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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I wanted to write a follow-on to yesterday’s post on Renewable Energy in the Mainstream. From a business perspective, will there be people who become fantastically wealthy from the migration to renewables — and from sustainability more generally? You bet. The only realy question is who they are going to be.

I recall the cynical bumper sticker from when I was a kid: “Expect solar energy when the Rockefellers get exclusive rights to the sun.” In truth, I certainly expect a great many of the names of old wealth to reappear as key players here. But I also feel that this is an opportunity not seen since the Gold Rush 160 years ago for people of modest means to get involved.

In large measure, this is the focus of the information products that readers will see appearing on the site over the next couple of months: providing a path for tens of millions of people to learn about how they can most easily and effectively participate in the coming multi-trillion dollar market. Expect to see some high-priced newsletters (that cost a fortune to develop), specifically for high-end investors. But also, please look for some extremely low-priced books and newsletters that are aimed at helping everyone understand this rapidly evolving marketplace: the technologies that are most likely to win and lose, the most important economic trends, and the polical battles being waged every day that have huge bearing on the ultimate deployment of renewables.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

A reader in New Zealand wants to discuss his new generation internal combustion engine (ICE), designed to take full advantage of the high power density available with the two/stroke engine principle while overcoming the inherent limitations of the conventional design. Sure, I’d love to know more about that, and I eagerly anticipate his call. But I have to say that this technology appears to combine two things of which I’m deeply skeptical: ICEs and hydrogren.

I like to think I’m good at keeping an open mind, but I’m afraid that there is very little to get excited about in the ICE department these days. With very passing day, it’s looking more like we’ll be seeing a lot more electric motors — with whatever form of onboard energy storage we can muster. But again, I’m willing to eat my words. And I must say there is an incredibly flurry of bright ideas coming fro New Zealand.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

PhotobucketGuest blogger Garth notes:

In the past, many people spent the extra dollars on green products mostly so they could feel good about themselves. That changed with the economic down turn and the number of green purchasers dramatically dropped.

Here’s my take on this: only a small percentage of people will pay more for green products purely to feel good about themselves – and you’re right: the worse the economy, the smaller that number is. But renewable energy and sustainability more generally will soon rule the day, due to a convergence of laws and incentives from the public sector, and an enormous amount of investment from the private sector, including the Global 500. The handwriting’s on the wall. Even the Chevrons of the world are working their butts off to develop new energy solutions. Only the lunatic fringe sees sustainability as a subject for the anti-capitalist counter-culture. I honestly believe that it’s on its way to becoming a paradigm for all things in our modern world — at both the consumer level: e.g., shopping, eating, vacationing — and business: R&D, manufacturing, supply chain logistics, etc.

Yet so many important questions remain. The confluence of constantly improving technologies, macro- and micro-economic issues, and power politics — in Washington and around the world — makes this whole thing an extremely complicated calculus. That’s why I find this so interesting — there are hundreds of different vectors hitting it from all sides.

More here.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

The Five Rules of Alternative Energy Investing by Bill PaulAs I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’m electrified by Bill Paul – by his energy level, by his passion for New Energy, and by his love of great writing. I guess that’s what 20 years as a staff writer in energy at the Wall Street Journal will do for you — I’m sure there’s always an editor who wants your stuff a little “tighter and brighter.”

In any case, I’ll never forget our first meeting, over lunch at the Newark NJ Amtrak station. I was so engaged at this man’s insights into the multi-trillion dollar world of clean energy that I could hardly eat. “Northern Africa will soon be an enormous opportunity for the few people who are really paying attention to all this. Do you know what’s happening in the stock markets in Algiers and Tripoli?” he asked.  “No, not precisely,” I admitted.  “To be honest, I thought the only markets in places like that were open-air — filled with rugs and chickens.”

Kidding aside, we’re quite proud to have Bill here at 2GreenEnergy. Anyone who wants a taste of his insights should download his free report: 5 Rules of Effective Alternative Energy Investing.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

PhotobucketI’m trying to learn about biomimicry, learning from and then emulating natural forms, processes, and ecosystems to create more sustainable and healthier human technologies and designs.  And this learning process just led me to one of the most profound experiences of my life; I hope it means as much to you.  Please check this out talk by Janine Benyus, founder of the Biomimicry Institute.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Andrew, very smart fellow, writes:

So Craig, it sounds like you are starting to believe that the “big” corporations (at least some of the automotive OEMS and utilities) are not actually devils. If that is correct — welcome to the real world. Now we need to work on your double-standard of calling the profit motivated green movement “good” while calling the profit motivated energy companies “bad.” …..

It seems to me that there is a clear distinction between entrepreneurship and our version of capitalism. We all see the inevitable conflict between the pioneering and independent spirit of entrepreneur, and the entrenched monopolies that normally develop as the end-point result of capitalism, that make every effort to pocket, crush or sabotage the most potentially competitive entrepreneurs by any means at their disposal — and generally triumph.  Examples like Nikolai Tesla’s DC power, Henry Ford’s original ethanol engines, the Tucker automobile, the Red Car trolleys of Los Angeles, and the metal hydride battery — show the harm that dominant power structures will do to creative thinking, but will dine richly on slave labor, child labor, concentration camp labor, prison labor and sweatshops.  Meanwhile, we have to live with their rampant waste and pollution of ecological resources, unsafe and inefficient vehicles, clinically worthless medicines (to the exclusion of curative research), and harmful food-like products that simultaneously fatten and starve.

Having said all this, I’m wondering if there isn’t some real change afoot.  In particular, I’m very impressed with the sincerity I see in a great number of corporations in their embrace of sustainability efforts.  I’m hoping that the ubiquity of information online has led us to a world where evil deeds are just too visible — and thus not worth the risk —  where CEOs who lie go to prison (under SOX), etc. 

It’s an interesting time to be alive — and watch different vectors: man’s basic goodness, greed, shame, and laws attempting to restrict corporate behavior — all hammering into one another.

Thanks for writing, Andrew.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

A number of politicians and economists who seem to think that “going green” would represent a huge financial burden to Corporate America need to pay closer attention to Wal-Mart. For this giant retailer, going green means appealing to shoppers 25-35 for whom protecting the environment is a given. That’s what Wal-Mart chairman Lee Scott recently said.

But Craig Shields adds:

That’s fine, but a friend of mine told me this story:

At a recent webinar at which Wal-Mart presented its “sustainability index,” someone asked, “Well this is terrific, but suppose Pampers score low on the index — which, of course, they will — after all, they’re disposable diapers! Are you saying you won’t sell Pampers?” He said you could have heard a pin drop.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

PhotobucketJames Woolsey wrote an interesting opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal this morning. Mr. Woolsey is a former director of the CIA, has served in four administrations, is a foreign policy expert and Rhodes Scholar. He is also dedicated to renewable energy and energy security – in short, moving away from dependence on fossil fuels. Woolsey is a venture partner with VantagePoint, chairs the Strategic Advisory Group of Paladin Capital Group and is Counsel at Goodwin Proctor specializing in alternative energy and security. There are numerous posts on this blog on Woolsey – so readers have no shortage of material on the man.

In the opinion piece, “How to End America’s Addition to Oil,” Woolsey plants the seed of urgency by reminding us that oil is now solidly above $80 per barrel, moving consistently higher over the last five quarters. “If oil reaches $125 a barrel again…then approximately half the wealth in the world…will be controlled by OPEC nations,” he says. He has been sounding the alarm for years, as have others, about the issues of oil dependence.
(more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Probably next Thursday, Earth Day, the Kerry-Graham-Liberman climate-change bill will be announced by Obama at the White House. Every “green” stock traded on Wall Street should benefit, although the impact could be only temporary. Expect electric utilities to sell off, along with oil and gas marketers. Look for Republicans to jump all over the likely 15-cent-a-gallon increase at the pump, as well as an increase in everyone’s monthly electric bills.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

Despite the current economic malaise and the stalemate over “capping” carbon, the global wind power industry will grow 160% between now and 2014, according to a just-released forecast from the Global Wind Energy Council. China and the US will lead the way. While the obvious investment play here is the wind turbine manufacturing crowd (Vestas, Nordex, Gamesa, etc.), the less obvious play is the group of companies that will have to build thousands of miles of new transmission lines connecting all this wind power to the grid — companies such as Siemens and ABB.

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