I’m having a conversation in email with a reader who asks me if I think America will be able to survive economically past the next few years.
I agree that the U.S. looks woefully unprepared to compete effectively and prosper in the 21st Century, due to the confluence of many factors: (more…)
Here’s an article based on a survey of Americans, and, frankly, most of its findings are unremarkable. But one thing that would raise any reader’s eyebrows is the amazing lack of trust that we apparently have in our utilities to inform us of energy-saving (i.e., expense-reducing) opportunities.
Perhaps this is further evidence that it’s finally time, after more than a century of experience with the regulation of electric power utilities, for us to (more…)
As the U.S. celebrates its independence from England, Americans everywhere honor the fallen soldiers who made it possible, and those who have made enormous sacrifices to maintain our liberty throughout the intervening 237 years. That makes today a good time to remember what the United States truly stands for: honesty, fairness, decency in all our affairs, both domestically and internationally. When the sun sets this evening and the fireworks and patriotic music commences, I hope we’ll all (more…)
I’m on email distribution lists for many hundreds of different energy-related conferences and events that take place around the world each year. And while most of them contemplate better approaches to sustainability or heavier penetration of renewable energy, some come from the oil and/or coal companies.
Here’s an invitation that I’ll be declining: the opportunity to learn more about what can be done to spur on the mining and export of coal from Columbia. (more…)
I need to expand the capacity of “Associates” team in the arena of writing grant applications for our clients in cleantech. I’m looking for people who have experience in applying for grant funding for cleantech ventures from a huge variety of public institutions:
Federal Level:
• Department of Energy, including DoE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the national labs, e.g., Argonne, Oak Ridge, NREL, etc. (more…)
Frequent commenter and 2GreenEnergy supporter Stephen Levy, professor at the University of Tennessee, wanted my opinion on this article he co-wrote in Solar Today on micro-financing of solar PV. As I told him, I’m not really a finance guy, and thus my viewpoints have limited value. Having said that, the basic premises here are certainly correct: (more…)
I just had a conversation with a Ph.D. chemist, Jenny Du, a friend of a friend, and a terrific young person with a hankering to ply her trade in the field of renewable energy. What trade is that, exactly? Well, among other things, it’s the “synthesis of ordered, mesoporous organosilica films and monoliths and their applications in fibre-optic heavy metal detection and chiral separations.” I hope that clarifies the matter.
Seriously, there actually are numerous applications of Jenny’s field of expertise in the development of high-efficiency PV and microbial fuel cells. I encourage anyone looking to hire this young (and very pleasant) genius to contact her directly.
A reader asks:
I just wanted to get your take on something I am writing for one of my college classes. I’m writing about sustainability in the areas of energy and construction. Regarding construction I had a thought about the question of how sustainable it really is. Even though the companies use sustainable machines the overall real result of construction is land degradation and transformation of an area to create something for human usage. Even companies building green buildings wipe out entire small ecosystems to build on. So I was wondering how sustainable are these companies in reality? Even though they use the sustainable energy efficient machines they ultimately create unsustainable results that hurt the environment in some way. I was just wondering if you had any thoughts on it.
Oh, I have thoughts, to be sure. But (more…)
According to the EPA’s Municipal Solid Waste Generation, Recycling, and Disposal report for 2011 (the most recent year available), more than 9,800 curbside recycling programs exist nationwide, and more than 3,000 community composting programs are in place.
Cities across the country are taking measures to help alleviate the problem of overstuffed landfills.
Here are a few interesting numbers, along with information on how you can start a recycling program in your town: (more…)
According to the American Wind Energy Association, the last quarter of 2012 brought the total wind installations for 2012 to 13,131 megawatts of power.
This influx of new power extends the total of cumulative wind capacity for the United States to 60,007 megawatts. However, some states are much more instrumental in this than others.
Top Wind Power Capacity States
Through the year 2012, these are the top states for having installations of wind power: (more…)
