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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Green living has many benefits both for human beings and for nature. Many people today are turning to green living. There are people that want to stick to eco-friendly way of life but don’t know what exactly they should do. If you are such a person, we suggest you take a look at our tips and suggestions for an economical, fun and easy start of green living. Following these simple steps will ensure a simpler lifestyle that won’t be harming the nature or your wallet. So take advantage of our advice. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Summarizing my position on the Keystone XL  pipeline, energy policy, and job growth: instead of investing in what “Story of Stuff” founder Annie Leonard (pictured) refers to as the “dinosaur economy” of the 20th Century, I would aggressively phase into what really needs to be done: energy efficiency and renewable energy.  The impressive number of permanent and high-paying jobs associated with this transition has been well documented. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Synthetic Fuel

It’s good to see progress being made in biofuels, in particular, feedstock that grows well in the desert, irrigated with salt water.  According to this article, Boeing and research partners in the United Arab Emirates have made some considerable breakthroughs here. 

But it’s hard to imagine how this can be cost-effective, even at scale, given the extremely low efficiency with which plants convert radiant energy from the sun to excess chemical energy, available for us to consume.  Plants evolved to maximize their own survival, not so we could harvest them and use large amounts of extra energy to fly our jets.  It is for this reason that I support efforts like WindFuels, which use large amounts of off-peak energy and point sources of CO2 to synthesize carbon-neutral gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Many people speculate on the future of humankind.  Will we develop technology in time to avert the disasters we’re causing to our environment?  Do we possess the decency and sanity necessary to channel all this technology in a productive direction, or will the stupid, the evil, and the corrupt use it to destroy our civilization?  All of these are unanswerable at this point; all that we, as people of good will can do is to try our best.

What is certain, however, is that the development of technology began in earnest about 400 years ago and hasn’t (and won’t) let up.  I mention this only to celebrate the birthday of Sir Francis Bacon (1561), who, according to the Writers Almanac: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

It appears that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will significantly delay the formal publication of climate-change rules for power plants — rules that could force some coal plants to close. Whether it’s an attempt on the part of Democrats to get past the 2014 elections, or whether it’s rooted in the Republicans friendly relationship with Big Energy, no one seems to know.  Either way, as my colleague Jesse Berst of SmartGridNews reports, “It seems that coal plants will have a reprieve in 2014.”

Unfortunately, this type of behavior is to be expected; there is no reason to think that Washington has the least interest in serving the will of the people, who, according to this report from US News, overwhelming support a rapid migration away from fossil fuels in the direction of renewable energy.

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Earlier today, a friend from the U.K sent me a business plan on a bold new idea in sustainability.  It’s a clever attempt to use the strengths of media in our pop culture to forward a unified voice from “We the People” to the effect that we’re all concerned about the fate of humankind, and that we need to come together to develop and implement solutions to the challenges that stand in the way of a viable future.   (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

One of the biggest arguments anti-electric vehicle protesters make is the fact that many batteries only allow you to travel 300 miles on a single charge. For many, 300 miles may not seem like a very long distance. However, it may be much longer than you may think. The entire aspect of the distance is nothing more than a desperate attempt to argue against electric vehicles for no other reason than to argue. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

When I received this from my colleague Fritz Maffrey, it occurred to me that others might be interested in it too.

Well a milestone has been reached, Nissan has now globally sold over 100k units of the Nissan Leaf (pictured).  That is a profound proof statement; as I write this I note that outside a Nissan Leaf is charging. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

It never ceases to amaze me how 2Greenenergy’s relatively tiny Internet presence has reconnected me with old friends I haven’t seen in 40 years.  Bruce Wilson, whom I met in the sandbox in kindergarten in 1960, reconnected with me fairly recently, based on something I wrote that referred to our old school (William Penn Charter).   Fast-forward to 2014:  Bruce has 37 years’ experience in renovation, restoration, energy efficient construction and retrofitting, and he specializes in high performance green building and building performance upgrades, as well as deep energy retrofits and lighting improvements. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Here’s an interesting piece a friend sent me on gaining people’s trust, a key ingredient in which is letting people express themselves, and accepting what they say about themselves and their ideas without judgment. 

Unfortunately, that doesn’t work too well in some of the situations I face here at 2GreenEnergy, where half a dozen or so people per week send me some sort of clean energy concept to review, most of which don’t hold water.  I suppose I could be non-committal in cases like these, or even encouraging, but I can’t bring myself to do that, even at the expense of driving a few angry “unsubscribes” to the website.

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