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The Green Skeptic on Fox Business: Paying for Green Demands

The Green Skeptic — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:15:13 +0000

Here's a link and video from my appearance on Fox Business today with Eric Boilling:

Red Ink Watch: Paying for Green Demands

The Best Blog Award!

Barbara Rae — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 04:17:53 +0000

Imagine my surprise when I noticed an announcement from Politicus.com, that I have been chosen as a recipient of the Best Blog award. Not only am I honored because of the fact that it came from my Politicus friends, whom I frequently visit, but that it has in addition, originated at the Will Oaks Studio, another [...]

Cool Product - Ecotraction

Go Green — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:14:00 +0000

Miessence Rose Monsoon Hydrating Mist

Stefanie — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:55:17 +0000

I talked before about a moisturizer I've been trying that helps a lot with my dry skin and the fact that I use mineral makeup. After putting on makeup, though, I can still use just a little bit of help. I had previously been using just water to set my makeup and make it look more ... [visit site to read more]

Relax With Barbara On Wednesday 57

Barbara Rae — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:06:46 +0000

Relax and enjoy the beauty of nature, and the world we live in! See where the cutest ladybugs live!

Tip of the Day - Bubble Wrap Your Windows

Go Green — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 03:23:00 +0000

Top 8 Plastics Recycling Tips

Stefanie — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:48:47 +0000

The following is a post from Ideal Bite (used with permission).

Plotting your plastic recyclables' next move? O, ... [visit site to read more]

All Things Eco Blog Carnival Volume Seventy Five

Stefanie — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:44:29 +0000

This entry is part 75 of 75 in the series all things eco

Welcome to the November 9th, 2009 edition of All Things Eco.

Be sure to Stumble the posts you like, or submit them to other social bookmarking services. Let's promote each other, as well as this blog carnival.

To ... [visit site to read more]

Lets Help Clean Up the World!

Barbara Rae — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:34:48 +0000

Clean the World Foundation Inc., has only been an official organization since February, 2009. Already, they are well on the path of doing great things! Their campaign states that, by recycling soap and shampoo from hotels and motels, they are able to make it possible for people in developing countries, to clean themselves. This not only [...]

“What Keeps You Up at Night?”

The Green Skeptic — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:28:48 +0000

Lou Rappaport of Blank Rome asked me a disturbing question the other day at the MAC Alliance Conference in Philadelphia.

On the face of it, Lou's question was a simple one:

"What keeps you up at night?"

We were interrupted before I could answer, but Lou's question lingered with me.

In fact, it kept me up the past couple of nights.

By way of an answer now, here are seven things that keep me up at night:

1.) We will fail to embrace change and tackle the new green economy.

2.) We are so deeply entrenched in partisan politics that we will blow this opportunity to lead in a sector (alternative energy) that we invented.

3.) The Dems have made climate and energy a "left" issue and the right has ceded it to them. Where is the GOP leadership stepping up to fill the McCain void on these issues?*

4.) Enviros and NIMBYs will kill the energy economy transformation by blocking efforts on clean coal, nuclear, natural gas exploration, and the new electric grid just as they did with wind farms and offshore drilling.

5.) We don't have time to dither, yet we are a nation of inveterate ditherers.

6.) While we dither and dawdle, China is ready to seize the day.

7.) I don't know Mandarin.

____________________________________________
*(Note: This is deeply disappointing for the party of Teddy Roosevelt and Richard Nixon, which once led on issues now considered clean and green – and that now seems blind to this incredible opportunity for wealth generation.)

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Eco-Friendly Friday Tips Volume Seventy One

Stefanie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:00:44 +0000

This entry is part 71 of 71 in the series Eco-Friendly Friday

November 5th's Tip

Halloween Pumpkins: Most people are just going to take their pumpkins and toss them in the trash. Instead of all that waste, why not recycle your pumpkin? You can compost it, ... [visit site to read more]

MAC Alliance: Promise of Clean Tech in Region

The Green Skeptic — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 17:02:57 +0000

Day Two of the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Capital Alliance Conference this week featured the first clean tech track in the history of the conference, an indication that the sector is emerging in this region.

The clean tech track opened with a "financing panel," a good mix of investors, analysts, and utility service companies, including the publicly traded demand-response play Comverge and PJM, which operates the largest regional electricity transmission grid in the country.

Rob Day, a partner at the venture capital firm Black Coral Capital, came down from Boston, and Tucker Twitmyer of local heroes EnerTech Capital offered the investor perspective, along with John Roy, an energy analyst from Janney Montgomery Scott.

Day opened the session with a humorous take on the myths of clean tech in the US.

"If you read national media or the New York Times," Day opined. "You know that the only good clean tech is happening in Silicon Valley -- and it's only solar, wind, and cars. You also know that it is a capital-intensive business that is only for whiz-bang PhDs, and has nothing to do with service providers or implementers."

After letting the audience in on the joke, Day countered that, in fact, "What we're seeing is a growing awareness of clean tech innovation around the country. Real value chains are emerging here in the Mid-Atlantic region and up and down the east coast, not just the left coast."

Twitmyer agreed, suggesting that the "trend is positive for clean tech: there will be fundamental changes in our energy infrastructure; some chosen, some forced. Carbon will be priced in."

With Comverge and PJM at the table, the talk turned to demand-response and systems that will monitor and control energy assets. The panel could not come to agreement about who will benefit more: central generators and the utility industry or distributed generation resources.

But all agreed that subsidizing the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and smart grid, will enable a range of ancillary energy assets: transportation, reserves, storage; indeed, the entire enabling infrastructure stands to benefit.

As with everything in this sector, however, it will come down to price. (What isn't about price?)

How is the Mid-Atlantic region positioned for clean tech development? The panelists agreed it is well positioned.

"But it isn't really about one region or state over another, " John Ray of Janney reminded the audience. "It is really the US against the rest of the world -- and we have some catching up to do."

My three take-aways from the 2009 MAC Alliance Conference, especially the clean tech track:

1.) The Mid-Atlantic region has great potential, but is competing globally;
2.) We need to keep up the momentum presented by events like this and the REBN events we've held over the past year;
3.) We need more clean tech investors in the region and need to build on existing assets to attract more investors and companies.

(Eleven companies also presented at the conference. I'll write about a few of them in a future post.)

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Cuisinart CleanWater Filtration System

Andrew — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:17:18 +0000

The Container Recycling Institute reports that Americans will buy an estimated 34.6 billion single-serve (1 liter or less) plastic water bottles in 2009. More than 75 percent of those bottles will end up in landfills or incinerators, rather than being recycled. That’s 877 bottles wasted every second, according ... [visit site to read more]

Homegrown Organic Eggs

Stefanie — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:00:36 +0000

The following is a guest post from Marguerite Inscoe

For those of us who live an organic lifestyle (or try really hard to), it’s knowing where our food comes from that matters to us most. What confirmed my conversion was learning my son’s developmental delays were due to a dysfunctional digestive system and vitamin deficiency. ... [visit site to read more]

Mark Zandi to MAC Conference: “The Great Recession is Over”

The Green Skeptic — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:00:05 +0000

Image by New America Foundation via Flickr

"The Great Recession is over," Mark Zandi, founder and chief economist of Moody's Economy.com, told a crowd of investors, entrepreneurs, and others gathered at the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Capital Alliance Conference in its opening keynote Tuesday.

"In fact, it ended on August 23rd," Zandi quipped. "If you want to know the precise time, you have to buy my book."

Zandi was referring to Financial Shock, his new book about the subprime crisis.

"It was no accident that the recession ended just as the stimulus kicked in," Zandi related. "The maximum impact was felt just when the maximum contribution was made: 3Q of this year."

And that's not a bad thing, Zandi said. In fact, this former economic advisor to GOP presidential candidate John McCain said he hopes that policymakers will be more aggressive in trying to rise the tide.

"The policy response was aggressive, but it needed to be," said Zandi. "Now they need to do more."

He cautioned that "recovery will be a bit of a slaw." (I first thought he said "slog," but then he repeated "slaw," by which I think he meant a salad of mixed bag.)

The foreclosure crisis will continue and we'll start to see it hit the commercial real estate market soon, according to Zandi, perhaps by the second quarter of next year.

Zandi wasn't all doom-and-gloom and tried to reassure the crowd gathered in the grand ballroom at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia.

This year's conference location was significant, in Zandi's opinion, because the region weathered the recession better than other parts of the country.

In part, this is due to the fact that it didn't have very far to fall, and partly due to relatively stable real estate prices -- especially outside of New York City and Washington, DC -- but also because the region boasts healthy components that are critical to getting out of the recession and building beyond it: health care and education.

"50 year olds are the single largest age group in the US," Zandi remarked. "And they will be sucking up a lot of health care."

The second largest age group? The 20-year-old firstborns of that top group, most of whom are setting out on their secondary and tertiary educational paths. Both education and health care will be engines of growth in the future -- and the future is here.

The MAC Conference is the annual venture capital gathering for the Mid-Atlantic region, which comprises the area between New England and the South, and can include states such as Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington D.C., and sometimes Virginia and West Virginia.

The Conference runs through 4 November, with company presentations and other speakers and panels. (I'll be covering the clean tech track and reporting on it here later.)

For more information, visit the MAC Alliance website.

Working Toward A Green Future

Barbara Rae — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:22:57 +0000

Just to let you know, On Thursday, November 5th at 12:30 EST, you are invited to a free sneak-preview Webinar, hosted by Robert Watson, GreenerBuildings.com Editor, and “Father of LEED.” It’s called “Building a Sustainable Future: Progress and Trends Toward Improving the Environmental Footprint of Commercial Buildings.” In case you didn’t know, LEED means, Leadership in [...]

The Green Skeptic on Fox Business: Is Burlington Northern a Coal Play for Buffett?

The Green Skeptic — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 02:37:00 +0000

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Today, I appeared on Fox Business reacting to the Warren Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway $44B acquisition of Burlington Northern. Brian Sullivan was working under the premise that the railway acquisition may have been a coal play on the part of the Master from Omaha.

My views on coal and the need for investments in R&D related to carbon capture and storage are known to readers of this blog.
Here is a link to the broadcast (will try to embed later): Fox Business

All Things Eco Blog Carnival Volume Seventy Four

Stefanie — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 23:44:50 +0000

This entry is part 74 of 74 in the series all things eco

Welcome to the November 2nd, 2009 edition of All Things Eco.

Be sure to Stumble the posts you like, or submit them to other social bookmarking services. Let's promote each other, as well as this blog ... [visit site to read more]

In Appreciation Of Freedom!

Barbara Rae — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:44:24 +0000

Image via Wikipedia My daughter sent me this the other day. It got me thinking, as it is meant to, how lucky we are, to be able to share our thoughts and beliefs freely. I, for one am thankful and grateful, that we have freedom of speech and religion, and are free to share our thoughts [...]

Eco-Friendly Friday Tips Volume Seventy

Stefanie — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 14:00:08 +0000

October 30th's Tip

Last minute costumes: Halloween is tomorrow, and you don't have a costume ready? Save money and sanity and reuse stuff in your home to create a ... [visit site to read more]