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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

2GreenEnergy reader Rebecca asks:

When you’re approached by budding inventors or experienced ones, how do you manage to filter out those who are true and honest from those who are a sham?

Good question.  It’s not something that can be done with absolute certainty, but I like to think I’m reasonably adept at it.

I was a math and science guy back in the day; I majored in physics in college; of course, that was when we still believed the Earth was the center of the universe.  🙂   My first job other than manual labor (mostly caddying, golf course maintenance and painting houses up until that point) was tutoring freshman calculus and physics to undergraduates when I was in graduate school.  I made $6 an hour — more than twice the minimum wage at the time — an utter fortune! (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Like anyone, I’m loath to post unflattering pictures of myself, but I had to laugh when I saw this one, so I thought I’d go ahead.

I spent most of last Thursday in Charlotte, NC with Vision Motor Cars’ CEO Brooks Agnew and COO Ed Kowalski.  After several hours’ conversation on business strategy in Amelie’s, a fabulously hip French bakery that has become my Charlotte office, I test drove the latest version of VMC’s light-duty all-electric pickup truck, the “Everest.”  I look extremely uncomfortable — almost frantic — backing the truck out of a parking space in Amelie’s cramped lot, desperately trying not to hit anything.

In my defense, and as I mentioned earlier, driving the Everest takes some getting used to, in several respects; it has a clutch to “feather” shifting between its five forward speeds.  But there are so many differences between this and my little (45 MPG) six-speed VW Jetta diesel or the six-speed BMWs (an ’85 735i followed by a ’95 540i) I had earlier, it’s hard to know where to start.  First, this isn’t an internal combustion engine with a flywheel that needs to keep spinning; you couldn’t stall it if you wanted to.  And because of the high torque at zero RPMs, you can take off from a stop in 3rd or even 4th gear, and forget about shifting altogether.

It’s reliable, inexpensive, and all-electric, with a range of about 100 miles.  It’s a great little truck for folks who work locally and don’t like the concept of our country’s borrowing a billion dollars a day to support our addiction to oil, and sending that money to our enemies.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I just got off the phone with a friend of a friend, who heads up the electric vehicle strategy at one of the largest utilities in the U.S. Here are some of the ideas we covered:

• Especially in the short-term, the opportunity to sell power for EVs has very little upside, as it is dwarfed by sales to industrial customers.  However, it has plenty of downside, as even a few Nissan Leafs in a neighborhood charging at Level 2 (about 7 kW) can blow a transformer.  Having said that, the company recognizes its obligation to enable its customers to charge their EVs. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

A reader asks:

I’ve been wondering if going to business school with a focus on sustainability would be a good idea in the near future. Are educational programs developed enough to gain meaningful credentials and a wholesome learning experience?

I’m not an expert in this space, but I would say yes, there are graduate programs that I think are terrific.  In particular, a friend of mine is closely connected to the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at the University of California at Santa Barbara.  As far as I can tell, this is an absolutely fabulous institution, and I’m sure there many hundreds of others like it.

Here’s another tip on the subject I got from Amory Lovins, from my front-row seat at a presentation he gave at Bren a few months ago.  “If your advisor looks at your coursework and says, ‘I don’t see the connection between the classes you’re taking,’ you know you’re on the right track.”  His point, obviously, is that a good approach to the subject is eclectic, since environmental studies are, by their very nature, multi-disciplinary.

I envy you.

Best of luck!

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

Tavas Energy is a non-profit organization that helps other non-profits, e.g., volunteer firehouses, to “go green” with solar photovoltaics.  I just spoke with one of the organization’s founders, Noel Smyth, and promised to share the opportunity to vote for Tavas on the Chase Community Giving app on Facebook.  If they get enough votes, they get a grant to expand their operations.  They got my vote, for sure.  Here’s the link. 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Climate Change

My friend and colleague Vijay Rochlani, one of our 2GreenEnergy Associates, was instrumental in arranging the interview I conducted last week (for my third book: “Renewable Energy — Following the Money“) with Dr. Raj Pachauri.  To my shame, I had not written Viajy to thank him and to tell me how it went.

In a word, it was great.  It was an honor to be in the presence of someone of that stature, to be sure, and he and I had a wonderful, warm discussion.

From the perspective of my book, however, I’m not sure how exciting that conversation will be for readers.  In fact, if he had been interviewing me on the subject, we would have had essentially the same conversation.  We established: (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Here’s an article that does a good job discussing voter suppression – to be sure, off-topic for a clean energy blog by a long shot.  I bring it up only because it ends with words that resonate with me: “It’s only a question of time.”

Compare the abundance of white faces at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., with the multicultural, multiracial faces at the Democratic Party’s meeting in Charlotte, N.C. Whatever we may think of the current policy shortcomings of the Democrats—and there are many—that multicultural, multiracial base is the nation’s authentic present and its certain future. Sooner or later, that base will lay …voter suppression … to rest. It’s only a question of time.

It’s true that we’re marching inexorably in the direction of so many triumphs that can turn around the gigantic challenges that face humankind; it really is only a matter of time before technology, if we pursue it aggressively, enables us to solve many of our most pressing problems.  Of course, I’m more tuned into the energy and climate change situation than the myriad of other issues confronting us, but I clearly see breakthroughs that can avert the global warming that threatens to damage our civilization on a scale that we have never known. Our achieving those triumphs really is only a question of time.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I’m not big on taking sides in political disputes, especially the trashy type like those surrounding the 2012 U.S. presidential race.  Yet I have to voice my approval of Elizabeth Warren’s highlighting the U.S. Supreme Court’s “Citizens United” decision in the points she made (“corporations are not people”) in her speech last night at the Democratic National Convention.

When I see things like this, and then look around to see a real groundswell of populist outcry for an amendment that would overturn Citizens United, I have an extremely strange and rare experience: some level of renewed confidence in the power of American democracy. 

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency, Solar Thermal, Sustainable Building

Some of the fastest return on investment you can get is by retrofitting a leaky, energy wasting building with high R-value insulation and efficient appliances. Many estimates show that US buildings use close to 50% of the total annual energy in the country- so this seems like a natural place to start if we want to conserve. But what if you’re building a house from scratch?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

I’m looking forward to two events down in Santa Barbara this afternoon.  First, it’s lunch with Jim Winsayer, CEO of Continental Wind Power, soon to be a 2GreenEnergy marketing services client.  I really love what these guys are doing in midsized wind, and I can’t wait to tell their story to organizations that can use their 400 kilowatt turbines to offset the retail price of electricity.   

Then it’s off to a presentation by the Eleos Foundation, only a few blocks from the restaurant.  Eleos is one of the most effective groups on Earth in terms of placing real, often multi-million-dollar, investments in start-ups in developing countries.  Some of their success stories bring tears to my eyes, so I try to attend their events whenever possible.  And, though many of these investments have nothing to do with clean energy, the possibility is very much on the table; I’d love to see them, for example, invest in WindStream.  Wouldn’t it be great to see a small factory employ a few dozen people in some impoverished city somewhere in Africa, assembling micro-wind turbines that will ultimately bring electric lighting to local people for the first time? 

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