Jeff Nolan's take on innovation, entrepreneurship, tech and stuff that interests me
As the U.S. moves to energy policy that emphasizes renewable energy development, we would be wise to consider the impacts on land use and agriculture policy as well as recognize that the relationship between state and federal governments cannot and should not be trampled in process.
My new column, Cleantech Counterpoint, on Gigaom’s Earth2Tech blog debuted today, with the first installment focusing on California’s AB32 carbon emissions law and a retrospective look at what is going on in Spain. I have, like many others, been fascinated with energy technology and agree with many of my peers that this is the next [...]
So the City of San Jose is distraught that Tesla pulled the plug on their planned factory in San Jose. Check out their math. Construction would mean 600 jobs and $40 million in wages, according to an analysis by city staff, and the facility ultimately would employ 525 people with an annual payroll exceeding $100 [...]
The good news is that solar is still growing at a pretty good clip, the bad news is that like almost every other durable good and infrastructure industry it is tied to pedantic factors like financing. I find it incredibly troubling that an entire industry is banking on increasing federal subsidies, on top of what [...]
I saw these today at Home Depot, solar powered attic ventilation fans. This is really smart for a couple of reasons, the first being the fact that heat built up in the typical house attic results in excessive AC usage in the summer as the attic heat keeps the house warm even with insulation. Ventilating [...]
Luxury car manufacturers are always trying to convince themselves that they are recession proof. It’s foolish. Let’s take a look at Ferrari, they sell an average of 600 new cars a month… in November they sold 92, laid off up to 300 employees and announced plans to idle their Maranello factory for 20 days in [...]
Facts are facts, it’s hard to avoid the reality that hydrocarbons are very efficient energy supplies. Given the choice between buying an expensive new technology electric vehicle that has serious range and “refueling” constraints, or a moderately expensive gas burning vehicle that is cleaner (ULEV or better), well I’d choose the latter. This is the [...]
Beware of people who claim that forcing a shift to renewable energy will result in an economic boom. The technology boom of the last 30 years did not come as a function of forced change but rather efficiencies and cost advantages that were self-evident. If you want renewables for reasons other than economics then great, [...]
Get ready for the new Congress and a dedicated push for cap-and-trade carbon emissions legislation. I’ll leave it to the comment section to debate the merits of the underlying problem that cap-and-trade attempts to address, but for me the big loser here are workers because for such a system to work the initial credits will [...]
It’s interesting to look at this one statement regarding Tesla’s finances, $9m in the bank after taking deposits on 1,200 orders. I picked a number at random, a number between the $4k and $60k deposit required when placing an order calculated that they have taken $20m in deposits, which means they have burned through half [...]