In my past couple blog posts, I've written about the electric car market and inventor Nikola Tesla, but I'd be remiss if I didn't take a moment to talk about Telsa Motors and the very big waves the company has been making lately.
Tesla is having a very, very good May so far. Stock prices raised eyebrows on Wall Street, the company turned its first profit, and its first quarter sales have exceeded those of luxury competitors Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Audi.
The cars are not only seen as high-tech and cool, but increasingly they're also viewed as being a smart buy. Personal finance guru Clark Howard owns a Tesla car (he switched from a Nissan Leaf), and Consumer Reports gave the Tesla Model S a near-perfect score, calling it one of the finest cars made since 2007. To be widely accepted by prospective car buyers, electric cars must be seen as practical and reliable to justify their price tags.
So while stock prices might go up and down, the embrace of a magazine like Consumer Reports could be invaluable to Tesla — even more meaningful to the accolades given by Automobile Magazine and Motor Trend in 2012.
By Consumer Reports' math, owning a Tesla is like traveling back to the days when you could buy gas for $1.20 per gallon. The company itself, on its website, touts their vehicle's reasonable cost of ownership. Still, the vehicles themselves remain undeniably expensive (the Model S has a base price of about $62,000), and consumers that don't live in areas with plentiful charging stations still have justifiable concerns about range — even if the cars can take you more than 200 miles per charge, handily beating out other plug-ins that are limited to 75 to 80 miles per charge.
Elon Musk, Telsa's founder and probably the closest thing the planet
has to a real-life Tony Stark (the alter ego of Iron Man), is a tech guy first
and foremost. Not only did his space travel company SpaceX become the first privately funded company to send a cargo payload to the International Space Station, but Musk's renewable energy company SolarCity is also projecting growth. Going further back, he became a multimillionaire by selling his start-up company PayPal to online auction site EBay for $1.5 billion.
Given that Musk has sold his ideas at top dollar before, there have been rumblings that he might sell off Tesla to a cash-rich, tech-savvy company looking to get into the electric vehicle industry — perhaps even Apple, Inc. Musk, however, says he began Tesla with the goal of mass-marketing an electric car that is affordable. He adds that he will not step away from Tesla until this goal is reached.
What could be limiting factors in Tesla's rise? The loss of government subsidies is one and manufacturing capacity is another. Tesla benefits from manufacturing credits (state and federal) that give breaks to manufacturers of vehicles that produce zero emissions. Should these subsidies and tax breaks be cut or eliminated, Tesla's bottom line would suffer, and the now-soaring stock prices that were fueled by said profitability would likely fall as well.
Furthermore, there's the potential problem of production constraints. According to reports, Tesla is capable of rolling out about 400 cars per week. At this rate, demand is likely to outstrip supply. Now, this might actually be good for a company that markets its products as "cool" and "exclusive," but I don't think Musk has any interest in building EVs just for the super-rich. To succeed in his goal of making the "Model T of electric cars," he'll have to boost his production capacity at some point.
I remember when the Prius had a similar problem. People wanted them, but weren't able to buy them. There were waiting lists for the first couple generations of Prius hybrids, and I think the same thing happened with the Honda Insight. Then again, Tesla is a different kind of company than Toyota or Honda. Everything operates on a much smaller scale.
There is one more thing that could cause trouble for Tesla and other electric vehicle makers in the long term. What if the EV charging infrastructure simply doesn't materialize? Range anxiety remains a problem for people who are the target audience for buying this sort of vehicle, and it is a real problem. As is always the problem in the electricity delivery industry — somebody's got to pay for it.
For the time being, though, there are apparently a lot of people who are willing to pay for an electric car — enough for one company to beat the odds and stand out in a field that has seen so many recent bankruptcies and disappointing sales figures. That alone makes what is happening at Tesla Motors pretty big news, and for the moment at least the electric vehicle market's lone success story.
Showing posts with label green energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green energy. Show all posts
Monday, May 13, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
10 facts about Obama's new head of the DOE
After a lot of speculation, the official announcement has been made. Ernest Moniz will be President Barack Obama's main man at the Department of Energy pending approval by the Senate. Here are 10 things worth knowing about Moniz, who will run the DOE during Obama's second term.
1. Moniz is a nuclear physicist by training, and an advocate for the safe use of nuclear power as an energy source. In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Moniz said it would be a mistake not to pursue a nuclear friendly energy policy in the U.S.
2. Obama is the second president Moniz has worked for. Moniz was President Bill Clinton's undersecretary of the DOE from 1997 to 2001. He also served as an associate director for science in Clinton's Office of Science and Technology Policy.
3. Moniz has a "wait and see" approach to new techniques in natural gas extraction, like "frakking." He says the risks of such techniques are challenging, but manageable. He has also referred to natural gas as a "bridge" fuel that can take the country to a future low-carbon energy portfolio (i.e. Away from coal).
4. Among the issues Moniz has handled at the DOE are: Oversight of science and energy policy, nuclear weapons proliferation and stockpile stewardship, nuclear fuel cycles (including waste disposal) and solar energy in a low-carbon world.
5. In a Washington Post story about carbon capture and storage, Moniz was quoted as saying in 2009 that there is no credible pathway to meeting greenhouse gas reduction targets without cutting carbon dioxide from existing coal-fired power plants.
6. As director of MIT's Energy Initiative, Moniz has some financial ties to the energy industry via the research group's $125 million in donations from the oil and gas industry since 2006, according to reports. Founding members of the organization include BP, Saudi Aramco and Shell.
7. Unlike his predecessor Steven Chu, Moniz will probably have less funding to work with. Chu's tenure at the DOE was marked by the early passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which significantly expanded the department's operating budget.
8. Moniz's grandparents were immigrants to the U.S. who came from the Azores, an archipelago that is an autonomous region of Portugal. He grew up speaking some Portuguese.
9. Moniz serves in Chu's Blue Ribbon Commission on nuclear energy's future, which was tasked with finding new solutions for storing and disposing of nuclear waste. Moniz advocated transferring spent nuclear fuel from pools to dry casks.
10. On solar power, Moniz said he is "bullish," adding, "It just has so many features, including the fact that even though it's intermittent, at least it tends to be on when you want it." He adds, however, that fossil fuels like oil and gas will remain at the forefront of the world's energy picture for the foreseeable future.
1. Moniz is a nuclear physicist by training, and an advocate for the safe use of nuclear power as an energy source. In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, Moniz said it would be a mistake not to pursue a nuclear friendly energy policy in the U.S.
2. Obama is the second president Moniz has worked for. Moniz was President Bill Clinton's undersecretary of the DOE from 1997 to 2001. He also served as an associate director for science in Clinton's Office of Science and Technology Policy.
3. Moniz has a "wait and see" approach to new techniques in natural gas extraction, like "frakking." He says the risks of such techniques are challenging, but manageable. He has also referred to natural gas as a "bridge" fuel that can take the country to a future low-carbon energy portfolio (i.e. Away from coal).
4. Among the issues Moniz has handled at the DOE are: Oversight of science and energy policy, nuclear weapons proliferation and stockpile stewardship, nuclear fuel cycles (including waste disposal) and solar energy in a low-carbon world.
5. In a Washington Post story about carbon capture and storage, Moniz was quoted as saying in 2009 that there is no credible pathway to meeting greenhouse gas reduction targets without cutting carbon dioxide from existing coal-fired power plants.
6. As director of MIT's Energy Initiative, Moniz has some financial ties to the energy industry via the research group's $125 million in donations from the oil and gas industry since 2006, according to reports. Founding members of the organization include BP, Saudi Aramco and Shell.
7. Unlike his predecessor Steven Chu, Moniz will probably have less funding to work with. Chu's tenure at the DOE was marked by the early passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which significantly expanded the department's operating budget.
8. Moniz's grandparents were immigrants to the U.S. who came from the Azores, an archipelago that is an autonomous region of Portugal. He grew up speaking some Portuguese.
9. Moniz serves in Chu's Blue Ribbon Commission on nuclear energy's future, which was tasked with finding new solutions for storing and disposing of nuclear waste. Moniz advocated transferring spent nuclear fuel from pools to dry casks.
10. On solar power, Moniz said he is "bullish," adding, "It just has so many features, including the fact that even though it's intermittent, at least it tends to be on when you want it." He adds, however, that fossil fuels like oil and gas will remain at the forefront of the world's energy picture for the foreseeable future.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
The Year of Energy Efficiency
In the holiday classic, "The Year Without a Santa Claus," Santa has a nasty cold and decides to take Christmas off. Today, it seems Florida utility FPL would be more than willing to step into Santa's vacant shoes with their press release on suggested energy efficiency "presents." Even without a Santa Claus, the gifts will abound, it appears.
FPL says to stock up the holidays with energy-star labeled products, solar-powered technology, LED televisions, surge strips and rechargeable batteries, compact fluorescents and low-flow showerheads, and "human-powered" products like shake flashlights and wind-up radios.
I think they are stretching for that last one as far as an energy efficient gift goes, but they're in Florida. Those are practical items in a hurricane. We'll just let it slide.
Even before FPL's holly-jolly-low-flow Christmas tidings, energy efficiency seemed the topic on everyone's lips. Autovation was largely about energy efficiency, from LEDs to energy management systems. Gridweek even covered efficiency more heavily than usual. There were articles on it, blogs on it, conferences around it, conferences adapted to it (just see the line-up for CES 2010 to get an eye for how even consumer conferences are changing to push the idea).
And there is practicality in efficiency. It doesn't require anyone to build more plants, add more power. It's about getting more from what you have on hand. But, as anyone surviving the recession understands, sometimes squeezing more from less creates a certain law of diminishing returns.
I'm interested in the marketing around energy efficiency, really. Granted, products like energy displays, etc., can build on the foundation of saving while promoting a certain amount of spending, but that can only reach so far before we start to figure out that we're forking out a lot of cash to slice tiny nickels and dimes off our energy bills. I often wonder: Where's the tipping point? At what spot in the process will the average consumer say, "Nah. This is just silly."
I know where my tipping point is: Despite the encouragement of FPL, anyone who buys me a low-flow showerhead for Christmas will get a lump of coal in return. A girl with lots o' hair cannot possibly get shampoo out of it with the trickle-and-spit low-flow method. So, Santa ... or FPL ... please, nothing low-flow for me. If that makes me bad, so be it. Put me on the energy efficiency naughty list. I can take it.
FPL says to stock up the holidays with energy-star labeled products, solar-powered technology, LED televisions, surge strips and rechargeable batteries, compact fluorescents and low-flow showerheads, and "human-powered" products like shake flashlights and wind-up radios.
I think they are stretching for that last one as far as an energy efficient gift goes, but they're in Florida. Those are practical items in a hurricane. We'll just let it slide.
Even before FPL's holly-jolly-low-flow Christmas tidings, energy efficiency seemed the topic on everyone's lips. Autovation was largely about energy efficiency, from LEDs to energy management systems. Gridweek even covered efficiency more heavily than usual. There were articles on it, blogs on it, conferences around it, conferences adapted to it (just see the line-up for CES 2010 to get an eye for how even consumer conferences are changing to push the idea).
And there is practicality in efficiency. It doesn't require anyone to build more plants, add more power. It's about getting more from what you have on hand. But, as anyone surviving the recession understands, sometimes squeezing more from less creates a certain law of diminishing returns.
I'm interested in the marketing around energy efficiency, really. Granted, products like energy displays, etc., can build on the foundation of saving while promoting a certain amount of spending, but that can only reach so far before we start to figure out that we're forking out a lot of cash to slice tiny nickels and dimes off our energy bills. I often wonder: Where's the tipping point? At what spot in the process will the average consumer say, "Nah. This is just silly."
I know where my tipping point is: Despite the encouragement of FPL, anyone who buys me a low-flow showerhead for Christmas will get a lump of coal in return. A girl with lots o' hair cannot possibly get shampoo out of it with the trickle-and-spit low-flow method. So, Santa ... or FPL ... please, nothing low-flow for me. If that makes me bad, so be it. Put me on the energy efficiency naughty list. I can take it.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
FROM THE ARCHIVES: An Anniversary to Remember
I grew up in Kansas, land of the waving wheat. In all my years as a farm kid, I got used to a lot of oddities: how the fields around my house in the summer time used to make my cousins from the South seasick watching the breezes blow through the bendable stalks, how the old farmer down the street---meaning about five miles away---would move hay bales the size of our house completely by himself with his equally old tractor, and how the sky turned just a certain shade of gray-green when a tornado was headed your way.
Tornados are, in fact, something you get rather used to in Kansas. Sirens and battery-powered radios and discussions about how to cover yourself with a twin mattress while cowering in a bathtub are rather common things in Kansas in the springtime. And, while we all got used to being prepared and being vigilant, we never got used to one thing---the incredible destruction.
I was thinking about all of this today because it’s a particular anniversary: two years since a tornado took out the small Kansas town of Greensburg. The whole town. Completely and utterly flattened; 90% of it destroyed.
Before the tornado, I doubt anyone really knew much about Greensburg, Kansas. A small community in the flat flow of the Western plains, its major claim to fame before the tornado was the world’s largest hand-dug well.
These days, its major claim to fame is new and thoroughly modern: the city of Greensburg is rebuilding itself “green.” The long-term community recovery plan established a sustainable development resource office with building programs that awarded “Greensburg Green” certifications. The city set about finding energy alternatives, including renewables. And they started a grant and loan program for both residences and businesses.
You can check out all that Greensburg is doing at their “Greensburg GreenTown” website. (Just click here.) Greensburg GreenTown is a Kansas-based nonprofit organization established to be “a model of sustainable living for the world.” Their projects include solar panels, silo eco-homes, wind farms and energy efficiency. But, the city is making no sacrifices to do so. In fact, they feel these changes bring a lot of positives to their old town. (Last Thursday, as part of the anniversary festivities and to have a bit of educational fun, the residents dropped a car on top of the silo eco-home. Dropped from a crane with 180,000 pounds of force, the car didn’t make a dent in the structure. The company that built the home wanted to show how much force it can stand up to---even tornado-level force, which has been known to toss a car or two.)
Assisted by FEMA and the State of Kansas, Greensburg notes in the opening pages of the community recovery plan that they have been “blessed with a unique opportunity to create a strong community devoted to family, fostering businesses,working together for future growth.” Rather than seeing the tornado’s destruction as completely negative, the town has grown to see starting over as a chance to make a town that’s smarter, greener, more efficient and healthier for its populous.
As a Kansas farm kid, I have to say, I am impressed that this small, rural community is taking on this unique opportunity to become a shining example of sustainable energy and construction.
Tornados are, in fact, something you get rather used to in Kansas. Sirens and battery-powered radios and discussions about how to cover yourself with a twin mattress while cowering in a bathtub are rather common things in Kansas in the springtime. And, while we all got used to being prepared and being vigilant, we never got used to one thing---the incredible destruction.
I was thinking about all of this today because it’s a particular anniversary: two years since a tornado took out the small Kansas town of Greensburg. The whole town. Completely and utterly flattened; 90% of it destroyed.
Before the tornado, I doubt anyone really knew much about Greensburg, Kansas. A small community in the flat flow of the Western plains, its major claim to fame before the tornado was the world’s largest hand-dug well.
These days, its major claim to fame is new and thoroughly modern: the city of Greensburg is rebuilding itself “green.” The long-term community recovery plan established a sustainable development resource office with building programs that awarded “Greensburg Green” certifications. The city set about finding energy alternatives, including renewables. And they started a grant and loan program for both residences and businesses.
You can check out all that Greensburg is doing at their “Greensburg GreenTown” website. (Just click here.) Greensburg GreenTown is a Kansas-based nonprofit organization established to be “a model of sustainable living for the world.” Their projects include solar panels, silo eco-homes, wind farms and energy efficiency. But, the city is making no sacrifices to do so. In fact, they feel these changes bring a lot of positives to their old town. (Last Thursday, as part of the anniversary festivities and to have a bit of educational fun, the residents dropped a car on top of the silo eco-home. Dropped from a crane with 180,000 pounds of force, the car didn’t make a dent in the structure. The company that built the home wanted to show how much force it can stand up to---even tornado-level force, which has been known to toss a car or two.)
Assisted by FEMA and the State of Kansas, Greensburg notes in the opening pages of the community recovery plan that they have been “blessed with a unique opportunity to create a strong community devoted to family, fostering businesses,working together for future growth.” Rather than seeing the tornado’s destruction as completely negative, the town has grown to see starting over as a chance to make a town that’s smarter, greener, more efficient and healthier for its populous.
As a Kansas farm kid, I have to say, I am impressed that this small, rural community is taking on this unique opportunity to become a shining example of sustainable energy and construction.
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