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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Wanted: Energy PragmatistsIt’s the 202nd birthday of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard (pictured). He’s best known as the first existentialist philosopher, but he was also active in many other fields, including the writing of fiction. According to the Writer’s Almanac:

He published many works under a variety of aliases… to disavow his own authority. He would adopt a “character” who wrote about a particular philosophical viewpoint, and then would adopt another persona to explore the opposing viewpoint.

I bring this up simply to note how incredibly rare it is to find this capacity for thought today, if it exists at all. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

The Legal Battle Over Demand ResponseIf you’re looking for proof that we live in an absurd world, here’s one for you: the U.S. Supreme Court has been called to rule on the authority of the Federal Energy Regulation Commission (FERC) regarding its order that demand response (DR) be included in the tools available to meet peak energy loads.  To summarize this briefly: DR means that grid operators can make agreements with their customers to cut power usage in times of peak load, and then use those agreements to meet peak demand, as opposed to building and running peaker plants.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Clean Energy Business Plans Need Only Present the SolutionA fellow from somewhere in the Middle East claims to have a new technology for water desalination, and I requested something that explains the science.  Even though he writes at considerable length, his English is not sufficiently strong to permit me to understand his idea and its validity (if there is any).  I wrote: Sorry, I can’t understand your English.  Is there a website that describes this? To which he responds: Oh! I dident think…. its a new technology.  

I thought I’d publish my response, because it speaks to a great number of clean energy business plans I see that present long discussions of the problem, i.e., environmental degradation in one form or another. This is unnecessary, and detracts from the quality of the piece by insulting the reader’s intelligence.  Here I responded: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

The Future of Off-shore WindI’m not certain we’ll ever see off-shore wind here surrounding the U.S., but it certainly is taking hold in Europe.  It’s a shame that we Americans are loathe to participate here, since the potential for inexpensive power from this source is a function of how much R&D the world throws at this collectively.  Here’s a brief excerpt from Bullish on Renewable Energy on the subject: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Environmentalism:  A Cause That Involves Us AllIt’s the 100th birthday of Orson Welles, best known for his film “Citizen Kane.”  Welles said:

I want to give the audience a hint of a scene. No more than that. Give them too much and they won’t contribute anything themselves. Give them just a suggestion and you get them working with you. That’s what gives the theater meaning: when it becomes a social act. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Nuclear

Thorium-based Nuclear ReactorsReaders often talk about thorium and its potential to become the feedstock for the next generation of nuclear fission reactors.  I have high hopes for thorium; there is a whole chapter in my most recent book (Bullish on Renewable Energy) dedicated to the subject.  I would also assert that anyone, regardless of where he stands on the political spectrum, who doesn’t like thorium simply because it’s nuclear, is deranged, or at best, completely misinformed.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage

Elon Musk and Tesla EnergyI’m a huge fan of Elon Musk. Anyone who bets against him on his “Tesla Energy” venture (batteries for distributed energy storage) or any of his other businesses is taking a huge risk, given his track record. But for the life of me, I don’t understand why he is the only person on a planet whose ideas on using storage to drive the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy is taken seriously.

Of course, that’s an exaggeration. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Uncategorized

Tips for Making your Office more Environmentally FriendlyThe office is an environment that uses a lot of energy, and that produces a lot of waste, in the form of things like paper and endless coffee cups after all those long meetings.

Therefore most offices could really benefit from some steps to make it more environmentally friendly to help reduce the company’s carbon footprint without compromising on the productivity levels. If you want your office to be greener, we’ve come up with some tips to help you on your eco friendly mission.

Do as much as you can online (more…)

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Remembering the Lessons of Horace MannHere’s a blurb from the Writer’s Almanac:

It’s the birthday of Horace Mann, born in Franklin, Massachusetts (1796). He was the first great American advocate of public education. He believed that, in a democratic society, education should be free and universal. He was fiercely opposed to slavery, and toward the end of his life, he was the president of Antioch College, a new institution committed to coeducation and equal opportunity for all students, black and white. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage, Renewables - Politics

As Long As The World of Politics Remains Machiavellian, It’s Foolish To Hope for Government Support of a Sustainable Energy PolicyNiccolò Machiavelli was born on this day in 1469, a man best remembered for his work called “The Prince,” a set of suggestions for heads of state that can be summarized as follows, according to the Writer’s Almanac:

(Machiavelli) wrote that morality was irrelevant when it came to running a state. He didn’t advocate evil for its own sake, and believed rulers should stick to the good whenever possible. But he also said they should be willing to perform evil acts when it became necessary to hold onto their power and maintain the security of the state. (more…)

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