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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

I’m sad to see that climate scientist James E. Hansen, after a 46-year career at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, will retire to pursue his activism on climate change.  I can only image that the federal government is happy to see Hansen go; I always imagined his extremely visible presence as something of a much-needed thorn in their side.

Having said that, I understand his reasoning, i.e., that his position within the space agency limited his ability to use the law to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as government employees cannot testify against the government.  And I suppose it’s safe to assume that we’ll be hearing more – not less – from Dr. Hansen and his aggressive criticism of U.S. inaction on the subject.  In particular, there is no reason to think that he’ll be less conspicuous at public protests on climate-related issues, at which he’s been arrested on numerous occasions.  “At my age (72),” he quipped, “I am not worried about having an arrest record.”

Among other things, Hansen plans to lobby European leaders — who are among the most concerned about climate change — to impose a tax on oil derived from tar sands, since its extraction results in greater greenhouse emissions than conventional oil.  Great concept, btw: identify something that we really want to make go away and make it financially unattractive.  The idea certainly has my full support.

Thanks to Dr. Hansen for his service, and best wishes for his continued success.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Given that solar and wind are intermittent, our usual notion of these most common forms of renewable energy is that they create grid instability – perhaps even blackouts – stemming from unpredictable clouds covering the sun or changing patterns in the winds in a given region.  But according to the Fraunhofer Institute for Wind Energy and Energy System Technology (IWES) in Kassel, Germany, these fears may be unfounded; when better understood, a high penetration of solar and wind may actually prevent power outages.

 

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I probably won’t attend this “Creating Climate Wealth” workshop due to the commitment of resources it would require, but it sure would be interesting.  I very much admire The Carbon War Room and its concept of using market capitalism and wealth creation to build a more ecologically responsible way of life.  Who but Richard Branson would have developed the idea?

If we have any readers who plan to attend, we’d all appreciate a guest-post when you return.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

I’m always amused when I see articles on subjects within the energy space that show that the author hasn’t the foggiest idea what he’s talking about.  I’m reminded of my 6th grade course in meteorology, when one of my bottom-of-the-barrel classmates wrote his final exam essay on meteors.

Here’s a feature article in Global Energy World whose author, writing on fuel cells, begins:

Investments in Fuel Cells R&D is rising all over the world as the technology has (a) lot of growth potential and has various advantages over other renewable energy sources like solar, wind etc. 

A fuel cell is not a source of energy, any more than the engine in your car; a fuel cell is a device that converts a chemical fuel into another chemical, releasing electrical energy in the process.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

I wrote this post yesterday, when I was a few minutes early for the start of an event at the downtown Los Angeles office of the Nature Conservancy. I had come into the city for four separate meetings, of which this was my third. 

The day started with an update from my friends at Green Motor Company, a group that is developing a low-cost and power-dense electric motor.  The application that may come immediately to mind could be electric transportation, but, believe it or not, that’s not as attractive as one might have thought.  As my friend Tom Gage, former CEO of AC Propulsion (developers of the electric drive train for the BMW Mini E) told me, “You could have a 99.9% efficient motor that’s the size and weight of a ping-pong ball, and you tell me I could have it for free, and that wouldn’t mean too much in this space.”  He was, of course, referring to how incredibly important the size, weight, and cost of batteries are in comparison to everything else.

So, if not EVs, exactly what?  Well, there are many hundreds of applications in our homes, office buildings, and industrial settings where the cost, size, weight, and efficiency of motors are extremely important. Think of pumps, especially for large volumes of water.  Of course, this may be more obvious to me as I live in California, and such a percentage of our overall energy expenditure is made in moving water from one place to another. Water-related energy use in California  consumes approximately 20 percent of the state’s electricity, and 30 percent of the state’s non-power plant natural gas (i.e. natural gas not used to produce electricity). 

In any case, good news from Green Motors, and more to come, I’m sure.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

All home-owners are always searching for something that would bring down their bills. Be it something that would help you with the electricity bill, or the water bill, investing in an appliance or some simple device that would increase the energy efficiency of your home is a very smart move. There are various products that can save you a lot of money, and make your house more eco-friendly.

Programmable Thermostat

These devices are some of the most highly-recommended products when it comes to energy efficiency. With the help of a programmable thermostat, you can have a complete control over how much energy is being used in your household, and adjust the temperature at all times. Since a lot of energy is being wasted while you are away on holiday, or during the night when everyone is sleeping, a device like this that can adjust a thermostat when you are not at home. So, with it, you can program the thermostat so that it turns the heating on or off whenever you want to, which is pretty convenient. You can find such devices for about $20-30, and buying one would help you save at least $200 a year.

Cellular Shades

This is not some high-tech green product, but a useful one, nonetheless. These shades are made of two separate layers of fabric, that are pretty soft, and prevent your room from getting too warm, by allowing only a minimum amount of heat to go through, and during the winter, you’ll house will stay warm as they won’t let the heat produced by your heating system to go out. This is a very good solution to all your energy loss problems, and with these shades you can reduce your energy losses for about 15%, saving as much as $150 a year, an investment that should be paid back in a couple of years, as fitting all your windows with cellular shades could cost you at least $900 – 1,000, depending on how many windows there are in your house.

Outdoor Motion Sensor

This is a relatively cheap solution, that can save a lot of money in energy expenses. You can purchase an outdoor motion sensor for $70, and you can expect to get your investment back in no more than a year. There is a rechargeable battery, where the energy saved during the day is stored. When the device detects motion during the night, it turns the light on. This way, you can save over a $100 a year.

So, paying a couple of hundreds of dollars for these products can turn out to be a wise investment, considering that you can save thousands of dollars in the next couple of years that way.

Jordan Perch is an active promoter of the new developments in the automotive industry. He is an author of many how-to articles related to DMV, safe driving, buying/selling vehicles, auto insurance etc.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Here’s a lecture on global climate change and peak oil by British geologist and author Dr. Jeremy Leggett.   If you want to know why we need an aggressive policy that curtails the burning of fossil fuels, and you want to hear it from someone who can explain it with a great deal more precision than I can, Jeremy’s your man. This was recorded in 2007, so it’s a bit old, yet incredibly revealing of the basic issues.  

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I’ve been asked to speak at an upcoming meeting of the Santa Barbara Savvy Investors. 

Originally attracted because of the tie-in to what we’re about with respect to investment in cleantech, I quickly found that the club’s name belies its members’ extremely wide-ranging interests; in fact, the concept of investment per se has not figured prominently into any of the three of four meetings I’ve attended over the last six months or so.  Folks seem to be keen on “big” topics that speak to who we are as individuals, as a civilization, where we came from, where  we’re going, how we’re going to get there, etc. – and that’s just fine with me. 

I’m hoping a lively conversation on sustainable energy policy, including the top-level concepts in technology, as well as the economics and politics of the matter, will get some juices flowing.  I also want to pepper this with some philosophic points that I think will be well-received, e.g., our basic nature as human beings, the responsibilities we bear toward one another, and how all this drives how we govern ourselves and push ourselves along a sustainable course.

I’ll keep readers posted; perhaps some of you can attend. 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

Frequent commenter Cameron Atwood sent me this article describing Germany’s generous subsidies for solar PV and asked me to react to it.

Yes, the German program was overzealous; no one (no one I’ve come across, at least) disputes that.  The program’s meteoric rise and fall over the past few years has sent huge shock waves all throughout the PV arena, and to the universe of clean energy as a whole.  And those who follow the industry more closely than I tell me that the reverberations will continue to bounce around for many years hence.

I’m sure there is voluminous discussion as to exactly why and how this happened; I’m even more certain that I can’t answer those questions.

Having said this, all these events are happening within an even larger set of discussions:  What is the proper role of government in our lives?  In particular, how should the public sector react to the potential catastrophes that are headed our way if the nature and quantity of our energy consumption doesn’t change quickly? How should powerful interests be regulated, or provided incentives, such that the technologies they bring to bear change our world for the better, and keep our civilization from going over the edge as our population quintuples over a 100-year period?

Everyone can see that Germany made a misstep here.  From there, they can proceed to point fingers, form snap judgments, and jump to irrational conclusions — and, if that is their mission, conclude that renewable energy doesn’t work.

Obviously, I don’t see it that way.  At this point, it’s fairly clear that we either find a way to make public and private interests work together towards a clean energy future, or realize that we as a civilization are in for an enormous amount of suffering.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

Hey there lighting fans! Dr. Bulb here with some thoughts on the rise of LED lighting in office buildings. The emergence of LED lighting is causing the lighting market to change rapidly as businesses around the world recognize the benefits of taking energy management seriously. LED lighting can save energy, reduce costs, and even increase the quality of light.

When lighting an office building there are two options as to where to delegate the costs:

Option 1: The first and more traditional option is to buy inexpensive lamps, such as incandescent and CFLs, and pay for the maintenance costs and to have the bulbs replaced every year or two. Large office buildings can house hundreds of lighting fixtures, the maintenance and replacement costs of these lights can be astronomical if they are burning out quickly.

Option 2: The second option is (the right option) to spend a little extra on LED lamps, and then reap the benefits of a maintenance free, energy efficient lighting solution. LED lamps often have a rated life of around 50,000 hours which means they will last over 11 years it they are on for 12 hours a day, everyday.

Energy management is a rising field, and businesses are saving thousands because of low energy bills. LED lighting has nearly 80% efficiency, which means that 80% of the electricity is used as light energy. Incandescent bulbs, on the other hand, operate at only 20% efficiency. This means that 80% of the electricity you pay for is being lost as heat energy when using incandescent bulbs! And, all that wasted electricity from incandescent bulbs converts directly into wasted money for the building manager. When a large office building has hundreds of lighting fixtures, each LED bulb that can save a few dollars adds up to hefty savings.

Being “green” is a must for businesses in today’s world, but there is a difference between having a few recycling bins around your office and actually embracing the environmental trend. LED lights are a great way to start becoming environmentally sustainable. Not only do they use less energy, but they are not manufactured with mercury or other toxic chemicals. Customers and stakeholders appreciate businesses that take an environmental initiative, so the benefits of LED lights go beyond a reduced electricity bill.

New technology always spurs questions; everything from the automobile to the iPad has been through public doubt. Often LED bulbs are looked at as a “green” option, but they are believed to provide lower quality light. I cannot stress enough how untrue that statement is! LED bulbs offer excellent light quality, even comparable to natural light. Also, LED bulbs are directional and can point light in the desired area, while other bulbs splash light in all directions.

No matter what your building’s lighting needs are, be it troffers or wall packs, make sure you know the financial and environmental benefits of LED lighting. And visit Drbulb.com for LED lighting industry news.

 

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