(March 30, 2010)

Sale, Lease and Reservation Details for the Nissan EV

Nissan announced U.S. pricing for the 2011 Nissan LEAF electric car, which becomes available for purchase or lease at Nissan dealers in select markets in December and nationwide in 2011. Nissan will begin taking consumer reservations for the Nissan LEAF April 20, ahead of other electric cars in this price range.

Including the $7,500 federal tax credit for which the Nissan LEAF will be fully eligible, the consumer’s after-tax net value of the vehicle will be $25,280. The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the 2011 all-electric, zero-emission Nissan LEAF is $32,780, which includes three years of roadside assistance. Additionally, there is an array of state and local incentives that may further defray the costs and increase the benefits of owning and charging a Nissan LEAF – such as a $5,000 statewide tax rebate in California; a $5,000 tax credit in Georgia; a $1,500 tax credit in Oregon; and carpool-lane access in some states, including California.

As a result of aggressive pricing and the availability of the $7,500 federal tax credit whose benefit is immediately included, Nissan will be able to offer a monthly lease payment beginning at $349, not including state or local incentives, which could further reduce the net cost of the Nissan LEAF.

The vehicle at the standard SV trim level is well-equipped with a variety of standard features, including an advanced navigation system and Internet/smart phone connectivity to the vehicle, including pre-heat/pre-cool and charging control. Nissan LEAF is equipped with energy-efficient LED headlights and makes extensive use of recycled and recyclable materials, such as seat fabric, instrument panel materials, and front- and rear-bumper fascias. Other standard amenities include Bluetooth connectivity; Intelligent-key with push button start; Sirius/XM satellite radio capabilities and roadside assistance. Safety features include vehicle dynamic control (stability control), traction control and six airbags. The SL trim level, available for an additional $940 (MSRP), adds features including rearview monitor, solar panel spoiler, fog lights, and automatic headlights.

Reservations on April 20

In order to ensure a one-stop-shop customer experience, Nissan is carefully managing the purchase process from the first step, when consumers sign up on NissanUSA.com, until the customer takes the Nissan LEAF home and plugs it into a personal charging dock.

?Nissan begins accepting reservations on April 20 first from people who have signed up on NissanUSA.com, and, after a brief introductory period, to all interested consumers.
?Consumers will be required to pay a $99 reservation fee, which is fully refundable.
?Reserving a Nissan LEAF ensures consumers a place in line when Nissan begins taking firm orders in August, as well as access to special, upcoming Nissan LEAF events.
?Rollout to select markets begins in December, with nationwide availability in 2011.

Charging Equipment

In tandem with the purchase process, Nissan will offer personal charging docks, which operate on a 220-volt supply, as well as their installation. Nissan is providing these home-charging stations, which will be built and installed by AeroVironment, as part of a one-stop-shop process that includes a home assessment.

?The average cost for the charging dock plus installation will be $2,200.
?Charging dock and installation are eligible for a 50 percent federal tax credit up to $2,000.
?Using current national electricity averages, Nissan LEAF will cost less than $3 to “fill up.”
?Nissan LEAF also will be the sole vehicle available as part of The EV Project, which is led by EV infrastructure provider eTec, a division of ECOtality, and will provide free home-charging stations and installation for up to 4,700 Nissan LEAF owners in those markets.

This major announcement gives Nissan a lead over Toyota, General Motors, Ford and others that will also be offering electric cars. Top 10 Electric Car Makers 2011 U.S. Offerings

Content provided by and all rights reserved to CleantechBlog.com. Also check out http://www.cleantech.org

(March 30, 2010)

Sale, Lease and Reservation Details for the Nissan EV

Nissan announced U.S. pricing for the 2011 Nissan LEAF electric car, which becomes available for purchase or lease at Nissan dealers in select markets in December and nationwide in 2011. Nissan will begin taking consumer reservations for the Nissan LEAF April 20, ahead of other electric cars in this price range.

Including the $7,500 federal tax credit for which the Nissan LEAF will be fully eligible, the consumer’s after-tax net value of the vehicle will be $25,280. The Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) for the 2011 all-electric, zero-emission Nissan LEAF is $32,780, which includes three years of roadside assistance. Additionally, there is an array of state and local incentives that may further defray the costs and increase the benefits of owning and charging a Nissan LEAF – such as a $5,000 statewide tax rebate in California; a $5,000 tax credit in Georgia; a $1,500 tax credit in Oregon; and carpool-lane access in some states, including California.

As a result of aggressive pricing and the availability of the $7,500 federal tax credit whose benefit is immediately included, Nissan will be able to offer a monthly lease payment beginning at $349, not including state or local incentives, which could further reduce the net cost of the Nissan LEAF.

The vehicle at the standard SV trim level is well-equipped with a variety of standard features, including an advanced navigation system and Internet/smart phone connectivity to the vehicle, including pre-heat/pre-cool and charging control. Nissan LEAF is equipped with energy-efficient LED headlights and makes extensive use of recycled and recyclable materials, such as seat fabric, instrument panel materials, and front- and rear-bumper fascias. Other standard amenities include Bluetooth connectivity; Intelligent-key with push button start; Sirius/XM satellite radio capabilities and roadside assistance. Safety features include vehicle dynamic control (stability control), traction control and six airbags. The SL trim level, available for an additional $940 (MSRP), adds features including rearview monitor, solar panel spoiler, fog lights, and automatic headlights.

Reservations on April 20

In order to ensure a one-stop-shop customer experience, Nissan is carefully managing the purchase process from the first step, when consumers sign up on NissanUSA.com, until the customer takes the Nissan LEAF home and plugs it into a personal charging dock.

?Nissan begins accepting reservations on April 20 first from people who have signed up on NissanUSA.com, and, after a brief introductory period, to all interested consumers.
?Consumers will be required to pay a $99 reservation fee, which is fully refundable.
?Reserving a Nissan LEAF ensures consumers a place in line when Nissan begins taking firm orders in August, as well as access to special, upcoming Nissan LEAF events.
?Rollout to select markets begins in December, with nationwide availability in 2011.

Charging Equipment

In tandem with the purchase process, Nissan will offer personal charging docks, which operate on a 220-volt supply, as well as their installation. Nissan is providing these home-charging stations, which will be built and installed by AeroVironment, as part of a one-stop-shop process that includes a home assessment.

?The average cost for the charging dock plus installation will be $2,200.
?Charging dock and installation are eligible for a 50 percent federal tax credit up to $2,000.
?Using current national electricity averages, Nissan LEAF will cost less than $3 to “fill up.”
?Nissan LEAF also will be the sole vehicle available as part of The EV Project, which is led by EV infrastructure provider eTec, a division of ECOtality, and will provide free home-charging stations and installation for up to 4,700 Nissan LEAF owners in those markets.

This major announcement gives Nissan a lead over Toyota, General Motors, Ford and others that will also be offering electric cars. Top 10 Electric Car Makers 2011 U.S. Offerings

Content provided by and all rights reserved to CleantechBlog.com. Also check out http://www.cleantech.org

An anti-wind group opposed to the Aldridge Electric turbine in Libertyville is headed back to court next week to respond to a motion to dismiss charges against the village. According to a story in the Lake County News Sun:

Residents are scheduled to have their day in court April 6 to respond to the village’s motion to dismiss improper zoning charges by permitting an industrial wind turbine to operate next to a residential neighborhood.

Neighbors along Rockland Road near Aldridge Electric Co. have complained the company’s turbine is a public nuisance because of its constant noise.

Last year, after the neighbors complained the turbine disturbed their sleep, Lake County Circuit Court Judge Mitchell Hoffman ruled Aldridge’s 140-foot turbine could run only from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday. [...]

“Our position with the village has always been that they passed a special-use permit without doing proper research on several levels,” Gates said. “The village then allowed Aldridge to move the turbine closer to us, within 250 feet of nearby residences after passing the ordinance, and after assuring us in the public hearing of the supposed location.”

The opposition group was represented in previous filings by attorney Rich Porter, whose law practice increasingly involves suing wind farm developers (Though the article above does not mention Porter). The group maintains a website with a host of hysterical anti-wind propaganda at: www.windturbinenoises.org.

The Lake County Zoning Board of Appeals is now working on a new wind zoning ordinance, and plans to hold a hearing on the proposed ordinance soon.

A student environmental group at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is calling on the University to utilize a grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation to construct a wind turbine near the campus, but officials say the school has no plans to construct a turbine at this time. According to an article in the Daily Illini:

The Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation gave $2 million to the University to construct a wind turbine in 2003. In 2005, students paired with administrators and state officials to discuss getting clean energy on campus.

“We received this grant money that’s going to expire in roughly three months time and so we want to push the University on this issue now,” said Anthony Larson, president of Students for Environmental Concerns.

Larson and other students said they are concerned that the University will not move forward with the project before the grant expires June, 30.

University officials said in 2008 that due to major state budget cuts the turbine project would be postponed in favor of cheaper, energy-efficiency initiatives.

The Brazilian city of Rio hosts the Olympics in 2016, and is running an architecture competition to seek a new landmark to celebrate. Swiss Architects RAFAA Architecture and Design have offered up a tower featuring a 345 foot high man-made waterfall, which would form the centerpiece of a solar-powered hydropower storage facility. Located on a [...]

by Richard T. Stuebi

One of the better business books I’ve ever read is The Innovator’s Dilemma, by Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School.

The core message of the book is that disruptive technologies — ones that ultimately change an entire industry — only penetrate a marketplace by first serving tiny niches that aren’t big enough to attract the interest of the incumbent mainstream players. In other words, disruptive technologies can’t and shouldn’t attack a huge market head-on, but rather in underserved little ways that eventually accumulate into big successes.

Solar photovoltaics (PV) has often been touted as a disruptive technology, allowing humans to move off of centralized fossil fuel powerplants to distributed renewable generation sources. As I’ve watched the PV industry for the past decade, I’ve always been amazed at how many advocates try tackling “mainstream” solar, trying to compete head-to-head against the grid. At its current stage of maturation, PV represents a very expensive way to generate electricity, so the only way to make such business models work in places where electricity isn’t very expensive is to gain large subsidies from the public sector (such as the lucrative feed-in tariffs in countries such as Germany).

So, it’s been fun watching the emergence of little niche applications for PV, where the technology can make a difference right away, without requiring the helping hand of government. One such niche has been in compacting public trash recepticles, which was nicely profiled in an article in last Friday’s USA Today.

The secret to the success of PV in this niche is its obviously compelling economics. Sure, at $4000, the solar-powered trash compacter is much more expensive than a generic can. But then again, these compacters require many fewer visits by trucks to pick up full containers. In Philadelphia, trash pickups have been reduced from 17 visits per week to 5 per week, saving $13 million in cumulative trash collection costs over the next 10 years.

Not exactly a sexy application for PV, but the dollars make sense. It’s these types of success stories that will continue to increase demand for PV modules, driving the technology down the learning and scale curve, continually reducing its costs, and in so doing opening up ever more segments of application, until PV becomes cheap enough for virtually all grid-connected applications without subsidies.

Richard T. Stuebi is a founding principal of NorTech Energy Enterprise, the advanced energy initiative at NorTech, where he is on loan from The Cleveland Foundation as its Fellow of Energy and Environmental Advancement. He is also a Managing Director in charge of cleantech investment activities at Early Stage Partners, a Cleveland-based venture capital firm.

Content provided by and all rights reserved to CleantechBlog.com. Also check out http://www.cleantech.org

Yesterday Jim Tomlinson, the new director of the Napa Valley Solar Partnership, visited the 1BOG office to meet the 1BOG team and discuss our new partnership to provide solar job skills to former foster youth.
Our team was thrilled to meet Tomlinson, whose eclectic career ranges from music production for several famous recording artists, to setting [...]

The powerful Exelon lobby is working hard to kill legislation in the Illinois Senate that would ensure wind farms are built in Illinois, a move that would deprive the state of thousands of new jobs and millions in property tax revenue and other economic development at a time when it’s needed most. According to an article in today’s Crain’s Chicago Business (Site Subscription Required):

If Exelon succeeds in blocking that measure, it could bring wind development in Illinois to a halt. And while the moves could protect Exelon from subsidized competition — and hold down prices for Illinois power consumers — they could damage Exelon’s carefully crafted image as a proponent of sustainable energy.

The legislator who drafted the extension says he believes Exelon has nixed it. “I think it would be very difficult to achieve the five-year extension (of the preference for Illinois wind developers) in the current climate,” says Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park. Attempts to move the bill through the Senate Energy Committee collapsed for lack of votes.

Exelon has powerful allies on that committee, including the chairman, Sen. Michael Jacobs, D-East Moline, whose father, Denny Jacobs, formerly a senator from the same district, is a registered lobbyist for ComEd.

Under Senate Bill 3686, the Illinois Power Agency will direct utilities to purchase Illinois wind before purchasing renewables in other states, ensuring several shovel-ready wind projects in Illinois move to construction in the next year. But if Exelon is successful, the Illinois projects remain in limbo, and the new jobs, tax revenue and other economic development likely go to Texas, The Dakotas and even Manitoba.

Creating jobs in far-flung places was hardly the result intended when the legislature passed the renewable portfolio standard in 2007, and allowing Exelon to kill the bill would deprive rural Illinois of much-needed jobs. This point is not lost on Crain’s:

Kevin Borgia, executive director of the Illinois Wind Energy Assn., of which Invenergy is a member, says jobs are at stake. “If we want to promote wind energy in Manitoba, let the Illinois preference expire,” he says.

Exelon claims blocking the measure will keep electric bills low, but a consumer protection measure already in the law mandates that rates cannot increase by more than half-a-percent because of renewable energy sources. This translates into an increase of mere pennies per month for the average electric customer in Illinois, a small price to pay for the significant economic development that will happen if Harmon’s bill passes.

According to a study from Illinois State University, the first 1119 megawatts of wind development in Illinois were a major engine of economic growth:

• A total economic benefit of $1.9 billion over the life of the projects
• $11.4 million in annual property taxes 
• $4.36 million annually in lease payments to Illinois landowners
• Approx. 6,019 full-time equivalent construction jobs (annual payroll over $306 million)
• Approx. 292 permanent jobs (annual payroll over $15 million)

Under the Harmon bill, the state sees very similar economic growth, likely beginning in the next 12 months. If Exelon and other opponents are able to stop the bill, this growth leaves Illinois immediately and permantently.

From an article by Robert Imrie in the Wausau Daily Herald:ROTHSCHILD — A proposed power plant that would burn wood to generate electricity and steam would be a “monster” source of pollution, causing neighbors to suffer from asthma and lung cancers, o…

Sadly, the thirteen-day smorgasbord of the 2010 Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital came to an end this evening.  It ended with a bang: the world premiere of Carbon Nation, a film by Peter Byck and a (clearly) talented team.  This film had its genesis at the premiere of An Inconvenient Truth, with Byck [...]

The Chicago Tribune ran an excellent story Sunday about the need for new high-voltage transmission in Illinois, highlighting many of the key issues now facing wind developers and the electric power sector. According to the article:

In order to integrate and move that alternative power east through Illinois, the grid would have to be expanded and upgraded, say transmission experts and utility companies.

The estimated cost to move that wind power east could range from $64 billion to $93 billion in 2009 dollars and would require 17,000 to 22,000 miles of transmission lines to be built in the eastern half of the country alone, according to the Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study (EWITS) published in January and prepared for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

While electricity demand has increased by about 25 percent since 1990, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, transmission line construction has decreased by 30 percent because of the lag time created as developers justify costs and lay out the impact of new transmission to regulators at the local, state, regional and federal levels. According to the American Wind Energy Association, a typical transmission line takes five years or more to be planned and built, while a renewable power plant can be constructed in less than a year.

Exelon Corp. is part of the Strategic Midwest Area Transmission (SMART) Study, sponsored by several Midwestern utilities, which is among dozens of similar groups studying how a significant increase in the nation’s wind power would impact transmission and how and where new transmission lines would need to be built to make such a build-out feasible.

These studies say it isn’t feasible for businesses to pay costs associated with the transmission upgrades required to hook into a congested grid. Many withdraw their requests to hook in once they realize the significant upgrades that would be needed, according to Midwest ISO, the organization that coordinates the movement of wholesale electricity in several states, including much of Illinois. Of more than 70,000 megawatts of generation waiting for permission to hook in to the grid, 60,000 of that is generated by wind turbines, according to Midwest ISO.

“You have a lot of projects fighting over the same capacity, how do you delineate who gets to be first in line?” said Eric Laverty, director at Midwest ISO.

Under Midwest ISO’s auspices in Illinois, more than 30 wind projects are seeking approval in roughly a dozen counties. Two more wind projects are waiting in line with Illinois’ other regional transmission operator, the PJM Interconnection, which coordinates movement in all or parts of 13 states, including the ComEd area of Illinois, where Chicago lies. [...]

[S]everal consortiums of stakeholders are pushing for federal regulators to allow utilities to spread the costs of transmission beyond the regions where those utilities are located. As it works today, a wind developer would pay to upgrade transmission lines, pass those costs along when it sells that power, and those costs in turn are passed along to customers in their bills. Transmission charges in the ComEd region currently account for about 5 percent of a customer’s electricity bill, according to Exelon. These stakeholders say it would make more sense to spread that cost out among a larger region that benefits from the high-capacity transmission lines that have been proposed.

In an effort that will provide much-needed training for the growing wind sector in the state, Illinois Valley Community Community College Board of Trustees voted this week to offer a wind turbine technician certificate program, with enrollment beginning in fall of this year. According to an article in the Times (of Ottawa):

Trustees based their decision, in part, on information that indicated there are more than 500 wind turbines operating in the IVCC district, with 300 more planned or under construction. Every 10 towers need one technician, with an entry level position without experience, paying about $24 per hour; experience brings the pay up to between $28 and $30 per hour.

The duties of a wind tower technician involve climbing towers — about 262 feet — and having knowledge of electronics, hydraulics and mechanical maintenance.

Trustee Michael Driscoll asked what the expected enrollment would be for such a course and regardless of the enrollment, whether there would be an initial “surge” of students that would then fade away.

Rick Pearce, IVCC vice president for Learning and Student Development, replied he was “very optimistic” there would be steady enrollment, adding that Invenergy — one of the companies operating wind towers in the La Salle County area — has its technicians trained on the East Coast. Pearce also pointed out there are plans to offer an advanced technician certificate, which would serve as a retraining course for those who already are trained technicians.

The LaSalle News Tribune also covered the story.

I was reading with sadness about the decision by BP Solar to shut down the Frederick, MD manufacturing facility. As many of you may know, I worked for BP Solar and this facility was the first real large scale solar mfg facility in the United States. Solarex (bought by BP) perfected the use of polycrystalline silicon (vs. mono) and pioneered it at this facility. More importantly, BP Solar will keep the R&D staff and function — this is important because they are some of the best in the world.

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Several InREA members are participating in an event March 26-28, 2010 held at the Indiana State Fairgrounds called Green Fest Indy. For details visit http://greenfestindy.com/.

Linear thinking can doom an organization and/or a person.
Yes … and linear thinking might just well doom the planetary ecosystem’s ability to support modern human civilization.

People like simplicity.
Linear thinking provides safe, comfortable, and simple structure for thinking about problems.
To continue to look at something from one point of view. To take information or observations from [...]

Clean Edge’s 2010 Clean Energy Trends forecasts growth for high-speed rail and renewables
Clean Edge included high-speed rail (HSR) for the first time in its annual Clean Energy Trends report which tracks key developments in clean-energy markets. China is leading the surge in HSR according to Clean Edge:

China’s Ministry of Railways spent $88 billion on HSR projects in 2009 – part of an existing $300 billion plan to expand and connect all of the country’s major cities with a projected 10,000 miles of dedicated HSR lines by 2020.

There will be more high-speed rail added in China over the next five years than the rest of the world combined, says Keith Dierkx, director of IBM’s Global Rail Innovation Center in Beijing. Global HSR manufacturers like Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Alstom, GE Transportation, Siemens, and others have formed joint ventures or partnerships in China. A Canadian-Chinese joint venture, Bombardier Sifang, recently won $4 billion from the Chinese government to manufacture up to 80 high-speed trains. These same companies are developing opportunities in other emerging countries like Brazil, Russia and South Korea.

HSR’s main development challenge is its high price tag. The 800-mile Beijing-to-Shanghai line will cost an estimated $32 billion – in the same cost ballpark as the gargantuan Three Gorges Dam hydroelectric project.

Maglev potential projects in Japan, China, and the United States are also discussed in the Clean Energy Trends.

A United States 17,000 mile high-speed rail system is envisioned. With 30 states committed to renewable energy growth, electric HSR will help the nation be less dependent on oil. Clean Fleet Report forecasts that high-speed rail ridership will exceed one billion within three years, from over 600 million today. Clean Fleet Reports about U.S. High-Speed Rail.

China Also Leads in Renewables Growth

“Despite severe economic conditions, clean-energy markets were able to hold their momentum in 2009 as many regional and federal governments and private corporations focused on clean-energy investments as a way to pull out of the global economic tailspin,” said Ron Pernick, Clean Edge co-founder and managing director. “From the smart grid and energy efficiency to renewable energy generation and advanced battery storage, clean tech continues to be a major driver of regional job growth, economic recovery, and technological competitiveness.”

China is expected to lead RE growth. China could end up spending $440 billion to $660 billion toward its clean-energy build out over the next ten years, according to estimates discussed in the Clean Energy Trends.

The annual Clean Energy Trends report, now in its ninth year, can be downloaded for free.

John Addison publishes the Clean Fleet Report and speaks at conferences. He is the author of the new book – Save Gas, Save the Planet – now selling at Amazon and other booksellers.

Content provided by and all rights reserved to CleantechBlog.com. Also check out http://www.cleantech.org

From a news release issued by Clean Wisconsin:Regionally Diverse Large and Small Businesses Among Supporters MADISON — In a show of support for the Clean Energy Jobs Act, the Wisconsin business community delivered a letter signed by over 200 Wisconsin…

The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) today called a new nuclear weapons agreement between the United States and Russia “a critical first step” to reduce the global nuclear threat.

A United Nations report shows a reduction in tropical deforestation, in part due to international funding to protect these forests.

This guest post comes from DCoronata covering a quite important set of issues on feedback systems, starting off with some basic education and ending with basic (and critical) questions. 
 
There are so many tangible and complicated parameters to our planet’s climate that after centuries of examination and decades of high-level accurate predictions about what the future [...]

An open letter to Ban Ki Moon in support of an extraordinary friend

Dear Mr. Secretary General,

I am sure that in your position, the volume of unsolicited outreach you receive must be truly breathtaking. I will not add to your never ending inbox, but rather will simply post this note on a friendly blog, with the hope that some of the messages within find their way to you via the osmosis of modern communication.

The climate crisis is no longer confined to the geophysical state of our planet – it has now metastasized into an even more virulent form of crisis involving our collective political and sociological ability to manage this complex issue. The UN has done tremendous work in defining the climate issue for more than 20 years and the accomplishments it has achieved are inspiring. However, there is little doubt that the Copenhagen conference broadly underperformed against the needs we face today.

Copenhagen’s underperformance is having an insidious effect on perceptions of UN effectiveness among even many supporters. It is increasingly considered conventional wisdom that the UNFCCC’s day has passed – that the climate issue must now center on a series of bilateral or regional negotiations and perhaps be centered in more focused organizations like the WTO.

I, for one, do not believe those arguments. I began my accidental career in climate finance in 1993. I was fortunate enough to bear witness to the euphoria of Kyoto, the despair of the Hague and the last second save of Bali. And, of course, Copenhagen – where the sheer enormity and heterogeneity of the issue finally truly stared one and all in the face. Yes, humanity collectively blinked and deferred.

But throughout, the UN process that has tried to manage and coordinate the world’s response has been honorable, dedicated,. You specifically should be commended for making climate the pre-eminent issue of your tenure as the Secretary General. And, it must be recognized that what the UN has been able to accomplish is strictly reflective of the mandates it has been handed by the community of nations. Those mandates have often been halting or ambiguous. However, let us also recognize it’s a two way street – the strength of those mandates is also partially reflective of and the confidence that nations have in the UN, its processes, its leaders and its managers in being a key player at the table in the climate issue.
In this light, you have a major decision to make – one that will set the tone for the crucial coming decade of the climate crisis. You have to hire somebody. As you know, Yvo de Boer announced his resignation from the UNFCCC Secretariat earlier this year. And, as might be expected, there is an emerging horse race among several candidates and I am sure all would serve the post honorably and with energy and enthusiasm.
But to be very frank, at this moment in time, we don’t need adequate, we need extraordinary. We need charisma, we need inspirational leadership. We need somebody who can think outside of the box, – but also somebody with a deep experience of the inner workings of the climate negotiating and regulatory process . And there is only one candidate, in my estimation, who remotely meets that elevated criteria – my good friend, Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica.
Yes, indeed, she is my friend – we have known each other for more than ten years as I built a business around emissions mitigation and she built a formidable reputation as a thinker, advisor, negotiator and regulator across the climate space. Even on paper, I cannot see how any other candidate can match her personal experience in all aspects of the climate conundrum – government, civil society, regulator, private sector, negotiator.
But it is off the sheet of paper where Christiana truly shines – she inspires all who meet her through her intelligence, her humanity, her strength. Most of all, she has a great senses of humor and perspective – which one could argue might be the most important job description components of all, in this hour of need.
To achieve transition to a global, low carbon trajectory, people and governments will need to go the extra mile. With all due respect to the accomplished and dedicated individuals who have run the UNFCCC since its inception, vision, inspiration and leadership rarely seemed part of their portfolio. If it’s really a war on climate, more than anything we need a general who will inspire the troops to do the extraordinary. Those of us who have been in the trenches on this issue for a decade or more are tired and dispirited – in our minds, we have moved mountains, but we step back and it looks more like molehills. I have never seen the climate community as downtrodden as in these few months since Copenhagen. And – again to be honest – you need us fired up and moving mountains.
To the contrary stands the promise of Christiana Figueres – a rallying general from a country without an army (and a country that aspires to full carbon neutrality by 2020). All you need to do is go the the Facebook group that supporters of hers created and that has grown up very quickly over the last few days and scroll through the wealth of testimonials that Christiana has inspired throughout a huge cross section of the climate and development community. Thousands of people from all walks of the climate world know in their hearts that she is the one who can make a difference at this crucial moment. And their voices are raising to be heard by you.
There is only one choice that can deliver that promise. Please make the right one and appoint Christiana Figueres as the next Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC
Marc Stuart was the founder of EcoSecurities, where he worked for 13 years prior to its integration into JP Morgan in early 2010. He is currently engaged in early stage private equity in the carbon and alternative energy space.

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Naperville-based wind manufacturing and service conglomerate Broadwind Energy has appointed Daniel E. Schueller as president of Brad Foote Gear Works, the company’s Cicero-based gear-manufacturing subsidiary. According to a press release from Broadwind (PDF):

“We are delighted to have Dan join our leadership team and expect that he will lead the gearing systems team with a robust combination of deep manufacturing experience, leadership skills and customer focus,” said J. Cameron Drecoll, chief executive officer of Broadwind. “As the anticipated upswing of the U.S. wind energy market creates new opportunities for Broadwind’s precision gearing system business, Dan’s proven success as an executive leader in manufacturing will be an asset to our customers and stockholders.”

Schueller stated, “I look forward to working with the Broadwind team as we capitalize on a rich heritage of more than 85 years of gearing leadership at Brad Foote.”

Prior to joining Broadwind Energy, Schueller served as vice president and general manager of Federal Signal Corporation’s Vactor Manufacturing, Inc., subsidiary, a leading manufacturer of municipal combination catch basin/sewer cleaning vacuum trucks. Previously, he served in positions of increasing responsibility in operations with Tecumseh Products Company, a leading global manufacturer of compressors and related products.

From an article by Pete Bach in the Green Bay Press Gazette:APPLETON — The Boldt Company announced Tuesday it will provide all construction services for We Energies’ new 50 megawatt biomass cogeneration plant at the Domtar Corp. paper mill in Rothsch…

A bipartisan group of Illinois legislators attended a panel session on the state’s energy issues this week, an event that provided an opportunity to discuss how wind and other energy sources have the potential to create jobs and foster economic development in the state.

Sponsored by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce’s Energy Council, the panel featured officials with Acciona, Exelon, Constellation, the Environmental Law & Policy Center and several others. According to the Chamber, “the focus of the forum was to have an open discussion with energy, environment and government leaders about what’s real and what’s fantasy when it comes to keeping and creating jobs in Illinois’ energy sector-and what can be done in Springfield to bring more energy jobs to our state.”

The Illinois Channel covered the event, and video should be posted soon. The Chamber also screened the video below, which provides a great general overview of Illinois overall energy portfolio: