In business, it’s always about power and money. And in no place is that more true than in Marin. Businesses in Marin are beginning to hear about plans to give Pacific Gas and Electric a run for its money [see “Buying Power,” page 43]. The Marin Community Development Agency has proposed forming a joint powers authority to buy clean energy on behalf of businesses and residents. The concept, Marin Clean Energy, would be a community choice aggregation (CCA), an entity that would sell power that’s at least 25 percent renewable and eventually sell energy that would be 100 percent green for less than what PG&E charges. At least this is what the county is proposing. PG&E would still handle power distribution and billing.
As you may imagine, PG&E isn’t wild about the competition. The utility is telling anybody who will listen that the cost estimates put together by the county are too low, and that residents and business will end up paying 20 to 25 percent more for power the first few years the county is in the business of buying energy.
If you think you’ve heard PG&E talking green more on the radio and TV lately, you’re right. The San Francisco-based utility has always been fairly image-conscious and, with global warming becoming a higher profile issue, the utility wants ratepayers to know it cares about Mom Earth and, in fact, generates 14 percent green energy statewide. In the coming months, the heat and the rhetoric will only be dialed up [see “Leading the Charge,” page 20.]
Trouble is, 14 percent isn’t green enough for Marin. Under the county plan, which will go to ballots in November, businesses and residents alike would have the option of sticking with PG&E or coming on board with the CCA if their hometown voted in favor of the program. If not, they’d continue to be supplied by PG&E.
Businesses would go online first and would have to opt out if they don’t wish to be included in the county program. Ratepayers could purchase “light green” energy, which would be 50 percent clean, or “dark green” which would be 100 percent clean. The program is being presented to various cities and towns in Marin ahead of elections. If it passes, the green program would go online in 2010.
The new program could present a made-to-order marketing tool for businesses targeting green consumers, which means raking in another type of green.
He’s back….
As loyal readers of NorthBay biz (is there any other kind?) know, there was once a business in Sausalito called Genetic Savings & Clone [See “Dog’s Best Friend,” Aug. 2006]. Run by Mill Valley’s Lou Hawthorne and bankrolled by the founder of the University of Phoenix, John Sperling, the business sought to clone man’s best friend as a business proposition. It folded after successfully doubling up on cats but leaving the age old question of “How Much is the Doggy in the Petri Dish?” unanswered.
But Hawthorne is a man of patience, resources and perseverance. He’s recently opened BioArts International, a company that, among other things, is willing to clone your dog. The company has offices in Mill Valley, England, Beijing and China, and a strategic partnership in Seoul, South Korea. Besides looking to produce doggy doubles, the company is now willing to clone livestock and bills itself as a biotech startup. It’s also offering human genetic diagnostic services in China to determine parentage and disease testing.
Though technology kept Hawthorne and company on the sidelines when it came to successfully cloning a dog, BioArts has decided to join the competition rather than fight it. The company has aligned itself with Sooam Biotech Research Foundation in South Korea, home to the team that’s actually produced a stunt pooch. BioArts has also been granted a worldwide license to clone dogs, cats and endangered species by Start Licensing for somatic cell nuclear transfer, the process that produced Dolly the Sheep.
We wanted more information on the dollars and sense of cloning according to BioArts, but attempts to line up Hawthorne for an interview were successfully foiled by his crack team of public relations pros at the Kelly Foggleman Group.
Meanwhile, at the Village in Corte Madera…
After undergoing a year-long facelift in 2006 that cost owners Macerich and pension fund California Public Employees Retirement System $10 million, the shopping center has more recently been undergoing some internal changes that are drawing to a close. The Village, which lost such high-profile tenants as Crate and Barrel and Anne Taylor, has moved seven new stores into the mall, leaving only one vacant space courtesy of now-bankrupt Sharper Image.
The center has placed an emphasis on clothing, with Nordstrom and Macy’s as anchors, and now has added Martin + Osa, Michael Stars, Lacoste, Kate Spade, Tumi, Puma, Sundance, Shabby Chic and Peet’s Coffee & Tea. In the interest of bringing the most up-to-date info to NorthBay biz readers, here’s a breakdown of the new stores. Any resemblance between these descriptions and reality is a happy coincidence.
Martin + Osa is an upscale retailer of clothing that claims it roots from safari buffs Martin and Osa Johnson with a museum in Kansas celebrating the couple, not the clothing. Michael Stars sells women’s threads, its claim to fame being that it gave birth to the fitted t-shirt (and yes, it was a C-section). Kate Spade sells purses and shoes for the well-heeled at prices that bring to mind hostage negotiations. Puma offers trendy sneakers from Europe. Lacoste is about sportswear born in France that traveled to the United States on the backs of tennis players. Tumi has upscale luggage. Shabby Chic has stuff for beds with high thread counts and pillows disguised as pin cushions. Sundance is Robert Redford’s retail offspring that sells jewelry and clothing and is its only store outside of Colorado.
