I’m up in San Francisco at the Low Carbon Investors conference today. I like to cover events like this for 2GreenEnergy readers, and I aim to do that in this case with all my might. There is a slight problem, however, (more…)
Reading has long been established as one of the best ways of improving vocabulary and of lowering levels of stress in your body. The time spent reading removes you completely from the world around you and allows your mind time to become creative. It has even been shown to improve your intellect. Here are some tips on how you can read more, despite a busy lifestyle.
Borrow books (more…)
According to the article, the state’s environmental groups aren’t happy, which is predictable. In fact, if there is any surprise here, it’s that environmental groups exist in Kansas at all.
For those of you outside the U.S. who might not understand this remark, Kansas is arguably the most regressive state in our Union. (more…)
If we have any heavyweights in fluid dynamics out there who would like to comment on this concept, I would appreciate it. It’s a bladeless wind turbine, one that captures energy from the moving air by shaking rather than turning.
My take: I’ll be stunned if this actually has the potential to lower the levelized cost of energy (as they claim). Today’s turbines are over 80% efficient in converting the incident kinetic energy from a certain swept area into electricity. (This is incorrect; in my haste, I omitted a whole bunch of considerations here; my bad; see comments below. This should have read: …”80% of the theoretical maximum”.)
What would be an effective configuration of these devices to achieve a large swept area? How are they going to top 80%? Good luck.
There was a popular song here in the U.S. in the 1990s that began: “I believe that children are our future….” This has always struck me as nonsensical. The lyricist might have been thinking: OK, let’s get started with a brave and bold statement….I believe that old people are our future…., no, wait a second; they’re going to be dead soon; let’s make that children, yes that’s much better.
Be this as it may, yes, he was obviously correct: young people are indeed our future. That’s why it’s so gratifying to see that they lead the charge in a great number of directions that favor sustainability, one of which is a bold reduction in car ownership. (more…)
Those of you who understand the basic chemistry of ocean acidification know that the excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed into the seas, momentarily creating carbonic acid, which almost immediately breaks apart into products that includes a hydrogen ion. The ion then combines with the previously abundant carbonate molecule, the limiting reactant in the formation of calcium carbonate (limestone). (more…)
I may have mentioned that we recently passed the 5,000 mark in terms of total posts here. In fact, this is number 5,126–of which I’ve written 4,483.
When it comes to my stuff, I’m reminded of what (American actor, director, and comedian–pictured) Steve Martin said: “Fortunately, persistence is a good substitute for talent.”
Thanks to all who have contributed.
Frequent commenter “MarcoPolo” (the original pictured left) writes:
While it’s true that some technologies do become mainstream innovations, most never fulfill the dreams of their supporters, and remain only hobbyist or small scale applications.
Like you, every week, I receive dozens of proposals by dedicated, enthusiastic (sometimes a little rabid and fanatical ) innovators, seeking to finance the development, or commercialization, of all sorts of wonderful new innovative concepts. I try to sort these into five categories: (more…)
We often hear that young people are much more environmentally conscious than previous generations, and we certainly have to hope that’s true. It’s certainly the case with a young woman named Emma, who writes as follows:
As a trainee journalist…I’ve been lucky enough to be part of some really exciting projects…but there few things I find more exciting than a mass movement of people fighting back – and it’s hard to imagine a more important fight than climate change. (more…)
Here’s another monthly installment that I write for The Hedge Connection, where, in this case, I present a short introduction to the subject of synthetic fuels as a viable method of energy storage.
I begin with a reminder to Hedge Connection readers what 2GreenEnergy is all about, i.e., that it represents an effort to bring together entrepreneurs in renewable energy and related disciplines with the sources of investment capital they need to take their business concepts forward—a task that has required me to review literally thousands of ideas (more…)
