Home › Blog › Page 1415

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Setback to the U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyEnvironmentalists everywhere were saddened that the U.S. Supreme Court dealt a blow to the Environmental Protection Agency with its recent ruling invalidating the EPA’s regulation of mercury and other toxic chemicals that are emitted from power plants.  But at the same time, as much as I hate to say it, the ruling is a validation of common sense.

The EPA’s position was that it could do its thing without regard to the costs incurred by the power plants.  Really?  How smart was that?  (more…)

Tagged with: , , , , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Corruption in GovernmentIt’s the 303rd birthday of political philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (pictured), best known for his 1762 masterpiece The Social Contract, the central point of which is that a government is legitimate to the degree that is exists via the consent of the governed. This is one of the guiding principles in the U.S. Declaration of Independence, as well as the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 21 of which reads: “The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government.”

This makes today a good time to think about the concept of “the will of the people” and ask ourselves: OK, what do we want? It’s a question that has many dozens of equally good answers: a cleaner environment, better public education, universal access to healthcare, equal justice for all, a cessation of military aggression, etc. (more…)

Tagged with: , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

Living on Solar PV After the StormA large storm came through Tuesday night and we lost power for 43 hours. During that time I ran the house on my little solar PV system and batteries. My new inverter provided clean power without shutting down when the battery voltage got close to fully charged the way my old one did. This allowed me to leave it running for the entire time nonstop so the fridge always had power. Also watched about 4 hours of TV per night.

The rest of the neighborhood was running generators and it was just loud up here the whole time. I actually wore ear plugs to sleep.

 

Tagged with:

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

Paper from Sugarcane BagasseA reader from Africa notes:  I was watching this YouTube video of Mr. Shields speaking on renewable energy investment opportunities, and I must say we have something in common. I have been researching using sugarcane bagasse to make paper. I am from a small country in Africa that generates a lot of sugarcane, this is an opportunity that is too good to pass by and furthermore, there is a huge market for this product. I seek for your advice.

I had a contact in this space many years ago, but, after dealing with him for a month or two, I realized he was a fraud and I dropped him like a hot rock.  (more…)

Tagged with: , , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

U.S. Constitution Protects Us From Public OpinionFrequent commenter Larry Lemmert remarks on my post in which I wrote to a reader:

Do you find the notion that we can have a robust economy without destroying our planet to be absurd?  Why?  Personally, I believe that true prosperity will come from evolving a new economy that takes care of people, rather than killing them.  Why is that so hard to accept?…..What if we change the focus of our efforts and investments from fossil fuels and war, and directed them to education and cleantech?  Is there some reason that this simply won’t work?  I sure don’t see it……It’s not a sin to try to make good things happen in the world, and the concept is perfectly compatible with a healthy economy.

Larry comments: (more…)

Tagged with: , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

In response to my post: Legal Case in the Netherlands – Failure to Curb Climate Change Is a Violation of Human Rights, my colleague Glenn Doty writes:

The Dutch have a much more personal relationship to the issue of global warming… it will cost them a great deal more in managing their dike system…..Even if we were to stop all emissions immediately, we’ll likely still see a sea-level increase of ~2 m over the next century. That would result in a VERY significant increase in flood control costs (as ~2/3rds of the country is vulnerable to flooding,)…..So it matters a little more to the Dutch that we target global warming as rapidly as possible. They won’t be able to pressure other countries effectively unless they can show that they themselves are going way above and beyond within their own borders….If we in the U.S. continue the rate of emissions drop from 2007 to 2013 for another 8 years, we will bring our emissions down to 17% less than 1990 levels. We are dropping our emissions at a rate that is almost as fast as the Dutch, even though they stand to lose 2/3rds of their country, while we will only lose portions of Florida, Georgia, SC, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Thanks, Glenn; I’m always amazed at the remarkable grasp you have on all this. (more…)

Tagged with: , , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Two Challenging Renewable Energy Investment Opportunities

Two cleantech entrepreneurs wrote to me in the last couple of hours; one discussed a 30 MW wind farm in Michigan and the other a biogas plant in Poland—both legitimate renewable energy investment opportunities, but both flawed in the same way: the requirement for additional development capital. Projects that aren’t shovel-ready scare investors, and rightfully so. (more…)

Tagged with: , , , , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

Solar Thermal Hot Water Heating May Be a Time of the PastA reader wants to know if the results he’s achieved with his newly designed solar thermal hot water heater are compelling.  He used his panel solar absorber area of 16.25 sf to heat 50 gallons water 55.2 degrees F in 5 hours.

Here’s what I get, using q = m * C * deltaT and energy = power * time: (more…)

Tagged with: , , , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Costs of Solar and Wind are: Plummeting, Tumbling, Plunging, Crashing, or Nose-Diving—Pick the Word that Works for You

A reader asks for documentation re: my claim that the costs of solar and wind are “plummeting.” Here you go:

Solar:

The highly conservative International Energy Agency predicts the cost of solar energy will fall to around 4c/kWh in coming decades as “the sun becomes the dominant source of power generation across (sic) the world. Rooftop solar, it says, will now account for one half of the world’s solar PV installations, because as a distributed energy source the technology is unbeatable.”

Now one could say, “OK, that sounds like ‘will plummet’ (future tense) rather than ‘is plummeting’ (present).”

A rightful criticism.  But to those who raise this concern, I refer the following historical charts, both on left, courtesy of Cleantechnica (click to see legible version), and below: (more…)

Tagged with: , , ,

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Legal Case in the Netherlands - Failure to Curb Climate Change Is a Violation of Human Rights2GreenEnergy supporter Gary Tulie sent me this piece on a class action suit in The Netherlands. A three-judge panel ruled that government plans to cut emissions by 14-17 per cent compared to 1990 levels by 2020 were illegal, insofar as it would be insufficient to prevent global warming of more than 2°C, which will lead to a violation of fundamental human rights worldwide. Gary notes: Similar cases are in preparation in Belgium and elsewhere. (more…)

Tagged with: , , , ,