Carbon Neutral: Balancing CO2 being released with an equal amount offset or sequestered. This may be achieved through planting trees which consume CO2 and release Oxygen. Carbon Neutral businesses or operations or those which release no CO2 or offset their output using some fashion. Though many operations are carbon neutral most net cradle to grave sequences are not, they require the production of CO2 to begin, to build solar panels or wind turbines to then run without producing CO2 from that point forward.

Fluorescent Light: An energy efficient light source technology that uses an ionization process to produce ultraviolet radiation. This radiation becomes visible light when it hits the coated inner surface of a bulb or tube. Compact Fluorescent Lights (CFL) use 50% to 80% less energy than traditional incandescent light sources.

Green: A term used to describe environmentally sustainable or nature friendly people, products, businesses, events and other nouns. Being green is about taking the health of natural systems into account while performing an action

Greenwashing: A term evolved from the meaning of whitewashing that describes deceitful convincing or lying in order to convince a person that a service is green or nature friendly. Greenwashing implies that little or no true consideration for the environment is truly being given to a product or service that is being promoted with such interests in mind.

Vampire Draw: The loss of energy through electronic charging devices that overcharge or leak energy in the form of heat. Also referred to as standby power, vampire power loss, phantom load or leaking electricity. Solutions include unplugging chargers, built in shut-off switches and newer smart adapters that auto shut to prevent power loss.

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Thankfully AT&T is developing solutions to Vampire draw relating to mobile phones. AT&T recently took first prize under the Green Solutions category, from the Wireless Association CTIA, for it's new ZERO Charger for the iPhone! This eco-friendly charger uses advanced energy saving technology to automatically shut down when any connected device is fully charged or unplugged. It eliminates 100% of the vampire power loss that impacts traditional phone chargers and stays cooler as a result.

According to AT&T, conventional chargers, when left plugged in or not actively charging, can draw as much as 5x to 20x the energy that is actually stored in a cell phone or other device's battery. These snippets of energy start to add up when you consider all the devices plugged in at any given time and especially over months and years of use. The ZERO Charger cuts this waste down to zero and is especially efficient because it can charge any USB connected device or mobile phone. In this way, not only does it cut waste on your iPhone, it will also save you from buying extra adapters... which saves plastic and shipping energy.

According to the US Department of energy "In the U.S., the total amount of electricity that flows through internal and external power adapters is nearly 470 billion kWh per year or about 12 percent of the nation's annual electricity consumption. During the process these devices consume about 120 billion kWh per year of electricity and turn it into heat, costing the nation over $12 billion in electric bills." that's a lot of power we could be saving and it's great to see companies like AT&T stepping up.

The ZERO Charger hasn't hit the market quite yet but should be arriving soon and the AT&T website is currently taking signups for an email alert that will be sent out when it's available. From the mockups I've seen this charger looks compact and fairly stylish. The two pronged 120V plugin folds nicely into the body of the charger which makes it easy to pack and hard to break.

here are other similar devices out today which cut down on Vampire draw including built in wall sockets that sense electricity use and automatically shut off any device but the ZERO Charger is especially useful for portable charging or if you're a renter like me and can't put in new wall sockets. Also worth consideration are solar charging devices like the Solio or HYmini and kinetic chargers like the YoGen. Now... if AT&T could only find a solution to vampire signal loss, we'd be set.

To begin, I am not always the most optimistic about our future, as a species. I often share the analogy of a petri dish and bacteria growth. The bacteria eat up the limited resources as the population mindlessly explodes (our planet in this case with oil as the catalyst for rapid growth) and eventually the bacteria die off in vast numbers, finally stabilizing at a much lower equilibrium. I call out our ever increasing national debt (in the United States) and our reliance on reputation and weapons to enable devastating short sighted decision making. It can be depressing to say the least.

Tonight I came away with some hope and real solutions that could get us on the right track. Ideas that seem realistic and plausible, ideas that require sacrifice but offer long term answers. With each passing day that cars are over utilized, lights are left on and research dollars are redirected or miss-invested we lose life. We lose hope. We lose confidence in ourselves and retreat to mediocrity and denial.

The solution I found most interesting goes something like this: a one dollar tax on gasoline. The US government would take the money from this carbon tax and reinvest it in domestic research and development for clean, sustainable alternatives. In much the same way that cigarette tax dollars are reinvested in cancer research and medical infrastructure used to care for harmed users, a gasoline tax would go towards funding solutions and support for our harmed ecosystem. The first benefit of this solution is that it could be done today. Just as President George W. Bush used a national crisis to enact the Patriot Act, President Barack Obama could leverage the BP Oil Spill to enact an oil tax. It might not be pretty, it's not perfect and there would certainly be consequences in several forms, but strategically it's plausible.

Some of my own initial thoughts regarding an oil tax include not wanting to be taxed, not trusting the government to spend money wisely or efficiently and general concern about economic conditions worsening with the increased price of transportation in a country where nobody* lives walking distance to anything. What I believe to be the truth however is that we are in dire need of a proactive solution and with current government research dollars allocated to clean tech research at 1/10th of what Microsoft invested in R&D last year... we're failing at this. Gas will definitely get more expensive on it's own someday soon anyway but we need to begin working on a soft transition in order to avoid a hard and painful one later.

It is simply not humane to pass this burden on to future generations and write off the extinction of plants and animals so we can buy Blue Ray DVD's and iPhones in the short run. The added benefit of starting early and being strong in this race is owning the IP to license technology and sell it off to other nations going forward. The prize goes to the winner and it is left up to us as a nation and world to either evolve or die. In the US this might mean transitioning into a farming nation that exports wheat to China in exchange for solar technology or alternatively, stepping up and becoming the technology leader ourselves. China is certainly taking the situation seriously, and they are in the lead in terms of deployment and supporting legislation for solar, wind and electric vehicles today.

Whether you believe in the power of governments to direct money, fund programs and make a difference at all, the oil tax has one other distinct payoff. It is a signal to the private sector that it will be worth while to invest more of their own money and interest into building clean technology solutions. Oil has a tricky way of increasing and decreasing in price with such timing and accuracy that it hypnotizes consumers into following short term payoff cycles the same way a mindless bacteria would choose to divide and continue eating, even on the brink of food shortage in a petri dish. Oil companies are smart, car companies are smart and while they are doing their best to maximize profits we are de-emphasizing the environmental impacts that are now mere decades away. Hybrids are great and I believe consumers are speaking loudly when they make a purchase but a feeling of too little too late is hard to shake. What's more frightening, recently in the US when car companies failed to maximize profits we continued to boost them, unnaturally, in the name of American jobs! It's akin to purchasing a new bra for an attractive women with breast cancer and hoping the look will somehow fix the problem... we all know the solutions to cancer are painful but it saves the life of the patient in the end. Ultimately, the sooner it is treated the less has to be lopped off.

Bacteria can't think, cancer cells can't think (and ultimately they kill their host... and themselves) but people can. We can do something about this if we so choose. Business is designed to follow consumer demand and investments aren't made in uncertain markets. With an oil tax levied, certainty would be increased and new solutions would be born. Just as we were able to put a man on the moon (without computers) when we set our minds to it, we can also find sustainable ways of living... if we so choose. How long will we remain complacent as the planet is raped and the cancer spreads? As our pride is stripped and self worth is lost? As bribes are given and executives retire on sustainable farms far removed from the cities.

Cars take years to design and build, and a signal from the government that oil will never again drop to $2 a gallon would send a strong message. Companies would compete with renewed vigor and creativity to develop solutions and alternatives to gasoline. Investors would reallocate resources and students would shift their focus and masters thesis topics. It's already happening but not fast enough. We're holding progress back and we're shooting ourselves in the foot. Consumers would adjust overnight as well and less gasoline would be burned in America. People could still get to work, to the store, to visit their friends, but they would just carpool more, buses would be filled with passengers for a change. In much the same way that the TRUTH campaign warns against smoking we would be acknowledging the harmful effects of oil with such a tax. It's not healthy, consumers are being lied to, businesses are profiting at the expense of... everyone and everything alive on planet earth.

Even if monies from an oil tax were used in a cleanup effort or new safety regulations, instead of R&D, many of the same innovation benefits described above would be still be achieved through the private sector. I see this as a first step and strategic move to get us going and keep us focused.

This is just one of many ideas to help mankind course adjust to a happier future healthier future. We have the technology today in place to reduce pollution at levels as high as 20% if we just acknowledge the problem more absolutely. Offices can allow their employees to telecommute more often and encourage employees not to wear long sleeve shirts and pants to the office so the AC isn't required at such unnecessarily high and wasteful levels. Busses could be cleaned up and improved so high class citizens wouldn't be so put off by the filth and loud noise they are associated with today. We can just be more patient with each other as a society. Sharing ideas like this one is what sets us apart from bacteria. Would you support an oil tax? Do you have any ideas about alternative solutions for climate change, national debt and ways to spark innovation?

What better way to exit reality than from a spotless, safe, quiet public transportation system? Entering into a future where everyone in the world's extended community is recognized and valued (Epcot Center), diversity and freedom still exists in non-human populations (Animal Kingdom) and leaders are recognized and appreciated for the good they have done and not the mistakes they may have made (Hall of Presidents, Magic Kingdom). This is certainly an unorthodox beginning for a story on mobile battery technology... but we're get there.

Well, it was on this endeavor, flying across the United States from San Francisco, CA to Orlando, FL, that I found myself in desperate need of solutions in mobile battery technology. Specifically, mobile battery flexibility and strength to power my plethora of devices. My airline of choice for this trip was AirTran, selected at the advice of a friend in part based on ticket price but also due to the availability of in flight wireless internet (which costs between $5 and $15). Everything was looking up, I had my smart phone, ipod and laptop ready to go only to realize last minute that AirTran does not provide power or charging stations to plug devices in! That's quite a catch there if you're going on a long flight. In my case, having a fried laptop battery from extreme overuse, this meant considering a $150 replacement.

Let's zoom out for a minute. Considering the drive to the airport, wait in the terminal, loading, flight time, plane change and second flight... there are a lot of opportunities to use mobile electronics. Not only would I have to find a solution for my laptop battery, I might also need a backup for my other devices as well. Being environmentally conscious as I am, it also started to sink in that having double batteries for all my devices would be a bit wasteful if I wasn't going to use them on a daily basis thereafter. Honestly, I work with my laptop plugged in most of the time (that's part of what killed the battery to begin with) and my cell phone battery usually lasts long enough for daily use, so a backup there would likely turn into a paper weight as well. Batteries aren't exactly cheap and since they aren't interchangeable like the old days of double A's, today this is a challenging problem that many people face.

Thankfully, last minute I was able to find a solution. While searching frantically, and unsuccessfully, at Fry's Electronics in Palo Alto for a replacement laptop battery, I stumbled upon a multiple device battery pack. This particular model, made by Energizer, is called Energi to Go and that's exactly what it is! A battery pack with multiple dongles designed to interface with a wide range of devices with output ranging from DC 9-12V and DC 16-20V, and even USB power for my iPod! Right out of the box it had the Mini USB my cell phone uses and the 19 Volt circular adapter my HP laptop uses, sweet! If you aren't in a last minute pickle like I was, Energizer will even send you additional types of adapters from their website. So basically, this power brick is capable of charging anything! And you can share it with your sister, mom, cousin, girlfriend etc. when they're in need of portable energy. Try doing that with your model-specific laptop battery!

The Energizer Energi to Go XP 18000 pictured above provides enough power when fully charged to offer up to:

• 42 hours of extra smart phone use
• 24 hours of digital video camera use
• 8 hours of netbook use
• 6 hours of laptop use
  

I have been really happy with the simplicity and features of the XP18000 as it only has one button. With this single interface point you can check the battery charge status or tell the device to start sharing energy. Just plug your phone, laptop or iPod in and press the button... that's it! The device lights up for a moment (telling you how much energy it has left) and then begins charging. It also came with a nice carry sack to keep the battery and dongles organized and from getting scratched.

Energizer is really doing some cool stuff with battery technology these days. From portable solar chargers, to miniature energy-to-go solutions that take AA batteries to the larger brick style XP18000 I picked up. There's even a hybrid that offers 2000 mAh of battery storage with built in fold-out solar panels to keep you off the grid! It's a lot like the uber-popular Solio or HYmini but with more juice and larger solar arrays. This little wonder is called the SP2000 and is pictured below.

Portable batteries are great, but unless you have a wall outlet to charge them or have plenty of time and sunlight for the solar version to work it's not always ideal. In addition to the Energizer energy to go product described above I also grabbed a YoGen human powered charging device for my trip. With this gadget you just plug your phone in and start pulling on a lever attached to a string with some spinning gears. It automatically converts your kinetic energy into electricity and feeds it directly into your mobile device. Pretty cool stuff, and it looks like they're also developing a foot powered laptop charger (think sewing machine or organ peddle).

In conclusion... Not only is it a lot cheaper to buy a flexible charging solution like the energy to go products from Energizer that can be used on a range of devices, it will save you space at home and in landfills from obsolete technology. Beyond that, you can even share it with friends just like our old friend the double A. Maybe we're finally entering into a science fiction future where all devices are powered from the same open source energy crystals or power cells? I can't wait!

RETool: Developing Business and Careers in the New Energy Economy

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-Mike DiFabio, Denver, CO

The promise of renewable energy is a bright spot among recent news of a troubled environment and economy. Clean energy companies are expanding, especially in Colorado, and federal stimulus funds are flooding into the industry. Now is the time to identify attractive opportunities in this rapidly evolving industry.

This intensive, four-day certificate program offered by the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship at CU-Boulder provides an in-depth look at renewable energy technologies and policies. RETool brings together panels of world-class CU faculty and industry experts in clean technology development to prepare participants to answer:

• Which renewable energy technologies have the greatest short- and long-term promise?
• How are costs and pricing for renewable energy technologies changing?
• How do federal and state policies affect the growth of different technologies?
• What are the key challenges of to the growth and success of renewable energy and how can they be overcome?
• How can I identify business, commercial, and job opportunities with renewable energy?

Who should attend this certificate program?

• Managers & executives wanting to understand the impact of renewable energy on their business and clients.
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• Investors or entrepreneurs seeking new high-growth opportunities in renewable energy.
• Anyone needing to quickly and efficiently learn the essentials of renewable energy.

Event Details, Dates & Topics include:

• Friday, August 27 - Renewable Electric Power
• Friday, October 1 - Understanding Smart Grids
• Friday, November 5 - Renewable Transportation Energy
• Friday, December 3 - The Promise of Energy Efficiency

Location: Leeds School of Business, University of Colorado at Boulder
Price: Early registration $990 until July 31. Regular price $1200. Individual courses $395 each. Click Here to register for the Certification Program.

Please contact Sarah Leshan at leshan@colorado.edu or (303)735-0451 with any questions.

The new Xbox 360 Slim or "Valhalla" system is on everyone's mind right now because it looks great and is smaller and lighter than its predecessor. Hopefully it will also be less prone to the red ring of death as well... What you might not know is that it also has a smaller energy footprint. Significantly smaller! it uses half the electricity of the original Xbox 360 design that was sold from 2005-2007 and that includes the dashboard, system idle and gaming use. That means high end games such as Red Dead Redemption will draw ~85 Watts of power vs. ~170W. And that also means less heat and overheating problems. If however, you've got a more recent model 360 dating from 2007 forward your system is probably in the neighborhood of 115W for high end games, and let's face it, who has had the same Xbox 360 for the past 3 years?

I bore witness to the launch of the first iteration of the Xbox 360 at an event called Zero Hour in the Mojave Desert and was impressed with the system architecture. In retrospect, the desert may not have been the ideal place to premier such a heat-prone system but that's why they did it at night. It was beautiful and functional, there's no doubt about that, but 360's have always been loud, hot and... unreliable. I remember feeling cheated when I saw the size of that huge power brick hanging out the back, no wonder the system could look so good, half of it was outside the system!

Considering the original Xbox never got a face lift, the Xbox 360 Slim is a welcomed improvement and step forward for Microsoft. The power supply in particular is still external and large but has been slimmed down considerably. Sony, by comparison, launched an improved PS3 Slim in September 2009 that takes 35% less power than the original and is also quieter. So the Xbox 360 Slim is Microsoft keeping up and stepping ahead at 50% less power consumption... sort of. Remember that most people have the newer 360's that aren't nearly as power hungry. Sony for the Win?

One of the most amazing improvements the Xbox 360 S has made with its new design is in reducing vampire power consumption. That is, when the system is completely turned off, the new model only takes 0.6W of power vs. 2.0W-2.8W the older models took. This has to do with the updated power adapter which is only 135W vs. the older 175W and 150W power version. It may only add up to a couple bucks a month for most households in lost power but that adds up real fast when you consider the 40 Million Xbox 360 systems that have been sold worldwide as of April 2010. Yeah, that's $40M bucks down the drain in vampire power loss alone vs. the new system hardware.

Overall, great work Microsoft. All this boils down to a cooler running system that produces less noise (45-50 decibels vs. 50-55 Db previously) and saves energy. Before you rush out and upgrade however, consider how old your current system is. You may already be hovering at ~110W with most games and it's pretty wasteful to toss a whole system for a ~20W gain. For more statistics and tests on the new Xbox 360 Slim and older models visit AnandTech. If you're really concerned about power use and want to optimize your gaming for the environment consider choosing a Wii which, since it was launched in November 2006, has used ten times less electricity for games than the Xbox 360 or PS3. 1UP Nintendo.

In my research for this article I also learned that most stand alone DVD players consumer far less power than the Xbox 360 or PS3 to play movies so a Wii plus a DVD player might be the perfect fit if your TV is connected to a hamster wheel.

According to a report to the World Wildlife Fund for Nature entitled "The Amazon's Vicious Cycles" by Daniel C. Nepstad, the Amazon greatly impacts climate "by acting as a giant consumer of heat close to the ground, absorbing half of the solar energy that reaches it through the evaporation of water from its leaves."

This means that the Amazon actually helps reduce the amount of solar energy by acting as a giant air conditioner. Essentially, this energy is transformed through the evaporation of huge amounts of water from the forest's leaves and other surfaces. This process in crucial because it produces the clouds that sustain the forest with rainfall.

The Amazon also plays a vitally important role as a storehouse of carbon, which many of you know is a main contributor to global warming through its release into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Trees in the Amazon, according to Nepstad, contain 90-140 billion tons of carbon. This is equivalent "to 9 to 14 years of current global, annual, human induced carbon emissions - estimated in 2007 at approximately 10 billion tonnes per year".

Right now, carbon is leaking out of the Amazon rainforest at a rate of 0.2 to 0.3 billion tons per year. This rapid release of carbon is due to large portions of the rainforest being converted for use as cattle pastures or other agriculture means. The amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere can double when severe drought increases the risks of forest fires.

Images courtesy of panda.org The Amazon's Vicious Cycles

"When all Amazon countries are combined, carbon emissions from this region may reach 0.4 to 0.5 billion tonnes per year even without considering emissions from forest fire", Nepstad writes.

Many of you know that the forests of the Amazon are highly resistant to fire. Over the past 2 millennia, the Amazon forest would burn regularly at 400-700 year intervals during periods of drought. Today, with human transformation of the forest landscape, the periods between first has shortened dramatically. Instead of catching fire every century or so, some forest are catching fire every 5-15 years! Every time the forest burns, it becomes more and more susceptible to frequent fires.

So what does climate change mean to the future of the Amazon? For several decades, teams of scientists have worked on computer models to answer this very question. According to these models, the Amazon is heading towards a drier, warmer future. Nepstad says, "Counteracting these trends are emerging changes in landholder behavior, recent successes in establishing large blocks of protected areas in active agricultural frontiers, important market trends favoring forest stewardship, and a possible new international mechanism for compensating tropical nations for their progress in forest conservation, that could reduce the likelihood of a large-scale dieback of the Amazon forest complex."

It would appear that efforts are being made to protect the Amazon region from declining completely. However, avoiding this scenario, according to Nepstad, may depend on substantial global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

In late March 2009 we did a story about Addison Avenue, a federal credit union that sprung up as the official Hewlett Packard employee bank. Addison Avenue is the street where the famed HP garage is that started the company, hence the name. Among other things, Addison offers solar loans and other green financial products. Recently the company started offering e-deposit services which is basically saying that you can scan both sides of your checks (endorsed of course) and then upload the image to their website for faster, more convenient processing.

If banks are starting to trust digital signatures and scanned receipts more and more, we could be approaching a time when check books look more like iPhones... Or maybe an iPhone touch screen app called "icheck" is just around the corner? If you've ever been to an Apple Store you have probably noticed that any employee in the store can check you out, ie. scan your credit card and print (or email) your receipt. In this way, future smart devices that are web and phone enabled (ala iPhone) could turn regular citizens into mobile kiosks who can accept digital checks from anyone; the babysitter, the renter, the possibilities are endless! In the short run, at a minimum, you could use your iPhone's camera to snap a picture of your checks and use an e-deposit system like the one offered by Addison Avenue... but that doesn't eliminate the waste of paper that checks currently represent.

Addison Avenue and other tech savvy financial institutions are leading this trend and thankfully, welcoming new members. Cruise on over to www.addisonavenue.com and sign up to learn more about green banking and begin accepting e-deposits. As for apps, there are several new systems under development for the iPhone and other smart phones working to make it easier and greener to make purchases.

According to greenlivingtips.com, biodegradable products "break down through the action of a naturally occurring microorganism, such as bacteria, fungi etc. over a period of time". In other words, the product eventually becomes part of the earth in a safe, natural way. Biodegradable products are usually made from plant or animal sources like corn starch or potatoes.

Compostable products, on the other hand, are considered to be "greener" than biodegradable products. The American Society for Testing & Materials states that for a plastic to be considered compostable, "it must be able to break down into carbon dioxide, water and biomass at the same rate as paper. It also needs to look like compost, should not produce any toxic material, and should be able to support plant life".

Both seem like pretty good choices for anyone who wants to protect the environment. Unfortunately, there are some disadvantages, especially for anything considered biodegradable. When biodegradable materials are dumped into a landfill, it is put in a place which has little oxygen, thus preventing "good" bacteria from thriving. As a result, methane gas, a greenhouse gas with over 62 times the GWP (Global Warming Potential) of carbon dioxide, is produced. In addition, some biodegradable plastics can contain harmful toxins.

It would seem, then, that compostable plastics are the greenest choice of plastics. But are they really? While the plastic itself is created with green materials such as corn or potatoes, the production of compostable plastics, or any plastic for that matter, requires a lot of energy. In fact, greenlivingtips.com claims that the amount of fossil fuel consumed in the creation of green plastic is more than that consumed in the production of regular plastic. This article on green plastics by mindfully.org says that every year, the US consumes 80 million tons of fossil fuel in the production of plastics. So that means, even though you're using potato based silver ware or eating out of a compostable Corn Chips bag, you are still using a lot of oil and energy to do it.

The articles goes on the say that when researchers calculated "all the energy and raw materials required for each step of growing [polyhydroxyalkanoate] PHA in plants--harvesting and drying the corn stover, extracting PHA from the stover, purifying the plastic, separating and recycling the solvent, and blending the plastic to produce a resin--[they] discovered that this approach would consume even more fossil resources than most petrochemical manufacturing routes."

The idea of green plastics, while a step in the right direction, clearly needs some improvement, especially in the area of production. In order for a product to be truly green, the entire production of the product needs to be environmentally sustainable. If the companies creating green plastics could find a way to use renewable energy along with renewable materials, perhaps plastics will become even more green. And this is in fact the case for many companies that purchase from wind farms or have installed solar panels on their facilities.

With the launch of Sony's newest PlayStation Portable (PSPgo) just around the corner, slated for October 1st 2009, many people are weighing their options as the old PSP 3000 unit will still be available. On the one hand, the new PSPgo is more expensive and doesn't come bundled with any games. At $249 it's nearly $50 more than the PSP 3000 bundle which includes a game, a 2GB flash memory card and features a larger screen. On the other hand, the PSPgo is much lighter, smaller and thus easier to fit into pockets, many believe the button positioning is better suited for handheld gaming, the shoulder buttons are easier to use, and the battery life is longer (because the unit doesn't have to spin an optical drive to load content). While system power, graphics and aesthetics have traditionally been the deciding factors for upgrading console hardware, future devices such as the PSPgo are competing on different dimensions. The PSPgo is not faster or more graphically adept than its predecessors, on the contrary its screen is actually smaller. The real improvements here are in efficiency and convenience which lean towards sustainable design.

The PSPgo can only play digital content and that is both a blessing and a curse. Much like it's peer, the iPod Touch and iPhone, everything has to be downloaded from the web - in this case the Sony PlayStation Store. While it's not quite the iTunes store in terms of ease of use and speed, the PlayStation Store isn't bad and it's going to get a whole lot better in the coming months... Unless you only own a Mac and are not dual booting, in this case you are just out of luck as Sony has opted for Windows only. Mac users will still be able to access games directly through wifi on the PSPgo but can't upload existing music or movies as easily or back the system up using Media Go. One risk and challenge here, in addition to ostracizing the growing number of Mac users, is that gaming retail stores like GameStop are going to be cut out as more and more content goes digital... IGN touched on this point recently in a review of the system, pointing out that system sales are not very profitable or plentiful compared to software sales. This may just be a fact of life as more and more products go online, and for the environmentally conscious consumer this is a great thing because it means less driving to and from stores, less plastic disks cases and accessories, less boxes and papers, and less shipping. While Sony has vowed to continue support for the PSP 3000 by stocking physical games for the life of the PSP, it has openly stated in interviews that digital distribution is the future and it is my guess that physical inventory for PSP games will decline as a percentage of software sales as PSPgo takes market share and game availability through the PlayStation Store increases. John Koller, director of hardware marketing at SCEA, said in a Q&A interview on 9/14/09 "we see digital and the importance of digital content really leading the way into the future . . . there is a significant trend towards digital". Even today, the older PSP 1000, 2000, and 3000 can download games digitally and while system memory is simply more limited than the 16GB that comes stock on the PSPgo (and the ability to add 32GB more with Memory Stick Micro), it's still possible on older PSP's. PSP owners can currently purchase 16GB Memory Stick PRO Duo's for roughly $60 online and hold between 9 and 15 games instantly... Run out of space? Just grab another $16GB flash card and you're all set!

Older PSP's relied primarily on Universal Mini Disks (UMD's) which had movies and games printed on them. The trade off that the PSPgo creates here is that traditional PSP owners have no easy way to translate their old games to a digital format to load on their new PSPgo system (should they decide to upgrade to the new system)... Think about it, if Sony made it easy for them to rip and upload their old games, then everyone would be ripping and trading ala Napster and game developers would be cut out of the loop, thus divesting from the platform. I am sure Sony is working on some kind of solution here but truth be told, the real opportunity is to begin downloading on new and old systems, physical disks notwithstanding. If you buy a PSPgo, at least for the time being, you'll have to re-purchase your old games, movies, etc. or play them on your old PSP seperately. The good news in all of this is that the PlayStation Store will be getting faster and stocking a lot more digital content, content that both old and new PSP owners can tap into. This saves plastic, shipping costs, and battery life as mentioned above. All things considered, a PSP 3000 with 16GB of memory would cost about the same as a new PSPgo, function in much the same way, include a free game, still use less battery life than a PSP 3000 spinning a game disk, and feature a larger screen. I don't see a downside here?

All in all the PSPgo is a step in the right direction as far as the environment is concerned. Eventually this will lead to cheaper games, more downloadable content, more interactive social titles, and less waste (as disks can be lost, scratched, and stolen more easily). The PSPgo will probably also load games faster with its solid state memory, it won't skip, and you can pause games and hibernate while browsing the XMB (cross media bar) to listen to a song or use some other feature of the PSPgo. With the new Bluetooth feature stock on the PSPgo you can even use Skype to make inexpensive phone calls using a Bluetooth headset! While I have never owned a PSP, I was there for the launch and have been holding out for a device just like this for many years. One that fits easily in my pocket, syncs with Skype and other digital applications, plays great games like God of War and Little Big Planet using traditional video game buttons and joysticks (vs. touch screen), and avoids excessive plastic and energy waste. I say great job Sony, we're taking a load off the environment and taking one step closer to the Matrix... which I love.

A list of top selling PSP games that will be available October 1st for system launch can be found at IGN here and a full review of the system can be found here.

Do you have staff who need training on this subject?
Looking to break into the renewable energy sector?
Wondering how to assess energy options for your company?
Need cutting-edge information on energy technologies and policies?

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• Date: Thursday - Saturday, July 9-11, 2009
• Time: Thursday 1:00 PM through Saturday 1:00 PM
• Leeds School of Business, Room S125, Koelbel Building
  

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Renewable energy technologies hold the promise to dramatically change the energy landscape in the United States and around the world.  This two-day workshop will provide a thorough overview the renewable energy landscape.

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Just a few moments ago, the US House of Representatives passed the historic American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), otherwise known as cap-and-trade.

The vote passed 219-212. The bill's goal is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 83% by 2050. While the bill still must go through the Senate and then conference before heading to the President, it represents a major accomplishment in the fight against climate change.

This is your victory!

Solving climate change is ultimately about leadership. We saw this in the House today. But it is your leadership over the last five years that made this bill possible.

Just a few years ago few people had any idea what the term 'carbon footprint' meant. Now the term is used regularly and even spoofed in The Onion. And so-called experts talked about carbon costing $50-100 per tonne, potentially wrecking our economy, not the real-life $5-10 per tonne we see today.

You knew climate change was a serious problem. And while you were under no obligation to take any action, you did. You reduced your emissions and you committed yourself, family or business to being carbon neutral. You supported third-party verified projects that reduced emissions. You spurred investment in clean energy projects and reforestation. And you showed it can all be done without breaking the bank.

Make no mistake, if we were still debating economic models showing theoretical carbon costs, this historic bill would not be possible. ACES is possible today because of what you have shown in the real world, that people want to reduce their carbon output, that it can be done relatively easily and that we can do it very cost-effectively.

Indeed, while the bill aims for an 83% reduction in 2050, and just 17% by 2020, many of you have reduced your emissions by 100% today.

Over 1,200 businesses and organizations and more than 450,000 individuals have reduced and offset their carbon emissions with Carbonfund.org, showing leadership when few even knew what they were talking about.

We'll all need to continue to minimize and offset our carbon emissions even after our country acts, but the commitment you have shown on fighting climate change has created the momentum, visibility, and call for action on climate change.

So enjoy this victory today. Pop some bubbly. Do a funky dance. Solving climate change is about leadership and your leadership has brought us to this historic moment. Congratulations!

Eric Carlson
President - CarbonFund.org

Attendees were required to stand 15 feet away from this Van de Graaf but had it been smaller, and users a bit closer, their hair would have been standing up on end! This is because hair acquires charges of like sign which tend to repel one another. The Van de Graaff generator was one of the earliest particle accelerators used for nuclear physics research. Modern Van de Graaff generators and other similar electrostatic accelerators are still used for that purpose and are capable of voltages in excess of 20 million volts.

One of the interesting things about experiencing this demonstration in person was the smell of Ozone in the air. The Van de Graaff breaks apart Oxygen as it electrofies the air. Splitting dioxygen or O2 allows three Oxygen molecules to bond together and that resulting O3 is called Ozone. This same sort of smell occurs when you use an ionic breeze. Too much Ozone isn't good for you to breathe and it also oxidizes metals but the doors were open and fresh air was flowing at Maker Faire so I don't think anyone was hurt ;)

More about air purifiers and how they work here and Van De Graff generators here. Below is a great video by CNN interviewing Mister Jalopy, a man who supports the maker movement.

A perfect article would be a product review, a "how to" guide for the solar rebates offered in your state or town, a research paper from a class you took, or a story about how you converted your car to a plugin hybrid.

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