In October, I plan to spend two happy days down at the University of California at Santa Barbara for a symposium that is part of their ongoing “Academic Initiative in Sustainability,” called “Sustainable Materials and Product Design.” Topics to be …
Category: Renewables – Science
Video on Grid Operation
Here’s a short video–a sort of primer on grid operation called “How the lights stay on.” And another more advanced one on the economics and logistics of grid operation. Their creator quips, “I made them simple enough that a congressman can …
Union of Concerned Scientists Offer Online Quiz on Environmental Science — Great Fun
Here’s something I think readers will enjoy; I know I did. It’s a five-question online quiz called “Got Science?” created by The Union of Concerned Scientists, in which you’ll be asked to choose between real science and the bullcrap being …
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A “Watt” Is a Measure of Power, the Rate at Which Energy Is Being Converted From One Form To Another
Because the climate here in Santa Ynez, CA is temperate, we don’t have air conditioning in our house – but we do have ceiling fans, which apparently require about 75 watts, according to this energy calculator. But yikes! The calculator …
From 2GreenEnergy Intern Louis de Saint Phalle: Water Energy Nexus
When we hear rhetoric about meeting our nation’s energy needs in a sustainable way, most of us don’t often hear about water. Personally, I think it’s a shame that given the time I have spent in renewable energy circles, I …
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Renewable Energy and the Laws of Physics
Normally, I ignore emails like this one from “Yura,” but, for some reason, I got sucked in here. Yura: I have a proposition for you: a generator that produces electricity only using the Earth’s gravity. My device has been experimentally tested. …
Thanks to Isaac Newton
Yesterday was the anniversary of the date on which Isaac Newton published The Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy in 1687, his paper that laid out a set of discoveries that rank among the most important in the history of humankind: the …
Logic Figures Prominently in Our Evaluation of Renewable Energy Concepts
Here’s the guts of an email conversation I had last week with a reader who asked me for my take on a renewable energy concept whose IP its inventor appears ready to give away for free. I found the discourse kind …
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Is There Enough Solar Power for the Entire World?
It’s been a while since I wrote a post reminding us all exactly how little area is required, in relative terms, to provide enough solar power for the entire world. Numbers are cool, but graphics are better. Linked above is …
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Ah, Come On — Can’t the Earth Be an “After Planet?”
Today is the anniversary of the first well-known UFO sighting in 1947, a good time to ask readers to ponder the most obvious question related to this phenomenon: Are we alone in the universe? Dr. Michio Kaku, the ubiquitous physics …
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