Perpetual Innovation

Category: sustainability

  • Sustainability in EDU Over last 20 years

    The SustainZine has been blogging (although rather sporadically)
    for 11 years. Wow!. One of the first blogs was related to an article (and a SAM
    presentation) by Hall, Tayler, Zapalski and Hall (2009). It focused on
    sustainability in Higher ED, specifically on how the facilities of universities
    were doing sustainability initiatives but there were few actual classes on
    Sustainability. The classroom, i.e., the future of sustainability was far
    behind.

    Later in 2010 Hall (2010) published an article on Lessons of recessions: Sustainability
    education and jobs may be the answer.     (SustainZine
    Blog post here    .) This article discusses the Great Recession of 2007-2008.
    Make no doubt about the pandemic of 2020, it too was a recession so destructive
    innovation has been (and will continue to be) the result.

    People needed to go back to school during the Great Recession
    to up their skills and to avoid the big blank spot on their resume that comes
    from prolonged unemployment. But, universities continued with the same EDU
    programs as if nothing had changed. Universities were taking on Law students,
    for example, even though we were swimming with a glut of lawyers. Hall argued
    that programs of the future, like sustainability, might be a much better
    training program; it might be a differentiator when compared to a glut of the
    regular degree program graduates.

    Over the last 10 years there have been numerous
    Sustainability programs created and many “sustainability” classes created
    within almost every discipline of many universities and Tech Schools.

    Green jobs have outpaced almost all other job categories. See the Green Job forecasts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Solar and Wind technicians are in high demand, but so are all the environmental cleanup specializations. 

    Here’s the SustainZine blog on Sustainability in Education
    post from
    Jan 19, 2010    .

    Sustainability
    in Education?

    Even
    though campuses are getting greener, the classes are not.

    A big study of campuses, the Campus Report Card, by the NWF (with
    others) showed how much various schools are doing in terms of sustainability.
    They are doing a lot on campus but not much teaching of the concepts in the
    classroom. (Also see some recent research on Generation E.)

    The Campus Report Card is actually two
    similar studies, on in 2001 and one in 2008. They show that the course
    offerings of environmental and sustainability programs essentially reduced by
    half. That is, the average student in 2001 had an 8% chance of having an
    sustainability/environment class, but that dropped in half to 4% chance by
    2008.

    In fact the worst educational department was teachers education. “Teacher
    education, that program that trains K-12 teachers, has about a 15% chance of
    being able to take a course on sustainability within their major”
    (Hall et al., 2009, p. 17).

    The best guess as to why this drop happened is because of two forces. First,
    and probably foremost, the prices of oil were really low until after this
    2008 study was completed (and then they shot up to ~$150 per barrel). Second,
    the Bush/Chaney administration was friendly to oil interests and not so
    friendly to environmental interests (no links to environmental sites
    comments on this since this is a family-friendly site).

    Can we move forward with Sustainability in the US without educating on the
    subject?
    Tell us what you think?

    Reference
    Hall, E., Taylor, S., Zapalski, C., & Hall, T. (2009). Sustainability
    in education: Green in the facilities, but not in the classrooms. Proceedings
    of the Society for Advancement of Management, USA.

    Hall, E.
    (2010). Lessons of recessions: Sustainability education and jobs may be the
    answer.     Journal of Sustainability and Green Management. Jacksonville, FL: Academic and Business Research Institute.
    Retrieved from:     http://www.aabri.com/OC2010Manuscripts/OC10079.pdf  

  • Sustainability and the Future of Self-Driving Cars and EVs

    IntellZine
    just wrote an article on how to     Invest in the Future of Self-Driving Cars
    and EVs (    https://www.intellzine.com/2020/12/invest-in-future-of-self-driving-cars.html).


    What’s not really covered is the
    Sustainability of EVs, self-driving cars etc. Internal combustion engines predominantly
    use fossil fuels but they can use renewable ethanol or biodiesel. Electric cars
    have the most promise because it is much easier to produce electricity from
    renewable sources like hydro, wind and solar. Plus, wind and solar have become
    the best and cheapest source of stationary electricity, even considering the impact
    of batteries.

    But one mobile power method that is
    not considered as much is hydrogen. In terms of stationary electricity, fuel
    cells can be used for emergency backup power (nearly instant on) and/or for
    continuous power. Although there are lots of ways to make hydrogen, all you
    really need is energy and water. (How to get hydrogen from Energy.Gov.)
    Currently, the most common method, by far is from NatGas or Ammonia.

    Fuel cell has interesting solutions
    to the battery problems, especially for range extension. Plus, hydrogen filling
    stations are being added along major routes, but nothing like electric charging and NatGas (see chart here). As the IntellZine article
    discussed, some of the fuel cell companies have gone up wildly over the last 6
    months, especially Plug. Plug (PLUG) built its business on fuel cell forklifts;
    a super clean and very efficient approach. Investors might be looking at the
    future markets for fuel cell and pricing for it. Or, they might simply be
    wrong.

  • On the VERGE of Sustainability

     VERGE 20 is on this week (starting October 26 2020). GreenBiz sponsor and coordinate this massive event. Anybody and any company that’s got anything to do with sustainability is here. Well, not exactly here since it is virtual this year… But you get the idea.

    Opening session was a wonderful start of the week. Even the singing was impressive. Really!  I said, “Oh, NO!”, when Shana Rappaport started in with a variation of Girl on Fire (Alycia Keyes). Hard song. Not exactly what you are used to at formal conferences. Turned out to be very, very cool. It also kind of elevated the urgency that many of us feel about dragging our feet in the (oil) sands on climate action: This World is on Fire! It also seemed apropos giving the historic fire year (in California, Colorado, etc.)

    VERGE is the ultimate sustainability forum each year with all the leading thought leaders and all the leading companies. Energy, food, transportation, circular economy and more. Great ideas for companies to save money and reduce carbon at the same time (like efficiencies, telework, and more). Many sponsor companies are enabling other organizations to move quickly toward (more) sustainability.

    We are looking for companies that aiming for negative carbon footprints (like Microsoft’s plan to remove all carbon-equivalent of the company’s lifetime of business). This would be moving to carbon neutral (renewable energy and such) and then offering to offset all the emissions from my family, my parents and my grandparents.

    One of the silver linings of the COVID pandemic was the clean air and restored nature in a few weeks human hibernation from industry. Even with the economy slowed down to, maybe 75% capacity (more like 50% in the US), the estimated carbon reduction was only about 8%. So, the argument is that the equivalent of the worst pain of the pandemic (hopefully without the pandemic and without most of the pain) is what we need to accomplish essentially every year for years.

    Just to be clear about the 8% reduction per year that we’re talking about: that’s a reduction in the increase. That’s not reducing the CO2 levels in the atmosphere, it is simply slowing down the massive rate that we are adding to it.

    Keynote sessions are free, so the price is right. Plus, you save on the hotel and flight!

    https://events.greenbiz.com/events/verge-conference/online/2020


  • Solar Investment is Crazy Profitable for Businesses and Good for Homeowners

    [Update. The Inflation Reduction Act 2022 has raised and extended the 30% investment tax credit to qualified investments. There are many limitations and additions. See our Blog post here. This makes all the financial discussions below much more profitable. Also, higher inflation and higher power inflation. The below Article was originally published in Summer of 2020.]
     
    SBP has done several detailed financial calculators for analyzing both residential and commercials solar projects. SustainZine has a main web page on Solar Profitability where
    we discuss examples from our Solar Profitability Calculators: https://www.sustainzine.com/p/solarinvest.html
    … Here are articles – and YouTube videos – discussing
    both:
    1. Quick Take on 
      Residential Solar      : Solar
      Invest 2020: Do Good and Save Money Too       … See the video related to
      Residential here:       Solar Residential: Good Investment & Doing Good
    2. Full Financial Analysis: SolarInvest2020:
      Residential Solar is Good, but Commercial Solar can be Crazy Profitable!       …
      See the video related to Commercial/Business here:       Solar for a Business can be Crazy Profitable: Do
      Good by Doing Well
    YouTube Video on Residential: Solar Residential: Good Investment & Doing Good https://youtu.be/p0pqg4ZeTjY
    Dr Elmer Hall talks about the doing good and making money at
    residential Solar. He discusses that subtilties of the financial analysis for a
    homeowner, and why it typically is a far better decision than a typical profit
    analysis would suggest. #SustainZine #Solar #RenewableEnergy #SBPLan
    YouTube Video on Commercial Business: Solar for a
    Business can be Crazy Profitable: Do Good by Doing Well     https://youtu.be/ulryBkhsKWg

    Dr Elmer Hall talks
    about the doing good and making money by a business installing Solar. He
    discusses the financial analysis for a business and why it probably is such a
    great investment. The investment for businesses has huge tax savings. Plus, the
    money to pay for power to operate the business is already committed if the
    building is used. This is Part 2: See part 1 related to Residential as well.
    #SustainZine #Solar #RenewableEnergy #SBPLan #Profitability #CrazyProfitable 

  • Big winners of Renewable Energy: IP and Manufacturing

    Renewable Energy Patents in 2019

    As you look at the companies
    that are winners in Renewable Energy (RE) you have distinct winners (and
    losers, especially in the fossil fuel world). But there are entire countries
    that stand to win as well. Several countries have become exporters of energy,
    for example, when they produce more regional energy than they can use. I like
    the image set related to 25 areas/countries that are winners in Renewable
    Energy (at     LoveMoney.com,
    The world’s greenest nations that are reaping the rewards    ). Here’s Love/Money’s
    take on China, both in terms of the technology (Intellectual Property) and the
    manufacturing/exporting:

    “Of all patents for renewable energy issued globally, as of 2016 China
    has 29%. That’s more than 150,000 patents, which underlines the focus of
    China’s investment in the industry. So it’s not a shock that the country
    has been dubbed a “renewable energy superpower” in a recent report issued
    by the Global Commission on the Geopolitics of Energy Transformation. The
    report argued that, as renewables come to fossil fuels globally, new energy
    leaders will emerge    .    ”
    The US had only 100,000
    patents (vs 150,000 for China) and Europe had 75,000 in renewables according to
    the Forbesanalysis in Jan 2019.  Overall,
    patents in renewables has made impressive progress, even though RE patents are
    only 1% of all patents (and other high-tech categories like computers are about
    6%). Check out the great article at the World Intellectual Property
    Organization (WIPO) on RenewableEnergy patents by James Nurton. More than half of the RE patents through
    the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) are in solar. Fuel Cell technology has
    consistently exceeded Wind in terms of patents. Fuel Cell (using hydrogen) is
    important because it can function as battery, battery backup, stationary power
    and portable power. Geothermal is trivial are of RE patent activity. When the
    RE “international” patents (PCTs) are registered at the national level the
    first three countries are: Japan, USA, and Germany.
    On the
    manufacturing/exporting side, China has been a huge producer of the world’s
    renewables (solar, wind and more). Here’s how LoveMoneysummarized Chinese production of RE:
     “China
    is currently the world’s largest exporter of solar panels, wind turbines,
    batteries and electric vehicles. The country is well-suited to wind power
    production, and it has an estimated potential capacity of 2,380 gigawatts.
    What’s more, many Chinese companies are investing in renewables    .”
    Keep in mind that many things sustainable are lower tech,
    not higher tech. Much, if not most of sustainable solutions does not require
    break-through solutions. Using less energy can be very low tech (turning the
    lights out when out). Driving less (by telework) can be no tech. But in the cases
    where leading tech can be a major competitive advantage, he owners of IP will
    win.
    Look also at GlobalTrends in Renewable Energy Investment in 2019 by UN Environment Program and
    Bloomberg. Where is RE coming from? The investment from 2010 through 2019 has
    been $2.6T with 52% in Solar and $41% in Wind.
    And the final question: how do we get to 100% renewable
    energy in a reasonably short period of time?
    #RenewableEnergy #REPatents #IntellectualProperty
    #IntellZine #SustainZine #WIPO #Sustainability #PCT #REInvestment #Solar #Wind
    #RE100