Behind The Green

In a reverse on Esso's admonition to "put a tiger in your tank," the Department of Transportation is trying now using the TIGER to put a little less in your tank. The DOT recently released its requirements for Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recover grants. The TIGER (Get it?) grants are part of the much less poetical American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which set aside $1.5 billion in discretionary grant to get the economy moving.

While most people think of planes, trains and automobiles when they think of transportation, they should also think about microchips and communications systems. Smart transportation infrastructure is one of the areas where information and communications technologies can save more than a few gallons of gas.  By some estimates smart logistics can keep 1.5 gigatons of in greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and save nearly $442 billion in energy costs.

Our friends at the Intelligent Transportation Society of America do some heavy lifting on this subject. Their recently released a white paper on the grants is designed to help people get them.

While TIGER won't solve all the nation's energy, pollution or economic problems, it can allow us to sink our teeth into the problem.

Speaking of getting somewhere, the Bureau of Land Management and the Department of the Interior has set aside two dozen parcels of government land to find out if any of them would be suitable for large-scale solar energy production.

"The two dozen areas we are evaluating could generate nearly 100,000 megawatts of solar electricity," Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said when he made the announcement in Nevada. "With coordinated environmental studies, good land-use planning and zoning and priority processing, we can accelerate responsible solar energy production that will help build a clean-energy economy for the 21st century."

Of course to get that energy from the solar power production fields to the people that need them will take a smart electric power grid. Lest we forget, that smart grid takes ICT to run it. The smart grid depends on information and communications technology gives the smart grid its brains. Without ITC it would be pretty much impossible to get the power from the desert where it’s produced to the cities where it’s needed.

The Solar Energy Study Areas are on tracts of land in Bureau of Land Management cover 670,000 acres located in Utah, Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada.

"We've got sunny skies, strong winds, and land that when used properly, will allow us to lead the nation's children into a cleaner, more efficient, and more profitable tomorrow," said Nevada's own Sen. Harry Reid, the U.S. Senate's Democratic leader.

I'm not a gambling man, but I'll bet electric energy  is one thing that when it happens in Vegas, won't stay in Vegas.

President Obama is intent on making it easier for Americans to light up. On Monday Obama and U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced new executive-branch actions to promote energy efficiency by making major changes to energy conservation standards for numerous household and commercial lamps and lighting equipment. You didn't think I was going to write about smoking did you?

"One of the fastest, easiest, and cheapest ways to make our economy stronger and cleaner is to make our economy more energy efficient," Obama said in announcing the White House's latest energy-conservation measures.  "That's why we made energy efficiency investments a focal point of the Recovery Act. And that's why today's announcements are so important.  By bringing more energy efficient technologies to American homes and businesses, we won't just significantly reduce our energy demand; we'll put more money back in the pockets of hardworking Americans."

Monday's announcement focuses on General Service Fluorescent Lamps (GSFL), which are commonly found in residential and commercial buildings, and Incandescent Reflector Lamps (IRL), which are commonly used in recessed and track lighting.  These fluorescent and incandescent lamps represent approximately 38 and 7 percent of total lighting energy use respectively. The new DOE standards are expected to save 594 million tons of CO2 from 2012 through 2042 - roughly equivalent to removing 166 million cars from the road for a year or enough electricity to power every home in the U.S. for up to 10 months.

Obama also announced $346 million in research grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand and accelerate the development, deployment, and use of energy efficient technologies in all major types of commercial buildings as well as new and existing homes.

The White House is hoping the Department of Energy programs will  spur research and investment in advanced building systems, household appliances, solid-state lighting and make both residential and commercial buildings more efficient.

It's no secret that there are gains to be made in more efficient buildings. According to the Smart 20/20 report prepared by The Climate Group and the Global Sustainability Institute, better building design and technologies can cut North American building emissions by 15%. This is one of the areas where information and technology companies really shine. ICT enables current buildings to get smart and newer buildings to be downright brilliant. Worldwide, information and technology industry-designed and run smart buildings can cut greenhouse gas emission by nearly 1.7  gigatons. That's a dollars-and-cents savings of about $341 billion.

The Obama Administration maybe trying to make it more harder and more expensive to fire up a butt, but at least the administration is at least trying to make the other kind of lighting up cheaper.

As everyone not incarcerated, and some that are, knows, the US House of Representatives last week passed the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” know as ACES.  It passed by the thinnest margin possible – one vote – and now goes on to the Senate.

Most of the press about ACES has centered on the cap-and-trade provisions.  Relatively lost has been the fact that two of the four titles in the bill focus on energy – “clean energy” in Title I, and energy efficiency in Title II.  Climate change significantly relates to the use of energy, of course, so combining these topics in a climate bill makes eminent sense.  Decreasing our reliance on fossil fuels and dramatically increasing the energy efficiency of our economy are two of the most important strategies for reducing our national carbon footprint in a way that grows, rather than limits, our economic growth prospects.

 

There is a relatively small provision in Title II of the bill related to “energy efficient information and communications technologies” or ICT.   Section 271 was inserted by Rep. Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., who represents many Intel employees from our Santa Clara headquarters.  Representative Eshoo, with support from Digital Energy Solutions Campaign (DESC) and many companies, recognizes the key role that ICT can and must play in addressing climate change.

 

Section 271 requires Federal agencies, in collaboration with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to create implementation strategies for the “purchase and use of energy efficient information and communications technologies and practices.”  Reading deeper into the text of this provision, it is clear that Representative Eshoo understands both the ‘micro’ and the ‘macro’ stories.  She understands, at the micro level, the importance of the Federal government purchasing the best, most efficient ICT devices on the market.  But even more critically, she understands how the use of that equipment can have an even greater impact in lowering the Federal government’s carbon footprint by improving the overall efficiency of agencies’ operations.  The bill mentions energy metering, building efficiency technology, and telework as examples of where the government should focus.

What is implicit in Section 271, but worth emphasizing, is the ‘spotlight’ and ‘megaphone’ value of the Federal government taking the lead like this.  Government agencies can apply best practices in energy efficiency and then share, via a Report to Congress and other communications, their ‘lessons learned’ for both the public and private sectors.

We applaud Rep. Eshoo for her work in this area and will be working to ensure this provision makes it through the legislative process ahead.

Well, it finally happened. The House voted 219-212 to approve the landmark climate and energy legislation officially known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act on Friday. It is unclear if the Senate will follow suit and approve ACES. While the margin of the vote makes it clear that everyone doesn't like the legislative hand they were dealt.

I was in the Capitol just the other day with a DESC member. I pointed out a statute of a skinny man in a vest holding something that looked like smooth stick. I launched into a story about a Utah farm boy named Philo T. Farnsworth. Way back in the first half of the last century, when Philo was dividing his attention between the north end of a south-bound mule and a harrow, he came up with the idea that electrons could be made to march in a straight line. Philo's idea became television.

That may not seem to have much to do with the ACES , but bear with me; you know I'll eventually get around to it. Philo's story has a lot to do with what makes America what it is. Americans are always inventing, or re-inventing things. Way back at the end of the 18th Century we invented a new way to arrange society, and we haven't stopped.

We invented the assembly line, the revolver, the incandescent lamp, the alternating current dynamo, the solar cell, the semi-conductor, the telephone, the computer, the Internet and every couple of decades we re-invent the way we think about something. I think ACES is our way of re-inventing the way we think about energy and the environment.

As I was watching the congress folk argue for and against the bill, what Rep. John B. Larson, D-Conn., stuck me said as he attempted to counter GOP arguments that the bill will ship jobs over seas, especially to China.

"We want to compete against them," he said. "We have the technology, we just have to make it here."

I don't like all the cards that make up ACES hand, but I do like our chances to re-invent the game. That's what the information and communications technology industries do. ICT allows the smart grid to function; it enables our buildings to sense where the sun is; it makes our highways smarter; and it allows solar panels to function. Anyone who thinks that ICT will remain static isn't paying attention to American history.

Somewhere out there is a kid like Philo. He probably isn't looking at a harrow and a mule's hindquarters, but he's probably thinking about a better way to communicate something, or to make something run better, or just to make something.

I can't read the cards, or predict the future, but I think that ACES puts Americans squarely in the game.

On the surface, Chattanooga's smell, a bride and a wrestler have little in common. Unless you heard the one about the wrestler who carried his bride into a stinky bar in a Tennessee... I mean there's got to be a punch line in there somewhere.

But seriously folks, the smell of an industrial city, a bride and that wrestler were used to illustrate America's growing commitment to the concept of sustainability during a Capitol Hill conference on Thursday.

A key component of the corporate sustainability concept is the idea good stewardship of the environment can improve the way we do things in America. Whether it's a less wasteful way to run our businesses and government, or a cleaner way to get to work, sustainability embraces the ideas that make up the green economy.

"When I grew up in Chattanooga, the air stank," Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. "It smelled like burning tires all day long."

Wamp told the Alliance to Save Energy and the Committee for Economic Development conference "Corporate Sustainability, The Environment and Economic Recovery" that Chattanooga's switch from a heavy industrial city to a high-technology hub turned him into an evangelist for the power of sustainability and the ability of information and communications technology industries to be a leader in that movement.

"We embraced sustainability when people thought that was for wimps," he said. "Well let me tell you it's for warriors."

Wamp isn't the only sustainability warrior on The Hill. On the day before the House is scheduled to begin debate on the American Clean Energy and Security Act, Rep. Steve Israel, D-NY, said the sustainability ethic was built into the bill.

"We have to change the play," he said. "The only thing Democrats and Republicans have done together for 30 years is screw up energy efficiency."

But what does this have to do with a muscle-bound wrestler and a blushing bride? Just wait.

AT&T chief sustainability officer Charlene Lake warned against treating the idea of sustainability as a solution for individual problems.

"You could think of it this way.  Imagine a bride getting ready for a wedding or -- say a wrestler getting ready for a championship meet.  They both have the same two-word goal - Make Weight," she said. (Bada bing.)  "Our bride and our wrestler may win the battle, but they might lose the war as they confront other health issues down the road. By taking a more holistic approach not only will they make weight, but they will have a healthier body, a sharper mind, and, in sort, a sustainable solution."


And for this "sustainable solution" to be more than just the butt of a joke (Bada boom), it will take information and communications technologies.

"By connecting people and information, ICT services can contribute to energy efficiency and to reduced greenhouse gas emissions in a big way," she explained. "At the most basic level, ICT helps us reduce energy use by eliminating the unnecessary movement of people and products," she explained. "This isn't a new idea. Why "go somewhere" when you can "call?"  But with today's economic challenges, it's really become a classic BFO -- a blinding flash of the obvious.... using technology to save energy and be efficient."

And, it might also make things smell better. Now did you hear the one about...

With an up-front apology to Cole Porter, but it seems like when it comes to the information and communications technologies CEOs use it. CFOs use it. CTOs certainly use it. Even the worker bees use it.

Like Cole Porter's "Let's Do It" song about the birds and the bees, while everyone uses ICT, it seems that it's one of those things that no one wants to openly embrace it. At least that's the conclusion of a report produced by the World Economic Forum's Information Technology Programme.

According to "Green Technology: Driving Economic and Environmental Benefits of ICT" it's exactly those technology underpins much of the green infrastructure, but it is often more of an afterthought than a comprehensive strategy. The report's editors, the World Economic Forum's Joanna Gordon and

Accenture's Andrew Skinner and Andrew Button urge business leaders to take a more holistic view of what ICT can do.

"ICT has often been considered the 'driver for the business,' and as such has been viewed in the silo of the specific project for which it is needed," the report finds. "By viewing ICT strategically across the entire organization, ICT can become the 'engine of the business.'"

Now, if you want to read the whole report, I suggest you put on a little mood music and on the report.

 

Summer finally came. After enduring one of the soggiest springs on record that turned the Capital of the Free World into the Capital of Mud, it's nice to see the sun, and with it more news that alternative energy is altering the job market.

In a pair of recently released studies researchers found that a government investment of  $150 billion in clean energy could create some 1.7 million American jobs and significantly lower the national unemployment rate.

The studies the Center for American Progress and the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; and the other by PERI (  and the green jobs advocacy group Green For All and the Natural Resources Defense Council follow a Pew Trust study that found similar results.

If you want to know just where those jobs would pop up, P.E.R.I. and the Center for American Progress, provide a state-by-state breakdown of where jobs are most likely to be generated.

While the studies looked at a broad array of jobs created, pointing out that it takes sheet-metal workers to build a wind farm and carpenters to weather proof a house,  it is of more than a little interest to note that somewhere along the line most of these jobs end up running through an information and communications technology industry.

The smart electrical grid or better mass transit, all take ICT to work. That sheet-metal worker operating the brake won't have a wind farm to work on if the smart grid isn't running. While it doesn't take an ICT product to roof a house, it will take one if that roof holds a solar array. And improved mass transit depends on a smart transportation grid.

It may have been a soggy spring, but let's hope that leads to a greener summer.

A key Senate committee approved an energy bill this week that includes provisions aimed at speeding the introduction of  clean energy technologies, tries end fights over the placement of electrical transmission lines, enhance the  security of the electrical grid and increase the efficiency of U.S. buildings.

"This bill will help shift our country to cleaner sources of energy, and more secure sources as well," said committee chairman Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.Mex.

The security of the power delivery system and the intelligent placement of electrical transmission lines are components of the electrical smart grid. Rolling out the smart grid is key component in making America greener.

A smart grid uses digital technology to allow two-way communication
between electricity generators and customers. It can allow appliances in homes to use electricity when it is abundant and inexpensive. It can give electricity managers the ability to see into their systems to identify problems and avoid them. When the power goes out it provides rapid information on where they are and the quality of the electricity being delivered.

The smart grid is essential on the macro level as it enables power delivery from intermittent power generators like large- scale solar and wind projects built far away urban areas.

While the smart grid is an essential element in getting greener juice from one place to another, smart buildings are essential for moving the juice around efficiently within a building. Moving power around efficiently, whether it's within a building or within the country takes information and communications technology. The Grid Wise alliance expects ICT-enabled smart grid investment expected to create some 280,000 new jobs -- half of them by the in of the year -- The Boston Consulting Group recently found that ICT-enabled energy efficiency technologies can reduce carbon emissions by as much as 22% by 2020.

The ultimate fates of the Senate committee's energy bill, and the even more ambitious ACES legislation in the House, may be clouded in political uncertainty, but the ability of ICT to clear the air is anything but.

Now introducing: Bismuth Telluride. I want that to be the name of my new band. While Bismuth Telluride may not be my ticket to stardom, the material may become a star in the chip-based world.

Physicists at the Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University claim that the material allows electrons on its surface to travel with no loss of energy at room temperatures and can be fabricated using existing semiconductor technologies.

Physicists Yulin Chen and Zhi-Xun Shen say the electrons in bismuth telluride show a clear signature of

what is called a topological insulator, a material that enables the free flow of electrons across its surface with no loss of energy.

The discovery first published in  Science Express was the result of teamwork between theoretical and experimental physicists at the Stanford Institute for Materials & Energy Science, a joint SLAC-Stanford institute

While topological insulators aren't conventional superconductors and aren't usable for super-efficient power lines, as they can only carry small currents, they could pave the way for a paradigm shift in microchip development. If it turns out to be true, and it can be put into production, this could mean big energy savings across a broad array of platforms.

"This could lead to new applications of spintronics, or using the electron spin to carry information," Qi said. "Whether or not it can build better wires, I'm optimistic it can lead to new devices, transistors, and spintronics devices."

Bismuth telluride is fairly simple to grow and work with, Chen said.

"It's a three-dimensional material, so it's easy to fabricate with the current mature semiconductor technology," he explained. "It's also easy to dope-you can tune the properties relatively easily."

"This is already a very exciting thing," he said, adding that the material "could let us make a device with new operating principles."

Bismuth telluride may not make me a music legend, but it's a technology worth watching.