Oil makes my world go round

Fortune’s Stanley Bing lays out a world of $1000-a-barrel crude. He’s (as usual) being facetious. Only not. It solidified my uneasy realization these past couple weeks how much the lifestyle I’m lucky to have depends on cheap flights that let me move easily between London, Thailand, the US. Sure, my grocery bill is higher (but as I still think in dollars it already seemed way high anyway) – but because I don’t own a car and rarely drive here in London, I haven’t taken a directly noticeable wallet hit — yet.

The Climate Group: a network of reducers

[Originally posted on the Fletcher INTERNet]

Now in the middle of four weeks with The Climate Group. Lots of Fletcher presence here – I’m working with Shelagh Whitley F’03, whose idea it was to have Fletcher interns, Shotaro Sasaki, who is now in the Philippines with UNDP/GEF, interned here for six weeks right before me, and Prof. Bill Moomaw is on their advisory board.

Started just last December and based near London, The Climate Group’s mission is to build an international leadership coalition of companies and governments committed to reducing their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “By pooling the knowledge of leading reducers of CO2 emissions, and creating an arena for a formal exchange for ideas and practical experience, The Climate Group hopes to become ‘a catalyst for accelerating progress,’ say its organizers.” [GreenBiz.com]

E+Co: "Energy Through Enterprise"

[Originally posted on the Fletcher INTERNet]

Currently playing on my imaginary life soundtrack: “Hot in Here” by Nelly. Walking down Bangkok’s Sukhumvit Road at lunchtime today, the equator felt very close as the midday sun beat straight down on my tender Medford skin.

For the next few weeks in Bangkok I am working for E+Co, a U.S.-based not-for-profit that provides business development services and seed capital to clean energy entrepreneurs in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Originally a program of the Rockefeller Foundation, E+Co’s mission is “bringing together technology, people and funding to create viable local enterprises that deliver affordable and clean energy to those in need.”

E+Co’s current investments in Asia vary widely. There’s biogas, biomass, run-of-river hydro, solar photovoltaic, wind, and transmission and distribution, in Nepal, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, and China. Generating capacities range in size from 1 kilowatt miniature wind turbines to 20 megawatt rice husk-fired thermal power plants.

My task will be to produce the semi-annual monitoring and evaluation (M&E) reports for E+Co’s active investments in Asia. The idea is to assess the financial, social and environmental (“triple bottom line”) performance of each enterprise, in order to evaluate investment impact, increase future access to capital and improve the knowledge base for developers and investors alike.

Julia is in Bangkok for a couple of days on her way to Bhutan. I think we’ll be spending some time on two key Thai activities: eating and market shopping.