Two Videos walk the talk on global warming June 9, 2009
Posted by Angelo in ASU: Global Institute of Sustainability, Energy & Climate, Visitors & Attendees.Tags: Jared Blumenfeld, Richard Attenborough
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Two videos from different perspectives worth looking at.
The first is by British film-maker Richard Attenborough:
The second is a presentation by Jared Blumenfeld on how a city responds to climate change. Jared is the Director of San Francisco’s Environment Department. He visited the Decision Theater, and also spoke at ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability.
Brainstorming energy and design issues May 20, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Arizona State University, Collaboration, Design, Economy, Education, Energy & Climate, Events, sustainability.Tags: PSI, Think Tank
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So we’re into the second day of the workshop on design-meets-engineering for improving built environments, and the group has moved into the brainstorming mode. I just snuck into the control room and got this picture.
What you see is the collaborative Think Tank exercise, where each participant gets to come up with ideas and solutions –this takes place anonymously as each one interacts with the group via a wireless laptop. The ideas are immediately displayed on one of the seven screens.
Today’s topics are “integrating areas of scholarship discipline with feasibility study” and “energy conservation in the context of the community.”
What’s an MIT class doing at ASU’s Decision Theater? April 24, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Alternative Futures, Arizona State University, Energy & Climate, Events.Tags: Dr. Deirdre Hahn, MIT, Nimue, WaterSim
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We may be embedded in Arizona State University, but those who use this decision-making environment come from the unlikeliest places.
We have had students from China, and mayors from other US cities, and visiting researchers. Last month we had 30 students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
They were from MIT’s Terrascope program (a very impressive freshman program) and spent half a day exploring some of the interactive tools addressing climate policy that ASU students have had access to for years.
The students were shown WaterSim, the interactive water planning and policy tool. They looked at groundwater visualization (a 3D model called Nimue), and as if that much water was not enough, explored the latest version of WaterSim that probes the demand and supply side of water with more granularity.
This was followed by a hands-on use of a brainstorming tool, Think Tank, with Dr. Deirdre Hahn giving them a close-up look at how GIS tools are being applied to sustainable science. They also looked at worst-case scenarios in reference to a planning tool used by water managers.
Scientists discuss how urban environments are effected by climate change April 20, 2009
Posted by decisionlab1 in ASU: Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Energy & Climate.Tags: Climate change, NSF
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There’s an impressive group of scientists who were here on Friday for a meeting on urban vulnerability to climate change.
This included a discussion of weather models, land cover, surface energy and heat-related morbidity. It is part of the ongoing study of Coupled Natural and Human Systems by the National Science Foundation (NSF).
This NSF meeting involved a brainstorming session using Think Tank, a tool we use to help groups look at complex information and arrive at consensus. Also included are presentations on data management and systems & scenario modeling.
Fixing the grid needs a system solution – WIRED March 30, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Energy & Climate, Media.add a comment
This month’s WIRED, carries an indepth article on what it will take for the new administration to fix the grid, and unleash an era of smart energy. Now that more than $40 billion has been allocated to this, infrastructure projects have been getting a lot of attention. And a good dose of Google juice.
The article, Power to the people, makes an strong statement about the complex systems solution that is needed.
But technology alone won’t solve this mess, because fixing the grid is not a technology problem-it’s a system problem on the broadest scale.
Not the job for “a bunch of smart meters and fancy routers.” Wind and solar will play a big part in this 21st century grid, it says.
The seven ways to do this include:
- Generate Electricity Everywhere
- Deliver Clean Energy to Distant Cities
- Store Power in Super Batteries
- Monitor the Electrons in Real Time
- Trade Electricity Like Pork Bellies
- Think Negawatts, Not Megawatts
- Make Conservation Simple (and Easy)
Green infrastructure sandbox gets crowded, fast March 19, 2009
Posted by decisionlab1 in Design, Economy, Energy & Climate, Watchlist.add a comment
It’s interesting to see how fast Green Infrastructure has moved in to be front and center in the national agenda. A Wikipedia entry for it is still considered ’start class’ –meaning it is ‘an article that is developing, but which is quite incomplete and, most notably, lacks adequate reliable sources.’
Of the 787.2 billion Economic Stimulus package, $71 billion is targeted at energy and environmental initiatives; $20 billion is for green tax incentives. Which explains the surge of interest in these areas:
- The EPA has listed a ‘catalog of training opportunities‘
- IBM is getting into the infrastructure sandbox, intending to offer services to include water, traffic and power grids even health care and finance.
- NPR reported that every $1 billion the federal government commits to roads, bridges etc helps to support some 35,000 jobs.
- NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is holding a 3-day course in June to teach students how to apply GIS tools, methodologies, and analyses using a Green Infrastructure’ approach
- AT&T is partnering with SmartSync, to provide smart metering
- The Department of Energy’s web site has a section devoted to Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy. It lists financial opportunities for business, industry, and universities, inventors, states and tribes…
Whether you call it green infrastructure or clean tech there is plenty of design and planning at stake. Before any solar, hydo-thermal or transportation system is put into place, cities and counties need expertise to plan and manage these projects. We’ve got plenty of it here at ASU and the Decision Theater.
Carbon-neutral Phoenix March 13, 2009
Posted by Angelo in ASU: Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, Collaboration, Energy & Climate, Urban Growth.Tags: carbon neutral, green neighborhoods, Phil Gordon, solar
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In yesterday’s Arizona Republic, the big story about the mayor’s strategy to position Phoenix as a carbon-neutral city, pointed to 17-point plan. While it has been described as ambitious and quite a reach, the groundwork has been laid here. Some areas resonate closely with the work that goes on here at the Decision Theater.
The 17 points of the plan are:
- Greener Neighborhoods
- Solar City
- Urban Mobility
- Green Homes & Green Businesses
- Desert Hydroscaping
- Making Public Buildings LEED Certified
- Greening Central City
- Discovery Triangle Smartscape
- Renewable Energy
- Energy Efficient City Lighting
- Hometown Agriculture
- Developing Canalscapes
- Beyond Sustainable Schools
- Phoenix Regional Desalination Plant
- Transportation & Information Communication Technology
- Urban Riparian Waterways Rehab
- Sustainable Phoenix
Estimating water use in golf courses, agriculture, and… lattes? March 11, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Energy & Climate, Water, sustainability.add a comment
What’s in your latte?
When we present the water-climate model and talk about demand and supply of water, the usual suspects come into play: agriculture, swimming pools, car washes, golf courses etc. While it is easy and important to pay attention to these economic factors that account for thousands of gallons of water, we seldom pay attention to the little things. Like the water that goes into delivering a cup of coffee.
So this short, thought-provoking video makes us look at the embedded financial value that we take for granted or ignore. The end product seldom reflects the ‘links in the chain of unusual connections we would never have imagine.’ It was created by the World Wildlife Fund.
New Podast on ‘Solar Economy’ March 3, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Alternative Futures, Arizona State University, Economy, Energy & Climate.Tags: Arizona, clean technology, George Basile, solar
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In keeping with the goals of Lightbulb Moments, to give you an inside look at the thinking behind decision-making, we have launched podcasts on the same theme. These short podcasts –no longer than 8 minutes– capture the energy and ideas going on here.
This one is a look at the ‘Solar Economy, with Dr. George Basile speaking of the relevance and timing of a new set of decisions for Arizona. Click here to listen to the podcast.
Find more podcasts by clicking on the MEDIA tab of this blog.
Building maps, finding connections March 1, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Arizona State University, Collaboration, Energy & Climate, Events, Networking, Visualization.1 comment so far
As any geographer will tell you, mapping is a rich territory, cross-cutting many other sciences not just for showing where things are, but revealing vital connections.
At the Decision Theater, we draw on interactive maps for many of our projects. Geo-spatial mapping sheds light on growth and expansion issues. We used a mapping tool just last week for the pandemic ‘flu exercise, to give participants a sense of what a disease spread would look like on a city-by-city basis.
But mapping can be put to a variety of uses. Arizona State University was just selected to conduct a different type of mapping, selected as one of seven universities to receive a Minerva award for a research project titled “Finding Allies for the War of Words: Mapping the Diffusion and Influence of Counter-Radical Muslim Discourse.” And the Mars space program at ASU has several ways of mapping the surface of the planet, as the image above shows. Check them out!
A few other good maps:
- FEMA maps areas in every state and US territories that are at risk of flooding
- USGS maps geographic boundaries and transportation networks
- NOAA maps flood risk
- BBC has a good interactive map of bird flu spread and human mortality
