Category Archives: Cleantech


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This House is Prefab – Home Manufacturer building houses that recycle water and electricity

Method Cabin - Interior

The Method Cabin Model – Interior (Photo: Jamie Kosich Designs)

 

M2 | Method Homes

The house featured in the link above is made by Seattle company Method Homes, which specializes in manufactured houses that are LEED certified, and uses a process that is low waste.

Manufactured houses are not usually associated with greentech, but have long been favored by some buyers for their low costs.

But some small companies interesting in finding affordable ways to bring green building technology to large markets have turned to manufacturing homes.

The company recently debuted a series of house models at the

Method claims it can build a house 60% faster than traditional on-site construction methods allow, and that its process reduces the amount of waste normally generated in home manufacturing.

Starting at just above $200,000 for just the house alone (never mind the land on which it sits), Method Homes are not exactly bottom-dollar, but may be appealing to people who want a house with solar panels and a small footprint, without necessarily having to empty pockets or spend months or years learning the ins-and-outs of green construction.

The roof has photovoltaic solar panels which, according to an article posted in Inhabitat, provides the house with all of the energy it needs.

The house can run on the “energy of a hair dryer”, and builders went to further lengths to attain the net-zero energy rating.  This includes

“The building is highly insulated with R-48 ceiling insulation, R-33+ tapered foam roof insulation, and R-31 exterior wall insulation. A mini split HVAC system and energy recovery ventilator help further drive down energy consumption, while automated shading and a lutron radiora system help to provide greater control over energy usage.”

Even the wood that clads the outside of the house is “sustainably harvested” from forests in Washington not far from the company’s factory.

It appears the company has thought of everything in designing it.  Let’s see if they can actually sell it.


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Dumping China’s Solar Industry?

  1. Here is a Storify I built to breakdown the ongoing trade dispute between Chinese solar materials producers and solar materials manufacturers in the US and Europe.  
    For at least the last year, solar panel manufacturers in Europe and the United States have been complaining that Chinese companies are “dumping” solar panels on the European and American markets. What is dumping, what does it mean for the global solar panel industry, and what does it say about China’s economy?

  2. What is dumping?

    Simply put, dumping is selling a good or service below cost (i.e. at a loss).  European companies have been complaining that Chinese companies must be selling their products at a price below what it takes to make them, undercutting European producers and violating international trade agreements.

  3. German Solar Firm Blames Dumping

    Investors dumped shares in Solarworld AG Monday as Europe’s biggest solar-panel maker blamed its increasingly precarious financial positi…
    Wsj

  4. Why would a company dump a product and how are these companies managing it?

    The why is unclear, though the effect is clearly that a producer can take over an entire market in a other country by undercutting local producers and running them out of business.
    European companies are alleging that Chinese solar producers are leveraging generous loans and subsidies from Beijing to keep their companies afloat even as they lose money on the panels they are making.

  5. Who are the companies behind the complaints?

    There are coalitions of companies in both the U.S. and the EU, and both coalitions include a German solar panel firm Solarworld AG.  The company spearheaded the probe into Chinese companies accused of dumping in the European Union, and in the United States.  Solarworld’s stock has fallen 83% in the last year, and the company has had to scale back spending and production.  Other European companies are being affected, and many are saying they simply cannot compete.
    Europe is the world’s market for solar panels which may partly explain why the stakes are so high for European manufacturers.  Nevertheless, demand for solar panels is dropping in Germany, and the German government is reducing subsidies meant to support German manufacturers of panels.

  6. How are Chinese companies responding?

    Chinese companies and trade officials are upset at the probes and the resulting tariffs.  They contend that Chinese companies are not violating international trade agreements and that measures taken by Brussels and Washington have led to a glut of Chinese solar panels.

  7. China hits at EU solar panel dumping probe – FT.com

    Beijing has lashed out at the EU’s decision to launch a trade investigation into Chinese solar panels, calling the anti-dumping probe “re…
    Ft

  8. Chinese companies stand to dominate the global solar power industry?

    No, not at all.  Or, maybe, but not any time soon.
    First of all, much of the world’s polysilica–the materials used to make the wafers that make the panels-is itself made the United States.  Secondly, installation of panels is largely a local industry, and many American companies are actually seeing a surge in new orders for solar panel installations.  The availability of cheap Chinese solar panels actually seems to be fueling a boom in consumption, and many American companies that distribute and install panels are benefitting from increased business due to low import costs.

  9. Cheap Chinese Panels Fuel U.S. Solar Surge

    The solar-power business is expanding quickly in the U.S., though not from panel manufacturing. Instead, growth has come from installatio…
    Wsj
  10. Forbes.com Video Network | Fact And Comment: China Dumping Good For America
    Forbes

    Sun, Oct 21 2012 20:55:33

  11. Regardless of these bright spots, both the United States and the European Commission have begun to place tariffs on imports of Chinese solar panels.
  12. U.S. Sets Anti-Dumping Duties on China Solar Imports

    The U.S. Commerce Department set anti-dumping duties ranging from 18.32 percent to 249.96 percent on solar-energy cells imported from Chi…
    Bloomberg
  13. Chinese Solar-Panel Exporters Face Threat of EU Tariffs

    The European Union threatened to impose tariffs on solar panels from China in the biggest EU trade dispute of its kind, saying producers in Europe may be victims of unfair price undercutting. The EU opened a probe into whether Chinese manufacturers of solar panels sell them in the 27-nation bloc below cost, a practice known as dumping.
    Bloomberg
  14. The campaign by U.S. based solar panel manufacturers (and U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies) has most recently resulted in tariffs on Chinese solar panels in the United States, ad the threat of tariffs loom over China solar panels in Europe.

  15. Free lunch?

    Beijing does not exactly release financial statements to the U.S. Commerce Department, so it is tough to ascertain the financial value of the loans the government has been handing to Chinese solar companies.  If Chinese solar companies are not making any money–due to falling demand, excess supply, or underselling the product, then this could spell trouble not only for solar panels, but for the Chinese financial apparatus.

  16. Debt Cloud Hangs Over Chinese Solar Industry

    BEIJING-Thanks to the steadfast support of local governments and banks, Chinese solar companies-unlike their Western counterparts-have been able to downplay concerns over mounting debt obligations. But raising the capital needed to turn themselves around may be tougher.
    Wsj
  17. I have more I want to add to this page, but in the meantime, I will end with this article from The Economist on the benefits of cheap solar technology in the developing world.
  18. Lighting the way

    WHICH plastic gadget, fitting neatly in one hand, can most quickly improve the lives of the world’s poorest people? For the past decade the answer has been clear: the mobile phone. But over the next decade it will be the solar-powered lamp, made up of a few light-emitting diodes (LEDs), a solar panel and a small rechargeable battery, encased in a durable plastic shell.
    Economist


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An Unlikely Solar Power Renaissance Stirs in the Middle East

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Photo: Dubai’s iconic Burj al-Arab.  The oil wealthy Gulf Coast country is planning a $3B solar project in 2013

As debates over solar power tariffs rage among governments in China, the US, and Europe, and many in the United States forecast stagnant or declining growth for the green energy in the upcoming months (or even years) a solar power renaissance is occurring in the least likely of places: the Middle East.

Americans high on prospect of becoming the one of the world’s largest exporters of fossil fuels, due to recent innovations in shale gas extraction might do well to look at what many of world’s biggest oil and gas exporters are doing to foster green energy growth in their own countries.

Reporting from Doha for the Financial Times, Pilita Clark said Saudi Arabia is beginning to consider growing its solar power industry, after

“years of growth in Saudi Arabia and others in the oil-rich Gulf region that mean countries are now burning so much of their own oil and gas resources they could become net fuel importers within 20 years…”

Clark reports that Saudia Arabia has already said it wants to encourage more than $100B in renewable energy investment.  The bulk of this will be in solar.

Qatar is currently the world’s leading exporter of liquefied natural gas—precisely the market that the United States is beginning to enter.

Qatar has also made recent investments in solar power, and is betting that recent improvements in power grid technology will enable the country to easily trade energy with its Gulf Coast neighbors and countries beyond.

“Let me compare it to something: cloud computing,” said Mohammed al-Attiya, chairman of Qatar’s National Food Security Program. “I see the future where power generation could be anywhere and people just get their electricity from places simply because grids are being integrated.”

 

The integrated system al-Attiya is referring to is Desertec, a project undertaken to connect power grids in the Gulf Coast and North African regions, and ultimately to Europe and beyond.

The idea behind Desertec was simple—use vast tracts of empty sun-drenched desert land to build solar power farms and send power out to other regions of the world.

Some have been skeptical of the project, arguing that actually building something so extensive will require tremendous investments and coordinated efforts among governments in a region that is politically unstable.

Qatar announced at the most recent United Nations climate talks the past  that it would be building its first solar power project in 2013, and hopes the investment will produce 2% of the country’s total energy consumption, as part of a larger goal to produce ten times that amount from other renewable energy projects by 2020.

Not to be left out, the Sultanate of Dubai is also building a solar power project intended to produce 1 gigawatt of electricity (about 5 times the amount of Qatar’s planned project).

These countries hope that solar power could be as much a profitable export in the future as oil has been in the past.

Almost 200 countries voted to extend the Kyoto Accord this past week in Doha, Qatar, this past week, and most developed European nations are among them.  Europe will likely need to invest a great deal in renewable energy to meet the legally binding carbon emissions requirements set forth by the agreement.

This may create a new source of demand for solar power, and the desert countries to Europe’s southwest might in an excellent position to supply it.


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Kachan & Co: Cleantech State of the Union – A Breakdown (Part 2) Fisker Automotive

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(Photo: The Fisker Karma at the Detroit Auto Show)

Fisker Automotive has weathered its fair share of attention, with reports that it is cash-strapped and that it has hired an investment bank–Evercore Partners Inc.–to help identify “strategic partners”.  That means, investors or even buyers.  Evercore, according to an article on WSJ.com, advised GM when that company filed for bankruptcy, though Fisker CEO Tony Posawatz told the Journal Evercore is there to help them find new sources of funding.

Fisker has received $192M in federal funding through a Department of Energy loan, as part of the Obama administration’s now somewhat infamous attempts to promote alternative energy technology.  The original amount of the loan was supposed to be $529M, but the remainder of the sum has been “put on hold”, according to coverage by Mike Ramsey and Sharon Terlep in the aforementioned WSJ.com blog.

Fisker has closed dealerships, laid off workers and renegotiated with suppliers and manufacturers and supposedly considered filing for bankruptcy protection in July.

Mr. Posawatz told the WSJ that Fisker is especially seeking partners in Europe and China, as interest in alternative energy products is greater in those regions.

Given all this, it is encouraging that some new funds are flowing into the company, but the future is by no means secure.

Fisker’s difficulty finding partners in part stems from a lack of interest in the company among major auto manufacturers. As Ramsey and Terlep report, already produce their own battery-powered or hybrid vehicles.

So, in contrast to the days of GM’s EV4, the troubles experienced by small green auto companies may not result from lack of demand, from the fact that large corporate players have moved into the space.

More on the other companies Dallas Kachan discusses in his State of the Union coming soon…