Blog – Page 1763 – 2GreenEnergy.com

“Is Renewable Really Doable?” on Television

craigshieldsPosted on March 6, 2012 Posted in Renewables - Business

I’m shooting a television show on Wednesday whose producer wants me to speak on my new book: Is Renewable Really Doable? In preparation, he asked me for the main topics I’d like to address. I replied that we could get into the meat of the book:

• What the world’s biggest governments are doing to accelerate – and retard – the adoption of clean energy.

• How venture capitalists think with respect to clean energy start-ups.

• How pure and unbiased the thinking of the scientific community actually is.

• What the world will probably be like in ten years? 50 years.

• How the credit crunch and the end of cheap oil will affect us all.

But, while I think 2GreenEnergy readers will be absorbed by these conversations, I have to think that most people tuning into some TV channel might find this too esoteric and off-putting.

I told him, “When I go on most TV and radio shows, I talk about the basic issues: the tough realities, i.e., the technological, and the economic/political issues that make the clean energy discussion such a battleground. What exactly is renewable energy? Why is it better than extracting and burning fossil fuels? If there are good reasons for making the transition (which there are) – even though it comes at an expense, why isn’t it happening? This is much better fare for a general audience, so let’s go with this more simplified subject matter.”

I hope I’m right here. We’ll see.

Tagged with: alternative energy, clean energy, clean energy start-ups, credit crunch, end of cheap oil, green energy, how venture capitalists think, Is Renewable Really Doable, Renewable Energy, world’s biggest governments adoption of clean energy

The Pros and Cons of Wind Power

craigshieldsPosted on March 5, 2012 Posted in Wind Energy

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQENswF5QQ0&w=500&h=284]

Here’s a short video I made explaining the basics of wind energy for young people, or newcomers to the subject. I explain why the wind blows, offer a brief history of man’s attempts to harness wind energy, and discuss our current efforts to use wind to generate large amounts of electricity with relatively little environmental impact.

Tagged with: alternative energy, clean energy, green energy, Renewable Energy, video, Wind Energy, wind power

From Guest-Blogger Joshua Okomo: A Nation Going Green Is Growing Jobs

craigshieldsPosted on March 5, 2012 Posted in Renewables - Business

Renewable energy investment is not only for energy deployment and world ecology management, it is also for jobs. Nations can choose ruthless economic growth when economic growth is never accompanied by democracy, empowerment and human rights or fruitless economic growth when growth is accompanied by reducing job opportunities.

Throughout the world availability of good jobs is the cheapest way to create human development, enlarging peoples choices to live a long , decent and productive life. Renewable energy technologies create more jobs per megawatt of power generated, and per dollar invested in construction, manufacturing and installation as compared to coal or natural gas. (more…)

Tagged with: alternative energy, clean energy, economic growth, going green, green energy, growing jobs, Human rights, job creation, Renewable Energy

Losing Patience with Concepts That Violate the Laws of Physics

craigshieldsPosted on March 4, 2012 Posted in Renewables - Science

I often write here that I’m never nasty or condescending to anyone who submits a business plan, regardless of how asinine their ideas. I have an admission to make: while that was true early, on, it’s no longer the case. Now, I get descriptions of perpetual motion machines and other theoretically impossible devices at the rate of approximately once a week. Each “inventor’ has one curious trait in common: he’s looking for that last couple hundred thousand dollars of investment capital to build a prototype.

True, a few years ago, I had the patience of Job with respect to garbage like this, but it’s wearing thin. I told one guy recently:

Though I don’t know anything about the securities laws in – (wherever he was from; I don’t remember) if you raise money from people here in the U.S., you’ll very likely wind up in prison.

He wrote back tersely: “I don’t need you.” LOL.

Just now, someone wrote me from Armenia with a detailed description of a machine that makes electricity from compressed air (somehow omitting the source of the energy that was required to compress the air). I spent several minutes of my (finite) life reading this, before responding:

Sorry, what you’re describing violates the laws of physics. I’m not saying you won’t be able to find investors, just that you’ll need to target people who lack even the most basic education. Don’t fret though; that’s not too great a challenge in today’s world.

See? I can be both nasty AND condescending. Just thought I’d get that off my chest.

Tagged with: laws of physics, Thermodynamics

Considering the Externalities of Fossil Fuels, Renewable Energy Is the Bargain of the Century

craigshieldsPosted on March 4, 2012 Posted in Fossil Fuels

As readers may have noticed, I’ve begun promoting the launch of my second book, Is Renewable Really Doable? (available March 15th) using the 32-page report “Insights into LCOE – The Levelized Cost of Energy” as a give-away.

In response to my mentioning the LCOE concept, Henk Daalder responds:

No, we do not need to know what it costs to get sustainable energy, because the fossil route is always more expensive than the sustainable route. (more…)

Tagged with: alternative energy, clean energy, externalities, externalities of fossil fuels, green energy, Renewable Energy

Thanks to Nate Hagens, Ph.D. For His Contribution to “Is Renewable Really Doable?”

craigshieldsPosted on March 4, 2012 Posted in Renewables - Science

Nate Hagens is a well-known authority on issues related to global resource depletion. Until recently he was lead editor of The Oil Drum, one of the most popular and highly-respected websites for analysis and discussion of global energy supplies and the future implications of energy decline.

Shortly after we were introduced, Nate suggested that I attend a small, private conference at the Aspen Institute in Washington D.C., at which he and some colleagues made a two-hour presentation to about 30 representatives of various NGOs. I was honored, and overwhelmed to be in the presence of so many brilliant people. As I told them as I was leaving the lovely reception that followed, “Sorry, I have to catch a train. And besides, I’ve absorbed as much as I possibly can in one day. My brain hurts.”

I am very grateful to Nate for his help with the project, and I know readers will find his insights quite enlightening.

Tagged with: Aspen Institute, Is Renewable Really Doable, Nate Hagens, The Oil Drum

Do Biofuels Hold the Promise They Claim?

craigshieldsPosted on March 3, 2012 Posted in Biomass

I’m one of these people who essentially runs his life off his “to-do” list — a list of incomplete actions in a Word file that is always open, to which I’m constantly adding, deleting, and reprioritizing.

Here’s something I’ve looked at every day for the last few weeks:

Identify and support a few of the top players in biofuels. Short list: Enerkem, LanzaTech, ZeaChem, Virent Energy Systems, Sapphire Energy, Coskata, Terrabon, Mascoma, Cobalt Technologies, Joule Unlimited, Genomatica, Algenol, SG Biofuels.

I suppose I really DO need to do this, but I’m dreading the task. (more…)

Tagged with: Algenol, alternative energy, biofuels contaminants in our rivers, biofuels higher food prices, clean energy, Cobalt Technologies, Coskata, efficiency of biofuels, Enerkem, Genomatica, green energy, Joule Unlimited, LanzaTech, Mascoma, Renewable Energy, Sapphire Energy, SG Biofuels, Terrabon, Virent Energy Systems, ZeaChem

Clean Energy Technology Is Developed in Mysterious Ways

craigshieldsPosted on March 3, 2012 Posted in Solar Thermal

It’s the birthday of Alexander Graham Bell, whose telephone came as the accidental consequence of his interest in developing a tool that might teach deaf people how to speak. To me, it’s another reminder that accidental discoveries are extremely common. My friend Wally Rippel discussed this with me last time we got together.

When Sputnik was launched, we were thinking about bombs and spy satellites. Now, the applications are hurricane observation and navigational systems. (more…)

Tagged with: Alexander Graham Bell, alternative energy, clean energy, clean energy technology, concentrated solar power, CSP, green energy, Renewable Energy, Rudolph Diesel, Solar Thermal, Sputnik, Wally Rippel

Thanks to The Environmental Law Institute (Spokespeople Jay Pendergrass and Lisa Goldman) For Their Contribution to “Is Renewable Really Doable?”

craigshieldsPosted on March 3, 2012 Posted in Renewables - Science

In my quest to unpack the issues of government subsidies and incentives, I wanted to ask the Environmental Law Institute to go on record and explain their graphic “Energy Subsidies Black, Not Green” and the accompanying paper, “Estimating U.S. Government Subsidies to Energy Sources: 2002-2008.” The organization believes that the current energy and climate debate would benefit from a broader understanding of both the explicit and hidden government subsidies that affect energy use throughout the economy. In an effort to examine this issue, they conducted a review of fossil fuel and renewable energy subsidies for those years.

I thank ELI spokespeople Jay Pendergrass and Lisa Goldman for this wonderfully insightful interview.

Tagged with: ELI, energy and climate debate, Energy Subsidies Black -- Not Green, Environmental Law Institute, Estimating U.S. Government Subsidies to Energy Sources: 2002-2008, Is Renewable Really Doable, Jay Pendergrass, Lisa Goldman, subsidies and incentives

An End to Subsidies for Big Oil?

craigshieldsPosted on March 2, 2012 Posted in Fossil Fuels

Every once in a while I hear something from Washington D.C. that provides a ray of hope that perhaps a bit of sanity may eventually prevail in the U.S. energy policy. Obama sure has disappointed a bunch of people in the last couple of years – especially the people who voted for him — but here’s something he said the other day:

Does anyone really think that Congress should give them another $4 billion dollars this year? Of course not. It’s outrageous. It’s inexcusable. And I’m asking Congress: Eliminate this oil industry giveaway right away. I want them to vote on this in the next few weeks. Let’s put every single member of Congress on record. You can stand with the oil companies or you can stand up for the American people. You can keep subsidizing a fossil fuel that’s been getting taxpayer dollars for a century or you can place your bets on a clean energy future.

Btw, it’s FAR more than $4 billion when you add them all up.

In any case, as they say, hope springs eternal.

Tagged with: BP, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, ExxonMobil, Shell Oil, subsidies for big oil