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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

A Bit of the History of Solar PV PhotovoltaicsRobert Benedict, a fellow I met at last year’s Intersolar show in San Francisco writes:

Amazingly solar (photovoltaics) have already passed its golden anniversary (50 years) by the 11th year now or 61 years total. The birth of photovoltaics took place in Bell labs in 1954 when Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller and Gerald Pearson developed (PV) the silicon photovoltaic cell. These cells were capable of converting enough of the sun’s energy to run common electrical equipment. Bell Labs developed a silicon cell with 4% efficiency and eventually achieved 11% efficiency.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Lego Prefers Not To Be Associated with Destroying the Arctic--Toy Icon Won’t Renew Its Co-Marketing Arrangement with Shell OilA reader notes:  I live in New Zealand where 75% of our electricity is from hydro, geothermal, and wind. We could easily replace every bit of coal with more geothermal and be 100% renewable with political will. Shell in NZ wants to develop methane hydrates on the sea floor and make us a major GAS exporter to Asia!! Beating the oil companies is the world’s biggest problem.

I hear you, pal.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

A fellow wrote to me just now to say that, as a high school student, he had become aware of the force of siphoned water, and came to understand that by “using two ponds, (he) could turn a water turbine nonstop….Please get back to me ASAP; I’m eager to get this project started rolling.”  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Phasing Out Fossil Fuels—By When?The other day I wrote a post suggesting that the timeframe associated with the G7’s decision to phase out fossil fuels by the year 2100, 85 years from now, was “an eternity.”  Now, I’m a guy who enjoys good writing (as well as people who agree with me), and so I had to applaud this article that includes:

How old will you be 85 years from now? Oh, right. You’ll be dead. Me too. I doubt 134 will be the new 30 at the turn of the next century. No one writing this accord will get to personally declare the world’s energy matrix fossil-free. Probably none of their children either. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

U.S. National Security and Climate ChangeIt’s no secret that the U.S. military has climate change on its radar screen, insofar as the prospect of 200 million climate refugees has grave implications for things like homeland security, not to mention the potential to stabilize regions outside the actual “homeland.”  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

Lots of Joy and Kindness at the Live Oak Music FestivalNeedless to say, there is a huge demographic match-up between devotees of renewable energy and lovers of eclectic music (folk, blue grass, blues, reggae, etc.), plenty of which was on tap at this year’s Live Oak Festival from which I just returned last night.  Most of the blissful three-day period was spent listening to music that touches the very soul, but it was hard to miss the fact that these folks, almost to a person, share a deep devotion for making the world a better place, and that clean energy plays a big role in bringing about these improvements.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Smart Money Isn't Betting Against Tesla MotorsJust a few days after unveiling the Powerwall home battery system, which promises to ensure independence from the power grid for homes and businesses, and possibly cause some radical changes in the energy market, Tesla Motors has announced that it has acquired a company that manufactures automotive parts, in a bid to ramp up production. The Detroit Free Press reports that Elon Musk’s company has bought an auto supplier based in Michigan, which is the first acquisition made by the country’s leading all-electric car manufacturer, an important milestone for such a relatively young company. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Sustainability First--A New Generation of WarehousesThe idea of ‘sustainability’ was first introduced by the United Nations in 1987 and it kept developing continuously since.

As recently as 2009, Pepsico famously introduced “Performing with conscience,” an environmentally friendly project which seemed to prove that sustainability was on its way to become a tangible major issue for small companies and big groups alike. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Nuclear

Liquid Fluoride Thorium ReactorFrequent commenter Frank Eggers calls our attention to an article on the development of liquid fluoride thorium reactors (LFTRs) in China, and points to this excerpt:

“Professor Li, director of the project’s molten salt chemistry and engineering technology division, said the smog crisis had provided huge impetus for their research.

“‘The problem of coal has become clear. If the average energy consumption per person doubles, this country will be choked to death by polluted air,’ he said. ‘Nuclear power provides the only solution for massive coal replacement and thorium carries much hope.’” (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Studies on Global WarmingQuestion:  In 2013, there were 10,883 peer-reviewed scientific studies to the effect that global warming is real and caused by humans.  In the same year, how many such studies took the opposite position?

(New 2GreenEnergy readers should be aware that “Take a Cool Guess” is a regular feature here; there are many dozens of such “fun quizzes on clean energy” linked above.)

Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers.

Relevance:  According to this article: (more…)

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