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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Here’s a Business Week article whose point is that the relevance of our power utilities is disappearing.  Not true.  Unless there is a breakthrough in energy of unprecedented proportion, along the lines of cold fusion or something else that appears equally unlikely at this point, our electrical utilities will continue to play a critical role in our lives, largely because of the issue of scale.

Absent a miracle, despite the claims of certain pundits, energy will not become “too cheap to meter.”  For example, with further advancements in technology, we can get PV down to $1 per Watt.  Can we get it to $0.10 per Watt – where we no longer have to think about the economics?  Nope.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Smart Grid

Gary sent me this, and I thought I’d publish it for him, as I’ve always been so impressed with his insights:

Just today, I was reading that China is half way through a program to install ultra high voltage grid upgrades to a value of $100 billion – the primary purpose of which is to connect the huge renewable energy resources of its western provinces with the load centres of the east.

By any standards, this is a huge infrastructure investment, implying an intent to support possibly hundreds of gigawatts of wind and solar power – so clearly they get the concept of strategic investment for future energy security.  (more…)

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

Lots of businesses and individuals are trying to do their part to go green, including local fire departments.

There are many steps fire departments can take to become environmentally friendly, including:

Reasons for Going Green (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Deteriorating environmental conditions and rising energy prices are prompting many businesses and individuals to adopt eco-friendly practices.

An increasing number of medical clinics across the country are taking the role of community leaders in promoting environmental protection, setting a positive example for people in their communities.

So, what are they doing to make their communities greener? (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Here’s the radio show I did on Conservative Nation Radio the other night, in which I discussed renewable energy, climate change, sustainability, and a whole bunch of related issues with an old friend who happens to host a really right-wing talk show.   I’m on for about 40 minutes, starting at about 21:20 into the show.

If you want to pick a few used AR-15s, just listen to the commercials between the segment; you’ll find some excellent sources.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Electronics is a great part of the constantly growing number of electronic wastes and contains different materials that can be recycled and returned for a second use by industry. Recycling will stop the pollution of nature and will prevent its contamination with heavy metals and flame retardants.
Many people are absolutely ignorant why and how they are supposed to dispose their households of their old electronic equipment. Some of them do not even know that their electronic equipment has a fatal impact on the environment and just dump these wastes wherever they find it appropriate. Some, on the other hand, do not care. Do not be one of those people! (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

As the scramble for green technologies sweeps through the communities of the planet, everyone is trying to develop the next biggest eco-friendly product. Patenting a product goes beyond simple greed. It is a method that can ensure that someone else doesn’t get credit and reap the rewards from your development. It is a way to give you control of the design in order to prevent those from exploiting consumers. Even if the product doesn’t fully work, patenting the initial designs can help prevent others from profiting through using your ideas to base their own innovations. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

A 2GreenEnergy supporter visiting California from Basque Country writes about a trip he and his girl friend took around the state:

During this trip we’ve found several problems moving from one place to another without a car due to the public transport in this country, which is shameful in most places and nonexistent in others. What’s more, although L.A. has a nice metro system, we were surprised how empty it was in comparison with any city we’ve been in. People is overused to take the car for every single thing.  I find this atrocious and believe that enhancing  public transportation and raising people’s awareness about it should be an issue of first priority for government.

I completely agree.  That you can’t take the Metro to Los Angeles International Airport shows that we really don’t care a whit about public transportation in L.A.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

For those of you who may not be aware of it, the city of Boulder, CO is going through a process of attempting to “municipalize” its electrical power, i.e., to arrange for the city to purchase the assets necessary to deliver power to its own citizens.  This is a process that seems bound to play itself out in hundreds of other communities over the coming years.  In particular, Boulder’s citizens have decided to migrate to renewable energy much faster than the local energy provider (Xcel Energy) wants to make happen, and sees municipalization as the only option, but the utility is fighting back tooth and nail to prevent this from happening. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I know the world of transportation visionaries/futurists seems to be in love with the concept of the self-driving car, but I don’t see it.  There is so much wrong with our existing paradigm in personal mobility, it’s hard to know where to start.  Perhaps here:  it’s grossly unaffordable – both economically and environmentally.  We all own a huge piece of steel that sits idle 23 hours a day.  During the hour it’s in use, it has an average of 1.1 occupants.  We fuel it with a substance that’s causing climate change, ocean acidification, lung cancer, war – and it’s putting the U.S. in greater debt at the rate of half a billion dollars a day.   If you want to get rid of something, does it really have to be the driver?

Again, I don’t see it.  Of course, I’m the guy who, when he first heard rap music several decades ago, told a friend, “That garbage will last about two weeks.”

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