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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

There Are Both Direct and Indirect Reasons to be Bullish on Renewable EnergyMy most recent book, Bullish on Renewable Energy, provides many reasons that the forces of pure market economics are ushering in the various forms of clean energy resources, while they simultaneously bring about the demise of fossil fuels.  Moreover, this whole process is happening far more rapidly than most people realize.  The book’s subtitle suggests readers will encounter 14 different vectors, each a chapter that provides an independent financial driver of the transition from the old to the new. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Concerns About Melting Ice Shift To AntarcticaI had a fortuitous conversation a few years ago at an awards dinner. I happened to be seated next to the fellow who runs the program at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) whose purpose is to investigate the melting of ice beneath the surface of Greenland, and he explained:

Anyone with a satellite camera can see the retraction of ice from the surface. But with the equipment we’re deploying just now, it’s possible for the first time to see where the real action is and measure the total volume of ice lost in real-time.

Here’s an article that gets into the same issue in the Antarctic, which Harvard geophysicist Jerry Mitrovica (pictured) refers to as “ground zero for global climate change.”

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biofuels

Waste-Tire To Energy, Fuels

In all candor, my association with the few people who claim to have workable, reliable technology to extract the chemical energy (and other goodies) out of waste-tires has been a disappointment. After several years of work in this arena, I believe that the 300 million tires that wind up in U.S. landfills or recycling centers each year actually do represent a gold mine, and that we’re close to developing the proper extraction tools, but that we’re not quite there. At the same time, we’ve over-developed the rhetoric to make unprovable claims in this regard.

Waste-to-energy generally is a magnet for exaggerated claims, and I believe that’s because (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Bright Young 2GreenEnergy Intern from Russia To Take on Difficult, Controversial Task: Critical Analysis of Her Mother Country’s Approach to Oil, Clean EnergyAs I mentioned a few weeks ago, I’m working with an intern from Russia, a brilliant woman who’s working on a master’s program in Sustainable Energy Engineering (renewable energy, power generation and energy utilization in the smart buildings).  After a great deal of discussion, I suggested this:

You could write a series of pieces that collectively are called something like “Understanding Russia and Energy.”  In part, the series can be a critical reflection on this incredibly dense work:  “Oil of Russia Past, Present & Future.”

You could either agree with and expand on, or disagree and myth-bust, some commonly held beliefs among Americans. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

John Steinbeck, Connectedness, and Notions of SustainabilityIt’s the birthday of John Steinbeck who told us, “A writer out of loneliness is trying to communicate like a distant star sending signals. He isn’t telling or teaching or ordering. Rather he seeks to establish a relationship of meaning, of feeling, of observing. We are lonesome animals. We spend all life trying to be less lonesome.”

This is a good time to reflect upon this biting truth: there are people who get this, i.e., who live their lives trying to connect to other people and empathize with their fellow travelers here on Earth, and those who simply don’t.

This is the notion around which many of our political discussions revolve.  At what level, if at all, do we share a collective responsibility to take care of the people around us, the environment, and the viability of the planet for future generations?  Like Steinbeck’s characterization of humankind generally, it’s a question longing for an answer.

 

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

How a Steel Roof Can Make Your Home More Energy EfficientWould you like to make your home increasingly more energy efficient while adding a major, eye-catching design feature and never need to replace your home’s roof ever again? Think steel roof. Although the cost of a steel roof is substantially higher than traditional roofing materials, a steel roof is virtually maintenance-free and will probably last a lifetime. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Green Printing Reduces Environmental ImpactDespite the digital revolution, global consumption of paper continues to increase. Even with the rise of email and texting rather than standard mail, getting news and information online rather than in print form and reading files in a digital format, the tide of paper use hasn’t been turned yet.

This is an issue that causes broad concern about the environment as vast tracts of forest are being harvested (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

CleanTech Marketing Needs to “Pop”I’ve been helping a friend fine-tune his marketing message for an energy efficiency product he’s selling, and, after giving him a few specific suggestions, I write:

Strategically, this piece is a bit dry.  Is there anything you could say that would grasp the reader’s attention without sounding cheesy?  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

The Cost of Solar PV Continues to PlummetThe UK has a unique auction process in which the utilities and large electricity customers bid for power, called “contracts for difference.” The concept is not unlike a futures contract, in which sellers who do not (or cannot) take risk with the volatility of energy prices receive a fixed price over a certain period of time, regardless of the actual “spot” price. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Will Our Culture Reconnect with Science? It’s Certainly Not a Sure Bet.Earlier today I wrote a post called “Prediction: Our Culture Will Eventually Reconnect with Science.” Just now, however, I came across this new bill working its way through the U.S. Congress that would prohibit scientists with subject matter expertise from speaking to our Environmental Protection Agency.  Sponsors of bills like this really do have science in their crosshairs.

Fortunately, the bill has its opponents, like Representative Jim McGovern (D-MA) who retorted, “I get it, you don’t like science. And you don’t like science that interferes with the interests of your corporate clients. But we need science to protect public health and the environment.”

Living through these times has its surreal aspects, as the picture above suggests.

 

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