The Distributed Revolution

One of my favorite quotes is Wimpy’s: “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”

It’s an insightful commentary by the writers of the Popeye cartoon that reminds me of today’s rampant energy consumption. That hot greasy crude burger, sweet Saudi fixins, a side of bite-sized anthracite…

Clean Energy - San Joaquin: Who Says Green Jobs Don't Exist? Not These Business Leaders

Sat, 26 Nov 2011 13:49:44 -0500

Clean Energy - San Joaquin: Who Says Green Jobs Don't Exist? Not These Business Leaders:

sjvceo:

A group of business leaders, confused over the mismatch between what its members read and what they see on the street, is trying to set the record straight through a series of newsletters.

“All across America, we’re witnessing clean energy jobs being created almost every day—helping to rebuild…

Tech Giants going green

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:45:52 -0500

Tech Giants going green:

The companies that are best weathering the recession are in the IT industry. It seems almost like a different world in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, in Seattle and tech hubs in Denver, Portland and New York and all across the country. What recession they say? These companies flush with cash and giant consumers of energy for servers are going green in a big way.

Renewable Energy Saves Lives On The Battlefield

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:41:47 -0500

Renewable Energy Saves Lives On The Battlefield:

The most dangerous jobs in Iraq and Afghanistan are protecting fuel supplies. Clean energy is also local and distributed energy. Its impossible to bring down with an attack as its everywhere. Makes us more secure and cleaner.

sjvceo:

If the U.S. Marine Corp understands the power of clean energy. Why isn’t its use more widespread?

Not from this world: $137 Billion in 5 Years for German Clean Energy

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:10:01 -0500

Not from this world: $137 Billion in 5 Years for German Clean Energy :

Germany who has a solar radiance on par with Maine, is the leader in solar energy. What is wrong with this picture?!?

www-outerspacepi:

Germany has seized upon renewable energy development as a way of retreating from power sources such a nuclear and coal. Their strategy is not only better for the environment, it is good economics as it is making them more energy independent and is creating jobs for German workers.

“With…

SmartPress: Cape Wind hits new stumbling block

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:06:16 -0500

SmartPress: Cape Wind hits new stumbling block:

Its amazing the time and effort spent on massive energy projects, from the crazily dangerous drilling of deep ocean rigs, the polluting fracking technologies, enormous wind farms and solar plants too far from population centers where power is actually needed.

Now this is not to say that wind farms and solar projects have no role, or that natural gas is not a useful bridge to a clean energy future. But the reality is that distributed solar at the local level on the millions of empty roofs, enormous parking lots and other concrete strips and miles and miles of highway are prime for renewable energy without all these giant hurdles. They are safer as well from terrorist threats and natural disasters because they are spread everywhere like the internet which never goes down.

smartpress:

Nearly a decade in the making, Cape Wind - what will be America’s first offshore wind farm - was a done deal after receiving federal approval in April. Or so it seemed. Ever since, anti-wind groups have fought tooth and nail against the project, which would power most of Cape Cod and…

Financial Innovation that actually helps How long until we stop...

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:01:46 -0500

Financial Innovation that actually helps

How long until we stop ignoring the thousands of empty roofs around each of our neighborhoods and communities that are bathing in sun day after day that is not being harvested? Financial models and smart implementation are key to taking advantage of these untapped resources and we do not need giant banks and the government to do it. Solar Mosaic is one of the innovators in the “crowd sourced” funding of solar. We all can contribute to the distributed revolution.

threadlines:

Words Against Chaos: Toward a Deep Green Economy

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:55:05 -0500

Words Against Chaos: Toward a Deep Green Economy:

Local energy is democratic energy. When we are all the power producers we are all involved just like the internet enabled us to all be writers, create music, share video, etc… the traditional centralized media broke down and the same will happen to the centralized power generation of today.

wordsagainstchaos:

We are moving through a period of global economic transition. The new economy will favor complexity over hierarchy, and work with ecosystems and civil society, to achieve a more harmonious relationship between individuals and their environment. There are certain key points that will define…

Clean Energy - San Joaquin: Want A Job With A Future? Try Sustainability

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 20:53:51 -0500

Clean Energy - San Joaquin: Want A Job With A Future? Try Sustainability:

Sustainable jobs are going to be the stable good jobs of the future.

sjvceo:

There has been lots of “he said she said” over green jobs, and whether they are truly benefiting the economy. Part of the controversy is related to semantics and differing interpretations of “green,” but there is one segment that appears to be expanding.

Sustainability departments.

Big…

Distributed Revolution: the shot heard round the world.

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:16:00 -0500

Distributed Revolution: the shot heard round the world. :

Make no mistake there is a battle brewing and the first shots have been fired by Marin County and now Boulder, CO. Both municipalities separated from their large Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) in order to get the clean energy that Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Xcel Energy refused or were unable to provide. Both IOUs spent millions and millions on votes that both were shot down by the public. As long as the utilities remain stuck in this old model of centralized technocratic (elite) run power companies that simply dont work in the age of distributed solar, wind, and other renewables and an energy internet.

Who will manage the information from millions of local power producers and consumers? The big tech and energy companies are already positioning themselves to run energy in the cloud.

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:51:59 -0500

Who will manage the information from millions of local power producers and consumers? The big tech and energy companies are already positioning themselves to run energy in the cloud.:

The massive amount of information, every watt that is used and produced by millions of homes and businesses present an incredible growth market for cloud computing, IT professionals and big data companies. IBM, GE and Microsoft are already positioning themselves to be big players in this market, but who will be the innovators that challenge the traditional players?

eye-on-earth: Betting On Clean Energy by Third Way on...

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 13:00:04 -0500

eye-on-earth:

Betting On Clean Energy by Third Way on Flickr.

Pictures worth a thousand words.

Here Comes the Sun

Mon, 14 Nov 2011 12:58:24 -0500

Here Comes the Sun:

Krugman discussing the political sides of this war.

“Let’s face it: a large part of our political class, including essentially the entire G.O.P., is deeply invested in an energy sector dominated by fossil fuels, and actively hostile to alternatives. This political class will do everything it can to ensure subsidies for the extraction and use of fossil fuels, directly with taxpayers’ money and indirectly by letting the industry off the hook for environmental costs, while ridiculing technologies like solar.

So what you need to know is that nothing you hear from these people is true. Fracking is not a dream come true; solar is now cost-effective. Here comes the sun, if we’re willing to let it in.”

More than one third of the American defense budget is used to...

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 12:59:58 -0500

More than one third of the American defense budget is used to defend the oil routes and getting that energy back to the United States and Europe. Local solar on every roof and empty field changes the geo-political outlook. The American military is freed up from guarding oil supplies and fighting in the middle east.

HERMANN SCHEER: ”Yeah, this is only like a fantasy, because one panel is small. If you need more energy, you make more panels. Where is the problem? Where is the problem? It is very easy to show how it can work, and it could work, and with a mix of available energies. And the benefit for the national product, for the shift to renewable energy, is tremendous. And besides the unique political advantage to come to energy independence, it is — not to mention, this would be my argument, and I speak about it in this way when I give speeches in the United States, including speeches in the — or having talks with congressmen — the big democratic state like the United States, the first power, political power, in the world now, must behave like a beggar when they go to the king of Saudi Arabia, who is — who represents a feudalistic regime of the Middle Age, in order to have good relations for getting all this oil. This is — I think this is against any dignity. This is against any dignity pragmatically, and it’s against any rationality in practice. Such a dependence from — and without energy, nothing works. It must be a political — a main topic, political topic, to come to energy independence, to overcome this irresponsible dependency, which would cost a lot. More than one-third — more than one-third of the American defense budget is only given for protecting the oil and the energy importation lines.”

Solar is getting cheap. FAST.

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 02:46:55 -0500

Solar is getting cheap. FAST.