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From Guest Blogger Vasan: The Ready-Mix & Eco-Friendly Construction Materials – A Revolution in Construction Industry

craigshieldsPosted on July 29, 2015 Posted in Sustainable Building

Construction industry today is revolutionized by several innovative concepts including the most popular eco-friendly construction concept and the concept of using ready-mix products for faster and efficient build up processes. The process of eco-friendly construction has made a way to save up the non-renewable sources of energy which are feared to be depleted in course of time. This is an innovative approach towards the development and usage of building materials that do not affect the environment or human health. (more…)

Tagged with: Eco-Friendly Construction Materials, Revolution in Construction Industry

Dubious Concept in Carbon Capture

craigshieldsPosted on July 28, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Science

Here’s one of many dozens of ideas I’ve seen to suck the CO2 directly out of the atmosphere. Its promoters claim to have a great number of smart people supporting the concept, but it sure seems asinine from here.

• Where does the energy come from to run the machine? How much carbon is emitted in the process of generating it? They imply that it can be run with renewable energy. Of course it can. But then that renewable energy can’t be used as it otherwise would be, i.e., to displace fossil fuel consumption. (more…)

Huxley’s Low Opinion of Americans’ Approach To Life

craigshieldsPosted on July 27, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Politics

Today is the birthday of English author Aldous Huxley, best known for his dystopian novel Brave New World. Huxley wed in 1919 and the couple traveled a lot during the early years of their marriage. According to The Writer’s Almanac: He liked the vitality and energy of the Americans they met, but he thought that energy was wasted on mindless pursuits. “Nowhere, perhaps, is there so little conversation […] It is all movement and noise, like the water gurgling out of the bath – down the waste. Yes, down the waste.”

It’s hard to imagine what he would say about the racket we Americans are making surrounding our presidential race in 2016. I don’t think he’d be too impressed.

Tagged with: Aldous Huxley, American presidential race in 2016, Brave New World

Renewable Energy – Attack and Counterattack

craigshieldsPosted on July 27, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Business

I take great delight in the fact that every day, more Americans are becoming mindful of the issues surrounding fossil fuels and the migration to renewable energy. Americans “overwhelmingly” prefer solar and wind energy to coal, oil, and nuclear energy, according to a Harvard political scientist who has conducted a comprehensive survey of attitudes toward energy and climate for the last 12 years. (more…)

Tagged with: 20th Century energy solution, American Legislative Exchange Council, Americans becoming mindful of the issues surrounding fossil fuels and the migration to renewable energy, Americans “overwhelmingly” prefer solar and wind energy to coal oil and nuclear energy, attitudes toward energy and climate, burning hydrocarbons, Koch brothers, Renewable Energy Attack and Counterattack, terrible consequence in terms of environmental degradation and damage to human health

Uninformed Critics (Often Pro-Nuke People) Attack Renewable Energy with Loud, Though Specious Arguments

craigshieldsPosted on July 27, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Science

I’m often called upon to defend renewable energy against its critics. Here are my words of rebuttal to Alex Cannara, a nuclear advocate who for some reason feels compelled to denigrate renewables at every opportunity. My remarks are in italics below each of his assertions.

• There’s no such thing as “renewable” energy. Remember conservation of energy? “Renewable” is a marketing term.

The word “renewable” doesn’t mean that we’re manufacturing energy from nothing, only that we’re taking it from sources that are virtually infinite and comparatively non-polluting. The sun will be shining in our sky for the next 7.59 billion years, continuously bestowing our planet with 6000 times more power than we are consuming right now. By contrast, since the dawn of industrialization, humankind has reduced the store of hydrocarbons in the Earth’s crust by over 50%. That resource depletion alone is scary, when you think about it, though that’s the very least of our concerns with fossil fuels. (more…)

Tagged with: advance nuclear, Alex Cannera, cadmium, CO2, defend renewable energy, humankind has reduced the store of hydrocarbons in the Earth’s crust by over 50%, mercury, methane, nuclear advocate, oxides of nitrogen and sulfur, radioactive isotopes, selenium, sun bestowing our planet with 6000 times more power that we are consuming, Uninformed Critics Attack Renewable Energy, Wind power density

Using Comedy To Drive Home Important Points

craigshieldsPosted on July 26, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Politics

It’s remarkable how stand-up comedians can make serious points in extremely effective ways. You’re laughing you butt off at the same you’re saying to yourself, “That’s EXACTLY correct.” I’ve mentioned several times how Robert Morgan pulls this off so astonishingly well with his hilarious piece “The History of Oil.”

If you’re looking for a similar experience on a different topic, here’s Australian comic Jim Jeffries (pictured) tackling one of the most controversial subjects in the US: gun control. Part One, Part Two

Tagged with: Robert Morgan, The History of Oil

Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” Campaign Has Been Incredibly Effective

craigshieldsPosted on July 26, 2015 Posted in Fossil Fuels

For some reason, not everyone shares my approval of the Sierra Club. Say what you will, but their Beyond Coal campaign has succeeded in forcing the retirement of one coal plant every 10 days for 5 straight years. 200 coal plants altogether are retired or slated to be retired, out of the original 523 they took aim at. They’ve already surpassed their 2020 goal, and thus enlarged their mission: retire half of all coal plants by 2017.

Ponder this for a second; think about how few Americans understood this issue just 10 short years ago, and how pervasive it is in the public consciousness today. That’s really terrific work. Right on, guys.

Tagged with: retirement coal plants, Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” Campaign

Contemplating the End of Earth

craigshieldsPosted on July 26, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Science

Of the 4700+ blog posts I’ve written here since 2009, several dozen contain the suggestion that our civilization as we know it may be headed for extinction within the next century. What’s most likely to take us down? Any of a number of things, but certainly the damage we’re wreaking on our environment has the potential to get the job done all by itself: (more…)

Tagged with: and all the other dystopian scenarios, climate change and the resultant sea-level rise, Contemplating the End of Earth, damage we're wreaking on our environment, international fascism, loss of biodiversity, ocean acidification, temptation of thermonuclear war

A Sustainable Course to Energy Must Contemplate the Harsh Realities of Politics

craigshieldsPosted on July 25, 2015 Posted in Renewables - Politics

In the phone calls I place to my mother every few days, we sometimes talk about 2GreenEnergy, which, I’m flattered to say, she reads regularly. Last night she reiterated something she’s been telling me for years: she sometimes has issues with my posts that are “tangential” to the basic notion of renewable energy. My recent post on The Social Contract and the U.S. Government came immediately to my mind when she said that; I think I may be in trouble with her on this one….. 🙂 (more…)

Tagged with: compassion for humankind, concern for the rights of the common man, elephant in the room, fears for the survival of our civilization, greedy and corrupt actors in government and the private sector, left-of-center political philosophy, Renewable Energy, sustainable course to energy, technological and economic aspects of fixing this fossil-fuel-driven mess, The Social Contract and the U.S. Government, unlovely confluence between Big Money and law-making