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Entries from June 2017

DC United setting the PACE for MLS

June 29th, 2017 · Comments Off on DC United setting the PACE for MLS

PACE (Property Assessed Clean Energy) financing is a far under leveraged path to enable property (primarily building) owners to cost-effectively financed energy and resource efficiency along with clean energy.  In short, PACE financing makes the payback of loans part of the property assessment with extremely low interest rates available because this is generally bundled money through […]

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Tags: Energy · solar

Size does matter

June 28th, 2017 · Comments Off on Size does matter

A simple truth is that, when it comes to wind power, size matters. The taller the tower, the better the wind conditions. The larger the blade length, the more energy captured. When it comes to wind, economies of scale are both in the number of turbines getting deployed and in terms of the energy production […]

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Tags: ARPAE · Energy · wind power

Is Trump’s conceived Mexico Wall part of “#WarOnCoal”?

June 26th, 2017 · Comments Off on Is Trump’s conceived Mexico Wall part of “#WarOnCoal”?

Donald Trump has created some buzz with discussing the potential for making the Mexico border wall a power plant:  covering it with solar panels. Amid Team Trump’s “Energy Week” (with nary a mention of wind or solar power, the fastest growing energy sources around the globe … and in the United States), a question to […]

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Tags: solar

Grenfell Tower Tragedy lesson: regulations save lives (the lesson Koch operatives don’t want US to learn)

June 20th, 2017 · 3 Comments

Climate Denier RoundUp guest post. The Grenfell Tower fire is a tragedy that should not be something we have to address. It is not something Carbon Brief should have to fact check. But here we are. As Carbon Brief explains, The Daily Mail and other conservative outlets have pushed a theory that the fire was […]

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Tags: guest post

Grenfell Tower and climate change

June 19th, 2017 · 1 Comment

A number of raving lunatics (is that too harsh a term …? probably not) are asserting that ‘climate alarmism’ (and other such delusional attack terms of those who understand climate science) is at fault for the horrific Grenfell Towers catastrophe. Twisting arguments beyond pretzel logic, here is an example the coroner may as well scribble […]

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Tags: anti-science syndrome

Your commute costs me how much? Really?

June 19th, 2017 · 1 Comment

In civilization, civil society, people — in some form or another — subsidize each other, give each other assistance.  In modern capitalist societies, those subsidies are almost always measured in direct cash transfers with little attention, understanding, or incorporation of indirect (whether financial or otherwise) resource transfers and subsidies.  For the energy/climate world, for example, […]

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Tags: analysis · Energy

For well over a century: #climate in #PopularMechanics

June 9th, 2017 · Comments Off on For well over a century: #climate in #PopularMechanics

Popular Mechanics is an American institution, a window on “how your world works” for 115 years. Amid its myriad pieces fascinating to tech geeks of all colors and strains (including Energy COOL-loving geeks), it has published quite a few pieces directly on or related to climate change over the years.  Little did I know, but […]

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Tags: climate change · coal

Powering America from Trump’s ‘solar’ border wall: how many kilowatts …?

June 7th, 2017 · 2 Comments

One can’t step away from the news for a moment without something shocking. Just in: Donald Trump has evidently embraced the idea (certainly telling people it was his, but no …) of putting solar panels on the (likely never to be built) border wall. Some days truth really is stranger than fiction… https://t.co/acXHgKsD13 pic.twitter.com/tt3EyJQiwJ — Zeke […]

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Tags: Energy

Nine Holes in Trump’s Paris Withdrawal

June 1st, 2017 · Comments Off on Nine Holes in Trump’s Paris Withdrawal

Donald Trump has made the reckless announcement to turn the tide backwards, toward higher pollution options and away from great economic opportunities. As is well known, when he goes out to golf, Trump brazenly gets away with cheating his way through a course. In seeking to communicate in language and images that Trump might understand, here […]

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Tags: Energy

“Firing an email instead of a rocket …”

June 1st, 2017 · 2 Comments

Debates are often presented as either/or, black/white, all/nothing when the complexity of reality is that most situations are not zero-sum, one-or-the-other.  And, that is especially true in complex environments and situations like energy systems and climate change (science, mitigation, adaptation).  In this overlapping space, some of the either/or, all/nothing type assertions: Consumption reduction vs clean […]

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Tags: Energy