I’m happy to report that Jack, a man of great accomplishment and integrity, will be playing a leading role in one of the huge waste-to-energy projects that I’m so excited about — a project in which 3000 tons of municipal solid waste a day will be converted to 130 megawatts of electricity; this is summarized in the video below.  

Please drop me a line if you know of anyone who may also like to play an investment role here.

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Listening to The Writer’s Almanac just now, as I try to do every morning, I learned that it’s Arthur Schopenhauer’s birthday – a man best known, I believe, for having taken pessimism out of the hands of the amateurs and developing the gloomiest possible perspective into a true art form. And from his portrait here, he certainly looks the part, doesn’t he?

Here are a few of his observations:

• Man has no free will; the sense we have to the contrary is an illusion.
• People cannot be improved.
• Life is essentially suffering, caused by the desire for the unobtainable.
• Death is the aim and purpose of life.
• To live is to suffer, the triumph of death is inevitable, existence is a constant dying.

Holy mackerel. Thanks a bunch for the wisdom.

Fortunately, there are those among us who see a meaning a purpose to our lives. I take enormous satisfaction in my attempts – some admittedly more successful than others – to make the world a better place. I have to think that the vast majority of advocates for sustainability, peace and justice share that perspective with me.

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This year, more car companies have released eco-friendly cars, which means more options for eco-friendly consumers. From electric cars to vehicles that use alternative fuel, here are the best green cars coming out for next year.

1. Honda Civic Natural Gas – MPG: City 27/Hwy 38; From $26,155

This car was named as the Green Car of the Year by Green Car Journal. This Honda Civic runs on natural gas, which costs less than normal fuel and has less of an impact on the environment. This car even gets you HOV lane access in several U.S. states. The car features low-end torque and a short wheelbase, so that you can zoom around corners and have a smooth ride on the highway.

2. Nissan Leaf – Range: Up to 100 miles; From $35,200

The Nissan leaf is a fully electric car perfect for the family. It has quick response time and solid breaking capabilities, which makes it great for city driving. It has won several awards for its green technology, safety, and great value.

3. Ford Focus Electric – Range: Up to 100 miles; From $39,200

This is Ford’s first all-electric car and the closest competition to the Nissan Leaf. However, it features a faster on-board charger and highly customizable displays with the MyFord Touch system. This system helps users monitor various features in the car and find electric charging stations while they’re on the go.

4. VW Passat TDI – MPG: City 30/Hwy 40; From $25,995

While diesel fuel has had a bad rap in the past, the clean diesel fuel that the Passat TDI uses is much cleaner that conventional fuel. It even features an 18.5-gallon tank that can go the distance on long trips. Other benefits of the Passat include its spacious interior, solid breaks, and smooth highway driving.

5. Mitsubishi MiEV – MPG: City 126/Hwy 99; From $29,125

This is the final all-electric car on the list, but its appearance alone sets it apart from the Leaf and the Focus. Despite its small size, its low center of gravity proves stable and solid for driving around corners.These have been available in Europe and Japan for nearly two years and are finally hitting the American markets for 2012. The electric EV version may only have a range of 75 miles, but it is a great vehicle for buzzing around town.

6. Toyota Prius v – MPG: City 44/Hwy 40; From $26,400

The mother of all green cars, the Prius has been updated for 2012. This hybrid vehicle is a roomier version of the original Prius, which makes it a great family car. It may not have the greatest acceleration, but drivers have the option of choosing between three “power modes” when they need to pass other cars or climb a hill.

7. Lexus CT 200h – MPG: City 43/Hwy 40; From $29,120

This hybrid adds a bit of power and luxury to what most people expect from a “green” car. Its Sport mode gives the throttle a boost of power so that you can pass a Prius or two. Even though this cuts down on the fuel mileage, it provides a sporty appeal for weekend drives.

8. Chevrolet Volt – MPG: City 95/Hwy 93 Electric (35/40 Gas); From $39,145

The Chevy Volt is an extended-range electric car that combines battery power with a gas engine. It can therefore go much further than most electric models with a 300-mile range, which could justify its higher price. It also features excellent safety ratings and smooth handling.

9. 2012 Honda Insight EX with Navigation – MPG: City 41/Hwy 44; From $23,540

This hybrid has been updated in a number of areas. Its sleek styling, quiet interior, and navigation system enhance the quality of the ride. It also includes the EcoAssist system, which helps drivers improve fuel efficiency on the road.

10. Ford Fusion Hybrid – MPG: City 41/Hwy 36; From $28,700

The Ford Fusion Hybrid is one of the most popular eco-friendly vehicles on the market. With fuel-efficient driving mixing gas and electric power, it’s possible to go up to 700 miles on a single tank of gas. Another great feature on the Fusion is the LCD screens that help drivers track their performance in a number of ways.

Jesse Harwell is a former private investigator who now owns and manages the site Master of Homeland Security.  It is a resource for students looking to earn a Master’s Degree in Homeland Security.

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I had breakfast when I was back in New York last week with my friend and colleague Tom Konrad of AltEnergyStocks.com, during which we talked about all the “long-hanging fruit” for reducing the environmental impact associated with generating and consuming energy.  Here’s one of Tom’s ideas that I really like:  making a home energy audit mandatory whenever a house is sold.  What if every home buyer had the equivalent of an EPA miles per gallon sticker — a rating of the energy efficiency of the furnace and the major appliances, as well as a grade for the level of insulation in the walls and roof?  

From my business consulting days, I know that the mere fact of focusing attention on an area is the first step in doing something about it.  Often just quantifying a certain activity and making the data available to management is sufficient to improve the area — even without taking any actual steps to remediate the underlying condition.  

There is no doubt that the same reasoning would come into play here.  For the first time, a home-buyer would be forced to look at the ugly facts: my house in an energy sieve.  If I don’t do  something about this, it’ll cost me a fortune, and contribute to ruining the environment at the same time.

Great thinking, Tom.    

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Every few months, I try to remind myself to write something on Chevron and its overtly criminal behavior in Ecuador.  Those who are keeping track here will recall that, for a period of 26 years, Chevron (then Texaco) deliberately dumped tens of billions of gallons of toxic byproducts of their oil extraction processes directly into Ecuadorian rivers and streams, simply because they thought they would never get caught.  Well, they did — and recently an appellate court upheld an $18 judgement against Chevron, making it appear that perhaps the good guys have won here, and that some level of justice may be done, where the victims (the local people suffering skyrocketing rates of cancer, birth defects, etc.) will be compensated for their losses.  

No such luck.  Instead of remediating his company’s contamination, Chevron CEO John Watson has invested hundreds of millions of dollars on 39 different U.S. law firms in an increasingly futile attempt to evade responsibility for the consequences of this quite deliberate man-made catastrophe.

Linked above is a 15-minute long video that summarizes exactly what happened here — perhaps the single most despicable act in the history of corporate criminality.  

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Though we all want simple solutions, none exist. Currently, transportation is redundant, heavy, bulky, fossil-fuel-reliant, and unaffordable in every sense of the word. But what can be done to invoke things like mass transit, ride-sharing, micro-rentals, and small, light, and inexpensive urban transportation? What can be done to reduce car ownership — or at least the total number of miles driven? How can we encourage walking and bicycling? What about rethinking how and where we live?

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In December’s webinar, I present some of the best business plans I’ve encountered in renewable energy and electric transportation. This is a wide-ranging discussion that includes the ideas of transformative business plans, technical risk, and scaleable businesses, but then gets into specific business arenas: light-duty pick-up trucks, e-bikes, pyrolysis of waste tires, C&D waste processing, pyrolysis of MSW, solar thermal, synthetic fuels, use of off-peak wind energy, compressed air energy storage, zinc-air battery technology, sustainable building products, and hydrokinetics.

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Reg Wessels of South Africa’s Earth Corporation writes about my piece on the uncertainties of investors in renewable energy:

I often watch this debate with dismay, and as a non-American (but hugely supportive), I can’t help being frustrated by the US having to dance with the enemy. Whatever the solution, the free world looks to America with hope and admiration. Was this not the country that had the courage to pool all its resources for common purpose when the smoke had cleared over Pearl Harbor? Is this not the country that leads the world in innovation and technological expertise? Is this not the country that has shown ‘nothing is impossible’?

Reg:  What a good point you raise here. I too wonder where my country has gone wrong, and I have to think I’m not alone here. Since you’re from a land far away, let me explain: the normal debate lines up along the divide between liberals and conservatives.

Oversimplifying for the sake of brevity, our liberals say that the battle was lost because unbridled capitalism favors the greedy and selfish, who have raped and pillaged the world’s land and exploited her people, so that they and their direct descendents could prosper at the expense of the many. Conservatives assert the opposite, that the ruin was caused by those who would restrict these desires, and use law/government to restrain the passions of those most talented, shackling liberty and free enterprise, forming a kind of socialism where the masses mooch off the hard work and productivity of the few.

We don’t seem to be able to find a middle ground. Coincidentally, the piece on which you’ve commented represents such an attempt. All I’m asking government to do is to create a level playing field in which all forms of energy can compete fairly, and then get out of the way. Of course, it’s quite unlikely that this will happen, but I think it’s an idea worth presenting nonetheless.

Thanks for writing.

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Over the few years that I’ve been writing here at 2GreenEnergy.com, I’ve offered a number of suggestions that, if accepted, would create a more level playing field between renewables and fossil fuels. In my recent piece on investor uncertainties in renewable energy, I argued for legislation that would establish a floor on energy prices, thus enabling alternative energy investors protection from price manipulation from the traditional energy industry, designed specifically to put them out of business.

In response, these words from a reader:

I would have argued that a bigger problem than subsidies is that the U.S . grid is operated on principles that are ill-suited to an intermittent source such as wind or solar. For example, Spain runs a centralized national dispatch center that uses wind when it is available, even if that means ordering other types of generation to throttle back. As wind capacity increases, there are a number of problems that wind providers seem reluctant to address.

ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), as an example, has been reluctant to count wind power in certain reliability calculations because the wind providers won’t take responsibility for providing some degree of scheduled power (e.g., a coal plant is going offline in three weeks for scheduled maintenance; wind providers won’t put up the money to guarantee, by buying from other suppliers if necessary, that they will provide a specific level of output while the maintenance goes on). Wind providers have typically received a very large concession in the form of not having to provide reactive load response and frequency control capabilities.

Excellent point. The present-day challenge of integrating renewables on the grid in the U.S. is reminiscent of integrating Black students into historically all-White colleges in the South 50 years ago. It’s so right, for so many reasons, yet it’s pushing against every fiber of the existing modes of thinking and behaving.

In particular, we’re waiting for market forces to come into balance; we wish we had an efficient market that could take all the important factors into consideration and make decisions based on the totality of the facts. The sad part, however, is that the most telling facts are systematically left out of the market equation, i.e., the externalities. As long as no one needs to cover the extreme costs of the lung disease, the long-term ecological damage, the costs of the U.S. military’s involvement around the world to maintain our access to oil, the case for clean energy will continue to languish.

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