tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72553560770596666142024-03-05T04:11:31.526-04:00On Green IslandEnergy Sustainability in the CaribbeanHaz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-40831443519928882832011-01-01T11:49:00.000-04:002011-01-01T11:49:50.599-04:00NEW YEAR, NEW DECADE, NEW HOMEIt's the first day of 2011. Today, we start a new year -- and the second decade of the 21st century. And we're starting from a new home.
This blog is now at http://www.greenislandinc.com/category/blog/ where all new items will be posted. This space will remain (indefinitely) as an archive of sorts.
Thanks for your support over the past two years and we hope you'll continue to Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-40383245738174091552010-12-06T02:08:00.007-04:002010-12-07T00:00:38.064-04:00A BRIEF (END-OF-DECADE) ENERGY ROUNDUP1. What century are we in, again?
Here’s an amazing fact: over the past 10 years, the retail price of electricity across the OECS has roughly doubled. And over the same period, most of the energy-sector leaders of the affected countries have done exactly nothing about the fundamental problem.
This makes the chances quite good that, unless things change drastically Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-86090916129180095952010-11-20T00:48:00.006-04:002010-11-20T00:52:52.808-04:00WELECTRICITY WINS GE ECOMAGINATION CONSUMER INNOVATION AWARDGuest post by Welectricity
At a live Ecomagination awards ceremony in New York City on Tuesday, GE announced twelve companies in which they will invest $55 million, five "Innovation Award" winners and five "Consumer Innovation Award" winners.
The announcement was the most recent milestone in GE's $200 million Ecomagination Challenge, their committment to find, fund and develop the best, Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-90675396056839584662010-10-21T11:51:00.001-04:002010-10-21T11:56:03.297-04:00THE FUTURE CONSUMER-FACING SMART GRID: A METER, A WEB APP AND A MOBILE PHONEWhat will the consumer-facing smart grid look like? A post by Katie Fehrenbacher on GigaOm this week notes that while utilities are installing the infrastructure for smarter power grids, “it will be the applications that run on top of these networks that will drive a lot of the revenues for companies, and ultimately provide the important functionality for consumers and utilities.”I agree Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-29472005158554095542010-09-30T01:31:00.009-04:002010-10-21T11:21:50.916-04:00IMAGINATION: THE RAW MATERIAL OF PROGRESSGuest post from Welectricity
The GE Ecomagination contest comes to an end today and I'd like to make a few comments about it. It's been an incredible ride and I sincerely commend GE for their own innovation - not in launching the contest, but in making it a global contest. That was a master stroke.
I would also like to applaud the work of the many people who have submitted their Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-27955307042439785612010-07-01T09:58:00.000-04:002010-07-01T09:58:39.615-04:00DISCUSSION: WHAT IF THE PUBLIC HAD PERFECT CLIMATE INFORMATION?I read Joe Romm’s post last night, which speculates on the outcome of the public having “perfect climate information”. Romm, who writes the widely applauded blog Climate Progress, was responding to a post by Andrew Revkin of the New York Times’ Dot Earth, another widely read green blog.
The discussion is about climate science and its trajectory. Romm’s thesis in a nutshell says that Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-35668016607461294852010-06-05T14:29:00.000-04:002010-06-05T14:29:24.794-04:00RADICAL ACTIONS FOR RADICAL TIMESGuest post by Welectricity
Getting people to change their behavior is hard, but it can be done.
The first thing required is recognition that there’s a problem.
In this case, the problem is our addiction to the consumption of more and more stuff as an end in itself, which directly fuels our ongoing dependence on fossil fuels, which in turn is slowly destroying our planet.
Perhaps Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-23313014741686874752010-06-05T11:15:00.019-04:002010-06-07T18:44:19.888-04:00WHAT'S IT COSTING NOW, BP?On April 20th 2010 an explosion shook the Deepwater Horizon, a semi-submersible offshore oil rig working 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. The rig caught fire, eleven workers died in the mishap and the rig, owned and operated by Transocean Ltd on behalf of British oil giant BP, sank two days later – on Earth Day.
NASA image of the Gulf on May 24, 2010. From http://Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-61272567101794794302010-05-15T23:31:00.002-04:002010-05-16T00:02:07.306-04:00A SHARED MISSIONGuest post from WelectricityI found Chris Baskind's blog tonight, which has inspired me to post this.
I'd already been following Chris on Twitter, but have only just gotten around to checking his other writing out. He lives in Florida and he's been writing some powerful stuff on the unfolding BP oil disaster that threatens him and us all.
Chris describes himself as someone who believes Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-75195435482090119222010-05-08T22:27:00.008-04:002010-05-08T23:05:06.323-04:00HOW WELECTRICITY WORKSWelectricity, a free service that helps you track and reduce your electricity consumption at home, was launched on Earth Day 2010.
Here's a short (4 minute) video that walks you through how it works.
Ok, so... are you ready to save some money and help save the planet? Go to http://www.welectricity.com to get started!
Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-65216354167297118452010-04-22T02:07:00.001-04:002010-04-22T02:09:52.540-04:00EARTH DAY 2010: CARIBBEAN EDITION - No 2
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Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-73711934613888614662010-04-22T00:45:00.005-04:002010-04-22T03:44:36.012-04:00EARTH DAY 2010: CARIBBEAN EDITION - No 1It’s Earth Day 2010. Forty years on from the first, the day is being marked worldwide by countless events, project launches, meetings, speeches, press releases; actions big and small.The Caribbean is not left out. Our first earth-day-worthy post is that Senator Liz Thompson, former minister of energy and the environment in Barbados, has been nominated by the government to replace the Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-54568835496994252362010-04-03T23:51:00.012-04:002010-04-04T00:41:32.615-04:00MAKING EVERY EFFORT TO LOOK INTO THE PRESENTThe importance of geothermal energy to the Eastern Caribbean’s energy future came into sharp focus last week.
In a March 22nd press release, West Indies Power, the private developer of the Eastern Caribbean’s first geothermal power project (being implemented on the tiny island of Nevis) announced that Scotiabank had signed on to finance the project, to the tune of US$30 million.
It was a Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-44945191020509036232010-04-01T16:34:00.028-04:002010-04-04T00:16:31.517-04:00I, RATIONAL MAN
<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:"Cambria Math"; panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:-1610611985 1107304683 0 0 159 0;} @font-face {font-family:Calibri; panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:swiss; mso-font-pitch:variable; Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-32108413572729135422010-03-13T23:58:00.014-04:002010-03-14T00:10:05.830-04:00THE SURPRISING CONNECTEDNESS OF GREEN FIGSWhile doing two entirely different things today, it occurred to me what they have in common - and made me (again) reflect on the connectedness of things.I was working on Welectricity (I'm working with Koombea, a great team of web app developers in Barranquilla, Colombia).In between drafting page designs and content, and writing user stories for the developers, I was helping my wife Sherie prepareHaz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-6625185646997038082010-03-02T18:37:00.029-04:002010-03-02T19:05:24.095-04:00IT'S QUICK! IT'S NIMBLE! IT'S... NEVIS!In July 2009, the Nevis Island Administration authorized Canadian developer Windwatt Power Ltd to proceed with plans to develop wind power on Nevis. Barely six months later, the developer is constructing the first phase of a planned 4.4 MW wind farm that will provide green electricity to the island.The work now in progress, to erect 4 Vergnet GEV MP 275 kW collapsible wind turbines (like the onesHaz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-14411026380672606722009-12-29T18:37:00.019-04:002009-12-29T19:41:24.837-04:00A BRIEF YEAR-END ROUNDUPA brief (and personal) review of a few things that happened in 2009 and a preview of 2010Renewable energy in the CaribbeanOne word: geothermal. It’s the game-changer in the Eastern Caribbean, but only a couple of our countries appear to have seriously recognized this. Those that have, are now well on their way to developing truly sustainable and energy-independent futures. Others are trying to Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-89533650401748775902009-12-19T21:35:00.029-04:002010-06-10T01:10:59.372-04:00GET SMARTWhere were you when the corn ethanol revolution happened? Actually, that revolution didn’t turn out so well. Revolutions are supposed to be by the people, for the people kinds of things. But this one was by the US government, for the special interests. Not surprisingly, it ended up harming the people – in this case by contributing to a worldwide food crisis that exacerbated hunger in the Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-9185615549902199822009-11-26T11:47:00.024-04:002009-11-27T13:13:37.549-04:00BLOGGING THE CARIBBEAN RENEWABLE ENERGY FORUMI attended the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (CREF) held in Jamaica, in October. It was well-attended and featured a packed programme of presentations and panel discussions on renewable energy issues and options in the region.At the conference I heard the phrase “agnostic about renewables” a lot (and used it a couple of times myself I’m sure), which I guess is a safe position to take. There’s Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-19718414538239838832009-09-20T17:07:00.022-04:002009-09-24T17:46:48.090-04:00JUST ENOUGHI installed a wireless whole-house electricity monitor this weekend. One of the things it confirmed is that the electric kettle is one of the energy hogs in my home. Have a look at the video.My electricity demand went up almost x 5 when I switched the kettle on. Of course, at the time, there was not much else on that was using electricity, but you get the point... the kettle pulls 2,000 Watts of Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-60718597954904251752009-09-05T12:44:00.002-04:002009-09-06T13:44:38.147-04:00BEHAVEWhen we were children and our mothers, grandmothers or assorted aunts wanted us to stop acting like children, their command was “Behave!” When you heard that and got the look that went along with it, you generally shaped up. Or else. These days, the problem with behaviour is that no one pays attention to it any more (no, this isn’t a discussion about parenting; it’s about energy efficiency and Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-56598821694061191642009-07-31T02:47:00.020-04:002009-08-11T16:01:48.085-04:00BLOWN AWAYThat’s what I was, when I realised the status of renewable energy in Guadeloupe during a recent visit. I was there to participate in a trade mission on renewable energy in the Caribbean, organised by Carib Export in partnership with the Guadeloupe Regional Council. 275kW Vergnet wind turbine at Grand Maison, Guadeloupe.Photo: H SamuelPrior to my visit, I knew a few things about what was happeningHaz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-41871185156755449842009-07-01T11:26:00.018-04:002009-07-01T11:55:50.865-04:00OTHER BUSINESSI read recently that this week’s summit of the heads of government of the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) will feature a packed agenda. Climate change is high on the list, according to CARICOM's secretary-general. Another item for discussion will be freedom of movement for CARICOM nationals.This latter item, of course, has been discussed many times at previous CARICOM meetings. Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-23571278311911536572009-06-20T13:49:00.015-04:002009-07-01T11:58:31.947-04:00A LONG ROAD AHEADI was having a drink and a chat with a friend recently. We got to speaking about business and the subject eventually turned to energy in the Caribbean. Our discussion was interesting and wide-ranging (and, appropriately, fueled by ethanol in various concentrations).I was taken aback when I realised that his opinion of geothermal energy in the Caribbean was that it was some sort of little Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7255356077059666614.post-8344106586863447392009-04-22T15:47:00.034-04:002009-08-03T12:03:44.995-04:00HOT SPRINGS ETERNALI had the pleasure of visiting Dominica recently. En route from the airport to the capital Roseau, the signs of geothermal energy potential were everywhere – from the smell of sulphur on the rainforest air, to the sight of people bathing in hot springs along the way. Hot spring at Wotten Waven area, DominicaPhoto: H SamuelI’m told that the sparsely-populated, mountainous island, popularly known Haz Samuelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17609441936129347327noreply@blogger.com0