Ready for a Grand Bargain

If Only There Were True Leadership

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 ~ Amazingly, perhaps the first glimmers of an awareness of a real way forward:

A majority of Americans from both political parties are ready for the "grand bargain"--an increase in taxes on old energy sources (oil, coal, and natural gas) in return for a reduction in income tax rates across the board. In short, they're ready for a new national climate and energy policy to emerge.

They're also ready to support new, cutting edge energy technologies. And they recognize that climate change is starting to affect extreme weather events--in fact, 82 percent said they were personally affected by a climate-related extreme weather event of one kind or another last year--and are ready to do something about it.

It's bipartisan too. Details and other surprising results.

People know this is what needs to be done, and something much like this is already working in British Columbia. All we need is real leadership, and less corruption from unlimited corporate money.

Where's It Wednesday—LXXXII

Where in Seattle is this?

Answer next week.

Details on the weekly Where's It Wednesday puzzle here.
Other weeks' puzzles here.
Answer to last week's puzzle, after the jump.

Solar Around the World

Another Electric Vehicle

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 ~ If hybrid and all-electric cars and airplanes can be built, then why not a boat? Billed as the world's first solar circumnavigation by boat, the voyage of the MS Turanor PlanetSolar took almost 585 days:

The catamaran has a solar PV surface area that covers more than 530 square meters with a capacity of 93.5 kilowatts. That onboard power has been enough to lead the crew from Monaco through the Straight of Gibraltar, past Cuba, to Miami and Mexico, through the Panama Canal, across the span of the Pacific, to the eastern coast of Australia, up through Southeast Asia to Hong Kong, westward to the southern tip of India, into the Gulf of Iman, back down and into the Red Sea, where it crossed through the Suez Canal and back into the home waters of the Mediterranean.

It's a piece of nerdy coolness to power a boat from solar energy (and to give it a name from J.R.R. Tolkien) but rather impractical when another renewable energy source—wind—can be mechanically harnessed. Wind also can be converted to electricity with higher efficiency than solar. Still, it is another demonstration that our remaining enslaved to fossil fuels is no more than a choice, and a poor one at that. We could make other choices.

Boat details here.

(h/t Renewable Energy World)

Compare and Contrast

BP and Solyndra

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 ~ Rate the disaster:

Solyndra was developing a cylindrical solar module unlike anything else. It was a daringly different technological approach in an industry crowded with alternatives. When conventional solar modules became suddenly much cheaper, Solyndra's technology became uneconomical, and the company failed.

BP has substantial experience drilling in deep water for oil. It uses technologies that have been incrementally refined for decades and which are standard practice in its industry. When its Deepwater Horizon platform exploded, burned and sank, nearly 5,000,000 barrels of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico.

The Solyndra bankruptcy cost the government, and hence us taxpayers, more than $500M. Hundreds lost their jobs.

The BP debacle has cost the economy at least $40B in activity, and many billions in lost tax revenue. Thousands lost their jobs.

So which makes our economic problems (e.g. the deficit and national debt) worse?

Build It and They Will Ride

Demand for Free Transportation

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 ~ Why are there user fees for public transit but not for the use of other transportation infrastructure? What would happen if public transit were free?

The impact of not having user fees for other transportation options is instructive. Simply: an abundance in the supply of transportation capacity can stimulate demand for it. It works for bike lanes in cities:

Science has verified something that may appear obvious at first glance: The direct connection between the presence of bike lanes and the number of bike commuters. The more infrastructure exists to encourage biking, the more people bike—and the more society reaps the public health, energy, and lifestyle benefits that come with an increasing share of people-powered transportation.

This isn't true just for bikes; it's true too for roads. Build more capacity and the number of drivers, trips and miles driven increases:

Climate Change Impacts Day

Connect the Dots

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 ~ Great job by Bill McKibben and the rest of 350.org.

There were better things to do today than drink tequila, and tens of thousands did just that—connecting the dots on how climate change is the result of human choices and actions.

Pictures.

How to Start a Small Business—II

Teamwork

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 ~ Stop me if you've heard this one:

How do you make a small fortune?
Easy—just start with a large one.

So how do you make a small business? Have a team made of those who work together and support each other.

Building a good team is hard, however, and it is easy to make the mistake of hiring the wrong person. In the early days that can sink a company. That's one reason companies often bring people on as contractors or consultants in the early stages. You can try people out and see how they do, and how well they fit. Or not. Business owners retain the flexibility of increasing or decreasing hours or  adjusting responsibilities. If all goes well, maybe hire them.

Do you have or want to make a small business, and are unsure how to put your team together? Contact me.

The True Cause of What Isn't Happening

Is It Reality or Parody?

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 ~ The other day a friend posted a link to an article about how wind farms in Texas are "warming the Earth." The implication: wind farms are exacerbating global warming! Really?

Surprising and a bit puzzling. He first thought it must be from the Onion, but turns out it was from Fox News, which was quickly joined by the usual suspects in the uncritical right-wing echo chamber.

Ha ha. But then what happens? A bit later almost all the same information is reprinted in—where else?—The Onion! The funny bit, of course, is that The Onion didn't change the top line at all; they merely added 3 person-on-the-street comments that would be typical of their "dumb readers":

"Well, you get a bunch of turbines waving their arms about suggestively, things are bound to heat up."

"This is so counterintuitive. It just doesn't make any sense. Why would Texas have renewable energy sources?"

Ironic too that an organization that incessantly claims climate change/global warming is not happening would also claim that it is caused by green energy technology. Another reason to despise cleantech! It's causing heads to explode!

For the (sadly necessary) serious rebuttal, you can go here or here or here.

Where's It Wednesday—LXXXI

Where in Seattle is this?

Answer next week.

Details on the weekly Where's It Wednesday puzzle here.
Other weeks' puzzles here.
Answer to last week's puzzle, after the jump.

Social Change

Time to Aim Higher than CSR

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 ~ My one-time high school classmate, Paul Klein, is now a sometime blogger for Forbes, where he pens thoughtful pieces arising from his work advising corporations on CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility. Today he published a piece on "the business value of social change."

It's a worthwhile read, and raises an intriguing point that incessant blather about CSR conveniently skirts: can CSR alone make a real difference when it remains subservient to the core corporate purpose of maximizing profit?

Getting to Zero Waste

Throw Nothing Away

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 ~ It's said one man's trash is another man's treasure.

Houston-based startup RecycleMatch seeks to not only prove that adage, but to profit from it. The company is building a cloud-based marketplace where companies with unwanted stuff can find companies with an unfilled need for that same stuff. The result? Less into landfills.

Does Gas Cost Too Much?

It Depends...

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 ~ Politicians have emerged from their usual torpor and seen a shadow on the economy from the price of gas.

Expect six more months of winter, i.e. the winter of discontent and the hibernation of truth and perspective.

High energy costs are a drag on the economy to be sure, but what we pay isn't so bad, even at $4 per gallon, compared to much of the world:

Gas is also cheap compared to other liquids. Good thing cars don't run on coffee. Or mouthwash.

It turns out, furthermore, that higher gas prices don't really change our behavior:

OWS—IX

It's the Inequality, Stupid

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 ~ After more than 30 years of growing and glaring inequality, it has become impossible to pretend that the gap can be entirely explained by hard work. In fact, it is the middle class that has worked hard and tripled their productivity even as their real wages have declined. The result of that increased productivity has been a reduction in the number of workers needed to produce the same goods and services, and relentless pressure on employment, while the financial rewards have gone to the top tier.

The system that allocates vast riches to the very top as the rest struggle is not meritorious so much as meretricious.

What Word Goes with Farms and Bags?

Donald the Ridiculous

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Annoying static cling:
the balloon struggles to escape
Donald Trump's hair

 ~ How well does Donald Trump represent the 1%? How do they say it in the UK? Rather:

Trump flew into Edinburgh to expand on his feelings about wind farms to MSPs, telling them that the turbines - which he bitterly opposes - would be the 'destruction of your tourist industry'.

The protesters didn't agree, with balloons like the one rubbing up against Trump's famous comb-over covered with the slogan: 'Wind power, not wind bags'.

Just so.

Trump's shorts are in a twist because offshore turbines will, in his opinion, mar the view from the eponymous golf course he's erecting on the coast. Because, you know, these days things like affordable energy, manufacturing jobs and the destruction of the planet just aren't very important compared to wealthy tourists jetting around the world to play golf. Never mind that it is an activity with perhaps the largest negative environmental footprint of any leisure activity since Darth Vader toyed with vaporizing planets.

Start Up Really Fast

Seattle's Newest Startup Incubator

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 ~ I stopped by the open house at SURF Incubator last night. Whether SURF stands for Start Up Really Fast, or Start Up Really Frugal or Start Up Really Fun, it is a fantastic concept in a fantastic space.

The lobby area is a work in progress, but full-time reception staff starts Monday, the "official" opening day.

A couple of dozen folks were engaged in lively conversation at the open house, including quite a few of the nearly 40 people already moved into the space.

Entrepreneurs and teams of 1-5 are the best fit, and the space will reach capacity at about 100.

Where's It Wednesday—LXXX

Where in Seattle is this?

Answer next week.

Details on the weekly Where's It Wednesday puzzle here.
Other weeks' puzzles here.
Answer to last week's puzzle, after the jump.

Hare-Brained

Trends in Cleantech Funding

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 ~ According to the latest Pew Charitable Trusts report "Who's Winning the Clean Energy Race?, the US regained the lead in spending in 2011. China had invested the most in each of the prior two years, and will probably retake the top spot in 2012. Why? Much of the US investment was accelerated in advance of the expiration of critical incentives, particularly the Section 1603 program.

Micro Power Loans

Empowering Communities

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 ~ Hundreds of thousands of people have electricity because of distributed generation from small renewable energy systems financed by micro lending:

The Solar Home System (SHS) dissemination programme in Bangladesh is considered to be one of the most successful of its kind in the world, bringing power to rural areas where grid electricity supply is neither available nor expected in the medium term.

The program started in January 2005 and nearly 350,000 SHSs were installed by the summer 0f 2009, most of which had a rated power output of 50W. Systems came with 3-4 compact flourescent light bulbs. Owners benefit from lighting, especially in their kitchens and courtyards, and also use the systems to charge batteries, power radios, and even run 12V televisions. While statistics are lacking, it appears that some owners are using the power in their small stores and restaurants, boosting their income.

Earth Day...

...And Every Other Day

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 ~ Things that matter should not be relegated to an event.

Crowd-Sourced Investment—II

The Attorneys' View of the JOBS Act

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 ~ "We don't want the Shamwow guy on TV hawking securities"
     — Steven Bochner, WSGR attorney

Yesterday I posted on the WSGR seminar about the JOBS Act, which was characterized (correctly I think) as primarily about creating an easier on-ramp for "emerging growth companies" to get to a public offering (IPO).

Today I'm posting about the "bolted-on" parts of the Act pertaining to public solicitation and crowd-funded investment. While the idea of these things might sound good, the reality, as enshrined in the Act, is unlikely to match anyone's hopeful expectations.