10 Favs; 10 Years: "What Keeps You Up at Night?"

Back in November 2009, Lou Rappaport of Blank Rome asked me a disturbing question at the MAC Alliance Conference in Philadelphia.

Here's the post I wrote in response to his question:


On the face of it, Lou's question was a simple one:

"What keeps you up at night?"

We were interrupted before I could answer, but Lou's question lingered with me.

In fact, it kept me up the past couple of nights.

By way of an answer now, here are seven things that keep me up at night:

1.) We will fail to embrace change and tackle the new green economy.

2.) We are so deeply entrenched in partisan politics that we will blow this opportunity to lead in a sector (alternative energy) that we invented.

3.) The Dems have made climate and energy a "left" issue and the right has ceded it to them. Where is the GOP leadership stepping up to fill the void on these issues?*

4.) Enviros and NIMBYs will kill the energy economy transformation by blocking efforts on clean coal, nuclear, natural gas exploration, and the new electric grid just as they did with wind farms and offshore drilling.

5.) We don't have time to dither, yet we are a nation of inveterate ditherers.

6.) While we dither and dawdle, China is ready to seize the day.

7.) I don't know Mandarin.

____________________________________________
*(Note: This is deeply disappointing for the party of Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, which once led on issues now considered clean and green – and that now seems blind to this incredible opportunity for wealth generation.)

80 Percent Clean Energy by 2035? I'm Skeptical, Mr. President

Source: AE2011, US EIA

I missed President Obama's State of the Union address last night because I was meeting with the good people at Investor's Circle.

On my way home, however, my Twitterstream was all abuzz  about the President's shout-out to a clean energy future.

Did he really commit to "80 percent of America's electricity will come from clean energy sources" by 2035?

Apparently, he did. It's right there in the transcript (along with a liberal sprinkling of the word "applause").

While many applaud the sentiment, some of us remain skeptical about the feasibility of such a target.

Don't get me wrong, I agree with two of the statements the President made on clean energy. The first is, "clean energy breakthroughs will only translate into clean energy jobs if businesses know there will be a market for what they're selling."

True enough. And it is also true that industry needs a clear signal on the price of carbon or the regulatory constraints they will face. Still to be determined how we get that, and no mention of it last night.

I also agree with the President that we need it all: wind, solar, clean coal, natural gas...and nuclear.

But 80 percent renewables clean energy by 2035? Well, I'm skeptical.

Even our own US Energy Information Administration's Annual Energy Outlook for 2011 (AE2011), released late last year, projects that renewables will climb to only 14 percent by 2035. This does not take into account natural gas, which they project will climb to 25 percent, or nuclear, at 17 percent.

If you take an inclusive view of clean energy, that adds up to 56 percent by 2035. With coal at 43 percent in the AE2011 (and the last one percent coming from "oil and other liquids") making up the difference, I'm assuming a large chunk of that is going to have to become -- rather quickly -- clean coal.

And by the way, China, with its aggressive investments in clean technologies, has set a goal of 15 percent of its energy from renewables by 2020 and 30 percent by 2050.

So forgive me if I remain skeptical about the 80 percent target. I'd prefer to see a realistic plan, with real targets, real investment (public and private), and a real demonstration that the political will exists to make it happen.

Dr. Seuss to LoraxAg: "You Don't Speak for the Trees"

What's in a name?  Plenty, according to Dr. Seuss Enterprises; especially if the beloved children's author, known for his creative use of the English language, coined the name.

So what was coal-gasification start-up LoraxAg thinking when they borrowed the name of one of the good doctor's much-loved characters? Let alone one that stands (literally) for the environment and "speaks for the trees."

Two weeks ago, bloggers at Wonk Room informed the owners of Dr. Seuss’s intellectual property of the company's "draping its coal-to-chemicals technology in truffula trees."

Now, the New York Times reports that Dr. Seuss' lawyer Karl ZoBell sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Massachusetts-based company.

"There's no reason for them to use the term," ZoBell told the Times' Green Inc blog, "except to purloin the good will attached to the book and use it for a company that appears to be the opposite of everything the book is about."

Amazing the company's own lawyers didn't warn them that the use of this name might cause difficulty.  Or perhaps they did and the company thought they'd just go on biggering and biggering despite the controversy.

"What Keeps You Up at Night?"

Lou Rappaport of Blank Rome asked me a disturbing question the other day at the MAC Alliance Conference in Philadelphia.

On the face of it, Lou's question was a simple one:

"What keeps you up at night?"

We were interrupted before I could answer, but Lou's question lingered with me.

In fact, it kept me up the past couple of nights.

By way of an answer now, here are seven things that keep me up at night:

1.) We will fail to embrace change and tackle the new green economy.

2.) We are so deeply entrenched in partisan politics that we will blow this opportunity to lead in a sector (alternative energy) that we invented.

3.) The Dems have made climate and energy a "left" issue and the right has ceded it to them. Where is the GOP leadership stepping up to fill the McCain void on these issues?*

4.) Enviros and NIMBYs will kill the energy economy transformation by blocking efforts on clean coal, nuclear, natural gas exploration, and the new electric grid just as they did with wind farms and offshore drilling.

5.) We don't have time to dither, yet we are a nation of inveterate ditherers.

6.) While we dither and dawdle, China is ready to seize the day.

7.) I don't know Mandarin.

____________________________________________
*(Note: This is deeply disappointing for the party of Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, which once led on issues now considered clean and green – and that now seems blind to this incredible opportunity for wealth generation.)

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]">