investing
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The VC models are to blame, not the green technologies
It’s worth reviewing this great presentation from the folks at @Ventures: [vodpod id=Video.16097730&w=425&h=350&fv=] If they’re right — as I believe they are — we are soon going to see lots of greentech venture capital funds lose money. Given the potential for that loss to be skewed as “green technologies aren’t profitable” rather than “greentech VCs […]
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The economy is an ecosystem, and industrial policy will help that ecosystem
Back in the 1980s, writers such as Robert Reich were advocating what was called an “industrial policy” — that is, the government should intervene in the economy and explicitly help a particular industry or set of industries in order to make them more competitive. Yes, I know this sounds like “picking winners,” except that governments […]
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Mysteries of on-bill financing revealed!
In my last post, I described a nonprofit bank’s program for financing building energy retrofits, as a way to speed the green-collar recovery. Here, I describe two new, innovative approaches to financing efficiency upgrades in buildings — meter loans and local improvement districts — and one old-school, utility-run approach that may be the best bet […]
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A tool for the green-collar recovery
In “Retrofits for All,” I described an ingenious plan for extending retrofits to whole neighborhoods of energy-wasting buildings. Today, I want to take another look at one piece of that puzzle: financing. Energy conservation loans sound eminently reasonable: The loans pay for energy upgrades and, as long as the energy savings are bigger than the […]
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Why carrots and sticks are not interchangeable
David Roberts challenges carbon tax advocates. He says GHG policy should “penalize the emission of GHGs and reward the prevention of GHG emissions. Sticks and carrots.” As someone who thinks neither a carbon tax nor cap-and-trade can be the primary means to solve global warming, I’ll take on Roberts’ challenge just because it offers an […]
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Create jobs, cut emissions, and reduce oil imports by investing in renewables and energy efficiency
Originally posted at earthpolicy.org —– At a time when major U.S. companies are announcing job layoffs almost daily, the renewable energy industry is hiring new workers every day to build wind farms, install rooftop solar arrays, and build solar thermal and geothermal power plants. The output of industrial firms that manufacture the equipment for these […]
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What is a green job?
Green jobs are living-wage, career-track jobs that contribute to preserving or enhancing environmental quality. They have some important characteristics: Green jobs are today’s jobs repurposed and expanded in a low-carbon economy. Diverse localities across the United States are already using green development strategies to make impressive strides in job creation, workforce development, and environmental stewardship. […]
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Transit ridership up; everyone agrees it should be funded
This week the Washington Post reported that mass transit ridership is rocketing upward — "the largest quarterly increase in public transportation ridership in 25 years" — even in the face of falling gas prices. This correction that now sits atop the story is amusing: This article about an increase in mass-transit ridership incorrectly said transit […]
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Bank of America to stop financing mountaintop removal
The energy and climate news is coming way too fast and furious for me to comment at length on every story. So here is everyone’s favorite W.Va. reporter, Ken Ward Jr. on the story: CHARLESTON, W.Va. — One of the world’s largest financial institutions said this week it will phase out lending money to coal […]
