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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

I often think about how the energy industry’s financial analysts view the fundamentals that apply to market valuations. Just now, I was reading some of the discussion at SeekingAlpha.com on ExxonMobil that attempts to get to the underlying buy/sell recommendations, and I note that the conversation is fairly bullish across the board.

In particular, though there is widespread agreement that the “easy oil is gone,” there is almost no recognition of a concerted move to get off of oil as a civilization. Moreover, the concept of “peak oil” (i.e., that the supply of oil will soon start to diminish) means that the price will soar, and that only companies with the scale of ExxonMobil (vs. the wildcatters of yore) will have the capability to play effectively. But there is precious little talk of the impact of electric transportation, or renewable energy in any of its forms.

I’m trying to figure out what that means. Here are a few points of speculation: (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I thought I’d share this terrific article on how the investor market has changed.  It cites the founder of Tesla cars and explains how he got millions in investment, in spite of the current venture capital climate.

You’ll travel a long way to find someone more informed on start-ups.  Steve Blank is a serial entrepreneur, an angel investor, and teaches entrepreneurship at Stanford and Berkeley.

Here’s another article by Steve on how to launch a start-up.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

A few weeks ago, George Alger, my co-founder at 2GreenEnergy.com, asked me to take a break from my more serious writing and do something a bit whimsical. “What do you have in mind?” I asked.

What he described was a kind of Renewable Energy IQ Test – something that people might like for its entertainment value. “You know,” he explained, “People love diverting little exercises – especially when they can learn from them.  Just write 20-or-so questions with multiple-choice answers. I’ll have the programming team put something together where contestants get their scores instantly. It could be kinda cool.” I put something together quickly and shot it back to him. 

But is it, in fact, kinda cool?  I’ll let you be the judge — and I hope you’ll let us know what you think. In any case, here it is: our Renewable Energy IQ Test.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Geothermal

Geothermal energy is a renewable, plentiful, clean and essentially limitless source of energy that can use a variety of applications. Geothermal is defined simply as heat from the earth. It tends to get less attention than wind, solar, and biofuels, but one myth the Geothermal Energy Association (GEA) says floats around – that the industry is experimental and technologies not widely used – is simply not true.

Geothermal goes as far back as the Paleo-Indian, who first used thermal hot springs. Such district-wide heating projects have been in continuous use since 1892, such as in Boise, Idaho and in Oregon. In 1904, Italy opened the first large-scale geothermal electric plant and it is still operating today. The first U.S. geothermal plant opened at The Geysers in California in 1960, and produces 11 MW of net power, continuing operations today as well. Geothermal power is used in 21 countries. The Philippines derives 27% of its electricity from geothermal sources and little El Salvador gets 26% of its electricity generation from geothermal. However, what is in use today – about 10,715 MW installed — is but a fraction that could be used, and the industry has nowhere to go but up.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

When I mentioned 2GreenEnergy’s client Canefields USA in the past, I think I neglected to point out the video on the company’s website, detailing how paper from sugarcane waste is actually made. The world now has access to paper made from carbon-neutral processes that do not come along with bringing down trees. How cool is that?

I suppose I thought that a plant like this in a developing country would look a bit low-tech – but wow, was I wrong. And, even brighter news is that it’s only a matter of time until this technology finds its way to Brazil – and perhaps the US – creating a more sustainable solution for serving the needs of the Western Hemisphere.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

A renewable energy surge is happening in New Jersey, and it is focused on solar.  Con Edison Development (NYSE: ED) along with Panda Power Funds broke ground on a 20 MW solar electric generating station on October 20th, 2010. Located in Pilesgrove, NJ, the farm will have the capacity to power more than 5,100 homes and will create more than 100 construction jobs.

Construction of the 71,400 panel farm will start in the Spring. New Jersey State Senate President, Stephen Sweeney, said at the groundbreaking: “…This project is proof that our commitment to strong public-private cooperation is a model for success. The future (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I was somewhat surprised at the pushback I received to my recent post suggesting that the PBS NewsHour should not accept sponsorship money from Chevron, as such a relationship could affect PBS’s objectivity in its coverage of the energy industry. A few people asked me in a huff for specific proof that such a relationship has affected NewsHour reporting.

I openly admit that I have no proof.  My point isn’t that something unseemly has happened; it is that something could happen.  It’s a situation to be avoided — kind of like the late king of pop Michael Jackson’s having young boys sleep in his bed with him (regardless of what happened): it’s just a bad move. (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Fifty-eight percent (58%) of U.S. voters think finding new sources of energy is more important than reducing current energy consumption. And sixty percent (60%) think investing in renewable energy sources like solar, wind and wave energy is a better long-term investment for the U.S. than investing in fossil fuels. These views were revealed in one of the latest Rasmussen polls (October 10th.)

Forty-two percent (42%) believe there is a conflict between economic growth and environmental protection, the highest finding since May.  The margin of error is +/- 3% with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for Rasmussen is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.

Voters in the Rasmussen poll give mixed results to President Obama for handling energy: forty percent (40%) give him a rating of energy issues as good or excellent, the same as last month, while thirty-nine percent (39%) give him a poor rating.

The number of voters who believe global warming is a serious threat is trending down since last November.  59% today (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

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Earlier today, a friend sent me a link to this discussion of electric vehicles on Techcrunch, one of the great blogsite successes of the past few years.

The article features the way-cool work of Plug-In America in its ongoing advocacy position for EVs.  The discussion beneath, however, was rather alarming.  Either the site is full of shills from the oil companies, or there actually are well-educated young people who believe that EVs offer little or no ecological advantage over internal combustion engines.

It seems they needed me – a guy old enough to be most of these commentors’ father – to point out:

A point worth mentioning here is that we could 90 million EVs on the road this afternoon, charge them with off-peak (overnight) power, and not put ANY additional load on the grid; most of that power is thrown away, as it’s too expensive to store. More on this at: http://2greenenergy.com/category/electric-vehicles/.
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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I’m always amazed at how the auto industry continues to spin out new ideas – even at the expense of integrating concepts that, I would think, would have little chance of being seen together. Check out this video of Porsche’s new plug-in hybrid, the 918 Spyder, a car that marries a 500-HP V8 with a 218-HP electric motor. The result is a considerable rocket (0 – 62.5 MPH in 3.2 seconds). But still the messaging is rife with ecological sensitivity: “lower fuel consumption,” “lower CO2/mile,” and “one of our [Porsche’s] answers to urgent environmental concerns.”

To me, blending the concepts of high performance sportscars and eco-friendly driving is like serving chocolate sauce over tunafish, or a dill pickle spear on a bowl of strawberry ice cream.  Either one by itself is wonderful, but together they’re a bit discordant.  Most people with real concerns about the environment aren’t impressed with 700 HP.  My recommendation: don’t mince words; just go for it.

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