Randy Simon
Randy Simon has over 30 years of experience in renewable energy technology, materials research, superconductor applications, and a variety of other technical and management areas. He has been an officer of a publicly-traded Silicon Valley company, worked in government laboratories, the aerospace industry, and at university research institutions. He holds a PhD in physics from UCLA. Dr. Simon has authored numerous technical papers, magazine articles, energy policy documents, online articles and blogs, and a book, and holds seven patents. He also composes, arranges and produces jazz music
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The largest solar energy project in the United States is under construction in Arkansas. The Steel River Energy Center will eventually include 2.5 GW of solar and 2.9 GWh of battery energy storage. -
Fusion power is how the sun works. Light atomic nuclei (like hydrogen) fuse together at super high temperatures to form heavier nuclei (like helium). The process releases massive amounts of energy without producing radioactive waste or greenhouse gases. Fusion is considered to be the holy grail of clean energy. But even after many decades of intensive research, there is not yet a way to maintain the temperature, density, and confinement to have a fusion reaction go on long enough to produce continuous net-positive energy output. -
During the past year, there has been growing interest in the U.S. in balcony solar: small solar panel systems that are hung up outside and send power straight into wall sockets to partially offset people’s utility bills. These systems first appeared in Germany in the late 2010s and spread through Europe when energy prices spiked because of the war in Ukraine. German households had installed more than four million systems as of last year. -
The water covering most of our planet is slowly losing something essential to life: oxygen. Scientists are raising the alarm about declining oxygen levels in lakes, rivers, and oceans around the world. -
July saw dangerously hot and humid temperatures over much of the eastern United States. Two offshore wind projects near New England delivered hundreds of megawatts of electric power to the grid as residents cranked up their air conditioners. Thanks to the recently added wind power, utilities did not need to rely as much on dirty, expensive oil-burning peaker plants – the kind that only operate when electricity demand is very high. -
A heat pump is a kind of HVAC appliance that handles both heating and cooling. It doesn’t burn fuel to generate heat. Instead, it uses electricity to move heat around. In the winter, it extracts warmth from outside air, the ground, or water and transfers it indoors. In the summer, it reverses the process to provide cooling. Heat pumps are far more efficient than conventional heaters and air conditioners. -
A space mirror satellite is an orbiting spacecraft that features a large deployable reflective surface. Its purpose is to redirect sunlight and beam it down to a specific location on Earth. It would basically provide sunlight on demand. -
The federal government started promoting energy efficiency in the 1970s in the wake of the Arab oil embargo. Since that time, successive administrations, both Republican and Democratic, instituted regulations about energy efficiency that have transformed the US economy. Energy efficiency has been pretty much the most bipartisan issue in the country. As a result, today’s refrigerators use about one-third the electricity of those from the 70s. Stricter fuel-economy standards for cars have saved Americans about $5 trillion in gasoline costs. -
Bumblebees may be only about an inch long, but they help power the global food system. As they move from flower to flower collecting nectar and pollen, they help many wild plants and food crops reproduce. Their work supports healthy ecosystems and contributes to the production of many of the fruits, vegetables, and nuts people eat every day. -
Disasters are big business. Decades ago, meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration started tracking the number of natural disasters in the US – the ones that incurred at least a billion dollars in damages. The numbers have gone up and up. FEMA used to handle 25 major disasters per year on average; in the past decade, the number is 63. FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund averaged $3.4 billion a year in the 90’s and the early years of the new century. Now, annual spending is closer to $16 billion.
