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Solar 2020 and Sustainability: Looking for the Silver Lining

BySustainMe

Kelly Pickerel, Editor in Chief of Solar Power World magazine was cautiously optimistic in January when discussing the impact of US Import tariffs on the Solar industry and still solar installations were up 14% during 2019. She hoped that an even year, 2020, would bode well for solar. She concluded her opening letter by the editor in the January 2020 Trends in Solar edition of SPW: “Superstitious or not, I’m crossing my fingers for a calm,…

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Amazon? Lungs of the world? Sinking feeling?

BySustainMe

I got into this debate, related to Global Warming, on the “Amazon is sometimes referred to as the Lungs of the world.” Here’s a very readable discussion in Newsweek on how much oxygen comes from the Amazon: https://www.newsweek.com/how-much-oxygen-amazon-rain-forest-1456274 Much like Global Freezing, I don’t know that I have ever heard/seen an actual scientist say this, but the Lungs of the World is still a pretty well circulated myth. Some times it says 20% of the oxygen…

EV on SB2020

BySustainMe

EVs, aka Electric Vehicles, were the big winners of the Super Bowl 2020. Everybody had an electric car for the occasion. Audi and even a new EV version of the gas-guzzling Hummer. Imagine the king of EVs, Tesla, jumping $130 per share on Super Monday! TSLA popped 20% up to almost $800 per share, nearing a $150B market cap firmly – 3 times the value of GM. Then on Super Tuesday, Tesla jumps another $100…

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Opportunity Lost by Waiting until 2020 for Solar Investment

BySustainMe

[UPDATE: 30% Investment Tax Credit on renewables in the IRA Act 2022. See our Blog post here. This makes all the financial discussions below much more profitable. Also, higher inflation and higher power inflation.] The Renewable Investment Tax Credit, which is currently in 2019 at 30% of the qualifying investment, is a wonderful incentive to put in renewable power including solar, wind and qualifying battery backup. The ITC will drop down by 4% in 2020…

Delinkage and the Patent System for Pharma: Trouble Ahead?

ByBizMan

While the term “delinkage” has been around since at least 2005, it is not seen or heard very often.  It is the term used in the biomedical field by lawyers and politicians to mean a new way of funding drug R&D such that the patent system could be replaced with the result that a drug monopoly would not exist and drug prices would be significantly lower.  One of the advocates of this is Presidential candidate…

Sustainability at “the Costco”

BySustainMe

Costco wholesale club continues to impress. While many other retailers are struggling to stay alive and relevant, Costco keeps chugging along at a 7% sales growth and an impressive 36 Price/Earnings ratio (32 PE based on foretasted earnings), a PE ratio reserved for rapid growing tech companies not the single digit PE where most retailers find themselves. Investors like this safe, rather counter-cyclical, recession-resistant steady growth company(NASDAQ: COST). Note the huge 4.7 PEG rate (multiple…