Kevin Klustner has stepped down as CEO of Verdiem, the Seattle energy-efficiency company backed by KPCB and others. Verdiem's product is a tough sell. Will network power management catch on before thin clients/mobility/telecommuting/24-7 shiftwork make it irrelevant?

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A September 2008 study of 1,000 car shoppers reported some interesting findings. Apparently, many consumers think (incorrectly) that an energy shortage is a top environmental concern, the Volt is available for purchase, and a Chevy Tahoe is a "green" car.

58% were considering a more fuel-efficient vehicle for their next purchase. On average, they said they would be willing to spend up to $2,600 more on an environmentally friendly vehicle. The alternative-fuel technologies they most favored were hybrid engines, hydrogen fuel cells and natural gas vehicles.

58% who have already changed the type of vehicle they are planning to buy said they would not go back to their former vehicle, even if gas prices dropped to $1 a gallon. The same percentage of respondents said they had changed their driving habits.

60% were "extremely concerned" or "very concerned" about the environment, citing water and air pollution, global warming and energy shortages as their primary issues.

Here's the link:

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The CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund's announcement earlier this month -- that Matthew Lecar will henceforth manage the fund -- is good news for the cleantech industry.

Lecar combines Sand Hill investment savvy with energy industry expertise. That means entrepreneurs will meet an investor who understands the value of transformational clean energy innovations, and sees through those that aren't really.

"New Leadership at CalCEF Angel Fund Means New Opportunities for Cleantech Startups" (Energy Priorities)

THe Northeast and Northwest took steps this week toward carbon cap and trade.

Greenhouse gases went on sale Thursday as 10 Northeastern states held the nation's first auction of pollution credits aimed at curbing global warming.

"Carbon goes on the auction block in Northeast" (AP)

Tuesday, the Western Climate Initiative unveiled its final proposal for a market-based system to cap and reduce the region's global warming pollution.

"Putting a Cost on Carbon" (ClimateBiz)

Where does the WCI proposal go from here?

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Sustainable Industries Journal last month reported on the city's idea to reduce landfill construction waste: faster permits.

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In a blog post Tuesday, P-I "Strange Bedfellows" blogger Joel Connelly explained Puget Sound Energy's backing of a campaign to stop three WA counties from forming their own public utility districts.

"The utility has put $150,000 into creating "astroturf" citizen groups in Island, Skagit and Jefferson Counties, where initiatives on the ballot would create PUDs to take over electrical service."

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The Nuclear Energy Institute last year estimated the industry could lose more than 6,000 workers to attrition by the end of 2012. And almost 20,000 workers -- 35 percent of the nuclear workforce -- will retire by the end of 2012.

Now, if only we could retire the plants themselves in that time.

Article: Nuclear industry looking for a wave of new hires (AP)

Gov. Chris Gregoire agreed to let a few hundred state employees start working four-day weeks in an experiment to save energy.

Two small agencies will try the Monday-through-Thursday work week. Seven other agencies will try the idea on a smaller scale.

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In an op-ed in the New York Times, Philip Bobbitt and John C. Danforth pose several questions to both Barak Obama and John McCain. Related to energy:

Preface:

"Political instability in the Middle East underscores the need for Western energy security. At the same time, the Group of Eight has set a goal of bringing global carbon dioxide emissions down to half their 1990 level by 2050. Realistically, there is little chance of achieving this target, nor of achieving real energy security, without drastically new technologies."

Question:

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Susan Tyler, in her Seattle P-I column yesterday, "Palin doesn't speak for me," lists the differences between her and Sarah Palin.

"With all those differences, the manner in which we view energy needs and the environment may be the greatest of all. Palin, like most others of her party, wants to stop reliance on foreign oil. I think we should take the word 'foreign' out of the equation and stop relying on oil as a primary energy source. Palin is so eager to expand drilling across Alaska's North Slope that she claims there is not enough scientific evidence to show that polar bears are an endangered species (a finding that would seriously affect drilling plans)."

Will voters look deep enough to consider real issues, or is Palin's gender and Bush-like Western charicature enough to help deliver a victory?

An August 15, 2008 supplement to the Puget Sound Business Journal lists the "best places to work in Washington" and notes surprisingly few with green initiatives. I've included the page numbers below.

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Intellectual Ventures is talking up a new type of breeder reactor of its own invention.

The "traveling wave" reactor would run on a raw mineral (uranium, or possibly thorium) rather than on processed fuel.

Significance: Traveling wave reactors, if they work, could be fueled without making the same enriched radioactive materials used to make atomic bombs -- the very source of proliferation fears -- and could even use the waste byproducts of fuel processing for other, conventional reactors.

Downsides: This type of reactor would still produce tons of radioactive waste. (It would not run on nuclear plant waste.) Proven technologies are having a hard time getting approved almost anywhere in the Western world. A new technology will face hurdles that are orders of magnitude higher in countries that can afford the high initial costs of experimenting with it.

Target markets: Outside the US. -- Proponents say emerging countries could possibly fuel their economic growth with CO2-emissions-free nuclear energy, without worsening the nuclear weapons-proliferation problem.

The Big Question: Will now-nuclear nations help poorer ones dispose of the radioactive waste (and how), or will that be the developing country's problem?

Timeframe: Decades away.

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P-I Venture Blog writer John Cook attended a City Club luncheon last week in downtown Seattle. He blogged remarks of 4 panelists -- Propel's Rob Elam, V2Green's David Kaplan, Bionavitas's Andrei Guschin, and Silicon Energy's Gary Shaver.

Shaver noted that the U.S. long ago lost its solar lead to Germany, where he says consistent policies gave birth to a domestic solar industry. "For a little company like ours, this is a scary time," he told Cook, "and I really fear that we are going to lose this opportunity."

Germany is a great example of clean-tech leadership; yet in many ways, the United States is not Germany. We're more like a large EU.

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Michael Morris, chairman, president and chief executive of American Electric Power, which runs the nation's largest electrical transmission system, told the Associated Press he sees a dire situation ahead for the power grid, and the U.S. could eventually face power rationing.

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"The Marketers" are causing Nick Blosser considerable distress. He's turning to escapist TV and "green bull-- blogs" in his search for truth in advertising.

Nick includes some interesting stats from a study by the Natural Marketing Institute. Interesting, yet disconcerting for The Marketers. The study says that 70 percent of us agree that "when companies call a product 'green' (meaning better for the environment), it is usually just a marketing tactic."

In other words, green claims that are not credible are destroying the market value of actually doing the right thing. Companies might not do the right thing if they can't get a decent return on their investment. Meanwhile, we can't tell what color is under that thick, new coat of green marketing.

Will the FTC step in, or will Wal-Mart stop them?

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