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STEM

Supporting DBEs

Supporting DBEs? Play the Long Game

By Energy Rant No Comments
We live in a world of instant gratification and making this quarter’s numbers, or at most, annual numbers, is the main goal – except, of course, for zero-carbon goals that no one knows how to solve. Too often, governors, mayors, legislatures, and companies throw goals out there 30 years or more down the road, making it someone else’s problem. Planning, setting critical milestones, and preparing for the next five or ten years, or even longer, requires discipline, but it is also where the big payoffs to success are born. Not surprisingly, I learned the long game about taking on challenges…
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STEM

STEM Brilliance for You and Your Kids

By Energy Rant No Comments
It’s been cold here in the Midwest. In ten days in La Crosse, WI, where I am, the average low was -13.7F, average high, 4.3, and the average of averages over the ten days was -4.7F. We smashed one daily record. There have been no all-time lows, but this is a grind. In the middle of this grind, I woke up one morning thinking about greenhouse gases, GHGs. There is very little GHG in this weather because the dominant GHG is water vapor, and below-zero air has almost no capacity to hold water. Then I got to thinking; this is…
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STEM & Energy Efficiency – Begin with the End in Mind

By Energy Efficiency, Energy Rant No Comments
It is awfully unfortunate that “begin with the end in mind” has been beaten to a cliché, because it is SO applicable to everything.  In recent years, I have seen about 5,200 articles, blogs, emails, newscasts, gum wrappers, and fortune cookie messages that promote STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math).  Perhaps I was a complete dork when I was a high school senior deciding what major to pursue in college, but it came down to three factors: what am I good at, what is the demand for the profession, and what is the pay for the gig? Begin: Amusing, Worthwhile,…
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