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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Uncategorized
Climate Change and the People Who Want To Minimize Further Damage: An Extremely Simple Situation

courtesy: Blendspace.com

A long-time skeptic of the whole climate change / renewable energy enterprise writes:  The actual science behind “climate change” has become lost in a cacophony of self-interest and distortion. A vast industry has emerged, mostly funded by taxpayers, to create a new social movement, with semi-religious overtones. Rationality, has largely disappeared, replaced by a cornucopia of public finding for a new environmental industry based on an illusion.

I respond:

I believe you’re over-analyzing the situation here. (more…)

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Even Republicans Resent Being Bullied by Koch IndustriesWhat a topsy-turvy world.  Here we have a Republican senator bawling out Koch Industries front-group “Americans for Prosperity.”  Nancy Detert (R-FL) voiced her displeasure with the AFP for aggressively targeting her for replacement because she isn’t far enough to the right: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

Compressed Air Energy Storage

Given that the two least expensive forms of renewable energy (solar PV and wind) are variable in nature, common sense tells us that large-scale storage of energy will be required if we are to have large rates of integration of these resources into the grid mix. (For what it’s worth, not everyone agrees with this, as I noted here.) But in any case, the world is working hard to bring along a number of modes in which large amounts of energy can be stored during periods of reduced load, and then brought on the grid to address peak conditions. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

photo 320px-Ky_river_dam_zpswlbxlfbl.jpgWhen I pointed out the drawbacks to the nonsensical business plan described here, the woman who sent it to me immediately followed with another, accompanied by this hopeful note: “How about this one?”

I wrote: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

How Staying Green Doesn't Have To Revolve Around Huge (And Pricey) New BoilersThe authorities have rightfully been pushing for us to turn green over the years. While they have their eyes firmly set on the environment, the carrot dangling (pictured) in front of homeowners is that they can shed their energy bills in the process.

However, a lot of the time the suggestions which are put out there revolve around mammoth home improvement projects. New boilers are probably the preferred choice for most authorities, simply because the newer models can reduce carbon emissions by such huge amounts compared to some which are a decade or so old. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Renewable Energy Projects Require FocusAs a result of my expressing my willingness to review any and all clean energy business plans for free, I’ve received some doozies.

One I got the other day caused me to think: exactly what works in terms of gaining acceptance from the investor community?  What doesn’t have a chance?  I’ve laid out my response below.

First, however, here’s a summary of the business plan in question. It came from a woman who claims that her team will take a part of the U.S. desert, build and operate a megawatt of geo-thermal power systems, build a 250 mile pipeline for water that they can extract somehow, help out an Indian tribe with water while cleaning up a river and a lake, implement vast amounts of wind and solar PV, implement algae as a fuel source, build resort dwellings with an institute of healing and a 9-hole golf course.

I wrote back: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

A reader who claims to have a great improvement in wind-turbine design on a per-kW basis sent me a fairly detailed treatment of his invention.  I respond:

Thanks for this very interesting analysis.  Here’s the problem, to stay with your analogy that you are (and I won’t dispute it) the “Porsche of the small wind industry.”  But that’s like being the “Rolls Royce of sealing wax,” or the “Ferrari of buggy whips.” It appears that there is a very limited market here in the U.S., because: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

Dow Chemical Helps To Integrate Wind Energy Further Into Our Grid MixHere’s a story that illustrates my main contention about renewable energy: the good guys have already won this war; now it’s time to get the casualties off the battlefield and move on with our lives.

Dow Chemical Company’s decision to power its Freeport, TX facility (the largest integrated chemical manufacturing complex in the Western Hemisphere) with wind energy represents some extremely important signals to the world about the validity of renewable energy: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Turimiquire Foundation: A Beacon of Light in a World of GloomI thought I’d reproduce here a part of the Thank You letter I receive for my annual contribution to the Turimiquire Foundation, a non-profit whose purpose is to improve the quality of life for the poorest of the poor in a remote part of Northeastern Venezuela.  These folks have made a huge difference in the lives of tens of thousands of families, and, in my mind are noteworthy for two main reasons: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Top Investment StrategiesI normally keep my investment strategies to myself, but I was thinking about this just now, and I thought I’d mention some things that make me salivate in terms of opportunities:

First, here’s what I decline to buy:

Won’t buy on moral grounds: anything that includes war machines, fast-food, fossil fuels, tobacco, and corporate news (the six corporations that control over 90% of what you and I take for “news”).  What about alcohol?  The notion of hypocrisy enters here.  I drink a moderate amount of wine in the evenings during the week, and a martini or two on the weekends; I’m certainly not casting stones here. (more…)

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