Measured Insights
The latest blog posts from our research projects.
Updates from Tianjin: Progress on the GreenGen IGCC project
Having the intercessional UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) meeting in China this week – the last stop before ministers and heads of state meet in Cancun for the sixteenth Conference of Parties (COP-16) – provides a timely opportunity for participants to witness firsthand elements of China’s clean energy and climate policies in action.
Live-blogging from the Tianjin Climate Talks: Oct. 4-9
I’m blogging live from the Tianjin intersessional meetings of the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the last stop on the way to the big Conference of Parties (COP-16) meeting in Cancun, Mexico this November.
Scientists develop map of PM 2.5 levels using satellite data
Canadian scientists Aaron van Donkelaar and Randall Martin at Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, have created a map of global PM 2.5 (air particulates with diameters 2.5 microns or less, which is less than 1/3 the width of a strand of human...
New home – Tsinghua's DESE
I’ve landed back in Beijing for a year of dissertation research. I’m acting as a Senior Scholar based in the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering at Tsinghua University. This is easily the most beautiful building on Tsinghua’s campus – a collaboration between the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and the Italian Ministry for Environment and Territory. It was designed by the Italian architect Mario Cucinella, embodying “green building” principles, including natural ventilation, wastewater recycling, solar energy, rainwater harvesting, and smart energy control technologies. You can read more about the building here.
Having recently relocated from the Yale School of Forestry’s Kroon Hall, this building feels a lot like home.
Chinfographics: Data visualizations of all things China
Check out Chinfographics, a great data visualization site that has a lot of useful graphics of data, statistics, and other phenomena regarding China. Each graphic is accompanied by a brief blog post explaining the data used to the develop the graphic, along with a...
Just discovered: Gapminder
I recently discovered Gapminder.org, a non-profit data visualization venture whose mantra is "Unveiling the beauty of statistics for a fact based world view." While started as an independent initiative in Stockholm back in 2005, it caught the eye of Google, which...
More China Copenhagen Conspiracy Theories Revealed
The German newspaper Der Spiegel recently released further "insider reports" that China and India "sabotaged" the Copenhagen climate negotiations last December. This time not only were the reporters "in the room," as Mark Lynas's editorial ("How do I know China...
Steven Chu and I quoted in the NY Times
My 15 seconds of fame with U.S. Department of Energy Secretary, Steven Chu:
The 2 Biggest Carbon Emitters Find Common Ground in Clean Energy Technology – NYTimes.com
Angel Hsu, a doctoral candidate at Yale University, told the commission that the United States is “already late in coming to the game” of green energy cooperation with China.
Major economies meet behind closed doors
Representatives from each of the 17 countries in the Major Economies Forum (MEF) met behind closed doors April 18-19 in Washington, D.C. to further climate and energy discussions. The meeting was touted as an attempt to try to hammer out some lingering issues from the Copenhagen negotiations last December.
The Certainty of Uncertainty and the Importance of Stupidity
Before she could sit down to dinner last night, a friend of mine and fellow doctoral student blurted, breathlessly, "I'm not sure if I want to do my Ph.d anymore." For those of us currently suffering through a Ph.d, this thought has at least once, if not multiple...
