Environmental Lovins

Rethinking the cost of hybrid cars

By Noah Buhayar and Bryan Palmintier Posted Fri May 30, 2008 3:07pm PDT

A lot of people get sticker shock when they look at the price of a new hybrid. They figure that the added expense won’t pay itself back very quickly on fuel savings alone.

And in some cases they’re right. Even with $4 gas, someone who drives 15,000 miles per year won’t necessarily recoup those added costs in the first year of ownership. Depending on the non-hybrid car used for comparison, it may take two or more years before the gas savings alone equals the up-front premium for the hybrid.

But this quick analysis misses a number of hybrids’ other economic benefits.

For starters, hybrids are holding their value better than non-hybrid cars. This means that, even if you don’t recoup the extra cost of the hybrid in gas savings, you’re likely to get more money out of the car when you decide to sell it.

In addition to resale, some lenders — typically credit unions — offer discounted loan rates for hybrids. And some insurance companies — including Geico, the Travelers, and Farmers — offer discounted premiums.

The federal government is also offering tax credits of up to $3,400 for hybrids — but only for the first 60,000 vehicles, which means that Toyota and Honda models are no longer eligible. Some employers offer incentives for hybrid vehicles as well.

Testing the idea
Recently, Bryan put together a quick spreadsheet to calculate the “real” cost of owning a new hybrid versus another car.

In his calculations, he stacked up the Prius against the non-hybrid versions of Honda Accord and Civic, the cars he and his wife were looking at.

As you can see from the screen shot below, the Prius came out a winner.

Crunching the numbers
You can build a similar spreadsheet yourself by consulting a few resources and making a few assumptions.

Bryan, for instance, estimated the minimum number of years an person usually owns a vehicle (three), the average cost of gas (~$4.00), the number of miles someone might drive per year (12,500), standard maintenance costs, and how the purchase was financed.

If you’re really particular, you may want to tack on extra cost such as the insurance premiums of owning a particular make and model car. You may also want to check and see if there are tax incentives from your state or the federal government for purchasing your particular model of hybrid.

For the parts of the calculation you don’t assume, here are a couple of links to get you on your way:

• Kelly Blue Book has average new car prices and resale values in your area. Models do tend to change from year to year, but assuming most features stay the same, you can estimate an average resale value for a car by looking at how old models are reselling. My colleague assumed he’d hold onto the new 2008 Prius, Accord, or Civic for at least three years, so he looked at resale values for 2005 models.
• Fueleconomy.gov has tons of data on average MPG of most cars. Your actual MPG will depend somewhat on driving habits, but the EPA stats will at least get you in the ballpark.
• E-loan should give you an idea about how much interest you’d have to pay to finance the purchase. Though, be sure to look around at your bank and local credit unions that may offer discounts for hybrids.

Noah Buhayar and Bryan Palmintier are fellows at Rocky Mountain Institute.

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Glen Stansberry of LifeDev (feed).

Focus is something of a novelty these days. We’ve got cellphones for texting and calls, IM, Twitter, Email, RSS feeds, Facebook, Myspace… the list goes on and on. If you don’t have ADD before you start working online, it seems it’s almost inevitable thanks to these inputs. If you’re a web worker who uses the Internet for the majority of the day, you’re especially at risk for losing focus.

Focus is something that must be fought for. It’s not something that automatically switches on when you want to. You have to make sure your surroundings are perfect for working if you want to be focused. Here’s a few ways I’ve found this to work:

1. Use offline tools. Paper products, pens, and other physical tools are a Godsend for those of us who have a hard time focusing throughout the work day. They’re so simple that we can use them quickly, without having to worry about becoming distracted.
2. Take more breaks. More breaks = More productivity. It may sound wrong, but it’s true. Breaks allow us to re-group our thoughts and focus for the task at hand. They also keep us fresh so that we don’t end up burning out after only a few hours work.
3. Smaller tasks to check off. When you’re planning your day, make sure that your “action steps” (aka items in the checklist) are small actions. Instead of “Paint living room”, try breaking it down into many tasks, like “buy paint, buy rollers, pick colors” etc.
4. Keep a steady pace. Don’t try to do to much. Keeping the pace manageable allows you to keep your focus. Unfortunately, people can confuse this with “Work till you drop without breaks”. See number 2.
5. Keep a daily “purpose” card. It’s pretty easy to get lost staring at the computer all day long. We’ll find rabbit holes to wonder down (ie. Youtube, Myspace, etc.) if we’re not careful. Having your daily purpose card gives you clarity and a reminder as to what you’re doing today.
6. Develop the mindset that the computer is only a tool. It’s easy to try and use the computer for too much. At its core, the computer is merely a tool (albeit a freakin’ awesome one) that allows to do work more efficiently. If we’re using it as something more than that, (like as a solution for your life), you’ll ultimately fail. It’s like trying to eat a steak dinner with only a spoon.
7. Plan your day to the T. If you’re finding sporadic periods of laziness throughout the day, it could be because you don’t take enough breaks (see #2), and you don’t have the day mapped out as efficiently as you could. Make sure your list of todos has lots of small, actionable steps that can be done quickly. This will gives a really satisfying feeling when you’re crossing things off your list like crazy.
8. Notice your lazy routines. Everyone has recurring lazy spots throughout the day. Plan to have your breaks for those times. You’re going to be lazy then anyway, right?
9. Plan the night before. Planning the night before is a great way to really get focused on the next day. “Sleeping” on your tasks and goals for the following day can really help your mind expect what’s going to happen the next day. Essentially, you’re preparing your mind for the following day. Advanced focus.
10. Turn off extra inputs. These are IM and email for me, but we all have our Achilles heel. Completely turn off any distracting piece of technology that you own. Every one of these inputs tries to steal bits of your focus. And they won’t rest until they do.
11. Set time limits for tasks. There’s no motivation like a deadline. Giving yourself real deadlines is a great way to stay motivated and focused on the task. Given the fact that we human are natural procrastinators, it’s no surprise that we’ll take as long as we’re allowed to finish something. Setting real but attainable limits is a great way to keep the project humming, so to speak.
12. Keep a journal of what you did throughout the day. I like to use a moleskine notebook for my lists just so I can go back and review it every now and again, to see what I’ve done. Knowing how far you’ve come can keep you sharp and motivated to finish.
13. Use programs to track where you spend your time. This is a real eye-opener. Knowing just how much time you spend every day/week/month on a certain site or with a certain program can quickly show you where your priorities lie. I recommend Rescue Time, but there are many others.
14. Visualize the day in the morning, before it starts. A little pre-work meditation on the day’s events is a great way to start the day off focused and productive. Don’t worry about a full 30 minute session, a quick review before you start the day is fine.
15. Start the day right. Starting the day with a good breakfast, some quiet time and/or exercise is a great way to set your day up for success. Sounds like a cliche, but it really works.
16. Clean yourself up. It’s why my track coach in high school made us dress up for big races: you perform the way you feel. And if you feel polished, groomed and ready, you’ll be more likely to be productive. For me this is just taking a shower, brushing my teeth and putting on casual clothing. I used to work all day without taking a shower in my PJ’s, but I never got much stuff done. Let’s be honest here… if you’re dressed really casually, odds are you’ll be working really casually. Just taking the time to clean up a bit before you buckle down for the day is never a bad idea.

For more from Glen, check out his great productivity blog, LifeDev. He’s also the co-owner of the LifeRemix blog network.

Wonder why we don’t have a national energy policy or a serious push toward alternatives?

Follow the money that oil and gas companies send to Congress.

By Jim JubakThink it’s a matter of chance that we don’t have a meaningful national energy policy? Wondering why oil and gas companies don’t pay higher royalties to the Treasury now that oil is over $55 a barrel? Amazed that Washington loves to talk about energy research with promise 15 years down the road, but won’t put significant money into alternative technologies that could reduce energy consumption now?

For answers to all those questions and more, just follow the money. Nothing about U.S. energy policy should be a surprise if you know where the money’s been going and which legislators have taken the biggest payouts from the energy industry. So don’t miss your only chance in the next two years — the Nov. 7 election — to tell Congress what you think of its sellout to the energy companies.

It has become increasingly expensive to run for national office, and any politician who wants to win has to raise big bucks these days. In the 2006 election cycle, according to the Federal Election Commission, as of Oct. 20, challengers and incumbents running for the House of Representatives had raised $713 million for their campaigns. Those for Senate had raised $452 million. And these figures don’t include any of the money raised by “independent” organizations, so-called 527 groups such as Emily’s List on the left ($9.6 million raised) or Club for Growth on the right ($6.2 million raised).

Lawyers top contributor list

Corporations and affiliated individuals have coughed up a big chunk of that money. By industry, the top honor on the giving roll goes to lawyers and law firms, with $89 million contributed, according to Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics, which describes itself as nonpartisan and nonprofit. As the Republicans have said in campaign after campaign, the bulk of that — 69% to 30% — has gone to Democrats. But the Republicans don’t need to worry; there’s plenty of money coming into their till from other industries. Second place goes to the retirement industry with $86 million (54% goes to Republicans). Third place? The real estate industry with $53 million (57% goes to Republicans.)The oil and gas industry comes in at No. 15 with $14 million in contributions.

The top five contributors were Koch Industries, ExxonMobil (XOM, news, msgs), Valero Energy (VLO, news, msgs), Chevron (CVX, news, msgs) and Occidental Petroleum (OXY, news, msgs), according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

That $14 million puts the oil and gas industry in the company of such heavyweights as electric utilities (at $12 million) and the pharmaceutical industry (at $14 million).

Most energy money goes to GOP

The oil and gas industry’s giving is highly, highly focused. Oil and gas executives seem to feel that with the Republicans in solid control of Congress, there’s no need to give to anybody but Republicans, since they’re the folks that can get things done. There’s none of the fence straddling of the securities industry, which has divided its $46 million in contributions almost evenly between Republicans (47%) and Democrats (51%). A whopping 83% of oil and gas money has gone to Republicans in this election cycle. To find similar imbalance, you have to look at such Democratic bulwarks as the public-sector unions, 84% Democratic in their giving, and the building trades unions, at 83% Democratic.So who did this concentrated dose of cash go to? Here are the top 10 — all Republicans — as complied by the Center for Responsive Politics:

Data from the FEC as of Sept. 11, 2006. Compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics.

You’ve got to hand it to the oil and gas industry. They know how to support their favorite sons and daughters, of course: Texans Kay Bailey Hutchinson and John Cornyn, after all, are both senators from a big oil state.

But the industry keeps its eye on the prize. If you want to keep oil and gas royalties low; if you’d like to drill in environmentally sensitive areas; if you want to keep the government from admitting that global warming might exist; if you want to make sure that money flows to research in alternative energy technologies for the future but not to commercialize alternative technologies today, then you give to the key people who can get those jobs done.

So you contribute to the campaign of California Republican Rep. Richard Pombo, chairman of the House Resources Committee in charge of deciding how the oil and gas (and other industries) can use government land and how much they’ll pay for that use. Pombo has been a point man in the House in efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling.

(The committee’s jurisdiction also extends to gambling on Indian lands. Pombo and his personal political action committee, known as Rich PAC, reportedly are being investigated in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. Indian tribes paid Abramoff and his lobbying firm big fees in exchange for promises he would get favorable rulings from lawmakers and members of the executive branch on their casino plans.)

Pombo is also involved in my favorite bit of election-year irony. He has been criticized for lobbying then-Interior Secretary Gale Norton to suspend regulations opposed by the wind-power industry because his parents collect sizable royalties from windmills on their ranch. Pombo, his critics have noted, has a personal interest in the ranch. So who should Pombo face in the 2006 election? Democrat Jerry McNerney, a wind-power engineer and CEO of a start-up wind-turbine manufacturer.

The oil and gas industry also gives heavily to Texas Rep. Joe Barton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee; to Sens. James Talent of Missouri, Conrad Burns of Montana and George Allen of Virginia, all of whom sit on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; to Illinois’ Dennis Hastert, speaker of the House, who plays a huge role in deciding what legislation moves to the floor for a vote and what doesn’t; and to Pennsylvania’s Rick Santorum, head of the Senate Republican Conference and announced candidate for Republican whip in 2006 if he wins re-election.

Control of Congress up in air

Among the top 10 recipients of oil and gas money, Pombo, Talent, Burns and Santorum face stiff races for re-election this year. That, plus the possibility of a shift in control of one or both houses of Congress from Republican to Democratic, creates some interesting angles for investors interested in playing potential changes in U.S. energy policy as the biases of Republican incumbents yield to the biases of Democratic replacements.Sometimes it’s hard to tell exactly what the effect might be. So for example, a shift in control of the House of Representatives would be likely to unseat Barton as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. (Barton is a lock in his re-election. The incumbent has raised $2.7 million to Democratic challenger David Harris’ $22,000. Harris had $932 in his campaign treasury as of Oct. 20.)

Barton has been one of the fiercest congressional critics of global-warming theories. At a recent congressional hearing, he said, “As long as I am chairman, (regulating the gases that produce global warming) is off the table indefinitely. I don’t want there to be any uncertainty about that.” But Barton’s likely replacement would be John Dingell, D-Mich., a fierce advocate for the U.S. automobile industry.

In other cases, the effect of the change is easier to extrapolate. Pombo’s likely replacement as chairman of the House Resources Committee would be Nick Rahall, D-W.Va. Can you say “coal,” boys and girls?

Money and politics go hand in hand

No matter how the elections turn out this year, of course, the connection between money and politicians will survive. Incumbents of both parties know that taking the money out of politics — I mean, really taking it out — would destroy one of most effective tools they have for assuring their own re-election. Taking the money out of campaigns is less likely than the Easter Bunny passing out eggs in January.So vote your convictions. Throw this year’s bums out. They certainly deserve it. Then watch to see which newly elected politicians start quickly to work to become next year’s bums.

And always remember the great American humorist Finley Peter Dunne’s advice: “Trust everybody, but cut the cards.”

10 Green Social Networks You Should Know -Posted on www.earth2tech.com

What’s going to be the viral element that gets us to cut down on our collective carbon emissions? Who’s going to deliver us the iPod of cleantech? If we knew for sure, we’d be off building it, but these 10 web sites think they have the key ingredients to motivate their users to fight global warming and cut carbon. Do you think they have what it takes? Here’s our thoughts and our list of 10 green social networks you should know:

Carbonrally: When Jason Karas thought up Carbonrally in mid-2007, his idea was to capitalize on the desire to compete. He launched the site in mid-November and after 5 months says he has almost 2,000 active users and has had 20,000 visitors. Unlike a lot of the sites out there, Carbonrally doesn’t focus on raising or donating money or using carbon calculators, instead it uses the draw of being on a team to help members focus their efforts on challenges that reduce carbon emissions.

If you’re one of those team-spirit types who always dresses up for your work’s Hawaiian Shirt Friday (or were heavy into the greek system) then this site could really resonate with you. That also makes it a really good fit for corporate customers to organize company carbon programs, and Karas tells us that the site has brought in two corporate Google teams, in Boston and Pittsburg. Corporations could also be Carbonrally’s real moneymaker, as businesses could be willing to pay for more premium subscription services. The site will need to get more viral traction to really make it big.

Zerofootprint.net: Zerofootprint is one of the startups that actually seems to have a sustainable business model. Funny that it’s also one of the few that’s a nonprofit. The Toronto-based company creates branded carbon calculators and community sites for cities and large organizations, and back in May 2007, when there weren’t that many carbon calc sites out there, the startup launched its first branded site with Toronto. We’d say one of the biggest hurdles for the site is actually that darn .net! (the dotcom and dotorg must have already been taken).

MakeMeSustainable: As the name suggests, this site is basically a personal workout to reduce your carbon footprint. The “Manager” section monitors your carbon emissions over time via “actions” you’ve taken like “Joining a carpool” or ‘Installing better power management on your PC.” Then there’s a social-networking component where you can join user-created groups and see who’s involved in the site in your local area.

Out of most of the sites around, this one is one of the better designed, with easy-to-read charts and Google maps of other MakeMeSustainable members nearby. The team seems well versed in web 2.0 features. It’s also particularly appealing for someone who is swayed by hard data and graphs. But if you’re looking for something less personal-carbon-fitness and more feel-good-team-spirit, this one might feel a little cold.

Celsias.com: Celsias used to be a blog we read regularly, but in January it also became a social network community site for climate change-fighting advocates. Celsias organizes its community around “Projects” that users can create and join. Right now, a good deal of the projects are organizations or companies promoting themselves, and they don’t seem to add that much value to the community aspect. To build community, the site should provide its users with better ways to interact with the projects and to take more advantage of web features.

Change.org: The do-gooder social network, launched by Ben Rattray in February 2007, offers a variety of philanthropic actions to focus on, but highlights several green projects like “End Dependency on Oil,” and “Stop Global Warming.” Rattray tells us that the site has just over 110,000 users, is growing at about 4,000 new members a week, and the team is currently preparing for a major relaunch over the summer. (Also take a look at Rattray’s slide show presentation on peer-to-peer fundraising at a convention).

We particularly like how the site uses events in the news to organize issues, and features “take action” and “donate” buttons directly under the appropriate news stream. We also like the “network graph” which lets you take a look at all your recruits and contacts around the cause you’re fighting for. One aspect that was a bit off-putting was constant requests for us to input our friends’ and families’ email addresses to get them to join our causes. A bit aggressive for our tastes.

WorldCoolers.org: WorldCoolers is a browser add-on made by marketing company Collactive that alerts you to news and announcements on global warming. The site also has a section for online campaigns and a blog that was in hiatus for about a year. The site design could be a lot better and we wish the app itself did something more interesting than alerts.

BigCarrot: Are cash prizes the answer to the world’s problems? BigCarrot.com; is looking to turn the trend of offering prizes for innovations (such as the Auto X Prize and Virgin Earth Challenge) into a distributed community project. Individuals can pool their resources into a cash offering, which they can then doll out for goals like bringing greywater recycling systems to communities or building a language-teaching web app.

Big Carrot’s founder and CEO, Kent Pepper, tells us that the site, which launched into beta in January, will make money from a combination of a 5 percent fee for transactions, advertising on its website and investing the cash prizes in “low-risk financial” tools. To grow the site Pepper says he’s looking to raise a round of $1 million from investors. While we understand that the site did just launch, it clearly hasn’t brought in a community of users yet. The cash prizes are all put up as “starter prizes” by the company itself. Pepper hopes that over the next few months the audience will grow enough that community members start organically creating group prizes.

Care2.com: Care2 is an example of a mainstream green community site that got in on the Internet’s do-gooder focus way early — it was launched back in 1998. And thus it’s been able to bring in a sizable user base over that period of time. The site claims to have 8 million members, and Compete says it has 1 million unique visitors. It’s definitely got the look and feel of a ’90s style internet portal. We’re thinking the site is in need of a serious redesign, though it does have some more modern features like a digg-style news ranking.

2People.org: 2 People is another site that’s been around a few years and needs a serious redesign. It gets its name from the motto: “How do you move a nation: 2 People.” The only thing we really like about the site is that its trying to organize people around climate policy, through its “Focus the Nation - Climate Dialogues” and “Climate Elections 2008″ initiatives. Getting people motivated around climate policy and education is crucial, particularly this year.

BeGreenNow: While this site is a little sparse on innovation, it was created by Austin, Texas-based clean-electricity provider Green Mountain Energy, so it’s interesting to see how companies are using green community sites to market themselves. It’s got a carbon calculator and ways to offset your carbon emissions. GigaOM writer Stacey, who’s based in Austin, says Green Mountain seems to be losing a bit of popularity in her area, so marketing like this must be one of its strategies to grow its business.

Lets turn it down for an hour.

Play a game
Read by candle light
Make a tent
Go for a walk
Appreciate what you have in your life

and do it in the dark.

Have fun
Tim Padden
House of Solar

McCain Scores Zero on Environmental Report Card

Hillary Clinton Scores 73, Barack Obama 67

John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee for president, has scored a stunning zero out of 100 on the latest League of Conservation Voters Scorecard, which rates elected officials on their votes in the most recent Congress.

McCain skipped every one of the 15 votes that the League of Conservation Voters deemed critical measures for the environment, including votes where the Arizona Senator’s yea would have meant passage by a single-vote margin.

McCain has won support from many environmentalists, including Republicans for Environmental Protection, because he has championed action to combat global warming since 2003 and was the only serious presidential candidate to take such a strong position on the defining environmental issue of our time. But his absenteeism on important votes this session calls into question his reputation as a maverick who might buck the party line on some energy and environmental issues.

“Out of 535 Members of Congress, John McCain is the only one who chose to miss every single key environmental vote scored by the League of Conservation Voters last year. When it came time to stand up and vote for the environment, John McCain was nowhere to be found,” said Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club. “Every other Member who received a zero from LCV last year at least had the temerity to show up and vote against the environment and clean energy time after time. And unlike John McCain, I doubt any of them would claim to be environmental leaders or champions on global warming.”

The Democrats running for president scored better.

Sen. Hillary Clinton scored a 73%, having lost points for missing four votes.

Sen. Barack Obama scored a 67%, having lost points for missing four votes, and for voting against a failed measure to establish a Water Resources Commission that would have prioritized water resources projects in the United States. Clinton voted for the measure.

Powur of Citizenre - 10 Commandments of Advertising
Taken from the Associate Module 5
Rules of Advertising
______________________________

1.Thou shalt not use the Citizenre name in your advertising unless it
is an approved article or an approved resource created by the company
for your use.

2.Thou shalt not state that our solar units are FREE. This is a weak
posture. They are not free. Never try to “bait and switch” your
prospect. Trust is a delicate thing. You can say “No purchase
required” or “No equipment to purchase”–but our product is not free.
You can explain how our model is like providing the satellite to sell
the monthly programming… just don’t use the word free.

3.Thou shalt not imply employment or a job if you are advertising for
Ecopreneurs, and thou shalt not guarantee or promise an income.

4.Thou shalt not use our video on any website other than our corporate
site. The footage on our video has strict copyrights and any postings
on You Tube or Google video or any private sites could compromise our
use of that footage.

5.Thou shalt not use the names of our celebrity endorsers in your
advertising. Especially do not use the name of Morgan Freeman. It is
his voice on our video, but that clip was not recorded for
Citizenre.We were given the rights to use it.

6.Thou shalt always be professional and completely ethical when
communicating with prospects. Often the loudest skeptics become our
strongest advocates if you can answer all of their questions with
class. Even if you are not using the name of Citizenre in your ad,
your ad will still lead back to our site. The impression you make is
important.

7.Thou shalt never use any advertising that is misleading. Citizenre
does NOT sell electricity. That would make us a utility and put us
under a completely new set of regulations. We are the manufacturer and
renter (not lease) of an appliance that happens to produce
electricity. The customer actually produces their own power from the
system we rent them. Hence, we give power back to the people. Do not
state or imply that we sell electricity.

8.Thou shalt not promote our service or opportunity on any
“questionable” websites. This includes, but is not limited to,
websites that promote pornography, gambling, or anything that some
people might find offensive or that could tarnish our stellar image.
Also, you can not post on Ebay (or any auction site) or any site where
you are breaking their policies. Don’t try to cheat your way to
success. Be smart.

9.Thou shalt not represent yourself as an employee or agent of
Citizenre. If you use the name Citizenre on your answering machine,
you MUST use the words Independent Ecopreneur or Independent Associate
or Independent Direct Seller.

10.Thou shalt follow the Policies and Procedures and represent
Citizenre in an ethical and professional manner at all times. You will
be the initial point of contact many people will have with our mission–
make a great impression. You are the first line of enthusiasm and your
energy creates the Powur of Citizenre. You make a difference.

 They have made it very easy to keep track of what your representatives are doing in Washington. You can track by person , state or issue. Just what the doctor ordered for a busy person that wants to know what is going on up on the hill.

Take a look -Tim

http://www.opencongress.org/

I hear this all the time so I made a page just for you .

Click on the link below . It shows you the artwork that will post and gives you the code to put in your web page.

http://www.houseofsolar.com/pics/

Tim Padden
House of Solar

JUST LIKE THIS- Click to test

Now is the time to get out and promote yourself on the Web looking for customers and associates. When the announcement is made your advertisement will become one of thousands but today it can be front and center.

If you would like to learn more about how to do this send me an email and I will put together a Conference call to walk you through being effective with inexpensive advertising.

How_to_Place_Google_Ad

Google online PPT 

-Tim Padden

House of Solar