Category: Renewables – Business
Hike Enables Contemplation of Our Clean Energy Future
| January 8, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
On the hike I’m about to take, I’ll be contemplating the future of renewable energy while walking up the north-facing slope of the Santa Ynez mountains. At the top is a clearing providing this view of the Pacific.
There are a lot worse ways to spend a few hours.
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Writing Routines
| January 6, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
Someone once asked novelist E. L. Doctorow about his routine as a writer, to which he replied: “Here’s how it goes: I’m up at the stroke of 10 or 10:30. I have breakfast and read the papers, and then it’s lunchtime. Then maybe a little nap after lunch and out to the gym, and before I know it, it’s time to have a drink.”
Speaking for most of us mortals who try to crank out a book every year, it doesn’t work exactly like that.
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This Month’s Webinar: Is Renewable Really Doable?
| January 5, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
I hope you’ll be able to join us for our monthly webinar, in which 2GreenEnergy business manager George Alger interviews me on my new book:
Is Renewable Really Doable? Exploring Clean Energy’s Opportunities and Tough Realities
The traditional energy industry is hell-bent on preserving the status quo as long as possible – and who could possibly wonder why? These are the wealthiest people on Earth. Are we to expect that they miraculously want to cease sitting on top of the world?
But our skies and oceans are filling up with the effluent of their outmoded, damaging practices, and the warming of our planet threatens the health and safety of every living thing on the planet. At the same time, a large and growing number of us non-billionaires are crying foul, and committing ourselves to do something about it. Who will win? Read More
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Some Good News for Us Green Energy People — For a Change
| December 30, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
I often consider how most of the content here is essentially bad news: climate change, ocean acidification, empowering terrorists, oil companies’ propaganda, corporatocracy, governmental corruption, and public ignorance and apathy. But here’s some good news: Traffic at 2GreenEnergy in 2011 was up over 51% from 2010. Not too bad! Thanks to all who contributed!
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Renewable Energy – Following the Money
| December 29, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
For those interested in tracking the progress I’m making in writing my third book, here is the tentative title:
Renewable Energy – Following the Money.
Below is an outline which I will continue to update to provide the status of each of the chapters.
Note please that your input is requested in virtually every single area.
Thanks in advance! Read More
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Renewable Energy in Europe
| December 22, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
I’ll be in Europe from April 26th through May 10th, 2012, attending conferences, meeting colleagues known to me now only through Skype, and conducting interviews for my third book, “Renewable Energy – Following the Money.” In fact, including a robust European presence in the book is vital to telling the story. Where investors may be sitting on the sidelines in the U.S., this is most certainly not the case elsewhere in the world. Europe is proving to be a critically important part of the world in this regard — both for implementing existing clean energy technologies, and as a breeding ground for innovation as well.
Let me take this opportunity to ask you for suggestions. I’ll have plenty of time between conferences and strolls up the Champs Elysees. If you have any connections to people who are in the process of making a difference in the deployment of renewables in Europe, please let me know, and I’ll try to arrange to meet them.
I plan to start in Paris, then head east and south, winding up in Rome. Having said that, detours are always possible. I’d like to speak with entrepreneurs, investors, leaders in government, executives in the energy and automotive industries, top consultants and industry analysts, as well as those directly related to finance and the economy. Tres bien.
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Feedback, Please? My Third Book on Renewable Energy
| December 18, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
While I’m waiting for delivery of my second book (“Is Renewable Really Doable? – Exploring Clean Energy’s Opportunities and Tough Realities”), I wanted to run a couple of ideas for my third book by you.
Concept #1: “Renewable Energy – Following the Money,” focused on the U.S., featuring interviews with:
- Investors (VCs, private equity, institutional)
- Department of Energy
- Key people in important states (e.g., California, New York, Texas, etc.)
- Industry executives
- Representatives of think-tanks
- Media (e.g., Wall Street Journal)
- Stock analysts
Concept #2: “Renewable Energy: A Global Issue – Interviews with Top People on Six Continents”
An exploration of the migration to clean energy in the most populous areas of the world, perhaps China, India, Africa, the Middle East, U.S., Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, and Oceania, based on interviews with key people who could speak to:
- The prevailing political and economic climate
- The efforts of key people
- The cultural zeitgeist
- Alternate fuel transportation
- Smart grid and energy storage
- Efficiency and conservation
- Global climate change and the U.N. conferences on the subject
I’d appreciate any feedback. Thanks!
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Does a Greener World Suggest a New Marketing Paradigm?
| December 15, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
As a “marketing guy,” I’m always intrigued with ideas that suggest that a paradigm in this space may be changing. Here’s the viewpoint of frequent commenter John F. Robbins:
The traditional principles of American marketing suggest that something is automatically better if it is bigger, more, newer, faster, or more high-tech.
The biggest problem with “green” is that these principles now make no sense. Green means using less conventional energies, not more. Green means moving slower, as in walking or biking instead of driving or flying. Green means not moving up to a larger home each time one moves. Green has little dependence on being higher-tech or more visually attractive. So when we use the traditional principles to promote green, it often confuses the goals and issues we’re trying to promote.
Quite astute, John. Thanks for your consistently incredible insight.
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Is Renewable Still Doable? — Short Video
| December 14, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
I spent yesterday afternoon in the local television studio, shooting a series of videos for a variety of different purposes. I thought I’d send you this short (under one minute) piece that explains the premise of my next book, which will be available next month. Thanks to 2GreenEnergy co-founder George Alger for his work here; I think these are some cool video effects.
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Thanks to the Green Living Guy!
| December 14, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
My great thanks to Seth Leitman, aka the Green Living Guy, for his article on Renewable Energy — Facts and Fantasies. Nicely done, Seth!
