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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Movies such as Oblivion, Elysium, and After Earth show a post-apocalyptic Earth where people are trying to survive the harsh environment. In these movies, man is shown to possess advance smart technologies. These are computers which can think like humans, houses that intimately know its owners and vehicles with built-in safety mechanisms.

However, despite these technologies, man lost the essence of progress by destroying his only home. In today’s environmental state, are you and your children headed to the same thing? As technology progresses, what are its effects to the planet? (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Here’s an article on the per-mile cost of driving the (plug-in hybrid or “range-extended” hybrid) Chevy Volt, written by a Volt owner who, apparently, keeps track assiduously.  Because his daily commute to work is inside the battery-only range and he can charge at work, he averages 382 MPG – more than four times the EPA estimated 93.  (This is an example of something I’ve often mentioned, i.e., that mileage estimates for plug-in vehicles have no meaning whatsoever.)  And, because he charges at home in the middle of the night and gets incredibly preferential electric rates for doing so, his fuel costs are $0.03/mile – pretty enviable.  

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Geothermal

Here’s a very interesting article/video on a twist on CCS (Carbon Capture and Sequestration) called “CCUS” (Carbon Capture Utilization and Sequestration), pointing out that once CO2 is captured, say, from a coal-fired power plant, it can be used to enhance the production of geothermal energy. 

While there is nothing physically impossible or scientifically invalid about this, it strikes me as extremely expensive and risky – and therefore unattractive from the standpoint of capital formation.  I’m glad I invested the time into checking this out, and I encourage readers to do the same, but I’ll be stunned if this ultimately represents a cost-effective approach to new clean energy.

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s a piece of good news: according to research giant Navigant, American consumers are beginning to look upon the concept of renewable energy more favorably. 

Here in the States, the whole clean energy industry took a terrible drubbing in the year leading up to the 2012 election.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

I ran across a very interesting group of folks in Brazil a few weeks ago.  Led by an extremely senior financial/energy professional I’ve come to respect deeply, the team has assembled a package of 13 “small” (1 – 30 mW) and “micro” (less than 1 mW) run-of-river hydrokinetics projects in Southeastern Brazil – in the heart of the country’s industrial and population centers — and its transmission grid.

If you’re an accredited investor, and you’d like to learn more about the project, just click here.  Then, if you’d like to get in touch with the principals, please let me know.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

A friend in Philadelphia sent me this newspaper article and blog post on the efforts of the oil and gas companies to put a pipeline through a very tranquil section of New Jersey’s forestland. Because this region has special meaning for him, he jokingly asked for my commiseration.

I wrote: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Apparently, Ford is offering its customers an opportunity to improve the range they experience with their new line of electric vehicles, by installing solar PV on the roof.  This is certainly not a unique concept; I recall a company about five years ago that was converting Toyota Priuses to EVs, and took this approach with PV.  

On a sunny day and under optimum driving conditions, I’m guessing drivers may get two or three extra kilowatt-hours, sufficient to drive another 10 – 15 miles.  Not too bad.  

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

Looking at my clean energy events schedule for 2014, I’ve decided to attend the Energy Ocean show in June, to be held in Atlantic City, NJ.  This should be a nice complement to a number of visits to clients, prospects, and industry pundits on the East Coast, as well as a walk down Memory Lane, as the South Jersey shore was home to hundreds of pleasant boyhood experiences.

The oceans hold several different types of energy that, in turn, holds the interest of scientists everywhere: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Smart Grid

Here’s another article on the megatrend by which our utilities are being transformed, due to the pressures of distributed generation (DG), integrating renewables, demand response/peak shaving, etc.  The net: some bright college kids predict that, by 2020, the utilities will have re-invented themselves as “energy concierges,” i.e., helping their customers make the right choices. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Not surprisingly, Google and Apple have all kinds of ideas regarding how smart phone technology will interact with the cars of the future; together they have literally hundreds of patents in this space.

Not to sound cavalier, but the only concepts in automotive engineering that really mean anything are those related to breaking the relationship with fossil fuels. (more…)