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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

A friend of mine sent me an invitation to a webinar called the “Roadmap to a Hydrogen Economy and Review of Alternative Energy Technologies.”  I hope he doesn’t regard my response as indelicate or ungracious: 

Thanks!  I’ll try to check this out, even though I’m in complete disagreement with the thesis, for two reasons:

1)     The idea that “The planetary fossil fuel system will be replaced by a transition to a hydrogen based system” is false. We’re going to retrofit our 3.5 million square miles (of the continental U.S.) with a delivery system for hydrogen?  Not in a million years. 

2)     That the idea is impractical is only part of the problem; it doesn’t make any sense.  It’s like saying “we’re replacing gasoline with steam or compressed air.”  OK, there is chemical energy in gasoline that can be released, but there isn’t in water or air.  Where’s the energy going to come from to evaporate the water or compress the air? If you want hydrogen, where’s the energy going to come from to, e.g., electrolyze water?

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Here’s an article whose author is attempting to show that the goal of 100% renewables is closer than we think.  At the risk of stating the obvious, I jotted down a few notes I wish to share:

• We’re a very long way from replacing coal using market-driven forces in places like West Virginia and the rest of the “coal-country” in America.  The world is not running out of coal (unfortunately). In certain parts of the U.S., you don’t even have to dig for it; you have to be careful not to trip over it when you walk through places like Wyoming.  If we can’t stop burning coal for other (i.e., moral) reasons, it’s going to be around for at least a few decades, as the cost of wind and solar coupled with energy storage solutions slowly falls and the two graphs finally cross.  Other parts of the world (like Beijing, pictured to the left) have their own tragic stories to tell about the effluent of their coal-fired power plants. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Here’s a report on the amount of CO2 associated with various power sources.  It’s not uncommon for the nuclear industry to seize upon reports like this, and say, “Ya see?  We’re clean energy too.”  Of course, that’s true, and I wouldn’t have a concern in the world about nuclear except for its huge (and rising) costs, and the dangers it represents, both in terms of operations and waste disposal. 

Going back to the cost issue, I’m reminded of the question I often ask about energy-related hardware, whether it’s a type of power plant, a form of energy storage, a piece of smart-grid electronics, or whatever, i.e., “Where are the cost structures likely going to take us over the coming years or decades?”  This is what I don’t like about pumped hydro and advanced rail energy storage: they’re based on technologies that are almost 200 years old; their cost structures cannot logically be predicted to fall.  Conversely, when we look at technologies like PV and advanced battery chemistries that invoke nano-physics, is fairly obvious that costs will fall as technology improves and undergoes economies of scale.

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

I often mention FedEx and how impressed I am with some of their more progressive efforts in corporate sustainability.  I should also mention that their rival, UPS, is working hard in the same direction.  As noted here, “Brown” is currently in the process of octupling (a word you don’t see often) their solar power capacity from 360 kilowatts to 2.76 megawatts.  Perhaps more interestingly, they like to own the PV on their roofs, rather than contract it out to a third party.  

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

Frequent commenter and alternative fuels expert Ben Thorp responds to my piece on electric transportation the other day, noting:

Energy efficiency … may be the largest issue if saving fossil fuel or the global environment is a major concern. The US utility energy efficiency has been ~34% for decades as reported by the Department of Energy. When you add line losses and battery efficiency and driving losses there are huge efficiency challenges. Let’s focus on the major issues to see if anyone has solutions.

Ben:  I think you’re right on here. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Last night, a friend of mine sent me a considerable laundry list of things he thinks everyone, certainly all U.S. citizens, are entitled to as basic human rights.  I don’t know. I see providing all this stuff gratis to a society that includes millions of lazy screw-ups as really distasteful, not to mention unworkable. Having said that, here are a few broad strokes that should be made in the direction of an ideal civilization as I see it:

Universal healthcare.  Taking this out of corporate control will result in far better outcomes for everyone (except those seeking to profit at the expense of others’ misery) — even for the doctors who are quitting in droves as more of them every day are realizing that what they’re doing does not align with their personal sensibilities.  Such a move will also immediately focus healthcare on wellness, versus the invention and encouragement of disease so it can be treated profitably.

Taxing wealth. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Here’s an article called “Scientists Confirm: Arctic Sea Ice ‘Collapse’ at Our Door – Warming planet and new evidence portend future of ice-free Arctic. It’s quite worthwhile, but, perhaps because I come across several reports on the subject in the course of an average week, I found the comments more interesting than the piece itself. The report happens to be on a progressive website, CommonDreams, so I suppose that explains the fact that readers aren’t too skeptical, but are deeply concerned about the future of civilization. I found their discussions among themselves and their compassionate efforts to support one another quite touching.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Here’s a very good, objective and realistic treatment of our planet’s attempts at sustainable energy, from the combined perspectives of technology, economics, and politics.   Here, in one document, readers will get “the whole nine yards” as to how difficult this subject is and how much work we have to do.  The take-away, sadly, is a recognition of how unlikely it is that we’ll get there, given all the political infighting and obfuscations that get in the way of confronting the sheer magnitude of the challenge that lies in front of us. 

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

If you think that climate change denial is a random event, or the natural result of a free-thinking society, you’re sadly mistaken.  You may want to take a few minutes out of your day, and read this article, which covers the enormous outpouring of money to fund campaigns that aggressively twist the public’s perception of global warming.   

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Here’s a piece on cap and trade.  Like every person who hopes that civilization will find its way towards sustainability,  I’m rooting for success here.  But frankly, I can’t imagine how cap and trade will accomplish its aims, given all the thousands of lawyers and their clients who are profiting mightily by building work-arounds.

If you really think we’re releasing too much carbon into the atmosphere, can’t you just put a tax on it?  Force those who generate and consume energy based on fossil fuels to pay for what they’re doing; it’s just that simple.  Immediately, people will find that renewable energy isn’t too expensive; they’ll realize that it’s the deal of the century. 

 

 

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