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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

Thanks to all those who wrote in commenting, or requesting more information on Ahura Energy, the folks with the claim to breakthrough CSP cost/efficiency. I should have mentioned that I’m under NDA re: the technology. And, though the company’s founder and I have talked in vague terms about the “secret sauce,” I’m still not 100% clear on it. I hope to see a demo later in the month, and I’ll certainly provide as much information as I can asap.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Hydrokinetics

What’s going on in the U.S. with Hydropower?  

The Departments of Energy (DOE) and the Interior announced this month, in April 2011, that $26.6 million in funding to advance hydropower technology has been designated. The studies will focus on innovative and efficient systems that reduce costs and increase renewable power generation at sites not previously considered. This fits in with finding solutions for the aggressive plan to meet 80% of U.S. energy by 2035.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage

As a part of our recent discussion on energy storage, Larry Sobel wrote in, calling my attention to this fabulous lecture given by a brilliant and thoroughly entertaining chemistry professor at MIT, who calls upon his students to think differently and go against the grain with respect to developing solutions for grid-level energy storage. As the professor reminds us, storage is the key enabler for the deployment of renewables to make it to base load, as we need to address their intermittence.

The key point here in thinking differently is refusing to pay for attributes you don’t need, since cost is king here; batteries that were invested portable applications are not scaleable at cost; we cannot string together batteries that were invented for laptops, cell phones, or even electric vehicles. Cell phones need to be idiot proof, and to operate in a temperature range that is comfortable when held in one’s hand. Car batteries need to be crash-worthy.

But stationary batteries for utility scale storage need to have none of these characteristics. So what do you get when you throw away the attributes you don’t care about? I hope you’ll check out the lecture.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Energy Storage

Frequent commenter Frank Eggers is right as rain with his comments on my recent solar thermal piece in which he writes:

Superior (technology) would not solve the problem resulting from the fact that the sun is not always shining. …. Instead of concentrating only on the solar generation of electricity, 2GreenEnergy should also cover power storage systems without which solar power would remain impractical, (including) batteries, water pumped to a higher elevation, air compressed into underground caverns, flywheel storage, storing heat in tanks containing a mixture of KNO3 and NaNO3.

Thank you, Frank. While we try to cover storage technologies to some degree, there is no doubt that we could always do a better and more thorough job. And this subject will be increasingly important as the penetration of renewables grows over time. At under 2% (the current penetration rate), I really think it’s fairly meaningless. But yes, as we get into the teens and higher, it will be vital — and it’s never too early to start addressing the problem.

I believe you’ll be interested in this month’s free webinar, featuring Dr. David Doty, an extremely senior physicist whom I’ll be interviewing on this very subject. He has a unique approach and capability in synthetic (liquid) fuels that I find compelling. I hope you’ll agree.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I thought readers may be interested in the response I got from two dedicated EV buffs (both partners of mine at EVWorld Associates – see bios here) when I asked them why they favored the electric version of the Ford Focus (to be released later this year) over the Nissan LEAF.

Mike Brace wrote:

All of the drivers’ reviews that I have read have had nothing but good things to say about it. Fit, trim, finish, electronics, all better than the Nissan. More importantly, the Focus is using water temperature-controlled batteries. That way they stay warm [while plugged in for charge] on cold days, cold on hot days and it serves a more effective means of temperature control than air-cooled batteries so it gets better range, especially on cold days. From what I have read it has a better BMS because of it. That system also offers a way to heat the cabin and draw less current doing so. I also like the regen-braking algorithm it uses to coach better driving techniques. I favor it for two more reasons (strictly my own preferences) a) I prefer the styling compared to the Nissan, and b) I have always been a Ford man.

I don’t think they gave it the hype that Chevy gave the Volt. As a matter of fact I have been surprised how they have managed to keep it off the TV and out of the press. But according to the industry it will be on the road by the end of the year.

….and Doug Nelson followed on:

I have a bit of knowledge about the EV powertrain in the Focus also. Magna E-Car systems and Magna Powertrain are sponsors of EcoCAR (and now also EcoCAR 2), and are the supplier of the motor/inverter system and transmission used in the Focus EV.  They recently had the components on display at both our spring workshop at EPA and then SAE Congress. They may supply some of the drive systems to teams for EcoCAR 2 – if they can get by the IP issues.　

I have talked with them about the systems, and they seem to be very good and capable.　 They also seem to know what they are doing – which is why Ford selected them. I want one too!!!

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

My drive up to the Bay Area yesterday included a meeting with Ahura Energy CEO Fareed Sfard in the quaint town of Saratoga.  But what once was originally a sleepy stagecoach stop is now the home to a company that claims to have set the world on fire with a huge breakthrough in renewable energy.

In fact, Ahura’s innovation in the field of concentrated solar power (CSP) promises grid parity (an equivalence in price of electricity with that of coal, the dominant source of electrical energy in the US today) more or less immediately.  The secret sauce?  Proprietary low-cost actuators that track the sun through the sky without the expense of the electric motors and controls that normally go along with this set of technologies, eliminating the major cost components that hold back even our most advanced CSP system designs.  An enormous claim, to be sure.

“I have a saying that goes like this,” I joked with Fareed as we spoke; “It’s always cheap until you build it,” referring to the fact that, at this moment, most of Ahura’s technology is working only at far smaller scale than that necessary to prove real-world application.

My host smiled and nodded politely, undeterred by my remark, which he certainly could have taken as a cheap shot.  But I wasn’t worried about his taking offense; I had seen though our many previous conversations that he is a man of science, with a gracious bearing.

Further, let’s acknowledge two facts.  Here is:

1) A guy who ran 12 factories of the biggest contract manufacturer in the world (Solectron) which put more products into the market than anyone on the planet over a period of 3 1/2 years. I believe this is particularly relevant, as those were products with complexity and tolerance requirements with 3 or more orders of magnitude more complicated than what Ahura has here — which is “light assembly” (vs. real manufacturing).

and …

2) A bill of materials which truly is incredibly simple and inexpensive.

We’ll see what happens, but I actually am betting he can come up with the goods.

Please let me know if you’d like to learn more.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I drove to San Francisco and back yesterday for a series of meetings – almost 600 miles round trip. One of the highlights was a meeting in downtown with Dr. Ricardo Angel, Senior VP of Venture Capital for GE’s Energy Financial Services. Dr. Angel is interested in a few of the projects that I represent, but he’s asked me not to divulge the specifics.

Having said that, I think it’s lame to write even a short post like this with no detail at all, so I’ll mention that the rate for parking in his (admittedly fabulous) building is $3.00 for each 15 minutes. Ouch.

I can also leave you with this: GE is, without a doubt, a company that sees that the world actually is going green, and wants to make a buck or two from the process. These guys don’t miss much when it comes to betting on new technologies that have the potential to scale well.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science
Courtesy Kathy Heshelow

Courtesy Kathy Heshelow

DogTime Media surveyed 40 million dog owners in April 2011, and came up with the ten best habits for reducing their dog’s impact on the environment. DogTime Media is the largest vertical media community, and focuses exclusively on pet enthusiasts.

Small actions can make a difference in the U.S. where 71 million households have at least one pet.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Over a period of almost 30 years, I ran the delivery organization of the marketing consultancy I co-founded, Mueller/Shields. I found this terrifically rewarding in a number of ways – one of which was knowing that I was at least partially responsible for the many romances that I could see springing up.  Every week or so, some young guy (one of the 100-or-so folks I employed at the company’s peak) would start dating a girl from a neighboring cubicle he had met over at the water-cooler or looking for a new toner cartridge in the supply closet.  (Lord knows what happened in that supply closet when I was traveling.)  Young love — it made me feel good all over! And at least one marriage came as a result: Scott Reily and Silvia Herberger.

Here, on a much more mundane level, it appears that I’ve helped to arrange a marriage of a different kind.  From this article, it appears that Tomberlin (manufacturer of recreational low-speed EVs, whose articles I arranged to be placed on EVWorld.com) is sourcing some of its drivetrain components from an EVWorld.com advertiser Fallbrook Technologies (whose pilot ad program I sold and administrated a few years ago). I know, I’m a hopeless romantic. But it’s May, the roses are in bloom, and once again, I can just feel young love in the air.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I’m incredibly moved by acts – or even words – of brilliance. And that’s why, as saddened as I am that Obama has disappointed so many of the progressives who brought him to power, I believe that all Americans should applaud the job he did in his talk the other night at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.

Though I’m told I normally do an adequate job, I’m by no means an excellent public speaker. I appreciate the kind words, but I’m always working hard to improve my skills in this arena that I find so incredibly difficult.  And, as it turns out, I’m not alone.  Did you know more people are afraid of speaking in public than dying?  As the saying goes, we’d rather be in the casket than eulogizing the deceased.

I hope you’ll check this out, and see not only Obama’s consummate command of political rhetoric, but the comic timing of a Jay Leno or a Bob Hope. As I listened to it, impressed as always, I counted my blessings that I’m not directly related to Donald Trump.

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