Monthly Archives: November 2011
There’s “Truth” in Clean Energy — But Is That Enough?
| November 30, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Sustainability |
It’s the birthday of Mark Twain, who said, “Truth is mighty and will prevail. There is nothing the matter with this, except that it ain’t so.”
I’m afraid he’s nailed something here. There is a great deal of truth in what we are doing in our advocacy of clean energy, but if it does indeed win the day, it certainly will not be due simply to that one characteristic.
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Electric Vehicles: Confronting the Tough Realities
| November 30, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
Glenn Doty is an extremely senior scientist who studies the macro-world of energy, and doesn’t like what he sees regarding electric transportation. He writes:
While I have tremendous respect for you and the work that you are doing, I have very little respect for the people who compiled that study that you referenced.
The simple truth is that you cannot claim “grid mix” for a new marginal increase in grid demand. If you plug in a new toy (EV), they can’t do a rain dance to get additional energy from the hydropower dam… nor will they amp up the local nuclear reactor to provide more power… The only possible source for the energy going into NEW demand will be what is currently SPARE capacity – that’s natural gas and coal. Read More
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Incredible Renewable Energy Opportunities in China
| November 29, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
A friend from China writes:
A pleasure speaking with you on Skype. I believe that with your connections we should be able to develop cleantech companies in China and more renewable energy projects in this part of the world.
The city of Beijing government on the 15th of June 2011, during a closed meeting with Embassies, Consulates and some of the top 100 foreign companies in China announced that the City of Beijing has RMB60 billion (US$10 Billion) to support foreign cleantech companies in China, to make Beijing the first truly green city in the world. I have attached a brief article on China’s Green Technology Program.
Thank you for the book. I appreciate it very much.
My reply includes:
Thanks. I’m sorry for not having sent the book to you earlier. As we discussed, there is much for Americans to worry about re: IP protection in dealing with China. But you folks out-invested us by a factor of 24:1 last year in solar alone ($34B vs. $1.3B). So, while there is much to fear, there is much to be gained.
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How to Increase the Energy Efficiency of Existing Structures – and WHY
| November 29, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Sustainable Building |
Noted environmentalist and energy expert Bruce Severance will join me for December’s webinar: How to Increase the Energy Efficiency of Existing Structures – and WHY.
Now, if that title carries with it a certain feeling of mystery, that’s not an accident. From his vast experience as a design engineer, Bruce will offer us tips on eco-friendly construction and retrofit. But it is from his life-long advocacy for the environment that he proposes to tell us exactly why what we’re doing here and now has such a dramatic effect on the quality of the planet we’ll inhabit in a few years.
Hope you can join us. Sign-up information will be available soon.
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Good Ideas in Sustainability Need to Contemplate the Laws of Nature
| November 29, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Sustainability |
Are you one of the many Americans jacked out of shape by this country’s supposed “slide into socialism?” If so, there may be far better places to look for evidence of this trend than whatever differences may divide present-day Democrats and Republicans. In particular, have you ever thought about the G. W. Bush Administration’s No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 – whose very title and mission statement suggests a wholesale redistribution of educational resources onto the least talented kids?
Think of what Darwin would have asked us from his grave:
Are you idiots thinking about taking the very law that governs life in the universe, turning it upside down, and thinking this will somehow represent an improvement? And now, a few years later, you’re complaining that you’re profoundly ill-equipped to compete economically in the 21st Century? Sorry, but if that’s the depth of your understanding of the natural laws, one of which I handed you 150 years ago, you’ve gotten exactly what you deserved.
Kidding aside, who but a politician would suggest that no child be left behind? Out of tens of millions of schoolkids, shouldn’t the lowest 10% or so be deliberately left behind, out of favor to the other 90%? This isn’t a philosophic argument; we seem to have lost grasp on the most basic concepts of science.
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Americans Are Patriotic, But Sadly Misled Regarding Energy
| November 29, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
A reader from the U.K., Derek Deighton, writes:
I’m sorry, am I missing something? Does it matter what America thinks and does? Assuming no doomsday, America is not going to be more than at best an equal partner in a world centered on Asia.
Speaking from the UK, you seem to have an inflated sense of your importance as a society, as we did with the Empire, and are still wont to do on occasion.
I reply:
Touche! Read More
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The Externalities of Oil Include War
| November 29, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
We’ve all seen comparisons of the virtues of electric vehicles to their internal combustion counterparts, and noticed that they seem to exclude the many different externalities of oil: lung disease, environmental damage, national security, etc. Most people believe that we fight wars over access to oil, and I happen to be one of them. What value do you think that I, as the father of the boy pictured here, now 18, who could wind up killed or maimed, would place on that externality? Let’s just call it “significant.”
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The Electric Vehicle Adoption Curve – Two Opposing Views
| November 29, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
In response to my recent piece on electric vehicles, a few readers sent me John Peterson’s position on the subject. Thanks, but I’m already quite familiar with it. John’s a brilliant, honest, and levelheaded guy; in fact, I plan to visit him in Switzerland when I’m in Europe next spring. Having said this, I disagree with him here.
For starters, the concept that EVs are overhyped and destined to failure because “Cheap Beats Cool” does not ring true of the auto market generally. Since the dawn of the automobile, and certainly since World War II, cars may be about sex, or about the wish to appear affluent, but they certainly aren’t about getting around as inexpensively as possible; “cheap” really isn’t the motivating force here. Read More
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November’s Webinar: Top Business Plans
| November 28, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
In the webinar, I chose a smattering of these plans and presented them to a live audience. Many of those listening wrote in questions, which I fielded as they came across.
Represented here are investment opportunities in electric transportation, wind, biomass, solar thermal, synthetic fuels, hydrokinetics, and concepts in energy storage, both batteries and compressed air.
I hope you enjoy.
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We Hail from a Long Line of Alternative Fueled Vehicles
| November 28, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
A quick reminder that we come from a long line of alternative fueled vehicles: It’s the 116th anniversary of the first automobile race in the United States. 89 had entered, but only six actually started, of which half were electric cars. And, as noted in the biofuels section of our History of Renewables piece, Henry Ford built the Model T to run on ethanol.
