Green from the roots up, Sustainable from the top down
While at the Smart Grids Europe conference last week, I had a talk with Joost Brinkman of the Amsterdam Smart City project.
We talked about the project, which is still very much in the planning stages yet, but has the lofty ambition to help Amsterdam reduce its CO2 emissions 40% below its 1990 baseline by 2025!
Ahmad Faruqui is a principal with the Brattle Group and one of the US’ foremost experts on Smart Grids. I asked him to come on the Heavy Hitters show and we had a fascinating chat.
We talked about:
I talked to several of the exhibitors at the Smart Grids Europe 2010 conference in Amsterdam last week.
Amongst them was Mary Ann Tillman of Convergys. Convergys are a large US company with 75,000 employees in over 70 countries and revenues in 2009 over $3bn.
Convergys business was traditionally customer information (billing) software for mobile phone companies. Convergys realised that with the rollout of Smart Meters, utilities will need to change billing software to one capable of taking in vast quantities of customer data in real-time. Kinda like mobile phone companies have been doing for quite a while now…
Last year convergys rolled out their first smart grid CIS solution for an investor backed utility in the US.
EDSA are an interesting company. They are 25 years old, they are privately held and they focus on power analytics. I had an opportunity to have EDSA’s CTO, Kevin Meagher, on the show so I jumped at it to find out more about their smart grid solutions for micro-grid integration.
Kevin and I had a great chat, we talked about:
We had a great Energy and Sustainability show yesterday. In case you missed it, here is the recording and the chatstream is below:
Tom Raftery :
Ok, kicking off the show this Mon 8th March in 1 minute
And we’re live – hope you can all see and hear me
Mon, 8 Mar, 16:32
paul savage :
good afternoon Tom[sound is good]
Mon, 8 Mar, 16:33
Tom Raftery :
http://blogs.msdn.com/see/archive/2010/03/02/microsoft-s-position-on-the-u-s-chamber-of-commerce-climate-related-activities.aspx
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8550504.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/07/edf-nuclear-reactor-chernobyl-risk
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304142240.htm
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2010/03/arctic-methane-on-the-move/
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/04/states-sue-epa-global-warming-ruling/
http://www.ceres.org/Page.aspx?pid=1221
http://www.climatebiz.com/news/2010/03/04/tesco-nestle-uk-packaging-cuts
http://greenopolis.com/goblog/joe-laur/team-shambhala-nike-s-journey-wasted-reputation-corporate-responsibility-icon
http://solveclimate.com/blog/20100304/veterans-launch-powerful-clean-energy-ad-tying-foreign-oil-troop-deaths
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/setting-wind-power-records-in-texas/
http://greenmonk.net/spain-gets-53-of-its-energy-from-wind/
Mon, 8 Mar, 16:52
Ian B :
Perhaps TX should expend less suing EPA?
Mon, 8 Mar, 16:53
Tom Raftery :
http://cleantech.com/news/5661/paper-battery-co-hints-about-tech
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2009/december7/nanotubes-ink-paper-120709.html
http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/mit-researchers-produce-electricity-from-carbon-nanotubes/
http://www.greenfudge.org/2010/03/07/australian-police-search-sea-shepherd-vessels/
http://environment.change.org/blog/view/head_of_the_epa_speaks_to_changeorg_lets_change_the_face_of_environmentalism
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/film/2880779/Oscars-week-The-real-life-story-like-that-in-Avatar.html
http://www.hp.com/hpinfo/newsroom/press/2010/100302a.html?mtxs=rss-corp-gcnews
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29595.wss
http://greatindiansale.blogspot.com/2010/03/google-guerillas.html
Mon, 8 Mar, 17:00
paul savage :
don’t forget your call…
Mon, 8 Mar, 17:01
mikethebee :
Thx Tom, good one as usual.
Mon, 8 Mar, 17:02
Ian B :
Thanks Tom
Mon, 8 Mar, 17:02
paul savage :
All the best Tom.
Mon, 8 Mar, 17:02
Tom Raftery :
Thanks everyone
Mon, 8 Mar, 17:04
Ian B :
BTW – couldn’t get chat working in IE8 – must have objected to your MS story!
This is the fourth of my Smart Grid Heavy Hitters’ interviews, and in it I talked to the President and COO of Landis+Gyr, Andreas Umbach. Landis+Gyr have been in the meter business for decades now so I was very interested to hear what Andreas had to say.
It was a great chat, we talked about:
We had a great Energy and Sustainability show today – in case you were unable to make it, I recorded the video (above) and the chatstream (below):
16 : 27 MikeTheBee :
Hello Tom, It would be handy to have a date in the video to distinguish the ep being replayed. Leo Laporte on Twit.tv just has a Calender/Clock on a shelf behind him, it works well.
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16?:?27 MikeTheBee :
Maybe up on the filing cabinet?
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16?:?28 Tom Raftery :
Cool idea
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16?:?28 MikeTheBee :
Just a though
Hello Video/Audio oK
Good stuff
less than 30 slides now?
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16?:?33 Tom Raftery :
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-02-25-attack-on-climate-change-science-is-oj-simpson-moment/
http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2010/02/pat-michaels-climate-skeptic?utm_source=twitterfeed
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16?:?36 MikeTheBee :
It is the Climate fundamentalists on the other side. Aimed at confusing the middle-ground
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16?:?36 Tom Raftery :
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHO-eYtWhElo-tDutOelFgr8KnGQ
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16?:?37 MikeTheBee :
The article requested is not available.
AFP seem to have taken that one down
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16?:?38 Tom Raftery :
It has been the economic heartbeat of the world’s fourth most populous country for almost 500 years, but Jakarta’s days as Indonesia’s capital could be numbered
Indonesia mulls new capital as Jakarta sinks
http://www.energybulletin.net/node/33164
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16?:?39 MikeTheBee :
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gHO-eYtWhElo-tDutOelFgr8KnGQ
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16?:?40 Tom Raftery :
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/02/12/peak_tuna
http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/japan-says-it-will-ignore-a-ban-on-bluefin-tuna/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8534052.stm
http://www.physorg.com/news186418664.html
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16?:?44 MikeTheBee :
Tells us a lot about sea currents
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16?:?46 Tom Raftery :
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20100301/hl_hsn/globalwarmingkicksupallergystorm
http://www.pej.org/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=8041&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0
http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/mobiles/apple-admits-using-child-labour-20100301-pbzz.html
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16?:?51 MikeTheBee :
The fanboys said it was not Apples problem.
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16?:?52 Tom Raftery :
http://stardustglobalventures.com/2010/02/27/twitter-as-powerful-as-an-earthquake/16?:?52 marilynpratt :
Apple having a bad week as its shareholders say no to environmental measures: http://localtechwire.com/business/local_tech_wire/news/blogpost/7118816/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
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16?:?53 MikeTheBee :
Tom, most of these links are not coming though in a clickable format. The Apple one did though.
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16?:?54 Tom Raftery :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbxrYAU6l_0
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/25/mitsubishi-wind-turbine-factory
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100225140908.htm
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16?:?56 marilynpratt :
@MikeTheBee maybe if you repost them with a copy and paste they will be clickable. I’ll try: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbxrYAU6l_0
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/25/mitsubishi-wind-turbine-factory
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100225140908.htm
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16?:?57 MikeTheBee :
We could do with that info in a more visual form.
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16?:?57 Tom Raftery :
waterfootprint.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoKYStFy4GY
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/sf-green-festival-09-silo-ink-reduces-printer-waste-saves-80-on-ink-expenses.php
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16?:?59 MikeTheBee :
@marilynpratt : I can see those, strange, is it me or Zoho chat?
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17?:?00 marilynpratt :
@mikethebee
waterfootprint.org
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoKYStFy4GY
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/sf-green-festival-09-silo-ink-reduces-printer-waste-saves-80-on-ink-expenses.php
http:waterfootprint.org same problem
need to run thanks
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17?:?01 Tom Raftery :
http://greenenergyreporter.com/2010/02/india-to-tax-coal-to-fund-national-renewable-energy-fund/
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17?:?02 MikeTheBee :
HP argue that they must be ‘remade’ for quality
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17?:?03 Tom Raftery :
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29520.wss
http://blogs.msdn.com/see/archive/2010/02/25/johnson-controls-uses-microsoft-surface-to-improve-visibility-into-energy-efficiency-in-buildings.aspx
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29482.wss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hm7MeZlS5fo
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2f1a836e-24d3-11df-8be0-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1
http://www.businessgreen.com/business-green/news/2258673/google-touts-solar-thermal
http://www.flickr.com/photos/traftery/4340528718/
http://davidcoethica.wordpress.com/2010/03/01/3bl-tv-new-csr-sustainability-video-channel/
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17?:?09 MikeTheBee :
I built a heilostat in the garden using old cd’s
The real issue on inkjet carts is the price, if we could return them and buy new ones they would be like milkbottles.
UK councils to stop collection of recycling to save budget
Coffee bean production starts in the UK and Ireland, joining the vineyards established in 2009. (newsflash from 2013)
Well done Tom gr8 show.
@marilynpratt Thx for reposting, it is not a problem for me to cut&paste, but I wondered why Tom’s links didn’t work like your this week.
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17?:?11 Tom Raftery :
Thanks Mike and everyone for all your comments, interest and enthusiasm
This is the third of my Smart Grid Heavy Hitters’ interviews, and in it I talked to the CTO of Silver Springs Networks, Raj Vaswani.
It was a great interview – in it we talked about:
I wanted to go on for longer but unfortunately we ran out of time!
We had a great Energy and Sustainability show today – in case you were unable to make it, I recorded the video (above) and the chatstream (below):
Tom Raftery :
Kicking off the show in a sechttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100219123517.htm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/18/worlds-top-firms-environmental-damage
http://greenmonk.net/do-risk-and-compliance-have-a-part-to-play-in-reducing-pollution/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/17/amazon-hydrocarbon-boom
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61L2ZT20100222
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/feb/22/jonathan-safran-foer-cows-beef
http://www.ted.com/talks/jamie_oliver.html?awesm=on.ted.com_886s
http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/02/seriously-where-does-our-food-come-from/
http://www.smallbusinesseurope.org/en/news1610.html
http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/823-meters-and-more-looks-to-create-global-standards.html
http://www.greenenergyscheme.org/index.php?page=suppliers/tariffs
http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20100219/NEWS02/2190351/1006/NEWS
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100222/sc_afp/uncitesspeciestunajapan
http://www.marcgunther.com/2010/02/21/nukes-why-small-is-beautiful/
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61L1WB20100222
http://www.avaaz.org/en/robin_hood/
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cgarvey :
Cheers Tom .. I’m still stuck back at the smart meters link .. loads of links to digest. Ta!?17?:?10
raphael :
thanks tom?17?:?10
Tom Raftery :
Thanks everyone, as always, Tom
We had a great Energy and Sustainability show today – in case you were unable to make it, I recorded the video (above) and the chatstream (below):
Tom Raftery :
Starting today’s show in 5 mins
Audio/video ok?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18520-greenlands-glaciers-disappearing-from-the-bottom-up.html?12?:?03
MikeTheBee :
Yep A&V fine.
Hi Tom?12?:?04
Tom Raftery :
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100215/ap_on_re_as/as_antarctica_whaling
http://www.prweek.com/news/rss/983521/Top-environmental-PR-expert-adds-voice-concerns-climate-change-losing-PR-battle/?12?:?07
MikeTheBee :
SeaShepherd has no support from the Australian government?12?:?08
Tom Raftery :
http://climateprogress.org/2010/02/10/polls-public-support-for-clean-energy-and-global-temperatures/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29?12?:?08
MikeTheBee :
Australian and Japan claim the rights to the waters though.?12?:?10
Tom Raftery :
http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/02/hydrogen-is-not-the-fuel-of-the-future/?12?:?12
MikeTheBee :
It does allow the storage of energy, but I understand is works out about 20% effct?12?:?12
Tom Raftery :
http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/29404.wss
http://blogs.msdn.com/see/archive/2010/02/11/microsoft-s-ireland-datacenter-receives-award.aspx?12?:?15
cgarvey :
Impressive stuff?12?:?15
MikeTheBee :
Funny IBM comes from arMonk NY?12?:?15
Tom Raftery :
http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/02/commerce-secretary-organizes-climate-change-office/?12?:?16
MikeTheBee :
Ah ha?12?:?17
Tom Raftery :
http://www.climate.gov/about.html
http://www.climate.gov/
http://www.greenbang.com/car-bodies-mobile-phones-could-one-day-be-their-own-batteries_13611.html
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527461.300-unplugged-goodbye-cables-hello-energy-beams.html
http://robinhoodtax.org.uk/
http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/Business_Planning_News/Blowback-Attack-The-Smart-Grid-s-Greatest-Danger-1875.html#blogcomments?12?:?24
Shay :
A good idea designed to appeal to voters – actually manageable???12?:?25
MikeTheBee :
I understood that it is designed to reduce the number of transactions and make them longer term and thus more profitable for the country rather than the individual banker.?12?:?27
Tom Raftery :
http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/best-buys-e-cycle-billboard-makes-a-statement-with-old-tech/?news=123
http://earth911.com/news/2010/02/08/wow-you-can-recycle-that/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100211141144.htm
http://greenmonk.net/this-is-a-very-opportune-time-to-be-investing-in-sustainability-management-software/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/hp-opens-worlds-first-100-air-cooled-data-center.php?12?:?35
cgarvey :
All good, thanks again Tom!?12?:?35
MikeTheBee :
You may be interested in data.gov site, loads of data
Not USA
No USA?12?:?36
cgarvey :
lol!?12?:?36
MikeTheBee :
Sorry?12?:?37
Shay :
www.data.gov.uk?12?:?38
cgarvey :
Great, thanks Tom?12?:?38
Shay :
Very interesting. Thaks?12?:?38
MikeTheBee :
I *did* mean www.data.gov Thx Tom and all.?12?:?38
Tom Raftery :
Thanks Shay
Thanks everyone for your comments, interest, and contributions
Now gotta get ready for the flight!