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.”
Greater Phoenix economic summit in progress May 12, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Collaboration, Economy, Media, sustainability.Tags: Barry Broome, Elliott Pollack, GPEC, Michael Bidwell
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An economic summit, convened by the Greater Phoenix Economic Commission is happening this morning at the Decision Theater.
Topics include job gains, wealth creation and personal income, growth, tax policy and looking at the competitiveness of Phoenix, with questions being posed online.
The speakers are:
- Michael Bidwell, chairman GPEC
- Tom Rex, Associate Director, Center for Competitiveness and prosperity Research at the W. P. Carey School of Business
- Elliott Pollack, CEO Elliott D. Pollack and Co
- Barry Broome, president/CEO of GPEC
Watch a live feed here from a dedicated site that includes a way to ask questions and vote on issues being raised.
Emergency planning – a work in progress April 28, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Arizona State University, Education, Emergency Preparedness, Public Health, pandemic, sustainability.Tags: decision-lab, pandemic exercise, TechNewsArizona
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In a recent interview with TechNews Arizona, Dr. Tim Lant, research director for Decision Theater who runs emergency planning exercises here at the Decision Theater had this to say.
“You have to be ready to practice. You can’t just pick up a piano and play a concerto. You have to begin with your scales and work up to it.”
By the way, it was a well written story by David Brown.
The key point was about the need to work up to it. He talked about Decision Theater as a laboratory where people prepare for emergencies and hone their decision-making skills so mistakes can be fixed before real decision are needed.
That’s the kind of perspective I try to give anyone who looks to us as ‘experts’ in this field, considering we have hosted three pandemic flu planning exercises.
Emergency planing is, as always a work in progress. Not a document you complete and stuff away in the top drawer. As we had seen during the last exercise, the different school districts has plans. But when put through the exercise, they needed to revisit those plans since things looked different when facing a prepared for (but unknown) set of events, especially when looking to execute those plans with other stakeholders in the room.
Dr. Lant put it in a different way when speaking to a reporter today. Any decision you make involves a trade-off, he said. In this situation we are in, allowing people to interact with each other means there will be a chance for the flu virus to spread. But allowing people to travel, go to work and go about their business also means the economy will keep running. You need to ask those questions and face those what-if scenarios on an ongoing basis so that you can make your emergency plan work when it is needed most.
Keyword for Earth Day: Sustainability April 22, 2009
Posted by decisionlab1 in ASU: Global Institute of Sustainability, sustainability.Tags: Jon Fink, KJZZ, Paul Atkinson
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Good story today on KJZZ as it begins to feature a series of pieces on Sustainability to commemorate Earth Day. Jon Fink, spoke to Paul Atkinson about how the recession has tended to distract some from sustainable initiatives, but many companies realize that it makes economic sense.
As a decision lab, all our work involves sustainable business practices. Naturally we get asked this often, so here are a few definitions of sustainability. Take your pick!
- US Environmental Protect Agency – definition
- Wikipedia - definition
- Merriam-Webster – definition
- Sustainability as defined by students – ASU
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.
Decision Theater featured in Phoenix Business Journal February 13, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Collaboration, Media, sustainability.add a comment
We’re happy to be featured in the Phoenix Business Journal today.
The story, tells of how the Decision Theater, that came into being in 2005, now has the technological and intellectual muscle to take on some of the big challenges faced by businesses and government agencies today.
The processes for addressing big systemic issues are not ‘trapped’ in the building. Meaning, these could be applied anywhere.
We’re not just helping solve the problems of a desert state, or challenges that are specific to the South West, but the bigger issues of growth, energy and resilience that every city is now facing.
Two ways of promoting the smart grid February 10, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Design, Energy & Climate, sustainability.Tags: ecomagination, GE, scarecrow
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In an attempt to own the term ’smart grid’ GE has added an interactive grid to its ‘eco-magination’ microsite that lets people look at the different dimensions of energy.
As microsites go it’s a neat way to describe the implications of demand and supply in the smart grid –seen as a three-dimensional concept of alternative energy, meters and emissions.
But GE also took to running a more expensive message during the Super Bowl. The 30-second ‘Scarecrow’ commercial uses the well known scarecrow from the Wizard of Oz.
GE folks say that the concept of the Smart Grid technology is so complex, it needed to be boiled down to the basic: “Our energy grid needs to be updated, and GE has the technology to modernize it.” I do not buy that advertising argument –which is another way of defending why we dumb things down all the time. Of course, when forcing a message through an advertising funnel like the Super Bowl, that has some validity. But dumbing down the smart grid?
In a related news item, Google today announced that it is also diving into the smart grid business.
National teach-in webcast on today February 5, 2009
Posted by Angelo in ASU: Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University, sustainability.add a comment
The first 100 days of the new president is being taken very seriously and looked at from different perspectives.
From a decision-making perspective, the country is turning up the heat on its leaders to put into place policy that address issues such as climate change.
To coincide with The First 100 Days, a national event today, Global Institute of Sustainability at ASU, and its School of Sustainability are holding a day-long program., joining the national teach-in.
Watch the webcast here.
Holograms that cut carbon footprint: tool or distraction? January 21, 2009
Posted by Angelo in Energy & Climate, Global, Visualization, sustainability.Tags: MAdsar, Prince Charles, UAE
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The age of holograms is here. We saw a hint of this during the coverage of the US elections. Now it’s being applied to mainstream events, like the ‘appearance’ of Prince Charles at the World Future Energy Summit at Madsar in Abu Dhabi this week.
Dubbed ‘his royal hologram’ the prince decided not to fly to the Middle East after criticism last year about his carbon footprint.
But here’s my question. Do technologies like this serve to highlight the value of carbon reduction, or do they serve as a distraction? Something that gets used not really because they eliminate travel, but because of the cool factor?
There is a precedent here. Not too long ago many wondered about how SecondLife would make it somewhat unnecessary to travel too. Why spend the time and energy on travel, we were told, when we could ‘fly’ there and mingle in a virtual world?
Carbon, water, biodiversity on top of national agenda January 16, 2009
Posted by Angelo in ASU: Global Institute of Sustainability, Energy & Climate, Events, sustainability.add a comment
At yesterday’s poster exhibition (on Urban Ecology and Global change) by the Global Institute of Sustainability, there was no shortage of carbon and climate change work, with references to ‘carbon budgets’ and carbon dynamics.
How carbon, water, bio-diversity policies could be embedded into our operating environment has been extensively written about and published by ASU researchers here, here, and here.
Next week, at the World Future Energy Summit at Abu Dhabi, Carbon Management will be one of the themes dealing with areas such as CCS – Carbon Capture and Storage etc.
All this, while the new Obama administration is being sworn in and is poised to implement some of the energy and water policies that have been talked about since 2007.
