I know many readers share my excitement about the physics behind clean energy, and appreciate the opportunity to learn more at every available opportunity. To that end, let me share with you a YouTube channel that I know you’ll enjoy. Here’s one segment of it, concerning the molecular structure of glass and the transfer of energy with in, which, while it might sound like a snooze, is incredibly well done and captivating for audiences of all academic backgrounds.
I’m sure readers will join me in checking out other episodes that may have even stronger bearing on the science of renewables. Please post some links in the comments section if you come across something you’d like to share.
The wedding I attended on the Outer Banks of North Carolina earlier this week led to a chance encounter with Bob Solarz, a good friend of my brother. Even Bob’s last name itself sounds like a propitious start for a conversation on clean energy and sustainability, and sure enough, he’s the president of a full-service civil engineering and consulting company whose focus is sustainability. Bob told me all about some of the projects he’s done, including this one, Kensington CAPA High School, Philadelphia, PA, which won LEED Platinum Certification.
Bob’s company, Gilmore and Associates, does a great deal of work in that region of the country that taps into their skills in sustainable water management, low-impact development (LID) planning and design, and several other related disciplines. I enjoyed the conversation, learned a great deal, and came away gratified that there is so much attention being applied to ensure that each one of our new buildings is environmentally responsible.
My mother and I spent a wonderful day together on the Outer Banks of North Carolina, our destination for the wedding of my eldest nephew, and the eldest of Mom’s five grandchildren. Our task for the day was to find a number of interesting places where we could take a few short walks, getting some exercise and learning a bit about the local environment. And of course, in addition to all this good stuff, I’m always on the alert for material for this blog.
The solar PV growth curves illustrate the rapid expansion in the deployment of this form for distributed generation (DG). The only conclusion one can draw from looking at these graphs is that, after decades of customers’ putting their toes in the water, they’ve begun to take the plunge. Solar has arrived as a mainstream force, dramatically reshaping the way we power our homes and businesses.
I’m on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the wedding of my eldest nephew. I’d never been here before, and I was expecting a stretch of land so desolate that I’d have trouble getting online or finding a good newspaper.
For better or worse, that’s not the case. I delighted in Sunday’s New York Times, which featured a front-page article on California’s new-found budget surplus, totalling somewhere between $1 billion and $4.4 billion. Of course, this is welcome news in a state run largely by Democrats who hated being forced to slash the social services to recover from the state’s huge deficit ($60 billion) that existed as recently as three years ago. (more…)
Frequent commenter Tim Kingston sent me this article from a solar energy nay-sayer and asked my opinion.
Tim: I come across this stuff a lot. As I’ve often written, Germany has quite clearly made a mistake with their fantastically large feed-in tariffs from which they abruptly backed off; I don’t know anyone who denies that. The migration to clean energy will have some “fits and starts,” though I don’t see how that nullifies the whole enterprise.
I know people who have solar on the roofs of their homes and office buildings who draw net zero power from the grid, and who drive electric vehicles charged from those sources. I wish this guy good luck trying to convince me that this style of living isn’t making a difference to our environment.
Well I took the plunge and ordered a nickel iron battery pack. There was a lot of hemming and hawing but after a huge amount of research and calculating, I could find no better alternative currently available and no new technology shortly forthcoming that was worth waiting for.
The 500Ah 12V pack will cost me $5200.00 shipped to my door with everything I need to set it up. This pack will last 25 years before the fluid needs replacing and then another 25 years after that. I know people with packs of original Edison batteries passed down from generation to generation that are in the range of 75 years old and still functioning at full capacity. (more…)
Ever since I interviewed Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) ace Johanna Wald for my first book (Renewable Energy – Facts and Fantasies), I’ve had only fond respect for what these fine folks do: use the legal process to protect the natural environment. And of course, this often takes the form of building a level playing field on which renewable energy can compete fairly with fossil fuels.
Yet I remain a fan of EVs, even in the near-term, since they will enable us to integrate more renewable energy — wind in particular — which, ironically is what will eventually enable us to decommission the last coal plant. (more…)