Today's World: The Color of Money

Friday, September 3, 2010

The Color of Money

Yesterday,I went to Montgomery Place on the Hudson River.It is a 300 acre estate that has been in the Livingston family(was second largest landholder in colonial N.Y.) for several generations.The mansion was built in 1805.It is a free park and I read sections of "Power Trip"by Amanda Little on a bench under a locust tree planted in the early 1800's.(support public parks)I have been interested in electric cars recently(Better Place link below) and have found evidence that electric production is on the radar screens of several major corporations in the U.S..Amanda Little has spoken to executives from Walmart,General Electric and Duke Energy and she states that all have made significant investments in renewable power sources and energy efficiency."Increasingly for business,"green" is green" according to Jeff Immelt GE's CEO.He explained that sustainable strategies are becoming ever more financially rewarding.Immelt said it is a natural progression for the company to pioneer next generation technologies-wind turbines,solar panels,cleaner-burning coal plants and energy-saving lightbulbs and appliances.The company is the leader in the wind industry in U.S.(6 billion dollar business).Duke Energy(massive utility in the southeast)has increased solar and wind to 11% of their supply.Duke plans to cut coal use by more than half by 2030 and has started a" save a watt" program for improving energy efficiency of homes,offices and factories.Walmart is one of Duke's biggest customers.Walmart is the biggest private consumer of electricity in the U.S.They have experimented with recycled asphalt,heating oil from grease pans from their own deli,rooftop solar panels and on-site windmills.The experimental site also has waterless toilets,superefficient lighting,refrigerators and air conditioning systems.Walmart claims that their stores will eventually run on 100% renewable fuels,emit zero waste,sell only sustainable,energy-wise products and require its suppliers to uphold strict green principles.Walmart plans to save billions on energy costs in the future.DuPont,Dow Chemical,Caterpillar,Alcoa Steel,General Motors and Archer Daniels Midland has acknowledged the challenges of global warming and energy independence and see business opportunities now and down the road.

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are among many billionaires placing big bets on wind.Goldman Sachs has invested 2.5 billion into renewable sectors.Citygroup has pledged 7.5 billion to fund renewable energy projects with a goal of 31 billion.Bank of America has committed 20 billion to finance green innovation.Small scale venture capital investments rose to 8 billion in 2008.Leading venture capitalist John Doerr has shifted to the energy sector stating "The field of green-tech is the largest economic opportunity of the twenty-first century".Sergey Brin and Larry Page,Google's founders,has a program"RE<C" that aims to produce one gigawatt of electric generating capacity (enough to power San Fran.)from green sources.

This is wonderful news.Electric cars is a exciting development for our country and the world. Changing the power source for electricity will increase it's viability.Energy independence is in our national interest and now large corporations are seeing profitability in developing and using new products to reduce energy cost.Many products are being developed in solar,wind,tides and waves,geothermal,human energy and waste and smart grids.I will continue this discussion in the next blog.

My winter place in L.A.

2 comments:

gkoralisSeptember 3, 2010 at 9:09 PM
You avoid discussing the dirty little secret of electric cars. Since they are the opposite of gas-powered cars, their lights, radios, CD players, cigarette lighters, GPS devices, etc., are powered by gasoline. It is going to be a major pain in the ass to use miniature gas nozzles to load up the tiny gas tanks in the dashboard.
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William GoonanSeptember 4, 2010 at 7:09 AM
Tell me more...I understand hybrids use gas to power a generator that recharges the battery that propels the car.Please inform me otherwise.I think I was writing more about investment by corporations and their enthusiasm for renewables.Thanks for writing.
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Wisconsin Public Unions

As we witness the members of the public unions of Wisconsin and their supporters in the streets,one must remember their fight for democracy in the workplace helps all Americans(90% non-union workers) who work for smiling,insensitive dictatorships that would cast workers out into the cold for voicing their opinions and standing up to injustice.The corporate,conservative mindset hates real democracy because it gives ownership to the powerless and respect to the oppressed. Our fathers and mothers had ownership when one third of the American workforce was unionized.Work councils(in fifty percent of Germany's companies)provide equality and democracy between management and labor while making all the decisions for a productive,profitable company.Germany is one of the leading exporters of the world.This new form of capitalism must be replicated on our shores.

William Goonan

From "The Wrecking Crew" by Thomas Frank

The longing for permanent victory over liberlism is not unique to the Anglo-Saxon world.In country after country,business elites have come up with ingenious ways to limit the public's political choices.One of the most effective of these has been massive public debt.Milton Friedman,dean of free-market economists, stated that deficits were a way to smash a liberal state that voters could not be persuaded to part with otherwise.The famous "supply-side" theory that states less tax will unleash economic growth has been used by Republicans to increase the deficit.Reagan and Bush#1 increased the national debt from 914 billion to 4 trillion by 1992.Geroge W Bush,with tax cuts, unpaid wars and bank bailouts,increased the deficit by another 6 billion.Reducing the public's faith in government is the final goal of the Republicans.

Corporate Watch Blog

One of the most glaring examples of this continues to be the ability of corporations to cheat the public out of tens of billions of dollars a year by using offshore tax havens. Indeed, it's estimated that companies and wealthy individuals funneling money through offshore tax havens are evading around $100 billion a year in taxes -- leaving the rest of us to pick up the tab. And with cash-strapped states all across the country cutting vital services to the bone, it's not like we don't need the money

Democratic Socialist USA Statement

WE OPPOSE TOTALITARIANISM IN ITS SECULAR AND RELIGIOUS FORMS. Communism is a horrible, destructive parody of socialism. "Communism" is the most dangerous enemy of democracy and free Labor in the world. We rejoice in its collapse of the Soviet Union with formerly enslaved nations now joining the society of democracy. SD,USA proudly opposes Communist totalitarianism and opposes religious extremism arising in many religious traditions, especially in the Islamic world.
WE AFFIRM THAT IN THE 21ST CENTURY THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC/DEMOCRATIC SOCIALIST MOVEMENT SHALL ALSO BE A ENVIRONMENTALIST MOVEMENT DEDICATED TO PRESERVING THE FRAGILE ECOLOGY OF THIS PLANET. We commit ourselves to working with labor and environmental coalitions like the Blue Green Alliance, begun by the unionists and environmentalists to preserve our planet and create new jobs in renewable energy and mass transit.

Today's World

Friday, September 3, 2010

The Color of Money

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