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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

What is a society? Is it merely an assortment of separated and competing drives of short-term self-interest, and rights of possession? Is it an orchestra of individuals cooperating to achieve the enlargement and preservation of the Common Good?

Anthropologists tell us that in the dawn of our history, our species consisted of small bands of hunter-gatherers surviving by predation and forage. Even for these small bands to sustain life by that crude approach, it was essential that they share resources and the fruits of their labor and talent.

From our beginnings, sharing has been a basic aspect of even the simplest of human kinships. Over thousands of years, we slowly transformed our strategy with agrarian techniques that expanded upon that sharing. This wiser strategy granted humanity a stability and permanence of settlement that advanced through African and Semitic cultures and flowered in the European Renaissance, when something like the scientific method began to aid in the decisions we humans make. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Concerning Poland’s 24 billion euro investment in the energy sector, the country’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters: “These investments have a strategic dimension; today, energy is the key to politics.”

What a candid remark – one you’d hardly hear from a senior level of the U.S. government.  And how tragically and shamefully true it is. 

If you’re looking for the cause of lack of interest in clean energy, I’m not sure you need to go too much further.  That’s where groups like ACORE (The American Council on Renewable Energy) come in.  The real mission here is to establish clean energy as an industry, rather than an interest group, an advocation, or whatever.  Only when there is political might behind renewables will we begin to see its emergence into the mainstream. 

 

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Nuclear

Looks like the Obama Administration wasn’t kidding about an “all-of-the-above strategy,” i.e., the deployment of every available source of energy; the U.S. DoE announced the implementation of small modular reactors (SMRs). For me to see value here, in addition to being convinced of safety issues, I’d have to see a compelling cost per Watt, which I don’t. 

 

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I wrote a piece yesterday about the struggles of Project Better Place, the attempt to sell large populations of car drivers on the concept of adopting electric vehicles, and paying a certain price per mile driven, using leased batteries that, when discharged, are swapped out for fresh ones.

The entire concept has never appealed to me, frankly, except under ideal logistical, economical, and political conditions, e.g., Israel.  OK, you’re a small country that desperately wants to disallow another ounce of gasoline within your borders?  All right, I get that.  But most of the places that Better Place wishes to sell its solution boast far from these optimal conditions. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

According to the DECC (Department for Energy and Climate Change) the UK is committed to reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050. This emissions target, outlined in the Climate Change Act 2008, is legally binding. But judging from the behaviour of the British Government you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise. David Cameron’s pledge to lead ‘the greenest government ever’ is in stark contrast to the recent Government cuts to renewable energy subsidies. Coupled with the Chancellor’s rhetoric which blatantly undermines green issues, and Tory Kowtowing to back bencher ‘Nimbies’ intent on disrupting the necessary growth of on shore wind power, Government intentions appear anything but green. The British public are losing faith too: according to a recent poll by Green Peace, only one in fifty members of the British public believe in Cameron’s pledge. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday of the year.  It’s pretty much non-commercial, and it celebrates some of the basic virtues we find in all of us, e.g., the capacity for kindness and appreciation, while providing an opportunity to acknowledge the love and support that others have brought to us.  

At 2GreenEnergy, I traditionally take this moment to thank the hundreds of contributors to the blog and to my books, the thousands of commenters and signers of our petitions, and the hundreds of thousands of readers who have helped make us what we are today.  I’m also grateful to the businesspeople – both the clean energy investors and the entrepreneurs — who work so steadfastly, often against great odds, to move renewable energy into the mainstream.  I’m confident that your efforts will be rewarded. 

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I was never a fan of the electric vehicle battery-swap concept “Project Better Place” for countries like the United States, with a sprawling landmass of 3.5 million square miles — in the “Lower 48” alone. But I’m surprised (and saddened, really) to learn that this isn’t catching on in Israel, a country that is understandably trying hard to rid itself of gasoline, and with a landmass  that is conducive to the solution.  Apparently, only 490 subscriptions to the service have been sold thus far in Israel, which has put  Better Place on the ropes financially.

According to the article linked above, the issue is our old friend, the consumer value proposition.  When you do the math (a subject in which Israelis traditionally excel, btw) buying an EV sans battery and signing up for a plan providing you with a certain number of miles per year doesn’t save you any money over gasoline. Many Israelis are saying they don’t want to be the sucker, the “freier,” as they say in Hebrew.  

I sympathize with this sentiment.  A car is a huge investment, and no one wants to purchase something that just never went anywhere.  There is a significant Catch-22 at stake here with consumer perception, where he/she says to the auto industry: “Make EVs a success; make them inexpensive and I’ll buy one.”  The automaker says, “Buy them, and they’ll BE a success.  Then we’ll make more — and the price will come down.”   

I’m surprised that the government doesn’t use a subsidy to make this hugely attractive, as Israel has an even greater imperative to stop buying gas from people who don’t like them than we do here in the U.S.  And if they’re looking for a place from which to draw the funds for the subsidy, perhaps they could consider the military budget, which is the size of all outdoors.

I’m rooting for Better Place to succeed there, and in other small countries where the logistics make sense.

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Those following the controversy around fracking may be interested in this piece, detailing a key decision at SUNY Buffalo.  Until yesterday, the Shale Resources and Society Institute (SRSI) was a part of the university, though many people made accusations to the effect that SRSI was a public relations front for the oil and gas industry to promote fracking under the guise of the scientific legitimacy that a university offers.

A letter from SUNY Buffalo President Satish K. Tripathi, who closed SRSI on Monday, said that the nail in the coffin was what some had called its “shill gas study,” the first paper the group published. All of the co-authors of this paper had direct ties to the oil and gas industry, as did four out of five of its peer reviewers.

Here’s a reminder that it’s never too late to stand up and do the right thing.  Good going, Dr. Tripathi. 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

When the Japanese began to contemplate the consequences of Fukushima, it became instantly clear that renewable energy would play an important role in their future.  And, as outlined in this article, Japan is running hard in this direction, simultaneously replacing 80 million electric meters with smart grid electronics, via their partnership with Washington State-based Itron.

Japan has shown the world how focused they can be, and how aggressively they can rise to prominence in industries like automotive and high-tech.  When they say they are shooting for 30% renewables by 2030, I’m certainly not betting against them. 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Here’s a long and quite scholarly article a reader sent me from the Heritage Foundation, an ultra-conservative think-tank whose principal spokesperson appears to be Rush Limbaugh.  (I’m not sure that’s a good choice if they wish to be taken seriously by an intellectual audience, but they evidently don’t see it that way.)

While I disagree with the author’s conclusions, I thought I’d link to the piece insofar as it provides a breakdown of spending within the U.S. Department of Energy that I thought readers would find valuable; I certainly did.

Obviously, the author is entitled to his opinion that the DoE should not be investing in new energy technologies.  But he needs to consider that this is more than an ideological issue; it’s also a practical matter.  Such spending is absolutely required if the U.S. is to compete in the energy industry in the 21st Century, and join the rest of the world in going beyond its dependence on fossil fuels.  Having said that, if our country is content to fade into irrelevance in order to make the oil-rich even richer, he’s offering the perfect recipe.

You should know that The Heritage Foundation is funded by ExxonMobil, Chevron and the Koch Brothers, so you’ll need to come to your own conclusions.  Mine: their opinions on the subject aren’t too surprising.

 

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