It's long been axiomatic that energy efficiency is the awkward stepchild of renewables -- that is, that it's sexier to install cutting-edge renewable-energy technologies like solar panels than to engage in more prosaic (and less-visible) measures to get more value out of each BTU or barrel.
It's long been axiomatic that energy efficiency is the awkward stepchild of renewables -- that is, that it's sexier to install cutting-edge renewable-energy technologies like solar panels than to engage in more prosaic (and less-visible) measures to get more value out of each BTU or barrel.
I have watched the development of the biofuels debate from something of a remove but also with a generally positive, well-wishing attitude towards the use of renewable biofuels to substitute for the use of fossil fuel energy. What is not to like about a solution to our energy woes that involves helping farmers and growing green plants?
Who's the greenest of them all? It's a question I'm asked almost weekly, by reporters, students, market researchers, job seekers, entrepreneurs, and assorted others.
Hydrogen has been one of those bright shiny ideas that has caught the fancy of technologists and politicians alike. Here was a clean fuel that you could get behind: the only emission it produces was good old H20 and major automotive companies and very smart academics were working on making it happen.
Here's an inconvenient truth: For all the handwringing over the negative bottom-line impacts of climate change for most companies, a handful of large corporate interests may come out winners, creating potentially profitable opportunities for forward-thinking investors.
One of the biggest obstacles to the creation of markets for "green" products and services is the lack of norms and standards any new market needs to gain traction. For example, what's a "green business"? No one really knows, or at least agrees on a singular definition. (A group of us have been working to develop a standard that addresses this very question; more to come on that soon.)
This blog reflects the personal opinions of individual contributors and does not represent the views of Futurelab, Futurelab's clients, or the contributors' respective employers or clients.
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