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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

U.S. Constitution Protects Us From Public OpinionFrequent commenter Larry Lemmert remarks on my post in which I wrote to a reader:

Do you find the notion that we can have a robust economy without destroying our planet to be absurd?  Why?  Personally, I believe that true prosperity will come from evolving a new economy that takes care of people, rather than killing them.  Why is that so hard to accept?…..What if we change the focus of our efforts and investments from fossil fuels and war, and directed them to education and cleantech?  Is there some reason that this simply won’t work?  I sure don’t see it……It’s not a sin to try to make good things happen in the world, and the concept is perfectly compatible with a healthy economy.

Larry comments: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

In response to my post: Legal Case in the Netherlands – Failure to Curb Climate Change Is a Violation of Human Rights, my colleague Glenn Doty writes:

The Dutch have a much more personal relationship to the issue of global warming… it will cost them a great deal more in managing their dike system…..Even if we were to stop all emissions immediately, we’ll likely still see a sea-level increase of ~2 m over the next century. That would result in a VERY significant increase in flood control costs (as ~2/3rds of the country is vulnerable to flooding,)…..So it matters a little more to the Dutch that we target global warming as rapidly as possible. They won’t be able to pressure other countries effectively unless they can show that they themselves are going way above and beyond within their own borders….If we in the U.S. continue the rate of emissions drop from 2007 to 2013 for another 8 years, we will bring our emissions down to 17% less than 1990 levels. We are dropping our emissions at a rate that is almost as fast as the Dutch, even though they stand to lose 2/3rds of their country, while we will only lose portions of Florida, Georgia, SC, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Thanks, Glenn; I’m always amazed at the remarkable grasp you have on all this. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Two Challenging Renewable Energy Investment Opportunities

Two cleantech entrepreneurs wrote to me in the last couple of hours; one discussed a 30 MW wind farm in Michigan and the other a biogas plant in Poland—both legitimate renewable energy investment opportunities, but both flawed in the same way: the requirement for additional development capital. Projects that aren’t shovel-ready scare investors, and rightfully so. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

Solar Thermal Hot Water Heating May Be a Time of the PastA reader wants to know if the results he’s achieved with his newly designed solar thermal hot water heater are compelling.  He used his panel solar absorber area of 16.25 sf to heat 50 gallons water 55.2 degrees F in 5 hours.

Here’s what I get, using q = m * C * deltaT and energy = power * time: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Costs of Solar and Wind are: Plummeting, Tumbling, Plunging, Crashing, or Nose-Diving—Pick the Word that Works for You

A reader asks for documentation re: my claim that the costs of solar and wind are “plummeting.” Here you go:

Solar:

The highly conservative International Energy Agency predicts the cost of solar energy will fall to around 4c/kWh in coming decades as “the sun becomes the dominant source of power generation across (sic) the world. Rooftop solar, it says, will now account for one half of the world’s solar PV installations, because as a distributed energy source the technology is unbeatable.”

Now one could say, “OK, that sounds like ‘will plummet’ (future tense) rather than ‘is plummeting’ (present).”

A rightful criticism.  But to those who raise this concern, I refer the following historical charts, both on left, courtesy of Cleantechnica (click to see legible version), and below: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Legal Case in the Netherlands - Failure to Curb Climate Change Is a Violation of Human Rights2GreenEnergy supporter Gary Tulie sent me this piece on a class action suit in The Netherlands. A three-judge panel ruled that government plans to cut emissions by 14-17 per cent compared to 1990 levels by 2020 were illegal, insofar as it would be insufficient to prevent global warming of more than 2°C, which will lead to a violation of fundamental human rights worldwide. Gary notes: Similar cases are in preparation in Belgium and elsewhere. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

A Bit of the History of Solar PV PhotovoltaicsRobert Benedict, a fellow I met at last year’s Intersolar show in San Francisco writes:

Amazingly solar (photovoltaics) have already passed its golden anniversary (50 years) by the 11th year now or 61 years total. The birth of photovoltaics took place in Bell labs in 1954 when Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller and Gerald Pearson developed (PV) the silicon photovoltaic cell. These cells were capable of converting enough of the sun’s energy to run common electrical equipment. Bell Labs developed a silicon cell with 4% efficiency and eventually achieved 11% efficiency.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Lego Prefers Not To Be Associated with Destroying the Arctic--Toy Icon Won’t Renew Its Co-Marketing Arrangement with Shell OilA reader notes:  I live in New Zealand where 75% of our electricity is from hydro, geothermal, and wind. We could easily replace every bit of coal with more geothermal and be 100% renewable with political will. Shell in NZ wants to develop methane hydrates on the sea floor and make us a major GAS exporter to Asia!! Beating the oil companies is the world’s biggest problem.

I hear you, pal.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

A fellow wrote to me just now to say that, as a high school student, he had become aware of the force of siphoned water, and came to understand that by “using two ponds, (he) could turn a water turbine nonstop….Please get back to me ASAP; I’m eager to get this project started rolling.”  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Phasing Out Fossil Fuels—By When?The other day I wrote a post suggesting that the timeframe associated with the G7’s decision to phase out fossil fuels by the year 2100, 85 years from now, was “an eternity.”  Now, I’m a guy who enjoys good writing (as well as people who agree with me), and so I had to applaud this article that includes:

How old will you be 85 years from now? Oh, right. You’ll be dead. Me too. I doubt 134 will be the new 30 at the turn of the next century. No one writing this accord will get to personally declare the world’s energy matrix fossil-free. Probably none of their children either. (more…)

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