Jeg så The End of the Line på kino forrige uke, en dokumentar om hvordan mennesker utrydder havets fiskearter og bestander. Den viser hvilke uopprettelige skader fiskeindustrien, spesielt tråling,  skaper og dokumenterer at hvis det fortsetter som nå vil havet tømmes for fisk innen 2048. Filmen er av Robert Murray og er basert på boken The End of The Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World And What We Eat (2004) av journalist Charles Clover.

De blodige scenene med slakt av fisker og andre sjødyr var det jeg reagerte mest på. Den kjølige kalkulerende utregningen av hva som var “for mye” eller “passe” av det klarer  jeg ikke å forholde meg til.

Det som står på nettsiden til filmen er “. . . we will see the end of most seafood by 2048.” Det er dyr det er snakk om. Selv om det er et viktig tema som tas opp viser den type formuleringer at fremstillingen er menneskesentrert. Fisker = seafood/sjømat. Det utrykker en bekymring for at vi spiser opp fisken slik at vi i fremtiden ikke kan fortsette å spise fisk, med de triste konsekvensen det vil få for våre matvalg, arbeidsplasser og for sultende mennesker. Et slikt perspektiv er vel det som Arne Næss kalte “grunn økologi” i motsetning til “dyp økologi”.

Fisker er dyr som i sterk grad er objektivisert som mat og råvarer for mennesker. Alle dyr blir det, men fisker i større grad. Sannsynligvis fordi de ligner mindre på oss. Det betyr derimot ikke at de er mindre verdt, eller lider mindre enn det vi ville gjort hvis vi hadde fått en krok i munnen, blitt dradd etter et kjøretøy og fått skallen knust. At fisker føler smerte er i dag akseptert i vitenskaplige kretser.

For eksempel så sier noen at de er vegetarianere, men at de spiser fisk. Det er ikke bare feil at fiskespisere er vegetarianere, men det er en devaluering av fiskenes liv, de blir plassert i kategorien med vegetabilsk liv, de deanimaliseres. Et annet eksempel på devalueringen er når vi beskriver en gruppe fisker med betegelsen “fisk” i entall. Det er vanlig. Det er en vanlig metode for devaluering at en ikke ser det unike individ, men kun ser det som et eksemplar av sin art. Det er den tanken som ligger bak alle folkemord/genocid.

The company that made electric vehicles cool again and dispelled the ugly golf cart stereotypes is rumored to file for an IPO very soon according to a recent Reuters report. What makes this CleanTech startup unique from say the recent A123 Systems IPO? Tesla is currently profitable! Profitability is one way to counter the IPO risks noted in this well blogged article about Goldman Sachs and their IPO business.

Tesla is on a mission to prove that Silicon Valley can do what Detroit, Tokyo and Frankfurt cannot. While some may think their Tesla Roadster (costs approx. $109k), which has a range of approximately 220 miles and Ferrari like performance, is a toy for the rich- a new Tesla Model S is in the works to dispel this theory and open the company to those with a smaller budget. The Model S will cost around $50,000, have 4 doors and appear similar to a nice Lexus, but more beautiful in my opinion. It also will not have any tailpipe emissions and will cost about $2 to power for 300 miles.

While Tesla’s automobiles are an evolutionary step as far as design, production and backing- they will nonetheless need to compete with companies like Nissan, GM, Fisker  and Ford who all have both government backing, and either an EV or Plug-in EV in the works. Along with several battery makers including A123 Systems, Ener1 and Johnson Controls, Tesla received $465MM in low cost loans from the US government to help spur development. It is interesting to ponder whether or not the market for efficient automobiles will prefer plug in electrics, pure electrics or if it is large and wealthy enough for both. Signs point to the latter as several of these planned or existing cars, including Tesla’s, have a lengthy customer waiting list.

Tesla’s investors include Google, founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Daimler AG, Aabar Investments, Valor Equity Partners, Technology Partners, The Westly Group, Compass Venture Partners. Tesla has also received an ‘opportunistic’ US$82.5m equity investment from a group led by Fjord Capital Management, a private equity firm which focuses exclusively on clean energy. “Daimler, which invested US$50m in Tesla earlier in 2009, along with Aabar Investments, which is also Daimler’s largest shareholder, contributed to the offering to keep its stake at just under 10%. The new money was earmarked for Tesla’s expansion of its retail store network globally.”

The IPO would be the first from a US Automaker since Ford in 1956.

Dagene flyver afsted for tiden. En weekend er gået uden at have udrettet det helt store. Men hvem siger, at man skal det? Søndag eftermiddag er blevet tilbragt i El Retiro sammen med en gammel ven fra studietiden og ESN, som er på forlænget weekend i den spanske hovedstad. Lad os bare sige, at der blev sludret.

Efteråret har været længe undervejs og her er da stadig en femten grader. Parken var fuld af mennesker, som nyder weekendens sidste solstråler, en sejltur på søen eller dukketeater for de mindste. I morgen begynder en ny uge. Fernández rejser til Bratislava og jeg skal som altid holde brødfri uge…

“Aptera’s production and delivery will be tied directly to funding,” said Aptera Motors CEO Paul Wilbur in a release from the ultra high-efficiency vehicle startup late yesterday. That very mild assessment belies the reality that Aptera is peering across the Valley of Death, where many ventures die for lack of funding at the critical commercial development phase. According to the release, dwindling cash reserves are forcing the company to delay production of its inaugural vehicle, the three-wheeled electric 2e, until 2010 rather than the end of this year as previously announced.

Hitting the new 2010 target (or any future production goal for that matter), will require Aptera to bring in fresh capital, and it’s banking on either a federal loan or private investment to come through. At this point, the company is shifting its focus away from development, which “has been outpacing the rate of fundraising.” The company has laid off an undisclosed number of employees, co-founder Steve Fambro is taking an extended vacation (he’ll return in the new year), and Chris Anthony, the other co-founder, is “stepping aside from day-to-day activities” — all in an effort, Aptera says, to slow the burn rate and free up resources for top priorities: raising cash and starting volume production of the 2e.

After all, nearly 4,000 customers are waiting. That’s how many deposits (fully refundable) Aptera says it has received for the 2e. And then there are the heavyweight investors — including Google.org, Idealab, The Beall Family Trust and others — who Aptera says it hopes to provide with “strong returns.”

This week’s sober announcement from Aptera is in some ways reminiscent of the straits startup Tesla Motors found itself in late last year, when plans to set up manufacturing for the delayed Model S sedan were put on hold pending approval of a loan guarantee or low-interest loans from the Department of Energy. Tesla CEO Elon Musk described the loan guarantee back then as a “when, not an if,” adding, “We’ll do what we need to get approval.”

Tesla ended up winning $465 million in DOE loans this summer (though according to a report this week from former Tesla marketing chief Darryl Siry, the company hasn’t “seen a dime” of the award yet). If private investors fail to come through for Aptera this time — it has already raised more than $24 million — the company hopes to secure a loan under the same program that has approved loans for not only Tesla, but also another startup, Fisker Automotive.

Aptera’s odds in the program are better now than ever before, given that federal rules were recently revised (after a significant lobbying effort by Aptera’s backers) to allow high-efficiency, three-wheeled vehicles like the 2e to at least qualify for funds. But Aptera is smart to rein in spending, because having an open door at the DOE and a team of deep pocketed investors in your corner won’t necessarily deliver you across the Valley of Death.

With my biological clock at full tick, I was pleased to read the latest announcement by Fisker Automotive. The energy-wise automaker recently selected a plant in Delaware to begin building its new line of “affordable, family-oriented plug-in hybrid sedans” By 2014, we’ll be able to get our hands on that hybrid for a cool $40K. So that means if I start birthing small Earth-lovers now, I’ll have a case for ditching my rasping Mad Max Mobile for a shiny, new plug-in.

If you don’t know Fisker, don’t feel out of the trustafarian hippie circle. It’s a SoCal-based car company trying to make a name for itself with eco-friendly cars just like every other automaker. Currently, it’s only got one product, the Fisker Karma, with the fam-sedan slated as number two.

Dubbed the world’s first eco-chic cars (well, dubbed by Fisker as such), the Karma burns zero fuel for the first 50 miles. After that, its gasoline engine turns a generator to charge a lithium ion battery, turning the Karma back into a normal hybrid.

Technically, if you charge your Karma every night and travel less than 50 miles a day, you could brag to your stuffiest, eco-snob friends, “I achieve an average fuel economy of 100 miles per gallon per year.” And they will squint and huff with jealousy that your Earth hug is bigger than theirs.

Karma comes at a price not everyone can afford. But with a little planning, the new plug-in sedan could suit our wallets and our families quite nicely.

I Spanien går de fleste ud og spiser frokost hver dag. Oftest er der frokostmenuer bestående af tre retter på de fleste resturanter til nogenlunder billige penge. Jeg har for længst erkendt, at sådan en madplan ikke er for mig. Jeg risikerer at ende som en spærrebalon, og foretrækker at medbringe min egen mad og spise den hurtigt på kontoret. Det er nemlig lig med tidlig ustempling om eftermiddagen. Min kollega gør det samme. Tager mad med altså. Der sidder vi så dag efter dag og studerer hinandens frokost. Og inspirerer hinanden. Vi lægger tit små madplaner og snakker utroligt meget om mad, mens vi griner af hvor meget vi hver især elsker mad. Og elsker at snakke om det.

I spanien spises der kæmpestor mængder af bønner, kikærter og linser. Helst i noget sammenkog af en art. Det er vel nærmest en del af nationalkosten, hvis man kan sige det. Og selv mænd mæsker i sig af det. Fernández’ bedstemor har over årene lært mig at lave de fleste varianter, men sommetider er det rart med lidt variation. Lige siden vores bryllupsrejse til den Dominikanske Republik har jeg drømt om en fantastisk, traditionel bønneret, som vi fik serveret på en ranch oppe på nordsiden af øen. Efter lidt googlen fandt jeg opskriften. Min kollega og jeg blev enige om, at vi hver især ville går hjem og lave den. I morgen afgør vi hvem der vinder ugens bønne.

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The idea of modeling government funds after venture capital has swirled, in various forms, around the Obama administration since back in the campaign days. Now comes the latest twist: The Obama administration has named a former VC, Jonathan Silver, to head up the Department of Energy’s highly competitive loan guarantee program and green car loan program, which have awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in direct loans and guarantees to venture-backed companies including Tesla Motors, Fisker Automotive and Solyndra.

Silver’s appointment to the role of executive director of the loan programs comes as part of an effort, the DOE says, to “strengthen and streamline” the agency’s operations. Having left the Washington, D.C.-based firm Core Capital Partners (where he was the managing general partner) last year, Silver will now oversee the application process, analysis and negotiation for loans and guarantees under the two programs, as well as staffing. According to a release from the DOE, he will also manage “the full range of the Department’s alternative energy investments.”

This week’s announcement comes two years after then-Senator Obama’s energy plan called for the government to invest in green technologies in a similar way to venture capital firms, by pooling a venture fund and doling out funding tranches (an idea criticized by New Energy Finance as showing a “certain naivete“). It also comes less than a year after New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman gave voice to the notion that the feds should provide capital to VCs themselves (a scheme soundly rejected by Benchmark Capital partner Bill Gurley).

Silver’s appointment, however, is hardly a case of D.C. turning to Silicon Valley for guidance. Silver is very much a man of the beltway. In addition to working in private investment (you can read more about his background here), he served as an adviser to the Secretaries of Commerce, Interior and Treasury during the Clinton administration, and as Forbes noted in a 2006 profile, Core Capital “counts its Washington expertise as a defining specialty,” although it doesn’t explicitly seek to invest in companies selling to the federal government. (The firm focuses on Series A and B rounds for alternative energy, advanced manufacturing, telecommunications and software companies.)

Silver told Forbes that Core would typically select as few as 8-10 investments from up to 4,000 pitches each year. For the popular and competitive programs he’s now overseeing, that experience searching for gems should come in handy.

About 16 miles down the turnpike in Delaware from the old General Motors (s GM) where startup Fisker Automotive plans to build an upcoming plug-in hybrid vehicle, Elon Musk, CEO of rival Tesla Motors, yesterday told an audience at the University of Delaware (and more joining via Second Life) that he has “some reservations about the feasibility of Fisker’s approach.”

According to the Delaware News Journal, Musk said, “It’s very tough to create a car company,” noting particularly high hurdles for engineering an electric car, adding, “Fisker is very far from overcoming those.”

Musk’s comments come at an interesting time for the two startups, which have each secured multimillion-dollar conditional loans from the Department of Energy to help accelerate them toward a new phase: higher volume production of more affordable vehicles.

Founded in 2003, San Carlos, Calif.-based Tesla has enjoyed a lead over its Southern California rival, which wasn’t founded until 2007 (Tesla later brought, and lost in arbitration, a lawsuit against Fisker and its founders, alleging they had stolen design ideas and trade secrets).

But at this point, while Tesla has entered production and delivered more than 800 of its luxury electric Roadster, and Fisker has yet to bring its swanky plug-in hybrid Karma to market (it’s due out next year), neither one has proven long-term viability.

Fisker and Tesla have mapped out different routes to producing large numbers of lower-cost vehicles, notably in their distribution strategies. Fisker is opting for a more conventional dealership model, while Tesla handles its own distribution (its showrooms are modeled after Apple (s AAPL) stores). Darryl Siry, Tesla’s former marketing chief explained yesterday in an article for Wired’s Autopia, “In essence, Fisker is content with building a car company and partner with retailers while Tesla aspires to build a car company and build a global retail distribution company.” According to Siry, this makes Tesla’s business model more capital intensive and risky, but with potentially higher rewards.

Tesla announced in August that in the previous month, for the first time ever, it achieved “overall corporate profitability,” with $1 million in earnings on $20 million in revenue. But the company is working for (and investing in) much bigger game. Tesla aims to supply battery tech (beyond its deal with Daimler), sell an electric sedan priced for high end for the mass market, and eventually other models as well. Those cars would be displayed in brick and mortar stores and maintained via a mobile service fleet of “Tesla Rangers.”

Whether those investments will pay off remains to be seen. According to Siry, “For Tesla, it amounts to a more highly leveraged bet on its success – if it wins in the the marketplace, it will win big. If volumes are lower than anticipated, however, Tesla may find its bottom line under significant pressure from high overhead costs.”

Fisker Automotive founder Henrik Fisker, meanwhile, has said he expects his company become profitable by 2011. As Autoblog Green reports, the company claims it will be able to break even with just 5,000 sales, and it has already brought in more than 1,500 pre-orders without a marketing campaign. The key, Fisker said, is the company’s low overhead and its decision to outsource production (to Finland’s Valmet) of the Karma.

We’re getting closer to seeing more competition for actual buyers of plug-in vehicles — rather than for venture capital investment, DOE funds or merely buzz. As Musk said, it’s tough to create a car company.  He is probably right to have reservations about the feasibility of Fisker’s approach. Like Tesla, the company and its backers, which now include U.S. tax payers, are making very big bets that are far from guaranteed. They’re trying to reinvent the car business. Let’s hope they succeed.

Photos: Tesla Model S (top) and Fisker Karma (bottom), courtesy of Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive

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Om et par timer er jeg på vej til DAD-koncert sammen med en hel masse danskere. Det er ikke hver dag, at der kommer danske bands til Madrid, så den chance skal ikke gå forbi. Jeg fik for noget tid siden meldingen om deres ankomst via facebook, fik købt en billet, og så var der jo bare tilbage at vente. Om lidt er det nu.

Og så er det forresten fredag i morgen!

Hvor heldig er man, når man kommer hjem og der er kommet hele to pakker til een? Jeg vil sige, at man er så heldig som man nu engang kan blive på en blæsende  og kold novemberdag. Hr og Fru Fisker har stået for bytningen af nogle bryllupsgaver, og nu er salatbestikket det rigtige og 12 kaffeskeer er vi også blevet ejere af. Resten fik vi i bryllupsgave, så nu mangler vi bare et langbord og 12 gæster, så vi kan flashe det lækreste bestik i verden.

Og så er der Nille, som har reddet min dag og hele weekenden med. Hun har sendt en genbrugsnødhjælpspakke indeholdende tre danske ugeblade. Yderst betænksomt og modtaget med et sagligt smil på læben. Tusind millioner tak!

Fisker Automotive Picks EU Distributor: Plug-in hybrid car startup Fisker Automotive has picked a large distributor to sell its vehicles in Europe and is looking for similar deals in China. The European retailer will be announced tomorrow. — Reuters

Ampulse Raises $8M: Ampulse Corp., which is developing a thin-film photovoltaic technology called film-silicon tech, has raised $8 million in Series A funding, in a round led by Globespan Capital Partners and El Dorado Ventures. — PV-tech.org

Solar Power, After Sundown: A Santa Monica, Calif., company called SolarReserve has filed an application with California regulators to build a 150 MW solar farm that will store seven hours’ worth of the sun’s energy in the form of molten salt, ready for release when it’s cloudy or at night. — NYT’s Green Inc.

Republican Senators Boycott Climate Debate: Led by Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, all but one Republican skipped the start of today’s committee debate on the climate bill, demanding a more complete study on the measure’s economic costs by the Environmental Protection Agency. — Bloomberg

Morocco Unveils $9B Solar Plan: “Morocco announced on Monday a solar energy project worth $9 billion which officials said will account for 38 percent of the North African country’s installed power generation by 2020.”– Reuters

I dag læste jeg at ‘dagene er talte for rucula og fromage frais’ i Danmark. At man simpelthen holder op med at spise visse produkter, fordi man ikke længere bliver opfordret til det. Det bekræfter i den grad en min egen teori om den danske madkultur; danskerne har så travlt med at afprøve alle verdens spiser, at de helt glemmer hvor de kommer fra. Nogle gange når jeg bliver spurgt, hvad man spiser i Danmark, bliver jeg helt i tvivl. Hvad er det egentlig? For pludselig er det naan-brød og tandoori eller også er det blåbær. Så er det grød og ramsløg, som bliver skyllet med Somersby i rigelige mængder. Og tilbudsaviserne bugner af alle de lækre, smarte og ikke mindst eksotiske varer som er oppe i tiden.
Selvfølgelig ved vi alle hvad godt, traditionel danske mad er, men det er jo praktisk talt aldrig på menuen, så hvor traditionelt kan det blive ved med at være? Og skal man absolut værne om det?

Da jeg kom til Spanien synes jeg maden var utrolig traditionel. Alt var spansk. Og det var ikke nye, fikse opskrifter baseret på lightprodukter. Det var oldgamle opskrifter, som de tilberedte det dengang det hele begyndte. Med olivenolie i rigelige mængder, for det er sundt og livsnødvendigt. Jeg synes, det var meget gammeldags men spændende. Nu har jeg vænnet mig til det traditionelle. Det er basalt og baseret på simple råvarer, som altid er tilgængelige. Selvfølgelig spiser jeg ikke stuvninger, supper og andet sammekog hver dag, men det hænder ofte.

Min pointe er, at jeg synes danskerne skal passe bedre på vores madkultur, og ikke gå så meget op i, hvad der er på mode i supermarkederne. Selvføgelig skal det hele ikke gå op i persillesovs, flæskesvær og klar suppe, men jeg vil så nødigt se, at det hele blive skubbet helt ud af billedet, fordi nogen dikterer noget andet.

Terra Carros

O vice-presidente norte-americano, Joe Biden, anunciou nesta terça-feira (27) que a venda da fábrica que pertenceu ao grupo General Motors foi efetivada para o grupo Fisker Automotive. As instalações, segundo a nova proprietária, serão reestruturadas e deverão começar a produzir novos veículos até o fim de 2012.

Com a previsão de gerar 2.000 empregos diretos e 3.000 vagas indiretas, a fábrica será voltada para a produção de veículos híbridos. Ainda de acordo com a Fisker Automotive, as instalações deverão estar funcionando em capacidade máxima até 2014, quando a produção variará entre 75.000 e 100.000 unidades por ano.

“Este é um enorme passo para que possamos nos estabelecer na América como líderes de veículos tecnologicamente avançados”, disse Henrik Fisker, chefe-executivo do grupo. “Wilmington (onde está localizada a empresa) é perfeita para uma produção de alta qualidade e irá em breve ser uma unidade reconhecida mundialmente pela produção de veículos eficientes do grupo Fisker”, completou o executivo. A fábrica foi comprada por US$ 18 milhões (cerca de R$ 32 milhões), e os novos equipamentos e ferramentas custarão mais US$ 175 milhões (R$ 315 milhões).

Fonte: Terra Carros/Márcio Murta | www.carroonline.terra.com.br