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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Helping a 2GreenEnergy Intern Creates His Resume’Here’s a blurb I just wrote for one of our interns, Louis de St. Phalle, for inclusion in his resume’.  I never embellish, if that means saying something that isn’t true, but I try to choose words that communicate the truth in the most forceful way possible:

Content creation in renewable energy and cleantech more generally.  Conducted penetrating research and used it to write numerous, detailed articles on the ever-evolving technologies, economic conditions, and political landscape that define our civilization’s appetite for clean energy and the phasing out of fossil fuels. 

2GreenEnergy owner/editor Craig Shields credits this effort with both an increase in traffic to the website and an improved SEO ranking.  Shields reports:  “There is no doubt in my mind that Louis’ work has been effective in reaching a great number of readers.  Since the inception of the website in 2009, we’ve had at least 10 or 12 interns, of whom Louis has proven to be far the most sophisticated to date.  He’s bright and friendly, which facilitates our working relationship.  But more to the point, he has a fantastic command of the language and a precise understanding of subtle points in this industry that are totally lost on most people.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Social Media Promotes Good Causes, Though Commonly Backfires on Bad ActorsHere’s a video that reminds me of a few key points in the use of social media and the quest to make a certain piece of content go viral.  First, it needs to be so appealing that it achieves “critical mass,” in the same sense as a nuclear reaction, i.e., one viewer spawns more than one viewer as a result.  There is no formula for this, in the same way that there is no blueprint to coming up with a hit song, a best-selling book, or a breakthrough in science. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

Bringing Renewable Energy to the Third World Means Leap Frogging Over a Fossil Fuel InfrastructureA friend of mine called a few days ago asking for advice on the following:  what are the principal reasons that Myanmar might want renewable energy, especially energy that is produced from MSW (municipal solid waste)?

Apparently, he’ll soon have an opportunity to make a presentation on the subject to some high-level people in there, which sounds like an exciting opportunity.  I started out by listing everything that came to mind:   (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Does Civilization’s Approach to Sustainability Lie Behind Door #1, #2, or #3?At a very high level, there are only three main viewpoints that one can take re: our civilization’s approach to sustainability:

1) Do nothing.  Make no changes in the status quo, based on the belief that there are no real pressing problems, or, if there are, that there is nothing effective we can do about them.

2) Embrace cleantech.  Understand that  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Throwing Noise Pollution Out Of the WindowWhen we talk about pollution, few of us immediately shift our attention to noise. Most of the time we focus on the standard types – normally relating to some form of gas that our cars or homes are emitting into the environment.

However, noise pollution is a big deal – you only have to tune into one of the Neighbors from Hell shows to realize that. This is something which can turn the perfect neighborhood into an absolute nightmare. It’s not always the neighbors that are to blame either; sometimes it’s just bad luck. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

Want To Be a Wind Farm Operator?No one understood this when I was a kid, but from one person to the next, there are many different preferred learning styles, and identifying the right one can make an appreciable difference in a person’s ability to absorb new material. As individualized as all this may be, however, I believe most people benefit from pictures in addition to written text.

That’s why I thought I’d share this photo-essay “A Day in the Life of a Wind Farm Operator.” Those of us with fear of heights will certainly not envy the people who get up on top of these babies.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

Efficiency of Solar PV and Wind PowerA young lady from a faraway land writes: My name is Alexandra, and I am a pupil at Herschel Girls School in Cape Town. I am doing a Science investigation and I am researching wind and solar energy, and which one is more efficient.

What an excellent question. And how lucky you are to go to such a wonderful school (pictured here) in such a beautiful part of the world (see below).

To get to the point:  You probably mean: How much electricity does the device produce as compared to the total energy incident upon it? In that case, (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Environmental Bills in the U.S. CongressIf you have a few extra minutes and you don’t mind being sickened, here’s a report from the League of Conservation Voters that consists of only two parts.  It:

• Lists the 35 most important bills related to environmental issues that were introduced onto the U.S. Congress in 2012, and

• Follows with a large table that displays each senator’s and representative’s vote on the matter.

Here’s a particularly disgusting excerpt: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

More on High-Altitude WindI’ve been in touch with the fellow in Italy I mentioned earlier on my piece about high-altitude wind power, in which I expressed concern that the levelized cost of energy for his concept (KiteGen) wouldn’t be competitive with other energy resources.  I had forgotten Italy’s passion for small wind (defined as anything under 60 KW) and their willingness to put their Euros where their mouths are.

He writes:  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

Efficiency in Wind TurbinesQuestion:  In physics, the Betz Limit is the top theoretic percentage of kinetic energy that can be extracted from a moving fluid, e.g., wind.  It’s based on the fact that, if you took it all, i.e., stopped the wind dead, the oncoming wind behind it would run into what you had just stopped.  In other words, you don’t want to design a device in which the wind can’t get out of its own way.  So, having said all this, what is the Betz Limit (i.e., this theoretical top percentage)?  (more…)

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