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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

To its everlasting credit, Toyota changed the transportation world forever when it introduced the Prius – the first production hybrid electric, making use of a battery to improve a car’s gas mileage. But that was over ten years ago — a different epoch – maybe even an era – in automotive time.  What has Toyota done since?

I hate to sound unkind, and I know I’m oversimplifying. But the truth is this: very little.

Now, in reaction to the rest of the auto world’s having leapfrogged Toyota several times, we see the introduction of the plug-in version of the Prius, slated for 2013, and perhaps available in 2012. Its highlight? A tiny battery that will provide drivers with 13 miles of battery-only range before the internal combustion engine kicks in and starts burning the gas in its tank. In fact, the battery holds just seven kilowatt-hours, the energy equivalent of less than a quart of gasoline.

The result? A marginal improvement in gas mileage, more than a decade later.  I’m not sure that qualifies Toyota as the “visionary leader” it claims to be.

In fact, here’s your new value proposition, Prius loyalists: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Do you remember the wonderful 1987 movie “Wall Street” with Gordon Gecko (Michael Douglas) and Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen)? Well, I just got off the phone from a cold call from an aggressive young promoter from Morgan Stanley who brought the whole terrific story rushing back to me.

I sympathized with the kid – in his 20s or 30s, trying to make a living – perhaps a big break – in an attempt to establish a relationship with a big-time Wall Street investor like me (joke). But the conversation was no joke at all.

“What is your position on oil?” I asked.

“They make money, and that won’t change anytime soon,” he said. “It’s the world’s most valuable commodity.”

“But what are the fundamentals (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I just came back from an afternoon of presentations at the Advanced Auto Battery Consortium in local Pasadena, CA, which I found quite interesting.

I don’t like to come off as overly skeptical or suspicious. But have you ever had the thought that the presenter you’re watching had formulated his agenda long ago, and has since been working like a dog to find data points to support it, while scrupulously avoiding obvious other data that may conflict?

It was clear that the first speaker wanted to point out that gasoline-powered cars are going to be around for a very long time. He pointed out that the cost of gas, when figured against the CPI (consumer price index), wasn’t really that expensive at all. A few minutes later, he left us with his big conclusion: people are generally risk-averse, and the EV adoption curve will be very slow. “Are people going to want to invest $30,000 in the automotive equivalent of Betamax video?” he intoned. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Uncategorized

Here are the results of a survey a friend of mine conducted of a few hundred random businesspeople regarding their stand on “green issues.” Using his (really cool) Internet presentation technology called PresenterNet, he asked people, “How important are green issues to you?” and requested that they rate themselves on a scale from 1 – 10. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Will EVs be as popular as the iPhone? That’s what Henrik Fisker says, the man behind the 4-door luxury Fisker Karma. The Karma will start production in March and is slated to show up in U.S. showrooms in April. The MSRP is $95,000, but Fisker points out that the starting price on new technology is always high, but descends quickly as manufacturing processes scale up.

Popular as the iPhone?  I too expect a robust adoption curve for electric vehicles, though I refrain from hyper-dramatic statements. Of course, I share neither Fisker’s financial exposure nor his super-bombastic personality. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Geothermal

I have to say that the hosts of these radio shows on which I’m a guest ask some good questions. The fellow this morning, Rodd Stowell of Statewide Nevada (syndicated to 150 stations) asked a great deal about geothermal. “This sounds really promising,” he said. “One local plant started off with four holes, and now they have 12. What’s not to like about that?”

I explained that the answer is actually implied in the question. “Note that they didn’t know what they’d find when they drilled their first hole; it’s oddly reminiscent of oil exploration 100 years ago. If technology existed to tell them what they’d find in advance, they would have drilled all 12 simultaneously. But there was a chance they’d come up empty. Not only do you have to find heat, but you have to find porosity between two points far underground, and that’s iffy,” I replied. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I have two radio interviews lined up for tomorrow in which I’ll be interviewed about my book.  I’m pleased to note that requests are coming in at a fairly good pace, though I don’t take too much credit for that personally.  Obviously, it’s good that we have a hot topic here; I’d hate to be trying to drum up interviews to talk about risotto or the social behavior of the speckled trout. 

One of my slots tomorrow is as a guest on a program called Brainstormin’.  The host?  None other than Billy the Brain. 

Yikes.  Better run out for some ginko biloba.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Will renewables dominate our energy future? Without a doubt.

Who will get rich in the process? Now there’s a good question.

Here’s a post I put up on EnvironmentalLeader.com that attempts an answer.

I like these folks at Environmental Leader for what it’s worth.  Based in Denver, they’ve done a really good job at building a wide cross-section of content on the subject.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

Abengoa Solar announced recently that it has finalized $1.45 billion in financing to build the world’s largest parabolic trough concentrating solar power plant. Called Solana, the new project will be located about 70 miles southwest of Phoenix, Arizona. Abengoa signed a power purchase agreement with Arizona Public Service Co to. buy the energy produced by Solana for a 30 year term. Arizona Public Service Co is Arizona’s largest electric utility.

About 1,700 new construction jobs are being created with the project, and more than 85 are permanent jobs. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

A big part of the burgeoning cleantech market is education, as millions of people begin to ponder the process of bringing themselves up to speed on the basics of wind turbines, solar panels, EV charging infrastructure, etc.

Each week I run across more players in this field, including frequent 2GreenEnergy blogger Dennis Miles, with his Electric Vehicle Technical Institute Inc., a trade school focused on training EV technicians.

Here’s another hot new entrant: Ecotech Institute, which bills itself as “the first and only college focused entirely on preparing America’s workforce for careers in renewable energy and sustainable design.” Today, they announced that students are now taking classes in its brand new facility in Aurora, CO.

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