[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5Q1ZxQw-AQ&w=500&h=405]I was pleased to have EMCycle CEO Michael Scholey on the 2GreenEnergy Report recently discussing electric bicycles with me. I believe that he’ll have considerable success with his own unique product in this exciting market space, and I thought he did a fantastic job of presenting it here.
Are you developing a new technology?
Preparing to launch a new business model?
Looking for ways to expand your market reach?
Here’s an idea that might help, articulated in this video, and in the text beneath.
In many respects, the Pacific Northwest isn’t like the rest of the US. The good people of Seattle, for instance, have a great deal of attention on “living green,” but they’re certainly not uptight about it. The whole region carries with it a light-hearted atmosphere that one might expect to find in New Orleans.
Check out Seattle’s Bang Office Interiors. It’s an entire floor of the greenest possible concepts in the design of the modern workspace. But wait a second. What’s that gorgeous room in the northeastern corner, occupying about 500 square feet? It’s a bar. And I’m talking about a complete set of bottled and draft beers, an assortment of fine wines, and the ingredients to make the complete repertoire of drinks.
It’s clear that the company’s president, Chad Smed, enjoys his time here on Earth. Bless his heart. But he also knows a ton about his subject, including the complete lifecycle analysis on a frighteningly large number of the products in his showroom.
I asked him about bamboo, thinking I’d get the normal rave reviews from a sustainability perspective. “Sure, it’s a weed; there’s very little ecological cost to harvesting it, but unfortunately, there’s more to it than that. It’s doesn’t take stain well, it mars easily, and it’s extremely hard to work with, since it keeps growing after it’s cut. And that extra work is expensive – both literally and ecologically.”
“So where should we go with this,” I asked?
“What we need is kind of like the ’tilapia of building products’ — easy to farm raise, low-impact on the environment.”
Chad’s a man of metaphors, and in this case, a pretty good one, I’d say. Cheers!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44EaTcV_-4o]
Here’s an interview with Steve Hellman, president of Eos Energy Storage, in which Steve claims that zinc-air batteries can finally provide a low-cost answer for utilities and electric vehicle manufacturers. But is it true? We’ve certainly seen stories about zinc-air before. I’ll let you come to your own conclusion.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXd-xk-rCRU&w=445&h=364]
Do you have a clean energy story that you’d like to tell the world?
One day each month, I shoot a series of short television shows called the “2GreenEnergy Video Report” in which I interview folks with interesting stories to tell at a television studio. The shows air throughout the month on a local channel here in Southern California — but, perhaps more important, we host the videos on YouTube and this website where they get some really good, longer-term exposure.
If you’re interested in being a part of this process, please check out the sample below, and let me know if you’d like to participate. (more…)
I had the pleasure of meeting Michael Pesin of the local power utility up here in Northwestern Washington State: Seattle City Light, at the launch of my client EV4’s new product, the “Energy Transfer Merchant.” I thought this conversation was a good opportunity to straighten out an issue that’s been bugging me: are electric vehicles really green? In the final analysis, are they charged largely with coal? Even here in the Pacific Northwest, with their abundance of clean (hydroelectric) power, won’t electric vehicles mean less clean power that can be sold to places whose electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels?
Here’s what Pesin told me:
We’re under mandate to have 15% of our electricity coming from renewables – not hydro, but solar and wind — by 2020. We’ll meet that goal, and we’d like to go beyond it. But without electric vehicles – or other ways of taking significant amounts of energy off the grid at opportune moments, e.g., wind energy at night, it simply can’t be done. EVs make it possible for us to deploy renewable energy.
Fairly clear, I think.
Here’s local news coverage of the event my client EV4 asked me to attend yesterday: the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Energy Transfer Merchant, a futuristic, multi-function EV charging station.
I found it interesting that the Pacific Northwest’s largest distributor of electric equipment, North Coast Electric, was so passionate about carrying the device. Here’s a strong company, growing steadily since it was founded in 1913 to its current stature: 35 locations in the region. And let’s keep in mind that it’s a business model that most people hardly regard as progressive – in fact, distributors in the main are thought of as simple order-takers for whatever products customers are requesting at the moment.
But these folks up north are visionaries, actively looking for the products that will drive commerce in the coming years – which means “green,” especially in this part of the world. And they’ve certainly put their money where they mouth is, installing one in their parking lot. Impressive stuff.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30jMl22eLiQ&w=420&h=315]
Here’s the promotional video we made for Renewable Energy — Facts and Fantasies. That’s to 2GreenEnergy business manager and co-founder George Alger for his cleverness here; I think it move along nicely.
One of our 2GreenEnergy clients in the electric vehicle charging sector has asked me to be a part of a ribbon-cutting ceremony for their latest product release this Wednesday in Seattle. And when a client asks for my participation, of course, I’m there in a shot; that’s part of my obligation under: Craig Shields, At Your Service.
In fact, I offered to speak at the event, even though I know many great public speakers — a whole bunch of assemblymen, the mayor of the city and potentially the governor of the state — would likely be attending. So I’m just as glad to be in the audience and not on the stage; I hate to compete with professional speech-makers.
In preparation, I’ve spoken with a large number of people among the group that hired us, and they’ve all, to a person, mentioned that they’ll try to bring sunshine, as if apologizing in advance for the rotten weather that is most probable. That really IS an issue up there, isn’t it?
I’ll write an update post from Seattle on Wednesday.
Those looking for an effective “onramp” to the multi-trillion dollar clean energy industry may wish to attend “The Clean Energy Onramp” (details here) in New York City, coming up in less than six weeks.
Onramp, 2GreenEnergy’s first physical event, is a vigorous, interactive discussion in which my guest, Green Chip Stock’s Jeff Siegel and I will walk you through what we feel are the most important business trends in alternative energy. We’ll offer a great deal of practical information that will help you make solid, well-conceived business decisions in this arena.
If you’re available on Thursday, October 6th, 2011, please try to join us in New York City for this half-day working lunch – the first of our high-level conferences.
Here’s what you get by attending the event:
* 30% “early-bird discount” (If registered by midnight on Aug 31, 2011)
* Free 3-month subscription to Green Chip Stocks (Regularly $249.00)
* Green Chip Stocks Premium Portfolio
* Green Chip Stocks Limited Coverage Portfolio
* Green Chip Fund Index
* Monthly Spotlight Stock
* Complete access to the Green Chip Stocks research library
* An autographed copy of RENEWABLE ENERGY – FACTS & FANTASIES
I certainly hope to see you there.
Click the following link for more information:
http://2greenenergy.com/onramp/
