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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

China Plans to Scrap Million of Cars In an Effort to Reduce PollutionAir pollution has been a pretty serious problem in China for the last couple of decades, as it has been undergoing a process of intensive industrialization. This process has resulted in a significant increase of the number of motor vehicles on the roads, which have become one of the biggest contributors to air pollution, in addition to factories. Besides the global drop in interest of driving in urban areas, China has tried to reduce the harmful impact of cars on the environment by limiting car sales in some of its largest cities, including Beijing and Shanghai, and by promoting the use of alternative fuel vehicles. But it has become clear that it has to take further, more radical steps. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Nuclear

Godzilla, Fukushima, and Our Not-Quite-All-of-the-Above Energy PolicyGodzilla is returning. The 60-year-old monster is responding to the call of a world that is once again grappling with questions raised by the fearsome power of the atom. But while he was born to comment on the destructive capabilities of atomic weapons, he has now arisen to join the conversation about what role nuclear energy should play in our future energy mix as the US attempts to reduce carbon emissions and increase energy independence. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Oil Exploration, the Amazon Rain Forest , and the Migration to Renewable Energy

Those of us who had hoped for agreements that would leave some of the Earth’s fossil fuels safely in the planet’s crust are a little less confident in the success of such arrangements today than we were last week, before this story broke. Apparently, Ecuador has pulled the plug on a deal it had made to refrain from oil exploration in the Amazon rain forest in exchange for cash that was to have come from developed countries all over the world. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

How to Make a Sustainable HomeToday most people are aware of the importance of trying to build an energy saving home. With all the pollution humanity is creating, with no signs of slowing down, it is up to the individual to do their part in saving our home planet. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Sustainability and the Attack Net NeutralityI’ve asked a very large number of people who are concerned about sustainability if they are essentially optimistic or pessimistic that humankind will find a way out of its numerous dilemmas in which it finds itself: social injustice, the long-term environmental damage associated with fossil energy, water and food shortages, sea level rise, loss of bio-diversity, harm to human respiratory systems, etc.  Statistically, my informal poll is roughly equally divided. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Climate Change Denial and Anti-IntellectualismPaul Krugman’s op-ed in yesterday’s New York Times gets at a point that I’ve been making off and on for several years: the anti-intellectualism that pervades a huge swath of our voter population here in the United States.  Large numbers of people believe that the reason that our scientists almost unanimously agree on the realities of human-caused climate change is that all these researchers wish to enable a vast power-grab by which big government can enslave us; (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The Need for Clean Energy Is Most Obvious to Those Whose “Hearts Are Open”The emcee at a dance recital I attended yesterday began by calling for the audience to observe a moment of silence to honor our fallen war heroes.  “Please open your hearts,” he asked us as he closed his eyes and solemnly bowed his head.  When he concluded his introductory remarks a few moments later, he asked, “Are your hearts still open?  I hope so, for that’s the best way to receive what you’re about to experience here this afternoon.”

I was quite moved by this,  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

Latest Marine Hydro Technologies at the Energy Ocean ShowAttendees at the Energy Ocean show in Atlantic City, NJ last week received a snapshot of some of the latest technology for extracting the energy from moving ocean water, and a glimpse into how all this is improving year-to-year.  This rapid rate of change is a double-edged sword however, insofar as it means certain doom for companies that obstinately hang onto first-generation technologies, when the second and third generations come along.

That, in a nutshell, is what happened to OPT, an Oregon-based developer of an ocean-buoy-to-electricity solution.  The whole concept of buoys is still alive, but the actual technology by which all this takes place has been improved substantially since it was initially conceived, and OPT, unable to adopt the new approach, sank like a stone.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Cleantech Entrepreneurs: Check Out the NY Venture Summit You already know that we at 2GreenEnergy remain hard at work in our quest to bring cleantech entrepreneurs together with the sources of investment capital they need to take their business concepts forward.  You’re also aware that we’re certainly not the only people working towards this purpose. Let me introduce the folks behind the New York Venture Summit, and ask if you might be interested in attending. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

Solar PV in New JerseyI spent an uncharacteristically long time in the state of New Jersey last week, during which time I realized that,  apparently, these people actually did make good on their threat to install little PV panels on each of 175,000 telephone poles. Here’s a shot I took from my cell phone from a speeding train;  miraculously it’s not too blurry.

When you do the math associated with the cost of acquisition,  installation and maintenance, this is a terrible idea; it’s a ridiculous use of funds that provides a great tool our numerous enemies can use to show that renewable energy advocates have no grasp on basic economics and mathematics.  I can’t imagine the discussions and political wranglings that culminated in such a farce.  But I guess that’s what politicians do for a living.

 

 

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