Designing Sustainable Products

From Carnegie Mellon University's Website:

Cliff Davidson is educating engineers and managers around the globe about the importance of engineering and sustainability. A professor of civil and environmental engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University, Davidson most recently led a workshop in Bangalore, India.

"Animals, plants and entire habitats, as well as our current lifestyles, are at risk from continued unsustainable development," said Davidson, the winner of Carnegie Mellon's prestigious 2009 William H. and Frances S. Ryan Award for Meritorious Teaching. "It is up to us to help educate future engineers about preserving limited resources through sustainable methods."

A leader in developing sustainable engineering programs across the United States, Davidson has been spearheading workshops around the globe for professors without experience in sustainability to apply the concepts they learn to their engineering efforts and coursework.

Read more at CMU.edu >>

Citizen Scientists: Technology for Green Solutions

From Carnegie Mellon University's website: 

What do you see when you look at a mobile phone? A tool to call or text a friend? Get email? Surf the web? Eric Paulos, assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon's Human-Computer Interaction Institute (HCII), sees a whole new way to expand the reach of science.

Paulos, director of Carnegie Mellon's new Living Environments Lab, is working to equip everyday cell phones with sensors capable of detecting a variety of environmental measurements, like carbon monoxide, ozone, particulate matter, or pollen counts. The data would then be uploaded and aggregated for sharing. Paulos envisions a new generation of 'citizen scientists,' connected both to the environment and each other.

Read more at CMU.edu >>

Introduction

Hello,

Welcome to the Heinz Talks! Blog. My name is Zhimin Mao, and I recently graduated from the Heinz College's Washington DC program. I am currently working as a policy analyst focusing on China's energy and climate policy and a lot of my work was focused on China's low carbon development pathways and related environmental assessment strategies.

The upcoming talk on October 27th would highlight an important factor that was not often discussed but critical. The current urge for action on climate change issues largely came from the scientific world yet the diffusion of new products and technologies would eventually be driven by the private sector. Such products and technologies should make business sense in order to provide the motivations needed to achieve a quick deployment. A list of “profitable solution” may also encourage countries without emission caps to voluntarily adopt low emissions products or technologies. In fact, the vast development of China's CDM market and its solar industry is resulted from potential financial incentives.

I am very excited to attend the upcoming discussion and look forward to meeting people who are also interested in this topic.

Have a nice day!

Zhimin Mao

Introduction

Hello,

I would like to welcome everyone to the Heinz Talks! Blog. My name is Michael Spotts, and I am a student in the Heinz College's Washington DC program. I currently work in the affordable housing field, where I focus on sustainable, holistic development that addresses environmental, economic, and social equity considerations.

The upcoming event on October 27 is coming at a crucial time in the energy policy debate. This past year, the US House of Representatives passed HR 2454, the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, which represents a major step forward in US energy and environmental policy. The Senate is likely to take up the debate in the fall. Advocates on all sides of this debate have been energized, and are looking to the Senate debate to strengthen the House version of the bill, kill it completely, and everything in between.

Suggested Reading: Winning the Oil Endgame

"Winning the Oil Endgame - Innovation for Profits, Jobs, and Security" - published by the Rocky Mountain Institute in 2004.

www.oilendgame.com

The website notes, "Winning the Oil Endgame offers a strategy for ending US oil dependence, and is applicable worldwide. There are many analyses of the oil problem. This synthesis is the first roadmap of the oil solution—one led by business for profit."

Visitors may download a free pdf file of the text on the site. The inside cover includes some interesting quotes on the transition beyond oil, from leaders of the world's largest oil and automoble companies.

Energy Efficiency is Good Business

Last year, Amory Lovins was chosen as one of America's Best Leaders by U.S. News and World Report. This USNWR profile highlights Lovins' focus on energy conservation, and not simply the identification of new energy supplies. This approach has earned him some seemingly unlikely allies in the business and industrial sectors, because energy cost savings aligns with their profit motivation. This alignment with financial incentives is important for the broad adoption of new energy policies.

Read more from US News & World Report's profile ->

Geoengineering: Could it limit climate change?

From Carnegie Mellon University's website:

What if it were possible to modify the climate system to offset global warming? Carnegie Mellon's David Keith is exploring the feasibility of this idea — and its unintended consequences.

"Both because we may need it in an emergency, and because geoengineering is something a nation might start doing unilaterally, the time has come to undertake a transparent and globally coordinated program of research," said M. Granger Morgan, head of Carnegie Mellon's Department of Engineering and Public Policy.

Keith is working as part of a group of researchers from the Royal Society, the United Kingdom's...

Read the full article ->

At home with Amory Lovins.

In this PBS interview, Mr. Lovins offers a tour of his home to demonstrate efficient energy technologies that could change the way Americans power their lives.

Heinz Talks! 2009: Dean's Wecome

Welcome to the Heinz Talks! blog. This is second annual Heinz Talks! event sponsored jointly by The Heinz Awards and the H. John Heinz III College and its School of Public Policy and Management

This year’s event will take place in Washington, DC right on Capitol Hill, steps away from the offices of Heinz College Washington, DC. If you are in the nation’s capital, we hope to see you at the main event on Tuesday, October 27th. Some of our DC program students will be participating in the presentation. In addition, we invite you to share your thoughts and participate in the blog discussion about energy policy solutions.

Regards,

Ramayya Krishnan
Dean, Carnegie Mellon University's H. John Heinz III College