Those of us who live near major cities spend a great deal of time stuck in traffic, when we’re unfortunate enough to be forced to drive at rush-hour, or encounter some special circumstance like an accident. I’m sure many of us, in addition to the frustration we feel, wonder about the nature and cause of heavy traffic and how it may be avoided. Here’s a good article that looks at that very phenomenon. (more…)
I had meetings all over Southern California on Thursday, and driving to and from them enabled me to listen to the radio and absorb news that I otherwise would have missed.
I had barely backed out of my driveway when I heard this story about a scandal surrounding the biofuels trade between the U.S. and Canada. It seems the transportation company, which was compensated by the government for bringing an eco-friendly product into Canada, never bothered to unload it when it reached its destination; the same load kept making its way back and forth across the border, while the company raked in huge profits by pretending to do something good for the environment. Apparently, it would have cost the company a trifle more to have actually unloaded the biofuel and then get more, so they figured: screw it. (more…)
I had a real eye-opening meeting the other day with Mike Miller, an extremely accomplished entrepreneur and angel investor in Los Angeles.
Frankly, I had come to think of angels as generally too small to make an investment of the scope required for most of the projects I support, and possibly too regional in focus — a potential mismatch considering most of the world’s involvement with cleantech is happening (sadly) outside the United States. (more…)
I’m out of town for the holidays, but I’ll maintain some level of posts through the next week.
I also wanted to mention that my current book project, “Renewable Energy – Following the Money,” is a bit behind schedule, but should be completed in a couple of months. My transcriptionist (she does a really good job) had an illness in the family that took her off the project for a bit, but she’s back now. I also had some misgivings about the project strategically, but I think I’ve resolved them.
My mother, who reads this blog regularly, hates it when I come out in support of concepts that could be viewed as leftist – and even if that weren’t the case, I try to tread lightly on the political content here anyway. Still, I thought I’d share this recent piece by Bill Clinton’s Labor Secretary Robert Reich on the growing divide between rich and poor and the issues associated with it.
I have two questions about this: (more…)
A lot of people (typically younger) want to work to save the environment, perhaps even dedicate their career to this pursuit. Unfortunately, it is often difficult to find a job that pays enough to let someone do so, especially when student loans, children, etc come into the mix, and many people interested in saving the environment have skills that can usually demand more income. Luckily though, there are many job opportunities that are both green and high paying – you simply have to know where to find them. It is essential to study current economic and employment trends though. If this sounds intriguing to you, here are five job opportunities for people interested in saving the environment. (more…)
If you are fresh out of high school and planning to pursue a career in renewable energy, you should know that there are multiple relevant degree programs to consider. Each possible degree can vary in workload, difficulty, career options, and pay rates though. So, it is imperative to know the basics of each degree before actually choosing one that best fits your needs. (more…)
The fellow who publishes the blog No More Naked Roofs and I have been sending back and forth mutually complimentary emails. As I told him (I infer it’s a guy from the writing style, though there is no name connected with the site), I agree with everything he writes in terms of technology advocacy, and also his observations of the politics that stand in the way of renewable energy; for instance, we both have chopped up the Heartland Institute as aggressively as good taste will allow.
He’s also hilariously funny at times, which has inspired me to try to weave a bit more humor into my posts; I’ll try to pull it off as well as he does. I hope you’ll check out his blog.
EPRI, the Electric Power Resource Institute, is a non-profit organization that functions to perform research and provide assistance in the development of advanced systems in generation, delivery and use of electricity. I’m sure there was a time a few decades ago that there really wasn’t too much going on in this space, but that’s certainly not the case now. That’s why I wanted to make sure I included an interview with a spokesperson from EPRI in my first book, Renewable Energy – Facts and Fantasies; Mark Duvall, whom I had met at numerous conferences, was kind enough to oblige. (more…)
Question: We all know that gang violence is a scourge on our civilization. Can you estimate the average cost to society of a typical criminal gang member?
Answer: Can be found at http://2greenenergy.com/cool-guess-answers/8732 .
Relevance: In many cases, the cost of cleaning up after a mess is far greater than preventing the mess in the first place, and this is certainly the case with gang membership. There are numerous non-profit organizations, e.g., El Nido, that keep young people away from gangs far less expensively than dealing with the bloodshed they leave in their wake. Thus the old adage: “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
Perhaps we should think about applying this wisdom to the damage we’re wreaking upon our environment with our continued and expanding use of fossil fuels.
