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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

When possible, I like to take public transportation rather than drive, since it lowers my carbon footprint, and allows me to work en route.  Also, all things equal, I like to support Amtrak, as my fare helps bring this system that much closer to profitability. 

Amtrak is subsidized by the U.S. taxpayer.  I don’t resent that; I think the federal government should support a public transportation asset whether it’s profitable or not.  I do, however, expect some level of good sense in the allocation of these funds.  I took an Amtrak bus last week from the train station in Santa Barbara to Union Station in Los Angeles, because the schedule was slightly better for me than the trains that run between the same two points.  I was the only passenger out of 48 seats!  That bus would have run, absolutely empty, had it not been for me. 

Come on, how about a little common sense here?  I don’t have a problem with your spending our money, but please do it responsibly.  As one example of what I’m sure are dozens: don’t run buses between train stations. 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. talking about renewable energy, the externalities of fossil fuels and nuclear, subsidies for oil companies, corruption, energy policy, climate change, ocean acidification, etc.  Wow.  Not only do he and I agree on literally everything, we even use a lot of the same words and phrases to tell the story.

I’m going to send him copies of my books by way of introduction, and see if I can’t drum up some way of contributing to his efforts.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

As one can imagine, the law firms that work for the renewable energy industry are quite busy in helping their clients navigate the issues that surround the development of major projects, whether they’re in solar, wind, biomass, etc.  The large law firm Stoel Rives specializes in this space, and was good enough to speak with me at length at last month’s Renewable Energy Finance Forum; they even sent me free copies of a dozen or so comprehensive and beautifully printed documents that summarize the major legal issues confronting developers in each major arena within the clean energy industry.

I had to laugh when I looked at the first couple of pages in the publication: “The Law of Marine and Hydrokinetic Energy,” as it shows at a glance one of the major reasons that the United States is moving at a snail’s pace with respect to the development of alternative energy technologies.

Imagine, if you will, that you’ve invented some new way of extracting energy out of moving water, and you have an eye towards commercializing it.  You come across this manual, pour yourself a hot cup of coffee, and begin reading.  The introduction includes: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s a good article on the passing of George McGovern.  Like its author, I too was a fan.  I was 17 years old in 1972, too young to vote by a frustratingly narrow margin, but I remember being taken by a talk McGovern gave in which he said, (and I’m paraphrasing based on my memory 40 years later):  “I’m a liberal, which, if it means anything, suggests that government has a role in improving society, including taking care of people who are unable to take care of themselves.  If that strikes a chord with you, I’d appreciate your vote.” 

If anyone can give me an example of candor in our modern presidential campaigns that remotely resembles that, I’d sure love to see it. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Like most environmentalists, I was peeved with the presidential candidates’ avoidance of the climate change issue in their first two debates.  Here’s a good article that has convinced me that this is probably best for those of us concerned with the subject.  The typical American voter is not disposed to process this stuff well, in a time of financial pain. 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

I was lucky enough to stay on a magnificent property in Northern California this past weekend, an Italian-style villa made even more spectacular by a rushing river running through it, which bathed my fellow guests and me in what is arguably the most soothing and tranquil sound on the planet.

Coincidentally, our host told me that he is very interested in renewable energy, and asked me about solar panels. But when we finally got around to walking down to the river, I was impressed at what I saw, and told him that I’d do some rough calculations on the power that could potentially be extracted from the river itself.

I just wrote to him:

Per our talk, I’ve done a few calcs based on the hydrokinetic power you may be able to take out of the river that runs through your property. Even with the river running at the seasonal low point, at a minimum you have at least 50 gallons per second, dropping at least a few feet.

Potential energy = the mass of the water * gravitational acceleration * the height from which the water’s falling. Here, let’s round that off to 200 KG * 10 M/sec/sec * 1 meter = 2000 joules/sec = 2000 watts. Even though you won’t get all that due to efficiency losses, that’s not too bad, and, in the winter and spring, I’m guessing you’ll get at least 5 – 10 times that.

The bad news is you will have to make some changes in the flow of the river in the form of a small dam, which may not be feasible for various reasons. In any case, I thought you’d be interested to know that such a project could be worthwhile if you wish to pursue it.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

A dear friend invited me to go wine tasting this weekend with some of his buddies, and I accepted, even though I’m anything but a connoisseur. Some of the people in the group asked me a few times during our time together: “What are you going to write on your blog about this, Craig?”

“Good question!” I’d laugh in response. “I’m still developing the angle on it. We’re kind of near Sacramento, so maybe something on state government. And hey, how about this: there are chemical fertilizers and insecticides in all but organic wine. How about that? Does organic taste better?”

“Sorry, no,” came the unanimous response.

At the end of the day, it’s possible that there really is no angle here, and I’ll have to content myself with having spent three days with no purpose other than hanging out with some very cool people, and doing a bit more reading than I otherwise would have accomplished in the same period.  Took a great hike with our host, a retired attorney who’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. Could have been a lot worse.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

A reader sent me this article that suggests that it’s too late to stop global warming by cutting emissions and writes:

I happen to agree with this guy. Climate change is so far advanced at this point that it makes more sense to me to concentrate our scarce resources on dealing with the effects of climate change rather than the causes, i.e., effects like the impact on agriculture, forestry, flora and fauna, sea levels, etc. Sometimes it seems that our approach to climate change is overly focused on emissions. Kinda like a doctor trying to prevent the patient from getting sick when the patient is already sick and the focus should be on dealing with the symptoms or the general fighting the last war.

I’m not sure.  Coincidentally, I just this minute got back from a short but vigorous hike with a friend in which we talked about this very thing.  I’m guessing that, if we really had all the information we need at our fingertips, that we’d see the need to cut emissions. 

Keep in mind also that CO2 is only one form of emissions coming from coal-fired power plants.  13,200 died this year in the U.S. alone from the aromatics.  Cost to our healthcare system: at least $250 billion.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

A reader sent me this article on wind turbines made of wood. 

I’m aware that the footprint of wind turbines is a significant factor in determining their value to the promise of eco-friendly energy generation.  In fact, as shown in this article from Inside Climate News, wind has the lowest eco-footprint of any mode of generating electricity.  Personally, I doubt that this approach using wood represents an important improvement. 

Having said that, one of the clean energy business plans I happen to like contemplates a wind turbine design that greatly reduces the materials required for a given nameplate rating.  Materials usage is a huge factor in the cost of the devices as well; at least two-thirds of onshore wind is contained in the cost of the materials themselves.  Therefore it makes sense to rethink the massive three-blade approach in which a turbine can weigh as much as 300+ tons. The company’s breakthrough enables them to cut material usage in half, reducing the turbine cost by 35-40%, with no sacrifice of reliability or performance and no increase in operating costs.

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I’m constantly reminding readers that I’m willing to review their business plans for free, and, if I like them, do what I can to help them raise the investment capital they need.  Historically, however, most of these concepts have been “non-starters.”  Why?  Perhaps the discussion below will help to clarify what works and what doesn’t:

Reader:  Hi Craig. Thank you for taking the time to return my call today. Per our conversation I have attached our investment pitch for our (waste-to-fuels) project. The company is hoping to raise bridge funding so as to achieve the initiation of our project. Once we have received the engineering reports, paid the municipality fees and other administrative costs we will have satisfied all of the prerequisites of the main project funding source.

Per our talk, I appreciate your reaching out, but this is typical of a class of projects in which I know for a fact I can’t help.  For me to have a chance, the team needs to have all the development capital in place, the project shovel ready, and considerable liquidity on top of that.  In addition, in a case like this, there needs to be no doubt whatsoever about the long-term availability of feedstock and take-off, as well as proven technology.  Re: the concept of using “other people’s money” to develop a project from the ground up, all I can say is, “That dog don’t hunt.”

If you can move this along to the point I’ve described here, please let me know.  In any case, good luck! 

 

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