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FEATURED TOPICDigital Transition -The term "Digital Transition" describes the process all organizations must go through in the 21st Century, as they leverage new technologies that provide new options for Applications, Equipment, Processes, and Networks that make them more effective. In contrast, the term "Municipal Wireless" is limiting. It puts the network technology ahead of the application and process changes that drive the business case. ORIENTATION |
Broadband, Meet Energy: ecomergence website launchedHappy New Year to all who may come across these writings! 2009 is set to be the year where broadband and energy finally come together. From the electric utility perspective, 2009 will see tremendous focus on Clean Tech and Smart Grid, where broadband will be used as a transport network to bring back sensory data from out on the grid, most notably, automated meter data. From the broadband communications perspective, high speed connectivity will come to be seen as an indispensable piece of the solution to achieve greater efficiency in energy consumption, as businesses, organizations and residences drive to eliminate wasteful energy consumption at the urging of the federal government, state and local governments, and their local utilities. In light of the growing connection between energy and broadband, I've launched two new websites recently. First, there is Cake2Bread, the blog I started writing the day before Thanksgiving. The theme of this blog is to track the changes in behavior and culture as economic pressure and the inclination to Go Green pull us back from the extremes of an overheated consumer culture to a more fundamental appreciation for the simpler things in life. Second, there is ecomergence, the commercial website for my consulting practice. The word "ecomergence" signifies five fundamental concepts coming together, as is noted on the front page of the site: ecomergence - noun 1. an economic solution that emphasizes greater control of expenses through improved business processes and more effective purchasing: "Respect Limits" Check them out when you have time. Happy New Year to All, and keep your eyes peeled for these two threads, broadband and energy, to start winding together in the months ahead. Posted on January 01, 2009 at 03:20 PM | Comments (0) Perfect PowerAuthors Robert Galvin and Kurt Yeager came out with a book, Perfect Power: How the Microgrid Revolution will Unleash Cleaner, Greener, and More Abundant Energy, several weeks ago. I would urge all to check it out. Robert Galvin was born lucky, but did a lot with what he had - his father founded Motorola after solving the problem of how to make a radio work in a car. He inherited that thriving company and did well with it, then left the mantle of the corporation to his son and moved on pursue his passion - electricity industry reform. He formed the Galvin Electricity Initiative to bring pressure to bear on policy makers, shining a light on the need to fix our fundamental infrastructure. Into his ninth decade on the planet, he has partnered with Kurt Yeager, past president of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) to accomplish his objectives with the Institute. This is an endeavor worthy of our attention. Posted on November 21, 2008 at 12:38 PM | Comments (0) Don't Forget Water Utilities - They Can Be Connected TooI posted a long (8 page) brief I had written on electric utilities, broadband and municipalities this morning, and yet that leaves out many of the conversations I had this week about water conservation and the role that broadband connectivity and AMI can play to help to stimulate movement in a positive direction when it comes to a dwindling water resource. The theme of supply and demand and constrained resources kept coming up everywhere this week. It's a big issue with electric utilities, of course, given the rising cost of fuel, constrained transmission resources, climate change, and pending carbon tax issues. On the radio, Texas Public Radio broadcast in San Antonio had a discussion/debate on the Diane Rehm show about surface transportation policy and US Transportation Infrastructure, with differing opinions on whether we should focus on mass transportation, rail, and an integrated intermodal system, with information providing feedback on user behavior (demand side management), or whether that is doomed and what we really need to do is spend more money on building highways (supply side management). But water is a huge issue and will get bigger and bigger as we move forward. I even had a discussion with a guy at dinner who is selling traditional water meters to water utilities in Louisiana that - sit down for this one - don't even have any meters at all on their accounts! They sell unmetered water as a service! That is a traditional outmoded approach that assumes that the commodity of water is too cheap to meter - a flat rate is just fine, thank you very much. The problem with flat-rate services in general is that they end up with onerous cross-subsidization issues, where high consumers are subsidized by low consumers. With very cheap costs of commodity and very cheap transport costs, this may not matter, but the commodity cost is rising, and operation costs are rising as infrastructure needs upgrading and labor costs go up...there needs to be some rational mechanism to tie costs with revenue, and ultimately, to tie costs with benefits. High users should pay more than low users. More below on the growing issues around constrained water resources and the need for better and smarter utility management.
NPR commentator Frank Deford had a segment this morning about golf courses, in which he cited a Golf Digest poll showing that 41 percent of golfers believe global warming to be a myth. [See Water-Thirsty Golf Courses Need to Go Green] This number struck me as surprisingly high. But then I did a little digging and discovered that, while an April Pew poll found that 71 percent of Americans say there is "solid evidence" the earth is getting warmer, only 49 percent of Republicans now believe that to be the case. More intriguing, Pew found the number of Republican skeptics to be on the rise - up 13 percentage points from a similar poll conducted in January 2007. So if you assume that most golfers are Republicans, the stat makes perfect sense. Well, if the rising of ocean levels means larger water hazards, Michelle, perhaps we'll see a shift of opinion on the links ... Few Greenies on These Greens By Tobin Harshaw Until we can start to acknowledge reality, no matter how painful, change will remain extremely difficult. Denial is a powerful concept when it comes to human behavior and psychology, and denial is at its strongest when a change of facts - a new reality - threatens a comfortable lifestyle. It doesn't surprise me that golfers would be in denial, as a class, because they're very fond of their beautiful, lush courses and it's a great lifestyle to be attached to. The Country Club Life, if you've ever experienced it, is marvelous, but one must acknowledge, it really is an alternate reality. Few get to enjoy hanging out in beautiful circumstances where one is waited on hand and foot, where every whim is anticipated and met. Not that there is anything at all with that - I personally love country clubs (and I'm an avid golfer, whenever I get a chance). But to live in a bubble and yet not realize that one is living in a bubble takes a special form of cluelessness - it's a rather lazy outlook on life, IMHO. And selfish too. My mama taught me in no uncertain terms that lazy and selfish are no ways to go through life. In that same segment, there was this item as well: Drought Hits California's Already Tight Water Supply. If you open your eyes and look, open your ears and listen, more and more you'll hear stories about water shortages and conservation, but it's amazing how many managers at water utilities can't see the forest for the trees. They're still behind the curve in implementing an automated meter infrastructure (AMI) system that will give them detailed digital data, which can be used not only for revenue measurement purposes, but also to improve their management of their systems and lower the wasted water that leaks from old pipes that have been buried in the ground for decades. It reminds me of the Stephen Covey story about "sharpening the saw" - a euphemism for taking time out for personal regeneration. As the story goes, the man is sawing away, but not making much progress. An observer stops him and asks, "why don't you take a break and sharpen the saw, then you could cut faster?" The guy looks at him with disgust, "silly idea, take a break! I'm too busy to take a break!" Too many managers of infrastructure - pick the infrastructure - see their jobs as maintaining a status quo. Dramatic changes look scary (negative economic outcomes followed by negative political outcomes - lost job, anyone?), and so emotional arguments are made against suggestions like AMI and broadband. "We could never afford the capital investment of thousands of meter end points" is the most common objection. Even when a financial analysis shows a reasonable payback, it is too often dismissed, not for rational reasons, but as an excuse based on irrational fear of risk. As a public policy issue, we must all grow more aware of how we address the issue of shrinking resources. Otherwise we'll end up in a society where a privileged few enjoy dramatically more than the underprivileged masses, and that is a recipe for political instability, where all end up losers. Data communication systems, which include both wireless AMI and wired and wireless broadband, provide society with the information it needs to manage more effectively its scarce resources and to ensure politically equitable outcomes and a sustainable economy, the twin pillars of a civilized society. Posted on June 13, 2008 at 07:56 AM | Comments (0) Earth Day: Infrastructure, Efficiency and ExcessI wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day At some point, the dots will start to be connected between infrastructure and efficiency, and that point may be when shortages cause us all to take a second look at things we now take for granted, most notably, ready access to conveniences and what have become our excessive lifestyles. Infrastructure makes possible the conveniences of life that define our modern lifestyle, but overconsumption made possible by such infrastructure is excessive and increasingly threatening. There is such a thing as "too much of a good thing." Smart infrastructure that leverages modern technology can be turned to a different purpose, that of providing efficiency AND limiting excess. When the time comes that shortages raise our attention level and it looks like it may soon be here, we're bound to have a national conversation on efficiency as an alternative lifestyle to what we've grown quite accustomed to in modern society since the end of World War Two: excess as a lifestyle, best characterized by the three step thought process, 1. "A is good." 2. "More of A is better." 3. "Repeat Steps 1 & 2." You don't have to look far for evidence of this ethos, from Obesity, to Addictions, to Deforestation, to Exhaustion of Fisheries, to Climate Change, to McMansions, to now ... Rising Prices, Dwindling Resources and Looming Shortages. In a NY Times Op Ed piece on Tuesday (Earth Day), Running Out of Planet to Exploit, Paul Krugman raised the question of reaching real hard limits in our society, similar to the points I raised in a post back on January 15 titled The Party Never Ends ...Cartoon Lemonade. I have small ranch just west of Austin, and I can tell you, as I build my small eco-barn - my current project, remind me to post pictures some day - I'm thinking a lot about infrastructure (or more accurately, the lack thereof, and what I don't currently have access to out in Dripping Springs). I do have electricity, and while that's a big step, it's the only modern convenience I have at present. I've noticed, for instance, that it's a lot more efficient to pull water out of a faucet in the wall, like I do in my city home, than it is to haul 5-gallon jugs out for our use during the weekend, as I do now. (WATER UTILITY NETWORK) With no bathroom, my wife will only hang out with me for a few hours before heading home. (WASTEWATER UTILITY NETWORK) It's far more convenient to drive on the series of interconnecting highways and county roads to get to my ranch, than it is to drive my car once I go through my ranch gate. (ROAD NETWORK) It's more efficient to call someone by telephone than to drive over to see them. (TELECOM NETWORK) It's more efficient to turn on the light switch than it is to light candles. (ELECTRICITY NETWORK) And it's more efficient to surf the Web and pick up a deal on Craig's List, than it is to shop the classifieds or hit individual garage sales. (INTERNET NETWORK) Obviously, this list could go on and on, but I think I've made my point - Infrastructures bring efficient delivery of goods and services, which is a huge plus in our modern economy and a huge contributer to our modern lifestyles. And that's a good thing. But, it seems, it's too good of a thing when efficient delivery can easily lead to over-consumption and under-appreciation, which I would describe as a pretty good short-hand definition of waste and excess. It's not just oil that has defied the complacency of a few years back. Food prices have also soared, as have the prices of basic metals. And the global surge in commodity prices is reviving a question we haven't heard much since the 1970s: Will limited supplies of natural resources pose an obstacle to future world economic growth? What Americans mostly remember about the 1970s are soaring oil prices and lines at gas stations. But there was also a severe global food crisis, which caused a lot of pain at the supermarket checkout line - I remember 1974 as the year of Hamburger Helper - and, much more important, helped cause devastating famines in poorer countries. In retrospect, the commodity boom of 1972-75 was probably the result of rapid world economic growth that outpaced supplies, combined with the effects of bad weather and Middle Eastern conflict. Eventually, the bad luck came to an end, new land was placed under cultivation, new sources of oil were found in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea, and resources got cheap again. But this time may be different: concerns about what happens when an ever-growing world economy pushes up against the limits of a finite planet ring truer now than they did in the 1970s. For one thing, I don't expect growth in China to slow sharply anytime soon. That's a big contrast with what happened in the 1970s, when growth in Japan and Europe, the emerging economies of the time, downshifted - and thereby took a lot of pressure off the world's resources. Meanwhile, resources are getting harder to find. Big oil discoveries, in particular, have become few and far between, and in the last few years oil production from new sources has been barely enough to offset declining production from established sources. And the bad weather hitting agricultural production this time is starting to look more fundamental and permanent than El Niño and La Niña, which disrupted crops 35 years ago. Australia, in particular, is now in the 10th year of a drought that looks more and more like a long-term manifestation of climate change. Suppose that we really are running up against global limits. What does it mean? For some, it means "I've got mine, screw you." For others, "Nothing I can do about it, so I guess I'll just keep on doing what seems to work for me - I wanna rock and roll all nite..." But for those of us who already HAVE, and want to continue to live a quality life in some manner, I think our choices lie along this continuum: 1) Ignore what's happening - Hope as Strategy; 2) Watch our lifestyles ebb away and grow resentful and blame others - Pointing Fingers as Strategy; or 3) Acknowledge limits, leverage technology to be more efficient and shift our basis for happiness - Reality as Strategy. Krugman continues with his statement of the problem, but alas, offers no solution ... Even if it turns out that we're really at or near peak world oil production, that doesn't mean that one day we'll say, "Oh my God! We just ran out of oil!" and watch civilization collapse into "Mad Max" anarchy. But rich countries will face steady pressure on their economies from rising resource prices, making it harder to raise their standard of living. And some poor countries will find themselves living dangerously close to the edge -or over it. Don't look now, but the good times may have just stopped rolling. Running Out of Planet to Exploit - New York Times So assume that we grasp the problem and have zoomed past denial and anger to acceptance ... What about a solution? Well, for one, it starts with a changed attitude...for a more in-depth look at Earth Day's roots, check out this Interview with Earth Day Pioneer Denis Hayes. It's less about "hugging trees" and more about "being real and surviving." And this brief article brings wireless infrastructure into the picture as a part of the solution. It describes how two inventions harness natural earth rhythms with new technologies to provide efficiency through infrastructure: Smart Streetlights and Smart Sidewalks. Lunar-Resonant Streetlights, designed by the Civil Twilight Collective, respond to ambient moonlight, dimming and brightening as the moon cycles through its phases each month - and can result in a potential 90-95 percent energy savings over standard streetlights, which account for 38 percent of all electricity used for lighting in the United States. Pilot installations are on the near horizon, and the Civil Twilight crew is also working on an off-grid variation that's solar-powered and WiFi equipped; it will be presented at a World Bank conference on Lighting Africa. After Earth Day This article digs deeper on the Lunar Lighting project... This computer-generated image is the vision of Civil Twilight, a design collective based in San Francisco's Mission District. With its concept for a new approach to outdoor lighting, the group asks: What if streetlights could respond to ambient moonlight, dimming and brightening each month as the moon cycles through its phases? On clear nights when the moon is full, streetlights might even turn off completely. The scheme, which they call "lunar-resonant streetlights," could save as much as 80-90 percent of the energy used in street lighting while bringing back the experience of moonlight and stargazing to urban areas. The concept, a small and simple intervention that could impact light pollution and energy use on a global scale, won this year's Metropolis Next Generation ideas competition. For the first time, the four-year-old program took up a theme: energy - its uses, reduction, consumption, efficiencies, and alternatives. Runners-up included an LED display for faucets that makes people aware of water usage; a multistory residential unit that generates renewable energy and treats waste; thermo-responsive architectural cladding that expands and contracts to regulate building temperature; and a highway sound barrier that absorbs airborne pollutants. Perhaps the most fascinating fact that the collective's research revealed, however, is a little-known detail about the history of electricity: in the 1930s, with the spread of electrification and the consolidation of utilities, streetlights became a convenient way to off-load excess energy from the grid at night, when power demands dropped significantly. This intentionally inefficient system determined the norm for nighttime outdoor lighting levels, a standard that has not been revised since, even though the need for off-loading ended in the 1970s. What we now assume is a safety measure is in fact the forgotten remnant of an obsolete energy practice. Next Gen juror Fred Dust, head of IDEO's Smart Space design practice, says the jury found this part of the proposal both shocking and compelling. "It's such an archaic concept that it seems like science fiction," he says. Questioning current lighting standards and asking what level of illumination is actually necessary brings some surprising answers. Willis explains that the human eye, with its complementary systems of rods and cones, evolved to adapt to both full-sun days and moonless nights. "We can see an incredibly broad range of intensities," he says. "The difference between sunlight and starlight is something like a hundred thousand orders of magnitude." Bright moonlight is in the transitional part of this range, when both rods and cones are active. "It's a natural biological benchmark," Willis says, "because we evolved with it." Meanwhile, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' recommendations for artificial lighting are only about ten times brighter than full moonlight - almost nothing compared to what the human eye is capable of seeing and yet significant in terms of our ability to appreciate the night sky. So what are the current standards based on? Comfort levels and perceptions regarding nighttime safety. Since the off-loading days of the 1930s, we've become accustomed to the feel of brightly lit streets and parking lots. But ironically, studies have shown no link between outdoor lighting intensity and crime or accident rates. What's more dangerous, Willis says, is the drastic variation in light levels within an urban area. As you drive, for example, from a well-lit major thoroughfare to a darkened residential street, your eye does not have time to adjust, and your vision is impaired. Moonlight is much more even, he explains, and that makes it more effective for human vision. By filling in only what light is needed, lunar-resonant streetlights would help restore this evenness and actually improve nighttime visibility. "We're interested in the question of standards," Willis says. "Do you need to be able to read a newspaper in the middle of the night outside, and is that really worth all of these other things we've lost?" As Seely points out, another thing we've lost is an appreciation for electric light itself. "The evolution of streetlights was partly decorative," she says, "and this project is in some ways about getting people to reappreciate light where it's spectacular, tapping into the wonder of how beautiful it is." As her photographs show, the gradual ratcheting up of artificial lighting means that spectacle is harder and harder to achieve. Her 2006 photograph Metropolis: 36 10 N 115 8 W, taken from the desert outside Las Vegas, makes the city look dangerously radioactive. A light beam shooting from the top of the Luxor hotel pyramid looks like it would be visible from space, raising questions about what its competitors will do to top it - and how long ago it was that Las Vegans last saw a star in the sky. Lunar Light
If I could sum up the wisdom of this approach, it would be this - As a first stage in dealing with pending shortages, we need not sacrifice a thing but our archaic and unconscious, and sometimes, lazy habits of consumption. That's a relief! We don't have to sacrifice ... yet! It's like realizing that you don't have to start dieting and exercising - no situps! - yet, you just have to give some thought to what you are putting in your mouth and get up and move around now and then...small changes make big differences, if started in time. "You can Pay me now, or Pay me later," as the old Brake Check commercial used to say.... By taking a new look at how we do things and asking questions about why we do things the way we do - "why don't we take advantage of new technologies that enable new solutions?" - we can achieve dramatic savings that have no negative impact on our lifestyles, in fact, that may even improve our lifestyles. But such an approach requires a conscious approach to examining what we do and how we do it. No more living on habits and going through the motions to find happiness by consuming more and enjoying less. A key benefit that we can realize from metropolitan broadband that is only now becoming appreciated is that the new infrastructure affords city governments as well as other large enterprises the opportunity to do just what I described above - to examine how they do things and why, and then adjust their processes by using wireless broadband to reduce excess costs and avoid adding labor costs - in other words, to do more with less. Such is the growing and changing perspective on the value of infrastructure - no longer pipes that provide water too cheap to meter, but smart pipes that detect leaks to prevent waste... Posted on April 24, 2008 at 07:37 AM | Comments (0) Infrastructure - yawnnnnnnnn....boring, but vital
Most people don't appreciate the role that our modern infrastructure systems play in our lives. We truly live in a wondrous age, thanks in large part to the advancements and investments in infrastructure made by our fathers and mothers, grandfathers and grandmothers, and on back. Back then, they invested in the infrastructure that we enjoy today. Problem is, infrastructure is so, so taken for granted nowadays that we forget about it until it fails, like it did so tragically recently when the Interstate 35-W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis last year. Some leaders get it, but they have a hard time getting any attention. See the New York Times Op Ed Investing in America, which highlights efforts by Sens. Chris Dodd (D) and Chuck Hagel (R) to boost investment in America's aging infrastructure, and the relative yawn that their proposal elicited from their peers. Maybe we need to add religion or sex to it, somehow. This great essay, The Age of Light, drives home the connection between our modern lifestyles and the abundant energy we enjoy in this era, showcasing not only our electricity distribution infrastructure, but also our energy discovery infrastructure and our electricity production infrastructure. It's worth a read. My kids don't know about a world without electricity, except when we go camping. The rare occasions when we don't have light from light bulbs are when we have mood lighting from candles at a special dinner. Air conditioning or heating, even in the car on temperate days, is the norm. But for all the comfort that these little things bring into our lives, from the light, to the heat, the cooling, the power to drive all of our contraptions and to move us from here to there at a whim ...we owe a huge debt. First, to human ingenuity for figuring out how to channel all this energy and create such a great lifestyle. Second, to the Sun and the wonders of Nature on the Planet Earth, whose organisms figured out over millions of years how to capture solar energy and use it. All of our energy today comes directly or indirectly from the sun. It took HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS of years for the stored energy buried beneath our feet to come into existence, and it's taken TENS of years to deplete it so far, with TENS of years to go. (for the sake of argument, go ahead and change the second TENS to
From the Energy Information Administration... FACT In the U.S., we get over half of our electricity from coal-fired plants. Source: EIA Energy Kids Page FACT In the U.S., our greenhouse gas emissions come mostly from energy use (82%). Source: EIA In the U.S., our greenhouse gas emissions come mostly from energy use. These are driven largely by economic growth, fuel used for electricity generation, and weather patterns affecting heating and cooling needs. Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, resulting from petroleum and natural gas, represent 82 percent of total U.S. human-made greenhouse gas emissions. Setting aside the contentious issue of climate change for a moment, let's just contemplate the wondrous miracle that is our modern lifestyle! I'm not scolding here, I'm serious - it's truly amazing. But it's also something we forget, or prefer not to think about, or that many just take little time to contemplate, but we also know in the back of our minds that a party like this doesn't go on forever - it takes lots of energy to have all these little events that make our modern lifestyle happen and it takes an efficient infrastructure to bring us not only our gasoline, natural gas and electricity, but also our water, our wastewater services, our food, our telecommunications, our media. Few recognize the vital role of infrastructure in making this modern lifestyle happen. For what it's worth, those in the infrastructure business are starting to understand better the efficiencies that are possible from leveraging better telecommunication infrastructure. BPL Goes Green describes how energy utilities are starting to examine the potential of using communication infrastructure to begin to impact the consumption patterns of electricity consumers (their favorite is Broadband over Power Lines - BPL - but Wi F Mesh and other wireless are also under consideration). Because it is the peak periods when electricity is produced with inefficient fuels or old power plants that are the first targets of reform. If utilities can get consumers to stop consuming during the peak periods, then they can run much more efficient operations. And it's not just fossil fuel in power plants that's at issue. We should be looking at all varieties of conservation and peak load shifting to lower the amount of coal burned to make electricity. I think that goes without saying. We should be looking at issues like line loss, which happens when less electricity emerges from the end of the transmission line than went in at the beginning. An argument can be made that the tolerance levels are set too high. But moving beyond the electric industry and this conversation on conservation (couldn't resist), there's also fossil fuel at the gas pump. Hybrids get better gas mileage, but isn't that just the beginning of the equation? With the help of a broadband network, so much more is possible. Consider: 1. More effective traffic flow through automation of the traffic light infrastructure and effective use of video cameras, as described in the Gainesville Sun Wireless Net from traffic lights? to reroute traffic away from traffic jams. Whether the benefit is 1 or 2a, b, or c, each option has the added benefit of lowering total time on the road for all drivers, not just those doing the telecommuting, because the infrastructure of highways and city streets works more effectively when traffic flows smoothly and jams are avoided. Clearly, we have a long way to go in addressing these issues, but opening up the discussion by adding in broadband infrastructure, whether through fiber or through wireless, changes the capabilities of the city in dealing with these problems, and opens up the opportunity of making all infrastructure operate more effectively and eliminating wasteful behaviors. Why in this day and age we are even contemplating wasteful behavior is beyond me. Surely, it is time to change the equation, adjust the argument, and add broadband into the equation. If only to delay the other conversation, which is radical restructuring of our lives to dramatically trim the use of limited fossil fuels. Some day, we'll need to have that conversation, but not yet. Why not focus first on all the potential process changes that will lead to more effective use of what we have and eliminate waste. Only when we've dramatically altered our behaviors will we have a better idea of the severity of our situation. Posted on January 29, 2008 at 04:52 PM | Comments (0) Green is the Color of HopeYesterday, I found myself in a personal black hole after writing about consumerism, our pending economic downturn, and politics as usual (see The Party Never Ends ... Cartoon Lemonade). I'm generally a pretty upbeat person, but thinking deeply about our consumer society and the challenges we face to turn our ocean-liner nation in a new direction proved overwhelming. I'm depressed about the level of political discourse in this country, the shallowness of the debate, and the travesty of a national press that we seem to be stuck with. While most of my days are good ones, yesterday our future weighed heavy on my mind. We truly are at the precipice of change, as so many of the presidential candidates are wont to remind us, but still we have a national press that panders to a public whom they believe incapable of digesting anything more serious than candidates' hairstyles and personal attributes. I'm not so sure they got the memo. Policy issues still take a back seat to more puerile topics. And it's hard not to see an anti-progressive bias on the part of our national media elites, millionaire celebrities all, and employees who represent large corporations to boot. In their positions, change is more threatening than is the status quo, so whether their bias is conscious or unconscious, it is there to see nevertheless. So I've decided to give more focus to Green issues and Sustainability on these pages, because I believe that Green really is the Color of Hope. Green used to be the Color of Money, but I'm hoping we're moving beyond that mindset. Of course, Green is often associated with Envy, which is not far from Greed. But Green is more and more the theme we hear on people's lips. I'm not sure many make the connections that I've started to make between Broadband Infrastructure and Sustainability, so I'll spend some time here connecting the dots. I have the advantage of living in Austin, Texas, which is decidedly putting its money where its mouth is when it comes to Green issues and Sustainability. Ever since the first steam engines rolled down the tracks in the mid-nineteenth century, progress and innovation were focused on moving people and goods faster, farther, and more efficiently. The gas-fueled, combustion-engine automobile transformed the landscape and our lives. Slowly, the less positive aspects of a car-oriented society crept into the debate. Traffic congestion, air pollution, fuel costs, climate change, all issues that are consequences of our national love affair with the automobile, are now fair game for public debate. Networks have followed a parallel path with transportation when it comes to progress and innovation. Truly, electricity and the telephone were the miracle technologies of the early 20th Century. These technologies fueled the development of the modern age, and they rapidly moved from luxury to necessity. Broadband, the mature version of Internet access, has become what electricity and the telephone were to our great grandparents one hundred years ago. While some still view broadband as a luxury good, even going so far as to see dial-up access as a substitute (see What's Next? ..." City to provide FREE 8-Track Players?"), more and more are acknowledging the importance of high-speed internet connectivity. In Austin, transportation is a critical item, as we delayed construction of highways and loops until it was too late. Now, its harder and harder to move around our city, yet the city continues to draw in more and more newcomers. We are threatened by "non-attainment" under the Clean Air Act, so we hear public advisories on Ozone Action Days. "Don't mow your lawn or fill up your car on those days," we're reminded. Transportation and Congestion. Under the Intelligent Community standard, smart cities make good use of broadband infrastructure to promote economic development, but also move ideas and information around instead of moving people. In an Intelligent Community, workers have a choice to use broadband to facilitate working out of their homes, avoiding the traffic snarls. Alternately, they can do part of their work at home and go in to work late. As we make more and more of our purchases on-line, we eschew trips around town to shop. When we can pull an information signal out of the air as easily as we can an FM radio signal, then we can take care of our business by staying in place, rather than making the trek to a land line connection. The key in all these scenarios is that we have more options at our disposal when we have broadband infrastructure in place. Energy and Pollution. While making cars greener is a great and necessary first step, taking fewer car trips is a complementary strategy. Less road miles mean less carbon emitted into the atmosphere. But I haven't even mentioned the operational efficiencies that are promoted when an electric utility has a broadband network that overlays the energy network. One of the biggest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions is the electric power plant. By promoting conservation, use of renewable energy, and demand shifting (using less power during peaks and more during troughs), we can have as big or bigger an impact on carbon emissions as we can from making changes in transportation and fuel use. Innovation and Social Change. When broadband infrastructure finally reaches ubiquity in a society, the free exchange of new ideas and discussion of problems and solutions will be greatly facilitated. It will take a comprehensive effort to face the challenges in the coming decades, and communication will be paramount. The faster we get to a level playing field and put the Digital Divide behind us, the sooner we will leverage all of our collective brainpower to solve the problems we face. As Green becomes a way of life for more and more people, the social changes will be facilitated by use of the Internet. Becoming more efficient data and voice communicators will enable us to face greater challenges. Truly, our children face a different world in so many ways, and we will lead them to that future if we remain open to new ways of doing things and we work together. I take heart, for instance, in the rising power of citizen journalism, aka Blogging. In just a few short years, we've seen a new political discussion emerge on the Internet, which offers an alternative to the mainstream press. This is just an introductory article, so I'll stop for now, but keep your eyes on this section for more connections to be made between broadband and sustainability. That, my friends, is a message of Hope for us all. We won't solve our problems by doing the same things we've always done. We'll need to make some significant changes, we'll need to get used to that new way of thinking, and we'll need to enjoy ourselves and have fun while we're at it. I believe that a ubiquitous broadband infrastructure is a great way to set ourselves up for success in the years ahead. I hope to make the case that this is the Smart Choice, the Intelligent Community way of doing things. Posted on January 15, 2008 at 09:47 AM | Comments (0) |
METRONET VENDOR DIRECTORYMY OTHER BLOGSMetroNetIQ E-Store - Be sure to visit the MetroNetIQ E-Store and pick up a copy of The ABCs of Community Broadband: How Digital Transitions Will Transform America's Communities, One at a Time. The E-Store will offer special discounts on this valuable guide for community leaders, discounts that won't be available to the general public on Amazon! |
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