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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The Humble Paper Cup In 2015 And Its Environmental ImpactAs environmental issues become more of a concern as every year passes, it galvanises people to pursue products that are perceived green. People are much more motivated to use products from renewable resources.

It is now fashionable to drink your favourite beverage out of a paper cup labelled as eco-friendly, but what does a label like this really mean and what are the implications once the drink has been consumed? (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Like All Aspects of Long-Term Environmental Damage, The Cost Ocean Acidification Is Hard To Nail DownSince the Industrial Revolution, the pH of the oceans has declined from 8.2 to 8.1, largely due to the absorption of CO2 and the formation of carbonic acid.

What’s a lousy 0.1 in the scheme of things?

pH is logarithmic, like the Richter scale. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Understanding the Ties Between Corporate Funding the Findings of Climate ScientistsI doubt we’ll even know the entire truth behind money’s influence on climate change research.  Here’s an article in the New York Times that discredits one of the few remaining climate deniers who had any real academic qualifications.

From the article: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Five Eco-Friendly Technologies You Need in Your LifePeople around the world are becoming more conscious of our effect on the environment than ever before. Technology has changed the world in many ways and has made a lot of things easier for us. It was only natural that sooner or later some technology would develop enough to aid us in saving the environment.

There are a lot of simple applications and technologies that can help us become more eco-friendly simply by reducing your material and energy consumption. If you have decided to adopt a greener lifestyle this year, here’s a few ways that can help you do just that. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

Green Building Trends in Australian ArchitectureRegardless of all the marvels man has achieved in the past, it is the sad fact that we as a species most often blindly follow the mainstream in any art and cultural form, frowning on all those who think differently. This is why someone observing modern global architecture would conclude that there are only three construction materials used in modern architecture. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Synthetic Fuel

Capturing Carbon in Useful ProductsA very bright reader “BreathOnTheWind” (love the name!) comments on my post on carbon sequestration:

Somewhere deep in the core of my being I feel that the answer for carbon must be to find a use for it. If carbon becomes a useful consumer and/or industrial product then dumping it in the atmosphere would be to ignore a revenue stream. I am seeing some possibilities for this. Batteries and other materials are being made with the newly created material graphene. This is a pure form of carbon. Also there are recent articles that suggest carbon fiber could become a very important manufacturing material for automobiles. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

When It’s Climbing a Mountain or Installing Solar PV, We All Accomplish A Great DealAs a result of attending my college class’s 35th reunion in 2012, I somehow was appointed “class secretary.” This means that I’m about half way through a five-year term in which, every three months, I gather, edit, and aggregate notes from anyone wishing to tell the world about his/her exploits since our graduation in 1977.

I see a lot of updates from the successful software entrepreneurs and the expats living on the lush grassy sheep farms in verdant New Zealand, pictures of people on top of Kilimanjaro (pictured) or sailing across the North Atlantic, and notes from people whose daughters are studying in Barcelona or Heidelberg.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

Sadly, Energy Efficiency Products Lack Sex Appeal

A friend of mine is disappointed in the level of demand he’s receiving for the energy efficiency products he represents to commercial customers: heat-exchangers, solar thermal heating, etc. He writes:

I hit up energy efficiency people in the hotel/motel industry all the time. Nothing. Just astonishing. Places like that could save a fortune. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Energy and Transportation in the 21st CenturyA reader notes: The auto and oil industries created our mobility. Wasn’t that good? It worked, didn’t it? 

It’s not that simple.  Or maybe I could say that it depends on how you define “worked.”

Observers of the energy and transportation industries should object to the wars, the covert disestablishment of much of our public transportation, (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Big Oil and Renewable EnergyIn response to my post Replacing Every Watt of Earth’s Power Consumption with Renewable Energy, frequent commenter Roger Priddle writes:

It seems to me that conserving energy is going to be like wearing seatbelts – at first, obvious as prices rise and alternatives become more accessible and “easy,” then mandated. The first adopters will be those who like the “cool” factor – my lights stay on when a winter storm takes down the wires in my neighborhood. (more…)

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