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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

What do you believe to be the most difficult hurdles we face in the migration to renewable energy?

If you live in the US, you find yourself in a land that is choking itself, driving itself toward bankruptcy, endangering its security, empowering its enemies, and poisoning its skies and oceans – all because of its dependence on fossil fuels. But the talk about clean energy is just that: talk. We have less than 2% penetration of renewables here, and we’re not moving very quickly toward a solution. Why is that?

If you’d like to know the reason, I invite you to our free monthly webinar: Wednesday, June 29th at 10 AM PDT (1 PM EDT).  I’ll summarize the findings of the survey we conducted last month, in which over 500 participants weighed in with their viewpoints and insights.

If you’re available, please sign up here:  http://2greenenergy.com/free-webinar.  I’ll look forward to taking your questions in our live, interactive discussion room.

Hope to see you there.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I wish I had a dollar for every time a cleantech inventor or would-be entrepreneur has asked me about the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL), and how to engage with them to develop and commercialize technology. Up until recently, I had no real value to add, other than to direct them to the main NREL website, and wish them good luck. And I’d know that it was considerable luck they would need, because the site was not organized with this question in mind; it appeared that there was no good summary of the open clean energy issues that the government is pursuing.

Well apparently, the folks at NREL recognized this unmet need at just about the same time I did. When I ran across Commercialization Project Manager Matt Ringer at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum – Wall Street in New York City last week, he proudly showed me the portal that he and his team have created to address this very issue.

I was very impressed. Now, at a glance, there’s a quick, understandable summary of answers to the most obvious and popular questions:

What is NREL looking for, in terms of intellectual property from the private sector? Where are the specific opportunities for technologists to collaborate to develop ideas, work together productively, and bring forward market-ready solutions?

I urge readers to check out the new NREL Portal, formally called:

Energy Innovation portal – Linking Energy Technologies with Market Opportunities.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I hope you’ll check out the details on “The Clean Energy Onramp” here, and take advantage of our “early-bird discount” (57%), valid until midnight tomorrow.

You have my guarantee that you’ll leave the session with a comprehensive understanding of the most important issues that will drive the biggest wins – and most stunning losses – in the renewables industry.

If you’re looking for an effective “onramp” to the multi-trillion dollar alternative energy industry, my distinguished guest and I can provide plenty of actionable information that will help people make the right decisions here.  Onramp is a vigorous, interactive discussion in which Green Chip Stock’s Jeff Siegel and I will walk you through what we believe to be the most important business trends in clean energy. 

So if you’re free on Thursday, October 6th, 2011, I hope you’ll join us in New York City for a half-day working lunch – the first in a series of our high-level events. 

I very much hope to see you there.


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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Occasionally I wonder why I spend so much time blogging on the energy industry — not because I think what I do is inconsequential, but because I come across someone whose message — or level of talent in delivering that message — is so superior to mine that I feel like I’m coming on stage to play rock guitar a few minutes after Jimi Hendrix just sat down.

I had one of those experiences just a minute ago.  I hope readers will check out the Corbett Report, on the history of energy in the US, and his spot-on analysis of the sorry plight in which we find ourselves.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

I want to thank everyone who helped with this month’s survey, in which participants were asked to provide their forecasts for the future of our civilization, given the rise in population and the decline in traditional energy resources.  I’ll publish my usual brief report shortly, summarizing the results.  But I felt compelled to mention at this early stage something I noticed on the train from New York down to Philadelphia this afternoon, as I was paging through the responses.

There are optimists (those who claim all of this will all “come out in the wash,” i.e., that the future will be pretty much like the past and that we’ll find a way to handle the problems that present themselves).  And there are pessimists (those who say no, we’re at the brink of the collapse of our civilization, due to our gross mismanagement of the resources that have been entrusted to us.) Now, one might think that these two groups, as divergent as their perspectives seem to be, would have essentially nothing in common with one another.  In fact, the precise opposite is the case.

With the exception of a very few, respondents articulated their beliefs that we have pushed our planet’s capacity to provide a home for us to the limits.  Yes, there was the occasional voice that we can keep this process of extraction and combustion up indefinitely, but those voices were few indeed.  Most say that we are confronted by a life-threatening problem, and that we must act now to avoid catastrophic consequences.

But then the issue becomes, OK, who’s going to lead the charge?  How is it possible to find leaders who will make intelligent, responsible, high-integrity decisions in an environment in which these traits are in such short supply?  Ah, therein lies the rub.

Again, I hope to have the report available in a few days.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

John Rowe, CEO at the Exelon Corporation, gave a presentation this spring at the American Enterprise Institute called “Energy Policy: Above All, Do No Harm”.  Exelon is one of the largest electric and gas utility companies in the U.S, and they are one of the largest nuclear power plant operators (with 17 reactors) but also a large generator of hydropower, wind and some solar. Rowe said that Exelon has committed to reducing, offsetting or displacing their carbon footprint by 2020 and they are halfway there.

Obviously, every company has their own slant on issues and their own business to protect. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

The subject of master limited partnerships (MLPs) arose in a session here at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum.  MLPs are the perfect vehicle to raise capital for movies – and for oil and gas exploration.  Why not renewables?  It’s unclear.  It would require a one-line change in the tax code to make this happen.  As the lady moderating the session said, forcing a smile, “All we’re asking for is a level playing field.”

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels, Renewables - Business

It’s clear that the abundant supply of (and thus low price of) natural gas presents challenges for the renewable energy industry, just as the artificially low price of gasoline generated by subsidies for the oil companies creates a challenge for electric transportation. But you won’t hear too much moaning about that subject here at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum.

Occasionally a speaker will remind the audience that fracking comes at an environmental cost that is still not well understood, but in the main, the subject is taken as just another factor in the overall equation.  Why this calm demeanor in the face of such robust competition? I’m not sure. Perhaps it’s that intelligent and mature people don’t curse their luck. Maybe we’re just trying to be “the adult in the room.”

In fact, several times I’ve heard that this phenomenon with natural gas is actually a good thing for clean energy, as it represents the “perfect partner” for renewables — a low-cost provider  of energy to deal with the intermittence of wind and solar. But to me, this seems like “sour grapes” in reverse, i.e., we’re stuck with this; let’s find a way to like it.

All of us who follow and advocate for clean energy acknowledge that it is, at the end of the day, a considerable challenge on several levels: technologically, economically, and politically. Even putting aside the politics of the situation, which is clearly not on our side, we still need to face the fact that renewable energy is replacing something that works perfectly well. The lights generally don’t go out, and the cost of energy, at least as the externalities of fossil fuels remain external to its cost/price structure, is quite affordable. Thus until the world is willing to pay for a clean solution to the energy situation that is good for national security, no one here is expecting a precipitous adoption curve — at least until the point of grid parity in a few years.

My advice: Fasten your seatbelt and settle in for a long ride.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

I’m at a loss to understand something, and I’m wondering if I could appeal to readers to help explain it.

Last year, Areva, the French energy giant, best known (at least in the US) as a nuclear energy company, bought Ausra, the up-and-coming US-based solar thermal company.  More than a year later, we Americans hear almost nothing about Areva’s work in solar.  In fact, the Wall Street Journal’s article this morning detailing the ouster of Areva CEO Anne Lauvergeon didn’t mention the word “solar” once.

One might suspect the worst: they bought the company only to nullify the threat it represented.

Yet if you Google “Areva” you find dozens of mentions of their accomplishments in solar all over the world.  It’s almost as if some sort of disinformation campaign was being waged.  Any insights?

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

This morning’s keynote address at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum was delivered by Pennsylvania’s ex-governor Ed Rendell, who spoke on the possibilities that renewable energy may gain traction through politics. I suppose anything’s possible, so I tried to track with every word – and I’m glad I did.

Rendell began by pointing to a few points of concern to all of us:

1) The US is clearly and rapidly falling behind in the arena of innovation generally and in energy particularly.  In 2009, for the first time ever, the US Patent Office granted a majority of its overall patents to foreign nations/companies. And nowhere is America losing faster and more obviously than energy.

2) Those of us who believe that the world is headed in an unsustainable direction are running out of time. China will import 80% more coal this year than last, and they’re building one new coal plant per week.

3) By far, the most important energy topic discussed in Congress is light bulbs, gaining far more minutes on The Floor than the runner up issues (subsidies for oil, and energy as a national security concern). Apparently, our leaders are deadlocked on the decision to ensure that incandescent bulbs are not removed from US commerce – and neither side is blinking. Rendell paused for a moment, then asked, “Do Republicans have a huge store of old light bulbs that they wish to sell into the market? They threatened to withhold their votes to elect Fred Upton (R- MI) chairman of the energy subcommittee unless he toed the line on this issue – to which he finally acceded. The Republicans appear to be on an all-out crusade here. Regardless, we’re diddling around while the rest of the world is kicking our butts.”

But Rendell is on a crusade of his own – this one to see a renewable portfolio standard (i.e., a mandate to get to a certain minimum mix of clean energy) at the federal level. “Through years of experience at the state level, we’ve proven that clean energy mandates create payoffs in terms of a large number of good, well-paying jobs. We need a stable policy to support this at the national level – and it has to be permanent; it can’t flip-flop every four years.

So why, precisely, is this not happening? According to Rendell: “There are too many special interests arrayed against it. Over 90% of Democrat voters are in favor of Congress passing legislation that prioritizes clean energy. In fact, over 75% of Republican voters are in favor of the exact same thing. Clearly, the will of the American people is being frustrated by special interests.”

He told a story (perhaps self-serving, since he was the hero – but hey, isn’t that what politicians do?), in which he pointed out that when he was governor, Pennsylvania was one of only nine states that had no investment in pre-K education. “Harrisburg was dominated by lobbyists, and the poor kids — who would benefit most from this — had none. So I said: ‘I’m going to take this one on myself.’  Well, we won that fight, and now our young kids rank number one in reading.”

“Together, we can do this,” Rendell fairly bellowed in summary. “But we can’t do it inside the Beltway. The lobbyists are raising campaign money for our senators and representatives in Washington seven days a week. It never stops. It never stops. There are fund-raisers happening literally every night. If change is going to happen, it needs to take place in hometown America. Your leaders have to hear it from you.”

I don’t consider myself a sucker for political rhetoric, but I have to say that there was a level of gusto in my applause as Rendell left the stage.

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