electricity grid
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We need responsible planning for electrical transmission lines
In recent weeks, there has been a flurry of activity surrounding new transmission lines. With hearings and legislation in Washington, D.C. and multi-state transmission corridor projects on the drawing board, there are a lot of questions. Are they needed? Can low-carbon generation be met otherwise? Is the project just an excuse to expand the reach […]
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Dave’s gonna blog from a green internet conference — awesome!
Just a reminder: I’m at the Earth2Tech Green:Net ’09 conference all day today. It looks like about half the people here are media, but if you don’t find the dozens of other outlets for commentary sufficient, you can follow along with the action on my Twitter feed. (Needless to say, Earth2Tech also has extensive coverage.)
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World trembles with anticipation as David heads to green tech conference to tweet
All day tomorrow (Tuesday) I’ll be at Green:Net, a greentech conference sponsored by the excellent blog Earth2Tech. Specifically, the conference will be about how the tools that created the net and net architecture will help to revolutionize energy. You can check out the line-up here. Looks like there’s a big appetite for this stuff — […]
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Glenn Beck attacks smart grid as socialist plot to steal our thermostats
This post originally appeared at the Wonk Room. Glenn Beck, the conservative ideologue whose show is mocked by fellow Fox News anchors, recently attacked plans to modernize our electric grid. After Carol Browner, President Obama’s climate and energy adviser, said that a smart grid means “we can get to a system where an electric company […]
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The net’s best introduction to the smart grid
Lynne Kiesling is a senior lecturer in the Department of Economics and in the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, a member of the GridWise Architecture Council, and the proprietor of the excellent blog Knowledge Problem. She has written the best general introduction to the smart grid available (and I’ve read a lot of […]
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Product service systems, Microsoft, blackouts, Kentucky’s Clean Energy Corps, and cool maps
Grist has comments turned off as we transition to a new website. If you have feedback on this post or anything else, let me know: droberts at grist dot org. • One of my favorite bright green ideas: objects as a service, sometimes called “product service systems,” a fascinating and potentially revolutionary idea desperately in […]
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Smart infrastructure, courts v. coal, and energy efficiency all over
• The Wall Street Journal has a long and fascinating piece that expands the "smart" conversation beyond the grid to discuss smart infrastructure generally, including smart transportation and smart water infrastructure. Turns out information technology can help out all sorts of places!
• Largely unnoticed by the media, EarthJustice won a big victory in court recently:
A federal court has ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must close a loophole that -- for more than 25 years -- has made it easy for mining companies, coal ash dumps, and a host of other polluting industries to skip out on costly cleanups by declaring bankruptcy. The case concerned EPA's failure to issue "financial assurances" standards that ensure that polluting industries will always remain financially able to clean up dangerous spills and other contaminated sites.
• Homebuyers are starting to specifically request green, energy-saving features.
• PBS recently did an excellent hour-long documentary on "clean coal" called Dark Energy: The Clean Coal Controversy. You can watch the whole thing online at the linked site.
• This is pretty cool: the first zero-emission research station in the Arctic. Nice video:
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Saul Griffith calculates what we need to do to keep the world we evolved in
When pondering whether we need to invest in energy efficiency, a smart grid, new storage technologies, or transmission to the best renewable energy resource areas, I urge interested parties to first take some time to watch TV. Specifically, this presentation given by Saul Griffith, MacArthur Genius at the Long Now Foundation:
He calculated what's needed to, in the eloquent words of James Hansen, keep the world we evolved in. The answer? Cut each individual's carbon footprint to the bone via serious lifestyle choices. Then, dedicate an area the size of Australia to renewable energy production. And do so in the next 25 years.
It's not an either/or proposition. We need it all.
Slides available on Griffith's blog, here.