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ENERGY/SOLAR
Not much will excite a commercial real estate owner more than low cap rates, cheap financing, and the offer of something for nothing. While the first two are still elusive in this anemic economy, the abundance of federal, state and other incentives in the renewable energy sector has created the opportunity for commercial and apartment property owners to truly receive something for nothing. But only if all parties are careful. By J. Marcus Painter
ENERGY/POLICY
From the bottom up: The future of renewables
Call it consumer-driven, a bottoms-up approach, or using demand as a resource, much of the policy talk at the recent 11th annual Harvesting Renewable Energy conference in Idaho centered on sustainability being propelled by the end user. In two plenary sessions of the conference, the news from diverse quarters pivoted on a theme that the consumer is central to what’s happening with renewables — from demanding sustainably produced goods to providing a hot water tank for energy storage to taking companies to task for not embracing energy efficiency. By Joan Melcher
When Syed Alwi speaks about the algae industry, you get the feeling that he really has his finger on what’s going on globally. "I think the business of algae should not be the business of selling patents, or securing patents. I think it should be an open source where everybody can grow algae in plastic bags, or in photobioreactors, or whatever, and do it wherever they want. I think the main things—like culturing and harvesting methods—these are all open processes that anybody can do, and everybody should be allowed to do it." By David Schwartz, Algae Industry Magazine.
Should biofuels have its own reserve accounting system and accompanying balance sheet booster, just as the oil & gas industry has? At the Advanced Biofuels Markets conference earlier this month in San Francisco. Richard Hamilton, CEO of Ceres, advanced the proposition that biofuels companies – on the “level playing field” theory advanced by opponents of government mandates and subsidies, should have the right to book their reserves of crude renewable oil production, in a parallel to the reserve accounting system which forms the bulk of the oil & gas. By Jim Lane, Biofuels Digest
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| HOT TOPICS ON PLANET-PROFIT REPORT |
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What might well be the U.S. West's first in-depth, college-level courses to certify technicians for smart electric grids take off soon in Colorado.
The most promising clean technology businesses came together with investors, partners and policy makers at the 24th Annual NREL Industry Growth Forum.
ASIAN ALGAE CONNECTION
When Syed Alwi speaks about the algae industry, you get the feeling that he really has his finger on what’s going on globally.
Boyer's Coffee CEO Jim McManus realized that the company’s packaging should be a major part of an effort to rebrand the company’s coffee.
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