Solutions & sustainability – Dec 1

December 1, 2006

Click on the headline (link) for the full text.

Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage


Amory Lovins on Charlie Rose
(video)
Charlies Rose Show
Amory Lovins, CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute, discusses alternative fuels and the future of energy.
(28 Nov 2006)
According to David Roberts of Gristmill:

The Rocky Mountain Institute‘s Amory Lovins appeared on PBS’s Charlie Rose Show on Tuesday. He was, as usual, brilliant and absurdly quotable. The guy’s a human pull-quote generator.

Reader ED said:

Late last night Charlie Rose had Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute on as a guest. Clearly Lovins is a smart guy stressing conservation as a major solution to the energy situation we find ourselves in. What was most important to me was that Amory actually mentioned “Peak Oil” and it was as if Charlie Rose knew what he was talking about and they quickly went on to another subject, Later stressing that we are not going to drill our way out of this. Amory kept stressing the building of lighter cars with light carbon materials and stressing the profit involved (he is invested in the Co. that makes this material) without getting into how all we Americans could afford such an outlay and never mentioned the need for us to change our lifestyles. He endorsed Hydrogen Fuel? In short Amory made some good points which could only be believed without critical analysis.

Lovins had some insights on Exxon-Mobil:

Exxon-Mobile is best in the industry on execution, but probably the worst in strategy. … [That means] they do inadvisable things very efficiently.

…It turns out that many of their analysts have come to conclusions strinkingly similar to those in our book. Those tend to be in the technical analysts – it’s the market forecasters that don’t get it.

…It’s a very capable company. They could do the “Oil Endgame” stuff better than anybody if they put their minds to it.

-BA


Korea expert wants more research in sustainable development

Jin Dae-woong, Korea Herald
The Korean government should increase incentives to businesses for environmental protection and invest more in technological research for sustainable development, an expert said yesterday.

Chung Hyun-sik, professor of economics at Sungkyunkwan University, told a forum that Korea has made progress in harmonizing economic development and environmental protection, but still has much room to improve.

…The four-day international symposium opened yesterday. Experts from China, Japan and Taiwan will discuss ways for sustainable development in the region.

…However, Korea has a real problem in reducing energy intensity, Chung said.

“Korea’s energy intensity, pesticide and fertilizer use, and CO2 emissions are among the highest in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,” Chung said.
(1 Dec 2006)


Hollywood, Through a Green Lens

Joel Makower, WorldChanging
Variety, the industry standard, this week has published a special section on the greening of Hollywood. It’s got the usual array of celebrity, including profiles of 20 leading showbiz eco-activists, a piece on the move by studio and production houses to go carbon neutral (turns out that Hollywood is the second-largest emitter of CO2 in Los Angeles, just behind the petroleum industry), and a piece featuring the growth of green buildings among studios.

There’s also an article about the upcoming wave of green TV shows — “a jam-packed reservoir of eco-friendly programs are in the works for the coming year,” as Variety puts it. Everyone from ABC to the Weather Channel has some new program in the works.

I’ve been receiving advance materials about many of these shows, and have met with producers of several of the series.

….there’s “E-topia,” another reality series, this one by the (also ubiquitous) Leonardo DiCaprio.

“E-topia” will chronicle the eco-friendly reconstruction of an American town as it is transformed into a “‘green’ utopia of tomorrow.” The project, being shopped to broadcast networks, will document the monthslong endeavor in a town yet to be determined as teams of construction workers and laborers unaccustomed to the demands of a “green” lifestyle work with passionate eco-idealists, planners and architects.

(1 Dec 2006)


Tags: Education, Technology