Blog – Page 1268 – 2GreenEnergy.com

Philosophic Questions on “Free Choice and Morality” Get at Issues of Sustainability

craigshieldsPosted on March 8, 2015 Posted in Sustainability

I tutor a number of local students of all ages on a variety of subjects. Such encounters are always rewarding to me at some level, though some cause me to think and learn more than others.

Currently, I’m helping a young man with his first college philosophy class, and coincidentally, my discussion with him here touches on the fundamental obligations we have toward our fellows. This gets at the notion of sustainability: our duties to provide a habitable planet for one another and to future generations, and, because of that tie-in to the 2GreenEnergy theme, I thought I’d publish this email I just sent to him. For those in a hurry, the only real relevant part is underlined in the text below.

OK, so you need to write about free choice and morality. (more…)

Tagged with: brain chemistry, liberals and conservatives, obligations to others, sustainability

From Guest Blogger Anita Ginsburg: Four Careers to Consider for the Environmentally-Conscious Student

craigshieldsPosted on March 8, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Business

Green careers are difficult to categorize because they can range from forestry to environmentally-friendly production methods. Taking a look at these degree programs and careers, you’ll see they’re just the tip of the iceberg on green options for the environmentally-conscious student.
(more…)

Tagged with: eco-friendly careers, green careers

Obama's Budget Calls For Billions In "Climate Funding"

craigshieldsPosted on March 8, 2015 Posted in Climate Change

“Climate funding?” Really? Yes, according to this article, Obama’s budget calls for expenditures of $10 billion or so (out of the $3.99 trillion total) for things like renewable energy incentives, cleantech R&D, etc. But who’s calling this “climate funding?” Its opponents?

My advice: recognize that, to the degree that the U.S. government’s investment in fostering cleantech innovation is successful, it will have dozens of far-reaching effects, only one of which is mitigating climate change. (more…)

Tagged with: cleantech R&D, Climate Funding, environmental catastrophes, loss of biodiversity, Obama's Budget, ocean acidification, renewable energy incentives, Republicans and the oil companies that own them

The Development of Useless Words and Technologies: How Silly Is It Really?

craigshieldsPosted on March 7, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Science

I’m extremely lucky to have a mother who remains quite active both mentally and physically, with whom I can have fun little conversations on subjects that few other people would possibly care a whit about, like the dictionary.com “word of the day.” It’s common for one of us to write to the other upon checking our email when we get up in the morning, commenting on the featured word, like this one from earlier in the week: “circumvolve,” meaning to revolve or wind about.

I wrote: (more…)

Tagged with: autonomous driving cars that run on gasoline and diesel, climate disruption/sea-level rise, developing technologies little value to humankind, loss of biodiversity, ocean acidification, seven billion people on a tiny blue dot in space, water food shortages

Collusion Between Big Money and Law-Making Is Not Limited To the Oil Industry

craigshieldsPosted on March 7, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Politics

I’ve mentioned the blatant corruption that exists between Big Oil and the United States Congress so many times that I may have given readers the impression that such criminality is limited to the petroleum industry. If so, I’m sorry; that’s not the case.

Below are a few lines on the telecommunications industry that I urge readers to explore further; based on what I’ve been able to find, they seem completely correct to me. (more…)

Tagged with: corruption Big Oil United States Congress, Fred Upton, Net Neutrality mortal enemy Comcast, Petroleum industry, telecommunications industry

From Guest Blogger Lizzie Weakly: Five Benefits to Geothermal Heating for Your Home

craigshieldsPosted on March 6, 2015 Posted in Geothermal

One option you should consider for heating your home is geothermal power. Geothermal energy comes from deep within the earth and is produced by things like molten magma. There are many great benefits to tapping this amazing source of energy to heat your home. (Editor’s Note: This sense of the word “geothermal” is different from they type of geothermal that is used to heat a home. As noted here, the engineering and scientific communities prefer the terms “geoexchange” or “ground source heat pumps” to avoid confusion with traditional geothermal power, which uses a high temperature heat source to generate electricity.) (more…)

Tagged with: geothermal, geothermal energy, geothermal heating, geothermal power

Ocean Wave Energy – An Update

craigshieldsPosted on March 6, 2015 Posted in Hydrokinetics

I try to help readers keep their fingers on the pulse of all the different flavors of renewable energy as they come along—even relatively obscure concepts like ocean wave. Extracting energy from the ocean waves has been a dream of hydrokinetic researchers for many decades, and here’s an article on the grand opening of a new project in Washington State (the Mecca of hydro), the first of its kind to come online.

Yes, there are all the expected issues. (more…)

Tagged with: all forms of renewable energy, different flavors of renewable energy, enormous energy- and power-density of coal oil and gas, extracting energy from the ocean waves, hydrokinetic researchers

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

craigshieldsPosted on March 5, 2015 Posted in Nuclear

Question: How many bequerels per cubic meter of seawater is safe? Hold on. Wait a second. What’s a bequerel?

Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers.

Relevance: As my colleague Mike Conley writes: Fear and paranoia are the two most common forms of radiation sickness. (Part of the answer) The Fukushima Cs-137 in California coastal water adds about 5 becquerels per cubic meter of seawater. Clean seawater normally contains 1400 Bqs. per cubic meter.

Tagged with: bequerels per cubic meter of seawater, Fukushima Cs-137 in California coastal water, Nuclear Radiation, take a cool guess

Taking a Positive Tack with the Marketing Messages of Solar, Nuclear

craigshieldsPosted on March 4, 2015 Posted in Nuclear

Here’s a conversation between members of the pro-nuke group of which I’m a part. It demonstrates a peculiar aspect of all this, i.e., that the group feels a need to beat up on renewable energy at every turn. At the very best, that is self-defeating, as I’m sure most people find it tasteful and unfair. You don’t see Coors commercials trying to communicate that Budweiser is skunk urine, yet what’s happening here is not too dissimilar. (more…)

Tagged with: disparage solar wind geothermal hydrokinetics, Marketing Messages of Solar, promote nuclear energy, Time Magazine’s recent article on solar

Fraudulent Renewable Energy Business Plans Always Make Me Wonder: Who's The LiAR, and Who's the "LiEE?"

craigshieldsPosted on March 4, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Science

A gentleman from Columbia writes:

I was referred to you by Mr Gustavo Rojas from AFD Colombia….CENTRAL ELECTRICA will be the first utility-scale power plant implementing the groundbreaking ECS-SOLAR technology (solar with mechanical induction). With a total of 19.9-megawatts of installed capacity, the grid connected power plant will generate clean and renewable energy to feed the Colombian power grid in South America providing a source of power that addresses energy security and climate change…..(business plan here). (more…)

Tagged with: clean and renewable energy, Climate Change, Colombian power grid, energy security, Fraudulent Renewable Energy Business Plans, groundbreaking ECS-SOLAR technology, solar with mechanical induction