I’m here at the Intersolar show with Auburn University professor emeritus Norbert Lechner who has just given me an unbelievable talk on heliodons, i.e., instructional devices used to teach people about the path of the Sun overhead during the different times of the year. You’ll also want to check out his book: “Heating, Cooling and Lighting — Sustainable Design Methods for Architects,” now in its fourth edition.
Several times over the past few days I was pleasantly surprised when callers asked me if I was going to the Intersolar show in San Francisco. Man, how it’s grown over the years.
I opt to drive, rather than fly; it’s about four hours by car (in my 43 MPG VW Jetta TDI).
Grab a cup of Joe and …. I’m outta here! Hope to see lots of 2GE readers up there.
I was hoping that I could ask you a favor. As the editor of 2GreenEnergy, I’m constantly looking for new business models and strategies, and, like anyone, I focus on areas that seem to be good fits for my capabilities.
Sure, there are aspects of the clean energy industry that yield great success for people in endeavors like selling rooftop solar PV, renting e-bikes, designing LEED-certified buildings, etc. But personally, I have no particular skills that would distinguish me in any of these arenas. (more…)
86 years ago today the first loaf of sliced bread was sold. Yet, according to the Writer’s Almanac, even this marvel, which famously took the world by storm, had a rough start in terms of consumer acceptance.
Perhaps we’re seeing the same phenomenon at work with clean energy. We’re looking at a subject that offers several important and independent benefits, while featuring a cost reduction curve that will soon cause it to overwhelm its competition in the form of fossil fuels. Yet, for this brief ribbon of time, it seems to be having issues gaining customer recognition.
Soon, the world will gasp as one: holy cow. This stuff doesn’t ruin the environment, and it’s actually affordable. It’s the best thing since….you know what.
I believe that the world population is gradually making progress in the direction of peace and sustainability. Huge volumes of resources are coming from literally millions of different sources to address our most pressing problems. There are now more than 200,000 groups worldwide whose missions are social and environmental justice. In the end, I feel that sanity will prevail here.
But it’s hard to be confident, given the level of sheer nuttiness that is all around us, and, amazingly, seems more pronounced than it was 30 years ago. (more…)
I know that at least a few hundred readers (I wish it were more) have checked out 2GreenEnergy’s recent video series in which I interviewed author John Perlin on camera regarding his incredible book: Let It Shine – The 6000 Year Story of Solar Energy. John, a scholar in residence at the University of California at Santa Barbara, taught me a ton–on a subject that I thought I understood fairly well.
I had merely glanced through the book prior to the interviews, because, not to sound cynical, most of the expository writing I come across in the field of renewable energy isn’t all that good. I was positively blown away when I decided, on a whim, to read it cover to cover.
Let It Shine is amazing; the content is fascinating, and the presentation may be even better. Readers should eagerly anticipate brilliant, flowing, and completely lucid writing. No wonder folks like Amory Lovins and Lester Brown have written such glowing reports.
Yesterday was the anniversary of the date on which Isaac Newton published The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy in 1687, his paper that laid out a set of discoveries that rank among the most important in the history of humankind: the laws of motion. Not only did we have, for the first time, an understanding of mechanics and the role that mathematics plays in the subject, but we had come face-to-face with an entire series of jaw-dropping philosophical and theological implications. (more…)
I’m happy to announce that I’ve been able to schedule a number of important meetings during my trip to the Intersolar show in San Francisco this week. Having said that, I have plenty of time slots remaining, if anyone wants to sit down for a chat on the clean energy scene.
If it’s easiest to meet after hours, perhaps a beer or two would be in order; the “City By The Bay” is home to one or two watering holes, or so I’m told, and they tend to be urbane, to say the least. Check out the left side of the sign pictured above, and note that the building that houses “John’s” is also home to the headquarters of the Dashiell Hammett Society. That’s a level of sophistication that would be hard to find here in Santa Ynez.
I’m happy to report that the waste-to-energy project I’m trying to engineer that will bring electrification to rural schools in Panama now looks fairly close to fruition, now that I have—not one or two—but four separate cleantech investment entities interested and, in a way, competing against one another to do the deal.
As we’ve all seen in sales, a sense of urgency is a powerful motivating force. We may be looking at real estate, for instance, and perhaps we have a mild interest in a certain property. Then along comes another potential buyer. Instantly our level of reach and demand for the deal goes up, and we become terrified of losing this “dream” property to someone else.
I believe that’s what’s happening here, and that the investment will be sealed up tight in the next week or two. We’ll see.
It’s Independence Day here in the United States—a good time to celebrate the marvels that this country represents, in particular, rule of law, and a meaningful constitution that generally protects the liberties of its individual citizens. The 4th of July is also a great opportunity to understand where the U.S. needs to go in order to make sure that these liberties extend to all people, and that they are not eroded over time. To that end, here are four suggestions: (more…)
