Environmental Accountant

We have taken natural system for granted and now are threaten by these changes.

• When economists tally up the value of services provided by nature, they find them to be worth trillions of dollars--probably more than all human economic activity. [2]
• To produce a sustainable economy, business need a new accounting method that measures the value of nature and natural capital in business transactions and performance.
• Changing course to produce a sustainable economy requires the "Second industrial revolution" as Paul Hawken, Amory Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins described in Natural Capitalism.
• The System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting is used by many countries to track how natural resources and used, how wastes are disposed of, and the net impact on the environment, in addition to more traditional measures of economic performance.
• An environmental accountant who reduces company's carbon footprint but eliminates its financial profit will not be employed for long.

Reference

1. Glenn Croston, 75 Green Businesses
2. Costanza et al, The value of the World's Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital, Nature May 1997

Tips in buying a new car

Target Price=(MSRP - rebate or Sale price - Low ball offer)/2 + low ball offer

• Invoice price
• Volume Purchase Discount is not shown.
• sticker
• Holdback(similar to deposit)
• incentives and rebates are programs offered by the manufacturers to stimulate sales.

Edmunds True Market Value

• It's a guide that provides you updated weekly pricing on what you should pay for a vehicle — without having to spend hours negotiating with a dealer.
• 没有标明数据统计历史，所以，这个值只是一个均值，却没有趋势信息。[1]

Emotion in trading

• While salesmen play people games with the customer, the guys in the tower work the numbers with computers, their eyes fixed on the bottom line. They can see at a glance what kind of profit they are taking from the customer and they do it any way. Furthermore, they bully the sales staff, encouraging them to manipulate, control and intimidate customers while they take the lion's share of the profit.[4]
• By itself profit is a positive word. But in the car business, the dealership's profit is the consumer's loss.[4]
• Car salespeople know that if you leave the car lot to "think it over" you might decide not to buy their car. So they pressure you to "buy today."[4]

Reference

1. 买新车杂记-唐僧版_1_功课篇
2. 买新车杂记-唐僧版_2_斗法篇
3. 买新车杂记-唐僧版_3_自我篇
4. Edmunds's Confessions of a Car Salesman

Paul Pilzer and his "The Next Millionaires"

A friend recommended me this book this Wed. Today I finished the first 3 chapter. I wondered if some arguments in the books made sense at all.

• The amount of wealth we can create is limited only by how many people we're willing to trade with. (pp. 17).
• Also limited by possibility curve, natural resources etc.
• Sounds like persuading you to direct sell.
• Direct Selling Association

Reference

1. Paul Zane Pilzer homepage

American Enterprise Institute

A think tank that has received more than $1.6 M from ExxonMobil, with 20+ staffers who have also worked as consultants to the Bush Administration. Lee Raymond, fromer ExxonMobil CEO, is their board's vice chairman.

• ACE had sent letters out to scientists around the world, offering $10k to anyone who could undermine the IPCC's report(02/02/2007), asking for essays that "thoughtfully explore the limitations of climate model outputs."
• The month before, the Union of Concerned Scientists issued a report, showing that Exxon had spent some $16M since 1998 to "seek to confuse the public on global warming science."

Reference

1. Jeff Siegel et al, Investing in renewable energy

Huaneng(NYSE,HNP)

Chinese company already made money by emission trading.

• Chinese utility Huaneng struck a deal to sell credits to Spanish utility Endesa(Madrid: ELE). That deal alone set a negotiated price of $8.70/ton, thereby generating about $375 million for HNP.[1]

Financial

• Negative net income in 2008??

Reference

1. Chinese Power Giant to Sell Carbon Dioxide to Spain under CDM Contract Jan 23,2006

Technology Levels Playing Field in Race to Market Electric Car

The concept of an electric vehicle has been around for more than a century. But so far it has failed to become mainstream in large part because the batteries have been too heavy, bulky and costly. Until recently, no commercially available battery could store enough energy in a small space, such as under the car's back seat, recharge quickly and operate in all weather without overheating or failing.

• Lithium-ion batteries, like the ones used in laptop computers and cellphones, hold the most promise. But the safety issues have slowed production. Both GM and Toyota say they are taking more time to roll out their electric cars to make sure their batteries are safe.
• Mr. Wang says BYD's lithium-ion battery uses an iron-phosphate technology that is chemically stable and thus "inherently safe." He says it doesn't overheat to the point where it can catch fire.
• The technology is similar in design to that developed by A123 Systems, a U.S. start-up battery maker led by a group of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. GM is using their technology to power the Volt. Individuals close to A123 say the company plans to take apart BYD's battery cell to see if BYD has infringed on any of its technology. Officials at A123 declined to comment.
• The F3DM is similar in design to General Motors Corp.'s Chevy Volt. But it is being launched two years earlier than the Volt and one year ahead of Toyota's plug-in hybrid, which is due out for late 2009.

Reference

1. Technology Levels Playing Field in Race to Market Electric Car

Enter1(AMEX: HEV)

This company develops lithium-ion battery systems for automakers that improve the performance, fuel-efficiency, and cost of hybrid electric vehicles. Their batterys are designed to be lighter in weight, occupy less space, provide more power and more energy, and have a longer life than the NiMH batteries found in today's hybrid vehicles. [1]

• INDIANAPOLIS, Nov. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Advanced lithium-ion battery maker EnerDel will enter the utility-scale energy storage market, supplying batteries for a major new smart grid program announced yesterday by the US Department of Energy. EnerDel will build the batteries for five one-megawatt power systems that will be used by Portland General Electric (PGE) - a pioneer in smart grid technology deployment -- to help manage peak demand and smooth the variations in power from renewable sources like wind and solar.[2]
• The PGE project will be built in Salem, OR, where it will serve both residential and commercial customers. Equipment will be installed at 15 sites over the next two years, after which developers will spend two to three years testing system performance under wide variety of geographic and meteorological conditions. It is one of 16 announced by DOE, which is providing half the $178 million funding through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal stimulus package enacted in February. The balance will come from utilities and other participants. Overall, the Northwest regional program will serve up to 60,000 utility customers in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.

Reference

1. Jeff Siegel et al, Investing in renewable energy
2. Lithium-Ion Battery Maker EnerDel Enters Utility Energy Storage Market, Will Supply New DOE-Backed Smart Grid Program

Electrovaya(TSX:EFL)

While EFL's SuperPolymer technology(a technology based on lithium-ion polyermer battery technology) has primarily been used in batteries that provide longer runtimes for portable computers, mobile telephones, and other wireless devices, it was also used in the company's "Maya-100"--a zero-emission vehicle.

• The Maya-100 delivered a 230-mile range with a top speed of 80 mpg. Its battery sported 5 times the energy density of the lead-acid batteries, at less than one-third the wight.
• Cars are currently made by Zenn Motors and Miles Automotive
• http://www.evcarco.com/

Reference

1. Jeff Siegel et al, Investing in renewable energy
2. The Maya 300: An Exxon-Assisted Electric Car

How much oil used to commute per day in U. S.?

• The average U. S. drivers drives 29 miles per day.
• Assuming all the commuters drove 29 miles/day at 27.5 mile/gallon, each commuter would burn through 1.05 gallons of gas/day.
• Accord to the U. S. Census Bureau, there are 105,046,395 commuters in the U. S. who drive to work, alone, in their cars, vans or trucks.
• 110,298714.75 gallon/day!!

Reference

1. Jeff Siegel et al, Investing in renewable energy