Posts Tagged by clean energy
From Guest Blogger Kelly Marsh: Top 5 Advantages of Using Green Energy Products
| March 31, 2012 | Posted by Kelly Marsh under Renewables - Business |
Renewable energy is becoming a catch word. Green is becoming trendier color. Every odd product is claiming greenness and energy efficiency. Why should we care about green energies? How they make our life worth living? Is it just another marketing gimmickry or does it make sense in life?
No doubt, there are controversies. Few people despise green energy products. They claim such products are ineffective and nonviable. However, others praise and try to adore anything with even a faintest relation to green energies. We will see 5 undeniable advantages any green energy product can offer. Read More
Bill Paul’s Earth Preservers Interviews Bill McKibben of 350.org
| March 30, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
My friend and 2GreenEnergy financial guru Bill Paul runs the organization “Earth Preservers” that is doing fantastic work in bringing the fundamentals of clean energy and sustainability to a world that desperately needs to come to grips with these basic facts. Here, Bill, in an Earth Preservers TV “EPTV” Newsmaker Interview, speaks with Bill McKibben of 350.org, arguably the world’s leading environmental activist. McKibben covers subjects including the Keystone pipeline and the understandable disappointment that young people have with the Obama administration vis-à-vis the environment.
He also clarifies the idea, forwarded by the right wing, that subsidizing green energy development violates the idea of a “free market,” arguing that anyone who honestly believes in free market capitalism should demand that the oil and gas industry pay to clean up its own waste. If you ran a restaurant and threw your garbage out into the street at night after you closed, we’d come along and close YOU down. The oil and coal companies dump their garbage into the skies, and make it YOUR problem. An interesting analogy, to be sure. Please check it out.
Webinar: Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
| March 24, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Ocean Thermal |
Here’s the webinar we did the other day, in which I interviewed Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation’s chief strategist Jim Greenberg on OTEC. I thought he did a fantastic job is explaining the potentials that this rapidly evolving technology holds to provide large amounts of clean baseload energy to over 4 billion people living in the tropics.
Amory Lovins at the “Eco-Nomics” Conference
| March 23, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Sustainability |
I hope Amory Lovins doesn’t think I’m stalking him. He certainly could get that impression, as I’ve approached him twice in the past three days — Wednesday after his incredible talk at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and today at the Wall Street Journal’s ”eco-nomics” conference just a few miles away. Technically, today, it was my friend Jeff Brothers, solar developer extraordinaire, who, when the session was over, suggested that we make a trade: a signed copy of Is Renewable Really Doable? for a signed copy of Lovins’ Reinventing Fire.
Again, the fact that most people don’t even know who Lovins is speaks volumes about the state we’re in as a planet, and what a poor job the media is doing in its coverage of environmental issues.
Video: Renewable Energy’s Strengths and Weaknesses
| March 22, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Science |
Here’s another in our series of short introductory videos, in which I discuss renewable energy generally, including its strengths and weaknesses. We ALL want clean, abundant, inexpensive energy — and renewables hold the potential to take us there. But as much as we like this concept generally, there are issues; there are costs that need to be understood. It’s fine to be an advocate, but it’s even better to wrap your wits around as many of the issues as possible: technological, economical, and political.
Maybe We Consumers Should Lower Our Consumption of Energy — But Is It Possible?
| March 19, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
I’ve known 2GreenEnergy reader Joe for several years now, and he’s never ceased to amaze me with his insights as a political philosopher and social critic. We hadn’t corresponded for a while, but he wrote me after having bought my book on its launch day — something for which I was quite grateful, as to whatever degree, the incremental purchase heightened the overall status of 2GreenEnergy and all we’re trying to do here.
Our conversation:
Craig: Thanks, Joe. Glad you’re still reading my stuff. I admire you.
Joe: Maybe I should be writing books instead of self-destructing as a farmer/engineer. Enjoy the weather.
Craig: Ha! We’ll, anyone with a mind like yours should most certainly be using it in every way possible. The world needs you.
Joe: That’s kinda the rub, Craig: Read More
Short Videos on Smart-grid from 2GreenEnergy Associate Vijay Rochlani
| March 17, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Science |
I know I’ve mentioned 2GreenEnergy “Associate” Vijay Rochlani, who specializes in bringing clean energy to India, via his vast network of business connections. Recently, Vijay sent me this wonderful collection of short videos on smart-grid that point out some of the advantages of using IT to create efficiencies in the way electrical power is generated, transmitted, distributed and consumed.
The value of those efficiencies alone is nothing to sneeze at. Here in the U.S., smart-grid will mean a savings of over 25%, the equivalent carbon reduction of planting a forest the size of the State of Texas, or taking 130 million cars off the road. But of perhaps even greater importance is smart-grid’s promise as an enabler, allowing a greater penetration of renewables in the grid-mix.
Hydrokinetics: Short Introductory Video
| March 17, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Hydrokinetics |
In our continuing series of videos, whose purpose is to introduce newcomers to the subject of renewable energy, I offer this short piece on hydrokinetics, featuring a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of the idea of extracting energy from moving water.
Though this sounds simple – and mankind has been harnessing that simplicity for thousands of years, it gets tricky now that there are seven billion energy-starved people on this small planet, and we’re desperately looking for sustainable ways of providing that energy.
Indeed, it’s not as easy as it seems. Anytime we insert a device into moving water, we face immediately a variety of issues, both ecological and logistical. I.e., we’re both changing the natural habitat in some ways that are hard to understand completely, and we’re also setting ourselves up to face huge costs associated with maintenance, as devices rust, and encounter things like biofouling, shifting current patterns, dynamic sea- and riverbeds, etc.
Hope you enjoy.
2GreenEnergy at the 2012 Cleantech Forum
| March 16, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
I plan to attend the last day (Wednesday, March 28th) of the 10th Cleantech Forum, to be held in San Francisco. The show does a great job in pulling together cleantech innovators, investors, corporate leaders and policy-makers from around the world. It’s always great to meet new people at the top of the field, and learn about the technologies that are shaping our future.
As the name suggests, there’s more to this than clean energy per se: energy efficiency, water, biofuels, electric vehicles, smart grid, etc.
If you happen to be in the Bay Area that day, please let me know, and let’s meet for a cup of coffee.
The Big Day Is Here! Is Renewable Really Doable?
| March 15, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
Well, the big day has finally arrived. Today is the official launch of my second book: Is Renewable Really Doable? I’m stoked.
If you’ve ever wondered why the world is moving so slowly in the direction of renewables, even though the need is so obvious and so pressing, here’s your answer.
As I mentioned, anyone who buys one or more copies today receives the 32-page report “Insights into LCOE – The Levelized Cost of Energy” (on sale for $59.95) absolutely free.
Is Renewable Really Doable? is a compilation of interviews with an incredibly wide range of people, to present the most fair-minded viewpoint possible on the energy scene: folks representing the disciplines of physics, engineering, anthropology, mathematics, economics, law, and venture capital.
Today’s the day. As always, I appreciate your support.
