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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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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Fossil Fuels

In response to my piece on society’s migration to electric vehicles, Dan Conine writes:

There needs to be a build-down of the sprawl simultaneously with the build-out of charging stations. Once they meet, the fringe will still have gas and the majority will be electric.

There are so many interesting scenarios here. Of course there are supply issues, i.e., Peak Oil. But one wonders what will happen if we see a steady erosion in the demand for oil. What will the oil companies do once demand for gasoline drops below a certain point?  (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Next week finds us in Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York – pursuing deals with a few companies with hot ideas in the renewable energy and sustainability space.

The bad ideas I receive seem to keep getting worse. Someone sent me an idea this morning that was the energy equivalent of a miracle weight-loss product that, when taken with a drastic reduction in calories and vigorous exercise, guarantees to take those pounds off. 

But the good ideas somehow keep getting better. My trip to New York is primarily to meet a team of people who import paper made of sugar cane waste – a 100% replacement for paper made from trees. They have a rock-solid source, and can sell it at the identical price of competitors’ products that come at the environmental expense of deforestation.  I want to be a part of this — in a big way. 

As always, I’ll keep you posted.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Science

I just put a piece on Renewable Energy World regarding the History Channel’s coverage of energy. As usual, last night’s show was very well-produced; it must cost a fortune to get all that in place with the wonderful special effects and clips from exotic parts of the world. But I was bitterly disappointed that the show skirted the opportunity to cover renewables — and contained outrageous errors in the coverage it provided. (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

AeroVironment is one of my favorite companies.  Founded about 40 years ago by the late Dr. Paul MacCready, AV still shines on brightly with its many powerful innovations in electronics and flight. Most notably, these people are quite successful; they seem to be on the right side of almost every business decision. 

The deal they inked this January to supply the chargers for the Nissan LEAF is a great example. As Kristen Helsel, AV’s Director of EV Solutions told me yesterday during an interview at the 2010 Plug-In show in San Jose, this is a truly major deal for them.

As I’ve mentioned in “Tough Realities” report, to me, the AV approach to charging (just making charging quick, easy, and ubiquitous as possible, growing the infrastructure as the EV base grows) is 100 times more sound than battery swapping, as supported by Better Place. In fact, later in the afternoon, I listened to the battery swap pitch from Jason Wolf, Better Place’s vice president of North America. He’s a very articulate spokesperson for the concept, and as compelling as anyone can be. But it’s just not an appropriate solution for the United States — a landmass of 3.5 million square miles.

Wolf told us that “If EVs are going to enjoy mass adoption, we need to replace not just the car, but the system by which people drive them.” It’s hard to argue against it that, but the real question is this: how exactly will that be achieved? I’m betting on a steady build out of the charging infrastructure – eventually deploying ubiquitous fast-charging. And I’m betting on AV to be there to make that happen.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

Bill Gates and GE Chair Jeff Immelt at AEIC press conference, courtesy AEIC

A group of top business leaders are working together and formed The American Energy Innovation Council (AEIC) in a call for action on renewable energy. They are emphasizing the need to correct the “deficient” American energy system. The Council states that we: need a call for investment, need reforms to create jobs, need to address environmental issues and need to address national security. They have been meeting with the White House and Congressional leaders.   Their report is entitled “A Business Plan for America’s Energy Future” and states that reform and strengthening of U.S. investment in innovation is a most critical element to securing our future.      (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

I spoke with a couple of the people promoting the 2012 release of the Prius plug-in hybrid yesterday at the 2010 Plug-In show. Gosh, this seems like a strange concept. Its all-electric range? 13 miles. The net effect for the typical customer? A bit better gas mileage. “This is what Prius customers want – a more efficient Prius,” one guy told me.

I was incredulous. Maybe they want that now, pal. But do you honestly think they’re going to want that two years from now, when they can have a LEAF, an I-MiEV, a Mini E, a Volt, or half a dozen other EVs of various sizes and types? You’re going to ask them to go through the exercise of plugging their car in, just to get slightly better gas mileage?

This is a truly terrible idea. I have to think something has gone terribly off the rails there. Unless they make a major change, I predict that Toyota’s decade 2005 – 2015 will be the biggest single meltdown in automotive history.

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Electric Vehicles

The 2010 Plug-In show, featuring the latest in electric transportation, is now in the books. I spent yesterday at the event, meeting people, interviewing key industry players, and taking in all that the show offered. But while I enjoyed the experience, I was totally unprepared for what I saw.

In a word: small. The main impression that anyone would take away was how incredibly and unforeseeably tiny the event was compared with those of past years. I can’t be precise about this because, in truth, I never stopped to measure, for instance, the 2008 event, held in the same place (San Jose’s McEnery Convention Center). But yesterday, we had 38 exhibitors (down from many hundreds) in a floor space that could have accommodated a tennis match, and (I’m guessing) perhaps only a thousand or so attendees.

So what happened? I’m not 100% sure, but I have a guess. (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Business

On June 18th, 2010, Google launched yet another smart energy project: cars that plug into an electric grid powered strictly by solar energy. The project is called “RechargeIT.org.” In the U.S., transportation contributes to about one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions, with more than 60% coming from personal vehicles. Google believes that by transitioning to electric and plug-in hybrid cars, greenhouse gases can be reduced, dependency on oil can be reduced, and power can actually be sold back to the energy grid – the vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology. (more…)

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by Craig ShieldsPosted on Posted in Renewables - Politics

More people each day are disgusted with the course our civilization is taking. Whether your main concern is social injustice, proliferation of nuclear weapons, environmental ruination, white-collar criminality, the decay of morality, growing rates of addiction to recreational and psychiatric drugs, the decline in educational standards, or the ravages of corporatocracy, one thing’s for sure: you’re one of very few if you believe the human race is on the right track.

I don’t have a lot of answers. But I think I can say this without fear of contradiction: It’s up to all of us to raise our voices when we see things we don’t like.

Here’s something else I suggest we do with issues: analyze them honestly. Is there any commonality among all these social ills? I believe there is: the concept that someone else – another person living now somewhere on Earth – or someone who will be born in the future – should pay for the benefit you’re taking here and now. (more…)

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