Blog – Page 1408 – 2GreenEnergy.com

From 2GreenEnergy Intern Fabio Porcu: The Benefits of Smart Parking in Large Cities

craigshieldsPosted on September 19, 2015 Posted in Smart Grid

Every day, a surprising number of people waste their time—and their gasoline—looking for parking. The vehicles looking for parking are an important part of the total traffic in the inner-city environment—as much as 22%.

Especially in large cities, drivers adopt a particular system to find a parking spot: the most common method is to look for parking near the destination, then going to expand the search to find a free parking lot closest to the destination. This research method causes the consumption of large quantities of fuel and also means that the streets are clogged with vehicles looking for spots. (more…)

Tagged with: air pollution, greenhouse gas effects, reduced traffic congestion, reduction of noise, Smart Parking, vehicles looking for parking

From Guest Blogger Christopher Austin: Porsche Makes the 911 Greener by Adding Turbocharging Engines

craigshieldsPosted on September 19, 2015 Posted in Electric Vehicles

(At first, I thought this guest post was a joke, or perhaps merely a submission to see whether or not I’m paying attention. The bottom line: if adding a turbocharger to a Porsche makes it “greener” in any sense at all, it does so in an extremely bizarre use of the word. In any case, here it is. -ed)

Porsche has recently mentioned that their newest 911 model has a turbocharged engine. The sports car was conceived to meet challenging CO2 emission rules and demanding fuel economy. (more…)

Tagged with: diminishing emissions

Feasibility of Widespread Concentrated Solar Power

craigshieldsPosted on September 18, 2015 Posted in Solar Thermal

My friend I mentioned earlier writes:

I had the plant construction cost at $600 million per square mile. I figured a few hundred billion more for infrastructure improvements like HVDC grid upgrades and storage. It seems the nationwide CSP solution is far less feasible that I understood. (more…)

Tagged with: Abengoa, Amory Lovins’ presentation, distributed and utility-scale PV, electric transportation, increasing penetration of wind, islanded applications, nationwide CSP solution, smart grid, Solar Power International, three main varieties of CSP: Fresnel lens parabolic trough tower

Powering the Country with Solar: It's Not Going To Happen–But Fortunately, It Doesn't Have To

craigshieldsPosted on September 18, 2015 Posted in Solar Thermal

A friend asks: By your lights, has anything changed substantively – positively or negatively – with regard to the viability and cost of CSP, molten salt energy storage, and HVDC? Are we still fully capable of satisfying the entire US electricity demand with 10,000 square miles at about $6 trillion?

The LCOE (levelized cost of energy) of PV is about $0.05, wind is $0.03 in the right places, and CSP about $0.14. (more…)

Tagged with: Amory Lovins 40-year plan, cost of CSP, islanded applications no grid to absorb off-peak power, molten salt energy storage

A Glimpse Into Bernie Sanders’ Thinking on Substantive Matters

craigshieldsPosted on September 18, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Politics

My mother is a right-wing Republican, but one with a wonderful and kind nature—so generous, in fact, that she puts up with my occasional jokes about politics, and my kidding-on-the-level reminders that her party seems to be out of sync with the psyche of the American people. And here, to make my point is Bernie Sanders’ Twitter feed during the course of the debate the other night. (more…)

Tagged with: Bernie Sanders’ Thinking, Bernie Sanders’ Twitter feed, candidates’ hyper-competitiveness to go to war, lack of interest in the 47.7 million Americans who live in poverty

Incredible Writing on the Coming “Climate Apocalypse”

craigshieldsPosted on September 18, 2015 Posted in Climate Change

2GreenEnergy supporter Cameron Atwood sent me this masterpiece from Jedediah Purdy (pictured), Professor of Law at Duke Law School, where he teaches constitutional and environmental law; it begins: “In the last week, a group of scientists and a prominent historian each predicted a climate apocalypse.” Our conversation:

Craig: Holy (cow), that’s amazing. What an article.

Cameron: Isn’t it? The last line is especially brilliant: “That 150 years is also less than a blink in the eye of planetary time. And that eye is now a human one, looking back at us from a future that only we will make.” It’s so completely necessary that more people think like this.

Craig: Yes, that line is breath-taking; it is an extraordinary piece of writing from start to finish, really. And your assessment is spot-on, IMO. I’ll write a post on it in the hopes that our readers will check it out.

Tagged with: blink in the eye of planetary time, climate apocalypse, Coming Climate Apocalypse

Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Is Bound To Have Unintended Consequences

craigshieldsPosted on September 17, 2015 Posted in Ocean Thermal

2GreenEnergy Supporter Cameron Atwood sent me this piece on OTEC, and writes: Interesting.

Yes, that IS interesting. There definitely will be unintended consequences (assuming that OTEC ever comes along). Some of these, however, will be good, or at least have the potential to be so—as I wrote in the post linked above. (more…)

Tagged with: 21st Century energy mix, 2GreenEnergy supporter, clean energy investment opportunities, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion Unintended Consequences, offshore wind, OTEC

Our Understanding of Climate Change: A Weird History

craigshieldsPosted on September 17, 2015 Posted in Climate Change

Today, most of the literate world is aware of the challenge that our civilization faces with respect to “AGW” (anthropogenic global warming, aka climate change, aka climate disruption). For most of us, however, this realization has come fairly recently; public recognition of the issue has come a very long way in just the last 10 years. The science underlying all this, however, has been a long time in the making.

The concept of CO2 as a greenhouse gas goes back to the 19th Century. Then, per this article (other citations here and here, but the best one is here): (more…)

Tagged with: anthropogenic global warming, Climate Change, climate disruption, Climatic Change: Are We on the Brink of a Pronounced Global Warming?, ExxonMobil, tobacco companies, Understanding Climate Change

From Guest Blogger Lana Hawkins: Small Green Steps for the Brighter Future

craigshieldsPosted on September 17, 2015 Posted in Sustainability

Did you know that if every used plastic bottle were to be recycled, we would keep 2 billion tons of plastic out of dump sites? Through simple actions like recycling, using non-toxic products, reducing the use of fossil fuels and using our energy more wisely. We can preserve our environment and save natural energy supplies that are being spent at an alarmingly fast rate. (more…)

Tagged with: energy, fossil fuels, non-toxic products, recycling, water

Women Working Hard on Climate Change Mitigation

craigshieldsPosted on September 16, 2015 Posted in Climate Change

2GreenEnergy supporter Gary Tulie Writes: Hi Craig, Following on from your post on Women in the Solar Industry, I thought I would let you know about a local day conference to be held on 7th November. My good friend Mrs. Frances Alexander – former mayor of High Wycombe and leader of The Environment Centre – a local charity promoting sustainability is organising a day conference in High Wycombe on the topic “Can Women Cool It” celebrating the contribution of women to sustainability, and encouraging women to play an active role in solving this critical issue. (I am one of the volunteers who helps in the Centre.)

This is fabulous, Gary. You’re an amazing human being, in case no one’s told you that recently.

Tagged with: 2GreenEnergy supporter Gary Tulie, Can Women Cool It, Women in the Solar Industry, Women Working Hard on Climate Change Mitigation