Tech Policy Summit blog

TPS '08 Follow-up: PolyFuel Readies Prototype

If you attended Tech Policy Summit '08 in Hollywood earlier this year, hopefully you had a chance to hear PolyFuel CEO Jim Balcom discuss his company's portable fuel cell membrane technology. We invited Mr. Balcom to participate in the program because of his firsthand experience as an entrepreneur working with the federal government to advance innovation in an emerging market -- in this case the quest for better alternative energy sources.

As he recounted during his Tech Policy Summit talk, PolyFuel had sought assistance from the Department of Energy in order to fund his startup's R&D work on a prototype of a fuel-cell-based laptop power module. Despite the red tape and challenges associated with such funding, he made a compelling case for why federal funding is sometimes necessary to advance certain technologies.

So we were excited to learn today that PolyFuel has developed a functioning prototype laptop that it plans to demonstrate to manufacturers in the next several weeks. According to News.com, the prototype relies on a direct methanol fuel cell to convert methanol to electricity in order to power the computer without relying on lithium-ion batteries.

For more info, check out News.com. You can also listen to a complete podcast of Mr. Balcom's talk at Tech Policy Summit in the Media Vault.

Earth Day Reminder on E-Recycling

In honor of Earth Day, we've posted a video in the Media Vault titled "All About Computer Recycling."

While it represents just one perspective on the issue, it's a good reminder that electronic waste is a growing, global challenge that isn't going to just go away on its own. According to the video, the United States generates 4.5 billion pounds of electronic waste a year and it's the fastest growing type of trash in the country. There's even a 'trash archeologist' (seriously) named Dr. Bill Rathje who sums it up by saying it's the responsibility of buyers, sellers and the government to find a safe way to recycle.

To find out more about electronic recycling programs, check out the National Recycling Coalition or myGreenElectronics. Just two of the many resources available online.

Hat tip to NewTeeVee for pointing us to the video.

Update on Sciencedebate 2008

It's been a month since we first wrote about our support for Sciencedebate 2008, the grassroots campaign to hold a presidential debate focused on science and technology issues.

Since then, the organizers have set a date and location (April 18th at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia), invited the candidates (no takers yet) and picked up key endorsements by the Council on Competitiveness, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and others.

The momentum is there. But will that be enough to convince the candidates to face off in a science and technology-focused debate?

Over the weekend, AAAS hosted what might be considered a dry run when it invited the candidates' science and technology advisors to debate each other at the organization's annual meeting in Boston. None of the Republican candidates' campaigns accepted the invite, which left two surrogates for Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Barack Obama.

Clinton advisor Thomas Kalil, once President Bill Clinton's deputy assisitant for technology and economic policy, and Alec Ross, vice president of external affairs for One Economy Corporation and an advisor to Sen. Obama outlined their candidates' positions on digital health, funding for research and cleantech but were "noncommittal" about the April debate. (Note: Mr. Ross will be among the speakers at Tech Policy Summit next month).

President's State of the Union: Tech Highlights

As a follow-up to our earlier post about the President Bush's State of the Union address, here is a summary of what he had to say about tech policy-related issues in his speech to Congress last night:

• Without elaborating, he encouraged Congress to "promote health information technology."
• He called for the creation of a new international clean technology fund to help developing nations like India and China "make greater use of clean energy sources," and recommended continued investments in renewable fuels and advanced battery technology.
• He reiterated his support for free trade, pressing Congress to approve pending agreements wtih Colombia, Panama and South Korea. According to the President, "these agreements will level the playing field [and] will give us better access to nearly 100 million customers."
• At the same time, he asked Congress to reauthorize and reform the Trade Adjustment Assistance program to help displaced workers learn "new skills and find new jobs."
• He also asked Congress to follow through on funding the America Competes Act, which he signed into law last August, to increase federal support for education and research in math and science.
• In one of the more obviously partisan moments, the President urged Congress to pass the controversial electronic surveillance bill, the Protect America Act, to extend liability protection to telecom carriers that helped U.S. intelligence agencies monitor phone calls and e-mails of suspected terrorists without a warrant. The bill is set to expire February 1st, and the President received a standing ovation from supporters when he declared, "We have had ample time for debate. The time to act is now."

Davos' Q&A on Climate Change and Green Tech

At the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos yesterday, Google co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin and Google.org chief Larry Brilliant took to the stage to discuss their foundation's clean tech initiatives like the RE<C (renewable energy cheaper than coal) program. Video of the audience Q&A is available in the Media Vault, along with a number of other Davos-related clips.

We also wanted to highlight an excerpt that ties into what we wrote last week about green-collar jobs.

Van Jones, who's been advocating for green-collar jobs that would offer employment opportunities to low-income urban communities in the U.S., spoke passionately about the need to get more people involved in fighting climate change. In turn, he was asked by session host Tom Friedman what one thing he thinks the Google founders could do to help the green-collar movement.

Jones' response:

The most important thing is that we tend to have these conversations...and it's all about the technology and it's all about the entrepreneurs. And that's great. But, what about the workers?...Tell us how we're going to be able to get X number of jobs out of your innovation and we'll make that a part of what we celebrate. You suddenly have changed this conversation because people aren't just thinking, "Oh, it's good for the polar bears. They're thinking maybe it's good for me and my child."

That's one tiny example about how technology fits into the big conversations taking place in Davos as leaders discuss how to improve environmental, social and economic conditions around the world.

FTC Scrutinizes Green Marketing

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is in the process of updating its guidelines for environmental marketers, hosted a workshop yesterday to look into some of the claims surrounding carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates (RECs).

As efforts to "go green" become more mainstream, individuals and companies concerned about climate change are increasingly looking for ways to reduce their impact on the environment. For some, that means trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by becoming carbon neutral.

We've written about tools designed to help consumers calculate the amount of carbon dioxide emissions produced by their daily activities. The next step for many, who find it impractical or undesirable to change their habits, is to purchase carbon offsets or renewable energy certificates to mitigate their impact. For example, instead of cancelling your flight plans, you might purchase an offset that promises that a new tree will be planted on your behalf.

For the rest of this post, please visit the Tech Policy Central site.

The Seedy Side of E-Waste

As we've written about before, a number of companies including Sony, Dell, HP and Apple have instituted recycling programs for their customers in an effort to reduce the growing amount of electronic waste making its way to U.S. landfills. An effort that some would like to see mandated through a national e-recycling program.

For others though, what is recycled here may not always stay here.

According to the Associated Press, "while there are no precise figures, activists estimate that 50 to 80 percent of the 300,000 to 400,000 tons of electronics collected for recycling in the U.S. each year ends up overseas" in countries like Nigeria, India and China where workers risk their health dismantling electronics without proper equipment or safety gear.

For the rest of this post, and other policy-related news, check out our Tech Policy Central site.

Obama's Innovation Agenda

Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is in the Bay Area today, where he'll speak to Googlers at the company's Mountain View HQ before heading north to San Francisco for a series of fundraisers and a "Countdown to Change" rally. In preparation for his journey through Silicon Valley, the Senator formally released his innovation agenda earlier day.

Read the rest of this post, as well as our coverage of the NewTeeVee Live conference, at Tech Policy Central.

Creating "Green-Collar" Jobs

We recently wrote about the massive amount of venture capital funding in the clean tech sector: $1.1 billion in the first six months of 2007. And, according to Earth2Tech, an environmentalist and community leader named Van Jones hopes to leverage that investment to create "green-collar" jobs.

Jones is the founder of a nonprofit called Green for All that is working to raise $1 billion in the next five years to provide clean energy job training to 250,000 urban workers in the United States. His goal is to develop what he calls "green pathways out of poverty" by giving workers the skills they need to get jobs in areas like solar panel installation or wind farm construction. To learn more, check out Earth2Tech's post.

How Green are the Presidential Candidates?

The team at the cleantech-focused Earth2Tech blog (an offshoot of GigaOm) has been sizing up the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates to determine how likely each is to support cleantech initiatives once in office. 

The result is a ranking of the top three green candidates from each party. Topping the list of Dems is John Edwards, followed by Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. According to Earth2Tech, Senator Edwards has "set the bar on energy policy at a height none have yet matched" by announcing a series of New Energy Economy proposals that include, among other things, requiring all cars produced after 2010 to be flex-fuel vehicles and reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

The list of Republicans that "are most likely to fund cleantech" include Mike Huckabee, John McCain and Rudy Guiliani. Earth2Tech cites Huckabee's plan to introduce a  "comprehensive plan for energy independence" to Congress as one of the reasons he leads his fellow Republicans on cleantech. For more details, follow these links to Earth2Tech's posts on the top three Democrats and the top three Republicans.