The Way To Get People Doing X Is Getting Scientists To Suggest Y
Frequent commenter and all-around cool guy Brian McGowan just sent me this post from EmmKay.
Wow, that says it all, doesn’t it?
Nice job to you both. (more…)
Bullish on Renewable Energy – Eleven Reasons Why Clean Energy Investors Can’t Lose
I spend a couple of hours every day working on my new book, whose working title is “Bullish on Renewable Energy – Eleven Reasons Why Clean Energy Investors Can’t Lose.” Would you like to help?
As the name suggests, it’s a project that enumerates all the reasons that the migration away from fossil fuels and nuclear is in the process of happening far faster than most people predict. Does that sound like an interesting effort? (more…)
Academic Initiative in Sustainability at UCSB
In October, I plan to spend two happy days down at the University of California at Santa Barbara for a symposium that is part of their ongoing “Academic Initiative in Sustainability,” called “Sustainable Materials and Product Design.”
Topics to be covered include: (more…)
The Rapid Migration to Renewable Energy Will Embarrass Lots of People – But They Won’t Be the First to Face Similar Humiliation
Here’s an amusing list of 25 actual predictions that were absolutely wrong. I hope you’ll take a few minutes and enjoy them.
My current book project is essentially a take-off on this subject. We’re told, largely by the vested interests desperately trying to maintain the status quo in the energy industry, that renewable energy is a fad, and that powering our Earth from the sun is a pipe-dream. The book will illustrate the folly of this concept, and explain why we’re experiencing the extremely rapid migration to clean energy, based purely on market economics.
Public Relations in the Energy Business Normally Means Someone’s Lying
When it comes to PR in the energy business, I must confess that I have a suspicious mind. For example, when I see a billboard like this one pictured here, I somehow believe that it must be some sort of logically spurious (not to mention tasteless, profoundly offensive, etc.) attempt on the part of the fossil fuel industry to convince us that their products have no harmful environmental consequences. And bulls-eye! It’s the work of the Heartland Institute, whose funding sources include Koch Industries. (more…)
Video on Grid Operation
Here’s a short video–a sort of primer on grid operation called “How the lights stay on.” And another more advanced one on the economics and logistics of grid operation. Their creator quips, “I made them simple enough that a congressman can understand them.” Ha!
Actually, they have a great deal to offer; I hope you’ll check them out.
Union of Concerned Scientists Offer Online Quiz on Environmental Science — Great Fun
Here’s something I think readers will enjoy; I know I did. It’s a five-question online quiz called “Got Science?” created by The Union of Concerned Scientists, in which you’ll be asked to choose between real science and the bullcrap being peddled as such. Good stuff.
Environmentalism Is a Newcomer to Human Civilization
It’s the birthday of Louis Leakey, a founding figure in modern anthropology. Per the Writer’s Almanac:
In 1948, Leakey and his wife found one of the earliest fossil ape skulls ever discovered; it was between 25 and 40 million years old. It is now believed to be the skull of the ancestor of all large primates, including humans. Then, in 1959, they turned up another hominid skull, which was 1.75 million years old. It was the oldest skull of a close human relative ever found at that point, and it helped persuade other anthropologists that Africa was indeed the place where human beings had evolved. (more…)
Quick Comments on Solar Energy and Algal Biofuels
A reader asked for my comments on this piece on Jinko Solar and this one on algae. Here’s my position on this:
1) Jinko is extremely well-positioned to expand further its already-existing mega-presence in solar. I ran into them at Intersolar a couple of weeks ago (they were pretty hard to miss), and I’m extremely impressed with what they’re doing.
2) By contrast, I’m not betting on algae.
How Does Big Oil Misinform Voters About Renewable Energy? Check Out This Cartoon
As I’ve mentioned in dozens of posts over the years, one of the issues at the core of most of our woes here in the U.S. are screwy interpretations of the First Amendment to our Constitution. Most famously, we have the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2010 decision “Citizens United,” which, under the guise of protecting free speech, grants corporations the right to spend as much money as they want to manipulate our elections in whatever direction suits their purpose.
In the energy sector, obviously, it means that the fossil fuel boys can (and do) spend as much as they want to confuse and misinform voters about renewable energy. Having said that, the self-same problem is replicated in big food, big pharma–pretty much anything with a “big” in front of it. That’s how they get bigger every day.
Now, along comes a cartoonist who illustrates all this insanity in a brilliant and hilarious fashion.
