Why Open Science Failed After the Gulf Oil Spill

Great article by John Timmer over at Ars Technica on scientific uncertainty during an intensely political and costly crises.

One quibble, I don't think we can easily assume "Scientists, in general, just wanted the actual number" of oil being release into the Gulf, whereas all the other interests were political/economic. One can think of the intense and controversial period after Katrina in the engineering field, as engineers embedded in different institutions had conflicting results. The production of knowledge is always entangled with political, cultural, and economic relations. Scientist are not outside those relations.  

The Next Big Thing

Mathew L. Wald, NY Times:

If solar energy is eventually going to matter — that is, generate a significant portion of the nation’s electricity — the industry must overcome a major stumbling block, experts say: finding a way to store it for use when the sun isn’t shining (italics added).

Very true.

Apple's New Headquarters Will Have the Largest Solar Roof in US

Seth Weintraub:

Today’s updated Apple Headquarters Spaceship campus plans include a roof made almost entirely out of solar cells, according to details released today. With a building as large as Apple’s, that puts it in the top corporate solar installations in the world and the biggest in the US.  The current title holder is the 4.26 MW system in Edison New Jersey and another being built by ToysRus in sunny NJ is rated 5.38W

Clearly, this won’t be enough power to power all of operations, but as Steve Jobs mentioned in his case to the Cupertino City council, Apple will be able to generate a lot of its own power and will run from an on-site power facility.

(Via The Loop)

Boondoggle or Cutting Edge?

California's high-speed rail project set to go amidst harsh criticism that it will end up a boondoggle, a giant waste of money. Is this the kind of politics that built extensive high-speed rail in Europe, Japan, and now China? 

Adam Nagourney:

But for many Californians, struggling through a bleak era that has led some people to wonder if the state’s golden days are behind it, this project goes to the heart of the state’s pioneering spirit, recalling grand public investments in universities, water systems, roads and parks that once defined California as the leading edge of the nation.

Sign of the times for the US: crumbling 19th and 20th century infrastructure. Not good, and little evidence that we can make these projects work. 

Environmental historian Richard White:

What they are hoping is that this will be to high-speed rail what Vietnam was to foreign policy: that once you’re in there, you have to get in deeper. The most logical outcome to me is we are going to have a white elephant in the San Joaquin Valley.

Windwashing or energy revolution?

WindMade™

WindMade is the first global consumer label
identifying organisations and products that use wind power
in their operations or production

We need an energy revolution not a new branding campaign that replicates Fair Trade Coffee by adding value to a product in a niche market. We are not trying to make renewable energy the Fair Trade Coffee of energy production (value added niche market); we're trying to make it the coffee that hundreds of millions of people drink everyday.

Like the organic label and the Fair Trade label this looks likely to only further product differentiation rather than changing the relationship of mass market production/consumption of energy.

7 billion and 1, and 2, and 3...

Sometime today the human population reaches 7 billion people. For many in the U.S. halloween is the perfect day to reach this milestone, "over population" scares people, and it gives an easy answer to "what is wrong with the world?" and to the cause of environmental problems, including global climate change. "It's those people out there."

But population is a red herring in many ways. The developed world uses most the energy, produces most the food, and emits the most carbon. Yes, aspects of population cause problems but an environmntal and social justice movement that runs with this headline and platform isn't looking deep enough.

Nest, the intelligent thermostat

The news of the day in the technology world was the introduction of Nest, The Learning Thermostat by Tony Fadell, one of the creators of the iPod and his team at Nest Labs. It is the first major consumer tech gadget meets energy efficient home hardware. Can the iPhone of thermastats actually deliver on its claims? Can it spark consumer interest? Only research and use will tell. This does seem however to be the future of home appliances and a new turn in the consumerification of everyday, taken for granted energy appliances.

"What did you get for Christmas?"

"A thermostat."

"Huh?"