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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics
Using diffuse light - the tower is virtually always operating. Source: Kilohn limahn, Creative Commons

The groundworks for the construction of the world’s first commercial solar updraft tower may be little more than two years away. Solar updraft towers use the power that lifts hot air balloons into the air to generate electricity.

The Australian company, EnviroMission has filed land applications in Arizona for two 5,500 acre sites, suitable for development of two 200MW Solar Updraft power stations. The company has negotiated a power purchase agreement, approved by the Southern California Public Power Authority. EnviroMission has appointed ARUP as its design engineer. The detailed design of the towers is expected to take between 9 months and a year, when EnvironMission will move to the financing stage. (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

When you consider the rising price of gas, as well as other economic factors which are taking a toll on your bank account and wallet, you may want to consider a device that will help you save money while getting you around town. Most people know what a moped is and have probably seen one at one time or another in their lives. Basically, a moped is a scooter that has pedals on it, and an electric moped is just that, a moped that is run by an electric motor.

Now, electric mopeds are not much different than electric bicycles in and that they have their motor located on the rear wheel “hub” of the unit. In other words, there is an electric motor on the back rear wheel of the vehicle, which gives it the power it needs to travel. Over the last several years, the electric motors and electric mopeds have improved drastically due to the large demand for these vehicles worldwide. Electric motors on the moped are now self-contained, which means that dirt and water cannot get inside of the electric motor and cause damage to it. Also, there are fewer moving parts on the newer electric models that are being sold today and this is good because the electric mopeds will now need less maintenance than they have in the past. (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I’m at LAX, heading back East for the holidays.  Wishing everyone smooth travels and best wishes for a lovely holiday season.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

For those of you wishing to reconnect from old friends from highschool and college, I most certainly recommend setting up a website like 2GreenEnergy. It brings long-lost, but much loved old friends out of the woodwork.  Perhaps the best aspect of all this new communication is that these folks seem so much more optimistic about our prospects for a bright future than most of the people I run into on a day-to-day basis.

Here’s a post from Bruce Wilson, with whom I attended kindergarten (just the other day, in 1960), and graduated from the same school 13 years later, who commented on a recent post:

Apollo Alliance as an organization that asks us to make a national agenda that is based on sustainability. They use the Apollo program as an example of how much we can achieve when we set an ambitious national agenda. Kennedy aimed for us to get to the moon in ten years and we got there in nine! A national agenda of achieving a sustainable energy future will produce innovation we can not imagine.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I can understand that certain issues break down along liberal/conservative lines: abortion, health care reform, the death penalty, same-sex marriage, etc.  But conservatives almost universally reject the theory of global warming, and, for reasons I’ll get to shortly, that surprises me. 

I hope you’ll read the article I’ve linked here, explaining how Robert Hurt, who won Tom Perriello’s House seat in Virginia, says clean-energy legislation would fail to “do anything except harm people.” The tea party’s “Contract From America” calls proposed climate policies “costly new regulations that would increase unemployment, raise consumer prices, and weaken the nation’s global competitiveness with virtually no impact on global temperatures.” (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Here’s a conversation I’m having with a reader in Chile that I thought others may find interesting. Francisco Gajardo, who gave me permission to publish this, writes:

Hi Craig,

First of all, I must congratulate you for such a great job on Renewable Energy Facts and Fantasies, and the 3 Brass Tacks.

Although I’m a chemical & software engineer, I actually live on a farm in southern Chile, and I want to share with you some issues that might be interesting to you.

First, as a country we are net importers of fossil fuels and the largest copper exporter of the world, strongly linking the exchange rate with the copper (and obviously, oil, since copper is quoted at the London Metal Exchange) price: copper goes up, dollar goes down. The bad news is that we are an exports-based economy (copper, molybdenum, lithium, fruits, wine, salmon, fishmeal, lumber, cellulose, etc.) so although a high copper price is great for the government because of taxes and royalties, it’s at the cost of slashing the rest of our economy which, barring rocks, is made of renewable stuff. (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

When I did this Skype-based interview with EVWorld.com editor Bill Moore the other day, I was again reminded of the regional differences in culture in our country.  Yes, it’s cliche’, but Bill’s from Omaha, and people from places like that really do tend to be honest, unpretentious, mean-what-you-say types. And, although I did most of the talking in the interview, I think his genuine nature comes across immediately.

I receive proof of Bill’s gentlemanliness constantly.  When I go to conferences and introduce myself to people who don’t know 2GreenEnergy, I quickly mention EVWorld (it’s been around since the mid-1990s) and I tell them that I’m proud to be Bill Moore’s partner in the enterprise.  I’ve yet to meet anyone who didn’t instantly respect me for having had the common sense and good taste for having come on board.

I’m at a loss to understand the downside of this understated way of life, nor the upside of being a loudmouth nouveau riche jerk.  I know there are people who want to act like Charlie Sheen or Lindsay Lohan, but I just can’t understand why.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage

I am getting a head start on my NH3 Fuel Association internship. I will be working on a commercialization roadmap. I am searching for data and knowledge that could possibly go in to this roadmap.

As such, a contact at the IPFW (Indiana University/Purdue University, Fort Wayne) Information Analytics and Visualization Center expressed interest in my assembling a research proposal for applying network growth and development knowledge to being able to model where ammonia fuel/energy carrier infrastructure commercialization opportunities may emerge with greatest ease on top of and from older infrastructure networks. This could greatly increase the efficiency of future ammonia technology commercialization. But I am seeking additional partners. Would anyone like to help? If you would, please contact me by early January, as we are planning a meeting for early January to discuss this research project.

If interested in this project, please contact me soon through the “Contact” option at my “Model Sustainable Cities” website at http://modelsustainablecities.weebly.com Thank you.

Regards,
Daniel Miller

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I’m going through an interesting exercise that I thought I’d share. In preparation for my upcoming speaking tour for my book on renewables, I’m working with some associates to “package” myself, and develop an online press kit.

As I’ve known for some time, the best overall strategy is to position one’s topic in the context of breaking news — relating the subject to the issues that are already on people’s minds. This really shouldn’t be too great a stretch, as renewables legitimately has touch-points into many dozens of different areas of great concern to anyone paying attention. I suppose I’m just lucky that the book is on clean energy and not a collection of recipes for baked chicken or some such.

I feel fairly well prepared to talk at a high level on the relationship between clean energy and any of the following, and I’ll certainly do some additional research to solidify my grasp before I go in to discuss: (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage

(continued from an earlier article)

Down in the Quantum World

Nano particles are less than 100 nanomicrons in width, meaning that a human hair is approximately 80,000nm wide. Down at the molecular level, materials behave differently to the way they behave in larger volumes. Because so little is known about material behaviour at nano level at the International Forum on Chemical Safety at Dakar in 2008, 71 governments and 12 international organizations recommended the application of the Precautionary Principle to it. The principle states that anyone proposing a new initiative in a risky area must prove their initiative is safe before they carry it out.

Yet, according to the Friends of the Earth report, regulatory systems in the United States, Europe, Australia, Japan and other countries treat all particles the same; that is, they do not recognise that nanoparticles of familiar substances may have novel properties and novel risks. Carbon nanotubes for use in electronics, energy applications and vehicle parts may be associated with the cancer mesothelioma, for example. Although many nanomaterials now in commercial use pose greater toxicity risks than the same materials in larger particle form, if a substance has been approved in bulk form, it remains legal to sell it in nano form. (more…)

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