Conservation Tips For The "Heat Wa-a-a-ve!"

Public Service Electric and Gas, New Jersey’s largest utility, and PJM Interconnection, the electric grid operator for 13 states and D.C., put out an urgent release yesterday, July 7th, asking everybody to conserve electricity, and since it's no cooler today I thought I'd pass along these highly-relevant tips they included.
(Unless you tend to live this way already, in which case Bully for you! And thanks.)

These are some of PSEG's conservation tips:

• Turn off everything you’re not using; lights, TVs, computers, etc. Use dimmers, timers and motion detectors on indoor and outdoor lighting.
• Close blinds, shades and draperies facing the sun to keep the sun’s heat out and to help fans and air conditioners cool more efficiently. (Duh.)
• Close doors leading to uncooled parts of your home. With central air, close off vents to unused rooms.
• Delay heat-producing tasks such as washing and drying laundry or dishes until later in the day, and (or least) wait until a load is full.
• Don't use nonessential appliances, like an extra refrigerator in your garage. Consider setting air conditioners to 78 degrees, health permitting.

More "Energy Conservation Tips from PSEG"

"In the New York City area, Con Edison said its crews were working 24 hours a day to maintain service. Con Edison on July 6 broke its 2010 record for peak electricity use when the company delivered 12,963 megawatts at 5 p.m. A news release said usage would have been even higher if not for the efforts of Con Edison’s customers, who responded to the company’s request for conservation."
- Sunpluggers.com News, where I saw a piece on PSEG's release.

(Can't resist on a day like this:)
"Heat Wave" — (the music starts at 1:40 in)

Giant Shipper Finds "Slow Is Better," Cheaper

Now that oil is back in the news with a vengeance, exacting the price for our dependency on both the fuel and the money to be made from it, I kept thinking about this piece from earlier in the year about a revolutionary move of the leading container shipping company.

"Slow Trip Across Sea Aids Profit and Environment," Elisabeth Rosenthal, NY Times, 2/16/10.

The world-spanning Danish line Maersk, socked with $145 barrels of oil in 2008, cut their fuel consumption by almost one third with a daring manuever: cutting the top cruising speed of its ships by half.

"Reducing engine load dramatically decreases fuel consumption," a Maersk presentation explains, because, "fuel consumption and CO2 emissions increase exponentially with speed." Maersk was able to cut their fuel needs on major routes by as much as 30 percent, a major savings. But just by that, the company also managed an equal cut in their ships’ emissions of greenhouse gases.

On many routes, it doesn't even take any more time(!) — cut-off, transit and arrival schedules remain the same since technology now allows for a better distribution of speed, thus gaining back what had been wasted "hurry up and wait" time.

(Of course, when you think of it, this isn't really an entirely new principle to any of us, because we've all heard from way back that driving at 55 gives you the best fuel efficiency and gets you there just some minutes later. But that doesn't mean some of us aren't still looking for the chance to really open 'er up anyway.)

"Where the previous focus has been on 'What will it cost?' and 'Get it to me as fast as possible,' " Maersk’s director of environmental sustainability explains in the NYT story, there's now a third dimension: 'What’s the CO2 footprint?' " Maersk's pitch to shippers includes the offer that, " We will significantly reduce your carbon footprint," claiming that, "Super Slow Steaming alone easily reduces a customer’s whole annual supply chain by 13%."

"Slowing down from high speeds reduces emissions because it reduces drag and friction as ships plow through the water," says the NYT's story, and points out that the same holds true for airplanes, which could easily reduce their emissions by taking it slower, say by 10%.

This is an especially welcome innovation at a time when worldwide consumption is growing so fast; the container ship trade grew by eight times between 1985 and 2007, especially long-haul shipments of goods from Asia. Maersk says their fleet of 545 ships makes a port call every thirteen minutes. So their shift to Slo-Mo has an impact, even more so as a gauntlet thrown to their competition — not, God forbid, because it's the Right Thing To Do or anything, but because it'll save them money, too.

Hey, whatever it takes.

But here's another excellent and really intriguing example of how progress doesn't always come from charging ahead — maybe just as often, it can be achieved by dropping back a step.

• Maersk vessel photo page

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On Slow-blogging
Posts about Green Tech

Happy Earth Day

How could any green-thinking individual not offer an increasingly gladdened salute to the day? It's hard not to consider where we could have been by now if the original Earth Day, 40 years ago, had been embraced more widely. But by golly, at least now the momentum has shifted, and even though every institution with an advertising budget is busily greenwashing itself — for example, the one that brags widely about their "ecoimagination" on one side, while continuing to oppose the cleanup of the Hudson River they publicly agreed to on the other — there are real and tremendous strides being made.

So let's toast the day with a glass of pure water, giving some grateful credit to all the pioneers of this awareness — like the people PBS is chronicling in "Earth Days," the story of "the dawn and development of the modern environmental movement through the extraordinary stories of the era’s pioneers.

And while we're at it, let's not forget to celebrate to whatever force or forces deserve the credit for the amazingly beautiful planet we're standing on.

Finally, It Pays To Go Greener

For the longest time it's been the case that if you wanted to leave a lighter footprint on the earth, it was going to cost you. Now, thanks both to general awareness and government subsidies, you hear of people who are actually saving money by going a little more green.

Says right here that this one guy in Shreveport, guided by a website, spent $260 on small energy-saving devices, which saved him $300 off his utility bill in just a few months, plus they gave him three new trees in his yard. Sounds like a deal that bears looking into.

The anthropomorphized focus of the Associated Press story (beginning, as all reporting must these days, through the eyes of a single person,) purchased only a couple programmable thermostats, blankets for the water heater, and a buncha them new-fangled lightbulbs to gain all that green - the metaphorical, financial, and photosynthetic.

The website he used was Earthaid.net, only one of many new Web services for reducing home energy consumption; the story also mentions Google PowerMeter, My Emissions Exchange, and the EPA's "Energy Star" Home Energy Yardstick. They offer graphs that track a home's natural gas, electric and water usage, with impressive integration with utilities, allowing homeowners to spot and optimize where unnecessary amounts of energy are being spent. Earth Aid, for example, also will highlight "the rebates, tax incentives, and discounts that make it even more economical for you to save energy."

"Each year the average household spends about $2,200 on utilities and spews 22,300 pounds in carbon dioxide emissions. With just a few basic energy upgrades, consumers could pocket an average of $660, or 30 percent of their spending, and shrink their carbon footprint by as much as 8,000 pounds each year, according to the EPA."

With the DOE saying residential emissions account for an eighth of the U.S. total, a healthy response to these upgrade campaigns could have a significant impact on how often we as a country need to fill-'er-up.

Some of these Web programs further reward reduced emissions with various prizes, in services or cash. Adding the rewards component to what's fundamentally a cost-saving offer appeals and speaks to more than just the person who pays the electric bill.

'''It makes it easier for us as parents to explain it to our kids and for them to see a tangible result of their actions,' Kincaid said. Now the kids are quick to switch off lights and shut down electronics, with the hope that in a few months they can plant another oak tree."
- Online Ways to Cash In on Going Green - AP, April 9, 2010

Look, Ma — Actual Green Jobs!

After hearing so much about all the jobs that sustainable energy development is supposed to create, 'tis indeed a welcome sight to see a building opening in the region this month with at least 600 of them.

General Electric's new Renewable Energy Global Headquarters and Remote Operation Center in nearby Schenectady, New York, an existing GE building with a $45 mil green refurbishing, is now monitoring over 6,000 wind turbines all over North America. The building itself features efficient boilers, air conditioning and windows, water-pinching faucets, and its best parking spots are reserved for hybrid cars.

"Local leaders say this is huge victory from a company that once pulled jobs out of the area," writes Albany ABC affiliate News10's Demetra Ganias, and WNYT's (NBC) Abigail Bleck adds, "especially at GE Schenectady, where the once enormous staff has been routinely let go or transferred over the years."

GE used the occasion to announce that they've now installed 13,500 wind turbines globally, with revenues from their wind energy industries of over $6 billion, from $200 million when they began in 2002.

"GE renewable energy HQ brings 600 jobs to Schenectady"
News10, Albany (ABC), 2/1/10

"Renewable energy renews GE in Schenectady"
WNYT-TV, Albany (NBC)

"GE opens new renewables HQ; marks wind turbine milestone"
Recharge (Oslo), by Benjamin Romano

Related, here:
Stimulus $'s Start Flowing Into Weatherization (2/4/10)

(Actually unrelated, but I can't resist:)

Since GE is selling NBC, this counts among their last chances to be mentioned alongside the rebirth of intelligent comedy on network television, which they inadvertently backed in 30 Rock.

(The link's to the show's page on Hulu, where you can watch the last five episodes, in herky-jerky Web TV style.)

New Points on Local Sustainability Map, 2010

News about Hudson Valley companies and other players in the business of Sustainability, rendered as more points on our ironically titled "Sustainability 'Heat' Map" of activity.

Stewart Air National Guard Base, Newburgh
(Jan. 2010) Rep. Hinchey announces $4 million to build a solar farm at Stewart Air National Guard Base. "This project demonstrates how solar energy can be used right now to make our military installations more secure, cost-effective, energy efficient, and environmentally sound," Hinchey said. The Solar Energy Consortium (TSEC) will serve as the program manager to build the solar farm.

SunWize Technologies, Kingston
(Dec. '09) SunWize Commercial Power Systems Awarded $7.8 Million in Federal Contracts Totalling 1.1 MW of Solar Energy. The diverse set of rooftop and carport systems vary in size from under 50 kW to more than 400 kW... Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2010.

[ MORE on these stories ]

View Sustainability 'Heat' Map, Hudson Valley, NY in a larger map

Related, here:
About the Sustainability 'Heat' Map, Hudson Valley, NY, (the why's and wherefore's)

Stimulus $'s Start Flowing Into Weatherization

The mighty spigot of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the fabled Stimulus, is now opening wide enough that more of the general populace is finally getting a drink, in this case by sponsoring energy-saving retrofits for homes.

Here's a program that certainly looks like not merely a win-win, but a veritable triple play: as in the earlier post here on "Cash For Caulkers," it promises to save people money, help the climate by reducing energy use, and create some useful work for under-employed people. Low-income residents can receive energy audits of their homes, sealing and insulation, and replacements of old equipment with energy-saving versions, for free.

The New York State, "with its long, cold winters and large stock of drafty homes," in the words of John Sullivan on Recordonline, received $395 million in stimulus money for weatherization programs, from the national act's 5 billion total. The Hudson Valley's Ulster and Sullivan Counties each received from $1-3 million; including Orange County to the south makes that a total five million for the region.

The state's complementary Green Jobs/Green New York program for "the missing middle" — somewhat higher-than-low-income owners, you might say — extends the benefits for those better off, but not so much that they could afford to get this work done themselves. Between the two programs, the plan is to retrofit at least a million homes over the next five years.

New York's Weatherization Assistance Program is being managed through the state's Regional Economic Community Action Programs (RECAP), for Ulster, Sullivan and Orange Counties. (Those links go to their respective contact information.)

"Cash flows in for home weatherization — NY garners $395M, most of any state"
By John Sullivan, Times Herald-Record, 2/1/10

"Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP)" — NYS Division of Housing & Community Renewal

Related, here:
"Cash For Caulkers" (12/10/09)
Posts tagged "Green Tech"

Green VC Investment Rose/Fell In 2009(?)

Fun with Statistics:
It was amusing to see these two reports next to each other on BusinessWeek's Green Energy news index. The first headline was:

"Cleantech Takes A Bigger Slice Of VC Pie, Again"

Promptly followed by:

"Green-tech venture investing cools off in 2009"

A quick read reveals, unsurprisingly, the classic apples and oranges comparison between percentages and hard numbers. The 'Bigger Slice' story, from BusinessWeek's subsite Businessinsider.com, stated that, "close to 20% of all dollars invested by VCs in 2009 went into clean technology, up from roughly 14.4% in 2008."

Ah, but 20% of what, exactly? That story never did get around to the size of the pie and hence of a slice, probably because then they'd have to come up with another, less appetizing headline.

That fell to the story that followed, from CNet's Green Tech blog, which explained that, "The amount of venture capital that went toward green-technology companies fell to $4.85 billion in 2009, compared to $7.6 billion in 2008. Solar continues to garner the most attention, having brought in $1.4 billion with 84 deals in 2009."

Biofuels received $975 mil, with energy efficiency and the smart grid, automotive, and batteries and other types of storage divvying up the remaining half.

"Greentech Media analyst Eric Wesoff predicts that there will be a wave of IPOs in green tech as well as more mergers and acquisitions, particularly in the crowded solar market.

"There will be more money available for expansion in 2010, but investors will remain cautious and focus on companies with the most potential, largely investing in emerging leaders and high-potential outfits."

"Green-tech venture investing cools off in 2009"
by Martin LaMonica, CNet, 12/30/09

Looks like I'm not going to be able to resist invoking Mark Twain's famed and mildly profane judgment on the subject of statistics:
"There are three kinds of lies. . ."


Related, here:
25 Posts tagged Green Tech

On Giving Linky Credit Where Due

A side thought:
In today's other post, above, I encountered some internal resistance as I was picking links. Was it necessary to link to some automated index, which had vacuumed up these stories from their respective sources, or just to the original articles?

Why was such a commonplace even an issue? If you've ever discovered your own stuff lifted, as a whole — as distinguished from partial, Fair Use referencing — on some parasitic phantom site, you know where I'm coming from. Fie on those who profit (however slimly) off someone else's labor, while adding no real value of their own.

As I've been (slow-)blogging these last few years, I've given a lot of thought to linking, trying to achieve the right balance of interconnectivity with relevance to the piece. Every widely-travelled surfer has seen articles where the author, excuse me, the "content producer" has gone hog wild with links, producing madly distracting sentences with four or five separate words underlined and flight-ready, often just to a word's Wikipedia entry. Gee, thanks, but I can look it up myself if I'm puzzled; kinda gotten the hang of that now.

It never takes long for "link fatigue" to set in with these baubly pages; the writer is expecting you do so much work, not just reading but evaluating every third word to ask if you should follow the pointers to another, another, yet another page.

Then there are the opposite extreme, people who are, let's be blunt, too lazy and "self-preoccupied" (the mildest form of that dis I can come up with,) to make the little extra effort to be sure their borrowings are at least minimally attributed. C'mon, people, it's fun — and you know that if someone were quoting you...

(In this case, I did wind up choosing to link to that index, because it's BusinessWeek's, an established publication where one assumes some editorial effort was involved, and further inspection showed that one of the stories was their own, disguised as a related brand.)

Related, here:
35 posts tagged "giving credit where due"

More Americans Now "Elevating Experiences Over Things"

There's always the instinct to start a new year off deliberately, to take that opportunity to examine the state of the deeper values in your life. (Please bear with us, we're just humoring the staff writer here, let him out to run around the yard a little bit. You know, for the holidays. - Ed.)

So, the theme of this article grabbed my attention, with the additional hook of the setting, Miami, where I lived for many years.

"Quietly but noticeably over the past year, Americans have rejiggered their lives to elevate experiences over things. Because of the Great Recession, a recent New York Times/CBS News poll has found, nearly half of Americans said they were spending less time buying nonessentials, and more than half are spending less money in stores and online.

"But Americans are not just getting by with less. They are also doing more. Some are working longer hours, but a larger proportion... are spending additional time with family and friends, gardening, cooking, reading, watching television and ...other hobbies."

"In Recession, Americans Doing More, Buying Less"
By Damien Cave, NY Times, January 2, 2010

Now, the everyday businessperson might well jump on this as a disastrous idea, almost unpatriotic given the limping state of the economy. The very thought of people buying less, much less saying anything to encourage them, sends shivers down their balance sheets.

But why? When people are active, they buy services, and tools and accessories to do things with. If your focus is on how to profit from this population, open an amazing park of some sort and charge them admission. Sell them backpacks, camping gear, cameras...

What we're trying to steer away from here is stuff, defined as the kind of things you buy because it's fun to buy things, the kind which when you discover them in your closet a short time later, you ask yourself why you ever bought — and can't remember.

George Carlin's "Stuff"

I believe you really can't talk about the issue of Stuff without acknowledging George Carlin's classic take on it. Here's a five minute performance of that bit, unusually non-obscene due to its venue, the nationally televised Comic Relief benefit in 1986. ❤

Now the sequel, "Cash For Caulkers"

An idea that accomplishes several things at once is usually a really good one. The Prez just proposed such a concept this week, which had already been dubbed "Cash For Caulkers." The clunky name, of course, is a follow-up to "cash for clunkers," which either was or wasn't a highly successful program depending on who you read, but certainly succeeded as an instant cliché.

The new program, the idea for which came from both Bill Clinton and John Doerr, the famed Silicon Valley venture capitalist, would reimburse homeowners for weatherization projects: ka-ching. It would therefore put builders and contractors, affected by the recent lack of a housing market, back to work: ka-ching!

And the more homes you make energy efficient, the less fuel is burned to heat them, and the climate gets a little breather. (Imagine this one as a ka-ching heard from a distance; so's the first one, probably.) Save money, help the climate by reducing energy use, create some useful work for under-employed people. Not bad.

"The housing bust has idled contractors and construction workers, who could be put to work insulating homes and caulking air leaks. Many households, meanwhile, would save substantial money — not to mention help the climate — by weatherizing their homes."
A Stimulus That Could Save Money, by David Leonhardt, NY Times

Details to follow from Washington, and we all know the devil's in there (the details, he meant), but on paper it looks like a good place to invest a couple of bil — okay, 23 billion. Some of those details to be considered: in the Times blogpost on the story, a commenter named Henry Challe wrote that homeowners should hire a pro to "conduct a Blower Door Test... to quantify a home's leakage. During the test, the auditor should then use a thermal imaging camera to locate these leaks."

The prospective program also more than fulfills our pressing need to put some of our finest clichés back to work: I've already read that it's a win-win no-brainer picking the low-hanging fruit, etc., and the masters of the obvious have only gotten started on this one. We confidently predict that they will leave no cliché unturned. (Ka-ching!)

Cash for Caulkers could seal $12,000 a home
By Steve Hargreaves, CNNMoney.com

“Cash for Caulkers” Could Deliver $23B for Home Energy Efficiency
- Reuters

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Serious Fun Dept.: The Playpump
Posts tagged Green Tech

An Informative Mind-Twister Involving Oysters

Okay, here's one for you, one of those you-gotta-be-kid'nme type facts, from a story about reseeding New York City's waterways with once-plentiful oysters. These are not intended as delicacies for the table, though, but as prodigious pollution digesters:

"Oysters act as natural water purification systems. 'Think of oysters as the catalytic converter on your car,' Fabian Cousteau, the grandson of Jacques Cousteau, explained. One adult oyster can filter up to 24 gallons of water in a day…"

"You Say Oyster," by Katherine Stirling, Sept. 21, 2009 issue, The New Yorker, in "Talk of the Town"
(Note: The New Yorker doesn't have that article online except with a paid subscription)

Besides being just plumb amazing, this is only one more example of how the big new wave of activity for re-greening our world could best be guided.

There's a great principle of accomplishing anything that states, Work From Your Strengths. It would hard to overestimate all the strengths that nature provides, this stupifyingly deep, rich web of life that is always in motion and regenerating itself, spontaneously growing things that we can eat to live(!), and just coincidentally manufacture oxygen which we need to breathe, and all this without requiring a single btu's worth of energy from our vaunted infrastructure.

Even purebread bottom-liners must understand the appeal of the savings in power and electricity alone when you can harness a system that is self-sustaining. You don't have to buy any fuel for the engine!

Don't get me wrong, I'm on board with the whole human evolution thing, the idea that we've got this brain and imagination and opposable thumbs so we can be creative, and respectfully customize and extend our physical circumstances here. And I love my Mac and my Honda, and all their family forebears.

But, going back to the oysters, have human engineers ever designed and built anything which was both that efficient at a job and completely self-perpetuating, and each over extremely long product lifecycles? Have they instead, in the process of going too far out on a limb (probably mostly due to the incitement of grants or investments, let's say), produced maybe as many horrors as upgrades?

(We do have to keep inventing, of course, because aside from any common speculations about our destiny, there's a rumor going around the scientific community that our planet is slowly losing momentum and being pulled closer to and eventually will be sucked right into the Sun. It's surface temperature is said to be around 6,000 degrees — Celsius. So, let's make sure funding for NASA is in good shape, too, cuz we're gonna need 'em.)

The pocket-guide conclusion: To whatever extent possible,

Work With Nature.

=========
Related, here:
"Where do Great Ideas come from?" (One guess, based on the above...)
Posts tagged appropriate technology

Facebook's Iron Curtain of "customer service"

One irritant about Facebook's management and minions is that they do a really thorough job of remaining behind an electronic Wall Of Invisibility, much like AOL always did.

Need an answer to a question about how Facebook works, or, as in my present case, whether a "change-your-login" email that I'm getting is spam or really from them? Get ready to spend lots and lots of all your free time being steered through pages and pages of other users' answers to anything that resembles your question.

Would it be too much to ask for more authentic Help Center texts written by employees who know the answers to these questions, as opposed to everybody guessing — and their guesses given approval ratings by other guessing users?

Okay, I realize it's free, and I'm sure that's their explanation. But the question here is one that would seem to potentially affect the security of the community at large, since enough "phishers" could cause us to start questioning who's behind any given face on FB, and whether they're trying to turn our computers into nodes on the hacker botnet — no small matter there.

I've been getting this message in my own email, looking every bit the routinely formatted FB type, every day for the last several:

>> SUBJ: New login system
>>
>> Dear Facebook user,
>> In an effort to make your online experience safer and more enjoyable, Facebook will be implementing a new login system that will affect all Facebook users. These changes will offer new features and increased account security.
>> Before you are able to use the new login system, you will be required to update your account.
>> Click here to update your account online now.
>> If you have any questions, reference our New User Guide.
>> Thanks,
>> The Facebook Team

The message looks just like and is FROM the same "@" address as legit 'friending' notices and replies to threads I'm, uh, stitching with. But the link at "Click here" goes to a specific spot at a fishy address, "www.facebook.com.mibbbah.co.uk/", and the genuine-looking "Update" button they helpfully include goes to yet another site across the Pond, "www.facebook.com.fasazae.eu/", etc. And I received no mail or message from within FB about it.

So I just spent way too much time fishing around in FB — at least I think I'm signed in to the real one, he remarked drolly — trying to find some place to read about or report this pretty sophisticated con. But it's a lot like knocking on the door and hearing a voice from inside say, "Nobody's home! Go away."

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Sustainable New(s) York, October 2009

This week, a range of good news on New York State projects and initiatives for renewable energy:

$10 Million Stimulus For NY State Solar Projects
New York's Governor Paterson announced that $10 million in federal stimulus funds are now available for solar energy projects. The grants will be distributed through a competitive statewide solicitation to accelerate the installation of photovoltaic systems.

Separately, this winter the New York Power Authority plans to request bids to develop 100 megawatts of solar generating capacity, increasing New York's solar generating capacity five-fold. The generators would be owned and operated by the developers, with NYPA buying electricity on behalf of customers.

“The statewide interest in developing our solar energy production is proof that New York is fertile ground for the clean energy economy," says the Governor, whose goal is to meet 45 percent of the State’s electricity needs by 2015 with more efficient and renewable energy. It's been estimated that clean energy technologies will create some 50,000 new jobs in New York.

"But That's Not All" — Green Hotels Sprouting
In a third (!) story, the state's Department of Environmental Conservation has launched a program to certify hotels and inns as "green." 43 of them are already signed up to be certified by the Audubon GreenLeaf program, which will award them one to five green leaves based on their performance in saving energy, reducing pollution and waste, and conserving water and other resources. The program joins another one to promote "green restaurants" under the New York State Green Hospitality and Tourism Partnership.

Can we say that the ball has begun to roll in earnest? We'd certainly like to think so.

"NY governor says $10M available for solar projects" — AP, 10/7/9
"New York state launches program to market green lodgings" — AP, 10/8/09

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Posts tagged "Green tech"
Our Sustainability 'Heat' Map of the Hudson Valley

A Pair of Local Green Meet & Greets

I'm interested to see what the mood will be of tomorrow's (9/23) Entrepreneur's Breakfast series. The regular stand-up looks to be a sit-down this time around, the "Community College President's Roundtable on 'Alternative Energy, the impact on our region.'"

Curious about the mood since, while we all remain more hopeful than ever, at this point we're still looking for enough real impact to measure.

This will be moderated by Dr. Arthur Anthonisen, with presentations by Don Perry of the WindPower Initiative and Les Neumann, the Managing Director of The Hudson Valley Center for Innovation, which is the host of the event.

The Center for Innovation holds these breakfast presentation/networking events on a regular basis, now at the seven21 Media Center (map: 721 Broadway, Kingston.) A $15 donation is asked. These sessions always make for a good connector.

‘Green’ real estate development conference, October 28

ScheinMedia, publishers of MetroGreen+Business, is sponsoring a conference this fall on the future of sustainable development in the area. TechCity, the former IBM plant in Ulster town and perennial hope of the area for a hot business-magnet, will host this "Hudson Valley green real estate development conference" on October 28th.

Experts and representatives of green tech businesses will hold a half-day of presentations and panel discussions on residential development, economic development, architecture & design and more. The conference’s goal “is to bring green jobs and responsible development to the Hudson Valley for long-term, sustainable economic growth,” according to Daniel Wieneke, president of TechCity, already the home of The Solar Energy Consortium and other green ventures.

Sponsor MetroGreen+Business is an information website for sustainable business and real estate in the greater metro New York area. Publisher Jonathan Schein writes that they're in the business and holding the conference because "the Hudson Valley is considered to be at the forefront of green sustainability. It has an outstanding job talent pool and offers developers, tenants, and employers many opportunities."

This one'll cost you $145, $120 per in a group. Info at (845) 340-9600, ext. 100.

‘Green’ real estate development conference - ScheinMedia

"TechCity to host ‘green’ development conference" - Daily Freeman
(— which said the conference is on the 29th, btw. We're taking the word of sponsor ScheinMedia's site that it's Wednesday, Oct. 28th.)

Related, here:
Posts tagged "Green tech"

Great Ideas Dept.: Building around Train Stations, 2009

Great to see that someone's put that idea to work of building clusters of residences and stores around existing commuter railroad stations. Yesterday they snipped the ribbon at "'The Highlands at Morristown Station,' New Jersey Transit’s first Transit Oriented Development (TOD)",* a $75 mil, 5 story development with 200 apartments, street-level retail and "amenities."

The Highlands "continues a major multi-phase redevelopment effort underway in Morristown that will ultimately result in some 526 new residences — all within walking distance of the Colonial-era Morristown Green and the Train Station," according to Betsy Kraat's story in Metro Green Business.

Within walking distance! This is one of those quiet-sounding little elements that turn out to be essential for life's optimal functioning. Simply put, a lifestyle that's based on walking around a lot is a healthier one, whether you're going on errands or for a regular (what used to be called) "constitutional."

Then, as with all the built-in systems we inherit from nature, there are a host of interwoven benefits. You burn less gas and put fewer miles on your car when you can walk to get food and take care of things — or here, jump on the train downstairs — so you're both reducing greenhouse gases and saving money.

More savings come on remedies and doctors' prescriptions and all means of tension relief that you need less of, because you're out getting exercise and sunlight and fresh air, and meeting and mingling with your neighbors, too. (Don't get me started on all this!)

(* — re: "TOD," I'm relieved to see that the official acronym was in place for the opening, because in our culture, a project just cannot be taken seriously without its initials, preferably three.)

A Bit of Backstory

I first saw this clever concept in a since-deleted article on Long Island's Newsday in August, 2007, where the Jersey developers may well have gotten the idea, and I wrote about it for Idea Champions Heart Of Innovation blog.

"Building 'Living Space' around Railroad Stations" (Heart of Innovation, 8/21/07)

A student at the New York Institute of Technology, John Patrick Winberry, has come up with a concept with great synergy, that admirable quality of solving more than just the problem at hand.

"More than a place to park your car"
"Imagine that at each major stop along the Long Island Rail Road, communities of housing, dining and shopping were built above existing parking lots. Parking garages would be underneath the new buildings. Given the location, generally within walking distance of an existing shopping area, residents would have little need for a car.

"A railroad station would no longer be a stop along a route, but a destination in itself. Even better, each of these hubs would be connected along the main arteries of the LIRR, ensuring easy accessibility within Long Island without the use of a car. The apartments would attract young professionals wanting easy access to commute to work in Manhattan and a lively community to come home to without having to drive."

(...And in here, Aug. 2007, pointing to there.)

Advice: Beware the First Version of Any E-Thing

A quick bit of technical advice, here, on the occasion Apple's release of the next-gen Mac OS tomorrow. I'm an unabashed Mac lover (though one who duly respects XP, alright?), but here's what a couple of decades in the computer world have taught me: Never Buy The First Version Of Anything.

The software business has long treated the first public release as the last beta version. True, you could test today's complex software forever and still never be sure you'd pressed every button in every possible combination. So they count on the "bleeding edge" types, the ones who pride themselves on having the latest/greatest of every product, to find out what still needs work.

It's therefore unsurprising that The New York Times' estimable David Pogue, in today's column praising the new Mac OS X 10.6 "Snow Leopard" (10.5 was Plain Old Leopard, I guess), nonetheless refers in to "the number of non-Apple programs that 'break' after the installation. I experienced frustrating glitches in various programs, including Microsoft Word, Flip4Mac, Photoshop CS3," and a couple minor apps.

"The compatibility list at snowleopard.wikidot.com lists other programs that may have trouble. Most of these hiccups will go away when software companies update their wares... Let’s hope that Apple hurries up with its inevitable 10.6.0.1 update, too, to address the occasional Safari crash and cosmetic glitch I experienced, too."

Let me hasten to highlight the gist of the column, though, which he summarized as,

"Otherwise, if you’re already running Leopard, paying the $30 for Snow Leopard is a no-brainer. You’ll feel the leap forward in speed (and) polish, and you’ll keep experiencing those 'oh, that’s nice' moments for weeks to come."

State of the Art column, NYT:
Apple’s Sleek Upgrade (8/26/09)

So, like the man says, better to wait for the 10.6.0.1 (or -.2) version. Let the real hardcore geeks unearth the larger bugs and thus get it in shape "for the rest of us."

(Full Disclosure: Mr. Pogue, in an earlier incarnation as a writer/reviewer for MacWorld, had nice things to say about two different manuals I wrote, as he was reviewing the programs they described. So, yeah, I am kinda partial to the guy's opinions, and think he's wicked smart.)

Related, here:
"Endless Vistas... of confusion" (2/4/07)
Posts tagged "tech advice"

Wherein I finally surrender to Facebook

Alright, alright — "Mr. Ross finally turned himself in to cyber-authorities in August, 2009, thus becoming the 487th 'Bill Ross' on Facebook." In the words of one friend — the actual, real-world kind — "Now everyone in the world is on Facebook." (Really? You mean, like, I am the last one in? I guess it wouldn't be the first time...)

It's worth noting that my old buddy, Neil, sent that message literally within three minutes of me signing up; I was still in the process, in fact, and when I first went to my inbox, I already had mail. (Better'n old aol right there, I can see that.)

But at this late date, I feel somewhat obligated to explain where the hell I've been, and what the hell took me so long?

First, it would be more factual to say that I was kidnapped into Facebookland, since my sister Cindy announced to me when I was down there last weekend that, having duly consulted with other very cyber-aware family members, she was signing me up. And it was so.

But credit's equally due my ol' buddy Val Vadeboncoeur, who's become quite the FB operative and connoisseur, and had been hectoring me all winter about getting in. He'd been a holdout for quite some time, but when he finally did sign on it was an exciting revelation for him. So I knew it was just a matter of when.

My resistance was based on a single word: Overextended. I've had a website for most of the last 12 years for my professional pursuits, which I'll sum up as technical marketing writing and Mac/Win tech support and training, which carries my writing samples, reviews, and various tech service pitches.

I started this blog commenting on technological issues in 2006, and post once or twice a month. Lately I've focused on Green tech developments in the Hudson Valley, where I've been living for the last 2 years. (Recently added a custom Google map of same: the Sustainability 'Heat' Map.) Oh, and how about Working, now most often done entirely on the computer, and the always-bigger job of finding work, ditto there.

Then, on the evening/personal pursuits side, I play once a week with a small group of musicians, record it, and post the good tracks on a page (which I keep separate from all the business linkage). As anyone who's worked with sound knows, that involves a goodly amount of ongoing time to listen through, select from and edit those recordings.

And best of all, I've got old-fashioned email and I'm always behind by a couple correspondents. And these aren't usually people that my "friends" are talking to, which could mean anything from my friend's point of view, but people I've chosen at some point to directly engage with.

Let's see, am I forgetting anything? Oh, yeah Real life! The physical world, food, the fresh air and exercise, and people with actual, fleshy faces, etc. 'Body language' is only the most obvious additional channnel available in that medium; these are devices which communicate in far more ways than we are even aware of, or, I'll bet, have yet discovered.


Ah, but that was then; I finally wised up and realized my point was simply that I can't spend any more time online than I do now. So I'm just going to have to appropriate time from something else, and that'll have to be all the news sites that I probably spend way too much time reading. There you go — another win for Reframing The Question.

The clincher was my sister putting it in a way that made sense to me, and that was that right now was a moment when, simply, everybody was on Facebook — and that may not be true a year or whenever from now.

That was the Ah-ha moment for me, having witnessed enough waves of technology wash by in 25+ years to recognize that old, familiar pattern. So I'm in there now, ready to ride.

See you on the wall, then.

Related, here (on that old paradigm):

"Slow-Blogging" 2009

"Twittering on about Facebook, etc."

"Top 10 Social Networking Annoyances"

New Points on Local Green Map, Prism Solar Ribbon Spinoff

Added a few newsy spots to my Sustainability 'Heat' Map of Hudson Valley, explained and windowed-into in the preceding(/following) post.

The biggest news recently was Prism Solar Technologies' announcement Tuesday that they'll receive $3.6 million in federal money to spin off their R&D on a new form of photovoltaic technology in the Hudson Valley. They predict the new company will create 300 jobs over the next three years.

The new flexible solar ribbon cell is highly efficient, lightweight, made with much less waste, and has other unique characteristics, but its flexibility that's the main attraction. That allows countless applications, from the hood of a car to the outside face of a building, from cellphones and laptops to equipment for the U.S. Military, which has shown interest. Congressman Maurice Hinchey announced the grant with Prism Solar CEO Richard Lewandowski.

"Prism Solar gets $3.6 million in federal funds" - Poughkeepsie Journal, Sarah Bradshaw, 8/11/09

"Solar company to create spin-off, create 300 jobs" - Mid-Hudson News

= = =
…And I added these two places to the map:

"Green Living" index, Times Herald Record

The venerable Times Herald Record, published from Middletown, NY and in its modern form at Recordonline.com, covers all things renewable in the region with its page on "Green Living - local coverage of the green revolution." It's a handy spot from which to keep updated on all recent related activity.

Author Joanne Michaels' "Hudson River Valley Farms"

Joanne Michaels' latest book, published July 2009, is "Hudson River Valley Farms - The People and the Pride Behind the Produce." This beautiful book, thanks to the wonderful photography of Rich Pomerantz, is portrait of 44 farms from Westchester to Albany, taking the reader on an amazing journey through the heart of the Hudson Valley. The appendix covers close to 100 farmers' markets in eight counties, including driving directions.

Joanne, the former editor of Hudson Valley Magazine, has published numerous books which draw our attention to the profound beauty of the region, including "The Hudson Valley & Catskill Mountains: An Explorer's Guide," and coauthoring with renowned photographer Hardie Truesdale the stunning "Hudson River Journey" and "Adirondack High."

Joannemichaels.com

Sustainability 'Heat' Map, Hudson Valley NY

Here is the happy result of hearing myself tell someone that I was in the midst of mentally constructing a "heat map" of what's being done in the region to promote sustainable businesses and life. Fortunately, a spark flew: customized Google Maps! I could create my mental map on the freakin' Web, adding one more small node of nutritious info to the area's green network.


View Sustainability 'Heat' Map, Hudson Valley, NY in a larger map

On its own page in Google Maps, of course, you'll see the column on the left listing all the institutions that lie behind the droll icons. (I worked with what they had, which explains why TechCity is represented here by a tent, usually denoting a campground, and utility Central Hudson is left with the campfire. But for Congressman Hinchey, what better symbol than the House?)

This will very much be a work in progress for some time to come, and of course I'd be glad to incorporate related links that are suggested, that I can do some research on, of course. That's because it's really only useful to pass along information that you've qualified somehow, sifting out the low-to-no value stuff, as opposed to those endless lists you find on the net that people seem to have thrown up on the wall with their eyes closed.

Map © 2009 by Bill Ross, Rosswriting.com
but free for use when attributed
and linked to, please.

Related, here:
Posts tagged Green tech
and Appropriate technology