The driverless cars that Google is developing seem to fit perfectly into the ride-sharing industry, so it comes as no surprise at all that the search giant is looking to enter this business. The immense growth in popularity that ride-sharing services have seen lately is the reason behind Google’s decision to invest in Uber – the largest ride-sharing company in the world – a few years back, forming a partnership that seemed like a match made in heaven at that time.(more…)
One of the unfortunate consequences of our robo-consumer society is that people who take the concept of “utopia” seriously are immediately branded as worthless dreamers. “Hey, we’re not trying to achieve world peace here,” one commonly hears as a metaphor for “we’re not trying to do the impossible; our feet are firmly planted in the real world.” In truth, of course, it is only the dreamers of the world who have created anything of any real value here on Earth.
Reducing waste, recycling and reusing whenever possible is incredibly important in keeping our lands and oceans clean. At Wheels For Wishes, we run a car recycling program that helps to keep automobiles out of landfills. Instead, vehicles are recycled and reused to build new vehicles. Thousands of tons of waste and trash are dumped into oceans on a daily basis, which is why recycling as much as possible is so incredibly important. (more…)
When I was in Las Vegas last week for the National Clean Energy Summit, I had the pleasure of meeting a wonderfully talented journalist in the person of Craig Ruark. He and I were both similarly respectful, perhaps even reverential, of the talk President Obama gave at its conclusion in which he laid out his hopes for the emerging U.S. energy policy, rooted as it is in a rapid migration from fossil fuels to renewables.
I respond: That’s truly excellent. And you identified a key point from Obama’s speech, i.e., his calling out the hypocrites: “It’s one thing if you’re consistent in being (in favor of the) free market,” Obama said. “It’s another thing if you’re free market until it’s solar that’s working, and people want to buy it, and suddenly you’re not for it any more. That’s a problem.”
In fact, I remember snorting with laughter when he said that, because I thought he was making a joke. A problem? That’s pretty charitable. How about a blatant exhibition of moral depravity? In any case, great going. Hope to see you again soon.
Here’s my recent submission to the Hedge Connection, where I contribute a monthly article on some cleantech investment opportunity that I happen to be particularly “hot” on.
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As we’ve all observed, the idea of energy efficiency generally often lacks sex appeal. The concept of the negawatt, i.e., “the cheapest watt-hour of energy is the one you don’t use,” is normally invisible; it may be insulation tucked inside the walls of your house, or the aluminum components under the paint of the car you drive. Yet those of us who are searching for a sustainable approach to providing energy to the world’s growing and increasingly power-hungry civilization regard efficiency as the “low-hanging fruit.”
My colleague Gary Tulie of Buckinghamshire (near London) writes about my post on solar roads: There is one short stretch of cycle path in the Netherlands using solar panels for the path. I would however consider it likely that on busy roads, yield would be low due to shade issues and dirt, and costs high due to the need for very high strength components. What’s more, most roads have a variety of buried services, and I can’t help thinking the solar road concept would seriously increase the cost of road works.(more…)
A reader notes: Craig, just got your latest blog post. What a way to boost circulation, a barefoot girl in her garden.
I know, right? 🙂 Seriously, as long as you brought it up, here’s my thinking on photo selection. Unless I’m in a hurry, I try to do something nice for the reader with every picture I choose. I try to: (more…)
Frequent commenter Frank writes: A retired electrical engineer came up with the idea of solar powered highways a couple of years ago. He and his wife have been working on this ever since. They live in Northern Idaho, and so far they have put together a couple of parking lots for test purposes. They have a very large grant from the Federal Transportation Dept. (more…)
The “bottomless war chest” of the oil companies has succeeded in gutting the State of California’s proposed Senate Bill 350, a measure calling for a 50 percent cut in petroleum use by 2030. On Wednesday, state law-makers announced that a key component of California’s sweeping climate change bill had been scrapped as a result of an intense campaign from Big Oil, which had poured money into advertising and lobbying campaigns against the bill. (more…)
