Home › Blog › Page 133

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

In virtually all arenas of technology in which there are (or were at one time) many different competitors, we inevitably reach the point that “the winners win and the losers lose.”

In renewable energy, we recently said goodbye (except for niche applications) to concepts like hydrokinetics, geothermal, and biomass.  In automotive, one could say that biofuels took its last breath when Chevron gave up about a decade ago after 30 years of effort, and, per this post, hydrogen expired today.

While I grant that this is a controversial matter, I think that winnowing out the competition and leaving us with the strongest players–to strengthen even further–is a good thing.

In renewable energy, we have solar and wind; in automobile drive trains, we have electricity.  Concentrating on what we do best is, I would argue, the most effective way to decarbonize the energy and transportation sectors—an absolute must if this civilization is to deal effectively with environmental collapse.

 

 

Tagged with: , , , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Just yesterday, we learned that:

GM has ended its development of next-generation hydrogen fuel cell technology for everyday passenger vehicles, citing a need to focus resources on its electric vehicle (EV) strategy. As part of this change, the company has canceled a planned hydrogen fuel cell factory in Detroit and laid off employees from its Hydrotec brand. GM stated that it wants to put all its effort toward its EV future, as the path to a sustainable business in fuel cells for consumer vehicles is “long and uncertain.”

“Uncertain” seems to be putting it kindly; absolutely impossible sounds more apt, especially given its history.

The effort to establish the “hydrogen economy” began in the early 1970s with the OPEC embargo on gasoline that did great damage to the U.S. economy and angered the hell out of the American consumer.

Yet we learned quickly that replacing gas with hydrogen was to be an enormous undertaking, as:

Hydrogen was difficult and expensive to produce

Hydrogen fuel cells, the devices that create electricity from hydrogen, were also expensive, and fragile as well

Replacing the fuel delivery infrastructure (more than 150K gas stations) with hydrogen was costly beyond measure.

It’s hard to know exactly why it took the American automakers more than half a century to make this decision.  Common wisdom is that the world of Big Oil/Auto wanted to prevent the world from moving to electric transportation, so they held out the bogus notion that hydrogen was “right around the corner,” and that just a bit of patience was required.

Well, it seems like today may be the day that this notion died, after five full decades.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

Re: a supposed new mode of renewable energy generation, a representative of the “Sumner County Kansas Republican Party” writes:

No one care (sic) what power they can harvest/generate, the question is “what tax benefits are there?”

I’ll file this comment in the “cynical and stupid” category.

Let’s look at wind energy, as an example.  Here’s an article from yesterday’s New York Times: Renewable Energy Is Booming Despite Trump’s Efforts to Slow It. Trump is learning that he can cancel tax incentives for wind, but highly productive forms of clean energy are in demand nonetheless.

In 2015, wind power generated 4.7% of the total U.S. electricity, and there are places in the Midwest in which it’s common to see 70% of all electricity coming from wind.

I understand that environmental responsibility in general, and renewable energy in particular, have, for some sick reason, become political footballs, that the Republican party in general rejects climate science, and is dedicated to promoting fossil fuels, which are causing lung disease, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, and climate change.

The fact that there is an entire political party dedicated to accelerating disease and devastation is sad beyond words.

 

 

Tagged with: ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biofuels

About 15 years ago, this whole subject held huge promise. That’s because each year, about 280 million old tires find themselves in landfills, releasing greenhouse gas emissions and wasting enormous amounts of chemical energy.

It appeared that a large opportunity lay in using pyrolysis, a combination of high temperature and pressure–think of it as combustion in the absence of oxygen, that could capture that energy and yield a host of extremely valuable carbon compounds as byproducts.

When 2Greenenergy was launched in 2009, we went to great efforts to raise capital for waste-tire pyrolysis plants, but nothing seems to have happened, after all that time.

Does the rendering at left above represent an actual, facility?  Probably not.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Whether these days of hate and oppression will persist for a “long, long time,” or whether the pendulum is about to swing back the other way remains to be seen.

It’s certainly a terrible time to be an American, if you’re a person of compassion and intelligence.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Recently, there have been a few posts here to the effect that Antifa is not a group, and that it has no headquarters.

The author of the meme at left has a differing point of view.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

There are so many examples of “taking the sides of the weak against the strong” in today’s world it’s hard to count them all.  And, as 19th Century abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe put it, “the best people” have always been heavily involved in ensuring things like:

• Undocumented workers are treated fairly and humanely,

• Americans continue to enjoy the freedoms under the democracy that was promised to them in the Constitution,

• Minorities in terms of race, religion, and sexual orientation have equal footing with straight white males,

• All children have access to quality education, and

• Workers have the right to organize.

Standing up for the common person is something that has meant something to people of decency since the dawn of humankind.  Perhaps it’s worth preserving in these difficult times.

 

 

 

Tagged with: , , , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I wouldn’t say that the MAGA folks “live on a different planet,” even metaphorically.  I’d say that they’re desperately looking for data points, regardless of how out-of-date or clearly inapplicable, that confirm their existing political philosophies.

When it comes to Eric Trump, of course, we have rhetoric that passes from this level onto the outrageously stupid.  Is the MAGA extreme right saving God and Christianity in America?

Perhaps one of the reasons that this has such an outrageous ring to it is because it’s categorically false.  The percentage of Americans who identify as Christians, about 90% in 1975, has been declining steadily since.

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Of course, the GOP wants the world to regard the “No Kings” protesters as “terrorists.” But how successful can this possibly be?

In a few days, approximately 10 million peaceful protestors, most of them in the United States, but many in countries all around the globe, will be out peacefully sharing their viewpoints that Donald Trump is dragging the U.S. ever closer to the status of authoritarian state, and that this is incompatible with the Constitution, the intent of the Founding Fathers, and all manner of domestic and international laws.

Considering that there will be virtually no weapons, no insurrections against government buildings, and no deadly assaults on law enforcement, this may be a difficult ploy to bring off with literally billions of people watching, from every corner of the planet.

At the very least, the numbers alone make the “terrorist” moniker a tough one.  Aren’t people going to say, “Ten Million??” Isn’t that a lot of terrorists?”

 

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

From MSN:

Roger Stone, a longtime adviser to Donald Trump, called on Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado to relinquish the award to the president.

Following a ceasefire deal between Israel and Gaza, Stone told Real America’s Voice host Jack Posobiec that he was “not happy that the Norwegian-based Nobel Peace Prize Committee elected to give their award to Maria Corina Machado.”

“The right thing to do would be for her to ask or maybe have Marco Rubio ask her if President Trump can give her the award,” he insisted. “And then she should hand it back to the president.”

Many people around the world perceive a few drawbacks to the concept, however, citing that Nobel Peace Prize recipients should:

Be generally honest in word and deed

Act in concert with domestic and international law

Be free of felony convictions, adjudications of rape, and acts of treason

Conduct their lives in ways that are in harmony with the welfare of humankind and the natural world

Tagged with: