2nd Green Revolution

Natural Capitalism: Chapter 2 – Reinventing the Wheels

Eric Wilson — Tue, 22 May 2012 10:44:33 +0000

A few years back I started reading Natural Capitalism. I wrote a post about the first chapter and vowed to come back to the book “soon.” Geologically speaking, it’s been the blink of an eye. In human terms, a wee bit longer. The book isn’t inordinately long, but after coming back to it after many months, I find the second chapter a rich source of information, ripe for reflection.

Natural Capitalism is both forward-thinking and innovative despite its age. Much like his Ecology of Commerce, Hawken melds the everyday and the natural world. He and his co-authors demonstrate the feasibility of efficient, viable systems that can be implemented now. This book, published in 1999 could have been written today. While more work has been done to make the world more “sustainable,” much of what is discussed in the second chapter has failed to penetrate into mainstream business practices in the US.

With this in mind, there are several points I want to touch on in the second chapter. As a quick reminder, Paul Hawken co-authored the book with efficiency gurus Amory and Hunter Lovins. The second chapter begins as an homage to super efficient automobiles, so-called “Hypercars.”. These vehicles are not only lightweight (thus reducing the amount of energy needed to power them) but they also run on clean energy like hydrogen. What seems like an ardent argument for efficiency morphs into a plea for community development.

The most surprising aspect of the second chapter was the ending. In a book dedicated to capitalism, albeit one in line with ecological constraints, the final portion looks at community. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but given the focus on hypercars in the beginning, I got the sense that there was little place for a discussion about sidewalks and bike trails. I was wrong.

From Portland, Oregon and the neighborhood grocery store to European city planning with wider sidewalks and more bike lanes, cities were (and still are) being reshaped to consider non-motorized traffic. In order to reduce vehicular congestion, the authors suggest the following solutions:

Make parking and driving bear their true costs.
Foster genuine competition between different modes of transportation.
Emphasize sensible land use over actual physical mobility – a symptom of being in the wrong place.

These three ideas have yet to fully take hold. However, cities like London have implemented higher toll rates for driving in the city, thereby decreasing traffic and allowing pedestrians to roam more freely.

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Itron: A Global Leader in Smart Meters

John Basalla — Mon, 21 May 2012 11:17:00 +0000

For today’s company spotlight, I wanted to look at smart meters.

Smart meters have been in use since 2006 in the United States and have gained wide penetration in some areas and caused backlashes in others. In the near future many utilities will be switching their customers over to this technology. So what exactly are smart meters, why are they sometimes controversial, how do they help consumers and utilities save money, and who is the industry leader in the field?

A smart meter is a device that collects electric consumption data from a home or business and communicates that data back to the utility. This communication is accomplished by the use of Radio-Frequency (RF) technology. Smart meters provide several advantages to the customer as they allow the customer to monitor their energy use in real time and allow for the customer to receive real versus estimated electric bills. For the utilities there are several major benefits as well. Primary among these is that smart meters allow the utility to adjust its billing policies to entice customers to use electricity during non-peak hours. This is vital as during peak electric usage periods the utilities must bring on-line less efficient energy methods or purchase power from other entities. Both of these methods increase costs to the utility. Incentivizing customers to adjust their energy use to off-peak hours helps the utilities keep costs down and potentially produce electricity using more environmentally-friendly methods. A good example of this approach can be seen with TXU Energy’s Free Nights program which is designed to encourage customers to change their electricity usage habits and as a reward not be billed for electricity usage between 10 PM and 6 AM, non-peak hours for the utility. Another use of smart meters is that they allow utilities to more quickly respond to power outages or problems as they are now receiving almost real time information from customers.

The level of penetration of smart meters in the United States varies dramatically by region of the country. PG&E just recently announced that it had installed its 9 millionth unit in Northern California while other areas of the country have almost no units in place. Current levels of penetration in the United States are estimated at 35%. In some areas there has been a backlash against smart meters due to health concerns regarding the RF technology used to communicate between the readers and utilities as well as concerns about customer privacy. Although the use of RF technology has been approved and deemed safe by the Federal Government, fears still remain.

The global leader in the smart meter industry is Itron (Nasdaq: ITRI) with 8,000 customers in 130 countries. With energy consumption continuing to grow and regulatory initiatives aimed at increasing energy efficiency being put in place around the world, the market for smart meter technology seems destined to continue to expand. Per Itron estimates, there are 2.8 billion meters in use around the world with only approximately 10% being smart meters. One significant risk facing Itron is that they are almost totally dependent on utility industry capital spending. The recent slowdown in the global economy has had a direct effect on Itron’s fortunes as such slowdown reduces the industry’s capital spending. However, with its strong financial results and healthy cash flow, Itron seems well positioned to take advantage of the growth in smart grids and smart meters in the future.

Disclaimer: This article is intended to be informative and should not be construed as personalized investment advice. You are responsible for your own investment decisions.

Disclosure: The author has no position in Itron and no plans to initiate a position in the next 72 hours.

Image Source: whatisworking.com

From Parking Lots to Parking Garages

Eric Wilson — Sun, 20 May 2012 10:15:09 +0000

Last week I wrote about parking lots and my distaste for them. While parking garages are a much better use of land, they can be quite ugly.

My argument today is not an aesthetic one though. While riding the light rail the other day (where I also composed this op-ed), I passed a large parking garage, four levels high or so. Right before getting on the train I walked passed another one downtown. The downtown garage had shops and restaurants on the ground floor, a good use of space, especially in the urban center. However, it is this other garage that got me thinking.

When explorers landed on Rapa Nui (aka Easter Island), what did they think of the giant moai (see the image accompanying this post), the enormous stone statues that populated the coastline? Those vestiges are pretty much the line remnants of a once powerful civilization. Jared Diamond writes about them in Collapse, as well as an article for Discover magazine several years ago. He likens the stone statues to the massive homes built by Hollywood producers, namely the 50,000+ square foot home of Aaron Spelling (recently featured on HGTV). Diamond makes the argument that these shows of power waste resources in an attempt to mark one’s territory by showing off their wealth. The disregard for consumption inevitably led to the downfall of civilization on Rapa Nui.

I realize this is a bit of a stretch to parking garages, but will future civilizations view them similarly? Will they be seen as monuments to the car, an anachronistic structure that sucked up resources (both the garage itself and the cars they housed)? My intention is not to paint a stark picture in which people do not play a role, or in which vehicles are a relic of some bygone era. Rather, as pointed out in another recent post, the future might hold some semblance of pedestrian-centric ethos that will make parking garages the Stonehenge of the future.

[Image source]

Where the Sidewalk Never Begins

The Angry Pedestrian — Sat, 19 May 2012 11:12:48 +0000

Dear Shel Silverstein,

My apologies for misusing, but hopefully not abusing the title of your wonderful work of poetry.

Cordially,

The Angry Pedestrian

Now that that’s out of the way, let me tell you about the place where the sidewalk never begins; it’s called the suburbs. I don’t live in the suburbs, but I had to go there the other day and “do some business.” As I mentioned in my introductory post, I do own a car. It was the car that dragged me to the suburbs. I took it in for a 2-year, 25,000 mile service; the odometer read 14,134 miles. I was under the impression that it was covered by the 2-year, 25,000 mile service package that came with the vehicle when I bought it. I was wrong.

I dropped off my car at the dealership’s service center and walked approximately one-half mile across the street to eat. That’s right, I walked half a mile to cross the street. Here is an aerial view of the intersection. It’s mostly parking lots and, if memory serves, 9 lanes of traffic. I finally crossed the street only to find the sidewalk did not go to the restaurant at which I was hoping to eat. Instead I had to cut across some grass, the drive through lane, and the parking lot. The pedestrian loses again.

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Five Friday Facts: The New World Trade Center

Justin Manger — Fri, 18 May 2012 11:45:47 +0000

The following facts come from a pamphlet sent to me by a relative who visited the construction site and memorial pool at the World Trade Center in New York City. The 1 World Trade Center (WTC) building is expected to reach it full height soon, whereupon its 408-foot (124 m) radio antenna will be installed on top to complete the structure.

The WTC central chiller plant will circulate 30,000 gallons of Hudson River water every minute – enough to flush about 15,000 toilets.
The electricity generated by the 1 WTC’s fuel-cell plant will be able to continuously light 52,000 compact fluorescent light bulbs.
At least 75% of 1 WTC construction waste is recylced.
Everything from the gypsum boards to ceiling tiles at the WTC contains a minimum of 20% post-industrial recycled content.
At least 50% of the wood for 1 WTC comes from Forest Stewardship Council certified sustainable harvested forests.