smart cities
A growing number of cities around the world have visions of using technology to bring their economies, schools, transportation systems and environment into the 21st century. Among those, 33 are the latest recipients of grants offered through IBM’s Smarter Cities Challenge. Launched in 2011, the IBM Challenge aims to
solar energy
What do we know about solar energy? We know that, despite the popular criticisms leveled against government loans to the occasional failed enterprise (yes, Solyndra), incentives work and price wars can benefit users, even if they’re not always good for solar-energy companies. These factors, among others, help explain why
Smart Grid
Do people have a right to be inefficient? If that sounds like a strange question, it’s one we’re likely to encounter more often as energy prices keep rising, carbon reduction requirements grow stricter and utilities work to make grids smarter. In the US especially, where a certain proportion
natural gas
The world might be on the brink of a “golden age of gas,” as the International Energy Agency (IEA) puts it, but there’s one more reason to question how easily that energy wealth can be tapped: an increased risk of earthquakes. That risk is what prompted the Ohio Department
smart cities
One year after the devastating triple disaster — earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant meltdown — in Japan, the government hopes to not only rebuild shattered communities, but to rebuild in ways that make those places smarter and more sustainable. The March 11, 2011, disaster killed more than 15,000 people and destroyed
natural gas
In the US and elsewhere, a lot of news coverage lately has focused on the vast new supplies of natural gas that can be unlocked from unconventional sources like shale and coalbeds. “Are we entering a golden age of gas?” a report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) asked last
women
Over and over again, research shows that women could contribute hugely toward building a more sustainable society … if only they are given the opportunity. For too many, though, it’s an opportunity that remains lacking, especially in the world’s rural areas. Speaking on the eve of International Women’s
feed in tariff
There is no question that the UK’s new Green Deal is welcome news for the industry. The program will help boost energy efficiency across UK homes and is an important step in the government’s plan to meet its carbon emissions cuts. But at the same time, the government
energy consumption
How much energy does our global population of nearly 7 billion use every year? According to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), total primary energy consumption came to 493 quadrillion — that’s 493,000,000,000,000,000 — BTUs in 2008, the most recent year for which figures are available.
nuclear power
As we close in on the one-year anniversary of the deadly triple disaster in Japan — earthquake, tsunami and nuclear plant failure — the fallout, both real and literal, remains far from over. Unsavory details, for example, continue to emerge about the foibles and failures of the nation’s nuclear industry: a
Technology
You can’t fault Bill Gates for being stingy with his money or not caring about building a better future for society. But you can say this: he embodies the old saying, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” As the consummate techie, Gates views
smart cities
What, exactly, is a smart city, and how do you measure its “IQ”? Those are the questions leaders in Barcelona hope to answer by developing what they call a “City Protocol.” The City Protocol, officials say, will make it possible to measure both efficiency and quality of city projects, processes
