May 13, 2008 by Rob.

Oh, I did. Here’s a link to an NPR story about monitoring drivers to improve their driving efficiency. It turns out that you can boost mileage 10-20% if you give people feedback about the cost of their bad habits.

As part of my thinking about EVs, I’d considered starting a company around this idea. It turns out that putting useful computers into people’s cars is both painful and expensive. You’d have to save a lot of gas to make this work. That doesn’t mean I’ve given up on it though…

Posted in Green Tech, Computer | No Comments »

March 30, 2008 by Rob.

Reminiscing about the Space Shuttle got me thinking of just how far past the “space age” we’ve gotten.  I’ve generally considered us to be in the “silicon age” and have greatly enjoyed the connectedness, abundance resources, wealth, and productivity that computers have created for us.

I believe that we’re now entering a new age - the age of constraints.  In the age of constraints, the driving force behind our life decisions will be how our choices fit within our constrained resources.  In the silicon age, the primary constraint was time, but today those resources are physical.  We’ve reached limits on how much energy, oil, water, metal, corn, et cetera can be cheaply applied to create wealth.

It may be inconvenient compared to our current lifestyle, but this new age will reward the innovative.  We are so wasteful today that there is great wealth to be made in replacing efficiency for waste.  For example, tremendous fortunes will be made from ecosystems around LED lighting.  Some entrepreneur will profit every time a morsel of efficiency is wrung from converting egregiously wasteful space age products into sleekly efficient AoC artifacts.

Note: I’m working on a catchier name…I’m just a pundit in training.

Posted in Commentary, Green Tech | 1 Comment »

March 23, 2008 by Rob.

If been an H2 doubter for a while and my son’s 2007 science fair project showing a fuel cell’s power curve only confirmed that they are not efficient enough (sub 30%) to justify use in cars.  The auto makers seem to be lining up behind batteries (again).  Here’s more commentary for you:

Posted “GM, Toyota Dismiss Fuel Cells for Mass Use” on 3/7 by the Energy Blog:

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that executives from General Motors Corp. and Toyota Motor Corp., at the Geneva Auto Show Tuesday, “expressed doubts about the viability of hydrogen fuel cells for mass-market production in the near term and suggested their companies are now betting that electric cars will prove to be a better way to reduce fuel consumption and cut tailpipe emissions on a large scale.”

Posted in Green Tech, EV News | No Comments »

February 12, 2008 by Rob.

Richard Stuebi posted on C|Net News.com about Wall Street’s getting ahead of the curve on impending carbon legislation.  Apparently investment banks are worried power companies racing to get new coal plants built and grandfathered in before carbon management legislation make it impossible to build the plants.  They are effectively pre-imposing the laws by requiring that new deals comply with hypothetical future carbon restrictions.

It looks like “the market” has already figured out that carbon controls are inevitable.  I wonder how much longer we have to wait before Washington will step up?  My guess is sometime after Jan 20, 2009.

Posted in Green Tech | 1 Comment »

February 1, 2008 by Rob.

I was catching up on my friend’s blog, MetronetIQ, and was very glad I took the time to follow one of his links.  He advised checking out the story of stuff site and I want to pass on the recommendation.

This video is especially relevant considering our government is about to “rescue” our economy by borrowing money from China (bonds) to issue a tax rebate so we can consume more Chinese goods.

Even if you already “get it” about sustainability, this video is worth the 20 minutes.  Let’s give ourselves a collective kick in the ass.

Posted in Rants, Green Tech | 1 Comment »

January 31, 2008 by Rob.

The World Economic Summit was in Davos.  I had the surreal experience of being a staffer at the amazing Nobelity Project Gala and watching a movie made by the Pipkins that was simultaneously screened at Davos.  The interesting thing about the gala was that because of the film, people are very conscious that their actions create ripples that effect change.  A major premise of the Nobelity movie is small actions leading to large results.

So it was surprising to read Apophenia’s blog that business people in Davos were relatively clueless about the ripple effect of their (in)action:

“… Another thing about Davos was that it became painfully clear that most business people are unaware of their role in the system. The conversations of the conference were heavily focused on environmentalism, inequality, terrorism, and doing good to solve the world’s problems. What I found was that many powerful people desperately want to help solve these problems but they seem unaware of their role in perpetuating some of the ills. It was weird… I couldn’t tell if such folks were clueless or delusional. I still need to chew on this a bit more. But it was fascinating to see that most businesspeople at Davos genuinely believed that they could help the world. … “

Posted in Blogroll, Green Tech | No Comments »

January 16, 2008 by Rob.

Showing off spectacular logic, the President encouraged the oil producing Arab countries to boost production and lower prices. Failure to do so would lead US to reduce demand! Oh no!

Their response was essentially, “US who? Our main customers are China and India.”

Here is the simple reality. The US per capita oil consumption is already so egregiously high, that we really don’t have anywhere to go but downward.  That’s especially true if you score it per average family income. However, per capita consumption in China and India has the potential to surge dramatically.

This is underscored by the recent $2500 car announcement from Indian car company Tata motors. They are one of several companies vying to be the Model-T for the developing world.  They hope to enable every PacRim family to dramatically increase their per capita consumption.  It may be fuel efficient by our standards, but they are being sold to people who currently don’t own cars!   To contrast, new cars in the US typically replace other cars.

Did you feel it?  The world stage is shifting.

PS: Tata just bought Jaguar and Land Rover.

PPS: Hang on to those SUVs. You may not be able to afford to gas them up, but the steel in their bodies is going to worth a lot of $$$ in the future.

Posted in Rants, Green Tech | No Comments »

January 7, 2008 by Rob.

From the Doug W on the EVDL:

According to the US Mint, it’s now a criminal offense to melt down nickels.

“Nickels” (the US five-cent coins) are only 25% nickel.  They’re also 75% copper.  According to coinflation.com and usmint.gov a nickel contains more than 6 cents worth of metal (2.5 cents copper & 3.5 cents nickel).

Hmmm….we’re starting to see jumps in value for raw materials like metals, water, and oil.

So, if crude oil keeps going up and then the raw materials of my bank cards may be worth more than my credit limit!

Posted in Green Tech, EV News | No Comments »

December 21, 2007 by Rob.

Analysis of the “landmark” energy bill has been going round and I have not read enough to bring new insights; however, I can’t resist a sarcastic list of why this lame piece of legislation makes me sad:

• Improved CAFE standards for 2020? There’s no need to rush, we need the time to get all the way up to H9 (Hummer 9)!
• Biofuel incentives?  Food into energy is a tasty way to drive up both core components to inflation!  Ethical considerations about feeding our Hummers instead of the starving?  More U.N. humbug!  Let them eat coal.
• No alternative energy tax credits & research funds? Nah, we can just pump the CO2 under the same ground where our politicians have stuck their heads.
• Tax breaks for big oil? Finally some tax relief where it’s really needed!
• Energy efficiency? Mercury filled CFLs for everyone since they are less toxic than lead paint!
• CO2? Condi on Oprah too? Maybe she can run as GOP’s VP.

I’m trying to be funny - tears of the clown.

Posted in Green Tech, EV News | No Comments »

December 15, 2007 by Rob.

My family skis and boards at Aspen Snowmass every year. It is an awesome 4 mountain resort and a true leader in running as a green operation. Even though I knew their reputation for putting their money behind their words, I was completely astounded by what they just mailed to me!

They sent a small box with the words “Save Snow” written on the outside and inside was a single CFL blub. There was no extra card, no brochure, no letter from the CEO. It was not needed because the message was SO SIMPLE AND DIRECT: install this bulb and you can start making a global difference. Small local changes DO have global impacts.

Bravo Aspen Ski Company! You have my business.

Posted in Rants, Green Tech, EV Tech | 1 Comment »