post

September 21st GreenMonk Energy & Sustainability show

by

Here is the chatstream from today’s Greenmonk Energy and Sustainability show:
03:30 Tom Raftery: About to kick off the show Info
03:31 cminion: Afternoon
03:31 Tom Raftery: Do we have working audio/video
03:31 cminion: very quiet here
03:31 marilynpratt: sound is a bit off
03:32 yellowpark: morning
03:32 marilynpratt: good
03:32 marilynpratt: yes great
03:32 yellowpark: yes
03:33 Tom Raftery: http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/f6f88ba8825d16175be07468e0d47fc3.html
03:34 dahowlett: hello peeps
03:35 yellowpark: hi dennis
03:35 Tom Raftery: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/09/gallery_glaciers
03:36 yellowpark: makes for big paddling on the bright side
03:36 monkchips: ah feck tom you trying to depress us again?
03:36 Tom Raftery: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/17/bluefin-tuna-fishing
03:36 dahowlett: @monkchips – @tom’s mission in life is to be more curmudgeonly than me
03:36 Tom Raftery: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1921177,00.html?iid=digg_share
03:36 monkchips: 😉
03:37 monkchips: yay!
03:37 Tom Raftery: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2009/sep/16/climate-change-beer-quality
03:37 marilynpratt: good news from US- is it suspect?
03:37 cminion: ??
03:37 dahowlett: @tom must be ‘pissed’ off
03:38 Tom Raftery: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/jun/28/bp-alternative-energy
03:38 Tom Raftery: http://blogs.zdnet.com/green/?p=7343
03:38 cminion: Short term goals
03:39 monkchips: i am watching. have been tweeting!
03:40 monkchips: Landis and SAP http://www.landisgyr.com/en/pub/media/press_releases.cfm?news_ID=4012
03:40 yellowpark: @monkchips multi tasking!
03:41 marilynpratt: thanks 🙂
03:41 monkchips: there is so much hideous fud in this space
03:41 Tom Raftery: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/09/boulders-smart-grid-city-goes-mostly-live.php
03:41 monkchips: this week the story was smart meters to cost consumers £300 each
03:41 dahowlett: Doesn’t @monkchips know? Multi-tasking is said to be unethical. Personally I think that’s a crock
03:41 monkchips: currentcost should be so lucky!
03:42 monkchips: i mean- we know they dont cost that much
03:42 monkchips: absurd!
03:42 Tom Raftery: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/sep/08/carbon-capture-north-sea
03:43 dahowlett: That’s one giant brain fart
03:44 monkchips: i will happily keep it in my shed
03:44 Tom Raftery: http://www.marcgunther.com/2009/09/20/fpl-americas-no-1-wind-power/
03:44 marilynpratt: so the sea will become a hazardous waste dump
03:45 monkchips: @marilynpratt the sea already is.
03:45 marilynpratt: and we know that never happens in above ground storage
03:45 monkchips: this would actually make use of the big holes from all the oil we sucked out
03:47 monkchips: tom- you got a better idea?
03:47 Tom Raftery: http://en.cop15.dk/news/view+news?newsid=2117
03:48 Tom Raftery: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=lithium-ion-batteries-hybrid-electric-vehicle-recycling&sc=CAT_TECH_20090916
03:48 monkchips: VERY interesting news from Frankfurt
03:48 monkchips: the electric vehicles were all taken off their stands etc when it opened to the public!
03:49 monkchips: that is – the EVs are all concepts for industry insiders…..
03:51 Tom Raftery: http://solveclimate.com/blog/20090911/aussie-activists-target-world-s-most-polluting-coal-plant
03:52 Tom Raftery: http://in.reuters.com/article/oilRpt/idINB47611720090913
03:52 Tom Raftery: http://www.ptinews.com/news/279619_Victorian-govt-to-export-brown-coal-to-India–Report
03:52 yellowpark: Interestingly, E.On announced today they have produced an electricity menu
03:52 monkchips: ah ****
03:53 monkchips: so much for tech transfer.
03:53 monkchips: they also sell paper to japan
03:53 monkchips: ******* idiots
03:54 Tom Raftery: http://www.snp.org/node/15664
03:54 dahowlett: @tom – where’s the beer?
03:55 Tom Raftery: http://www.forexyard.com/en/reuters_inner.tpl?action=2009-09-16T103243Z_01_LG56714_RTRIDST_0_EU-GRID-NORTHSEA
03:55 dahowlett: them jocks are strapping
03:55 dahowlett: @tom – my head is still on the beach
03:55 monkchips: jocks? you mean “sweaties…”
03:56 Tom Raftery: http://homecamp.org.uk/2009/09/18/adventures-in-home-energy-monitoring-or-how-i-became-the-energy-enforcer/
03:57 monkchips: did you see the comment from his dad?
03:57 monkchips: CLASSIC!
03:57 dahowlett: wonderful!
03:58 marilynpratt: As a parent ROFL
03:58 cminion: Oddly enough for us, my gf pays the elec bill and im the one who is trying to reduce it
03:58 Joe Garde: spend most of my time running around after my kids to turn off lights!
03:58 monkchips: the really crucial point about joe
03:58 monkchips: and energy management
03:58 monkchips: is that he doesn’t believe in anthropomophic climate change!
03:58 marilynpratt: Brilliant
03:59 dahowlett: yes Tom – you are a horrible energy dictator
03:59 Tom Raftery: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20327251.300-better-world-redefine-the-bottom-line.html
03:59 marilynpratt: same applies for gas at pump in the states
03:59 dahowlett: Living in Wigan: electricity cost £144/month. Andalucia €50/month
04:00 monkchips: ah shite i have to bank out now. but sarkozy is my man of the week- beyond GDP http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/09/14/sarkozy-adds-to-calls-for-gdp-alternative/
04:00 Joe Garde: WINDPOWER OUTLOOK 2009 PDF http://www.awea.org/pubs/documents/Outlook_2009.pdf
04:00 Tom Raftery: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8266200.stm
04:01 marilynpratt: just look at the health record in the US – poor
04:03 dahowlett: Wind famrs expanding in Sierra Nevada/Alpujarra
04:03 yellowpark: thanks tom
04:03 Joe Garde: Thanks Tom, glad you made it this week
04:03 marilynpratt: Excellent show Tom
04:04 Tom Raftery: Thanks everyone for your time and interest
04:05 Tom Raftery: (and all your excellent contributions obviously!)

post

Not so Smart Grids, doomed to fail?

by

Command and control

Photo credit Mikey aka DaSkinnyBlackMan in Iraq

I was invited by James McClelland and Maureen Coveney to participate in a panel at SAP’s Sapphire conference earlier this year discussing Smart Grids.

One of the key points I made was that utilities are not used to having to deal with customers. The only real interactions utilities have with customers are 1) sending out bills and 2) when the power goes and customers ring up to complain. It is highly unusual to have a utility company poll its customers when rolling out a new product, for example (for that matter, when was the last time your utility rolled out a new product?).

With the requirement to roll-out smart grids and the increasing empowerment of customers using web 2.0 technologies, for example, utilities are now going to have to learn to listen to their customers very quickly. Any roll-out of demand response programs which doesn’t take customer concerns into account is almost certain to run into serious difficulties. I have heard several utilities talk about using smart grids to come into customers houses and turn down their air conditioning at times of peak demand. Wrong! This kind of message will not sell easily.

A recent example of a not-so-smart grid was highlighted by 3News in New Zealand recently when they reported that the smart grids being rolled out there were ones where:

the benefits from smart meters almost entirely accrue to the retailer… Consumers will end up paying for meters that provide them with minimal benefits

Utilities are going to have to radically change how they deal with their customers, and quickly or they risk having spectacular failures when they launch their smart grid initiatives!

Related articles by Zemanta
post

SAP’s Peter Graf on the World Business Summit on Climate Change

by

I spoke to SAP‘s Chief Sustainability Officer, Peter Graf about his attendance at the World Business Summit on Climate Change which took place in Copenhagen recently.

When you hear of businesses getting together to discuss climate change, you could easily be tempted to think they are trying to lobby for less regulation or for licenses to pollute. However, the mandate for attendees was for CEOs to:

discuss how their firms can help solve the climate crisis through innovative business models, new partnerships, and the development of low-carbon technologies

The result of the meeting was a document called The Copenhagen Call which sets out 6 steps to be implemented to set a firm foundation for a sustainable economic future

  1. Agreement on a science-based greenhouse gas stabilization path with 2020 and 2050 emissions reduction targets that will achieve it;
  2. Effective measurement, reporting and verification of emissions performance by business;
  3. Incentives for a dramatic increase in financing low emissions technologies;
  4. Deployment of existing low-emissions technologies and the development of new ones;
  5. Funds to make communities more resilient and able to adapt to the effects of climate change, and
  6. Means to finance forest protection.
Related articles by Zemanta
post

June 1st GreenMonk Energy and Sustainability show

by

Had a great show today with plenty of links and feedback from viewers – here is the transcript from the show.

03:31 Tom Raftery: Can anyone see/hear me?
03:31 cgarvey: A/V all good
03:31 mikethebee: Vid and auio ok
03:32 mikethebee: my typing rubbish
03:33 Tom Raftery: http://environment.uk.msn.com/news/headlines/article.aspx?cp-documentid=147696467
03:35 Tom Raftery: http://planetark.org/ark/53151
03:37 Tom Raftery: http://www.coolerado.com/news/
03:38 Tom Raftery: http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/05/26/oil-giant-shell-on-trial-for-nigerian-environmentalist-saro-wiwas-execution/
03:39 Tom Raftery: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Saro_Wiwa
03:40 Tom Raftery: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1189929/The-return-flight-bumblebee-creates-buzz.html
03:42 Tom Raftery: http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/27622.wss
03:44 Tom Raftery: http://www.apesphere.com/blog/29/2009/05/30/Has_CSR_become_a_code_word_for_profit_trumps_ethics
03:46 Tom Raftery: http://www.newenergyworldnetwork.com/renewable-energy-news/by_technology/energy_efficiency/energy-technologies-institute-develops-uk-energy-system-blueprints-for-2050.html?utm
03:48 Tom Raftery: http://community.nortel.com/go/blogs/greenroots/2009/05/28/guest-post-energy-star-standard-released-for-computer-servers
03:49 Al: Bit of a joke though
03:49 Tom Raftery: http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/29/coming-soon-a-new-eco-label-for-tvs/
03:51 Al: Energy star rating
03:51 Al: For servers
03:52 Al: The power we consume on our servers is less than the tolerance on their specs
03:52 Tom Raftery: http://www.clearstandards.com/carbontracker.html
03:53 Al: Except in this case our servers would not be
03:54 Al: compliant that is
03:54 Al: They should ahve been much more agressive
03:54 Al: Just like carbon targets
03:55 dahowlett: aaah…stream here as well
03:55 Tom Raftery: http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/ariel-schwartz/sustainability/volvo-employees-green-their-commutes-cell-phone-application
03:56 dahowlett: I was over the other place
03:56 dahowlett: yes – I was over on the Ustream thingy
03:56 Tom Raftery: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/real_time_noise_and_air_quality_monitoring_over_mobile_internet.php
03:59 Tom Raftery: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/28/cnnheroes.suzan.lakhan.baptiste/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
04:01 Tom Raftery: http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/eco-tech-scientists-to-recreate-stars-on-earth-for-limitless-energy
04:04 Al: Its the carbon police
04:04 Al: Their coming to get you
04:04 mikethebee: Gr8 feature on BBC R4 Farming today about Thanet Earth. First time I had heard of it. http://www.thanetearth.com/
04:04 dahowlett: the fire is under your desk
04:05 dahowlett: in themeantime…it’s time to go sunbathing
04:05 cgarvey: All good Tom, thanks again for the informative show!
04:05 dahowlett: nice one Tom
04:05 Al: Thanks Tom
04:05 Tom Raftery: Thanks everyone for joining in and contributions
04:05 Tom Raftery: Great show see you all here next week!
04:05 mikethebee: well done again
04:06 Al: Maybe using Google’s wave would be a nice addition
04:06 Tom Raftery: I’d love a Google Wave account
04:06 Tom Raftery: There is only a v limited release of accounts afaik yet
04:07 Al: Maybe you have to attend a European Google I/O
04:07 Tom Raftery: Probably – and can’t make a case for going to it 🙁
04:08 Al: Cheers Tom l8r

post

April 13th GreenMonk Energy and Sustainability show

by

Here is a recording of today’s GreenMonk Energy and Sustainability show complete with the chatstream below:

04:31 TomRaftery : About to kick off
04:32 TomRaftery : Can you see & hear me ok?
04:33 TomRaftery : Hello?
04:33 ustreamer-36203 : Hi Tom
04:33 ustreamer-36203 : Andrew Newton of APEsphere here
04:34 ustreamer-36203 : yep, all good
04:35 ustreamer-39040 : I can see and hear ya. Just have to log in – This is Suki
04:37 TomRaftery : http://www.theenergycollective.com/TheEnergyCollective/37826
04:37 ustreamer-13870 : Den here..
04:37 ustreamer-13870 : Ola todos
04:39 TomRaftery : http://www.zigbee.org/en/newsletters/2009_04_Newsletter/0409-External.asp#success1
04:40 TomRaftery : http://www.techflash.com/microsoft/Microsoft_aims_for_dramatic_drop_in_its_data-center_energy_usage_42817632.html
04:43 ustreamer-13870 : Wonder if SAP will try doing the same thing as MSFT?
04:44 TomRaftery : http://blogs.zdnet.com/sustainability/?p=307
04:44 Suki_Fuller : I’ve gotten sucked into the Zigbee newsletter – liking this thing
04:46 ustreamer-13870 : RyanAir are the world’s worst airline IMO
04:47 Suki_Fuller : Nah – Delta
04:47 ustreamer-13870 : It’s a flying shopping mall
04:47 TomRaftery : http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/27174.wss
04:48 ustreamer-13870 : I will do almost anything to avoid flying RyanAir (anyhooo – good for them in dropping prices)
04:50 TomRaftery : http://www.communities.hp.com/online/blogs/csremea/archive/2009/04/09/new-global-citizenship-report-now-available.aspx
04:51 TomRaftery : http://redmonk.dekiondemand.com/CSR_Reporting
04:55 Suki_Fuller : They seem to be going backwards in all regards apparently
04:55 ustreamer-36203 : Another Amazon CSR blinder from today: http://www.apesphere.com/story/989/2009/04/13/Is_there_an_anti-gay_glitch_in_the_Amazon_rankings
04:55 TomRaftery : http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/archives/2009/03/11/powernap-targets-server-idle-time/
04:55 Suki_Fuller : That better be tap water
04:57 TomRaftery : http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/98163
04:57 TomRaftery : http://blogs.infor.com/insights/2009/04/us-government-focuses-on-energy-efficiency-of-facilities.html
04:59 TomRaftery : http://greenlight.greentechmedia.com/2009/04/07/energyhub-lands-series-a-for-home-energy-dashboard-1344/
05:05 TomRaftery : http://www.energyhub.net/
05:07 TomRaftery : Anyone anything else to talk about?
05:07 Suki_Fuller : Us UK people over here had to get up.
05:07 Suki_Fuller : In US
05:07 Suki_Fuller : UK people in US
05:08 Suki_Fuller : Thank you Tom as always learned much
05:08 TomRaftery : Over and out – thanks everyone for a great show
05:09 TomRaftery : Thank you Suki

Related articles by Zemanta
post

SAP’s Environmental Health and Safety Management solution

by

In the third part of my interview with SAP’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Peter Graf, we discuss SAP’s Environmental Health and Safety Management solution.

Why is this important? Several reasons:
– employee health and safety,
– compliance with constantly changing EHS regulations (REACH, and WEEE for example),
– increasing importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and from SAP’s perspective,
– annual investment in EHS solutions between 2008 and 2010 is expected to reach $80bn.

Sustainability isn’t just about carbon footprints – it is great to see SAP helping its large customer base be better corporate citizens.

Related articles by Zemanta
post

SAP’s Chief Sustainability Officer on Carbon Reduction

by

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.

Related articles by Zemanta