Instead of waiting for policy makers to act, you can help figure out the answer at the Climate CoLab; previously discussed in Opening the [Copenhagen] talks. Working alone—or in teams of people from all over the world—you can create proposals for what to do about climate change. The winning proposals will be presented to key policy makers, including officials at the UN and the US Congress. And if your proposal is one of the top two, you’ll receive travel funding for a representative of your team to attend one of these briefings.

We especially encourage entries from teams of undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in climate and sustainability issues. As usual rules and restrictions apply.

The deadline for the contest… [view entry]

In an effort to dramatically cut energy use at one of the country’s premier academic and research institutions, NSTAR and MIT are teaming up to launch the single most aggressive efficiency project in NSTAR history. Dubbed “MIT Efficiency Forward,” the program has a goal of cutting electricity use by 15 percent over three years through innovative programs, substantial student, faculty, and staff engagement, and the piloting of new technologies and approaches at MIT.

Read the rest of the press release.

Last fall an MIT startup announced that they had developed a color-changing tile dubbed Thermeleon. More recently, a New York firm announced a different, simpler material that could compete with your neighbor’s biodiesel-fueled car for used fry oil.

MIT’s energy conference begins tomorrow, featuring a free Energy Showcase from 5–8 PM:

The Energy Showcase is a free event open to the community at large and is designed to bring together cutting-edge energy research and inventive businesses that are contributing critical knowledge, products and services toward actionable and scalable energy solutions. It also provides a wonderful opportunity for people interested in energy to inform themselves about the state of the art and the directions that the industry will follow in the future.

As a special Energy Showcase treat this year, get up close and personal with the Formula 3 race car which is “powered by chocolate, steered by carrots, has bodywork made from potatoes, and can still do 125mph

… [view entry]

President Barak Obama has been an advocate of clean energy solutions to the climate change challenge, calling for the US to, “make the investments that would allow us to become the world’s leading exporter of renewable energy”.  The White House website has an Energy & Environment page dedicated to the accomplishments they have achieved up to date including efficiency investments in the American Recovery and Investment Act and increasing fuel efficiency standards.    These have been great steps… [view entry]

If you’ve got time and bandwidth to kill, you might want to check out TechTV. In the spirit of OpenCourseWare, MIT hosts videos of various guest lectures and conferences. For instance, Energy forecast for the rest of the century. Although I don’t personally agree with all of the professor’s interpretations—many conflict with the more pragmatic views portrayed in “Sustainable Energy,” which is incidentally available via OCW—it was an interesting presentation, and could probably serve as a good introduction for the uninitiated nevertheless. I also appreciated his putting the scope of human influence in perspective by comparing it with natural flows. It reminded me of prolific environmental author Vaclav Smil’s excellent Cycles of Life : Civilization and the Biosphere.