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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

HVAC System

Heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) plays a crucial role in today’s times, not just to help keep our homes and offices comfortable, but also in the development of sustainable and environmentally sound infrastructure. As we move towards sustainable cities and “green buildings”, newer HVAC mechanisms and technologies are the way forward, offering as they do the dual benefits of high performance and adaptability.So, what are “green buildings”? A typical green building would be energy and resource efficient, non-polluting and waste efficient, flexible and easily scalable, as well as easy to operate. These buildings would utilize a “life cycle approach” to water and energy usage, and would be continually evolving in efficiency and adaptability. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Deadly Heat Wave in India

On the one hand, you have the fact that the first half of 2015 is by far the hottest January-June on record, and that the total year is almost certain to beat 2014 as the previous hottest total 12-month year since records began to be kept in the 1880s.

On the other hand, we Americans re-elect U.S. senator James Inhofe (R-OK, now the chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works) shown here displaying a snowball as proof that global warming is a hoax.

What to make of this dissonance? How about:  “Stupid is as stupid does,” a classic line from the popular American movie “Forrest Gump.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

Victory for the Wind Energy Industry in Scotland, and What I Hope To Be My Last Comment on Donald TrumpI expect to make this the last public remark I’ll ever be forced to make about Donald Trump—and I mention it only because of its relevance to the world of renewable energy: Trump has lost his court battle in Scotland, in which he sued Scotland over the country’s decision to build a wind farm in the water that neighbors the billionaire’s golf resort.

From “The Scotsman”: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Achieving a Sustainable Approach to Energy, Food, and Water on Planet Earth Here’s a letter I sent to a gentleman I met at a presentation called “Planetary Health.”  He lives in Cameroon, and is fabulously well connected with some of the most powerful people in Africa.  This is my attempt to facilitate a meeting in which I can involve myself as a problem-solver with respect to what I see as a huge gating issue if our civilization is to address its myriad woes and achieve some level of sustainability going forward.   (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Building a Bicycle Culture in U.S. CitiesWhether used for transportation, recreation, or health, it’s no surprise that bicycling is popular throughout the world. Despite its universal appeal, bicycle use is essential in cities like Amsterdam, but use falls short in urban cities throughout the United States. Big cities, such as Minneapolis, Portland, and San Francisco, have borrowed ideas from the Dutch bicycle culture in efforts to make the city more “bicycle friendly”. Not only does bicycle culture promote good health and make roadways safer, but it can also improve a city’s overall environment. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Ensure a Safe Road & Green Transportation With a Tire Pressure Monitoring SystemThere are enough worries when driving on roads today, whether it’s bad drivers, road conditions or just so many vehicles on the road at one time.  However, one new government initiative is looking likely to combat a few problems as well as save car drivers a bit of money in the process.

You see, newer designed cars have a sensor, that is usually placed on the valve or a tire which monitors the air pressure inside the tire. We are of course talking about the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS), which isn’t a manufacturing requirement as of yet but are a major part of newly built vehicles that are making our roads much safer. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Job Creation in Clean EnergyFlorida-based businessman Walter Feuchs and 2GreenEnergy have had something of a “mutual admiration society” going for many years now, and I’m always happy to communicate his ideas to our readers.  Here’s a document of his in which he outlines some of his thoughts with respect to a collaboration with China re: creating a huge number of new jobs in the clean energy industry.

Our conversation: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

The Rapid Migration to Renewable Energy Is Happening Right In Front of Our EyesThere are many different cooperating forces that are bringing an end to fossil fuel consumption on this planet far more swiftly than most people understand.  In fact, as I enumerated in Bullish on Renewable Energy, there are 14 reasons that clean energy investors can’t fail, each tied to the ever-growing effectiveness and ever-shrinking cost of solar, wind, storage, electric transportation, smart-grid, etc., as well as other economic pressures, e.g., the need to rewrite the relationship we have with our power utilities. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

Eight Things You Can Do Tomorrow To Achieve A Greener And Smarter HomeSustainability and going green are buzzwords that have been going around for years now. But “buzz” should not be all there is to it. For sustainability to be achieved and realized, people must actually do something about it, from their personal choices to their homes. Others who have yet to live in a sustainable home can find inspiration from green homeowners who are greatly satisfied with the benefits of green living. In the 2014 International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas, the National Association of Home Builders shared the results of a survey that found an overwhelming 94% of owners of green homes content and remorse-free over choosing to live in a sustainable home. They agree that the benefits outweigh additional costs and would enthusiastically recommend sustainable home living to friends and family. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

What We Mean By In response to my post Scientists Should Actively Try To Disprove the Theory of Global Warming and Climate Change, frequent commenter MarcoPolo writes:  Extremism, whether by rightist troglodytes, or barking mad leftist ideologues, serves no useful purpose.  Only pragmatism and co-operation will ensure disruption is kept to a minimum, and real progress can be achieved.  But, that’s just my opinion……….

As it’s expressed, it’s an opinion with which no sane person can disagree.  “Extremism” is by definition a bad thing, as it denotes hysteria and irrationality.  Conversely, “pragmatism” is by definition a good thing, as it implies a calm level-headedness.

But personally, I don’t think being terrified of the consequences of modern human behavior on this planet is at all irrational.  You obviously disagree.  That’s fine; needless to say, not everyone agrees with me.  (Pictured: William James, father of the philosophy of pragmatism–one of my heroes as a young man.)

 

 

 

 

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