As industry leaders closely watch the consumer response to new electric vehicles, ideas are quickly taking shape in regards to where manufacturers should target their sales and production. While North American, European and Chinese auto manufacturers race to bring a viable electric car to market, the question remains, who will arrive first and where will the manufacturing centers be located?

A recent announcement that Think, Norway’s pioneering electric carmaker is opening a manufacturing plant in the US is an indication that the US may be overtaking Europe as a more lucrative marketplace for the production of electric vehicles.

Think CEO, Richard Canny has stated, “The U.S. is quickly overtaking Europe as an attractive market for EVs and is an ideal location to engineer and build EVs” and he may be right. Think is currently in discussion with eight US states to determine where to build their new manufacturing facility which will initially employ 300 workers and will have a production capacity of 16,000 cars per year. Think’s technical center will also provide 70 additional jobs for engineers and electric drive specialists. Long term plans for this facility include employment for roughly 900 total employees and production capacity of 60,000 electric vehicles per year.

In addition to job creation and dealer sales, the migration of Think manufacturing to the US will also impact our national economy through contributing to a growing supply chain which serves the electric vehicle and plug-in hybrid car markets. Currently, Think is partnering with US battery makers Ener1, Inc. and A123 to provide compact, high-powered lithium-ion power systems for “TH!NK city” which, is Think’s flagship vehicle.

The TH!NK city is estimated at being capable of traveling 65 miles per hour and up to 112 miles per charge. Although numbers such as those are impressive in terms of what consumer options have been in the past, the question still remains as to whether or not those specs are enough to draw in US consumers. If the failure of China’s marketplace to embrace the F3DM electric car is any indication as to the possible future of the TH!NK city, the Norwegian-run company may have some more design work ahead of them before being able to capture revenue through US sales.

However, with talks underway with eight US states (including Michigan), a recent acquisition of $5.7 million in interim financing and loans available through the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing program, the arrival of a vibrant Think presence on the streets of America seems inevitable.

The question remains, will US consumers respond to an fully electric car that can travel 112 miles with a top speed of 65mph or, will they hold out for longer range and higher speed hybrid electric vehicles?

The goal of this post is to make the point that corporations are one of our greatest assets in moving towards a sustainable future. There are two points that I propose to support this point.

1. Corporations represent a remarkable platform for the industrial capacity that is required to create the materials necessary for renewable energy systems.

2. Corporations represent a remarkable asset in terms of human knowledge and skills.

The following data points are compelling arguments that I have gathered from the recent work of Saul Griffith:

1. If an aluminum can producer redirected their production of 110 billion cans in a year to the production of solar thermal surfaces, they could create 200 GW of energy.

2. Nokia produces 9 phones every second. Again, that’s, 9 phones in a single second. Imagine if that production capacity was redirected to the manufacturing of solar panels?

3. GM manufactures one drivetrain every minute and one complete car every two minutes. Imagine if this production capacity was redirected to the production of wind turbines? This production capacity represents the ability to provide enough wind turbines to generate 2 TW of energy.

What will our future look like if the sustainability movement does not embrace corporations as partners? Where will the large-scale production capacity come from to create the materials that are required? Where will the brain-power to engineer the necessary innovations come from? Where will the financial acumen to determine how to make sustainability profitable come from?

Certainly, progress on these fronts can me made without the contributions of corporations. I feel strongly that we should look to the academic community, small business thought leaders, home garage hobbyists and inspired entrepreneurs for leadership in sustainability initiatives. However, I would argue that without embracing corporations as partners in sustainability and encouraging them to become a part of the solution, sustainability initiatives will not have the broad reaching, global impact that is required to solve the immediate environmental crisis and to build the foundation for a sustainable future to support our growing human population on Earth.

Commonly, I find that social and environmental practitioners expend too much energy arguing the faults of large corporations. Within the community of sustainability practitioners, I think the challenge lies not in articulating our thoughts on the poor practices of corporations. In fact, I find that to be an easily made argument that practitioners should move beyond. Instead, I feel that the challenge lies in finding the personal ability articulate the opportunities through which corporate assets can be leveraged to contribute meaningful solutions to our current and future environmental and social needs.

It’s been an exciting week as commentaries on the merits and shortcomings of the American Clean Energy and Security Act have taken place among the sustainability and business leadership communities. If enacted, this legislation could propel the US into an entirely new economy comprised of clean energy technologies & infrastructure, reduced greenhouse gas emissions across industries, and an innovative green jobs workforce.

If passed, this bill will certainly change the manners in which we do business and the costs of doing so. Forward thinking business leaders are staying ahead of the curve and preparing their businesses for the upcoming changes by closely following the development of this critical legislation.

The goal of this article is to provide business leaders with an overview of the American Clean Energy and Security Act and to highlight the aspects of the bill that may significantly change how you do business in the very near future. In addition to understanding the details of this proposed legislation, business leaders are encouraged to be informed of the details surrounding the debate of a carbon tax versus cap-and-trade.

Materials:
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 Discussion Draft Full Text
American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 Discussion Draft Summary

Opening Commentary:
The focus of much debate surrounding the draft version of this bill is centered on questions of: 1) the efficacy of a cap and trade system on affecting emissions reductions and 2) the impact of a cap and trade regime on company profits and consumer prices.

A key issue that the draft does not address is how the allowances for tradable emissions will be allocated across and within industries. This issue will be refined through upcoming conversations among Committee members. Although the resolution of this issue may not affect the overall cost of implementing the cap and trade program, it will certainly affect the finances of businesses as some businesses may now be facing potentially very large fines for exceeding allowable emissions counts as early as 2012.

In addition to being quiet on the details of how the allowable emissions will be allocated, the legislation also avoids laying out the details of consumer price protection strategies that it refers to in the “transitioning” title portion of the legislation.

A final point of note is that although the bill articulates that the cap and trade regime is for businesses emitting more than 25,000 tons of GHGs, businesses that emit less are not free of regulation. Instead, the emissions reductions from these companies will be regulated directly by the EPA. Government rebates will be awarded to high energy consuming industries as a means of enabling them to remain competitive in domestic and foreign markets. However no U.S. businesses are off the hook with regards to emissions regulation through this bill.

Overview: On March 31, 2009, the American Clean Energy and Security Act was introduced as a discussion draft into the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. Also known as “The Waxman-Markey Bill”, the discussion draft was authored by Representatives Henry Waxman (California) and Edward Markey (Massachusetts).

The discussion draft represents a comprehensive piece of energy legislation that aims to create millions of new clean energy jobs, save consumers hundreds of billions of dollars in energy costs, enhance America’s energy independence and cut global warming pollution.

Goals: The draft legislation aspires to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20% of 2005 levels by 2020. It is worth noting that this target is substantially more aggressive than President Obama’s goal of a 14% reduction by 2020.

Framework: The discussion draft is organized into four titles:

• Clean energy – Promotes of renewable sources of energy, technologies for carbon capture and sequestration, low-carbon fuels, clean electric vehicles and smart grid technologies & infrastructure.
• Energy Efficiency – Increases energy efficiency throughout activities such as buildings, appliances, transportation and industry.
• Global Warming – Places limits on the allowable amount of emissions of GHG’s.
• Transitioning – Safeguards U.S. companies and consumers and advances green jobs during the shift to a clean energy economy.

Schedule: The House Energy and Commerce Committee will complete deliberation on the legislation by May 25th. The preliminary schedule for completing the House consideration is as follows:

Week of April 20: Energy and Environment Subcommittee Hearings
Week of April 27: Energy and Environment Subcommittee Markup Period Begins
Week of May 11: Full Energy and Commerce Committee Markup Period Begins

With the increasing likelihood of a federally mandated system for regulating carbon emissions (aka “cap and trade”), it is becoming apparent that businesses will soon be required to implement accounting measures to report on their emissions of greenhouse gases. A cornerstone measurement to be required in this process will be the consumption of services and products that require the use of fossil fuels.

This type of consumption tracking is entirely new to many businesses and consumers. Steps taken now to develop in-house capabilities or forming outside partnerships to account for carbon emissions will ensure the long-term success of your organization assuming the new laws come into place.

Web-based consumption calculation has evolved since it first hit the scenes in 2006 in the form of carbon calculators. Traditionally, carbon calculators factored in annual data from numbers of miles driven, number of flights taken, number of household members and the average cost of monthly utilities. Today, we are seeing an emerging trend in online consumption calculation in which advanced calculations are taking place behind the scenes to provide a more robust measurement of the energy consumed to fuel our lifestyles.

Specifically, we see the units of measurement migrating from tons of carbon emitted per year to watts per person. A significant emerging trend that we are seeing in the online calculators is the functionality for business and consumers to create online profiles that store their data, which enables long-term monitoring and assessment, supporting the user in their efforts to reduce consumption. Forum applications on these sites provide businesses with a critical avenue for communication with an audience of new and existing customers.

Some of the leading applications for online calculation of consumption include WattzOn, The Almanac and Wattbot. For an emerging energy assessment tool with enterprise applications, be sure to keep your eye on the work of AMEE.

WattzOn: This free online tool is intended to be used for tracking the energy needs of all the many aspects of your lifestyle. From iPods to rolls of toilet paper, Wattzon provides a novel and detailed presentation of your total energy consumption.

The Almanac: Still in it’s beta stage, The Almanac enables users to record consumption and provides a snapshot of their energy footprint along with recommendations for reducing the environmental impact of your lifestyle.

Wattbot: Through combining an analysis of energy usage and recommended strategies for the adoption of renewable energy resources, Wattbot is a one-stop online shop which connects businesses and consumers with cost saving strategies that also reduce the environmental impact of doing business.

AMEE: Although they are more about enterprise solutions for mapping, measuring and tracking carbon and energy usage, AMEE provides a powerful API that businesses can leverage to develop and deliver their own online consumption calculators for customers and internal systems.