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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage

I’m headed up to the deserts of California tomorrow to check out an important event in renewable energy history.  To be specific, I’ll be on the outskirts of Tehachapi, a small town noted in song, to see a demo of the Advanced Rail Energy Storage, and enjoy a celebratory barbecue with the team there.  Readers will recall that ARES CEO Jim Kelly joined me for our webinar in April of this year; in addition, I’m quite friendly with a few members of the investor team. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

As I mentioned in a recent article, what we normally call “biomass,” while it’s technically renewable energy, is nowhere near an ideal energy source; most of it is really just deforestation, the cutting and incineration of wood for cooking, lighting, and heating and the release of the resultant exhaust toxins directly into the atmosphere.

Here’s an article on the subject, and a discussion of the World Bank’s attempts to deal with the issue that about 1.2 billion people still lack access to electricity, and 2.8 billion have to rely on wood or other biomass.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Just a short post to say that I’m attending the 25th Annual Live Oak Music Festival this weekend.  Incredible people, and, of course, music that is just amazing.  Robert Earl Keen particularly rocked the place last night, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every single act.  When my friend and I wandered off to our tent at about 4:00 this morning (something I don’t think I’ve done since college) there were people still up, softly playing guitars, violins, mandolins, and singing away.

Could such a story have any possible relevance to renewable energy? Well, if I could be permitted to make a stretch, I would comment on the demographics.  Based on my observations and numerous discussions, I don’t know where you’d have to go to find a larger percentage of people who view themselves and their fellows as citizens of the world, and recognize our duty to behave thoughtfully with respect to one another and our environment.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

I’m always on the lookout for good infographics on renewable energy.  I just came across the one I linked above, but it’s flawed for several reasons:

• It treats as separate items things like “hydro” and “biomass” (sources of energy) with “heat” and “power” (uses of energy), but then adds them together.  That’s like adding up “apples” and “fruit” – it’s double-counting apples, or adding apples and motorcycles and getting something meaningless.

• It combines geothermal, biomass, wind, and solar.  I would think the point would be to break these out.

• Most of what it refers to as “biomass” is essentially deforestation – chopping down trees and burning them for fuel in the developing countries of Africa.  Technically, this is renewable energy, but that misses the point; energy from this source is far more damaging to the planet than coal.   If you don’t care about that, there is no reason to care about renewable energy in the first place.

Here’s an open invitation: Anyone working on an infographic in this space can get my two-cents’ worth on the basic concepts in advance, absolutely free.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Smart Grid

I love these people at SmartGridNews.  They keep the content positive and hopeful – even in a world that’s having some pretty obvious fits and starts adopting smart grid.  And they try to get at the subject from every conceivable direction.  Here’s an article they just sent on power outages, pointing out that utilities that deploy smart grid are much faster at restoring power when it goes out as a result of a storm.  That’s hard to object to, isn’t it? (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

I’m on the email distribution list for PennEnergy’s reports on the energy industry as a whole, and, while I don’t buy the reports, I like to read the free summaries.  Linked above is an interesting one on the levelized cost of energy (LCOE) – a subject we try to cover often here.  I’m sure the full report provides a great deal of granularity about the various factors that are responsible for driving the prices of electricity: government policies, capital, fuel, O&M, and air emission control costs for coal and gas plants.

Explicit here are the costs that government imposes to deal with the so-called “externalities” of the use of fossil fuel, e.g., the damage to human health and the natural environment, both of which are still largely ignored.  But I predict that this will not remain the case forever, as the world’s people continue to catch onto the enormous harm associated with our current recklessness and gross negligence in terms of protecting our planet and the life forms on it.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I just got an email from a reader who asked: “How monitored do you think this email to you is? How many of your followers restrain their comments, do you think?”

Ha!  Interesting questions.  Personally, I would be surprised if some form of “Big Brother” is not monitoring my emails. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Smart Grid

Frequent commenter John Roche writes:

It’s been interesting reading your blogs. I’ll say I’m for the environment and have taken some renewable energy classes to complement my technical background. Will probably even install solar on mine and a friend’s house. However, I get the feeling things might go to an extreme with many of the updated regulations coming out lately. The carbon tax is expected by some to totally shut down the coal power industry overnight. I think this could reduce baseload supply by a large enough percentage that there would be a large power deficit when demand is up. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

Going green could improve your business’s public image and, in some cases, help you lower costs. Every business needs to know these 5 important aspects about going green.

Solar Panels are a Long-Term Investment

Today’s solar panels are significantly more effective than those made during the 2000s and 1990s. Expect those manufactured in the future to generate even more energy. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

I’m sure 99% of readers here know this, but the “climate change debate” that exists in the United States is an almost entirely local phenomenon.  Put another way, there is no controversy whatsoever associated with the subject among educated people in any other part of the world. (more…)

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