All those of us who follow the three-ring circus that is the U.S. government when it comes to the discussion on climate change and possible steps towards mitigation must be laughing at the article linked above. This guy happens to be on the right side of the issue of climate change denialism and the way reports on the subject are bought by the pound by the fossil fuel industry. (more…)
Revolutionizing manufacturing industries has long been tied to the cost of maintaining compliance with clean, sustainable and eco-friendly implementation of manufacturing processes. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, little thought was given to the effects of manufacturing processes ecologically or environmentally. After several major environmental disasters from Love Canal, NY to the Horizon Deep Water Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the depth of the impact on quality of life has been placed in the bright spotlight of public awareness. (more…)
You gotta love this piece (see title above).
I’m reminded of the project I did last year for a client, promoting the idea of building-integrated solar thermal hot water heating. Part of the effort was a day or so in which I spoke with key players in the largest 20-or-so U.S. microbreweries. Obviously, making beer requires a large amount of energy to heat up all that water, and my offer was simply this: the next time you extend your facilities, instead of building a roof with solar thermal on top of it, use this stuff; it IS the roof. (more…)
As I wrote in my post called Utilities Wage Campaign Against Rooftop Solar – But It’s a Bit More Complicated Than That: The subject is made even thornier because, as the author mentions, distributed generation means reduced loads at or near peak, which, given the perverse rules by which utilities are regulated, is actually bad for them; it means that the utilities cannot justify the construction of new power plants which they would bill back to the rate payers at a profit.
A friend from the southeast portion of the U.S. writes:
You are 100% correct Craig. (more…)
I had a wonderful conversation with my old friend Jon LeSage yesterday, in which we talked about our respective business foci. Jon spends most of his time writing about and consulting on the adoption of alternative fuel transportation, which is a fairly broad subject, when you think about it. Lots of different types of government and private sector customers, ever-changing regulations that drive change, and, of course, the fuels themselves: hydrogen, CNG, propane, and so forth.
As I explained, my focus is on helping to advance good ideas in cleantech, which, of course, is even broader. It can mean raising investment capital, (more…)
Here’s a device that devours uneaten food from restaurants, and, with the input of energy, creates top-grade compost from that waste stream in just a few hours. Apparently, the Hawaiians have created a cycle in which the farmer delivers the food, and receives back the compost to help him grow his next batch. Unfortunately, it required the input of energy, which, to me at least, appears to defeat any eco-benefits associated with the rapid processing of the compost. (more…)
Question: What role can (and should) basalt play in the subject of carbon sequestration?
Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers.
Relevance: Our civilization, as denizens of planet Earth, is badly losing the battle to hold the concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere at a level that will not cause runaway global warming (thus the name “350.org”). (more…)
E-reading is gradually becoming more popular in today’s society, with some reading enthusiasts preferring an e-book reader to their conventional book collection. E-reading is much more environmentally friendly, with many other benefits too, and it is because of this that e-reading is more prevalent than ever before.
What is e-reading?
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I wrote earlier that the entire system whereby power utilities operate under regulation here in the U.S. faces a considerable challenge as an ever-growing number of solar users defect from the grid, thus raising the price of power for those who remain. Yet we can’t simply say, “Oh well, poor people won’t be able to afford electricity anymore.”
I’m reminded of the conversation on (U.S. passenger railway) Amtrak that comes up every couple of years. (more…)
A friend sent me this piece from The Washington Post with the title above. He writes: I think you know this, but it’s an interesting article.
Yes, this is a challenging issue. It’s hard to argue that solar owners should be able to use the grid as their own battery free of charge. But charging them a fee that encourages them to defect from the grid entirely isn’t helping either, as it raises the price of power for those who remain.
The subject is made even thornier because, as the author mentions, distributed generation means reduced loads at or near peak, which, given the perverse rules by which utilities are regulated, is actually bad for them; it means that the utilities cannot justify the construction of new power plants which they would bill back to the rate payers at a profit. (more…)
