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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I’ve noticed that a lot of the interviews I’m asked to do around “Renewable Energy – Facts and Fantasies” have very little to do with the subject matter of the book directly.  I’m headed back to New York City in a couple of weeks to tape a TV show called “Getting Your Money’s Worth,” which, as the name suggests, helps viewers make better purchasing decisions.

Of course, there’s a tie-in here.  Are consumers willing to shell out a few extra cents a kilowatt-hour for green electricity?  That’s an interesting question. And here’s what Dr. Jason Scorse, behavioral economist, told me on the subject:

There is a phenomenon known as “status quo bias,” which means that people tend to keep doing what they’ve been doing.  The inertia of change is very strong and hard to break, even if it’s a rational interest to do so. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

I was disappointed to learn that the gigawatt solar project in Blythe, CA decided to switch from CSP to PV. The issue, at least on the surface, is “bankability,” i.e., maturity of the technology, along with the obvious fact that the price of PV is falling sharply – 30% in 2010 alone. But at a certain point, I’m hoping that someone somewhere sees the awesome potential of CSP and really starts to crank on it.

When that happens, we’ll start to see ideas like Ahura Energy start to come into greater focus, if you’ll pardon the pun.

Solar thermal, of course, comes in many different flavors — some (like Ahura) claiming to have made breakthroughs in cost and/or efficiency.  I’ve met with these people, like the concept as I understand it, but still haven’t been told the details of the secret sauce.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Here’s another note on the value of electric vehicles vs. internal combustion engines.

I’m intrigued with the points that Glenn Doty has raised regarding the spurious logic that the DoE and others have used in their “well to wheels” comparisons. As I pointed out here, I’m not convinced that he’s entirely right, but I grant that we may be over-estimating the amount of coal we’re saving as we move to EVs.

Having said that, we need to acknowledge the non-ecological damages caused by oil, one of which is national security. Each day, we borrow another billion dollars and send it to regimes largely antagonistic to the US and its interests. Each day, our young people fight and die in the Middle East, as we prosecute wars that would not exist if it weren’t for oil.

As loathsome as coal is, it exists in large quantities right here.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I was on the Jack Taylor Radio Show in Chicago this morning, and in the process became one of his more than 55,000 guests that have ranged from Marlon Brando to Presidents Ford and Reagan. Yes, Mr. Taylor has been at this a long time; he came to WGN-TV in 1958, the  year after  I got out of diapers.

I don’t take the time to study up on the individual personalities on these radio shows beforehand – and in most cases, this is fine; I normally get softball-type questions with which I can do anything I want. And I usually get a few words of introduction in advance: the type of audience, the style of questions, the focus of the interview, but here,  … no.  Without a syllable of preparatory talk, I’m being grilled full-force by a guy with 55,000+ practice rounds under his belt. First question: “What qualifies you as an expert? What are your credentials?”

Of course, I don’t bill myself as an expert in renewable energy.  If listeners conclude that I know what I’m talking about, that’s fine, but I’m most certainly not going to be asserting that.   “I’m flattered that you think of me in that way, Jack, but if I have a talent here, it’s asking good questions of people who know far more about this than I ever will.  And that’s why my book…. ”

But I think it came off well; I’ll post a link to the interview as soon as it’s available.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dx2YbkUcEk&w=420&h=345]
Here, I present a summary of a business plan that would implement a terrific design concept in electric bicycles. I met these folks when I was moderating a panel discussion at the Alt Car Expo in 2009, and I developed an instant attraction for both the people and their idea. In my estimation, the market for low-cost electric commuter transportation in urban environments is poised to go right through the roof in the coming decade or so, driven in large measure by the burgeoning middle-class populations in India and China.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-nK9uJ9J7k&w=420&h=345]
Here’s a summary of a business plan that would create diesel fuel or high-octane gasoline, along with carbon black, from waste-tires — of which, obviously, there are tens of millions land-filled in the US alone each year. The technology is a special form of pyrolysis.

Skeptics may say that this has been tried hundreds of times by people who couldn’t make it work effectively, which is true. Personally, however, I think this is the real deal.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze005_F2rLc&w=420&h=345]
Here, I offer a summary of a business plan in which the company seeks to raise working capital to grow their business, which is importing and selling paper made from sugarcane waste. Needless to say, this is a hot area in terms of corporate sustainability programs. Instead of whacking trees, we’re using a form of biomass that has no economic or ecologic value.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrq938qFp7w&w=420&h=345]
I’m not an auto manufacturing guy, but I’m closely connected with some of the top people in this field. They’ve come together with a business plan that, when implemented, will build high-quality but inexpensive light-duty electric pick-up trucks.

And they’ve pre-sold quite a few. How’s 10,000? That do anything for ya?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MR2auHp7P8]
Here’s a summary of a business plan that would implement a unique approach to thermal anaerobic gasification, to extract the energy from biomass without creating harmful (carcinogenic) byproducts.

I find it interesting that many of these clean energy technologies are quite ancient. Wind turbines come to mind immediately, of course, but gasification and pyrolysis have been around for at least a century.

Having said that, the technology contemplated here is unique, and, I believe, capable of results that were heretofore unobtainable.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5DCsyoTejs]
Here, I summarize a business plan that contemplates the development of synthetic fuels from off-peak wind, water, and CO2. This is exciting stuff, as it uses entirely proven chemical processes, the thermodynamics make sense, and the demand to deal with issues like peak oil is considerable.

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