THIN FILM SOLAR PANELS

Archive for November, 2008

A team of young Korean designers have invented a battery charger that runs on 100% renewable energy. The Febot might look a bit like a torpedo that’s gone wrong, but the in-built propellors mean that each one can generate enough energy to top up a rechargable AA battery.

Now here’s the fun bit. The Febot comes with a suction cup that allows you to attach it to pretty much any flat surface or structure. In theory, you could attach it to the outside of your window, or even the top of your car. Just imagine - a tiny little wind farm all of your own.

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With Obama as President-elect, solar stock prices must be sky high at the moment, right? Wrong. If you look at the values of most stocks around election day, they did increase. This peak was short lived however for most solar companies and it was followed by a huge decline.

Just how steep are we talking?

Akeena Solar

(NASDAQ:AKNS) is a large US-based solar installers for residential and commercial systems in California, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut. Their stock was valued at nearly $17 at the beginning of the year and is now just above $2.

Ascent Solar

(NASDAQ:ASTI) is based in Colorado and produces high efficiency, thin film solar products. They saw stock prices rise to over $25 a share at the beginning of the year, but are currently under $4.

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This probably goes without saying, but countries often appear and disappear. If you need any evidence, simply look at a map from the early 20th century. Israel didn’t exist. Africa and the Middle East have been completely reorganized. Even Europe has added and lost a few countries.

These are mostly cartographic changes, though. Names are changed and boundaries are moved. It’s very rare that any physical changes occur. Hawaii might grow a bit, and a small new island might emerge from the sea somewhere, but that’s about it.

Until now, that is. When we talk about global warming in the US, it’s mostly about whether we build coal plants or nuclear, use ethanol or biodiesel, or build wind vs solar power plants. Occasionally it’s about polar bears. But it’s not about disappearing.

That is sadly the case in many areas. The small Pacific-island nation of Kiribati has been in the news for some time. Kiribati’s government and president, Anote Tong, are preparing for the day when the country of 94,000 will have to be completely evacuated due to the rise of the seas. New Zealand has already begun taking families from Kiribati.

This week there was similar news from the Maldives, another island country in the Indian Ocean off the coasts of Sri Lanka and India. One of the first things the new president of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, announced after taking office was plans to invest in land in other countries so that the entire population can be relocated when sea levels rise.

This got me to thinking. I’ve often thought about where I want go before I move on some day, but where are those places I need to go because they’ll probably die before I do? Here’s a start on my list - feel free to add your own thoughts in comments at the end of this post:

• French Polynesia. I’ve already been there, but I want to go back as often as I can afford (which isn’t very often). The High Islands are like Hawaii - large extinct volcanoes sticking out of the ocean that aren’t going anywhere. But my favorite places so far have been the atolls, and I haven’t explored most of those. I better hurry - they’re at most six feet above sea level and in most places less than that.
• Mt. Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro’s not going anywhere, but the iconic snows that make it such a compelling location are. They’ll likely be gone by 2020, and perhaps as early as 2015. So we all better get traveling!
• Peru. Cheating here, too. I visited in 2001, and was blown away by the sparkling, glaciated peaks that loom over all of the Inca ruins. I aspire to go back to hike amongst them and commune with the llamas. Well, I better get moving. The glaciers are expected to be gone within 15 years.
• Glacier National Park. If current trends continue, we’ll have to rename one of America’s most stunning national parks. Glacier could be glacier-free by 2030.
• Australia Wine Country. Wine regions around the world will be affected by climate change, with the growing regions for particular grapes moving north in the northern hemisphere and south in the southern. Australia gets hit with a double-whammy: it is already very warm and will get warmer, and it is already very dry and will get drier. Many regions that produce premium wines today could become untenable for grape-growing. There is an upside, though: if you visit the UK in 2020, you might be able to buy locally-grown pinot noir!

Yesterday, NASA’s first spacecraft built to study carbon dioxide arrived at its California launch site. After completing final tests, the Orbiting Carbon Observatory will lift off in January 2009. Scientists hope that the observatory’s launch will give us a better understanding of carbon dioxide and Earth’s carbon cycle.

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Karen Solomon and Mike Flynn have done it again. For the second year in a row, they created an LA-based green business conference with a modicum of style and copious amounts of substance. The list of keynotes and panelists at Opportunity Green was a who’s who of environmentally-driven executives, pillars of the conscious publishing world, and leaders of the rapidly emerging field of Social Media. According to Karen and Mike, “Our purpose is to fill your head with knowledge you can use: ideas, new trends, amazing ingenuity.” With the help of key players from Dwell, Grist, Nike Considered, Patagonia, NBC Universal, Whole Foods, and more, the founders of this new green business mecca did just that.

The loquacious Anabelle Gurwitch of Planet Green’s WA$TED co-hosted, providing insightful commentary between panels as the eternally charming Boise Thomas of Planet Green’s Alter Eco was there “doing his Phil Donahue impersonation,” jogging through the auditorium with mic in hand, taking questions from the engaged audience.

Opportunity Green draws a rather unique audience: dreamers with drive. Savvy idealists. Down-to-earth visionaries. Many key organizers of LA’s green scene were in attendance: Barbara Kramer of D&A Green Market, Jay Coelho-Donnellan of Eco Gift Festival, Greg Wendt of Green Business Networking, Jennifer Gooding of Eco Tuesday, Barent Roth and Laura Beatty of Green Drinks, Ferris Kawar of Greenopia and on and on. There were curious executives from not-so-green companies like FOX seated side-by-side with conscious executives from mission-driven companies like Eco Nation. The mix was just diverse enough to make for extremely productive networking during meals, breaks and stolen moments in the hallways and terraces of UCLA’s Covel Commons.

Speakers told many righteous stories over the weekend of conscious, compassionate business practices triumphing over convenience and complacency. Rick Ridgeway, who’s been with Patagonia since it’s infancy several decades ago, spoke about the unexpected success he and Yvon Chouinard experienced by putting Earth first in their business dealings. Greg Owlsley, Chief Branding Officer for Colorado-based New Belgium, told the story of how a small, out-of-the-box organic beermaker became the biggest name in craft brewing by sticking to their mission and embracing their oddball tendencies.

Best Practices In Social Media was an incredibly informative presentation and most definitely one of the highlights of the conference. Michael Leifer is the Executive Director of Social Media at Swirl, a marketing agency with a client list that includes PayPal, Skype, and eBay. More impressive than his client list, was his voluminous knowledge of Social Media, a fairly new field that evolves and morphs at breakneck speed. Leifer was joined by Causecast Founder and CEO, Ryan Scott who laid out in plain words the social and financial value of cause marketing. Rob Reed, the blogger behind MaxGladwell.com, explained how Social Media had reached a tipping point in 2008, and warned that business owners better get on the train before it left the station without them. “This is more than just Web 2.0, this is customer service 2.0. This is risk management 2.0.”

There was humor to be found in unexpected places at OG 08. Getting Funded And What To Invest In turned out to be one of the most entertaining panels of the conference, with Adeo Ressi of TheFunded.com inspiring roaring laughter from the audience as he tore through the real do’s and don’ts of raising capital, often at the expense of the very humble Andy Funk of conscious venture capital firm Funk Ventures.

Tom Szaky, Founder of Terracycle, was another unexpected pleasure of the conference. When you hear, “Oh yeh, Tom, he’s that worm poop guy,” you don’t necessarily think you’re about to witness greatness. Two minutes with Tom Szaky will turn your scatophobia around completely. Whether he’s turning worm feces into fertilizer for Home Depot or Capri Sun Juice Packs into fashionable beach totes, Tom demonstrates the concepts of “waste as fuel” and “there is no away” with absolute clarity. Terracycle is an example to Fortune 500 companies and millions of consumers:”waste not, want not.”

Green diva Zem Joaquin of ecofabulous.com fame joined Szacky on the panel What’s Hot What’s Not What’s Next, talking about current and future trends in sustainable lifestyles. Zem said, “…this was the first time that I encountered the genius of Tom Szacky. Valuing trash has long been a goal of mine, but the fact that he has commoditized our waste is simply brilliant. He is making this conceptual trend a reality, which ecofabulous will certainly celebrate.” Grace Hawthorne of Readymade moderated the fiery group of trendsetters with humor and wit, chiming in “you heard it hear first” as each speaker laid out the latest discovery or assertion of the ways and wiles of the green marketplace.

At his closing keynote address, Josh Dorfman of Vivavi said very simply and with rock solid confidence, “There is no green fatigue.” He explained in no uncertain terms that there remains a critical mass of Americans that still know absolutely nothing about “going green.” He assured the audience, in a vaguely paternal way, that we as ecopreneurs still had our work cut out for us. It was oddly comforting that this longtime “Lazy Environmentalist” was telling us we still had a long way to go; we knew this to be true. Though, in a momentous week that had brought us the election of Barack Obama followed by LA’s 2nd Annual Opportunity Green, the monumental amount of work ahead looked like it just might be a good time after all.