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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Here’s an article the theme of which I’ve seen before, called behavioral economics.  In essence, people’s reaction to a certain subject, and their buying behavior, is to a huge degree a function of the words used to describe it.

I’m reminded of a discussion I had with economics professor Jason Scorse, Associate Professor and Chair of the International Environmental Policy Program at The Monterey Institute of International Studies, who helped me to understand the subject in preparation for my book “Is Renewable Really Doable?”

One of the key discoveries of (Nobel prize-winning behavioral psychologists) Kahneman and Tversky was this thing called “loss aversion,” meaning that the impact of losing something is much more impactful and has greater magnitude than the benefit of gaining something. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Friday afternoon I attended the holiday luncheon of the Maverick Angels, an investor club local to me here in Southern California.  I really like these people; they’re sharp, articulate, and they move swiftly when they like what they see.

In addition to their for-profit activities, in which they’ve enjoyed fantastic success, they generously support certain charities.  I heard a brief presentation from an older fellow with a kindly smile, a PhD in electronic engineering, long since retired.  He now serves as a consultant to non-profit organizations, including this one that deserves your attention: El Nido — a group that does one heck of a good job at keeping high-risk kids out of trouble.

Btw, what would you guess to be the average cost to society (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Yesterday was the birthday of Nero, the Roman emperor who is said to have fiddled while the city burned in 64 CE.  It’s not clear whether the fire was a case of arson, or just an accident, which wasn’t unusual in the day.

In any case, whenever I come across a reference to “fiddling while Rome burns,” I’m compelled to think of the parallels to our civilization today, and how we as a society are so strangely uninterested in and disconnected from the dangers we face in terms of wrecking our home planet.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

Linked here is a prototype Green Home just done this year in California (of course). (Note: Clicking the link downloads the file.)  It has 3 bedrooms / 3 baths, is 1,700 sq. ft. and targeted to sell for $ 300,000.00. Backers of the demonstration project say that the Craftsman-style house just finished at the Orange County Great Park can be reproduced for just $85 to $125 per square foot — equivalent to what most tract homes cost to build today.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I had a terrific time introducing myself to a room full of investors yesterday at the Maverick Angels’ Christmas party.  I really like these people: bright, articulate, successful, and altruistic.  I got some really good engagement from half a dozen or so on our summary of cleantech business opportunities, including a few very positive email discussions and a meeting set up for next week.  These angels are not exclusively into sustainability, but there’s a sufficient level of interest to make the group of great value.   More soon.

 

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Like me, you are inundated with requests for financial support.  We write annual checks to our old schools out of a sense of loyalty, and profound gratitude for what we took away.  But beyond that, where does smart philanthropy go?

Obviously, we try to give where it makes the most difference.  And to that end, here are two good candidates you may want to consider:

Amazon Watch.  The Amazon rainforest is the source of 1/5th of the total oxygen and fresh water on the entire planet, yet we’re hacking and burning it down at the rate of 1.5 acres per second.  The folks at Amazon Watch have both the raw guts to tackle the problem, and the teeth to get things done; they use the international legal system to halt the devastation of this region, on which all seven billion of us depend, whether we know it or not.  I hope you’ll check out the video linked above; I found it truly inspirational.

Turimiquire Foundation.  This is perhaps the best example of a group whose work symbolizes efficiency, as more than 93 cents of every dollar you donate goes directly to addressing real-world issues.  Their efforts also get at the very root of a key source of human misery on this planet:  a skyrocketing population of desperately poor, uneducated, and malnourished people, who themselves bring into the world many times more children on a per capita basis than those in the developed world.  For three decades, Turimiquire has proven its effectiveness in breaking the cycle of poverty, largely with education and family planning.

As you contemplate your gift list this holiday season, I hope you’ll consider a donation to one or both of these fine institutions.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Apparently, the city of Indianapolis is in the process of changing out its entire fleet of non-police cars and trucks with electric vehicles.  I hope this comes amidst an entire rethinking of the way the city addresses the issue of transportation, or has an aggressive plan to install renewable energy for EV charging, as simply replacing gasoline with electricity is not the boon to the environment that some people think it is – especially in Indiana, a state in which a mere 93.1% of electricity comes from burning coal.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

2GreenEnergy supporter Don Harmon of LiFeBATT, Inc.  just sent me this article about the piece that came out of the University of Delaware recently, presenting the possibility of a complete migration to renewable energy by 2030.  The discussion that follows is interesting, i.e., the conversation between the supporters and nay-sayers.

A few observations: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

When Hive Lighting did its presentation at this year’s Clean Business Investment Summit, I remember thinking, “Wow, this is really good.  A true breakthrough in lighting for film-making and still photography that combines advantages in quality, cost, and energy efficiency.”  For some reason, these guys fell off my radar screen, but they’re back in a big way.  I’m going to see if I can help them tell their story to their base of prospective customers and industry influencers. 

The video linked above is a bit technical, but still quite understandable. 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

In the United States, transmission and distribution losses accounted for 260 teraWatt-hours (billion kWhs) of energy last year.  Here’s a report in which Duke Energy, Silver Spring Networks and Power Analytics share their strategies for cutting these distribution losses, thus improving efficiency while improving grid reliability. 

The annual Smart Grid Distribution Automation conference is in Raleigh, NC next February.  If this were local, I’d probably check it out, but it’s too specialized to warrant making a trip out of town.

 

 

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