Hello World

Introduction

42: Answer to life, the universe and 
everything. Also, I'm being a bit of
an ass here.

Hello, my name is Zach. Welcome to my brand new blog. I started this mainly because it's a requirement for a class. I'm a new student at BGI. However, expect to see some entries that aren't completely class driven. There will probably be a wide range of topics (apparently this is a blogging no-no, but we'll see where this goes). Politics and economics will be regular topics. Mostly because, well, I've got a lot of problems with you people! And now, you're ganna hear about it. Also, I'll probably add some entries on tech topics. It seems that there is some basic interest in Excel tips and tricks, using RSS, synchronizing iCal and Google Calendar, just to name a few ideas.

The Yellow Slime

Yellow slime is a little more than a random, nonsensical name. Upon a recent trip for school, we learned all about yellow slime. This stuff is actually a large colony of single-cell organisms that work together. These molds can exhibit amazing communal intelligence, organizing for the benefit of the group over the individual. The experiment pictured below saw a slime mold map an efficient route to food and mimic the the train system around Tokyo. The New York Times has a great article about this.

So, yellow slime is a lot smarter than we would normally expect from a mold. And it does so through teamwork. That's a powerful idea, and an inspiring one for me. As for "cogitations," well, that's just an elitist word for "thoughts." But, it sure sounds sticky, so it seemed fitting for some slime. There isn't really any deeper meaning than that, or, well, I don't know.

A slime mold at Channel Rock

        

Slime molds mapping efficient routes.
(Science Magazine)

Personal History

Oh young, innocent Zach.
There's so much I have to
warn you about, but
tragically, I can't.

I grew up in the small town of Massillon, Ohio. It's best known for being next to Canton, Ohio, which is well known for the NFL Football Hall of Fame. It's no accident that the HOF is there, because the first two NFL teams were the Massillon Tigers and the Canton Bulldogs. The towns' respective high school football teams carry on this legacy today. I'm alive and well today in no small part due to having nothing to do with neither of these teams. My natural build is better suited for band. And band I did.

The stadium where I have played
zero games of football.

Now that's a handsome devil
if I do say so myself.

Script Ohio. I have no idea where I am
in it, just that I'm not dotting the I.

Feeling that the Massillon Tiger Swing Band wouldn't hold the true band nerd clout I held within myself, I became a member of the Bluecoats Drum and Bugle Corps and later, the Ohio State University Marching Band. In all these organizations, I enjoyed my time playing various brass instruments, mainly baritone/euphonium, and making some great life-long friends. I am proud of all three organizations I've had the privilege of being a member. Music has been a big part of my life, and I wouldn't be where I am today without a strong music program and a good activity to invest my time and energy. This has made me a strong believer in the importance of a variety of activities, sports and opportunities in our education system so that all kids can find some outlet for their talents.

When not doing some playing-music-whilst-moving activity, I pursued a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Engineering from Ohio State University (there is no "The" in the title of my school, we've been over this). At the time, this decision seemed like it would improve my dating life. It did not. The world of computer programming is quite amazing. And, believe it or not, everyone that uses a computer has done some level of programming, whether you know it or not. So, to all the technophobes: embrace it, it's not nearly as bad as you think.

Years of hard work (cough) eventually brought me to the northwest. In 2004, I was hired by Intel as an intern. Then again in 2005. Then hired full-time in 2006. That was 5 cross-country trips, no more of those ever again. I've been working at Intel ever since as a "Validation Engineer." I could go into great length as to what exactly that is, but you managed to stay with me through the band-nerd section, so it would be mean to punish you further. Suffice it to say- I deal with enormous amounts of data, tables and charts, so I have a little skill with Excel.

What brought me to BGI

Ford's green roof
(New York Times)

I've always had an interest in sustainability, but didn't realize it or know what that really meant. There's just something appealing at all the very creative solutions to common problems. I guess it's the cleverness that this way of thinking requires that draws me in. For example, Ford put a bunch of grass on the roof of their factory, which significantly reduced their heating and cooling costs, as well as better controlling rain water runoff. Clever.

For years, I always fell on the environmental side of politics, but didn't really get involved beyond voting. So, not involved. I had a sense of helplessness and disillusionment by the sheer inability of our political system to make any positive policy for the environment. I sat on my hands with this feeling because I didn't think there was anything I could really do about it.

A couple years ago, I read Natural Capitalism, and it truly inspired me. The reason why, and the biggest takeaway I got from it was that we can address the problems of our modern society in a way that gets around the political issues (though some political change sure would help). There is a built in assumption in our society that our economy and prosperity are at odds with sustainability. Sustainability and business do not work against each other. Actually, it's the exact opposite. It turns out that bad business is the only thing fighting sustainability.

After reading Natural Capitalism, I did a little research and came across a Ted Talk by Amory Lovins, one of the authors. He has a line that he uses in many talks and has stuck with me:

We are the people we've been waiting for.

Well, I'm sick of waiting.

Expectations

Initially, I honestly didn't have high expectations. I thought going back to school would be a good move for my career, and might get me some good opportunities at Intel, but otherwise, wasn't thinking that school would lead to a big change in my life.

However, orientation got me reevaluating that. I don't mind my job, but I don't love it either. One big reason for that is the (seeming) lack of impact. I can do something with more purpose with my life. So, I've started to think bigger. I have no idea what kind of opportunities BGI will lead to, but it's pretty clear that there are plenty out there.

My main expectation is to figure out what this purpose should be, and get on it.

Also, I didn't have much of an expectation on making new friends. That has changed. The people at BGI seem to be some pretty awesome people. And, while this isn't why I decided to go back to school, I'm really looking forward to getting to know my classmates.

Thoughts For Next Time

The problems (and solutions) for the built environment, energy production and transportation are intrinsically linked. Innovations in these areas are almost certainly going to involve each other rather than creating singular solutions in each area separately. We aren't going to get energy production to be entirely renewable without better energy efficiency (or at least, such a situation is far from the cheapest solution). So, a whole system solution is needed.

Chart showing typical electric usage over a day.
Note the overall total is not constant. (Wikipedia)

Energy generation can be highly variable or highly static. Electricity usage is variable, but generally predictable. However, this variability is extremely expensive because the two have to remain in balance at all times, or the voltage in your wall plug will drop (or a surplus of electricity will go unused). Also, every energy production method has strengths and weaknesses. Today, nuclear power plants produce a lot of electricity but can't be varied easily, so it is used for "base load", which is the minimum demand that the grid draws at all times. To compensate for variability, (usually) dirty gas generators are used for the gap.

But, a little feedback from the grid can help balance the overall flow. If you have a hot water heater with a tank, it keeps the water hot all the time. Is this really necessary? You probably only need enough hot water in the morning to take a shower. What if the electric company could control all the water heaters and time them so that they aren't all on at the same time? Then, the load on the grid gets flattened out, allowing us to use more of the reliable base load and less of the (usually dirty) peak load generation.

This is not a new idea, and any idea that strives to control power generation or usage more intelligently is lumped into the "Smart Grid" buzz word. This is a big idea, and there are a ton of little solutions to get it to work. However, if we can create an open system for controlling the energy flow from/to a device and communicate with the grid to intelligently balance the flows, I think we will see some amazing opportunities for business and sustainability. But, how do we get started? And, where exactly are these opportunities?