Here’s another part of our series for newcomers to the subject of renewable energy — this one on biomass. I provide a few thoughts on how it offers the potential to provide carbon-neutral renewable energy and biofuels.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZdDZuAe6Qc]
I was delighted when Sim Van der Ryn returned my call yesterday and generously consented to grant me an interview when I’m up north at the end of the month.
Four decades before the word “sustainability” had become a buzzword, Sim was busy developing ideas in sustainable building design and integrating the knowledge he gained from observing the natural world. Through the years, he brought along an entire generation of people who followed his example.
I’m certainly looking forward to meeting this legend. I think I’ll start with a discussion of the quote by which he’s best known:
The heart of ecological design is not efficiency or sustainability. It is the embodiment of animating spirit, the soul of the living world as embodied in each of us waiting to be reborn and expressed in what we design.
That’s breath-taking.
I’ll be at the 26th International Electric Vehicle Symposium (“EVS26”) in Los Angeles in May. If anyone wants to meet me for a cup of coffee, please hit “Contact” and let me know.
The migration to electric transportation is going through a period that some of us anticipated: a bit of nervousness brought on by the fact that the value proposition for the consumer is simply not there yet. EV start-ups are having a hard time getting there, which has given the established auto industry a great deal of time to breathe, take its time, hedge its bets, and, perhaps most to its liking, milk the internal combustion engine cow a few more years.
Take the Ford Focus Electric, as an example of what I mean by consumer value proposition. I’m sure they’d explain it differently, but, at a high level, Ford has taken an extremely unexciting, garden variety passenger car, the Focus, ripped out (more…)
I’m down in Ventura today for a taping of the TV show “Our Ventura,” often hosted by 2GreenEnergy co-founder George Alger. He’s a real pro when it comes to asking good, penetrating questions. The director, Petrina Sharp, is aces at all the technical stuff: lighting, sound, set design, etc. — and what a wonderful person to be around.
I always feel that I’m in good hands down here. And that’s important, because we all have some level of stage-fright. As frequently as I’m on stage or on camera, in all honestly, I’m never 100% comfortable in front of a large audience.
Having said that, again, I couldn’t possibly be in better hands, in preparation for the launch of “Is Renewable Really Doable?” I guess we’ll see how it goes. What’s the worst that could happen?….
Here’s a brief discussion between a reader and me on this article of which I present an excerpt:
Most of us are indebted slaves. Banks conjure money out of thin air to enslave most of us for life. We must go into debt to buy a house, a car or go to school. Many of us go into debt just to eat. Like you, you and you, I will carry my s***ty credit score to a mass paupers’ grave, with my hearse a U-Haul. There is a renewed emphasis on going to college as a means to success, but in this economy, a degree will likely only impoverish you further, since you will be in hock to the banksters even as you work a job completely unrelated to your dubious education. If you can even get a job, that is. Joining winos and bag ladies with smudgy and off-target makeup will be legions of useless scholars.
Reader: What do you think about this?
Craig: Who in his right mind granted this guy ten cents’ worth of credit in the first place? It’s an exercise in whining, over-generalizing, and shirking personal responsibility.
Reader: I fully agree – a kind of surrender.
Craig: Correct. It’s the only thing I find objectionable about the left. Liberal minds, it seems to me, are strong on compassion and intelligence, but can lack the understanding of the importance of personal accountability and self-determination. Humankind is, at the end of the day, a part of the animal kingdom. Life didn’t evolve over four billion years here on Earth by asking our fellows to fix our problems for us. And it’s not the way we’ll survive in the future.
If you have a useless education, go get a useful one.
I can only feel sorry for people who wake up in the morning without a purpose to go out and accomplish something, who blame others for their own condition.
What I’d like to see, having said all this, is the end of unfairness. How about justice, where all people, regardless of their backgrounds, can have equal access to opportunity? It sure would be nice to put an end to a world in which the rich use their wealth to purchase the justice system. I’m asking for a level playing field where all people have the chance to be healthy, educated, and productive. It’s a tall order, but one I think that, together, we can serve up.
I hope you can join me for our webinar in March, in which I’ll interview Jim Greenberg, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer of Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation. I first met Jim on my last trip to the East Coast, and I was immediately impressed with the executive team, the board of advisors, and the basic thoroughness and professionalism with which this organization forwards the OTEC concept.
Jim will discuss his company’s pilot projects in both the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, and cover the potential that OTEC holds, especially for island nations in tropical waters. I hope you’ll be able to carve out time for this fast-paced conversation, Thursday, March 22nd, at 10 AM PST (1 PM EST)
Here’s the sign-up form: http://2greenenergy.com/free-webinar/.
Here’s another in our ongoing series of infographics, designed to offer young people and clean energy newcomers an accessible introduction to the subject. Here, we provide an objective look at the “pros and cons” of solar.
While we advocate in favor of solar generally, we believe that it’s best to arm people with the unvarnished facts, one of which is “there is no such thing as a free lunch,” i.e., all forms of energy generation come with certain costs and other downsides. It’s by understanding the totality of these facts that one becomes able to have a meaningful, informed, and relevant discussion on the subject.
Supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline project may want to read this excellent piece by Jim Hightower, radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. The concept that the oil companies who are working so hard to make this happen are doing so for your benefit or mine is ridiculous – a point that Hightower makes with his classic populist style.
I’m shooting a television show on Wednesday whose producer wants me to speak on my new book: Is Renewable Really Doable? In preparation, he asked me for the main topics I’d like to address. I replied that we could get into the meat of the book:
• What the world’s biggest governments are doing to accelerate – and retard – the adoption of clean energy.
• How venture capitalists think with respect to clean energy start-ups.
• How pure and unbiased the thinking of the scientific community actually is.
• What the world will probably be like in ten years? 50 years.
• How the credit crunch and the end of cheap oil will affect us all.
But, while I think 2GreenEnergy readers will be absorbed by these conversations, I have to think that most people tuning into some TV channel might find this too esoteric and off-putting.
I told him, “When I go on most TV and radio shows, I talk about the basic issues: the tough realities, i.e., the technological, and the economic/political issues that make the clean energy discussion such a battleground. What exactly is renewable energy? Why is it better than extracting and burning fossil fuels? If there are good reasons for making the transition (which there are) – even though it comes at an expense, why isn’t it happening? This is much better fare for a general audience, so let’s go with this more simplified subject matter.”
I hope I’m right here. We’ll see.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQENswF5QQ0&w=500&h=284]
Here’s a short video I made explaining the basics of wind energy for young people, or newcomers to the subject. I explain why the wind blows, offer a brief history of man’s attempts to harness wind energy, and discuss our current efforts to use wind to generate large amounts of electricity with relatively little environmental impact.
