[act-ma] Energy (and Other) Events

George Mokray gmoke at world.std.com
Sun Jul 1 11:00:17 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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Beggar by the Bank  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/06/27/1103476/-Beggar-by-the-Bank

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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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Tuesday, July 3
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Energy Efficient Electronic Devices
Tuesday, July 3, 2013
11:00am–12:00 noon
Refreshments at 10:30am
MIT, Building 36-428, RLE Haus Room


Adrian M. Ionescu, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

Abstract
In this talk, I will discuss some of the emerging device categories  
that offer improved energy efficiency compared to existing solutions  
for digital and analog/RF information processing. I will present  
recent results in the field of tunnel FETs that stand as potential  
candidates for future electronic switching below 200mV. Particularly,  
the Electro-Hole Bilayer TFET fro milli-volt abrupt switching,  
proposed by our group, will be detailed. Demonstration of Negative  
Capacitance effect in MOS-like structures with gate stacks including  
organic ferroelectric will be shortly reported. In the field of low  
power NEMS, I will present recent results on resonant-body double-gate  
transistors for FM demodulation and mass sensing applications. Thales,  
Alcatel-Lucent and CEA/LETI will be also presented.

About Adrian M. Ionescu
Sylvain Delage*Adrian M. Ionescu* is a Professor at the Swiss Federal  
Institute of Technology, Lausanne, Switzerland. He received the B.S./ 
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the Polytechnic Institute of Bucharest,  
Romania and the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble, France, in  
1989 and 1997, respectively. He has held staff and/or visiting  
positions at LETI-CEA, Grenoble, France, LPCS-ENSERG, Grenoble, France  
and Stanford University, USA, in 1998 and 1999. Dr. Ionescu has  
published more than 250 articles in international journals and  
conferences. He is director of the Laboratory of Micro/Nanoelectronic  
Devices (NANOLAB) and head of the Doctoral School in Microsystems and  
Microelectronics of EPFL. He is appointed as national representative  
of Switzerland for the European Nanoelectronics Initiative Advisory  
Council (ENIAC) and member of the Scientific Committee of CATRENE. Dr.  
Ionescu is the European Chapter Chair of the ITRS Emerging Research  
Devices Working Group.

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Our Divided Political Heart:  The Battle for the American Idea in an  
Age of Discontent
Tuesday, July 3, 2012

7:00 PM

Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge


E.J. Dionne Jr.
Harvard Book Store and The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press,  
Politics and Public Policy are delighted to welcome renowned  
journalist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution E.J. DIONNE  
JR. for a discussion of his new book, Our Divided Political Heart: The  
Battle for the American Idea in an Age of Discontent.
Our Divided Political Heart will be the must-read book of the 2012  
election campaign. Offering an incisive analysis of how hyper- 
individualism is poisoning the nation’s political atmosphere, E. J.  
Dionne Jr. argues that Americans can’t agree on who we are because we  
can’t agree on who we’ve been, or what it is, philosophically and  
spiritually, that makes us Americans. Dionne takes on the Tea Party’s  
distortions of American history and shows that the true American  
tradition points not to radical individualism, but to a balance  
between our love of individualism and our devotion to community.

co-sponsored by The Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and  
Public Policy

information at (617) 661-1515, info at harvard.com

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Wednesday, July 4
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Happy Fourth of July!
Exercise your freedoms!

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Friday, July 6
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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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MADMEC Design Challenge 1
Friday, July 06, 2012
1:00p–2:00p
MIT, Building 4-131, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Teams will design and build a gear system using 3D printing. The  
system that can pull the most weight wins this challenge's $500 prize.
Viewing available from the hallway and the atrium.

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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Sunday, July 8
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Aaron Birk "Pollinator's Corridor" author: Reception & Book Signing
Sunday, July 8, 2012
3:00 PM To 6:00 PM
Follow the Honey, 1132 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge

What is "The Pollinator's Corridor?"
Set in the aftermath of the 1970's landlord fires, "The Pollinator's  
Corridor" follows the lives of three friends who attempt to convince  
wild bees and butterflies to cross the Bronx by planting 'corridors'  
of native flora throughout the industrial wasteland. Connecting  
fragmented forests, watersheds and city parks, our heros restore  
biodiversity to the blighted ghetto by uniting marginalized  
communities and laying the foundations of ecological health in an age  
of crisis and decline.

Who is Aaron Birk?
Philadelphia-based artist Aaron Birk began work on The Pollinator's  
Corridor in 2003, while employed as a forester in Central Park, NY.  
Along with his efforts in restoration ecology, Aaron continues to hone  
his craft in illustration, puppetry and acrobatics. He is sponsored by  
New York Foundation for the Arts, and is the recipient of two major  
grants from The Independence Foundation and Pennsylvania Partners in  
the Arts.

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Monday, July 9
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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

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Upcoming
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Narcotweets: Reporting on the Mexican Drug War using Social Media
Tuesday, July 10
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/2012/07/narcotweets#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast 
  and archived on our site shortly after.

Andrés Monroy-Hernández, Microsoft Research & Berkman Center for  
Internet & Society, and Panagiotis "Takis" Metaxas, Wellesley College
In the last few years, the war among drug cartels and the Mexican  
authorities has intensified. It is a brutal war that has claimed the  
lives of many innocent people. Citizens, using Social Media have  
organized a communication network reporting daily on the dangerous  
zones of their cities. How did it start and how effective are they? In  
this presentation we analyze the information sharing practices of  
people living in cities central to the Mexican Drug War. We will  
describe the content, volume, and network structures of a  
microblogging corpus from several cities afflicted by this war. First,  
we will describe how citizens use social media to alert each other and  
comment on the violence that plagues their communities. Then we will  
examine how a handful of citizens aggregate and disseminate  
information from social media, many of whom are anonymous. We present  
our published and ongoing research (jointly with Eni Mustafaraj) on  
this phenomenon that we hope will expand our understanding of self- 
organized civic media efforts along with some of the challenges that  
these might face.

Bios
Andrés Monroy-Hernández is a post-doctoral researcher at Microsoft  
Research and a Fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Center for  
Internet & Society. His main areas of research are social computing  
and social media. He is particularly interested in the design and  
study of online collaboration, communities for creative expression and  
civic engagement. His work has been featured in the New York Times,  
CNN, Wired, and has received awards from Ars Electronica, and the  
MacArthur Digital Media and Learning Competition. He was formerly a  
student at the MIT Media Lab and at the Tec de Monterrey in Mexico.

Panagiotis "Takis" Metaxas is a Professor of Computer Science and  
Founder of the Media Arts and Sciences Program at Wellesley College.  
Currently, he is a Visiting Scholar and Affiliate at the Center for  
Research on Computation and Society at Harvard University. He holds a  
Ph.D. in Computer Science from Dartmouth and has been a visiting  
scientist at MIT and at the Sydney University, Australia. His research  
interests are currently in Social Computing, Propagation of  
information and misinformation in cyberspace (including Web Spam) and  
Cognitive Hacking. His current project, aims to create semi-automatic  
tools that will help users evaluate the trustworthiness of the  
information they receive from Social Media.

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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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The Egyptian Oracle
Thursday, July 13
7 pm
Northeastern's Raytheon Amphitheater, Egan Engineering/Science  
Building, 120 Forsyth Street, Boston

Circle the City: Boston's Open Streets Initiative:  Car-Free Corridor
Public VR will recreate an important religious event, the Oracle, from  
ancient Egypt's late period.  Projecting our Virtual Egyptian Temple  
onto a wall opens the real space into the virtual, creating a shared  
continuum for audience and actors.  The star is a virtual High Priest,  
controlled by a human puppeteer interacting with a live actor and the  
audience, who role-play the Egyptian populace.  The high priest  
queries the spirit of the temple god, which is embodied in a  
ceremonial boat, carried by eight assistants.  Fortunes will be told,  
judgments made, and blessings given.  We will film the evnt, ask  
audience members what they learned, and have a general discussion  
afterward, all totaling 80 minutes.  The information we gather will  
help us improve the show and inform our educational research.  This  
was made possible by the National Endowment for the Humanities,  
PublicVR, and Northeastern University.  Our actors are from the Puppet  
Showplace Theater in Brookline.  No charge.

Further information at 617-435-0517, jeff at publicvr.org
http://publicvr.org/html/pro_oracle.html

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July 15 and August 5

Come out to walk, bike, dance, and roll on open, car-free streets in  
and between our parks! Circle The City is free and open to people of  
all ages.

July 15, 11 am-4 pm, car-free corridor between Franklin Park and  
Jamaica Pond. LivableStreets will be there with our "Red Line photo  
booth." Come take a picture on the "T"  to win best "T snap shot" of  
the summer!
August 5, 10 am-1 pm, Rose Kennedy Greenway
Featuring a car-free corridor along the downtown waterfront.

Organized by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy, the Boston Collaborative
for Food and Fitness, LivableStreets Alliance, Franklin Park  
Coalition, and the City of Boston.


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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.)


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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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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.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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