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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Green patents have been tracked since 2002 by the Cleantech Group of Heslin Rothenberg Farley & Mesiti. The 2009 annual report of the Clean Energy Patent Growth Index (CEPGI), published quarterly, confirms that it was a record year for green tech.

The number of patents in 2009 grew by 200 over 2008; the chart below illustrates the explosive growth. Solar soared up 60% and biomass up 260% over last year. Hybrid/electric vehicle and fuel cells were up 20%. Geothermal was steady with only one more patent than last year, while tidal and hydroelectric decreased in 2009.

(Chart courtesy of the Cleantech Group.)

The U.S. holds about half of the world’s clean energy patents since 2002, as depicted below, with Japan and Germany running in second and third place for total renewable energy patents. However, when it comes to the category of hybrid/electric vehicle patents, Japan leads the world with 49% and the U.S. at 39%.

Fuel Cell Patents Lead All Categories

The leader in all green tech sectors continues to be fuel cells, as seen in the chart below, again, courtesy of the Clean Tech Group. Solar’s increase brought it on par with wind patents this year.

Granting of patents is considered an important measure of activity and resources being devoted to new innovations. Patents demonstrate that serious efforts and advances of value are being made to bring forward technologies, one would hope, for the eventual benefit of all. CEPGI tracks U.S. patents in the area of solar, wind, hybrid/electric vehicles, fuel cells, hydroelectric, tidal/wave, geothermal, biomass and other clean renewable energy technologies.

This article concludes tomorrow.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

In a surprising announcement in March 2010, Dr. Ibrahim Nashawi of Kuwait University and colleagues released a study that suggests that world conventional crude oil will peak as early as 2014 — a decade or three earlier than other parties have estimated. The findings were published in the American Chemical Society’s magazine Energy & Fuels.

 The term “Peak Oil” refers to the point in time when global production has reached its maximum and will start to decline (represented by a bell curve) — thus having bearing on the point at which the oil supply being pulled from earth will not meet oil demand and consumption. Peak Oil is about production of a finite, nonrenewable energy source which is subject to depletion. In fact, oil production has grown almost every year of the last century.

What is Peak Oil?

Dr. M. King Hubbert, an American geologist and oil expert shown above, conducted extensive studies and then developed a model that became known as Hubbert’s Peak. (Photo courtesy of “Hubbert Tribute” at channelinghubbert.com). From his work, he predicted in the 1950’s that the U.S. oil production would peak in the early 1970’s. Although the professor was ridiculed at the time he released the study, he was essentially right. The U.S. never produced more oil than it did in the early 1970’s — and the country’s oil did peak.
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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon in a television studio in Ventura, interviewing Plug-In America vice president and co-founder Paul Scott. Paul had generously committed the time, and drove his Toyota RAV-4 EV up from Santa Monica for the occasion. I hope to have the interview chopped up into 3 – 4 minute segments and up on YouTube shortly. A still shot from the studio is below.

I walked away from the process far more hopeful and optimistic than I was when I first sat down. Here’s why:
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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Craig Shields interviews Paul Scott as part of the TV series, “The 2GreenEnergy Video Report.” This is the complete 30 minute interview. There are also short clips of this interview available by searching for “Paul Scott” on the 2GreenEnergy.com website.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been working on a new book on renewables, which is just about completed — it’s largely based upon interviews of some of the top 25 minds in the renewable energy industry. I plan the main title of the book to be: RENEWABLE ENERGY: FACTS AND FANTASIES, as it addresses the tough realities of clean energy from a wide range of perspectives: technological, economic, and political.

If I may ask a quick favor, I need some help determining the subtitle.  Please click the following link and select your choice for a subtitle.

Title: RENEWABLE ENERGY: FACTS AND FANTASIES

Subtitle #1) Examining the Technological, Economic, and Political Implications of Mankind’s Most Important Challenge

Subtitle #2) Interviews with 25 Subject-Matter Experts

Subtitle #3) Exploring the New Energy “Triumvirate”: Technology, Economics, and Politics

Subtitle #4) How Proper Direction in Clean Energy Will Prevent the Immanent Collapse of our Standard of Living

Please write your preference in the comments below.  Minimally, I’d love your feedback on what you consider to be your favorite subtitle.  If you are also able to provide a sequence from best to worse, that would be even more helpful.

Finally, if you wish to suggest an alternative title, please do so.

Thanks.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

PhotobucketOne of my most important jobs here at 2GreenEnergy is speaking with the few dozen people who call or write each week looking for help with their clean energy projects. I conduct these interviews with an eye toward helping out in some fashion in any of the wide range of disciplines that is represented by our Associates: engineering, IP protection, raising capital, etc. But in truth, my first thought is to look at the caller’s problem as a marketing challenge. In the words of a friend of mine, “I’ve never seen a business problem for which more sales revenue was not the solution.”

In particular, I find myself repeating the same advice: conduct market research. Whether you do it yourself or outsource it to a team like ours, you need to find a rigorous, disciplined way to develop a profound understanding of your target customer segments.

Establish market demand — by segment. What do various kinds of people want? Why do they want it? How and where do they want to buy it? How are their workstyles and playstyles changing in ways that are most relevant to the matter at hand? What are the gut-wrenching emotional issues that are keeping them up at night – and how does what you’re offering address those topics?

I was looking at an old project database the other day and had a realization that made me feel kind of, well, old. Since I started out in the early 1980s, I’ve done more than 800 market research projects — for clients on five continents: IBM, H-P, Sony, 3M, Xerox, Philips, Pioneer, Magnavox, Mitsubishi, Porsche, AT&T, FedEx – not to mention hundreds of smaller, venture-capitalized start-ups and the like. From those research efforts were sprung some of the most well-known – and (at the risk of appearing immodest) most successful, highest-ROI campaigns the business-to-business marketing world has even seen.

If you’d like to discuss your venture in the context of market research, please don’t hesitate to contact us; we’d love to chat about your specific mission.

In fact, feel free to call right now; just hit “contact.” I’m in the office all this week — on and off the phone — as usual.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

“China missed the first industrial revolution, missed the computer revolution, and the biology revolution – they want to be a leader in the green revolution,” said Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy. (Scientific American, “Is ARPA-E Enough to Keep the U.S. on the Cutting edge of a Clean Energy Revolution?” March 3, 2010).

And indeed they are rushing ahead. From nowhere, they are now the third largest producer in the wind power market and one of the fastest-growing in domestic wind installations. For the fourth consecutive year, says the World Wind Energy Report 2009, China doubled its wind installations, which is no small feat. While the U.S. was number one in world total installed capacity with China number two, China had the most share of new capacity in 2009 (13,800 MW to America’s 9,922 MW). The following chart, courtesy the World Wind Energy Association (WWEA) illustrates new capacity in 2009.
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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

PhotobucketYou may have noticed a few posts on the subject of corruption. And coincidentally, my friend Mike Austin of Blue Planet Almanac wrote earlier today to alert us to a website on the subject. I call your attention to Transparency — a wonderful organization that, for 15 years, has been helping people understand and deal with corrupt regimes. Part of this is the “CPI” – Corruption Perception Index — a quantitative rating of the level of corruption that 180 countries around the world are perceived to suffer under.

Are you curious? Where do you think the United States sits with respect to the others in terms of perceived corruption in the public sector? Check it out.

Of course, this is all about the perception of corruption — as opposed to its reality. People perceive all kinds of yo-yo things — even unaided by a media that is deliberately distorting the picture. Still, I find it interesting.

by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

PhotobucketBlue Planet Almanac founder and host Mike Austin was gracious enough to have me live on his radio show a few weeks ago. For anyone who would like to hear the podcast, here it is. Click on February 22.

Mike is a fantastic guy with a great mission.  Best of all, he has and a warm and calming on-air demeanor — a good thing to have around, since I’m sometimes not 100% calm on live radio and television.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) introduced controversial legislation on March 3, 2010 that could affect renewable energy and specifically wind. He says that stimulus money is going abroad and wants to suspend the program; his legislation wants the law fixed so all funds stay in the U.S. If this legislation passes, stimulus funds will have a “Buy American” clause that applies to any government project that is awarded funding.

Schumer specifically took aim at a large wind farm project in Texas. Announced last October, the project is a joint venture between Texas-based Cielo Wind Power, China’s Shenyang Power Group and the U.S. Renewable Energy Group. Cielo and U.S. Renewable Energy Group own 51% of the joint-venture. The project is expected to cost about $1.5 billion, and would be one of the largest wind farms in the U.S. When complete, the 600 MW project could generate enough electricity for 180,000 homes.

Cielo President Walt Hornaday said the company has not applied for stimulus funds, and that at least 70 percent of each turbine will be manufactured in the U.S. Vice Mayor Yang Yazhou oversees environmental protection and economic growth in the city of Shenyang. He said in a press release on October 29th, 2009 that the project would demonstrate “…how the two countries can share both  the risks and the benefits in a huge wind power project.” (Reuters, Washington D.C., October 29, 2009).

On the morning of March 12th, plans were announced that two of the players Schumer has targeted, U.S. Renewable Energy Group and A-Power Energy Generation Systems, Ltd. (a shareholder in Shenyang Power and China’s leading provider of power generation systems) are to build a large wind turbine plant in Nevada along with America Nevada Group. The 320,000 +/- square foot property would employ about 1,000 Nevada workers. It would supply turbines for the Texas Cielo joint venture project as well as supply customers in North and South America. (Las Vegas Sun, “Plant to Bring Green-job Windfall”, by Stephanie Tavares. March 12, 2010). Will this news dampen the firestorm started by Schumer?
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