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Today’s Energy & Sustainability show had a Water theme

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Today’s GreenMonk Energy & Sustainability Shaw had 41 live viewers and plenty of interaction with the viewers.

The show is every Monday 4:30pm CET, 3:30pm GMT – if you haven’t participated in the live show, please do – you can help make it better and drive the direction!

Here is the chat stream from today’s show (including a quick chat at the end about an idea I have to move the show to a virtual word to increase the ability for people to interact):

04:32 TomRaftery : Can you hear me now?
04:32 mikeTheBee : reloading
04:33 mikeTheBee : still ‘Off Air’
04:33 TomRaftery : Anyone hear me?
04:33 watching-4232 : not me
04:33 Suki_Fuller : No
04:33 ustreamer-85861 : “Off air”
04:33 TomRaftery : Ok, I’ll log out & back in – two secs
04:33 mikeTheBee : I see that chat
04:33 watching-4232 : BTW, I got my iPhone app running, how can I join this stream?
04:34 mikeTheBee : Give it a go
04:34 TomRaftery : Logging back in
04:34 mikeTheBee : Now says found
04:34 TomRaftery : Apologies about this
04:34 mikeTheBee : On Air
04:34 mikeTheBee : no pic yet
04:34 mikeTheBee : Off Air
04:35 mikeTheBee : On Air ….. Off AIr
04:35 mikeTheBee : 11 in Chat
04:35 TomRaftery : Anyone hear me now
04:35 mikeTheBee : Voila
04:35 verowhite : Hi everyone
04:35 mikeTheBee : pic no sound
04:35 mikeTheBee : Sound
04:36 Suki_Fuller : I see you
04:36 Suki_Fuller : Sound
04:36 Suki_Fuller : Hey Tom
04:36 mikeTheBee : I have sound and vision
04:36 ustreamer-85861 : pic + sound here, just fine
04:36 verowhite : Hear you and see you Tom
04:36 mikeTheBee : 15 viewers
04:36 TomRaftery : http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/flashindex.html
04:38 monkchips : talking about water today huh?
04:38 Suki_Fuller : yeapper
04:39 verowhite : The sound is a little bit low, Tom
04:39 TomRaftery : video working?
04:39 verowhite : Image perfect, though
04:39 mikeTheBee : No sound or v.low volume
04:39 monkchips : video working great
04:39 monkchips : but i seem to be having sound problems too
04:39 verowhite : I think we’re hearing the output of your headphones
04:39 ustreamer-85861 : video working (sound is probably only coming via your headset mic?)
04:41 TomRaftery : http://www.physorg.com/news156506896.html
04:41 mikeTheBee : 14 viewers
04:41 Suki_Fuller : holy cow
04:41 Suki_Fuller : 2000x
04:41 verowhite : I heard about a campaign going on against bottledwater
04:42 verowhite : Didn’t know the numbers were that crazy, though
04:43 TomRaftery : http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/capt_charles_moore_on_the_seas_of_plastic.html
04:43 mikeTheBee : 16 viewers
04:44 TomRaftery : http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/26922.wss
04:44 mikeTheBee : It forms an ‘Island’ I believe
04:47 cgarvey : same audio problem
04:47 monkchips : LOVING the way the show is evolving though.
04:47 cgarvey : (hearing your PC speakers via your mic, i think)
04:48 verowhite : yup, cgarvey, I would say he has to change the output from his mic to the osx playback
04:48 TomRaftery : http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/20/tech/main4880629.shtml?source=RSSattr=HOME_4880629
04:49 verowhite : Hey! I’m from Asturias 🙂
04:49 verowhite : Gijon is in Asturias!
04:50 verowhite : Didn’t expect Asturias to be any sci-fish (no pun intended) 😉
04:50 TomRaftery : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1163125/Schools-robofish-sniff-pollution-Thames.html
04:51 verowhite : Is an amazing place, if you have the change to visiti, BTW
04:51 cgarvey : excellent pun
04:52 cgarvey : excellent video, surreal!
04:52 mikeTheBee : 17 Viewers
04:52 verowhite : omg
04:52 monkchips : my bloody windows machine isn’t playing flash audio for some reason
04:53 monkchips : 🙁
04:53 TomRaftery : http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/26921.wss
04:54 verowhite : I used to live in Aviles, near Gijon. My city was REALLY polluted. I can see why they’re investigating there
04:54 Suki_Fuller : Oh my that robotic fish video is wicked cool
04:55 mikeTheBee : 16 Viewers
04:55 mikeTheBee : 18 viewers
04:59 mikeTheBee : 17 Viewers
04:59 TomRaftery : http://greenmonk.net/roll-your-own-green-job/
05:00 cgarvey : one quick Q
05:01 cgarvey : SmartBay data .. is it online somewhere, or just research still
05:01 cgarvey : ok, that’s good enough for me, cheers!
05:02 TomRaftery : [email protected]
05:02 cgarvey : cheers Tom .. love the format of this, by the way
05:02 mikeTheBee : Cheers Tom. cheers all.
05:02 verowhite : Nice show, Tom. Thanks
05:02 Suki_Fuller : Thank you – I love the format and I as always learned new things
05:02 TomRaftery : Thanks a million everyone for joining in
05:02 TomRaftery : and making it a great show
05:03 Suki_Fuller : Now going to make all my friends drink tap water
05:03 TomRaftery : Superb
05:03 TomRaftery : btw, thinking of running the show out of Second Life
05:03 TomRaftery : That would allow for more interactivity
05:03 mikeTheBee : SL or ReactionGrid?
05:03 TomRaftery : Could also pipe back into Ustream
05:04 TomRaftery : for those with no SL client
05:04 mikeTheBee : I’m not on SL but am on homcamp
05:04 TomRaftery : I’m agnostic about SL or ReactionGrid tbh Mike
05:04 mikeTheBee : I’m using Hippo
05:04 verowhite : I tried SL on my mac in the past
05:04 verowhite : not a big fan
05:04 TomRaftery : It depends on which is easier to pipe back to Ustream
05:05 mikeTheBee : homecamp.org.uk
05:05 verowhite : but if you are still streming it here, may work, who know 🙂
05:05 TomRaftery : Yup, I’m on the HoeCamp one as well
05:05 mikeTheBee : Intersted in the idea, yes, details l8r
05:05 TomRaftery : oops!
05:05 Suki_Fuller : I’d rather here but whatever you decide
05:05 TomRaftery : HomeCamp that was supposed to be!
05:05 Suki_Fuller : I hope so.
05:05 cgarvey : lol, that was an impressive typo
05:06 TomRaftery : LOL
05:06 verowhite : lol
05:06 mikeTheBee : Its still Green 🙂
05:06 TomRaftery : Yup – I’m interested in getting people more involved
05:06 Suki_Fuller : That roll your own video very nice and short
05:06 mikeTheBee : Cheers Ctach you l8r
05:06 TomRaftery : If you can come to a venue in SL
05:06 TomRaftery : And participate that way, it may feel more real
05:07 TomRaftery : more like you are participating
05:07 verowhite : bye Mike, thanks for helping me earlier
05:07 cgarvey : I’m off to read about SmartBay .. cheers for the show Tom

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Roll your own Green job

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Do you want a job in Sustainability in your company? Are you enthused by the idea of doing the ‘right thing’ both for your company and for the planet?

Our own James Governor talked to Tony Rooke, Logica’s Head of Sustainability and Environment, about how Tony created his own position within the the company.

Lessons to be learned there…

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SAP’s Chief Sustainability Officer on Carbon Reduction

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I was in San Jose last week for for the O’Reilly ETech conference. I had an opportunity to meet SAP’s newly appointed Chief Sustainability Officer, Peter Graf and we discussed SAP’s announced aim of reducing its carbon emissions by 51% by 2020.

Some great stuff in the video – I especially loved the bit where Peter talked about the enthusiasm of SAP employees for getting on board with this program. They asked for Sustainability Champions for the company hoping to get 100 by the end of March. They had 200 by the end of the 2nd day!!! Everyone wants to be doing the right thing.

This is part II of a three-part video series I shot with Peter. I published the first part, where Peter discusses the role of Chief Sustainability Officer for SAP earlier this week and the third part will be published next week.

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Last Monday’s Energy and Sustainability show

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Live TV : Ustream

I have been running a weekly GreenMonk Energy and Sustainability show over on Ustream every Monday at 4:30pm CET, (3:30pm GMT, right now with the hour change that is 11:30 ET and 08:30 PT).

I started slow and didn’t market it heavily as I wanted the show to grow its own legs and I wanted to become more comfortable with the medium. It has now started to develop a following and very positive feedback so I think the time has come to start talking it up more.

Above is last Monday’s show (March 16th 2009) and below is the live chat stream from people who were watching and interacting with me live during the show.

Feel free to drop by next Monday, or any Monday and join in. I plan on making the show more interactive possibly bringing people in using virtual world’s or similar technology. Also, next Monday, I have a surprise special guest in a short pre-recorded slot!

04:31 yellowpark : afternoon all
04:31 TomRaftery : Hi all – just starting
04:32 leewilkins : afternoon guys
04:32 mikeTheBee-1 : Hi all
04:33 mikeTheBee-1 : 11 viewers
04:33 dahowlett : afternoon sports fans
04:36 zSAPping : Hey
04:36 mikeTheBee-1 : Would worry a lot of people, about snoops and burglars
04:37 mikeTheBee-1 : Sell it to burlars 🙂
04:37 ustreamer-58948 : Targetted advertising and profiling.
04:38 mikeTheBee-1 : 14 viewers
04:38 yellowpark : miuke – if burglars want to get, i reckon it’ll be easier to get the data from twitter rather than analysing electricity data
04:39 yellowpark : indeed
04:40 dahowlett : I have a VERY big dog…but she’d lick you to death
04:40 leewilkins : I have a VERY small dog, and he’d fall over!
04:41 TomRaftery : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7940532.stm
04:42 mikeTheBee-1 : I heard a lot of reports on steam media about that conference
04:43 TomRaftery : http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/mar/13/charcoal-carbon
04:45 mikeTheBee-1 : Reports of rocks that will do the same on CNN this AM
04:46 TomRaftery : http://www.jetsongreen.com/2008/02/worlds-first-po.html
04:48 mikeTheBee-1 : 14 Viewers
04:48 TomRaftery : http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Energy_Resources_Materials/Environment/Connecting_climate_change_and_economic_recovery_2303
04:48 dahowlett : I wish the ads wouldn’t keep popping up…
04:49 yellowpark : did you hear of the movie coming out this week about climate change btw
04:49 leewilkins : caught a Discovery Green Science piece recently about how John Deere are now commited to going green, and are now building their machinery with Corn and Peas!
04:49 mikeTheBee-1 : http://news.softpedia.com/news/Peridotite-Rocks-Absorb-Atmospheric-Carbon-97284.shtml
04:49 yellowpark : yes
04:49 yellowpark : premiered. comes out thurs
04:50 leewilkins : coincidently the town is called Greensburg where their produced!
04:50 yellowpark : solar powered premier apparently
04:51 dahowlett : We now have our formal quote for biomass heating etc. < 2.5K euros net of grants. Gives us 100% renewable energy for as long as the olive trees continue to grow. 04:51 leewilkins : the plastics! 04:52 dahowlett : all-in 04:52 yellowpark : wow 04:52 zSAPping : via @ewh: @TomRaftery talking about new green city Masdar City; just read a good article in Technology Review Mag about it http://tr.im/hqnA 04:53 dahowlett : Running cost in winter is estimated as no more than 30 euro/week so it's a win/win/win 04:53 dahowlett : all heating and water 04:54 TomRaftery : http://www.regeneration.org/2009/03/13/climate-savers-pumps-you-up-to-power-down/ 04:55 TomRaftery : http://www.oracle.com/us/corporate/press/017964_EN 04:55 zSAPping : That link was from Ed Herrmann who can't make it into the chat. 04:56 mikeTheBee-1 : Impressive if its 95% surprises me 04:56 dahowlett : nice to see @ewH is finagling around firewalls. 04:56 ustreamer-72352 : On computers sleeping: University of Michigan just unveiled a paper on giving servers naps 04:56 ustreamer-72352 : http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~bgold/papers/meisner-asplos09.pdf 04:57 yellowpark : pvr? 04:57 yellowpark : ah. ok 04:57 mikeTheBee-1 : Good news for the http://homecamp.org.uk/ model. 04:57 dahowlett : Sky+???? WTF? 04:58 yellowpark : hardly any of these boxes are low power 04:58 mikeTheBee-1 : The LNB needs power at all times 04:58 yellowpark : i bought two new freeview boxes before xmas. Virtually none of them had low power details on the standby info 04:58 dahowlett : That's ridiculous 04:59 mikeTheBee-1 : LNB=satellite dish receiver 04:59 dahowlett : Cheap mfrs responding to distros?? 05:00 dahowlett : Spanish TV is grim 05:00 mikeTheBee-1 : Sky+ is HD and pvr 05:00 yellowpark : i think old mindset when electricity was cheap 05:00 yellowpark : no one bothered about how much electricity it used. now is different 05:01 dahowlett : Buenos tardes.... 05:01 mikeTheBee-1 : I'' be on http://tinyurl.com/dkqr9b if anyone want to join for a few mins after the show. 05:01 dahowlett : Good show Tom 05:02 leewilkins : good show 05:02 yellowpark : great 05:02 mikeTheBee-1 : Cheers all] 05:02 yellowpark : thanks tom 05:02 TomRaftery : Thanks everyone for making it a great show

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Oracle’s Turning Information into Power report

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Oracle Turning information into power report

Oracle released the results of a research report last week called “Turning Information into Power“.

The report had some interesting findings – from the press release:

Americans are concerned about energy costs and show interest in new energy options.

  1. 94% are concerned with the energy costs of their primary residence.
  2. 95% are interested in receiving detailed information on their energy use.
  3. 76% are interested in renewable energy technologies for their home – and 72% of those respondents state that “reducing personal energy costs” is the most important benefit of renewable energy.

Other interesting findings include:

  1. When asked to give their utility suppliers a grade on their “current ability to provide detailed, useful information on energy consumption,” only 14% of Americans gave their utility an “A.” When grading themselves on the same question, only 16% of utility managers gave their organizations an “A.”
  2. While more than half (58%) of electricity and multi-service utilities surveyed currently offer net metering programs – which allow homeowners to generate their own renewable energy or sell it back to their utilities – just 11% of these utilities say their customers are actively pursuing the programs.

This clearly demonstrates a communications issue between the utilities and their customer base.

While on Smart Grids –

  1. 91% of utility managers believe it is critical that the U.S. adopts smart grid technologies.
  2. 41% of utilities have assessed the opportunity for smart grid technologies and
  3. Utility managers believe “upfront consumer expenses” (42%) and a “lack of consistent industry technology standards” (30%) will be the biggest roadblocks to maximizing benefits of the smart grid

There is a lot of interesting information to digest in this report – mainly though it is good news. The American people want more information on their energy use, they are interested in renewables and microgeneration. The renewables, for their part, believe that rolling out smart grids is critical, provide net-metering programs but don’t, as yet, provide detailed useful information on energy consumption in their bills.

Both sides perceive the biggest obstacle to the rollout of smart grids is financial.

Let’s hope that the $11bn pledged to the implementation of smart grids by the Obama stimulus plan will break down some of these barriers.

I hope to be interviewing Guerry Waters, vice president, industry strategy, Oracle Utilities about this report in the coming weeks, if you have any questions you’d like me to put to Guerry, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

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SAP’s Peter Graf discusses his role – Chief Sustainability Officer

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ERP software maker SAP is, according to Wikipedia, the world’s 4th largest software co. in the world (presumably after Google, Microsoft and Oracle).

It is a big deal then when a company of SAP’s size announces the creation of the position of Chief Sustainability Officer, as SAP did earlier this month.

In the same announcement SAP also announced targets to reduce carbon emissions by 51% and to help their customers reduce their emissions.

Having talked to SAP previously, I know this is not a sudden conversion on their part but I was interested to talk to their new Sustainability chief, Peter Graf to ask him about the announcements.

We recorded three videos on the three parts of the announcement – this is the first one where Peter discusses the new role.

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GreenMonk news roundup 03/18/2009

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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GreenMonk news roundup 03/07/2009

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  • The smart electricity grid comes home | Socket to me | The Economist

    Or so your correspondent believed until he attended Demo 09 in Palm Desert, California, earlier this week. The event, where selected startups are each given six minutes under the spotlight to pitch their product to an audience of investors and industry veterans, is one of the leading launch pads for emerging technologies.

    Three presentations at Demo 09 lifted his spirits. One, in particular, made him feel the smart grid might even enter the home before the decade was out.

    tags: smart grid, smart home, zigbee, tendril

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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GreenMonk news roundup 03/06/2009

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.