Archive for the ‘Green Products’ Category
Today (my Friday which is now ending here in Wuxi (pronounced woo-shee), China) I had the pleasure of speaking at the 3rd annual International Renewable Energy Conference. I attended the same conference in 2010 as an invited guest. I was honored to be asked and as usual in China I was treated with such great respect and courtesy – something that no longer surprises me but still impresses me.
The focus of the conference was solar energy which offers a contradiction in itself since the sun did not shine during the 2+ days I spent in Wuxi. My Hong Kong friend Tom was in Beijing this week and texted me that as he landed in Beijing the haze was so thick the pilot could hardly see in front of him.
And there is a major contradiction. That a developing industrial country like China relentlessly building and that has factories spewing coal smoke into the air seemingly 24/7, would at the same time have such a large an dedicated group of scientists, intellectuals and business people trying to drive the country to ‘Go green’ – and do it fast.
What I find also to be contradictory is that the Chinese government is supportive of these conferences and the initiatives promoted by its growing anti-global warming community. As with most things when it comes to governments and development, money plays a significant role in driving behaviors and outcomes. China’s coal-burning factories burn cheap fuel and in an increasingly competitive world economy will be slow to change to cleaner burning and non-fossil fuels. That combined with the dust and sand that blows off of the Gobi desert makes Beijing one of the smoggiest cities in China – but not the smoggiest – http://bit.ly/tYLErr. That distinction may be awarded to Xi’an or Galin.
China builds many buildings complete with solar panels mounted on the roofs whether they are industrial or residential. China is a leader in producing and using highly efficient LED lights – and more than once I heard someone say that they notice in the U.S. they see energy saving-lights on outside during the day. Kind of defeats the purpose doesn’t it?
Buildings in China are warm when it’s warm outside and cold when it’s cold outside. This is in part due to a government conservation requiring people to sweat inside even if there is air-conditioning or freeze when it’s unusually cold as many places in of southeastern China do not have central heating as wintertime temperatures rarely dip below 40F or 9C.
Obviously there are many other contradictions in China when it comes to social and political issues that are well-publicized. I believe China wants to and is doing the right things to move toward a green economy but any expectation that they will shut down factories for good (as China did for a month or so before the 2008 Beijing Olympics) is completely unrealistic No country would throw away its development any more than China will.
I will end on one note of over-consumption and that comes in the form of the photo of the aftermath of tonight’s post-conference banquet. The food was very good but never-ending. In a way that’s a type of contradiction too.
Do you feel the U.S. has its own contradictions?
If you had not yet heard starting in January of 2012, light bulbs have to be at least 25% more efficient than the ones we’ve been using for years invented by Thomas Edison way back in 1879. Bulbs that have been inexpensive and disposable will be disappearing by 2014. An excellent article last week by Gwendolyn Bounds of the Wall Street Journal http://on.wsj.com/lpUdSB outlines the features and benefits of the new and old bulb technologies.
In our discussions with Chinese companies we’ve explored the idea of helping them bring LED light bulbs into the United States. So far there has been a great deal of hesitancy on the part of the Chinese companies we have met with to lead with LED light bulbs to be marketed to American consumers. Part of the reason is that sales of building-wide lighting systems are substantially larger and easier than selling individual light bulbs to individual American consumers. However we firmly believe (as the article supports) Americans will be VERY receptive to LED light bulbs once the prices come down which they are predicted to do in a relatively short time. It is our belief that direct-to-consumer marketing of LED light bulbs would allow for lower pricing to happen even more quickly.
Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFL’s) have been a step in the right direction but as I have noted before (link to your previous blog post) the trace amounts of mercury found in them is of great concern and for the most part they are not dimmable which is a major drawback. That they are odd-looking unless housed in an outer bulb is more of a minor issue.
The current pricing for LED light bulbs are $20-$55 each. This is in stark contrast to traditional incandescent bulbs which are priced at 25-50 cents each or even CFL’s which average $2 to $5. We are talking 100 times the cost here! The life spans of LED are not 100 times as long as traditional incandescent – more like 25-30 times. The annual operating costs of LED bulbs however are less than 25% per bulb as compared to traditional incandescent bulbs.
Once prices for LED bulbs come down into the $10/bulb or less range the idea that they last 25 times longer and use less energy will have people clamoring to buy them. And they will have to come down in price since I wonder about how people will feel when they drop and break a $20 or even $50 bulb. Dropping and breaking a $ 0.50 bulb is mess. Dropping a $ 20 or even $ 50 bulb is a catastrophe!
What would it take for you to ‘switch’ over to an LED bulb? Is there a price threshold? Would you miss 132-year old technology?
Because our company is actively working with green technology companies in China we all have a heightened sense of awareness in this area. One of our team members sent me a great link – about a 4+ minute video – http://www.wimp.com/solarhighways from a site called wimp.com (no joke!) on how LED based solar panels as road surfaces is a possible way to alleviate the U.S. reliance on petroleum based products.
The idea is that the road not only would pay for itself but that solar highways can generate energy to be used for other purposes. Scott Brusaw the inventor and co-founder of Solar Roadways, is both interesting and approachable – watch the video and see if you agree. The entire road would become an electric grid. People would be driving on glass. It is a concept that blew my mind.
I personally had no idea that there is a great deal of petroleum used in making asphalt. Actually I had not given much thought as to what’s in asphalt at all. With so much talk about the U.S. losing ground I am consistently buoyed with stories like these from what I consider to be brilliant American thinkers that are willing to throw out conventional thinking. The U.S. continues to be a world leader in innovative thinking and development of innovative products.
I took a tour through the http://www.wimp.com website and was surprised to find that most of the content is far from being as interesting as the Solar Highway video. Although for some reason I was compelled to watch the ‘Cat vs. Annoying Bird’ video. There are some other interesting videos on the site worth watching.
Separately, LED lights are increasingly becoming a topic of conversation as in January 2012 incandescent 100 watt light bulbs will no longer be sold in the United States. Incandescent bulb technology (if it can be called that) is more than 100 years old. An excellent article in USA Today by Peter Stevenson http://usat.ly/kUWxWh highlights the attributes and challenges of adoption of LED lighting for bulbs in particular.
Solar Highways may be a far off idea but LED light technology offers great opportunities to help lower energy costs and expenses.
Great ideas and innovations excite me and get me thinking. Do they do the same things for you?
”Tis the season of IPO’s” and last week proved that with the offering of shares in car-sharing pioneer ZipCar. Nearly $ 175 million was raised creating a market cap of more than $ 600 million. The rent-as-you-need-it company founded in 2000 is trying to stave off car rental giant Hertz which launched ‘Connect’ in 2008. ‘Zipsters’ as users are referred to carry cards that enable them to access the fleet 24/7 (as the keys are inside) without necessarily making a reservation (although it is recommended that you do make a reservation).
The concept of car-sharing is very appealing (to me at least) and I daresay even green. At the Low-carbon business development forum I attended in Shenzhen a little over a week ago ZipCar was referred to as an embodiment of progressive transportation. I noticed little mention of Hertz Connect.
As the concept and business model matures there have been some rumblings of inadequate automobile liability insurance provided for ZipCar’s 560,000+ members. In an April 22nd article in the NY Times http://nyti.ms/ilpP4N both ZipCar and Hertz were cited as offering liability coverage that is sorely lacking. More members would obviously increase the pool and perhaps allow for the upper limits to be raised to the more traditional $ 1,000,000.
I’ve a few friends that are ZipCar members and they proudly note that they do not own an automobile and flash their card as evidence of being green. Decidedly ZipCar is for city dwellers and university students. For $ 13/hour you pick up the car at the ZipCar lot, drive it for as long as you need and return it; gas up to 180 miles per day, reserved parking and insurance are all included.
There’s something very green about not owning a car and city dwellers actually are greener on a per capita basis than non-city dwellers. ZipCar still has a first mover advantage (ZipCar bought Flexcar in 2008). An article in Fortune magazine last month did a good job of summarizing the advantages and environmental benefits of car sharing http://bit.ly/m8Vqyr.
Car sharing is an idea that is ready to take off in my opinion. But Americans are married to their cars and it will take time for car sharing to take hold beyond its niche status at present.
Would you give up your car?