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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Joe Biden believes that the US, armed as it is with its “entrepreneurial spirit and innovative national labs,” will “lead the global clean-energy revolution and reap the economic and environmental benefits that go with it.”  At least, this is what he told an audience that packed an auditorium at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) earlier this week. 

Damn! I’m so sorry I missed that speech, as I’m sure it was grounded in solid fact, as most political speeches are.  Hey, he didn’t happen to mention when all this was supposed to get started, did he?

Democrats make empty speeches about US leadership in clean energy.  But I suppose that’s marginally better than Republicans, who have relatively little to say on the subject other than convincing voters that environmentalism is bad for the economy, that the imperative to move away from fossil fuels is over-hyped, and that the super-profitable oil companies still need huge subsidies from taxpayers.

However, while we here in the US are busy talking about renewables (or remaining silent about it, as the case may be), the Chinese and others are actually making it happen. China has a large and ever-widening lead in global clean energy investment; according to Bloomberg, they’ll spend 5 trillion yuan (nearly $740 billion) over the next 10 years on renewable energy projects.

America lives with constant uncertainty and the vigorous flip-flops that immediately follow every two-year election cycle. While all this makes for lively debate, which I suppose is good for voter turn-out and approval ratings, understandably, it renders investors quite nervous.  In fact, it means death to any hope for the solid stream of capital formation that will be necessary to make clean energy a reality. 

We’re good at rancor; we’ve proven that, year after year.  Now we need something that we’ve not yet been able to demonstrate: a commitment to go beyond the name-calling and gross over-simplifications — the strength to build a consensus that will move us forward in an effective and practical manner. 

But does there really seem to be any change on the horizon?  If there is, I sure don’t see it.  I liken this to the alcoholic who, until he hits rock bottom, refuses to cart himself off to rehab and clean up his life. I see the same situation for clean energy in the US; we haven’t sunk low enough to create the necessary motivation.

Unless there is a dramatic shift in our approach, in about a decade Americans will wake up one day to realize that the country they love is now number three or four in clean energy – an industry that will have come to dominate the world economy. We will have lost the most important economic battle in the 21st Century.  Maybe better said: we will have sat on the sidelines and watched the rest of the world fight the most important economic battle in the 21st Century.

I predict that this tragic event will spawn some real change in leadership, albeit too late, as we’re a nation that really doesn’t like to lose. I’m reminded of the words of George C. Scott as General George Patton: “Americans love a winner, and they will not tolerate a loser.”

Yes, Americans will eventually place a limit on their tolerance for failure and humiliation. But wouldn’t it be easier to fight hard and win now?  Perhaps a timely question to ask, as we memorialize the millions of fallen soldiers and the sacrifices they made to keep America strong.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

May I ask a quick favor? Do you mind spending a few minutes on this month’s 2GreenEnergy survey? 

Like the rest of the world, I’m trying to make sense of a very important issue: Why is the migration away from fossil fuels so painfully slow? Of course, this is a complicated question. In fact, there are lots of reasons that come into play – and in varying amounts. But some are more important than others, and I’d love to get your input on the matter.

If you’re willing to help me out, please click the link; you’ll find that it’s self-explanatory.  Thanks in advance.　

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

… Continued from earlier post …

The authors reviewed the various barriers and issues, not all addressed here, but went further. They proposed 12 ideas to start closing the barrier gap on renewable choices for the masses today:

1) Make it normal

Make people feel that everybody is doing it or everybody is using the product. Use psychology and don’t make it elitist or seemingly for hippies. Use the example, says the report, of Montana when they wanted to bring down drunk driving. When they used the ad “Most of us don’t drink and drive,” drunk driving dropped 14%. Not driving drunk was perceived as normal. An example from China was that the government gave away a free solar water heater to anyone in Yunnan province that installed a proper toilet. Rooftop heaters became normal and even a status symbol, while sanitation improved and greener energy was implemented. Using solar became “normal”. (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Levelheaded people often refer to themselves as “pragmatists” – those who understand all sides of an issue and work forward to a solution that meets the practical requirements of everyone involved. With respect to energy policy, this usually means regarding the mining and burning of coal (that here in the US generates 48% of our electricity) as a “necessary evil.”

I’m not sure, however, that most people who see the 2010 film “The Last Mountain” leave the theater with that circumspect “we’ll get to it when we can” attitude. I hope readers will click the link above and spend the two minutes required to review the trailer. From there, let your conscience be your guide.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I often wonder what caused Toyota to invest $50 million in Tesla. Obviously they deemed it important in expediting their introduction of electric vehicles.  But doesn’t a company the size of Toyota have a considerable gaggle of engineers who know their way around EVs, after a decade of tinkering with the Prius? 

Perhaps Toyota is so wrapped up in engineering and PR problems that it wanted to get some of the R&D workload in electric vehicles off its plate.  Or maybe they figured that Tesla’s nimble management style might be able to make faster progress.  And note that currently, Toyota is not only a stockholder, but a customer as well; it placed an order for 35 electric conversions of the RAV4 EV, the competitor to the Ford Escape, Honda CRV, and Chevy Equinox, all small sport utility vehicles.

I know others also struggle to make sense of some of the auto behemoths’ decisions, but I find Toyota’s behavior in the EV space to be especially mysterious. After the homerun they hit with the Prius, it seems otherworldly that they haven’t done a better job in advancing electric transportation. They claim to they have no fewer than 10 EV models “under development,” and I suppose that could be true. But why on Earth would you wait while other folks take the lead and render you an afterthought in a strategic part of the industry?

Here’s a theory: it’s obvious that the car companies have gone into the EV age kicking and screaming. But resisting this change, while it was certainly in their interest, was not within their power — and now their hand has been forced. My guess is that Toyota misread the timing of the pressure they would receive from Nissan and the others. Now, they’re playing catch-up — and under horribly adverse circumstances – part of which is the damage they sustained recently to their supply chain, with numerous vendors wiped out by the tsunami.

Nothing else can explain their lethargy in this space, and announcements of totally lame products, like the Prius V. Here we are in mid-2011 and the new Prius still has no plug?

Sorry.  No plug?  No deal.　

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

It always feels good to get back in the saddle, so to speak, plying one’s original trade. I spent a few hours yesterday with 2GreenEnergy client Dr. David Doty, CEO of Windfuels, and 2GE Associate Terry Ribb, talking about naming, positioning, creating a new market category – all those wonderful things. Memories from decades of meetings with clients all over the planet came rushing back to me as we walked leisurely through the PowerPoint and made the strategic business decisions that will open the doors to growth and guide Windfuels effectively into the future.

I love the rich diversity and high purpose of the 2GreenEnergy experience – but it’s always nice to go back to the “good old days.”

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

I spent a few happy hours walking around the wind power show here in Anaheim yesterday, put on by the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA). Whenever I go to the major wind and solar trade shows, I’m struck with a number of observations:

Scope: I find myself in a convention center where thousands of exhibitors sprawl over half a million square feet, but I realize that this very show, if it were held 10 years ago, could have fit neatly in my living room.

Geographic Diversity: Though everyone speaks some level of English, it’s certainly not the first language for a great number of exhibitors. Those without a working command of German and Mandarin are unable to take part in some of the richest conversations.

Business Diversity: Many hundreds of different business disciplines are represented – some with only tangential relevance to the subject at hand. Sure, there are tons of people with variations of the wind turbine theme: different sizes and materials, some with gears, some (more all the time) with direct drive, and unique approaches to efficiency, noise reduction, safety, reliability, etc. But in addition to the folks with the actual turbines, I met people whose products and services are not at all unique to the wind power industry: folks who protect people from falling off things, forge large (100-pound) bolts, lift stuff with winches, do the windings in generators, sell wrenches the size of golf clubs, and provide tape to repair the leading edge of the blades as they become damaged from sand, hail, and even rain over the years of constant operation.

Quite an interesting day.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

It’s Bob Dylan’s 70th birthday, and I’d like to mention that I’ve been a fan for more than 40 of those years.

On the way to a meeting with a 2GreenEnergy client this morning, I was listening to an interview with one of Dylan’s notable biographers, who, with the host, got into their favorite, most meaningful lyrics from his more-than-500 songs.

I was tempted to do the same here in this post — and trust me, I could make a considerable set of suggestions.  But I’ll simply point out that poet Allen Ginsberg literally cried when he laid eyes on the lyrics to “It’s a Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” shortly before the song was released in the mid-1960s, noting how Dylan had carried Ginsberg’s insights (and those of his contemporaries — the beat poets) along to a new generation who, he hoped, would share his concerns as to where we’re going as a civilization.

Though I’m sure some readers aren’t Dylan fans, I’d like to think we all share his concern for the survival of our species.  In fact, I can’t image a reason that too many folks out there follow this blog other than an abiding belief that we need to work our way forward to a fairer and more sustainable society. 

If you don’t feel like listening to Dylan sing (and didn’t click on the link above) here’s the last verse of “It’s a Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall.”

And what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son ?
And what’ll you do now my darling young one ?
I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are a many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
But I’ll know my songs well before I start singin’
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.
 

Are there any of us who think that our current approach to energy, or so many of our other major pursuits here on planet Earth, are sustainable?  Don’t essentially all of us think a hard rain’s gonna fall?  

As we approach the two-year mark since the inception of 2GreenEnergy, I want to thank the thousands of you who have added comments and occasional posts; we couldn’t have grown at this pace without you.   And thanks to the rest, simply for being here.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

When I hired Aedan Kernan of Norwich, England to do a writing project for me a year or so back, I knew I’d get a great result – but I was pleasantly surprised when I made a friend as well. Aedan is a terrific human being, and next time I’m in the UK, a trip out to see him and his wife will most definitely be a part of my travel plans.

Aedan just sent me this wonderful lecture – coincidentally from my neck of the woods – the Monterey Institute. In it, Dr. Jason Scorse, Chair of the International Economic Policy Program, discusses the need for environmentalists to understand the main tenets of economics, and to use them aggressively in our discourse.

It’s only 24 minutes long. Do yourself a favor.

by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainable Building

… Continued from earlier post …

Price and costs seems to be holding back a majority from sustainable choices. “One trip to the grocery store and you would see that green products can have as much as a 100% price premium. It’s as if we are penalizing virtuous behaviors with a defector sustainability tax,” says Graceann Bennet, co-author of the report and Director of Strategic Planning.  This same thought process applies to many green products like solar panels and other sustainable products. (more…)

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