Time Flies
July 21, 2008

It’s already July 20th.  The summer sun is bearing down on Providence, and as I spend my days working on my various projects, cycling and trying to stay cool, I am continually amazed by how fast the days, weeks, months and even years seem to be going by.  It feels like it was just January and I was celebrating the New Year.  Half a year has gone by seemingly in the blink of an eye.  Each day I awake, go about my business, and before I know it I am preparing for bed.  Never before have I been so busy and active; perhaps that accounts for the speed with which life seems to be moving along.

But something else is happening as well.  It’s almost as though I’ve entered a new phase in my life.  I am moving into adulthood.  My sense of time is different.  I am aware of my age, the age of others, and the entire arc of time that takes one from childhood to adulthood to old age and then death.  That is not meant to be depressing–it’s just that I am becoming more cognizant of the way time flows.  I never used to think about these things– the age of my parents, my own age, the passage of time–but now those things are always on my mind.

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Musings

My Challenge to America: Don’t Ignore Gore’s Speech
July 20, 2008

I wrote this article for the Huffington Post.  The article can be seen in its original context here



Last Thursday Al Gore gave a speech, the full text of which can be read here, that challenged America to “to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.” It was a speech that should have inspired and excited Americans of all walks of life at least as much as, if not more than, President Kennedy’s famous speech calling on America to put a man on the moon within a decade. Instead, Mr. Gore’s idea has been met with a chorus of criticism, with the naysayers claiming that it would be too costly, too impractical, and too risky to attempt to meet such a goal.

Apollo and Gore’s “Moon Shot”–A Flawed Comparison

The comparisons between America’s mission to the moon and Gore’s “moon shot” proposal, while useful, are flawed.  Both represent great challenges, yet it must be remembered that in 1961 we did not possess the technology to get to the moon; we do, however, have the technology to achieve 100% renewable energy.  But perhaps more importantly, although the Apollo program was great for national pride and beating the Soviet Union, it was by no means essential to our nation.  Switching to renewable energy, on the other hand, can not only dramatically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, it can also help us regain our stature in the world, create jobs, rein in unpredictable energy costs, lower health care costs, get us off foreign oil (provided we also electrify our transportation system) and force American companies to innovate in ways that will be good for them and good for America.

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environment  / featured  / Huffington Post  / Renewable Energy  / TreeHugger Job

Al Gore Gives Electrifying Speech, Calls for 100% Renewable Electricity Within 10 Years
July 18, 2008

Gore Gives an Electrifying Speech

Yesterday Al Gore gave an electrifying speech (the full text of which can be read here) that challenged America “to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.” That’s right: no “reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050” or “generate 10% of electricity from renewables by 2020.” Rather, Gore issued a challenge that both captures the enormity of the challenges we face and forces us–all Americans–to devote our passion, creativity and genius toward creating a healthy, clean, and just America.  Of course, meeting the challenge will require not only that the government provide strong incentives for renewable energy, it will also entail getting all sectors of the economy to radically change how they think about, procure and use energy.  And while we already have all the technology we need to produce 100% of our electricity from renewable energy, we lack the transmission lines, control systems and policies that will be needed to make that a reality.  Old jobs will be lost, and hundreds of thousands of new ones will be created.  Where once rooftops contributed to the urban heat island effect and nothing else, solar panels will silently, poetically convert solar energy into electricity; off-shore and on-shore wind turbines will sprout up to harvest the breeze and, in the process, protect land by making it more valuable; in short, the impacts of shifting to 100% renewable electricity in a decade will be far-reaching, all-encompassing and deeply transformative.

Can Americans still think big?

The only question now is, have Americans lost their ability to think big and boldly?  Have 8 years of the Bush Administration made us so complacent that we no longer believe in our ability to meet great challenges?  I for one can say that as a young American, I am extremely excited and inspired by Gore’s challenge.  I want to devote my energy to renewable energy, peace and prosperity.  Just as Obama’s campaign has made so many Americans–young and old–feel hopeful about the country, Gore’s speech makes me feel hopeful and excited about the future of the world.  There are simply too many exciting trends going on for us to sit back and feel there is nothing to be done about climate change, poverty and pollution.

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environment  / Renewable Energy

Cyclists, Motorists and the Law
July 16, 2008

Note: I write four articles a week for TreeHugger.com.  I will occasionally post them here.  You can read this article in its original context here

Caught at a Red Light

Last night I was biking home from the movie theater when I got caught at one of those red lights that cyclists dread. If you are a cyclist, you know the situation: you’re on a small road and need to turn onto a larger road. Unfortunately, the light only changes if a car trips a sensor under the road. Your options now are limited: you can either run the light, wait for a car to trip the sensor, or climb off your bike and push the cross-walk signal (if there is one.) Well, at first I waited for a car to come, to no avail. Nor did the street have a cross-walk signal. My only option was to run the light, but as a law abiding cyclist, I wasn’t terribly excited about the idea. One of my biggest pet peeves is seeing cyclists running lights and stop signs, riding on the wrong side of the road, etc. After all, while motorists often don’t seem to know how to share the road and put others in danger, cyclists greatly damage their image by not obeying the laws of the road.

A Bicycle is Not A Car

I ended up running the light after making sure there were no cars in the vicinity, but that’s not the point. I tell this story because it got me thinking about the fact that while cyclists have the same rights–and responsibilities–as motorists, a bicycle is NOT a car, and perhaps shouldn’t be treated as such. (Of course, I believe a bicycle can do everything a car can!) Conversely, if we are to really view bicycles in the same way as cars, at a a minimum from a legal perspective, then we have done a pitiful job of providing the requisite education and infrastructure to make that a reality.

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TreeHugger Job

Micro-Credit, Major Impact
July 15, 2008

Among my numerous ongoing projects (which include my masters thesis and starting a company) I’m also working with several Brown students to create a student-run micro-credit program in Providence, Rhode Island.  Initially, I had the idea to do something like this around 5 months ago when I read Muhammad Yunus’ autobiography Banker to the Poor.  Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for founding the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh 30 years ago, and bringing micro-credit to the fore as a means of addressing poverty.  After I read his book, I began researching the possibility of starting a similar initiative locally. 

Micro-Credit Serves a Need

Basically, the idea behind micro-credit is that the world’s poorest individuals are often, by necessity, also the world’s most entrepreneurial people. In order to survive they have to find creative ways to create and sell goods or services.  What they lack, then, is not energy or ideas, but rather access to capital.  As a result, they are forced to rely on loan sharks who charge them exorbitant interest rates, keeping them in perpetual poverty no matter how successful their business is.  And of course traditional banks don’t bother providing loans to the poor, both because they view them as an unacceptable credit risk and because the transaction costs of dealing with loans as small as $10 USD are too high for them.

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brown  / micro credit

Tortillas, Ethanol, and High Fructose Corn Syrup
July 14, 2008

Note: Every Sunday I write an op-ed article for the Huffington Post.  You can see this article in its original context here

A recent leaked report from the World Bank, stating that 75% of the increase in world food prices is due to biofuels, has served to reignite the food vs. fuel debate. In particular, many are outraged that even as food prices rise corn continues to be used for ethanol rather than tortillas. However, what is lost in all the biofuel controversy is the fact that tremendous amounts of land are devoted neither to fuel nor nutritive food, but rather to non-nutritive uses like tobacco, high fructose corn syrup and cane sugar.

Blame Meat and High Fructose Corn Syrup

The fact of the matter is that if we are really concerned about rising food prices and endemic hunger/poverty, then we’ll have to do more than question the biofuel mandates in the United States and the European Union. In truth, we’ll have to call into question much of our agricultural system. For instance, we might ask the world’s billion or so wealthy citizens to curtail meat consumption, which is not only responsible for 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions, but also uses tremendous amounts of land, water and food–all of which could be devoted to staple crops that the poor need to survive. Or, we might take a second look at the amount of corn that is used for high fructose corn syrup, which does little more than contribute to the American obesity epidemic.

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Huffington Post  / TreeHugger Job

Before Fall Comes
July 11, 2008

Before fall comes and ousts the regime of heat,
The leaves drop to the earth in protest, their fibrous
Veins intercepting the morse code of sunlight;
It’s time for a change.

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poetry

Residential Wind Installations on the Rise, Some Barriers Remain
July 11, 2008

I recently discussed the fact that renewable energy projects are becoming increasingly large and centralized, a trend that has led some to fear that the “residential revolution” of small-scale wind and solar in every home would never come to pass.  But now, thanks to “reductions in their size and cost, along with improvements in efficiency,” sales of small wind turbines “have been growing steadily since 1990.” 7,000 small turbines (classified as producing no more than 100 kilowatts) were sold last year, a number that is expected to reach 10,000 this year. These turbines are typically rated at between 2 and 10 kilowatts, are from 33 to 100 feet in hight, and range in cost from $12,000 to $55,000.  (For comparison, large wind turbines are rated at up to 3 megawatts, or 3,000 kilowatts, and stand up to 300 feet tall).

Several Factors Behind the Trend

Several factors are driving the increase in sales.  Concern about climate change and energy costs are certainly important, especially considering that “a 10-kilowatt turbine in an area with an average wind speed of 12 miles per hour can lead to a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions equivalent to removing 1.3 cars from the road.” But perhaps the most compelling reason to “go wind” has to do with the economics. 23 states in the U.S. offer net metering, which means that if your wind turbine generates more power than you use, then your meter will actually spin backward as you sell that power back into the grid.  Additionally, Congress is considering a measure that “would offer a 30 percent federal tax credit on turbine purchases” capped at $4,000.  That same federal tax credit is already being offered to residential solar installations.  Lastly, various state incentives can further sweeten the deal.

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environment  / News  / Renewable Energy

Small Is Beautiful. . .Right?
July 11, 2008

image

Large scale solar collectors such as this 100,000 square foot array are becoming Increasingly commonplace in the desert

In 1973, a collection of essays titled Small is Beautiful: Economics As if People Mattered, was published by the British economist E.F. Schumacher.  In it, Schumacher argued that our economies had become “too big and too centralized,” defined by dehumanization, mechanization and unsustainable growth.  Instead, Schumacher proposed what he called “Buddhist Economics,” which stressed the importance of decentralization for creating dignified, just and meaningful interactions between people and their work, environment, and the larger world.

Renewable Energy=Global Village?

I bring up Small in Beautiful because one of the most enticing features of renewable energy is its potential for realizing Schumacher’s vision of a global economy that functions at the level of the village. Because new forms of energy production-wind, solar, methane capture-are productive rather than extractive, and local rather than global, they can sustainably support economies that function on a human scale.  When combined with new methods of communication and collaboration (namely, information technology and the open source revolution), a new era can be ushered in, an era defined by the concept of a ‘Global Village:’ powered by the sun, globally interconnected yet culturally, politically and geographically unique.  A global village is self-sufficient (to the extent possible), empowers individuals, and is free from the hegemony of large corporations and institutions. 

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environment  / philosophy  / Renewable Energy

Worried Wind Will Spoil the View? Float The Turbine Out to Sea!
July 11, 2008

image

There are several ways to deal with the opposition to off shore wind farms: litigation; legislation; proving economic benefits; or siting them only where opposition in minimal. So far, none of those methods have led to a single off-shore turbine being built in the United States. A combination of NIMBYism, red tape, and powerful lobbies have held up proposed wind farms off Cape Cod as well as the Rhode Island coast and elsewhere.  While I am frustrated that the world’s fastest growing source of energy isn’t being installed at breakneck speed in the U.S., I believe it is well worth the effort to continue pushing for more wind energy, offshore or otherwise.  However, alternatives do exist that bypass many of the problems associated with current wind projects.

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environment

  • About Me

    Andy Posner

    I am the Founder & CEO of Capital Good Fund, a nonprofit social venture seeking to tackle poverty through financial services. I am also a writer, poet, cyclist, and avid reader. Enjoy my blog!

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