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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

An inventive sort from Mauritius writes:

Please review my idea, detailed in the attached. The electric steam engine combines many old innovations into one new single innovation, just like the first mobile phone in 1967 combined the radio, microprocessor and the battery to give a mobile phone, the Electric steam engine combines the advanced batteries of modern electric cars and the age old knowledge of steam, temperature and pressure management and finally, a new turbine system.

I respond:

That’s creative, but the problem is efficiency. Have you built one? How efficient is it, overall? The act of charging a battery and discharging it, i.e., converting electric energy into kinetic energy via an electric motor, is in the 90s; you’re going to find it very hard to compete with that.

I sure would like to visit your beautiful and quite well-run country.   I understand you folks rank 12th out of 183 in terms of economic openness, regulatory efficiency, rule of law, and competitiveness.  That’s impressive.  

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

Frequent commenter John F. Robbins writes a post  on the 2GreenEnergy Facebook page re: my announcement that I’ll soon be interviewing sustainable design guru Sim Van der Ryn:

When I led a group called Alternate Energy Assn (AEA) in SW Ohio in the late 1990s, we brought him to Cincinnati to speak. He was very inspirational, but also challenging. In his book (Sustainable Design) he says a sustainable building should motivate occupants to behave differently, more sustainably. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

Here’s another part of our series for newcomers to the subject of renewable energy — this one on biomass.   I provide a few thoughts on how it offers the potential to provide carbon-neutral renewable energy and biofuels.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZdDZuAe6Qc]

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

I was delighted when Sim Van der Ryn returned my call yesterday and  generously consented to grant me an interview when I’m up north at the end of the month.

Four decades before the word “sustainability” had become a buzzword, Sim was busy developing ideas in sustainable building design and integrating the knowledge he gained from observing the natural world.  Through the years, he brought along an entire generation of people who followed his example.

I’m certainly looking forward to meeting this legend.  I think I’ll start with a discussion of the quote by which he’s best known:

The heart of ecological design is not efficiency or sustainability. It is the embodiment of animating spirit, the soul of the living world as embodied in each of us waiting to be reborn and expressed in what we design.

That’s breath-taking.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I’ll be at the 26th International Electric Vehicle Symposium (“EVS26”) in Los Angeles in May. If anyone wants to meet me for a cup of coffee, please hit “Contact” and let me know.

The migration to electric transportation is going through a period that some of us anticipated: a bit of nervousness brought on by the fact that the value proposition for the consumer is simply not there yet. EV start-ups are having a hard time getting there, which has given the established auto industry a great deal of time to breathe, take its time, hedge its bets, and, perhaps most to its liking, milk the internal combustion engine cow a few more years.

Take the Ford Focus Electric, as an example of what I mean by consumer value proposition. I’m sure they’d explain it differently, but, at a high level, Ford has taken an extremely unexciting, garden variety passenger car, the Focus, ripped out (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I’m down in Ventura today for a taping of the TV show “Our Ventura,” often hosted by 2GreenEnergy co-founder George Alger.  He’s a real pro when it comes to asking good, penetrating questions.  The director, Petrina Sharp, is aces at all the technical stuff: lighting, sound, set design, etc. — and what a wonderful person to be around.

I always feel that I’m in good hands down here. And that’s important, because we all have some level of stage-fright.  As frequently as I’m on stage or on camera, in all honestly, I’m never 100% comfortable in front of a large audience.  

Having said that, again, I couldn’t possibly be in better hands, in preparation for the launch of “Is Renewable Really Doable?”  I guess we’ll see how it goes.  What’s the worst that could happen?….

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Here’s a brief discussion between a reader and me on this article of which I present an excerpt:

Most of us are indebted slaves. Banks conjure money out of thin air to enslave most of us for life. We must go into debt to buy a house, a car or go to school. Many of us go into debt just to eat. Like you, you and you, I will carry my s***ty credit score to a mass paupers’ grave, with my hearse a U-Haul. There is a renewed emphasis on going to college as a means to success, but in this economy, a degree will likely only impoverish you further, since you will be in hock to the banksters even as you work a job completely unrelated to your dubious education. If you can even get a job, that is. Joining winos and bag ladies with smudgy and off-target makeup will be legions of useless scholars.

Reader:  What do you think about this?

Craig:  Who in his right mind granted this guy ten cents’ worth of credit in the first place? It’s an exercise in whining, over-generalizing, and shirking personal responsibility.

Reader:  I fully agree – a kind of surrender.

Craig:  Correct. It’s the only thing I find objectionable about the left.  Liberal minds, it seems to me, are strong on compassion and intelligence, but can lack the understanding of the importance of personal accountability and self-determination. Humankind is, at the end of the day, a part of the animal kingdom. Life didn’t evolve over four billion years here on Earth by asking our fellows to fix our problems for us. And it’s not the way we’ll survive in the future.

If you have a useless education, go get a useful one.

I can only feel sorry for people who wake up in the morning without a purpose to go out and accomplish something, who blame others for their own condition.

What I’d like to see, having said all this, is the end of unfairness.  How about justice, where all people, regardless of their backgrounds, can have equal access to opportunity?  It sure would be nice to put an end to a world in which the rich use their wealth to purchase the justice system.  I’m asking for a level playing field where all people have the chance to be healthy, educated, and productive.  It’s a tall order, but one I think that, together, we can serve up.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Ocean Thermal

I hope you can join me for our webinar in March, in which I’ll interview Jim Greenberg, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer of Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation. I first met Jim on my last trip to the East Coast, and I was immediately impressed with the executive team, the board of advisors, and the basic thoroughness and professionalism with which this organization forwards the OTEC concept.

Jim will discuss his company’s pilot projects in both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and cover the potential that OTEC holds, especially for island nations in tropical waters. I hope you’ll be able to carve out time for this fast-paced conversation, Thursday, March 22nd, at 10 AM PST (1 PM EST)

Here’s the sign-up form: http://2greenenergy.com/free-webinar/.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

Here’s another in our ongoing series of infographics, designed to offer young people and clean energy newcomers an accessible introduction to the subject. Here, we provide an objective look at the “pros and cons” of solar.

While we advocate in favor of solar generally, we believe that it’s best to arm people with the unvarnished facts, one of which is “there is no such thing as a free lunch,” i.e., all forms of energy generation come with certain costs and other downsides. It’s by understanding the totality of these facts that one becomes able to have a meaningful, informed, and relevant discussion on the subject.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline project may want to read this excellent piece by Jim Hightower, radio commentator, writer, and public speaker.  The concept that the oil companies who are working so hard to make this happen are doing so for your benefit or mine is ridiculous – a point that Hightower makes with his classic populist style.

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