Nice interview with Bill Gates on energy and the environment---He even uses the term Opportunity Costs...NICE!!!

In a discussion on energy, Mr Gates invokes the important economic term "Opportunity Cost". He uses it terms of using land to produce food for either human consumption or energy production.  Trying to solve one problem (clean energy) creates unintended consequences (well, dead people from starvation/malnutrition).  I encourage you to read the whole interview (rather short).  He has some good insights and touches on many behavorial economic concepts as well the state of alternative energy on a macro and micro level. 

Q&A: Bill Gates on the World Energy Crisis

Anderson: When you look at the big picture, where should we be focusing besides nuclear? On massive solar plants in the desert? On middle-size stuff for office roofs? Or is there a reinvention that could be done right in the home?

Gates: If you’re going for cuteness, the stuff in the home is the place to go. It’s really kind of cool to have solar panels on your roof. But if you’re really interested in the energy problem, it’s those big things in the desert.

Rich countries can afford to overpay for things. We can afford to overpay for medicine, we can overpay for energy, we can rig our food prices and overpay for cotton. But in the world where 80 percent of Earth’s population lives, energy is going to be bought where it’s economical. People are going to buy cheap fertilizer so they can grow enough crops to feed themselves, which will be increasingly difficult with climate change.

You have to help the rest of the world get energy at a reasonable price to get anywhere. It’s great to have the rich world, because we’re there to think about long-term problems and fund the R&D. But we get sloppy, because we’re rich. For example, despite often-heard claims to the contrary, ethanol has nothing to do with reducing CO₂; it’s just a form of farm subsidy. If you’re using first-class land for biofuels, then you’re competing with the growing of food. And so you’re actually spiking food prices by moving energy production into agriculture. For rich people, this is OK. For poor people, this is a real problem, because their food budget is an extremely high percentage of their income. As we’re pushing these things, poor people are driven from having adequate food to not having adequate food.

The most interesting biofuel efforts avoid using land that’s expensive and has high opportunity costs. They do this by getting onto other types of land, or taking advantage of byproducts that aren’t used in the food chain today, or by intercropping....""

The whole article is HERE...

Creating "Solar Entrepreneurs" in rural areas in developing countries...Solve a local problem that has global implications AND give someone an entreprenuerial opportunity...Does it get any better than that?

I love the concept of Social Enterprise--Equipping people in developing countries with the training,tools and capital to SELL (not give away) a product and/or service that solves a local problem. Solve a problem, fill a need (or want) and create a job--free enterprise at its finest.  Here is one I just stumbled upon. Selling easy to use solar power technology in rural Africa through a network of "Solar Entrepreneurs".  The focus in on training and equipping women to sell to women in remote villages. If you are young, ambitious and want to help people to help themselves, than working for or establishing your own social enterprise of some sort may be for you. I urge you to check this one out.

Solar Sister wants to light up rural Africa: Rugged, intuitive to use, affordable solar lamps that women can sell door-to-door change lives.

""Solar Sister eradicates energy poverty by empowering women with economic opportunity. We combine the breakthrough potential of solar technology with a deliberately woman-centered direct sales network to bring light, hope and opportunity to even the most remote communities in rural Africa (see flow chart below)

Investing in women is not only the right thing to do, it is the smart thing to do. Solar Sister creates sustainable businesses, powered by smart investment in women entrepreneurs. When you invest in a woman, you invest in the future. Join us by making an investment in a Solar Sister Entrepreneur today.""....Read more HERE at SolarSister.org...

Solar power---It has to be the primary energy source of the future, doesn't it?

Perhaps I am stubborn and/or naive, but I believe solar power is the ONLY way to go when seeking an alternative energy source to power our economy in the future. It will never diminish or go away. Well, it WILL go away eventually, but then so will we along with it, so I will make the claim anyway.  It will not happen now, or even in 50 years, but it has to happen eventually.  My hope is that its development follows the trajectory of computer technology.. We have all seen (and some of us lived through) the time when computers did very simple calculations but took up a roomful of very inefficient and expensive computers. The advent of the micro-computer chip change everything. We see the same thing with solar--those large, odd-shaped solar panels that power a small one-man vehicle at very low speeds (see article below), analogous to the early computers.  What is going to be the micro-chip equivalent that will do the same thing for solar?  Is it even possible? Hey, if you are not going to major in Economics, I think this would be an worthy endeavor---are you up to it?

Solar car speed record smashed

“We're really on the edge of energy efficiency,” said project manager Daniel Friedman, whose team managed to convert 98% of power from solar panels into kinetic energy. The record run used only 1050 watts of power, similar to that used by a toaster...."

White House to NOT install Solar Panels---My opinion--INSTALL THEM and ignore the critics!!

     I believe solar energy is going to be a vital component to servicing our current and future energy needs and will contribute significantly to a much needed positive Aggregate Supply shock.   By  a positive Aggregate Supply shock, I mean the advancements in solar will be so significant that widespread adoption will across the board decrease the cost of producing for producers--decreasing the cost of producing provides an incentive to produce more.  Produce more goods and more workers will be needed for the production of those goods (so says the economic logic).  Producing more goods then promotes spinoff subsitute and complementary goods--so on and so forth--we are off to the production races...That is REAL economic growth! The tangible and intangible residual benefits are a cleaner environment (a nod to the Lefties) AND less dependence on countries that rely on oil as its primary export (a nod to the Righties).  BOTH ideologies have a stake in this fight and and I don't understand (well actually I do understand) why the resistance from the Right and the timidity from the Left. 
   I don't get the Administrations decision to not install solar panels at/on the White House (Click HERE for article).  Seems a fear of not wanting to invite comparisons to the Carter Administrations has driven the decision, if not in its totality then at least partially.  Are we NOT past that yet? Considering that $80 billion , yes $80 billion, has been allocated in various forms of economic stimulus to renewable energy research, development and actual installation, seems it would be EXCELLENT leadership to outfit the White House with solar technology.  Most Americans are committed to the notion of developing alternative energy sources.  The use of the technology is widespread enough that I don't believe the average American would look askance at it.  I say install them!! What do you think?  Install the solar panels or not?  You have heard my spiel, let me hear your thoughts...