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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

For those trying to make sense of the concept of “peak oil,” i.e., the point at which the world capacity to extract oil from the Earth will have peaked, I’ve linked what I believe to be a good article.

Virtually no one doubts the basic concept. But how soon in our future (or how recently in our past) does that point lie? And what are its consequences?

A few weeks ago, a fine — and well-read friend told me over breakfast in New York, “Did you know that there’s enough oil under South Dakota to last 200 years?”

“That’s amazing,” I replied. “Then what’s all the fuss about?”

“Damn environmentalists.”

I’m not sure it’s that easy. The truth, which he, as an educated man should have known, is that we truly have exhausted the supply of easy-to-find oil, but that there is a huge deposit of shale/tar sands oil, whose economic and environmental costs of extraction are extreme.

Is there more oil? Yes. Does that provide us an easy answer? Not in the least.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

I just received an interesting phone call. Chris Mason, renewable energy contractor in Anguilla (Caribbean) called to discuss my work in Bermuda and understand how it might apply to his country a thousand miles south.

Mason speaks in a calm, measured tone, but there was clearly urgency in his voice as well. “We pay $0.41 to $0.43 a kilowatt-hour for electricity here, and it’s ruining us. The major hotel says that it will be forced to close its doors if we can’t come up with less expensive electricity. But no one is really trying to solve the problem. Can we talk about this?” he implored.

“Of course.  Let me ask you: What are the issues re: solar?” I asked.

“It’s cultural,” Mason explained. “As far as the leaders here are concerned, there is no problem to fix. You flip a switch and the lights come on. Until the power goes out, there is no issue at all. I can do solar arrays for private customers, but there’s no incentive. Not only are there no feed-in tariffs, it’s even illegal to tie them to the grid.”

“Isn’t there any public consciousness on the subject?” I asked. “Won’t these so-called ‘leaders’ eventually be replaced by more enlightened people?”

“Oh yes, the government turns over completely every four years. But instability just makes the problem worse. Investors have no certainty in what they’ll be dealing with even a few short years in the future.”

“I hear you,” I sympathized. “I can tell you about a larger country in which that kind of uncertainty is putting a damper on clean energy. It’s called the United States.”

As we chatted and exchanged ideas, I came to know Chris as a terrific person with a heart the size of Texas. Information on his company, Comet Energy,  and his blog, Caribbean Renewable, is linked here.

 

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

My schoolboy education in Philadelphia in the 1960 and early 1970s was provided by Quakers – avowed pacifists, who characteristically objected to the Vietnam War, many of whom were no strangers to civil disobedience to get their points across. Wilbert Braxton proudly served as Penn Charter’s headmaster for 29 years (and, as I can attest, quite a tough-minded teacher for us second-year physics students).  But while headmaster Braxton may have appeared to us a frail old man, his son was young, and even tougher-minded, fully on his game as a war protester.

I had the opportunity to read a transcript of Braxon Jr’s address to a judge who could have sent him to prison for evading the draft, as he staunchly refused to take up arms.  He delivered then, in 1968, an address that is still regarded as a definitive treatise on conscientious objection to war.

I apologize for the long introduction; I made it only to say that I came to know some great words as they apply to positions on civil disobedience. Now, I ask you this. Fast-forward 43 years.  Read the remarks that Tim DeChristopher, sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison and a $10,000 fine for disrupting a Bureau of Land Management auction in 2008, which he made to the judge before his ruling was announced.

I have to say that my initial impression of DeCristopher was one of silly, irresponsible lawlessness.  But I defy anyone to read his statement and not take away a feeling of profound truth and justice.  I encourage response — especially from those who have read his statement in full. 


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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Uncategorized
What do you believe is the truth surrounding China’s aggressive investment in renewable energy?

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

If you’re searching for an effective “onramp” to the multi-trillion dollar clean energy industry, I’ll hope you’ll attend “The Clean Energy  Onramp” (details here).  

I personally guarantee that you’ll leave the event with a comprehensive understanding of the most critical issues that are driving the biggest wins – and most stunning losses – in the renewable energy space.

My illustrious guest and I will offer a great deal of practical information that will help you make solid, well-conceived choices in this arena. Onramp is a vigorous, interactive discussion in which Green Chip Stock’s Jeff Siegel and I will walk you through what we believe to be the most important business trends in alternative energy.

If you’re available on Thursday, October 6th, 2011, please try to join us in New York City for this half-day working lunch – the first of our high-level events.

I wanted to get this to you now, so you can take advantage of our “early-bird discount” (45%), valid until midnight Sunday.

I certainly hope to see you there.


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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

If you’re interested in some good thinking in the area of transportation, check out The Victoria Transport Policy Institute.

As I wrote to my friend Tom Konrad of AltEnergyStocks who introduced me, this is a very solid approach to the future of transportation. In an ideal world, we’d totally rethink transportation from the ground up (and down) and do something along the lines of what these folks are suggesting.

But let’s face facts: they’ll be fighting some of the most powerful vested interests on Earth. General Motors and Goodyear Tires bought up and immediately dismantled the Los Angeles trolley system 75 years ago to force people into cars; this was an extremely successful stratagem that, to this day,  has resulted in near total market domination — and huge levels of profit.  Only a few years ago did the transportation system out here re-install light-rail electric trains and attempt to re-introduce the concept of public transportation.  Are we to think that interests like these are any less ruthless and effective today?

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles


My presentation at the Electric Vehicle Summit in Los Angeles this morning went very well – though I’m always happy when gigs like this are over.

To the degree to which I have a strength as a presenter, it’s the distance I go to try to make the content engaging.  I know I’m not Barack Obama behind the microphone, so I try to make up for that shortcoming with material that will hold the attention of the audience.

Here, I started with:

“One of the great thinkers of the 20th Century said, ‘Life is either a thrilling adventure, or it’s nothing at all.’ And GOSH I love that!”

I went on to talk about why I thought that EV adoption is, in fact, a thrilling adventure, which I summarized as follows:

“I’m not sure mankind is actually very much the better for its dealings with the most profitable industries in America. Fast food sells low-nutrition garbage that leaves our kids fat and unhealthy. The most profitable sectors of the entertainment industry promote violence, drug abuse, promiscuity and criminality. Defense contractors build bombs. The pharma companies have no fewer than 8 million school children on Ritalin, and sell cures to diseases that don’t really exist. Ask your doctor if you could have restless fingernail syndrome.  By the way, we’re one of only two countries on Earth that allows the drug companies to promote directly to gullible and uninformed/misinformed consumers. 

“And the oil companies?  We’ll get to them in a second.

“So along comes the EV industry, with cars that go 500,000 miles before they need so much as a tune-up, and, more importantly, offer the opportunity for truly clean transportation.  No borrowing $1 billion each day for foreign crude, no acidified oceans, no $250 billion in annual costs to treat the lung disease caused by the aromatics of burning fossil fuels, no wars over oil. 

“I just have to think that maybe this once the good guys can win. And now I’m going to tell you exactly how I think it’s going to happen…”

Here’s my full presentation if you’re interested — 35 slides that I paced to present at roughly a minute apiece. I like to keep ’em moving. 

45 minutes later, after a fairly vigorous Q&A session, I sat down.  The whole thing went over quite well, lots of positive comments at lunch, but again, I’m glad it’s behind me.  　

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Solar Thermal

I frequently extol the virtues of CSP (concentrated solar power), aka solar thermal.  For those looking for a good introduction with images that illustrate the concept, the link above is a solid video on the subject.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I know I’m not Winston Churchill, but I try my best whenever I’m asked to speak publicly.

Tomorrow should be interesting. I’m speaking at the Electric Vehicle Summit at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. If you happen to be in the area and want to check out my talk, please let me know, and I’ll get you a free ticket.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Here’s another in a series of free reports, based on the input of over 300 participants to our June 2011 survey. The subject matter: Will population growth and energy resource depletion have dire consequences over the coming years? (more…)

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