Short for Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, ARPA-E is modeled after the more familiar DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). Famously, DARPA invented and incubated the proto-Internet nearly 50 (!) years ago and stands out as a success story, repeated by the left and right alike, of government investment in basic technologies.ARPA-E shares more than just the familiar — if awkward — acronym from its predecessor. (I guess EARPA just sounded a little silly.) Like DARPA’s approach, ARPA-E is curating very early stage technologies, picking and cultivating those that could, it hopes, deliver Internet-scale disruptive benefits to the energy economy.
Even in the best of times, such an audacious goal is a serious challenge. But as Arun Majumdar, ARPA-E’s director, told the attendees at the State of Green Business Forum last week in Washington, D.C., the energy innovation incubator also faces tough budgetary realities, despite promising early successes.
“Our goal by statute is to look for technologies that don’t exist in the energy markets today … These are disruptive, not incremental, technologies,” Majumdar said.
Like his boss Steven Chu, Majumdar has a science pedigree from the West Coast’s energy-technology-policy hothouse at University California at Berkeley and nearby Lawrence Livermore National Lab.
And like his boss, Majumdar arrived in D.C. to find strong support for energy research. The agency’s first year budget, at $400 million, was divvied up and deployed into about 400 projects across six research areas (more on those below) in short order.
But now, with that foundation laid, ARPA-E’s funding for both fiscal year 2011 ($300 million requested) and 2012 ($550 million requested) is stalled in the fight over the budget. With its extant funds committed and despite bipartisan support, “we’re in a holding pattern,” said Majumdar.
Last month, the agency announced that six of projects it had funded generated private investment. The half dozen projects that originally received a total of $23.6 million in seed funding from ARPA-E attracted another nearly $100 million in outside private capital investment, Majumdar said.
About one-third of first year funding went to university projects, 40 percent to small businesses, another 5 percent or so to national labs, and the remainder to corporate R&D projects. For the smaller projects, “this is a huge boost … These scientists cannot go to the bank or to venture capitalist because the projects are often pre-prototype,” Majumdar explained…
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Carbon capture fares well in Obama’s 2012 federal budget proposal | Global CCS Institute
Round 1 in the US budgeting process has begun, with key green priorities such as carbon capture surviving with barely a scratch.
In the face of relentless pressure to cut public spending, President Obama proposed a U.S. federal budget for fiscal year 2012 that “essentially treads water on energy and the environment” as The New York Times’ John M. Broder put it. Continue reading Carbon capture fares well in Obama’s 2012 federal budget proposal | Global CCS Institute
The Blend of Judo & Kabuki That’s Driving Sustainability at GSA | GreenBiz
As a crucial part of his ambitious goal to turn the federal government into a leader in green practices, President Obama has turned to an unexpected resource to help drive the effort: the government’s purchasing and property arm, the General Services Administration.
The GSA’s administrator, Martha Johnson, was picked to lead this mission as head of the giant agency last February. Speaking at the State of Green Business Forum in Washington, D.C. yesterday, Johnson asserted that the twin challenges of fiscal pressure and sustainability goals are perfectly matched to create change at an organization better known for its role as buying agent for some $90 billion worth of government materials and manager of half a million federal buildings.
“One of the things about sustainability in government which is so beautiful is… it talks about ‘no waste’,” Johnson said. Focusing on sustainability reframes the discussion away from negative connotations of cost cutting towards positive attitudes about constructive change.
“The government has a choice,” she added. “We are either under this screw of cutting costs, or we can judo it and say: Let’s be about sustainability, less waste in the system, and more intelligent use of resources. It really changes about how we think about tax payer dollar. That is a huge shift.”
Mere months after entering office, Johnson and her leadership team unveiled a goal of reducing the agency’s environmental footprint to zero. It’s a vision that wowed many, and mystified some, in the green community, given its audacious scope and the uncertainty of just how to achieve it.
Yet for Johnson, it’s the sort of “stretch goal” that the agency is ready for. “Of course we don’t know how to get to zero environmental footprint,” said Johnson. “If you knew how to do it, you should be doing it already.”
Big goals inspire staff and animate new thinking about old ways of operating, she added: “It’s very much like President Kennedy talking about the moonshot. I don’t mean to be grandiose or anything, but that’s helpful.”
With a background in the private sector heavy with “organizational transformation” experience, Johnson regards greening the GSA as serious challenge that can help lead practices elsewhere in the economy.
In the past, huge goals have acted as pole stars, inspiring change and spreading from industry to industry, such as “total quality” or “total safety.” “That north star notion,” she said, “That’s what zero environmental footprint is about.”
Steps toward this goal are multiplying across the agency’s operations. As part of the Recovery Act, for example, the agency was awarded $5 billion to retrofit federal buildings with greener technology…. Continue reading here: greenbiz.com
Winning the Sustainability Battle, Losing the Carbon War? | GreenBiz
In establishing the Carbon War Room, Richard Branson, the British-born media and aviation billionaire, explicitly treats the threat of catastrophic climate change as one similar to the threat posed by a world war.
Taking this metaphor a step further, Branson appointed as his general Jigar Shah to head up the CWR. Nearly a year into the mission, however, Shah seems palpably frustrated.
Speaking with Joel Makower at GreenBiz.com’s State of Green Business Forum in Washington today, Shah emphasized that the foot soldiers in this mission — companies, policy makers and voters — are waging a losing fight in this multi-decade struggle.
First some context on the scope of the fight. Shah reminded the audience that global greenhouse gas emissions are running at about 50 gigatonnes per year today, and are on track to grow to 60 gigatonnes by 2020 if economic growth and climate trends continue without change. To avoid catastrophic climate change of 2 degrees Celsius or more, scientists say we need to trim 17 gigatonnes from that trend by 2020.
Not surprisingly, technology is ready to help solve the problem, says Shah, who earned a reputation as a wunderkind of the solar business, and a fortune — perhaps several hundred gazillion dollars, Makower joked — as the founder of solar energy pioneer SunEdison in 2003. “You’ve got Bjorn Lomborg saying we can’t do anything without more R&D. And policy people saying unless we pass a price on carbon, we can’t do anything,” said Shah. “That’s just poppycock.”
The deeper problem is a tendency to grasp at feel-good solutions without reaching for, or even acknowledging, harder, far more impactful steps.
Shah offered the example of turning off the taps while brushing your teeth: it’s a painless, feel-good behavioral change promoted by countless green living advice columns. Yet compared to the 40 percent of water wasted through leaking pipes across our crumbling water networks, it’s meaningless.
While Makower suggested you could pursue both lifestyle changes and long-term infrastructure goals, Shah batted back the suggestion. “It is an either-or decision,” no matter how much we’d like to think otherwise.
Echoing psychological studies suggesting that consumers’ interest in these issues peters out after a single action, Shah said: “There’s very few people who react to [any environmental message]. So when an NGO mails out to 20 million people turn off your taps, they could just as easily say the more important thing is to actually fix this infrastructure.” But the harder sell is all to rarely made, said Shah.
The problem is compounded by failures of incomplete information, Shah added. With scant understanding of the scale of the climate change challenge, for example, good intentions get diluted.
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Coca-Cola Decides to Gulp Down the Rest of Honest Tea | GreenBiz
Honest Tea, the fast-growing 13-year-old vendor of organic teas, first attracted the attention of Coca-Cola back in 2008, when the fizzy drinks giant took a 40 percent stake in the green-minded startup. Today, CEO Seth Goldman announced that Honest Tea had notified its shareholders of Coke’s decision to exercise its option to buy the balance of those shares, almost three years to the day after their original agreement. The deal is on track to close within the next few weeks.The deal would cap a period of accelerating growth for the Bethesda, Md.-based tea brand. Sales peaked at some 100 million units of bottles and bags last year, bringing sales close to $100 million, Goldman explained, thanks in part to a boost in distribution that came from the original deal with Coke.
“We’ve seen growth three-fold,” said Goldman, thanks in part to current or pending distribution deals with major national chains including CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid. The high point of Honest Tea’s arrival to the mainstream, Goldman joked, may have been marked when the company appeared as a clue in a New York Times Friday crossword puzzle. The clue, “Honest ______ (drink brand).” The answer: Honest Ade, not Tea — one for the experts.
In a nod to Goldman’s central role as founder and CEO — or TeaEO — Coke has ensured that he maintains an equity stake in the operation and will continue to run the brand. The move is unprecedented, Goldman told attendees at the State of Green Business Forum today at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Coke has a well-evolved business process for buying up small-brands, transitioning out the founder and folding the products into the parent’s larger manufacturing, distribution and marketing operations. “A veteran of the beverage business told me that after a takeover, for the first few weeks, they want to know your opinion, for the next few weeks, they want to know your telephone number, and after that they don’t want to know you,” said Goldman. “This was unusual for Coke, but came from the chairman.”
Speaking with GreenBiz.com’s senior writer, Marc Gunther, Goldman acknowledged the decision stirs charges that the organic tea brand is compromising its green integrity. Honest Tea has cultivated sustainable practices among its tea suppliers to achieve USDA certified organic status. It has also ruled out using high fructose corn syrup, and has certified its products as Fair Trade.
Goldman dismisses the charge, arguing that scaling up his business is the path to delivering the greatest benefits most broadly. “It’s easy to fall into a ‘big is bad, small is good’ trap,” said Goldman. “To those critics, I ask, ‘What’s your strategy to change corporate America?'”
Coke has proven loath to tinker with Honest Tea’s green appeal — even in the face of tension with the newcomer. The companies attracted national attention in 2010 when The New York Times detailed a conflict over Honest Tea’s decision to brand its kids’ beverage line as free of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), despite pressure from Coke. The big drink brand was facing charges over the synthetic nature of the corn-derived sweetener along with the high calorie count of its fizzy drinks…
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What GE Has in Store for Round 2 of the Ecomagination Challenge | GreenBiz
29diggsdiggGE is going back to the innovation well. Encouraged by the success of its $200 million Ecomagination Challenge — a crowdsourced contest, which yielded scores of grid-scale technology and investment opportunities — the Connecticut-based conglomerate is turning up the heat on the hunt for innovative home energy solutions.
The search includes both today’s and tomorrow’s technology. Starting with upgrades to existing gizmos — kitchen appliances, washing machine and dryer and other domestic energy hogs — innovative ideas are also sought for future solutions, such as electric car recharging systems or software apps to help cut power use.
Announced earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show, GE’s decision to extend the Ecochallenge was spurred by the huge volume of home-related ideas submitted in the first phase of the competition. Of some 4,000 submissions, more than a quarter focused on home energy use.
“Powering your home” is seeking submissions across two broad categories: energy efficiency, including appliances and air conditioning, as well as software systems to manage home energy; and renewable power, including familiar solar and wind systems but also residential-scale hydro and biomass solutions.
Select winners will be offered the opportunity to develop a commercial relationship with GE through:
• Investment: $145 million of the $200 million pool from GE and its partners remains to be committed.
• Validation: GE technical and commercial experts will evaluate entrant’s business strategy through in-depth discussions.
• Distribution: The company will also explore partnership opportunities to scale the product or service globally.
• Development: Winners can tap into GE’s technical infrastructure and GE Global Research Centers to accelerate technology and product development.
• Growth: They can also explore opportunities for utilizing existing GE customers to take winning products to market.The panel of expert judges — which includes GE execs and leading academics and technologists — will also pick five ideas that represent pioneering entrepreneurship and innovation. Winners of these Innovation Awards will score $100,000.
Launched in July 2010, the ecochallenge is a collaboration with leading venture capital firms Emerald Technology Ventures, Foundation Capital, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and RockPort Capital, and Chris Anderson, Editor-in-Chief, Wired magazine. Also joining this stage of the project is Carbon Trust, a London-based not-for-profit with a track record of commercializing low carbon technologies.
This phase of the challenge seeks will re-examine ideas already submitted as well as new proposals submitted before the deadline of March 1, 2011. The contest is open to proposals from around the globe. Learn more at www.ecomagination.com/challenge.
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Inside GRI’s Efforts to Boost CSR Reporting in the States | GreenBiz
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Federal efforts to require companies to report on environmental impacts and other sustainability measures in their financial filings have all but stalled, victims of the recession and a loss of momentum for federal climate policy.
But while official efforts have deflated, independent groups are ratcheting up the pressure. The case for greater transparency got a push today, with the announcement that the Amsterdam-based Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), is launching a U.S. effort to guide more American corporations to adapt GRI’s framework to disclose environmental, social and governance performance. Advocates make the case that increased transparency not only tends to boost profitability, but that such details are legally material to corporate financial statements.
Dubbed Focal Point USA, GRI’s US initiative debuted today at a breakfast meeting at NYSE Euronext on Wall Street. Pointing out that only hundreds of tens of thousands of US companies strive to document their broader impact, GRI Chief Executive Ernst Ligteringen asked the 230 attendees, “Why is America letting the world lead in sustainability reporting?”
Born of 1997 U.N. initiative, GRI has over the past decade evolved rules over addressing the needs of different sectors, from mining to media, and worked to win official endorsement of its guidelines from standards bodies such as the OECD and UN.
The value of sustainability practices as crucial to risk management echoed through comments made by a panel of executives whose companies presently follow GRI reporting guidelines. “What is the justification of the 75,000 corporations who don’t report on ESG [environmental, social and governance] issues to fly blind?” asked David Vidal, director, Center For Corporate Citizenship And Sustainability at The Conference Board.
At Avon, which relies on a sales force of 6.5 million independent resellers, GRI’s framework emerged a useful bridge, linking sustainability advocates among the company’s senior ranks, with financial executives. “GRI gives a formal framework that the bean counters can relate too, and get behind,” said Susan Arnot Heaney, Avon’s director of corporate responsibility.
Issues of sustainability resonate especially strongly with Avon’s nearly all-female sales force, Heaney emphasized, creating upward pressure on corporate managers. Avon has over one million direct sales representatives in Brazil alone, a group larger than the nation’s army, Heaney explained.
Simply standardizing sustainability data into more accessible standard forms has enhanced financial markets’ regard for the value of the information, said Curtis Ravenel, Director of Sustainability Initiatives, at Bloomberg LLP. The financial and news service recently has begun to include sustainability indicators alongside conventional financial analytics on one of the most widely viewed data screens in the Bloomberg terminal.
“As a private company Bloomberg didn’t have a culture of reporting or transparency,” said Ravenel. The media company plans to release its first GRI compliant report in 2011, following a three-year effort to compile the necessary data. The exercise helped convince management of the value of reporting on sustainability data internally, and via its terminals, Ravenel explained.
“This is a dynamic time for the Global Reporting Initiative, with sustainability reporting becoming a vital part of the business strategies of an increasing number of companies, including in the US,” said Mike Wallace, Director of the Global Reporting Initiative’s Focal Point USA.
The US launch follows similar announcements in China and India. Following the New York event, Focal Point USA is planning a breakfast meeting hosted by The World Bank in Washington, DC on February 3 and a roundtable event hosted by Ceres in Boston on February 4. For more information about these events and about GRI’s Focal Point USA, contact Mike Wallace or more information here.
NYSE photo CC-licensed by Francisco Diez.
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The New Electric Vehicles: Coming to a Plug Near You | OnEarth
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The e-cars are coming. You know about hybrids such as the gas-electric Prius, but they were just the first step in a long evolution toward virtually emissions-free, high-mileage vehicles. The next frontier is gas-free, 100 percent-battery powered cars: this year and next, more than a dozen electric vehicles (or EVs) will start to appear in showrooms and rental fleets. To show you what’s coming, we’ve rounded up a baker’s dozen. Our focus is fossil fuel-free vehicles (so no hybrids) from manufacturers with a proven track record. 2011-01-21
Housing Crisis Stalls Energy Efficient Home Loans — The Collapse of PACE Loans | The Fiscal Times
When Charlie Yarbrough, a Santa Rosa, Calif., software engineer, decided to put solar panels on the roof of his newly purchased home, he took advantage of a novel funding program known as PACE, short for property assessed clean energy. Working with local installers, he was able to borrow the $25,000 cost at the equivalent of 7.25 percent annually from the Sonoma County Energy Independence Program, a pool of public money, to be paid back over 20 years with his property taxes.
Yarbrough estimates the solar panels have cut annual power costs for his three-bedroom, 1,800-square-foot home by $1,000, while boosting by $40,000 the value of the home he bought for $300,000 in 2009. As energy costs rise in coming years, he expects his savings will grow. “Back of the envelope, this is like a 4 percent loan for an improvement which is the right thing to do,” he says, factoring in the energy savings and property appreciation.
Now, it looks like Yarborough and thousands like him got in just under the wire. PACE all but ground to a halt last July in the wake of the housing bust and mortgage crisis. The Federal Housing Financing Agency (FHFA) — which oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — characterized PACE as a threat to existing mortgages. It was a signal to banks that the housing finance giants, which together buy and resell the majority of U.S. mortgages, would refuse to buy any mortgages with PACE financing attached. Simultaneously, the Office of the Comptroller of Currency issued similar guidance, further chilling lending activity…
Ford Electrifies its Eco-Car Strategy | GreenBiz
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