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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

Green Events Guide [Infographic]

(Note: This author has a good point.  It always blows my mind when I arrive at an event on sustainability to find that the participants are hydrated with bottled water. – ed)

According to the latest trends, more and more people expect eco-friendly actions and policies at events (and in most other walks of life). Green policies therefore may contribute to an event organiser or venue being hired. Participants also may expect a certain level of commitment towards sustainability. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Sustainable Designs--Reduce, Upcycle, RecycleRecycling and upcycling are extremely important because they are helping in reducing the pollution of our environment. Besides this, recycling and upcycling can bring economic benefits to our economy. By recycling we are stopping the making of new landfills, we are creating new jobs and saving our energy reserves. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

Seven Ways to Ready your Home for the Cold Winter MonthsThe fall is the time of the year that homeowners have to prepare their property for the cold weather. If you do not take the necessary preparations, then you may have to spend money on repairs. Here are seven ways you can ready your home for winter.

Get Your Furnace Inspected (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

CleanTech Business ConceptsI often find myself in the awkward position of having to explain to an inventor or entrepreneur that I think their business plan lacks merit. I’m never mean or condescending,  and I try to be as gentle as possible.  Having said that, my inner thoughts are sometimes pretty vicious. Often, when I’m thinking “asinine” or “quasi-fraudulent,”  I’m saying, “Sorry.  Maybe I’m missing something, but I don’t see it.”

Driving up to the Renewable Energy Finance Forum Thursday morning, I found this little gem on the radio, speaking to this very point, i.e., thinking one thing while saying another.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Say So Long To Citizens UnitedFrom an email I just got, sent with the pic you see at the left:  one of the billionaire Koch Brothers admitted on television last night that they want something in return for the millions they’re spending to elect Republicans in our 2016 elections. That’s despicable. This is another blatant example of the wealthy buying influence and taking unfair advantage of our political system.

That’s news?  These people are spending obscene amounts of money to buy our political process, but what? They want something in return? Really? (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage

From 2GreenEnergy Intern Fabio Porcu: Sodium Sulfur (NaS) BatteriesNaS batteries are not new, but the application in industrial scale has taken place only recently, in the 1990s, by the Japanese. How do they work?

Essentially they consist of two basic materials: the anode is made of liquid sodium and the cathode is liquid sulfur. The two materials are separated by a solid electrolyte which is a beta-alumina; this is sintered, i.e., compacted and formed into a solid mass by heat and/or pressure, is made of material of ceramic type, and has the property to push through only the sodium ions. This enables the migration of sodium ions in the process of charge and discharge from side to side. The reactions that occur are the following: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Exaggerations in American PoliticsI just received this:  Ten days ago, Ben Carson went on national television and said that legal abortion is like slavery. He compared young girls who had been raped to slaveholders. And the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released just yesterday has Ben Carson leading the GOP primary—and beating the Democratic front-runner by ten points. This is not a drill. America could be on the verge of electing the most anti-choice president in history. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Different Reasons to Love Renewable EnergyI had an experience yesterday at the Renewable Energy Finance Forum in San Francisco that I thought I’d share.  Right before lunch, I took the opportunity to pose a question to the panel on the stage, prefaced with this announcement:

I see a few people around the room checking the latest news on their cell phones, so it’s probable that I’m not the only person in this room who knows that President Obama has rejected the Keystone XL pipeline. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

Biomass BriquettesKenyan reader Gladys Mogo writes: Quick question Craig. How much of biomass briquettes, if any, is used by manufacturing industries in the US?  We have successfully introduced our biomass briquettes in the local market and the uptake is good.

Biomass briquettes are not an important element of the American industrial process. At this point, almost all our electricity comes from our power utilities, and the energy generators who supply them. (In some cases those two are one in the same, though in many of our regions the generation and the transmission/distribution are decoupled.)  The component of biomass is close to zero in this mix, and what there is would be waste wood and municipal solid waste. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Here's a Concept: Love One Another

I wrote a piece on a much-loved baby in my circle of friends the other day, whose photo, I have to admit, has totally captivated me. Check it out for yourself. Isn’t it as if she knows something that you and I did long ago, but we somehow forgot? It’s almost spooky.

Maybe it’s a calling to us to be as blissful in our state as she is in hers. (more…)

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