Posts Tagged by Renewable Energy World
Solar Goes Mainstream
| December 15, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Photo-voltaics |
Renewable Energy World’s Steve Leone published an article today on solar and its attempts to go mainstream, in which he mentions a great number of developments that will ultimately make solar far more appealing to consumers than it is currently. Some of these notions include transparent PV on windows, as well as PV roof shingles and other forms of building-integrated solar.
It was good to see he noted the role of electric transportation in the equation. I.e., there is clearly a growing number of people who want to control the source of electricity that charges their cars – and what better way to do that than to install that source on their roofs?
If we still have a civilization here in 2050, we will have “gotten there.” The questions are how much damage we will have done, and who’s going to get rich in the process.
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Renewable Energy’s Competitors Face Tough Times As Well
| November 16, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
Sure, clean energy is under fire in our current political and economic environment. But here’s a post I wrote on Renewable Energy World, in which I point out that its competitors are facing some tough times as well.
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Stephen Lacey at ClimateProgress.Org – Making a Statement
| September 7, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
When I met Stephen Lacey at Renewable Energy World a few years ago, I recall one of the first things he told me about his organization. “We advocate for renewables and against nothing,” he explained. I clarified, “So you don’t take positions counter to Big Oil, Coal, Nuclear, etc?” I asked. “Exactly.”
Well, that was the “old Stephen,” I’m happy to report. The “new Stephen” has a gig at ClimateProgress.Org, and trust me, these people call ‘em like they see ‘em. Here’s a recent piece based on materials acquired by Bloomberg News, showing how Koch Industries, Exxon Mobil, and numerous other corporations paid tens of thousands of dollars to write legislation for lawmakers that would repeal carbon pollution reduction programs in various states around the U.S.
When I spoke with Stephen a few months ago, he seemed very happy; he has the kind of exuberance that a dog experiences when it’s let off its leash. My hearty congratulations. And this new-found freedom will pay off very handsomely for the world of energy journalism; we’re all the better for your job change, my friend.
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Secretary Chu: United States Faces a Choice in Energy
| June 1, 2011 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
Eric Mathis is obviously a young man who “gets it.” He posted a comment on my piece on Joe Biden’s speech that I put on Renewable Energy World, in which he linked to a post he wrote on GreenForAll. In it he discusses why and how the clean energy debate needs to be reframed, and notes:
Moreover, Secretary Chu’s recent statement further unpacks the issue at hand when he stated that the “United States faces a choice today: will we lead in innovation and out-compete the rest of the world or will we fall behind?” Falling behind is exactly what we are doing and what lies at the heart of this issue is simple: while we are fighting each other within the various Clean vs. Dirty energy debates, our country is being chopped up, sold off and shipped to China.
I hope readers will check out Eric’s post in its entirety. Again, he gets it.
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US Role in the United Nations Climate Change Conference
| November 27, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
It’s bad enough that the country I love fails to take the lead in developing alternative energy solutions and declines to play a principal role in establishing a new economy based on clean energy. But, as we saw in Kyoto in the 1997, the presence of the US in the world of dealing with global climate change is often viewed more as a hindrance than a help.
Here’s Renewable Energy World’s coverage of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, in which non-profit Carbonfund urges the US – especially in light of the midterm elections — to stay home so that progress can be made, unobstructed by the overwhelming force of our business interests. That’s sad.
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Oil Companies and Renewable Energy
| November 21, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
When my father left this Earth a couple of months ago, he left me some stock in ExxonMobil. I posted my musings on the subject here, on my blog at Renewable Energy World.
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Financing Renewables – The Gap Between the Interests of Venture Capitalists and Institutional Investors
| September 17, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
I don’t know how many readers check out Stephen Lacey’s podcasts on Renewable Energy World, but they’re absolutely terrific. Here’s a post I just wrote on this week’s episode, covering the gap between the interests of venture capitalists and those institutional investors and banks. I also mention the role of government in the migration to renewables, and what the gentleman pictured here would have told us to do.
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Offer Your Opinion on the New EPA Vehicle Ratings
| September 7, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
I just wrote a post on Renewable Energy World in which I suggest that everyone learn about – and weigh in on — the new EPA ratings. When implemented shortly, this will represent the first change from the famous city and highway MPG ratings that were put into effect decades ago. To its credit, the EPA, in conjunction with the Departments of Energy and Transportation actively solicit our input on the new system under consideration.
My main concern is that the proposed plan has the potential to confuse more than to clarify. When the ratings began, their only real purpose was to inform people as to the fuel costs they would incur with their new vehicle. And certainly, if there has been any change in that concern over the years, it’s been amplified by the economic downturn. Now, however, there is a companion concern: the level of environmental damage done per mile.
So my recommendation is simply that the ratings provide as clearly and simply as possible two numbers: Read More
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The Economics of Electricity Markets
| August 26, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
In his recent article on Renewable Energy World titled Electricity markets are weird: why a carbon price isn’t enough, Sean Casten provides several scholarly reasons that establishing a carbon tax is tricky business. I encourage everyone to read this; it’s really worthwhile.
But at the end of the day, Mr. Casten seems to be to be splitting hairs. Where we are now is a million miles from where we need to be in terms of providing a level playing field for renewables. I simply ask Congress to get us into the right galaxy – then we can start talking about Pareto-efficient markets and cost/price causality. As long as the fossil fuel energy industry receives multi-billion dollar government subsidies, favorable treatment from the Bureau of Land Management, and immunity from the costs of the environmental damage it’s causing, I can’t see the reason to get too heavily into the microeconomics here.
We need to make wholesale changes in the way we view the costs of energy. Until that time, the energy industry is looking on at this discussion and snickering as they continue on their path of rape and ruin.
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Power Transmission is a Real Problem for Renewable Energy
| August 24, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
I like to post articles on Renewable Energy World, as they have pretty decent traffic among people interested in a wide range of clean energy topics. Today, I commented on Stephen Lacey’s piece Is the Transmission ‘Problem’ Real? in which I indicated that he’s correct: to some degree, the argument that the grid needs to be upgraded in order to accommodate more clean energy is specious.
I go on to mention that I’m more interested in renewables on a national or continental scale. And, while I’m aware that Bill McKibben and thousands of other smart people see a future dominated by individual energy farmers, each, putting his unused electrons back onto the grid, I question whether this adequately addresses the matter of scale. With our growing population of energy-hungry consumers, utility-scale renewables appears to me to be the only way to get this done.
And this is where transmission really is an issue. As we know, renewable resources are localized: the sun shines hottest in the southwestern deserts, the wind blows hardest in the plains, the mountains have the best geothermal resources, etc. A significant upgrade to the grid — preferably to high-voltage DC — is required to make this happen.
Yet, as usual, the difficulty here is almost exclusively political. In particular, we’re being told that, for legal reasons, we can’t have a national high-voltage grid. And unfortunately, the US Supreme Court didn’t help the cause in its recent ruling, either.
I really don’t understand the problem. We have national pathways for the transportation of automobiles, railway cars, natural gas, etc. Can someone provide a reason — other than sleezy politics — that we can’t use our crystal clean eminent domain laws to get this done? There should be nothing new or scary about this.
