Blog – Page 1727 – 2GreenEnergy.com

More Discussion with Robert Rapier on Climate Change

craigshieldsPosted on July 23, 2012 Posted in Climate Change

I just had a very interesting phone conversation with Robert Rapier, one of the world’s most senior observers of the energy industry. We discussed the piece I wrote the other day called Energy, the Environment and Climate Change, which I based on his article: The Danger of Misinformation about Climate Change. He made a few points that are difficult to argue:

First, there needs to be less rancor about existence and scope of climate change. Scientists with legitimate, unbiased information should have the opportunity to present their findings, regardless of what those findings are.

Again, it’s hard to disagree with this, as long as what you’re NOT talking about is pseudo-science on climate change proffered by those with an agenda. When people realize that they’re being told lies (and yes, this has happened, and continues to happen) they get upset; I’m sympathetic to that. (more…)

Tagged with: China consumption of oil, energy industry, Energy the Environment and Climate Change, environment, environmentalists, global climate change, global warming, Heartland Institute, India consumption of oil, nuclear war, pseudo-science on climate change, Robert Rapier, The Danger of Misinformation about Climate Change, US consumption of oil

Dr. David Vernon on Global Climate Change

craigshieldsPosted on July 22, 2012 Posted in Climate Change

Robert Hennkens, a regular reader whose presence here I value greatly, introduced me this afternoon to Dr. David Vernon, and asked him to write a piece for us here at 2GreenEnergy, which I’ve reproduced below. I note from his CV that Dr. Vernon holds a BS in Forestry from Penn State, an MA in Botany from Cal State LA, and a Ph.D. in Ecology from Indiana State. He writes, “PSU Forestry requires courses in economics, finance and business management. I took climatology at Cal State. I have over 100 credits in Life Sciences and 15 in Earth Sciences. I am a member of AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science).”

Here’s his article on climate change. I hope you’ll find it as compelling as I did.

In 1971 I took a class in climatology. The subject of global warming came up. The attempt to measure the average temperature of the world was begun by Isaac Newton and the Royal Society in the 1600s. (more…)

Tagged with: AEST, Average Earth Surface Temperature, Cal State LA, climatology, Dr. David Vernon, global climate change, global warming, Indiana State, Isaac Newton, Penn State, Robert Hennkens, Royal Society, Svante Arrhenius

Thinking Critically About Society's Use of Energy

craigshieldsPosted on July 22, 2012 Posted in Renewables - Science

If you’re looking for some critical thinking on our civilization’s use of energy (including renewables) you may want to check out the writings of Ozzie Zehner.

It’s clear that Zehner has a lot of this correct. In particular, our paradigm for transportation that was forged in the 20th Century will not work in the 21st, and yanking out an internal combustion engine and replacing it with an electric drive train is not an effective response. (more…)

Tagged with: civilization’s use of energy, clean energy, electric drive train, electric transportation, Electric Vehicles, energy efficiency, energy solution, ICE, internal combustion engine, Los Angeles International Airport, Ozzie Zehner, paradigm for transportation, per-capita consumption of energy, public transportation, Renewable Energy, renewables, solar energy, solar power, unintended consequences, Wind Energy, wind power

Electric Transportation and Solar Energy

craigshieldsPosted on July 21, 2012 Posted in Photovoltaics

A reader asked that I comment on this fairly euphoric piece, suggesting that the world economy can and will be revived with the aggressive adoption of electric transportation and photovoltaics. Here are a few bits and pieces of my reaction.

• There are quite a number of industry observers who share optimism associated with the economic impact of a huge investment in cleantech. As I wrote here, probably the most visible are Amory Lovins and Jeremy Rifkin, but there are plenty of others.

• For my money, the low-hanging fruit here is not actually renewable energy at all, but (more…)

Tagged with: adoption of electric transportation, Amory Lovins, burning coal, coal-fired power plants, corn ethanol, electric transportation, Electric Vehicles, energy storage, EV consumer value proposition, EVs, externalities, externalities of fossil fuels, fossil fuels, fracking, Jeremy Rifkin, lowest-cost baseload power, nuclear renaissance, oil companies, oil pipelines, our home planet, production tax credit, PV, smart grid, solar energy, solar power, subsidies for the oil companies, using energy more wisely, using less energy, V2G, vehicle-to-grid, Wind Energy, wind power, world economy

Working Towards Sustainability

craigshieldsPosted on July 21, 2012 Posted in Sustainability

A reader comments:

We may not engender sufficient change to tip the balance before things become irreversibly critical, but at least it can be said that we gave it our best.

Exactly, my friend. I’m reminded of the heady days of business consulting, with all the pressure of employees/payroll, demanding clients, an ever more demanding partner, frequent travel, etc. One of my favorite things to say in meetings was this: “I can’t promise that we’ll achieve … (a certain goal). But I can tell you this for sure: if we miss it, it won’t be because we didn’t try our best.”

It’s very gratifying to know that there are so many good people who see how horribly wrong things are going with the respect to the environment, and are working hard to get them back on course.

Tagged with: environment, global climate change, global warming, Irreversible climate change, sustainability

Documentary On Climate Change

craigshieldsPosted on July 20, 2012 Posted in Climate Change

An old friend from college called this morning to alert me to this documentary on climate change called “Chasing Ice.” Apparently it’s quite artsy; it won an award at the Sundance Film Festival.

I’m sometimes invited to screenings of works like this before they’re released; I’m sure hoping that will be the case here.

Tagged with: Climate Change, documentary on climate change, global climate change, global warming, Sundance Film Festival

UK Receives Top Score in Energy Efficiency

craigshieldsPosted on July 20, 2012 Posted in Efficiency

Congratulations to Aedan Kernan (2GreenEnergy contributor) and our other friends in the UK. Your fine country received top honors in terms of energy efficiency rankings — #1 out of the 12 nations considered.

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), a Washington DC-based non-profit just published its first-ever International Energy Efficiency Scorecard. The report places the U.S. 9th on the list and notes: “(the U.S. has made) limited or little progress toward greater efficiency at the national level.”

As long as Americans can have electricity at 11 cents per kWh and there’s lots of cold beer at the grocery store, the sad truth is that the bulk of us really don’t care. The issue, of course, is that, when one adds in the externalities of generating that electricity, the costs are huge – to every living thing on the planet.

Tagged with: 2GreenEnergy contributor, ACEEE, Aedan Kernan, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, energy efficiency, England, externalities of fossil fuels, externalities of generating that electricity, International Energy Efficiency Scorecard, UK, United Kingdom

What Does the Future of Energy Look Like?

craigshieldsPosted on July 20, 2012 Posted in Renewables - Science

It’s the birthday of Gregor Mendel, whose famous experiments with pea plants in 1854 led to his theory of genetics. But, according to The Writer’s Almanac, when Mendel died in 1888, his papers were burned, and it wasn’t until the 1920s that scientists recognized the significance of Mendel’s work.

That certainly makes one wonder about the ideas we may have floating around us today, doesn’t it? As I’m fond of saying, if we still have a civilization here in a few decades, we will have conquered this energy problem; I’m quite certain that we will not be burning coal in 2050. There are, however, many open questions, among which are:

• Exactly what technologies will scale to win the day?
• Who will make a buck in the process?
• How much ecological damage will we have done by that time?

Tagged with: alternative energy, clean energy, ecological damage, energy problem, environment, genetics, Gregor Mendel, Renewable Energy

Needless To Say, Chemical Weapons Need To Be Used Responsibly

craigshieldsPosted on July 19, 2012 Posted in Sustainability

I put quite a few miles on my car today between meetings, which gave me a while to catch up on the news. One of the top stories of the day was Syria and the world’s concern that its chemical weapons might fall into the hands of “irresponsible parties.” I broke out into laughter when I heard this; in fact, I was glad that I was alone in the car so that I did not embarrass myself. Is there a responsible use of chemical weapons?

Tagged with: bashar al assad, chemical weapons, Syria

Promoting Key Concepts in Water Conservation

craigshieldsPosted on July 19, 2012 Posted in Sustainability

You may have noticed our series of posts we call “Take a Cool Guess,” in which we offer one-question quizzes on cleantech trivia. I hope you’ve had fun with them; I know I have.

In a recent “Take a Cool Guess” post I mentioned Falcon Waterless, a new client for whom my team and I will be doing a bit of content creation. Those of you following this now know that the amount of clean drinking water (an increasingly rare and precious commodity) flushed down the average urinal in the United States is (more…)

Tagged with: cleantech, conserving water, Falcon Waterless, reduces costs, scarcity of clean drinking water, sustainability, take a cool guess, water conservation, water flushed, waterless urinal