It’s inevitable. In comments to nearly every story about California’s drought, someone will rage that if Gov. Jerry Brown really wanted to do something to save water, he’d put an end to fracking in the state. This line of thinking was highlighted on social media recently when the Sierra Club tweeted a link to a… Keep reading →
Among the most urgent concerns for the future is to have enough water to sustain a human population projected to reach 9.6 billion people by 2050.[1] The UN Millennium Development Goals recognize that access to water and sanitation is essential to economic development and poverty alleviation.[2] However, global consumption patterns indicate that we are becoming… Keep reading →
In a recent report titled “Produced Water: Asset or Waste?” – part of the Atlantic Council’s Energy and Water Nexus Initiative series – Blythe Lyons, Nonresident Senior Fellow (Energy and Environment Program), addresses water-related issues – in particular the treatment of ‘produced water’- in US oil and gas production as well as concomitant sustainable water… Keep reading →
This piece is short on details, but reports scientists have found a way to do gas-to-liquids on the high seas at a cost of around $3 to $6 per gallon. “For us in the military, in the Navy, we have some pretty unusual and different kinds of challenges,” said Cullom. “We don’t necessarily go to… Keep reading →
In his January 23 State of the Union address, President Obama emphatically pointed out that it was public research dollars that helped develop the technologies to extract natural gas from shale rock, “reminding us that government support is critical in helping businesses get new energy ideas off the ground.”
Presumably, the President also understands that it is a two-way street. While public investment has created mutually beneficial opportunities for private companies, private companies should closely partner with the public sector whenever opportunities for their participation present themselves. Keep reading →
A new model of venture capital investing is emerging in the clean tech sector, moving away from subsidies and traditional investor exit strategies to a focus on intellectual property value and partnerships.
“It is the case that the venture model of entering and exiting in two to three years doesn’t work in [clean tech] and it never has,” Flagship Ventures CEO and Managing Partner Noubar Afeyan told Breaking Energy recently. “Investors were looking for a formulaic path to making money, but it is IP value and partnerships that both validates the underlying business and provides a liquidity proxy for a possible exit.” Keep reading →
