Charles asks…
china is leading the world on renewable energy, will the west ever catch up?
how can european and american renewables manufacture ever catch up while starved of capital and hindered by big oil?
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60R02520100128
dana; nice links, thanks. “The next technology boom is in green energy“. well exactly, surely anyone can see that? so why arent we doing it? what is discouraging the money folk from taking advantage? why isnt it taking off like the internet thing did? oh, yes, there is already an established energy business doing all it can to prevent disruptive innovation…
miles, it’s exciting and frustrating. the few investors really going proper deep green are making a mint, while us third hand investors get fobbed off with greenwash.
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2010/02/11/paul-hawkens-winning-investment-strategy
thanks wakaka, very interesting personal account. are you nz? i’m in u.k. not america, but we have same problem; watching with frustration as the magnificent chinese industrial complex practically turns on a sixpence while our start up renewable industries struggle. they can and they are, and all strength to them, but i want some of the action for our engineers too! i used to deliver steel, saw the last remains of the british heavy industry, i would love to see it revive.
oops! sorry, Walaka. typo.
The Expert answers:
This is precisely what Lindsey Graham is talking about when he says we need to put a price on carbon.
“To jump-start nuclear power, wind and solar and the green economy, you’ve got to price carbon…How you do it is subject to discussion and open debate. But the idea of not pricing carbon, in my view, means you’re not serious about energy independence. The odd thing is you’ll never have energy independence until you clean up the air, and you’ll never clean up the air until you price carbon.”
http://climateprogress.org/2010/01/28/lindsey-graham-price-carbon-not-serious-about-energy-independence-clean-air/
“Every day we wait in this nation China is going to eat our lunch.”
http://climateprogress.org/2010/02/03/energy-only-bill-lindsey-graham-half-assed/
“my concern is that every day that we delay trying to find a price for carbon is a day that China uses to dominate the green economy….China has made a long-term strategic decision and they are going gang-busters.”
http://climateprogress.org/2010/01/31/lindsey-graham-price-for-carbon-china-dominate-the-green-economy-clean-energy-jobs/
The next technology boom is in green energy. The Chinese know it, most Europeans know it, and some Americans know it, but many don’t. If we don’t invest in the technology on par with China, as Graham says, they’re going to eat our lunch and dominate the green economy.
The west can still catch up, but only if we ramp up our investments in green tech.
Paul asks…
how would the world be different if we use more renewable energy?
im doing a persusaive essay on this
The Expert answers:
The air would be cleaner, the mountains in the Appalachians would not be blasted and shoved into the streams and valleys, and we wouldn’t need to fight wars in the middle east.
Jenny asks…
Can you make money by buying stocks of renewable energy companies?
since global warming and the need for more greener energy like wind power increases, is it really possible you can make lots of money by buying these companies now that are worth virtually nothing, and wait until the world gets the need of renewable energy? (buying shares of stocks). Thanks
The Expert answers:
Nobody can predict the movement of any stocks whether going up or coming down. Many of the market professionals use fundamental analysis of companies along with technical analysis like chartology, option movements and relative price strength of stocks.
There might be many people who think the same logic as yours and made investment in renewable energy companies. Consequently, some of these companies’ shares have gone up significantly where you might have to find a good spot to buy at certain time.
What you need to do is to study the company’s performance (revenues and earnings and their growth) in relation to the stock price. Also, look into the company’s financial condition (does it have a lot of debts?), market share of its products, product leadership, and earnings browth rates vs. Its competitors.
Since you will be investing your hard earned income, be very careful in doing the preliminary studies before investing. I recommend you also read a couple of books on investment.
Mark asks…
Why doesn’t the world just use Green power and Renewable Energy instead of Oil?
The Expert answers:
Money.
Lots of things are set up to use oil based products (cars, airplanes, etc), so it would cost a small fortune to switch it over. Third world countries have very little money. Countries that have more money don’t have enough money to do that.
Oil producing countries are very, very rich. They like their money.
Going green is sort of a progressive thing. It’s not something we can such “switch over to.” It will take some time.
Sandra asks…
Help on creating renewable energy devices?
I need major help on my 8th grade science project. I want to get a head start on it without screwing up. The independent variables I will be testing are the world‘s most efficient renewable energy machines. will be testing wind powered generators, geothermal generators, and hydroelectric generators. I need help on creating cheap, functioning replicas of these. Any suggestions? Thanks!
The Expert answers:
Some of those are going to be beyond your capabilities (geothermal generators)
What you need to understand is your systems share some basic components- the power generation portion- you can use a permanent magnet motor for this part. It works but is inefficient, but will work for your wind and hydro portion.
What is different is the driving mechanism- how are you harnessing the energy of your material source- air, water and making the mechanical connection to your common generator. If you have an RC aircraft propeller, there you ahve the means for harnessing wind- now how are you going to use something similar to harness the water energy? You might have to carve somethig from a block of wood. Your geothermal system will be similar, but you are not likely to be allowed to use live steam to drive a turbine blade in your classroom.
There is the geenral outline you sought. Now you have to apply the process of assembly and understanding your assembly.
To understand how a motor works and conversely your generator- you need to understand magnetism and how that makes the each work.
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