Two Encouraging Stories About Alternative Energy

The State of California just adopted a renewable energy program that will increase solar energy production in a big way, as reported here. The program calls for installing 3,000 megawatts over the next 11 years, to be accomplished through rebates funded by a surcharge on utility bills. This initiative will draw upon $3.2 billion from the surcharge fund to pay for the solar panels.

An even more exciting development is taking place in Portugal, as reported here. The Portugese government is aiming to increase the share of electricity produced from renewable sources to 39 percent, and they are going to spend 2.5 billion Euros (approx $3 billion USD) to do it. Most of the expanded renewable production will come from wind, but they are also installing wave-powered turbines manufactured by the Scottish firm Ocean Power Delivery. Some estimates put the potential for wave power at 20% of Portugal's annual needs. On a per-capita basis, this investment by the Portugese is much larger than California's, considering the entire nation of Portugal has less than 1/3 the population of the state of California (just over 10 million and around 34 million, respectively).

Nevertheless, these are both extremely encouraging stories and it would be great if more states/provinces/countries would get with the program.

The Times Discovers Peak Oil

I was pleased to see that Peak Oil is finally (perhaps even inexorably) making its way into the "mainstream media." The Seattle Times has an editorial by Kate Riley in today's paper about the coming changes to the oil economy. It's a pretty good read, on balance, with some nice suggestions for how to go about addressing the problem (in particular Congressman Inslee's New Apollo Project. Unfortunately I don't think she did an adequate job conveying the potential catastrophic effects of ignoring this problem, because I don't think most people will perceive the enormity of this issue until they're a bit freaked out. If you want to get freaked out right now, I would recommend James Howard Kunstler's book The Long Emergency or Kenneth Deffeyes book Beyond Oil: The View from Hubbert's Peak. Both of these books do an excellent job explaining why it's going to be challenging to provide a smooth transition from petroleum to other sources of energy. Kunstler's book is focused more upon the socio-economic effects of our collective lack of preparedness, and Deffeyes explains why we are at the peak right now and why the viable alternatives will most likely take 10-15 years to bring on-line. Basically, we have a lot of work to do.

Year-Round Cycling

I rode my bike to work for the first day this month. Last year I rode almost the entire winter; however, I had one fairly serious crash on black ice that put my bike out of commission for over a week so I've been a bit hesitant to really tough it out this year. My new goal is to ride at least 25% of each month through the winter. The first part of December has been somewhat challenging, however, mostly due to snow but also to generally low temperatures. This morning it warmed up to a comparatively balmy 42 degrees so I hit the road. It was nice to be back in the saddle.

CommEn Space People

This is a photograph of (most of) the people I work with. Tim was visiting from our Montana office last week and I thought it would be a good idea to photographically memorialize this rare and wonderful event. Unfortunately Jessemine is not in this shot (she was--and is still--on a surfing trip in Mexico) but I'm planning on Photoshopping her in later.

The people in this shot are, from left to right: Sheila, Tim, Karsten, Yours Truly, Fly (the border collie), Chris, Christopher, and Alex.

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Andy and Lynna in Packwood. We always love visiting those two, and it is nice to get out of the city and enjoy the woods and mountains. There were no salmon in the backyard stream this year, but plenty of elk in the front yard. We made it up to White Pass for some sledding (Liam was ready to go to the summit after the first run) and did a nice hike in some old growth lower down in the valley. And one evening, to Liam's extreme delight, Andy got a little Scottish on us.

Liam's Halloween Costume

I know I'm REALLY late on this, but here is the costume that Amy and I made for Liam. For the record, this was 100% Liam's idea--when we asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween, he said "green backhoe!!"

2 Great Quotes

"All models are wrong. Some models are useful."

--George Box

"Errors using inadequate data are much less than those using no data at all."

--Charles Babbage

MIT

The new Stata center on the MIT campus, designed by famed architect Frank Gehry (apparently he is famous for his inability to draw right angles). When Liam saw this building, he said "building broken. Has boo-boo. Sad." Well put, my son.

One of the lecture halls inside the Stata center. This one has sloping walls covered with boards that are full of regularly spaced holes, like peg-board. The effect is rather nauseating, and the school had to cover the lower portion with white boards so the students wouldn't fall over in their chairs. Neat idea though.

The "Infinite Corridor." This hallway is 1/4 mile long and is chock full of brilliant people learning about complicated things.

The Stata Center has many chalkboards in the halls, most of which are covered with incomprehensible (to me) mathematical and scientific notations.

Harvard

Liam demonstrating his reverance at the T station

Amy and Liam in Harvard Yard. It is smaller and less imposing than I had expected.

The statue of the 3 lies. It says: John Harvard/Founder/1638. However, the statue is of some random 19th C. student; John Harvard was not the founder but an early financial contributor; and Harvard was founded in 1636. And the motto inscribed above one of the gates is "VERITAS." Hah!

Woods Hole

Liam and his grandpa smiling beautifully for the camera on the waterfront in the village of Woods Hole. Unfortunately the museums etc were shut for the holiday (I think it was Columbus Day)

A very rare photo of your truly and Amy unaccompanied by Mr Little Guy, overlooking the harbor in the village of Woods Hole

One of the many architecturally interesting store fronts in the village

Cape Cod--On the Beach

Horseshoe crab we found in a big patch of pickleweed.

Liam and Grandpa Stevenson on the beach

Liam and Grandma Stevenson on the beach

The Wedding

Liam in his MacDonald kilt, just before attending the wedding ceremony of Julie Fitzpatrick and Scott McGlone

Here is the whole crew in the big wedding tent (from left to right): Liam, my father Dan, mom Nancy, Me, and Amy

Cape Cod

The blog has been on a bit of a hiatus, due primarily to our recent-ish trip to Massachusetts (and all of the extra work before and after the trip). My cousin Julie Fitzpatrick married Scott McGlone in Dennisport, right on Nantucket Sound. We made the trip out for the wedding but also to see our friends Jamie & Natalie DeNormandie and Kimberly Karish. We met all three of them when we lived in Logan, Utah 7 years ago.

The wedding was great, and I've never laughed more at a wedding ceremony. Unfortunately I was not able to take a decent photo of Julie and/or Scott because Amy and I were scrambling to keep the Little Guy distracted and quiet. It rained more or less the entire time we were in Massachusetts, and the wedding and reception took place under a huge tent, but it didn't matter--everyone had a great time. It was really wonderful catching up with all of the Reiss relatives I haven't seen in a long time. More posts with more pictures to follow!

Methow Valley

Two weekends ago Amy and Liam accompanied me to the Methow Valley. I was there with my boss Chris Davis to make a presentation to the Methow Conservancy--we're working on a parcel-based development risk model that they will use to inform their conservation prioritization. The presentation was 3 hours long (!), and our modelling effort was very well received. We still have a few tweaks to make, but it's pretty close to being done.

We stayed at a cabin (ha!--this cabin is bigger and nicer than our house in Seattle) owned by a couple of UW professors that are friends with Craig and Sandy, a married couple who are also working as consultants with the Conservancy. We stayed in the Valley for an extra day and went for a delightful hike around a beaver pond just up the road from the cabin. We shared most of the hike with an Italian couple and their son Luka. We caught another red-legged frog for Liam to check out, and Luka was pretty interested in it as well. Best of all, the fall color is starting to kick in.

Packwood Report

Amy, Liam and I drove down to Packwood this past weekend to visit with Andy & Lynna and help them prep their house for painting. We also spent a fair bit of time visiting the enormous Packwood Flea Market (which happens every Labor Day), picking black berries, walking in the woods, catching frogs, and just running around outside. It was a nice visit.



Liam on his first ever pony ride. He was beaming the entire time.












LG wearing Dad's hat and looking cute.












Picking black berries! Andy & Lynna's property is covered with black berry bushes and they were all laden with delicious fruit.












The bounty from the harvest.











Liam and Uncle Andy indicating their approval of the flavor.










Aunt Lynna gettign friendly with Liklik.










Liam's first encounter with an actual frog (in this case a northern red-legged frog), captured by his dad and Uncle.










The eponymous legs, visible through the bottom of the mason jar we kept the critter in before we released him back into the creek.










Andy's bridge. He made this himself with some of the trees his neighbor cut down. The bridge crosses the creek that runs through their property and makes it easier to access several forested acres along the river.

Lake Talapus

In a fit of planned spontaneity, we headed for the Cascades this weekend and hiked into the Alpine Lakes Wilderness Area. We made it up to Lake Talapus, a beautiful little gem in a heavily wooded valley. The sky was brilliant blue, the huckleberries were ripe, and the lake was cold. It was a great day.

And for the record, the red hat Amy is wearing is a hard-won trophy given to us by my dad. The poor guy had to drink EIGHT Alaskan Ambers during the cruise he and my mother recently took up through the Inside Passage.

Urban Forestry

We had a huge volunteer holly tree on the side of our house that we've wanted to get rid of since we bought the house. Fortunately my brother is a forester and is the possessor of TWO chainsaws and a considerable amount of tree-felling skill. He took that sucker out in about 45 minutes and further cemented his image as a hero in Liam's eyes.

Liam is Two Years Old

The Little Guy is now two years old. His birthday was a couple of weeks ago, and we had a pretty low-key celebration with just the three of us on the day of and hosted an all-out bash with 8 other two year olds the following week. It was a good time, and the little guy really enjoyed himself. Favorite present: chainsaw, by far.

The top picture shows three shots of me and Liam--from left to right, Liam is a newborn, one year old, and two years old. The kid is growing fast!




The "Gang of Seven" (a couple kids went missing when the cameras came out) are, from left to right: Rowan, Emma, Amelie, Liam (with eyes closed!), Lucas, Niko, and Iska. As she was leaving, Iska asked Liam to kiss her three times. He's already a blue-eyed heart breaking devil!

Detroit as Ecotopia?!?

As frequent readers of this blog already know (ah, that's a joke) I am a big fan of Ernest Callenbach's book Ecotopia. Yesterday I read a news article about some elements of his book apparently coming to life in the most unlikely place: Detroit, Michigan.

As reported in this article, there are currently 12,000 vacant homes in the city of Detroit and 1,500 to 2,000 new homes are abandoned each year. The City does not have enough money to tear all of them down and they can barely keep up with new abandonments. A professor of urban planning at University of Detroit Mercy has proposed converting a large swath of the abandoned City back into farmland.

I think this is a brilliant idea, but it does not go far enough. I think it would be fantastic if the City that spawned the Age of the Autombile--and has subsequently been cannibalized by the very technology that it created--capitalized on this opportunity to emerge as the global center for sustainable manufacturing and transportation. It makes sense--there is plenty of open land, an enormous trained work force that is chronically unemployed, underemployed, or in imminent danger of becoming so, two world-class universities adjacent to the city to train the engineers and MBAs to design and innovate, and all of the industrial infrastructure for shipping and distribution. Think about it: Detroit as the world leader in wind turbine manufacturing, maglev train design and production, large volume heat exchange systems, and on and on. I think it could work.

North Cascades National Park

Amy and Liam taking a break on the Thunder Knob trail.











Liam and Matt at the Diablo Lake overlook on a VERY windy afternoon.









Liam showing his affection for an enormous western red cedar along the banks of the Skagit River.







Liam, obviously feeling somewhat conflicted now about his relationship with the trees.













Amy and Liam cooling off in Diablo Lake.

Ghost Cycles

There is a group here in Seattle called GhostCycle that is placing completely white bicycles at locations where cyclists were struck by automobiles. It's a pretty powerful reminder that despite Seattle's relatively bike-friendly atmosphere it can be pretty dangerous out there.

Case in point: this morning I'm riding to work, and some jerk in a Subaru starts honking his horn while I'm riding down 5th Avenue under the monorail. I ride this road every day, and it can be pretty sketchy--there are giant concrete pillars to support the monorail on the left hand side, cars parked on the right hand side, and numerous parking lots and other driveways where cars are likely to come out of or turn into. In order to protect my neck I ride right in the middle of the travel lane, so I can see and be seen. This is perfectly legal, and in any case, the lights are timed so it isn't possible for a car to go faster than a bike. So the guy in the Subaru races past me, dangerously close, flipping me off. I raced up next to his car and we had a little argument, but I was not able to persuade him that he was behaving unreasonably.

Then, to top it all off, after I turned onto Union, a woman in an SUV crossed two lanes of traffic, completely cutting me off, and jammed on her brakes. I more or less saw it coming and was able to jam on my brakes, but I still got up close and personal with her spare tire. She heard the noise and her passenger stuck her head out and asked if I was OK. I said I was, but that it would sure be nice if she would check her mirrors then next time she had to change lanes.

Here are My Teeth

The Little Guy has almost all of his teeth. Only four more to go! And then, of course, they start falling out, but then the Tooth Fairy gets involved so it's all good.