by Richard T. Stuebi The concept of an “audit” is something that is inherently, well, unsettling. The word itself implies that you might have done something wrong, and someone is coming to catch you and punish you. For sure, no-one wants to face the prospect of an IRS audit. Of course, that’s not the sole [...]
Most of my friends know I’m not a huge fan of EV startups. They take massive amounts of capital, the end customer (i.e. you and I) tends to be very sophisticated, demanding, and a pain in the neck, the technology is extremely challenging and I don’t believe the startups understand their long term costs as [...]
National Research Council (5/19/10) The National Research Council issued new three reports emphasizing why the U.S. should act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and develop a national strategy to adapt to the inevitable impacts of climate change. The reports by the Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and National [...]
by Richard T. Stuebi While it is increasingly recognized that subsidies for corn-based ethanol are bad policy, a nod must be given to C. Ford Runge, a professor at the University of Minnesota, for his pithy and merciless analysis in his note “Biofuel Backlash” published in the May/June issue of Technology Review. In the space [...]
It’s been a big week in Greenhouse Gas regulation land. Huge boost for cleantech sales executives and afficianados everywhere. EPA announces a slightly delayed and somewhat more limited GHG regulation rule. Starting in July 2011, all facilities greater than 75,000 tons per year in emissions will have to get GHG permits. And John Kerry and Joe [...]
U.S. DOT April 2010 Report to Congress A wealth of potential solutions, from electric cars, to better transit, to reduced VMT, are detailed in the recent Department of Transportation’s report to Congress. Not only is the report rich with promising climate action, solutions are detailed to address U.S. energy security, with 97 percent of our [...]
by Richard T. Stuebi The oil spill in the Gulf continues to astound. It’s now reported that BP (NYSE: BP) has spent $350 million so far on clean-up, and that the total tab will run $2-14 billion. Maybe BP can make up the billions in lost shareholder value via other dubious means: Bookmaker.com is running [...]
I am watching the Chris Matthews show. There was a comment about American’s being nostalgic for their childhood when families stayed together and there were no global problems. The problem with that point of view is that it is not true today, it may never have been true. We are in a situation now where [...]
Barrons had an interesting take on biofuels from garbage: http://online.barrons.com/article/SB127327100968888619.html I have been following this movement for some time and there does seem to be an extraordinary amount of capital and brainpower going into this space. People talk a lot about ethanol and I am a big of ethanol, mostly because I like the constiuency [...]
By John Addison (5/4/10) National Tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico Two hundred thousand gallons of oil spill daily into the Gulf of Mexico, destroying the beaches of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. News viewers witness oil explosions, fires, and destruction. Containment chemicals are dumped where fish were caught for our dinner tables. Billions [...]
by Richard T. Stuebi In the past month, we’ve witnessed two major catastrophes associated with U.S. production of fossil fuels — the BP Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion killing 11 workers in the Gulf of Mexico, and the Massey Upper Big Branch coal mine explosion claiming 29 lives in West Virginia. It’s easy to vilify [...]
By John Addison (4/29/10) The United States now has a new source of clean electricity for homes, buildings, and industrial stationary power and also for the growing use of electricity in rail and electric cars. Wind power is especially available at night when we hope to eventually charge millions of vehicles. Global wind energy capacity [...]
A couple weeks ago, I took the liberty on this blog to write a open letter in support of my good friend, Christiana Figueres to be the next Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC. While that selection process is ongoing for another couple weeks it appears, it’s been inspiring in its own right to see the [...]
First Sarah Palin, now Robert Bryce taking pot shots around things they barely understand: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/23/AR2010042302220.html 1) Solar and Wind take up too much land: If you just focus on rooftop solar and buffer land at airports, brownfields, wastewater treatment facilities, and military bases you could power the US almost 2 times over with just solar [...]
To those you who missed it, below is the link to a web panel on the state of climate change policies and developments that I participated in for Brightalk today. The panelists: – Emilie Mazzacurati, Manager, Carbon Market Research North America, Point Carbon – Chris Busch, Policy Director, Center for Resource Solutions- Nicholas Bianco, Senior [...]
Every year since we launched Cleantech Blog this week marks a massive inflow of green press releases, phone calls, announcements and interview requests. It always seems oddly out of place, and anything important we have to say always just seems lost in the press of Earth Day. In reality this week is a week for [...]
So, with recent changes in my professional life, my family and I made the decision to relocate to the Bay Area. There were a lot of reasons, but the main one is my general perception that my world (carbon trading) and their world (cleantech and information technology) rarely meet. Indeed, the maestro of this blog, [...]
Ride sharing has long been a popular way to commute to work; people save money, have some company, and travel faster in high-occupancy lanes. At colleges, universities, and major events, people are using social networks to hook-up and ride together. More recently, sharing cars by the hour has allowed hundreds of thousands to free themselves [...]
by Richard T. Stuebi As a class, new energy technologies have proven to be quite difficult to successfully commercialize. Often, they must surmount substantial technical, scientific and engineering risks to get from concept to the market. And, to prove at scale and expand to broad application, very large sums of capital are typically required. Accordingly, [...]
By Sanford J. Selman In its majority opinion of January 21, 2010 (Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission), the US Supreme Court overturned decades-old rules prohibiting unlimited spending by corporations and unions on election advertising. This ruling is certain to have a far reaching impact as it gives complete freedom to corporate interests to use [...]
