Green from the roots up, Sustainable from the top down
I gave a talk at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference (ETech) in San Jose earlier this year. The title of the talk was Electricity 2.0 – applying the lessons of the Internet to our Energy networks. I uploaded my slides to SlideShare shortly after the talk and yesterday I was contacted by the O’Reilly team to let me know the video of my presentation was online so here you go.
It is similar to other Electricity 2.0 talks I have given with a few updates and new slides. Enjoy!
Have a great Earth Day everyone and use the day to try to think of ways to reduce your impact on the planet everyday. Alternatively, if you already know how to reduce your footprint, check out TreeHugger’s great post on things NOT to do on Earth Day (and every other day)!
Warning as biggest rivers decline – MSN Environment UK
The world’s largest rivers have declined over the last 50 years, with significant changes found in about a third of them, scientists said.
Climate change means shortfalls in Colorado River water deliveries
The Colorado River system supplies water to tens of millions of people and millions of acres of farmland, and has never experienced a delivery shortage. But if human-caused climate change continues to make the region drier, scheduled deliveries will be missed 60-90 percent of the time by the middle of this century, according to a pair of climate researchers at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego.
We Must Seize the Energy Opportunity or Slip Further Behind
nearly 40 percent of China’s proposed $586 billion stimulus plan—$221 billion over two years—is going toward public investment in renewable energy, low-carbon vehicles, high-speed rail, an advanced electric grid, efficiency improvements, and other water-treatment and pollution controls.
China’s wind-power boom to outpace nuclear by 2020 | Markets | Reuters
China will have 100 gigawatts of wind-power capacity by 2020, a senior energy official said on Monday, more than three times the 30 GW target the government laid down in an energy strategy drawn up just 18 months ago.
Climate change will overload humanitarian system, warns Oxfam report | Environment | guardian.co.uk
Emergency organisations could be overwhelmed within seven years by the rising number of people in poor countries affected by floods, droughts, heatwaves, wild fires, storms, landslides and other climate hazards.
Seoul’s huge (£23bn) financial stimulus package pledges 81% for a swath of environmental projects. But activists fear a wave of construction may increase the country’s carbon footprint
Switch to renewable energy could save £13bn a year | Environment | The Guardian
Britain could save up to £12.6bn a year in imports of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal by 2020 if it embarks on a large- scale programme of energy efficiency and renewable technologies including wind power and biomass
The Green Issue – Batteries Not Included – NYTimes.com
An interesting article about Better Place and Shai Agassi
Amazing new windfarms of the future – Science and Health Blog – Mirror.co.uk
The next generation of windfarms may not look like anything we have seen so far.
Turbines of the future could have vertical wings like giant washing lines spinning high above the ocean.
REpower Systems AG: Press Release
German wind turbine manufacturer now has the most powerful wind turbine in the world in its portfolio with the further development of the model series to the REpower 6M
More motorway lights to be turned off to cut carbon footprint
The UK Highways Agency is trying to cut its carbon footprint by turning off selected motorway lights around the country
Major study into the demise of bees is announced | stv News
The number of bees in the UK has fallen between 10 and 15 per cent over the past two years. A new study hopes to help stop the decline.
Your Industry News – Giant windfarm could be England’s biggest onshore windfarm
AN area of land near Fakenham appears to be in line for what could be the largest onshore windfarm in England.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
In a landmark finding for America and humanity, the EPA “issued a proposed finding Friday that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare.” The ruling sounds the death knell for new dirty coal plants and should apply some pressure on Congress to pass climate legislation.
Keeping Slim Is Good For The Planet, Say Scientists
Because food production is a major contributor to global warming, a lean population, such as that seen in Vietnam, will consume almost 20% less food and produce fewer greenhouse gases than a population in which 40% of people are obese (close to that seen in the USA today)
Car Companies Standardize Plug for Electric Vehicles : Gas 2.0
Just a few hours after General Motors called for a standardized EV plug, one has been created!
Caroline Reichert, a spokeswoman for the Germany energy company RWE, said leading automotive and energy companies have reached an agreement for a standardized plug for electric cars. Some of the automakers include in that agreement are Volkswagen, BMW, Ford, General Motors, Fiat, Toyota and Mitsubishi.
China considers setting targets for carbon emissions | Environment | guardian.co.uk
The Chinese government is for the first time considering setting targets for carbon emissions, a significant development that could help negotiations on a Kyoto successor treaty at Copenhagen later this year, the Guardian has learned.
Sellafield: the most hazardous place in Europe | Environment | The Observer
Building B30 is a large, stained, concrete edifice that stands at the centre of Sellafield, Britain’s sprawling nuclear processing plant in Cumbria. Surrounded by a three-metre-high fence that is topped with razor wire, encased in scaffolding and riddled with a maze of sagging pipes and cabling, it would never be a contender to win an architectural prize.
Yet B30 has a powerful claim to fame, albeit a disturbing one. “It is the most hazardous industrial building in western Europe,” according to George Beveridge, Sellafield’s deputy managing director.
Ed Miliband plans clean coal scheme worth millions | Environment | The Guardian
Miliband is said to favour developing “clusters” of carbon capture and storage (CCS), fitted on both coal- and gas-fired power stations, and a “national grid” for transporting and storing the polluting emissions. Such a move would be a change from the current policy of building up to eight coal plants, with only one equipped with pollution-trapping technology
Secret police intelligence was given to E.ON before planned demo | UK news | The Guardian
Government officials handed confidential police intelligence about environmental activists to the energy giant E.ON before a planned peaceful demonstration, according to private emails seen by the Guardian.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
In the second of his monthly appearances on GreenMonkTV, IBM’s VP of Energy and Environment, Rich Lechner discussed making buildings smarter and the impacts that can have on lowering carbon emissions, reducing energy use and helping with cost savings.
04:30 TomRaftery : Hi all – kicking off the show in a min
04:30 mikeTheBee : Hello Tom.
04:30 ustreamer-40756 : Hiya
04:31 mikeTheBee : Could ustreamers note their names if poss.
04:31 TomRaftery : Audio & video ok?
04:31 mikeTheBee : Not yet for me
04:32 mikeTheBee : Okay
04:32 mikeTheBee : 6 viewers
04:32 Suki_Fuller : Hello all.
04:33 TomRaftery : http://blog.beliefnet.com/choprafamily/2009/04/1500-farmers-in-india-commit-m.html
04:34 mikeTheBee : 7 viewers
04:35 TomRaftery : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/14/global-warming-target-2c
04:35 mikeTheBee : 9 viewers
04:35 mikeTheBee : 11 viewers
04:36 ustreamer-19973 : how do we set out names?
04:36 mikeTheBee : Just a comment will work, or login for name
04:36 ustreamer-19973 : THanks i get it
04:36 TomRaftery : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/09/shipping-pollution
04:37 monkchips : does the debate now move from Sustainability to Survivability?
04:37 ustreamer-19973 : 19973: Chris Phillips (Will create an account later(
04:37 monkchips : massive implications for which species we protect and so on
04:37 TolkienLibrary-2627 : you can type /nick and a nickname
04:37 monkchips : what the shit? whoa….
04:39 TomRaftery : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090413102225.htm
04:39 mikeTheBee : 10 viewers
04:39 monkchips : tom- what are the sustainability implications of Oracle acquiring Sun – or is that just too much of a stretch
04:40 monkchips : sun v positive on green.
04:40 monkchips : has done a lot of good work
04:40 monkchips : some nice low power techniques
04:41 TomRaftery : http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/19/rising-sea-levels-in-pacific-create-wave-of-migran/
04:41 TomRaftery : http://money.cnn.com/2009/04/13/technology/gunther_electric.fortune/index.htm
04:42 mikeTheBee : 13 viewers
04:43 TomRaftery : http://gas2.org/2009/04/19/car-companies-agree-on-plug-standard-for-electric-vehicles/
04:43 ustreamer-549 : ?
04:43 Suki_Fuller : Internationally also?
04:44 cminion-7005 : We they should have learnt that from history, if you look at how hte national grid came about
04:44 mikthebee-nametest : .
04:44 Suki_Fuller : Awesome.
04:45 TomRaftery : http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090414/wl_asia_afp/chinaenvironmentgovernment
04:45 mikeTheBee : Good tip re /nick TolkienLibrary, thx
04:45 monkchips : a lot of the good environmental news comes from China. that top down thing can be bloody useful in sustainability
04:45 TomRaftery : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/19/china-environment-kyoto
04:46 mikeTheBee : Ought to work for the EU too!
04:47 TomRaftery : http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/20/police-intelligence-e-on-berr
04:48 monkchips : those fucking fucks. that is corporatism at best, fascism at worst
04:48 Suki_Fuller : That makes people in my profession look bad.
04:49 TomRaftery : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/18/coal-carbon-capture-storage
04:49 Suki_Fuller : *Shame*
04:49 monkchips : UK police share info with the “department for business, enterprise and regulatory reform”#
04:49 monkchips : which then shares it with a French company, with a huge French government shareholding
04:50 monkchips : to establish coherent PR story etc
04:51 Suki_Fuller : @monkchip – Exactly – bite the nose to spite the face
04:51 ustreamer-73483 : hi folks
04:51 TomRaftery : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/19/sellafield-nuclear-plant-cumbria-hazards
04:52 mikeTheBee : 14 Viewers
04:53 ustreamer-73483 : the irish sea?
04:53 ustreamer-73483 : jesus
04:53 monkchips : its easier to catch the fish when they glow in the dark…
04:53 ustreamer-73483 : justin
04:53 Suki_Fuller : lol
04:53 Suki_Fuller : not right James not right
04:53 ustreamer-73483 : what fish?
04:53 TomRaftery : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/world/asia/15coral.html?_r=2
04:53 mikeTheBee : Sellafield processing rather storage surely.
04:55 JustinParks : long term investment?
04:55 monkchips : i think its goodness
04:55 TomRaftery : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090419212516.htm
04:55 monkchips : research has shown
04:56 monkchips : that small areas, kept clear, can significantly increase biodiversity
04:56 cminion-7005 : less food transported, less petrol required to drive people around???
04:56 monkchips : @tomraftery – its just the Ryanair model for the globe. pay at the point of excretion
04:56 mikeTheBee : Ah Ryan Air per Kg charing
04:57 JustinParks : Im not going to mention the Cow emissions in congunction with fat folk
04:57 Suki_Fuller : The only people that get upset are fat
04:57 monkchips : more likely to drive? nah – the morbidly obese have those nice
04:57 monkchips : little electric cars….
04:57 JustinParks : better…
04:57 TomRaftery : http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/opinion/12friedman.html?_r=1&ref=opinion
04:58 JustinParks : I saw a documentry on this
04:58 JustinParks : paid to farm nothing
04:59 TolkienLibrary-2627 : good concept
04:59 TolkienLibrary-2627 : viva Costa Rica…
04:59 Suki_Fuller : Coolio
04:59 TolkienLibrary-2627 : and Borneo
05:00 TomRaftery : http://climateprogress.org/2009/04/17/epa-obama-find-carbon-dioxide-is-a-danger-to-public-health-and-welfare-requiring-regulation/
05:00 JustinParks : Here Tom: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/documentary_archive/4551977.stm
05:00 monkchips : gotta run! client call. thanks Tom. great show as ever
05:01 mikeTheBee : Did you hear? Siemans comment re Dublin’s Carbon Footprint being bigger than Londons, per capita.http://www.rte.ie/business/2009/0420/mibusiness.html
05:01 JustinParks : did you check http://www.cooltribe.com/
05:02 TolkienLibrary-2627 : now following you at twitter… this was great! thnxs
05:02 JustinParks : yeah goodo so very environmental orientated site
05:03 JustinParks : that could be fun
05:03 mikeTheBee : Thx all
05:03 Suki_Fuller : Wow. Great articles today & as always awesome show
05:03 JustinParks : spammers contribution to climate change
05:03 TomRaftery : Thanks everyone for a great show
05:03 mikeTheBee : Thx Tom
05:03 JustinParks : thnaks Tom
05:03 JustinParks : lluegoi
05:03 Suki_Fuller : Thanks Tom
05:03 TomRaftery : Justin – you are right – forgot to mention the spam carbon footprint story – d’oh!
05:04 TolkienLibrary-1882 : thnxs Tom
05:04 TomRaftery : Thanks for the kind words Suki
05:04 JustinParks : lolo seriously?
05:05 TomRaftery : I’ll get link – one sec
05:05 JustinParks : I was “kindof” takin the mick… out of spammers
05:05 JustinParks : but I suppose its very true
05:05 cgarvey : sorry, missed it.. will catch the recording hopefully!
05:06 TolkienLibrary-1882 : don’t know who tweeted about this show, but came in by twitter…
05:06 TolkienLibrary-1882 : loved the articles…
05:06 TomRaftery : http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/report-shows-spam-s-massive-carbon-footprint–633
05:07 TomRaftery : TolkienLibrary – great, thanks for joining in
05:07 TomRaftery : This time every Monday
05:07 TomRaftery : cgarvey – I’ll have the recording up shortly on GreenMonk.net
05:07 TolkienLibrary-1882 : so spam not only bad for my productivity it seems!
05:07 JustinParks : thanks, pleasure Tom, gotta run
05:08 TomRaftery : TolkienLibrary, exactly
05:08 TolkienLibrary-1882 : what would be the impact of twitter on the environment?
05:09 TomRaftery : Significant too I suspect but it can be a force for good – I use it to disseminate stories
05:09 ustreamer-35467 : Tom sorry Joe and I missed you today, Cheers Mark (Charmer)…
05:09 TomRaftery : np Mark – will have recording on GreenMonk later today
05:11 TolkienLibrary-1882 : whenever you ask a question, the answer is already somewhere on the internet: http://earth2tech.com/2009/04/15/twitters-an-energy-guzzler-other-hard-truths-for-web-20-app-addicts/
The WWF published a report, funded by HP and Microsoft, about the potential climactic benefits of a greater adoption of videoconferencing technologies. One of the items in the report which caught my eye was the stat that:
substituting 5-30% of current air travel by videoconferencing could avoid 5.59-33.53 million tonnes of CO2 emissions annually
The report recommends what it calls ‘digital bridges’ to replace ‘air bridges’ which would otherwise be constructed.
An infrastructure which provided an open access site for every million inhabitants of the world’s urbanised areas would have an estimated $495 million capital cost, and $347 million of annual operating costs (total number of virtual meeting rooms 4620). Much, if not all of which, could be offset by income from those who fly, users of virtual meetings, and other sources. This compares to the estimated $22 billion capital cost of a third Heathrow runway, or the $320 million list price of a new Airbus A380 superjumbo.
Key targets to use the infrastructure would include larger companies with many field activities in different countries; small-medium sized businesses; international Governmental and Non-Governmental organisations; organisers of small-medium sized events; and some distance learning and telemedicine discussions. Countries such as China or India would be especially important, with the aim of many people developing familiarity with videoconferencing before becoming attached to air travel for meetings. ‘Digital bridges’ could therefore supplement, and partially replace, the ‘air bridges’ which would otherwise be constructed.
Personally I don’t think this goes nearly far enough!
I was at a HP briefing last October where HP presented some genuinely impressive internal figures for travel averted using HP’s TelePresence offering (called Halo). I argued at the time (and still believe) that for TelePresence to have a serious impact it needs to be far more ubiquitous – not just (as it currently) islands of hi-def connectivity. HP’s Halo needs to interconnect with Nortel and Cisco’s TelePresence offerrings and vice versa, for a start. I went a step further at the meeting and suggested that for real ubiquity, Halo should be able to interconnect with the likes of Skype video.
HP appear to have been having similar thoughts because they recently announced HP SkyRoom – which, while it doesn’t connect with Skype video afaik, it is a desktop version of TelePresence.
Details are sketchy on SkyRoom as yet, but if we can make hi-def video conferencing and desktop sharing as cheap and easy as making a Skype call, then many of the reasons for having to travel for meetings simply disappear!
Don’t underestimate the benefits of this, not just for companies carbon footprint’s, but also for productivity. I am going to a 3-day conference next month in Orlando, Florida. I am based in Seville, Spain. My travel to and from the conference will take roughly 36 hours – not to mention all the hassles of various airports’ security and then I have to do a week’s work on top of that! For a far more eloquent breakdown of the all of the benefits of TelePresence see Wilson Korol’s excellent post on the Nortel Grassroots blog.
I do believe that desktop hi-def video calls and desktop sharing will become ubiquitous whether enabled by HP or Skype or Apple’s iChat or combinations of clients able to inter-operate seamlessly – there are very few technical barriers to it happening. From there it is a short step to making it a 3-D experience and I will truly be able to say “Beam me up Scotty!” – if you doubt it can be a 3-D experience check out this impressive Cisco video of CEO John Chambers chatting to a full size 3-D Marthin De Beer while Marthin is 14,000 miles away.
[Disclosure: HP and Nortel are GreenMonk clients]
Health risks of shipping pollution have been ‘underestimated’ | Environment | guardian.co.uk
One giant container ship can emit almost the same amount of cancer and asthma-causing chemicals as 50m cars, study finds
1,500 Farmers in India Commit Mass Suicide: A Wake-Up Call for Humanity – Deepak Chopra & Intent
I read with horror this morning that over 1,500 farmers in India committed mass suicide after being driven to debt by crop failure.
MIT’s Biomolecular Materials Group has advanced a technique of using ‘genetically engineered viruses that first coat themselves with iron phosphate, then grab hold of carbon nanotubes to create a network of highly conductive material.’
This advanced ‘bio-industrial’ manufacturing process, which uses biological agents to assemble molecules, could help to evolve key energy material components (e.g. cathodes, anodes, membranes) used in batteries, fuel cells, solar cells and organic electronics (e.g. OLEDs).
California’s new power source a solar farm
California’s next source of renewable power could be an orbiting set of solar panels, high above the equator, that would beam electricity back to Earth via a receiving station in Fresno County.
Sekisei Lagoon Journal – Coral Transplant Surgery Prescribed for Japan – NYTimes.com
government-led effort to save Japan’s largest coral reef, near the southern end of the Okinawa chain of islands. True to form in Japan, the project involves new technology, painstaking attention to detail and a generous dose of taxpayer money.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Tata Motors is a subsidiary of the Tata Group and has become one of the largest manufacturers of commercial vehicles in the world – from Wikipedia:
Tata Motors was listed on the NYSE in 2004, and in 2005 it was ranked among the top 10 corporations in India with an annual revenue exceeding INR 320 billion. In 2004, it bought Daewoo’s truck manufacturing unit, now known as Tata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle, in South Korea. It also, acquired a 21% stake in Hispano Carrocera SA, giving it controlling rights in the company. Tata Motors launched the Tata Nano, noted for its Rs 100,000 price-tag, in January 2008.
In March 2008, it finalised a deal with Ford Motor Company to acquire their British Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) business, which also includes the Rover, Daimler and Lanchester brand names.
Tata’s launch of the low-cost Nano caused led to concerns over the pollution which would ensue from mass motorisation of India. To counter this Tata announced plans to produce an electric version of the Nano, named the E-Nano – whether that will come to market remains to be seen as the rumours about its production all seem to come from a single article in last year’s Auto Bild magazine.
More environmental controversy has arisen recently because Tata Group has decided to build what would be one of India’s largest ports at Dhamra less than 15 km from the turtle mass nesting beaches at Gahirmatha, and five kilometers from the Bhitarkanika National Park, India’s second largest mangrove forest and home to the saltwater crocodile.
Greenpeace India has been spearheading attempts to stop the development of the port and Greenpeace include a comprehensive backgrounder to the story of the port’s development to-date which includes what would appear to be a dirty tricks campaign by Tata against Greenpeace.
Greenpeace aren’t the only ones opposing the port’s development – the Orissa Traditional Fishworker’s Union, who represent the concerns and interests of over 100,000 fishermen, vocally and publicly opposed the construction of the port. The project has also invited criticism from over 200 national and international scientists, including over 30 experts of the IUCN’s marine turtle specialist group. And Global Response also has a campaign to stop the port construction.
The Greenpeace campaign with their Cheap car, Priceless turtle line is very effective though a little mis-directed seeing as it is parent company Tata Group, not Tata Motors which is involved in the project to develop the port.
Greenpeace has had a lot of success with online campaigns like this – witness the recent success of their campaign to get electronics giant Philips to take responsibility for the cost of recycling its own products.
It will be fascinating to watch how this plays out – will Tata simply ignore the opposition and steam ahead with their plans to build the giant port or will they take account of the environmental concerns and at the very least halt the construction to allow an independent Environment Impact Analysis take place. Frankly, I’m not hugely optimistic for the turtles.
Op-Ed Columnist – (No) Drill, Baby, Drill – NYTimes.com
visitors can still see amazing biodiversity all over Costa Rica — more than 25 percent of the country is protected area — thanks to a unique system it set up to preserve its cornucopia of plants and animals. Many countries could learn a lot from this system
Geothermal Delivers Free Energy to 200,000 in Italian City : EcoWorldly
In the heart of Tuscany the city of Grosseto has recently presented an important eco-building project, the first in Italy that will allow residents to forget completely house bills.
World will not meet 2C warming target, climate change experts agree | Environment | The Guardian
Almost nine out of 10 climate scientists do not believe political efforts to restrict global warming to 2C will succeed, a Guardian poll reveals today. An average rise of 4-5C by the end of this century is more likely, they say, given soaring carbon emissions and political constraints.
Bioethanol’s Impact On Water Supply Three Times Higher Than Once Thought
At a time when water supplies are scarce in many areas of the United States, scientists in Minnesota are reporting that production of bioethanol — often regarded as the clean-burning energy source of the future — may consume up to three times more water than previously thought.
China orders governments to go green: state media
Local governments in China have been ordered to buy more energy efficient products as part of the national drive to curb pollution and combat global warming, state press reported.
Why Warren Buffett is investing in electric car company BYD – Apr. 13, 2009
Warren Buffett hasn’t just seen the car of the future, he’s sitting in the driver’s seat. Why he’s banking on an obscure Chinese electric car company and a CEO who – no joke – drinks his own battery fluid.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.