[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events
George Mokray
gmoke at world.std.com
Fri Nov 25 19:44:23 PST 2011
Energy (and Other) Events is a weekly mailing list published most
Sundays covering events around the Cambridge, MA and greater Boston
area that catch the editor's eye.
Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events
email gmoke at world.std.com
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Occupy: History and International Examples to Learn From
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/11/25/1039885/-Occupy:-History-and-International-Examples-to-Learn-From
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Webinar: Start-Up Thinking: How Systems Thinking Helps Entrepreneurial
Ventures Start, Grow, and Mature
Monday, November 28, 2011
12:00p–1:00p
Location: Virtual - registration at http://sdm.mit.edu/news/news_articles/webinar_112811/webinar-grama-entrepreneurial-ventures.html
Speaker: Sorin Grama, Founder and CEO, Promethean Power Systems; SDM
Alumnus Sam White, Founder and Vice President for Business
Development, Promethean Power Systems
MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series
The MIT System Design and Management Program Systems Thinking Webinar
Series features research conducted by SDM faculty, alumni, students,
and industry partners. The series is designed to disseminate
information on how to employ systems thinking to address engineering,
management, and socio-political components of complex challenges.
Soon after a business plan is hatched and long before manufacturing
ramps up, start-ups begin to apply systems design principles to create
their breakthrough products. It turns out that systems engineering, an
art developed and perfected in large organizations, applies just as
well to small entrepreneurial ventures. What can start-ups learn from
the likes of Ford and Boeing? Sorin Grama and Sam White, who launched
Promethean Power Systems just after Grama graduated from SDM, will
discuss how systems thinking shaped their start-up journey and helped
them address social challenges while developing their first product.
Website: http://sdm.mit.edu/news/news_articles/webinar_112811/webinar-grama-entrepreneurial-ventures.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Engineering Systems Division, MIT System Design and
Management (SDM) Program
For more information, contact:
Lois Slavin
617-253-0812
lslavin at mit.edu
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"Recent Developments in Shale Gas: Observations from the Vantage Point
of Two New Studies (National Petroleum Council and the Secretary of
Energy Advisory Board)"
November 28, 2011
12 pm
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
Energy Technology Innovation Policy/ Consortium for Energy Policy
Research
Energy Policy Seminar Series: Sue Tierney, Analysis Group, speaker
Lunch will be provided.
Contact Name: Louisa Lund louisa_lund at hks.harvard.edu
-------------------------------
"The role of environmental gradients and food web interactions in fish
diversification" with
November 28, 2011
12 pm - 1 pm
MCZ 101 Seminar Room, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Travis Ingram, Postdoctoral Researcher, Herpetology, Losos Lab
Feel free to bring your lunch! Beverages and snacks will be provided.
Contact Name: Catherine Weisel cweisel at oeb.harvard.edu (617) 495-2460
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Data is Power, or Is It? Mobilizing the Ethical Consumer
WHEN Mon., Nov. 28, 2011, 4:10 – 5:30 p.m.
WHERE 124 Mt. Auburn Street, Suite 200-North
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Business, Classes/Workshops, Ethics, Lecture,
Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Ash Center for Democratic Governance and
Innovation, Harvard Kennedy School
Co-spnsored by the Transparency Policy Project and the Mossavar-
Rahmani Center for Business and Government
SPEAKER(S) Dara O’Rourke, University of California, Berkeley
COST Free
CONTACT INFO Bruce Jackan: bruce_jackan at hks.harvard.edu, 617.495.1948
NOTE By simply downloading an app, consumers can access
environmental, social,and health impacts of more than 140,000
products. What does this mean for market interactions? What are the
implications for governance of global supply chains? GoodGuide co-
founder Dara O’Rourke will discuss the promise and peril of pushing
the envelope in a new age of transparency.
LINK http://ash.harvard.edu/Home/News-Events/Events/Data-is-Power-or-Is-It-Mobilizing-the-Ethical-Consumer
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20 Questions with Chris Hedges on "The Death of the Liberal Class"
WHEN Mon., Nov. 28, 2011, 6 p.m.
WHERE Yenching Auditorium, 2 Divinity Ave.
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special
Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR The Mahindra Humanities Center at Harvard
SPEAKER(S) Featured speaker: Chris Hedges
Moderated by: Homi Bhabha
Questioners: Nancy Cott, Jim Engell, Steven Hyman, Jill Lepore, and
Richard Thomas
CONTACT INFO 617.495.0738, humcentr at fas.harvard.edu
LINK http://mahindrahumanities.fas.harvard.edu/
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Fiddle Folklorist Alan Jabour Gives Lec-Dem of Appalachian Style
Monday, November 28, 2011
7:30p–9:00p
MIT, Killian Hall
Speaker: Alan Jabbour
"Folk Music of the British Isles & North America" invite scholar and
fiddle folklorist Alan Jabbour to present a lec-dem of his Appalachian
style
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Literature Section
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Nerd Night Boston
Monday November 28, 2011
8pm
Middlesex Lounge, 315 Mass Ave, Cambridge
In Central Square
$5
Featuring Nerd-appropriate tunes by Claude Money
Talk 1. “On the vices and joys of machining at home: Blue collar
aspirations of white collar men.”
by Tom Trikalinos
Talk 2. “What Art Can Tell Us About the Brain”
by Brandon Moore
Contact http://boston.nerdnite.com/
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DARPA Talk
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building E15-070, E15-070 (Bartos Theater)
Speakers: Dr. Regina Dugan & Dr. Ken Gabriel
MIT Political Science Distinguished Speaker Series welcomes Dr. Regina
Dugan & Dr. Ken Gabriel of DARPA. Formed in 1958 after the Sputnik
launch, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has a
singular mission: to prevent and create strategic surprise. The
principal agency within the Department of Defense (DoD) for research,
development and demonstration of high-risk, high-payoff capabilities,
DARPA has persisted as a critical-mass collection of some of the best
and brightest technical visionaries for the DoD and the Nation for
more than 50 years. "Throughout its history, DARPA has had
achievements ranging from the Internet to stealth, from GPS to MEMS,
from rockets to the M-16 rifle, and from crowd sourced vehicles to
plant-derived vaccines." Today, DARPA is tackling some of the most
pressing and vexing challenges facing the DoD.
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/polisci/news/dss.dugan.shtml
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Political Science Department, SHASS Dean's Office, PIE
(Production in the Innovation Economy)
For more information, contact:
Adriane Cesa
617-253-6194
acesa at mit.edu
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OpenCourt: Transparency in the Court
Tuesday, November 29, 12:30 pm
Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2011/11/opencourt#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast
at 12:30 pm ET and archived on our site shortly after.
OpenCourt aims to create a model for judicial transparency in the U.S
as envisioned by our Founders. This Knight News Challenge pilot
project streams live daily coverage and posts it onto the Internet
daily. The inherent tension in this project is between the First and
Sixth Amendments -- the press’ right to free speech and citizens’
rights to a fair trial.
Our streaming and archive videos represent a firehose of information.
How do we increase the value of this raw footage -- by helping people
use it, by contextualizing the content and meta-data such as subject
tags to better organize and increase access to the information gathered.
Other challenges we face are how to scale up beyond a single courtroom
and how to make the project sustainable.
John Davidow, Executive Producer
John Davidow was named WBUR’s executive editor of new media in July of
2009, where he has overseen the growth of the award-winning wbur.org.
John joined WBUR as news director/managing editor in 2003 after
spending more than two decades as a journalist in Boston. John’s work
has been recognized with national and regional awards from the Radio
Television Digital News Association, the Associated Press and UPI. He
has also been the recipient of a number of regional Emmy Awards.
Davidow graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor’s in economics.
Joe Spurr, Director
Joe Spurr is a multimedia journalist and a web developer. Before
coming to WBUR, he was the staff web developer for San Diego’s NPR
station, which he helped completely overhaul in 2009. He pioneered the
station’s adoption of Twitter and Google “My Maps” which culminated
during the 2007 California wildfires, built layered, interactive maps
to help track the drug-related murder surge in Tijuana, and produced
in a roving, three-person skeleton crew from the DNC and RNC in 2008.
Joe is a Boston native, a graduate of Northeastern University, and a
former freelance reporter at the Boston Globe.
Val Wang, Producer
Val Wang is an experienced writer and multimedia producer who has
worked for Reuters Television, NBC News, and UNICEF in both New York
and Beijing. She has also developed and produced documentaries airing
on PBS, National Geographic Channel, and The History Channel. Val
graduated from Williams College and has an MA from the Writing
Seminars of The Johns Hopkins University. A recent transplant to
Boston, she is excited to get an in-depth look into a unique corner of
the city as well as into our nation’s judicial system.
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Energy-efficient Wireless Sensors: Fewer Bits, Moore MEMS
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 34-101
Speaker: Fred Chen MTL Doctoral Dissertation Seminar: Ph.D, MIT
MTL Seminar Series
Refreshments at 3:30 p.m.
Most technical challenges surrounding wireless sensor networks can be
linked to the energy constraints of each sensor node, where wireless
communication and leakage energy are the dominant components of active
and idle energy costs. To address these two limitations, compressed
sensing (CS) theory is presented as a generic source coding framework
that can minimize the transmitted data while micro-electro-mechanical
(MEM) relay technology is proposed to eliminate the leakage.
The practicality of adopting CS under finite resources, input noise,
and wireless channel constraints is examined. We show that CS, despite
being a lossy compression algorithm, can realize compression factors
greater than 10X with no loss in fidelity for sparse signals quantized
to medium resolutions. A 90nm CMOS test chip, consuming 1.9 ??W for
frequencies below 20 kHz, demonstrates an efficient hardware encoder
design that enables continuous, on-the-fly compression of EEG and EKG
signals.
To address sub-threshold leakage, we develop design methodologies
towards leveraging the zero leakage characteristics of MEM relays
while overcoming their slower switching speeds. Scaled relay circuits
show the potential for >10X improvements in energy efficiency over
CMOS, while early experimental results demonstrate the functionality
of several circuit building blocks to validate the viability of the
technology.
Web site: http://www-mtl.mit.edu/seminars/fall2011.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Microsystems Technology Laboratories
For more information, contact:
Valerie Dinardo
253-9328
valeried at mit.edu
-----------------------------
Energy Storage for Renewable Generation
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
4:00 PM (reception following)
MIT, Stata Center, Room 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Abas El Gamal, Stanford
Abstract: The high variability of renewable energy resources
(especially wind) presents significant challenges to the operation of
the electric power grid. This variability can be mitigated
architecturally via spatial averaging and renewable resource diversity
(wind + solar), and operationally using conventional generators,
demand response, and energy storage. My talk will focus only energy
storage and conventional generation. First, I will formulate the
single-bus power flow with storage as an infinite horizon stochastic
optimization problem with the net renewable generation as input and
conventional generation and storage as control variables. I will show
that greedy policies are optimal for average conventional generation
(environmental penalty) and average loss of load probability cost
functions. I will then argue that the error of the short term
prediction of net renewable generation can be modeled as an IID
process, and formulate a residual power flow problem as an infinite
horizon average-cost dynamic program with the net generation error as
input and fast-ramping generation (gas turbines) and fast-response
storage (EV batteries) as control variables. Under this model, the
asymptotic benefits of fast-response storage can be quantified. With
the additional assumption of Laplace distributed net generation error,
closed form expressions for the stationary distribution of storage and
fast-ramping generation can be obtained. I will then propose a two-
threshold policy that trades off fast-ramping generation with loss of
load. Finally, I show that our results and the Laplacian assumption
corroborate well with simulations using wind power generation data
from NREL.
This talk is based on joint work with Han-I Su.
Biography: Abbas El Gamal is the Hitachi America Professor in the
School of Engineering and the Director of the Information Systems Lab
in the department of electrical engineering at Stanford University.
His research contributions have spanned network information theory,
Field Programmable Gate Array, and digital imaging devices and
systems. He has authored or coauthored over 200 papers and holds 30
patents in these areas. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and has received
several honors and awards for his research contributions, most
recently the 2012 Claude E. Shannon Award.
----------------------------
Large Scale Banking for the Poor
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
4:00p–6:00p
MIT, Building Wong Auditorium-E51
Stratton Lecture on Critical Issues
About 70 percent of the world's people live in informal economies that
require financing-from working capital to tools, equipment, and labor.
But historically most low income people have been left out of the
banking system. Instead they pay usury rates to moneylenders or stash
money around their houses.
Major advances over the last decade have vastly improved knowledge of
the lives and financial needs of poor people and addressed them
through enhanced environments for commercial microfinance and better
delivery of loans, savings, insurance, and payments. Breakthroughs in
technology enable wider outreach, faster service, and improved
security. Countries with demonstrated successes with millions of
microfinance clients include Bangladesh, Bolivia, Cambodia, Kenya,
Indonesia, Mexico, Mongolia, Peru, and South Africa.
Commercial microfinance for the poor is a critical issue because it is
the only possible route to long-term global financial inclusion. Three
distinguished speakers will discuss obstacles and opportunities that
lie ahead. These speakers are Marguerite S. Robinson, advisor to
governments, banks, an donors on commercial microfinance policy and
issues; Michael Chu, Harvard Business School senior lecturer; and
Robert Peck Christen, president of the Boulder Institute of
Microfinance.
Web site:http://web.mit.edu/womensleague/images/LargeScaleBanking2.pdf
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Women's League
For more information, contact:
Sis de Bordenave
617-253-3656
wleague at mit.edu
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Science and Democracy Lecture: "Investigating with a Camera"
November 29, 2011
5 pm
Harvard, Piper Auditorium, Gund Hall, 48 Quincy St, Cambridge
Science and Democracy, a lecture series aimed at exploring both the
promised benefits or our era's most salient scientific and
technological breakthroughs and the potentially harmful consequences
of developments that are inadequately understood, debated, or managed
by politicians, lay publics, and policy institutions.
"Investigating with a Camera"
Errol Morris, Academy Award-winning Filmmaker and Author
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts
-----------------------------------
Tech Tuesday: Meet the Rockstar Developers of Massachusetts
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
5:30 PM to 9:00 PM (ET)
MicroSoft NERD Center, 1 Memorial Dr, Cambridge, MA
MassTLC is hosting the region's colleges and universities for a night
of networking and pizza with the area's hottest developers!
Registration Opens at 5:30pm. The event will start at 6:00pm sharp!
Register at http://1129techtuesday-esearch.eventbrite.com/?srnk=13
Moderator: Vinit Nijhawan, Managing Director, Technology Development
Office and Lecturer School of Management & Director Enterprise
Programs, ITEC, Boston University
Panelists:
Walt Doyle, CEO, WHERE
Eran Egozy, Founder, Harmonix Music Systems
Dharmesh Shah, Co-Founder, HubSpot
Jeremy Wertheimer, Founder, ITA Software by Google
We’re kicking off this unique night with a group of powerhouse
developers who have successfully built companies and cool technologies
that have powered a generation. We’ll discover the decisions that
influenced the trajectory of their careers, from an idea through
development, implementation and success. They’ll share their insights
on triumphing and the lessons they learned along the way.
Next, developers from some of the region’s hottest companies will give
a 20 second shout out on the cool technologies they’re working on and
why you should learn more. Students will then get a chance to network
with the developers and visit their demos.
This is a must attend event for students and developers looking to
connect with amazing technology companies in Massachusetts – from
start-ups to well established enterprise – the opportunities for
students in Massachusetts are endless!
Did we mention give aways? We will be giving away two $150 AMEX
giftcards to students only! Details to come
--------------------------
Energiewende: German Angst or Bold Step Ahead?
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
5:30p–6:30p
MIT, Building 66-110
Speaker: Joschka Fischer, Principal, Joschka Fischer and Company;
Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany, 1998-2005
The imperative to decouple growth from emissions must be shared by the
developing and developed world alike if we are to avoid the worst
consequences of climate change. This will require the installation of
a new economic model across the globe. To this end, energy efficiency,
sustainability, greenhouse gas emissions reduction, and energy
security will be the keys to avoid a global crisis for the world
climate.
Germany is a highly industrialized country and with its recent
decision to eliminate nuclear energy, it has the potential to become a
model for how a carbon-free economy without nuclear power can prosper.
However, the political environment in Germany means it has passed a
"point of no return" - nuclear energy will be completely phased out in
2022 while Germany vows to continue to honor its greenhouse gas
emissions reductions commitments. For Germany, there is no way back to
the energy sources of the 20th Century.
Today, the country faces uncertainty regarding how exactly it will
meet its energy needs while facing self-imposed nuclear and emissions
constraints. But by creating a "sink or swim" situation, Germany will
be forced to innovate and lead. In doing so, Germany seeks to create a
huge opportunity for companies and technologies that will help it to
master this ambitious energy transformation, or "Energiewende".
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/mitei/news/seminars/fischer.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
For more information, contact:
Jameson Twomey
617-324-2408
jtwomey at mit.edu
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Harvard Energy Innovation Showcase
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
6:00pm - 7:30pm
Harvard Hall 201, 12 Harvard Yard, Cambridge
Harvard Energy Innovation Showcase
Come hear Harvard's leading energy innovators present their cutting-
edge clean energy research and perspectives on commercializing
innovation.
Featuring:
Daniel Schrag, Professor of Geology, Professor of Environmental
Science and Engineering, Director of the Harvard University Center for
the Environment, Senior Advisor on President Obama's Council of
Advisors on Science and Technology
Eric Mazur, Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, Co-Founder of
Black Silicon Company SiOnyx
Michael Aziz, Professor of Materials and Energy Technologies
Michael B. McElroy, Professor of Environmental Studies
Please register at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dC1RZTNKNnk4bEg4UXFZWU8tWEd5RUE6MQ
Pizza will be provided.
Presented by the Harvard College Global Energy Initiative, the HBS
Energy and Environment Club, theEnvironmental Action Committee, and
the Graduate School of Design Green Design Club
----------------------------
Life in the Universe: Finding Intelligence
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
6:00p–7:30p
MIT, Building N51, MIT Museum
Speaker: Paul Horowitz, Richard Wrangham
Are We Alone? That question has perplexed humanity for centuries.
Perhaps scientists are getting closer to the answer; come find out
during four evenings of discussion as biologists, astronomers,
geologists, chemists and anthropologists talk and share their insights
with you as they explain some of their latest research about life on
other planets, as well as on our own.
Part 4 of 4: Finding Intelligence
Mind matters. Harvard researchers Paul Horowitz, Professor of Physics
and Electrical Engineering, and Richard Wrangham, Ruth Moore Professor
of Biological Anthropology, lead the final conversation of the series,
discussing the nature of intelligence and how we go about detecting
it--on Earth, and elsewhere in the universe. What does it take for
animals to evolve intelligence, and how common is this event in the
universe?
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/museum/programs/calendar.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): MIT Museum
For more information, contact:
Josie Patterson
617-253-5927
museuminfo at mit.edu
---------------------------------
WHAT'S IN YOUR STUFF? How today’s technology is helping consumers
choose products for a better world.
Networking Reception begins at 6:30pm. Drinks will be served
Speakers begin at 7pm
Microsoft NERD Center, 1 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA
Register at https://www.eventbrite.com/register?orderid=60381245932&ebtv=F&eid=2511610294&client_token=noqueue
Come join a conversation hosted by Cone Communications about
transparency and consumer choice. We will be joined by Dara O’Rourke,
founder of the GOOD GUIDE; Theo Forbath, the VP of Innovation Strategy
at Frog Design; Julie Wittes Schlack, SVP of Innovation and Design at
Communispace; and Beth Holzman, Manager of CSR Strategy and Reporting
at Timberland. The event promises to be an engaging and interesting
opportunity to learn about and contribute to new ideas in
transparency, technology and consumer demand!
Dara O’Rourke, a former MIT professor and successful social
entrepreneur, has worked with leading companies and organizations -
from Nike to the World Bank to Target - on supply chain issues and
transparency. Dara’s latest venture is the Good Guide, a website and
iPhone app that provides consumers with real-time ratings of a
product’s health, social and environmental impacts.
Check out the Good Guide: www.goodguide.com
Check out Cone's Cause and CR blog: http://www.coneinc.com/whatdoyoustandfor
Twitter: @ConeLLC #whatsinyourstuff
Latest Cone/Echo Global CR Opportunity Study: http://www.coneinc.com/globalCRstudy
There is no charge for this event.
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Noam Chomsky: Democracy in America and Abroad
Tuesday, November 29, 2011, 7:00 pm
Tufts University, Cabot Intercultural Center, ASEAN Auditorium, 160
Packard Avenue, Medford
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The Street Just Out of Sight
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Building 6-120
Speaker: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Ta-Nehisi Coates, a senior editor at The Atlantic, memoirist, blogger,
and about-to-be historical novelist has created a body of work that
examines America, past and present. He covers culture, politics and
social issues from within the knowledge that ours is not a post racial
community. Coates will read from his first novel, set before, during
and after the Civil War, told through a series of voices those of
slaves and former slaves, of slave owners, and more.
From there, he will speak about how creating those voices led him to
think about the idea of the writer's voice and what it takes to create
stories that are not just read, but remembered.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies
For more information, contact:
Shinika Spencer
617-253-4741
www-humanistic at mit.edu
-------------------------------
Harvard Fall Freecycle
Wednesday, Nov.30th, 2011
9am-10:30am: drop off items
11am-2pm: browse, take and celebrate
Harvard, Maxwell Dworkin, 1st Fl. Lobby, 33 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Freecycle is back! Don’t trash your office leftovers, freecycle them!
File folders, cabinets, printers/cartridges, books, lamps and other
office supplies. Please, NO: TVs, computers, large electronics, or
large furniture. Save big items for Craigslist, the ReuseList or Harvie.
Please bring items to donate on the day of the event (9-10.30am). All
leftover items will be donated to local charities.
-------------------------------
"From Democratic Consensus to Cannibalistic Hordes: The Principles of
Collective Behavior"
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
11:00am - 12:00pm
Harvard, BioLabs Main Lecture Hall, 16 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Iain Couzin, Princeton University
Hosted by: Olveczky and Pierce Labs
--------------------------------
Photonic Quantum Control from Simulation to New Architectures for
Quantum Computers
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 36-428
Optics & Quantum Electronics Seminar Series
Speaker: Prof. Philip Walther, University of Vienna
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Optics, EECS/RLE
For more information, contact:
Donna Gale
253-8529
dgale at mit.edu
--------------------------------
“Winning the Clean Energy Race”: Dr. Steven Chu, U.S. Secretary of
Energy
Wednesday, November 30, 12:00-1:00pm
Morss Hall, Walker Memorial
Registration: www.mitenergyclub.org
Lunch will be served following Secretary Chu's remarks.
The MIT Energy Club and MIT Energy Initiative are pleased to welcome
U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu to MIT who will be giving an
address on November 30, 2011 from 12:00pm to 1:00pm EST on "Winning
the Clean Energy Race."
Registration is now open at www.mitenergyclub.org and we highly
encourage you register as soon as possible to guarantee a spot. The
event is open to all MIT personnel, student and faculty from other
neighboring universities, professionals, and other members of the
community.
Speaker Biography
As United States Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu is charged with
helping implement President Obama's ambitious agenda to invest in
clean energy, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, address the global
climate crisis, and create millions of new jobs.
Dr. Chu is a distinguished scientist and co-winner of the Nobel Prize
for Physics (1997). He has devoted his recent scientific career to the
search for new solutions to our energy challenges and stopping global
climate change - a mission he continues with even greater urgency as
Secretary of Energy.
Prior to his appointment, Dr. Chu was the Director of the Department
of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, where he led the lab in
pursuit of alternative and renewable energy technologies. He also
taught at the University of California as a Professor of Physics and
Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology. Previously, he held positions
at Stanford University and AT&T Bell Laboratories.
--------------------------------
Beyond Conventional Climate Sensitivity: Mechanisms of Pliocene Warmth
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 54-918
EAPS Department Lecture Series talk
Speaker: Professor Alexey Fedorov, Dept. of Geology and Geophysics,
Yale University
Web site: http://eapsweb.mit.edu/news/dls.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: $0.00
Sponsor(s): Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences (EAPS)
For more information, contact:
Jacqui Taylor
617-253-2127
jtaylor at mit.edu
-------------------------------
The effects of microstructure on transport and chemistry within porous
composite electrodes for fuel cells and batteries
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
4:15p–5:15p
MIT, Building 4-159
Center for Energy and Propulsion Research - Reacting Gas Dynamics
Seminar
Speaker: Prof. Robert J. Kee, Mechanical Engineering Department,
Colorado School of Mines
SPEAKER BIO:
Professor Kee holds the George R. Brown Distinguished chair in the
Division of Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Dr. Kee's
research efforts are primarily in the modeling and simulation of
thermal and chemically reacting flow processes, with applications to
combustion, electrochemistry, and materials manufacturing. His fuel-
cell research concentrates on elementary chemistry and
electrochemistry formulations and their coupling with reactive fluid
flow. Primary applications are to solid-oxide fuel cells operating on
hydrocarbon fuels. Dr. Kee is the principal architect and developer of
the CHEMKIN software, and primary author of Chemically Reacting Flow:
Theory and Practice (JohnWiley & Sons, 2003).
EVENT DESCRIPTION:
The performance of electrochemical devices depends greatly upon the
structure and microstructure of porous composite electrodes. Because
of great scale disparities between the complete electrode and its
microstructure, effective transport properties (e.g., electronic and
ionic conductivity) are required to model at the larger cell and
system scales. A number of alternative approaches have been developed
to model transport within porous electrode structures and to derive
effective properties.
Percolation theory leads to analytic expressions that relate effective
properties to intrinsic material properties in ways that depend upon
microstructural characteristics. Effective properties can also be
estimated from the direct computational simulation of transport
through synthesized structures. Experimental techniques can deliver
geometrically accurate 3D representations of actual electrodes. Actual
electrode microstructures can be discretized with finite-volume
representations and conservation equations solved to predict transport
within complex 3D microstructures. In addition to advancing
fundamental understanding and insight, such models provide the means
to evaluate the validity of more-approximate models that are derived
from synthesized microstructures.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): RGD Lab
For more information, contact:
Jeff Hanna
--------------------------------
“North America’s New Age of Energy Abundance: Prudent Oil and Natural
Gas Development”
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
5:00pm
Harvard, Science Center D, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA
Featuring James Hackett, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive
Officer, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.
Future of Energy
James T. Hackett is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Anadarko
Petroleum Corporation, one of the world’s largest independent oil and
natural gas exploration and production companies. He joined the
company in December 2003 as President and Chief Executive Officer.
Houston-based Anadarko is active in the United States, Algeria,
Brazil, China, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Indonesia and Ghana and is
executing strategic exploration programs in several other countries.
Before joining Anadarko, Mr. Hackett served as President and Chief
Operating Officer of Devon Energy Corporation following its merger
with Ocean Energy where he served as Chairman, President and Chief
Executive Officer, itself a product of a merger in 1999 with Seagull
Energy Corporation where he was Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and
President. He joined Seagull from Duke Energy where he led its Energy
Services Division as President. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice
President of Pan Energy when the company merged with Duke Power to
create Duke Energy. His energy experience includes positions in
engineering, finance and marketing with NGC Corp., Burlington
Resources and Amoco Oil Co.
Mr. Hackett is Chairman of America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) and
is on the Board of several industry associations including the
American Petroleum Institute and the National Petroleum Council. He is
a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. He is a director of
Fluor Corporation and Halliburton and serves as Chairman of the Board
of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. He is the former Chairman and
now member of Houston Grand Opera’s Board and serves as Vice Chairman
of the Baylor College of Medicine, and on the Boards of the Welch
Foundation for Chemistry, the Business Roundtable, and the Trilateral
Commission. He is also a Board Member and adjunct professor at Rice
University.
Mr. Hackett holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of
Illinois and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard
University. He and his wife Maureen have four children.
Contact Name: Lisa Matthews lisa_matthews at harvard.edu
----------------------------
Relics: Travels in Nature's Time Machine
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
6:00pm
Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge
A lecture and booksigning by Piotr Naskrecki.
In his newest book, Relics, world-renowned zoologist Piotr Naskrecki
travels the globe to photograph “relics,” creatures or habitats that,
while acted upon by evolution, remain remarkably similar to their
earliest manifestations in the fossil record. From horseshoe crabs of
the Atlantic to orchids of New Guinea, Naskrecki has created a time-
lapse tour of life that has persisted nearly untouched for hundreds of
millions of years. Free and open to the public
http://www.hmnh.harvard.edu/lectures_and_special_events/index.php
----------------------------
Smart Grid Webinar Sessions on December 1st
11:00AM EST
12:00PM EST
http://www.virtualenergyforum.com
Attend this complimentary event to learn from leading smart grid
experts. Speakers will discuss DOE smart grid initiatives and share
the latest research on how utilities should articulate the value of
smart grid investments.
US DOE Smart Grid Perspectives & Implementation Experience
The Value of Smarter Energy: Making the Case for Orchestrating the
Network
Dan T. Ton, Program Manager, Smart Grid Research & Development, U.S.
Department of Energy
Bridget Meckley, Energy & Utilities Leader, IBM Center for Applied
Insights
------------------------------
"The Role of Science, Technology and Innovation in Solving the Energy
Challenge"
Thursday, December 1, 2011
12:00pm - 1:00pm
Northwest Lecture Hall B-103, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology Lecture:
Speaker: Steven Chu, US Secretary of Energy
http://www.mcb.harvard.edu/NewsEvents/Calendar/Event.asp?ID=3148
Contact Name: Michelle Cicerano mcicerano at mcb.harvard.edu (617)
495-4448
--------------------------------
Reinventing the Energy Future
December 01, 2011
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E62-262
Andrew Chung, Partner at Khosla Ventures, will discuss how venture
capitalists and entrepreneurs can address the energy crisis and invest
in our future by placing big bets and searching for "black swans."
Such opportunities may carry greater risk and higher failure rates,
but are more likely to have a revolutionary impact on our world. To
borrow the words of Robert Kennedy, "Only those who dare fail greatly
can achieve greatly."
Category: MIT events/clubs: interest clubs/groups
Sponsored by: MIT Energy Club, Energy & Environment Community
Admission: Open to the public
For more information: Contact MIT Energy Club
energy-environment at mit.edu
---------------------------------------
"Environmental Consequences of International Trade, with Focus on China"
Thursday, December 1, 2011
3:30pm
Harvard, Pierce Hall 100F, 29 Oxford St., Cambridge
XU Ming, Assistant Professor of Sustainable Systems, School of Natural
Resources and Environment; Assistant Professor of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, University of Michigan
Abstract: Globalization has been primarily facilitated by
international trade in the way that countries specialize in producing
products and services in which they have comparative advantages. One
of the environmental consequences of international trade is the
creation of pollution havens in the sense that developing countries
become more specialized in pollution- and energy-intensive industries.
This talk will summarize the author’s past research on evaluating
environmental impacts embodied in international trade, focusing on US-
China trade and China’s exports.
http://chinaproject.harvard.edu/seminar%20folder/seminar/XuMing111201
Contact Name: Chris Nielsen nielsen2 at fas.harvard.edu
-------------------------
Howard Gardner: Truth, Beauty, and Goodness Reframed
WHEN Thu., Dec. 1, 2011, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE Longfellow Hall, 13 Appian Way, Cambridge, MA 02138
TYPE OF EVENT Discussion, Forum, Lecture, Question & Answer Session
BUILDING/ROOM Harvard Graduate School of Education, Askwith Hall
CONTACT NAME Amber DiNatale
CONTACT EMAIL askwith_forums at gse.harvard.edu
CONTACT PHONE 617-384-9968
SPONSORING ORGANIZATION/DEPARTMENT Harvard Graduate School of Education
REGISTRATION REQUIRED No
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Education, Lecture, Special Events
NOTE Speaker: Howard Gardner, Hobbs Professor of Cognition and
Education, HGSE
Introduction: Kathleen McCartney, Dean and Gerald S. Lesser Professor
in Early Childhood Development, HGSE
Howard Gardner will discuss the challenges faced by traditional
education in light of two forces: the post-modern critique from the
humanities and the disruptive potentials of the new digital media. As
addressed in his most recent book, Truth, Beauty, and Goodness
Reframed: Educating for the Virtues of the Twenty-First Century,
Gardner will describe how the core ideas of truth, beauty, and
goodness can survive and even be strengthened in education across the
life span. Expanding on the argument in his book, he'll describe
promising approaches for educators.
Professor Gardner will sign his new book prior to the forum. Copies
will be available for purchase.
----------------------------------
"Products, Plastics, Putrefaction and Power: Rethinking how we Manage
Materials to Achieve Just Sustainability"
Thursday, December 1, 2011
5:30pm
Harvard, Peabody Museum Geological Lecture Hall, 24 Oxford Street,
Cambridge
Samantha MacBride, Adjunct Professor, Columbia University.
This is part of the series, “Trash Talk: the Anthropology of Waste.”
ADMISSION IS FREE and the Peabody's Geological Lecture Hall is located
at 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge, a 5 minute walk from the Red Line's
Harvard Square station.
--------------------------
"When the Experts are Uncertain: Scientific Knowledge and the Ethics
of Democratic Judgment"
Thursday, December 1, 2011
5:30pm
Harvard, Austin Hall, 100 North, Harvard Law School, 1515
Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Melissa Lane, Professor of Politics, Princeton University
Lectures are free and open to the public. Refreshments will be
available.
Please visit www.ethics.harvard.edu for a full listing of this year’s
events.
Abstract: This paper explores the problem of the relation of
democratic judgment to expert knowledge, focusing in particular on the
case of scientific knowledge and the implications of its forms of
uncertainty. It begins by broadly characterizing the problem of
knowledge in political theory and in democratic theory in particular,
drawing on the history of political thought – and in particular on
democratic Athens and its philosophical critics – to do so. The model
of popular judgment – and its relation to organized domains of expert
knowledge – is elicited from this history as a promising lens for
contemporary democratic theory. The paper then turns to the evaluation
of the relation of democratic judgment to expert knowledge in a
variety of modern disciplines, surveying certain positions in social
epistemology and in social psychology. It identifies an excessive
limitation to the question of identifying experts to whom to defer in
the former literature, and an excessive tendency to manipulation in
the question of how to correct for known biased heuristics in judgment
in the latter (also indeed borrowed by the former). Both of these
weaknesses will be exacerbated in the case of significant scientific
uncertainty of certain kinds, as attends our current knowledge of the
likely course of climatic change. As an alternative, the paper
concludes by proposing a focus on enabling the public to engage in
judging the broad outline of scientific claims, including an
assessment of where uncertainties do and do not affect it and of what
kinds. While this is a more demanding standard than deference and
identification alone, it may also prove more robust.
Contact Name: Abigail Bergman Gorlach abigail at ethics.harvard.edu
617.495.0599
---------------------------
NE Games SIG Event: Building the Talent Pipeline: A Collaboration of
the Game Industry and Academia
Thursday, December 01, 2011
6:00p–9:00p
Microsoft NERD Center One Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA 02139
Speaker: Tim Loew of Becker College, Phillip Tan of the MIT Gambit
Game Lab, Monty Sharma of MassDigi, Terrence Masson of Northeastern
University, Mark Claypool of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and Mary
Jane Begin of the Rhode Island School of Design.
Talent is the essential ingredient to success in game development. The
MIT Enterprise Forum's New England Games SIG provides a look at the
state of collaboration between industry and academia with this panel
discussion.
Register at http://videogametalent.eventbrite.com/
How can we build a stronger pipeline of talent and what more can be
done to improve the number and quality of graduates from schools in
the region? This panel of game industry veterans and academic leaders
will discuss this topic, as well as provide an overview of the
Massachusetts Digital Game Institute???s (MassDigi) outreach from K-12
to colleges/ universities across the Commonwealth and MassDigi???s
industry focused programs. In addition, colleges from around the
region will provide an overview of their video game programs.
6:00pm-7:00pm: Networking & Light Appetizers, Refreshments
7:00pm-8:15pm: Panel
8:15pm-9:00pm: Post-Panel Networking
Come early or stay late to enjoy light appetizers/ drinks and to
network with your peers.
Moderated by Robert Ferrari of Bare Tree Media;
Web site: http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/events/ne-games-sig-event-building-the-talent-pipeline-a-collaboration-of-the-game-industry-and-academia/
Open to: the general public
Cost: No charge, but pre-registration required
Tickets: http://videogametalent.eventbrite.com/
Sponsor(s): MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge
For more information, contact:
Amy Goggins
617-253-3937
entforumcambridge at mit.edu
------------------------------------
"Ideal Cities in the Tropics: Lucio Costa's 1957 Brasilia Pilot Plan"
Thursday, December 01, 2011
6:30p–8:30p
MIT, Building 7-431
Architecture Lecture Series
Speaker: Fares el-Dahdah
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture
For more information, contact:
617-253-7791
--------------------------------
The EU Energy Policy in the 21st Century
WHEN Thu., Dec. 1, 2011, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.
WHERE RCC conference room, 26 Trowbridge Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR Real Colegio Complutense
SPEAKER(S) Rafael Caballero Sánchez
COST Free and open to the public
CONTACT INFO rcc_info at harvard.edu
NOTE In English
LINK http://www.realcolegiocomplutense.harvard.edu
----------------------------------
Social Good 2.0: Breakfast with Cause-Related Tech Startups
Friday, December 2, 2011
8:30 AM
Space with a Soul, 281 Summer Street, Boston, MA (map)
The past few years have seen a surge of activity around technology and
the nonprofit world. Boston is a hotbed of innovative ideas that might
really be interesting to cause-related organizations - but it seems
like new ones emerge daily. Who has time to keep track - let alone
hear what they might be able to offer you? Join us for a morning
breakfast highlighting the latest additions to the cause-related
technology startup scene in Boston.
Free registration: http://socialgood-2-dot-oh.eventbrite.com/
--------------------------------------
Supply and Demand at a Municipal Utility: How Local Solar Generation
Can Help Utilities Meet Peak Loads
December 02, 2011
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 1-246
Brian Crounse received his M.S. in Environmental Engineering from MIT
in 2000. He serves on the Concord Municipal Light Board.
In the Northeast U.S., peak electrical loads typically occur on hot
summer days. For a municipal utility, meeting these peak loads is
expensive, and requires infrastructure that is underutilized most of
the time. Of the strategies that a municipal utility can employ to
address peak loads, local solar generation offers an intriguing mix of
load matching, reduced transmission requirements, low emissions, and,
for the first time, competitive economics. This talk will explore the
rationale and implications behind the Concord (MA) Municipal Light
Board's solar energy strategy.
Category: lectures/conferences
Sponsored by: MIT Energy Club
Admission: Open to the public
For more information: Contact MIT Energy Club
energyclub at mit.edu
--------------------------------------
Rambax Senegalese Drum Ensemble. Lamine Toure and Patricia Tang, co-
directors.
Friday, December 02, 2011
8:00p–10:00p
MIT, Lobdell, MIT Stratton Student Center
Open to: the general public
Cost: FREE
Tickets: NOT TIX REQ.
Sponsor(s): Music and Theater Arts
For more information, contact:
Clarise Snyder
mta-request at mit.edu
---------------------------------------
"Investigating the Gulf Oil Spill: Challenges and Opportunities"
Monday, December 5, 2011
12:00pm - 1:30pm
Harvard, Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street,
Cambridge
Energy Technology Innovation Policy/ Consortium for Energy Policy
Research
Energy Policy Seminar Series:
Speaker: Richard Lazarus, Harvard Law School
Lunch will be provided.
Contact Name: Louisa Lund, louisa_lund at hks.harvard.edu
----------------------------
"Minds for Sale"
Monday, December 5, 2011
12:15pm - 2:00pm
Harvard, 124 Mt. Auburn St, Suite 100, Room 106
Spekaer: Jonathan Zittrain, Harvard Law & HKS
Please RSVP to sts at hks.harvard.edu by the Thursday before.
http://www.hks.harvard.edu/sts
------------------------
The Fate of Civic Education in a Connected World: A "Fred Friendly"
Seminar
Monday, December 5, 6:00 pm
Harvard, Austin East Classroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School, 1515
Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Free and Open to the Public; RSVP required for those attending in
person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/2011/12/civiceducation#RSVP
Featuring Professor Charles Nesson as Provocateur and Ellen Condliffe
Lagemann (Bard College), Peter Levine (Tufts University), Harry Lewis
(Harvard SEAS), Elizabeth Lynn (Project on Civic Reflection) and Juan
Carlos de Martin (Berkman Center) as participants.
Civic education is the cultivation of knowledge and traits that
sustain democratic self-governance. The broad agreement that civic
education is important disintegrates under close scrutiny. As the
social networks of individuals become less based on geography and more
based on friendships and common interests, consensus on shared civic
values seems harder to achieve. American education is under stress at
every level, and schools and colleges must re-imagine their commitment
to civic education. This seminar will probe tensions that make civic
education difficult, for example:
What's the problem? Doesn't everyone agree that civic education is
important? Is civic education being squeezed out in schools, either
because of the demands of subject testing or the desire to avoid
political controversy?
Does the connectedness of social media support or impair the sorts of
connections that lead to active citizenship?
Every tertiary institution wants to be a "global university." What, if
any, are the civic responsibilities of a global institution? What
civic values are transnational? Should American students learn the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights?
What about civic education outside of school--for adults, prisoners,
and the home-schooled, for example?
Then there was model UN; now there are online simulations. Do they
achieve the same ends?
Does civic education include instruction in civic activism, using
social media for example?
With connectedness come instantaneity and constant interruptions. Is
it even possible to maintain anyone's attention on understanding
anything as subtle as the complexities of representative government?
This lively, "Fred Friendly" style seminar is timed to coincide with
publication of two edited volumes: Teaching America: The Case for
Civic Education (David Feith, ed.; Rowman & Littlefield), and What is
College For?: The Public Purpose of Higher Education (Ellen Condliffe
Lagemann and Harry Lewis, eds.)
---------------------------------
Bioclimatic Devices and Adaptations at Alijares Palace (Alhambra, 14th
century) and other Nasrid Buildings
Monday, December 05, 2011
6:00p–7:30p
MIT, Building 7-431
AKPIA at MIT LECTURE
Speaker: Luis Jose Garcia Pulido, Post-Doctoral Fellow, AKPIA at MIT
Web site: http://web.mit.edu/akpia/www/lecturescurrent.htm
Open to: the general public
Cost: FREE
Sponsor(s): Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture
For more information, contact:
Jose Luis Arguello
253-1400
akpiarch at mit.edu
-----------------------------
Elijah Wald Presents the History & Early Blues' Traditions
Monday, December 05, 2011
7:30p–9:00p
MIT, Building 4-231
Speaker: Elijah Wald
Bluesologist and author Elijah Wald presents the history and early
traditions of the blues.
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Literature Section
-------------
***********
Upcoming
-------------
***********
An Update on Deep Energy Retrofits for Buildings - the Intersection of
Human-Based and Energy Efficient Design
Thursday, December 08 2011
7:00pm reception, program begins at 7:30 pm
1st Parish Unitarian Church, 3 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
BOSTON AREA SOLAR ENERGY ASSOCIATION Forum
Speakers: Henry MacLean (Timeless Architecture) & Friends
Contact : http://www.basea.org/
The BASEA forums are held September through May, the second Thursday
of each month, except as noted. The forums are free and open to the
public.
-----------------------------
Renewable Energy-Related Transmission for New Englanders: By Land and
By Sea
Friday, December 9, 2011
9:00 am to 12:30 pm
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston
New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable
We welcome two new speakers to our December 9 Roundtable: Associate
Deputy Minister for Energy, Mario Gosselin, Québec Ministry of Natural
Resources and Wildlife, and Deepwater Wind CEO, William Moore.
Our 126th New England Electric Restructuring Roundtable focuses on
renewable energy-related transmission for New Englanders - both by
land and by sea. Utility-scale wind, hydro, and even solar must be
sited in proximity to the resource, which is often far from population
centers, thus necessitating the building of new transmission lines.
The siting, cost, and cost allocation related to these lines is often
no less (and sometimes more) controversial than the renewable energy
resources they are built to transmit. And the promise of off-shore
wind development on the East Coast presents a bevy of additional new
technical and other challenges. At this Roundtable, we will explore
numerous, very current, renewable energy-related transmission studies
and proposed projects.
Our first panel focuses primarily on land-based renewable energy-
related transmission. Starting off the panel is Associate Deputy
Minister for Energy, Mario Gosselin, from Québec's Ministry of Natural
Resources and Wildlife, who will discuss Québec's current and planned
renewable energy resources that could be exported to the Northeast.
David Whiteley , Executive Director for the Eastern Interconnection
Planning Collaborative (EIPC) then discusses the collaborative
scenario planning analysis currently underway on transmission and
renewables for the entire Eastern Interconnect (comprising 24 RTOs and
over 40 states). Next, First Wind Executive VP/CDO, Kurt Adams,
provides a wind developer's perspective on transmission, including
potential transmission projects in Maine. David H. Boguslawski, VP for
Transmission Strategy/Operations atNortheast Utilities rounds out the
panel with a presentation on a transmission owner's perspective on
connecting New England wind to the grid and NU/NSTAR's proposed
Northern Pass Transmission Project to bring approximately 1,200 MW of
mainly hydro power from Québec to New England through New Hampshire.
Our second panel brings together three CEO's to discuss sea-based
renewable energy-related transmission. Robert Mitchell, CEO ofAtlantic
Wind Connection kicks off the panel with a discussion of Atlantic
Wind's proposal to construct a transmission line 20 miles off-shore,
between New Jersey and Virginia, to facilitate off-shore wind
development (aka Google Line) Edward Krapels, CEO pf Anbaric
Transmission, then discusses Anbaric's just- announced (11/14) Bay
State Offshore Wind Transmission System, to be located 25 miles off-
shore in Massachusetts, to carry up to 2,000 MW of off-shore wind to
the NE Grid. Deepwater Wind CEO William Moore rounds out the panel by
discussing the Deepwater Wind Energy Center proposal to build 1,000 MW
of off-shore wind off the Rhode Island coast, with transmission to
both New England and Long Island.
*************
----------------
Opportunity
---------------
*************
Free Solar Panels for Houses of Worship
From a recent Mass Interfaith Power & Light (http://mipandl.org/) email
"We've recently been talking with DCS Energy (http://
www.dcsenergy.com/) who has an unbeatable offer: if your site
qualifies, they design and install the panels at no cost, don't charge
you for any electricity, and donate the system to your house of
worship after five years. Your only costs will be for a building
permit, possibly a structural engineer to verify that your roof can
support their weight, and any preparatory work such as roof work or
tree removal. If solar panels are so expensive how can anyone give
them away for free? First, there is a federal grant program that is
only available until November that pays for 30% of the cost of the
system. Then there is an accelerated depreciation option that gives
certain kinds of investors another tax advantage. Finally, the state
awards a special allowance called a "Solar Renewal Energy
Credit" (SRECs) to owners of solar electricity systems which are sold
at auctions to utilities who buy them to meet their requirements under
the Massachusetts' renewable portfolio standard. DCS is betting that
the price of these SRECs will remain high. Jim Nail, president of MA
IP&L, has talked to DCS Energy and is currently having them prepare a
proposal for his church, St. Dunstan's Episcopal in Dover. Jim says,
"The references I've talked to have been quite positive about the
program and the company has been very responsive. "If you think your
site might qualify, contact Peter Carli, pete at dcsenergy.com, with the
address of your house of worship and your contact information. He'll
take a preliminary look at your site and advise you if it meets their
criteria."
----------------------------------------------------------
Young World Inventors Success!
Young World Inventors (http://yinventors.wordpress.com/) finished
their Kickstarter campaign (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1036325713/youngworldinventorscom
) to fund insider web stories of African and American innovators in
collaboration successfully.
New contributions, however, will be accepted.
*********
-----------
Resource
-----------
Massachusetts Attitudes About Climate Change – An opinion survey of
Massachusetts residents conducted by MassINC and sponsored by the Barr
Foundation found that 77% of respondents believe that global warming
has “probably been happening” and 59% of all respondents see see it as
being at least partially caused by human pollution. Only 42% of the
state’s residents say global warming will have very serious
consequences for Massachusetts if left unaddressed. The 18 to 29 age
group is more likely to believe global warming is appearing and caused
by humans compared to the 60+ age group. African-American (56%) and
Latino residents (69%) are more likely than white residents (40%) to
believe global warming will be a very serious problem if left
unaddressed. The MassINC report, titled The 80 Percent Challenge:
What Massachusetts must do to meet targets and make headway on climate
change (http://www.massinc.org/Research/The-80-percent-
challenge.aspx), contains many other findings.
----------------------------------------------------
The presentations from the recent Affordable Comfort National Home
Performance Conference are available online at
http://2011.acinational.org/downloadable_resources
Lots of good information from what some call the best energy
conference in the USA on Deep Energy Retrofits to Community Energy
Challenges with details on insulation, heat flow, energy metering,
ducting, hot water, and many, many other topics. If you are a
practical energy wonk, this should make your eyes light up.
--------------------------------------------------
Free Monthly Energy Analysis
CarbonSalon is a free service that every month can automatically track
your energy use and compare it to your past energy use (while
controlling for how cold the weather is). You get a short friendly
email that lets you know how you’re doing in your work to save energy.
https://www.carbonsalon.com/
---------------------------------------
Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post
announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships,
programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles
or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's
food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take
place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food
system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food,
farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health,
environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of
organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on
week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let
everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of
subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and
other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
----------------------
Artisan Asylum http://artisansasylum.com/
Sprout & Co: Community Driven Investigations http://thesprouts.org/studios
Greater Boston Solidarity Economy Mapping Project http://www.transformationcentral.org/solidarity/mapping/mapping.html
a project by Wellesley College students that invites participation,
contact jmatthaei at wellesley.edu
------------------------
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
********************************************
-----------------------------------------------------
Links to events at 60 colleges and universities at Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the
Boston Area http://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
Boston Area Computer User Groups http://www.bugc.org/
http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template
http://sustainability.mit.edu/
http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
http://green.harvard.edu/events
http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
http://pechakuchaboston.org/blog/
http://boston.nerdnite.com/
http://www.meetup.com/
http://www.eventbrite.com/
More information about the Act-MA
mailing list