Green Development Bank

GREENING the world economy is not going to come cheap. The International Energy Agency reckons that investment in low-carbon energy technologies will have to rise from an annual $165 billion in recent years to an eye-popping $750 billion each year by 2030 and $1.6 trillion per annum by 2050. HSBC, an investment bank, has even higher estimates. It sees $10 trillion being spent during this decade alone.

CALGARY — A delegation of oil sands CEOs “couldn’t get a clear reading” in Washington this week over whether Barack Obama’s renewed focus on climate change means more uncertainty for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, an executive with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers said Thursday. The climate discussion, the carbon discussion, is clearly back as being a priority issue

By SA Editor Miriam Metzinger: Stocks discussed on the in-depth session of Jim Cramer's Mad Money TV Program, Monday November 19.

Given Mitt Romney's recent debate-zinger about President Obama's serious affinity for green energy and this Wednesday's big Department of Commerce announcement regarding final antidumping and anti-subsidy duties on Chinese solar panels, American green energy policy - and green subsidies in particular - have been (and likely will continue to be) in the news.

The agencies which make up a U.S. Government mission overseas are not merely an alphabet soup of acronyms along for the ride. Working long hours behind the scenes both before and after the mission itself, applying skill and expertise to complex international negotiations under deadline pressure, they provide the very substance that makes foreign policy real, and which might just make the world a little smaller and a little more interconnected. For that reason, one such agency – the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the U.S. Government’s development finance institution – appreciated Commerce Secretary Bryson’s shout-out during his remarks to the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce in Mumbai last week. “I have a good piece of news from OPIC,” Secretary Bryson said. “I’m sure that many of you are familiar with India’s Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation – IDFC. Yesterday (March 29), OPIC’s Board approved $250 million in financing to help IDFC expand lending for renewable energy projects, including solar, wind and energy efficiency, as well as for infrastructure projects. This will help meet an important need for more long-term capital to support India’s growing renewable energy sector.” Indeed, it will. IDFC is India’s premier infrastructure lender, with an enviable track record in the sector.  As a specialized financial institution, it provides end-to-end infrastructure financing and integrated project implementation services for India’s most important priority sectors. 

In order to meet President Obama’s goal of out-innovating the world in the clean energy economy, the United States Patent and Trademark Office extended the Green Technology Pilot Program. Through this pilot, the USPTO expedites patent applications for any invention that will strongly contribute to improving environmental quality; the discovery or development of renewable energy sources; better use of existing energy resources, or reduction of greenhouse gases. Since the pilot program began in December 2009, a total of 1,918 petitions have been granted to green technology patent applicants, and 328 patents have been issued.Under this program, California-based Calera Corporation has been able to fast track twelve applications for converting carbon dioxide (CO2) into green “reactive cements” that replace traditional “portland cement” commonly used in the construction of buildings.The heart of the Calera process, referred to as Mineralization via Aqueous Precipitation, combines carbon dioxide flue gas from power plants with the Earth’s natural waters and converts the gas into stable solid minerals similar to those found in the skeletons of marine animals and plants including metastable calcium and magnesium carbonate and bicarbonate minerals. These minerals can then be used to produce high reactive cements akin to portland cement without the negative environmental impacts derived from mining and processing. For those interested in more details, the USPTO's website has a more in-depth webpage about Calera and this process.

The Kyoto Protocol is under threat and political leaders should no longer skirt core questions about its destiny, the UN's top climate official told environment ministers from around the world Monday."The question is on everybody's mind but, unfortunately, on nobody's lips: what, in all honesty, is the future of the Kyoto Protocol?," Yvo de Boer asked more than three dozen ministers gathered near Bonn to brainstorm on climate.