Meg Whitman’s “Colossal Mistake” on Green

It’s good that Westly is so passionate about clean technology. Here’s a story about another venture capitalist, the godfather of green: http://www.ecoseed.org/en/general-green-news/features/profiles/4388-profile-godfather-of-green-funds-impulsive-science-experiments-to-satisfy-curiosity

Green energy can’t progress without rare earth elements (REE).  http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/01/business/global/01minerals.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1

Without a domestic source of REEs, you might as well hand most of your money over to China, which has the monopoly on most REEs.  Environmentalists have blocked REE mining in the US, and inadvertantly have prevented America (and California) from manufacturing many of the very sustainable devices the environmentalist sold politicians and the public on years ago, and continue to sell the illustion today.

Mountain Pass, California is America’s single best potential source of REEs.  Too bad environmental policy got them shut down.  It takes 2-4 pounds of neodymium to make a Prius.  It takes much more to make a windmill.  Some REEs are used in refining, lasers, high capacity data storage, advanced weaponry.

China thanks you for creating such a high demand for REEs and sending business their way, because starting in 2012, China no longer will export many REEs.  Rather, they will sell us the finished products (MADE IN CHINA).  And by the way, East Asia emits 40 billion pounds of non-CO2 aerosol pollutants per year.  It increases every time we shift more jobs to China.

USGS Report on Rare Earth Elements - “The United States once was largely self-sufficient
in these critical materials (REE), but over
the past decade has become dependent upon
imports (fig. 1). In 1999 and 2000, more
than 90% of REE required by U.S. industry
came from deposits in China…Some Applications of the Rare Earth Elements
Many applications of REE are characterized
by high specificity and high unit value.
For example, color cathode-ray tubes and
liquid-crystal displays used in computer
monitors and televisions employ europium
as the red phosphor; no substitute is known.
Owing to relatively low abundance and
high demand, Eu is quite valuable—$250 to
$1,700/kg (for Eu2O3) over the past decade.
Fiber-optic telecommunication cables
provide much greater bandwidth than the
copper wires and cables they have largely
replaced. Fiber-optic cables can transmit
signals over long distances because they
incorporate periodically spaced lengths of
erbium-doped fiber that function as laser
amplifiers. Er is used in these laser repeaters,
despite its high cost (~$700/kg), because
it alone possesses the required optical
properties.
Specificity is not limited to the more
exotic REE, such as Eu or Er. Cerium, the
most abundant and least expensive REE,
has dozens of applications, some highly
specific. For example, Ce oxide is uniquely
suited as a polishing agent for glass. The polishing action of CeO2 depends on both
its physical and chemical properties, including
the two accessible oxidation states of
cerium, Ce3+ and Ce4+, in aqueous solution.
Virtually all polished glass products, from
ordinary mirrors and eyeglasses to precision
lenses, are finished with CeO2.
Permanent magnet technology has been
revolutionized by alloys containing Nd,
Sm, Gd, Dy, or Pr. Small, lightweight,
high-strength REE magnets have allowed
miniaturization of numerous electrical and
electronic components used in appliances,
audio and video equipment, computers,
automobiles, communications systems, and
military gear. Many recent technological
innovations already taken for granted (for
example, miniaturized multi-gigabyte portable
disk drives and DVD drives) would
not be possible without REE magnets.
Environmental applications of REE
have increased markedly over the past
three decades. This trend will undoubtedly
continue, given growing concerns about
global warming and energy efficiency.
Several REE are essential constituents of
both petroleum fluid cracking catalysts and
automotive pollution-control catalytic converters.
Use of REE magnets reduces the
weight of automobiles. Widespread adoption
of new energy-efficient fluorescent
lamps (using Y, La, Ce, Eu, Gd, and Tb)
for institutional lighting could potentially
achieve reductions in U.S. carbon dioxide
emissions equivalent to removing one-third
of the automobiles currently on the road.
Large-scale application of magnetic-refrigeration
technology (described below) also
could significantly reduce energy consumption
and CO2 emissions.
In many applications, REE are advantageous
because of their relatively low toxicity.
For example, the most common types
of rechargeable batteries contain either cadmium (Cd) or lead. Rechargeable lanthanum-
nickel-hydride (La-Ni-H) batteries are
gradually replacing Ni-Cd batteries in computer
and communications applications and
could eventually replace lead-acid batteries
in automobiles. Although more expensive,
La-Ni-H batteries offer greater energy density,
better charge-discharge characteristics,
and fewer environmental problems upon
disposal or recycling. As another example,
red and red-orange pigments made with La
or Ce are superseding traditional commercial
pigments containing Cd or other toxic
heavy metals.
The next high-technology application
of the REE to achieve maturity may be
magnetic refrigeration. The six REE ions
Gd3+ through Tm3+ have unusually large
magnetic moments, owing to their several
unpaired electrons. A newly developed
alloy, Gd5(Si2Ge2), with a “giant magnetocaloric
effect” near room temperature reportedly will allow magnetic refrigeration
to become competitive with conventional
gas-compression refrigeration. This new
technology could be employed in refrigerators,
freezers, and residential, commercial,
and automotive air conditioners. Magnetic
refrigeration is considerably more efficient
than gas-compression refrigeration and
does not require refrigerants that are flammable
or toxic, deplete the Earth’s ozone
layer, or contribute to global warming.”

The point is, that Meg is much more likely to look at the total picture than a politician pandering to the environmental movement.  And the result would be more high tech jobs in California than her opponent could create.  Capital is finite, and just wishing “green jobs” to appear is idiotic.

This is a great summary of Meg Whitman’s record on green tech and plans for suspending some of Schwarzenegger’s most environmentally-friendly policies. California has become a leader in the nation on solar and wind projects, and their VC promotions for green tech have encouraged a lot of jobs and R&D.

Researching how to make your company, product, or next project more Green? Go to http://www.greencollareconomy.com for sustainability white papers and the largest b2b green directory on the web.

“The Great Northern Railroad was a great private railroad.”  This is absolutely true.  But does it contradict the statement that government subsidies went to railroads?  Not at all. The U.S. government provided the loans for transcontinental railroad building, and: “The law also provided that a company could be given up to twenty sections (a section is a square mile) of land for every mile of track put down.”  This was a massive subsidy. One square mile = 640 acres, so to look at this in the more familiar units, 12,800 acres of land PER MILE of railroad built.  Thiss massive subsidy was needed because the free market had no interest whatsoever in risking it’s capital on some foolish “transcontinental line.”  Please not the sarcasm.  Converting the USA from a nation with profitable regional railroads but no transcontinental service into a nation with real national railroads took massive government subsidies.  And we are much better off for it.
“Live by the truth, and the truth will set you free.”