decades–even if there are no breakthroughs in safe and cost-effective nuclear.

Phase two is the replacement of petroleum as fuel in most forms of transportation.  Again, it’s pretty clear that this is happening, given the adoption curve of electric vehicles, a function of better range and lower costs.  It won’t be long until the confluence of these two parameters provides consumers with a host of EV products that boast obvious advantages over gas- and diesel-powered transportation.

Phase three is “everything else”: aircraft, shipping, class 8 trucks, etc.  It’s too early to see exactly where this is going and when it’s going to get there.

  • That said, consider running for local office on a renewables platform. Apply for a job at your state’s PUC — they are hiring. Call the offices of your elected officials and politely tell the aides how you feel about solar, wind, and storage. Invent something new. Found a renewable power startup. Write an article or an op-ed. Teach someone young about energy policy.

Right on.

  • As much as it pains me to say this, Gary Kremen was mostly right. Eight years ago, over breakfast, the entrepreneur and Match.com founder told me that there was no economy of scale in nationalizing a home contractor business like HVAC or plumbing or SolarCity, Verengo or Sungevity.

This appears to be correct, but I don’t see this as a gating factor to the adoption of renewables, either in the context of public utilities or distributed generation.

  • Throughout my tenure at GTM, or my entire lifetime for that matter, no fuel-cell company has had a profitable year. Bloom Energy remains a private company. And the damn $3 million half-built hydrogen filling station on the corner of my street remains half-built.

Right.  It’s 100% clear that there will never be a “hydrogen economy,” based on the basic economics, including the unfathomable cost of retrofitting our fuel-delivery infrastructure, the cost and fragility of fuel-cells, and the horrific inefficiencies of generating hydrogen–either from the electrolysis of water or the reformation of methane.

  • A “C” student should not be leading our energy policy or safeguarding our nuclear stockpile.

Obviously.

  • Calling negative news “fake news” is the mark of a despot. With exceptions, the press is doing a decent job of reporting on the incompetence and malfeasance of the Trump administration. Access for the sake of access is bullshit — journalists need to band together and walk out of the room when faced with propaganda and lies.

Good for you.  It’s hard for anyone with any intelligence and concern for humankind not to be at least somewhat rattled by the whole Trump phenomenon.  Yet it appears that independent media–and even a sizable chunk of corporate-owned media is not knuckling under to this current fascistic, though flash-in-the-pan trend toward obfuscating the truth.  The whole thing seems to be imploding with each passing day.

When this is over, and we all hope soon, we will realize that we dodged a huge bullet.  Had Trump been a little less reckless and immature, had he acted and spoken with some level of truth and decency at least some of the time, he probably could have pulled this off, destroying not the environment, but healthcare, public schools, the rights of women, non-whites and religious minorities, etc.–a true Koch brothers dystopia for all but the super rich. In a few years we’ll look back on this period and realize how much worse all this could have been.

In any case, we say goodbye to Eric, we thank him for his amazing service over the years, and we wish him well.  As he indicates at the close of this article, the Greentech Media editorial is indeed left in the “capable and creative hands of Editor-in-Chief Stephen Lacey, Senior Editor Julia Pyper, Grid Whisperer Jeff St. John, and Staff Writer Julian Spector.”

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One comment on “So Long to Greentech Media’s Eric Wesoff
  1. marcopolo says:

    Craig,

    While it’s important to have as many diverse media opinions as possible, it’s always a mistake to raise any opinion or outlet to ‘oracle’ status.

    It’s also counter productive to constantly intertwine aspects of your political philosophy with ‘clean(er) technology. by doing so you alienate all those folk who may be willing to accept and adopt clean tech, but don’t necessarily want to accept your political/ideological preaching.

    I read Greentech Media, (wading through the political bias). I find Greentech articles are often informative and usually well written.

    However, like all opinion it’s beholden on readers to analyze for themselves the veracity and accuracy of the author’s reportage, and opinions. ( especially when the two combine).

    Nor is it “100% clear that there never be a ‘hydrogen economy'”!

    That’s just silly. Nothing in this world is 100% !

    Nor is such a statement justified by “basic economics”.

    Likewise, the cost of retrofitting our fuel-delivery infrastructure, is not “unfathomable” ! For at least 15 years the costs have been easy to calculate. Indeed both Shell, Hyundai, Toyota and Air-Liquide have produced extensive, heavily researched costings. Shell would actually make money even before the first kilo was sold.

    If mass produced HFCV are extremely robust and certainly not either fragile or excessively costly.

    H2 can be produced easily and economically with existing technology to provide a consumer affordable alternative to gas/diesel. (actually, it’s already produced for the forklift market).

    Almost no sensible person refutes the ability for HFCV technology to replace gasoline and diesel practically and economically.

    The only thing preventing the adoption of the technology, is the same as EV technology, the abundance of cheap oil and technical advances in ICE technology.

    If you remove ICE technology, only two technologies remain.

    1) EV.

    a) Advantages: Some existing manufacture, some charging infrastructure including recharge at home for those with facilities. Simplicity and elegance of technology. Strong possibility for “breakthrough” ESD capacity.

    B) Disadvantages: Charging inconvenient. Lengthy charge time, lack of charging facilities for many consumers , disruptive industry, limited ESD capacity, inconvenient consumer experience, suitable for light vehicles only.

    2) HFCV

    a)Advantages: Replaces gasoline/diesel without a change in consumer habits. non-disruptive technology. Long range capacity, easily fits existing automotive tax model. Reliable as existing ICE technology, perceived as ‘zero emission’ by consumers. Long range. Technology can fit heavy vehicles. Available to all consumers. Cost of purchase of fuel and vehicle similar or better than currently ICE technology. Similar economic long chain business as present.

    b) Disadvantages. Complicated technology. Consumers remain dependent on fuel distributor,(although some home charging possible from natural gas), Subject to competition from an EV ESD ‘breakthrough”.

    HFCV technology is very viable. It’s especially attractive to Governments, oil companies and Automakers.

    Currently, with an existing oil glut there’s no real demand from consumers to replace ICE technology, so there’s a lack of motivation to hurry the advancement of either technology.

    The question for Hyundai and Toyota is can their respective EV divisions quickly enough achieve a ‘ breakthrough’ in ESD technology to allow very fast (under 4 minutes) charge times, ranges exceeding 300 miles, capacity to operate heavier vehicles and costs compatible with ICE technology.

    Craig, if you wish, I can repeat all the references and sources I’ve already provided on many occasions that should have been sufficient to convince you to stop regurgitating inaccurate, erroneous or obsolete information about HFCV technology.

    Over optimism and dubious information have done a great deal of harm to helping raise awareness and support among the general public.