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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

Am I the only one who was a bit stunned at Honda’s announcement today? CEO Takanobu Ito outlined the company’s plans to introduce both a mid-size plug-in hybrid and an electric commuter vehicle in the U.S. and Japan by the end of 2012. He told Reuters, “It’s starting to look like there will be a market for electric vehicles. We can’t keep shooting down their potential, and we can’t say there’s no business case for it.”

So what so weird about this?

In the first place, Honda’s longstanding commitment to its current alternate fuel vehicle, the hydrogen fuel cell F6 Clarity, which, of course, is an electric vehicle; batteries and fuel cells are simply two different ways of providing portable electrical energy. Perhaps Ito simply misspoke, but that strikes me as a mistake that the CEO of Honda would be most unlikely to make. (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

In his book What Technology Wants?  Wired Magazine’s Kevin Kelly tells us about the evolution of the “technium” – the ecosystem of technologies and the way they affect us — and each other.  I think this is directly relevant to our discussion here; in fact, I go out of my way to tune into discussions on the evolution of technology generally, and its effects on all of us socially, vocationally, and psychologically.  This is important to the trajectory of renewables, of course, as the cost of clean energy is constantly falling due to the thousands of discoveries and inventions that occur each month.  (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

When I get up every morning, I take my cup of coffee, sit down, and read the news in the energy sector – often including a few comments from bloggers. As one might expect, there are patterns that develop, a common one of which is exemplified below: the argument that free-market economics has determined that fossil fuels should be the dominant form of energy – with the counter argument that there is nothing truly “free” about “free-market economics.”

Person A: The price of crude oil, natural gas, coal etc will decide how and when people will switch to alternative energy sources, not cheerleading by solar energy industry.

Person B: In other words, the switch to alternative energy will be determined by what happens in terms of the billions and billions in government subsidies that keep the price of oil, natural gas and coal artificially low. (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

An opinion poll from Civil Society Institute (CSI) said this week that key poll results reveal Tea Party members have quite different views on clean energy than Independents. The CSI poll is fully independent and not financed, supported, commissioned, conducted or released by any company, group, candidate or party.

 Key findings include:

 Independents are more than twice as likely as Tea Party members to see global warming as a problem (62% vs 27%).

Tea Party members are more than twice as likely as Independents (34% vs 15%) to see no need for leadership on global warming.

70% of Independents but only 55% of Tea Party supporters agree that the US needs to be a clean energy jobs and technology leader.

  (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I’m happy to announce that California voters soundly rejected Proposition 23 – a proposal that would have essentially killed the state’s clean air initiative. But exactly why? I’m not sure anyone will ever know.

Prop 23 was backed almost entirely by two out-of-state (Texas) oil companies. Voters don’t like being manipulated (in the few cases where they can see it coming so clearly).

The venture capitalists and hedge fund managers that profit from California’s tech sector backed a powerful “No on 23” campaign, outspending even the Texas oil billionaires. (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

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Here’s the new Urbee Hybrid, a car described as the world’s first 3-D printed auto, developed by Minneapolis’ Stratasys and Winnipeg engineering group, Kor Ecologic.  Apparently, the company will not divulge too much information about its drivetrain, other than that it’s a hybrid and gets about 150 MPG.  (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

As exemplified in this article by Rick Newman, the media is fond of telling us that electric vehicles are over-hyped and destined to disappoint their owners. This, in turn, affects the way most people view the industry.  I took some people to the Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica a few weeks ago who proceeded to tell me all the things that EVs need to be: inexpensive and roomy – without that nagging “range anxiety.”

“Sure, that would be nice,” I explained. “And we’ll get there. But in the meanwhile, you may wish to look at the bigger picture.”

I went on to point out that in the US, we’re in the process of replacing 230 million cars and trucks. This year, Nissan will be making 20,000 Leafs (Leaves?) available to its dealers (one ten-thousandth of the installed base of internal combustion engines) – and they’re going to sell like hotcakes. EVs aren’t for everyone right now, but think of how many multi-car households in single-family dwellings with garages that have one car that commutes to and from work and performs local errands. I submit that a very large percentage of them would simply love never to pull into another gas station.

So what else will happen this same year? (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Congratulations to the Republicans on their victories yesterday, running successfully on the message of a smaller and more accountable government. But I hasten to point out that there is identically zero precedent for Republican’s (or Democrat’s) actually delivering on that promise. As shown on the graph below, historically, government bureaucracies are never removed; they grow roughly with the GDP regardless of who’s in power. But – for a few weeks at least – the people can feel that they’re being heard as a new set of agendas comes to Washington.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Photovoltaics

The utility company Georgia Power reports it is doubling the amount of solar energy it will buy from independent producers.  Lauren McDonald, Chair of the utility, said it will buy another 2.5 MW of capacity from homes and businesses with solar panels, to bring the total over 5 MW.  1 MW can power about 250 homes or one SuperTarget.

This announcement is seen as a boost to the industry, and specifically Georgia’s solar industry.  The company will pay 17 cents per KW for the first 1.5 MW and take bids for the rest.  In addition to the 5 MW it will buy, the utility is also building 1 MW of capacity itself, and will buy 1.4 MW through another program from two solar farms. These farms are located in Savannah and on a southern Georgia pecan farm. (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Here’s a blog post I put up on Renewable Energy World, addressing a question a friend posed: What part of your recent book (Renewable Energy – Facts and Fantasies) aligns most closely with the major news stories of the day? I mentally shuffled through the table of contents and answered that it’s probably the chapter on national security, my interview with James Woolsey, ex-Director of the United States CIA. Here are summaries of a few key points that Mr. Woolsey raised: (more…)

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