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The commitment of the US military to renewable energy is serious, long-term and about guaranteeing energy security for missions, and it is not a short-term environmental program, the US Army's energy and installations chief stressed today. "I'm here to tell you that the Army is serious about this; this is not about environmentalism," US Army Assistant Secretary for Installations, Energy and Environment Katherine Hammack said at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum – Wall Street in New York City today. Military installations need to be highly energy efficient, include smart grid networks that can prioritize and match loads and have sufficient baseload power to meet "critical mission sets," Hammack stressed. Click headline to read more--
With 25 percent of the offshore and tidal resources in Europe, Scotland is on pace to become the regional hub for renewables, the Scottish first minister said. Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond addressed delegates at the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco during a trade mission to the United States. Scotland, he said, was making a significant contribution to the emerging renewable energy sector. "We are ambitious for the future, both for ourselves and what we can contribute to the rest of the world," he said. Scotland aims to derive 100 percent of its electricity demand through renewable energy projects by 2020. The government estimates it met 35 percent of its electricity demand last year through renewable energy resources. All universities in Scotland have energy technology partnerships with third parties and Scotland this year signed a collaborative deal with the Masdar Energy Institute in Abu Dhabi. Glasgow, meanwhile, serves as a major research center for offshore wind energy generation. Click headline to read more--
The U.S. military is — perhaps unsurprisingly — one of the driving forces behind alternative fuel sources; after all, not being dependent on potentially hostile foreign countries for vital fuel is a matter of national security. However, in the short term, said alternative fuels are more expensive than standard fossil fuels, and that creates a few problems. A recent study done for the U.S. Air Force by the RAND Corporation concluded that higher prices for alternative fuels are unlikely to drop any time soon; as massive a consumer of fuel as the U.S. Defense Department is, it’s only a fraction of the worldwide market and can’t significantly influence price. In other words, the production scale needed to make alternative fuel competitive with fossil fuels just isn’t there, and the Defense Department can’t make that happen on its own. The study is a response to a measure recently proposed that would block the purchase of biofuels unless said biofuels are comparatively priced with petroleum-based products. (The matter of subsidies is, at this point, irrelevant; while the subsidies do artificially drive the cost of fossil fuels way down, they do exist and it is uncertain what the price of fossil fuels would be without them in any case.) The measure itself is a response to U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and several million spent on biofuel for a green fleet exhibition.
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Last year investor Peter Thiel surprised a lot of people in the energy sector by calling cleantech investing “a disaster” and saying clean energy innovation has been a failure. However, fast forward about nine months, and Thiel just announced that he’s the largest investor in a new potentially $1 billion growth fund that will back companies across sectors including in energy and those tackling resource constraints. The new fund, which already closed on $402 million, is called Mithril Capital Management after a type of metal described in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of Rings. Investors Ajay Royan and Jim O’Neill will help co-manage the fund. Best of luck to them. Backing companies that are looking to solve large problems in slow-moving industries like energy has tended to take longer, need more money, and just prove more difficult to fund than backing, say, web and mobile software startups. That’s why investors like Kleiner Perkins, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Index Ventures have grown increasingly cold on cleantech. Click headline to read more--
Thin film solar maker Nanosolar surprised many when it was able to raise $70 million in a new funding round earlier this month. But the devil’s in the details. According to DowJones VentureWire, Nanosolar raised that funding at a pre-money valuation of $50 million, which was a massive drop from a valuation of over $2 billion years earlier. The report says that Aeris Capital, a fund that manages finances for SAP founder Klaus Tschira, made a significant investment in Nanosolar as a way to pick up solar assets on the cheap, and to basically zig, when many investors are zagging out of solar manufacturing. The fund thought that they were undervalued over the long term. In addition, DowJones reports that many of Nanosolar’s original preferred-share investors that didn’t reinvest in the round were wiped out. And at the same time, common shareholders were offered an unusual deal to keep them incentivized: “sign a legal waiver agreeing to not sue the company and, in return, were able to multiply their common shares several times,” according to the report. Click headline to read more--
If just one percent of retail investments in savings accounts, money markets and U.S Treasuries was put into crowdfunding of solar projects — that can provide a 5 to 9 percent return to the investor — then that would deliver more than $90 billion for the creation of clean energy projects, according to a new white paper from Bloomberg. The idea behind this emerging sector is that investing in the construction of putting solar panels on rooftops can provide a relatively low risk return on the upfront investment. Building owners generally lease solar equipment and enter into a contract to pay a fixed, low, electricity rate, commonly over about two decades. Over the past several years solar financing companies — like Clean Power Finance, Sungevity and Solar City — have emerged to provide the upfront capital, which can generally deliver around a 12 percent return. Click headline to read more and access hot link to the white paper--
Japan approved on Monday incentives for renewable energy that could unleash billions of dollars in clean-energy investment and help the world's third-biggest economy shift away from a reliance on nuclear power after the Fukushima disaster. Industry Minister Yukio Edano approved the introduction of feed-in tariffs (FIT), which means higher rates will be paid for renewable energy. The move could expand revenue from renewable generation and related equipment to more than $30 billion by 2016, brokerage CLSA estimates. The subsidies from July 1 are one of the few certainties in Japan's energy landscape, where the government has gone back to the drawing board to write a power policy after the Fukushima radiation crisis, the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986. The push for renewables is aimed at cutting reliance on not only nuclear, but pricey oil and liquefied natural gas for energy needs. The scheme requires Japanese utilities to buy electricity from renewable sources such as solar, wind and geothermal at pre-set premiums for up to 20 years. Costs will be passed on to consumers through higher bills. Click headline to read more--
The next generation of low-cost fuel cells could take your home off the grid and free your car from the gas pump with clean, renewable energy, and researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory have brought us one step closer to that future. The team has deployed a biomimicry-based hydrogen production process that combines high speed with high energy efficiency, thanks to a catalyst that “lights up like a rocket.” Click headline to read more--
A faction within the renewable energy space has slaughtered one of smart growth’s sacred cows and set the stage for a strategic realignment of environmental and energy stakeholders struggling for control of the world’s future energy economy. The emerging battle lines pit believers in the environmental and economic benefits of decentralized clean energy against investors in utility-scale, high-impact power plants sited in remote regions and linked to demand centers by an increasingly expensive and unreliable electric power grid. In other words, the clean energy coalition is splintering between those who support the status quo and others like myself who believe the profligate economic and environmental wastefulness of the status quo is the challenge clean technology is supposed to solve – not support. Click headline to read more--
Climate change is set to reduce Latin America's capacity to produce renewable energy, according to Roberto Schaeffer, a Brazilian energy planning expert. He told the Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for Sustainable Development underway in Brazil this week (11–15 June) that many forms of renewable energy are vulnerable to variations in climate, due to their dependence on water – as is the case with hydropower and biofuels – as well as on wind and sun. Schaeffer— a researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil — said that Brazil's biomass, hydroelectric and wind energy sectors are particularly vulnerable. Two years ago, Schaeffer participated in a Brazilian study entitled 'The Vulnerability of Energy Systems to Climate Change', conducted from 2008 to 2010. The study found that by 2040, Brazil's climate will display significantly greater variability than it does currently, with higher rainfall in some areas and prolonged periods of drought in others. Click headline to read more--
The tropical air was charged with hope and despair as the world’s leaders descended on Rio de Janeiro for the United Nations’ Earth summit in May 1992. Countries were buoyed by a string of successful environmental treaties in the 1970s and 1980s, capped by a landmark deal to save the ozone layer in 1987. Yet the Earth summit in Rio, which drew 178 nations and around 100 heads of state, was also rife with frustration and distrust. Diplomats had spent the previous two years drafting a pair of treaties intended to safeguard Earth’s biodiversity and climate, but the talks had recently faltered as rich and poor countries split over who should pay for protecting the planet. In the end, the leaders decided that they could not go home empty handed. They signed off on both the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Framework Convention on Climate Change, making broad pledges to solve some of the most complex problems facing humanity. Countries also agreed to a laundry list of goals spelled out in a document known as Agenda 21, which eventually spawned the Convention to Combat Desertification. Although the agreements lacked teeth, they created formal international processes that engaged almost the entire world and eventually led to more targeted accords (see ‘Global awakening’). Click headline to read more--
An article published by ThinkProgress.org recently highlighted efforts by Republicans in Congress which the writer contends are attempting to reverse much of the progress made in the last two decades relating to clean energy and environmental sustainability. The fun and games are scheduled to begin next week, says the article, when Grand Ol’ Party leaders will attempt to railroad through a bill called the Strategic Energy Production Act. This stacking the deck in favor of the oil industry, says ThinkProgress.org, shows how “hollow” is the GOP’s mantra on energy that “we shouldn’t pick winners and losers” – with an inference against clean energy initiatives. Instead, contends the piece, “the most anti-environmental House of Representatives in the history of Congress” will show it very much is picking a winner in seeking to free up more federal-owned land for drilling oil and natural gas. Besides this new piece of legislation, amendments to existing efficiency programs have already been tabled, with aim of cutting funding for efficiency programs, such as R&D on wind technology, clean vehicles and even international commitments to assist developing nations in the pursuit of utilizing clean energy sources. Although the article does take a somewhat sensationalist approach, it highlights what others have said is a rather worrying situation – increased pillaging of natural resources and consumption of fossil fuels, at a time when much of the world is looking at ways to conserve both the environment and such energy use. Click headline to read more--
DayStar Technologies, Inc. and Salamon Group, Inc., under contract with the Government of Samoa, shows the world the way on renewable energy in a bold and historical initiative. Samoa's Prime Minister Hon Tuilaepa S Malielegaoi and his Cabinet have taken steps for Samoa to be the most solarized nation in the Pacific Region. Samoa is taking the lead in the South Pacific by reducing "Carbon Emissions" in the most significant way to date. These actions will have an immediate short-term effect. They are also a real long-term sustainable reduction plan for the Country's carbon footprint. The planned first step will be the introduction of a 4 megawatt solar facility this year. The first phase of the project is funded entirely by private investment. The steps that are being taken means that on a per capita basis Samoa will be one of the most solarized countries in the world. Click headline to read more--
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Ministers from 26 EU member nations backed a resolution calling for the European Commission to create an energy policy strategy framework to 2030, ahead of Rio+20. On June 15th, 2012, ministers from 26 EU member nations backed a resolution calling for the European Commission (EC) to create an energy policy strategy framework to 2030, ahead of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) in Rio di Janeiro June 20th-22nd, 2012. Poland was the only nation to not support the proposal, which calls for a greater share or renewable energy in EU consumption to 2030. The EU’s statistics office has also released data finding that renewable energy use rose to 12.4% of total energy consumption in 2010. Click headline to read more--
The renewable energy industry is making an election-season push to improve its image after a year in which several high-profile bankruptcies dominated press coverage. A new informational website called energyfactcheck.org and launched Wednesday by one of the industry's top Washington boosters will target reporters, political decision-makers, and anyone else willing to listen to the pitch that the industry is viable, despite some failures. "The perception, because of the lack of fact-based information out there, is that we're some fleeting, fly-by-night, government-dependent entity," said Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn, a retired Navy officer and chief executive of the American Council on Renewable Energy, the nonprofit that is maintaining the new website. "The fact is that we have real companies making real profits and making investments in renewable energy for all the right reasons." The council, which is funded by renewable energy companies and investors, announced the website Wednesday at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum it hosted here amid simmering frustration about how the some in the media and politics have portrayed renewable energy following the bankruptcy last year of Solyndra LLC. and other U.S. solar-energy firms. Click headline to read more--
Waze, the crowdsourced traffic app, isn’t just trying to save people some time. It’s now in the business of saving people money too. The company is unveiling a discount fuel service that lets users receive five to 10 cents off each gallon they buy from more than 200,000 gas stations across the country. It’s part of a new live gas prices functionality that allows users to update each other on the latest gas prices at various stations they spot while on the road. The new real-time gas prices features adds more utility to the Waze app, which is nice, but there are other apps that surface this information. Waze’s appeal is that it has crowd-sourced data, so it might be more accurate in some cases, but it also means the prices might be out of date until someone updates it. The discount component, however, is more interesting because it really brings a new dimension to the Waze service, letting people not just navigate to the lowest priced option but actually find places that have offers only for Waze users. And it also demonstrates how Waze will make revenue off the free app. Click headline to read more--
The other shoe has dropped. When Hewlett-Packard unveiled plans for ARM-based low-energy serverslast November, it said to expect versions based on Intel’s Atom processors. Well, they’re still coming. The server giant today promised new low-energy servers — under the Project Gemini code name — that will use brand-new Intel 64-bit Atom Centerton chips, which are actually systems on a chip or SoC. There were big promises about energy efficiency. “A standard [comparable] server today would use 150W. The new servers will do the same load in a 12 to 14W envelope,” said Paul Santeler, VP and GM of HP’s Hyperscale Business Unit. These new servers, due by year’s end, will allow the use of “pop-in” server cartridges to let users update or modify the system for different workloads within the same system. “This will be one server we can change to address workloads depending on need,” Santeler said. ”We are doing this in processor neutral standpoint starting with Intel’s new Centerton chip,” he said. Click headline to read more--
We already know that cloud computing can be more energy efficient in many cases, but how much energy can it save (and in what cases)? Google writes in a blog postthat a company can see energy savings of 65 to 85 percent from moving their internal hosted IT services — from email to documents to spreadsheets — over to Google Apps. The idea is that organizations that host their own IT services commonly have more servers than they need and that are often times running inefficiently. But Google, on the other hand, has streamlined its servers and data centers to run as efficiently as possible and small companies can tap into this. Because efficiency is at the heart of cutting costs for Google, it’s been willing to invest in this type of infrastructure that many small organizations can’t afford or don’t have time or interest in maintaining. Click headline to read more--
The VC exodus away from cleantech startup investing continues. One of Europe’s most well-known venture firms, Index Ventures, has closed a new €350 million fund for early stage companies and Index partner Mike Volpi tells Fortune that the firm is no longer focusing on cleantech investments. When Index launched its first early stage fund back in early 2009, cleantech was one of the three sectors it said it would focus on, as well as IT and life sciences. Volpi is quoted as saying: Click headline to read more--
Over the 40 years of UNEP's existence, it has become apparent that it suffers from inadequate authority and a lack of resources. These deficiencies have constrained UNEP from inspiring the broad, catalytic environmental policies its creators envisaged. In order to increase UNEP's efficacy in addressing environmental concerns and improving partnerships, governments are discussing several reform options. One suggestion is to transform UNEP from a subsidiary body of the UN General Assembly into a specialized agency. The other option is to improve UNEP's ability to deliver on its ambitious original mandate and enable it to perform additional functions as necessary without changing its current institutional form. "No one institutional structure can guarantee effective resolution of environmental problems, especially at the global level," writes Ivanova. She argues that a systemic approach is necessary for success, where solutions begin at the source of challenges, instead of focusing on their symptoms. Click headline to read more--
According to the just-released 2012 Renewable Energy Scorecard from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), global renewable energy production has shot up by nearly 275 percent in the past ten years. Global renewable energy investment soared to $257 billion in 2011. In 2002 countries meeting in Johannesburg for the tenth anniversary of the first United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro committed to “substantially increase” the share of renewable sources to the global supply of energy. Reporting a 275 percent increase is good news as representatives prepare for the start of the Rio+20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development next week, but the stark fact is that it is only the beginning of a long road toward sustainability. Jake Schmidt, NRDC’s director of international climate policy, says nations must “step up their game” in order to hit a target of 15 percent global production from renewable energy sources by 2020, a goal many clean energy economists and advocates say is required to get the world on the right path toward sustainability. Click headline to read more and hot links to the report--
Australia's carbon tax is just two weeks away. The cost of electricity is set to rise from July 1, with a national renewable energy target of 20 per cent by 2020. Large-scale wind farms are increasing, solar energy is booming and hydro schemes are being adopted across the country. But the real future of energy generation is in community- owned renewable energy projects, according to one of the men involved in setting up Australia's first citizen-owned wind farm. Now he has his sights set on Tasmania. Victoria's Jack Gilding was in the state last week to talk to locals about the viability of renewable energy projects in communities and their financial benefits. The Hepburn Community Wind Farm consists of two turbines built by the community, after locals decided nearly seven years ago to take responsibility for their own energy needs. ''We get million or so income per year and $30,000 of that goes into community projects," Mr Gilding said. ''And that will go up. The project has created local jobs and raised the skill level of locals. Click headline to read more--
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, today announced an equity investment of $35 million in the Convergence Partners Communications Infrastructure Fund to support more rapid development of information and communications technologies infrastructure across Africa. The fund is expected to play an important development role in Africa, where ICT infrastructure bottlenecks impede the growth of business, and companies lack access to finance, especially risk capital and related expertise from investors that can help businesses succeed. Andile Ngcaba, Chairman of Convergence Partners said, "There is an exciting opportunity to accelerate the development of Africa through increased investment in critical infrastructure, specifically ICTs. We are proud to be working together with IFC in our new fund to deploy critical capital and expertise into this sector to the benefit of the continent". Saleem Karimjee, IFC Senior Country Manager for Southern Africa, said, "The Convergence Partners Communications Infrastructure Fund will further spur Africa's development. Access to communications helps improve economic competitiveness, facilitates efficient government services, increases the productivity of private businesses, and enhances living standards." The fund's investment focus will be to address the lack of enabling infrastructure that provides quality, affordable communications services, especially broadband, across Africa. The fund aims to develop and invest in new wholesale, open access networks and related services, and will capitalize on the potential for communication technology platforms to deliver critical services such as banking, healthcare, education and government programs that improve living standards. Click headline to read more--
Nokia’s steepest stock drop in more than a decade is turning the mobile-device maker into a potential takeover target for buyers willing to bet that it still has a future in smartphones. Nokia sank 18 percent Thursday after forecasting a wider second-quarter operating loss from handsets and saying it will cut as many as 10,000 jobs as it cedes market share to Apple’s iPhone and Samsung devices. After wiping out about $100 billion in market value, Finland-based Nokia trades at a 38 percent discount to its net assets, the least expensive on record, according to data compiled by Bloomberg dating to 1995. Once Europe’s most valuable company, Nokia is losing money as it tries to rebuild the smartphone business around Microsoft’s Windows Phone software and after failing to sell an unprofitable equipment venture with Siemens. With the lowest price-sales multiple among communications-equipment makers, cash and short-term investments exceeding its $8.6 billion market value and more than 10,000 patent families, Nokia could attract Microsoft, said Falcon Point Capital. It may even be cheap enough to lure buyout firms, Avian Securities said. Click headline to read more--
As Brazil readies itself for the upcoming 2014 World Cup, an even larger global sporting event looms just a couple more years in the future. In conjunction with the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, several new structures will be erected in Rio’s cityscape. One of the many projects creating huge buzz is the Solar City Tower, an artificial waterfall designed to generate clean, renewable energy. The vertical structure will be used as an observation tower, and it will capture and distribute solar power to the Olympic Village and to the city. The 345 foot structure will have solar panels around its base, used to store energy during the day, releasing it through turbines for use at night. For special occasions, the turbine will pump seawater into the tower and then shoot it back out to sea, creating a waterfall effect in the middle of the ocean. Click headline to read more and view all of the drawings--
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