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Falling behind the green tech revolution?

by: The Big E

Mon Oct 19, 2009 at 19:00:00 PM CDT

Despite the best efforts of green tech activists and advocates, Minnesota (and the US generally) may be about to miss the boat on the energy revolution. The problem stems from the global climate change deniers and the coal, oil, gas and nuclear industries. These companies are making billions off of the current situation and don't want to change a good thing. They are the horse and buggy companies of the 21st century.

Together with firms like Siemens, SAP, IBM and energy giants like EnBW, RWE and Vattenfall, Germany's economics and environment ministries have already mobilized €140 million for the development of the associated technologies and the tests. The government has provided €60 million and the industrial partners are raising the rest together with public utilities and smaller, innovative technology partners. According to Ludwig Karg, one of the researchers working together with scientists and communication experts in the model regions, E-Energy is intended to jump-start a greater energy revolution in Germany. "We are providing German companies with future access to markets worth billions," he said.
(Der Spiegel)

Can you imagine Goldman Sachs, General Motors and Excel Energy teaming up to push the US towards a green economy? I can almost hear you laughing.

But the Germans are moving forward on this. Their big banks and teaming up with green tech companies to build offshore wind turbine farms and solar panels farms in the Sahara.

Us? We talk about burying nuclear waste in our deserts. Republicans would hold protests chanting "Drill Baby Drill" and would promise to filibuster any legislation. Blue Dog Dems and other industry whores would team up with the Republicans do everything they can to kill any legislation in Congress. They'd protest that the prospects for "clean coal" technology holds real possibility!

Okay, I'm being a little facetious and pessimistic, but 8 years of the Bush Administration has seriously hindered our ability to move forward. It's more than likely the US will need to important most of everything for the green energy revolution. And that is wrong.

The Big E :: Falling behind the green tech revolution?

The enormity of these European projects is inspiring.

The project actually does have the potential to speed things up. It could help to explain the new technologies to consumers. Indeed, a number of recent developments suggest the energy revolution is already taking shape. In recent months, numerous spectacular future-oriented projects have been launched:
In mid-September, the German federal government agreed to the massive expansion of power generation through large offshore windparks.

Companies like Munich Re, Siemens, Deutsche Bank, E.on and RWE, working together under the name Desertec, want to build giant solar power plants in Africa's Sahara desert to feed the European power grid.

Carmaker Volkswagen, together with ecologically friendly energy utility Lichtblick, wants to install 100,000 mini power plants directly in consumers' homes. Demand for the system has been strong from day one.

Car parts maker Bosch acquired solar cell manufacturer Ersol in 2008 and, rumors suggest, is currently working to design a solar-powered car.

IT giant Cisco is working together with one large European electricity grid provider to create a smart power grid of the future. By mid-2010, the company wants to equip power lines, substations and transformers with information technology.

Search engine giant Google is also trying to get in on the smart grid action. The US company is developing software to allow consumers to track their electricity usage in real-time over the Internet.

The upheaval these projects have the potential to cause is enormous: Energy and IT markets are drawing closer together and the automobile industry will likely follow soon. A new super sector could change the competitive landscape and create new opportunities for partnerships. It will open up new business opportunities for the beleaguered automobile sector, power and IT companies as well as innovative start-ups, providing vast growth opportunities.

How is it again that Americans are incapable of doing these things?

Tags: global climate change, Alternative Energy, solar power, wind turbines, technology, Environment, (All Tags)

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Falling behind the green tech revolution? | 8 comments

In the modern U.S. economy... (0.00 / 0)

It is all about short term profit for shareholders. There is no long term strategic plan. The companies long term viability doesn't even matter because there is so much pressure to produce quarterly dividends. We have truly become an economy that passes around paper and produces nothing. This is our one chance at changing that.

by: Alec @ Mon Oct 19, 2009 at 20:10:36 PM CDT

by: you @ soon

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Ouch! (0.00 / 0)

Our local medical device makers (who are about to get gouged by the government big time) must be producing something besides paper. I'm thinking that all those homes built over the past ten years (many empty now) also stand in testament to over-producing rather than producing nothing.

It seems as though "companies" might be plural rather than possesive.

by: tom a. @ Mon Oct 19, 2009 at 20:52:09 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Well (0.00 / 0)

Moratoriums on nuclear plants mean we can't have as many as Europe. With all of our private land we can't build transmission lines across Minnesota, let alone from Africa to Germany. Our automakers have no idea from year to year what the government will demand of them which hinders development. Offshore windparks suffer the same problem as transmission lines, all it takes is one Senator to hold up a project.

I also noticed a lot of "want to's" in the above projects. There are plenty of "want to's" here in the U.S., let's wait and see which projects actually come to fruition.

by: tom a. @ Mon Oct 19, 2009 at 20:41:51 PM CDT

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Let's use a reality based argument (0.00 / 0)

We used to be the largest exporter of finished goods. Now we are the largest importer. We have a services based economy now, there is no doubt. We have some manufacturing, but our economy is based on people passing pieces of paper around. It is all smoke and mirrors. Why do you think banks are "too big to fail" but manufacturers are not? You can defend the supply side, neo-con economy all you want, but it is a house of cards. We need to move back to a manufacturing base.

by: Alec @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 07:41:49 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

Look around (0.00 / 0)

We don't have to look far to see why these things aren't happening, It's right here in our back yard and even down to some of the bloggers on this very site.

Mpls has turned down many green energy plants and the one that is the easiest and shovel ready is Crown Hydro. 100%green emission free public/private partnership. Yet the author of this post co-hosted a fund raiser for the lobbyist that represents the opposition to this project who is running for the MPRB the body that will decide the fate of the project.

The carbon neutral bio mass project in Mpls was opposed and killed by liberal democrats and greens. Now it's being built in the northern suburbs.

We see time and time again on this very site another contributor rally against updating transmission lines on the 55 corridor, and all things having to do with power companies.

I live close to two power plants, one nuke and one coal. And the union employees and their families vote overwhelmingly republican because they believe that democrats want to shut them down.

Democrats must share the blame for our failures. We have to start to see that this is not a case of the tree huggers vs the coal companies but rather a case where we all need to compromise and come to common sense solutions.

It's not going to be the government that switches us to a green economy, It's going to be private for profit business's and frankly we would be further along (at least 40MW in Mpls alone) if some of our progressive friends would jump on board.

by: taxpayingliberal @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 10:15:56 AM CDT

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Seriously TPL? (0.00 / 0)

Do you honestly think we have anything resembling a free market where new private entities can enter the energy market and survive without government support?

Private businesses control the energy market, and have been locking out green technology for decades. As long as they are making truckloads of money, fossil fuel companies are not going to let anyone else on the playing field.

You have to remember, that the legacy fuel companies have a responsibility to their shareholders for the next quarter. They care less about the next quarter century. Too many powerful entities benefit too greatly from the status quo. We know for a fact that the private market will have to be dragged kicking and screaming to new sources of energy.

Do you think the chamber of commerce cares if the world is polluted, as long as their members make money? The forces fighting to keep us dependent on fossil fuels are more powerful than most countries. You honestly think a few entrepreneurs can overcome those forces?

by: Alec @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 13:24:18 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

Ok (0.00 / 0)

Sure I do. Look at what happened to the auto market when gas prices went up. Good by SUV's hello MGP's.

One problem is that coal is too cheap and that's because we (The Gov) sells leases at below market cost.

Another problem is the Nimby crowd. They want those wind farms but fight like hell when new transmission lines to get the product to market are proposed. We also don't charge for the real cost of the way we get our power. We don't charge for the pollution cleanup, the cost of defense to insure supply. Bring those factors into the market and you may see consumers demand a better way.

In a few years Mpls and other big cities will start seeing brown outs. Then we may take some action. As long as the lights are burning apathy rules.

Sorry but I don't see anything other than Dems talking and rebub's denying. I hope the private sector takes charge because nobody else is.

by: taxpayingliberal @ Tue Oct 20, 2009 at 16:08:18 PM CDT

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Agree and disagree (0.00 / 0)

The NIMBY road blockers are annoying. Too true. I think the car example is a perfect example of how the private market has gotten in the way of advancement. We were at least a decade behind Japan in hybrids/electrics exactly because the privates did not want to change a system that benefited them in the short term. The private market will switch when the money runs dry, but we need to change BEFORE there is a crisis.

We should have and could have had an electric American car ten years ago. The car manufacturers did not allow them into their controlled and closed market.

by: Alec @ Wed Oct 21, 2009 at 07:37:57 AM CDT

[ Parent ]