Posts Tagged by book on renewables
Please Help Craig Select a Title for His New Book on Renewables
| October 5, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
If I may ask another quick favor on selecting a title on my new book, could I get you to rate each of five possible choices? The “survey” is right here. Thanks very much.
Your Book on Renewable Energy: Issues at Top vs. Bottom
| February 28, 2011 | Posted by John F Robbins CEM / CSDP under Sustainability |
by John F Robbins CEM / CSDP
Design, Analysis, Consulting & Education since 1983 to Improve Ecological Performance
859-363-0376
johnfrobbins@insightbb.com
www.johnfrobbins.com
Just read your book, referred to me by a green-leaning architect I know. Below are my comments.
Your presentation is mostly about top-down options, assuming consumer demands and loads as well as consumer and business m.o.’s do not change. Yet consumer and business demands, loads and current m.o.’s are all what they are as a result of many years of readily available ad-infinitum access to cheap fossil energy with very little cost for environmental damages or threats to human and ecological health. I guess the assumption by you and all you’ve interviewed is now that we’re here - energy guzzling, environment-damaging and using beyond our means both in terms of money and resources – we are unlikely to be able to change. I disagree with this. Read More
My Next Book on Renewables — Looking for a Few Big Ideas
| August 23, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
I’m trying to get some “big ideas” for my next book on renewables. The one I favor at this point is a take-off on the first book’s “tough realities” theme:
What, pragmatically, are we facing – technologically, economically, and politically — in terms of the migration to renewables?
I like to investigate the themes that I myself most want to learn about – in the belief that my own way of thinking is a reasonable proxy for others. To that end, I propose to explore ideas like:
- Socially, how to you make this happen? I.e., How does one motivate people to deal with the financial pain of the front-loaded costs of renewables? In particular, how do we accomplish this in the real world of politics and public relations in which we live?
- To what degree is efficiency important? What is the import of the fact that Europeans about one-half the amount of power per capita as Americans? But again, how to do get people to deal with a certain amount of sacrafice?
- I deliver consulting services to companies that take ecologically dangerous substances (e.g., chicken manure and coal ash) and turn it into clean and useful products (e.g., energy and building products, respectively) that have had a tough time selling their wares, since historically there has been no legal imperative for anyone to adopt new, cleaner business practices. How is that likely to change in the coming years, as the world sees an increasing need to protect itself from the lethal effects of pollution? How will that change affect my clients’ business viability?
- To what degree does society need to create millions of decentralized and localized “utilities” in the form of consumers with their own PV arrays, wind turbines, etc? Can this help us avoid making the same mistake we made last time in creating huge energy companies and centralized utilities?
- Is there a way to do any of this without a significant increase in the price of fossil-fuel-based energy? If not, as I currently suspect, how should that price increase come about?
- What are the most likely scenarios for the increasing costs (economic, social, military) of our current course re: fossil fuels?
- In turn, what are the most likely trajectories for the migration to clean energy, considering the growth in energy-hungry segments of the world’s population?
- Will there be a gap, as some suggest, where the energy required to build and deploy renewables in a timely fashion is simply unavailable? What then?
- And speaking of gaps, why is there such a huge chasm between most serious scientists and economists – and those who believe that “business as usual” is a reasonable course for mankind to pursue?
Please let me know what you think here. Thanks.
Please Help Select the Title for My Book
| March 23, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been working on a new book on renewables, which is just about completed — it’s largely based upon interviews of some of the top 25 minds in the renewable energy industry. I plan the main title of the book to be: RENEWABLE ENERGY: FACTS AND FANTASIES, as it addresses the tough realities of clean energy from a wide range of perspectives: technological, economic, and political.
If I may ask a quick favor, I need some help determining the subtitle. Please click the following link and select your choice for a subtitle.
Title: RENEWABLE ENERGY: FACTS AND FANTASIES
Subtitle #1) Examining the Technological, Economic, and Political Implications of Mankind’s Most Important Challenge
Subtitle #2) Interviews with 25 Subject-Matter Experts
Subtitle #3) Exploring the New Energy “Triumvirate”: Technology, Economics, and Politics
Subtitle #4) How Proper Direction in Clean Energy Will Prevent the Immanent Collapse of our Standard of Living
Please write your preference in the comments below. Minimally, I’d love your feedback on what you consider to be your favorite subtitle. If you are also able to provide a sequence from best to worse, that would be even more helpful.
Finally, if you wish to suggest an alternative title, please do so.
Thanks.
