Posts tagged data
SmartRegs by the numbers: city to offer additional cash rebates; exceeds compliance benchmarks
Jul 18th
The current numbers indicate that the city has exceeded its first-year benchmarks for SmartRegs compliance. Complete SmartRegs implementation data is expected to be shared with the City Council at a study session on Tuesday, Aug. 23.
Residential Sustainability Coordinator Megan Cuzzolino says that the EnergySmart program has played a huge part in getting property owners in the door.
“It creates an easy and affordable path to compliance,” said Cuzzolino. “With so many rebates available, an Energy Advisor to walk owners through the process and free installation of energy-efficiency devices that count toward compliance, it only makes sense to take advantage of these opportunities.”
Beginning Aug. 1 the City of Boulder will offer additional rebates of up to $500 for rental properties working toward compliance. These rebates are provided on a first-come, first-served basis and are in addition to EnergySmart and other government/utility rebates.
The SmartRegs compliance path through EnergySmart provides a Home Energy Assessment for $120. The assessment includes:
· A licensed SmartRegs inspector who will visit rental property(ies) and complete the prescriptive checklist for property owners;
· Expert guidance and recommendations from a personal Energy Advisor to help make decisions on the most cost-effective energy efficiency measures; and
· Assistance with rebate paperwork and contractor selection.
The SmartRegs ordinances, which require all rental housing in Boulder to meet a basic energy efficiency standard by 2019, went into effect on Jan. 3.
For more information about SmartRegs, including new city rebate details, visit www.bouldercolorado.gov/smartregs.
To sign up for EnergySmart, call 303-544-1000 or visit www.EnergySmartYES.com for more information.
CU RESEARCHERS DEVELOP NEW SOFTWARE TO ADVANCE BRAIN IMAGE RESEARCH
Jun 26th
A University of Colorado Boulder research team has developed a new software program allowing neuroscientists to produce single brain images pulled from hundreds of individual studies, trimming weeks and even months from what can be a tedious, time-consuming research process.
The development of noninvasive neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI, spurred a huge amount of scientific research and led to substantial advances in the understanding of the human brain and cognitive function. However, instead of having too little data, researchers are besieged with too much, according to Tal Yarkoni, a postdoctoral fellow in CU-Boulder’s psychology and neuroscience department.
The new software developed by Yarkoni and his colleagues can be programmed to comb scientific literature for published articles relevant to a particular topic, and then to extract all of the brain scan images from those articles. Using a statistical process called “meta-analysis,” researchers are then able to produce a consensus “brain activation image” reflecting hundreds of studies at a time.
“Because the new approach is entirely automated, it can analyze hundreds of different experimental tasks or mental states nearly instantaneously instead of requiring researchers to spend weeks or months conducting just one analysis,” said Yarkoni.
Yarkoni is the lead author on a paper introducing the new approach to analyzing brain imaging data that appears in the June 26 edition of the journal Nature Methods. Russell Poldrack of the University of Texas at Austin, Thomas Nichols of the University of Warwick in England, David Van Essen of Washington University in St. Louis and Tor Wager of CU-Boulder contributed to the paper.
Brain scanning techniques such as fMRI have revolutionized scientists’ understanding of the human mind by allowing researchers to peer deep into people’s brains as they engage in mental activities as diverse as reciting numbers, making financial decisions or simply daydreaming. But interpreting the results of brain imaging studies is often more difficult, according to Yarkoni.
“There’s often the perception that what we’re doing when we scan someone’s brain is literally seeing their thoughts and feelings in action, but it’s actually much more complicated,” Yarkoni said. “The colorful images we see are really just estimates, because each study gives us a somewhat different picture. It’s only by combining the results of many different studies that we get a really clear picture of what’s going on.”
The ability to look at many different mental states simultaneously allows researchers to ask interesting new questions. For instance, researchers can pick out a specific brain region they’re interested in and determine which mental states are most likely to produce activation in that region, he said. Or they can calculate how likely a person is to be performing a particular task given their pattern of brain activity.
In their study, the research team was able to distinguish people who were experiencing physical pain during brain scanning from people who were performing a difficult memory task or viewing emotional pictures with nearly 80 percent accuracy. The team expects performance levels to improve as their software develops, and believes their tools will improve researchers’ ability to decode mental states from brain activity.
“We don’t expect to be able to tell what people are thinking or feeling at a very detailed level,” Yarkoni said. “But we think we’ll be able to distinguish relatively broad mental states from one another. And we’re hopeful that might even eventually extend to mental health disorders, so that these tools will be useful for clinical diagnosis.”
Boulder’s Energy Future: ‘Business Matters’ events scheduled
May 27th
The City of Boulder recognizes the importance of informing and engaging the local business community in the decision about the future of Boulder’s energy supply. In response to questions, the city is holding four ‘Business Matters’ meetings to provide information on the research and analysis to date, and to gather feedback.
Wednesday, June 8, 7:30 to 9 a.m., Boulder’s Dinner Theater, 5501 Arapahoe Ave.
Wednesday, June 8, 4:30 to 6 p.m., Namasté Solar, 4571 Broadway
Friday, June 10, 7:30 to 9 a.m., Hotel Boulderado, 2115 13th St.
Monday, June 13, 7:30 to 9 a.m., Covidien, 5920 Longbow Dr., Building #6, Red Rocks Auditorium
These events are being co-sponsored by the hosting businesses and the Boulder County Business Report, and the city appreciates their support.
The city is also holding the first two of its ‘Coffee Meetups’ series in late May and early June. These offer a more informal opportunity to receive status updates, ask questions and provide feedback. Scheduled events include:
Friday, May 27, 7:30 to 9 a.m., The Cup, 1521 Pearl St.
Friday, June 3, 7:30 to 9 a.m., Caffé Sole, 637R South Broadway
Additional ‘Coffee Meetups’ will be scheduled throughout the summer and will be posted on the project website.
Boulder’s Energy Future goal is to ensure that residential, business and other institutional customers have access to safe, reliable energy that is competitively priced, increasingly clean, and is as locally produced as possible – giving customers more choice and control in their power.
The city’s energy team is focused on gathering the facts and data needed to inform decisions about the best option for the community. While no decision has been made about how to accomplish this goal, analyses that take into account Boulder’s specific objectives are underway. Currently, three options are being explored:
Forming a new agreement with our current provider, Xcel Energy, that takes into account the community’s goals;
Creating a local power utility; or,
Leaving the system the way it is.
The city began receiving reports from consultants and committees who are studying the options in April. Over the next few months, council will evaluate the information and determine whether to put any measures on the ballot for voter consideration in November.
Anyone seeking more information about the Energy Future project is encouraged to visit www.BoulderEnergyFuture.com or call Andrew Barth at 303-441-1937 or Sarah Huntley at 303-441-3155.