With stocks at bargain prices in this volatile market, which green energy companies are your best bet?
The future of energy is in critical condition and the largest investment firms are looking more and more to the new industries whose clean energy supplies could salvage the sputtering market.
One way to get involved is with green exchange traded funds, commonly known as ETFs. These are essentially mutual funds supporting renewable and cleaner sources of energy and technologies. EFT shares are traded all day long on the major stock market exchanges. These funds can hold dozens, even thousands of companies under one umbrella unified by an environmental theme.
It’s clear that despite the market-wide downturns of late, green ETFs have performed with stability and predictable gains. The slow and steady approach to green investing may be just the way to inch your way out your hole and be a part of the inevitable movement toward sustainable, locally produced energy.
For more tips on green investing, check out some of these links:
When it comes to what plagues our environment, one of the major topics of discussion has always been greenhouse gases. The idea of dangerous gases that emit radiation into our atmosphere is not a foreign one to anyone who has a vague knowledge of our current climate concerns.
But despite its reputation as a environmental household name, it has never been officially addressed by the government as a real concern. Until now. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has announced its plans in regulating this damaging gas in hopes of curbing the effects of global warming as well as to determine its effects on people’s health. The EPA’s plans actualizes of the dangers greenhouse gases present and will hopefully the awareness many have still ignored up until now.
$6 billion for clean and safe water, creating more than 200,000 jobs
This insures critical funding for the nation’s pipes and treatment plants. We don’t often worry too much about where our clean water comes from and this line seeks to keep it that way.
$4.5 billion for greening federal buildings
The Federal building codes and standards apply to buildings constructed or used by any Federal agency that is not legally subject to state or local building codes. This means that any building, not just the White House, Pentagon, Capital Building, etc., ANY building paying their energy bills with Federal money will be subject to completely revised energy efficiency performance standards which have been set by the DOE.
State energy grants, issued through the Treasury Department, that will fund renewable energy projects that are eligible for the available tax credits.
As of October of last year, the Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 prolonged tax credits in solar, fuel cells, and microturbines; increased the credit amount for fuel cells; established new credits for small wind-energy systems, geothermal heat pumps, and combined heat and power (CHP) systems; extended eligibility for the credits to utilities; and allowed taxpayers to take the credit against the alternative minimum tax (AMT) subject to certain limitations. If you’ve got these systems already in place are are planning to build new ones, you should apply here.
Funding for the state energy program, which includes important utility reforms and building code conditions.
$2.5 billion for energy efficiency and renewable energy Research and Development.
In many cases, the technology just isn’t there yet and it takes resources to get there, hence, this line item.
$5 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program, creating approximately 90,000 jobs
The expansion of this service will help the program reach a critical mass and deliver what it was designed to do - help low income families make energy efficiency improvements on their homes and spend less on utilities. See if you qualify here.
A multi-year extension of the renewable production tax credit.
Even greater insurance to individuals and corporations interested in these upgrades that their renewable energy improvements will be rewarded for many years to come. This is the kind of thing that boosts investor confidence in green stocks.
A more effective tax credit for home efficiency upgrades.
If you’re not eligible for the Wheatherization Assistance Program, now you can receive the big discounts on the home energy improvements you do yourself.
$6 billion in loan guarantees for renewables, transmission and leading edge biofuels
This is a great boon for companies investing in these industries. Now there will be real money to back up the loans guaranteed by the government. This comes as particular significance to the USDA.
$2 billion for advanced batteries
More than just rechargeable batteries for your TV remote, this category of tech development may be the most important. Certainly the automotive industry has a lot to gain with hybrid-electric vehicles seeking to replace the current fleet. Here’s an interesting piece from the US Advanced Battery Consortium (USCAR). The storage of electricity produced on a massive scale for residential and commercial use is also an integral component to making the new renewable grid happen.
$9.3 billion for intercity rail, including high-speed rail
With these new high-speed rail systems, the U.S. may actually be up to speed with the rest of the world. Here’s a little more on that idea.
$27.5 billion for highways (this large pot of money is not exclusively for highways, and states and cities must use this flexibility to invest in fuel-efficient public transportation)
While this may seem a bit imbalanced up against the public transportation budgets, the ethos behind it suggests the auto fleet will be markedly cleaner by the time the highways are improved. Like it or not, the U.S. is a car culture which means the industries and infrastructure must change to accommodate it.
$8.4 billion for transit
$1.5 billion in competitive grants for transportation investments (which could be used for public transportation)
These last two lines combined with the high-speed rail budget is a pretty formidable sum to help the country’s beleaguered public trans condition. However, it may also prove to be a mere drop in the bucket if the other energy system improvements are not met.
The future of trash isn’t too hard to predict - there’s going to be a lot of it.
So what’s in store for the future of trash removal?
According to the EPA, the average American produces about 4.4 pounds of garbage a day. Thats an annual 240 million tons produced nationally. So how can the country that invented the internet and the airplane maintain it’s technological leadership under this hulking mountain of trash?
One very high-tech solution involves the blasting of garbage with lasers. While it may seem too sci-fi to be true, the process is known as plasma gasification and uses high electrical energy and high temperature to obliterate the molecular bonds that hold garbage together. The elements are separated and collected as gas, later to be used to power the facility itself.
Garbage zapping is already being used abroad with Florida on deck to be the first state in the US to bring this futuristic form of trash blasting into the present.
For more on the future of trash tech, check out this video.
The International Consumer Electronics Show wrapped up in Las Vegas but what happens to these soon-to-be-obsolete electronic devices once their lifetime has expired?
Electronic waste, made up of discarded TV’s, computers, and cell phones, known as E-waste has swiftly risen to become the fastest growing component of our country’s waste stream. In reality, the physical stuff of these magic machines consists mainly of lead, mercury, and cancer-causing dioxins that poison the people and habitats around them.
One such habitat can be found in the Guiyu region of China. Here, nearly 80% of the world’s e-waste is shipped to be sorted, dismantled, and melted down to its valuable elements, including gold. The result is the highest concentration of cancer and child lead poisoning in the world.
Ensure your e-waste isn’t contributing to this toxic scourge by checking out recycling brokers and accredited e-stewards the next time you’re ready to toss a used gadget.
For more on what to do with e-waste, check out some of these resources:
Electric cars win big at the Detroit Autoshow and a real plan is emerging to fix the nation’s transportation problems.
Foreign automakers aren’t the only ones rushing electric cars to market, it’s domestic manufacturers including Ford who’ve unveiled prototypes at this year’s auto show. Unlike the electric golf carts you may be familiar with, the new green fleet of autos are quiet and quick and don’t require the noxious burning of ancient plants.
While this innovation does reduce carbon emissions, what about it’s effect on the power grid? Experts agree that cars won’t burden the grid if owners charge their batteries at night.
Other solutions to our transportation dilemma include airport improvements, expansions, and creating high-speed rail links. Eliminating the horror of terminal gridlock on our runways may lessen headaches for travelers and increase jobs for contractors. High-speed rail links between city centers bring the classic form of train travel up to date ushering time-crunched travelers to and from their points of passage.
For more transportation innovations, check out some of these sites:
The rubber hits the road as President Obama puts car and truck emission regulations in reverse.
With petroleum fueling foreign conflict and gas prices mercilessly gouging the American people, President Obama announced his plans for decisive action in his first steps toward real energy independence.
The new energy policy now before Congress calls for a massive overhaul in the physical engineering of our current grid; a project that will create a new energy economy loaded with green collar jobs.
As for the new green American auto fleet, the President declares it will be built right here at home. By 2020, new manufacturing standards will only produce autos that can get at least 35 miles per gallon. This 40% increase in fuel efficiency could save 2 million barrels of oil per day.
While his wish is not to burden the struggling American auto industry, the President’s swift actions have automakers scrambling to meet these new standards slated to begin in 2011.
For more on the new energy economy, have a look at some of these links:
The high price of green energy culls consumers and Clean Air restrictions on big shipping have port workers gasping for air.
The New York Times released a comprehensive evaluation of American green power programs and found that only 2% of households can voluntarily afford electricity powered by renewables. The study reveals that while green power may be expensive now, resources like wind and sunlight are free and safe from the price jumps found in oil, coal, or natural gas.
Los Angeles, California: The green wave has rolled into port and commercial shipping giants say less cargo will mean less revenue in 2009. Pollution from big shipping isn’t from the boats but from the 16,000 trucks on land. Old, dirty trucks are slated to be replaced with cash from municipal bonds but the weak market is preventing California state money from reaching the program. The port hopes to postpone any further green initiatives based on declining cargo volumes.
For more on the price of green, check out some of the following links:
The world’s biggest technology giants have vowed to reduce their carbon emissions to win your green dollar.
So who decides what “going carbon neutral” really means?
According to the Wall Street Journal, companies like Dell, Google, and Yahoo are all active in cutting the amount of carbon dioxide produced in their operations. The problem is that each company defines their carbon neutrality in a different way.
Dell calculates their 490 thousand ton footprint from what comes out of their offices, company cars, and employees who fly. 20 thousand of this was cut making some green building improvements and grounding some of their airborne employees. So what about the other 470 thousand tons?
The solution seems to be in the good work of others. Renewable-energy certificates, or carbon credits, are created by clean energy companies and sold off to offset the remaining tonnage acquired by these big companies.
Until a universal standard for carbon neutrality is decided, the onus is on the consumer to find out how green a product truly is.
For more details on how to calculate corporate carbon neutrality, try out some of the following links:
Children are the future of our planet but are grown-ups doing enough to steer them green?
Everyone had their favorite superhero growing up whether it was Superman, Spiderman, Cat Woman, or Mighty Mouse they inspired and entertained us, and in some cases, may have even been our role model.
With the internet, a new generation of casts and characters are reaching kids in new ways.
Dr. Hufflebot has a worm in his head named Wormulus, and actually that’s the character that I play. He sounds like this. I want results, results I need! Not meaningless mush! The worm actually represents the worm that’s in all of our heads where we just want to block off the natural connection we have to the earth.
This colorful interactive cartoon can be found at GreenGorilla.com. But don’t stop there, there’s a whole lot of positive, kid friendly entertainment to grow and be inspired by. And who knows, maybe your child’s favorite will be a green superhero.
For our full interview with Jay Golden, click here.
For links to cool green cartoons for kids and adults, check these out!
It’s fitting that a new generation of storytellers must adapt to the challenges faced by our future generations, namely kids. Jay Golden, Vice President of New Media at SustainLane Media, is humbly and whimsically leading the charge with a passion for making change fun.
Q: What’s the purpose of creating a cartoon like this?
A: The purpose is very basic; it’s about making change fun.
Q: That’s it.
A: That’s it! It’s straight up. Our objective is to create an inspiring media property that shows kids taking action, having a blast, creating great music, collaborating, and changing the world around them through very simple steps.
Q: How old are the kids that you’re trying to reach?
A: Depending on who you ask, it could be anywhere from 6 to 60 but it starts from 6-10.
Q: So parents can get involved too?
A: Yeah, definitely. Our show is kind of like an antidote to An Inconvenient Truth. There’s a fair bit of gloom and doom in the media - global warming impending, economic dire straits - and our show is about simple ways to understand complex problems like, for example, mountain top removal. Well, if you flip a switch in any one of our cities, you are contributing to somewhere a mountain coming down because of coal. The way we tell that story is that there’s a giant worm, a giant mechanical worm that eats mountains and the kids find out about it and basically they have to come up with a way to turn it around. So, it’s applicable to all generations but really we’re aiming at kids.
Q: You guys also have a show brining up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Can you tell me a little about that?
A: Yeah, that was our pilot show. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is basically about the North Pacific Gire which many people know is this swirling patch of garbage in the North Pacific about twice the size of texas. How do you tell that story in a way that’s digestible so that people can understand and realize that when we take these little plastic pieces and toss them in the trash, sometimes they float off the heap and go into the ocean or sometimes plastic bags will float away and go into the ocean. So in our story, the kids find out that there’s a big island of plastic bags in the North Pacific and they have to go out there, they have to research, figure out what’s going on, all in a kind of fun way, trace it back to what the cause is and then they have to come up with a solution to turn it around and we do it all in a fun and pumpin’ musical way.
Q: It’s definitely fun, the music is awesome, and a lot of the evil goes back to the villain, Wormulus and Dr. Hufflebot. How did you guys come up with those guys? Is it one guys with a worm brain? Tell me a little bit about this character.
A: Dr. Hufflebot has a worm in his head named Wormulus and actually that’s the character that I play. (Modulates voice) He sounds like this! “I want results! Results I need! Not meaningless mush!” So the worm represents the worm that’s in all our heads, that worm that when you get an idea that you just wanna block off the realities and the natural connections we have to the earth, just that compelling drive that we often feel to just accumulate as much as we possibly can. In the show, Hufflebot is always trying to please the worm in his head. He creates this island of plastic bags for him so the worm can have his great dominion over the plastic bags or he helps the worm to create this evil maniacal, mechanical monster that eats mountains so that Wormulus will basically have all the power that he ever desired. And the kind of back and forth is that if Hufflebot pleases Wormulus, if Hufflebot pleases the worm in his head, then eventually the worm will let him be free. Of course, the illusion is that that never really happens, it’s an ongoing journey. The next episode you see Hufflebot back again with the worm in his head on some scheme he’s driving him towards. So we’re all the Hufflebots, really.
Q: KJ, or Kijani the Green Gorilla, who’s kind of the Yoda mystic character. How did you come up with him and how did the kids find him? How did this character come about?
A: Kijani actually means “green” in Swahili. So he’s our green gorilla character that sits in the greenhouse in San Francisco that’s kind of a concealed greenhouse. Basically it was an idea that our company, Sustain Lane’s founder, James Elson, came up with and he really wanted to see this green gorilla character but he didn’t have the other pieces to it. So we kind of put the kids together with this mystical green gorilla who basically represents indigenous wisdom. It’s earth wisdom so when the kids find a problem like Scoot skates into the greenhouse covered in plastic bags then KJ gets a hint and he starts beatboxing and basically bringing down a vision and he brings down a vision and he paints it with his fingers and colors in the air but they’re in symbols, like drawings on a cave. Now the kids have to interpret it, so in the first episode he draws plastic bags and an earth and a swirl in the ocean and the kids have to translate that. They talk amongst themselves, they do the research on the web, and they pixelate out to other places around the world so they can come up with the answers and figure out what the solution is.
Q: I wish I was a part of the pitch meeting for this show… it sounds like so much fun!
A: It was a blast! I put together the smartest people that I know and I got everybody in a room and I said, “Here’s what we wanna do: We wanna create the most inspiring show to help kids take real world steps towards a healthier planet and we wanna make it as fun as possible and we wanna bring in kids all around the world. How do we do this?” And this incredibly intelligent, creative, amazing group of people they all put their heads together and I was fortunate enough to be in the room.
Q: That actually brings me to my last question regarding your contributors and your involvement with Free Range Studios. Now, they produced something called the Meatrix and for anyone who’s listening to this who hasn’t seen the Meatrix, here’s a link! You should now go watch it after you’ve finished listening to this podcast. But, what was your involvement with Free Range?
A: I was fortunate enough to be the Entertainment Producer at Free Range for a couple years, I produced 12 movies for them. Basically, what Free Range does is they create these amazing viral web pieces for social causes which are basically distinct messages kind of wrapped in stories that travel far and wide and Story Stuff is a great example. In fact, The Story of Stuff just made 20 different language versions which is terrific. I basically learned the trade from them and now we work closely. We hired them, actually, to be our Animation and Art Direction group and so I couldn’t be happier.
Thought it would be helpful to direct your attention to this little letter put together by some freaked out Canadians about an industrial catastrophe that will nullify Quebec’s carbon reduction efforts.
As stated, if Enbridge is allowed to implement the “Trailbreaker Plan”, increase production and supply this pipeline that ends at the marinas of Portland, Maine, the emissions and massive holes in the ground will leave a tangible and indelible scar on the planet; it will distort and disfigure life as we know it. This is real.
Submit your attention as a concerned neighbor and read about the players and the plans below.
According to Christine MacDonald, author of Green Inc., oil sands is an extremely heavy form of crude oil found in great quantities in Canada and Venezuela. It requires an open-pit mining process that destroys forests and uses a lot of water, making it even more environmentally invasive than old-fashioned drilling.
Essentially, the oil in oil sands is mixed together with sand and clay to form a viscous and dense form of petroleum that must be separated out in order to be useful. It takes three to five barrels of water to separate a single barrel of oil from the clay and dirt.
Turning oil sands into something you can pour into your car’s gas tank takes several times more energy than processing conventional oil and contributes more than twice as much greenhouse gas. So if you hear of legislators trying to pass off an oil sands project as a way to counteract the global energy crisis, fight it with all your might.
For more on oil sands, click on some of the following links:
According to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, the world is flat… and hot and crowded.
Also a bestselling author, Thomas Friedman has traveled the road from Beirut to Jerusalem, he’s witnessed the towers of American life crumble with the World Trade Center on 9/11, and has come to the conclusion above all else that the world is hot, flat, and crowded.
In his new book Hot, Flat and Crowded, he takes a look at America’s surprising loss of focus and national purpose since 9/11 and the global environmental crisis. Friedman claims that if America can lead the world in energy innovation it will save the ailing planet and restore America’s reputation.
He calls this effort Code Green stressing urgency and action to replace our wasteful, inefficient energy practices with a strategy for a clean and conscientious energy solution.
For more on the work of Thomas Friedman, click here.
Welcome to the first addition of “Renewed World Order,” a vertical news thread of opinions and observations concerning President-elect Obama’s emerging environmental agenda. Keep up with what gets passed and what gets passed on right here.
The plumage of clean coal puffs its way back into the political face at a special panel discussion at Stamford University with an emphasis on “dis.” Al Gore took aim at misconceptions of “clean coal” and “Big Coal” in his speech giving advice and awaking eco-demons summoned during this past election.
This article points out is how most swing states are coal states and how playing the sweet song of the clean coal peace pipe could soothe voters whose livelihoods depend on mining. As a tactic, it was used on both sides and we’ll see if Obama chooses to make good on his promises to develop clean coal technologies as did President Bush… and we can see how much got done there.
If you’ve got a suggestion for President-elect Obama, submit it directly to him on the official website of his administration, Change.gov.
Is it possible for America to save money and save the planet?
A recent Gallup poll found that 66% of Americans said the economic crisis was hurting their personal finances. Further, people are more willing to save the environment over economic growth, but not by much.
It’s misrepresented in the main stream media that the problems with the environment and the US economy are inversely related. There’s is no proof that sacrifices of one actually hurt the other.
Anne Thompson, Chief Environmental Correspondent for NBC-Universal,
How do we become less dependent on foreign oil, that is first and foremost in everyone’s mind. I think that is what’s driving people’s interests to find more environmentally friendly ways to do all sorts of things today.
While there’s panic on Wall Street, the message is that the protection of the environment is directly related to a stabilization of our economy.
For more on the environment’s role in the economy, click here.
How safe is protected land and are logging, oil, and mining companies using our national parks for profit?
A land trust is a purchase of a large piece of real estate that in theory, remains protected from development. But it’s known that some of the biggest corporations and investment groups use the land for profit through logging, drilling, and mining.
Dan Tishman, Chairman of the Board for the Natural Resource Defense Council.
One has to define what logging is. There is good logging and there is bad logging. You can’t just tie up land as an eleemosynary thing forever. You have to understand that land is a valuable asset, it’s valuable for a whole host of reasons. And if in order to preserve land you need to figure out how to have some economic stream to preserve land, good sustainable certified logging practices might be the right sense.
One thing we can trust regarding our land is that not everyone has it’s best interests in mind regardless of what they say.
For more on American land trusts, visit some of the following links:
In this brave new world of deceptions and lies, few truths can still hold up. One of them being the government will never be a fan of activists. Despite the growing media coverage of all things Green and the increasingly alarming rate of climate change, climate activists are definitely not on the government’s Nice list this year. In fact, they have become new victims of a seemingly nonstop plot to rid as many people of their natural rights as possible. In other words, they have become terrorists (in the eyes of the government at least).
This is where it gets confusing for many. If the people whose only goal is to make the world a better place to live in are branded with the big T, who are the ones doing the branding? Certainly they must have something better to offer us. You know, something better than Earth. Surely…
By now you’ve identified your carbon footprint but what about your carbon food print?
According to Michael Pollan’s most recent open letter to the President-Elect, issues like food prices and antiquated agricultural standards are being ignored.
He says, “After cars, the food system uses more fossil fuel than any other sector of the economy - 19 percent.” Clearing land for crops, chemical fertilizers made from natural gas,pesticides made from petroleum, farm machinery emissions, modern food processing and packaging and transportation all add up to a food industry that takes 10 calories of fossil-fuel energy to produce one calorie of modern supermarket food.
The good news is that because of the two-headed crisis of food and energy in our country, Americans are more mindful of the food they’re purchasing, it’s safety, and healthfulness than ever before. Support for reform from both sides of the aisle suggests the current agricultural machine is decidedly broken and the market for organic, local, and humane practices is thriving as never before.
For more on Michal Pollan and ways to combat the food energy crisis, click here.
Jumbo shrimp, a parkway, pretty ugly, and now clean coal.
Do they think we’re oxymorons?
Talk of clean coal is polluting the air around the climate debate and stifling the discussion of alternative energy solutions. The fact of the matter is that coal extraction and incineration is a downright dirty process.
Additionally, this buzzword charade is being used by the two Presidential nominees as both a mudslinging tactic and vote generating accelerator. So what are they really talking about?
It’s basic shorthand for a technology that does not exist. The idea of carbon dioxide being separated from the exhaust of US coal plants is as likely to succeed as drilling for oil in ANWR will reduce gas prices significantly in 2009.
So while new coal technologies are experimental, the Politically infused notion of clean coal is nothing more than hot air.
For more on clean coal, check out some of the links below.
If you have followed the environmental new trend from the very beginning, it is quite obvious what the public enemy number one is: Carbon. But there is something else stinking up our atmosphere; Nitrogen.
Nitrogen has long been ignored in the environmental protection agenda; so much so that it was not even mentioned in the famous Kyoto Protocol. But while it lagged behind Carbon in publicity, it has been festering in the Earth inside fertilizers that are often overused by the agriculture industry. As a result, an even more toxic nitrogen trifluoride has escaped into our atmosphere without warrant. It is not to say that Carbon has become on non-issue. Instead, more attention should be raised towards the silent beast that is Nitrogen before it reigns supreme with Carbon in an ever smoggy world.
Is it audacious to hope for an environmentally conscious President?
Meet the Democrats!
The Democratic National Convention roared through Denver with as many protests, covert meetings, and celebrity sightings as staged celebrations. Here are some of the key points to consider with the Obama/Biden bill:
1.) Senator Obama’s so-called New Energy Plan promises 5 million new green collar jobs by strategically investing 150 billion dollars over the next 10 years to build a new clean energy grid.
2.) Deleware Senator Joe Biden has a fairly consistent voting record with environmentalists and has stated that “energy security” is his top priority.
and 3.) The team pledges to implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent before the year 2050.
Make the candidates work for your vote and for more on how the DNC went Green, click here.
The door has slammed shut and the debate is over. Climate change by human hands is real.
According to the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, industrial activity has irrefutably elevated global greenhouse gasses, reduced snowfall, increased temperature, and raised ocean levels higher than ever.
Troy Ribaudo, of the University of Massachusetts, has been researching the effects of the newest laser detection devices further supporting these climate conclusions.
At the forefront of science there is little question that these findings are indeed the final nail in the coffin regarding mankind’s impact on the environment.
For the full interview with Physicist, Troy Ribaudo, click here.
For daily updates on the climate crisis, check out the following links:
The IPCC report gives little information on the methodologies used to collect their seemingly unequivocal data. Fellow alumnist, PhD candidate, and friend, Troy Ribaudo of UMASS Lowell, was generous enough to lend his time to speak exclusively with Green Air on the science of cutting edge climate technology. He sheds light on the traditional methods of climate gas concentration detection and how the invention of the quantum cascade laser is calcifying the IPCC’s findings with a degree of irrefutable accuracy.
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