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1. Establish the growth rates needed to reach a gigaton of GHG savings by 2020 annually from each sector
2. Agree on the top 5 market barriers to reaching the growth rates (training, regulatory, financing, reports establishing the value of our solutions from government, etc)
3. Agree on the top 5 policy barriers to reaching the growth rates (price on carbon, rules changes within loan guarantee program, etc)
4. Top ideas on how to eliminate the barriers
   1. Which NGOs, Trade Associations
   2. How will we get these guys the money needed (lobby Foundations, membership dues, etc)
   3. Spokespeople that would best represent the industry (Al Gore, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard Branson, James Cameron, David Crane, Jim Rogers, Sunil Paul, T Boone Pickens)

It is clear that there is no shortage of money flowing into the Climate Change advocacy space.　 However there has been a lack of coordination between the desires of entrepreneurs and the goals of the advocates.　 The Carbon War Room is facilitating this high profile meeting for stakeholders.　 Our hope is that if we can collectively indentify the most pressing barriers, we work together to eliminate them and encourage large markets for Climate Change Solutions.

I hope that you can see that this format is critical to identifying and focusing the stakeholders on the top 5 market and policy barriers.

Warm Regards,

Jigar Shah
Carbon War Room

6.4 GW Of PV Installed In 2009　 (contributed by Scott Storment)

SI Staff, Wednesday 31 March 2010 - 09:50:53　

He successfully predicted the emergence of the World Wide Web and a computer beating a chess champion. He invented the first print-tospeech reading machine for the blind, the first music synthesizer that could realistically recreate the grand piano, and omni-font optical character recognition (OCR). Now, Ray Kurzweil says we'll be able to eliminate fossil fuels in the next 20 years. And within the next several decades, mankind will live indefinitely.

"Pattern recognition is what the brain does well. That is still the primary strength of humans. Computer-based pattern recognition, though, is increasing in capability and will represent the heart of artificial intelligence in the next couple of decades," he says.

Life direction at age 5
By the age of five, Kurzweil knew that he would be an inventor. "I really never wavered. It was a very firm, confident thought," he says. Although his first invention, a rocket ship, never did fly, he learned to never give up.

His parents were the first major influence in his career as an inventor. They gave him Erector sets and other enrichment and construction toys. Marvin Minsky of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, recognized as the father of artificial intelligence, became Kurzweil's mentor after the high schooler started corresponding with him.

Chance meeting, rewarding business
The omni-font OCR was a solution in search of a problem until Kurzweil sat next to a blind man on an airplane. "He described to me how there wasn't too much he couldn't do, but he acknowledged one handicap: an inability to read ordinary printed materials such as his memos. So at that point, I decided to apply the OCR to a reading machine," says Kurzweil.

Funded by the Pew Charitable Trust

“Policy, investment and business experts alike have noted that the clean energy economy is emerging as one of the great global economic and environmental opportunities of the 21st century.”

Executive Summary

This report documents the dawning of a new worldwide industry—clean energy—which has experienced investment growth of 230 percent since 2005. Demonstrating its strength, the clean energy sector declined only 6.6 percent in 2009 despite the worst financial downturn in over half a century.

In 2009, $162 billion was invested in clean energy around the world. Rebounding from a sharp downturn in the last quarter of 2008 and first quarter of 2009, clean energy investments in the G-20 averaged a robust $32 billion in each of the last three quarters of 2009. In an encouraging sign for the future, many governments prioritized clean energy within economic recovery funding, the bulk of which will reach innovators, businesses and installers in 2010 and 2011. Clean energy investments are forecast to grow by 25 percent

to $200 billion in 2010.

Accounting for more than 90 percent of worldwide finance and investment, G-20 countries dominate the clean energy landscape. As the country profiles in this report demonstrate, virtually all G-20 countries have seen investments grow by more than 50 percent over the last five years. Within the G-20, our research finds that domestic policy decisions impact member countries. Those nations—such as China, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Germany strong, national policies aimed at reducing global warming pollution and incentivizing the use of renewable energy are establishing stronger competitive positions in the clean energy economy. Nations seeking to compete effectively for clean energy jobs and manufacturing would do well to evaluate the array of policy mechanisms that can be employed to stimulate clean energy investment. China, for example, has set ambitious targets for wind, biomass and solar energy and, for the first time, took the top spot within the G-20 and globally for overall clean energy finance and investment in 2009. The United States slipped to second place.

There are reasons to be concerned about America’s competitive position in the clean energy marketplace.

HO’S WINNING THE CLEAN ENERGY RACE?

GROWTH, COMPETITION AND OPPORTUNITY IN THE WORLD’S LARGEST ECONOMIES

Relative to the size of its economy, the United States’ clean energy finance and investments lag behind many of its G-20 partners. For example, in relative terms, Spain invested five times more than the United States last year, and China, Brazil and the United Kingdom invested three times more. In all, 10 G-20 members devoted a greater percentage of gross domestic product to clean energy than the United States in 2009. Finally, the Unites States is on the verge of losing its leadership position in installed renewable energy capacity, with China surging in the last several years to a virtual tie.

The U.S. policy framework for reducing global warming pollution and promoting renewable energy remains uncertain, with comprehensive legislation stalled in Congress. On the other hand, America’s entrepreneurial traditions and strengths in innovation—especially its leadership in venture capital investing—are considerable, giving it the potential to recoup leadership and market share in the future.

Policy, investment and business experts alike have noted that the clean energy economy is emerging as one of the great global economic and environmental opportunities of the 21st century. Local, state and national leaders in the United States and around the world increasingly recognize that safe, reliable, clean energy—solar, wind, bioenergy and energy efficiency—can be harnessed to create jobs and businesses, reduce dependence on foreign energy sources, enhance national security and reduce global warming pollution.

Nations seeking to compete effectively for clean energy jobs and manufacturing would do well to evaluate the array of policy mechanisms that can be employed to stimulate clean energy investment. This is especially true for policymakers in the United States, which is at risk of falling further behind its G-20 competitors in the coming years unless it adopts a strong national policy framework to spur more robust clean energy investment.

Complete report is attached: G 20 Clean Energy Fact Book

Javier Herrero, Bauhaus Capital Partners March 21, 2010

The renewable energy market is no doubt a very attractive one as it is in a high growth phase and all accounts point to its continuing to be so for decades. But are the capital gains and cash flows just in development and technology, leaving ownership for utilities and large funds, or is there a model for small to midsized power producers? Is the business model limited to just PV and wind or are other technology plays also possible?

It is clear that with a few exceptions the photovoltaic IPP market is dominated by European companies. At the same time, solar PV development in Europe has become the center of activity for global developers, PV suppliers and utilities. And the current amount of installed MW capacity by IPP by no means excludes new entrants. There are many new IPPs sprouting up especially as new markets and technologies continue to change and expand the market.

In the US however, and according to Dr. Chris Constantine Director of New Technologies Oerlikon Solar in an interview with the SEMI PV Group, a global trade association, “the fastest growing PV segment will be the distributed generation utility segment (under 20MW) with new utility project models, growing financing support, and growing public policy support to help accelerate growth. Total US demand could reach as high as 4GW in 2012, dramatically up from the 2009 level of less than 700MW.”