ecopreneurship

oil and gas we go!

justinas — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:40:11 +0000

Polls show Lithuanians are rather pro-wind, but better take a look at these graphs. Self-explanatory.

concepts. defining ‘subsidy’

justinas — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:44:33 +0000

The fact that conventional (fossil fuel based) energy has been subsidized by governments for decades is already common sense. When I was looking for support to analogous argument in my paper, came up with this amusing document. The European Commission makes a statement that financial support from the EU (IIDS fund) of €170 million to Lithuanian Power Plant (combined cycle gas) does not constitute State Aid (since it does not exploit resources of the State).

Thereby again, we managed to comply with the competition rules.

However

- it is a subsidy (grant) for traditional energy as opposed to alternative energy (wind/solar/hydro/efficiency);
- the subsidy could be entitled State resource since IIDSF would have allocated funding for the country anyways.

View this document on Scribd

Regulating Electricity Markets

justinas — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 09:19:42 +0000

UK was one of the first countries to pursue deregulation, privatization and competition in electricity markets. The EU model replicates majority of the features.

JP Meloche, MPA candidate at the LKY school, was working in the Office of the Electricity and Gas Market (UK) in the early stage of market development. He kindly agreed to share the presentation used for the talk at school. It explains the fundamental principles behind electricity markets, what I found to be really interesting. Thanks!

innovation strategy!

justinas — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 07:53:09 +0000

Probably first time in history Lithuania has a comprehensive innovation document – Lithuanian Innovation Strategy 2010 – 2020. That surely is a promising sign from the current government. Starting a transition towards new mode of economic development, perhaps?

However, nothing is perfect and neither is the strategy. Let me shed some light on the doc by raising few points on both positive and negative sides.

First, I’m rather impressed

That we have the document in general; action plans should follow soon accordingly;
That we acknowledge rigidity within the structure of the economy (balance between agriculture, manufacturing, services) and miserable productivity levels;
That strategy attempts to focus on certain ‘promising’ sectors (though, ministry could have identified breakthrough points and critical developments in each field);
With initiative to assess the implementation of the strategy applying European Innovation Scoreboard data.

Not really impressed

With availability of the document: it took me 20 minutes browsing internet to find the strategy itself (still not confident whether it’s the final version). Documents must go along press releases, as well as summary and (possibly) powerpoint presentation…
With prevailing argument that innovations are supposed to drive us out of crisis (instead of launching completely new concept of economic development);
That strategy ignores close look at particular sectors to reveal context and opportunities there;
That we still use SWOT analysis! Not sound at all. Could be one of the angles, but certainly not the only one…
With weird sentences and geography knowledge (“Azijos ir Brazilijos, Rusijos, Indijos, Kinijos (toliau vadinama – BRIC) valstybių MTEP ir inovacijų sektoriaus bei ekonomikos konkurencingumo augimas”).

View this document on Scribd

everyone likes EVs (me too)

justinas — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:31:10 +0000

I have already posted couple entries on EVs in this blog. The idea behind them was simple: electric vehicle is obviously a winner in transport cleantech; countries and companies across the world now compete for fastest transition locally and new market niches abroad.

However, this press release made me raise my eyebrows. Finally, there is a mention of ‘cleantech’!

Just like the Ministry states, benefits of joining EV trend are obvious for our fragile economy and beloved environment. Unfortunately, I get the feeling in this sector minister is ahead of our indigenous businesses. Is it actually dead silence in the private sector?

To large extend, we have overslept initial steps of electrification in the automobile industry. Better Place, a prominent private venture in the field, was founded in 2007 and by 2008 already had partnerships with Nissan Renault and Israel.

More than a year ago, UK government declared a £100m funding package aimed at encouraging the mass marketing of electric vehicles. In March 2009, Obama Announced $2.4 Billion for the development of Electric Vehicles. Even Spain’s government aims to have 1 million electric cars on the roads by 2014.

Right direction, but please – hurry!

Lithuanian wind energy > interviews

justinas — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 09:24:17 +0000

During the break I had a chance to interview people involved in wind power development. Was delighted that many business, government and ngo representatives replied to my emails and kindly committed their time for a semi-structured talk. Thank you all!

While it was rather challenging to acquire general knowledge on local electricity production in the beginning, few broad issues started to recur. Unfortunately, they seem to be deeply entrenched and continuously impede the change power sector needs.

Corruption. The scale is outrageous. Heard multiple stories about projects coming to a standstill in municipalities. As local governments don’t see direct benefits (?) from wind turbines built, this becomes a reason to demand businesses cover costs of monument being built in the town, invite mayor have shares in the company or show gratitude in other ways. In this regard recent national blow-up of new nuclear plant seems very symptomatic.

Outlook & competence. Complains about people involved in power transmission and distribution were also common. An obstacle was described as ‘traditional thinking’, ‘old-school perspective’ or ‘seno raugo energetikai‘ (=rotten outlook). In this case it was not that much the interests that hinder wind power expansion. The issue has to do with little motivation (or incapacity) to adjust to the change necessary in electricity generation. Alternative energy requires sophisticated grid management, up-to-date technologies and tough learning – what is often perceived as a simple headache.

Public opinion. The problem is much more complex than traditional NISBY issue (not in my backyard!!). Apparently, some businesses are pushing the projects through strictly along (or perhaps on the edge of) legal terms, ignoring communities at all – this provokes backlash. In other cases, “community organizers” enter the scene encouraging locals to complain about the “harm they suffer” (these “organizers” tend to be related to local recreation businesses or land owners). Basically, there is an education (or incentive) gap in the field, thus public opinion is largely under the sway of power players.

back to business

justinas — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 06:08:49 +0000

Yeap, back to singapore, school, classes, college green, PAE, basketball & etc. Around 100 days left till (hopefully?) graduation.

Quite excited about 3 modules will be taking this semester: public policy for sustainability, frontiers of social innovation and change agents. Though quite reading – intensive, they will leave me 2-3 days every week to proceed on thesis and other stuff (got carried away by twitter recently).

Meet you online.

a social enterprise, perhaps?

justinas — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:44:30 +0000

In fact, we care little about climate change. Our role in world’s struggle against global warming is minor. Ultimately - we have showed terribly little political will, effort and innovation to achieve energy security since regaining independence.
We’ve been unable to sell renewables. Even today, alternative energy is perceived as a supplement Brussels demands (we believe in nuclear! and fossils, apparently).
Thus reframing the issue should be the first step. Ecopreneurship is all about economy, SMEs, startups, job creation, nature and communities: cleantech must be redefined in a broader perspective. As sector blending will be one of the dominant trends in the coming years, not only cleantech (similar to microfinance) will strengthen its links with social enterprise world, but also make it more financially viable.
I was rather astonished to learn about Wind Energy investment by Smalininkai Community Center. The project was targeted at societal needs, first of all – absence of street lighting. In the small town of Smalininkai, where almost half of 1600 inhabitants are youth under 18, safe living conditions were a critical issue.
The Community purchased a 250 kW wind turbine. Profit received is allocated to repay the loan, develop the Centre of Smalininkai Community, improve public infrastructure, even for ecological education of the youth.
Finally, implementation of the project helped a lot building strong partnership ties among the local government, academic institutions and NGOs. No surprise Community Center was awarded a “Best Practice” prize by the Ministry of the Interior.
A successful social enterprise!

hopenhagen, climate change and a local ‘green party’

justinas — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:42:36 +0000

Much has been said about COP15 already. While media is vocal bringing Obama’s quotes, EU disappointment (Ed Miliband) and Wen Jiabao’s perspective, I found a fair and insightful review written by Robert Stavins at Belfer center. [Myself, I tend to the same conclusion Ann Florini advocates: we need to rethink global energy related organizational infrastructure].
Distinctly little on Copenhagen talks has been delivered in Lithuanian media. Forum was never awarded a major headline in the local media and was only briefly mentioned in the context of protests or after the deal was signed. Is it the media, or society to blame?
Generally, one could say the ‘green wave’ has reached the country. Young Lithuanians write eco-blogs, green ideas enter public discourse (for instance, in multiple contests of national vision), green (of all shades) shops are mushrooming around the old town of Vilnius. However, reading a magazine Green’as made me regret spending 8 litai earlier and reminded the “green party” problem Thomas L. Friedman describes in his book (excerpt from an interview for Salon):
- The green revolution is still at a symbolic and hobby level. There are a lot of small things people are doing — wonderful things — driving a hybrid car, putting solar panels on their roof, generating their own power. But the problem is, the scale of this problem is so large. I say, “Well, here’s a phony revolution. It’s doing nothing toward that scale.” So that’s why I’m down on Earth Day concerts and more focused on the real engine for innovation and deployment, which is the marketplace.
Drop kitchen-innovation. Focus on issues where real pollution happens.

EVs again (a bit of optimism?)

justinas — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:00:02 +0000

Building on my previous post: London Mayor Boris Johnson announced plans to add 25,000 charging stations for electric cars across the city by 2015, turning London into a center of plug-in vehicle technology. The rationale is to reduced greenhouse gas emissions and improve the quality of air for the citizens.
I have stated previously there’s very little thinking along these lines in Lithuania. My observation was based on the media discourse and simple facts as number of hybrid vehicles in the country (few hundreds only). Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a Lithuanian firm of EVs enthusiasts: they have even launched a promotional site greenauto.lt.
Next year Mitsubishi i-MiEV will reach country as well (they claim exploitation cost of mere 1€ per 100 km!). Charging stations are expected to follow (first – residential areas, then – public?).
Thus the picture for EVs is not that gloomy. However the issue is how can we bring these positive pieces of ‘ecopreneurship’ together?