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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

While I’m in the television studio next week, I plan to shoot a video on what may be the single most interesting investment concept in sustainability I’ve come across this year: teak reforestation. Consider a few basics:

Hardwoods, especially teak, can only become more valuable as the world’s population of consumers grows, coupled with heightened restrictions on logging. So along comes a company that says, “OK, buy some trees from me. I’ll plant them, tag them with unique GPS coordinates, care for them for their 20-year lives, and guarantee to replace any that die prematurely. At their maturity, I’ll fell them, process them, and sell the wood for you. You make an attractive rate of return, since your asset is literally growing every day.”

I think of this as akin to investing in precious metals that miraculously expand in volume over time. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Uncategorized

While I’m in the studio next week shooting another round of videos, I plan to highlight 2GreenEnergy’s relationship with Waters Wheel, a company with a bright vision of the future of organic, local-grown farming. The secret sauce here, if there is one, is a clever, extremely inexpensive approach to aeroponics, growing produce in a minimum of space, using a tower (pictured here) in which the root systems receive a carefully maintained balance of air, water, and nutrients. (more…)

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Ocean Thermal

Next Wednesday, I’m headed into the local television studio that we use to make our videos, to shoot several short pieces introducing different clean energy technologies and the companies that I believe to be likely winners in the marketplace. One such technology, previously under-represented here at 2GreenEnergy, is OTEC (ocean thermal energy conversion). (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

I have two quick rituals that I enjoy with my morning coffee. I know I’ve mentioned Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac, which is five minutes extremely well spent. The other is the SAT Question of the Day, which I came across recently when I first registered my daughter to take the test. If you’re like me, and you like little quizzes, you may want to subscribe, using the link above.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

According to The Writers Almanac, “On this date in 1927, physicist Werner Heisenberg first described his Uncertainty Principle in a letter. In a nutshell, the Uncertainty Principle states that the more precisely we can determine a particle’s momentum, the less information we have about its position, and vice versa. The principle represents one of the most fundamental differences between quantum mechanics and classical physics.”

Excellent summary. I have nothing but fond respect for Garrison Keillor and his staff of researcher/writers. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

During my trip back East last week I had the honor of meeting Jack McMullen in his office in Cambridge, MA. If you want to see an interesting and multi-varied bio, you may want to check this out.

I’m happy to report that Jack, a man of great accomplishment and integrity, will be playing a leading role in one of the huge waste-to-energy projects that I’m so excited about — a project in which 3000 tons of municipal solid waste a day will be converted to 130 megawatts of electricity; this is summarized in the video below.  

Please drop me a line if you know of anyone who may also like to play an investment role in cleantech here.

 

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uSdDP_0WmQ]

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Listening to The Writer’s Almanac just now, as I try to do every morning, I learned that it’s Arthur Schopenhauer’s birthday – a man best known, I believe, for having taken pessimism out of the hands of the amateurs and developing the gloomiest possible perspective into a true art form. And from his portrait here, he certainly looks the part, doesn’t he?

Here are a few of his observations: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

This year, more car companies have released eco-friendly cars, which means more options for eco-friendly consumers. From electric cars to vehicles that use alternative fuel, here are the best green cars coming out for next year.

1. Honda Civic Natural Gas – MPG: City 27/Hwy 38; From $26,155

This car was named as the Green Car of the Year by Green Car Journal. This Honda Civic runs on natural gas, which costs less than normal fuel and has less of an impact on the environment. This car even gets you HOV lane access in several U.S. states. The car features low-end torque and a short wheelbase, so that you can zoom around corners and have a smooth ride on the highway. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

I had breakfast when I was back in New York last week with my friend and colleague Tom Konrad of AltEnergyStocks.com, during which we talked about all the “long-hanging fruit” for reducing the environmental impact associated with generating and consuming energy.  Here’s one of Tom’s ideas that I really like:  making a home energy audit mandatory whenever a house is sold.  What if every home buyer had the equivalent of an EPA miles per gallon sticker — a rating of the energy efficiency of the furnace and the major appliances, as well as a grade for the level of insulation in the walls and roof?   (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Every few months, I try to remind myself to write something on Chevron and its overtly criminal behavior in Ecuador.  Those who are keeping track here will recall that, for a period of 26 years, Chevron (then Texaco) deliberately dumped tens of billions of gallons of toxic byproducts of their oil extraction processes directly into Ecuadorian rivers and streams, simply because they thought they would never get caught. (more…)

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