Grist, March 29, 2013 I (David Roberts at Grist) wrote a (rather heady) post this morning about the move from centralized to distributed energy systems. Thanks to John Farrell — who, by the way, is the guru of distributed energy — I just came across a great example of how it’s beginning to happen. NRG Energy … Read More
Telecompetitor, March 28, 2013 There are numerous things municipalities can do to help bring high-speed broadband networks to their communities, said participants at an FCC workshop on gigabit communities yesterday. The workshop was held as a follow-up to FCC Chairman Genachowski’s announcement earlier this year that set a goal of having at least one gigabit community … Read More
IEEE Spectrum, March 28, 2013 Bright sun and high utility rates help rooftop solar energy compete with grid power. The map shows how much residential demand could be fulfilled by solar more cheaply than by the grid in 2018. Source: Institute for Local Self-Reliance Photovoltaics are still, on average, a pricey, subsidy-dependent source of electricity. However, … Read More
Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2013 The Bay Area is experiencing a rebirth of municipal Wi-Fi networks, after a decade of fits and starts in such efforts. Last week, Santa Clara launched a free public wireless network that blankets nearly the entire city of 120,000 residents, or about 19 square miles. The new network replaces a … Read More
St. Paul Pioneer Press, March 25, 2013 Comcast is doubling the download speeds of some of its most popular Internet broadband services in the Twin Cities, the cable giant said Monday, March 25. The faster speeds for its three most popular residential service tiers — Performance, Blast and Extreme 50 — became effective at 12:01 a.m. … Read More
The City of Refuge, (COR), was founded in 1970 to provide hope and assistance to residents of challenged neighborhoods in the middle of Atlanta. COR serves over 10,000 people annually from its 8-acre campus, including short-term transitional shelter for women and children. COR also hosts a 6th-8th grade academy for students from at-risk communities and provides … Read More
Free Press, March 21, 2013 “Solar was like a dream,” said Appleton resident Kal Winer as he recalled the first few years homesteading with his wife Linda Tatelbaum in the late 1970s. “Back in the ’70s when we had the first oil shock, I could see what I thought was a very real crisis for people. … Read More
Motherboard, March 21, 2013 Google just announced that it plans on expanding its high-speed fiber-optic service beyond Kansas City, and into another fast-growing nearby city, Olathe, Kansas, home to some 120,000 people. “The Olathe City Council approved an agreement to bring Google Fiber to their city,” Google Fiber Community Manager Rachel Hack wrote in a blog … Read More
The New York Times reports that Walmart has stepped back from its two-year, multi-million dollar campaign to open stores in New York City. The retailer has pulled much of its advertising and dismissed its team of New York lobbyists. This is the second time Walmart has tried and failed to break into New York. Its first failed push came … Read More
