Category Archives: The Energy Fix
Jim Pierobon is Founder and principal author of The Energy Fix. Heis a policy, marketing and social media strategist who has reported on,testified and consulted about fossil fuel shortages, price spikes andthe rise and fall and the rise again of nuclear and renewable energysources. He is currently helping forge policies to explain and promoteenergy efficiency and scale up clean energy systems in Maryland in theUnited States. Articles l Homepage
Cap And Trade: U.S Bound by 2016?
Think the U.S. could use tens of billions of dollars of brand new revenue to address its budget and debt challenges? And do you think newly re-elected President Obama might take a run at a bonafide climate strategy as part of his legacy by 2016? The answer to the first question is easy. But answering [...]
Obama Win is Good for Clean Energy; Matzah Balls Still Loom
Just because President Obama won four more years, doesn’t mean the next four will be any easier. Sure, it’s now his legacy he is beginning to focus on. But there are tall hurdles even the election results will do to change. Renewable energy developers and suppliers have a few rays of sunshine and a more [...]
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Apps for Energy Challenge
The Obama administration threw a its third datathon (my word) this week dubbed the “Energy Datapalooza.” It featured about 150 entrepreneurs, policymakers and software developers, among others, and aspired to offer ways to learn new ways to save energy and lower bills from what is supposed to be free and secure data. Government and private [...]
6 False Smart Meter Myths
1. Smart meters are less accurate than analog meters. Public service commissions require meter manufacturers to supply independently certified testing results to prove that their smart meters provide accurate measurements. A smart / digital meter installed by Pepco on the author’s home in Maryland. CREDIT: The Energy Fix 2. Smart meters are a health threat [...]
Ozoshare: The Newest Green Social Network
The web is littered with attempts to build a ‘green’ social network for allied individuals and organizations. Here comes “Ozoshare” from a couple of L.A.-based recycling pros who are taking Ozoshare out of its beta test tomorrow-Tuesday, August 7. Sharing the endangered ozone layer is what co-founders Tom Smith and Scott Peters hope will capture [...]
Top 10 Reasons we need a Carbon Tax
Here I cut to the chase to spotlight the 10 reasons Shi-Ling Hsu concludes a carbon tax is THE most effective mechanism to combat climate change and motivate the private sector to help solve it while raising much-needed revenue for governments with the where with all to pass one. I take the liberty of paraphrasing [...]
U.S. Carbon Tax Talk on the Rebound
It might only apply to industry emissions and nary a Republican would dare admit to seriously considering it, but talk of a possible carbon tax is making the rounds in political Washington and elsewhere. Think about it. A carbon tax does not lack for support among mainstream energy and fiscal policy experts; it has drawn [...]
Fuel Cell Infrastructure Challenges
Here’s another game-changer in the making brought to you by America’s burgeoning supplies of shale natural gas: alternative fuel vehicles and distributed power generation using fuel cells. Emboldened by low prices and booming supplies of natural gas in the U.S , the American fuel cell industry is clawing its way back from the brink. The [...]
MIT President Susan Hockfield: 5 Ways to Improve Energy Innovation
At the 2012 ARPA-E’s concluding plenary session this morning, the retiring President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Susan Hockfield, offered five part shots (my words) to leaders in government, industry, energy research and clean tech financing to solve America’s energy challenges, especially where it involves manufacturing. 1. Industry should partner with researchers and government [...]
Jigar Shah Discusses Chinese Solar Panel Tariffs
Jigar Shah co-founded SunEdison in 2003 and scaled it up to become the largest U.S.-based solar developer. CREDIT: Coalition for Affordable Solar Energy, CASE Last October the US subsidiary of German-based SolarWorld, a manufacturer of polysilicon solar cells, filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Commerce and International Trade Commission alleging that China was [...]
Renewable Energy Advocates: Time To Step Up
With the absence of an energy discussion in this year’s presidential race, one might think the U.S. faces few, if any, substantive energy problems, or opportunities for that matter. Most energy experts agree that is not the case. Yet what constitutes a problem or an opportunity, is subject to interpretation. Rising gasoline prices, heightening unrest [...]
How the U.S Should Beat China in Solar
Conversations with analysts and advocates on both sides of SolarWorld’s anti-dumping suit against China lead me believe the U.S. cannot beat its communist counterparts on cost. What it CAN do is set policies that convince U.S. financiers that solar energy is worth investing in. This way, fresh capital can flow to U.S. companies so they [...]