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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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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Studies on Global Warming

Re: my post pointing out that 10,883 out of 10,885 peer-reviewed scientific studies in 2013 concluded that global warming is real and caused by humans, frequent commenter MarcoPolo writes: I’m sure it’s not your intention, but what you are suggesting would censor, or deter all debate, whether scientific or political.

I don’t resent climate scientists’ exploring this issue and trying to disprove the theory; that’s the way that all science is advanced. I’m no more in favor of doggedly holding on to a broken theory re: the climate than I am to a broken theory about the cause or treatment of cancer. I do, however, resent people who know nothing about the subject, e.g., the climate deniers in the U.S. Congress, shills for the oil companies, disseminating gibberish that has the effect of blocking progress to solutions to a problem that has the potential to cause mass extinction on the planet.

As a person of conscience, you should hold the same resentment.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

More on Floating Solar PV Power PlantsYesterday, a reader expressed interest in creating solar PV plants that float on large bodies of water that act to stem evaporation as they generate electrical power, and I directed him to an article my friend Gary Tulie had written on the subject: Saving the Salton Sea with Solar Arrays.

Below are the calcs that the reader provides on the subject.  My only comments are:

• Indeed, there are horrific consequences if the volume of water in Lake Mead falls to the point that Hoover Dam needs to be shuttered.   However,

• Huge PV installations are not equivalent in value to hydroelectric facilities that offer dispatchable power, and

• Huge PV installations that are far from population centers pose additional challenges.

He writes:  Thanks, Craig.  Looking at Gary’s article, I realized I had seen it when it came out.  Probably that’s what triggered my thinking this time. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Quite a Moment: Pope Francis To Address U.S. Climate Change DeniersIn September, Pope Francis will deliver an address to the U.S. Congress on humankind’s responsibilities vis-à-vis the environment.   I have to say that the very concept of this presentation to a room packed with a large number of climate change deniers, each one a dancing monkey, a shill for the oil companies, makes me smile.  I can just visualize (adamant denier) James Inhofe (R-OK, chair of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works–pictured left) and all the others, sitting there scowling.

On a more serious note, (more…)

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