I’m always appreciative of good infographics on cleantech that help people wrap their wits around complicated subjects. Here’s one such piece on our carbon footprint I came across a few weeks ago and inadvertently forgot to share it. Enjoy.
Good news for householders: the Government’s Renewable Heat Initiative (RHI) is being extended to residential properties. This means that green homeowners could be paid hundreds of pounds a year for generating heat by solar thermal panels, biomass boilers and heat pumps.
This is an extension of the existing scheme which benefits non-residential properties. It is backdated to mid 2009, so anyone who meets the criteria will be eligible for payments. (more…)
The green movement is the nickname for “going green” in the United States as well as many other countries abroad.
There is only so much individuals and small businesses can do to improve their own carbon footprint, creating a need for funding to larger organizations for renewable resources and green energy.
In the past year, funding for renewable energy and similar topics has gone up to $257 billion. This means great things for the green movement. The study was released in a report at the end of 2012, by the UN Environment Program. (more…)
Though it’s arguably off-topic, I mention my outrage at National Defense Authorization Act every month or so.
Today, as incredible as it may seem, The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has turned down the numerous activists and journalists who were suing to prevent the indefinite military detention of American citizens. (more…)
Here’s July’s webinar, which I conducted the other day with Jesse Berst, internationally known technology and business analyst, founder and chief analyst of Smart Grid News.com, and founder and Chairman of the Smart Cities Council. I hope readers will check this out, and discover what Jesse means when he says that the council’s motto is “Livability, Workability, and Sustainability.” (more…)
Here’s an article that got my attention: How To Get Rich In Smart Grid. This has always impressed me as an important challenge, as a) I’m very bullish on the sector, and b) the large cap stocks that constitute most of the financial activity in smart grid (GE, Siemens, Johnson Controls, Honeywell, ABB, Schneider, etc.) are not pure-play. An $1000 investment in GE 30 years ago is worth about $300 today, but not because of their participation in this arena.
So which way to go? I just took the “lazy investor’s” route and bought a bit of the NASDAQ-traded ETF mentioned in the article. We’ll see.
I like to comment each year at this time, and remind readers that today is believed to be the anniversary of the fire that burned Rome in 64 A.D., while the emperor Nero supposedly played his fiddle. According to the Writers Almanac, in fact, Nero wasn’t even in Rome when the fire broke out; he was 35 miles away at his holiday villa on the coast, and his own palace was one of the buildings that burned.
Be this as it may, the concept is a metaphor that’s lasted in our culture for more than 2000 years; it represents a casual indifference to suffering and a shocking failure to take responsibility in a time of urgent need.
Perhaps you see where I’m going with this….
Per this article in Global Energy World, offshore drilling for oil and gas is predicted to expand at a CAGR of 10.6% between now and 2018, bringing it to $211 billion annually. And here’s an article on sea-level rise, showing that this unwelcome phenomenon, the result of humankind’s addiction to fossil fuels, is growing with the same predictability. Where will this end?
It’s a reminder of the carnival barkers of the old days: “Round and round she goes; where she stops, nobody knows.”
I wrote a piece on France and renewable energy just now that reminded me of the first French-American EV conference (Long Beach, CA, in December, 2010); it was such a riveting event that I thought it would be followed by many more in quick succession. But I was wrong; in fact, the second such meeting didn’t occur until just a few months ago, and, as it wasn’t local, I skipped it.
I’m always interested in the astounding rate at which automotive engineering is advancing. Like most people, I realized many years ago that I have no idea what’s going on underneath the hood of my car, but I wrongly assumed that all this computerized magic had brought us to a static state; nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the real push is yet to come, making use of a combination of materials science and mechanical/electronic engineering that will push fleet-average MPG levels to 54.5 by 2025.
Perhaps the most interesting issue is what all this means to the consumer. Since only a relatively small percentage of drivers will pay more for an environmentally friendly car, the real issue becomes driving down the combined cost of the product and the fuel it uses, while making it appealing/sexy to the consumer. What does this mean for the adoption of electric vehicles? It’s hard to tell, and there are so many factors at play:
• The price of gasoline versus electricity
• The range that a certain EV provides and the lack of convenience and freedom that this implies
• The fuel-efficiency of the gas-powered car in question. If your car gets 54 MPG, the fuel cost argument is far weaker than it is at 25 MPG
Perhaps the most interesting thing in the presentation is the way the very technology that improves the range and overall functionality in electric vehicles is simultaneously improving hybrids, mild hybrids, and internal combustion engines. It’s complicated out there.
On a related note, I announced happily a couple of months ago that a deal on our list of renewable energy investment opportunities closed, and it happens to involve an electric truck, the development of which continues to evolve nicely.
Here’s an idea a friend sent me that would re-invent Las Vegas’ transportation system. He writes: “Google is said to be involved, as is Tesla, probably a few other surprises before it is over.”
It’s glitzy, but it doesn’t certainly strike me as terribly viable; I can’t imagine that it’s really being considered seriously. Most people visiting Vegas (who don’t drive there from California) fly in and take taxis; they’re cheap and ubiquitous.
What Vegas really needs is high-speed rail getting to it, and good mass transit on The Strip, downtown, and to the airport.
