Word: oiling
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...Paul Maeder, who helps oversee clean-tech investments for Highland Capital, the global venture-capital firm he co-founded. But in his next breath, Maeder explains why the current economic mess may end up being a boon to environmentalism - by forcing change. "We're in a crisis because of oil prices and climate change, and now we're in a crisis because of the capital markets," he says. "This is where innovation happens - where the existing power structure hits a crisis point. I'm really happy...
...between optimism and denial. The WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index, which tracks the stock prices of clean-tech companies, is down about 80% since the beginning of September. (By contrast, the S&P Index lost about 25% of its value over the same time period.) The cost of oil, which has driven much of the investment in alternative energy in recent years, has halved since the summer. And new green industries, like wind farms and solar-panel factories, are no less affected by the credit crunch than any other business...
Problem is, the essential issue addressed by clean-tech development has less to do with the economy than with climate change, dependence on foreign oil and energy waste - all long-term threats. If green tech will be to the 21st century what high tech was to the last, then this is no time to scale back. With investors rightly spooked, however, governments on both sides of the Atlantic need to show more leadership. "Seen in the right way, people can learn important lessons from [the crisis]," says Nicholas Stern, the British economist whose 2006 report laid out the financial merits...
...counterpart to reducing pollution is increasing conservation, and on this issue Obama’s plan to increase energy efficiency is spot on. There are simply not enough oil or coal reserves in the world to sustain our current lifestyle, especially if the vast economies of China and India aspire to join us in our profligacy. But the President should go even further than even Obama has proposed, and mandate efficient city planning that minimizes transportation costs, specifically for automobiles...
...everyone is optimistic about Mexico's future following the reform. Political analyst Federico Estevez said that it could be too little, too late and lead to major losses in oil revenue before more radical legislation is implemented. Furthermore, he said that far from becoming isolated, Lopez Obrador and the hard left have kept themselves in a powerful strategic position if the global economic woes hit Mexico hard. "Lopez Obrador is sitting pretty for when things go bad for the economy here - and they will go bad," Estevez said. "If people lose their jobs, they are not going to care that...