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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

When I was still a kid, one of the movies I loved was Back to the Future. Yeah, and you can bet your dollar that one of my most favorite machines would be the time-travelling car that Marty McFly rode to get back into the past. Back then, everything that came from the said movie seemed “futuristic” and the energy that powered up the car’s time-travelling engine fascinated kids and adults alike. Unfortunately, that kind of energy capacitor has not yet been invented, but who knows? Perhaps a genius inventor may finally discover or make one.

Speaking of energy, I’ve chanced upon an article in the Internet that talks about the possibility of using human fat into energy. Are you kidding me? Human fat? (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

In the recent past, the goal for many business school graduates was to pursue their MBA in order to find a more lucrative salary. Today, a simple MBA may not be enough. As the world goes green, business school grads find it more beneficial to concentrate on a defined degree once they head to graduate school. Here’s where a green MBA can take you:

1.Finance
Jobs in the financial sector are sought after by hundreds of business school graduates every year thanks to their high salaries. Because demand for these jobs is so high, it makes sense to stand out from the crowd. With a green MBA, you can find a job as an economic analyst for existing and new businesses who want to enhance their green status and reduce their negative impact on the environment. You may take part in corporate sustainability efforts, help to develop new technologies or even work on cost-analysis projects.
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I’d like to introduce a new member of the team:

Sara Biddle writes grants for 2GreenEnergy clients in small business and agricultural production who may be looking for funding from government entities, utilities, or private foundations.  Sara’s background makes her a perfect fit for this position; she earned her Master’s in Environmental Law and Policy from the Vermont Law School, then began working in the solar industry, where she focused on residential sales, grant writing and some renewable policy work. Sara continues to work in solar, now in commercial sales.

Welcome, Sara!

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

Here’s an article that tells a story that’s playing itself out all over the world – this time, in Spain: Fiery drama and fierce tensions caused by tightening budgets for energy.

Nowhere more than Spain, deficits need to be cut.  Subsidies for renewables are on the chopping block.  The renewable energy people suggest tapping the fully paid-off and enormously profitable nuclear and hydro utilities. The giants refuse.  They want the subsidies for renewables pulled, and appear to have a new law in place that will make this happen, which would destroy the fledgling industry.  But clean energy is fighting back; in particular, the CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) investors claim the law is discriminatory.

It’s down to the wire.  Which way will this go?  Apparently, to International Court of Arbitration.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Each week I look forward to receiving the “EV Insider” from EVWorld.com’s Bill Moore.  If you’re not already a subscriber, you may want to consider becoming one, as that status will provide you access to each edition as it’s published.  Now going into his 15th year (!), Bill has brought the news on the future of transportation, presented in a very pure and unbiased manner, to tens of millions of people all over the globe. 

Perhaps most important, Bill goes beyond the confines of electric transportation and delivers terrific insight on the larger issues.  For instance, in addition to beefy articles on e-bicycles in New York City and BMW’s i3, this week’s issue contains a wonderful treatment of carbon taxation, including blurbs that explain each major nation’s approach to the challenge.  Then there’s an article on the shrinking polar icecap, which is diminishing in terms of both area and thickness far faster than anyone had predicted.  All of this follows a report on Bill McKibben’s “Do The Math” nationwide, multicity tour, whose purpose is to heighten awareness of climate change and demand aggressive action from both the public and private sector, in particular, to block the development of the TransCanada XL pipeline.

I think you’ll be impressed.  I know I am. 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Native Slovakian Robin Babicek writes on the 2GreenEnergy Facebook page on my post concerning the geothermal breakthrough coming out of homeland:  

As long as we’re on the subject of Slovakia, have you heard about project GreenWay?  I go away for 6 months and my little country turns into a cleantech leader. Ain’t that some (^*@$).

The Greenway site is in Slovakian, but if the Google Chrome translator is to be trusted, the project is essentially the same as Better Place, i.e., battery-swapping for electric vehicles.  As far as I can tell, this concept isn’t catching on well, even in Israel, arguably the region of the globe whose physical, economic, and political conditions militate most forcefully in its favor. 

In any case, I’m delighted to see Slovakia running in the direction of cleantech. 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Geothermal

Imagine it was both possible and affordable to drill down anywhere to a sufficient depth to find rock hot enough to generate high pressure steam!

This is the target of a Slovak company called Geothermal Anywhere.

Geothermal Anywhere uses a Spallation technique using a combination of high pressure water jet and plasma discharge from a plasma torch (artificial lightning) to break off small chips of rock without contact using equipment designed to operate at extreme temperatures and pressures found at depths up to 10 km. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Geothermal

Here’s a note from Gary Tulie, a frequent commenter in the UK:

Craig:  I would like to let you know about an innovative company in Slovakia developing a spallation [a process in which fragments of material (spall) are ejected from a body due to impact or stress] drilling technique to allow geothermal power generation almost anywhere. The drilling technique is non-contact and uses a plasma torch. The bore can be lined as it is drilled using melted rock, and costs are expected to be approximately linear with depth down to 8km to 10km.  (Traditional drilling costs go exponential beyond around 3km). Bores can be drilled at constant diameter from top to bottom, and drilling is faster than contact drilling.

You may wish to find out more, or to write an article about the technology. Alternatively, if you would like, I could prepare a short article for 2GreenEnergy on the subject.

Terrific!  I’m rooting for geothermal, but the past few years haven’t been too auspicious.  And of course, the costs of drilling are a major issue, as a) there is no way to know in advance what you’re going to find, and b) you’re drilling through some of the toughest rock in the Earth’s crust. 

I’ll take you up on your offer to write an article, Gary.  This is fascinating stuff; I’ll look forward to reading your piece.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

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Here’s a consumer-oriented piece from the U.S. Department of Energy: 10 Things You Didn’t Know about Electric Vehicles.  Nicely done.

There are a couple of issues with EVs, however, that make this a trickier issue than the article implies:

• Even though the fuel savings versus gasoline are significant, the consumer value proposition, i.e., the cost/benefit proposition for the typical driver, while it’s steadily improving, is still not appealing.  Sure, it’s good to save $1000 per year on fuel, but how compelling is that if the cost of the vehicle is $10,000 more, and limits one’s range?

This is more than a rhetorical question.  Let’s look at sales numbers. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

If a solar company has advised you to switch to a micro inverter and you live in Australia, you should think twice. The fact of the matter is that micro inverters simply aren’t suitable for harsh Australian conditions. Whatever advantages they may have are completely cancelled out by a long list of drawbacks. In some environments, the right micro inverter might make a major difference. That’s simply not the case in Australia. Find out why that is below. (more…)

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