Posts Tagged by Renewable Energy
Is Renewable Energy a Threat To Economic Prosperity?
| February 10, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
I’m proud that Tom Konrad, famed stock market analyst and editor of AltEnergyStocks.com, offers his comments here frequently. In a post yesterday, he offered me guidance in wrapping my wits around the issue of green jobs, directing me to his thoughtful article on Forbes.com, linked below. There, Tom looks at the issue from the standpoint of basic microeconomics’ “production function” which suggests that labor can be freely substituted for capital and energy. He provides examples recently, including this one:
Shifting people out of their cars and onto mass transit will create jobs because there will have to be drivers and people managing the transit system, where before no one was paid to drive. To the extent that the transit system can be paid for out of the reduced fuel costs and car ownership costs of the former drivers turned riders, the number of jobs created will be a pure economic gain.
But I wonder if it’s that simple. Read More
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OTEC Corporation — A Leader in Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion
| February 8, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Ocean Thermal |
As the name suggests, OTEC Corporation, whom I’m meeting next week on my trip back East, is one of the leaders in the development of ocean thermal energy conversion, a technology with huge potential to change the world energy picture. Best of all, these folks, while they’re true business professionals and leading scientists, are acutely aware of the environmental benefits that are at stake here.
Their website contains a wonderful section called “Common Ground” which begins with any excerpt from the writings of Amy Maddox: “Underneath We’re All the Same.” Read More
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Must Eco-friendliness Come at the Expense of the Economy?
| February 8, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
Here’s a wonderful article that gets at an issue I come across constantly: the implication that environmentalism and job growth are opposed to one another. Considering we have the option to put literally millions of people back to work in renewable energy, energy storage, electric transportation, smart-grid, etc., I’m always stunned when I hear politicians peddling the idea that eco-friendliness must come at the expense of the economy.
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Jerry Taylor, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, Contributes to “Renewable Energy – Following the Money”
| February 7, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Politics |
I have 13 meetings lined up over five days next week spread out from Washington, DC to Boston, starting with an interview with Jerry Taylor, senior fellow at the Cato Institute, conservative think-tank in our nation’s capital. I successfully appealed to Mr. Taylor on the basis that I have frequent talks with liberal economists, clean energy advocates and progressive policy wonks, but, as I pride myself on fair-mindedness, I would love to sit down and talk about different perspectives. After all, my next book’s working title: “Renewable Energy – Following the Money” suggests a wide range of political perspectives. He agreed, and we’re on for Tuesday morning, at his office which is walking distance from my next two meetings.
In my use of the word “conservative,” I’m not suggesting that Mr. Taylor is some sort of knee-jerk right-winger. In fact, he’s distinguished himself as a man of incredible objectivity, in a world so pitifully lacking in this rare commodity. Here he is, arguing (very well) that President Obama handled the BP oil spill very well. Try to find that type of sane, levelheaded rhetoric coming out of any of the Republican presidential candidates.
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Costs of Renewable Energy Can Only Decline
| February 6, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
Here’s an article about a breakthrough in solar power efficiency, which serves as a reminder of an important fact: the cost of renewable energy can only fall, while the cost of fossil fuels can only rise.
I’m not saying that there is no technology involved in extracting fossil fuels and building nuclear power plants; in fact, quite the contrary. But renewable energy is completely based on technology, principally materials science and engineering, focused mainly on developing more efficient ways of converting the energy from the sun, in one form or another, into useful work.
Insofar as the Earth receives 6000 times more energy from the sun each minute than all 7 billion of us are using, it’s only a matter of time until breakthroughs like the one above get us to the point where we have an abundance of clean, cheap power.
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Role of Government in Migrating to Clean Energy
| February 5, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
I was delighted with the discussion pursuant to my piece on moral philosophy and energy policy. I note that most comments support my beliefs that a) young minds should be exposed to man’s great questions, b) we all do, in fact, share a set of duties and responsibilities, and c) the way in which we generate and consume energy figures prominently here, as the externalities of burning fossil fuels are causing a considerable number of harmful effects – both to us here on Earth now, and to future generations.
The discussion was by no means unanimous, however. Someone wrote in, taking a run at me for my position that government needs to play an important role. I’ve lost the email, but as well as I can remember, it read:
“No, impressionable minds should NOT be exposed to your braying about the importance of big government.” Read More
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Explaining Clean Energy’s Tough Realities to Entrepreneurs
| February 5, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
I spoke at the Mark Taper Auditorium in downtown Los Angeles (pictured here) yesterday, introducing 2GreenEnergy to an audience of entrepreneurs, each of whom came with an idea, looking for investment capital. It’s always exciting to get behind a microphone and belt out the message:
• Figuring out where we’re going vis-à-vis energy is fascinating, but it’s not easy. We face tough realities in terms of the technology, the economics, and the politics.
• I’ll do everything I can to take good ideas forward, presenting solid business plans to an ever-growing set of investors, each hungry for exposure into clean energy and electric transportation.
This went really well; I got a lot of compliments on the talk, and met some terrific people on some fantastically important missions.
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Infographic: The Pros and Cons of Renewable Energy
| February 5, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Science |
Whenever I speak on renewable energy, I’m careful to leave my audience with a sense of the “tough realities.” We all want simple answers to our questions, but in the case of clean energy, none exist.
There are dozens of different flavors of solar, wind, biomass, hydro, and geothermal, each improving in terms of cost and efficiency, but at different rates. There are economic issues, as none of these flavors can compete with the dirtiest form of coal, if we don’t take into account the “externalities” like lung disease and environmental damage. And Lord knows there are political issues, where we have serious candidates for president of the U.S. who, if elected, boldly pledge to dismantle our Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Energy. If this occurs, it would effectively end the efforts of the largest economy on Earth to migrate away from fossil fuels and nuclear. Read More
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Moral Philosophy and Energy Policy
| February 2, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Fossil Fuels |
Last week, my son, a college freshman, sat down to his first class in philosophy.
First, can someone tell me why philosophy isn’t taught in high school? Is there some reason we think we need to shelter kids from life’s great questions until they’re older? I never taught the subject formally, though I tutored quite a few undergraduates while I was in graduate school, which often caused me to wonder how I would construct my own “101” course if I happened to be in that position, and at what age group I would present it.
What happened when mankind evolved to the point, about 10,000 years ago, that we had a solid grasp on basic agricultural principles, and so no longer needed to roam, hunting for and gathering food in a nonstop life-and-death struggle? What happened when we started to look up into the heavens — and the questions started to flow: Who made all this stuff? Why are we here? What happens when we die? Read More
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Talking Up Cleantech Business Concepts at the TechBrew MegaMixer
| February 1, 2012 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
I’m speaking at the “TechBrew MegaMixer” this Saturday afternoon at the Mark Taper Forum in downtown Los Angeles. If you happen to live locally and are looking for something to do, please feel free to stop by. There is no charge for admission, and, having attended these events in the past, they’re really pretty cool. The basic concept is getting good entrepreneurial ideas for cleantech products and services in front of potential investors. Sounds like a legitimate concept, doesn’t it?
The event runs from 1 PM – 5 PM; I hope to see you there.
