I can’t tell you how angry the term “Clean Coal” makes me.  People in the coal and fossil fuel industry trumpet the term “Clean Coal” as their solution to global warming.  The idea is to take the CO2 from the coal burning plant smokestack and sequester (store) it so it doesn’t enter the atmostphere.  The idea is to pump the CO2 into the ground where it will then supposedly stay forever.  The only problem is that 1) it doesn’t exist, 2) it’s an untested theory and 3) the “science” behind it sounds a bit silly, since it assumes the stored CO2 will not leak back into the atmosphere.

The US Energy Lobby has been running ads telling us how great fossil fuels are, here is an ad for “Clean Coal” that helps to get the real message out.

What’s up at UPS, the United Parcel Service, regarding going green?  Well the latest news from the company that likes to be know as “Brown” announced their order for the first 7 “Hydralic Hybrid” delivery trucks.  The “Hydralic Hybrid” stores power by pressurizing hydralic fluid, instead of sending electricity to a bank of batteries.  The early testing in metro Detroit have shown that these trucks can reduce fuel usage by 45 to 50% and CO2 emissions by 30%, when compared to conventional diesel engines. 

This new technology began development October 2001 a R&D project between Eaton Corp and the US EPA laboratory in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  The vehicles that are delivered to UPS will be powered by a high efficiency diesel engine that periodically recharges pressure in the hydraulic store, rather than sending power to the wheels.  This technology is seen as a cost savings solution for large trucks, a way to reduce oil use and a way to reduce CO2 emissions from large vehicles.  It is estimated the the fuel savings will pay for the cost of this solution within 3 years.

The vehicles are being built by Navistar, using the Eaton technology.  Navistar’s participation is based on their ability to offer their customers “performance and reduced emissions with dramatic improvements in fuel economy,” said Steve Guillaume, Navistar General Manager, Medium Trucks.  UPS expects to take delivery of these vehicle in 2009 and 2010.  UPS noted in their press release that they are already the largest “green fleet” or more than 1600 vehicles growing to 2100 as the company ads another 600 vehicles this year.

Eaton’s press release:

http://www.eaton.com/EatonCom/OurCompany/NewsandEvents/CT_190984

UPS’ press release:

http://www.ups.com/pressroom/us/press_releases/press_release/0,0,5052,00.html

I’ve been shocked by a recent Toyota commercial airing on Canadian TV. The ad, basically is trumpeting Toyota’s green credentials.  As in all Toyota commercials these days, it features their Hybrid vehicles and technology.  I wrote about the amazing cost of the CO2 displaced by a Toyota hybrid here: http://sunpowereddreams.com/2008/08/17/the-hybrid-hype-overpaying-for-co2/.  What shocked me was a statement at the end of this commercial - “Our goal? A car that actually cleans the air..”

Well it’s certainly a bold promise for a company that still doesn’t have an all electric vehicle.  What’s even funnier than the statement itself, is that Toyota USA is advertising about “striving for” zero emmissions and zero waste.  Frankly the Canadian ad reeks of an ad agency gone overboard.  What’s next? A car that prevents you from aging, or that cooks lunch?  Why would you put this “pipe dream” into your ad? It might not be green washing  but it’s way past a rational goal and very much on the way to the utopian thinking.

I think it’s way too much for a car company that still runs on the internal combustion engine.

I recently had to the opportunity to be locked in an internet free location for a day or two which resulted in a lot more thinking than i would admit to.  A few thoughts came thru that were directly related to this blog and the Carbon Offsets business that i run.

First i’ve been worried about this “collapse” of the financial system due to bad mortgages for years and while i imagined this would happen, i guess i never believed it would get this bad, let alone the possibility that it could become even worse. 

Much as we’ve seen in the commodities market recently, there has sharp drop in carbon offset prices.  In the US carbon offset markets, these offsets have dropped in price from about $2.25 a ton in january to about $1.80 today.  That doesn’t sound too surprising or devastating, until i mention that during that time the price peaked at just under $7.50 a ton during the months in between.   While i’m sure this affects many carbon offsetters, we’re small enough and new enough that we can only benefit by these reduced cost of offsets.  The real story here isn’t the cost of the offsets, or the reason for the great swings in value. 

The real story is that Global Warming was controlling the mindspace of American consumers and voters in January and February and is all but an afterthought today.  The shift in society’s focus away from global warming to “Drill, Drill, Drill” (thank you larry kudlow) was prompted, not surprisingly by oil skyrocketing over $100 a barrel right to $150.  Nobody who is trying to afford the SUV they drive to work, doesn’t care about the earth getting hotter, because the night sweats are increasingly chilled as we worry about keeping our jobs, homes and feeding our families.  Unfortunately, much like the entreprenuers who burn the forest of brasil to grow soybeans, our thoughts toward the future have focused on the next few weeks instead of the next 10-20 years.  Until that focus shifts, complicated/abstract ideas like carbon offsets, will be of less interest than green actions that help to save money.  The next few years green needs to focus on helping the family budget to help change the world.

Andy Grove former chairman and CEO of Intel and one of the pioneers in the semiconducter industry spoke out today on the need for electric transportation and the widespread awareness of this coming up thru society.  Grove spoke recently with AP reporter Ken Thomas where he expressed his view of society needing to shift its focus to electric transport as a way of dealing with ever increasing oil prices.

Grove explained his goal. “The most important thing I would like to do is light that almost half-assumed truth up in neon lights: Electricity in transportation has to be done. It is urgent. It is important that everything else is secondary”.  Grove continued to explain, “The drumbeat of the electrical transportation is accelerating like nothing I’ve ever seen in my life”.  That is a pretty powerful statement by the man who helped intel control the CPU market much like microsoft has done with software.  Grove is banging the drum on the development of these new electric transport technologies as a way of rescuing our economy from the affects of oil price increases.

Grove pushes for government support/incentives to support the electric car movement, with a particular eye on retrofiting existing gasoline cars.  He continued to expand on his point when he compared the emergence of the PC with the current electrical transport industry.  “The personal computer … went to individuals first before it went to corporations. The conversion goes to individuals,” Grove said. “Electric cars … the corporations are sitting, wishing this whole friggin’ thing to go away. Which is exactly what the computer companies’ attitude was to personal computers.”

I’ll start this article with the disclosure that i own shares in Amerityre (AMTY) the company i feature in this article.  This company was suggested to me as a longshot, green investment by a friend out west who is into trading stocks (i’m into investing for a period of a year or two).

So, Amerityre manufacturers foam polyurathene tires, the sort that might be found on electric mobility devices and powered wheelchairs.  They make solid tires used in agriculture, they make “tire fill” to go into solid and “run flat” tires.  Most recently they’ve been working on pneumatic (air filled) tires to replace the traditional rubber tires used on cars and trucks.  So, why is this company suddenly on my Solar/Green blog?  Because this company fights global warming.

 Let’s start with the product that is still under development, the automotive, pneumatic tires.  The first test indicate that the Polyurathene tires were getting less traction than rubber tires, but also had a lower rolling resistance than rubber, enough to increase gas mileage by 5 to 10%.  So, if you just look at the final product, a tire on a car, this new concept can help reduce the use of gasoline and it’s CO2 output and is a greener product than rubber.  Yet the greatest value of the product is gained, not when it’s mounted a car, but during manufacturing.  To vulcanize rubber and create tires, you must use heat and pressure on the rubber to harden it.  In contrast the heat and pressure, which is a huge cost in terms of energy and CO2 is absent from the Amerityre process.

A second product, being shipped today, is a tire fill.  That is a material used to fill rubber tires that are used for construction or “run flat” and have a rubber outside and some solid form of fill. The “Amerifill” is a lightweight alternative to traditional fill, once again, helping remove weight from vehicles helping save fuel in the shipping and use of these tires.

 Is this a great investment? Will be soon driving on Polyurathene tires? I don’t really know, but it shows another business that is going to make money in the green revolution by causing the evolution of tires into to a product with a lower carbon and energy footprint.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District voted 15 to 1 to implement a CO2 tax of 4.4 cents per metric ton of emissions.  The tax would effect 2500 businesses ranging from refineries to grocery stores.  While this is the first Carbon Tax in the US, 4.4 cents per metric ton of CO2 represents just little more 1/2 of 1% of the actual cost of carbon offsets on the Chicago Climate Exchange where offsets closed today at $7.35 per metric ton.

For more details:  http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/21/MNDN10QD6O.DTL

Over the last few months i’ve read a great number of articles on global warming, carbon offsets and carbon trading.  One of the most unbelieveable facts that i’ve found, is the marketing efforts of the Flat Earth Society, AKA Right Wing America to deny that global warming is occuring.  Well if not for the long history of this groups opposition to any scientific fact that doesn’t meet Right Wing dogma, this campaign would be shocking.  Today, the only thing shocking is the number of so called “educated” Americans who base their scientific opinions on what they are told by Rush Limbaugh, a man who says “nature has an infinite ability to cleanse itself”, and other equally stupid statements on the environment.

The Anti-Science crowd takes pride in denying facts such as: global temperatures are rising, carbon dioxide levels are rising, the seas are rising and for most of the last 40 years denying that smoking causes cancer.  Yes these IQ monsters spent years denying a link between cigarettes and cancer with the pithy, yet stupid comment: “it’s only statistical evidence”. When most have clearly never studied statistics, let alone understands the science.

Yes these are the same people who 500 years ago begged Columbus to stay home lest he fall off the edge of the planet.  The people who killed others for saying the Earth revolves around the sun.  The ones who decided that swans were created from barnacles on ships and that hauled John Scopes into court for teaching evolution.  Yes these are folks who feel their religious beliefs trump science and the rest of us need to yield to their beliefs.  These so called religious people can’t believe that their god would create a universe based on the laws of physics and create life that evolves and adapts over long periods of time.  I guess their god doesn’t have the rational thinking needed to creat such wonders?  Maybe they’re just narrow thinkers, followers of uninformed leaders.

When it comes to global warming, it’s certainly reasonable to debate how much man has contributed to this problem and what can be done to fight it, but to deny the fact that it exists and is getting worse is to uninformed or dishonest.  Will all those who disbelieve, please swap land with those living near or below sea level?  Now that’s a solution to global warming — LOL.

I’m proud to announce a new venture, A Little Green Book, llc. a book publishing company.  A Little Green Book is planned as a series of pocket size paperbacks on a variety of green topics.  Our first two books, authored by Pink Hat and myself are available now at Lulu.com.  We are currently printing our first edition, which will be more widely available by mid April.  A Little Green Book is committed to bring green bloggers to print and the mainstream book business.

My book, is A Little Green Book of Environmental Quotes and Comments, presents about 120 famous quotes on nature and the environment, with comments from me.  This is not a scholarly work, but more of a conscienceness raising tool; a way for people to think about the environment using the quotes and comments to fuel discussion.  I hope those who buy it will enjoy it.

Pink Hat’s book is A Little Green Book of Organic Gardening Tips, which puts together about 125 tips for gardening with a … greener thumb?  This book presents a different tip on everypage, on topics ranging from planting location, feeding and maintaining your plants.  As the spring attempts to make it’s presence felt, grab a copy of this gardening book and let us know what you think.

 Please join us in celebrating our move into publishing and thanks for your ongoing support.

That old Hollywood line, actually a misquote, has been used for comic relief more than a few times since the Treasure of the Sierra.  And while you may have hoped this would be another, that’s about all the humor………….
 The reason i bring up badges, is because of the CO2 offset badge there on the upper right of this website. It represents that this web site is running carbon neutral by virtue of a carbon offset provided by 4Offsets.com.  4Offsets.com helps individual and businesses offset their CO2 emissions as a way to speed adoption of renewable.  These offsets are based on CO2 offset commodity contracts, that have been ‘retired’ from circulation.  The contracts were awarded to people, projects and companies for efforts that eliminate emissions of greenhouse gases.  The contracts, that might be awarded to a wind farm or for planting and maintaining a forest, are sold to companies who have either a legal or self-imposed madate to reduce their CO2 production.  The theory and the reality, is that this market helps to increase the cashflow on green investments.  As the demand for these offsets increase and the price increases, the amount of money an offset will deliver to green project will increase the investment’s rate of return.  The next part is that the higher rate of return will attract more investment and therefore more wind, solar, and trees, at an increasingly fast pace.

I wrote about these carbon offsets and their use by Aspen Skiing and the concern, expressed by Aspen Ski’s environmental officer, these offsets really are helping speed change.  Following some research, I’ve concluded that while the offset market is less effective at incentivizing green energy, than $100 a barrel oil, it is a sound theory.  Any additional return on investment helps to increase it’s attractiveness.  This is especially true for new, expensive technologies such as solar.  If the market for these offsets increase, causing the price of offsets to generally rise, it will further fuel the march to a sustainable world.

The result of my research was to decide that i should focus my business efforts on fighting the greenhouse crisis and that carbon dioxide offsets are the best option available to ‘kick start’ US society’s shift away from hydrocarbon fuels.  I would like to announce that i have joined with a couple of friends to create a CO2 offset business at www.4Offsets.com.  We currently are running our beta testing, so please let us know what you think.