"We don't have the pressure from our stockholders that other banks have," he said.

Reprinted from Climatewire with permission from Environment & Energy Publishing, LLC. www.eenews.net, 202-628-6500

6 Comments

1. 1. Earl1911 01:25 PM 3/23/11

   How sad it is that it "costs" so much money to improve !!! Now if there were a program that would assist with this type of improvement how quickly we could turn this around!
   Even the increased efficiency of private individuals buildings could benefit if it weren't so expensive!!!
   Perhaps if we didn't "give away" so much mney as "aid" to corrupt dictatorships and kept the money for innovation and assistance 'here at home' we could overcome such obsticles!!! I would LOVE t6o have a more efficient home here in northern NY but cannot afford the fenominal cost! And add to this the cost of $10,000 to insulate a 1500 Sq Ft home that the owner and realestate company 'proviede proof' that it was "fully insulated" and cannot be held accountable because they notated it as "as far as we know"!!!
   Lovely LIEs !!!!
   Ear1911

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2. 2. Earl1911 01:29 PM 3/23/11

   How sad it is that it "costs" so much money to improve !!! Now if there were a program that would assist with this type of improvement how quickly we could turn this around!
   Even the increased efficiency of private individuals buildings could benefit if it weren't so expensive!!!
   Perhaps if we didn't "give away" so much mney as "aid" to corrupt dictatorships and kept the money for innovation and assistance 'here at home' we could overcome such obsticles!!! I would LOVE to have a more efficient home here in northern NY but cannot afford the phenominal cost! And add to this the cost of $10,000 to insulate a 1500 Sq Ft home that the owner and realestate company 'proviede proof' that it was "fully insulated" and cannot be held accountable because they notated it as "as far as we know"!!!
   Lovely LIEs !!!!
   

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3. 3. Dr. Scott in reply to Earl1911 03:21 PM 3/23/11

   Better idea. Instead of taxing me blind to give billions in subsidies to oil companies, how about cutting taxes, eliminating the spending, and then I can afford to install my own solar panels. This is not a job for the government: I want it done well.
   
   And why in the world when Sci Am does these stories do they use some stock photo? How hard would it be to get the guy they interviewed at that bank to go out front and take a picture of the Net-Zero building he's so proud of? But no, instead of the small 4,000 sq. foot. building that's the entire subject of the story, we have a stock photo of some anonymous skyscraper. Nice journalism.

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4. 4. Postman1 in reply to Dr. Scott 07:45 PM 3/24/11

   Right on all counts. Let's get the government out of the equation, level the playing field, and the rest will work itself out.

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5. 5. SigmaEyes in reply to Postman1 06:19 PM 3/28/11

   Institutions, including government are how we come together as a society. Government is not evil when it consists of "us." Most of the r&d in this country was overtaken by military projects like at DARPA; and corporations have sought to externalize costs for decades. Those externalized costs manifest in government spending and health care costs. Obama is making inroads on improving both equations. Finally, basic research for alternative energy is being conducted both by the military and the private sector, because of his administration. Carbon taxes would help to reduce externalized costs of the fossil fuel industries.The free market has proven itself many times to be the tool of elitists, and the bane of the public (and safety). If you didn't learn that under bush, when 8 million jobs vanished, you probably get your news from entertainment pervayors like limbaugh, hannity, and similar pundits.
   
   Distributed power generation has been a long time coming, and overdue. I applaud efforts like net-zero commercial buildings, and hope more residential consumers become net producers. If it takes Obama to grow subsidies that create jobs while creating an alternative energy economy, then I support those efforts.
   
   Regan took the solar panels off the White House that were put up at the end of Carter's admin. to not only kill Carters solar initiative funding, but to kill the message of solar. At that time solar was said to not be competitive until $9/barrel oil reached $30. How far we have come in throwing those subsidies to centralized nuclear instead of making that turn in the 1980's.
   
   Any move towards net-zero buildings is far better than any move towards free markets.

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6. 6. PTripp 02:54 PM 4/4/11

   How about we take back the $6B Obama just gave Petrobras to drill for oil to sell back to us (among others) and instead put it into alternative energy R&D here, or even startup funding for companies here in the US.
   
   And I don't mean like the millions the government just gave Phillips towards green energy, just so they could close one of their oldest and most profitable plants in Tennessee to build one overseas where labor is cheaper.

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