It seems intelligent people are interested in passive housing construction. (Rosenthal’s article maintains its top spot on most emailed New York Times article- day 4?) Profit driven individuals who recognize good ideas when they’re shoved in front of their face seem very interested in passive houses. Way to be among the visionary elite about to seize the reigns and create change for good as soon as Obama and his cusper crew enter the oval and the shoe dodging dingo slinks into oblivion.
As design teams and construction companies scramble to get LEED certified , becoming leaders in energy and environmental design, house construction halts here at home due to our current financial crisis. But some of the millennials are coming up and thinking about starter houses. Think about the near future consumers- who value high mpg vehicles (useful during ice storms) and aren’t lulled into tryptophan unconscious by the convenient lowering of gas prices in the winter just as house heating bills skyrocket. (Just wait till next summer all you new truck drivers… SUV sales this December will outnumber small car sales for the first time in a while…)
My advice- study hard and produce for me. I am your target market. An intelligent, up and comming owner who is not quite there yet but will be as soon as you all get your products figured out and produced. I’m not buying until the green good stuff comes out anyway.
Better Place’s electric car network will test in Israel. Perhaps passive houses could test in Gaza since there’s a whole area that needs to be reconstructed… Talk about an environmentally savvy peace offering. (German construction in Gaza, what a concept.) In fact, teach citizens of Gaza LEED construction techniques and send them out to do their own reconstruction (teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for life). Pride in reconstruction might keep everyone’s minds off of rockets for a few minutes.
As a side note, I’m a firm believer in the power of the reality tv show. If we made the whole reconstruction transparent and had the world vote on the best construction designs, keep the entire process open to observation and critique. It’ll create jobs.
Super sales people become great by stealing. Stealing the greatest, most profitable ideas and executing on them immediately to change, enhance, our own profit margin in whatever sales game we’ve got going. Not a difficult concept and it makes a lot of sense – find out who is doing what better and then do it too. If you get in on it fast enough, the saturation point will be a delayed concern. And Germany seems to have all the best ideas at the moment. Simplified solar lending, feed in tariffs, since 2004 Germany has endorsed solar energy as the new way and society’s climbing on board, and Italians and Spanish citizens are coming along, following their lead. America woke up from Bush inspired dormancy, Berkeley First, the state of Connecticut and according to IREC, the Interstate Renewable Energy Council (celebrating 26 years, sends out emails if you want to update yourself firsthand), other states are coming along with market provisions for greater renewable energy endeavors here in the US. Slow progress but thankfully, we’re coming along. Obama and his ‘cusper’ crew are going to show us the way and if we’re smart, we’ll all move forward, fast, thanks to their visionary leadership.
Back to Germany, because they’ve been taking action and leading the pack. Elizabeth Rosenthal’s article on the New York Times (she is decidedly green and a great writer) put out a fantastic piece on passive houses. Passive housing construction really is the ultimate in green development as it uses minimal energy input to maintain perfect indoor temperatures no matter the weather. (The new renewable energy movement would be the penultimate solution, needing no energy for daily life being and even greater achievement.) The first physicist to develop the idea of warm houses without energy demand was Wolfgang Feist. As a German intellectual, he wrote in German, preventing **Americans** from being included in the dialog. Wolfgang Hasper of the Passivhaus Institut is publicizing the idea with his website, although written in German, has buttons for English and French translations of this brilliance. The idea is an airtight house with mechanical ventilation to create air flow in the home without heating or cooling, breezes or air recirculation resulting in 80% less energy consumption for comfortable living. Supposedly, the ventilation system is Swedish (where old people use kick sleds to carry their groceries over ice and snow to and from their walk to the markets and the sun shines infrequently in winter yet they have a huge FREE solar engineering school in Borlange). Go Sweden!
Now let’s talk visionaries. Nabih Tahan brings passive housing construction to the US from Europe and sets up shop where? Berkeley. Go California. For more information, check out any of these links. Green ideas are a go. Better to inform yourself on next wave ideas than check out Obama without his shirt (hot). If the media stays focused, we can all move forward together.
**What do you call a person who speaks three languages? Trilingual. (A regular Montrealer…)
**What do you call a person who speaks two languages? Bilingual.
**What do you call a person who speaks one language? You guessed it. American.
Fantastic news, Marion Salzman solved the problem of description even before it came up. “Cuspers,” go to it. You people born between the years 1954-1965, the group of not-quite-old-yet, you’re time is now. It’s true, people I studied in University are actually going to get into the game, politically. Now. What’s going to happen! Anything is possible. Researchers, writers and scientists who have been developing all of the ideas I find exciting and probable under the right circumstances are going to get to play. They get in the room, Obama got them the room, he and his team will share it. I’m excited! (Let the stock market with rise with my optimism.)
Bushies on up, old people just don’t get it. They can try. I mean, McCain learned how to email… But we go faster than them. (My laptop, my friend, if only spell check recognized the name Obama…)
And I reevaluate my former opinion, the hybrids of the wirearchy (the Millennials?) perhaps needs a bit more time to develop our skills, ripen if you will, with experience before we can do it all. I’m thinking of the hugely talented pool of young wippersnappers coming up at the moment. A few are there now, but many have a bit more to go. All’s well, we can still help.
The city represents a potential outcome for America in real time.The citizens of Detroit are just wild about the demise of the Big Three.Economics dictates that unprofitable companies won’t succeed in an open marketplace.As the current global market is wide open with products, like electric cars, being introduced now, as of December 15th in China when the BYD, a $21,000 plug in hybrid, rolled out for consumption.Big 3 remains at least one stage behind, with Volt introduction scheduled for 2010 at a higher price point.The business model in Detroit can’t compete with the BYD or the rumored Indian creation the Oreva Super.Have you hugged your Smart Car today?Little Montreal Smarties have zoomed through the streets of Montreal for nearly a decade. The Big 3 could win if they introduce a cheap electric model, the 2.0 if you will, tomorrow, the next day, or very shortly after that. Is that a realistic expectation?
The business model of the big car companies just can’t compete with the rapidly changing marketplace, which is already producing the next desired auto products.Say I’m in the market for a personal transportation device.I have a lot of options and I’m aware that I have a choice to make.I’m not suggesting that someone somewhere isn’t going to need an F-150.It just won’t be me. As a city dweller, I don’t need an F-150 everyday to hall my crap around town.I make due with a backpack.MacAir owners only need a large purse (lugging my laptop, obviously).
America as I know it deals with issues similar to those ingrained societal issues found in Detroit. We should broach the urban social issues of the city as they impact the potential for progress in the city. Let’s just call it beef, and it’s everywhere. I’m currentlt surrounded by social beef between English and French speakers. The end thought is that smart people with good ideas don’t have beef. And it helps that we speak second and third languages (though lots of us have trouble spelling and have been spell check dependant since a young age).All problems can be overcome. America has already proved this fact, hola Obama, it can happen in Detroit too.
This is where the Millennials come in.Many of us are capable of directional thinking; starting with an idea and finding out the pathway to the conclusion, discovery or incorporation of the end into current psyche.We can do it really fast too. Jon Husband proposes the idea of the Wirearchy as the paradigm shift noticeable to the youth set and slightly obscured from the view of the older generation, more ingrained in the ways of the traditional past. From great idea onset to identifying exactly who might be interesting consultants and problem solvers, to finding out what parts are necessary, creating and implementing the plan and producing whatever the project happens to be attempting to complete happens more quickly than many people even realize as long as you’ve got someone from the hybrid generation bridging the gap. (That’s us by the way, go Millineals go.)
This is a big deal.If anyone is going to help put Detroit back on the path into the future, put a lot of quick thinking creators together with the single idea, technology will enable the new idea to go from germination to production a lot more quickly than anyone in Detroit currently believes is possible.Detroit is a mess right now.Citizens are distressed, losing their jobs, fearing the loss of their jobs…Mostly the adults-those people previously relied on to safeguard the industry of the city.The inner argument is that the world changed too rapidly for the juggernaut sized company to slow down and make a turn.Well, the market turned and at this point, staying the course leads to chapter 11.Restructuring is going to happen weather it’s government mandated or not. Pushing for a profitableand competitive restructuring is the best thing the government can do for the city of Detroit and America. That’ll involve sifting through the plethora of amazing ideas and enabling enough of them to develop (ie employee talent) that the market will enable the rest. Time is of the essence. Some people understand more than others.
Forward thinking idea completers are the wave of the future.And the future is here.
People actually believe this in San Francisco.I believe that of San Francisco.
Not my line. Who is that chick anchor on MSNBC? She said it first.
Obama will put Americans to work rebuilding America. Novel idea. Way to learn from FDR. I love that Obama is so smart that he steals really great ideas from really smart people!! The best part is- America definitely needs the makeover. In the last two years, bridges have collapsed in Minnesota and San Francisco (and that’s off the top of my head, no research needed). Putting in new public transportation lines would be such a great idea to add to the infrastructure mix… (go Phoenix, AZ!)
Now when all those beefy marines return from overseas, they’ll have jobs using their buffness to rebuild things at home. It’ll keep them occupied instead of letting them idle and get drunk and start freaking out. Or keeping me and my friends from entering clubs in San Diego with our out of state drivers licenses. (That’s a story actually. We were denied entrance to a bar because our licenses were from Michigan… Stupid marines… but they’re cute…)
Finally, a big name goes there. Thanks Time Magazine!
The day after Obama got elected was the most beautiful fall day imaginable! We had two days in a row of perfection, as if the heavens were praising the stupid humans for finally doing something right. (The day after was freezing rain but whatever, it was November, the weather was just a gesture.)
At any rate, Obama picked GREAT people! YAY FOR RICHARDSON!!! I LOVE HIM!! I’m so glad his EXPERIENCE negotiating and making policy will have a POSITIVE EFFECT these next bunch of years.
Also in the news, Rick Wagoner is driving a Volt to the congressional hearing in DC. I’d like to drive a Volt. What’s the reason they’re not available until 2010? Ricky boy’s driving one today. It’s way to expensive but it’s a start. The celebs of LA will get in first and with their injection of cash, maybe Chevy’ll come up with something cheaper for us normal people.
Gettelfinger’s willing to renegotiate contracts in order to save peoples jobs. Nice idea old dude. It might have been better if you’d thought of that yesterday…
I’ll admit that this post will have less to do with solar energy than others in this blog but it will address the same theme- are we prepared to meet the challenges of our collective future. Solar energy provides one of the greatest solutions to a dynamic, globally interconnected problem. As fossil fuel use navigates our collective society towards greater global instability, using established infrastructure, solar energy presents a long lasting solution nearly ready for turn-key integration : Maharishi Solar has trusting the sun for 4.3 billion years, we should too. Dr. Fried taught us long ago that although the sun will die one day, it’s nothing that we, our children, or our children’s children had to worry about. Now that’s thinking ahead.
Campaign finance is only an issue depending on who you’re talking to. The New York Times wrote an article on public financing vs Obama’s millions of small donors- all of whom we hope will SHOW UP TO THE POLLS TOMORROW as they have a financial stake in the outcome of the election. End result, the Democrats raised a large amount of money this election by asking every individual to contribute an extremely small amount, distributing the burden of electing a president over all of the wallets of all supporters, no matter our economic capacity.
Admittedly, I joined the Obama campaign donating 10 dollars. (I hope that my non-monetary contributions were more significant.) But everyone I know found find ten dollars , especially if they were passionate about a specific issue. Some sent five dollars. But those dollars did the trick like a cheap bottle of wine. Especially when wealthy adults matched our contributions. My ten dollars became twenty because some wealthy individual matched my contribution.
How did all of this happen? The Internet.
Using the Internet to connect with voters actually began with Howard Dean in 2004. I suppose it also led to his demise when his primordial scream echoed throughout cyberspace.
Youthful, connected Obama utilized the web to his benefit from day 1. He realized that to reach the most people he would have to communicate with us in the way we would most likely recieve his message. Through Youtube, Facebook, Myspace and and any and every networking sight, he made contact with the interconnected world, the one we all seem to inhabit all the time. The same world that has been accused of significant drops in productivity in the work place because workers spend time facebook stalking or watching/sharing Youtube videos, downloading movies and music, checking out the many concerts streaming from all over the globe during LIVE 8…. Wikipedia…
The New York Times failed to address the most important issue, How exactly Obama was able to raise his funds. And the answer reveals his potential as president of the United States. In touch with his supporters, he understands how the world works now, today, in 2008. Knowledge flys through cyberspace, Obama’s ultimate rise to prominence was in his utilization of the communication mechanism integrated into the daily lives of the majority of his constituents. (My computer and I have a relationship, we’re obviously not alone.)
The Internet has affected Obama’s life almost as much as it has effected mine. The only reason I believe there is any degree of difference stems from how early I was introduced to the world flattening technology (to steal from Thomas Friedman, my hero) compaired to him. Current studies show that the brains of children today work differently than the brains of children born before computers. For example, kids age four today get exposed to concept of Google. Obama and Google didn’t form a relationship until much later in life.
Ultimately, Obama gets it. He understands his American constituents in a way that McCain can’t possibly as he is completely computer illiterate. McCain might not have any idea aabout the plethora of information transported every nanosecond of every day, no concept of the ultimate potential of this modern communication device. Has he ever sent his own proposals across the ocean 20 times in a day correcting edits?
Obama understand not only that all of this is possible, but he’s mentally there. He spoke to me through my computer. I heard him, checked out his page and gave him ten dollars. I voted for him because I invested in his success. I believe in him because if he had any free time and Google Searched “Solar Energy,” Barack Obama himself might accidental happen upon an entry about my 88 year old grandmother taking the bus in Montreal. Lot’s of different kinds of campaign finance. Obama has adapted to the new global system because he’s a part of it.
The wirearchy, according to Jon Husband is, “a dynamic two-way flow of power and authority based on information, knowledge, trust and credibility, enabled by interconnected people and technology.” He lectures on the idea that the internet changed the fundamental power hierarchy of the world and how these next few years are going to be challenging as adjustments are made. Barack Obama’s campaign is a perfect example of his theory
Fossil fuels won’t cut it anymore., Yes, solar can.
Just in case you’re feeling down about all the crazy things that have happened in the political arena in the last few weeks, this video will make you feel better. It comes from Australia:
Midwestern conservatives who marry young and work proudly for nothing because jobs just aren’t available, are afraid of the possibilities of change. It’s understandable, they inherited their mental deficiencies from their parents and sometimes just aren’t strong enough to cast of that legacy of fearfulness. But change is gonna come, son The first question a fearful, impoverished, intelligent Midwestern individual might demand could be “What might change mean to me?” Could that mean there’s an alternative to living off my husband and job desperation? (Yes, but at the moment it requires moving out of Detroit.) What could that look like? It’s possible that business might once again open in Detroit. Hasn’t happened for a while but that doesn’t mean it can’t happen in the future.
Gore said it best, in order to strengthen our economy and raise our level of security, America depends on a climate policy befitting of the 21st century and all of the incredible possibilities available and becoming available to us.
Even with the threat of removing the lacking incentives for green research, the renewable energy movement exists and is chugging forward. Perhaps one day the government will really get behind the work needed to re-green our planet which will stimulate our economy, create jobs and add more fresh air to our smoggy atmosphere. (Even in LA! Gasp!)
Want to learn more? Renewable Energy has the power to revolutionize the world as we know it and it’s moving forward every day. Check out my favorite website to learn tons of great things about the green sector. It’s uplifting and possible to change. People work for it every day. So to the stuborn, clueless Midwesternern “independents”, listen to your lady Hillary: No way, No how, No McCain. Vote for Obama!
The US Department of Energy created the Solar America Initiative in an attempt to make solar energy cost-competitive across the entire US market by 2015. And in a great effort to accomplish this goal, the Solar American Initiative has earmarked “up to 24 million dollars” to a) fund research and development and b) help transform the American energy market to enable solar to become a force in the US marketplace.
Actually the “up to 24 million” is earmarked for R&D, specifically for Solar Energy Grid Integration Systems projects (aka SEGIS, solar energy is big on acronyms) – that is, the parts of the solar panel system that will help harmonize the installation process: power converters, energy storage systems, grid connection mechanisms, the idea would be for “less expensive, higher performing products to enhance the value of PV systems.”
With current tax credits and other solar incentives creating a convoluted method for homeowners to install solar panels on their homes, still at great cost and intellectual involvement (its not that easy yet, people have a lot to learn), will the “up to 24 million” help?
In a very swift Google search for things that the American government does with 24 million dollars, here is what I discovered:
*In 2007, the US government funded $531 million to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
*The state of Virginia just eliminated $40 million from their state road fund because of the dire situation in the economy (and just to clarify, when the US had money to spend on road construction, there was at least the extra $40 million there).
The US has changed its investment from $60 million to just $15 million in the International Linear Collider project (fancy particle accelerator), reports the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. Big physics research feeling the pinch…
And while that’s an interesting bundle of unrelated news, I found an article that states that America spends $341 million a day in Iraq. The US is so fucked.
Last night Hilary mentioned that by voting for Obama we’ll at least have someone in the White House who believes in science. Well, I suppose “up to $24 million” is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, or nothing…
