There is an ever-growing increase of waste materials being generated by human activity and habitation, which have commonly known hazardous effects on the local environment and human health — and they need to be addressed in a way that allows balance between the needs of society and the needs of nature around us. (more…)
Each month, I submit an article for publication in the “Hedge Connection,” a marketing platform for hedge funds and an information portal for investors, in which I extol the virtues of one of our renewable energy investment opportunities. Here’s this month’s submission, in which I review a collection of run-of-river hydro projects in Southern Brazil.
The message here is simple: If there is a way to waste energy and other environmental resources on frivolous junk, we’ll find it.
The product also has the virtue of flinging more rain on other people around the user. I’d like to see how this works in New York City, and how far the user would get before he was flattened by a fellow pedestrian.
As I wrote yesterday, a wholesale replacement of coal-fired power plants with natural gas has short-term appeal, but an unacceptable array of long-term unintended consequences, e.g., creating an environment in which the development of renewable energy isn’t financially attractive. The author of this piece agrees, and compares the idea to binge dieting, not a bad analogy.
If there’s anyone I respect in the biofuels industry, it’s Jim Lane, editor & publisher of Biofuels Digest, the most widely-read biofuels daily and newsletter. He knows that I’m not a huge believer, but we had a very detailed and completely collegial talk on the subject a few months ago.
Here he writes: (more…)
From the days in which I used to ply my trade as a marketing consultant to the Fortune 50 tech companies: IBM, H-P, Sony, Xerox, 3M, Microsoft, etc., I recall one particular client who rebuked “consultants” generally. Although he and his team hired me eventually, I remember his telling me when we first met: “A consultant is a guy who will read your watch and tell you what time it is.”
Here’s an article that borders on that, i.e., presenting the results of a study that tells us what we already know: cheap natural gas is not the bargain we think it is, insofar as it creates an environment in which true decarbonization: solar, wind, advanced nuclear, etc. are not competitive.
Verbs in Western languages have something called “voice”: active and passive.
“Bob hit the ball,” is in the active voice. Here we have a subject, the active verb “hit,” and an object. I could have written, “The ball was hit by Bob,” using “was hit” in the passive voice, though this would be a bit awkward, and for no real purpose. (more…)
Last evening, I had a couple of beers with one of my favorite clients, who happens to be involved in ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC), one of the cutting-edge renewable energy technologies. Insofar as OTEC delivers baseload (uninterrupted, 24/7) power, it has the opportunity to replace other forms of baseload (mainly diesel) as a source of energy for the more than one billion people who live near tropical oceans. (more…)
Recently, seems like most of us have understood the importance of living green or at least greener than we are used to. We’ve become environment-friendly (or at least we are trying to be), we’re more aware of everything surrounding us and we are collectively trying to contribute to saving our wonderful planet the best we can. Still, old habits die hard. Instead of adopting “green rules” in our offices too, we’ve somehow decided to stay true to the old pattern of spending our entire day in a dingy, stuffy office disrupted by noise, usually sweating or shivering because of constantly on air-conditioning. This leads to health failure in both people and the planet. (more…)
Light emitting diode (LEDs) are type of semi-conductor light sources that were initially used as indicators lamps in devices such as telephones, TVs and in seven segment displays such as calculators and elevators. As technology advanced, they started to be used as alternatives of fluorescent and incandescent lighting. Due to their many benefits, LED lighting gained popularity all over the world. In this article, we will look at some of the main environmental benefits which are associated with LED lighting. (more…)
