Here’s one of those “What’s wrong with this picture” quizzes.
Bill and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of their Foundation, the most powerful philanthropic force on Earth, gave an hour-long interview on Charlie Rose (PBS) that aired last night. Here are my notes, followed by a comment: (more…)
A high school boy from Sarasota, Florida (pictured) writes:
Mr. Shields: I am a student at Sarasota Christian School, and in my English class we are doing research topics. My research topic is alternative energy, and my question is, do you agree with that renewable energy is more cost efficient and better for the environment then nonrenewable energy. I would love to get your opinion on this, (more…)
Whenever I publish a new book (like Bullish on Renewable Energy) it gets me thinking of all the other books coming out at the same time, and how, I’d like to think, they weave themselves together into a kind of tapestry on the subject of sustainability.
I just came across what appears to be a fabulous work by an author/photographer who shows that the Earth’s polar regions are some of the planet’s most fragile places, that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as anywhere else on Earth, and snow and ice cover are declining significantly. (more…)
Any business today, whether it is more than 100 years old or a new start-up is looking for sustainable operating methods. Sukanto Tanoto is an example of one businessman and entrepreneur who promotes sustainable forestry practices and land management techniques. The main aim is that whatever resources that are available today are still there in the future.
What Is Sustainable Forestry? (more…)
A nuclear energy scientist from a group of which I’m a part writes:
(It wasn’t hard to see how) we came to agreement that a proven technology should be developed ASAP to produce abundant, clean energy, reduce existing health risks, and deliver global prosperity. Sending mixed signals to the public, in the form of: a) fear radiation at all costs, OR, (more…)
I’m still a bit aghast that the entire two-day Ocean Energy conference is conducted annually without a single mention of OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion). There are speakers promoting technologies in hydrokinetics and offshore wind, who, when pressed, admit that they are not too close to (read: a million away from) commercial viability. Yet the show’s producers can’t seem to mention something that’s already working its way into our energy mix in the warm waters around Earth’s equatorial countries. (more…)
It’s been a while since I’m mentioned the corruption in the U.S. government brought about by the Citizens United decision that, coincidentally, was handed down exactly five years ago. Long after it is overturned by what’s left of our democratic process, it will be remembered as a huge impediment to the will of the people of the 21st Century regarding everything we really care about: a sane energy policy, Wall Street reform, a return to quality public education, and so forth. (more…)
I mentioned just the other day that sea level rise is arguably the most frightening aspect of climate change. In a comment to this post, I wrote: Of all the terrifying aspects of climate disruption, sea level rise is the one that scares me most, because the new shorelines aren’t permanent. Imagine that Boston is underwater. Where are you going to rebuild it? Framingham? Worcester? Springfield? The Berkshires? It depends on how much ice you think is going to melt.
Here’s an article in the Economist that addresses the science here.
When I conducted my “25 interviews with subject matter experts” for my first book on renewable energy (Renewable Energy – Facts and Fantasies) in 2010, I came away with a fairly exuberant viewpoint on CSP (concentrated solar power, aka solar thermal). But it hasn’t been a good five years in the interim, largely due to the unforeseen and precipitous decline in the costs of solar PV.
Here’s an American company that just announced that it’s giving up the ghost on CSP.
I remain hopeful that this technology will be given the same chance that was afforded to PV and wind, i.e., several decades of intensive R&D, before our civilization finally makes a decision on it one way or the other.
Up until a few years ago, I regularly attended the advanced battery conferences, trying to figure out the state of battery technology vis-à-vis its most important applications: a) storing variable sources of energy (wind and solar) for utilities and consumers, and b) electric transportation. (more…)
