Dispense with your concerns that Google's interest in alternative energy is waning.
While the firm did recently close a high profile energy research group, Google just announced it has made a new $94 million investment in a portfolio of four solar photovoltaic projects currently under construction by Recurrent Energy near Sacramento, CA.
“This investment represents our first investment in the U.S. in larger scale solar PV power plants that generate energy for the grid—instead of on individual rooftops. These projects have a total capacity of 88 MW, equivalent to the electricity consumed by more than 13,000 homes”, Google said on its blog.
The internet giant said this new investment brings its total alternative energy investments to more than $915 million. In 2011 it helped more than 10,000 homeowners to install solar PV panels on their rooftops.
Read more at CleanTechies.com
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Buffett Buys Second Solar Project
Just a week after its first foray into solar, Warren Buffett's energy utility is acquiring another big solar project, also being developed by First Solar. MidAmerican Energy says it's buying a 49 percent stake in the 290 megawatt (MW) Agua Caliente project in Arizona. The plant is owned by NRG Energy and supported by a $967 million Dept of Energy loan guarantee. First Solar is expected to complete the $1.8 billion project in 2014.
Last week, MidAmerican announced it would buy its first solar project, the 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm in California. "We are aggressively pursuing opportunities to expand our presence in the renewable energy sector," says Greg Abel, MidAmerican CEO.
Utility-scale solar plants offer good, stable returns with little downside risk, since all the power is sold to utility PG&E, and they offer valuable tax credits.
Last week, MidAmerican announced it would buy its first solar project, the 550 MW Topaz Solar Farm in California. "We are aggressively pursuing opportunities to expand our presence in the renewable energy sector," says Greg Abel, MidAmerican CEO.
Utility-scale solar plants offer good, stable returns with little downside risk, since all the power is sold to utility PG&E, and they offer valuable tax credits.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Procter & Gamble: Sustainability Competition Pays Dividends
Procter & Gamble CEO Bob McDonald declared a bold vision -- one that includes making all products and packaging with recycled or renewable materials, and ensuring that no waste from P&G products touches a landfill. Prominent in the vision, too, is powering all plants with renewable energy. Because all of this will take decades to achieve, P&G also declared a series of shorter-term, 10-year goals to guarantee that the company is making progress. The 2020 renewable energy goal is to power 30% of P&G's energy needs for 180 plants worldwide with renewable sources.
The challenges of such an undertaking were immense, so P&G created a tournament and included outsiders for their energy, expertise and imagination. The fruits of their labor will be seen over many years but the process and initial results are fascinating. Read more here.
The challenges of such an undertaking were immense, so P&G created a tournament and included outsiders for their energy, expertise and imagination. The fruits of their labor will be seen over many years but the process and initial results are fascinating. Read more here.
Friday, December 16, 2011
Water Will Be the Critical Limiting Factor of 21st Century Production
Morgan Stanley’s Global Investment Committee recently released a report in which it argues that the “perfect storm” of declining water supply and rising demand are likely to make water the critical limiting resource of our time. The report, entitled Peak Water: The Preeminent 21st Century Commodity Story, paints a convincing picture of a world that is on the brink of a severe water crisis.
The many interrelated forces converging to exacerbate the water scarcity problem are likely to soon have a visible and painful impact on the world:
Steadily Increasing Demand: Although population growth is the major cause of increasing global water withdrawal levels, the overall rise in demand for water has outpaced population growth by a factor of two. The withdrawal rate in the US is expected to increase by between 10 and 20 percent over 1995 levels by 2025.
Extreme Drought Risk: Steadily increasing temperatures from climate change and global exploitation of water resources have significantly increased the threat of drought. By 2030, nearly two thirds of the US is likely to be drastically drier which will put large parts of the nation at risk for extreme drought.
Disappearing Snow Cover: In the Northern Hemisphere, monthly snow cover has declined 1.3 percent every ten years for the last decade. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) predicts that Earth’s middle latitudes will experience snow losses of 60 to 80 percent by the end of the century.
Mounting Agricultural Pressures: Agriculture uses account for 70% of all water withdrawals. Growing global affluence is increasing demand for more water-intensive foods like meat, which requires 10 times more water than rice to produce. Global efforts to reduce poverty and famine will also require increasing agriculture output, and therefore water use.
Rapid Urbanization: Currently more than half of the global population lives in cities. In 1990, the world had 10 cities with populations of over 10 million; by 2020, the UN predicts that number to increase to 27. Urbanization, which is usually associated with an increasing standard of living, can increase a person’s demand for water to five times that of the basic water requirement.
Sustainable companies, especially those to whom water is already a critical resource (beverages, mining, paper, etc.) are already working to reduce their water intensity. This will obviously have significant ramifications beyond the commercial water usage, so each of us needs to consider this risk factor in our investing, and life, decisions.
Read more at Triple Pundit.com
The many interrelated forces converging to exacerbate the water scarcity problem are likely to soon have a visible and painful impact on the world:
Steadily Increasing Demand: Although population growth is the major cause of increasing global water withdrawal levels, the overall rise in demand for water has outpaced population growth by a factor of two. The withdrawal rate in the US is expected to increase by between 10 and 20 percent over 1995 levels by 2025.
Extreme Drought Risk: Steadily increasing temperatures from climate change and global exploitation of water resources have significantly increased the threat of drought. By 2030, nearly two thirds of the US is likely to be drastically drier which will put large parts of the nation at risk for extreme drought.
Disappearing Snow Cover: In the Northern Hemisphere, monthly snow cover has declined 1.3 percent every ten years for the last decade. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) predicts that Earth’s middle latitudes will experience snow losses of 60 to 80 percent by the end of the century.
Mounting Agricultural Pressures: Agriculture uses account for 70% of all water withdrawals. Growing global affluence is increasing demand for more water-intensive foods like meat, which requires 10 times more water than rice to produce. Global efforts to reduce poverty and famine will also require increasing agriculture output, and therefore water use.
Rapid Urbanization: Currently more than half of the global population lives in cities. In 1990, the world had 10 cities with populations of over 10 million; by 2020, the UN predicts that number to increase to 27. Urbanization, which is usually associated with an increasing standard of living, can increase a person’s demand for water to five times that of the basic water requirement.
Sustainable companies, especially those to whom water is already a critical resource (beverages, mining, paper, etc.) are already working to reduce their water intensity. This will obviously have significant ramifications beyond the commercial water usage, so each of us needs to consider this risk factor in our investing, and life, decisions.
Read more at Triple Pundit.com
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
WSJ: Investing With Heart and Head
The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the strong and persistent growth of Sustainable and Responsible Investing (SRI) as a mainstream investment style.
According to Eurosif, a Paris-based research firm, Europe's high-net-worth individuals (+$1 million in financial assets) had dedicated almost $1 trillion, or around 11% of their wealth, to "sustainable" investing at the end of 2010. That's an increase of 35% over the figure for 2008, even while such individuals' total assets under management shrank during that two-year period because of the global economic crisis.
What's more, the definition of SRI is expanding to include so-called "impact" investments. This often includes microfinance, "triple bottom line" private equity and venture capital, small business lending and even municipal bonds when targeted to "quality of life" areas such as hospitals, schools, water and other "impact" segments.
Read more at WSJ.com
According to Eurosif, a Paris-based research firm, Europe's high-net-worth individuals (+$1 million in financial assets) had dedicated almost $1 trillion, or around 11% of their wealth, to "sustainable" investing at the end of 2010. That's an increase of 35% over the figure for 2008, even while such individuals' total assets under management shrank during that two-year period because of the global economic crisis.
What's more, the definition of SRI is expanding to include so-called "impact" investments. This often includes microfinance, "triple bottom line" private equity and venture capital, small business lending and even municipal bonds when targeted to "quality of life" areas such as hospitals, schools, water and other "impact" segments.
Read more at WSJ.com
Monday, December 12, 2011
ExxonMobil Forecasts Major Shift to Greener Vehicles
A new report from ExxonMobil predicts that nearly half of the world’s cars will either be hybrids or powered by alternative fuels by 2040.
While hybrids now account for just about 1 percent of all vehicles worldwide, the oil giant forecasts that hybrids and alternative energy vehicles will move to the mainstream as governments increasingly push for better fuel efficiency.
The ExxonMobil report, “The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040,” predicts that overall energy demand will remain flat in developed nations over the next three decades, but demand in developing nations such as China and India will increase nearly 60 percent from 2010 to 2040.
The report also predicts a worldwide boom in shale gas production and forecasts that 30 percent of the world’s electricity will be produced from natural gas, while demand for coal will peak before seeing “its first long-term decline in modern history.” Article courtesy CleanTechies.com
While hybrids now account for just about 1 percent of all vehicles worldwide, the oil giant forecasts that hybrids and alternative energy vehicles will move to the mainstream as governments increasingly push for better fuel efficiency.
The ExxonMobil report, “The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040,” predicts that overall energy demand will remain flat in developed nations over the next three decades, but demand in developing nations such as China and India will increase nearly 60 percent from 2010 to 2040.
The report also predicts a worldwide boom in shale gas production and forecasts that 30 percent of the world’s electricity will be produced from natural gas, while demand for coal will peak before seeing “its first long-term decline in modern history.” Article courtesy CleanTechies.com
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
CSR reports are scandalously misleading, researchers say
What are we supposed to believe???"In financial reporting, to leave out an undisclosed part of the company in the calculation of profits would be a scandal. In sustainability reporting, it is common practice," said research-team leader Ralf Barkemeyer.
For this reason, Boardwalk Capital has teamed with independent researcher Sustainalytics. Their 40+ analysts are charged with getting the real scoop on who is walking the walk, and who is just talk.
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