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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

My friend and 2GreenEnergy financial guru Bill Paul runs the organization “Earth Preservers” that is doing fantastic work in bringing the fundamentals of clean energy and sustainability to a world that desperately needs to come to grips with these basic facts. Here, Bill, in an Earth Preservers TV “EPTV” Newsmaker Interview, speaks with Bill McKibben of 350.org, arguably the world’s leading environmental activist. McKibben covers subjects including the Keystone pipeline and the understandable disappointment that young people have with the Obama administration vis-à-vis the environment.

He also clarifies the idea, forwarded by the right wing, that subsidizing green energy development violates the idea of a “free market,” arguing that anyone who honestly believes in free market capitalism should demand that the oil and gas industry pay to clean up its own waste.  If you ran a restaurant and threw your garbage out into the street at night after you closed, we’d come along and close YOU down.  The oil and coal companies dump their garbage into the skies, and make it YOUR problem.  An interesting analogy, to be sure.  Please check it out.  

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

The CleanTech Forum in San Francisco this week exemplified a dilemma faced by  many conference organizers.  The folks who run this show want good content that will please the people who paid good money to fly here and attend.  But the sponsors, who put up their own money, want to be part of that content; in particular, they want more than signage to make people aware of their generosity; they want the opportunity to speak to the audience.

That, in and of itself, is generally not a problem, since sponsors normally have the basic decency and self-restraint (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I’m up here in Marin County, California, north of San Francisco for my interview with Sim Van der Ryn later this morning, and a few thoughts are passing through my head. One is that this part of the world will never be “developed” in the sense of turning it into a homogeneous theme park of Applebees, Walmarts, and tract housing. Of course, “never is a long time,” but, even though I’m only about 40 miles from the Golden Gate Bridge as the crow flies, the terrain up here makes it tough to get to.

When you go to Paris and see McDonalds all over the city, it’s easy to understand why the French resent us. But I think the incredible landscape here in Marin County, replete with its ancient trees and craggy hills, will keep this part of it safe from modernity for a long time to come.

I’ll post more on my talk with Sim shortly after the interview.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biofuels

I’m proud to call Dr. David Doty a friend; he’s a man with a great heart, as well as an even greater intellect — and I eagerly learn like a sponge when I’m around him. But I also try to supply advice where I think I can add value, which is on the business side.

Windfuels, Dr. Doty’s concept of synthesizing high-quality gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel from off-peak wind energy, is his primary focus at this point in his career. This is an enterprise for which he’ll need investors to come on board to support the construction of pilot plants of increasing sizes, along the way to scaling Windfuels to massive proportions. But what sort of people should these investors be? (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biofuels

Today I got my taxes done and for the first time since I have started experimenting with and doing projects with alternate/renewable energy and energy efficiency I was finally able to take a tax credit for something I was doing.

I got laid off a year ago in February. At the end of July I started doing contract programming of AV control systems out of my house. This involved travelling to locations to install and test the code to see that it was working properly. For about 4 years now I have been driving a diesel Mercedes on 100% biodiesel, which I purchase out of a pump at a station a short distance from my house. I used this car for all the travel I did last year for this business. I joked with the tax person as to whether or not I was qualified for any kind of credit for this. I know there is a producers credit and I thought I had heard about a business user’s credit and sure enough he found it. By the time I calculated it down I had used 90 gallons of biodiesel for my business travels. The federal credit was $1.00/gallon so I got a credit of $90.00. For all of the experiments and projects I do I was very happy to finally be able to take any kind of tax benefit for something I was doing. It was small but it is something.

I have an all or nothing feeling about tax credits for biofuels and renewables in general. Either renewables should enjoy an equal dollar amount of benefits as non-renewables or there should be no tax benefits for any kind of energy. However, since this is here, I am taking it. That $90.00 will buy what I need to build another solar air heater.

Brian McGowan
http://home.comcast.net/~bigvid

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I’m up at the CleanTech Forum today, meeting people, making new friends, and checking out the latest ideas in renewable energy, electric transportation, and sustainability more generally. There are quite a few concepts in water purification, including a system to remove selenium, mercury, etc. from industrial waste water.

I spoke with the CEO of Mar Systems, whose first customer was happily dumping water with 15 parts per billion into the local river. Recently, regulators, who were armed with compelling empirical evidence that mercury was hugely toxic in concentrations far lower than that, changed the requirements, and forced the company to find a solution or close its doors. Bingo. A sale was made. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Here’s something I noticed from the process of participating in a large number of energy-related conversations at the American Chemical Society Conference last week: some of these subjects–even those receiving funding–have virtually no chance of practical application.  And, while I don’t have a problem with academicians doing experiments from which we can all learn valuable things, I have a big problem with putting false hope for our energy future in ideas that lack true merit.

Here’s a great example:  I ran into a guy who mentors graduate students in microbial fuel cells.  In brief, part of a microbe’s metabolic process includes emitting an electron that can be funneled through a circuit, just like the more familiar hydrogen fuel cell.  But, where a hydrogen fuel cell can be 40%+ efficient, and thus enjoy some reasonable power density, the feeble rate at which electrons are emitted from whole organisms results in power densities that are ridiculously small.  Can they be improved with more work and funding?  Sure, but it’s tough.  There are obvious limits to which we can increase the temperature (something we would do with inorganic fuel cells), as doing so  would harm the organisms.  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

As one would expect, the banter here at the American Chemical Society conference is largely academic; in the convention center from which I’m writing this post there are more super-smart and extremely specialized people per square foot than I’ve encountered in a long while. But occasionally, I’ll have a conversation with someone that leads in a more humanistic, more philosophic direction.  

A 3o-ish gentleman from the EPA just came by the booth, offering us at Doty Windfuels an application for a “Green Chemistry” award.  “This concept (using off-peak renewable energy to synthesize carbon-neutral liquid fuels) sounds like a really strong concept; I strongly suggest you apply,” he said.  We talked about the overall technological and economic issues at play in synthetic fuels for a few minutes, but I wanted to get his take on something before I let him go.  “You must be thrilled with some of the rhetoric coming out of the presidential candidates vis-a-vis the EPA,” I smiled. 

“It’s disappointing.  We have leaders encouraging voters to abandon science and all the empirical evidence of the environmental dangers that face us.  I have a 3-year-old son, and I’m frustrated that we’re irreparably damaging the world in which he’ll grow up, and that we could have a president that would be actively leading the charge.”

“Mine are 16 and 18,” I responded,” and I totally share your feelings.  Recently, I began a conversation with a simple apology. I’m trying as hard as the next guy, but I’m sorry that I didn’t get on board sooner, and that I couldn’t do more to turn this around.”

Having said all this, the game’s not over.  “It’s half-time for America,” to quote Chrysler’s famous Superbowl ad.  As upsetting as all this is, I try to keep in mind that this is a marathon, and that such races require stamina.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

I’m taking a short break from working the “Doty Windfuels” booth, here at the 239th meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego.  I’ve had some truly wonderful conversations — some productive, some — shall I say — enigmatic? 

I ran into a guy from Chevron a few minutes ago whose job is evaluating the characteristics of biofuels, with an eye towards blending them with his company’s petrochemical products.  I asked him about synthetic fuels.  He looked blank, so I tried to help. “I have to think that somewhere between here and (Chevron headquarters) San Ramon (CA), there must be someone at Chevron looking at synthetic fuel.”

“Are you looking for support?” he asked.  “Well,” I replied, “I believe that somewhere along the line, a strategic partnership with a large process manufacturing company, perhaps an oil company, would absolutely be indicated.”

“That’s a very long, hard road,” he smiled, extending his hand to say goodbye.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Some simple strategies for national green energy development has worked for Germany, Netherlands and Japan. Nations poor in green energy development can copy and paste. The global least progress in green energy development is still prevalent, some nations think green energy targets set by United Nations is impossible to achieve. State institutions and political leadership in these nations can learn from successful countries. (more…)

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