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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage

Guest blogger Cameron Atwood sent me this graph showing the increase in the use of solar and wind energy from 2005 to 2012.  Impressive stuff.  Here in the U.S., our grid-mix is currently comprised of more than 4% wind and about 1% solar – both of which are rising steadily. 

Of course, due to the variable nature of these resources, we’ll eventually need a significant amount of energy storage, whether it’s in the form of advanced batteries, compressed air, hydrogen, ammonia, synthetic fuels, flywheels, pumped hydro, advanced rail, etc.  Insofar as this subject is bound to become important, our list of clean energy investment opportunities contemplate several of these various forms of energy storage.  

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Frequent commenter Brian McGowan comments on my post on the Solar Wind Energy Tower (pictured top) , “I don’t know how feasible it is but I can tell you I have a Popular Science magazine from the early ’70s somewhere in my basement with this exact idea in it and maybe even on the cover.”

Thanks, Brian.  Maybe we should infer something from the fact that, here we are, 40 years later, and we still don’t have one built.  Again, if this turns out to be a cost-effective idea, I’ll ride my bicycle out to the desert to see it.

I’m reminded of a guy who called me a few years ago who thought he would provide power to his house by attaching a generator to his attic heat vent turbine (pictured below). “I hope you live a Spartan life,” I told him. “For that to work, you’ll have no heating, cooling, or appliances – and very little lighting.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

That sounds a bit enigmatic, doesn’t it?  Here’s my thinking.  Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft, net worth about $25 billion) owns the Seahawks.  If they win, he’ll be happy – and even a bit richer, as the value of his franchise will spurt up.  Now, you need to understand that Allen has historically made significant investments in clean energy R&D.  My reasoning, though it may be faulty, is that a happier and wealthier Paul Allen will be more like to make further investments in this space.  Go Seahawks.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

I’ve signed a heck of a lot of petitions circulated by The Sierra Club over the years, but strangely, I’m ambivalent about this one on solar energy.  They point out, “As part of a nationwide attack on solar, California utilities are proposing to change the rules for existing solar customers. If they succeed, solar customers could stop getting full credit for all the clean power they produce and put back into the grid. Not cool.”  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

If you have a few extra minutes today and wish to invest them wisely, I urge you to check out Yiming Hu’s amazing collection of photographic works of nature. Hu writes: “To me, landscape photography is not merely a documentary of the splendid scenery of our magnificent national parks. It is not just going to the iconic locations waiting for the perfect sunset. Landscape photography can also be an expression of one’s inner feeling about the Mother Nature, and can be poetic instead of objective.”

As you’re scrolling along, keep in mind that the subject matter here is the very thing we’re endangering with our reckless and selfish behavior here on Earth.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Apparently, comedian Bill Maher (pictured here) plans to use his talents and stature as a celebrity to identify and remove “the worst member of Congress.”  Though there are dozens of excellent candidates, I suppose I would nominate Jim Inhofe, (R, OK) for his aggressive actions against clean energy (most notably biofuels) while being on the receiving end of enormous sums of money from the oil companies; more than 80% of his campaign contributions come from Big Oil.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Working from his office in Argentina, 2GreenEnergy supporter Alejandro Manrique has been helping us tell our story to the Spanish-speaking people of the world for many years.  Not too long ago, he wrote this article on my second book: “Is Renewable Really Doable?” and had it published in a local newspaper.

Now, Alejandro is hard at work translating a great deal of the content on the site into Spanish.  Over the coming weeks, readers can look for notes that read “Click Here for Spanish Version,” like this one on our “About” page.

Needless to say, I feel quite indebted to Alejandro for his excellent work here.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

Here’s a fun little tool – a real-time wind chart for the continental U.S.  To me, it validates a couple of ideas that I hear often:

• When the wind isn’t blowing at point A, the chances are much more likely that it will be blowing at point B.

• The Southeast U.S. really doesn’t have good wind (or other good renewable) resources.

• We tend to over-estimate the wind resources in which we live.  We often think that we consistently have 20 MPH winds, and, in almost all cases, this is not true.

Again, a cool little site.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Every month or so, someone sends me this concept: the Solar Wind Energy Tower, with its claim that it will generate energy cost-effectively, and asks me to comment.  I defer to more senior minds in the physical sciences, but I will be utterly amazed if the cost of energy generated by this device isn’t astronomical.  These guys seem to be taken seriously, and I simply can’t understand why.  Note to those interested in cleantech investment opportunities: the fact that the government will grant a patent for a mousetrap that will retail at $2 million does not mean that it’s a good idea.  

Perhaps Glenn Doty or one of the other top energy analysts can weigh in here.   

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Here’s an article on “following the money” in cleantech that speaks to a troubling fact in renewable energy: venture capital would far rather chase arenas that are less capital intensive.  In fact, Ray Lane, then managing partner at Kleiner Perkins, told me this in no uncertain terms when I interviewed him a couple of years ago for my second book, “Is Renewable Really Doable?” 

One could argue (and I do) that it is this issue that provides the imperative for government, perhaps under the auspices of programs like ARPA-E, to invest in stimulating R&D in this space.