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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I know the world of transportation visionaries/futurists seems to be in love with the concept of the self-driving car, but I don’t see it.  There is so much wrong with our existing paradigm in personal mobility, it’s hard to know where to start.  Perhaps here:  it’s grossly unaffordable – both economically and environmentally.  We all own a huge piece of steel that sits idle 23 hours a day.  During the hour it’s in use, it has an average of 1.1 occupants.  We fuel it with a substance that’s causing climate change, ocean acidification, lung cancer, war – and it’s putting the U.S. in greater debt at the rate of half a billion dollars a day.   If you want to get rid of something, does it really have to be the driver?

Again, I don’t see it.  Of course, I’m the guy who, when he first heard rap music several decades ago, told a friend, “That garbage will last about two weeks.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Frequent contributor Brian McGowan comments on my post in which I write:

“Lastly, I appeal to patriotism. If you really care about America, and I’m sure the vast majority of the show’s listeners do, here are a few things to consider: Our addiction to oil causes us to borrow half a billion dollars a day and send it to our enemies. Our economic solvency declines at the same time that the strength and power of terrorists increases. If you understand this, and if you care about our national security, I think you’re at a loss to defend an energy policy rooted in oil.” (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change, Efficiency, Renewables - Business

Fracking has been in the news a considerable amount lately.  This is the process which uses water, chemicals, and a complex drilling process to extract a form of natural gas, called shale gas, from rocks deep underground.  Fracking is short for “Hydraulic fracturing” or breaking up the rocks with water and additives to release the gas, which is then pumped to the surface.

Tax breaks proposed

Fracking has been quite controversial, with various groups lining up both for and against it.  (more…)

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

Here’s an article that is illustrative of where our society is with respect to renewable energy. It seems that many home-owners associations (HOAs) prohibit the installation of solar PV – even in places where it’s invisible from the street – and, when these bans are tested in court, judges normally side with the HOA.

At issue, one would suspect, is that solar panels are considered an eyesore.  But I believe that our sensibility on this point is rapidly changing.  More people every day are waking up to the fact that our current energy policy (or lack thereof) is causing rapid and wide-spread devastation, and that solar, insofar as it represents a way to slow this destruction, is coming to be regarded quite positively.  I predict that in a few years, HOAs will encourage, rather than prohibit PV on home-owners’ roofs.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Jiminy Cricket, Tesla Motors is really standing the automotive industry on its ear.  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has awarded the Tesla Model S a 5-star safety rating, not just overall, but in every subcategory without exception; it’s the highest safety rating of any car ever tested.  It’s appearing more and more that the people who said that a successful car couldn’t come from Silicon Valley (of whom Bob Lutz — ex co-chairman of GM — was probably the most famous – and vocal) were 100% wrong.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

In response to my post: If the Move To Renewables Is Inevitable, Why Not Do It Now?  frequent commenter Larry Lemmert writes:  “The birth of the solar age will not come without a lot of birth pangs. It is too simplistic to think that the economics do not matter and that the jobs created as the new paradigm kicks in will offset the jobs lost in industries impacted negatively by the change.”

Thanks, Larry.  The most credible things I’ve seen suggest a significant  economic boom associated with the development of cleantech — starting with energy efficiency, but expanding into clean energy.  I base this on a large number of interviews, but principally with my talk for my second book with Dr. Robert Pollin.  The link above will take you to a few of his most recent publications.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

A reader just sent me this excellent infographic on the top five college degrees for the 21st Century.  No surprise here: environmental sciences is right up there.

I’ve spoken with hundreds of young people – including my own two children – about this very subject.  Talk about a can’t-lose!  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Here’s a good article on the history of carbon capture and storage (CCS).  Why has the goal of preventing the exhaust from the burning of fossil fuels from entering the atmosphere been so elusive?

Not to give anything away, but the author points out something that I talk about constantly: the price of carbon (and mercury, and selenium, etc.) emissions is zero.  The damage to our lungs and to our environment is dismissed as if it doesn’t exist at all; more accurately, it’s blithely passed along for our children – and their children to – clean up.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

As my colleague Jon Lesage notes in his newsletter, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may be changing the way it does its MPG (miles per gallon) calculations.  Recent news has shown large gaps between claims and truth in the ratings for conventional cars and hybrids, and the car-buying public is rightfully demanding a change.  But the way this works for electric vehicles is an even better candidate for revamping.

Since the 1970s, the EPA has provided ratings for all cars sold in the U.S. in terms of estimated miles per gallon,  but concern for the use of gasoline had been part of our culture for quite some time. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Earlier today I had an interesting conversation I thought I’d share — on a potential video project based on the vicissitudes of the energy industry.  Yes, renewables are making progress, albeit slow, but this is happening in an extremely difficult economic and political climate.  I.e., there are hundreds of millions of dollars being spent in an effort to ensure that the renewable energy industry fails. (more…)

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