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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

Concentrated Solar Power – Will It Have Its Day?Anyone who has written off CSP as a technology whose level cost of energy is doomed to remain hopelessly cost-ineffective needs to know that the Saudis are installing this stuff at a record-setting pace.

Why wouldn’t a country sitting on the world’s biggest oil reserve simply keep drilling?  It’s because the more renewable energy they consume at a reasonable cost, the more oil they can sell at a profit.

The Saudis find CSP to be cost-effective, or they wouldn’t be doing it.  And needless to say, they’re not prone to make silly mistakes in financial mathematics.  (Shown above:  Prince Alwaleed bin Talal seated on his wide-body jet, shortly after announcing that he was suing Forbes Magazine for underestimating ($20 billion) his $29 billion net worth.) 

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

Hydrokinetics Can't Avoid Biofouling IssuesRegarding a recent post on the validity of ocean wave energy, my friend, top-level author Tom Blakeslee (pictured here; see ClearLight Press) writes:  Look at the underside of boats and docks…filled with barnacles and growth. Maintenance could be a nightmare. Any proposal should be carefully evaluated from this point of view.

No question about that. Anytime you insert anything into a river or an ocean you have issues with both environmental interference and, to your point, survivability—in this case, biofouling. As anyone can imagine, salt water (vs. fresh water) only amplifies all this. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Our Sensibilities Are Changing at Incredible SpeedFor those who think that human attitudes and glaciers move at the same pace, check out this gag set of Christmas cards from Ayn Rand.  Yes, you’ll chuckle, but remember that it was only 50 years ago that many intellectuals thought she was the leading thinker of the day, and that the phrase “objectivist epistemology” had some sort of meaning in the English language.  Five decades later we’re scratching our heads, wondering how it’s possible that anyone with the sense of a hamster ever had that notion.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Is Humankind "Wired" to Survive the Onslaught of Environmental Catastrophe?Do you tend to wonder if our civilization is becoming more “civilized?”  I do.

We’d all like to believe that humankind is making progress, meaning, among other things, that an increasing percentage of our species is accorded what we would generally consider to be “basic human rights.”  It’s easy to believe this is true, based on a few major aspects of our history.

(more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Ocean Thermal

Financing of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) ProjectsA reader offers this comment on my belief that ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) can represent a cost-effective way to deliver clean energy to the equatorial regions of the world.  He writes:  (OTEC) will require an investor with deep pockets as the initial investment is quite large.

Interestingly enough, that’s not true. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

The Disappearance of Low-Speed Electric VehiclesIn response to my piece on the lack-luster adoption curve for electric vehicles, a commenter who’s been with us for over five years writes:  Not all of us, perhaps, but if someone could build something that was electric instead of gas, with a top speed of 50mph and a range of 50 miles (for example), I could drive it to work, charge it with solar panels during the day, and drive home.  A tiny basic vehicle – enough lights and brakes to make it safe, big enough to hold two uncomfortably – just “transportation.”

There are (at least “were”) dozens of attempts at LSEVs (low-speed electric vehicles) and MSEVs.  They failed (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Eestor Re-Announces Capacitor Breakthrough:  ZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzA colleague writes:  It looks like Eestor is finally coming out. They activated their website after all these years.  They got some validation by outside testing. Let me know what you think.

I hate to sound cynical, but (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Do We Charge Our Electric Vehicles with Coal or Solar?A colleague from Northern California read my recent post on electric vehicles in which I wrote: The fact that, at this point, EVs are almost always charged by burning more coal, rendering their environmental benefit dubious at best.

He comments:  How can you say that, Craig?  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Fits and Starts in Electric TransportationThe electric vehicle industry is slogging along with lack-luster consumer demand.  At issue are a) the inconvenience of having to plan one’s trips more carefully and limiting their length, given the slow growth of fast-charging stations, b) the fact that, at this point, EVs are almost always charged by burning more coal, rendering their environmental benefit dubious at best, c) the improvement in the eco-friendliness of some petroleum-driven cars, and d) the short-term drop in the prices of gasoline and diesel.

On top of that, check out the problem a reader reports below.  Fortunately, it’s one that very few EV owners will experience, but that doesn’t make this guy’s story any less painful: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

Ocean Wave Energy

An investor wrote me yesterday about his interest in pursuing a joint venture with a company in ocean wave energy. Like so many others hoping to experience the upside potential of renewable energy and looking to escape the “great recession” a few years ago, he had come out of commercial real estate and begun applying his financial acumen to the budding clean energy industry. (more…)

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