Levelheaded people often refer to themselves as “pragmatists” – those who understand all sides of an issue and work forward to a solution that meets the practical requirements of everyone involved. With respect to energy policy, this usually means regarding the mining and burning of coal (that here in the US generates 48% of our electricity) as a “necessary evil.”
I’m not sure, however, that most people who see the 2010 film “The Last Mountain” leave the theater with that circumspect “we’ll get to it when we can” attitude. I hope readers will click the link above and spend the two minutes required to review the trailer. From there, let your conscience be your guide.
I often wonder what caused Toyota to invest $50 million in Tesla. Obviously they deemed it important in expediting their introduction of electric vehicles. But doesn’t a company the size of Toyota have a considerable gaggle of engineers who know their way around EVs, after a decade of tinkering with the Prius?
Perhaps Toyota is so wrapped up in engineering and PR problems that it wanted to get some of the R&D workload in electric vehicles off its plate. Or maybe they figured that Tesla’s nimble management style might be able to make faster progress. And note that currently, Toyota is not only a stockholder, but a customer as well; it placed an order for 35 electric conversions of the RAV4 EV, the competitor to the Ford Escape, Honda CRV, and Chevy Equinox, all small sport utility vehicles.
I know others also struggle to make sense of some of the auto behemoths’ decisions, but I find Toyota’s behavior in the EV space to be especially mysterious. After the homerun they hit with the Prius, it seems otherworldly that they haven’t done a better job in advancing electric transportation. They claim to they have no fewer than 10 EV models “under development,” and I suppose that could be true. But why on Earth would you wait while other folks take the lead and render you an afterthought in a strategic part of the industry?
Here’s a theory: it’s obvious that the car companies have gone into the EV age kicking and screaming. But resisting this change, while it was certainly in their interest, was not within their power — and now their hand has been forced. My guess is that Toyota misread the timing of the pressure they would receive from Nissan and the others. Now, they’re playing catch-up — and under horribly adverse circumstances – part of which is the damage they sustained recently to their supply chain, with numerous vendors wiped out by the tsunami.
Nothing else can explain their lethargy in this space, and announcements of totally lame products, like the Prius V. Here we are in mid-2011 and the new Prius still has no plug?
It always feels good to get back in the saddle, so to speak, plying one’s original trade. I spent a few hours yesterday with 2GreenEnergy client Dr. David Doty, CEO of Windfuels, and 2GE Associate Terry Ribb, talking about naming, positioning, creating a new market category – all those wonderful things. Memories from decades of meetings with clients all over the planet came rushing back to me as we walked leisurely through the PowerPoint and made the strategic business decisions that will open the doors to growth and guide Windfuels effectively into the future.
I love the rich diversity and high purpose of the 2GreenEnergy experience – but it’s always nice to go back to the “good old days.”
I spent a few happy hours walking around the wind power show here in Anaheim yesterday, put on by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Whenever I go to the major wind and solar trade shows, I’m struck with a number of observations:
Scope: I find myself in a convention center where thousands of exhibitors sprawl over half a million square feet, but I realize that this very show, if it were held 10 years ago, could have fit neatly in my living room.
Geographic Diversity: Though everyone speaks some level of English, it’s certainly not the first language for a great number of exhibitors. Those without a working command of German and Mandarin are unable to take part in some of the richest conversations.
Business Diversity: Many hundreds of different business disciplines are represented – some with only tangential relevance to the subject at hand. Sure, there are tons of people with variations of the wind turbine theme: different sizes and materials, some with gears, some (more all the time) with direct drive, and unique approaches to efficiency, noise reduction, safety, reliability, etc. But in addition to the folks with the actual turbines, I met people whose products and services are not at all unique to the wind power industry: folks who protect people from falling off things, forge large (100-pound) bolts, lift stuff with winches, do the windings in generators, sell wrenches the size of golf clubs, and provide tape to repair the leading edge of the blades as they become damaged from sand, hail, and even rain over the years of constant operation.
It’s Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, and I’d like to mention that I’ve been a fan for more than 40 of those years.
On the way to a meeting with a 2GreenEnergy client this morning, I was listening to an interview with one of Dylan’s notable biographers, who, with the host, got into their favorite, most meaningful lyrics from his more-than-500 songs.
I was tempted to do the same here in this post — and trust me, I could make a considerable set of suggestions. But I’ll simply point out that poet Allen Ginsberg literally cried when he laid eyes on the lyrics to “It’s a Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” shortly before the song was released in the mid-1960s, noting how Dylan had carried Ginsberg’s insights (and those of his contemporaries — the beat poets) along to a new generation who, he hoped, would share his concerns as to where we’re going as a civilization.
Though I’m sure some readers aren’t Dylan fans, I’d like to think we all share his concern for the survival of our species. In fact, I can’t image a reason that too many folks out there follow this blog other than an abiding belief that we need to work our way forward to a fairer and more sustainable society.
If you don’t feel like listening to Dylan sing (and didn’t click on the link above) here’s the last verse of “It’s a Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall.”
And what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son ? And what’ll you do now my darling young one ? I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’ I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest Where the people are a many and their hands are all empty Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten Where black is the color, where none is the number And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’ But I’ll know my songs well before I start singin’ And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.
Are there any of us who think that our current approach to energy, or so many of our other major pursuits here on planet Earth, are sustainable? Don’t essentially all of us think a hard rain’s gonna fall?
As we approach the two-year mark since the inception of 2GreenEnergy, I want to thank the thousands of you who have added comments and occasional posts; we couldn’t have grown at this pace without you. And thanks to the rest, simply for being here.
When I hired Aedan Kernan of Norwich, England to do a writing project for me a year or so back, I knew I’d get a great result – but I was pleasantly surprised when I made a friend as well. Aedan is a terrific human being, and next time I’m in the UK, a trip out to see him and his wife will most definitely be a part of my travel plans.
Price and costs seems to be holding back a majority from sustainable choices. “One trip to the grocery store and you would see that green products can have as much as a 100% price premium. It’s as if we are penalizing virtuous behaviors with a defector sustainability tax,” says Graceann Bennet, co-author of the report and Director of Strategic Planning. This same thought process applies to many green products like solar panels and other sustainable products. (more…)
I’ll be headed into downtown Santa Barbara tomorrow to continue my participation in a series of meetings leading up to this year’s Clean Business Investment Summit. Here, this August 12th, socially responsible entrepreneurs with emerging-growth clean business start-ups and later-stage clean business companies with fifth-year projected revenues exceeding $20 million seeking venture capital funding will meet with potential investors.
I’m a new-comer to the team, and tend to speak only when spoken to – the way children (about a million years ago) were taught to behave.
A new study by OgilvyEarth reveals that while 82% of Americans have good intentions towards being green, only 16% are really dedicated to the intentions. The study is entitled “Mainstream Green: Moving Sustainability from Niche to Normal” by Graceann Bennett and Freya Williams, sponsored by Ogilvy & Mather.
The authors make the case that while some people get the importance of sustainable living, it won’t matter unless the masses truly buy in. There are a number of barriers, small and large, psychological and economic, to these barriers. The report lays out the barriers and then offers solutions to breaking them down.
Most of the green dialogue and marketing for green sustainable living has been focused on the dedicated “super greens” on
I’m one of these people who’s always interested in product placement – you know, that Coors Light that the handsome and likeable guy in the movie you’re watching just happens to be sipping, or the United Airlines jumbo jet that brings his sweetheart back home to him. Advertisers pay substantial fees to have their products featured in various places – especially where viewers will subconsciously regard them as cool and appealing. The trick, of course, is to make the placement appear natural and uncontrived.
So I was amused by an article in this month’s Westways (American Automobile Association) magazine on electric vehicles, by journeyman auto writer Peter Bohr, featuring a graphic that depicts a number of EVs parachuting into our world. The biggest? Coda, of course. Not Tesla, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Peugeot, Smith, BYD, Renault, or Chevy (who actually sell and deliver EVs). No, it’s Coda, a company whose revolving door in the executive suite, track record of delays and dashed expectations, and juggling of business strategies has rendered it a farce, rather than a force, in the EV world.
It’s hard to believe that a journalist of Bohr’s caliber doesn’t know this. So I’m assuming that we have a case of product placement here – though again, I could caution Westways: guys, you gotta make it credible.
Levelheaded people often refer to themselves as “pragmatists” – those who understand all sides of an issue and work forward to a solution that meets the practical requirements of everyone involved. With respect to energy policy, this usually means regarding the mining and burning of coal (that here in the US generates 48% of our electricity) as a “necessary evil.”
