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Back in 2005, ITI worked with Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Mich. and Anna Eshoo, D-Calif., on the introduction and then enactment during the 109th Congress of a small bill (HR 5646) that focused on better understanding data center energy efficiency. We followed that up in 2007 by helping to draft and then supporting the successful Eshoo/Rogers amendment that became Section 453 of the Energy Independence and [...]
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On Friday, I had the great pleasure of sitting in on the congressional briefing on “Data Center Energy Efficiency” that ITI hosted with Representative Anna Eshoo (D-Ca). As ITI’s Dean Garfield noted in introducing her, Representative Eshoo “was doing data center efficiency before data centers were cool.” Indeed, Eshoo and ITI worked on the 2005 bill that she and Congressman Mike Rogers (R-Mi) [...]
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After reading the New York Times’ “Power, Pollution, and the Internet,” this weekend, I thought that it was time to close the books on DESSC. We’ve so clearly failed to help create innovative, sustainable energy solutions in the tech sector. Obviously, the Times has to be right: There’s no way that big tech can co-exist with big energy savings and efficiencies. And then I snapped back to reality. [...]
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In his blog Thursday, ITI’s Tom Gavin discussed the 18 Presidential Innovation Fellows just announced at the White House. I’ve been fortunate to have already begun working with one of them, Ian Kalin, who is now teamed with Nick Sinai of OSTP on the Energy Data Initiative (EDI). (Check out our earlier blog on the EDI for more information.) While two energy jams have already been held, it’s clear [...]
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This blog was originally posted on the DESSC website. With the Paul Ryan announcement this weekend, the partisan messaging on energy policy ratcheted up further. To recall what 2013 should be about on energy policy, I spent lunch glancing again at two recent documents: Senator Murkowski’s June 5th speech at GWU, and an ITIF report also from June. The Senator notesthat our fundamental goals should [...]
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Earlier this month, The Economist ran an upbeat editorial on the reinvention of the U.S. economy. I was reminded of what is good about the U.S. and the amazing capacity this country has to innovate and collaborate, a theme that seems to recur in many other reports I’ve recently read. This capacity is evidenced by the Obama Administration’s Open Data Initiatives program. I’ve been reading about the [...]
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For those in the world of environment and sustainability, Rio+20 has long been on the horizon. The conference finally kicks off next week and will mark the 20 anniversary of the previous summit. I won’t be there, but DESSC will and we’ll be helping you experience it on Twitter, Facebook, and this blog. Our efforts start tomorrow, when we will feature an interview with EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson. [...]
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The ACEEE today issued a report (link) entitled “A Defining Framework for Intelligent Efficiency,” calling intelligent efficiency the first major new source of energy to be discovered in years. As governments, civil society, and others travel down to Rio later this month for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, or RIO+20, they would be well advised to peruse this report. The report points [...]
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Earlier this week, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on the government’s role in energy innovation, with Norm Augustine as the star witness. Mr. Augustine is the former Chairman and CEO of Lockheed Martin. His testimony was on behalf of the American Energy Innovation Council, whose members also include Ursula Burns, Chair and CEO of Xerox, John Doerr of Kleiner Perkins, [...]
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I just spent two and a half days in a conference, and it wasn’t unbearable. In fact, it was sustaining! How the heck did that happen? Good subject, good speakers, good weather, good facility - all these are nice, but not that unusual nor sufficient to make such a long conference fulfilling. I think there were three key unique aspects to Rio+2.0: Speed Geeking. The conference opened up with 27 organizations [...]