John Hofmeister, the former President of Shell Oil, isn’t one to mince words. He thinks the U.S. is going about energy policy “planlessly,” due to its short political cycles, and he called the stimulus package’s funding for green technology “a frittering number.”
Oil prices have headed back up to close to $100 a barrel. Will the demand for cleantech products — like electric, hybrid and biofuel cars — get a boost? And will high oil prices stimulate cleantech investing?
This year, the world will hit 7 billion persons; by 2045 it will reach 9 billion. At that rate, we’ll reach a global population density of a little more than half of that of France. It’s not an explosion; it’s about resource management.
Wikileaks has given the cleantech world ammunition to show how our sector offers a solution to the extremely unstable world problems, and national security issues. We are bankrolling the same enemies we proclaim to be fighting in the battle against fundamentalist Islamic terror groups.
Since influencers are what makes the greentech industry world go round, we thought we’d bring you the 10 individuals that we think had the biggest effect on the greentech sector this year. From corporate bigwigs to policy wonks, these are the people changing the sector.
We’re all going to need to become a lot more energy literate if we’re going to fight climate change. Now the DOE has started working on a collaborative Energy Literacy document that will help guide energy education in schools, as well as federal policy and funding.
Will California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger be the next Obama Administration energy policy official? It’s just one idea that Schwarzenegger, who will step down from the governor role in a couple weeks, kicked around in an interview with the L.A. Times on Friday.
The Center for Public Integrity reports that funds from the stimulus package for clean power and energy efficiency were issued with “sweeping exemptions” from basic environmental oversight.
O.K., so there’s been a whole lotta funding news today. Here’s something a bit lighter. This weekend at a holiday gift fair in San Francisco I bought an awesome t-shirt featuring rockstar Department of Energy’s Chief Steven. Actually I bought like three of them.
Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu shows off the DOE’s new cool roof and explains the benefits of ditching a dark roof and opting for a cooler (lighter one).
