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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

Most people know what solar power is. But there’s still plenty that we don’t know about the science. Some of the facts and the myths about solar energy get mixed up, which is why we’re going to share 5 definite facts to get excited about…..

1. Solar Panels still work in cold and snowy environments.

They are obviously very effective in sunny parts of the world but you might be surprised to learn they still produce a great amount of energy in the snow. The panels are unaffected by the cold and take in the reflected photons from a reflective, snowy landscape. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Pictured here is a proof copy of my third book, Renewable Energy – Following the Money.  It’s in the final stages of proofreading, a considerable task.  I really hate to have typos in my stuff, but it’s not easy to find them all — especially for me.  I find errors in books that have been out for 10 years and sold millions of copies, but I have real difficulty in finding them in my own writing.

Obviously, I’ll notify readers when this one’s available on Amazon — should be just a few weeks.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

I was on my way to the beach yesterday when I happened to notice that the group environmentalist Bill McKibben runs, 350.Org, had set up a whole bunch of tents at the nearby park and were busy making presentations on fossil fuel divestment and passing out DVDs on climate change. I spoke with one of their representative and was immediately impressed with his knowledge on the subject and level of commitment to changing what I referred to earlier today as our “stupid and selfish energy policy.” Keep up the good work. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Here’s an article that I urge our readers to check out on the apparent slow-down of global warming, a phenomenon predicted by our current climate models but not perfectly understood at this time.  Obviously, the climate change deniers are going to have a field day with this, though, of course, they’ll be missing the point, as they are wont to do.

I find it interesting that the scientists involved are so excited by the challenge. The closing line of the piece expresses a child’s wide-eyed wonder and exuberance about setting forth to find the answers.  “This is really exciting. We have got a problem to solve. We have things we don’t understand perfectly, and as a scientist, that’s really why I do what I do. I speak for all of us who are here.” (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

A reader asked for my comments on the following:

I have just been reading about the various ways CO2 is captured from power plants and then transported and stored — underground and underwater.  I don’t get it…we applaud companies for reducing their carbon emissions to solve one problem only to create another by having to find a place to store it, which is surely just as bad as emitting CO2 into the atmosphere in the first place.

Your comment? (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

Imagine every application that requires lighting in your commercial facility. Can’t wrap your head around it? Needless to say, lighting can be a huge percentage of your annual energy costs. Energy efficient lighting like LED wall packs or LED bollard lights  can make a significant difference in your energy bill.

Surprisingly, 22% of America’s facilities have never undergone any type of lighting upgrade, or it has been more than 10 years since work has been done, according to a survey in the April 2013 issue of Today’s Facility Manager.That means 1.1 million facilities are wasting energy—and wasting money. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

What’s the real imperative of the migration to renewable energy and cutting back our consumption of fossil fuels via efficiency and conservation?  Might you say: Climate change?

We’ll, that certainly one good answer.  Of course, there are half a dozen others:  dealing with peak oil, health issues, ocean acidification, the loss of biodiversity, human hostility, etc.  When I’m interviewed on the subject and I encounter climate change deniers, I’m quick to change the subject.  As I often say, “If you don’t believe in climate change, that’s fine, just pick another good reason to curb our addiction to fossil fuels; most of them have nothing to do with this dreaded subject whatsoever.”

But having said all this, the build-up of greenhouse gases, which will eventually culminate in the melting of the arctic and the release of the methane beneath it, carries with it a fairly hefty price tag in terms of climate change per se, (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Here’s a conversation I just had with a reader – one that I have in various forms at the rate of several per month.

Reader: Have you seen this yet? That’s why we need to get EVs in everyone’s hands. No mention of cost. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I’ll be leaving home next Tuesday before dawn for a series of appointments in the Bay Area.  Perhaps the meeting about which I’m most excited is with the San Francisco office of Greentech Capital Advisors.  I’m constantly trying to expand my network of relationships with the top people in the world of bringing together solid cleantech concepts with sources of investment capital, and a friend of a friend in their Zurich office was good enough to arrange this conversation.

Should I wear a tie?  If this meeting were in Zurich (or one of their other offices in London or New York), there’d be no question.  San Francisco can go either way, so to speak.  I suppose since we’ll be in the financial district, I guess I’ll dress up.  My closet-full of suits and ties from the old days doesn’t see as much action as it did in the days before all this was liberalized.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Aldous Huxley would be 119 years old today.  I read his Brave New World in a course I had in college called “Social Ideals and Ideal Societies,” which I took for a very noble reason: a pretty girl I liked had signed up for it.

According to the Writer’s Almanac: (more…)

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