@The Convergence of ICT, the Environment, Climate Change, EV and HEV Transportation & Distributed Renewable Energy

You may have noticed lately that more residences and businesses are being equipped with photovoltaic solar roof panels. The reason is relatively simple: the cost to do so has dropped dramatically over the past five years.

The cost of installing photovoltaic solar arrays has dropped to $3 per watt of electricity they produce - about the same as coal-powered plants cost to build - creating a watershed moment in the development of clean energy, experts say.

The average price of a solar panel has declined by 60% since the beginning of 2011, according to GTM Research. And, according to CleanTechnica, a website dedicated to renewable energy news, the price of solar power has fallen rom $76.67 per watt in 1977 to 74 cents today.

This year, solar power was the second leading source of new electricity, according to CleanTechnica.

The amount of power produced by solar arrays in the U.S. is skyrocketing as installations soar. This year, it's expected that the amount of power solar arrays produce will be equal to that of 10 nuclear power plants or 10 gigawatts (a GW is equal to 1 billion watts), according to GTM.

As a whole, the U.S. installed 4.3GW of PV solar arrays this year, a 27% increase over 2012.

Average installed PV price per market segment from Q3 2011 through Q3 2013 (source: GTM Research).

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Whether it is a case of sabotage or simply poor management practices by the state-owned PETROTRIN, as the union claims, a mysterious oil spill in south Trinidad is wreaking havoc on homes and wildlife in the area.

PETROTRIN claims it has no idea as to the source of the spills, and Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine, who toured La Brea and other affected areas on Sunday, said “the mystery remains where this oil is coming from.”

The Environmental Management Authority also said it had been unable to ascertain the source and that its immediate concern was the protection of life and the environment.

Gary Aboud, president of Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, told IPS that the only solution was to shut down all oil production in the area.

“As we speak, more and more oil is being pumped into the sea. Why doesn’t the minister order the shutdown of all oil being transported in the Gulf of Paria? Shut it down, if you don’t know where it is coming from,” he said. “We find it totally unbelievable.”

According to the head of the La Brea Fisherfolk Association, Alvin La Borde, “[Local] fishermen cannot go out to work. They need to buy things for their families for Christmas. They would not be able to leave until this oil is cleared.

“The fishermen have also lost nets and ropes used to secure their boats,” he told IPS.

In a statement, the EMA said it “will continue to closely monitor clean-up efforts and ensure that environmental best practices are carried out.

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When Vietnamese officials issued new Internet rules this year, the U.S. tech industry gave a shudder.

The Russian national oil company Gazprom has begun drilling for oil at a highly contested site in the Arctic. The oil field, an offshore site in the Russian Arctic known as Prirazlomnoye, drew international attention in September when a contingent of Greenpeace members boarded the platform in protest and were jailed in Russia for two months before being granted amnesty last week.

Edward Snowden, the whistleblower who prompted a worldwide debate when he leaked a cache of top secret documents about US and UK spying, has recorded a Christmas Day television message in which he calls for an end to the mass surveillance revealed by his disclosures.

The short film was recorded for Channel 4, which has 20-year history of providing unusual but relevant figures as an alternative to the Queen's Christmas message shown by other UK broadcasters. It will be Snowden's first television appearance since arriving in Moscow.

The address, to be broadcast at 4.15pm on Christmas Day, was filmed in Russia – where Snowden is living after being granted temporary asylum – by Laura Poitras, a film-maker who has closely collaborated with him on the NSA stories.

In excerpts from the address released by Channel 4, Snowden says George Orwell "warned us of the danger of this kind of information" in his dystopian novel, 1984.

Snowden says: "The types of collection in the book – microphones and video cameras, TVs that watch us – are nothing compared to what we have available today. We have sensors in our pockets that track us everywhere we go. Think about what this means for the privacy of the average person.

"A child born today will grow up with no conception of privacy at all. They'll never know what it means to have a private moment to themselves an unrecorded, unanalysed thought. And that's a problem because privacy matters; privacy is what allows us to determine who we are and who we want to be."

In the other extract of the address released, Snowden notes the political changes that have taken place since his leaked the cache documents to newspapers including the Guardian.

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There has been a surge of questions of late regarding IPv6 and whether it can be used to better identify individuals on the Internet.  Everyone from marketeers to law enforcement officials seem to hold the same misconception that IPv6 is going to make it possible to expose people in a way that IPv4 does not.

It is true that IPv6 will change addressing on the Internet.  Many of us hope it restores the ability to identify an actual network endpoint -- a feature that we lost a number of years ago in IPv4.  But some appear to be imagining a future where each machine has its very own address, and that these addresses will be easily traced whenever a person visits a website, plays a game online, or even opens an email.

In fact, IPv6 actually has features that are designed to foil these sorts of plans. Also, because of the enormous IPv6 address space, it's rather unlikely that a single machine will have a single IPv6 address.

To make sense of the discussion, we need some history.

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William Walker and his wife, Mi Chong, wanted to join what's seen as a solar revolution in Hawaii. Shortly after buying their Oahu home earlier this year, they plunked down $35,000 for a rooftop photovoltaic system.

The couple looked forward to joining neighbors who had added panels, to cutting their $250 monthly power bills and to knowing they were helping the environment.

Their plans shifted the day after the PV panels went up in early October. The Walkers learned from a neighbor about a major change in the local utility's solar policy. It led to those 18 panels sitting dormant nearly three months later.

Hawaiian Electric Co., or HECO, in September told solar contractors on Oahu that the island's solar boom is creating problems. On many circuits, the utility said, there's so much solar energy that it poses a threat to the system and a safety issue. Studies are needed on whether grid upgrades are necessary. If they are, residents adding solar must foot the bill. And starting immediately, contractors and residents would need permission to connect most small rooftop systems to the grid.

The new HECO policy was included deep in the text of emails the Walkers' solar contractor had sent, but it escaped their notice before installation. They're now paying $300 per month on a loan for the panels, plus the $250 electric bill.

"It goes from frustration to outrage," William Walker, 33, said of his reaction. "We hear the excuses that HECO provides, that they put out there at least as far as the justification. There's really not a lot of substantiation. My belief is it's purely profit-motivated, to keep people away from PV and keep them on the grid."

HECO officials called it a needed precaution.

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The Crash of 2008 has infused our societies with enormous scepticism on the role of the authorities, both government and Central Banks.

It is quite natural that many dream of a currency that politicians, bankers and central bankers cannot manipulate; a currency of the people by the people for the people.

Bitcoin has emerged as the great white hope of something of the sort. Alas, the hope it brings to many people’s hearts and minds is false.

And the reason is simple: While it is true that local communities have, in the past, generated successful communitarian currencies (that enabled them to improve welfare in their midst, especially at a time of acute economic crises), there can be no de-politicised currency capable of ‘powering’ an advanced, industrial society.

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Lately, climate scientists have stepped into the gap where economists have generally feared to tread and have suggested that intentional “de-growth” is the only hope to stop the rising emissions associated with economic development and growth.  No news to anyone who follows developments in climate science, the earth’s climate is facing tipping points beyond which a recognizable human civilization will be almost impossible to maintain due to the expansion of inhospitable or entirely uninhabitable climate zones, destruction of existing human settlements by water and weather, and the destruction of co-evolved species (including food) upon which we depend.  The target of a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius rise in global temperature has been chosen as a difficult-to-achieve but also permissive target, which some think should be 1.5 degrees or less.  One way or the other global warming gas emissions, still on an upward trajectory, need to be reduced and the current upward trend reversed almost immediately.   Climate scientists understandably have been impatient with the response of the social sciences and policymakers to the threats they see present and emerging.

Prior to the recent interest in de-growth, the hope has been that through either a regime of carbon pricing or a massive government program of green investment or both that the developed economies would decarbonize, yielding economic growth with progressively less emissions until such time as economies would grow without adding in net to the earth’s carbon cycle.  No one has suggested that this decarbonization could happen overnight or without initial costs in emissions.  My “Pedal to the Metal” Plan involves incurring increased embedded emissions upon start-up via a program of building green infrastructure and focused incentive programs to achieve social and environmental goals, including full employment and long-term decarbonization of the developed economies.  The “market-based” approach of either cap and trade or carbon tax advocates take a more leisurely approach to decarbonization, with a highly unlikely achievement of that goal if at all.  Either way, it is assumed that growth of some sort is the mechanism by which change occurs in capitalist monetary economies, though in the P2M Plan, I posit that the growth is a transitional state to a achieving a steady-state economy.

While a number of climate scientists have called for direct political action and civil disobedience over the last several years, mainstream climate scientists Kevin Anderson and Alice Bows of the leading Tyndall Centre in the UK have gone further and called for governments to institute radical and immediate de-growth strategies in wealthy countries to sustain year over year reductions of 10% in carbon emissions.  A recent conference at the Tyndall Center collects a number of proposals along these lines. 

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In his latest book, Average Is Over, economist Tyler Cowen argues that we need to reshape the way we think about jobs, and in turn, our careers, in the wake of this rapid technological change.

As most industrialized nations outsource and automate jobs, labor becomes more abundant and employment harder to come by. In a world of Amazon drones, who needs postal workers? When the Google self-driving car hits the mass market, will we no longer need taxi drivers? 

Yet the challenge for creators is more subtle: rather than being replaced by robots, we have to worry about competition on a global scale. (As online education becomes ubiquitous how can the art school graduate in Brooklyn ask for the same fee as the Photoshop master in India?) 

So how can we best prepare ourselves for this new career dynamic, where we must stave off outsourcing at every turn? We asked Cowen to break down the bulletproof “soft skills” needed for next era of careers:

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A land teeming with forests and lakes and technology start-ups.

"If you don't have your own app, you are not popular in Estonia," says Jane Muts, the manager of Garage48, an all-purpose hub that provides facilities and networking opportunities for entrepreneurs in the capital, Tallinn.

Estonia is about the same size as the Dominican Republic, and it has a mere 1.3 million people, yet a combination of factors including a dynamic approach to e-governance, an aggressive push for technology to be taught in the classroom from a young age and a serendipitous infrastructure legacy following independence from the former Soviet Union in 1991 have helped push this 50%-forested nation on the north eastern fringe of Europe into the start-up big leagues.

According to a recent check of AngelList, a website that aims to connect investors with entrepreneurs, there are 123 active start-ups in Estonia. This compares to about 835 in Germany and 2,642 in the United Kingdom, both nations with far higher populations. While that may not sound like a huge number, in fact on at least one measure — start-ups per capita — Estonia has about the same number of companies in the works as the United States, seen as the gold-standard country for entrepreneurs to grow businesses and achieve success.

The nation's technology sector is a little engine that's huffed and puffed and realized it can.

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Urmann+Colleagues (U+C) is having a hell of a month. It looked to be briefly on the path to the sort of financial success copyright trolls like Prenda and Mailbu Media can only dream about. U+C sent out at least 10,000 settlement letters earlier this month asking for €250 ($344) from viewers who had streamed certain pornographic titles on RedTube.

The problems inherent in U+C's "business model" swiftly became apparent. First off, it appeared the agency had misled a German court by presenting RedTube as a file-sharing site, rather than a streaming site. In addition, U+C had somehow acquired subscriber info and IP addresses, data not easily obtained from the streaming sites. (RedTube has denied multiple times that it provided this info to U+C). German lawyers stepped up and informed the public that the demand letters were problematic to say the least and that there was little chance the demands were enforceable under German law (thanks to streaming of infringing content not being illegal).

Now it's not just lawyers standing in the way of U+C's easy money. The court has stepped in, admitting its mistake in approving U+C's requests and revoking court orders compelling Deutsche Telekom to hand over subscriber info on nearly 50,000 IP addresses.

The question still remains as to how U+C acquired these IP addresses. Ars Technica reports that some German internet users who received demand letters found the following redirect in their internet history.

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Hoping no one would notice, Obama picked noon on Christmas Eve to release the Inspector General (IG) report that justified the EPA’s Imminent and Substantial Endangerment Order in the Range Resources’ Parker County water contamination case.

The IG’s in-depth investigation findings:

• EPA was right to issue the order.
• Withdrawal reasons are unclear and questionable.
• Recommends monitoring of Range Resources’ testing because the quality is questionable.

I just want to gloat for a moment and say: I told you so!

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Huawei Technologies and Polish operator Exatel have tested a next-generation optical network based on WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing) technology and capable of 400Gbps throughput.

More data traffic and the need for greater transmission speed in both fixed and wireless networks have consequences for all parts of operator networks. While faster versions of technologies such as LTE are being rolled out at the edge of networks, vendors are working on improving WDM (Wavelength-Division Multiplexing) to help them keep up at the core.

WDM sends large amounts of data using a number different wavelengths or channels over a single optical fiber.

However, the test conducted by Huawei and Exatel only used one channel to send the data, which has its advantages, according to Huawei. It means the system only needs one optical transceiver, which is used to both send and receive data. That, in turn, results in lower power consumption and a smaller chance that something may go wrong, it said.

Huawei didn't say when it expects to include the technology in commercial products.

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The cable and consumer electronics industries, energy efficiency groups and the Department of Energy have struck a deal on voluntary energy efficiency standards for set-top boxes that they say will result in "significant energy savings for more than 90 million U.S. homes" while avoiding regulations that cable operators had argued would hurt, not help.

The new standards -- including energy-use monitoring by pay-TV providers -- are predicted to boost set-top box energy efficiency between 10% and 45%, depending on the box, by 2017.

That is expected to translate into more than $1 billion annually, a figure that could grow with the growth of whole-home devices and increasing demand for DVRs and HD set-tops.

The standards agreement applies to all types of boxes from pay-TV providers: cable, satellite and telco. Energy use monitoring will be subject to an independent audit. DOE also reserves the right to test the boxes under the federal Energy Star verification process.

“As Americans increasingly rely on more electronic devices and gadgets, managing energy consumption is both an environmental and economic priority for consumers and industry alike,” Michael Powell, NCTA’s president, said in a statement. “The cable industry is working hard to improve the overall consumer experience and we are proud to develop solutions that will reduce our energy footprint and result in real energy savings for millions of consumers.”

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Computer pioneer and codebreaker Alan Turing has been given a posthumous royal pardon.

It addresses his 1952 conviction for homosexuality for which he was punished by being chemically castrated.

The conviction meant he lost his security clearance and had to stop the code-cracking work that had proved vital to the Allies in World War Two.

The pardon was granted under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy after a request by Justice Minister Chris Grayling.

"Dr Alan Turing was an exceptional man with a brilliant mind," said Mr Grayling.

He said the research Turing carried out during the war at Bletchley Park undoubtedly shortened the conflict and saved thousands of lives.

Turing's work helped accelerate Allied efforts to read German Naval messages enciphered with the Enigma machine. He also contributed some more fundamental work on codebreaking that was only released to public scrutiny in April 2012.

"His later life was overshadowed by his conviction for homosexual activity, a sentence we would now consider unjust and discriminatory and which has now been repealed," said Mr Grayling.

"Turing deserves to be remembered and recognised for his fantastic contribution to the war effort and his legacy to science. A pardon from the Queen is a fitting tribute to an exceptional man."

The pardon comes into effect on 24 December.

Turing died in June 1954 from cyanide poisoning and an inquest decided that he had committed suicide. However, biographers, friends and other students of his life dispute the finding and suggest his death was an accident.

Many people have campaigned for years to win a pardon for Turing.

Dr Sue Black, a computer scientist, was one of the key figures in the campaign.

She told the BBC that she hoped all the men convicted under the anti-homosexuality law would now be pardoned.

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