Given our propensity for streamlining information paired with our dangerous addiction to hype, we have a tendency to pull things out of context to weigh them each as isolated ideas. This is just as true with sustainability as it is with everything else. Merits and shortcomings are all too often examined on one specific gadget, product or system, but everything (especially sustainability) is really a system of systems. More often than not, the real opportunities for progress come with linking individual solutions together. A great example is renewable energy and electric cars. Continue Reading…
Archives For smart meter
This prefix has come to find a home in the discussion of sustainability. Some would take this to mean that being sustainable is just intelligent. This would be correct. Whether you are an environmentalist or not ecological responsibility makes sense on many different levels leaving it as the “smart” option. President Obama has already talked about our infrastructure and the need for a Smart-Grid. This loose term can mean a number of different things but one component of it is Smart-Metering and how what will soon become a fixture to all homes can help raise awareness and efficiency for both users and suppliers of energy. Even the term “Smart Meter” is a bit ambiguous and different companies use the name for different products: some that focus on making users smarter and others on making suppliers smarter. Both of these goals are important. Continue Reading…