I’m headed back East again next week, primarily to attend the Renewable Energy Finance Forum in New York City. I have to say that I love this event; everything about it is first-rate, starting with the venue (The Waldorf Astoria).
As always, I’m trying to “do as much damage” as I possibly can during my trip, lining up book interviews and other meetings. If anyone in that part of the world wants to meet, please let me know.
Guest blogger Brian McGowan sent me this nauseating piece on the entrenchment of the oil and coal companies.
As we’ve noted often here, one of the leading drivers of environmentalism in the US is the military. This carries with it a certain irony, of course, in that one of its main functions is ensuring our access to oil. Having said that, the military understands that the need to protect oil supply lines in the field is an extremely dangerous proposition – one that costs a significant number of young people’s lives each month. (more…)
I’d like to offer you another in our ongoing series of free reports, in which we seek to provide an understanding of the most important energy-related trends that face civilization today. The report is based on last month’s poll, in which we asked readers to tell us what they believe the future holds.
What are the most likely top-level events that will occur in the next five years, as driven by our current energy policies (or lack thereof)? Can we expect change? Disaster? Business as usual?
I hope you’ll download the report and find out for yourself. Here’s the link:
It’s always a thrill when people I’ve known since my childhood grasp the opportunities that renewables represent. When my brother Geoff and I were teenagers, we had a fine friend, JR Castle (James Rutherford, if I’m not mistaken), who came from a very dignified family. Though JR himself was something of a “wild man” at the time, he always had a smile of his face, and impressed me as someone who was headed somewhere.
40 years later, I learned that JR is a managing partner at Castle Energy LLC, which has produced some terrific results in the installation of solar.
Keep up the good work, my friend. We had some fun back then, didn’t we?
Class reunions are designed to reconnect old friends, and that’s what happened in spades when I returned to Trinity College for my 35th last weekend. But where some of these encounters were just opportunities to play a few games of squash, reminisce, or throw down a couple of drinks, others had long-lasting value. An old buddy who had gone to work at Microsoft now stands ready and willing to connect me with clean energy groups in the Pacific Northwest.
Check out these guys: Climate Solutions, a group that “works to accelerate practical and profitable solutions to global warming by galvanizing leadership, growing investment and bridging divides.” Now there’s a group I want to know.
I just had a very interesting call with a private equity company that I thought I’d share, as it illustrates what we’re up against when it comes to energy.
When I asked about the firm’s energy practice, he said, “We trade coal; we set up deals between mines and utilities around the world.”
“All right,” I replied. “Any interest in going beyond that, perhaps into biomass? I would think that there are pressures on the coal industry that will eventually have an effect.” (more…)
At any given moment in time, I support a dozen or so business concepts in renewable energy, electric transportation, and sustainability more generally. I arrived at this list by poring through on the order of 1100 business plans that have been submitted over the past couple of years. Each needs funding from one of a set of different types of capital sources: angels, VCs, private equity, institutional investors, etc.
Through a phone call with an old friend not too long ago, I realized that I’ve probably not been as active and aggressive in courting investors as perhaps I should have been. Though we are connected with a great number of investors, we’ve come across them with an approach I’d call “passive,” waiting for investors to find us online and calling or writing in, rather than our actively reaching out in a disciplined, methodical way. (more…)
When I was in the Bay Area last week, I had a meeting with Pvilion, a start-up company with a unique approach and capability to the architectural use of solar PV, and I’m happy to report that they represent a really good prospect for our marketing and public relations services. I haven’t been too excited about BIPV (building integrated photovoltaics) over the years, but for some reason, this seems quite appealing, for the right client. Suppose you’re a forward-thinking company and you want a large sculpture or a futuristic parking garage on your campus. Why not integrate PV, and demonstrate your interest in sustainability?
Frequent commenter Cameron Atwood sent me this gem on sustainability from a beautifully wise and youthful 76-year-old oceanographer Sylvia Earle that I heartily recommend. Audio is here.
Thanks, Cameron. That’s an incredible insight into our responsibilities as human beings vis-a-vis planning for the future.
I’m reminded of my friend Tom Konrad, whom I interviewed for my 2nd book, who said, “We’ve evolved as hunter-gatherers, whose premise is: if it worked last year, we’ll do it again this year. Long-range planning is not our strong suit. I don’t want to offend the creationists, but if we had been designed, we would not have that flaw.” (more…)
Have you ever had the thought that our society is deliberately distracted, confused, and sidetracked from the real issues that matter, focused instead on hot-button concepts, perhaps gay marriage? It’s fairly clear that the survival of mankind and all life forms here on Earth depends on the actions we take over the next few years to achieve sustainable practices in energy, water, and food. The planet is warming, the sea levels are rising, the oceans are acidifying, potable water is becoming scarcer, the rain forests are disappearing, and farm lands are becoming deserts. (more…)
