Waste_Inbox

The Big Pivot: New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman is raising eyebrows with his recent proclamation that the current economic meltdown will develop into a historic fulcrum that fundamentally alters the way our society consumes energy and resources.

The NYT also published this provocative report today about the alleged death of conspicuous consumption, floating the theory that this recession's severity and length will produce a new generation of thrifty misers the likes of which we haven't seen since the Great Depression.

Clearly, consumer spending has taken a big dive, and, as recently noted here, other indicators such as waste volume are following suit. But I continue to believe that the future direction and dimensions of this downturn are utterly unknowable; that the prognosticators haven't a clue; and that as we scuffle through this mess we will encounter many surprises -- good and bad -- along the way.

Newfangled Networks: Speaking of changing how we consume energy, the Washington Post today published this article about "smart grid" techology and a new group of economic stimulus-funded test projects aimed at making it easier for businesses and consumers to cut consumption in relatively painless, nondisruptive ways:

"Smart grid refers to an array of switches, sensors and computer chips that will be installed at various stages in the energy-delivery process -- in power stations, in electricity meters, in clothes dryers -- in the next two decades, if the vision holds and the technology works."

This is sophisticated, space-agey stuff. As I read the article, "The Jetsons" theme song started playing in my head. "... Here's George Jetson ... his boy, Elroy ..."

We'll keep an eye on companies like Duke Energy, one of the big players in the smart grid movement, and places like Boulder, Colo., and Cincinnati, Ohio, where pilot programs will soon be starting up.

Pete Fehrenbach is managing editor of Waste & Recycling News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

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