danno

10 Green Energy Stocks for 2009 - Q3 Performance Update

GE? GE?

Clean Energy makes up an minute fraction of GE's business. Do you really think that this will drive GE's stock? No way, no how.

Also why is the S&P 500 the benchmark here?

Black Swans and Greenwashing Solar and Wind

Guess what, there are Black Swan solutions in energy-efficiency and conservation, too. Don't forget that if you could reduce energy-consumption for buildings, etc. by 50%, that's a big impact. Still nothing beats pricing energy to reflect all its externalities (middle-east military costs included). If you want spur innovation and behavior (and raise some funding for it), then there's nothing like the price mechanism. The cost of gasoline, really is about $5/gallon when you start adding the costs of subsidies, environmental damage, patrolling the Persian Gulf (even before the was that was 50 cents/gallon), etc. Yup, a tax to do full-cost accounting is best. Does Amtrak lose money? That's a stupid question. Does I-95 lose money? Of course it does, and many times more than Amtrak does - and that's just to maintain it.

Vinod throws his money around on a lot of ventures some good, and some bad. He's just hoping to hit a home run with one of them. He's certainly not the most prescient VC in the cleantech arena by a long-shot.

He also seems to forget that while Black Swans are important, there's a lot to be said for a the combination of a many other solutions (they are not only additive, but often have an enabling effect on others. Lighter materials can not only lead to major breakthroughs in wind-turbine blades, but also lighter vehicles, and less energy-intensive processes to manufacture them, etc.