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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

Yes, but it’s a very tiny number, and one that is extremely unlikely to go much higher.

Ocean wave energy is a subset of hydrokinetics, and, just a few years ago, it seemed that some flavor of extracting energy from moving water might play a significant role in our renewable energy future.  That is, until the cost of energy via solar and wind went through the floor.

At this point, anyone interested in the subject are either hobbyists or owners of homes that happen to be in extremely rare positions.

Imagine your property abuts an ocean, and is located with no access to the grid and terrible solar irradiance.  Places like the one shown below in the islands off Northern Scotland do exist.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be reorganizing, eliminating its scientific division, known as the Office of Research and Development, a move that will affect the career paths of many hundreds of its scientists.

This seems to follow the trend towards removing science from policymaking, something very few mentally healthy people would recommend on a planet that is rapidly baking itself.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

How is it possible that we have lost our way?  Maybe this was never our “way” to begin with.

American society is largely built upon a kind of rugged individualism, where our people really don’t care too much about others’ well-being.  By contrast, the Scandinavian countries, and to perhaps a lesser degree, the rest of the developed world, live in the belief that the welfare of all citizens is important.

That’s why the citizens of these countries don’t mind paying slightly higher taxes if that means that no one lives in poverty, or is denied healthcare and education.  As a result, these nations are constantly getting stronger and more cohesive, where the United States seems to have lost its grasp on even its most basic tenets, like democracy, that have guided it for 250 years.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics
Dissenters against autocrats in Hungary, Serbia, and Turkey see the same “democratic backsliding” in the U.S. “Americans think this is something that also only happens to others,” said an opponent of Hungary’s Viktor Orban. “That mindset has to be fought.”
Trust me, the majority of Americans are acutely aware that Trump represents a grave threat to U.S. democracy. If it weren’t for the consolidation of power in the executive branch, and Trump’s lack of concern for anyone and anything other than himself, this whole thing wouldn’t be anywhere near as terrifying as it is now.
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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

Here’s an interesting analysis of the fossil fuel industry from Dr. Mark Z. Jacobson, Director of Stanford’s Atmosphere/Energy Program and a professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering.

Jacobson is best known for the contention that he’s been making for at least 10 years, i.e., that we can power our entire civilization without a single kilowatt-hour of energy from coal, natural gas, and oil.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

The story at left is an interesting one, and it has a certain intersection with my own experience. Here goes:

When my daughter was young, she and I volunteered with a local charity that delivered groceries to the elderly and poor. I thought that “giving back” was a good thing to do, and setting an example for my daughter made the idea that much stronger.

Many years later, after she left home, I volunteered solo to be a driver for Meals on Wheels.  A problem arose, however, when I realized that many, if not most of these people had Trump  flags all over their trailer-homes.

My first day was my last.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

There is no question that the Trump administration has launched a massive attack on free speech, but I take exception to the last line here, i.e., “It’s pretty obvious what comes next.”

This battle for your mind will either emerge victorious or it will lose. I wouldn’t say the outcome is obvious at all.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I would be surprised to learn that there is a single human being who’s had the opportunity to look back on the Earth from space who had any other reaction than that of American astronaut Edgar Mitchell (at left).

This planet is the home of eight billion people, most of whom are simply trying to live their lives in peace.  Is there some reason that we can’t make this happen?

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Let’s hope that the majority of Americans are following the drama that is playing itself out in the world today, as citizens in free countries everywhere are sickened to see what the United States has fashioned itself into under Trump’s second term in office.

Following Press Secretary Leavitt’s stunning response to French MEP (Member of the European Parliament) Raphaël Glucksmann’s statement that France should reclaim the Statue of Liberty because the US no longer upholds its original values, Glucksmann doubled down last night.

Dear Americans,

Since the White House press secretary is attacking me today, I wanted to tell you this:

1. Our two people are intimately linked by History, the blood we shed and the passion for freedom we share, a passion symbolized by this Statue that was offered to the United States by France to honor your glorious Revolution.

2. As the press secretary for this shameful Administration said: without your nation, France would have “spoken German.” In my case, it goes further: I would simply not be here if hundreds of thousands of young Americans had not landed on our beaches in Normandy.

3. Our gratitude to these heroes and their sacrifices is therefore eternal.

4. But the America of these heroes fought against tyrants, it did not flatter them. It was the enemy of fascism, not the friend of Putin. It helped the resistance and didn’t attack Zelensky.

5. It celebrated science and didn’t fire researchers for using banned words. It welcomed the persecuted and didn’t target them.

6. This America, faithful to the wonderful words inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, your America, is worth so much more than the betrayal of Ukraine and Europe, xenophobia, or obscurantism.

7. We all in Europe love this nation to which we know we owe so much. It will rise again. You will rise again. We are counting on you.

8. And it is precisely because I am petrified by Trump’s betrayal that I said yesterday in a rally that we could symbolically take back the Statue of Liberty if your government despised everything it symbolizes in your eyes, ours, and those of the world. It was a wake up call.

9. No one, of course, will come and steal the Statue of Liberty. The statue is yours. But what it embodies belongs to everyone. And if the free world no longer interests your government, then we will take up the torch, here in Europe.

10. Until we meet again in the fight for freedom and dignity, we will be the continuators of our shared history and the protectors of our treasure: more than a statue of copper and steel, the freedom it symbolizes.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

It’s not completely fair to call our problem with plastic pollution “corporate.” Yes, Coke, Pepsi, Nestle, and the others are at least partly responsible, but we mustn’t excuse consumers who refuse to change their behavior.

When I used to hold seminars, I’d insist that drinking water be served from pitchers into glasses, i.e., that there be no plastic bottles.

Want to stay hydrated?  How about a reusable container?

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