Scaling up

Solyndra might be making the headlines (on page A10 by now) but the overlooked larger story: the solar industry is booming.

There are a few emerging conversations:

1. Should the government be subsidizing the industry?

2. Can US solar manufacturers compete with Chinese ones?

3. Can the US link production and consumption of solar technology, or will we import cheaper Chinese panels for construction of mega solar facilities for domestic consumption?

4. Should we focus on large-scale solar "plants" or should we take Germany's lead (and Jeremy Rifkin's) and push for lateral power, small scale deployment on homes, neighborhoods, and businesses and scale that way?

These centralized, large-scale projects tend to favor the big established corporations, which has the potential to undermine any sort of democratization of energy production, and replicate the energy hierarchies we've known for centuries. The billions in subsidies will go to the big guys, same as with coal and oil.

Lateral deployment seems the way to go.

 

The China Paradox

Can China make it to a clean energy economy in the long-term by rapid economic development based on coal in the short-term?

Not looking good according to a new EIA report:

But rapid industrial growth throughout China has outpaced the government's efforts to replace carbon intensive infrastructure with energy efficiency technology.

And

China achieved a 19.1% reduction in the energy intensity of its economy. But at the same time, overall emissions were up 33.6%, with emissions from building operation and transportation growing 41%.

"To protect their bottom line"

Levi Strauss is working on reducing water use in the manufacturing and consumption of jeans. Good to see that they are working on both production and consumption aspects of water use. But, come on, do people need "new" jeans that are already falling apart?

I agree with this interviewee:

“As long as you don’t get dirt on them, don’t do a lot of strenuous activity in them and — sorry if this is a bit vulgar — be sure to always wear underwear, you can really go a very long time between washing."

It's true, washing jeans is the best way to ruin them, espcecially black levis. Don't wash the black ones; they won't be black for long. 

"No reason now to be a skeptic."

The story of Richard Muller is making the rounds this week. Muller is a scientist at UC Berkeley and was a climate change skeptic who was hired and in part funded by Koch Foundation (the right-wing, climate change denying, billionaire Koch brothers) to find out if "mainstream" scientist were wrong about climate change. But after doing the research, he concluded that global climate chagne is indeed real. He makes no mention of human induced climate change, but urges a reduction in green house gas emissions as a worthy endeavor. 

He concludes, 

"And now we have confidence that the temperature rise that had previously been reported had been done without bias."

Welcome to the club.

7 billion and 1, and 2, and 3...

Sometime today the human population reaches 7 billion people. For many in the U.S. halloween is the perfect day to reach this milestone, "over population" scares people, and it gives an easy answer to "what is wrong with the world?" and to the cause of environmental problems, including global climate change. "It's those people out there."

But population is a red herring in many ways. The developed world uses most the energy, produces most the food, and emits the most carbon. Yes, aspects of population cause problems but an environmntal and social justice movement that runs with this headline and platform isn't looking deep enough.

Nest, the intelligent thermostat

The news of the day in the technology world was the introduction of Nest, The Learning Thermostat by Tony Fadell, one of the creators of the iPod and his team at Nest Labs. It is the first major consumer tech gadget meets energy efficient home hardware. Can the iPhone of thermastats actually deliver on its claims? Can it spark consumer interest? Only research and use will tell. This does seem however to be the future of home appliances and a new turn in the consumerification of everyday, taken for granted energy appliances.

"What did you get for Christmas?"

"A thermostat."

"Huh?"