Tom Raftery's weekly newsletter - Issue #8

Welcome to issue #8 of this newsletter. If you are reading this on Friday 6th, then the schedule function of the newsletter works like a charm, but if you are reading it on Thursday 5th, then - uh oh!

I'm travelling to Athens on the 6th to speak to CEPIS about the importance of being Green for IT. Consequently, I'm putting the newsletter together the day before for a change. We'll see how well that works. 

If you'd like to check out my slides from the CEPIS talk, I'll be adding them to my SlideShare account on Saturday

And now, on with the news...

The Internet of Things (IoT)

Lots of stories in the IoT space this week - French comms co Sigfox are getting busy in the US, Honeywell has set up a dedicated IoT unit, and even hamsters (awww) are now being instrumented

Energy

In Dubai, the record for low cost of solar power has again been broken. Solar there is now costing a mere $0.03/kWh, well below the cost of gas or coal in the country

And in a residential setting solar seems to be contagious, or at least viral. The majority of solar installations come via referrals - no shock there, everyone loves solar

And energy storage is booming too. The US market grew 243% in 2015

New Record Set for World's Cheapest Solar, Now Undercutting Coal — www.bloomberg.com Solar power set another record-low price as renewable energy developers working in the United Arab Emirates shrugged off financial turmoil in the industry to promise projects costs that undercut even coal-fired generators.

Solar power is contagious. These maps show how it spreads — www.vox.com One of the big reasons for solar's spread: It's viral.

US Energy Storage Market Grew 243% in 2015, Largest Year on Record — www.greentechmedia.com The annual U.S. energy storage market is projected to reach 1.7 gigawatts by 2020—with a value of $2.5 billion.

CleanTech/Misc

In CleanTech/misc news, we see that Tesla has brought forward its aim of building 500,000 cars a year from its original ambitious 2020 date to the now even more ambitious 2018, presumably on the strength of the 400,000+ pre-orders for its Model 3

And, is no-one safe from having their jobs taken by robots? This week we learned that robots are better at surgery than actual surgeons when performing the same procedure

Tesla hits the accelerator, aims to build 500,000 cars a year by 2018 — techcrunch.com Tesla says it is expecting to hit its goal of producing 500,000 cars annually — including the Model S, Model X and Model 3 — two years earlier than..

Robot surgeon outperforms human colleagues doing same procedure — techcrunch.com It's another victory for the machines: a robotic surgical system outperformed humans and robot-assisted human operators in a soft-tissue procedure, bringing..

Climate

In our climate news this week we have two stories. The first piece speculates on a President Trump Paris Climate Accord, while the second talks about the impact of water shortages on various parts of the world as climate change effects become more pronounced 

Donald Trump's election would derail Paris climate deal, warns its architect — www.theguardian.com A climate change denier as US president would dramatically threaten global action to cut carbon emissions, says ex-French foreign minister Laurent Fabius

Global water shortages to deliver 'severe hit' to economies, World Bank warns — www.theguardian.com The Middle East, north Africa, central Asia and south Asia due to suffer biggest economic hit from water scarcity as climate change takes hold, report finds

Finally

Thanks for taking the time to read this newsletter. I hope you found it interesting

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Not Even Hamsters Are Safe From The Internet Of Things — hackaday.com The internet of things is this strange marketing buzzword that seems to escape from the aether and infect our toasters and refrigerators. Now even a hamster is not safe.

Honeywell Creates New Division Based on the Internet of Things — www.automationworld.com The Digital Transformation unit will help Honeywell Process Solutions’ customers more easily leverage the data, analytical, cloud and cybersecurity...

Sigfox Just Got Serious About Invading the U.S. Internet of Things — fortune.com The French company now plans to roll out its sensor-friendly networks in 100 U.S. cities by the end of the year.