Cities are hot: Filled with skyscrapers, traffic and hot pavement, heat simmers between buildings causing the "heat island effect". Stagnant heat is trapped in the narrow city gaps and air conditioners cooling the inside of buildings spill even more heat out the walls. Trees offering natural cooling and shade are minimal and soil that helps water evaporation (thereby cooling the area) is non existent. Replacing the trees and soil are dark streets that store heat and reach temperatures up to 70F (21C) hotter than lighter surfaces. Stifling heat is depressing (unless you're at the beach), and the added smog and clouds that form because of it, don't help matters either. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that "for millions of Americans living in and around cities, heat islands are of growing concern. This phenomenon describes urban and suburban temperatures that are 2 to 10°F (1 to 6°C) hotter than nearby rural areas. Elevated temperatures can impact communities by increasing peak energy demand, air...

The evolution of the global energy economy is dependent on transitioning to the "smart grid," a term to describe an upgraded electric power transmission and distribution system that encompasses a broad range of innovations. The smart grid will be mostly invisible, but will impact virtually everything we do, and will facilitate a future where energy will be abundant, clean, and more than ever before, electric. There is possibly no company in the world more in the center of this transformation than GridPoint, located in Arlington, Virginia. Last week I spoke with Karl Lewis, Chief Strategy Officer for GridPoint, who described in detail his company's services. Understanding how GridPoint is addressing the market opportunity is a very good way to understand how the smart grid is evolving. As...

With Tesla now shipping 10+ vehicles per week, and other automakers, small and large, increasingly announcing electric vehicle programs, what is the latest on the Chevy Volt? At this point, with about 110 weeks to go before the Volt is going to be in showrooms, are they on track? We got an update last week from GM spokesperson Rob Peterson, as well as access to photos of the final Volt exterior and interior design. Here's what we know: GM is currently testing two "mule" vehicles with prototype components in an old Malibu body. By the end of this year GM expects to have the next generation of test vehicles in service, using production intent propulsion and chassis components. There will be over 30 of these vehicles, many of which will be used for crash safety...

We have been warning readers about the pension crisis for a few years now.  In a nutshell, the problem is the following:  California public employee unions - which are virtually unregulated despite the fact they operate in the uncompetitive public sector - have pretty much taken over California's state and local governments. In recent years they have negotiated pay and benefit increases so dramatic that the average government worker in California often earns 2-4x what globalized private sector workers earn to do jobs of comparable worth.  This dramatic disparity is largely due to the value of their retirement pensions.  The present value of what someone collects in retirement must be applied to the years they work, in order to correctly value their annual compensation.  And by that...

NUCLEAR POWER IS NOT THE ONLY WAY TO GENERATE A KILOWATT-HOUR Nuclear power stations as of 2002. For more recent data including a table showing data on all active plants go to World Nuclear Association. (Source: U.S. DOE) While we tend to agree with Dr. Patrick Moore, founder of Greenpeace, and many others, that nuclear power development is a choice worth considering, what follows is a thoughtful financial analysis of the nuclear option that comes to a very different conclusion. Citing recent cost estimates of just over $8.0 billion per gigawatt output, the author claims nuclear power is far more expensive than other energy options, including alternative energy. And if nuclear power really costs that much, the author is right. The case for nuclear power has gotten a huge boost lately thanks...

When analysing the potential of biofuel, one of the prevailing questions is whether or not there is sufficient land on earth to deliver adequate food if substantial percentages of land are allocated to biofuel crops. In our report earlier this year "Cellulosic Ethanol" it is clear, in the U.S. at least, that while substantial quantities of ethanol per year may eventually be refined from municipal waste streams, crop residue, winter cover crops, and forest thinning, in order to completely replace petroleum-based transportation fuels, dedicated energy crops will also be necessary. So is there enough land? One of the key variables often overlooked when asking this question regards yield per acre - not only for energy crops, but for food crops. For example, new strains of dedicated energy crops such as...

It is our official position that long-range government planning cannot work no way no how. But it is a mark of how bankrupt the planning profession has become that many of its members never seem to bother to follow its standard planning system, which is known as the Rational Planning Model. As defined by Wikipedia, the Rational Planning Model "is the process of realizing a problem, establishing and evaluating planning criteria, create alternatives, implementing alternatives, and monitoring progress of the alternatives." This model, Wikipedia adds, "is central in the development of modern urban planning." If it is so central, then why do so few urban planners follow it? In particular, most plans that I have reviewed leave out step 3, "create alternatives." They also leave out what should be...

The opponents of California's ballot Proposition 7 (read full text of Prop 7) claim it will "cost consumers and taxpayers hundreds of millions per year in higher electric rates - a $300 increase per household per year."  It is hard to get access to the calculations behind these estimates, so we have attempted to come up with estimates of our own. In our recent post "California Proposition 7" we put forward some fundamental assumptions and come up with a total projected cost to install the generating facilities.  We assume that by 2025 Californians will draw 1,000 gigawatt-hours per day, meaning at 50% renewables we'll need 500 gigawatt-hours per day to come from renewable sources.  We therefore project, based on $2.5 billion per gigawatt of wind generated output, and a 17.5% yield, installing this amount of wind capacity will...

The great mosque of Djenne looms over one of the larger marketplaces in Mali, Africa. On the flat brown flood planes, mud walls up to 24 inches thick bear the weight of what looks like a giant sand castle. Protruding from the structure are carefully placed wooden poles and ostrich eggs adorn the tips of the spires at the mosque entrance. A mosque has stood in the spot since the 13th century. This is quite a feat since the incredible structure is made from nothing more than sun-baked mud bricks and mud. The original mud used for the mosque fell to the ground centuries ago and the current structure has stood in its place since 1906, but the size and overall strength of the building proves that the right mixture of sand, water, straw and gravel has immense potential as a building...

America's credit crisis should come as no surprise to anyone whose been paying attention.  We discussed this about a year ago in our post "Inflation vs. Deflation," and if you read that post, you will see links to discussions we've had on this topic that go back as far as 1998.  Because this has been brewing for a long, long time.  And the question still remains - inflation or deflation - pick your poison.  Our belief is inflation is a far more palatable option. Back around 2003 I remember debating economic policy with a business reporter for the Wall Street Journal.  I still recall the shock this person displayed when I downplayed the mitigating value of the "current account" when discussing America's trade deficit.  Apparently the conventional wisdom held that since foreign investment makes up the...