Blog – Page 1767 – 2GreenEnergy.com

Jack McMullen To Play Key Role in Waste-To-Energy Project

craigshieldsPosted on February 22, 2012 Posted in Biomass

During my trip back East last week I had the honor of meeting Jack McMullen in his office in Cambridge, MA. If you want to see an interesting and multi-varied bio, you may want to check this out.

I’m happy to report that Jack, a man of great accomplishment and integrity, will be playing a leading role in one of the huge waste-to-energy projects that I’m so excited about — a project in which 3000 tons of municipal solid waste a day will be converted to 130 megawatts of electricity; this is summarized in the video below.

Please drop me a line if you know of anyone who may also like to play an investment role in cleantech here.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0uSdDP_0WmQ]

Tagged with: Jack McMullen, MSW, municipal solid waste, waste-to-energy

Perhaps Schopenhauer Never Met An Advocate for Sustainability, Peace and Justice

craigshieldsPosted on February 22, 2012 Posted in Sustainability

Listening to The Writer’s Almanac just now, as I try to do every morning, I learned that it’s Arthur Schopenhauer’s birthday – a man best known, I believe, for having taken pessimism out of the hands of the amateurs and developing the gloomiest possible perspective into a true art form. And from his portrait here, he certainly looks the part, doesn’t he?

Here are a few of his observations: (more…)

Tagged with: advocates for sustainability, Schopenhauer, sustainability

From Guest Blogger Jesse Harwell: Best Green Cars for 2012

craigshieldsPosted on February 21, 2012 Posted in Electric Vehicles

This year, more car companies have released eco-friendly cars, which means more options for eco-friendly consumers. From electric cars to vehicles that use alternative fuel, here are the best green cars coming out for next year.

1. Honda Civic Natural Gas – MPG: City 27/Hwy 38; From $26,155

This car was named as the Green Car of the Year by Green Car Journal. This Honda Civic runs on natural gas, which costs less than normal fuel and has less of an impact on the environment. This car even gets you HOV lane access in several U.S. states. The car features low-end torque and a short wheelbase, so that you can zoom around corners and have a smooth ride on the highway. (more…)

Tagged with: alternative energy, clean energy, electric transportation, electric vehicle, Electric Vehicles, EVs, green cars 2012, green energy, Jesse Harwell, Nissan Leaf, sustainability

For the Home Buyer: An Energy Efficiency “MPG” Sticker

craigshieldsPosted on February 20, 2012 Posted in Efficiency

I had breakfast when I was back in New York last week with my friend and colleague Tom Konrad of AltEnergyStocks.com, during which we talked about all the “long-hanging fruit” for reducing the environmental impact associated with generating and consuming energy. Here’s one of Tom’s ideas that I really like: making a home energy audit mandatory whenever a house is sold. What if every home buyer had the equivalent of an EPA miles per gallon sticker — a rating of the energy efficiency of the furnace and the major appliances, as well as a grade for the level of insulation in the walls and roof? (more…)

Tagged with: AltEnergyStocks, energy "MPG" sticker, energy efficiency, energy efficient appliances, energy efficient furnaces, insulation, negawatt, Tom Konrad

Video on Chevron’s Appalling Behavior in Ecuador

craigshieldsPosted on February 20, 2012 Posted in Fossil Fuels

Every few months, I try to remind myself to write something on Chevron and its overtly criminal behavior in Ecuador. Those who are keeping track here will recall that, for a period of 26 years, Chevron (then Texaco) deliberately dumped tens of billions of gallons of toxic byproducts of their oil extraction processes directly into Ecuadorian rivers and streams, simply because they thought they would never get caught. (more…)

Tagged with: benzene, cancer, Chevron, dioxin, Ecuador, rain forest destruction, toluene

Webinar: The Future of Transportation

craigshieldsPosted on February 20, 2012 Posted in Electric Vehicles

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6eOlOEQoTI]In our February webinar, I spoke with Dan Sturges: transport designer, entrepreneur, teacher, and visionary, who discusses how we need to overhaul the way we move ourselves and are cargo around the surface of the planet.

Though we all want simple solutions, none exist. Currently, transportation is redundant, heavy, bulky, fossil-fuel-reliant, and unaffordable in every sense of the word. But what can be done to invoke things like mass transit, ride-sharing, micro-rentals, and small, light, and inexpensive urban transportation? What can be done to reduce car ownership — or at least the total number of miles driven? How can we encourage walking and bicycling? What about rethinking how and where we live?

Tagged with: car-sharing, Craig Shields, Dan Sturges, electric transportation, encouraging walking and bicycling, fossil fuels, future transportation, ICE passenger cars, mass transit, micro-rentals, overhauling transportation, reducing car ownership, reducing miles driven, ride-sharing, trams, transport designer, urban transportation, Webinar

Webinar: Top Business Plans in Renewable Energy and Electric Transportation

craigshieldsPosted on February 20, 2012 Posted in Renewables - Business

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyrehx520so]In December’s webinar, I present some of the best business plans I’ve encountered in renewable energy and electric transportation. This is a wide-ranging discussion that includes the ideas of transformative business plans, technical risk, and scaleable businesses, but then gets into specific business arenas: light-duty pick-up trucks, e-bikes, pyrolysis of waste tires, C&D waste processing, pyrolysis of MSW, solar thermal, synthetic fuels, use of off-peak wind energy, compressed air energy storage, zinc-air battery technology, sustainable building products, and hydrokinetics. I couldn’t resist the temptation to mention my upcoming book, “Is Renewable Really Doable?”

Tagged with: biodiesel, C&D waste processing, carbon black, e-bikes, electric transportation, Electric Vehicles, energy storage, EVs, exciting cleantech business plans, high head conditions, Hydrokinetics, Is Renewable Still Doable, light-duty pick-up truck, off-peak wind energy, pyrolysis of MSW, pyrolysis of waste tires, Renewable Energy Facts and Fantasies, scaleable business, Solar Thermal, sustainable building products, synthetic fuels, technical risk, transformative business plan, Webinar, zinc-air battery technology

Webinar: How to Increase Energy Efficiency of Existing Structures and WHY

craigshieldsPosted on February 20, 2012 Posted in Efficiency

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAdKwrPHy9w]

Here’s 2GreenEnergy’s November webinar, in which noted environmentalist and energy expert Bruce Severance joined me for a lively discussion we called “How to Increase the Energy Efficiency of Existing Structures — and WHY.”

Tagged with: "2GreenEnergy webinar" environmentalists "energy experts" "Bruce Severance" "clean energy" "alternative energy" "renewable energy" "green energy" "Craig Shields", America’s geography and lifestyle, Chevron, climate policy, global climate change, largest GHG producer, per capita energy consumption, Shell Oil Company, Webinar

With a Level Playing Field in the 21st Century, Nothing Is Impossible

craigshieldsPosted on February 20, 2012 Posted in Renewables - Politics

Reg Wessels of South Africa’s Earth Corporation writes about my piece on the uncertainties of investors in renewable energy:

I often watch this debate with dismay, and as a non-American (but hugely supportive), I can’t help being frustrated by the US having to dance with the enemy. Whatever the solution, the free world looks to America with hope and admiration. Was this not the country that had the courage to pool all its resources for common purpose when the smoke had cleared over Pearl Harbor? Is this not the country that leads the world in innovation and technological expertise? Is this not the country that has shown ‘nothing is impossible’?

Reg: What a good point you raise here. I too wonder where my country has gone wrong, and I have to think I’m not alone here. (more…)

Tagged with: energy policy, energy price floor, role of government, U.S. Energy Policy in the 21st Century, U.S. politics

Integrating Renewable Energy Is Like Racial Integration in the 1960s: It’s Right, But It’s Not Easy

craigshieldsPosted on February 19, 2012 Posted in Renewables - Business

Over the few years that I’ve been writing here at 2GreenEnergy.com, I’ve offered a number of suggestions that, if accepted, would create a more level playing field between renewables and fossil fuels. In my recent piece on investor uncertainties in renewable energy, I argued for legislation that would establish a floor on energy prices, thus enabling alternative energy investors protection from price manipulation from the traditional energy industry, designed specifically to put them out of business.

In response, these words from a reader: (more…)

Tagged with: alternative energy, clean energy, green energy, integrating renewable energy, racial integration, Renewable Energy