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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

Question:  Approximately how much manure is produced by the dairy cows and hogs in the U.S. every day? 

Answer: Can be found at Clean Energy Answers.

Relevance:  Improper management of lagoons and dry waste run-off, as well as lagoon overflow from rainfall events, contribute to regional water contamination. Agricultural run-off has been linked to dangerous pathogenic (disease causing) microorganisms such as (more…)

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The good news is that the U.S. wishes to play a major role in bringing electrical power to 50 million people in sub-Saharan Africa.  Apparently the reason is international relations on a grand scale; if we don’t do it, China will, and we don’t want to further empower the Chinese.   (Obviously, a better reason would be improving the quality of life for the poorest of the poor, reducing deforestation, and, via educating women, reducing the fertility rate and population growth.) 

Be this as it may, here’s the bad news:  the energy resources at stake here are not necessarily renewable.  If we wind up with another continent full of coal-fired power plants, the result in terms of the environment will be disastrous.

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

All savvy entrepreneurs know that when it comes to costs and expenses, it’s wise to keep a close eye on your outgoings. When you’re running a busy office, it’s easy to run up unnecessarily high energy bills, which can have a huge impact on your bottom line. Of course, doing your bit for the environment is also a concern, and as consumers are becoming more aware of their impact on the world around them, many are choosing to do business with those who take their responsibilities seriously. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

It’s the birthday of John Steinbeck, whose gut-wrenching mid-20th Century novels shot through the American consciousness like  jagged bolts of lightning.   Joining with folk singers of the day, e.g., Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie, Steinbeck awakened millions of Americans to a basic human fact that had somehow been forgotten (perhaps via the heady days of the 1920s): we have a basic responsibility to care for one another, and we’re actually at our best when we display that compassion.

I can’t expect he’d be too happy with where we’ve gone today in terms of income inequality, the fight to cut social security and food stamps, etc.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

I know I’ve mentioned that I’m in pursuit of a manufacturing partner in the Americas for my client PlexiSun, developer of an innovative approach to building-integrated solar thermal hot water heating.  By the term “building-integrated,” we mean that it doesn’t go on the roof, it is the roof.    (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

It seems that almost every day, there is news, most of it incredibly good, about what Tesla, driven by charismatic entrepreneur  Elon Musk, is up to.  Recently, the news is the “Gigafactory,” to be located somewhere in the U.S. southwest, in which the company plans to build huge volumes of low-cost batteries.

When I sold the ExxonMobil that my father bequeathed me, I considered buying stock (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

We love the concept of offshore wind: it’s out of sight, and it harvests huge wind resources that are  unobstructed by buildings, trees, and mountains.  The issue, obviously, is the price tag.  According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency (part of the Department of Energy), the projected LCOE (levelized cost of energy) for offshore wind in 2018 will be more than two and one-half times that of onshore.  

But here’s an extra benefit that needs to be priced into the equation: the capacity to reduce the severity of storms.  Extracting some of the kinetic energy on the periphery of hurricanes goes a long way to diminish the damage done by wind, and it also decreases the height and intensity of the ocean waves that batter the shoreline.  The article linked above provides some estimates in terms of reduced damages in the case of Katrina and Sandy that would have been experienced had there been significant deployment of offshore wind in advance of those storms, and it’s pretty impressive stuff.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

I’d like to thank our wonderful intern from France, Olivier Goavec, for this very interesting piece on the challenges associated with integrating large volumes of variable resources into the grid-mix.  I hope readers enjoy it. – ed

When the Kyoto protocol was signed in 1997 in an effort to slow the pace of global warming, many countries began to change their approach toward energy. For example, the EU adopted in 2008 an internal agreement to produce 21% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020. The region follows an economic policy to provide incentive to investors, by providing an attractive kWh feed-in tariffs.  Read Complete Article Here.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Nuclear

Nuclear energy is the world’s largest source of emission-free energy. Nuclear power plants don’t produce air pollutants, sulfur or greenhouse gases.

The United States has 65 commercially operating nuclear power plants with 104 nuclear reactors in 31 states around the country. 36 of the plants have two or more reactors. These plants have generated about 20% of U.S. electricity each year since 1990. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Recently, Science Daily published an article based on the research of scientists from the University of North Carolina and John Hopkins, outlining the results of adding renewable energy sources to the grid, and offering ideas on how to mitigate issues associate with this.

The developing renewable energy sources have a very high capital cost input, which in comparison with natural gas is hard to compete with. These renewable resources are abundant, and unlike natural gas will be available for many more years. (more…)

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