The New York Times just had an article about how insiders in the natural gas industry are concerned that the reserve and production estimates for recent shale gas discoveries have been significantly overestimated. The article states “Money is pouring in” from investors even though shale gas is “inherently unprofitable,” an
Read moreAn article in today’s New York Times discusses the “safety myth” promoted by Japan’s nuclear industry and the effect of that myth on the country’s ability to respond to the Fukushima accidents when they occurred. It’s a fascinating cautionary tale of what can happen when fallible
Read moreIt’s often stated that the Three Mile Island (TMI) accident in 1979 was the main cause of the demise of nuclear power in the United States. This line of argument posits that the safety regulations promulgated after TMI (along with associated legal wrangling) increased reactor costs and construction times
Read moreGore’s article in Rolling Stone lays out what’s going on in the climate debate with exceptional clarity. See also Joe Romm’s excellent commentary about how the media just ignore Gore’s criticisms of the media’s behavior, focusing on the Gore vs. Obama angle. Gore’s article
Read moreThe New York Times today reports that airlines are exploring ways to reduce the amount of paper each plane carries as a way to reduce weight and fuel costs. The article implies that each pound of additional weight costs $17,600 (=$440,000/25 lbs) in added fuel costs over
Read moreBruce Rayner at Electrical Engineering Times did a great writeup on our work on trends in computing efficiency in their June 21, 2011 issue. It’s a cover story. Rayner uses our work as backdrop to tell the story of five key technologies that will have a huge impact on
Read moreI had heard of motion sensors controlling display cases before, but the Target in Emeryville, CA (which we visited this morning) has a particularly nice implementation of that technology. The display cases are lit with LEDs (see below). And here’s a closer shot of the motion detector: There were
Read moreJames Kanter has a very nice article on NYTimes.com today on data centers and the search for ever better ways to cool those facilities. Typical “in-house” data centers nowadays devote one kWh of electricity to cooling, pumps, fans, and power systems for every kWh of electricity used for
Read moreOn June 12, 2011, The New York Times reported on something novel in an article titlted “US Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors”. The first two paragraphs read: “The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive
Read moreOn June 3, 2011, Climate Progress reported on the development of a new type of corporation, the B-corp, “which modifies governance so that managers respond to long-term interests of investors, stakeholders, and the environment, rather than just focusing on short-term profits.” This is an important development because
Read moreIn an earlier post I speculated about window-integrated PV, and have now completed some further investigations. I emailed with Richard Lunt, the lead researcher on the window integrated PV paper, as well as with my friend Steve Selkowitz, head of LBNL’s Windows and Daylighting Group, about this new
Read moreWe visited Bill Nye’s terrific Climate Lab at the Chabot Space and Science Center in Oakland, CA on Saturday May 7, 2011. I didn’t get to play around with the exhibits as much as I’d like (that’s what happens when you have two year old twins)
Read moreAndrew Fanara, Larry Vertal, and me at the Uptime Institute Symposium in Santa Clara, CA, May 11, 2011. The three of us were at the center of efforts to improve energy efficiency in servers and data centers starting in early 2006. Larry was at AMD when that company started to
Read moreToday Intel announced the commercialization of 3D transistors using low voltages and a 22 nm fab process, a development that will help the technology industry keep pace with the long term trends in power efficiency identified in our forthcoming IEEE article (Koomey, Jonathan G., Stephen Berard, Marla Sanchez, and Henry
Read moreYesterday I tweeted about an innovation from MIT that converts infrared (IR) radiation to electricity, allowing for electricity generation from windows that appear transparent to the naked eye. The paper documenting those findings is here. My good friend Kurt Brown, who I worked with in collaboration to design the recommendation
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