Green Options

Warren Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway says that President Obama’s #1 job is to fix is the economy but even though we have “got the right person in the operating room, but it doesn’t mean the patient is going to leave the hospital tomorrow.”

In an exclusive interview with PBS’s Nightly Business Report, Warren Buffett tells anchor Susie Gharib, that America was in an “economic Pearl harbor” last September, that went for a nosedive after October 1st 2008.

In an interview with Automotive News China, the president of BYD (Build Your Dreams), Wang Chuanfu, said that in addition to the recent Chinese release of the F3DM — the world’s first plug-in hybrid production car — he expects his company to release two more electric car models in 2009.

The F3DM, which does not look like a three wheeled motorcycle or a minivan shrunk quarter size as you may have come to expect, and instead looks like a normal sedan, will be buttressed in 2009 by the release in China of the F6DM sedan, and an entirely electric van, the E6, capable of seating seven.

American government regulations are what will keep all of those cars from hitting the US market right away, according to Chuanfu. Even so, he thinks that BYD will be able to release cars in the US and Europe by 2011. Regardless of the delay in getting the vehicles stateside, the new releases in China mean that the company will have three electric vehicles on the road in 2009, while no other major automaker has managed to produce even one.

Since it was announced last week that a deal had been reached for the probable removal of four dams on the Klamath River, I’ve been ecstatic.

The economy is in crisis, unemployment is on the rise, and there is a general feeling of fear in the market.  Where some see despair, Warren Buffett sees opportunity. 

In a recent Op-Piece in the New York Times, Mr. Buffett explains his reasons for investing in US Equities and urges others to do the same.  He encourages investors to “be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when [...]

The four dams on the Klamath River in far Northern California are under relicensing, something that only occurs every 50 years. The dams are owned by billionaire Warren Buffett, who purchased Pacificorp, one of the lowest-cost electricity producers in the United States, three years ago. Many Californians were hopeful this purchase would mean the end to the dams, but their concerns for the salmon fell on deaf ears. Once again, Warren Buffett rebuffed salmon advocates.

On Saturday, May 3, 2008, American Indian tribes and salmon fisherman failed to gain a private audience with Buffett and were ignored at the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Protesters shouted, “Un-dam the Klamath! Bring the salmon home!“, while shareholders enjoyed complimentary cocktails Friday night. For two years, an unprecedented alliance of tribes, businesses, conservation groups and commercial/recreational fishermen has tried to reach an agreement with Buffett for dam removal. Buffett said that his company would not decide the fate of the Klamath dams, but Berkshire will defer to regulators in California and Oregon. Ironically, dam removal is cheaper than building the fish ladders regulators are recommending.

I had read in Grist on April 15 that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway had cancelled six proposed coal plants, but now it seems that opposition to building new coal plants is spreading, among Wall Street investors and the American public. Back in August 2007, 1600 Utahans signed a petition asking Buffett to cut Rocky Mountain Power’s dependence on coal, with the added message that Utahans want their utilities to investigate cleaner energy sources.

The most recent issue of Solar Today includes an article by Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute about the public outcry all across American which, in addition to the cost of the plants, has led to the cancellation of hundreds of coal plant construction projects. And a survey conducted by the Opinion Research Corporation, published yesterday, shows that “79% of respondents would prefer to try and meet demand through greater energy-efficiency and conservation before building more coal-fired plants. Only 19% say they disagree.” With that kind of public opposition, it’s not surprising that Wall Street is cooling on coal plants, too.