MGx - Musings, Essays & Ballads

Well, I am in NYC attending annual 2008 AWEA wind financing conference and it has been an education. Not an education about financing techniques, research has already filled me in on that topic, but on the cultural view of Wall Street investors regarding renewable energy. Some very illustrious speakers have attended so far, […]

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Nuclear power is gaining a lot of hype lately as an answer to US energy needs. Proponents of nuclear power are extolling the ability of nuclear generators to produce terawatts of power without carbon emissions and that this will reduce our dependence on foreign resources and thereby improve national security.
As energy demands increase around […]

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T. Boone Pickens, Texas oil billionaire and wind energy advocate is pushing Congress to renew the soon to expire Production Tax Credit (PTC) for another ten years. Pickens has been touring the country to promote his Midwest wind farms to replace 22% of natural gas produced electricity. To date, Congress has been reluctant […]

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and other places.
New York’s Mayor Michael Bloomberg has proposed putting windmills on city bridges and rooftops as part of an ambitious push for renewable energy.
Bloomberg outlined his plan Tuesday night at a Las Vegas conference on alternative energy.
You can read his speech here or watch it here

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In 1943 US Intelligence learned that a fast, maneuverable German jet was being produced in the Messerschmitt factories that would deliver a crushing advantage over allied forces during World War II. Racing against time, Lockheed Martin engineers bunkered down in Burbank, CA to produce the first production jet fighter, the P-80.
Lead by Clarence “Kelly” […]

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Recognizing the importance of addressing the climate change crisis and reducing dependence upon foreign oil and gas, the US Department of Energy (USDOE) has launched an aggressive program aiming to meet 20% of America’s energy needs via wind by 2030. In conjunction with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the American Wind Energy […]

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Energy creation is relatively simple in theory. Rare earth high gauss magnets spin past copper coils along a magnetically permeable stator core and electromotive force (EMF) is the result. While there are a myriad of technical details that optimize this effect nothing more complicates the production of energy today than the geopolitical climate […]

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This past week has been very hectic as we have been developing critical path schedules, ordering components and completing organization responsibilities all toward the completion of the integrated wind turbine/generator. We are looking at early September for completion and are now trying to figure out what color ceramic coating to apply and that is […]

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In the wake of the horrific flooding in Iowa and the Midwest commodities traders are predicting a sharp increase in food prices across the nation. The floods, made worse by collapsed levees, devastated millions of acres of crops in an already shortened growing season but that is not the main reason for food price […]

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This has been a very exciting day for me as a major component of the V-LIM, my wind turbine arrived today at the fabrication site in Coos Bay. Just off the truck from Blaine, WA this annulus is the rotor or will be when we add a few important things like magnets and fan […]

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All week I have been flooded with reports that the official cause of the 2003 electrical blackout was not, as reported, untrimmed trees and overheated transmission lines. The largest blackout in US history, more than 9,300 square miles, may have been caused by Chinese hackers gaining access to networks controlling the electrical grid. […]

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If Americans aren’t motivated by environmental concerns they are at least moved to action, or in this case into just staying home, by the damage to their pocket book.
The Department of Transportation said figures from March show the steepest decrease in driving ever recorded.
Compared with March a year earlier, Americans drove an estimated 4.3 […]

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PPAs or power purchase agreements are essentially a long term contract for energy now being offered to residential homeowners and businesses. The contract provides the basis for financing the installation of solar or other renewable energy generators by allowing the manufacturer to dip into a financing pool to make installations.
“There were approximately 10,000 homeowners […]

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Events are planned all over the globe - here - here - here to name but a few
For curmudgeons read here and here

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Folk singer Janet Bates and wildlife photographer Steven Holt combine song and imagery.

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