Putting your money where your mouth is seems to be harder than putting someone else’s money where your mouth is. The Institute for Energy Research (6/17/13) reports: “The data in this report clearly highlights the gap between stated values of consumers and the reality of their actions in the marketplace…Our report makes it clear that a customer’s willingness to pay for a Green Pricing Program is directly correlated with their ability to pay and afford the added cost, no matter how small, of a program which offers a consumer no immediate tangible benefit, in exchange for a promise of future environmental gain.”
Fisker wasn’t exactly good at business–they lost $35k per car they built. At least they stopped hemorrhaging by shutting down the production line. Reuters (6/17/13) reports: “Fisker’s latest piece of rolling sculpture is the comely Fisker Karma hybrid sports sedan — and it may meet an equally ugly end. The Dane’s startup, Fisker Automotive, hasn’t built a car in nearly a year. It fired most of its workforce, hired bankruptcy advisers and is seeking a buyer. Co-founder Henrik Fisker resigned in mid-March in a dispute with some of the directors. And despite raising $1.4 billion in private and public funds since its founding in 2007, the company is out of cash.”
His Majesty said he wanted to model our green energy program after Spain….And he’s doing it…just ask DOD. Reuters (6/17/13) reports: “Spain’s latest overhaul of its dysfunctional energy sector, due this month, will inflict pain on renewable power companies and utilities and force losses on banks and investors. Reform of the power sector, the fifth in as many years, is intended to eliminate a gap between the cost of producing energy and what consumers pay for it, which has built up a debt of 26 billion euros (22.0 billion pounds) over 13 years. That debt, which sits on the books of private utilities who paid the bill but is backed by taxpayers, has come under European Union scrutiny as Spain battles to keep its budget deficit in check.”
Easy Riders against Big Corn. The coalition is broadening. E&E News Hundreds of motorcyclists and classic car drivers are set to swarm the nation’s capitalWednesday morning, making laps around the U.S. Capitol and House and Senate office buildings. The drivers aren’t late stragglers to the nation’s Memorial Day festivities but rather opponents of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol. They’re in town as part of the American Motorcyclist Association’s “E15 Fuel for Thought Lobby Day,” a daylong event that the trade group says will feature speeches from the Congressional Motorcycle Caucus and visits to lawmakers’ offices, along with the motorcycle ride.