it is 2020, and there are fewer transmission lines in the world and 1,000 more electricity grids. the us has 5 mega grids.
sustainable, reliable power is delivered via a portfolio of generation sources and types. transmission grids can cost up to $1m/mile for HVDC.
renewables are mostly intermittent supplies. (30% uptime) sunshine wind etc.
having storage in the form of new ultracapacitors could allow for stable…
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Added by Nick Gogerty on March 26, 2010 at 5:48pm —
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many renewables (other than dams) are interemitant. wind and solar have a 30% uptime. baseload power is what a grid delivers. batteries are a great storage mechanism. ultracapacitors are a type of battery.
learn more here. I have built a comparison spreadsheet for those who want a tool to understand the relationships.
Added by Nick Gogerty on March 25, 2010 at 8:53pm —
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maybe. take a look.…
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Added by Nick Gogerty on March 25, 2010 at 8:48pm —
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Added by Nick Gogerty on March 25, 2010 at 2:27pm —
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I am a judge for the Betacup competition, which is trying to make 58 billion yearly disposable coffee cups better. thebetacup.com
Added by Nick Gogerty on March 25, 2010 at 1:53pm —
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In her book, the big necessity, Rose George highlights, how raising conciousness of sanitation in an indian village, made it a status symbol to have an indoor toilet. good hygiene washing etc. was increased through education and the resulting educational change drastically reduced water borne disease.
Her book is excellent and a fascinating read about how projects really work or don't in the field. Total recommendations. It is a funny, entertaining and highly educational…
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Added by Nick Gogerty on March 25, 2010 at 1:42pm —
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Excreta, turds, poo, s***, etc. are all terms for something that induces disgust in most. This response is innate and indeed wired into use at a visceral level and a key to survival.…
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Added by Nick Gogerty on March 25, 2010 at 1:00pm —
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I will take a small stroll on the beach with my wife and walk through a small town. stopping for coffee in cafe to read a book together.
Added by Nick Gogerty on March 22, 2010 at 4:56pm —
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Power in the emerging world is scarce due to poor grid development and corruption. distributed power can overcome this. Consider the rapid adoption of cell phones (distributed) technology vs. land lines (centralized network) monopoly.
most fossil fuels have incredible properties in terms of energy density. replacing this with something better than lead acid batteries is a crucial challenge for distributed power. Lithium is to expensive and fails in terms of duty…
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Added by Nick Gogerty on March 22, 2010 at 4:48pm —
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A quote or fact attributed to Amartya Sen is that there has never been a widespread famine in a multi-party democracy.
Another important factor is that food and its restriction in certain regions is used as a political weapon in some situations.
Most food security issues are related more to politics than resources.…
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Added by Nick Gogerty on March 15, 2010 at 3:09pm —
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New York city has some serious urban poverty, it is open, but invisible. more here from the New York times,
Added by Nick Gogerty on March 15, 2010 at 2:50pm —
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I write about niger etc. here occasionally.
http://www.gogerty.com/?s=niger
I learned a lot there.
Added by Nick Gogerty on March 4, 2010 at 6:20pm —
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I will be working and studying crowdsourcing and how feedback can make governments more transparent and efficient at delivering on their promises to their citizens.
Added by Nick Gogerty on March 3, 2010 at 4:09pm —
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I am following
Ushahidi on facebook. Technology and information are even more valuable where they are scarce. A worldbank report indicates that every mobile phone in a country is related $3,000 in extra GDP.
It is tough to correlate, but one can imagine better efficiencies and co-ordination among people in the formal and informal economic sectors.
more information means more transparency, feedback and hopefully positive change in…
Added by Nick Gogerty on March 3, 2010 at 3:54pm —
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before you can help a people or a situation, you have understand the people and the context in which they live and act.
Context includes:
social norms and cultural beliefs and biases
Geographic constraints: heat, noise, crowding, cold, distance
Communications: roads, telecoms, papers
Governance: freedom to act, cost of corruption
Time: how long has does it take?
Ask and learn from others. Good listening isn't easy, it is a learned skill.
Added by Nick Gogerty on March 3, 2010 at 3:30pm —
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