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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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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I’m wondering if I could ask your help in another of our surveys.

There is not too much doubt that the last 150 years have brought ever-accelerating damage to our environment. There IS, however, a great deal of controversy about the ultimate consequences of this damage to mankind and the life-forms that share the planet with us.

In particular, I note that great minds studying this subject come to two different and mutually exclusive conclusions. People like Amory Lovins and Jeremy Rifkin present very compelling cases that migrating to a low-carbon energy schema will drive a robust economy. Others, notably Bill McKibben and Nate Hagens, don’t see this at all, claiming that, because we’ve reached the end of cheap energy and freely available credit, “the party’s over.”

This survey is an opportunity for you to provide your own assessment.  If you click the link below, you’ll be taken to a page on which you can agree or disagree with various propositions concerning the sustainability of our economy, our use of energy, and our overall way of life.  Thanks very much for your ongoing support.

Survey: Is Our Way of Life Sustainable?

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biofuels

Tomorrow I’m renting a car and heading south, through Los Angeles on my way to San Diego, for my work Monday and Tuesday with Doty Windfuels at the American Chemical Society Conference. I mention Los Angeles, as I plan to stop for dinner near the airport with my colleague Marc Rappaport of biofuels fame. Though we’ve spoken on the phone dozens of times about several different projects in the space, this will be the first time I’ll have the pleasure of meeting Marc in person.

Ironically, the core driver of this trip, promoting Doty WindFuels, is rooted in Dr. Doty’s conviction that the entire biofuel industry is flawed, and that synthetic fuels (manufactured with off-peak wind power, water, and CO2) offer the most feasible solution to carbon-neutral energy.

I guess we’ll see how this shakes out.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Ocean Thermal

Here’s the webinar we did the other day, in which I interviewed Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation’s chief strategist Jim Greenberg on OTEC.  I thought he did a fantastic job is explaining the potentials that this rapidly evolving technology  holds to provide large amounts of clean baseload energy to over 4 billion people living in the tropics.  

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DotOL6hWJ8&w=500&h=369]

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I hope Amory Lovins doesn’t think I’m stalking him.  He certainly could get that impression, as I’ve approached him twice in the past three days — Wednesday after his incredible talk at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and today at the Wall Street Journal’s  “eco-nomics” conference just a few miles away.   Technically, today, it was my friend Jeff Brothers, solar developer extraordinaire, who, when the session was over, suggested that we make a trade: a signed copy of Is Renewable Really Doable? for a signed copy of Lovins’ Reinventing Fire.  

Again, the fact that most people don’t even know who Lovins is speaks volumes about the state we’re in as a planet, and what a poor job the media is doing in its coverage of environmental issues.

 

 

 

 

 

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