The Price of Solar Plummets, Vindicating Visionaries

Written on 02/24 at 10:34 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: environment Renewable Energy

Ever since Bell labs developed the first working solar photovoltaic cell in the mid 1950s, people have both lauded the potential--and indeed the poetry--of solar power, while others--the “realists” and “pragmatists"--have derided it as a niche technology whose costs and inherent limitations would always prevent it from overtaking good ol’ fossil fuels and nuclear power as the dominant source of energy for the world.  Unfortunately for the naysayers, the geopolitical, social, environmental and economic impacts of both fossil fuels and nuclear power--which require massive subsidies, cause billions of dollars in health issues, and are tremendously expensive to regulate and clean up after (see my recent article on the spill of coal sludge in the Tennessee Valley)--have begun to far outweigh the supposed affordability and abundance of traditional energy sources.

So while countries like the United States avoided implementing strong subsidies for solar energy and other renewable sources, visionary leaders in Germany and Spain enacted powerful subsidies for renewable energy and compelled utilities to buy that energy at higher rates in order to stimulate the market and create jobs.  Sure, the pragmatists might have argued--and probably continue to argue--that the money being spent on these subsidies, which amounts to roughly 20 cents per month per utility customer in Germany, could be better spent elsewhere.  But in the meantime, Germany has developed into a leader in solar energy, creating tens of thousands of jobs in the process.  Now, according to the New York Times blog, Green Inc., it seems that visionary leadership has begun to bear fruit.  In fact, “On Tuesday, First Solar, a global photovoltaic cell maker based in Tempe, Arizona said it had reached an “industry milestone” by reducing its production costs to the point where making solar cells that produce one watt of power costs $1.”

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A New Logo For Two New Endeavors!

Written on 01/26 at 09:41 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: Business environment brown micro credit News

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As soon as Mike and I incorporated our environmental services company--The Capital Good Group, Inc.--on January 1st, we wanted to get to work branding ourselves as a socially minded, mission driven company dedicated to serving people and the planet.  Our first step was to hire Douglas Bonneville, owner of BonFX, the company that designed and built this web site, to create a logo for both The Capital Good Group, as well as The Capital Good Fund.  The idea was to develop a logo that would convey the concept of a “triple bottom line” (social, environmental and profitability); that would be applicable to environmental consulting, microfinance and any other endeavors we undertake using the ‘Capital Good’ name, brand and concept. 

After several rounds with Doug, we finally settled on the above logo.  Mike and I really thrilled with the way in which it conveys the concept of three without being oppressive about it, and how the shapes in the logo can be viewed as trees, or a family, or just interesting geometric shapes.  Read on to see the logo for the Fund.

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Let’s Get Joe the Investor Invested in the Green Economy

Written on 01/26 at 03:46 PM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: Huffington Post environment

I wrote this article for the Huffington Post.  It can be seen in its original context here.

One of the great things about the green jobs movement is that it brings to the fore the importance of getting a diverse group of constituents benefiting from and arguing for a green economy.  As a result, more and more people are feeling invested in this new economy, because they see how it will be good for them, their family and their community.  After all, it’s a lot easier to push through legislation that will support renewable energy, for instance, if unions, solar installers, utilities, community organizations and non-profits are all in favor. 

Green Collar Jobs Are Great--Now How About Green Collar Investments?
Despite this promising trend, there remains a significant obstacle to getting a broader range of people invested in all things green: a lack of green investment opportunities that 1) have a reasonable, secure return on investment and 2) provide tangible environmental and/or social benefits.  Sure, venture capitalists are investing in clean tech like crazy, green mutual funds are springing up, and myriad publicly traded companies are working on environmentally friendly technologies.  But for Joe or Jane the investor--that is, a person with some money she would like to invest, but who can’t afford a high-profile money manager and doesn’t know a whole lot about investing--these opportunities are either difficult to understand or hard to find out about.

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Dream Forcefully, Speak Loudly, Act Boldly

Written on 01/14 at 02:09 AM by Andy Posner 0 comments

Filed under: philosophy

As I like to do from time to time, I just indulged my longing for inspiration by re-reading Dr. Martin Luther King’s brilliant Letter From a Birmingham Jail, and watching the I’ve Been to the Mountaintop speech, which he gave the day before being assassinated.  My heart is aflame with the greatness that spilled forth from his fingers and his vocal chords, and my mind has been set free upon the vast web of justice that weaves its way through the crowd of injustice and indifference that fills the hallways and stairways of history.  And as my mind takes that circuitous and precipitous journey I am inclined to ponder the powerful and untapped potential of language, the way in which audacious metaphors, wild, jagged, irreverent intonations and history-laden gesticulations can cut through suffering, can alter the current that carries with it the status quo.

I disdain the trepidation with which most speak, the reluctance to invoke gods, myths, great men and women, poems, stories, hymns and legends.  I cannot tolerate the assertion that poverty and pollution are inevitable or unsolvable.  I laugh at the thought that idealism is only for the young.  I want to shout with the loudspeakers of my lungs that anything is possible, that a dogged, unwavering passion for Truth and Justice can overcome a tsunami of hatred or ignorance.  I weep at the words “I can’t,” and feel bliss when I hear the phrase “I have an idea. . .”

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How Access to Information Can Tackle Poverty and Pollution

Written on 01/11 at 06:18 PM by Andy Posner 2 comments

Filed under: philosophy Huffington Post environment

I wrote this article for the Huffington Post.  It can be seen in its original context here

In the Spring of 2007 I had the opportunity to spend a month working with my good friend and colleague T.H. Culhane, the founder of Solar CITIES, an NGO that builds solar water heaters and biogas generators in the slums of Cairo, Egypt.  What is most innovative about what Solar CITIES does is that they build the systems almost entirely out of recycled materials and garbage--things like discarded butter tins, plastic barrels and metal.  At the same time, they are building a cottage industry, training local residents to design and build affordable renewable energy systems.  It is one of the first green job training programs in Egypt, and the only one focusing on slum communities. 

T.H. is one of those rare social entrepreneurs whose boundless energy, commitment and intelligence inspires everyone around him and attracts attention to his cause.  Yet to me the most striking aspect of the trip was noticing the way in which T.H. leveraged his access to information (he is also a PhD candidate in urban planning at UCLA) to enable Cairenes to see the benefits of his systems, and then to come up with better, more efficient designs themselves.  Carrying his iPod around like an instrument for social change, instead of merely a toy for the privileged, he would show videos and drawings of solar thermal systems to carpenters, plumbers and community leaders.  Eager to benefit their communities, these individuals quickly saw the upsides of solar hot water.  After all, most Cairenes currently heat their home in a way that is dangerous (due to fumes and the possibility of explosion) and expensive, whereas solar hot water is reliable, silent and clean (and if fossil fuels weren’t massively subsidized in Egypt, it would also be the cheapest form of energy in “The City of the Sun").  They immediately began coming up with innovations--finding more durable and affordable materials, refining and even refuting the designs of so-called experts, and inventing brand new manufacturing techniques.

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Green Microfinance: Advancing Social Equality and Environmental Sustainability in the United States

Click here to download a PDF of my complete thesis. Questions and comments are much appreciated!

My masters thesis in Environmental Studies at Brown University looks at how microfinance--the provision of small…

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A Solution to the Limited Success of Micro-Credit in the United States?

Micro-credit has undoubtedly been a runaway success in developing countries as a tool of both poverty alleviation and economic development.  To date, some 100 million people have been reached by micro-loans, and Muhammad Yunus, the founder of the Grameen Bank…

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Tonight, the Oneness of Things

It is late and my mind should be drifting through the colorful abyss of deep sleep, yet instead i find that tonight sleep will not come.  I am like a hungry flower who dreams of bees so ardently that all…

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