Here’s July’s webinar, which I conducted the other day with Jesse Berst, internationally known technology and business analyst, founder and chief analyst of Smart Grid News.com, and founder and Chairman of the Smart Cities Council. I hope readers will check this out, and discover what Jesse means when he says that the council’s motto is “Livability, Workability, and Sustainability.” (more…)
Here’s an article that got my attention: How To Get Rich In Smart Grid. This has always impressed me as an important challenge, as a) I’m very bullish on the sector, and b) the large cap stocks that constitute most of the financial activity in smart grid (GE, Siemens, Johnson Controls, Honeywell, ABB, Schneider, etc.) are not pure-play. An $1000 investment in GE 30 years ago is worth about $300 today, but not because of their participation in this arena.
So which way to go? I just took the “lazy investor’s” route and bought a bit of the NASDAQ-traded ETF mentioned in the article. We’ll see.
I like to comment each year at this time, and remind readers that today is believed to be the anniversary of the fire that burned Rome in 64 A.D., while the emperor Nero supposedly played his fiddle. According to the Writers Almanac, in fact, Nero wasn’t even in Rome when the fire broke out; he was 35 miles away at his holiday villa on the coast, and his own palace was one of the buildings that burned.
Be this as it may, the concept is a metaphor that’s lasted in our culture for more than 2000 years; it represents a casual indifference to suffering and a shocking failure to take responsibility in a time of urgent need.
Perhaps you see where I’m going with this….
Per this article in Global Energy World, offshore drilling for oil and gas is predicted to expand at a CAGR of 10.6% between now and 2018, bringing it to $211 billion annually. And here’s an article on sea-level rise, showing that this unwelcome phenomenon, the result of humankind’s addiction to fossil fuels, is growing with the same predictability. Where will this end?
It’s a reminder of the carnival barkers of the old days: “Round and round she goes; where she stops, nobody knows.”
I wrote a piece on France and renewable energy just now that reminded me of the first French-American EV conference (Long Beach, CA, in December, 2010); it was such a riveting event that I thought it would be followed by many more in quick succession. But I was wrong; in fact, the second such meeting didn’t occur until just a few months ago, and, as it wasn’t local, I skipped it.
I’m always interested in the astounding rate at which automotive engineering is advancing. Like most people, I realized many years ago that I have no idea what’s going on underneath the hood of my car, but I wrongly assumed that all this computerized magic had brought us to a static state; nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the real push is yet to come, making use of a combination of materials science and mechanical/electronic engineering that will push fleet-average MPG levels to 54.5 by 2025.
Perhaps the most interesting issue is what all this means to the consumer. Since only a relatively small percentage of drivers will pay more for an environmentally friendly car, the real issue becomes driving down the combined cost of the product and the fuel it uses, while making it appealing/sexy to the consumer. What does this mean for the adoption of electric vehicles? It’s hard to tell, and there are so many factors at play:
• The price of gasoline versus electricity
• The range that a certain EV provides and the lack of convenience and freedom that this implies
• The fuel-efficiency of the gas-powered car in question. If your car gets 54 MPG, the fuel cost argument is far weaker than it is at 25 MPG
Perhaps the most interesting thing in the presentation is the way the very technology that improves the range and overall functionality in electric vehicles is simultaneously improving hybrids, mild hybrids, and internal combustion engines. It’s complicated out there.
On a related note, I announced happily a couple of months ago that a deal on our list of renewable energy investment opportunities closed, and it happens to involve an electric truck, the development of which continues to evolve nicely.
Here’s an idea a friend sent me that would re-invent Las Vegas’ transportation system. He writes: “Google is said to be involved, as is Tesla, probably a few other surprises before it is over.”
It’s glitzy, but it doesn’t certainly strike me as terribly viable; I can’t imagine that it’s really being considered seriously. Most people visiting Vegas (who don’t drive there from California) fly in and take taxis; they’re cheap and ubiquitous.
What Vegas really needs is high-speed rail getting to it, and good mass transit on The Strip, downtown, and to the airport.
I’ve often said that I expect France to lead the way in terms of the adoption of clean energy, for two main reasons:
1) They’re self-styled; they don’t ask permission; they just do what they think is right. They refer to this as bien dans sa peau, or “content, comfortable, at ease with oneself.” (more…)
Like home heating in the winter air conditioning usage in the summer uses up a lot of energy. The difference is that while heat can come from burners and radiator systems most air-conditioning is run on electricity.
In the big picture that means that on the hottest days power plants in large urban centers generate a lot of pollution trying to meet the population’s demand. On an individual level AC usage is likely to run up a large electric bill which can cause financial stress for many families. (more…)
‘Carbon footprint’ is the undisputed energy related buzzword of the past 10 years, and businesses face a huge responsibility, with pressure from both external and internal forces to try and minimise their impact on the environment, through reducing their carbon emissions.
However, due to the current financial state, businesses are focused on making spending cuts wherever they can, meaning that ‘Green’ initiatives and projects are often put on the backburner – they are regularly seen as an expensive investment when compared to the cheaper and unsustainable option. (more…)
In the time of 400ppm, global warming or “climate change” skyrocketing, and when oil magnates are controlling vast swaths of the US, the environment has become a hot-button issue for many on both sides of the divide.
When the Great Pacific garbage patch (perhaps even twice the size of the continental US) is poisoning our wildlife, and superstorms are wiping out our greatest cities, personal changes and technology are at the forefront of leading our society into the future. (more…)
