[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events

George Mokray gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Jun 24 20:04:35 PDT 2012


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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Monday, June 25
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Renewable Energy Lending 101 for Massachusetts Community Banks
Monday, June 25, 2012
9:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Bingham McCutchen LLP, One Federal Street, Boston

This session will present an overview of key concepts in renewable  
energy development and finance presented by experts from MassCEC, the  
Department of Energy Resources (DOER), the Department of Public  
Utilities (DPU), the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the  
Executive office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and Bingham  
McCutchen. Topics include:
Overview of renewable energy project development: What are key  
milestones in the development process for commercialized renewable  
energy technologies?
RECs / SRECs: How do these credit markets function and to what extent  
should revenues be included in project economics?
Interconnection: What is interconnection and how does its acquisition  
influence project viability?
Permitting: What are key state and local permits that must be acquired  
for project construction?
Net metering: What is net metering, how do projects obtain the right  
to net meter, and how does this influence project economics?
PPA structures: What are the main power purchase agreement (PPA)  
structures present in the state today?  What are some of the benefits  
and disadvantages of each structure?
Tax benefits: How do tax benefits contribute to project owner and  
developer returns?  How can banks monetize this value to improve debt  
coverage?
Please RSVP no later than June 18, 2012 at http://massachusettsrenewableenergy101-es2.eventbrite.com/?srnk=447
If you have any questions, please contact Sumit Kadakia at skadakia at masscec.com

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Gravity, Pendulums and the Conservation of Energy
Monday, June 25, 2012
1:00p–2:00p
MIT, Building 26-100, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Walter Lewin, Professor of Physics, Emeritus, author of "For  
the Love of Physics"

These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be  
videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending  
you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television  
program without any compensation or credit.

Open to: the general public

Cost: Free

Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars

For more information, contact:  Nina Wu
ninawu at mit.edu

Das Haus Pavilion
Tuesday, June 26th
10:30am – 4:30pm
219 Vassar Street, Cambridge

PAVILION OPEN HOURS
Das Haus is a traveling pavilion, a North American tour and an ONGOING  
INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUEabout advanced technologies for home  
construction and solar energy use. The purpose – to share German  
innovations that have achieved sustainable construction and  
operational energy savings. Attendees will represent leading  
organizations and businesses in building materials, architecture,  
engineering, renewable energy and energy efficiency businesses,  
universities, and public officials.

http://cambridge.dashaustour.com/rsvp/

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Monday June 25, 2012
7pm (note earlier-than-usual time!)
Middlesex, 315 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Featuring Nerd-appropriate tunes by Claude Money

$5

The lineup:
Talk 1. “Are We Rolling?: Trial and Error in the Music in Cambridge  
Oral History Project”
by Katrina Morse

Talk 2.  “Saving the Last Lustron Home in Boston”
by Sonja Vitow

Talk 3. “Heat It & Beat It: From Wootz to Modern Super Metals”
by Rick Karnesky

For more information about the speakers and the talks:  http://boston.nerdnite.com/2012/06/20/nerdnite-june-25/


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Tuesday, June 26
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Expanding the Concept of Accessible Technology
Tuesday, June 26, 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/2012/06/garland-thomson#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET on http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast 
  and archived on our site shortly after.
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Emory University and fellow at the  
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University

This presentation expands the idea of accessible technology to show  
how the way we make our shared world of buildings, technologies,  
public spaces, practices, laws, and attitudes builds a total  
environment which welcomes some people and keeps other people out. The  
talk presents the evolution of how accessible technologies in the  
broadest sense make our citizenry more inclusive and diverse.

About Rosemarie
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson is Professor of Women's Studies and English  
at Emory University. Her fields of study are feminist theory, American  
literature, and disability studies. Her work develops the field of  
disability studies in the humanities and women's and gender studies.  
This year she is a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced  
Study at Harvard University.

She is author of Staring: How We Look and Extraordinary Bodies:  
Figuring Physical Disability in American Literature and Culture; co- 
editor of Re-Presenting Disability: Museums and the Politics of  
Display and Disability Studies: Enabling the Humanities; and editor of  
Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body.  Her current  
book-in-progress, entitled Habitable Worlds, concerns the logic and  
design of inclusive public space.

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Scout - Legislative Alert Tool
Tuesday, June 26
1pm (EDT)
Webinar register at https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/showReg?udc=ldb7r7otund4

http://scout.sunlightfoundation.com — a new free alert service that  
allows you to do just that! You can now search and create email or  
text alerts on legislation shaping issues you care about in Congress  
and across all fifty states. Scout also makes it easy to search  
federal regulations and what is actually said by lawmakers in the  
Congressional Record.

Join us next week for a free webinar to learn more about Scout.

We know Scout is already working to help advocates stay on top of  
legislation, and want to put Scout to work for you. Attend our free  
webinar on Tuesday, June 26 at 1 pm (EDT) to learn more about this  
powerful research and tracking tool. The one-hour webinar will cover  
basic skills such as creating search terms and bill queries as well as  
advanced functions such as tagging, merging outside RSS feeds and  
creating curated search collections.

Whether you are a policy wonk, a researcher, a journalist or an  
activist, you can stay on top of regulations, Congress and bills in  
the state legislatures. Learn moreand get Scouting:   
scout.sunlightfoundation.com

Please join us for the webinar next Tuesday, June 26 at 1pm (EDT) --  
register at https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/showReg?udc=ldb7r7otund4
Scout (http://scout.sunlightfoundation.com) is a new free tool  
developed by the Sunlight Foundation that allows anyone to subscribe  
to customized email or text alerts on what Congress is doing or saying  
around an issue or a specific bill, as well as bills in the state  
legislature and federal regulations.

Join us for a webinar to learn more about Scout and how it can be an  
effective tool for your work. The session will cover basic skills such  
as search terms and bill queries as well as advance functions such as  
tagging, merging outside RSS feeds and creating curated search  
collections.

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GreenPort Forum:  Solar Hot Water is Hot

Tuesday, June 26, 2012
7:00pm
Cambridgeport Baptist Church, 459 Putnam Av, Cambridge (corner of  
Magazine St. and Putnam Av)

Meghan Shaw, Cambridge Energy Alliance

Solar hot water systems are a great way to provide 50% to 75% of all  
hot water for a household or business. Most solar hot water systems  
will work with existing plumbing or water heating systems. If building  
owners act before November 2012, the combined rebates from the  
Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the City of Cambridge could mean  
a net cost of less than half the full cost of the system. Come to talk  
about how we can encourage and facilitate more solar installations in  
Cambridgeport.

The Cambridge Energy Alliance is a City-staffed program that is also a  
collaborative  effort of people dedicated to taking action on climate  
change.  CEA relies on the expertise and energy of community  
activists, businesses, and non-profits.

GreenPort envisions and encourages a just and sustainable  
Cambridgeport neighborhood
For more information, contact Steve Morr-Wineman at swineman at gis.net

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Hacks/Hackers End of year celebration (and let's talk about ideas for  
next year)
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
7:00 PM
Friendly Toast, 1 Kendall Square, Cambridge
RSVP at http://meetupbos.hackshackers.com/events/70255982/

Year 2 of the Hack/Hackers Boston chapter is at an end. Thanks to all  
our guest speakers, everyone who helped out, our sponsors who gave us  
space (and free cookies!) and all our loyal members who attended  
meetups, making this another successful year.
To celebrate, we're going to have a meetup on Tuesday, June 26, at the  
Friendly Toast in Kendall Sq. Bring ideas for next year.


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Wednesday, June 27
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TALK: Adaptive Model-Predictive Motion Planning for Autonomous Robots  
in Complex Environments
Wednesday, June 27 2012
10:00AM to 11:00AM
MIT, Patil/Kiva Seminar Room (32-G449), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Thomas Howard, NASA JPL

Autonomous robots must reason about their surroundings to operate  
intelligently in the natural world. Provided infinite time and  
flawless perception, robots could exploit detailed models of their  
environment interaction and completely explore the space of possible  
decisions to determine the optimal course of action. Practical  
applications of robotics however have restricted resources, limited  
decision time, and imperfect model information. In this talk I will  
present my research in model-predictive motion planning algorithms for  
autonomous robots that operate in challenging, cluttered, and/or  
complex environments. These methods are centered on two core ideas.  
First, a real-time trajectory generation that is agnostic to the  
underlying mechanics of robot environment interaction can be used to  
generate motion planning search spaces for autonomous robots that are  
feasible, expressive, and efficient to search. Second, provided a  
computationally efficient technique for repairing connectivity in  
recombinant motion planning graphs, the local mapping between  
discretized and continuous representations can be relaxed to improve  
the relative optimality of generated motions. I will demonstrate  
generality of these approaches by discussing applications in planetary  
rovers, field robots, autonomous automobiles, mobile manipulators and  
robotic torsos and describe future directions for this work.

Short Bio:
Thomas Howard is a Research Technologist in the Robotics Software  
Systems Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He received his Ph.D.  
in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009 and earned B.S.  
degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer  
Engineering from the University of Rochester in 2004. His work centers  
on the development of robust motion planning, navigation, and control  
algorithms that are applicable to a wide spectrum of autonomous  
systems. At Carnegie Mellon University he focused on the development  
of model-predictive trajectory generation and mobile robot navigation  
algorithms for planetary rovers, field robots, autonomous automobiles,  
and mobile manipulators. He was a member of the Tartan Racing motion  
planning team and applied his local motion planning trajectory  
generation algorithms on Boss, winner of the 2007 DARPA Urban  
Challenge. While at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory he has led research  
tasks on perception and pose estimation in poorly illuminated  
environments and mobile robot search space design. He is currently the  
motion planning lead for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California  
Institute of Technology team on the software track of the DARPA  
Autonomous Robotic Manipulation program and a member of the Mars  
Science Laboratory flight software team working on autonomous  
navigation. Thomas has authored or co-authored four journal articles,  
nineteen conference papers, and a book chapter in robot motion  
planning, navigation, control, and simulation and twice been appointed  
as a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the California Institute of  
Technology where he helps teach the class Advanced Robotics:  
Navigation and Vision.

Contact: Mieke Moran, 617-253-5817, mieke at csail.mit.edu
Relevant URL: http://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Thomas_Howard

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River Mapping from Low Flying Rotorcraft
Wednesday, June 27 2012
3:00PM to 4:00PM
MIT, Building 32-D463 Star, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Sanjiv Singh, The Robotics Institute, CMU

Rivers in areas with heavy vegetation are hard to map from the air. We  
have been working on the task of mapping their course and the  
vegetation along the shores with the specific intent of determining  
river width and canopy height. A complication in such an environment  
is that GPS may not be available depending on the thickness of the  
surrounding canopy.

In this talk I will discuss the components of a multimodal perception  
system to be used for the active exploration and mapping of a river  
from a small rotorcraft flying a few meters above the water. I will  
describe key component technologies that use computer vision and laser  
scanning to follow the river without the use of a prior map, estimate  
motion of the rotorcraft, ensure collision free operation and create a  
three dimensional representation of the riverine environment. While  
the ability to fly simplifies the navigation problem, it also  
introduces an additional set of constraints in terms of size, weight  
and power. Hence, our solutions are cognizant of the need to perform  
multi-kilometer missions with a payload that weighs less than a kilo.  
I will conclude with experimental results in representative  
environments.

Bio
Sanjiv Singh is a Research Professor at the Robotics Institute,  
Carnegie Mellon University. His recent work has two main themes:  
perception in natural environments and multi-agent coordination. He  
has led projects in both ground and air vehicles operating in unknown  
or partially known environments, in applications such as mining,  
agriculture, emergency response, surveillance and exploration. He has  
recently led projects that have demonstrated autonomous navigation for  
a full scale helicopter and have developed autonomy for a flying car.  
Prof Singh received his PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon (1995).  
He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Field Robotics.

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Thursday, June 28
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Visual 3D/4D modeling of urban places and events
Thursday, June 28 2012
11:00AM to 12:00AM, Refreshments: 10:50AM
MIT, Building 32-D463 (Star Seminar Room), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

Speaker: Marc Pollefeys, ETH Zurich

One of the fundamental problems of computer vision is to extract 3D  
shape and motion from images. This can be achieved when a scene or  
object is observed from different viewpoints or over a period of time.  
First, we'll discuss image-based 3D modeling and localization in large  
environments, e.g. urban 3D reconstruction from vehicle-borne cameras  
and (geo)localization from mobile-phone images. In this context, we  
will discuss some of the challenges an opportunities offered by  
symmetries of architectural structures. We will also discuss how  
changes in an urban environment can be detected from images, leading  
to the possibility to efficiently acquire 4D models. In addition to  
explicit 4D modeling of an event, we'll consider the possibility to  
perform interactive video-based rendering from casually captured videos.

Bio:
Marc Pollefeys is a full professor in the Dept. of Computer Science of  
ETH Zurich since 2007 where he is the head of the Institute for Visual  
Computing and leads the Computer Vision and Geometry lab. He currently  
also remains associated with the Dept. of Computer Science of the  
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he started as an  
assistant professor in 2002 and became an associate professor in 2005.  
Before this he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Katholieke  
Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, where he also received his M.S. and  
Ph.D. degrees in 1994 and 1999, respectively. His main area of  
research is computer vision. One of his main research goals is to  
develop flexible approaches to capture visual representations of real  
world objects, scenes and events. Dr. Pollefeys has received several  
prizes for his research, including a Marr prize, an NSF CAREER award,  
a Packard Fellowship and a European Research Council Starting Grant.  
He is the author or co-author of more than 160 peer-reviewed  
publications. He is the General Chair for the European Conference on  
Computer Vision 2014 (ECCV) and was a Program Co-Chair for the IEEE  
Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2009 (CVPR).  
Prof. Pollefeys is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal  
of Computer Vision and was a associate editor for the IEEE  
Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. He is a  
Fellow of the IEEE.

Host: Wojciech Matusik, MIT: CSAIL: Computer Graphics Group
Contact: Britton 'Bryt' Bradley, 617-253-6583, bryt at csail.mit.edu

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Launch of 350 Massachusetts network to fight for climate justice!
Thursday, June 28th
6pm potluck and 7pm Official Launch Meeting!
First Church Cambridge, 11 Garden Street Cambridge

The goal of this meeting is to connect those individuals and  
organizations who have worked with or supported 350.org in order to  
build an organized network to help us return atmospheric  
concentrations of CO2eq. back down to 350ppm. This network will help  
support future 350.org events and campaigns as well as those of our  
own creation including ending fossil fuel subsidies, keeping tar sands  
out of New England and stopping any additional fracked natural gas  
imports.

350.org US Campaign Director, Phil Aroneanu will also be joining us to  
share communications strategy and campaign organizing expertise.

If you have not already, please RSVP to this email so we can know who  
all we can expect on the big day. If you have any questions, please  
contact Dorian Williams at dorian at betterfutureproject.org.

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The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars:  Dispatches From the Front Lines.
Thursday, June 28
7:00 pm
Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Discussion/Signing With Michael Mann
 From climate scientist Mann an important and disturbing account of  
the fossil-fuel industry’s well-funded public-relations campaign to  
sow doubt about the validity of the science of climate change.

  Contact 617.499.2000

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Friday, June 29
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Walk/Ride Day
http://gogreenstreets.org/event/walkride-day

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MADMEC Design Challenge 1
Friday, June 29, 2012
2:00p–3:00p
MIT, Building 4-131, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
For Design Challenge 1, the teams will design and 3D print at least  
two separate parts to interface with an electric motor, to pull a load  
up a 2 meter high parabolic ramp using steel cable. The team that can  
pull the greatest weight to the top of the ramp will be the winner of  
the $500 Design Challenge 1 prize. Distance of max weight pulled will  
be the tie-breaking factor.

If the LEM is crowded, the contest can be viewed from the hallway.

Open to: the general public

Sponsor(s): Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering

For more information, contact:    DMSE
617-253-3300

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Saturday, June 30
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SOLAR OPEN HOUSE
Saturday, June 30, 2012
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (ET)
10 Rocky Nook Terrace Jamaica Plain, Boston
RSVP at http://10rockynookjpsolar-es2.eventbrite.com/

The Rosenthals have done it - they've gone solar!  And now they want  
you to see if you can go solar too by inviting you along with their  
friends and neighbors to talk to them about what having a solar home  
has meant for them and to see what it looks like first hand.
Come join us at 10 Rocky Nook Terrace in JP to learn more about you  
can go solar with little to no cost and save money every month on your  
electric bills.  A solar adviser will help you determine if your home  
qualifies for the program and answer all of your questions.
Never considered solar before?  This is a great way to get your first  
introduction to how Massachusetts residents are taking control of  
their energy costs and their carbon footprint and get to meet some of  
your neighbors and fellow community members.
Light refreshments will be provided.  Please RSVP with your name and  
number of attendees.
We look forward to meeting with you!

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SOCIAL MOVEMENTS & ELECTORAL POLITICS
A Roundtable Connecting #Occupy, Global Movements, the World Social  
Forum, and Elections
Saturday, June 30, 2012, 6:00 p.m. at encuentro 5 (33 Harrison Ave,  
5th floor, Boston, MA 02111)
featuring: Sarah Francis, Jeff Juris, Suren Moodliar, Thomas
Ponniah, Monica Poole, and (chair) Heike Schotten

The Arab Spring signaled a global wave of social movements challenging  
inequality, repression, austerity, war, & corporate power. Whatever  
their strengths, these movements have all had to give serious  
consideration to how they relate to electoral politics. This timely  
conversation brings together a diverse group of thoughtful activists  
and engaged scholars who have connections to the #Occupy movement, the  
World Social Forum, solidarity movements and grassroots organizing.

NOTE: encuentro 5 is NOT yet wheelchair accessible, call 888-400-1225  
to join the conversation via Skype or conference call. Visit website  
for speaker bios, background information and selected articles.

Speaker bios and more information to follow; light refreshments  
provided.
More details at http://www.encuentro5.org. See flyer here:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1042836/flyer-2012-06-30.pdf

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Monday, July 2
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The Wonders of Electricity and Magnetism
Monday, July 02, 2012
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Walter Lewin, LIVE! Special Lecture Series, MIT Physics Professor  
Walter Lewin, educator and author of "For the Love of Physics"

These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be  
videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending  
you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television  
program without any compensation or credit.

Open to: the general public

Cost: Free

Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars

For more information, contact:  Nina Wu
ninawu at mit.edu


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Upcoming
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Understanding Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment
Friday, July 06, 2012
10:00a–11:00a
Webinar register at: https://mitweb.webex.com/mitweb/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=644994381

Speaker: Christopher Weber, IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute
LEAP Sustainability Speaker Series

The Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) method  
estimates the materials and energy resources required for, and the  
environmental emissions resulting from, activities in our economy.  
Learn more about EIO-LCA from one of the field's prominent experts.


Web site: http://leap.mit.edu/speaker-series/

Open to: the general public

Cost: free

Sponsor(s): LEAP: Global Leaders in Environmental Assessment and  
Performance

For more information, contact:  Suzanne Greene
6177155473
segreene at mit.edu

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Super High-Voltage - Why is the Sky Blue, Why are the Clouds White and  
Why are Sunsets Red?

Friday, July 06, 2012

11:00a–12:00p

MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Walter Lewin, MIT Physics Professor, educator and author of "For the  
Love of Physics"

These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be  
videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending  
you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television  
program without any compensation or credit.

Open to: the general public

Cost: Free

Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars

For more information, contact:  Nina Wu
ninawu at mit.edu

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The Hidden Beauty of Rainbows

Monday, July 09, 2012

11:00a–12:00p

MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge

Walter Lewin, MIT Physics Professor Emeritus, educator and author of  
"For the Love of Physics"

These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be  
videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending  
you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television  
program without any compensation or credit.

Open to: the general public

Cost: Free

Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars

For more information, contact:  Nina Wu
ninawu at mit.edu

--------------------------

Midsummer Nights' Science is an annual lecture series that explores  
key advances in genomic research. This lecture series is held each  
summer, and is free and open to the general public. Midsummer Nights'  
Science at the Broad Institute takes place at 7 Cambridge Center, in  
Kendall Square in Cambridge. Come experience science!

The 2012 series will run on Wednesday evenings on July 11th, 18th,  
25th and August 1st from 6pm to 7pm. Space will be limited, so we ask  
attendees to register ahead of time. Registration instructions for the  
2012 series can be found here.

2012 Lecture Schedule:

Miniature science: How microfluidics is powering biology

Wednesday, July 11th

6-7pm
7 Cambridge Center, in Kendall Square in Cambridge

RSVP at http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1114751


Paul Blainey, Ph.D.

Miniaturized lab-on-a-chip methods are being deployed as labor-saving  
devices in biological research, through the advent of a suite of  
microfluidics technologies. Microfluidics enables large-scale studies  
that provide the means to better understand, prevent, and treat human  
disease. Paul Blainey will discuss the promise of using microfluidics  
to transform our industrial infrastructure to operate more  
efficiently, while protecting the natural environment.

http://www.broadinstitute.org/education/midsummer-nights-science/midsummer-nights-science-2012


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Opportunity

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Boiler Rebate
If your boiler is from 1983 or earlier, Mass Save will give a $1,750  
to $4,000 rebate to switch it out for a new efficient boiler that uses  
the same fuel (i.e. if you have oil, you have to continue to use oil)  
so long as it is installed by July 31, 2012.

Call Mass Save (866 527-7283) to sign up for a home energy assessment  
or sign-up online at  www.nextsteplivinginc.com/HEET  and HEET will  
receive a $10 contribution from Next Step Living for every completed  
assessment.

This is a great way to reduce climate change emissions for the next 20  
or so years the boiler lasts, while saving money.

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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.)


*********
-----------

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

--------------------------------------------------

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.

----------------------------------------------------

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

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/

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

http://www.massclimateaction.net/calendar/events/index.php

http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template

http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/

http://green.harvard.edu/events

http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx

http://boston.nerdnite.com/

http://www.meetup.com/

http://www.eventbrite.com/

http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/calendar

http://harddatafactory.com/mobileapp.shtml

http://bostoneventsinsider.com/boston_events/











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