Please Help Craig Select a Title for His New Book on Renewables
If I may ask another quick favor on selecting a title on my new book, could I get you to rate each of five possible choices? The “survey” is right here. Thanks very much.
Tagged with: book on renewables
What College Students Interested in Renewable Energy Should Study
A fine young man, Rudy Chavarilla, called me this morning from American Amp and interviewed me for about half an hour. We recorded a show on the subject: What college should students do vis-à-vis sustainability that will be distributed to over 300 college radio stations.
This whole process makes me feel good all over. I honestly love to speak with college students, though when I do, I have a habit of throwing in the kind of cliches that embarrass the bejeepers out of my kids. “Enjoy these brief moments. These are the best years of your life. Read great books. Learn to live an examined life. Kiss a few good-looking members of the opposite sex.” Seriously, my kids want to barf when they hear me I carry on like this. So I thought the better of going down that road, and answered the interviewer’s questions without any of this sort of editorializing. (more…)
Tagged with: college students
We Will Have Clean Energy When We Demand It
In the course of something I wrote yesterday I noted: “In large measure, the world is in its deplorable condition precisely because we tolerate it.” What I should have known is that this sentiment was expressed 100 times better by one of the great Americans in history: abolitionist, lecturer, author and slave Frederick Douglass:
Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them…. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.
Contributing Articles on Clean Energy
You may have noticed that I sometimes take controversial points of view in what I write here at 2GreenEnergy. And when I take on an issue like the morality of the oil companies, the validity of cold fusion, or the corruption that Big Money perpetrates on our government, you’ve probably seen that I get comments that range from “brilliant/right on!” to “you’re a fool/get lost.”
I’m perfectly cool on all feedback, positive and negative. There are some super bright people hanging out here – far smarter than I know I’ll ever be – and I’m the better for their corrections and confrontations. It would be quite an uninspiring place if we all agreed on everything, and I’d be learning very little.
If you happen to be someone who loves dealing with the issues in a well-reasoned way, regardless of where you stand on the politics, economics, and the science that surround the world of energy and sustainability, you may want to consider contributing an occasional article. Now that we have the new site up and running smoothly, please take a moment and note the guest-blogging link at the bottom of every page. If you have opinions, observations, rants, or simple matters of fact you wish to contribute, I urge you to take the opportunity to do so.
Tagged with: blogging
Cyclo Ocean — Clever Start-up in Ocean-Current Hydrokinetics
I just got off the phone with Paul Greyschock, from hydrokinetics start-up Cyclo Ocean in Vero Beach, FL. There were a couple of items that made this conversation noteworthy. First is the technology itself. If you check out the website, you’ll see immediately that a great number of the issues that thwart most attempts at tidal or ocean-current hydro are dealt with cleverly and inexpensively. In particular, note that the device is anchored to the seabed, not moored into it. (more…)
Zinc-air Batteries — The Breakthrough We’ve Been Awaiting?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ex0yLY6YuR4]Here’s a short interview in which I answer a few questions about zinc-air battery energy storage, a subject that’s been in front of the scientific and investment communities since the 1970s. Is this one the real deal?
Personally, I think so. There are a few unanswered questions, but I have a great deal of confidence in these people, based on my numerous meetings and phone conversations. (more…)
Clean Energy Advocates Make Both Friends and Enemies
A reader comments on my recent report on China and renewable energy:
I enjoyed the article, but keep in mind that any of these lines can been
taken out of context and used against you. I assume that you have a
distribution of friends and enemies.
I respond:
Thanks, and yes, I’m sure I have many thousands of enemies. I’m not happy about that, but it seems to me “comes with the territory,” as they say. For example, if the oil companies don’t know who I am and what I’m trying to do to them, they’re really not as smart as I imagined. But I have no interest in flying underneath their radar – even if it were possible to do so. (more…)
How “Green” Is Your Electricity?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xs0yyzK_ts]
Here’s last month’s webinar, in which I interview Jim Holbery, Ph.D., CEO and founder of GridMobility. It’s a 60-minute discussion on how electricity is generated, and how consumers can stipulate their preference for renewable energy.
This, of course, is a non-trivial task, as “green” and “brown” electrons move around our grid with no discrimination at all. So how did Jim’s team pull this off? I hope you’ll check it out. (more…)
Tagged with: black electrons, brown electrons, electron color, green electrons, GridMobility, Jim Holbery
Investing in Waste-to-Energy
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uSdDP_0WmQ]Here’s a short video on a waste-to-energy deal in one of the world’s largest population centers. Dealing with municipal solid waste (MSW) is a serious challenge, but, as is often the case, there’s a twist…
As Donald Trump famously said, “As long as you’re going to be thinking anyway, think big.” That certainly seems to apply to what we’re doing in clean energy, doesn’t it? It’s really not smart to apply time and effort to projects that don’t scale. (more…)
Biomass-to-Energy Discussion Turns to Fisticuffs
I’m trying to arrange a meeting with one of 2GreenEnergy’s great supporters, an international, high-flying guy whose fantastic biomass-to-energy project I support without reservation. His base in the U.S. is Chapel Hill, North Carolina, a place I like a great deal, but I don’t visit often on business. When I asked about his travel schedule, hoping to arrange a mutually agreeable meeting place and time, he wrote: “I’m in Vegas often for the UFC fights (“ultimate fighting”); I love them and try not to miss one when I’m in the States. I look forward to meeting you.”
I responded:
As I’ve told you, I love your project, and I’d like very much to meet you.
Not to sound like I’m totally out of the pop-culture (which I am), but what’s the main attraction of UFC?
It’s not that I don’t appreciate a good fight. (more…)
