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Clean Technology (The titles in italics are book titles).
I have been posting some of my green political ideas on various forums. I have always been fascinated by green technology. I follow it pretty closely. I am a big fan of the Apollo Alliance http://www.apolloalliance.org/ . I reviewed a book on this organization called Apollo's Fire Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy.
The idea that we can completely eliminate oil is not a new one. I also posted Winning The Oil Endgame by Amory Lovins. http://www.oilendgame.com/ReadTheBook.html The Rocky Mountain Institute has http://www.rmi.org/ pointed the way on building a clean economy focused on what would be called Natural Capitalism-- http://www.natcap.org/ . It is possible to build a clean energy economy. It is more of a matter of political will than anything else.
There is more than one roadmap to a clean technology future with a revived industrial base for the United States. Listening to the endless drivel which we are being fed every day won't get us to where we want to be. Not only do we need to talk to our politicians, we need to invest in the future technologies which will make a clean future. Silicon Valley is more than willing to create a surge of investment in clean technology. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9308526
Another book which I reviewed earlier was The clean tech revolution : the next big growth and investment opportunity. This book covers environmentally sound technologies which can offer changes in industry because they are cleaner, more energy efficient, and use less waste. It covers things like green buildings, efficient appliances, renewable energy, and other clean tech.
Contrary to what many more conservative people say, clean technology will not drive the country into a recession, quite the opposite will happen. At a minimum it will create whole new industries and massive economic growth. There is a potential of at least 3 million new jobs created. These jobs are industrial jobs and manufacturing jobs, not service jobs.
I have been posting some of my green political ideas on various forums. I have always been fascinated by green technology. I follow it pretty closely. I am a big fan of the Apollo Alliance http://www.apolloalliance.org/ . I reviewed a book on this organization called Apollo's Fire Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy.
The idea that we can completely eliminate oil is not a new one. I also posted Winning The Oil Endgame by Amory Lovins. http://www.oilendgame.com/ReadTheBook.html The Rocky Mountain Institute has http://www.rmi.org/ pointed the way on building a clean economy focused on what would be called Natural Capitalism-- http://www.natcap.org/ . It is possible to build a clean energy economy. It is more of a matter of political will than anything else.
There is more than one roadmap to a clean technology future with a revived industrial base for the United States. Listening to the endless drivel which we are being fed every day won't get us to where we want to be. Not only do we need to talk to our politicians, we need to invest in the future technologies which will make a clean future. Silicon Valley is more than willing to create a surge of investment in clean technology. http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9308526
Another book which I reviewed earlier was The clean tech revolution : the next big growth and investment opportunity. This book covers environmentally sound technologies which can offer changes in industry because they are cleaner, more energy efficient, and use less waste. It covers things like green buildings, efficient appliances, renewable energy, and other clean tech.
Contrary to what many more conservative people say, clean technology will not drive the country into a recession, quite the opposite will happen. At a minimum it will create whole new industries and massive economic growth. There is a potential of at least 3 million new jobs created. These jobs are industrial jobs and manufacturing jobs, not service jobs.
In Freedom From Oil by David Sandalow which I reviewed earlier, he pointed out that there is no magical formula for energy independence. It is not hard to figure out what we need to do. We need to plug our cars into a wall socket. The majority of our non-transportation energy comes from energy that is not dependent on oil. This means we should be building more hybrid cars and more electric cars. We should also as an interim step increase the amount of ethanol blended with gasoline as well as biodiesel blended with diesel.
The coal industry, the nuclear industry, and the oil and gas industry are mature industries. This means there is very little room for growth. The newer clean technologies have room to grow and develop. They also offer significant environmental benefits.
Investing in clean technologies could provide the boost to create what would be renewable energy cheaper than coal. We are not as far from this as you might think. Wind power with economies of scale could also approach this. This is what the coal industry is afraid of. It is not about destroying our economy, it is about the process of capitalism, creative destruction.
http://cleantechnica.com/2008/05/10/solar-power-goes-to-extremes-for-5cents-per-watt/
I think there is real potential for green economics to be much more potent. There is increasing interest. I read http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/ occassionally.
I also follow a variety of publicly traded companies, verenium (vrnm), mgp ingredients (mgpi), capstone turbine (cpst), finavera (fvr.v), and others. I think there is a real interest in investing in green technology.
People spend a lot of time writing about companies like http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/ and http://www.teslamotors.com/ which represent near term change. Without people being aware of these kind of companies and buying their products, they will never get off the ground.
There is a real interest in seeing the idea of the electric car revived. I look forward to seeing when General Motors rolls out the Chevrolet Volt http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/ . There is not too much hope for GM unless there is real change.
Americans are facing a real crisis in our manufacturing industries and blue collar jobs. Greening them will end up saving a lot of jobs and bringing a lot of change. Change that will be uncomfortable, but in the long run necessary.
The best thing that can happen now is to level the playing field and make the energy industry much more competitive.
The coal industry, the nuclear industry, and the oil and gas industry are mature industries. This means there is very little room for growth. The newer clean technologies have room to grow and develop. They also offer significant environmental benefits.
Investing in clean technologies could provide the boost to create what would be renewable energy cheaper than coal. We are not as far from this as you might think. Wind power with economies of scale could also approach this. This is what the coal industry is afraid of. It is not about destroying our economy, it is about the process of capitalism, creative destruction.
http://cleantechnica.com/2008/05/10/solar-power-goes-to-extremes-for-5cents-per-watt/
I think there is real potential for green economics to be much more potent. There is increasing interest. I read http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/ occassionally.
I also follow a variety of publicly traded companies, verenium (vrnm), mgp ingredients (mgpi), capstone turbine (cpst), finavera (fvr.v), and others. I think there is a real interest in investing in green technology.
People spend a lot of time writing about companies like http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com/ and http://www.teslamotors.com/ which represent near term change. Without people being aware of these kind of companies and buying their products, they will never get off the ground.
There is a real interest in seeing the idea of the electric car revived. I look forward to seeing when General Motors rolls out the Chevrolet Volt http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/ . There is not too much hope for GM unless there is real change.
Americans are facing a real crisis in our manufacturing industries and blue collar jobs. Greening them will end up saving a lot of jobs and bringing a lot of change. Change that will be uncomfortable, but in the long run necessary.
The best thing that can happen now is to level the playing field and make the energy industry much more competitive.
What got me so interested in the concepts of a sustainable future was a book called Bioshelters, Ocean Arks, City Farming: Ecology As The Basis of Design by John and Nancy Todd. It was written in 1984. The writers described how to design cities that were extremely green, introduced concepts like aquaculture, vertical farms, and many radical scientific ideas on treating wastewater and solids using ecological designs. At the time the time they were writing no one was even close to thinking about things like this.
John Todd currently runs http://www.toddecological.com/ . I tried to place their more recent work, A Safe and Sustainable World, The Promise of Ecological Design by Nancy Todd and John Todd on hold through interlibrary loan but could not get it. I am debating on whether to just purchase it.
Earlier, I had a vague idea of civilization being able to run on renewables. R. Buckminster Fuller had predicted that in the future society would run on renewable energy, the sun and the wind. Also, I had come across the idea of a "Technic" civilization or a society that ran on wind and water technology proposed by Lewis Mumford. Lewis Mumford's book Technics and Civilization is a brilliant, if somewhat bizarre history of the development of technology.
5 comments:
What gets me really excited is the idea of having a floating field of windmills in the ocean. This is one of the most compelling ideas. Also, electric cars should really be on the market by now, and its really unfortunate that the Car MFG's have kept them at bay.
The Phoenix Motor car electric trucks are on the market as fleet vehicles-- for companies, next year they will be available as private vehicles.
Also, the Tesla Motors car is in production as an expensive electric car.
The most interesting idea I have seen so far is a platform for rivers and near ocean systems that combines wind turbines on top and wave turbines underneath for maximum effect. I am having a bit of trouble finding it.
Gas hit 4.00 today, 100 bucks to fill a mid-size car, keep posting green themes, the better educated we are, the more people will push this before out great-great grandchildren burn up the planet!
Greening the economy should make sense to anyone who takes a bit of time to understand the basic concepts. I think the problem lies in the fact that the "mature" energy industries have big bank rolls and use them to control both our lawmakers and the discourse taking place in the ad-driven corporate media. Having an administration in bed with the fossil fuel industry hasn't helped either.
There are real economic incentives. Lean manufacturing initally costs more, but saves money long term. So does remanufacturing, and reducing wastes in industry. The less material you use to make a product, the cheaper it is to make the product. Also, making things more energy efficient saves money for manufacturing. Combined savings in energy costs and material resources can make companies more competitive.
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