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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

The other day, a friend referred to the $70 billion provided annually to the fossil fuel industries as a “mosquito bite,” i.e., a negligible bit in the scheme of things. That is certainly one way of looking at it.

But here’s another. $70 billion is 7000 times $10 million. What seems like a better way to drive energy innovation in a world in such desperate need? Transfer $70 billion in wealth each year from U.S. taxpayers to the oil companies? Or give 7000 deserving clean energy entrepreneurs a $10 million head-start in developing their technologies?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Here’s a wonderful presentation that everyone should see, EVWorld editor Bill Moore’s 30-minute talk called The Future of Mobility. What happens when we double the number of cars on the roads — from one billion, which we just hit, to two billion by 2030? Not too long ago, Beijing had a traffic jam that involved 75,000 cars and took five days to clear.  Is this just going to get worse?  And where is all the oil going to come from?  

Automakers sure must be licking their chops at that growth curve.  But are they doing some “out of the box” thinking here? 

Here are Bill’s observations on everything from new drive trains to alternate fuels to rethinking the concept of owning a car. You won’t be disappointed.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Here’s a TechCrunch video in which venture capitalist Vinod Khosla talks about some of his observations, including cleantech. Actually, as you’ll see, he prefers the term “venture assistant” and eschews terms like “capitalist” and “deal,” as they don’t imply what he believes to be essential to his craft, i.e., helping entrepreneurs succeed.

His new fund is 50% IT and 50% cleantech, and he takes issue with those who say that cleantech has been a disaster. He’s made over $1 billion in profits in three IPOs in this space, and says there are  six or so others that are likely to happen in the next 12 months.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

To make good on my promise to write something about Daniel Yergin’s talk the other night at UCSB, he’s obviously a very bright guy whose travels and studies are quite impressive, and the talk was interesting to a point. But what I found shockingly absent was a single word on any of the controversial issues that surround our world energy policy.  Can’t we at least mention the idea that Big Money and politics are conspiring to preserve the status quo and make the migration to renewables extremely difficult and slow?  How about an update on those 7000 lobbyists who work for the oil industry?

I say I was shocked, but let’s not be too dramatic here.  His clients are oil companies.  Wouldn’t it have been even more surprising had the reverse been true?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Efficiency

Mankind is literally at an energy crossroads.  He has just about half depleted his fossil fuel reserves, and while half does not sound bad, his present rate of consumption is higher than ever.  What that means is while his supply is halved, his useable time is much less than half.  And it took over ten million years to make all of this stuff! Can we wait in the dark for ten million years for another batch to cook up? Hardly. There is a real sense of urgency in regard to our energy needs today, and the laws of supply and demand prove this every time we fuel up our automobiles, heat our houses, or buy food at the store.  And without a real solution, we are going to begin suffering some serious setbacks for humanity very very soon. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

I’ve been preparing to make a few videos for newcomers to the subject of clean energy that answer basic questions on renewable energy, fossil fuels, nuclear energy, and the energy-related challenges we face.  I’ll be recording a series of short talks, aided by graphics, that point out that all our energy sources go back to the Big Bang, and come forward through time to us as follows:

Solar power is nuclear, of course, as all that hydrogen that became our sun billions of years ago undergoes fusion and emits enormous amounts of energy. That which we accumulated over hundreds of millions of years as fossil fuels (ancient biomass) we extract and burn as oil, coal, and natural gas. That which we receive right now, or in the very recent past, we have the potential to harvest as renewables: photovoltaics, concentrated solar power, wind, new biomass, run-of-river hydro, ocean current, and wave. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

Question:  Since 2005, what has been home to the most important Renewable Energy event in Central America?

Answer: Can be found at http://2greenenergy.com/cool-guess-answers/8732.

Relevance:  Many smaller countries, whose activities may be less important to the world  economy, routinely make extremely robust contributions to global sustainability — a game in which all players are winners.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

We do have a very serious problem in this country. In Detroit, last week was the Detroit International Advanced Manufacturing and Technology Show. This was a first attempt to bring companies from China and Taiwan together in Detroit to exhibit their auto parts making ability and technology as well as some American companies, like us at EcoVElectric. The show’s attendance was not what was hoped for, but in talking to these Asian companies, it was obvious that the US has its head in the sand. They are eager to manufacture everything and understand this is the way to improve their standard of living. They wanted to cooperate with my company and build EcoV in Asia (also talked with people from India, Pakistan and Korea who are equally as hungry) They are very interested in electric vehicles and alternative energy. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Many years ago I donated 90% or so of my neckties to charity as I almost never wear  one anymore.  But I’m glad I didn’t get rid of them all, as here I had a rare opportunity a couple of weeks ago when I was in New York City and taped an episode of  “Getting Your Money’s Worth,” in which I discuss renewable energy with show host Judith West.

It was actually quite a rocket ride, where Judith asked about solar, wind, fossil fuels, electric transportation, and a range of other subjects concerning the politics of clean energy.

 

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

For those of you who, like me, watch very little commercial news television, here’s a sample of reporting to consumers on the energy industry. This happens to concern Solyndra – a debacle that’s thrown a cold swimming pool of water on the already floundering US renewable energy industry.

Btw, I’d love to know how this happened in the first place. I talk to people in the private sector all the time who swear they saw this train-wreck coming far in advance. At a meeting I had with Kleiner Perkins managing partner Ray Lane earlier this year, he told me, “We knew that technology wouldn’t scale. We had been telling the DoE that for over a year, but no one would listen.”

So what are we to believe? That the public sector knew this too but made it happen for “political purposes?” Sorry, I think there’s more to the story than that. Yet God help me if I can add more clarity. I feel rather like those trying to figure out the JFK assassination; I know what didn’t happen, but not exactly what did. (more…)

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