The Cleantech Group announced Wednesday that San Francisco-based startup DotUI has developed a unique way to influence consumer energy usage behavior, by combining real-time energy management software and hardware with digital picture frames and a “fun” interface.
I first encountered DotUI and its Founder/CEO, Ishak Kang, at the Green:NET 2009 Conference, where Mr. Kang presented his vision of user interfaces which are independent of their respective devices, following the user as he or she moved from one device to another. The presumption is that much useful technology goes unused because their user interfaces are difficult to learn. At the time, I wasn’t completely sure how this vision would translate into a viable product in the cleantech market, but it sure sounded interesting.
The company’s first offering, called the Nudgee, includes a wireless touch-screen digital picture frame device, which displays real-time energy usage data collected from “a universal gateway and electrical sub-meter. Gas, water, and air quality meters are optional.”
According to the article: “the company…is taking a fun approach, allowing users to see how much energy is being consumed, with updated images and content from friends and family, and utilizing social networking sites such as Facebook, instead of a dashboard approach other companies are pursuing.”
“The conceit that corporations must be treated identically to natural persons in the political sphere is not only inaccurate but also inadequate to justify the Court’s disposition of this case.” – Minority Opinion by Supreme Court Justices Ginsburg, Breyer and Sotomayor.
News outlets and the blogosphere are abuzz with reactions to Thursday’s Supreme Court decision that will allow corporations to fund political campaigns. The ruling, which overturns decades of legal precedent and legislation limiting the ability of corporations to influence the outcome of elections, may have broad implications for the political process in the U.S. News of the decision has drawn criticism from both the right and the left, many voicing the opinion that dramatically increased rights for corporations will significantly diminish the ability for individual citizens to have their voices heard.
In his weekly address, President Obama said, “I can’t think of anything more devastating to the public interest,” he said. “The last thing we need to do is hand more influence to the lobbyists in Washington or more power to the special interests to tip the outcome of elections.” Congressman Alan Grayson (FL) has already introduced legislation to combat the policy change. His “Save Our Democracy” Reform Package contains several strong measures, including a 500% excise tax on corporate contributions to political committees, and on corporate expenditures on political advocacy campaigns.
Although some claim that this most recent ruling will have only a limited effect on the political process, the decision certainly re-confirms the doctrine of granting constitutional rights, originally reserved for flesh-and-blood U.S. citizens, to corporate entities, which have held the dubious status of “legal persons” with rights since 1886, when another Supreme Court decision accorded it to them. This unexpected action by the Court re-opens the debate about about the wisdom of affording corporations such rights, and what effects this all has for sustainable business.
I just discovered this clean energy podcast by Tom Raftery of Spain. At about 11 minutes, in Tom makes some comments on my hydrogen article. He mostly supports my debunking of the hydrogen economy, although he does give a good example of how hydrogen creation can be useful in certain situations, such as storing excess power generation from wind production.
As I responded in my update to the article, my comment refers to the feasibility of using hydrogen to power automobiles. It is feasible for other uses.
There are many other options, and the best I think are bio-diesel and battery powered EVs and PHEVs. The nice thing about electric vehicles is that it doesn’t matter where you get your electricity from, so you can get it from coal now, you can get if from wind/solar when it becomes available to you, and you can get it from fusion, etc. in the future (whatever comes about).
I am not a “battery only guy”. I would love nothing better than for hydrogen to be a viable resource that we can use to power vehicles. Even if it were feasible, I suspect that collecting the water that would come out of the tailpipe would not be feasible, because it would have to be stored on-board, or else it would become contaminated. Storing it on-board is not going to be feasible, because it will increase the weight of the car dramatically and would require very large amounts of storage volume.
Perhaps you didn’t bother to read the numerous other sources cited in the article, not to mention the numerous facts from the Wikipedia article, nor the numerous citations on which the Wikipedia article is based, nor the resources at the bottom of the article.
I’m sorry, Don, but your statements are patently false. While we may not be running out of salt water any time soon, fresh water is in short supply, even in the U.S. California has been in a drought for many years now, Georgia and the Southeast are facing some very serious water shortages, and aquifers across the nation are depleted and are filling up with salt water (in some cases), rendering them useless.
Patrick, please note the clarification that I made on the article. I do not dispute that hydrogen is not useful, for certain applications, it is simply not practical on any large scale, and especially not for automobiles.
The forklift is a perfect example of an appropriate use: forklifts do not have to go very far, can be refueled on-site, and, therefore, do not need to store a large supply of hydrogen.
Another appropriate use is a fuel cell for a large building. In this case, the building would have the storage capacity to make hydrogen feasible.
Thank you for your comments. If you have read some of my other articles, then you know that there are other ways to extend range of EVs, such as battery-swap. Also, I do agree that the solution to oil is a basket of solutions.
Perhaps the article should have been titled “Hydrogen is not the Miracle Fuel of the Future for Cars”, because I did not mean to imply that Hydrogen had no uses for other applications.
Steve Puma is a sustainability and strategy consultant, technologist and writer. He lives with his wife Cori and pug dog Miles in Northern California. More...
The Cleantech Group announced Wednesday that San Francisco-based startup DotUI has developed a unique way to influence consumer energy usage behavior, by combining real-time energy management software and hardware with digital picture frames and a “fun” interface.
“The conceit that corporations must be treated identically to natural persons in the political sphere is not only inaccurate but also inadequate to justify the Court’s disposition of this case.” – Minority Opinion by Supreme Court Justices Ginsburg, Breyer and Sotomayor.
