And so it begins…

And so it begins…


Life of a Gypsy, Nomad & Dirtbag Vagabond! And so it begins, or conversely ends… A couch surf to start at my sister’s turned into 2 years of permanence. Maybe I’ll miss my own little piece of Denver heaven & secret skyporn cloud stash, but maybe I won’t. One can never sort the gypsy mind definitively.

Off to New York, only a transition en route to Namibia, Africa and a new land of near infinite road trip possibilities. 20 years of western states exploration & living, I’m confident I’ve seen all that I’ve wanted & loved here, and I’m just ready for new discoveries in new lands.

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Hans World Travels 2.0 & Beyond

Hans World Travels 2.0 & Beyond


Hello folks, fellow bloggers & new readers!

When I originally started what morphed into Hans World Travels 8 years ago, it was in response to my friends and family telling me they enjoyed living vicariously through the stories of my travels. They encouraged me to write a book of my life, and this was before Facebook became as pervasive as it is today.

I had criss-crossed the United States numerous times, lived in countless places across the Western States, even “lived in my van down by the [ocean]” with my chocolate lab, Boreal, in Bodega Bay, California while working a project in San Fransisco. Ecuador and Peru were as much of a “home” as any other before them, as I traveled and kayaked around South America for 3 months. I even married an Argentine woman some years later as I started a successful arborist business in Portland, Oregon; spending six weeks experiencing her country and standing in front of the Casa Rosada in beautiful Buenos Aries.

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Southern Africa Energy – Advancing Forward or Stumbling Back?

Southern Africa Energy – Advancing Forward or Stumbling Back?


Within the context of South African energy development, and less so within the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), I often find myself being misunderstood as to the role coal plays within the energy economy.

I recognize, on the surface, many observers and colleagues alike, may gather an impression I am advocating for the unequivocal closure of all coal assets and the direct economies they support. Nothing could be further from the truth, and although my knowledge and experiences tell me, coal’s impacts on the global climate are negative, with dire human and economic consequences, I have long since passed the days of being an ‘environmental crusader’, motivated by heart, not facts and reality.

Ending all coal fired electric generation tomorrow, if this was my position, would be pushing for the closure of currently operational power stations and ceasing the capital flow of hemorrhaging new builds under construction, struggling to meet project deadlines and cost projections. My pragmatism steers me clear of any designs that risk a near certain economic collapse regardless some “ideal energy world” I may dream up.

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About Me – A Global Energy Experience

About Me – A Global Energy Experience


I’m Hans. Born, raised & educated in upstate NY, USA. After university (Bachelor’s degree in engineering & sciences), I moved to California and worked with several of the largest electric utilities;(PG&E, SDG&E and SPPC/Nevada Power) in the country. Not as an electrician or engineer, but rather within their USD $100m/yr, or more, vegetation management programs; learning and patrolling 1000s of miles of overhead power lines, experiencing generation schemes and customer needs first hand.

Outside training my fellow foresters, I broke new ground and developed protocols for system-wide implementation based on the simple concept of bringing all interested parties together and forging mutually beneficial agreements for all. They worked, very well. After I left, I was asked back on several occasions to assist during critical program milestones.

Shortlink… http://wp.me/pfF9G-Dlo

After chasing personal interests throughout the American West, living in Colorado, I settled in Oregon, building a residential tree pruning/removal start-up as a financial backstop to pursuing a nursing degree. I loved biology and chemistry, thrive under the demands of making life & death decisions quickly, and wanted to travel the world as a nurse in an ER/ICU capacity.

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