Runaway green jobs inflation
Last month, the Brookings Institute published a report entitled “Sizing the Clean Economy” which promises:The “green” or “clean” or low-carbon economy—defined as the sector of the economy that produces...
View ArticleAn end to ethanol pandering?
Subsidies for corn-based ethanol have for years been the third rail of politics in Iowa, home of the first presidential caucus. Just like social security in Florida, even suggesting that subsidies be...
View ArticleAd hominem attacks over cleantech VC 'disaster'
At a TechCrunch conference in San Francisco, PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel said (according to VentureBeat):“Cleantech is an increasingly large disaster that people in Silicon Valley aren’t even talking...
View ArticleWho lost Solyndra?
For the second time this summer, I found myself watching a C-SPAN congressional hearing on a major issue of economic policy. This time, the hearing was about the $535 million Federally guaranteed-loan...
View ArticlePutting eggs in the wrong basket
The DOE’s loan guarantee program is coming to a close — going out with a bang and not a whimper. Today particularly it’s proving to be “news that’s fit to print,” as the old Grey Lady motto goes.The...
View ArticleBiofuels from 5000'
Biofuels are being used at 30,000' as airlines (and aircraft manufacturers) explore options for growing rather than drilling for Jet A feedstock. (They will actually be used at much higher altitudes if...
View ArticleIn Memoriam: 2011 solar shakeout victims
As part of updating a research paper I’m writing on solar policy, I’ve been catching up on the state of the solar business. (Regular readers will note that since I joined KGI, I’ve been paying a lot...
View ArticleBetter ways to spend $100 billion
The $100 billion, 22-year projected cost of the proposed California High Speed Rail system should be enough to kill it. But this week, Governor Brown vested his full support — and personal credibility...
View ArticleThe cost of German solar policies
Bjørn Lomborg is a controversial PhD political scientist who has questioned the cost effectiveness of various efforts to mitigate global warming.His Feb. 16 syndicated commentary discusses the...
View ArticleMIT: how to integrate more renewables
The MIT Energy Initiative is holding a free webinar March 12, broadcast from a live seminar at MIT. The event will discuss the results of the MITEI symposium on how to leverage renewable power sources...
View ArticleOil and biofuel companies as 'frenemies'
Reuters highlights the cooperative and competing interests of biofuels companies and traditional oil companies in an article entitled “Oil, biofuel companies evolve into uneasy ‘frenemies’.” The term...
View ArticleAll-star biofuels panel May 8
On May 8, I will be emcee for an all-star biofuels panel that I’ve been working for the past 5 months to organize. We will have under one roof the top execs of four of the Bay Area’s leading biofuels...
View ArticleWhat is the least bad RE?
On Thursday I started my course on renewable energy at San Jose State. As far as I know this is the first time EE/RE has been covered in the College of Business, and is the net result of the SJSU Solar...
View ArticleState of the US biofuels industry
On Tuesday, the MIT alumni club in Silicon Valley hosted a freewheeling discussion by four executives from leading US biofuels companies, discussing the opportunities and challenges of building a new...
View ArticleVideo for all-star biofuels panel
The video from Tuesday’s MITCNC biofuels panel discussion has been posted to MIT’s video channel, TechTV.For those who were not in Menlo Park, here is the program:MITCNC Energy and Cleantech...
View ArticleSolving the EV chicken & egg problem
As part of a settlement over the 2001 California energy crisis, NRG Energy promised to spend $100m to build EV charging stations across the state. On Friday a rival charging station company sued to...
View ArticleJerry Brown's white elephant legacy
From the San Jose Mercury News,June 10, 2012, p. A18:EditorialEnough. Stop rail fantasy in its tracksThere is a fine line between visionary and delusional. California's high-speed rail project whizzed...
View ArticleTrain wrecks California budget?
From the Sacramento BeeBy a bare majority, the state Senate voted Friday to approve initial construction on California's $68 billion high-speed rail project, ending months of intense lobbying and...
View ArticleCandidates duck energy debate
In anticipation of the first presidential debate, I was interviewed by a representative of LA’s second largest newspaper group. Here’s how it appeared in the front page of the Los Angeles Daily...
View ArticleAre biofuels doomed without subsidies?
A molecular biologist (turned biofuels entrepreneur) made a stark prediction Tuesday:Famed genomics researcher J. Craig Venter, who is working to develop biofuels from photosynthetic algae,...
View ArticleMagnifying rather than quelling range anxiety
In the ongoing search for electric car nirvana, the Tesla Motor Company has enjoyed an unusually charmed existence. Perhaps it’s the Silicon Valley mystique, perhaps it’s the Midas touch attributed to...
View ArticleRise and fall of the world’s biggest solar company
In 2011, Suntech Power Holdings was the world’s biggest solar panel producer, shipping more than 2 gigawatts of panels. As Wayne Ma of the Wall Street Journal reported today:Suntech is now in Chinese...
View ArticleHopes and dreams for the Department of Energy
The Senate last week unanimously confirmed MIT physicist Ernest Moniz as the new Secretary of Energy. As an MIT alumnus, I’m proud — but as an organizational scholar and (part-time) energy economist,...
View ArticleWhere will the clean energy come from?
Last week, the president proposed a new push to reduce GHG. It’s not clear how (or if) the Congress will go along, or how much can be legally accomplished without legislative support. One of the major...
View ArticlePotential payoffs from ubiquitous BIPV
As an MIT alum interested in clean energy, I subscribe to the free semiannual magazine Energy Futures.The purpose of the magazine is to tout MIT advances in energy technology, but since MIT (with the...
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