Russia and Estonia

High time to reduce our oil dependency? After recent violent attacks in Tallinn and Moscow, Russia claims energy deliveries to Estonia may be cut due to "railroad repairs." HS reports.

There is a lot of craziness going on and I haven't posted in days for NI, partly because I was working this past weekend and partly because of family commitments. First of all, thoughts go out to everyone at Virginia Tech.

New York is experiencing flooding this week, with a strong Nor'easter ravishing the state.

The Times' Thomas Friedman, the author of recent international non-fiction bestsellers, is now focusing on green energy. Friedman argues the US ought to take the lead in green business and politics.

My cousin alerted me to a Darfur campaign on Google Earth. It is not for the faint hearted. Download Google Earth and type in these coordinates for Darfur: latitude: 13° 0'23.97"N, longitude: 23°44'43.14"E.

Dr Bowers' Lectures; "The Smartest Guys in the Room"

Helen Bowers, a finance professor from the University of Delaware, is teaching a five-day short course on corporate governance at Hanken this week. We started yesterday, and actually ended by watching The Corporation, which the CSR course and Net Impact showed in Casa back in January. Corporate governance, Dr Bowers said, is about how to solve a lot of the issues that cause CSR problems. Her lecture schedule is on the sidebar right here.

On Thursday (rm 305 at 16:15) there'll be a showing of The Smartest Guys in the Room, a 2005 movie about one of the biggest business scandals in American history -- the collapse of Enron. If you're interested, you know how to get there!

Most DealBook Comments Ever?

John Doerr's tears elicited the kind of responses one would expect: disbelieving, cynical, accusatory, sympathetic and everything in between. There have probably never been as many comments on DealBook.

One reader pointed others towards The Great Global Warming Swindle, a documentary that was shown on the UK Channel 4 last week.

What is powerful about this provocative program is the way TGGWS unearths how the public feels about climate change. People start discussing this stuff over the internet, and it is obvious many people harbor serious doubts. If you watch even a few minutes of this film, you'll see why and how, because it is fairly well made (with groovy background music...) Unsurprisingly, many viewers responded positively; some even saying that just as they had been convinced of global warming, they were right back to square one after having watched TGGWS. Here's one reader quote from a British news site, in response to TGGWS:

"Good. The sooner all this global warming hyper nonsense is consigned to the dustbin, the better off we'll all be. I've been telling people, for many years, to ignore the scaremongers. There never was any convincing evidence that CO2 produced global warming - and there's still none. More and more evidence, however, points firmly to the Sun as the cause of episodes of warming and cooling."

— Posted by Peter Warlow, Brentwood, UK

fter seeing a film like this, you start to ask questions: who made this film? Why? Why is a UK government channel showing it? Who paid for it and who received the proceeds?

1) The director of the film Martin Durkin doesn't have the greatest reputation. The Guardian's George Monbiot wrote about his films back in 2000, after Mr Durkin filmed a number of questionable documentaries, including one that claimed silicone breast implants protect women from breast cancer.

2) Professor Carl Wunsch of MIT, interviewed in TGGWS, is considering making a formal complaint against Channel 4, because his views on climate change in the film were misrepresented. Professor Wunsch believes human activity causes climate change, but his interview was edited such that he appears sceptical. Said professor Wunsch, "If they had told me even the title of the programme, I would have absolutely refused to be on it. I am the one who has been swindled."

You could argue that the greater issue this raises is the inadequacy of science education that renders many of us frankly incapable of making sound critical judgments regarding the natural sciences.

Becoming hysterical helps nobody; Greenland won't melt next year. But even if fossil fuel combustion caused no environmental effects whatsoever (and it does, in addition to CO2 emissions), we would still have to find alternative fuel sources because oil resources are limited. Someone is still going to have to figure out what those sources are, and someone is still going to have to risk their money to fund the R&D.

90 percent of the world's transportation systems run on oil. Nobody contests the Hubbert peak oil theory, according to which the world will eventually run out of oil. People complain about gasoline prices, but they don't see the connection: increasing demand for a finite, declining resource leads to higher prices! Simple. Eventually the cost will be very high, and sometime later, we will need to rely on other fuels. John Doerr has more than a fair right to feel badly; who cares if he hopes to make a few dozen million dollars more? If one of his companies actually strikes gold and popularizes a new affordable, clean fuel to power all our cars, Doerr, in my view, is more than deserving of the cut he makes -- much more, one could argue, than the CEO of Shell that received a 6% pay raise (from €3.5 to €3.7 million) for overseeing the company's most profitable year ever, according to today's WSJ.

Start-Up Fever?

Silicon Valley has start-up fever again, this time with energy companies. Alternative energy ventures are attracting attention among financiers, lawyers and accountants. This is the New York Times' most emailed article today.

The Times has also compiled a convenient list of energy-related articles under the rubric "The Energy Challenge"; this selection includes audio, video, interactive graphics and articles.

Tears in Silicon Valley: No More Crying on the Inside

John Doerr's appearance at the TED conference last Thursday took a few days to become news. Some internet sharks are missing the point, looking for the odd video clip of the actual moment he started feeling emotional. (TED is one of those invitation-only networking events that are seldom talked about in the papers. For what it's worth, I'd never heard of it before today. The conference has its own blog for anyone who's interested.)

John Doerr is one of the most successful venture capitalists around; some have called him the best ever. He funded Google, Amazon.com, Netscape and others. Mr Doerr is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, and has appeared on shows such as Charlie Rose to discuss advances in green energy; Doerr heads his VC firm's greentech program. I'll embed the Charlie Rose episode below; it's a good one. (NB: the man in that picture with Rose is not Doerr, but Scott McNealy, the head of Sun Microsystems.)

Anyway, at the TED conference last Thursday, John Doerr had climbed up to the podium to talk about global warming and green energy. Towards the end of his speech, Mr Doerr started crying. What did Doerr say?

"I'm scared. I don't think we're going to make it."

Now his emotional speech is making headlines; Business Week, the San Francisco Chronicle and the New York Times have all written about it.

Many critics are calling Doerr depressed. I don't know.

Mr Doerr certainly knows as well as anyone of his calibre where we're at with technological discovery, resource availability, and other key parameters. He is extremely well connected and successful by any measure. But the fact that someone like Mr Doerr would put himself out there to be potentially shot down and ridiculed is pretty huge, because where he's at, you do NOT cry in public. You just don't. The fact that he did speaks volumes about his state of mind.

American business thrives on presenting a positive front no matter what: even if the ship is sinking, spin it. Doerr's breakdown is disconcerting, because it's diametrically opposed to what people expect of someone like him. They don't call some of these guys vulture capitalists for nothing. Let me just say that for what my opinion is worth, I applaud this man for showing his feelings on an issue that ought to stir up emotions in millions more. Brave move.

It would be easy to just say John Doerr is depressed and that's that, but frankly, I don't think that's it. Getting concerned about Doerr's mental health isn't the issue here, that much goes without saying, even though one wishes for him to regain the optimism for which he's known. What issues moved this man to tears, in public no less, should be our chief concern. Of course, it requires the kind of gentleness and open-mindedness that Wall Street and Silicon Valley aren't necessarily famous for. I'm sure that Doerr is the talk of the town this week, with former business partners wondering if he's still good for business or if he might need help. Perhaps Doerr is just tired of pulling people along while witnessing others on his side of the income gap allegedly doing something like this -- who knows. But to disregard Doerr's tearfulness as a bad judgment call, a sign of depression or male menopause or an insincere publicity stunt would miss the point. Mr Doerr is likely just really, really concerned and anxious: even though he is doing enough, he's probably acutely aware that most of the rest of the world isn't.

It doesn't matter what the issue, looking from the outside in we can always rely on Someone Else to do the work. Even if we bought a year's worth of carbon offsets, Someone Else is going to have to do the actual roll-up-your-sleeves business and get down to it. Anyone can collect a pile of money through dubious means and try to feel good about giving it to charity when the end is near, but Someone Else is going to have to be out there, doing the work, whether it's a Doctor Without Borders patching combat wounds and bringing babies into the world on refugee camps or a treeplanter picking up mangrove seedlings in dirty water. Well, to bring this home, someone is going to have to decide that they'll forego a lucrative position in traditional industry and work for a Net Impact type industry or social cause. When people ask why, they'll need to explain why they won't just let Someone Else do it.

Sometimes that Someone Else we rely on is a person like Mr Doerr, and frankly, for all he's got I don't envy him. I look up to the work he's been doing with green energy; I don't wish to be him. It must be incredibly demanding to realize this is it and there's no "someone else" to turn to for ideas or guidance. Ignorance is, as the cliche goes, quite blissful, for this, I'm sure, isn't really news to anyone: on a global scale (which is Mr Doerr's scale) "Someone Else" does not really exist. The closest thing, to some, is probably God.

You know what, I'll pay a hundred euros if you can get me in the same room with Someone Else. I've waited my whole life to meet Someone Else. I've wanted to shake hands with her (or him) and say, Thanks, I owe you. Actually, I think I first relied on Someone Else when I swept the bread crumbs off the kitchen table onto the floor at age six and thought to myself that Someone Else will clean it up. (Mom cleaned it. Thanks Mom.) Her hands may have been invisible, but that was just because I wasn't looking.

The thing about market externalities is, the markets with the greatest externalities (including carbon dioxide) rely on Someone Else to clean up the crumbs.

Now I'm blue. Kind of. Shoot. It's contagious. Anyhow, happy Tuesday all, especially John Doerr.

Your next algae-powered joyride?

The New York Times reports that venture capital investment into green energy is soaring, and one of the newest developments is algae as fuel.

His Name is Bonderman, David Bonderman

Last week I blogged about the largest LBO in history. KKR and TPG (two huge American private equity firms) recently bought TXU, a Texan energy utility.

This deal was touted as a green LBO, because KKR and TPG agreed to freeze plans to build eight coal power plants and also invited a new board member onto the TXU board, William Reilly. Reilly has served as the chairman of WWF. Kauppalehti wrote about this in February.

After blogging about this deal, I emailed a friend of mine; he is an investment banker in New York, specializing in LBOs. "They've done the math", I argued, and said the financiers probably weren't doing all these good things just out of the goodness of their hearts. But perhaps I was wrong.

My friend blackberried me back, saying these green issues have been a "roadblock" to a deal for years (not sure what that meant -- we debated this stuff in December, without coming to any kind of conclusion. Still hoping for an invitation to his wedding, though...)

Anyway, I asked him about the deal because I wanted to know if he thought the TXU buyout signified a sea change on Wall Street. He wrote back with more information, all publicly available, but it has mostly gone unmentioned in the press.

Apparently, the major reason why the TXU deal was so "green" is, in fact, that David Bonderman, one of the founders of TPG (and the new owner of TXU) has been a board member of WWF, American Himalayan Foundation and the Wilderness Society.

Bonderman is not only a hugely successful investor -- he also sports a serious activist streak, of the suit-and-tie kind, and he pushed his agenda through in a big way, supported by pressure from numerous environmental groups.

Of course reducing emissions makes economic sense as well, especially in the longer haul, but certainly there's more than a pinch of goodness of heart there, too.

LSV energiaseminaari

Lääkärin Sosiaalinen Vastuu ry järjesti marraskuussa energiaseminaarin, jonka asiantuntijoina olivat mm. ydinfyysikko Säteilyturvakeskuksesta, säteilyvammoihin erikoistunut lääkäri, Greenpeacen edustaja ja uusiutuvien energiamuotojen tutkija VTT:ltä. Jos aihe kiinnostaa, presentaatiot ovat netissä.

LSV on lääkärien vastine Net Impactille. Amerikkalainen "No Free Lunch" -porukka on myös eräs muoto terveydenhuoltoalan aktivismista. Lääketeollisuuden etiikastahan ollaan puhuttu vuosien varrella suhteellisen paljon, esimerkiksi siitä kuinka lääketeollisuuden koulutustilaisuudet ja "lahjat" vaikuttavat lääkäreiden käyttäytymiseen ja heidän määräämiensä lääkkeiden tyyppiin ja määrään. Yleensä sponssaus alkaa jo lääkiksen aikoina. Esimerkiksi nuorten lääkäreiden stetoskoopit ovat (käsittääkseni) Suomessakin usein lääkefirmojen sponsoroimia. (Hyvä stetoskooppi maksaa 100-200 euroa.) "No Free Lunch" kannattaa lääkärien ja lääketeollisuuden tiiviin siteen eriasteista proaktiivista rajaamista, kuulakärkikynistä ja stetoskoopeista lounaisiin ja golf-outingeihin.

KKR and Texas Pacific Takeover of TXU

In the largest private equity takeover in history, environmental concerns play a major role.

Can Markets Cut Carbon?

Two of the largest market-based initiatives to cut carbon dioxide emissions are the EU ETS (EU Emissions Trading Scheme) and the RGGI (Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative; in the Northeastern United States.) The EU is talking about a common European energy policy. US corporations are working with environmental groups.

What is the role of carbon trading (cap and trade) in cutting emissions? This article explores some basics and links to a number of great sites. Could carbon trading curb emissions by placing a price on carbon? How will it work globally?

Australia To Ban Conventional Light Bulbs?

Australia may become the first country to ban conventional light bulbs and require consumers to purchase fluorescent bulbs instead.

California has been planning the same initiative for some time now.

Astroturfing

"Astroturf" is artificial grass. Astroturfing describes "formal PR campaigns that seek the create the impression of being spontaneous, grassroots behavior."

Care2.com, a green networking site, sends out frequent environmental newsletters with a mix of topics. One of them recently had a headline that linked to an article titled "Global warming is not due to human contribution of carbon dioxide." It was so provocative that I followed the link; in fact, it might have been more persuasive had it been more subtle. The link brought the reader to a full-length article at Canadafreepress.com written by Dr Tim Ball, Chairman of the Natural Resources Stewardship Project and a consultant and former climatology professor at the University of Winnipeg. His credentials sound impressive.

What is the Natural Resources Stewardship Project? It is apparently a group that has recently been exposed as being controlled by energy industry lobbyists. A short Wikipedia entry is here.

This would be an example of astroturfing.

Open Guest Lecture on February,19th, at Hanken:
Monday 19.2 12.30-14, room 309
Guest Lecturer: Eeva Simola, Finnwatch

Check out Finnwatch at www.finnwatch.org

Some interesting stuff from the website:

• Clas Ohlsonin ja Bilteman myymä kodinelektroniikka sisältää aineita, jotka ovat vaarallisia laitteiden tekijöille ja kuluttajille. Ruotsissa vastikään tehdyissä laboratoriotesteissä on löydettiin korkeita ja kiellettyjä pitoisuuksia lyijyä ja erittäin myrkyllistä raskasmetallia kadmiumia. Korkeat lyijypitoisuudet ovat vaaraksi sekä luonnolle että ihmisille, jotka valmistavat tavaroita Kiinassa. SwedWatchin tuore raportti kertoo, että kummaltakin yritykseltä puuttuu toimiva vaarallisten aineiden valvontaohjelma.
• Neste Oil pyrkii maailman johtavaksi biodieselin tuottajaksi. Se aikoo hankkia tarvittavan palmuöljyn parhailta malesialaisilta tuottajilta. Palmuöljyn nykyisellä tuotannolla on vakavia ympäristövaikutuksia. Kun biopolttoaineiden ja palmuöljyn kysyntä kasvavat, öljypalmuplantaaseja laajennetaan. Osa laajennuksista tapahtuu etenkin Indonesiassa sademetsiin tai turvemaille. Sademetsää raivataan polttaen, mikä lisää kasvihuonekaasupäästöjä ja metsäpaloriskiä. Useat uhanalaiset lajit menettävät elinympäristönsä, hiilinieluja katoaa ja ilmakehään vapautuu metaania. Rekkaralli yksilajisten plantaasien ja öljynpuristamojen välillä on tiuhaa. Euroopan unioni suurimpana ostajana on kaukana, joten myös kuljetuksista jää jalanjälki.

Itämereen kaavaillaan jättimäisiä tuulipuistoja

(STT) Virolaisyhtiö Nelja Energia haluaa rakentaa Itämerelle viisi suurta tuulivoimapuistoa, joihin tulisi yhteensä lähes 200 tuulivoimalaa.

Hiidenmaan luoteispuolelle kaavailtujen tuulipuistojen yhteenlaskettu teho nousisi ydinvoimalan kokoluokkaan. Tuulipuistot olisi tarkoitus yhdistää sekä Viron että Ruotsin sähköverkkoon.