2GreenEnergy supporter Don Harmon of LiFeBATT, Inc. just sent me this article about the piece that came out of the University of Delaware recently, presenting the possibility of a complete migration to renewable energy by 2030. The discussion that follows is interesting, i.e., the conversation between the supporters and nay-sayers.
A few observations: (more…)
When Hive Lighting did its presentation at this year’s Clean Business Investment Summit, I remember thinking, “Wow, this is really good. A true breakthrough in lighting for film-making and still photography that combines advantages in quality, cost, and energy efficiency.” For some reason, these guys fell off my radar screen, but they’re back in a big way. I’m going to see if I can help them tell their story to their base of prospective customers and industry influencers.
The video linked above is a bit technical, but still quite understandable.
In the United States, transmission and distribution losses accounted for 260 teraWatt-hours (billion kWhs) of energy last year. Here’s a report in which Duke Energy, Silver Spring Networks and Power Analytics share their strategies for cutting these distribution losses, thus improving efficiency while improving grid reliability.
The annual Smart Grid Distribution Automation conference is in Raleigh, NC next February. If this were local, I’d probably check it out, but it’s too specialized to warrant making a trip out of town.
According to the Writer’s Almanac, Tuesday was the birthday of:
American short-story author Grace Paley. She grew up in an immigrant neighborhood in the Bronx, where she was surrounded by a wide variety of languages. Her own parents spoke Yiddish and Russian at home, and English in public. She loved to hear the different tongues, and especially loved listening to all the gossip, but when she first started writing poetry, she wrote in a formal, stilted British style because she thought that’s what poems were supposed to sound like. Then, in college, she met W.H. Auden and he agreed to read her work. She later recalled: “We went through a few poems, and he kept asking me, ‘Do you really talk like that?’ And I kept saying, ‘Oh yeah, well, sometimes.’ That was the great thing I learned from Auden: that you’d better talk your own language.”
I do enough writing that I tend to notice comments like this, and take what I can from them. Auden’s advice seems spot on to me. In fact, when I’m helping my kids with their writing assignments in school and they are having trouble getting started, I often ask them to look at me and tell me about the subject at hand. Then I say, “Excellent. Write that down.”
This is incredible. I had to view it twice. It’s another reason why we have to focus on China as a country that is soaring ahead of us in so many areas. This 30-story hotel took 15 days to build!
Notice each of the sections already has electric and water pipes installed and were tested for accuracy all prior to them leaving the factory. It appears like those “sections” formed and pretested at the factory, snug together like Lego building blocks. And look at the earthquake resistance level.
Thanks, Penny. It most certainly is incredible how the Chinese have zoomed past the U.S. in terms of technology, enabled by a number of factors – some praiseworthy, others not. In any case, it’s up to us to work hard to develop the cutting-edge technologies in the chief disciplines that will be important to world leadership in the 21st Century. Needless to say, clean energy is key among these arenas.
In response to my recent piece on mass transit, frequent contributor and very bright fellow Tim Kingston writes:
I fully support mass transit within an urban area — subways, etc. What I don’t support is intercity public transportation like the California high speed rail boondoggle. This project will take years to complete, follow a politically determined route where big shot politicians will ensure the transit stops are in their districts and it will cost so much money you could probably buy a Mercedes for each California commuter with all that loot.
As always, Tim, thanks. I hear you. You’ll travel a long way to find someone who sees as much corruption in the public sector as I do. But, if I may, two quick points: (more…)
Here’s an article that points to a further reduction in the cost of wind energy, based on collaboration between General Electric, Virginia Tech and the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory that could fundamentally change how wind blades are designed, manufactured and installed.
And here’s a piece from the University of Delaware suggesting that clean energy can completely replace fossil fuels over the coming 20 years, using the right combination of renewable resources, combined with storage.
Nice to hear a bit of good news every now and then.
According to the Writer’s Almanac, last Saturday was:
…the birthday of nonfiction author Bill Bryson who published in 2010, “Seeing Further: The Story of Science, Discovery, and the Genius of the Royal Society,” a collection of articles and essays celebrating the Royal Society‘s 350th anniversary. Bryson has described himself as a “cheerleader for science,” and told The New Statesman: “Science has been quite embattled. It’s the most important thing there is. An arts graduate is not going to fix global warming. They may do other valuable things, but they are not going to fix the planet, or cure cancer, or get rid of malaria.” (more…)
Over 50 years ago, an exciting new light source emerged and was quickly put to its first practical use in vehicle indicators. Nowadays, the light emitting diode (LED) is put to widespread use, from television remotes to aircraft landing lights right down to the fairy lights which adorn the neighbourhood this Christmas. The popularity of LED lighting has grown as people become more environment conscious, due to its high energy efficiency and long lifespan, not to mention the incredible array of colours now available. (more…)
Last Thursday afternoon I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by an organization called Liberty and Justice, a start-up company that manufactures men’s apparel in Liberia and Ghana for import into the U.S., under brands like Haggar. The focus is on high quality, ensuring wonderful customer service and guaranteeing high rates of retention from these U.S. customers.
90% of the company’s employees are women; most of the other 10% are young men who were formerly child-soldiers.
Let’s look at what happens at a personal level for the employees and their families: (more…)
