India and Solar's New Normal

The Bloomberg Cleantech numbers for 2012 are in and the story is one we're by now familiar with -- small solar is a big deal. Despite a slight dip in overall clean tech investment, solar continues to dominate and the big area of growth was, you guessed it, distributed generation. That's because we've entered a new era of cheap PV where installations are up, total investment volumes down (as solar continues its inexorable price decline) and trade wars are expanding as countries fight for market share in tomorrow's technology. The problem is that India, with perhaps the largest potential of all emerging markets, hasn't even begun to adapt to this new normal. (click images to enlarge)

The most important reason to adapt is the speed with which it produces results. That's because small scale, localized deployment is agile and capable of growing rapidly. An attribute that large-scale centralized solar farms lack -- especially in India.

Social Bankability, Solar Crowdfunding & Emerging Markets

If we are going to avoid the worst impacts of climate change we need disruptive innovations that fundamentally alter the broken systems that continue to build out inequitable, fossil fueled societies. Solar and other renewable energy technologies can do that to energy markets. But it won’t happen without fixing another broken system – finance.  Now it appears that the energy innovation axiom – small is big - also applies to financial innovation as solar crowdfunders prove that aggregating small investments from individuals can break down financial barriers to a clean energy revolution

Crowdfunding is a potentially disruptive financial innovation that unlocks and aggregates small amounts of capital to ensure what society deems socially and environmentally important receives the capital it requires.  The disruptive potential of this ‘social bankability’ was on full display last Monday when Solar Mosaic officially opened its doors to investors in California and New. In just 24 hours three solar projects (built on affordable housing projects) totaling $313,000 were fully funded by average people contributing as little as $25. Including its beta testing Solar Mosaic has raised $1.1 million for distributed solar.

Seeing this happen in the USA is truly awesome given the painful obstruction to climate and clean energy solutions our politicians have put forward on a global stage. Combining crowdfunding with other financial innovations like opening Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT's) and Master Limited Partnerships (MLP's) to renewable energy in the US (something on the table in the form of the Coons Bill) offers a unique opportunity to further tear down financial barriers. Doing so will help unlock US clean energy leadership and not a moment too soon.

But the real opportunity for crowdfunders lies with distributed solar in emerging markets where the world’s poor pay obscene amounts for dirty fuel based lighting. It’s the 1.3 billion people living in off grid communities for whom the economics of solar make the most sense and have the most impact.

That’s why the Sierra Club advocates for international financial institutions (IFIs) (like the World Bank) to fund distributed solar in emerging markets. But despite the high profile calls from entrepreneurs like Jigar Shah to capitalize on the opportunity, IFI’s have simply not stepped up to the challenge. In fact, getting them to pony up even relatively small amounts of public money to make solar bankable – like the $313,000 Solar Mosaic raised in one day - is like pulling teeth (except, of course, for the renewable energy champion OPIC).

That’s because providing funding in these relatively small amounts to ‘new’ technologies is just not what these guys do. They don’t because their business and operations model is suited to a different age, one which helped produce the problem of climate change and inequality but is ill equipped to solve it. That means that solving energy poverty and climate change is up to those capable of financing and deploying small scale distributed renewable energy – at least according to the radicals at the International Energy Agency.

So while Solar Mosaic’s first day is exciting, it’s their next steps that hold the truly disruptive potential. Solar Mosaic and other crowdfunders like SunFunder are already eagerly eyeing emerging markets like India where the coal sector is a mess, grid expansion isn’t happening and diesel prices are unbearably high. These conditions along with exciting new business model innovations like community power offer a potent alternative to the status quo. But the only reason they will happen is that a new age of entrepreneurs and financiers have deemed them socially bankable.

Already India is home to Milaap, a domestic Indian crowdfunder funding solar lanterns in West Bengal with ONergy, and improved cookstoves in Orissa. As Uttar Pradesh and Bihar continue to incubate distributed solar revolutions the need for financing becomes more stark. While IFIs fund feasibility study after feasibility study watch for the crowdfunders to step in and catalyze the market. 

It’s clear that in the United States at least, our current financial system is broken. Which is why rooting out entrenched financial power must happen alongside efforts to root out entrenched fossil fuels. Because climate change is not just about technology, it’s about systems that produce equitable outcomes for people and the environment. It’s clear our current financial and energy systems can’t, or won’t, do that. Let’s work to make sure the systems of the future, built on a foundation of social bankability by disruptive innovators like solar crowdfunders, do.

-- Justin Guay, Sierra Club International

This Sierra Clubber's DIY Car

Sierra Club members are known for camping, hiking, and campaigning to protect the outdoors. Building cars? Not so much.

But Gary Krysztopik of San Antonio, Texas, isn't your typical environmental activist. He's an electric vehicle advocate working on developing an open-sourced electric vehicle kit that will allow anyone to build his or her own EV. Now all you'll need is some space in the garage to put it together.

"My goal is to make building an electric vehicle as easy as possible," says Gary, who started his company ZWheelz http://www.zwheelz.com/ in 2007. "It's mainly for people who want to commute back and forth. It allows for a very easy entry point to get an EV."

The challenge of putting together an EV sounds a tad more difficult than assembling IKEA furniture. Gary's plan is to make it so simple that even people who have never picked up a wrench before will be able to build one. What might motivate people to build their own car? Money, of course.

Many people are finding the purchase of a new EV to be more financially do-able than they anticipated -especially with federal and some state tax credits as well as reduced fueling and maintenance costs. However, there are some people for whom buying any car is a financial hurdle they just can’t jump right now.

Military Plans Huge Solar Undertaking

SolarCity and Balfour Beatty Communities, LLC announced earlier this week plans to hook up 4,700 military homes with solar at Fort Bliss, Texas, and the adjacent White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) in New Mexico. The 13.2 megawatt project is part of a wider campaign called SolarStrong, a five-year commitment that will deliver $1 billion in energy projects for up to 120,000 military homes in the U.S.

"Fort Bliss continues to make advances in reducing its overall energy footprint and demonstrating its leadership on the forefront of energy efficiency," Katherine Hammack, assistant secretary of the Army for energy and environment, said in a statement.

"This public-private partnership is a strategic and significant investment which will, over the life cycle of the installed photo-voltaic system, save the government money while providing an alternative and sustainable source of energy to the installation. I am confident the Army will continue to lead the way on innovative business partnerships like the one here at Fort Bliss," she said.

Construction of this phase of SolarStrong begins in January. It will bring in 100 local jobs. What makes this part of the campaign key is the scope: WSMR and Fort Bliss are among the largest military sites in the country. Once completed, the project will represent the U.S.'s largest solar-powered community, "generating more than 21 million kilowatt-hours each year from more than 50,000 solar panels."

The military has become a true leader in clean energy. Read more here and here.

-- Brian Foley

Canadian Clean Energy Initiative Under Attack

In a deeply troubling decision reported this week, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has issued a confidential ruling against Ontario’s successful “feed-in tariff” incentives program that is designed to reduce carbon pollution and create clean energy jobs. Despite the fact that climate change is reaching catastrophic tipping points—evidenced in part by hurricane Sandy—the WTO has shot down an innovative program that doesn’t just serve to mitigate climate change, but creates new jobs at the same time.

To fairly evaluate the WTO’s decision, let’s consider Ontario’s initiative. Established in 2009, the initiative sparks investment in and production of renewable energy by guaranteeing that the Ontario Power Authority, a public utility, buys electricity from wind and solar producers at a competitive rate that will help the local clean energy producers thrive and support new clean energy jobs right in Ontario.

To combat the climate crisis and transition to a clean energy economy, we must start producing and manufacturing goods—including renewable energy—locally.  This process of “relocalizing” production reduces carbon pollution associated with shipping goods overseas and supports the creation of new local green jobs.  The government of Ontario recognizes this and requires that participating developers source a certain percentage of project equipment and production—up to 50 percent for wind-power projects over 10kW and up to 60 percent for micro-solar-PV projects—from Ontario.

The program is still quite new but has already achieved significant success. It has helped create over 20,000 jobs and has led to contracts for more than 4,600 megawatts worth of clean energy.

Electric Vehicles Get the Vote in New York City

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy's tragic devastation, a recent New York Times blog post showed that many electric vehicle drivers in the New York/New Jersey area are finding it easier to fuel their vehicles than those who rely on gasoline.

Long before the storm, the folks at Hertz on Demand decided to add new electric vehicles in New York City, and you, the consumer, get to decide where people can rent them. The campaign, put forth by Mission Electric, is a unique idea for plug-in car sharing, which is gradually growing in American cities. 

The idea is simple: Over the next two weeks, people can vote for a New York City location that will later house an EV for car sharing. The three locations that receive the top votes will get EVs that will then be available for rent by the hour. Mission Electric, a non-profit that has partnered with the mayoral offices of New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, is funded by a grant from the Department of Energy's Clean Cities program. With this car-sharing voting drive, Mission Electric is putting democracy to work.

"For those who need to drive in New York City, shared vehicles are a great option -- and electric shared vehicles are even better," Sergej Mahnovski, director of the city's Office of Long Term Planning and Sustainability, said in a statement. "The flexibility of car share and the emissions benefits of electric vehicles reduce the benzene and other pollutants in our air, and make New York a healthier, greater city."

Clearly, walking, biking, and public transit are the best ways to get around in urban settings. However, for those who need a car from time to time, electric-car sharing is gaining momentum. Late last year, Car2Go launched an all-electric program in San Diego, the first of its kind. And this past summer in the San Francisco Bay Area, BMW launched DriveNow, a service that lets people drive its electric Active-e. 

For people seeking affordable ways to get off oil, or get by without the expenses of car ownership – younger people are increasingly choosing this route -- car sharing is proving to be an attractive option. Car sharing with plug-ins is also effective in spreading the word out about EVs. Marc Gellar, a San Francisco-based Sierra Club and Plug In America member who shares his Rav4 EV, said it best: "One reason why I rent out my car is purely propagandistic. I want people to have the opportunity to drive it and come to understand how it can meet their needs."

Learn more about EV facts and myths.

-- Brian Foley

Altwheels for Fleets

It was my second time attending the seventh annual AltWheels Fleet Day geared toward New England companies with vehicle fleets. Says AltWheels Founder and Chairman Alison Sander, "The conference highlighted both corporate and municipal fleets that have saved up to $30 million and 14 percent of their fuel costs by identifying and incorporating smarter and more efficient practices."

XL Hybrids, based in Boston, MA, was one of the companies that presented at the conference. The company installs hybrid systems into vans and other medium-duty vehicles for companies looking to save on fuel costs and emissions for their fleets. Depending on the needs of the client fleet, XL Hybrids retrofits vehicles as old as 2007 and also "upfits" brand new vehicles. Either way, says Vice President of Business Development Justin Ashton, the company makes sure to leave the warranty in place. In a recent pilot program that XL Hybrids ran with two Fortune 500 companies -- a utility and a beverage company -- they found a 17-22 percent reduction in fuel consumption.

"If a company finances or leases the vehicle," says Ashton, "net monthly savings start immediately because the fuel savings outweigh the small increase in monthly payment for a hybrid."

The Social Stock Exchange

The gravity of the failure of 'free markets' is staggering. But when it comes to confronting the problem we often take a justifiable critique to an extreme conclusion: because markets fail they are bad. The truth however is that markets are what we make them. When it comes to our greatest challenges, including tackling climate change, we have to make markets work for us, not against us. That’s exactly what an exciting new start up, the Social Stock Exchange, plans to do.

The SSE was founded by Mark Campanale (you may know him from his other recent venture – Carbon Tracker – which provided Bill McKibben with Global Warming's Terrifying New Math) and Pradeep Jethi to develop the world of global impact investing. Impact investing is a relatively new phenomenon that uses markets for a shocking goal -- to make the world a better place. The SSE hopes to support that goal by creating: "A platform that enables wealth managers and social impact investors to find and invest, at scale, in global businesses in sectors such as affordable housing, social transport, ethical consumerism, clean technology and renewables, urban regeneration, public health, education, and businesses overseas that serve the base of the pyramid."

Plug In Day 2012: Tallying Up Millions of Oil-Free Miles with Electric Cars

Last weekend 25,000 people participated in National Plug In Day events to celebrate the benefits of electric cars and meet with those who have already chosen to drive oil-free. In 65 cities electric car owners showed off their cars and gathered with other interested Americans to talk shop and tally up their oil-free miles. Our calculation is astounding: The Sierra Club estimates that in the past two years Americans have driven 200 million oil free miles, avoiding 7.4 million gallons of gasoline, saving $19.4 million in fueling costs, and keeping 96.5 million pounds of carbon pollution out of the atmosphere. And this is just the beginning.

Just a few years ago, these cars were rare, expensive, and a little weird-looking. But drivers demanded better cars, and today all that has changed. Virtually every showroom of every major automaker now sells a car that uses little or no oil at all. At Plug In Day events, drivers were proving that these vehicles are here and ready for primetime.

In Los Angeles 300 people took EV test drives at the Automobile Driving Museum, another 1,300 took test drives in other cities.  Mayor Joe Affronti of Temple Terrace, FL, spoke at the Plug In Day event there and unveiled new city public charging stations, "We promote it, but not only promote it, we live it," he said.

The $90 Billion Dollar Crowd Funded Energy Access Opportunity

A few months back I wrote a post about the $80 billion clean energy access opportunity from capturing remittance flows. I thought that was revolutionary given its scale and applicability (especially compared to mechanisms subject to the excruciating dynamics of the UNFCCC like the Green Fund). Now an even bigger, and far more advanced innovation in clean energy access finance has come along and the $90 billion opportunity it presents is tremendous. It's called crowd funding, and it could catalyze clean energy across the developing world.

Crowd funding allows early-stage companies, or projects to 'crowd in' finance from lots of small sources over the Internet (you could consider it democratizing finance in a way). A notable non-profit pre-cursor is Kiva, who has helped raise more than $500 million to date (ironically the same amount energy access entrepreneurs requested, but did not get, from the World Bank at Rio+20).

With the passage of the US JOBS Act, crowd funding is now primed to move from a non-profit activity to a legitimate retail investment for the masses. Bloomberg estimates that if even 1% of the retail investment market is captured the opportunity is worth $90 billion dollars -- which has energy access entrepreneurs understandably quite excited.

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So why is crowd funding so ideal for these entrepreneurs? Because the most effective means of delivering energy access is small scale, distributed clean energy. Crowd funding is a financing model that mirrors this scale and distribution but far more importantly allows them access to funding that traditional institutions have thus far failed to provide.