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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

The oil industry faces numerous battles on several different fronts (thus it’s a good thing for them and their shareholders that they have more money than God to fight them).  One such battle is peak oil, the concept that the planet’s ability to produce oil has peaked, and so, regardless of demand, production can only decline.  Of course, peak oil is a matter of physical fact rather than money in the bank, though its obscene wealth, in fact, has enabled the industry to convince us that peak oil will not be a significant hindrance to our ability to move our bodies and our cargo around the surface of the planet. 

I’ve attended presentations from the American Petroleum Institute (API) where their laser-sharp spokespeople vigorously contest the concept of peak oil with “facts” that, to me, seem to appear out of nowhere; they certainly fly into the teeth of the vast majority of peer-reviewed reports I’ve seen.  Yet I wonder what the API boys are saying about this piece in BusinessWeek, based on a report by Citigroup.  In less than 20 years, Saudi Arabia, currently the world’s largest producer of oil, is predicted to be a net importer of crude. Importing from where, exactly? 

I’m sure the oil industry would absolutely love to be around to provide red-blooded Americans the gas they’ll need to drag their 6.0 liter Ford Excursions around what’s left of a planet a few decades hence.  But sorry, it won’t happen.  All the money, and all the bought politicians in the world can’t change the basic geology, physics and chemistry at play here. 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I just got off the phone with Stephan Williams, the guest blogger I wrote about a week or so back.  I’m thrilled to announce that Stephan’s going to be the driving force behind the “corporate role models” blog that I’ve been chewing on for these last few months.

Here’s the basic concept:

We want to herald the good things that are happening in the corporate world vis-à-vis sustainability – and there are a ton of them.  Dr. Rajendra Pachauri (chairman of the IPCC) reminded me of this in our meeting last week.  Where the 200+ sovereign countries of the world may be slow to come to agreements about climate change, many of the largest corporate entities are making fantastically large and completely sincere efforts to lower our ecologic impact on the planet.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

It’s the birthday of journalist and activist Jonathan Kozol, a teacher in Boston, who wrote largely on his experiences with school segregation and institutionalized racism.  I had an extremely progressive English teacher my junior year in high school who guided us through a few of Kozol’s essays; I recall how impressed I was with the power of his writing, and I note, looking back, how profoundly influential he’s been over the past half century.

More to the point, Kozol said, “Pick battles large enough to matter, small enough to win.”  That’s food for thought, to be sure, as we go about our work trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a society largely indifferent – in some cases openly hostile – to the concept. 

I suppose the best position, ironically, is one of indifference.  Of course, we’d all like our ideas to be greeted warmly; we’d feel great to see our promotion of cleantech making clear and decisive change.  Realistically, however, good ideas aren’t always embraced immediately, though that doesn’t make them any less “good.”

Whether the world realizes it or not, it needs to cut energy consumption, via conservation and efficiency, and it needs to make the remaining consumption less impactful on the environment, via the migration to renewables.  Let’s never cease to tell that story and be a part of the process of taking good ideas forward, knowing that our day will come.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

Here’s a video on the ”Sol-Bot” — a robot that automatically and continuously adjusts the azimuth and the altitude of the individual solar panels in an array.

This is certainly thinking outside the box, but if it’s a cost-effective solution, I’m a bald eagle.  It appears to be an example of the wonderful quip that Dr. Peter Lilienthal left me with at the conclusion of our first talk: “If you don’t care what you pay for it, I’ll give you all the clean energy you can possibly use.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

The new study published by Infiniti Research this month has found that the worldwide solar panel market likely will grow at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 15.3 percent from 2011 to 2015.

In other words, the study suggests that the solar market will grow 15.3% every year until 2015 – or a total of about 50% in a three-year time. The study has assessed the solar market in America, Europe, Asia, as well as the Middle East and Africa. This leaves Australia out of the report, a country that has seen a tenfold increase in their total PV capacity between 2009 and 2011. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Senior energy analyst and frequent commenter Glenn Doty writes:

Farmers are getting hit by the drought and heat wave. Wealthy southern landowners are getting hit by increased tropical storm activity… and everyone has to spend more to keep the air conditioning running. Within six years we will likely see satellite pictures of Earth with no ice in the arctic seas. It is becoming impossible even for the most uneducated people to deny global warming… and when it becomes impossible, they’ll give up the fight, and everyone will claim they knew it all along.

Great perspective; I agree with you 100%.  I guess the question is: Exactly what will we do when the lies and obfuscations finally stop, public awareness comes up, and we have broad-spread agreement about the reality of climate change?  I’d like to see a sane and honest process by which cleantech ideas that are based on solid science that could possibly scale to address the problem receive the funding they need to move through the R&D process rapidly. But how real is that, given the level of incompetence and corruption associated with the allocation of the ARPA-E money in today’s world, coupled with the poisonous political environment?

I know I don’t have to convince you of this, of all people.  The fact that Doty Windfuels can’t get the few million dollars it needs to develop its breakthrough approach to synthetic fuels is unconscionable. 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

It’s the birthday of best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell, for my money, among the very brightest people on the planet.  His first book, The Tipping Point – How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference, was published in 2000, based on the analysis of “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point” that cause huge sociological changes that mark everyday life. As Gladwell states, “Ideas and products and messages and behaviors spread like viruses do.” About the book, he said: “The hope with Tipping Point was it would help the reader understand that real change was possible.”

I occasionally note that it could, at some point, become “cool” to be “green.”  Wouldn’t it be terrific if caring about the people and the planet around us became the next light beer, Twitter, SUVs, fast food, or texting? But exactly what and where is the tipping point for this one?  How do we get there from here? 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

Here’s an article that compares the two main competing technologies in concentrated solar power (CSP): linear Fresnel lenses vs. parabolic troughs.  The main issue, of course, is the cost of the reflectors themselves, as well as the apparatus whereby they track the sun as it moves across the sky. 

This reminds me of the work that has been done by my friends at Ahura Energy, whose breakthrough directly affects the cost associated with tracking the sun.   I’m hoping to round up an investor or two who will be interested in funding a few small pilot plants, each of which have power purchase agreement already in place; it’s a quite attractive proposition.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Some say it’s folly to be spending billions of dollars on space exploration when we can’t afford to develop technologies that would deal with the shortages of clean energy, water, and food here on Earth.  In fact, I’m sympathetic with the viewpoint.  But I defy anyone to watch this video on the Mars landing made by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and not see the value in this amazing program.  Enjoy.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Apparently, I’m the only one who sees the humor in the advertisement that CODA Automotive has been running these last few months:

The New, All-Electric CODA — The Only EV with a Real Trunk!

Every time I see it, I think:  After the $5K drop in price from $45K, you get the privilege of paying $40K (less incentives) to buy a cheaply-made, unattractive, and inconvenient car (you plug it in and worry about range) from a company that has a miniscule chance of being in business long enough to honor its warranty.  But at least it has a real trunk; there’s the deal-cincher.

I find it funny that someone thinks this is effective marketing.  Again, I know not everyone shares my sense of humor.

 

 

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