I had lunch yesterday at a trendy new Japanese place in Hollywood with Stephanie Cooper, a brilliant young lady who will be doing an internship at 2GreenEnergy, helping us develop more content. “If it’s not too forward a request, please tell me your life story,” I began. “What interests you most about this subject? What are your personal strengths as a researcher and as a writer? What do you want to accomplish here? What’s your overall viewpoint of clean energy?”

I could tell right away that I was in the presence of a very cool-headed and talented young person. “Wow,” I said with a smile mid-way through the meal. “You have a terrific background for this, and, as it turns out, we agree on pretty much all the basic principles at stake here. That’s really nice, though not 100% necessary; I have no problem at all with people who have different viewpoints.”

But let’s be honest. It really IS easier to like someone – and to work with them on a day-by-day basis — who looks at life the way you do. It would be hard to work with an axe-murderer or even some lesser brand of sociopath. Being candid, do we really esteem equally viewpoints that run far counter to our own?

I’m looking forward to a fine collaboration here.

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I’m generally pessimistic about the quality of life that I see for most Americans in the foreseeable future. There are so many general reasons for this: lack of American competitiveness in the global marketplace, our failures in education, declining work-ethic, dogged adherence to clearly unsustainable business practices, over-consumption, under-saving, and corruption, resulting in the failure of our elected officials to lead us in directions that are truly good for us in the long-term.

But along with those general reasons, here’s a specific one, along with an anecdote to illustrate my point. The people working in the trenches of Corporate America – most of the specialists, managers, directors, vice presidents, etc. – are terrified of losing their jobs, and are not taking any actions whatsoever that might endanger the tenuous hold they have on their careers – even if such actions are clear winners for the corporation that issues their paycheck.

As to the anecdote, I have to keep this totally anonymous, so forgive my lack of detail. I just got off the phone with an old friend, whose old-line Fortune 500 company had two successful engagements with Mueller/Shields, the marketing services firm of which I was managing partner for 15 years. Over the past few months, my friend has made numerous attempts to bring me in for a third campaign, each of which was rebuffed. I called him just now in an effort to see if he wanted to take a new tack, or otherwise make another run at this.

“I’m leaving the company, Craig. It’s dying, as I’m sure you can believe. We’re unable to get our act together, and we’re pulled apart by business unit managers who do not and will not work together to refashion the company into something that could be relevant to today’s world. I can’t stand being here, watching masses of people, all frightened to get whacked in the next round of lay-offs, covering their asses, afraid to do something that could get them fired, even though those are the very actions that could save the company. I’ve been hired by a start-up with a brand new product delivery model, and they want me to take that vision into the marketplace.”

I hate to sound like an alarmist, but we appear to be facing the “end of an era” for the American Empire in so many ways – and the extinction of the corporate dinosaurs whose culture doesn’t fit the ways of the modern world is perhaps the most obvious example. But, as they say, “everything’s good for somebody,” and let’s recall that the extinction of the literal dinosaurs 65 million years ago paved the way for the life forms that culminated with homo sapiens. Similarly, the demise of our institutions that are evolutionarily unfit will give rise to a new epoch.

But what will it look like? Here’s where “new energy” – meaning a combination of renewables and efficiency — comes into the picture. If we in the U.S. can embrace this bold new arena, it will go a long way towards creating the prosperity and sustainability that could change the course of all this.

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We at 2GreenEnergy are taking on an intern, and tomorrow, at a wonderful Japanese restaurant in Hollywood, I have the pleasure of conducting a kick-off meeting over lunch. The way I explain this to those interested: Let me start with the bad news: I can’t pay you, and I can understand that this may be a show-stopper. But if it isn’t, let me tell you the good news: this is a win for everyone — literally.

1) 2GreenEnergy gets more content, further propelling us forward in the search engine rankings, and providing more good material for our readers.

2) I’ll work with you directly, helping you, to whatever degree I am able, to learn this subject and develop your skills as a researcher and writer. And probably most importantly,

3) The other seven billion people on this planet will benefit, as your work will further illuminate a path toward clean energy.

I have to say that this intern really gets this, and I’m thrilled to have her on board.

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Hydrokinetics is quite an appealing subject; here’s why: huge masses of water are moving all around us more or less constantly, in our ocean tides and other predictable currents, as well as in our large rivers — and rightfully, these have been the subjects of most R&D in the arena.

Until I received a call from a fellow in Northwestern Spain the other day, I had never considered the hydrokinetic potential represented by waterfalls and steep rapids. Obviously, here’s a case where a great deal of energy is released in a concentrated space; that’s certainly a good thing. But how can one extract that energy in an inexpensive, eco-friendly, and aesthetic manner?

Well, sadly, the non-disclosure agreement (NDA) I signed prohibits me from answering that question publicly. But I am convinced that there is, in fact, a way to do it, and I encourage potential investors to write in, sign the same NDA I did, and determine for themselves if they think this thing has legs. I believe most of them will agree with me, that this idea has great potential if it’s pursued diligently and professionally.

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Holy smokes, things are getting ugly around here. Here’s the beginning of Matthew Vadum’s recent article, “Registering the Poor to Vote is Un-American”

Why are left-wing activist groups so keen on registering the poor to vote?

Because they know the poor can be counted on to vote themselves more benefits by electing redistributionist politicians. Welfare recipients are particularly open to demagoguery and bribery.

Registering them to vote is like handing out burglary tools to criminals. It is profoundly antisocial and un-American to empower the nonproductive segments of the population to destroy the country — which is precisely why Barack Obama zealously supports registering welfare recipients to vote.

I normally laugh stuff like this off, and let nature take its course, figuring that people with extremist views will be regarded as the nut-jobs they are, and immediately dismissed from the circles of serious discussion. And I would have thought that the author of this piece, equating the poor with criminals and suggesting they’re more susceptible to bribery, which is about as outrageous as it gets, would have won some sort of prize for the speed with which he was dispatched. But this guy’s getting national attention from huge, well-respected sources. That’s not good, folks.

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A reader asks:

Hi, I did a quick search on your website for zero point energy and didn’t find anything. I’ve been hearing some seemingly unrealistic claims. Have you had any exposure to this technology / pseudo-technology?

…. to which I respond:

This is the energy that remains when all other energy is removed from a system.  All I know is that two great physicists: Michio Kaku (whom I don’t know personally) and Wally Rippel (whom I do) both say they see no trajectory for the practical use of zero point energy. That’s good enough for me.

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I have a very brilliant friend, Dr. Boris Monahov, who lives in Bulgaria and does a great deal of advanced battery research all around the world.  I met him at the Energy Storage show a month or so back, and we try to stay in touch with one another.  Here, he writes something interesting and funny that I thought I’d share: (more…)

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My new friend the lawyer writes in:

I appreciate what you are doing. Somebody got me a subscription to Audubon magazine recently…maybe they are telling me I’m a birdbrain! I read a story in there yesterday which cheered the fact that huge solar development programs are being shut down and delayed to save some squirrels and turtles in the Mojave desert. We are talking a few dozen animals. (more…)

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God only knows how many attorneys I insulted with my recent piece on the legal system.  I’m pleased to note that one of them wrote me a very civil and insightful response: (more…)

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When I met Stephen Lacey at Renewable Energy World a few years ago, I recall one of the first things he told me about his organization. “We advocate for renewables and against nothing,” he explained. I clarified, “So you don’t take positions counter to Big Oil, Coal, Nuclear, etc?” I asked. “Exactly.”

Well, that was the “old Stephen,” I’m happy to report. The “new Stephen” has a gig at ClimateProgress.Org, and trust me, these people call ‘em like they see ‘em. Here’s a recent piece based on materials acquired by Bloomberg News, showing how Koch Industries, Exxon Mobil, and numerous other corporations paid tens of thousands of dollars to write legislation for lawmakers that would repeal carbon pollution reduction programs in various states around the U.S.

When I spoke with Stephen a few months ago, he seemed very happy; he has the kind of exuberance that a dog experiences when it’s let off its leash. My hearty congratulations. And this new-found freedom will pay off very handsomely for the world of energy journalism; we’re all the better for your job change, my friend.

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