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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Biomass

Dr. Mitchell contibuted to the book’s chapter on algae as biofuel. 

Fundamentally, the photosynthetic process reduces inorganic compounds like carbon dioxide, water, nitrogen, and phosphorous, and builds these biochemicals. Initially sugar, and then the sugar’s burned to build all sorts of other things, and nutrients are brought in and you build membranes with phosphorous and you build proteins with nitrogen and so forth. It is all ultimately derived out of the sunlight.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

The World Resources Institute’s Vice President for External Relations Robin Murphy contributed to the book’s chapter on the role of NGO in the migration to clean energy.  WRI assists leaders in both the private and public sectors in making sound decisions with respect to practices that affect our environment, working at the intersection of environment and human needs. WRI’s mission is to provide analysis, research and recommendations, that will help advance sound environmental decisions. And those are decisions made by leaders in business, leaders in government, leaders in fellow NGO’s – non-profits around the world, in academia and elsewhere.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Johanna Wald contributed to the book’s chapter on litigation – using the court system to force public and private entities to conform to laws that are in place to protect the people and the planet we call home.

There are many parts of NRDC. And certainly a watchdog function, as I think of it, has been traditionally and historically a big part of our activities. My work, in particular, has been in opposition to fossil fuel development on public lands. I’ve been at NRDC for more than 35 years now; my whole career has been devoted to defending the federal public lands – those that are managed by the Parks Service, the Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service, and so forth. While I am also trying to prevent harmful and irresponsible renewable development, I am at the same time affirmatively trying to promote well-sited development.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Leadership action that Vectoris following was announced shortly after Obama’s Oval Office speech. It comes from former Senator Tom Daschle (Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress) and a coalition of clean energy industries. Coalition members include, among others, the American Wind Energy Association, the Business Council for Sustainable Energy, the Biomass Power Association, the Geothermal Energy Association and the Solar Energy Industries Association.

At a press conference on June 23rd, the coalition called on the White House and Senate to take urgent action on legislation for clean energy.        (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

The Carbon War Room’s CEO, Jigar Shah, contibuted to the book’s chapter on Free Market Capitalism. Founded by British industrialist and humanitarian Richard Branson, the Carbon War Room uses the principles of laissez-faire capitalism to deal with the problems brought about by our planet’s addiction to fossil fuels. The organization points out, “Our global industrial and energy systems are built on carbon-based technologies and unsustainable resource demands that threaten to destroy our society and our planet. Massive loss of wealth, expanding poverty and suffering, disastrous climate change, water scarcity, and deforestation are the end results of this broken system. This business-as-usual system represents the greatest threat to the security and prosperity of humanity – a threat that transcends race, ethnicity, national borders, and ideology.”

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

Brian Rutledge contributed to the book’s chapter called “Renewables and Environmental Stewardship – Thinking Through All the Implications.” His major point is that we want renewables, but they come at a cost – and part of that cost, ironically, is ecological. I.e., renewable energy has numerous obvious advantages over burning coal and other traditional power sources. Yet each of the various clean energy technologies is accompanied by a certain environmental impact, all of which need to be understood clearly.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

NREL spokesperson George Douglas contibuted to the book’s chapter on the US federal governement’s laboratories.  As one might expect, there are many non-profit organizations of different types that make important contributions to the quest for clean energy: government agencies, NGOs, trade associations, etc. The handful of such groups that have contributed to this book speak to the important work they are doing to develop key technologies and to adopt rational policy by which renewables can be moved forward in a concerted and responsible way.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory, or NREL, is the only federal laboratory dedicated to the research, development, commercialization and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. I was delighted to speak with spokesperson George Douglas.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

Professor V. Ramanathan of Scripps Institution of Oceanography contributed to the book’s chapter on global warming.  “Ram” (as he likes to be called) is the man generally credited with the discovery of the phenomenon of global warming, correctly predicting in the early 1970s that there would be a measurable increase in the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere by 1980. I was happy to make the 200-mile trek down to La Jolla to speak with Ram in his laboratory.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

James Woolsey, the contributor to the chapter on Energy and National Security, has received a total of four presidential appointments – under both Republican and Democratic administrations. Most notably, he was Director of the United States Central Intelligence Agency from February 5, 1993 until January 10, 1995.

Mr. Woolsey is among the most vocal and, in my view, most credible proponents of renewables, making arguments touching on national security, global climate change, and economics. He is featured in Thomas Friedman’s Discovery Channel documentary Addicted to Oil, and in the 2006 documentary film “Who Killed the Electric Car?” which addresses solutions to oil dependency through the development of electric transportation. I was elated when his assistant responded positively to my request for an interview.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

I’ve known Dan Conine for a couple of years now, and he never ceases to amaze me with his insight as a political philosopher and social critic. Here, he writes:

We have got to….think about the general configuration of humanity. Psychological and physical borders need to disappear between states and nations as cooperative behavior becomes the norm.

Yes, this is true. That would be great. I’d love to see that happen — but I don’t.  And I often wonder what causes the general tone of antagonism that so dominates our lives here on Earth.

There are probably a great number of issues here – of which here are two — neither of them likely to change anytime soon. 

1) Man has a great number of animal instincts. In many ways, we’re a hybrid life form: part jungle survivalist and part empathetic intellectual.

2) I believe the balance named above is manipulated by powerful, amoral people for their own benefit.  I.e., we’re guided into hating each other. Note that for everything you hear that might motivate you to do something kind, you hear 100 things that generate fear and mistrust.  That’s not a coincidence, my friend.

As always, thanks for writing in; it’s never a dull experience.

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