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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

For readers who may feel a deep-seated feeling of grief associated with the environmental devastation that our society is visiting upon its home planet, this “train wreck in slow motion,” as it’s so often been described, here is a breathtakingly beautiful piece of writing from Carolyn Raffensperger, Executive Director of the Science & Environmental Health Network.

Whether it’s a book project or a blog post, I spend several hours every day trying to find the words that will best communicate the urgency of the environmental situation in a way that will inspire people to take on a spirit of hope and a commitment to action in a world where hopelessness and apathy seem to make more sense.  So, when I come across language with this level of power and brilliance, I don’t mind making a heartfelt recommendation. Trust me on this one, and check out this fabulous short essay. 

 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

It’s so easy to look at the levels of stupidity and corruption that have so overwhelmed the U.S. democracy over the last half-century and conclude that there is no hope.  Some of us may have thought that perhaps the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision “Citizens United” (granting corporations the right to spend as much money as they want to manipulate our elections in whatever direction suits their purpose) might have been the final nail in the coffin.

But then we look at the actual statistics associated with the movement to forward a Constitutional Amendment that would overturn Citizens United, and we see that it’s sailing right along!  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

I just got back from Crestron Masters programming training where I learned about all of their new products coming out and currently available.

Crestron got its start doing programmable controllers and touch panels for the AV industry. In the process they created some very versatile controllers that allow for control over some very disparate and unrelated pieces of equipment. While controlling projectors/displays, screens, video switchers and audio equipment was their focus in the beginning, that rapidly grew into controlling lighting and HVAC also which then gave them control of over whole building lighting and HVAC systems. There is also interfacing with entry control and security systems. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

A reader points out:

French automaker Peugeot Citroen has invented a brand new air-powered hybrid. The ‘Hybrid Air’ system uses compressed air to move the car’s wheels when driving under 43 mph. Peugeot says the new hybrid system should get up to 141 miles per gallon of gas. Models should roll out as early as 2016. Man, we hope it’s not all a bunch of hot compressed air!

So the car is powered by an internal combustion engine (at ~ 20% efficiency) that compresses the air, which then suffers huge efficiency losses when it’s decompressed?  That sounds like a terrible solution to me, and I find their claim dubious (unless the “car” weighs 80 pounds, or there is some other wild variable I’m not seeing).   

This, btw, is what has people enthused over EVs; the efficiencies of charging and discharging batteries are in the 90s (as high as 99%), and the efficiency of the motor itself, i.e., the conversion from electrical to mechanical energy, is in the low 90s as well.  Of course, the issue here is how the electricity is generated; if it comes from coal, that’s bad.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

My thanks to AltEnergyStocks.com’s Tom Konrad for his recommendation that I buy stock in cleantech up-and-comer Maxwell Technologies! It’s up a mere 43% from when I bought it just a couple of months ago, not to mention 7.39% today — and the day’s not over. Woot!

I’m largely kidding with all this ebullience; I know that Tom recommended this for the long-term, and that the short-term spurt has been more a matter of luck than anything. But in any case, Woot!

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

Some days, I’m proud to be an American. Other days, I come across stuff like this piece on climate change, and I want to try to find a rock to crawl under.

Obviously, antics like this piece from Fox News, accusing all climate scientists of corruption, are theater rather than news, but that doesn’t make them any less embarrassing to our country.

H. L. Mencken said 80 years ago, “no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”  But isn’t there a limit? Isn’t there anything these people at Fox won’t do for money? 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

If I had to pick a single theme that cuts across the business buzzwords that prevailed over the last half-century, I think I’d choose “convergence.”  The convergence of manufacturing and IT, of voice and data communications, of telephony and IT, etc.  And of course, our current fascination with bringing together the proliferation of web services, mobile devices, and emerging consumer lifestyles.

Here’s one not to be overlooked, however: the convergence of IT and OT (information and operations technologies) that pundits believe will drive a huge section of the business world over the coming decades.  I’m a believer as well, insofar as this whole subject is really the enabler of so much of what we’re doing in energy efficiency, conversation, and the migration to renewables. 

Take a few minutes, if you will, and look through these 17 “must-know” IT/OT technologies.  As you do, consider how important most of them are to moving our world in the direction of the sustainable generation and consumption of energy. 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage

My friends at Eos Energy Systems tell me that far more than 95% of the world’s energy storage is pumped storage hydroelectricity (PSH) – which is one of the reasons they believe that their breakthrough in zinc-air batteries is so important.  We commonly think of PSH of requiring natural changes in elevation, since the cost of building such topographies would be cost-prohibitive – but is that necessarily true? 

Here’s a unique approach to energy storage that the Belgians are implementing, building a hollowed-out island (pictured at left) off the coast of West Flanders, enabling them to more than triple their wind capacity (currently 3%) from its North Sea wind farms alone, allowing them to replace one of their two 3,000-MW nuclear plants.

The article doesn’t quote the cost, but this does seem potentially viable in shallow and calm waters.   

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s an article that illustrates what happens when regulators get clever in creating incentives for environmental stewardship and responsibility: smart people work around them, unintended consequences result, and windfall profits occur in random places that have nothing to do with environmental benefit.

If I were doing this, I’d make the whole situation incredibly simple.  How about this?

Remove all subsidies, and tax behavior that has currently uncaptured externalities.  Want to burn coal?  No problem.  But here’s a new price per kilowatt-hour that includes cleaning up the damage it’s doing to our lungs and environment.  I don’t think you’ll find it too appealing, but it’s your choice.

Gasoline’s cheap now too, but it sure won’t be when all its costs to society are included.

You’d have renewable energy in one hell of a hurry, and no unintended consequences from people gaming the system.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

Here’s a short video that presents a shiny new CSP (concentrated solar power, aka solar thermal) plant in Abu Dhabi.

This 100 MW installation cost $600 million, not exactly cheap.  But CSP is a relatively new concept that hasn’t had the time to undergo the cost-reduction that comes from decades of R&D in the more mature technologies like solar PV and wind.

So what is remarkable about this?  Well, it uses air-cooling vs. water, which, considering that this plant (as well as most future CSP plants) is in the desert, this breakthrough is of incredible importance.

The other thing, of course, is that the UAE has oil coming out its ears.  So why clean energy?  If you believe them, and I don’t see any reason not to, it’s about climate change; they perceive a responsibility to lead the world away from fossil fuels and into renewables.

Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned here for the U.S.

 

 

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