From a colleague of mine at the CUNY Sustainable Building Initiative (Susan Robinson), some research on how to Green Power your apartment when you are renting in New York City:

Ok, I finally got around to investigating green power options for my apartment and thought I'd share my research. Fortunately, you can easily switch over and pay little to nothing more for greener energy sources. Here's the deal--

Right now with regular ConEd, you pay a variable rate, depending on the supply and demand of local energy. Right now it's 15.6 cents, and it typically goes up to 17 or 18 cents in the summer when demand is higher (due to air conditioning).

To switch to greener electric sources you have two options, and both of them are administered through ConEd. Neither of them charge you to make the switch and there is no cancellation fee.

1) GREEN plan. 65% of your power would come from hydroelectric sources and 35% from wind sources. It's cost is 17.5 cents/KWH. (A *fixed* rate for 12 months.)

2) WIND plan. 100% comes from wind sources. It's 19 cents/KWH. (Also, a *fixed* rate for 12 months.) It's more ideal for those trying to be *really* green, as hydro sources don't pollute the air, but still have negative environmental impacts. Wind farms have very, very little actual environmental impact-- the complaint typically had to do with "visual impact" in the areas they are developed, but they're a lot prettier than a typical power plant!

I live in a big 3-bedroom apt. and typically use about 300 KWH per month. So, with the WIND plan my roomates and I will split an extra 5-10 dollars a month. If I were to choose the GREEN plan, then we'd be paying the same in the summer and a few dollars more in the winter.

Here's the kicker, tho-- Con Ed will send you a check for $25 for using either the GREEN or WIND plans, assuming you've paid your bill and use the service for at least 3 months. (The 25 bucks is really coming from the NYS government.)

So, there's really no reason not to at least switch to the GREEN plan, and if you're willing to give an extra few dollars a month to encourage the development of wind energy sources, I'd definitely recommend it. To switch call "ConEd Solutions" at 1-888-320-8991. It took them just a few minutes and will go into effect next month.

Posted by Chris at 08:01 PM in Environment, Sustainability | Comments (0)

you may be right, but if a very large, well-funded entity brings a lawsuit against you -- being right and being able to win in a court of law usually takes a lot of money. Well it looks like the MPAA finally picked on someone who has the money to defend himself. Hopefully Mr. Hogan is able to decisively showed them the error of their ham-fisted legalistic ways.

Posted by Chris at 07:37 PM in Computing, Music, Politics, Security | Comments (0)

We just spent a week and the half in Peru and had an amazing time. So much to see, so much good food to eat, such nice people. A friend is going there quite soon and asked me for some suggestions, so I figured I would put them out here.

Splurge and spend a couple days at Machu Picchu at the Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel. Take the one-day Inka trail hike up to Machu Picchu and get the feel of the mountains and the views and see the other nearby ruins (assuming you haven't gotten here by doing the four-day hike!). if you take the one day hike you get there in the later afternoon when the crowds (this is a relative term) go away and it is pretty empty again. Then you can wake up later the next day but still make it there nice and early (since you got up way way early the previous morning) around 8 a.m. before all the crowds from Cusco arrive on the first trains.

Pisac
Hotel Pisac (on the square)

Cusco
Cafe Varayoc -- Plaza Regocijo, Espaderos 142
Inkafe -- (Cafe) Choquechaca 131a (on the way up to San Blas)
Werner and Ana -- Plaza San Francisco 295, modern/fashionably styled alpaca clothing (made locally)

Lima
Hotel Antigua Miraflores -- Grau 350, in Miraflores

Posted by Chris at 07:10 PM in Travel | Comments (0)

Just a random posting: one of my favorite physical/installation artists, Ernesto Neto, a Brazilian whose work I first encountered at the Venice biennial in 2001.

Just like drops of rain, nothing

Posted by Chris at 09:41 PM in Art | Comments (0)

Stanford Magazine has a good dual-viewpoint article on the question of how good or how bad the American education system is doing today. Personally, I tend to put more faith in the second viewpoint -- that the spite all the negative hype, American children are actually doing pretty well. Compared to 20 or 30 years ago, more kids are graduating, more kids are going to college (especially more females), and while our schools are by no means perfect, we are certainly not in a "crisis."

Continuing in this vein, the National Center for Education Statistics released a report last Friday showing that public schools educate children basically at least as well as private schools. Of course the Federal Education Department barely mentioned anything about the report, since the administration is much more in favor of vouchers to send kids to private schools.

Posted by Chris at 08:41 PM in Education | Comments (0)

Occasionally your Congressperson does learn something. What they do with that new knowledge is another question.

Almost every piece of personal information that Americans try to keep secret -- including bank account statements, e-mail messages and telephone records -- is semi-public and available for sale.

That was the lesson Congress learned over the last week during a series of hearings aimed at exposing peddlers of personal data, from whom banks, car dealers, jealous lovers and even some law enforcement officers have covertly purchased information to use as they wish.

"We had the impression that there were no secrets any more. Now we know that for sure," said Rep. Ed Whitfield, a Kentucky Republican and chairman of the panel's oversight subcommittee.

Posted by Chris at 07:24 PM in Politics, Security | Comments (0)