[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events

[gmoke at verizon.net]

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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Simply Questions  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/27/1078401/-Simply-Questions

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Monday, April 2

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How Self-Organizing "Tribes" are Transforming the Solar Industry
April 2, 2012
Noon - 1 p.m. EDT
MIT SDM Systems Thinking Webinar Series
Register at https://mitweb.webex.com/mitweb/j.php?ED=150971602&RG=1&UID=0&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D
Donny Holaschutz, Co-founder and CEO, Bloomgi

About the Presentation
This webinar will offer an interdisciplinary perspective on solar innovation in the United States by examining over 100 case studies. It will use these research findings to describe how self-organizing groups, or "tribes," have become a driving force in transforming the solar innovation industry nationally and globally, and also focus on their potential to transform the value network.
The webinar will highlight various characteristics of successful tribes. Factors such as dynamics leading to formation, patterns of growth, evolution, and, in some cases, demise will be examined as well. The presentation will also describe the place and relationship of the ideal entity within existing and future solar innovation clusters.

The current status of the United States' competitive advantage will be discussed by comparing emerging and established regional solar innovation capabilities. A framework will be offered to provide government and industry decision-makers with an approach that can be implemented immediately to build a global competitive advantage.

This research was funded by the US Department of Energy.

About the Speaker
Donny Holaschutz, SDM '10, is a clean technology and sustainability entrepreneur based out of Austin, Texas. He is a co-founder and the CEO of Bloomgi, a startup focused on creating innovative, sustainable, and environmentally-friendly product alternatives that offer consumers the choice to improve the health of our planet without sacrificing convenience.

About the 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.

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Ecoclimate Teleconnections: Remote Effects of the Interactions between Ecosystems and Climate
Monday, April 02, 2012
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: Abigail Swann (Harvard, University of Washington)

In this talk I will show that large-scale afforestation in the northern mid latitudes warms the Northern Hemisphere and alters global circulation patterns in climate model experiments. An expansion of dark forests increases the absorption of solar energy and increases surface temperature, particularly in regions where the land surface is unable to compensate with latent heat flux due to water limitation. Atmospheric circulation re-distributes the anomalous energy absorbed in the northern hemisphere, in particular towards the south, through altering the Hadley circulation, resulting in the northward displacement of the tropical rain-bands. Precipitation decreases over parts of the Amazon basin affecting productivity and increases over the Sahel and Sahara regions in Africa. We find that the response of climate to afforestation in mid latitudes is determined by the amount of soil moisture available to plants with the greatest warming found in water limited regions. Mid latitude afforestation is found to have a small impact on modeled global temperatures and on global CO2, but asymmetric heating from the increase in forest cover is capable of driving unintended and undesirable changes in circulation and precipitation. The ability of vegetation to affect remote circulation has implications for strategies for climate mitigation.

Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Atmospheric Science Seminars
For more information, contact:
Daniela Domeisen
ddaniela at mit.edu

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"China’s Electricity System Reform"
Monday, April 2, 2012
12:00pm - 1:30pm
Bell Hall, 5th Floor, Belfer Building, HKS, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge

Yaodong Shi, Fellow, Consortium for Energy Policy Research

Contact Name:  Louisa Lund
louisa_lund at harvard.edu

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"Leadership and the Internet."
Monday, April 2
3–4:30 p.m.
Harvard, Shorenstein Center, Darman Seminar Room, Taubman Building, 1st Floor, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge

Discussion with Jared Cohen, Director, Google Ideas. Moderated by Nicco Mele, Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy. Co-sponsored by the Center for Public Leadership.

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"Turning up the heat on Snowball Earth"
Monday, April 2, 2012 -
4:00pm - 5:00pm
Haller Hall (Geo Museum 102), 24 Oxford Street, Cambridge

Ian Fairchild, University of Birmingham, UK. Hosted by Andrew Knoll.

Contact Name:  Sabinna Cappo
scappo at fas.harvard.edu

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Sustainability and Religion: New Directions in Research and Practice
WHEN  Mon., Apr. 2, 2012, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE  Sperry Room, Andover Hall, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION  Religion, Science
SPONSOR  EcoDiv and Harvard Divinity School Green Team
CONTACT  Roy Lauridsen, 617.495.8655
NOTE  Susan Abraham, Assistant Professor of Ministry Studies and associate director of the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School;
Dan McKanan, Ralph Waldo Emerson Unitarian Universalist Association Senior Lecturer in Divinity at HDS;
Diane L. Moore, Senior Lecturer in Religious Studies and Education and Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of World Religions at HDS; and
Timothy C. Weiskel, Special Program Instructor at Harvard Extension School and research director for the Cambridge Climate Research Association.
Moderator of the discussion will be Erik Lehto, MTS '12.
A reception will follow at 6pm in the Common Room, Center for the Study of World Religions, 42 Francis Avenue

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Towards High-Performance Dry Cooling of Solar Thermal Power Plants
Monday, April 02, 2012
4:15p–5:15p
MIT, Building 3-333, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Michael Rutberg, Mechanical Engineering Department, MIT

Center for Energy and Propulsion Research Seminar Series

Concentrating solar power (CSP) plants use the steam cycle, which incurs substantial cooling load. Since CSP plants are usually sited in arid regions, the large volumes of water required for wet cooling are often unavailable. Dry cooling systems such as air-cooled condensers use no water, but are expensive and perform poorly in hot weather, reducing plant output exactly when it is needed the most. This talk presents a techno-economic analysis of a dry cooling variant ideally suited to CSP plants, which uses cold-side thermal energy storage (TES) to improve cooling performance and reduce costs. Cold-side TES rests on a concept that has long been applied to district cooling: cool and store chilled water at night, when it is inexpensive to do so, then use it during the day when heat loads are active. In a CSP plant, a cold-side TES system would use an air-cooled heat exchanger to chill water overnight while the plant is inactive, storing the chilled water in a large thermocline tank, then using it for condenser cooling the following day.

SPEAKER BIO
Michael Rutberg is an SM candidate in the Mechanical Eng. Department at MIT. After earning a BS in Engineering from Swarthmore College in 2003,he spent six years at Honeybee Robotics, developing software and electronics for high-reliability mechatronic and sensor systems. Now working in the MIT Reacting Gas Dynamics Lab, he is investigating the water footprint of electricity generation technologies.

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): RGD Lab

For more information, contact:  Jeff Hanna

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Living Forward, Understanding Backward: Transforming Public Health in the 21st Century
WHEN  Mon., Apr. 2, 2012, 4:30 – 6 p.m.
WHERE  Bowie Vernon Room (K262) at CGIS Knafel (2nd floor), 1737 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION  Health Sciences, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies and the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Canada Program
SPEAKER(S)  David Butler-Jones, chief public health officer, Public Health Agency of Canada

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A Conversation with Paul Volcker, Former Chairman of the Federal Reserve
WHEN  Mon., Apr. 2, 2012, 5:30 – 7 p.m.
WHERE  Ames Courtroom, Austin Hall, Harvard Law School, 1515 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION  Ethics, Lecture, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics
SPEAKER(S)  Paul Volcker, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve
Interlocutors:
Lawrence Lessig, Roy L. Furman Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, director, Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics;
Malcolm Salter, James J. Hill Professor of Business Administration Emeritus, Harvard Business School
COST  Free and open to the public. No ticket required.
CONTACT INFO  ethics at harvard.edu
LINK  www.ethics.harvard.edu

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"Locally Grown Meets Happy Hour" Fundraiser
Monday, April 2
5:30PM until the locally-raised, grass-fed beef runs out
Kingston Station restaurant near Downtown Crossing, Boston

The Boston Public Market Association seeks to create an indoor, year-round market selling local food to the Boston area.  We have been making excellent progress recently, and the Boston Public Market is on track to become a reality!

http://www.bostonpublicmarket.org/2012/02/happy-hour-fundraiser-at-kingston-station/

Beef and cheese generously donated by Lawton Family Farms of Foxboro.

Come talk to BPMA supporters, staff, and board members about the exciting news on the project, and tell us about what would be in your dream market.

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Skeptics in the Pub:  Before the Lights Go Out
April 2
7:00 pm
Tommy Doyle's in Harvard Square, 96 Winthrop Street, Cambridge

Please RSVP at http://bostonskeptics.com/2012/03/skeptics-in-the-pub-with-maggie-koerth-baker/

Speaker:  Maggie Koerth-Baker

Koerth-Baker is science editor for the popular blog Boingboing. Her new book on the future of American energy, Before the Lights Go Out, explores common misconceptions, covers green energy early adapters, and charts a new course for the future of U.S. energy. Join her at Maseeh Hall to hear how interacting with her lively readers has shaped her writing and how blogs are changing journalism forever.

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Playback: Broadcast Experiments 1970 and Now
Monday, April 02, 2012
7:00p–9:00p
MIT, Buidling E15-001, 20 Ames Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Gloria Sutton, Assistant Professor, Northeastern University, Boston

ACT Spring 2012 Monday Nights Lecture Series:
Experiments in Thinking, Action and Form

In the 1970s, broadcast television, cable, and even satellite transmissions were considered viable outlets for visual artists to experiment, tamper, and often times, spectacularly fail with, all the while engaging in a generative model of art production. This talk focuses on the institutionalization of media art with a particular emphasis on the Long Beach Museum of Art's prescient move to set up a media art center and commission artists to create a broadcast channel to distribute their works in the early 1970s. The museum was one of the first to consider video as a collecting category, managed a thriving residency program, operated a public editing facility, and launched the "museum channel." Gloria Sutton is a contemporary art historian and a curator. She received the Emily Hall Tremaine Award as a co-curator of How Many Billboards in 2008.

Web site: http://act.mit.edu/projects-and-events/lectures/2012-spring/
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free and open to the public
Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning, MIT Program in Art, Culture and Technology
For more information, contact:
Laura Anca Chichisan
617-253-5229
act at mit.edu, clauraa at mit.edu

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Tuesday, April 3
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When Can the Government Force Suspects to Decrypt Incriminating Files?
WHEN  Tue., Apr. 3, 2012, 10 – 11 a.m.
WHERE  Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION  Information Technology, Law, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  Information & Communications Technology and Public Policy Project/Explorations in Cyber International Relations
SPEAKER(S)  John Villasenor, professor, Electrical Engineering Department, University of California, Los Angeles, nonresident senior fellow, Governance Studies Program, The Brookings Institution
CONTACT INFO  susan_lynch at harvard.edu
LINK  http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/5769/when_can_the_government_force_suspects_to_decrypt_incriminating_files.html

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The Shattered Nation: Protest, Violence and Social Fragmentation in the Syrian Uprising
WHEN  Tue., Apr. 3, 2012, 12 – 1:30 p.m.
WHERE  Eilts Room, 2nd floor, 154 Bay State Road, Boston University, Boston, MA
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION  Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  Center for International Relations, Boston University; Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University
SPEAKER(S)  Paulo Pinto, professor of anthropology & director, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Universidade Federal Fluminense, Brazil
CONTACT INFO  Sara Roy: sroy at fas.harvard.edu
NOTE  This event is open to the public; no registration required. All Middle East Seminar Sessions are off the record. The use of recording devices is strictly prohibited.
LINK  http://cmes.hmdc.harvard.edu/node/3122

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"Covering Obama and the Middle East: A Reader's Guide."
Tuesday, April 3
12 p.m.
Shorenstein Center, Taubman 275, 5 Eliot Street, Cambridge

Speaker Series with David Ignatius, associate editor and columnist, The Washington Post.

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The Growth and Decay of Shared Knowledge
Tuesday, April 3
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/2012/03/tenen#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET and archived on our site shortly after at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast

Dennis Tenen, fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society

Knowledge grows, but it also contracts as outmoded facts and theories are replaced with new ones.  This talk will discuss our intuitions about knowledge domains and the methods by which such intuitions could be modeled empirically. Along the way, Dennis will unpack the "information as organism" metaphor, construct taxonomies of epistemological lifeforms, and consider evolutionary pressures on knowledge systems. The talk will conclude with a conversation about the health of the academic publishing industry, and about the challenges of doing comparative work between new and old media.

About Dennis
Dennis Tenen is a literary scholar and a recovering software engineer. He is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, working with metaLab and the Cooperation Group. His research concerns the poetics of human-computer interaction, the study of co-authorship and editorial practice, the formation of cultural capital, and experimental criticism.
He is joining the faculty of the English Department at Columbia University as an Assistant Professor of Digital Humanities and New Media in the fall.

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'Reconstructed changes in Arctic sea ice over the past 1,450 years'
Tuesday, April 3rd
3pm
HUCE Seminar Room, 24 Oxford St, 3rd Floor, Cambridge
Presenter: Octavia Crompton

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Augmented Reality and Mobile Devices
April 3, 2012
3:00 pm - 4:15 pm
Halligan 111A, 161 College Avenue, Medford
Speaker: Jay Kim
Augmented reality (AR) is emerging as the next significant killer app for mobile devices. As electronics for smart devices are rapidly improving in processing power, it is able to use onboard sensors and Internet connectivity to gather data about its own environment and provide relevant information to the user above and beyond what one is able to see, hear, feel, and listen. However, augmented reality applications are still running on smartphones, which forces the user to actively engage with the device and does not unlock the full potential in AR.

Current R&D leverages see through head worn displays so that the user is able to immerse oneself in the environment without having to hold a device in one’s line of sight. Google is the notable publically known organization actively developing such a product for advertising; developments are also ongoing for specialized (e.g. military, medical, architecture, etc.) applications. AR on a head worn device introduces technical and marketing challenges above and beyond that running on a smartphone, requiring specialized enabling technologies and design techniques.

Bio

As Director of Engineering for APX Labs, Jay leads engineering research and development programs involving sensor fusion, command and control of unmanned air systems, augmented reality solutions, and wireless communications. Jay also leads the special projects division at APX evaluating emerging technology and building business relationships with commercial partners to bring a head worn augmented reality solution to market.

Prior to joining APX Labs, he managed a team of software and systems engineers for the Department of Defense’s Joint IED Defeat Organization (JIEDDO) sponsored development of a modeling and simulation software application for operators to assess a common operating picture of electronic warfare and blue force systems in theater. He has also led hardware and software integration for portable electronics, transition of R&D projects to commercialization and mass production, and integrated circuit design simulation, verification, and testing. He was the co-principal engineer for M/A-COM’s first successful development of a mixed-signal integrated circuit in silicon for DARPA. He earned his M.S. in electrical engineering and B.S. in electrical and biomedical engineering from Tufts University under Professor Karen Panetta.

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Climate Change: What's Going On Here? What Do I Do About It?

Tuesday, April 3, 2012
5:30pm - 7:00pm
Harvard Law School, Langdell Hall - 225 Vorenberg Classroom - North, 1545 Mass Ave, Cambridge
A talk by John Bullard of the Climate Reality Project, sponsored by the Harvard Law School Green Living Program

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Learning From Insects: How Our World is Shaped by Bees, Ants and Other Social Insects
TUESDAY, APRIL 3
6:00 PM
26 Oxford Street, Cambridge

A Dialogue and Booksigning with Thomas Seeley and Bernd Heinrich
Many of the world’s top scientists have devoted their careers to the study of social insects. Their passion has led to an understanding of how insects both positively and negatively impact the environment and human life – as plant pollinators, tree defoliators, and potential indicators of climate change. To celebrate the publication of Harvard University Press’ collection of its best essays in Entomology, A World of Insects, Thomas Seeley, Biology Professor at Cornell University, and Bernd Heinrich, Professor Emeritus at the University of Vermont, will discuss their research and why it’s critical that we study and learn from insects. Moderated by Professor Naomi Pierce, Curator of Lepidoptera at the Museum of Comparative Zoology.

Following the presentation, there will be reception and booksigning in the museum’s galleries. Cosponsored with Harvard University Press. Free and open to the public.

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Wednesday, April 4
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Monolithic Integration of Deeply-Scaled Silicon Nanophotonics with CMOS
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 36-428, 50 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Dr. Solomon Assefa, IBM Yorktown Heights
Optics & Quantum Electronics Seminar Series

Web site: http://www.rle.mit.edu/oqe/seminar/
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Optics & Quantum Electronics Seminar Series
For more information, contact:  Donna Gale
253-8529
dgale at mit.edu

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The Durban Platform: Can it Support a New International Climate Regime?
WHEN  Wed., Apr. 4, 2012, 12 – 1:15 p.m.
WHERE  Fainsod Room, 3rd Floor, Littauer Building, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION  Environmental Sciences, Lecture, Science, Social Sciences, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business & Government
SPEAKER(S)  Robert Stowe, executive director, Harvard Environmental Economics Program and manager, Harvard Project on Climate Agreements
CONTACT INFO  Lunch will be served.
Please RSVP to mrcbg at ksg.harvard.edu

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Why Islam Wins: Religion and Party Politics in the Arab Spring
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
12:00p–1:30p
MIT, Building E40-496, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Tarek Masoud, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
SSP Wednesday Seminar
Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Security Studies Program

For more information, contact:
617-253-7529

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China Urban Development Discussion Series: Sustaining Personal Mobility in Urbanizing China

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

12:30p–2:00p

MIT, Building 9-354, 105 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: Dr. Jiawen Yang, Assistant Professor of City and Regional Planning, Georgia Institute of Technology; Discussant: Prof. Joseph Ferreira, MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning

China Urban Development Discussion Series

China's massive population, high density and fast economic development produce huge demand for transportation investment. For now, megacities in China are congested by cars, choked with air pollutants and constrained by housing affordability. How to sustain city and regional mobility in the ever-expanding and high-density megacities or megaregions are utmost challenges calling for innovative solutions. Will it be effective to add fixed guideway transit to the pre-existing regional highway network? How might the interest of city governments, provincial governments and central government fit each other and shape a large-scale railway investment strategy? What is its implication for future personal mobility? Please join us in the lecture for more perspectives and insights on this topic. We hope to see you on Wednesday!

Please RSVP at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/5Y5F8YQ. Complimentary lunch will be served at 12:10 pm; talk starts at 12:30 pm and ends by 2 pm.

Web site: http://dusp.mit.edu/cud/cud_series.html
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Department of Urban Studies and Planning, Graduate Student Life Grants, China Urban Development
For more information, contact:
Shan Jiang
shanjang at mit.edu

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MIT: "Shedding Light, Online", a discussion about how blogging and a dynamic audience helped shape my book, Before the Lights Go Out
April 4
4:00 pm
Maseeh Hall, 305 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Please RSVP at http://maseeh.mit.edu/expressions/

Koerth-Baker is science editor for the popular blog Boingboing. Her new book on the future of American energy, Before the Lights Go Out, explores common misconceptions, covers green energy early adapters, and charts a new course for the future of U.S. energy. Join her at Maseeh Hall to hear how interacting with her lively readers has shaped her writing and how blogs are changing journalism forever.

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"Presidents in All Shades of Green: How African Responses to Environmental Conservation Matter, and Why"
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
4:00pm
CGIS South, Room S-153, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge

Professor Nadia Horning from Middlebury University
The Committee on African Studies hosts an ongoing series of Harvard Africa Seminars in order to engage with the University’s faculty and fellows doing work on Africa. The events showcase the work of community members as well as visiting scholars.

Why do African governments commit to environmental conservation, and under what conditions do their commitments translate into conservation-friendly policies? By looking at the experiences of Madagascar, Tanzania, and Uganda, the paper discusses how foreign donors have used aid to push African governments into adopting conservation-friendly policies since the 1960s. African responses to this push have varied. The paper argues that the variation in responses to the Western conservation push reflect individual leaders’ abilities to manipulate donor competition to maximize their own political power domestically. The political consequences of environmentalism have been profound:  conservation initiatives have created incentives for African leaders to be accountable to foreign interests rather than their respective polities, to legitimize their power based on their ability to attract foreign aid rather than deliver political goods (including good resource stewardship), and to divert their policy priorities away from what most Africans consider important (human welfare) and urgent (food, shelter and health). In short, the conservation push has widened the gap between African governments and African polities in the three countries, a reality that flies in the face of the push for democratic governance.

http://africa.harvard.edu/events/harvard-africa-seminars/
Contact Name:  Catherine Craig
ccraig221 at gmail.com
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Future of Energy: "The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Modern World"
WHEN  Wed., Apr. 4, 2012, 5 p.m.
WHERE  Science Center B, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION  Environmental Sciences, Lecture
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  Harvard University Center for the Environment
SPEAKER(S)  Daniel Yergin, author; executive vice president and chairman, Cambridge Energy Research Associates
CONTACT INFO  Lisa Matthews: matthew at fas.harvard.edu
LINK  http://environment.harvard.edu/events/2012-04-04/future-energy

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Robin Chase: Innovating with excess capacity to achieve speed and scale
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
5:30p–6:30p
MIT, Building 32-123, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Robin Chase, MIT alumna, entrepreneur and transportation innovator
Transportation at MIT Speaker Series
About Robin Chase:
Robin Chase is founder and CEO of GoLoco, an online ridesharing community. She also founded and leads Meadow Networks, a consulting firm that advises city, state, and federal government agencies about wireless applications in the transportation sector, and impacts on innovation and economic development. Robin is also founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest car sharing company in the world. She is on the Board of the World Resources Institute, the US Secretary of Commerce???s National Advisory Committee for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, and the US Department of Transportation???s Intelligent Transportation Systems Program Advisory Committee. She served on the World Economic Forum Future of Transportation Council, the Massachusetts Governor???s Transportation transition team, and the Boston Mayor???s Wireless Task Force.
In 2009, she was included in the Time 100 Most Influential People. Robin lectures widely, has been frequently featured in the major media, and has received many awards in the areas of innovation, design, and environment. Robin graduated from Wellesley College and MIT???s Sloan School of Management, and was a Harvard University Loeb Fellow

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Transportation at MIT, Transportation Club

For more information, contact:
Stephen Zoepf
szoepf at mit.edu

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A Public Address by LinkedIn Co-founder Reid Hoffman
WHEN  Wed., Apr. 4, 2012, 6 – 7 p.m.
WHERE  JFK Jr. Forum, 79 JFK St., Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION  Business, Lecture, Special Events
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  Institute of Politics
SPEAKER(S)  A public address by Reid Hoffman, executive chairman and co-founder of LinkedIn and managing partner at Greylock Partners
Moderated by Harvard Kennedy School Dean David Ellwood.
LINK  http://forum.iop.harvard.edu/content/public-address-linkedin-co-founder-reid-hoffman

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What is Happiness and How Do You Get It?
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
7:30p–9:00p
MIT, Building 32-D461, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Deb Levy

Join us for dinner for an interactive and lively lecture/discussion on the nature of happiness. Prior to the dinner, it is recommended that participants take the
VIA Survey of Character Strengths (Measures 24 Character Strengths).
The survey can be found under the Questionnaire box scroll down through the survey links in the blue box, and the link is the 6th one down under the sub-heading, Engagement Questionnaires. You will need to create a free account on this University of Pennsylvania website to take the survey; you can easily do so using the Register link in the upper left-hand corner of the above URL. You get your results immediately.

Speaker Deb Levy teaches Positive Psychology Theory and Applications at the Tufts University Experimental College and is an award-winning Teaching Fellow in the Psychology Department at Harvard University. In 2006 and 2008 she was head teaching assistant in Tal Ben-Shahar's extremely popular Positive Psychology class

Web site: http://web.mit.edu
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): The Technology and Culture Forum at MIT
For more information, contact:
Patricia-Maria Weinmann
617-253-0108
weinmann at mit.edu

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Thursday, April 5
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MIT Business in Gaming Conference
Thursday, April 05, 2012
8:00a–4:00p
MIT, Wong Auditorium-E51, 2 Amherst Street, Cambridge
The MIT Business in Gaming Conference is an annual event that brings together executives, professionals and students who are involved with or are interested in the business of digital entertainment. Our aim is to discuss best business practices in the creation of digital entertainment by bringing industry leaders to share the lessons behind their successes and failures.

Web site: www.mitbig.com
Open to: the general public
Cost: $49
Tickets: www.mitbig.com
Sponsor(s): MIT Business in Gaming Conference

For more information, contact:
Jorge Desormeaux
857-264-8866
lymond at mit.edu

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Why Now? Women's Empowerment in Global Development
Thursday, April 5
6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Simmons College, Linda K. Paresky Conference Center, 300 The Fenway, Boston
Register at http://whynowwomensempowermentinglobaldevelopment.eventbrite.com/

The conference will focus on the issues women face on the global scale with respect to health, education, and leadership.

The event is free and open to the public. Come join for an evening of education, of discussion, of innovation, and of action.

If Interested in Attending the day long conference events, the itinerary is located below.

CHECK-IN 9:00-9:35 am Check-in and registration is for all delegations and speakers; breakfast will also be provided.
Keynote Speaker 10:00-10:45 am Keynote by Holly Sargent, who is doing studies for Gender Intelligence. Holly was the Founding Director of the Harvard Kennedy School Women's Leadership Board. She started programs like the Women and Public Policy Graduate Program and the Women and Power Executive Program at Harvard. The day programs following are to explore the individual topics in depth and what exactly is happening on those fronts. This will take place in the Linda K. Paresky Center.

Block One 11:00-12:20 am

Breakout Session 1: Lori Adelman Every Woman Every Child spearheaded by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon from the United Nations Foundation on Women’s Reproductive and Maternal Health. This will take place in the Linda K. Paresky Center.

LUNCH 12:30-1:00 pm Roundtable lunch is provided for all speakers and panelists. Delegations will be provided with lunch passes to eat at any of the cafeterias at Simmons College.

Block Two 1:00-2:20 pm

Breakout Session 2: Jane Roberts from 34 Million Friends of the UNFPA on Women, Population, and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, film A Walk to Beautiful will be included on Female Genital Mutilation that was documented by Linda Harrar. This will take place in the Linda K. Paresky Center..

Breakout Session 3: Empowering Girls through Education and Leadership led by Wendy McAllister, a volunteer from Room to Read. This will take place in Kotzen.

Block Three 2:30-3:50 pm

Breakout Session 4: Performance: Women of Sand, stories of women in assembly-work factories going missing and their search for justice. This will take place in the Linda K. Paresky Center.

Block Four 4:00-5:20 pm

Breakout Session 5: Women and Peacebuilding led by Kaitlin Hasseler from the United Nations Association of Greater Boston and Mickey Aramati from UNA-GB Women’s Forum steering Committee. They will be presenting Women, War, and Peace Series. This will take place in the Special Functions Room.
Breakout Session 6: Sex and Labor Trafficking led by Julie Dahlstrom who is the Managing Attorney of the Immigration Legal Assistance Program of Lutheran Social Services of New England (“LSSNE”). This will take place in Main College Building C318.

Discussion Block for Students 5:30-6:00 pm Open Forum Conversation, which is astudent-led discussion on the topic of “given what we’ve learned, how do we respond?” Led by a student and  Kaitlin Hasseler from the United Nations Association of Greater Boston.

Hors d'oeuvres/Seating 6:00-6:30 pm Guests will be provided with cocktails, soft drinks, and a variety of appetizers prior to seating for the event. The panel will begin at 6:30. The bar will be close for program and reopen after for the cocktail reception.

Evening Panel, Linda K Paresky Center 6:30-8pm Four invited Panelists to speak from a global perspective about women’s empowerment.

Cocktail and Dessert Reception 8:00-9:00 pm This event is for Special Attendance guests, VIP guests, faculty, administration, and alumna

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Nuclear Fuel Cycle Decision-Making: An Analysis of Influences
WHEN  Thu., Apr. 5, 2012, 12:15 – 2 p.m.
WHERE  Belfer Center Library, Littauer-369, Harvard Kennedy School, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION  Lecture, Science, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  International Security Program
SPEAKER(S)  James Platte, Stanton Nuclear Security Predoctoral Fellow
CONTACT INFO  susan_lynch at harvard.edu
LINK  http://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/events/5756/nuclear_fuel_cycle_decisionmaking.html

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River basin metabolism: co-organization of vegetation and runoff dynamics
Thursday, April 05, 2012
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 48-316, 29 (?) Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Ignacio Rodriguez-Iturbe, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Princeton University
Environmental Fluid Mechanics/Hydrology
Join us for a weekly series of efm/hydrology topics by MIT faculty and students, as well as guest lecturers from around the globe.

The metabolism of a river basin is defined as the set of processes through which the basin maintains its structure and respond to its environment. A principle of of equal metabolic rate per unit area throughout the basin structure is developed and tested. It is shown to have profound implications for the spatial organization of river basin hydrologic dynamics. Allometric scaling of transpiration with total amount of runoff in subbasins- similar to Kleiber's type of law- is similarly demonstrated.

Web site: http://cee.mit.edu/events/60
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Civil and Environmental Engineering
For more information, contact:
Roberta Pizzinato
robertap at mit.edu

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Nanowires: Current and Future Opportunities in Energy and Life Sciences
Thursday, April 05, 2012
4:00p–5:00p
MIT, Building 66-110, 25 Ames Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Charles M. Lieber, Harvard University

Materials Science and Engineering Seminar Series
The materials science and engineering seminar series is jointly sponsored by the Center for Materials Science and Engineering, the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and the Materials Processing Center. Coffee and cookies will be available before the lecture.

Advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology depend critically on the development of increasingly complex nanostructures with unique properties and/or capabilities. Here we highlight the power of semiconductor nanowires, which provide the capability for synthetic design to realize unprecedented structural and functional complexity in building blocks, as a platform material for exploring new science and technology. First, a brief review of the synthesis of complex modulated nanowires in which rational design can be used to precisely control composition, structure and most recently structural topology will be discussed. Second, the unique functional characteristics emerging from our exquisite control of nanowire materials will be illustrated with several selected examples from nanoelectronics, quantum electronics and nano-enabled energy. Third, the remarkable power of nanowire building blocks will be further highlighted through their capability to create unprecedented active electronic interfaces with biological systems. Recent work pushing the limits of both multiplexed extracellular recording at the single cell level and the first examples of intracellular recording will described, as well as the prospects for truly blurring the distinction between nonliving and living information processing systems.

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Center for Materials Science & Engineering, Materials Processing Center, Materials at MIT, Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

matseminars mailing list
matseminars at mit.edu
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/matseminars

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History and Development Policy: A Necessary Dialogue?
WHEN  Thu., Apr. 5, 2012, 4 – 6 p.m.
WHERE  Harvard Kennedy School, Rubenstein Building, Room 415, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge
GAZETTE CLASSIFICATION  Humanities, Lecture, Social Sciences
ORGANIZATION/SPONSOR  Harvard Seminar on History and Policy
SPEAKER(S)  Michael Woolcock, lecturer in public policy (HKS)
Lant Pritchett, professor of the practice of international development (HKS)
Alexander Keyssar, Matthew W. Sterling Jr. Professor of History and Social Policy (HKS)
Sergio Silva-Castañeda, senior fellow in the Mexico and Central America Program (FAS)
NOTE  Lecture and panel discussion on the recently published book "History, Historians and Development Policy: A Necessary Dialogue"
LINK  http://www.hks.harvard.edu/groups/harvard-seminar-on-history-and-policy

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BE Seminar Series: Antimalarial drug resistance - Can we put the genie back in the bottle?

Thursday, April 05, 2012

4:05p–5:15p

MIT, Building 32-141, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: David Fidock, Columbia University

Web site: http://web.mit.edu/be/news/seminars.shtml
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): Department of Biological Engineering
For more information, contact:
617-253-1712
be-acad at mit.edu

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Adapting Journalism to the Web: experiments and ordeals on the news frontier
Thursday, April 05, 2012
5:00p–7:00p
MIT, Building E14-633, 75 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Jay Rosen, NYU; discussant: Ethan Zuckerman, MIT
Knight Science Journalism Seminars
New communications technologies are revolutionizing our experience of news and information. The avalanche of news, gossip, and citizen reporting available on the web is immensely valuable but also often deeply unreliable. How can professional reporters and editors help to assure that quality journalism will be recognized and valued in our brave new digital world?

Jay Rosen is director of NYU's Studio 20, a master's level journalism program which uses projects to teach innovation in journalism. He is the author of the blog PressThink, and of the book What are Journalists For?

Ethan Zuckerman is director of the Center for Civic Media at MIT, and a principal research scientist at the Media Lab.

Web site: http://web.mit.edu/knight-science/seminars/current.html
Open to: the general public
Cost: no cost
Tickets: n/a
Sponsor(s): Knight Science Journalism Program, MIT's Center for Civic Media, Communications Forum, Comparative Media Studies, Program in Science, Technology, and Society, and Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies

For more information, contact:
Debbie Meinbresse
617-253-3442
meinbres at mit.edu

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EnergyBar: Spring Into Competition!
Thursday, April 5
5:30 PM to 8:30 PM (ET)
Greentown Labs, 337 Summer Street, Ground Floor, Boston
Register at http://energy-bar-esearch2.eventbrite.com/?srnk=198

It's on again! Join us on Thursday, April 5th for another edition of our flagship event. Not sure how we'll top the February event which received press like this, but we're willing to give it a try.

Given all the great clean energy competitions now underway (e.g. MIT Clean Energy Prize, Cleantech Open) we thought an excellent theme for the evening would be competing in cleantech. From early stage business plans to making renewables cost-competitive with fossil fuels, competition is crucial to the sucess or failure of our sector and individual businesses.

Drinks and eats will be served somewhat promptly around 5:30pm. The "formal program" will be limited to a couple announcements and a few short words about the Boston Cleanweb Hackathon we'll be hosting May 4th-6th!
Suggested dress is business casual. Please RSVP to help us plan for food and beverages. Hope to see you all soon!

About EnergyBar
EnergyBar is a bi-monthly event devoted to helping people in clean technology meet and discuss innovations in renewable and advanced energy technologies. Entrepreneurs, investors, students, and ‘friends of cleantech,’ are invited to attend, meet colleagues, and expand our growing regional clean technology community.
Our attendess typically span a variety of disciplines within energy, efficiency, and renewables technology. If you're looking for a job in cleantech, trying to expand your network, or perhaps thinking to start your own cleantech company this is the event for you. Expect to have conversations about issues facing advanced and renewable energy technologies and ways to solve our most pressing energy problems.

Greentown Labs is Boston's first and only clean technology incubator! We're located in Boston's Fort Point Channel and have created a space to address the needs of early stage cleantech entrepreneurs. Visit our website or follow us on Twitter to learn more!

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"Evolved to Fit: Biomimicry in the Built World"
Thursday, April 05, 2012
6:30p–8:30p
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Janine Benyus, President, Biomimicry Institute, Aspen

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Department of Architecture

For more information, contact:
617-253-7791

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Friday, April 6
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"Games and Risks: A Systems Analysis Approach"
Friday, April 6
12:00-1:00pm
MIT, Building E40-298, 1 Amherst Street, Cambridge

Prof. Elisabeth Paté-Cornell - Department of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University

Abstract: This seminar presents recent research with illustration both on questions of national security and on management issues. Paté-Cornell will present four models involving game analysis with applications: a problem of management of system development under tight resource constraints, based on a principal-agent model; a probabilistic ranking of the threats of various weapons in the hands of terrorists; an analysis of counter-terrorism policies with illustration to a case in the Philippines; and a strategic analysis of US nuclear counter-proliferation strategies with application to the case of South Africa. In all four models the objective is to determine the risks associated to various options for the main decision maker.

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European Short Film Festival at MIT
Friday, April 06, 2012
7:00p–10:00p
MIT, Building 10-250, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
8th Annual European Short Film Festival at MIT--four programs of the best new short films from 14 countries across Europe, including fiction, documentary, experimental and animated films. Free popcorn and soda!

Web site: esff.mit.edu
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
This event occurs daily at 7:00p - 10:00p through April 8, 2012, and also on April 7, 2012 at 3:00p - 5:00p.

Sponsor(s): MIT Hyperstudio, Comparative Media Studies, Foreign Languages & Literatures

For more information, contact:
Gabriella Horvath
617-715-4480

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Monday, April 9

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Towards understanding the atmospheric circulation response to anthropogenic forcing
Monday, April 09, 2012
12:00p–1:00p
MIT, Building 54-915, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Speaker: David Thompson (Colorado State University)
MIT Atmospheric Seminar Series (MASS)
The MIT Atmospheric Science Seminar (MASS) is a student-run weekly seminar series within PAOC. Seminar topics include all research concerning the atmosphere and climate, but also talks about e.g. societal impacts of climatic processes. The seminars usually take place on Monday from 12-1pm followed by a lunch with graduate students. Besides the seminar, individual meetings with professors, post-docs, and students are arranged. The seminar series is run by graduate students and is intended mainly for students to interact with individuals outside the department, but faculty and post docs certainly participate.

MIT Atmospheric Seminar Series

Web site: http://eaps-www.mit.edu/paoc/events/mass-seminar-david-thompson-colorado-state-u
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): MIT Atmospheric Science Seminars
For more information, contact:
Daniela Domeisen
mass at mit.edu

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Revolutionary Doctors:  How Cuba and Venezuela are changing the world's conception of health care*
Mon. Apr. 9.
12:30 pm
Kresge 213, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave. Boston

a talk by author Steve Brouwer
Lunch will be provided.

Free and open to the public.  For visitor passes email jacob.bor at gmail.com
Facebook event<http://www.facebook.com/events/414443405248278/?context=create>

Organized by the Health Roots Student Group at the Harvard School of Public Health

About: Drawing on long-term participant observations as well as in-depth research, author and journalist Steve Brouwer tells the story of the innovative and inspirational health care programs pioneered in Cuba and being adapted to the needs of Venezuela today. Unlike the for-profit system of health care in the United States, the Cuban and Venezuelan models aim to provide free care for the entire population, particularly in poor rural and urban areas. For nearly a decade, thousands of Cuban medical personnel have focused on delivering primary, secondary, and preventive care while at the same time training the Venezuelan doctors who will one day replace them.  These new physicians are receiving a thorough medical education while continuing to live in and serve their own communities; many of them hope to one day join the ranks of Cuba?s international medical brigades that are spreading revolutionary approaches to health care in many parts of the
world. These models are not without their challenges, however, and Brouwer gives a nuanced account of how Venezuela and Cuba are fending off capitalist and imperialist influences that are openly hostile to any alternatives to profit-driven, market-based health care.

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Upcoming

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The Rise of China and American Power
Tuesday, April 10
7 pm
First Parish (Unitarian Universalist), 3 Church Street, Harvard Square, Cambridge
Joseph Nye of the Harvard Kennedy School examines the future of American relations with China.  As China has become a more powerful player in the Pacific, how has it projected its strength?  How have strategic alliances among its neighbors changed in response to China’s growing economic and military might?  What does the Obama administration’s new emphasis on the Pacific mean for the future of American relations with China?

Cambridge Forum  http://www.cambridgeforum.org/

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The New England Electricity Restructuring Roundtable Presents:
Energy Efficiency in New England: Strengthening Core Programs While Tackling New Frontiers
Friday, April 13, 2012
9 am to 12:30 pm
Foley Hoag LLP, 155 Seaport Boulevard, 13th Floor, Boston

ACEEE's recently-released 2011 national energy efficiency rankings places Massachusetts, for the first time, ahead of California as the most energy efficient state in the U.S. Rhode Island and Vermont are tied for 5th place, and Connecticut is in 8th place. But despite these impressive achievements in energy efficiency, New England states simply refuse to rest on their laurels. Instead, New England is forging ahead in an effort to enhance core efficiency programs while simultaneously exploring new ways to expand and deepen energy efficiency's potential impact.

Massachusetts Energy Efficiency Advisory Council and the state's utility companies are preparing to file their next three-year energy efficiency plans with the MA DPU. Connecticut's draft statewide Integrated Resource Plan calls for a doubling in annual energy efficiency spending, and considers allowing energy efficiency to compete with renewables for part of its renewable portfolio standard. Connecticut is also looking at innovative ways to finance energy efficiency. Meanwhile in Vermont, Efficiency Vermont (the non-profit that delivers Vermont's energy efficiency programs) is developing a ten year plan to deepen energy efficiency in the Green Mountain state. To discuss these exciting and timely developments in energy efficiency, we are delighted to present:

Commissioner Daniel Esty, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection
Tina Halfpenny, Director of Energy Efficiency, Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources
Jim Merriam, Director of Efficiency Vermont, Vermont Energy Investment Corporation

Our second panel, "New Frontiers," explores several evolving energy efficiency developments which, together, could potentially take efficiency in new and important directions. Dr. Eric Winkler, Project Manager for Demand Resources, ISO-New England, will discuss the latest developments in the integration of energy efficiency into wholesale markets, and ISO-New England's efforts to capture and represent the region's energy efficiency promise accurately in its soon-to-be-released load forecasting and regional planning report.

Greg Kats, Partner at Capital-E, and lead author of "Financing Energy Efficiency Models and Strategies: Pathways to Scaling Energy Efficiency Financing from $20 Billion to $150 Billion Annually," will discuss this ground-breaking national study on alternative financing for energy efficiency, which was funded by the Energy Foundation.

Steve Cowell, Chairman and CEO of Conservation Services Group, will discuss efforts in New England (including pending legislation in Massachusetts) to fund energy efficiency in oil and propane heated buildings at  levels comparable to buildings heated with natural gas or electricity. Steve will also discuss other ways to push the efficiency frontier in New England, while reflecting on the 25th Anniversary of "Power to Spare: A Plan for Increasing New England's Competitiveness Through Energy Efficiency,"a report that many credit with spearheading energy efficiency efforts in New England.

Free and open to the public with no advanced registration

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"Food Movements Unite!”
Friday, April 13th
6-8pm
Austin East Room, Austin Hall, Harvard University. 1515 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge
Eric Holt-Gimenez, Will Masters, Saulo Araujo and local youth organizers

Please join us for a vibrant discussion of food justice, sovereignty, movements, and politics on April 13. Eric Holt Gimenez, Executive Director of Food First/The Institute for Food and Development Policy, will introduce his new book "Food Movements Unite!” A panel discussion will follow with Eric, Will Masters (Tufts University), Saulo Araujo (Grassroots International) and a youth organizer from Alternatives for Community and Environment (ACE). The discussion will span the uprising of food movements and politics, from the global to local perspectives.

We hope to see you there! Please share this invite with your community via your social media, listserves and calendars.
Contact Caiti at caitihach at gmail.com if you have any questions.

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Indigenous Grandmothers:  Planting Seeds for Seven Generations
Thursday, April 19
7 pm
Wellesley, Houghton Chapel, 106 Central Street, Wellesley

It is with a sense of gratitude and deep joy that we announce the Art and Soul program at Wellesley College will be hosting three of the 13 Indigenous Grandmothers this spring.  The Grandmothers will give a talk at Houghton Chapel on Thursday, April nineteenth at seven p.m. The theme of their talk will be Planting Seeds for Seven Generations:  Making Change.  The Grandmothers will share their cultural treasures and life experience, in support of our community’s exploration of an ethics of wholeness, which can bring about a sustainable future for the generations to come.

Originating from all four corners of the world, these 13 wise women elders and medicine women first came together in 2004 at a peace gathering. They represent a global alliance of prayer, education and healing for our Earth, all her inhabitants and the next seven generations. We are honored to host, as representatives of this Grandmothers’ Council, Grandmothers Rita and Beatrice Long- Visitor Holy Dance of the Lakota tribe and Grandmother Mona Polacca of the Hopi/ Havasupai/Tewa tribe. This event is open to all, as an offering to our circles of community.  For more information about this event, contact Ji Hyang at 781.283.2793

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Saturday, April 21st
9-12noon
for our first 2012 cleanup of Magazine Beach, Cambridge. This will be part of the much larger 13th Annual Earth Day Charles River Cleanup, organized by the Charles River Watershed Association, Charles River Conservancy, etc., etc.

If you would like an official Earth Day Cleanup t-shirt to wear that day, please e-mail me your name, phone number and t-shirt size by this Sunday, March 11th. Large youth shirts are available and adult shirts in small, medium, large and extra large.

Looking forward to hearing from you. Shirts will be available, with drinks and refreshments, at our table in front of the Riverside Boat Club 4/21.

Cathie (Zusy)
Questions? Call 617-868-0489

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Weatherization barnraising at
The Friends Meeting House
Sunday, April 22nd  from 1 to 5 pm
5 Longfellow Park, Cambridge

What a great way to celebrate Earth Day. You will be taught how to do the work by experienced team leaders, while you learn how to lower your own bills at home.

Sign up at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDRNLV9xOC00SVllOGdLd1dYdzMxU0E6MQ#gid=0

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Opportunity

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CEA Solar Hot Water Grants
Cambridge, through the Cambridge Energy Alliance initiative, is offering a limited number of grants to residents and businesses for solar hot water systems.  The grants will cover 50% of the remaining out of pocket costs of the system after other incentives, up to $2,000.

Applications will be accepted up to November 19, 2012 and are available on a first come, first serve basis until funding runs out.  The Cambridge grant will complement other incentives including the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center solar thermal grants.  For more information, seehttp://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/additional-resources/solar-hot-water-grant-program

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Cambridge Residents: Free Home Thermal Images

Have you ever wanted to learn where your home is leaking heat by having an energy auditor come to your home with a thermal camera?  With that info you then know where to fix your home so it's more comfortable and less expensive to heat.  However, at $200 or so, the cost of such a thermal scan is a big chunk of change.

HEET Cambridge has now partnered with Sagewell, Inc. to offer Cambridge residents free thermal scans.

Sagewell collects the thermal images by driving through Cambridge in a hybrid vehicle equipped with thermal cameras.  They will scan every building in Cambridge (as long as it's not blocked by trees or buildings or on a private way).  Building owners can view thermal images of their property and an analysis online. The information is password protected so that only the building owner can see the results.

Homeowners, condo-owners and landlords can access the thermal images and an accompanying analysis free of charge. Commercial building owners and owners of more than one building will be able to view their images and analysis for a small fee.

The scans will be analyzed in the order they are requested.

Go to Sagewell.com.  Type in your address at the bottom where it says "Find your home or building" and press return.  Then click on "Here" to request the report.

That's it.  When the scans are done in a few weeks, your building will be one of the first to be analyzed. The accompanying report will help you understand why your living room has always been cold and what to do about it.

With knowledge, comes power (or in this case saved power and money, not to mention comfort).

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Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ

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HEET has partnered with NSTAR and Mass Save participating contractor Next Step Living to deliver no-cost Home Energy Assessments to Cambridge residents.

During the assessment, the energy specialist will:

Install efficient light bulbs (saving up to 7% of your electricity bill)
Install programmable thermostats (saving up to 10% of your heating bill)
Install water efficiency devices (saving up to 10% of your water bill)
Check the combustion safety of your heating and hot water equipment
Evaluate your home’s energy use to create an energy-efficiency roadmap
If you get electricity from NSTAR, National Grid or Western Mass Electric, you already pay for these assessments through a surcharge on your energy bills.  You might as well use the service.

Please sign up at http://nextsteplivinginc.com/heet/?outreach=HEET or call Next Step Living at 866-867-8729.  A Next Step Living Representative will call to schedule your assessment.

HEET will help answer any questions and ensure you get all the services and rebates possible.

(The information collected will only be used to help you get a Home Energy Assessment.  We won’t keep the data or sell it.)

(If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to call HEET’s Jason Taylor at 617 441 0614.)


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Resource

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Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide

SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!

To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha at sbnboston.org

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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.

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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.

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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/

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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

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Artisan Asylum  http://artisansasylum.com/

Sprout & Co:  Community Driven Investigations

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

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Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston  http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/

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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/

Arts and Cultural Events List  http://aacel.blogspot.com/

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/