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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

One Million Words on Renewable Energy—That’s a Lot of Blah, Blah, Blah in Anyone’s Book

According to my calculations, I just passed the one million word milestone in terms of blog posts here.  The books add another 400K or so.  I’m reminded of the great Gary Larson and his famous installment of “The Far Side,” shown here.

Seriously, I’m happy to have stimulated what I believe has been some very productive conversation—and action—in terms of fostering the rapid migration to renewable energy.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Asking U.S. Speaker of the House John Boehner to Act on Climate ChangeHere’s a petition to ask (U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives, right-wing climate science denier) John Boehner to: “Act on Climate Change!” I often sign things like this, but this one’s a bit like asking Hitler to support the Anti-Defamation League; it’s not going to happen.

As I wrote back in 2010: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

How Dangerous is Fracking? -- Further DiscussionIn response to my piece: How Dangerous is Fracking? my friend and colleague Glenn Doty makes some excellent points:

The question is not “is fracking safe”. The question is: “given what we know, how likely is it that fracking would cause more net trouble to society than not fracking”? The answer to that is: 0%. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

U.S. Federal Government Offers Comprehensive Annual Energy Data and Sustainability PerformanceHere’s something new for you fans of statistics: Through the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP), the U.S. Department of Energy provides a “Comprehensive Annual Energy Data and Sustainability Performance including FY 2013 reported findings.”

According to the site, it: …offers complete annual data sets of agency aggregated annual energy and water consumption and costs by end-use sector, efficiency investment information, and progress toward key goals outlined in the National Energy Conservation Policy Act. 

This is actually a very good thing.  If you can’t (or don’t) measure something, it’s hard to improve on it.

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

How Dangerous is Fracking?Sorry for the bait and switch, but I don’t know; no one does.  In fact, I hope to live long enough to be here when we learn the truth.  In particular, what is the result of squirting hundreds of billions of gallons of water and sand that contain a mixture (that the oil/gas companies refuse to disclose) of toxic, carcinogenic chemicals into the Earth each year? (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Ocean Thermal

“Hedge Connection” Covers Ocean Thermal Energy ConversionThe people at the Hedge Connection in New York City have asked me to make a monthly contribution to their newsletter “The Edge” (a clever name, IMO).

Here’s this month’s installment, in which I write about Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation (OTE), the leader in OTEC.  By way of disclosure, I own stock in the company; it’s traded on a small exchange in Europe called the GXG, and the executive team plans to uplist it to the NASDAQ soon.

In short, I like OTE because a long list of governments and large private sector entities in the tropics have expressed keen interest in the technology, and the company is in a unique position to scale in order to meet this surge of demand.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Religion Embracing the Challenge of Climate DisruptionI make very few comments on the subject of religion here, but I sure am pleased to see here that this coming Sunday in New York City, September 21, the Interfaith Contingent  will be among more than 1,000 organizations participating in the People’s Climate March, demanding progressive action at the United Nations Climate Summit that is scheduled to commence the following day.

It’s great to see that the religious community is acknowledging the challenge of climate disruption; the National Catholic Reporter proclaimed the “number one pro-life issue” of our time.  Valla con Dios.

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Understanding the Difference Between Energy and Power: Critically Important in Clean Energy DiscussionsIf I had to identify a single pet peeve of mine, I might say that it’s people in the energy industry who don’t know the difference between power and energy.  Power is the rate at which energy is generated or consumed, or more accurately, is changed from one form into another.   (more…)

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Nuclear

To my chagrin as well as my astonishment, the advanced nuclear people I’ve been hanging around with recently love to bash the supporters of solar and wind. Are they hired hit-men for the nuclear industry? I don’t think so; lots of them have PhDs, and I’m convinced that there is no real money-motivation here. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Seattle Tops List of Sustainable CitiesHere’s an article that lays out exactly why Seattle is named as the most sustainable city in the U.S.   There are numerous ingredients that go into this calculation, but among them, of course, are energy and transportation.  From the article: “Seattle is one of only five cities in the nation where less than half of commuters are driving alone to work. Since 2011, Seattle has seen a 59% increase in bicycling and a 27% increase in pedestrian traffic.” (more…)

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