Are you a CleanTech “expert”? (Or: Thoughts on being an “expert” in a fairly new industry…)

The word expert does not scare me when I say, “I am an expert in first of kind design”. Because I am very systemic in my approach. I did not start as “First of Kind Engineer” I became one by challenging the prototype Radial Gate or Tainter Gate design that USBR, Denver had put on hundreds and thousand of canals. When that was given to me to follow, I challenged it, guess what, after that they never built a radial gate like before, they changed their design.

Then I was to work on Cement Plant, can you believe they will grind and crush stone add water to it and then will dry it to make cement, I asked why? Guess what? Now we have dry cement plants all over world saving as much as 55% energy in manufacturing cement. There are many more projects to list here. Yes, I can help in Solar, Wind and energy savings first of kind projects including their application. Every new house in Connecticut can be net energy producer and will not use net energy and so can be in some other parts of country, the ground work has already been laid out, now question is who will implement it? I can help in taking a project from any stage to completion. Could transform a world war II plant to fully automatic plant in less then three years. I say, “Where there is will and money to pay for it, their is a way to achieve it, with common sense and some hard work and learning”

Let me know, if you need help.

Raj Kapoor, P.E.

Bravo Robert. I agree. Anyone can get info — it’s being able to use the info in a meaningful way to solve or explain something to others that pays dividends. Knowing what to look for is what defines an expert.

In the beginning of a new bubble – yes, the Green Industry is the new bubble – innovations and ideas are wonderful and unsorted. Some will fall splat, some will eke by and die of attrition, and a very few will succeed. We should not despair the wonderment of it all. If one has unlimited funding then one has the ability to succeed, provided it all makes sense and a customer wants to buy it. That has little to do though with expertise. I think the true measure of an expert is not whether they live in academia or in the practical world. Its when they have to stare down the barrel of the legal world unflinchlingly and hold their own in a court of law. Fortunately we have not yet gotten to that yet, as that is a sign of the sliding down the back side of the bubble, when the bean counters rule our existence.

I agree the word expert must be used wisely, but if you are an expert you need to follow suit. What comes after it is achievement.

Don’t worry about it. Whoever starts studying a new field or phenomenon becomes an expert in it, and the first wave of people get treated as experts before they (or anyone) have a great deal of actual experience. I’ve been watching electronic publication since it emerged, and my latest thing is cyberfunded creativity. If you’re active in an area, just talk about what you’re doing. Most of the time if you act like you know what you’re doing, people will go along; just be careful not to overstretch.

Steve,

You bring up a very good point; but, I think you are construing two different definitions. Though you expressed you have some ‘experience’ at an occupation, it was someone else who boldly crowned you ‘expert’. To be blunt, irresponsible people do that. (Personally, I believe people who do that, do it to make themselves appear more important by creating the perspective that ‘they know an expert’.)

I think you, or the rest of us, would be responsible to correct that statement immediately, and put it in perspective; leaving all those listening with a far more accurate representation of oneself.

Every new technology and industry progresses through these growth steps. You are accurate in using the dot-com experience as and example. However, remember the personal computer industry that came before it is on the other end of the spectrum of failure v. success. It also had it’s minor failures, dings, and embarrassments along the way, but the net result is obvious.

All new technologies are subject to such growing pains. It’s how we as a society work. It’s how we grow. Perfect? Not at all.

I am working on a similar situation regarding alternative energies. Even after 30 years, these industries are still in start-up mode, and in my opinion still suffering through rapid-fire iterations of growth, retreat, and changes in technologies. You can read my article (Why Is Sustainability in the Renewable Energy Industry So Difficult?) and my proposed solution at http://www.greenenergycafe.com/.

Thanks for the article.

I am no expert, but I believe that there are those people out there who are light years ahead of the pack. I also believe those same people are on the front lines using sustainable practices within one of the most basic needs of our society–food production.

The average person has no concept of what it takes to put food on their table. How much petroleum-based fertilizer went into the soil? If you’re Certified Organic, did you use propane to burn your weeds instead of killing them with noxious chemicals? Did you cultivate using a tractor? If so, how many passes did you have to make before harvesting the final crop? Did you use a non-biodegradable mulch, like plastic? How much energy and petroleum-based products are used during harvesting? Does your crop require transport for processing? If so, how many trips? Does the crop require refrigerated/frozen storage? How much energy is used during farmstead operations–meaning dairies, creameries, etc. How does the product get to market? How many miles?

Let’s not forget another resource to consider…water, precious water. For example, when we installed a simple rainwater collection system that worked off of gravity, we were able to capture and store 500 gallons of rainwater at a time. Thanks to my addiction to Excel, I realized that our electricity bill dropped an average of $20-35 per month during the hottest time of the year with our maximum animal unit load. That meant I used approximately $400 less of power last year and the only thing that significantly changed the harvesting of rainwater off 2/3 of my barn roof.

My point is sustainability begins at home. We can all hoist lofty visions of a less energy-dependent society, but true sustainability begins at home. Look at your most basic needs…food, water, shelter…and make intelligent and informed choices. Enterprise infrastructure, seminars and collaborative projects are all fine & dandy, but please, start with the foundation in your own lives and homes.

In following up on Sandra’s and Barry’s comments, it we are going to get the opportunity to bring our efforts to our own properties and environs as individuals, we need a specific type of legislation to do so. It is known as Feed-In Tariffs; it is what the Germans used to catapult themselves ahead of everyone else on earth with respect to renewable energies.

(Tax credits only work for the wealthy, large investors, corps and utilities; while putting the average user at a disadvantage and sidelining them to remain comsumers as compared to participants and energy contributors; and that includes farmers in a big way.

Please see this quick read pdf (4 pages) for more detail:

http://www.newrules.org/de/ptc-wind-ownership.pdf

The author just had a day-long conference on the subject last week, bringing in speakers from across the country and one from Germany.

It was well attended and even better received.

It would be great if you spread the word. There is no reason why EVERYONE can’t be involved in this growth. It worked and continues to work in Germany.

Feed-In Tariffs are far more productive than Cap-n-Trade, or tax credits. The costs are minimal and the returns are huge; returns that everyone benefits from, not just a chosen few.

Following up on Sandra’s comments, I just learned something today at a carbon credit trading conference in NYC that I did not know – I am assuming that there are several experts on this subject that did know this – organic farming / cows actually have a bigger carbon footprint in terms of methane production, than the nasty chemical filled feedlot cows. I guess that would make sense for anyone that has driven past the organic digester facilities in farm country. Also from Sandra’s example of sustainability begins at home, rainharvesting for those that are following the ongoing controversy in Colorado, would know that even the rain that falls on your roof, may not belong to you depending where in the US you live. There a rancher was sued by the State because the recharge from the ranch actually belongs to a downstream right holder. Not that I am an expert in this mind you. I like what many have said here. Good points.

It bespeaks yet another advantage of a healthy diet (the cow ’emissions’). Now we know they are even more efficient energy generators.

It makes sense. Cows have fermentation guts, four of them. Whereas we chemically dissolve our foodstuff, they ferment theirs. I can only speculate that by putting all the chemicals and ‘other’ feed materials into feedlot cattle, that it upsets the normal processes they have evolved into.

Regarding Jeff’s relating that he heard that “organic farming / cows actually have a bigger carbon footprint in terms of methane production, than the nasty chemical filled feedlot cows.” I’d be skeptical of this as there are plenty of reasons why this sort of observation could be self-serving. One element of expertise is checking out what you hear instead of merely repeating. So, Jeff, have you verified this statement? If so, pls pass some references. And if not, I’d still be interesting in hearing what the rational was. Especially if the entire system of both types of animals was considered. After all there is more to it than just what comes out of the cow. There is also a large CO2 (and perhaps methane) component involved in what goes into the cow.