I feel guilty when I let so much time elapse between blog posts, but let me explain. I have a real job. Being an obsessive energy news nerd self-publisher curator is not very lucrative, you see.
I work for a magazine that covers mind-boggling things. Some, like energy, have so many interconnected variables that they are also headache-inducing. Population is increasing quickly. The demand for energy in some countries is rising so fast it’s hard to keep up with supply. Fossil fuel is cheap and we keep finding more. Solar and wind-generated power is more expensive and needs storage, or at least a backup for when the sun isn’t shining and the wind isn’t blowing. And very smart people are telling us that we are falling behind the climate change problem, and fast.
We also cover computers. News of cheaper, more powerful computers and surprisingly useful mobile apps and web platforms can be a welcome, even hopeful distraction from energy’s confusing bleakness. Computers and the Internet have transformed communication and continue to do so. And that seems to me like generally a good thing.
Over the past several weeks, I’ve come to see how programmers and designers, armed with computers and the Internet, might be able to help us at least begin to transform the energy picture too. (I haven’t linked to my work-writing on here before, but I’d like to this time.) The promise of the “cleanweb” is real. Now it needs more data.