Friday, March 6, 2009
A Talk with Jeffery Ball
A young man with neatly cowmbed brown, fluffy hair walks down the lobby torward us. He has the air of importance and quickness about him. This is Jeffery Ball, Chief Environmental Editor for the Wall Street Journal. We were lucky enough to get 10 minutes out of his buisy life to talk to him about his work. My partner, Marandah, ask him two questions, and I followed up with another two. My questions went "Some of the newest technology in clean energy cars include electric and hybrid technology using efficient lithium ion batteries. But what about the Human Rights side of this technology. What is your response to HU activists statement that the U.S. is exploiting The Democratic Republic of the Congo's lithium supply?" He made the statement that we have to be very careful in our quest torward clean energy. With energy like clean coal, eventually we are going to have to get more coal from somewhere, and with nuclear, we have to harvest the Uranium from somewhere too. His overall statement, I belive was we can't have our need and desire for clean energy get in the way of developing nations. I really had a good time talking with this very educated man.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Sun and Wind
This section is a talk with Douglas Pertz, President and CEO, Clipper Windpower and Thomas Werner, CEO, SunPower.
The titans of renewable energy walked onstage along with the moderator. These powerful men started off the conversation with how this economic recession has effected their sales. Douglas Pertz quoted T. Boone Pickens, Chairman, BP Capital Management by saying "This wind stuff is dead as hell!" Then the conversation moved on to comparing the price of renewable energy commercially to just average commercial energy. Solar is 35ç per kilowatt hour, compared to commercial energy, which is on average 10ç per kilowatt hour. The moderator and the audience wanted to know how solar prices could go down. Thomas Werner stated that the "scale equals cost reduction." So therefore, the more solar energy we can get out there, the cheeper it will get. It is exactly like inflation in a country. On the note of producing more renewable energy, Clipper Windpower's goal is to install 200 giga watts of wind energy intalled by 2020+. Right now, the average annual giga watts installed is eight. I belive that our country is going to have to revert to at least 50% renewable energy by 2020.
The titans of renewable energy walked onstage along with the moderator. These powerful men started off the conversation with how this economic recession has effected their sales. Douglas Pertz quoted T. Boone Pickens, Chairman, BP Capital Management by saying "This wind stuff is dead as hell!" Then the conversation moved on to comparing the price of renewable energy commercially to just average commercial energy. Solar is 35ç per kilowatt hour, compared to commercial energy, which is on average 10ç per kilowatt hour. The moderator and the audience wanted to know how solar prices could go down. Thomas Werner stated that the "scale equals cost reduction." So therefore, the more solar energy we can get out there, the cheeper it will get. It is exactly like inflation in a country. On the note of producing more renewable energy, Clipper Windpower's goal is to install 200 giga watts of wind energy intalled by 2020+. Right now, the average annual giga watts installed is eight. I belive that our country is going to have to revert to at least 50% renewable energy by 2020.
Al Gore
This section of ECO:nomics is about a chat with past Vice President, Al Gore.
The moment we have all been waiting for, Al Gore and the Moderator take the stage. He seems so calm. Is a man like him suposed to be calm? During his talk, he spoke about the new inconvient truth; how the economy has effected our move torwards limiting carbon emissions. He went on to talk about the plants near the North Polar ice caps. Because these plants, once unfrozen, will send millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. The rest of the conversation went along somewhat like that. Once Al Gore left the stage, myself and my partner jogged around side the building by the press room. We caught Mr. Gore right as he was turning the corner. He told us what we were doing was great. He gave me a firm handshake and was on his way. This meeting, however short it was, was one of the most amazing and happiest expiriences of my life. I will cherish that moment and that handshake forever.
The moment we have all been waiting for, Al Gore and the Moderator take the stage. He seems so calm. Is a man like him suposed to be calm? During his talk, he spoke about the new inconvient truth; how the economy has effected our move torwards limiting carbon emissions. He went on to talk about the plants near the North Polar ice caps. Because these plants, once unfrozen, will send millions of tons of carbon into the atmosphere. The rest of the conversation went along somewhat like that. Once Al Gore left the stage, myself and my partner jogged around side the building by the press room. We caught Mr. Gore right as he was turning the corner. He told us what we were doing was great. He gave me a firm handshake and was on his way. This meeting, however short it was, was one of the most amazing and happiest expiriences of my life. I will cherish that moment and that handshake forever.
Green People
This section of the conference is a talk with Richard Edelman, President and CEO, Edelman, and Mike Jackson, CEO, AutoNation (see above).
We entered a dark room and chose our seat in about 100 plush arm chairs. The room was bathed in a bright blue light, music came on, and Mike Jackson, Richard Edelman, and a moderator took the stage. They began the talk with some discussion on "green" cars. Why is the Toyota Prius one of the most popular hybrid cars ever made? "Well," said Mike Jackson, "It's all because of the model." He went on to say that the unique body of the Prius proclaimed that "I'm doing good in the world and saving the environment." The two men then went on to talk about a more serious subject: the sales of these fuel-efficient and alternative fuel cars. These sales have gone down a lot since October. You can follow these sales and see that they match up with the decline in gas prices. This is to be expected. These two, powerful men went on to give the advice to the government to put a gas tax on the average premium that you put into your car. Therefore, by raising the price of gas, the sales of the fuel efficient car should go up. Therefore we can be a less petroleum-dependent country. This is a radical and controversial strategy, and one that may not be very popular.
We entered a dark room and chose our seat in about 100 plush arm chairs. The room was bathed in a bright blue light, music came on, and Mike Jackson, Richard Edelman, and a moderator took the stage. They began the talk with some discussion on "green" cars. Why is the Toyota Prius one of the most popular hybrid cars ever made? "Well," said Mike Jackson, "It's all because of the model." He went on to say that the unique body of the Prius proclaimed that "I'm doing good in the world and saving the environment." The two men then went on to talk about a more serious subject: the sales of these fuel-efficient and alternative fuel cars. These sales have gone down a lot since October. You can follow these sales and see that they match up with the decline in gas prices. This is to be expected. These two, powerful men went on to give the advice to the government to put a gas tax on the average premium that you put into your car. Therefore, by raising the price of gas, the sales of the fuel efficient car should go up. Therefore we can be a less petroleum-dependent country. This is a radical and controversial strategy, and one that may not be very popular.
ECO:nomics 2009
Hi, My Name is Logan, and I am with a Teen Press organization. This is my blog about the ECO:nomics conference 2009. http://economics.wsj.com/
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