Big Wakeup news coming soon. We’ve been working on a really important project given the fast moving, confusing and let’s just call it interesting political environment we are in. Stay tuned for more.
Thanks for the feedback! I hope we can do this more often, but you said it clearly that you enjoyed the summaries. I also understand the request to put the links for the stories directly in the email instead of having to come to the website. Obviously, the intent is to drive traffic to the site for metrics but that may no longer be the case. May consider doing a trial and having the article links right in the email.
It was a Trump directed headshake. Scott Pruitt will be the head of the EPA. The P used to stand for protection but will soon stand for pilfering. Scott Pruitt is the AG in Oklahoma and favorite attack dog on the EPA for the Koch Brothers. Ivanka stories, Gore meeting, those were all misdirection to this nonsense.
What does $250million buy? The Kochs may have been quiet during the Presidential election but they are far from quiet now. While the President Elect is Donald Trump, the transition is led by Governor Pence who has been close to the Kochs for years. Scott Pruitt and many more are direct contact of the Koch empire.
Out with the old. SunPower is making the cuts to ramp operational efficiency. The factory in the Philippines is one of the first factories the company opened and costly to operating. Cutting the factory will reduce capacity by 700MW and cut 2,500 jobs in the company, most in the Philippines. It will cost the company about $350 million, about 30% of which will be cash.
Opinion
News
Opinions:
Have a great day!
Yann
How’s the new format? It’s been a few weeks since I added the summaries to the top. Are they helpful or do they get into the way of the articles that you want to read? What else would you like this publication to give you to make it even better? Reply to this email and let me know.
Solar likes a free market now. PV-Magazine has a good summary on a leaked memo on Trump’s energy policies written by former Koch lobbyist Thomas Pyle. One of the points speaks to getting rid of all energy subsidies so that the market can discover the true price. I’m all in on that, it was actually one of the best negotiating points during the ITC extension because the ITC is almost nothing compared to the rest of the energy sector. This is a fool’s errand by the way, oil and gas will never, ever let Congress get rid of their subsidies. EVER!
A windy Google search. Google announced yesterday that it reached 100% renewable energy in 2017, meaning it will get all of its electric needs from renewable sources. For Google that means over 2.6GW of power but it may be a bit unclear on how that power correlates to energy use and timing. This is almost all wind with some solar mixed in. Someone needs to get into Facebook and make them do a solar project.
The risky cost of inaction. Bloomberg, Steyer and Paulson have been running a project called the Risky Business Project. Outlining the economic risk to the US by unmitigated climate change, the analysis has transitioned from the cost of inaction to the benefits of action. Their point is that the action is now incredibly valuable for financial entities, one that is not lost to many pension funds across the globe or pretty much anyone except for the US Congress.
Mr. Trump, meet Elon Musk. During the debate, Donald Trump brought up Solyndra which means he has been briefed on the loan guarantee program. He would know that it is returning over $5billion in profits to the taxpayers and had a loan to Tesla repaid ahead of schedule. The story we know well, but the agreement on the domestic manufacturing issue is understated. Musk’s companies have created over 35,000 jobs and used State level economic development deals to do it, both a staple of Trump’s policies. We did have Elon Musk as the leading candidate for DOE Secretary in our brief last month.
Opinion
News
Opinions:
Have a great day!
Yann
Koch and Trump make up. It appears the lobbyist Mike McKenna has been replaced as the Energy Transition leader. Thomas Pyle, a former Koch Industries lobbyist, has taken over and the record on renewable energy is exactly as bad as you would expect. We can take some comfort (very little) that most energy policy is handled at the State level where Koch funded initiatives have not been as successful as hoped. Watch this space.
Buffett speaks, do the Koch Brothers listen? One of the most interesting dichotomies in energy is the partnership between monopolies and the free market champions. Buffett hopes that he will be able to deploy more capital into solar and wind, as his utilities have done quite a bit on the large scale side. Unlike IOUs like NextEra, the Berkshire utilities have not been big on DG, and we are only talking about deregulated sides of the house. What will the Koch influence on Federal policy have on the Buffett goals?
Is greenwashing really a bad thing? I’ve been giving the idea some thought that greenwashing is actually a good thing. Let’s say that a corporation does a green project. It then hires a marketing firm to promote the brand by talking about the project. Maybe the project could have been bigger or greener but my bet is that their competitors are watching. The competitor goes out and attempts to outgreen the other, then publicizes that and the whole circle gets bigger and wider. I say we should market any attempt by corporations to improve its clean energy initiatives.
Here is your faster horse. Henry Ford famously commented that his customers would have asked for faster horses if he asked them what they wanted when he developed the Model T. TBI is known as a front for centralized power, namely nuclear power. Their new report says that history shows DG is not the best way to solve energy poverty. Pardon my French but, no shit! Never in our history have we had access to this cost of solar power, cost of energy storage and small wind. Microgrids were a luxury for forward operating bases and mines in the middle of nowhere, now over 50 are planned for the continental US.
Opinion
News
Opinions:
Have a great day!
Yann
Only 1 lesson to learn. Don’t get me wrong, beating Amendment 1 in Florida was a great victory. Being against solar was an easy branding exercise and then people like Jimmy Buffett did more with their soapbox than any money could buy. The biggest lesson that needs to be learned and not repeated is that this was self inflicted by the solar industry. Amendment 1 was a defensive tactic to stop the announced solar PPA amendment. If the solar industry doesn’t learn this lesson, it may try to do another ballot amendment next year. Be very wary of such attempts.
China is taking the lead? While the President-Elect is going twazy (twitter crazy) over China, our inability to understand science has kept real climate change action at bay. In the meantime, China has turned 180 degrees and working on becoming the global leader on climate change.
The Asia solar market is? Every year we hear about the next markets. Middle East, Africa, Latin America! But lately it has been all about Asia outside of China. Japan is reaching the tail end and everyone has HUGE pipelines in Thailand, Philippines and neighboring Countries. Story today says that it may all be for not and is delayed if it happens at all.
My Christmas wish list. In case you were in the market to buy me a gift (since I send you SolarWakeup for free every day), the kind folks at CleanTechnica put together a nice list. The electric motorcycle seems particularly fun.
Opinion
News
Opinions:
Have a great day!
Yann