Demand for Renewable Energy About To Explode Here’s an article that is consistent with the theme of my current book project ( “Bullish on Renewable Energy – Eleven Reasons Why Clean Energy Investors Can’t Lose”): the cost of generating renewable energy has fallen to the point that it’s quite competitive with fossil fuels.    This is a conclusion drawn from a recent analysis commissioned by the European Commission, that then goes on to talk about externalities; the fact that clean energy is the deal of the century is amplified further when we factor in the costs of long-term environmental damage and lung disease that have heretofore gone uncounted.

The net of all this, as I conclude in my book, is that there is an enormous amount of pent-up demand for renewables, and that the migration in that direction is about to explode.

 

 

 

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Ford Could Make a Car Like Tesla's Model S, According to CEOWith the Tesla Model S selling quite well lately, and with Tesla reporting profits quarter after quarter, it was only a matter of time before other car makers take a page from Elon Musk’s book and start thinking about designing a car that will look like the luxury sedan that is one of the most in-demand models in the EV market at the moment. One of Detroit’s “Big Three” – Ford Motor Company – might be the first company to try and build a Tesla-like car, with CEO Mark Fields saying that they have the technology and the expertise that is needed to make a car with performance characteristics similar to those of the Model S. (more…)

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How To Make Your Home More Eco-FriendlyWhen it comes to eco-friendly home care techniques and improvements, the grass has never been greener. Following are five ways that the average homeowner can improve his or her environment significantly by going green, which will create a healthier living space as well as save money on utility and maintenance costs:
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Royal Dutch Shell CEO: “Climate Change Is Real, and It's a Threat” – But What Do Our Actions Show?The CEO of Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world’s largest oil and gas companies, recently stood up for climate science and said, “We’re not aligning with skeptics.” He went on to say, “Let me be very, very clear, for us climate change is real and it’s a threat we want to act on.”

But Shell continues to fund ALEC, a group that has been spreading disinformation about climate change for years. (more…)

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Communities Going Off-Grid, Forming MicrogridsMy current book project explores the notion that the forces of free market economics alone are in the process of forcing a rapid migration away from fossil fuels in the direction of renewables, energy efficiency, storage, smart grid, and electric transportation. I argue this from a great number of different perspectives, as suggested in the title “Bullish on Renewable Energy – Eleven Reasons Why Clean Energy Investors Can’t Lose.

One of the chapters deals with the upheaval in the world of the power utilities, i.e., how re-regulation, RPSs, distributed generation and negative growth are conspiring to make investors in these businesses very nervous. Illustrative of all this mess is the fact that whole communities are forming their own microgrids and telling their utilities to take a flying leap (see pic above). Here’s an article about this exact phenomenon, taking place in a small burg in Germany.

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Economic Growth and Mitigating Climate Disruption -- Nothing Is More Powerful Than an Idea Whose Time Has ComeIn one breath, climate deniers tell us that tens of thousands of our top climatologists have covertly gotten together and conspired to perpetrate a hoax on the world’s people.  In the next breath, they tell us that attempts to deal with this non-problem will stifle economic growth.  Both these notions are incorrect.

In this article, leading economists explain how addressing the climate issue will actually stimulate the economy(more…)

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A Quick Stab at the Intersection of Renewable Energy and MeteorologyA senior in college working towards his B.S. in meteorology writes:

I’ve always been very intrigued by renewable energy and was curious if there are positions for meteorologists within the field. If there are not I would also be interested in knowing if there are any other positions I would be able to apply for with my degree being in meteorology, something I could apply my knowledge of science towards perhaps. I wasn’t sure how to research this so i figured I would contact a few companies directly. If you have any information on this I would greatly appreciate it if you could email me with some details.

I respond: (more…)

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South Korea Ranks High in Smart Grid, Air Pollution If you’re looking for countries that have aggressive goals for economic growth, you certainly need to include South Korea on your list. What they’ve done in automotive and electronics over the past two decades has been most impressive. Here’s a story about their goals in exporting smart grid solutions. I won’t be at all surprised to see those goals met—and exceeded. (more…)

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New Auto Offering From Fisker.....Zzzzzzzz

Apparently Henrik Fisker is back with a new set of promises, claiming that he’ll be unveiling two new cars on November 20, a media day at next month’s LA Auto Show. Back-to-back press conferences are scheduled with no details yet revealed, except for the fact that one of them is predicted to be more of a muscle car than an environmentally sound, fuel-efficient model.

Sorry if I have a bad taste in my mouth here. Even if I thought the world needs a new muscle car (which, of course, I don’t), I still remember my annual sojourns to the Los Angeles Auto Show in the 2000-aughts, and how turned off I was to Fisker’s soon-to-be-aborted range-extended hybrid. Each year, the ropes around the prototype kept us a few feet farther away from actually touching it, and each year the story about the price and release date became even more vague and disenchanting.

I feel a sudden yawn coming on…

 

 

 

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The Top Two Energy-Related Threats To HumankindWhat’s the number one threat to human civilization based on our foolish and corrupt approach to energy?  Most of us who try to keep a watchful and objective eye on the world energy scene would say that it’s our de facto energy policy that favors fossil fuels, and uses the power of enormous amounts of money to maintain the fiction that burning hydrocarbons is an acceptable mode of going forward.

But what’s the number two threat?  I would say that it’s the bickering between those of us who see the imperative for a low-carbon energy future.  To summarize it: (more…)

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