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This week marks the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, when environmental protection is given the national spotlight. This year, the urgency of addressing global warming will be a key concern. The Latino community has a tremendous stake in this issue—not only in avoiding the most devastating impacts of climate change but also in participating fully in the jobs, investment, and innovation that will be required to rebuild our economy on a foundation of clean energy.

This op-ed, by CAP’s Bracken Hendricks, was first published in Spanish here.

Hispanics in the United States lead the country in their understanding that immediate action on climate is necessary. A recent poll commissioned by the National Resources Defense Council shows that 66 percent of Hispanics think tackling climate change should be a “high” or “very high” priority compared to only 48 percent of non-Hispanics.

Hispanics are right to make this a priority. If unanswered, a warming planet threatens vast regions of the country and will affect millions of people. It would lead to longer, more severe droughts in the desert Southwest, increasing wild fires, and crop loss from Texas to California. Costal communities from New York City to Miami will face property damage and lost tourism income from more severe storms. And in Latin America, climate change means threats to human health in cities like Lima, Peru that depend almost entirely on melting glaciers for access to clean drinking water.

But at the same time, taking action to address climate change through energy efficiency can drive a new wave of investment in communities that will quickly create jobs and economic opportunity.

Retrofitting buildings to save electricity is one of the fastest ways to protect the environment since we use more energy in our homes than in our cars. The cleanest, cheapest source of energy is the energy we never have to use, but it takes work to cut those energy bills. So, investing in energy efficiency will jumpstart demand for high-paying jobs, which would be especially welcomed in the hard-hit construction industry. Last month the unemployment rate for construction workers stood at 25 percent—well above the national 9.7 percent unemployment rate.  In four states (Arizona, Nevada, Michigan, and Florida), fully 40 percent of construction workers have lost their job since the height of construction.

Hispanics have been hit particularly hard by this “tool belt recession.” During the housing boom of the last decade, the unemployment rates for Hispanics and non-Hispanics were virtually the same according to the Pew Hispanic Center and the Economic Policy Institute. But after the housing bubble burst and construction jobs rapidly diminished, the gap between Hispanic unemployment and non-Hispanic unemployment widened. Hispanic males were heavily concentrated in construction so as jobs declined they suffered disproportionately.

Today, therefore, there is a large pool of skilled construction workers ready to re-enter the labor market. Few areas in construction are poised to grow as rapidly as energy efficient retrofits. The Center for American Progress estimated that cutting energy use 20 percent to 40 percent in just 40 percent of America’s buildings would create 625,000 sustained jobs over a decade driving half a trillion dollars of new investment, while saving as much as $64 billion every year on energy bills.

A federal program of incentives for energy efficiency would cut energy use and rapidly create jobs within the construction industry and in retail, manufacturing, and local economic activity as well. Congress is currently considering HOME STAR, a program that would give consumers a rebate of as much as $3,000 to $8,000 for retrofit projects such as installing a new efficient hot water heater, furnace, or air conditioning system, and it would cut the cost nearly in half of replacing leaky windows, sealing duct work, and insulating attics for millions of Americans.

Working people are struggling to improve their economic security while debate over national energy policy remains divided. But smart policies like HOME STAR stand out by providing a way for all Americans to work together today toward common goals. This Earth Day, let’s get to work immediately, one home at a time, creating clean energy jobs and a better future for the planet through energy efficiency.

Bracken Hendricks is a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress

This concept presents a stylish vision for a future city car, and it packs a turbocharged 1.0-liter three-cylinder.

Ford’s latest foray into the realm of chic, urban automobiles comes in the form of the Start concept. Set to debut at the Beijing auto show, the Start is intended to showcase FoMoCo’s ability to build a car that’s both stylish and efficient. The car also previews a 1.0-liter three-cylinder EcoBoost gasoline engine that we’re told will eventually make its way to the U.S.

The pint-sized Start concept is an attractive design that, like the Mini Cooper and Fiat 500, places the wheels at the far corners of the body. At 145.0 inches long and just 66.5 inches wide, the Start is 10 inches shorter and about an inch narrower than Ford’s upcoming Fiesta five-door hatchback. The two-door, four-seater’s fast rear glass is somewhat reminiscent of the first-gen Euro-market Ford Ka, but the Start is far more chic and modern. Brushed aluminum borders the glass, and the roof panel is removable so occupants can enjoy convertible-esque motoring. The concept has LED lighting all around, and the rear turn signals illuminate sequentially from the center out. The Start’s design team reportedly drew inspiration from classics like the Porsche 356 Speedster and Alfa Romeo Zagato SZ, although we’re hard-pressed to see much of either of those cars in the final product. Instead, it looks as if the designers had photos of the Audi A1 and Citröen C2 Pluriel taped to their drawing boards.

Keep Reading: Ford Start Concept – Auto Shows

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It’s already been used as an ode to partying, and responsibly taking a cab with your sloshed friends, in a Heineken commercial. Now, the old-school rap classic "Just a Friend" gets an Earth Day makeover from its creator, DJ Biz Markie, and a bunch of lip-synching, enviro-friendly folks (and one cat!). The effort comes from Repower America, a non-profit group that lobbies for clean-energy legislation. The reworking might be a little strained, but its heart sure is in the right place. Come on, everybody, sing along! "Cuz we need clean energy/Cuz we need clean energy."

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Amazon reports earnings after the close of the market today.  We’ll be following the earnings live at 4 PM EST here.

The Bottom Line: Despite risks tied to the company’s exposure to physical media like books and console games (consumers are migrating to increasingly competitive digital formats), Amazon remains the biggest and strongest e-commerce franchise online and its third-party business continues to outpace competitors like eBay. 

The company has a strong, innovative management team that is transitioning the company to digital formats (like the Kindle and Amazon MP3) while maintaining its core e-commerce foothold.

The Street is looking for about 30% same-store Q1 sales growth, a modest deceleration from the 34% during Q4 ’09, which was driven by a strong holiday season.  Calls to industry executives during the quarter and yesterday’s in-line eBay results give us confidence the company will meet expectations.  If management provides conservative guidance for the remainder of the year like eBay did, the expensive AMZN shares could take a hit. 

Background: The AMZN shares have modestly underperformed the S&P and NASDAQ this year, but trade at a pretty rich 23 times 2010 EV/EBITDA.  As a result, there is little room for missteps when the company reports earnings this evening.  We don’t expect the company will miss earnings, but eBay’s conservative outlook does leave open the possibility that Amazon could do the same, potentially impacting the stock negatively.

Key Consensus Estimates:

• Revenue: $6.9 Billion.
• Operating Income: $466 Million.
• GAAP EPS: $0.61.
• Key Items To Watch Out For: Kindle, third-party sales, update on Zappos, digital media sales, web services. 

Here is an excellent snapshot from Citi analyst Mark Mahaney: (click to enlarge):

Join the conversation about this story »

Today is Earth Day, as you might have known. And if you didn’t, you were going to find out anyway. Plenty of web companies are doing something to mark the occasion and Google is no different. It’s running an Earth Day doodle, as expected, but it’s also celebrating it at its offices worldwide.

Google Doodles have been… (read more)

[JURIST] Former Sri Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka appeared before parliament Thursday to call for both his freedom and respect for the “rule of law.” Fonseka argued for his release from what he characterized as an “illegal detention” and a byproduct of injustice, while also insisting on democratic improvements and institution of the “rule of law.” He was temporarily released from military custody in order to attend the session, to which he traveled under guard. Fonseka faces two separate court-martials, charging him with participating in politics while in uniform and with improperly awarding army procurement contracts, but he successfully won a seat in parliament in elections held earlier this month. He maintains that the allegations are politically motivated. Fonseka is scheduled for a hearing before the Sri Lankan Supreme Court on April 26, where he will challenge his detention.
Earlier this month, Fonseka’s trials were postponed to allow the Sri Lankan Court of Appeals to examine the legality of court-martials. Fonseka was arrested by the military in February after losing presidential elections held the previous month. In March, the former chief justice of the Supreme Court criticized the government’s treatment of the general. Sarath Nanda Silva, who retired from the Sri Lankan Supreme Court last year, accused the government of using the military justice system to prevent Fonseka from participating in the upcoming elections, and of violating Fonseka’s civil rights. Silva also said that Fonseka’s arrest was made in violation of the country’s constitution.

For years, the Nigerian government has insisted that it’s cracking down on the notorious advance fee 419 scammers out there, but the scams continue. And, yes, they come from places other than Nigeria, but it really has become something of an industry in parts of Nigeria. There are even songs mocking dumb Americans who fall for the scams, and Nigerian officials have also been known to blame the victims of such scams. Indeed, many (though, not all) of these scams do play on the victim’s own greed, so there’s some element of questioning just how much of a “victim” they really are. But what’s amazing is how totally taken in by these scams most victims are. In fact, there are stories of the victims of these scams who — despite being told that it’s a complete scam — still believe that they’re just one step away from getting the stolen money owed to them.

So it’s interesting to see that the US gov’t has now convicted a Nigerian citizen of running such a scam. Apparently, he used a single email address for over ten years ([email protected]) and was able to convince lots of strangers to simply hand over money to him, promising to get them a fortune in return. What’s amazing isn’t just the convincing part, but the fact that he was able to use that one email address for so long so effectively.

Every time we see stories about people falling for Nigerian 419 scams — including Harvard professors and Ronald Reagan’s neuroscientist — we’re amazed that there are still people who fall for these types of scams. However, it seems these sorts of scams have worked for generations. There’s a fantastic book called Drake’s Fortune, that covers an almost identical scam that was massively successful for a small group of scammers about a century ago. Somehow, it seems likely that we’ll still see people falling for these scams in another century as well.

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Our development theme continues today at PreCentral. Next up: webOS kernel development and overclocking. There has been a huge amount of movement here in the past month or so with some exciting stuff out now and coming very, very soon.

First up, the overclocking method we covered about a month ago has a new release, the Super PreKernel app. The open-source solution utilizes the original the earlier 1.4.0 webOS overclocking kernel and ties it to a clever app that gives you a nice gui for changing your Pre’s clock speed with a touch of a button. Check out the videos detailing Super PreKernel and a speed comparison after the break!

There have actually been two parallel tracks for kernel development. In addition to the above, WebOS Internals has organized about an open-source philosophy and 7 principles to keep things clean, safe, and easy. What we have here is a trinity of kernel development:

• a kernel (called uber-kernel) based on webOS 1.4.1 and patched to allow for internal temperature sensing and overclocking – it’s actually in a testing feed now
• a C-service for managing the kernel
• an app called Govnah as a front-end for the whole shootin’ match.

Development is moving along quickly with goals like keeping an eye on internal cpu temperature, easily changing clock speed, and even dynamically managing cpu frequency based on policies you can set in-app. We’ll definitely let you know as this project starting hitting more milestones, but feel free to hit up the WebOS Internals forum here at PreCentral for the bleeding edge info.

read more

Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich wants to subpoena President Obama to testify at his June criminal corruption trial, my Chicago Sun-Times colleague Natasha Korecki is reporting over at her Blago Blog.

by Tom Philpott

Ironically enough, the people who cram animals together and stuff them full of dodgy feed are really, really sensitive. So please don’t say anything critical about meat.An iron-clad rule for government bureaucrats of all ranks: thou shalt
not question the American habit of eating more than a half pound of
meat per day. The folks responsible for churning out millions of pounds 
steaks, chops, nuggets, and burgers—and vast, toxic manure
cesspools—are sensitive souls. Hurting their feelings is … mean! From
the Hill:

The Farm Bureau is none too happy with the EPA today for publishing a
blog post urging Americans to give up meat.

The post in question was written by an EPA intern and recounts her
decision to stop eating meat. The author, Nicole Reising, cites the
“environmental effects of meat production” and urges readers to stop
eating meat.

….

The American Farm Bureau Federation issued a statement today decrying
the post as disrepectful to ranchers.

“While this is a position taken by an intern of the agency, EPA
should control its blog space,” said AFBP President Bob Stallman. “What
is written on its blog comes across as its official position toward
farmers and ranchers that it regulates and shows a terrible disregard
for them and the agriculture industry.”

To be clear, the American Farm Bureau Federation calles itself the
“Voice of Agriculture,” but it’s really the voice of industrial agriculture—and the few companies that benefit from it. To say that the
EPA “regulates” concentrated-animal feedlot operations (CAFOs) is a bit
fanciful. As the Washington Post recently put it:

Despite its impact, manure has not been as strictly regulated as more
familiar pollution problems, like human sewage, acid rain or industrial
waste. The Obama administration has made moves to change that but
already has found itself facing off with farm interests, entangled in
the contentious politics of poop.

The brazen intern in question, Nicole Reising, had proposed—without
considering the feelings of meat-industry execs or CAFO
operators!—that “Regulations can be made to help prevent the effects of
meat production,
but the easiest way to lessen the environmental impacts is to become a
vegetarian or vegan.”

Over on TNR,
Brad Plumer quibbles with Reising: “if you’re trying to tamp down on
the consequences of meat production, the ‘easiest’ approach may be to
start small and just convince people to eat less meat, rather than
swearing off it altogether.”

I would quibble with Reising and Plumer. Habits form and congeal over decades. Historically, meat has
been dear; it’s now cheap largely due to specific government action and
inaction over the past 30 years.

People aren’t going to cut back
on meat because EPA interns and political bloggers want them to. Curbing
the ruinous practices of the meat industry starts with enforcing the
regulations already on the books; and that means a new commitment on the
part of Reising’s bosses at the EPA, as well as leaders at FDA and
USDA, to make the meat industry pay for the messes it creates.

When
that happens, people will surely eat less meat—and the meat that they
do eat will tend to come from ecologically robust agriculture, and not
the dark, Satanic meat mills that now dominate. Check out my recent post on what it would take to expand human-scale, pasture-based meat
production.

Related Links:

Hipster habits that annoy the Earth [SLIDESHOW]

Foreign Policy mag spotlights ‘peak phosphorous’

Michigan woman faces down meat industry, wins [VIDEO]

Yesterday we broke the story of how Philip Mudd, the well-respected FBI/CIA al-Qaeda and terrorism analyst, quietly retired from government service. Today the New America Foundation, a D.C. think-tank, announces that Mudd will be joining its team as “a senior research fellow specializing in the Middle East and counterterrorism.”

Introduction:This mathematical concept is meant for first graders who are learning about money and its value.  Students need to understand that 5 pennies equal a nickel, 10 pennies equal a dime, etc.  Also, they need to learn what amounts and types of coins add up to 100 cents or less. In this plan I intend to help students learn the value of different coins and how they can add up to 100 cents (a dollar) in a variety of ways through a book, centers and certain websites with games they can play either in centers or at another time.  I also want them to see the importance of money in the real-world and realize that their parents probably use some form of these coins daily.The actual SOL is:SOL 1.10 The student will a) identify the number of pennies equivalent to a nickel, a dime, and a quarter; b) determine the value of a collection of pennies, nickels,and dimes whose total value is 100 cents or less.Text Annotations:How Much is $1? 

The Congressional Budget Office has released its review of Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial regulatory reform bill. It says the bill reduces the deficit by $21 billion over 10 years, with the money raised coming mostly from charging banks to pay into a fund available to the government to liquidate failing firms.

Additional items of note:

• The bill increases revenues $32.4 billion from now until 2015 and $75.4 billion between now and 2020. It increases spending over those period by $25.8 billion and $54.4 billion, respectively.
• The bill would start reducing the deficit by slight amounts as soon as it is implemented.
• The creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency would cost $3.2 billion between 2011-2020. The CBO estimates it will require 515 staffers.
• The bill would increase fees the SEC collects from financial firms by $650 million over five years, and fees firms pay to other regulators by $500 million.

Of course, the gains here are minuscule when viewed through the lens of the federal budget. But the value of preventing another widespread financial crisis, costing millions in jobs and trillions in household wealth? Priceless.

Every year since we launched Cleantech Blog this week marks a massive inflow of green press releases, phone calls, announcements and interview requests.  It always seems oddly out of place, and anything important we have to say always just seems lost in the press of Earth Day.

In reality this week is a week for remembrance, introspection, and then a pause before looking forward to an always brighter future. 

My remembrance always starts a day earlier.  Yesterday, April 21st was Aggie Muster, the day that thousands of Aggies around the world hold the roll call for the absent, where a family member answers”here” for those former students who have died in the previous year and cannot answer for themselves.  The roots of Muster date back over a hundred years, and we have formally held Muster since 1922 all around the world. 

Softly call the muster, softly call the roll.  We do remember.

And today, the day after is Earth Day, now 40 years old, the day we remember our planet, think about what we should be doing better, and recently, make our New Earth Year’s resolutions for what we will do better.

We will remember, we will do better.

And in both cases, look forward to the next year and a bright future standing on the shoulders of those who have gone before.

Here’s hoping that when we are gone, future generations will hold both their history and their planet dear, will have a reason to mark what we did with our time on Earth with reverence, and will still be working and looking forward to an even brighter, cleaner future for the generations to follow them.

Neal Dikeman is a partner at Jane Capital Partners, Chairman of Carbonflow and Cleantech.org, and a 3rd generation Texas Aggie Class of ’98.

Content provided by and all rights reserved to CleantechBlog.com. Also check out http://www.cleantech.org

by Umbra Fisk

Dearest readers,

Happy Earth Day! How are you celebrating? Perhaps by
tweeting your little heart out about all the hopeful things going on in the
environmental movement (don’t forget to add #hopen)? Well, since you’re on there anyway,
why not participate in my little book giveaway? That’s right! Free stuff! Woot! I’m giving away two
copies of this month’s Ask
Umbra’s Book Club selection, Diet for a
Hot Planet by Anna Lappé,
and two copies of Talking Dirt: The Dirt
Diva’s Down-to-Earth Guide to Organic Gardening by Annie Spiegelman.

There are two ways you can enter for a chance to win:

Answer the following question in the comments section below,
or follow my tweets @AskUmbra and respond to the question on
Twitter (include @AskUmbra and #giveaway in your response—no need to include the
question—so I’ll be sure to see it):

What can you commit to doing—not just as an individual in
your own home, but in your community, neighborhood, apartment building, school, or
office—to work toward a brighter green future?

Then at 4 p.m. PDT, I’ll pick two entries from the comments
and two from Twitter to win the books. I’ll email the winners for their
addresses after the contest is over.

Givingly,
Umbra

Related Links:

Win a signed copy of ‘In the Empire of Ice’!

Scientists show ‘growing’ fuel is waste of energy

Jamie Oliver on parents, nuggets, ‘luminous drinks,’ and school lunches

by Todd Woody

I’m waving the green flag of surrender, crushed by the organic
cotton-gloved fist of the enviro-public relations-industrial complex.

I will write an Earth Day column, my resistance broken by
the ceaseless pitches from corporate PR people to include “in your Earth Day
coverage” everything from how to “go green between the sheets [and] make your
love life sustainable,” to a certain multinational beverage company’s
LEED-certified bottling plant, to a defense contactor’s environmental initiatives.

It just won’t be a column about any of those things.

As I fruitlessly explained to those who wouldn’t take their
deleted pitches and unanswered phone calls as a sign of my lack of interest,
every day is Earth Day for environmental reporters. 

Photo courtesy of AmonixSo I’m going to write about something that in the pre-blog
era was known as news. On Earth Day eve, a Southern California solar company
called Amonix announced that it had raised $129.4 million from a group of
investors led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, one of Silicon Valley’s
most prominent venture capital firms and a leading green tech investor.

It’s a big chunk of change—one of the largest green tech
deals of the year—and a sign that investors continue to see a significant potential
payoff in solar technology, even one that has been in development by Amonix for
the past 20 years.

That’s right—two decades. That’s several lifetimes in VC
years.

Amonix makes concentrating photovoltaic power plants, known
in the business as CPV. Plastic lenses—other companies use mirrors—concentrate sunlight on tiny and expensive, but highly efficient solar cells.

Conventional solar panels concentrate the sun one time;
Amonix’s CPV panels—and those of some rivals—concentrate the sun 500
times. That solar intensity coupled with what is called a “multi-junction”
solar cell allows Amonix’s systems to generate more electricity than standard
solar panels in regions that receive intense direct sunlight.

(But you won’t be seeing Amonix’s CPV Solar Power Generator
on rooftops. Each unit is as tall as a five-storey building and generates 72
kilowatts of electricity.)

“CPV is hands down the most cost-effective for hot and sunny
desert environments and will outperform other solar technologies,” says Brian
Robertson, Amonix’s chief executive.

But only some 19 megawatts of CPV have been installed
worldwide, compared to thousands of megawatts of conventional photovoltaic
systems.

“If you look at the history of CPV as a technology, it has
been around several decades but the industry hasn’t taken off,” says Ben
Kortlang, a partner at Kleiner Perkins who formerly was the co-head of Goldman
Sachs’ alternative energy investment division.

High costs and technological challenges—such as keeping
the units cool—as well as bankers’ skittishness about financing bleeding edge
technology—limited CPV’s commercial appeal, according to Kortlang and
Robertson. But those obstacles appear to have been largely overcome and the
technology is starting to be deployed in the United States.

Robertson said Amonix has built 13 megawatts’ worth of CPV
power plants, mostly in Spain, which had offered generous subsidies for solar
power. Competitor SolFocus, a Silicon Valley startup, last month began
construction of a one-megawatt CPV farm at Victorville Community College in the
Southern California desert and this week announced that it would supply its
technology for a 300-kilowatt array to be built at Alice Springs Airport in
Australia.

“Amonix has removed the key challenges that have held the
CPV back,” says Kortlang. “We’re now seeing Amonix on a rapid commercial ramp
up.”

If that holds true, CPV could be a big boost to distributed
generation and change the calculus of deploying massive solar thermal power
plants in the desert Southwest. (Solar thermal farms use thousands of mirrors
spread over thousands of acres of land to focus the sun on liquid-filled
boilers that create steam to drive electricity-generating turbines.)

Robertson says Amonix plans to build small-scale solar farms
that generate between one and 20 megawatts and that can be plugged directly
into existing transmission lines.

Some solar thermal power plant projects have been stalled by
disputes over their impact on wildlife, the landscape and limited water
supplies. And while large-scale photovoltaic farms don’t consume water to
generate electricity, their lower efficiency requires huge areas of land for
the deployment of solar panels.

Amonix and other CPV companies sidestep some of those
pitfalls as the technology’s higher efficiency means a smaller footprint. No
water is consumed to generate electricity and less water is used to clean the
units as one can produce the same amount of power as hundreds of solar panels.
An Amonix solar farm also can be built on terrain that is not flat, unlike
other solar thermal and photovoltaic power plants.

Robertson claims the capital costs of manufacturing Amonix’s
arrays is about one tenth of those incurred by photovoltaic competitors, an
advantage as the solar business becomes increasingly competitive with the entry
of Chinese companies into the U.S. market.

One potential problem for Amonix could be the sheer size of
its 77-foot by 50-foot solar arrays, which track the sun and which will be
visible for long distances in the desert. Environmental groups already have
objected to the impact of solar thermal projects on desert “view sheds.” 

But Robertson said so far he’s received no complaints. “To
be honest, we’ve seen the opposite,” he said. “It’s about the gaudiest, most
gigantic statement you can make if you want to do solar.”

Related Links:

Save Bette Midler, er, Mother Nature! [VIDEO]

Hipster habits that annoy the Earth [SLIDESHOW]

40 people who are redefining green

Joeri Rogelj and others argue that Copenhagen Accord pledges are paltry in a Nature Opinion,

Current national emissions targets can’t limit global warming to 2 °C, calculate Joeri Rogelj, Malte Meinshausen and colleagues — they might even lock the world into exceeding 3 °C warming.

• Nations will probably meet only the lower ends of their emissions pledges in the absence of a binding international agreement
• Nations can bank an estimated 12 gigatonnes of Co2 equivalents surplus allowances for use after 2012
• Land-use rules are likely to result in further allowance increases of 0.5 GtCO2-eq per year
• Global emissions in 2020 could thus be up to 20% higher than today
• Current pledges mean a greater than 50% chance that warming will exceed 3°C by 2100
• If nations agree to halve emissions by 2050, there is still a 50% chance that warming will exceed 2°C and will almost certainly exceed 1.5°C

Via Nature’s Climate Feedback, Copenhagen Accord – missing the mark.