James Barrett has recently published two very well reasoned posts on the rebound effect that walk through his thinking, and they are worth a read. The first one is introductory (written in response to the recent New Yorker article), and the second one more technical. Both will help people who
Read moreOver the past few weeks I’ve been engaged in an email conversation with about 30 energy analysts and environmental reporters about the rebound effect. That conversation has had many threads, but one of particular interest is a specific example I asked the rebound advocates to create. After some resistance
Read moreI was invited by Christian Belady at Microsoft to give a talk about my computing trends work at Microsoft, and the video of that Dec. 2, 2010 talk can be found here. The talk turned out pretty well. The implications of this work related to the capabilities and prevalence of
Read moreWell, my letter almost made it into the New Yorker, but I just learned today that they had cut it for space reasons. They did a nice job shortening and editing it, though, and I was pleasantly surprised. Edited version follows: “Owen’s article conflates two different effects: the rebound
Read moreI chatted with a reporter a few days ago about the electricity used by data centers. This happens every month or two—somebody comes to me with concern about the power used by computers and other information technology (IT) equipment and I talk them through the history of this topic.
Read moreAn article in the New Yorker raises, yet again, the question of whether energy efficiency actually saves energy or promotes more consumption. This issue comes up periodically, but proponents of this idea never seem to be able to prove their case, and there’s a reason for that: it doesn’
Read moreFor many years I’ve maintained a simple biographical web page, and that one served me well, but I realized in 2010 that it was time to create something more modern. This new site is the result. There are still a few quirks to be worked out, but we’re
Read moreThis post appeared on Climate Progress on Oct. 27, 2010. This short essay describes why I think California’s Prop. 23 should be voted down. Taking action on climate is the best way to ensure that California continues to develop the industries of the future. We need to stay ahead
Read moreThis blog post appeared first on Climate Progress on June 21, 2010, but I’m reposting it so I have the text on my site. For the Climate Progress version, which contains useful commentary and additional links from Joe Romm, go here. Debunking the myth of the Internet as energy
Read moreThis is a repost of a little essay by me and Florentin Krause that came out on Climate Progress on Dec. 6, 2009. The linked blog post summarizes why the 2 degree C temperature limit is so critical to understanding solutions to the climate change problem. Florentin and I were
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