Energy (and Other) Events is a weekly mailing list published most Sundays covering events around the Cambridge, MA and greater Boston area that catch the editor's eye.
Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events email gmoke@world.std.com
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Monday, June 25
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Renewable Energy Lending 101 for Massachusetts Community Banks
Monday, June 25, 2012
9:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Bingham McCutchen LLP, One Federal Street, Boston
This session will present an overview of key concepts in renewable energy development and finance presented by experts from MassCEC, the Department of Energy Resources (DOER), the Department of Public Utilities (DPU), the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Executive office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and Bingham McCutchen. Topics include:
Overview of renewable energy project development: What are key milestones in the development process for commercialized renewable energy technologies?
RECs / SRECs: How do these credit markets function and to what extent should revenues be included in project economics?
Interconnection: What is interconnection and how does its acquisition influence project viability?
Permitting: What are key state and local permits that must be acquired for project construction?
Net metering: What is net metering, how do projects obtain the right to net meter, and how does this influence project economics?
PPA structures: What are the main power purchase agreement (PPA) structures present in the state today? What are some of the benefits and disadvantages of each structure?
Tax benefits: How do tax benefits contribute to project owner and developer returns? How can banks monetize this value to improve debt coverage?
Please RSVP no later than June 18, 2012 at http://massachusettsrenewableenergy101-es2.eventbrite.com/?srnk=447
If you have any questions, please contact Sumit Kadakia at skadakia@masscec.com
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Gravity, Pendulums and the Conservation of Energy
Monday, June 25, 2012
1:00p–2:00p
MIT, Building 26-100, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Walter Lewin, Professor of Physics, Emeritus, author of "For the Love of Physics"
These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television program without any compensation or credit.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars
For more information, contact: Nina Wu
ninawu@mit.edu
Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com is the web version.
If you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe to Energy (and Other) Events email gmoke@world.std.com
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Monday, June 25
--------------------
Renewable Energy Lending 101 for Massachusetts Community Banks
Monday, June 25, 2012
9:00 AM to 3:00 PM
Bingham McCutchen LLP, One Federal Street, Boston
This session will present an overview of key concepts in renewable energy development and finance presented by experts from MassCEC, the Department of Energy Resources (DOER), the Department of Public Utilities (DPU), the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the Executive office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) and Bingham McCutchen. Topics include:
Overview of renewable energy project development: What are key milestones in the development process for commercialized renewable energy technologies?
RECs / SRECs: How do these credit markets function and to what extent should revenues be included in project economics?
Interconnection: What is interconnection and how does its acquisition influence project viability?
Permitting: What are key state and local permits that must be acquired for project construction?
Net metering: What is net metering, how do projects obtain the right to net meter, and how does this influence project economics?
PPA structures: What are the main power purchase agreement (PPA) structures present in the state today? What are some of the benefits and disadvantages of each structure?
Tax benefits: How do tax benefits contribute to project owner and developer returns? How can banks monetize this value to improve debt coverage?
Please RSVP no later than June 18, 2012 at http://massachusettsrenewableenergy101-es2.eventbrite.com/?srnk=447
If you have any questions, please contact Sumit Kadakia at skadakia@masscec.com
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Gravity, Pendulums and the Conservation of Energy
Monday, June 25, 2012
1:00p–2:00p
MIT, Building 26-100, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Speaker: Walter Lewin, Professor of Physics, Emeritus, author of "For the Love of Physics"
These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television program without any compensation or credit.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars
For more information, contact: Nina Wu
ninawu@mit.edu
Das Haus Pavilion
Tuesday, June 26th
10:30am – 4:30pm
219 Vassar Street, Cambridge
PAVILION OPEN HOURS
Das Haus is a traveling pavilion, a North American tour and an ONGOING INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUEabout advanced technologies for home construction and solar energy use. The purpose – to share German innovations that have achieved sustainable construction and operational energy savings. Attendees will represent leading organizations and businesses in building materials, architecture, engineering, renewable energy and energy efficiency businesses, universities, and public officials.
http://cambridge.dashaustour.com/rsvp/
Tuesday, June 26th
10:30am – 4:30pm
219 Vassar Street, Cambridge
PAVILION OPEN HOURS
Das Haus is a traveling pavilion, a North American tour and an ONGOING INTERNATIONAL DIALOGUEabout advanced technologies for home construction and solar energy use. The purpose – to share German innovations that have achieved sustainable construction and operational energy savings. Attendees will represent leading organizations and businesses in building materials, architecture, engineering, renewable energy and energy efficiency businesses, universities, and public officials.
http://cambridge.dashaustour.com/rsvp/
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Monday June 25, 2012
7pm (note earlier-than-usual time!)
Middlesex, 315 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
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Featuring Nerd-appropriate tunes by Claude Money
$5
The lineup:
Talk 1. “Are We Rolling?: Trial and Error in the Music in Cambridge Oral History Project”
by Katrina Morse
by Katrina Morse
Talk 2. “Saving the Last Lustron Home in Boston”
by Sonja Vitow
by Sonja Vitow
Talk 3. “Heat It & Beat It: From Wootz to Modern Super Metals”
by Rick Karnesky
by Rick Karnesky
For more information about the speakers and the talks: http://boston.nerdnite.com/2012/06/20/nerdnite-june-25/
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Tuesday, June 26
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Expanding the Concept of Accessible Technology
Tuesday, June 26, 12:30 pm
Berkman Center, 23 Everett Street, second floor, Cambridge
RSVP required for those attending in person at http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/events/luncheon/2012/06/garland-thomson#RSVP
This event will be webcast live at 12:30 pm ET on http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/interactive/webcast and archived on our site shortly after.
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Emory University and fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University
This presentation expands the idea of accessible technology to show how the way we make our shared world of buildings, technologies, public spaces, practices, laws, and attitudes builds a total environment which welcomes some people and keeps other people out. The talk presents the evolution of how accessible technologies in the broadest sense make our citizenry more inclusive and diverse.
About Rosemarie
Rosemarie Garland-Thomson is Professor of Women's Studies and English at Emory University. Her fields of study are feminist theory, American literature, and disability studies. Her work develops the field of disability studies in the humanities and women's and gender studies. This year she is a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
She is author of Staring: How We Look and Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Literature and Culture; co-editor of Re-Presenting Disability: Museums and the Politics of Display and Disability Studies: Enabling the Humanities; and editor of Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body. Her current book-in-progress, entitled Habitable Worlds, concerns the logic and design of inclusive public space.
-----------------------------She is author of Staring: How We Look and Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Literature and Culture; co-editor of Re-Presenting Disability: Museums and the Politics of Display and Disability Studies: Enabling the Humanities; and editor of Freakery: Cultural Spectacles of the Extraordinary Body. Her current book-in-progress, entitled Habitable Worlds, concerns the logic and design of inclusive public space.
Scout - Legislative Alert Tool
Tuesday, June 26
1pm (EDT)
Webinar register at https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/showReg?udc=ldb7r7otund4
http://scout.sunlightfoundation.com — a new free alert service that allows you to do just that! You can now search and create email or text alerts on legislation shaping issues you care about in Congress and across all fifty states. Scout also makes it easy to search federal regulations and what is actually said by lawmakers in the Congressional Record.
Join us next week for a free webinar to learn more about Scout.
We know Scout is already working to help advocates stay on top of legislation, and want to put Scout to work for you. Attend our free webinar on Tuesday, June 26 at 1 pm (EDT) to learn more about this powerful research and tracking tool. The one-hour webinar will cover basic skills such as creating search terms and bill queries as well as advanced functions such as tagging, merging outside RSS feeds and creating curated search collections.
Whether you are a policy wonk, a researcher, a journalist or an activist, you can stay on top of regulations, Congress and bills in the state legislatures. Learn moreand get Scouting: scout.sunlightfoundation.com
Please join us for the webinar next Tuesday, June 26 at 1pm (EDT) -- register at https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/showReg?udc=ldb7r7otund4
Scout (http://scout.sunlightfoundation.com) is a new free tool developed by the Sunlight Foundation that allows anyone to subscribe to customized email or text alerts on what Congress is doing or saying around an issue or a specific bill, as well as bills in the state legislature and federal regulations.
Join us for a webinar to learn more about Scout and how it can be an effective tool for your work. The session will cover basic skills such as search terms and bill queries as well as advance functions such as tagging, merging outside RSS feeds and creating curated search collections.
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GreenPort Forum: Solar Hot Water is Hot
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
7:00pm
Cambridgeport Baptist Church, 459 Putnam Av, Cambridge (corner of Magazine St. and Putnam Av)
Meghan Shaw, Cambridge Energy Alliance
Solar hot water systems are a great way to provide 50% to 75% of all hot water for a household or business. Most solar hot water systems will work with existing plumbing or water heating systems. If building owners act before November 2012, the combined rebates from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center and the City of Cambridge could mean a net cost of less than half the full cost of the system. Come to talk about how we can encourage and facilitate more solar installations in Cambridgeport.
The Cambridge Energy Alliance is a City-staffed program that is also a collaborative effort of people dedicated to taking action on climate change. CEA relies on the expertise and energy of community activists, businesses, and non-profits.
GreenPort envisions and encourages a just and sustainable Cambridgeport neighborhood
For more information, contact Steve Morr-Wineman at swineman@gis.net
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Hacks/Hackers End of year celebration (and let's talk about ideas for next year)
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
7:00 PM
Friendly Toast, 1 Kendall Square, Cambridge
RSVP at http://meetupbos.hackshackers.com/events/70255982/
Year 2 of the Hack/Hackers Boston chapter is at an end. Thanks to all our guest speakers, everyone who helped out, our sponsors who gave us space (and free cookies!) and all our loyal members who attended meetups, making this another successful year.
To celebrate, we're going to have a meetup on Tuesday, June 26, at the Friendly Toast in Kendall Sq. Bring ideas for next year.
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Wednesday, June 27
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TALK: Adaptive Model-Predictive Motion Planning for Autonomous Robots in Complex Environments
Wednesday, June 27 2012
10:00AM to 11:00AM
MIT, Patil/Kiva Seminar Room (32-G449), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Thomas Howard, NASA JPL
Autonomous robots must reason about their surroundings to operate intelligently in the natural world. Provided infinite time and flawless perception, robots could exploit detailed models of their environment interaction and completely explore the space of possible decisions to determine the optimal course of action. Practical applications of robotics however have restricted resources, limited decision time, and imperfect model information. In this talk I will present my research in model-predictive motion planning algorithms for autonomous robots that operate in challenging, cluttered, and/or complex environments. These methods are centered on two core ideas. First, a real-time trajectory generation that is agnostic to the underlying mechanics of robot environment interaction can be used to generate motion planning search spaces for autonomous robots that are feasible, expressive, and efficient to search. Second, provided a computationally efficient technique for repairing connectivity in recombinant motion planning graphs, the local mapping between discretized and continuous representations can be relaxed to improve the relative optimality of generated motions. I will demonstrate generality of these approaches by discussing applications in planetary rovers, field robots, autonomous automobiles, mobile manipulators and robotic torsos and describe future directions for this work.
Short Bio:
Thomas Howard is a Research Technologist in the Robotics Software Systems Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009 and earned B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Rochester in 2004. His work centers on the development of robust motion planning, navigation, and control algorithms that are applicable to a wide spectrum of autonomous systems. At Carnegie Mellon University he focused on the development of model-predictive trajectory generation and mobile robot navigation algorithms for planetary rovers, field robots, autonomous automobiles, and mobile manipulators. He was a member of the Tartan Racing motion planning team and applied his local motion planning trajectory generation algorithms on Boss, winner of the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. While at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory he has led research tasks on perception and pose estimation in poorly illuminated environments and mobile robot search space design. He is currently the motion planning lead for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California Institute of Technology team on the software track of the DARPA Autonomous Robotic Manipulation program and a member of the Mars Science Laboratory flight software team working on autonomous navigation. Thomas has authored or co-authored four journal articles, nineteen conference papers, and a book chapter in robot motion planning, navigation, control, and simulation and twice been appointed as a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology where he helps teach the class Advanced Robotics: Navigation and Vision.
Short Bio:
Thomas Howard is a Research Technologist in the Robotics Software Systems Group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He received his Ph.D. in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009 and earned B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Rochester in 2004. His work centers on the development of robust motion planning, navigation, and control algorithms that are applicable to a wide spectrum of autonomous systems. At Carnegie Mellon University he focused on the development of model-predictive trajectory generation and mobile robot navigation algorithms for planetary rovers, field robots, autonomous automobiles, and mobile manipulators. He was a member of the Tartan Racing motion planning team and applied his local motion planning trajectory generation algorithms on Boss, winner of the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. While at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory he has led research tasks on perception and pose estimation in poorly illuminated environments and mobile robot search space design. He is currently the motion planning lead for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and California Institute of Technology team on the software track of the DARPA Autonomous Robotic Manipulation program and a member of the Mars Science Laboratory flight software team working on autonomous navigation. Thomas has authored or co-authored four journal articles, nineteen conference papers, and a book chapter in robot motion planning, navigation, control, and simulation and twice been appointed as a Lecturer in Mechanical Engineering at the California Institute of Technology where he helps teach the class Advanced Robotics: Navigation and Vision.
Contact: Mieke Moran, 617-253-5817, mieke@csail.mit.edu
Relevant URL: http://www-robotics.jpl.nasa.gov/people/Thomas_Howard
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River Mapping from Low Flying Rotorcraft
Wednesday, June 27 2012
3:00PM to 4:00PM
MIT, Building 32-D463 Star, 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Sanjiv Singh, The Robotics Institute, CMU
Rivers in areas with heavy vegetation are hard to map from the air. We have been working on the task of mapping their course and the vegetation along the shores with the specific intent of determining river width and canopy height. A complication in such an environment is that GPS may not be available depending on the thickness of the surrounding canopy.
In this talk I will discuss the components of a multimodal perception system to be used for the active exploration and mapping of a river from a small rotorcraft flying a few meters above the water. I will describe key component technologies that use computer vision and laser scanning to follow the river without the use of a prior map, estimate motion of the rotorcraft, ensure collision free operation and create a three dimensional representation of the riverine environment. While the ability to fly simplifies the navigation problem, it also introduces an additional set of constraints in terms of size, weight and power. Hence, our solutions are cognizant of the need to perform multi-kilometer missions with a payload that weighs less than a kilo. I will conclude with experimental results in representative environments.
Bio
Sanjiv Singh is a Research Professor at the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. His recent work has two main themes: perception in natural environments and multi-agent coordination. He has led projects in both ground and air vehicles operating in unknown or partially known environments, in applications such as mining, agriculture, emergency response, surveillance and exploration. He has recently led projects that have demonstrated autonomous navigation for a full scale helicopter and have developed autonomy for a flying car. Prof Singh received his PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon (1995). He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Field Robotics.
Rivers in areas with heavy vegetation are hard to map from the air. We have been working on the task of mapping their course and the vegetation along the shores with the specific intent of determining river width and canopy height. A complication in such an environment is that GPS may not be available depending on the thickness of the surrounding canopy.
In this talk I will discuss the components of a multimodal perception system to be used for the active exploration and mapping of a river from a small rotorcraft flying a few meters above the water. I will describe key component technologies that use computer vision and laser scanning to follow the river without the use of a prior map, estimate motion of the rotorcraft, ensure collision free operation and create a three dimensional representation of the riverine environment. While the ability to fly simplifies the navigation problem, it also introduces an additional set of constraints in terms of size, weight and power. Hence, our solutions are cognizant of the need to perform multi-kilometer missions with a payload that weighs less than a kilo. I will conclude with experimental results in representative environments.
Bio
Sanjiv Singh is a Research Professor at the Robotics Institute, Carnegie Mellon University. His recent work has two main themes: perception in natural environments and multi-agent coordination. He has led projects in both ground and air vehicles operating in unknown or partially known environments, in applications such as mining, agriculture, emergency response, surveillance and exploration. He has recently led projects that have demonstrated autonomous navigation for a full scale helicopter and have developed autonomy for a flying car. Prof Singh received his PhD in Robotics from Carnegie Mellon (1995). He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Field Robotics.
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Thursday, June 28
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Visual 3D/4D modeling of urban places and events
Thursday, June 28 2012
One of the fundamental problems of computer vision is to extract 3D shape and motion from images. This can be achieved when a scene or object is observed from different viewpoints or over a period of time. First, we'll discuss image-based 3D modeling and localization in large environments, e.g. urban 3D reconstruction from vehicle-borne cameras and (geo)localization from mobile-phone images. In this context, we will discuss some of the challenges an opportunities offered by symmetries of architectural structures. We will also discuss how changes in an urban environment can be detected from images, leading to the possibility to efficiently acquire 4D models. In addition to explicit 4D modeling of an event, we'll consider the possibility to perform interactive video-based rendering from casually captured videos.
Bio:
Marc Pollefeys is a full professor in the Dept. of Computer Science of ETH Zurich since 2007 where he is the head of the Institute for Visual Computing and leads the Computer Vision and Geometry lab. He currently also remains associated with the Dept. of Computer Science of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he started as an assistant professor in 2002 and became an associate professor in 2005. Before this he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, where he also received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1994 and 1999, respectively. His main area of research is computer vision. One of his main research goals is to develop flexible approaches to capture visual representations of real world objects, scenes and events. Dr. Pollefeys has received several prizes for his research, including a Marr prize, an NSF CAREER award, a Packard Fellowship and a European Research Council Starting Grant. He is the author or co-author of more than 160 peer-reviewed publications. He is the General Chair for the European Conference on Computer Vision 2014 (ECCV) and was a Program Co-Chair for the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2009 (CVPR). Prof. Pollefeys is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Computer Vision and was a associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.
11:00AM to 12:00AM, Refreshments: 10:50AM
MIT, Building 32-D463 (Star Seminar Room), 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge
Speaker: Marc Pollefeys, ETH Zurich
One of the fundamental problems of computer vision is to extract 3D shape and motion from images. This can be achieved when a scene or object is observed from different viewpoints or over a period of time. First, we'll discuss image-based 3D modeling and localization in large environments, e.g. urban 3D reconstruction from vehicle-borne cameras and (geo)localization from mobile-phone images. In this context, we will discuss some of the challenges an opportunities offered by symmetries of architectural structures. We will also discuss how changes in an urban environment can be detected from images, leading to the possibility to efficiently acquire 4D models. In addition to explicit 4D modeling of an event, we'll consider the possibility to perform interactive video-based rendering from casually captured videos.
Bio:
Marc Pollefeys is a full professor in the Dept. of Computer Science of ETH Zurich since 2007 where he is the head of the Institute for Visual Computing and leads the Computer Vision and Geometry lab. He currently also remains associated with the Dept. of Computer Science of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he started as an assistant professor in 2002 and became an associate professor in 2005. Before this he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, where he also received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1994 and 1999, respectively. His main area of research is computer vision. One of his main research goals is to develop flexible approaches to capture visual representations of real world objects, scenes and events. Dr. Pollefeys has received several prizes for his research, including a Marr prize, an NSF CAREER award, a Packard Fellowship and a European Research Council Starting Grant. He is the author or co-author of more than 160 peer-reviewed publications. He is the General Chair for the European Conference on Computer Vision 2014 (ECCV) and was a Program Co-Chair for the IEEE Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition 2009 (CVPR). Prof. Pollefeys is on the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Computer Vision and was a associate editor for the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. He is a Fellow of the IEEE.
Host: Wojciech Matusik, MIT: CSAIL: Computer Graphics Group
Contact: Britton 'Bryt' Bradley, 617-253-6583, bryt@csail.mit.edu
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Launch of 350 Massachusetts network to fight for climate justice!
Thursday, June 28th
Thursday, June 28th
6pm potluck and 7pm Official Launch Meeting!
First Church Cambridge, 11 Garden Street Cambridge
The goal of this meeting is to connect those individuals and organizations who have worked with or supported 350.org in order to build an organized network to help us return atmospheric concentrations of CO2eq. back down to 350ppm. This network will help support future 350.org events and campaigns as well as those of our own creation including ending fossil fuel subsidies, keeping tar sands out of New England and stopping any additional fracked natural gas imports.
350.org US Campaign Director, Phil Aroneanu will also be joining us to share communications strategy and campaign organizing expertise.
If you have not already, please RSVP to this email so we can know who all we can expect on the big day. If you have any questions, please contact Dorian Williams at dorian@betterfutureproject.org.
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The Hockey Stick and the Climate Wars: Dispatches From the Front Lines.
Thursday, June 28
7:00 pm
Harvard Coop, 1400 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Discussion/Signing With Michael Mann
From climate scientist Mann an important and disturbing account of the fossil-fuel industry’s well-funded public-relations campaign to sow doubt about the validity of the science of climate change.
From climate scientist Mann an important and disturbing account of the fossil-fuel industry’s well-funded public-relations campaign to sow doubt about the validity of the science of climate change.
Contact 617.499.2000
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Friday, June 29
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Walk/Ride Day
http://gogreenstreets.org/event/walkride-day
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MADMEC Design Challenge 1
Friday, June 29, 2012
2:00p–3:00p
MIT, Building 4-131, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS & ELECTORAL POLITICS
A Roundtable Connecting #Occupy, Global Movements, the World Social Forum, and Elections
Saturday, June 30, 2012, 6:00 p.m. at encuentro 5 (33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor, Boston, MA 02111)
featuring: Sarah Francis, Jeff Juris, Suren Moodliar, Thomas
Ponniah, Monica Poole, and (chair) Heike Schotten
The Arab Spring signaled a global wave of social movements challenging inequality, repression, austerity, war, & corporate power. Whatever their strengths, these movements have all had to give serious consideration to how they relate to electoral politics. This timely conversation brings together a diverse group of thoughtful activists and engaged scholars who have connections to the #Occupy movement, the World Social Forum, solidarity movements and grassroots organizing.
NOTE: encuentro 5 is NOT yet wheelchair accessible, call 888-400-1225 to join the conversation via Skype or conference call. Visit website for speaker bios, background information and selected articles.
Speaker bios and more information to follow; light refreshments provided.
More details at http://www.encuentro5.org. See flyer here:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1042836/flyer-2012-06-30.pdf
For Design Challenge 1, the teams will design and 3D print at least two separate parts to interface with an electric motor, to pull a load up a 2 meter high parabolic ramp using steel cable. The team that can pull the greatest weight to the top of the ramp will be the winner of the $500 Design Challenge 1 prize. Distance of max weight pulled will be the tie-breaking factor.
If the LEM is crowded, the contest can be viewed from the hallway.
If the LEM is crowded, the contest can be viewed from the hallway.
Open to: the general public
Sponsor(s): Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
For more information, contact: DMSE
617-253-3300
617-253-3300
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Saturday, June 30
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SOLAR OPEN HOUSE
Saturday, June 30, 2012
10:00 AM to 12:00 PM (ET)
10 Rocky Nook Terrace Jamaica Plain, Boston
RSVP at http://10rockynookjpsolar-es2.eventbrite.com/
The Rosenthals have done it - they've gone solar! And now they want you to see if you can go solar too by inviting you along with their friends and neighbors to talk to them about what having a solar home has meant for them and to see what it looks like first hand.
Come join us at 10 Rocky Nook Terrace in JP to learn more about you can go solar with little to no cost and save money every month on your electric bills. A solar adviser will help you determine if your home qualifies for the program and answer all of your questions.
Never considered solar before? This is a great way to get your first introduction to how Massachusetts residents are taking control of their energy costs and their carbon footprint and get to meet some of your neighbors and fellow community members.
Light refreshments will be provided. Please RSVP with your name and number of attendees.
We look forward to meeting with you!
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A Roundtable Connecting #Occupy, Global Movements, the World Social Forum, and Elections
Saturday, June 30, 2012, 6:00 p.m. at encuentro 5 (33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor, Boston, MA 02111)
featuring: Sarah Francis, Jeff Juris, Suren Moodliar, Thomas
Ponniah, Monica Poole, and (chair) Heike Schotten
The Arab Spring signaled a global wave of social movements challenging inequality, repression, austerity, war, & corporate power. Whatever their strengths, these movements have all had to give serious consideration to how they relate to electoral politics. This timely conversation brings together a diverse group of thoughtful activists and engaged scholars who have connections to the #Occupy movement, the World Social Forum, solidarity movements and grassroots organizing.
NOTE: encuentro 5 is NOT yet wheelchair accessible, call 888-400-1225 to join the conversation via Skype or conference call. Visit website for speaker bios, background information and selected articles.
Speaker bios and more information to follow; light refreshments provided.
More details at http://www.encuentro5.org. See flyer here:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1042836/flyer-2012-06-30.pdf
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Monday, July 2
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The Wonders of Electricity and Magnetism
Monday, July 02, 2012
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Walter Lewin, LIVE! Special Lecture Series, MIT Physics Professor Walter Lewin, educator and author of "For the Love of Physics"
These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television program without any compensation or credit.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars
For more information, contact: Nina Wu
ninawu@mit.edu
ninawu@mit.edu
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Upcoming
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Upcoming
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Understanding Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment
Friday, July 06, 2012
10:00a–11:00a
Webinar register at: https://mitweb.webex.com/mitweb/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=644994381
Speaker: Christopher Weber, IDA Science and Technology Policy Institute
Paul Blainey, Ph.D.
Miniaturized lab-on-a-chip methods are being deployed as labor-saving devices in biological research, through the advent of a suite of microfluidics technologies. Microfluidics enables large-scale studies that provide the means to better understand, prevent, and treat human disease. Paul Blainey will discuss the promise of using microfluidics to transform our industrial infrastructure to operate more efficiently, while protecting the natural environment.
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Opportunity
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Boiler Rebate
If your boiler is from 1983 or earlier, Mass Save will give a $1,750 to $4,000 rebate to switch it out for a new efficient boiler that uses the same fuel (i.e. if you have oil, you have to continue to use oil) so long as it is installed by July 31, 2012.
Call Mass Save (866 527-7283) to sign up for a home energy assessment or sign-up online at www.nextsteplivinginc.com/HEET and HEET will receive a $10 contribution from Next Step Living for every completed assessment.
This is a great way to reduce climate change emissions for the next 20 or so years the boiler lasts, while saving money.
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CEA Solar Hot Water Grants
Cambridge, through the Cambridge Energy Alliance initiative, is offering a limited number of grants to residents and businesses for solar hot water systems. The grants will cover 50% of the remaining out of pocket costs of the system after other incentives, up to $2,000.
Applications will be accepted up to November 19, 2012 and are available on a first come, first serve basis until funding runs out. The Cambridge grant will complement other incentives including the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center solar thermal grants. For more information, seehttp://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/additional-resources/solar-hot-water-grant-program
-----------------------
Cambridge Residents: Free Home Thermal Images
Have you ever wanted to learn where your home is leaking heat by having an energy auditor come to your home with a thermal camera? With that info you then know where to fix your home so it's more comfortable and less expensive to heat. However, at $200 or so, the cost of such a thermal scan is a big chunk of change.
HEET Cambridge has now partnered with Sagewell, Inc. to offer Cambridge residents free thermal scans.
Sagewell collects the thermal images by driving through Cambridge in a hybrid vehicle equipped with thermal cameras. They will scan every building in Cambridge (as long as it's not blocked by trees or buildings or on a private way). Building owners can view thermal images of their property and an analysis online. The information is password protected so that only the building owner can see the results.
Homeowners, condo-owners and landlords can access the thermal images and an accompanying analysis free of charge. Commercial building owners and owners of more than one building will be able to view their images and analysis for a small fee.
The scans will be analyzed in the order they are requested.
Go to Sagewell.com. Type in your address at the bottom where it says "Find your home or building" and press return. Then click on "Here" to request the report.
That's it. When the scans are done in a few weeks, your building will be one of the first to be analyzed. The accompanying report will help you understand why your living room has always been cold and what to do about it.
With knowledge, comes power (or in this case saved power and money, not to mention comfort).
---------------------
Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ
-----------------------
HEET has partnered with NSTAR and Mass Save participating contractor Next Step Living to deliver no-cost Home Energy Assessments to Cambridge residents.
During the assessment, the energy specialist will:
Install efficient light bulbs (saving up to 7% of your electricity bill)
Install programmable thermostats (saving up to 10% of your heating bill)
Install water efficiency devices (saving up to 10% of your water bill)
Check the combustion safety of your heating and hot water equipment
Evaluate your home’s energy use to create an energy-efficiency roadmap
If you get electricity from NSTAR, National Grid or Western Mass Electric, you already pay for these assessments through a surcharge on your energy bills. You might as well use the service.
Please sign up at http://nextsteplivinginc.com/heet/?outreach=HEET or call Next Step Living at 866-867-8729. A Next Step Living Representative will call to schedule your assessment.
HEET will help answer any questions and ensure you get all the services and rebates possible.
(The information collected will only be used to help you get a Home Energy Assessment. We won’t keep the data or sell it.)
(If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to call HEET’s Jason Taylor at 617 441 0614.)
*********
-----------
Resource
-----------
*********
Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha@sbnboston.org
--------------------------------------------------
Massachusetts Attitudes About Climate Change – An opinion survey of Massachusetts residents conducted by MassINC and sponsored by the Barr Foundation found that 77% of respondents believe that global warming has “probably been happening” and 59% of all respondents see see it as being at least partially caused by human pollution. Only 42% of the state’s residents say global warming will have very serious consequences for Massachusetts if left unaddressed. The 18 to 29 age group is more likely to believe global warming is appearing and caused by humans compared to the 60+ age group. African-American (56%) and Latino residents (69%) are more likely than white residents (40%) to believe global warming will be a very serious problem if left unaddressed. The MassINC report, titled The 80 Percent Challenge: What Massachusetts must do to meet targets and make headway on climate change (http://www.massinc.org/Research/The-80-percent-challenge.aspx), contains many other findings.
----------------------------------------------------
Free Monthly Energy Analysis
CarbonSalon is a free service that every month can automatically track your energy use and compare it to your past energy use (while controlling for how cold the weather is). You get a short friendly email that lets you know how you’re doing in your work to save energy.
https://www.carbonsalon.com/
---------------------------------------
Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
----------------------
Artisan Asylum http://artisansasylum.com/
Sprout & Co: Community Driven Investigations
Greater Boston Solidarity Economy Mapping Project http://www.transformationcentral.org/solidarity/mapping/mapping.html
a project by Wellesley College students that invites participation, contact jmatthaei@wellesley.edu
------------------------
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
********************************************
-----------------------------------------------------
Links to events at 60 colleges and universities at Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the Boston Area http://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
Boston Area Computer User Groups http://www.bugc.org/
Arts and Cultural Events List http://aacel.blogspot.com/
http://www.massclimateaction.net/calendar/events/index.php
http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template
http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
http://green.harvard.edu/events
http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
http://boston.nerdnite.com/
http://www.meetup.com/
http://www.eventbrite.com/
LEAP Sustainability Speaker Series
The Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) method estimates the materials and energy resources required for, and the environmental emissions resulting from, activities in our economy. Learn more about EIO-LCA from one of the field's prominent experts.
Web site: http://leap.mit.edu/speaker-series/
Open to: the general public
Cost: free
Sponsor(s): LEAP: Global Leaders in Environmental Assessment and Performance
For more information, contact: Suzanne Greene
6177155473
segreene@mit.edu
6177155473
segreene@mit.edu
-------------------------------
Super High-Voltage - Why is the Sky Blue, Why are the Clouds White and Why are Sunsets Red?
Friday, July 06, 2012
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Walter Lewin, MIT Physics Professor, educator and author of "For the Love of Physics"
These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television program without any compensation or credit.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars
For more information, contact: Nina Wu
ninawu@mit.edu
ninawu@mit.edu
------------------------------
The Hidden Beauty of Rainbows
Monday, July 09, 2012
11:00a–12:00p
MIT, Building 6-120, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge
Walter Lewin, MIT Physics Professor Emeritus, educator and author of "For the Love of Physics"
These lectures are free and open to the public. They will be videotaped to air on Japanese Public Television (NHK). By attending you are giving NHK your consent to possibly appear on this television program without any compensation or credit.
Open to: the general public
Cost: Free
Sponsor(s): Physics Colloquia and Seminars
For more information, contact: Nina Wu
ninawu@mit.edu
ninawu@mit.edu
--------------------------
Midsummer Nights' Science is an annual lecture series that explores key advances in genomic research. This lecture series is held each summer, and is free and open to the general public. Midsummer Nights' Science at the Broad Institute takes place at 7 Cambridge Center, in Kendall Square in Cambridge. Come experience science!
The 2012 series will run on Wednesday evenings on July 11th, 18th, 25th and August 1st from 6pm to 7pm. Space will be limited, so we ask attendees to register ahead of time. Registration instructions for the 2012 series can be found here.
2012 Lecture Schedule:
Miniature science: How microfluidics is powering biology
Wednesday, July 11th
6-7pm
7 Cambridge Center, in Kendall Square in Cambridge
7 Cambridge Center, in Kendall Square in Cambridge
RSVP at http://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1114751
Paul Blainey, Ph.D.
Miniaturized lab-on-a-chip methods are being deployed as labor-saving devices in biological research, through the advent of a suite of microfluidics technologies. Microfluidics enables large-scale studies that provide the means to better understand, prevent, and treat human disease. Paul Blainey will discuss the promise of using microfluidics to transform our industrial infrastructure to operate more efficiently, while protecting the natural environment.
http://www.broadinstitute.org/education/midsummer-nights-science/midsummer-nights-science-2012
*************
----------------
Opportunity
---------------
*************
Boiler Rebate
If your boiler is from 1983 or earlier, Mass Save will give a $1,750 to $4,000 rebate to switch it out for a new efficient boiler that uses the same fuel (i.e. if you have oil, you have to continue to use oil) so long as it is installed by July 31, 2012.
Call Mass Save (866 527-7283) to sign up for a home energy assessment or sign-up online at www.nextsteplivinginc.com/HEET and HEET will receive a $10 contribution from Next Step Living for every completed assessment.
This is a great way to reduce climate change emissions for the next 20 or so years the boiler lasts, while saving money.
------------------------
CEA Solar Hot Water Grants
Cambridge, through the Cambridge Energy Alliance initiative, is offering a limited number of grants to residents and businesses for solar hot water systems. The grants will cover 50% of the remaining out of pocket costs of the system after other incentives, up to $2,000.
Applications will be accepted up to November 19, 2012 and are available on a first come, first serve basis until funding runs out. The Cambridge grant will complement other incentives including the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center solar thermal grants. For more information, seehttp://cambridgeenergyalliance.org/resources/additional-resources/solar-hot-water-grant-program
-----------------------
Cambridge Residents: Free Home Thermal Images
Have you ever wanted to learn where your home is leaking heat by having an energy auditor come to your home with a thermal camera? With that info you then know where to fix your home so it's more comfortable and less expensive to heat. However, at $200 or so, the cost of such a thermal scan is a big chunk of change.
HEET Cambridge has now partnered with Sagewell, Inc. to offer Cambridge residents free thermal scans.
Sagewell collects the thermal images by driving through Cambridge in a hybrid vehicle equipped with thermal cameras. They will scan every building in Cambridge (as long as it's not blocked by trees or buildings or on a private way). Building owners can view thermal images of their property and an analysis online. The information is password protected so that only the building owner can see the results.
Homeowners, condo-owners and landlords can access the thermal images and an accompanying analysis free of charge. Commercial building owners and owners of more than one building will be able to view their images and analysis for a small fee.
The scans will be analyzed in the order they are requested.
Go to Sagewell.com. Type in your address at the bottom where it says "Find your home or building" and press return. Then click on "Here" to request the report.
That's it. When the scans are done in a few weeks, your building will be one of the first to be analyzed. The accompanying report will help you understand why your living room has always been cold and what to do about it.
With knowledge, comes power (or in this case saved power and money, not to mention comfort).
---------------------
Free solar electricity analysis for MA residents
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHhwM202dDYxdUZJVGFscnY1VGZ3aXc6MQ
-----------------------
HEET has partnered with NSTAR and Mass Save participating contractor Next Step Living to deliver no-cost Home Energy Assessments to Cambridge residents.
During the assessment, the energy specialist will:
Install efficient light bulbs (saving up to 7% of your electricity bill)
Install programmable thermostats (saving up to 10% of your heating bill)
Install water efficiency devices (saving up to 10% of your water bill)
Check the combustion safety of your heating and hot water equipment
Evaluate your home’s energy use to create an energy-efficiency roadmap
If you get electricity from NSTAR, National Grid or Western Mass Electric, you already pay for these assessments through a surcharge on your energy bills. You might as well use the service.
Please sign up at http://nextsteplivinginc.com/heet/?outreach=HEET or call Next Step Living at 866-867-8729. A Next Step Living Representative will call to schedule your assessment.
HEET will help answer any questions and ensure you get all the services and rebates possible.
(The information collected will only be used to help you get a Home Energy Assessment. We won’t keep the data or sell it.)
(If you have any questions or problems, please feel free to call HEET’s Jason Taylor at 617 441 0614.)
*********
-----------
Resource
-----------
*********
Sustainable Business Network Local Green Guide
SBN is excited to announce the soft launch of its new Local Green Guide, Massachusetts' premier Green Business Directory!
To view the directory please visit: http://www.localgreenguide.org
To find out how how your business can be listed on the website or for sponsorship opportunities please contact Adritha at adritha@sbnboston.org
--------------------------------------------------
Massachusetts Attitudes About Climate Change – An opinion survey of Massachusetts residents conducted by MassINC and sponsored by the Barr Foundation found that 77% of respondents believe that global warming has “probably been happening” and 59% of all respondents see see it as being at least partially caused by human pollution. Only 42% of the state’s residents say global warming will have very serious consequences for Massachusetts if left unaddressed. The 18 to 29 age group is more likely to believe global warming is appearing and caused by humans compared to the 60+ age group. African-American (56%) and Latino residents (69%) are more likely than white residents (40%) to believe global warming will be a very serious problem if left unaddressed. The MassINC report, titled The 80 Percent Challenge: What Massachusetts must do to meet targets and make headway on climate change (http://www.massinc.org/Research/The-80-percent-challenge.aspx), contains many other findings.
----------------------------------------------------
Free Monthly Energy Analysis
CarbonSalon is a free service that every month can automatically track your energy use and compare it to your past energy use (while controlling for how cold the weather is). You get a short friendly email that lets you know how you’re doing in your work to save energy.
https://www.carbonsalon.com/
---------------------------------------
Boston Food System
"The Boston Food System [listserv] provides a forum to post announcements of events, employment opportunities, internships, programs, lectures, and other activities as well as related articles or other publications of a non-commercial nature covering the area's food system - food, nutrition, farming, education, etc. - that take place or focus on or around Greater Boston (broadly delineated)."
The Boston area is one of the most active nationwide in terms of food system activities - projects, services, and events connected to food, farming, nutrition - and often connected to education, public health, environment, arts, social services and other arenas. Hundreds of organizations and enterprises cover our area, but what is going on week-to-week is not always well publicized.
Hence, the new Boston Food System listserv, as the place to let everyone know about these activities. Specifically:
Use of the BFS list will begin soon, once we get a decent base of subscribers. Clarification of what is appropriate to announce and other posting guidelines will be provided as well.
It's easy to subscribe right now at https://elist.tufts.edu/wws/subscribe/bfs
----------------------
Artisan Asylum http://artisansasylum.com/
Sprout & Co: Community Driven Investigations
Greater Boston Solidarity Economy Mapping Project http://www.transformationcentral.org/solidarity/mapping/mapping.html
a project by Wellesley College students that invites participation, contact jmatthaei@wellesley.edu
------------------------
Bostonsmart.com's Guide to Boston http://www.bostonsmarts.com/BostonGuide/
********************************************
-----------------------------------------------------
Links to events at 60 colleges and universities at Hubevents http://hubevents.blogspot.com
Thanks to
Fred Hapgood's Selected Lectures on Science and Engineering in the Boston Area http://www.BostonScienceLectures.com
Boston Area Computer User Groups http://www.bugc.org/
Arts and Cultural Events List http://aacel.blogspot.com/
http://www.massclimateaction.net/calendar/events/index.php
http://www.mitenergyclub.org/calendar/mit_events_template
http://www.environment.harvard.edu/events/calendar/
http://green.harvard.edu/events
http://microsoftcambridge.com/Events/tabid/57/Default.aspx
http://boston.nerdnite.com/
http://www.meetup.com/
http://www.eventbrite.com/
http://www.greenhornconnect.com/events/calendar
http://harddatafactory.com/mobileapp.shtml
http://bostoneventsinsider.com/boston_events/
