Category Archives: The Green Market Oracle
Richard Matthews is a consultant, sustainable investor, writer and owner of The Green Market Oracle, a leading sustainable business blog that covers the convergence of sustainable capitalism and the global environment.The Green Market is one of the most comprehensive resources for information and tools on sustainability. Follow The Green Market’s twitter feed and see the Facebook Fan Page.
Richard is a contributor to more than 50 publications. Find him on Facebook and Linkedin.
Oil Prices and Renewable Energy
The long-term prospects of solar, wind and other clean sources of energy are tied to the cost of fossil fuels. The artificially low price of oil makes it harder for renewable sources of energy to compete. Subsidies drive down the price of petrochemicals, but the true costs are not reflected in crude oil prices. Investors are [...]
In Focus: Earth Day Greenwashing
Just because you paint an oil rig green does not make it environmentally friendly. Businesses have cashed in on the popularity of Earth Day with an avalanche of what can only be described as greenwashing. However, businesses are increasingly understanding that sustainability is about far more than trying to benefit from media attention one day [...]
Greenwashing at Ford Motor?
Ford Motor. Co. has a long, albeit mixed history of developing greener vehicles. Their strategy appears to focus on offering more choices to consumers. Ford has been working on cleaner vehicles dating all the way back to the 1990′s when they explored air-hybrid cars, but they shelved the plans because they lacked the necessary technology [...]
Pope Francis: The Green Pope
Hundreds of thousands of worshipers gathered in the Vatican Tuesday morning to celebrate Pope Francis’ inaugural mass, applauding as he instructed the world’s dignitaries, clergy and Catholic lay people to work for the world’s most vulnerable people and protect the environment. People from all around the world and all walks of life attended the new [...]
The 10 Hottest Green Investment Industries
There are new innovations and ideas generated each day in the cleantech / green sectors. This article helps to separate the hype from the truly revolutionary breakthroughs. Here is a 2011 article from Research White Paper that reviews ten sectors garnering interest from investors. They asked 100 venture capital investors about what types of sub-sectors they [...]
5 Reasons Jinko Solar Will Thrive in 2013
Jinko Solar is well positioned to capitalize on the solar market in 2013 as it has the best balance sheet among their competitors. They are insulated from the high costs of silicone that is adversely impacting their peers. The higher costs of silicone have put upward pressure on the manufacturing costs associated with PV but [...]
Bloomberg: Bullish on Solar through 2014
Over the next two years solar power can be expected to move closer to grid parity. In 2012, despite obstacles, solar power continued to grow. In 2013 and 2014 we should see surprisingly strong growth in the photovoltaic (PV) industry. One of the major obstacles faced by solar PV manufacturers is the higher costs of [...]
Did You Know? Smartphones Reduce Energy Usage
Smartphones are an increasingly ubiquitous aspect of modern life and research shows that they are decreasing the amount of energy used globally. This is the finding from Outlier, a research group that explores trends in how people use energy. As reported in Energy Manager Today smartphone sales volumes in 2012 were estimated at 717 million [...]
In Focus: Obama’s Executive Green Orders
President Obama has vowed that in the absence of congressional action, he will use his executive privileges to combat climate change. Some who are seeking a pretext to discredit the President have suggested that he is ruling by executive orders (EOs). However, President Obama has signed fewer EOs in his first four years in office [...]