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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I’d like to offer you another in our ongoing series of free reports, in which we seek to provide an understanding of the most important energy-related trends that face civilization today. The report is based on last month’s poll, in which we asked readers to tell us what they believe the future holds.

What are the most likely top-level events that will occur in the next five years, as driven by our current energy policies (or lack thereof)? Can we expect change? Disaster? Business as usual?

I hope you’ll download the report and find out for yourself. Here’s the link:

/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/may2012rpt4.pdf

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

It’s always a thrill when people I’ve known since my childhood grasp the opportunities that renewables represent. When my brother Geoff and I were teenagers, we had a fine friend, JR Castle (James Rutherford, if I’m not mistaken), who came from a very dignified family. Though JR himself was something of a “wild man” at the time, he always had a smile of his face, and impressed me as someone who was headed somewhere.

40 years later, I learned that JR is a managing partner at Castle Energy LLC, which has produced some terrific results in the installation of solar.

Keep up the good work, my friend.  We had some fun back then, didn’t we?

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Class reunions are designed to reconnect old friends, and that’s what happened in spades when I returned to Trinity College for my 35th last weekend. But where some of these encounters were just opportunities to play a few games of squash, reminisce, or throw down a couple of drinks, others had long-lasting value. An old buddy who had gone to work at Microsoft now stands ready and willing to connect me with clean energy groups in the Pacific Northwest.

Check out these guys: Climate Solutions, a group that “works to accelerate practical and profitable solutions to global warming by galvanizing leadership, growing investment and bridging divides.” Now there’s a group I want to know.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

I just had a very interesting call with a private equity company that I thought I’d share, as it illustrates what we’re up against when it comes to energy.

When I asked about the firm’s energy practice, he said, “We trade coal; we set up deals between mines and utilities around the world.”

“All right,” I replied. “Any interest in going beyond that, perhaps into biomass? I would think that there are pressures on the coal industry that will eventually have an effect.” (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

At any given moment in time, I support a dozen or so business concepts in renewable energy, electric transportation, and sustainability more generally. I arrived at this list by poring through on the order of 1100 business plans that have been submitted over the past couple of years. Each needs funding from one of a set of different types of capital sources: angels, VCs, private equity, institutional investors, etc.

Through a phone call with an old friend not too long ago, I realized that I’ve probably not been as active and aggressive in courting investors as perhaps I should have been. Though we are connected with a great number of investors, we’ve come across them with an approach I’d call “passive,” waiting for investors to find us online and calling or writing in, rather than our actively reaching out in a disciplined, methodical way. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

When I was in the Bay Area last week, I had a meeting with Pvilion, a start-up company with a unique approach and capability to the architectural use of solar PV, and I’m happy to report that they represent a really good prospect for our marketing and public relations services.  I haven’t been too excited about BIPV (building integrated photovoltaics) over the years, but for some reason, this seems quite appealing, for the right client.  Suppose you’re a forward-thinking company and you want a large sculpture or a futuristic parking garage on your campus.  Why not integrate PV, and demonstrate your interest in sustainability?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Frequent commenter Cameron Atwood sent me this gem on sustainability from a beautifully wise and youthful 76-year-old oceanographer Sylvia Earle that I heartily recommend.  Audio is here.

Thanks, Cameron.  That’s an incredible insight into our responsibilities as human beings vis-a-vis planning for the future.

I’m reminded of my friend Tom Konrad, whom I interviewed for my 2nd book, who said, “We’ve evolved as hunter-gatherers, whose premise is: if it worked last year, we’ll do it again this year.  Long-range planning is not our strong suit.  I don’t want to offend the creationists, but if we had been designed, we would not have that flaw.” (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Have you ever had the thought that our society is deliberately distracted, confused, and sidetracked from the real issues that matter, focused instead on hot-button concepts, perhaps gay marriage?  It’s fairly clear that the survival of mankind and all life forms here on Earth depends on the actions we take over the next few years to achieve sustainable practices in energy, water, and food.  The planet is warming, the sea levels are rising, the oceans are acidifying, potable water is becoming scarcer, the rain forests are disappearing, and farm lands are becoming deserts. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Though I agree with very few of conservative columnist George Will’s conclusions, I find him to be one of the most impressive intellectuals in our world today. And occasionally, he will let out with something that really resonates with me, like the fallacy of predicting that the future will be a continuation of the past. As he points out, “The future always looks like the past – right up to the point it looks like something different.”

Personally, I see this as inconsistent with some of his conservative principles, and a justification for an abrupt change in some of our practices that are so aggressively depleting our natural resources and destroying our environment. If you believe that the future could look markedly different  from the past, doesn’t that mean that we could be on the precipice (as our scientists almost uniformly tell us) of a network of environmental disasters that will have devastating effects for humanity and all life forms?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I was sitting at the train station, writing blog posts, and I happened to overhear one side of a cell phone conversation of the guy sitting next to me, who, before the phone rang, was working on his laptop as well.  Apparently, the young son of a close friend or relative had hit his head on a kitchen counter and needed to be taken to the hospital.  I couldn’t help notice how calm, helpful, and encouraging the man next to me was in his approach.

When he hung up, I leaned over and told him that.  “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop,” I began, “But that sounds like an alarming situation.  I commend you for how positive you were under circumstances like that.  You’re obviously a very good person.” (more…)

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