Sustainability Sunday over on Worldchanging is always good reading, but today’s is particularly meaty. Don’t miss Gil Friend on Kyoto and sustainable business, Mike Millikin on the state of sustainable transportation, and Jamais Cascio on the need for distributed computing systems to run future energy grids:
… distributed energy is currently more costly than centralized power (PDF). Some of that cost comes from managing the complexity of variable power generation, changing usage patterns, and a multiplicity of sources. Distributed energy resources will have to be managed more like a computer network, complete with abundant routers and switches. The success of distributed energy is ultimately dependent upon the increasing availability of computer-enabled power networks, or “smart grids.” And smart grids for distributed power, in turn, will increasingly rely upon the availability of distributed computing.
Also, while you’re over there, you might as well check out the Jon Lebkowsky post on efforts by telecom corporations to shut down municipal provision of free wireless service, and the larger implications thereof.
