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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Question: Approximately how many trees are ground up each year to make junk mail?

Answer: Can be found here.

Relevance: A big part of the business I ran for almost 30 years was direct mail. Note that I refer to it as “direct” and not “junk,” as we made a huge effort to make this as relevant, personalized, and high-quality as we possibly could. Here are sample campaigns; I hope you’ll agree.

Having said that, I’m not sure I’d want to be in that business now.  I think (hope, anyway) that all our communications will come with greater respect for our environment and natural resources.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

At the risk of stating the obvious, there have been huge mistakes made in governments’ promotion of renewables. But who should be surprised by that? Just because clean energy is a good thing doesn’t mean that there won’t be bad (greedy, corrupt) means taken to extract profit while screwing it up.

This article in The Economist gets at this central point, and concludes with some wisdom:

There is much that governments can do to encourage such progress in the future without repeating the mistakes of the past. … They should remove subsidies for technologies that compete with solar. … Above all they must fix a price of carbon that gives innovators the confidence that competing with fossil fuels for the long term will be a rewarding, and perhaps hugely profitable, undertaking. If politics prevent them from setting a substantial carbon price, they might consider requiring utilities to have a carbon-free component to their generating portfolios, as happens in many American states. But that needs to be open to all carbon-free technologies, not just the ones that the politicians like, so that the most efficient can prosper.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Those of you writing books or blogs about Renewable Energy – take note of this recent article in the N.Y. Times:

Very sad what our country has evolved into. The “Renewable Energy: Bubble, Scam or Both?” Is spot on. Everyone should read it especially the unions and Occupy people. And as if this comes as a surprise to anyone. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage

Here is a magnificent piece on energy storage: a perfect blend of the basic science and economics. It’s a very readable explanation of how and why storage will be required to integrate significant amounts of renewables on the grid.

Today, the vast majority of energy storage is accomplished with pumped hydro. The problems with this, however, are a) only certain (hilly) terrains are appropriate to implement this inexpensively, and b) the stored energy is not portable, i.e., it cannot be used in transportation, which accounts for 40% of our total energy needs.

This gives rise to chemical solutions, also discussed in the piece. Personally, I’m betting on Windfuels, a 2GreenEnergy client, which sports a remarkable breakthrough in synthetic fuels.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

A two-fer!

Questions:  How long does it take for some plastic bottles to break down in landfills?  How many plastic bags are used worldwide every year?  

Answer: Can be found at http://2greenenergy.com/cool-guess-answers/8732.

Relevance:  Most plastics are derived from petroleum and do not biodegrade, thus some lasts  thousands of times longer than the ingredients they were designed to carry.  This clogs our landfills or pollutes our environment in more even egregious ways, e.g., the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Bioplastics innovator, 2GreenEnergy friend, and all-around cool guy Shantu Patel, MD once pointed out a milk plastic carton to me and quipped, “The milk lasted a couple of weeks.  How long do you think that bottle will be around?”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

My thanks to all who provided an opinion on my (admittedly pessimistic) title for my new book. In all my years of market research, I’ve never seen anything like the near complete unanimity of viewpoint that came back in that survey, i.e., that the title is too negative, and therefore unappealing.

And in truth, though the book does grapple with the tough realities associated with the migration to renewables, it certainly suggests that there is hope for mankind. So… GONE! I’m dropping that title like a hot potato. Thanks again.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Whether your strengths and interests lie in technology, or in the economic and political issues that sit at the core of the migration to renewable energy, if you’re in a position to volunteer your time to research and write clean energy content, we should talk.

An internship at 2GreenEnergy is richly rewarding – not only for you, but for the rest of the world as well.

I’ll personally direct you in researching and creating reports, articles, and infographics that will serve to illuminate the truth about mankind’s journey to clean energy – arguably our most critical challenge. It’s pretty cool stuff, and we’d love to have your help.

CLICK HERE for more information.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Sure, clean energy is under fire in our current political and economic environment.  But here’s a post I wrote on Renewable Energy World, in which I point out that its competitors are facing some tough times as well. 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I have decided that I need a last-minute course correction on the title for my next book, due out in early January. I had tentatively decided on the title “RENEWABLE AND DOABLE – Our Transition to a Clean Energy Economy that Won’t Cost Us the Earth” (later revised to “Is Renewable Really Doable?”  But the more I thought about this and its spunky optimism, the more I realized that it didn’t properly reflect the actual content of the book, which, though not exactly pessimistic, is a frank treatment of the many “tough realities” facing the industry that are presented by the current political and economic scene.

To that end, I’ve tentatively chosen:

Why Renewable Energy May Never Arrive on Planet Earth
An In-Depth Look at Clean Energy’s Tough Realities

Do you mind commenting on this new title? Do you like it? Why or why not? Any further suggestions?

Thanks very much in advance.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

In the course of a given day, the typical human has approximately 60,000 independent thoughts – some in our waking hours, others in our dreams. This seems like re-enforcement of the idea that we make our own heaven (or hell) right here on Earth.

Not to state the obvious, but this appears to be a good reason to try to aspire to a life that produces happy thoughts – perhaps thoughts of love, charity, peace, and general good will to our fellows. I wonder if there is a case to be made that the folks involved in the sustainability movement, those who honestly and actively care what type of world we’re creating for the seven billion others around us, have happier thoughts than those who are indifferent to their neighbors.

Of course, one could argue that there is a great deal of heartbreak in failed efforts, that ignorance is bliss, and that, in the words of Emerson: “You can have truth or repose, but you cannot have both.”

I’d be interested in readers’ comments.

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