JANUARY 2015 / We’re talking about the lowly potato, the ubiquitous soybean, sunflower, mustard, flax, even waste vegetable oils. All can be used to produce biodiesel fuel, a fuel source credited with reducing engine wear and producing less harmful emissions. We care because the twin crises we are facing—depletion of fossil fuels and the degradation of the environment—are not going away any time...
september 2014 / There are about two million rental units in New York City, with the vacancy rate currently hovering around 2.6% (in 2010 it was 3.7%). One of the most significant challenges facing owners of those rental units is managing their energy costs. According to my research, probably any multi-family construction built within the past ten years or so is heated by natural gas, but...
MARCH 2014 / Imagine this: the tenant owners of the 200 unit cooperative apartment building you serve as Board President for announce to you that all future maintenance payments will be made using Bitcoin. What do you do? Where do you go for guidance? Have you even heard about Bitcoin? To begin with, what is Bitcoin? It is a virtual, fixed-issuance currency, which can be transferred via...
JANUARY 2014 / I once asked a literary agent what kind of writing paid the best and he answered, “Ransom Notes.” In the high tech boom of the late 1990s, ransom notes were replaced by metrics such as “share of mind,” not found in generally accepted accounting principles. Unfortunately for one of tis promoters, his share of mind stock fizzled, leaving this company CEO open to charges of stock...
Best-selling financial author, Wall Street investment banker, social commentator, award-winning poet, energy consultant, off-Broadway producer, and community organizer in Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign, Ron Spurga is the ultimate Renaissance Man.