links for 2009-06-28

• NewNet News – US and Chile to collaborate on clean energy issues
  (tags: chile united-states energy alternative latin-america)
• Why the Microgrid Could Be the Answer to Our Energy Crisis | Page 6 | Fast Company
  Very useful and informative.

  "The microgrid is all about consumer control — aligning monetary incentives, with the help of information technology, to make renewables and efficiency pay off for the average homeowner, commercial developer, or even a town.
  [..]
  In the end, the visionaries of the microgrid are confident that with the help of evolving technologies and dropping prices, the unstoppable force of the American consumer will steamroll the last immovable industry out of the way. That would do more than help save the planet — it would deliver an unprecedented amount of flexibility, control, and transparency to the industry that more than any other defines modernity.

  [..] says Allan Schurr at IBM. "[..]I think consumers will articulate their needs to utility providers directly and indirectly through the political process and utility commissions. I don't think utilities can make unilateral choices here. The force is very strong."

  The power, after all, belongs to the people."

  (tags: alternative renewable sustainable energy electricity politics united-states environment)
• Government ownership: Why this time it should work – The McKinsey Quarterly – Governance – Boards
  (tags: finance government management)
• International Crisis Group – Daniela Kroslak in allAfrica
  (tags: somalia kenya)
• Baheyya: Egypt Analysis and Whimsy بهيّة: Talk is Cheap
  Let’s see how the Obama administration responds to the upcoming elections in Egypt, where for years, voters have been trying to peacefully unseat some of America’s best friends in the whole wide world.
  (tags: iran IranElections2009 obama Obama-speech egypt policy politics united-states)
• Synthetic Tree Soaks Up Carbon 1000x Faster Than the Real Thing | Popular Science
  Interesting. But i am concerned that this has the same issue as the CSS: How do you actually store CO2 indefinitely? If it's not converted, it is at the risk of escaping back into the atmosphere.
  (tags: carbon climate-change technology environment)