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From a 50,000-Foot Level: What’s Happening with Renewable Energy in the United States? – Part 2 of 2

craigshieldsPosted on May 3, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Business

Energy Storage and the Advent of Electric Transportation. The only real issue with solar and wind is variability, i.e., the fact that the sun doesn’t shine at night, and the wind doesn’t blow in a given place all the time. Ultimately, this will give rise to the need for storage, which comes in many flavors: pumped hydro, compressed air, etc. One type of energy storage that is often overlooked, however, is electric vehicles. (more…)

Tagged with: coal heavy metals, coal radioactive isotopes, Falling Cost of Renewable Energy, Get rid of coal plants now, Jim Inhofe (R-OK), migration away from the use of fossil fuels and towards clean energy, Oil Companies and Corruption, oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, power utilities, Renewable Energy in the United States, Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, senior decision-makers on the environment, The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future, U.S. Congress virtually owned by the oil companies, worst polluters in the grid mix

Take a COOL Guess – the Fun Quiz on Clean Energy. Today’s Topic: Clean Energy Good Guys

craigshieldsPosted on May 2, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Politics

Question: Tom Steyer, who made his fortune in finance, has pledged to spend “any amount” of his net worth to battle the forces behind dirty energy and to pressure the U.S. Congress to address climate change. What, in fact, is Steyer’s net worth?

Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers.

Relevance: As presented in an infographic at the “new” EnergyFactCheck.Org, there are clearly identifiable heroes and villains in the battle for a clean and healthy environment. Readers should check this out; it’s at the lower right corner of the home page.

Tagged with: Clean Energy Good Guys, EnergyFactCheck.org, Fun Quiz on Clean Energy, take a cool guess, Tom Steyer net worth, U.S. Congress to address climate change

From a 50,000-Foot Level: What’s Happening with Renewable Energy in the United States? – Part 1 of 2

craigshieldsPosted on May 2, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Business

Note: Here is a short essay that I wrote for another publication whose editor rejected it on the basis that it contained “controversial statements.” Ya know….I never thought of that….I suppose he’s correct! I laughed out loud when I read that; he expected 1200 words of pabulum? In any case, it needed a home, so I’m publishing it here. – Craig

There are powerful forces that govern the migration away from the use of fossil fuels and towards clean energy here in the United States. I will list a few and discuss each in turn. Which ones will prove dominant? Some people say it’s too early to tell; others say it’s already written in concrete. I’ll let the reader decide. (more…)

Different Perspectives on Renewable Energy

craigshieldsPosted on May 1, 2015 Posted in Fossil Fuels

On my post on the Sierra Club and Chevron, a long-time reader who happens to be a biofuels expert writes: I do not want to read political opinion so I and others will unsubscribe.

I respond:

I’ll be quite sorry to see you go.

You’ve probably noticed that these newsletters, of which you’ve received many hundreds since you first subscribed many years ago, offer a wide variety of perspectives on renewable energy and sustainability more generally. (more…)

Tagged with: biofuels expert, perspectives on renewable energy, Sierra Club and Chevron

Fossil Fuels: We Need To Cut the Cord

craigshieldsPosted on May 1, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Politics

Frequent commenter and senior energy analyst Glenn Doty writes: The goal should be to direct money in a way that it generates the greatest bang-for-the-buck, and the direction of money should not be limited in any way by the type of technology being discussed. If a coal plant is considering putting a highly effective smokestack scrubber to reduce their harmful emissions, we should encourage that without hesitation.

Glenn: I’m sure you know that I couldn’t possibly have any more admiration for you and your ideas, both scientific and philosophic. But (more…)

Tagged with: energy policy, migration from fossil fuels to renewable energy, power politics of Big Energy, smokestack scrubber to reduce their harmful emissions, subsidies for coal-fired power plant scrubbers

The All New "Energy Fact Check"

craigshieldsPosted on May 1, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Business

For many years I’ve been promoting EnergyFactCheck.Org as the best and most comprehensive source for answers to the thousands of questions that can be posed on the migration to renewables. Now, the good got even better; last week, the site was greatly expanded and updated. Here’s a random example:

CLAIM: Clean energy is too expensive. Government subsidies are the only reason renewables are competitive with fossil fuels.

FACT: Clean energy technologies of all stripes are increasingly beating fossil fuels on cost across the country – with or without subsidies.

That’s fine, but saying that doesn’t make it true. Can you back that up?

With pleasure; check this out: (more…)

Tagged with: Clean energy is too expensive, Clean energy technologies of all stripes are increasingly beating fossil fuels on cost across the country – with or without subsidies, Energy FactCheck.Org, Government subsidies are the only reason renewables are competitive with fossil fuels, migration to renewables, price of solar energy dropped by 80% from 2008 to 2013, wind energy is the cheapest source of electricity in the United States, wind power purchase agreement

From Guest Blogger Izzie: Environmental Aspects of Showers vs. Baths–Myths and Facts

craigshieldsPosted on May 1, 2015 Posted in Sustainable Building

The question, what is better for the environment, a bath or a shower, has been a constant subject for discussion and the reason for many arguments since the minute showers were invented. It seems everyone has an opinion on which is better for the environment, a shower or bath, some of these opinions are based on facts and figures, whereas others are based on myths. (more…)

Tagged with: better for the environment, better for the environment a bath or a shower

New E-bike Company Looking to Crowdfunding To Put It Into Business

craigshieldsPosted on April 30, 2015 Posted in Electric Vehicles

Here’s a post that’s nominally about electric bikes, but more directly about crowdfunding. These folks (actually, it looks like one 20-year-old kid) want to raise $70,000 from investors so they can sell an e-bike that’s “affordable, fun, fast, and will take you farther than you’ll ever need to go.”

But ask yourself: How credible is that? (more…)

Tagged with: distribution of the earnings, New E-bike Company, wonderful business proposition, world’s most affordable and versatile electric bike

Fossil Fuels Will Soon Be Obsolete

craigshieldsPosted on April 30, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Business

A reader offered this quote from Buckminster Fuller: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

So true. (more…)

Tagged with: Buckminster Fuller, Bullish on Renewable Energy, electricity derived from wind, fighting the existing reality, fossil fuel empire obsolete, levelized cost of energy, new construct for energy

From Guest Blogger Damian: Plastic Materials and Our Environment–What We Can Do Better

craigshieldsPosted on April 30, 2015 Posted in Sustainability

Somewhere around five billion plastic bags are used each year around the globe. Plastic materials are products that have made our busy on the go lives much easier and we have become dependent on them. As quickly as they appear in our lives, that much quicker we choose to throw these plastics in the trash without even the slightest afterthought of where these products end up or their impact on the environment. (more…)

Tagged with: impact of plastic materials on the environment, Plastic, recycle, reduce reuse and recycle, sustainability, upcycling