Another year, another wringing of the hands over tax credits and incentives for clean technology. Lobbyists and vendors in the U.S. are once again singing the blues, calling for continued and expanding government investments in clean technology. At the same time, political challengers continue their Solyndra hootenanny, raking the current administration for how it spent hundreds of [...]
“The Geopolitics of Energy”: that was the title of a talk given at the Opportunity Crudes conference in Houston last week by Guy Caruso of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It’s an endlessly fascinating and urgent topic, as very few sectors of the economy shape the world in which we live as much [...]
“Home Performance” used to sound like something musically-inclined parents forced their children to do in living rooms. It’s catching on, slowly, for what it really is, and that is tightening up houses – with an ear for proper ventilation, humidity controls and other riffs on indoor air quality, and fuel-efficient climate controls. (There are geographic [...]
Last week, I attended a breakfast hosted by the Michigan Venture Capital Association, at which the President of the National Venture Capital Association, Mark Heesen, made some comments and fielded Q&A about the state of the U.S. venture capital sector. Mark presented a mixed picture. On the one hand, the VC industry is clearly contracting: [...]
It’s becoming increasingly clear to me that cleantech, in large part, is actually materials tech. “Nanotechnology” has some vogue as a term, but fundamentally nanotech is materials technology, and materials technology is broader than nanotech (altering materials at a molecular or atomic scale). Materials are at the core of most of the required innovations to help solve [...]
Gertie is a camper — a “short” bus with a powerful International engine. In 2006, I drove her from Colorado to Maine while chronicling in this blog a quest for biodiesel fuel. This week, Gertie found a new home with the Maine Earth Walk Project. Her owner, the organizer and publicist for Maine Earth Walk, [...]
For anyone involved in water desalination, the following quote from John F. Kennedy will be very familiar: “If we could produce fresh water from salt water at a low cost, that would indeed be a great service to humanity, and would dwarf any other scientific accomplishment.” - President John F. Kennedy, 1962 In many ways, we [...]
With the Solyndra debacle and other bankruptcies (e.g., Evergreen Solar, SpectraWatt), and a 65% decline in the MAC Global Solar Energy Index (SUNIDX), 2011 was a bad year for the solar industry. Now into 2012, the hits just keep on coming. Last week, the long-time solar energy poster-child First Solar (NASDAQ: FSLR) announced it was closing its [...]
At the foot of the Flatirons along the Front Range of the Colorado Rockies, Boulder is one beautiful town. With the University of Colorado and the region’s unparalleled outdoor activities, Boulder attracts many intellectual environmentalists. Of course, like everyone else, this set of people needs to make a buck to pay the bills – there [...]
One upside to the economic downturn is the influx of finance and technology professional entering the sustainability sector. They are ubiquitous. (“And they are everywhere, too,” as an old friend used to say.) These professionals bring to programmatic endeavors around slow food, climate change, recycling and the myriad elements of sustainability not only valuable expertise, [...]
In late January, a significant solar storm unleashed enormous amounts of energy into space. Here on Earth, warnings were issued that the bursts of solar radiation could significantly affect a lot of the things that we 21st Century humans take for granted, such as telecommunications, air travel, and power grid stability. Alas, in the event, [...]
excerpt from original post at Clean Fleet Report With gasoline prices over $4 per gallon in many states, Ford is rolling out a variety of exciting hybrid cars and electric cars. In April, consumers will start buying the new Ford Focus Electric. Yesterday, I rode in this beautiful compact hatchback. I silently cruised down the [...]
In residential building science, the standard (accepted) method for determining air leakage is to depressurize the house, and use an infrared, or thermographic, camera to identify temperature differences of surfaces. The infrared image — you’ve seen it, all yellow and red and green — makes a dramatic, colorful impression, and is a great tool to [...]
from original post at Clean Fleet Report California already has over 10,000 of the new electric vehicles on the road and 2,000 public charge points. Over 10,000 new electric charge points will be added to give EV drivers added range. The charge stations will be built by NRG with private money, not public funds. This [...]
The consulting firm Deloitte recently released a report entitled “Every Company Is An Energy Company (And If It Isn’t, It Will Be Soon)”. The main message is that, with increasing energy prices, it will be imperative for every company to consider how to reduce energy consumption in its buildings and its shipping/fleet, as well as [...]
This excerpt from my book is a tribute to Dr. Sherwood Rowland who was awarded the Nobel Prize for his co-discovery of how CFCs were destroying our atmosphere. He died on March 10, 2012 at the age of 84. His wife Joan survives him. They would have celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this June. He [...]
On March 1 in Chicago, I attended the Clean Energy Challenge, a business plan competition among energy tech ventures from the Midwest, convened by the Clean Energy Trust. With $250,000 of prizes sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the Challenge was the culmination of several weeks of screening and coaching of over 100 ventures from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, [...]
About ten years ago, my employer was a large investor-owned electric and gas utility in Denver. I was hired to manage the marketing of new energy technologies. Problem was, we didn’t have any new energy technologies. Not really. Our little team of two (plus a consultant) traveled to Minnesota to talk with Honeywell about smart [...]
from original post at Clean Fleet Report The United States is reducing its dependency on oil as we now consuming 18.3 million barrels a day, down from our peak of 21 million barrels a few years ago. Record use of public transit is a major factor – less solo driving in gridlock and we use [...]
It’s virtually impossible (for me, at least) to understand or keep track of the organization of the U.S. Department of Energy. And so, when I encountered the booth at the recent Energy Innovation Summit (as reported last week) for the generic-sounding DOE group called “Office of Science”, I had to stop and ask to find out [...]
