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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

I may have mentioned that I’m working on another book. One of the problems I face is that, other than that it further investigates the path to renewables, I really don’t know what it’s about yet.  I’m gathering information, conducting interviews with super-smart and well-positioned people, and so I have reason to hope that an organizing theme will be coming along any time now — but right now it’s eluding me.

It’s certainly possible that the “tough realities” theme (that I invoked in my last book) has more legs.  Each of the major reasons to move off of fossil fuels comes with its own unique challenges.  Let’s take the subject of partiotism as an example.

In my mind, the most patriotic thing anyone can do is to get behind solutions that will lessen the US dependence on oil. Unless you favor war, crushing debt burden, increasing ownership of American assets by foreign entities, empowering terrorists, the erosion of the middle class, etc. you really have to think that electric vehicles, mass transit, and other technologies to reduce oil consumption are good news.  In fact, I would say they’re as patriotic as the 4th of July.

But here’s a piece of tough reality:  you won’t find Fox News and the other right-wing flag-wavers in the US saying anything resembling this. In fact, Fox’s coverage of this subject is essentially non-stop condemnation and ridicule. “What’s the Fisker (high-end plug-in hybrid electric passenger car) product called again?” Bill O’Reilly asks with a mocking sneer. “The Karma? Oooooh, the Karma! Now that’s a product we really need here,” he dismisses smugly. Plus, keep in mind that O’Reilly’s by far the most sophisticated one on the whole team — and the best he can do is a kind of sophomoric name-calling?  Isn’t that odd?  In any case, it’s part of the large ensemble of tough realities with which we live day to day.

Yes, I think I’ll explore this theme further. In fact, each of the reasons to migrate to renewables (environmentalism, healthcare, peak oil, national security, job creation, etc.) is chock full of these controversies. 

While I’m at work developing this more deeply, I hope you’ll let me know if you have any comments or suggestions.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

As reported by The Vector on January 17th, the World Future Energy Summit recently drew together world policy makers, international business leaders, energy providers, and educators into a fast-paced conference in Abu Dhabi.

The Zayed Future Energy Prize for innovation and leadership in green technology awards — a $1.5M total prize — was awarded to wind turbine maker Vestas. Surprisingly, Vestas gave half of the earnings to three of the six finalists: India’s Barefoot College; the group Seventh Generation Advisors; and the thin-film solar manufacturer First Solar. Bravo to Vestas.

(more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

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I was out visiting Bremach, a local electric truck manufacturer yesterday.  When we pulled back into the parking lot after a thrilling test drive, I told the company’s CEO, “Wow, this is terrific stuff.  It’s super-sturdy, offers great performance in a ruggedized package at a reasonable price.  But for once, what may be most  extra-ordinary about it is that it offer both sizzle and steak.  When you think about it, it’s the antimatter of the EV stereotype, i.e., the superized golf-cart that only a tree-hugger could love.  Check out this design!


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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

China has committed to long-term development of green energy, as is evidenced by all. As the world’s largest user of energy – and also it’s largest polluter – it needs energy to power its growth. China’s latest five-year strategy is quite ambitious – to impose heavy environmental taxes on heavy polluters.

Since Copenhagen, China has shown every indication that it intends to live up to its Copenhagen pledge, and has promised to include new policies to curb pollution as part of its overall energy plans. The government plans to close dirty sources of energy: 10,000 MW of small power plants, 25 million metric tons of iron-mill capacity, 6 million tons of steel capacity and 50 million tons of cement capacity, saving equivalent of 16 million tons of coal, said Xie Zhenhua in a press release in the 4th quarter of 2010. Xie is the vice chair of the National Development and Reform Commission.

China has already become a green energy leader, through hydropower, development and manufacture of solar and wind, and through its aggressive energy plan. It also wants to lead in a low-carbon economy and fight (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

So much of our discussion around the politics of energy revolves around compassion for others – both the people who live with us here and now, as well as those of future generations. I’ll be 56 in a few months. Will I personally see the day when our current energy policy, if left in its current sad state, brings us catastrophic terrorist strikes, horrible climate issues, never-ending wars, a continuing spike in cancer rates, and broad-spread social chaos from the scarcity of fossil fuels? I don’t know. But the fact that I’ll be saying goodbye to this Earth in a few decades doesn’t render me uninterested in dealing with this matter before I check out.

But what exactly is the imperative on us to take inconvenient actions now for the benefit of others we’ll never meet? I’m not sure I can articulate that. So let me introduce Og Mandino, a writer and speaker of the 20th Century, who said:

Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.　

When we read this closely and thoughtfully, we have no doubt that he was 100% right. Do any of us think we have better, more fulfilling lives because we can somehow ignore the needs of others while we focus on our own immediate gains?

Yet how hard it is to act the way Mandino suggests.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Wind Energy

I’ve added a hot new business plan to the list I’m now featuring. I spoke yesterday with Joe Speace, CEO of “Project Renewable Energy” near Kansas City, whose doing a capital raise for a wind farm that will feature compressed air energy storage (CAES). This looks quite strong.

Storage will be a big deal soon, as the penetration of renewables increases and the intermittence of solar and wind starts to become an issue.  I’m hearing about it connected with an increasing number of deals in this space.

And CAES is far more efficient than it sounds.  When I first heard about it, I asked, “You’re going to take mechanical energy (a spinning wind turbine), turn it into electrical energy, power a compressor, then, on demand, somehow release the compressed air to turn a turbine and generate electrical energy — again? Doesn’t that sound like a disaster in terms of efficiency?”  It turns out that it’s close to 90%!

And what about the huge underground caverns that store the compressed air?  Some are man-made, some naturally formed, e.g., those that formerly held natural gas.  Don’t they leak at high pressure? Yes, but there is a technology for plugging leaks.

Impressive stuff.  And again, that stuff will become increasingly important as time goes by.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Sustainability

I received a call this morning from a gentleman in Nice in the south of France. His passion is combining his expertise in cutting-edge lighting electronics with his interest in helping sub-Saharan Africa to move away from kerosene lamps. As a result of our talk, I’ve volunteered to participate on a board whose purpose is to bring sustainable lighting solutions to more than 500 million people in that part of the globe. I’ll let you know how it goes.

This, btw, is our 1000th blog post. My sincere thanks to all of you who made it happen.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

The merit of most of the business plans I receive is fairly obvious.  Would-be entrepreneurs who expect investment capital for clean energy projects that are just ideas are unrealistic.

“Hey, here’s a country with a lot of wind. Let’s get investors to fund wind studies, feasibility studies …” It won’t happen. On the other hand, if you have the equity and development capital in place, and want project financing for a shovel-ready deal with a signed power purchase agreement, that’s not a problem.

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? In truth, this isn’t as crystal clear as I implied.

I just had a talk with an investor who turned down a deal in which my client needs capital to expand an existing business, with signed contracts to buy his product (eco-friendly paper) coming at him from all directions. We’re talking about capital to buy inventory that won’t stay on the shelves for 10 minutes.

“His customers love him.  They’re standing in line to do business with him.  He just needs working capital so he can take on more of them,” I explained. “What’s the matter with the deal?”

“Sorry, I’m not interested.  His business is under-capitalized.”

I kid you not.

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

You may have noticed our redesigned and streamlined site at 2GreenEnergy.com.  This represents our latest effort to articulate the precise value we add for three different communities, each of which directly deals with our mission statement: taking good ideas forward.  In particular, we help:  (more…)

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by craigshieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

As reported by The Vector on January 17th, the World Future Energy Summit recently drew together world policy makers, international business leaders, energy providers, and educators into a fast-paced conference in Abu Dhabi.

The Zayed Future Energy Prize for innovation and leadership in green technology awards — a $1.5M total prize — was awarded to wind turbine maker Vestas. Surprisingly, Vestas gave half of the earnings to three of the six finalists: India’s Barefoot College; the group Seventh Generation Advisors; and the thin-film solar manufacturer First Solar. Bravo to Vestas.

(more…)

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