I’ve often written that Big Energy is on the same path that Big Tobacco chose to take in the mid 20th Century: knowingly causing significant damage to the population’s health and safety, but covering it up as long as possible. In fact, here’s a piece summarizing the huge financial forces behind climate change denial. (more…)
After four years of service as administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson is stepping down. Thus far, she has provided no reason for her decision to leave.
Let me go out on a limb and suggest one: she’s tired of the 24/7 hassle from the right wing, which has fought every single effort she’s taken to mitigate the vast ecological destruction we’re wreaking on our earth and skies, and the consequent damage to our health. (more…)
It is not too difficult to convert your house in a solar-powered one. If you have made up your mind about installing solar energy panels, then the first place to start with would be to check your roof for inclinations. If your roof is not inclined or oriented to make optimal use of the sun’s rays then, the solar panels would have to be inclined and oriented accordingly. If your house does not receive a lot of sunlight for some part of the year, then the PV solar panels would have to be designed in a way that it provides you electricity throughout the year. (more…)
Yesterday was the birthday of Rod Serling, creator of the iconic mid-20th Century television program “The Twilight Zone.” According to the Writer’s Almanac, “Serling believed it was the writer’s job to ‘menace the public consciousness’ and considered television and radio as a means for social criticism.”
And what a terrific job he did. Those of us old enough to remember will call to mind episodes whose premises included the implication of mindless conformity, the horrors of mob rule, the potential for cruelty that lies within all of us, and our tendency toward xenophobia – all presented with terrifying realism, normally with a brilliantly clever ironic twist at the end. (more…)
Girl (pictured here): Well, I want a peaceful, sustainable world, where humankind comes together to deal with its major challenges, you know, climate change, social injustice — that kind of thing. Can you make that happen?
Santa: Ho ho ho! How about a doll?
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,
If I weren’t covering renewables, I’d feel like a louse.
Or perhaps….
About the lack of clean energy I continue to grouse.
Be this as it may….
I look forward to the e-newsletters I receive once or twice a week from CSP Today
Those of us who live near major cities spend a great deal of time stuck in traffic, when we’re unfortunate enough to be forced to drive at rush-hour, or encounter some special circumstance like an accident. I’m sure many of us, in addition to the frustration we feel, wonder about the nature and cause of heavy traffic and how it may be avoided. Here’s a good article that looks at that very phenomenon. (more…)
I had meetings all over Southern California on Thursday, and driving to and from them enabled me to listen to the radio and absorb news that I otherwise would have missed.
I had barely backed out of my driveway when I heard this story about a scandal surrounding the biofuels trade between the U.S. and Canada. It seems the transportation company, which was compensated by the government for bringing an eco-friendly product into Canada, never bothered to unload it when it reached its destination; the same load kept making its way back and forth across the border, while the company raked in huge profits by pretending to do something good for the environment. Apparently, it would have cost the company a trifle more to have actually unloaded the biofuel and then get more, so they figured: screw it. (more…)
I had a real eye-opening meeting the other day with Mike Miller, an extremely accomplished entrepreneur and angel investor in Los Angeles.
Frankly, I had come to think of angels as generally too small to make an investment of the scope required for most of the projects I support, and possibly too regional in focus — a potential mismatch considering most of the world’s involvement with cleantech is happening (sadly) outside the United States. (more…)
I’m out of town for the holidays, but I’ll maintain some level of posts through the next week.
I also wanted to mention that my current book project, “Renewable Energy – Following the Money,” is a bit behind schedule, but should be completed in a couple of months. My transcriptionist (she does a really good job) had an illness in the family that took her off the project for a bit, but she’s back now. I also had some misgivings about the project strategically, but I think I’ve resolved them.
