How to Hang Pictures

Tools you’ll need

Sheet of paper

Pencil

Tape measure

Level

“Magic Eraser” cleaning sponge

Nails, hooks, anchors, hanging wire

Hammer

Preparing your picture

Small pieces often have a hanger pre-attached. These are really only suitable for very lightweight pieces. In general, you want to replace any factory-supplied hanger with a better mechanism, suited to the size and weight of your piece.

Use packaged picture hanging hardware – eyelets and wire – for all but the lightest pieces. Double and triple the wire for heavier pieces, and be sure to make a secure connection to each eyelet that won’t strip and unravel under stress.

One hanger / one nail will result in angled hanging with the top edge away from the wall, unless the hanger is set back or inset within the frame space (which allows you to push the frame against the wall).

Two hangers / two nails will spread and flatten the angle, and shorten the distance between the wall and the top edge of your picture. The further apart that these two hanging points are, the flatter the picture will hang. Two hangers will also support more weight.

Preparing your wall

It’s tempting to leave a hole or mark on the wall if you know your picture will cover it, but that’s just leaving a problem for another day. Make any patches and clean or touch up the paint before hanging your picture.

Your picture is hanging within a visual space, which may be different from an actual wall space. That is, window drapes, lampshades, or adjacent furniture take up visual space. Your picture will hang within and complement that space. So before measuring where the nail or hook will go, examine the space and make sure furniture placement, lamp placement, etc. is comfortable, tidy, and balanced (not necessarily symmetrical). Don’t be afraid to put a picture partially behind a lampshade.

Placement – single piece

The most common mistake in hanging pictures is hanging them too high. A picture should be hung so that the focal point of the picture is at (or one-eighth inch above) eye-level. Exceptions to this may be above couches or desks, where the viewer is generally seated (where the piece is hung lower), or over headboards or tall furniture (where the piece is hung as low as practical).

On your paper, note the height of each adult in the household, and determine the average height. Subtract four inches from this number. Four inches is the distance from the top of the head to eye-level. That new number is the distance from the floor for your art’s focal point. Assuming your ceiling, walls and floor are generally “square” and level, pencil-mark the wall at that height, then measure the mark’s distance from the ceiling. Write that measurement on your paper and circle it.

On the front of your piece, measure from the focal point to the top of the frame. Then on the back of your piece, measure from the top of the frame down to the hanging wire. This will often take a second pair of hands – one to hold the wire as if hung on two nails/hooks, and the other to do the measuring. (Be sure to write these numbers down as you go.) Calculate the distance from focal point to hanging point. You’ve got your mark on the wall where the focal point will be, so now make another mark on the wall where the hanging wire will be. Now you’ve got the vertical measurement.

Before pounding any holes in the wall, you’ll need your horizontal positioning. Again, a second person is handy here. Hold the picture so that the focal point is about at your measured distance from the ceiling. Do you need to make any adjustment because you’re hanging over a desk or table? Move the picture left and right until it seems well-balanced in the visual space of the wall. You don’t want to take a hard and firm measurement, for example, from the edge of the lampshade to the edge of the wall. This is where your judgment comes in, and you’re going for the right feeling. For example, a large china cabinet may be on an adjacent left wall, and window curtains to the right side on your picture wall. You want to use the visual space between the china cabinet and curtains for one large piece. It’s likely you’ll hang the picture a bit to the right of a measured center, because the china cabinet is visually heavy. When you’re satisfied with the left-right placement, mark the wall with two short lines (vertical and horizontal) at both top corners of the picture.

Now (with four hands) hold the picture’s hanging wire as if it were hanging from two nails/hooks. Measure the distance from “hook” to “hook” and the distance from each frame edge to the nearest “hook.” The total of these three numbers should equal the total width of your picture. Transfer these numbers to vertical marks on the wall, as measured from your corner markings.

Using your level, mark with a + the point at which the “hook” vertical line crosses your hanging-point measurement. Double-check to make sure that the two + marks are perfectly level.

At these points on your wall, will you be able to pound a nail into a stud, or will you need anchors to support heavy pieces?

Note that if you use a hook or an anchor, the actual hole in the wall may be higher than your +. Remember that the + is the apex point for your hanging wire.

With the nails or hooks hammered in, again double-check for level. Hang your picture. If the wire has never been used before, you may need to pull down on the picture a bit to set-in the correct and level hook points. Now triple-check that the top edge of the frame is perfectly level.

Take the picture off the wall, and using the “magic” cleaning sponge, remove all marks from the wall. Pounded a few extra holes? Now’s the time to fill them. If your piece has glass, squirt glass cleaner to a paper towel, not onto the glass, and clean it of smudges; wipe the frame of any smudges.

Re-hang your picture and enjoy.

Placement – two or more pieces

Three principles still apply:

• Balance the pieces within the visual space you’ve assigned for hanging your art.
• Hang art pieces level at their focal points.
  • Exception: for art that is disparate in size and/or framing, you may want to level the bottom edges or top edges of multiple pieces.
  • Measure for placement as for a single piece, noting the distance from the hanging wire to top edge of the frame, and distance from the “hooks” to the side edges of the frame.

The difference in hanging multiple pieces comes mainly in the need to measure how far apart (or close together) you want the pictures to be, and taking that “space between” measurement into consideration when you mark +’s on the wall!

With very disparate pictures, you want to look for balance. For example, you may wish to hang two small pictures of the left part of your wall, and one large picture on the right part. If these pictures are cohesive in theme, you could hang them as one grouping. If furniture placement, windows, or wall features (such as a thermostat) prevent that, balance the visual space and weight that the two pictures use with the visual space and weight that the large picture uses. Experiment with how to achieve that balance; perhaps hanging the two vertically paired or even diagonally paired, rather than horizontally paired.

 
 
 
 
 
For three or more large pieces spread around a large open space (such as a great room or a living and dining room), keep the top edges of the pieces the same distance from the ceiling, unless this substantively changes the positioning of the pictures’ focal points.

This picture or that picture; here or there?

Art not only fills empty wall space, it creates a mood and provides color. The placement of art can be extremely personal. But here are some points to consider:

• Hang a “busy” piece in a calm, open space; hang a calm piece in a “busy” space.
• Put a colorful picture in a room that doesn’t otherwise have much color, or can use solid color to complement the art. (Example: a large colorful piece in a bedroom, with solid-color bedspread and drapes that enhance the art.)
• Hang one or two large pieces in a room with large furniture, balanced with two or three small pieces.
• As you look across an open space or a single room, art shouldn’t look crowded. Art needs space around it in order to shine. Imagine your house as a gallery; you’re not crowding pictures in just to have them, but showing them, viewing them, and appreciating them. Art pieces also shouldn’t “fight with” parts of the room such as tall bookshelves, brick walls, or stained glass windows, for example. Strive for visual balance in the entire space.
• Pictures with detail, such as drawings, work well in hallways or stairwells, where people will pass by closely or can walk directly up to the piece to examine it.
• Black-and-white photographs look better hung together, rather than mixed with paintings or colorful pieces. Exception: several black-and-white photos, with one extraordinary, bright color image in the middle.

 
 
The photo on the left below demonstrates:

• A “calm” picture hung at focal-point height, within visual space, behind a lampshade.

The photo on the right below demonstrates these points:

• A “simple” picture is hung adjacent to a “busy” furniture wall.
• The large picture is hanging just a bit higher than focal point, because of the cabinet below.
• 
• 

Paper vs. Digital – Two

 

How do you decide between paper and digital for a hybrid system? What goes where?

In an earlier post, I wrote about the importance of having a system (paper, digital or hybrid) to manage all the lists and reminders we collect in order to get through a complex life. I’m sure that there are some people who eschew digital anything, but they’re not likely reading this post online. And there are digerati more geeky than I who shun paper of every kind. Most of us probably fall into the hybrid category. 

To determine what kind of paper equipment and what kind of digital tool(s) you need, begin by listing

• the stuff you need to keep track of,
• where you collect it,
• where you need it, and
• how long you need it accessible.

Here are seven examples, followed by my own solutions. They may work for you.

Shopping list – collect it all over the house – need it when on the go – disposable.

*As hard as I try, I can’t get my husband to enter items online, in a program I can sync to my iPhone. It’s hard enough to get him to write down what we need on a paper list, so that’s what we use. That’s probably true for many households. Unless all family members are very digital, the shopping list is pretty haphazard. (Unfortunately, it’s a piece of paper that is too often somewhere else when I’m shopping.)

Bill payment receipts – collect at home desk – need at home desk – keep for a few years.

*You’ll need to keep records for budgeting and for taxes. This means you must have a file cabinet in your home office. Even if you auto-pay and/or pay electronically, you should still print out periodic payment records that show the status of your account, plus account numbers and vendor contact information. You’ll also need a “current” file folder on your desk for paper bills. When invoices arrive in the mail, open them immediately and put them in the folder, ready for your next bill-paying session.

Contemporaneous notes from business meetings – collect them on the job and at home desk – need current notes at work desk and home desk – need to keep archived for years.

*With a background in lobbying and consulting, I’ve developed a habit of keeping detailed and reliable notes from phone and in-person meetings. I use a Day-Timer ring-binder and my notes are all dated. This system has been a lifesaver many times, when I’ve needed to retrieve a detail or prove a quote or time spent on a task. I have found that typing notes while in a meeting or on the phone is rather noisy and distracting to others, so these are always hand-written. If I need to enter notes into a customer relationship management (CRM) application, however, I can do that quickly from my DT notes, rather than during the call. For all the different types of meetings and calls, this note-taking system is reliable whether at my home office, at my desk, in a conference room or at a client site. The only downside is carrying the binder when travelling.

Contacts and Calendar – collect them while travelling and while at desk(s) – need them anywhere and everywhere – need to be backed up and easily editable.

*These are clearly best managed electronically on your smart phone, synced and backed up to your personal computer or corporate server. Like me, you may wish to have a visual calendar at hand, so I use the calendars in my Day-Timer system. Monthly pages keep things on my radar, and the daily schedule is adjacent to my to-do list. Appointments with others are always entered in the electronic system (if they weren’t created there). At the beginning of the week I enter appointments on each day’s calendar and update as necessary. While it is certainly redundant, this gives me the best combination of a visual scan of my appointment landscape and features of the electronic systems, such as automatic reminders and connection to contacts, associated files and meeting details.

Passwords and account numbers – collect them primarily at desk(s) – needed both at desks and when on the go – needs to be backed up.

*This is definitely an electronic necessity for me. Paper would always be at the “other” place and would be accessible by others. My password list is secure, backed up, and synced on my computer and my iPhone. This database is available while I’m working on the computer and while I’m out on errands or travelling.

To-do list – collect it anywhere and everywhere, needs to be very editable – need it at my desk(s) and on the go – disposable.

*These are the lists that will make or break a system. Some people swear by the Tasks function in Microsoft Outlook, which integrates with your Calendar and can be synced with your smart phone via corporate server. I have not found Tasks to be flexible enough for me. After years of trying all paper and then all digital, and years of working through hybrid combinations, I’ve developed a “divide and conquer” strategy. With the exception of that darned grocery list, I use iPhone applications for all my to-get and keep-track-of lists. For the actual to-do tasks, I rely on paper. There’s an unparalleled satisfaction in checking something off, of course, and complete editing flexibility. In addition, as I move one month’s Day-Timer notes from my active binder to shelved archive binders, I review all of the to-do columns and “starred” items within notes to check that nothing has fallen through the cracks. That habit alone contributes to my reputation for being reliable and thorough, and more important, contributes to my peace of mind.

So for your own system, work forwards and backwards. That is, you’ll want to think of lists, papers, notes and errata at the places you create them, and also at the places you’ll use them (or refer to them). Also consider whether other people need to interact with any of this errata, and whether it’s easier for them that the information be digital online, or on a piece of paper. If you’ll need data while on the go, digital is best. If you’ll need to make sure data is backed up – also digital. When you’re making lists and brainstorming all hours of the day and many locations, paper may be the solution. Whatever’s on paper can be made digital, if that’s the best way to archive and retrieve your data.

When you know what pieces are best on paper and what pieces are best in digital format, you’ll then be able to take the next step – selecting and adapting your tools.

There’s nothing wrong with a hybrid system, as long as your system works for you. That is, you use the system consistently and trust it completely. The result – no brain clutter to stress you out, fewer dropped tasks or lost data, and greater self-confidence. Just like avoiding clutter in a room, there’s a place for everything and everything is in its place.

Next: good paper and digital tools for productivity.

What’s your system?

5 Later Challenges to Overcome for Adoption of EVs

 

In a previous post, I offered 5 First Challenges. These next five will certainly come soon after. In fact, they’re on their way now, but just haven’t gotten as much attention.

To be clear, my own prediction is for a long and gradual adoption period, allowing manufacturers, charging equipment vendors, utilities and consumers to figure things out along the way. That means we’ll make some mistakes, some vendors will fail for betting on a path that the market turned away from, and we’ll waste some investment capital. But huge technology changes always leave some amount of “stranded assets” and hard lessons learned. Examples: Apple’s Lisa computer; the Betamax; the Spruce Goose, Iridium.

So we should start talking about these challenges, in order to maximize investment and minimize risk.

1.      Metering

The house isn’t mobile. When I consume energy, whether for lighting or re-charging my iPhone, my home meter is sending data to the utility to compute my bill. When I take my car on the road and re-charge at the office or a retail store, how will that be billed? There are a few possibilities, such as a credit card at the charging stand, though this adds considerably to the cost of the charging stand.

But there’s a better model out there already. Cell phones have their meter built inside – the SIM card. No matter where the phone goes, its usage is metered and billed to its owner. Why not the VIM card – Vehicle Intelligence Module – as proposed by Power Tagging, Inc.? Much simpler for the consumer and cheaper for the infrastructure.  

2.      Tariffs

As mentioned in the earlier post  (5 First Challenges), major California utilities already offer special electricity rates/tariffs for the dedicated circuit that is the consumer’s home charging outlet. Other state commissions will need to encourage and cooperate with utilities to adopt rate incentives that influence EV owners to charge in off-peak hours and/or when green power is available.

3.      Distribution system upgrade

This is worth repeating from the first list. Utilities will first spot-monitor transformers for needed upgrades to accommodate EV loads in residential neighborhoods. Many distribution transformers are probably already carrying more load than when they were first sited. Residential loads have grown dramatically from extra gadgets and bigger TVs. I doubt CFL adoption has cut back those loads enough that EVs can now be plugged in. The distribution system also needs the kind of real-time monitoring, load balancing and asset management that comes with the Smart Grid – EVs are just one more interaction with the grid of the future.

EVs should also be used for their battery capacity; that is, vehicle-to-grid (V2G) for peak demand management. This will definitely require a higher level of distribution system monitoring and management, whether V2G is deployed from the home, office chargers, or airport parking lots. For this, we also need the “feed-in tariff” for V2G.

4.      Connecting green power for charging EVs

One of the holdout consumer perceptions is that EVs aren’t really “green” because they are generally recharged with energy produced by dirty coal generating plants. If those big near-airport parking lots had solar panel roofs, the V2G capacity at 3:00 p.m. in Denver could really put some green power back in the system! Also, home EV charging can be programmed or signaled to occur when wind resources are available, often at night.

But whether solar or wind, we need more and smarter electricity transmission upgrades to connect green power generation to sources of demand and storage.

5.      Highway taxes

For the time being, those EVs on the road are “free riders.” Literally. U.S. highway maintenance is generally paid by segregated funds that are first collected by federal government, then returned to state and local governments. Collected at the gas pump! With more EVs on the road, less tax revenue will be collected at the pump. This could be scary. Sure, there are alternatives, and some of them rather ugly. It’s time to talk about this now, before the highway tax revenue declines.

What do you think?

Smart Grid Communication

 

The first electric meter communication that I remember was a yellow postcard. I’d stand in front of the meter, mark the reading, and mail it to Crawford Electric Cooperative. Not exactly Smart Grid.

Two-way communication with the meter is perhaps one of the foundational requirements of moving to a digital, more reliable electricity distribution infrastructure. We’ve moved from “sneaker-net” (crews of meter readers walking the neighborhood, clipboard in hand) to AMR (automated meter reading) with a drive-by van picking up radio signals, then to wireless mesh networks, and now to AMI (advanced metering infrastructure). 

The amazing thing about the current state of meter communications is the plethora of choices available to utilities. The first consideration is to recognize that one needn’t lock into one system from meter to network operations control center. We are generally looking at three distinct segments of the communication pathway. First, the home area network (HAN) and meter to a neighborhood collection point. Second, the middle – collection point to backhaul, usually at a major substation. Finally, TCP/IP backhaul from substations to operations control center. It’s possible and reasonable to select the best-of-breed or the one most suited to a particular utility’s operations for each of the three segments – potentially three different systems. Plus mobile applications for field crew.

The next consideration is the end-goal. The point of this communication pathway is to get consumer usage data and distribution system sensor data into a data warehouse and/or enterprise applications. Therefore, don’t bother to collect data unless you’re ending up with IPv6 compatibility. 

Security is next. Or maybe it’s first. Some of the less expensive technologies include public wireless networks. Even private wireless networks may be more vulnerable to hacking than other technologies. It’s hard to know which side might be more sensitive to unauthorized data access – consumers, utility operations, or homeland security.

Or maybe reliability ranks more important than security. (Clearly, building a utility-wide strategic communications plan won’t be easy.) Whether using wireless or mobile GSM, for example, the telecommunication needs an uninterruptible power supply. 

Add low latency and ubiquitous coverage.

What’s your choice for “best” communication technology? Any missing from this list?

• Zigbee
• HomePlug
• Commercial paging
• Cellular M2M (3G/4G)
• Public wireless / private wireless
• 802.11 / 802.15.4g
• WiMAX
• Fixed RF
• Mobile GSM
• Municipal LAN
• PLC / BPL
• Fiber-optic
• Point-to-point microwave

Also see: Smart Grid News, articles on Communications

5 First Challenges for Adoption of Electric Vehicles

 

Living in Boulder, Colorado, I expect we’ll see quite a few Nissan Leaf, Chevrolet Volt and even converted Honda Prius on the road soon. We already have a Tesla dealership. Boulder is one of those communities that expects to embrace electric vehicles  – EVs. We’re supposed to be Smart Grid City, so we’re theoretically ready, right?

Not so much. Auto manufacturers and vendors of batteries and charging stations, as well as utilities, have honed in on eight cities for the ChargePoint America project. Boulder’s not on the list, unfortunately, but these eight cities will be test beds for EV adoption, public reaction and the impact on local utilities.

• Austin TX
• Detroit MI
• Los Angeles CA
• New York NY
• Orlando FL
• Sacramento CA
• San Jose / San Francisco CA
• Redmond WA
• Washington DC

Overall, what will it take for the general public to significantly change their driving habits and even their love affair with the internal combustion automobile?

To be clear, my own predictions are for a long and gradual adoption period. For many years EV owners are likely to use that car for errands or short commutes, while keeping the SUV in the garage (hopefully a hybrid). For two-car families, however, it would be a huge cultural change if a large percentage of those second cars were EVs.

What are the first five challenges to be met toward significant market adoption? 

1.      Consumer education

Many drivers hold onto myths about EVs or perceptions that are now out-of-date. We need some hard-hitting public debate on television news programs, newspapers and general-interest blogs. We need leaders in social media to push an EV brand image with success stories from those eight cities. We need the discussion of EVs to move from the greens and geeks to drivers who only care about cost and performance.

2.      Range anxiety

Have you noticed the competition for getting the most miles per gallon from a hybrid Prius? There will likely be competitions for the most miles per charge for EVs. When you think of it, a lot of drivers probably travel less than 60 miles in any normal day. Recharging in the garage each night will handle that. And as charging stations become more common in cities, parking garages and workplaces, drivers will be able to plug in for a fast charge to “top off the tank.” Definitely, this infrastructure will need to build out as the cars become available for purchase.

3.      Price

Purchasers of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles and all-electric vehicles are eligible for a tax credit of up to $7,500. According to an excellent article by Chris Woodyard, published in USA Today on November 8, 2010, there will be sticker shock, even with generous tax credits.

• Tesla Roadster – $109,000
• Tesla Sedan (2012) – $50,000
• Coda – $44,900
• Chevrolet Volt – $41,000
• Nissan Leaf – $32,780

4.      Charging convenience

Got a 240v outlet in your garage? Thought not. Most of us will need a garage outlet upgrade for a dedicated EV-charging outlet. Those of us with garages, that is. What about apartment dwellers? And no one will purchase an EV without first checking the location of charging stations. Of course, there’s an App for that, too. (Note: not all electric vehicles will require a 240v circuit; hybrid EVs can adequately charge overnight on a 120v circuit, called Level 1 charging.)

5.      Utility infrastructure

By the way, your utility isn’t exactly ready for you to purchase an EV. All the major California utilities have worked with the state commission to adopt special EV electricity rates. The deal is, however, that the consumer must notify the utility when they are purchasing an EV, so the utility can monitor its load on their neighborhood transformer. Utilities are rightly concerned that once one EV comes to the neighborhood, soon others will follow. 

The utilities aren’t worried about the overall effect of many EVs on their system, just worried about the location and timing of charging. That is, your distribution transformer may not be sized to handle multiple EVs charging at the same time. And certainly charging at peak demand time (generally late afternoon) could be more demand than the utility system is prepared to deliver. 

Note that on the CA state web site for EV and other clean car guidelines, Step 4 in setting up home charging includes: “Ask [the utility] for an assessment of the transformer and service capacity to your home.” 

I hope manufacturers and utilities are figuring all this out for me. Next year I’d like to get a green loan at a favorable rate to purchase an EV, then be able to bring it home and plug it in. And plug it in again at the office the next day.

Are you planning to purchase an electric vehicle?

Living With Books — Tools

 

Some folks have a few books, or only a stack of children’s books. Some folks have gone E. But for those of us who enjoy turning paper pages and collecting books, it’s an additional pleasure to have reading tools and a comfortable spot or two where reading is enjoyable and productive.

We have a bit over 1,500 books, so far. As personal libraries go, that’s not a big deal. We recently moved from a 2,500 square foot house, where one of the bedrooms was dedicated solely as the library, to a 1,200 square foot apartment. (Blessings to all our friends who schlepped books, cases and shelves down one flight, then up two!) We now have our bookcases split – about 40% in the living room and about 60% in the bedroom – and we love that arrangement. Shelves of books are very comforting, as well as a design element in themselves. As an added benefit, a wall of bookcases is a great sound buffer.

The tools

I’m a keep-it-clean reader and my husband is a mark-it-up reader. (That’s why we have several duplicates in our library.) Therefore, my tools are a bit different from his, and yours will reflect your own reading style. These are the items we must have at hand, always within reach, at each spot where we settle with a book or a newspaper:

• Reading glasses
• Bookmarks
• Small post-it flags
• Standard post-it notes
• Pencil
• Pen
• Highlighter
• Quality art eraser
• Note paper
• Magnifying glass
• Scissors
• Coaster
• Paper napkins and Kleenex
• Dictionary
• I add a nail file; he adds a short ruler

These items will pretty much take care of any contingency while you’re reading, so that you aren’t interrupted to get up to fetch something. From clipping a Sunday newspaper coupon to examining details of a woodcut, you’re covered.

What to put them in

One could salvage a large shoebox or shipping box and dump everything in. But that’s not really living. So at each reading spot, choose a container that is functional, beautiful and suited to its surroundings.

Living room; space on coffee table: If you’ve got this space available and don’t have small children, find a box in real wood, faux wood or a finish that complements your space (mirror tiles?) Most all of the items can be tossed in here, but keep eyeglasses in a divided, padded section or in an eyeglass case. Find a box with a hinged lid to keep the room looking tidy, but leaving tools very accessible.

Living room; space on shelves: Here we needed a bit of bright-work. A used (not yet antique) silver mug, small pot and bread tray were just the trick. Upright items such as pen and scissors stand ready in the mug. The bread tray is just the right size for coasters, napkins, bookmarks, post-its and magnifier. I lined the small pot with thin foam and divided it, to hold two pairs of reading glasses.

Bedroom; bedside: Just about the most loved piece of furniture I own is a small library stand. I don’t know if it’s a real antique or fake, but for $70 it’s wonderful. If I were to build one, it would have a shelf or two on the bottom, but otherwise this one’s perfect. With dictionary and current book on top, I’ve made a “drawer” box for all the smaller tools. (The water-glass coaster goes on the nightstand.) Wheel it close after climbing in bed, and wheel it away in the morning. Absolutely love it!

In the car: Don’t waste time while waiting, read while waiting – while parked, of course. There’s just a minimal set of tools in the seat-divider compartment – but glasses, pen, notepaper and flags are essential.

Others: In some rooms a small basket, in others a clay pot, a large cookie tin (without lid), an ice bucket, a recycled humidor, a brass tray, a heavy glass vase – there are lots of possibilities for your toolbox to add flash and style along with its functionality.

That dictionary

You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too many dictionaries. Wherever you read – put a dictionary there. Even if you slide it under the couch. My back-up dictionary is on the iPhone – great when reading in the car.

____________________

What about you?

Are there additional tools you find essential, or tricks for keeping them handy?

____________________

Also see

highland65’s library database and images

Levenger’s Tools for Serious Readers

The Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski: This history of bookshelves is very interesting, but the Appendix of 25 ways to organize books on shelves is a fun read!

Smart Grid: Hype or Hope?

GreenTech Media (Eric Wesoff) posted a review of comments made recently by Vinod Khosla at GreenBeat 2010. This article relays Khosla’s warnings of hype in Smart Grid.

I couldn’t agree more. Of course, I’m not a renowned venture capitalist, investor or even wealthy entrepreneur, and I’m not making a zillion bucks as a speaker or industry executive. Mine is a small voice in the wilderness.

Backing up to square one, what is Smart Grid? The best description I have read recently was by Kathryn Hamilton, president of the GridWise Alliance, published in various newspapers on October 20 or 21.

There’s also a mini-meme going around in the industry – “How would you explain the Smart Grid to your grandmother?” That’s the definition we need to keep in mind whether we’re technology vendors, utility commissioners or policy wonks. My own version is: “The electricity delivery infrastructure is dangerously old and out of shape. By applying digital communication and equipment, we can make electricity more reliable, more renewable, and add more services.”

Now back to the hype.

Much of the US Smart Grid investment started in Automated Metering Infrastructure (AMI), otherwise known as “smart meters.” Actually, the meters installed outside many residential homes already are pretty smart and under-utilized. The problem is that they don’t have two-way communication. The utility can remotely read the meter with a drive-by van, and some utilities do better with wireless network meter reading. More important, the data that the meter is collecting is only available to the utility and used only for billing (and at a macro level for load planning). Trouble is, changing out all those meters is really, really expensive. And setting up a communication network infrastructure isn’t a piece of cake, either. Plus, the new meters may (or may not) be more accurate – reflected in a homeowner’s increased bill, and creating a bit of backlash.

Another “hot” product in Smart Grid is the home energy display, the first step in the energy version of a Home Area Network (HAN). It’s a small data display to place on your kitchen counter or desk, showing energy consumed and (if programmed) the cost. An active and interested homeowner could learn how to lower his monthly electricity bill with knowledge enabled by this real-time data.

All good, right?

But think about it. Massive, huge amounts of money are going into the end-use-end of the grid. What would it take to get a return on investment?
• Prudent and knowledgeable utility commissions that realistically assign cost recovery or deny projects.
• Active utility commissions that create incentives for utilities to adopt time-of-use rates and demand conservation rates.
• Willing and knowledgeable consumers that actually use data from AMI meters and home displays to change their behavior and lower their consumption.
• A lucky (or wise) choice in the communication method and installation of the communication infrastructure.
• A business case and project plan that gets implemented with no big surprises. See BoulderGate.

On the other hand …

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been busy developing Smart Grid standards for security and interoperability. This is the Grid in Smart Grid.

That is, many of the expected benefits of the Smart Grid have little to do with consumers checking a meter on the kitchen counter. Perhaps the three greatest benefits of this evolution will be:
• Security – a critical infrastructure less vulnerable to cyber terrorism.
• Reliability – fewer and shorter power outages because of more timely load management and pre-emptive system maintenance.
• Renewable power – more flexibility in bringing renewable power online, whether a home rooftop mini wind turbine, a commercial parking garage solar installation or the energy storage capability of electric vehicles.

There’s a lot being written about some of the opportunities I listed above, and to me that is a strong measure of optimism. Huge companies such as Siemens, ABB, GE, IBM, Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Toyota (and other auto makers) are focusing on the equipment related to transmitting and distributing electricity more effectively.

I’d certainly rather we all focused on this hope than the hype.

What are your hopes for the Smart Grid?