Between the Poles

Obama Asks McNealy to Prepare Paper on Open Source

Scott McNealy, Chairman and a co-founder of Sun Microsystems, has told the BBC that he has been asked by President Obama to prepare a paper on open source for the new administration. McNealy told the BBC that he wants to make sure that  the government avoids getting "locked in" to one specific vendor or company.

Budget 2009: Economic Stimulus for Infrastructure in Canada

The 2009 federal budget tabled yesterday by the Government which will be voted on this evening allocates C$12 billion in federal funds to infrastructure over the next two years.  The federal contribution, however, requires matching funds from the provinces of C$9 billion and an unspecified amount from local governments.  In addition there will be federal spending on infrastructure that it it is solely responsible for.  Some of the projects that have been identified include

C$4 billion for provincial and municipal infrastructure such as roads and sewers

C$2 billion for universities and colleges

C$500 million for electronic medical records

C$269 million for federal bridges

C$407 million for Via rail for the Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto corridor

C$750 million for the Canadian Foundation for Innovation

C$50 million for the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo

C$250 million for federal labs such as the Canadian Food Inspection Agency

C$515 million to repair schools, water treatment plants and other infrastructure in aboriginal communities

According to the Globe and Mail the total amount of public and private funding that is expected to flow into infrastructure projects this year is estimated to be C$61 billion.  It is estimated that every C$10 billion in spending creates 115 000 jobs and increases the GDP by 1.5%.

NSDI 2.0 A Concept for American Recovery and Reinvestment

A number of folks from diverse backgrounds have prepared an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that is designed to not only create jobs and foster economic growth and competitiveness, but with a long term focus to create a national spatial digital infrastructure (NSDI), an online information network that would allow the rebuilding of America in a "smart, efficient, environmentally conscientious and sustainable way."

This “NSDI 2.0” initiative is intended to not only address the issues identified in the ASCE 2009 Report Card, but to provide the US with a national spatial data infrastructure that would provide what President Obama said to in his inauguration speech as "lay[ing] a new foundation for growth."

2009 Report Card for America's Infrastructure

The American Society for Civil Engineers just released their updated 2009 Report Card. The ASCE issued report cards in 2003 and 2005.  Since the last Report Card in 2005, the grades have not improved. US Infrastructure still gets a grade of D, but the estimated cost of upgrading it to an acceptable standard has now risen to $2.2 trillion, from $1.6 trillion in 2005. The ASCE looked at 15 types of infrastructure.  Of these since 2005, aviation, public transit, and roads got worse and only one, energy, improved.

Roads, D-

Americans spending more than 4.2 billion hours a year stuck in traffic.

Drinking water, D-

"Leaking pipes lose an estimated seven billion gallons of clean drinking water a day."

Inland waterways, D-

"The average age of all federally owned or operated locks is nearly 60 years, well past their planned design life of 50 years.

Wastewater systems, D-

"Aging systems discharge billions of gallons of untreated wastewater into U.S. surface waters each year."

Levees, D-

"Many levees are locally owned and maintained, but they are aging and their 'reliability' is not known."

Solid waste, C+

"More than a third was recycled or recovered, presenting a 7 percent increase since 2000."

Bridges, C

"One in four of the country's bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete."

Rail, C-

"a freight train is three times as fuel efficient as a truck, and traveling by passenger rail uses 20 percent less energy per mile than traveling by car."

Energy, D+

"Progress has been made in grid reinforcement since 2005 and substantial investment in generation, transmission and distribution is expected over the next two decades."

Obama on Emission Standards

In 2005, Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, asked for a waiver from federal guidelines for emission standards, so that California could mandate higher standards on automobile CO₂ emission. The federal government regulates automobile emission standards because it is responsible for interstate commerce. The Bush administration said no.  Yesterday President Obama said that he would reverse the decision. Apparently 13 other states and the District of Columbia have also asked for waivers.  It seems that American car manufacturers oppose waivers, because they claim that it means that they will have to make different cars for California than for the rest of the US.  The reality is that California is so large economically, if I remember it's the World's fifth largest economy, that this would set the standard for not only the rest of the US,  but Canada, Japan, and other countries exporting to the US.  Obama has also suggested that there is a link with the $825 billion stimulus package which Congress is working on because one of the goals of that bill is clean-energy products and other green objectives. It also tends to lessen US dependence on oil from parts of the world with whom the US is not on the best of terms.

President Obama also seems to support the introduction of a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions.  And it has been suggested that he may be willing to look at how the US might join the rest of World in finding something to replace the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Economic Stimulus in Canada: C$7 billion on Infrastructure including Sustainable Green

Infrastructure

Monday the Transport Minister of the Government of Canada announced plans to spend at least $7 billion on new infrastructure projects including roads, bridges, water and sewer systems, as well as transit, as part of an economic stimulus package.  The Minister outlined how the money will be allocated to different types of projects.

    * $4 billion for an infrastructure stimulus fund to help provinces, territories and municipalities.
    * $2 billion for repairs and construction of colleges and universities.
    * $1 billion for sustainable green infrastructure projects.

In Ontario the Provincial Government has already initiated a $30 billion, five-year plan to invest in public infrastructure.

Cleaner Energy

In yesterday's Speech from the Throne, the government promised to support the development of cleaner energy sources including natural gas in Canada’s North and nuclear energy. The Government promised to ensure that Canada’s regulatory framework is ready to respond to new provincial nuclear projects.

Climate Change

The government also promised to address climate change including reducing Canada’s total greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020.  The government plans to work with provincial governments and others to develop and implement a North America-wide cap and trade system for greenhouse gases.  The government plans to set an objective that 90 percent of Canada’s electricity needs will be provided by non-emitting sources such as hydro, nuclear, clean coal or wind power by 2020.

In addition the Government plans to bring in legislation to ban all bulk water transfers or exports from Canadian freshwater basins.

More details are expected in the budget which will be tabled Tuesday.

Intelligent Cities Conference 2009

I've just returned from spending a few days last week at the The Intelligent Cities Conference 2009 (ICC2009), where I was one of the keynote speakers.   It was held at the King Abdulaziz Historical Hall, Umm Al-Qura University, Abdiyah - Makkah and organized by a collaboration between the Holy Makkah Municipality, the Institute of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques of Hajj Research, and the Communications and Information Technology Commission.

Saudi Arabia has made building new intelligent cities and transforming existing ones a national priority.  Saudi Arabia is launching six economic cities which are planned to be be completed by the year 2020. The intention is that these six new industrialized cities will diversify the economy of Saudi Arabia and promote economic development in each region of the country.  Cities underway or planned include the King Abdullah Economic City, near Rabigh on the western coast; the Knowledge Economic City, near Medina; and the Prince Abdulaziz bin Mousaed Economic City, in the north.  These cities are intended to be industrial centers that function also as housing and commercial hubs. The Saudi Arabian General Investment Authority (SAGIA) forecasts that these cities to add $150 billion to the country’s GDP by 2020, create one million new jobs and house five million people.

This conference was focussed on intelligent cities technologies that could help in improving the services for the pilgrims visiting Mecca, to improve the services to the citizens and residents of Mecca, and to enhance Mecca as an example and trend setter in the field of intelligent cities.  The conference organizers invited a wide range of participants and speakers including public and private sector decision makers, business leaders, technology providers, investors, and developers.

A Proposal for Reinvigorating the American Economy Through Investment in the US National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI)

A really interesting proposal prepared by Lisa Campbell, Autodesk, Dr. John Curlander, Microsoft, Steven R. Hagan, ORACLE,  Michael T. Jones, Google, and Gen. Jack Pellicci, U.S. Army (Ret.), Intergraph, entitled A Proposal for Reinvigorating the American Economy Through Investment in the US National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) has just been released.  The idea is, as part of the economic stimulus package that Washington is working on, to include funding for geospatial data collection including imagery, terrain, parcels, ecosystem, and 3D urban structure and infrastructure data and processing initiatives designed to support NSDI development, as well as direct funding to initiate a public/private partnership efforts to design and deploy a nationally-scalable, interoperable, secure, and reliable NSDI including urban design, infrastructure and modeling data.

President Obama's Inauguration: On Digital Infrastructure

In his inauguration speech, President Obama said

"The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act - not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth.  We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together.  We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise healthcare's quality and lower its costs.  We will harness the sun and the winds and the soils to fuel our cars and run our factories.  And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age.  All this we can do.  And all this we will do."

Practically what seems to be happening is that Congress intends to put a lot of money, the House of Representatives' bill specifies $825 billion, into traditional infrastructure projects. To get some idea of how this money may be spent the US Conference of Mayors January 17 of this year produced an updated "ready to go" report detailing 18,750 local infrastructure projects that are “ready to go" in 779 cities. In total these projects represent an infrastructure investment of $149 billion that would produce an estimated 1.6 million jobs in 2009 and 2010. These projects fall into the areas of Community Development, Energy and  Green,  Transit Equipment and Infrastructure, City Streets/Metro Roads, Airport Technology and Infrastructure, Amtrak, Water and Wastewater Infrastructure, School Modernization, Public Housing Modernization, and Public Safety Jobs and Technology.  As an example, Las Vegas is proposing a number of project relating to rehabilitating downtown Las Vegas including park reconstruction, undergrounding aerial utility facilities,  rehabiliataing the old Las Vegas Post Office,  a new city hall and parking garage, and a performing arts center.

But to me the exciting thing is that the House bill also proposes putting a portion of this into high technology projects, $30 billion into computerizing medical records, $11 billion into smarter electrical distribution grids, and $6 billion to improve broadband access in rural and underserved communities.  A report The Digital Road to Recovery: A Stimulus Plan to Create Jobs, Boost Productivity and Revitalize America by the Information and Technology Foundation predicts that these investments in America’s digital infrastructure will lead to significant job creation in the short run. The ITIF estimated that an "additional investment of $30 billion in America’s IT network infrastructure in 2009 will create approximately 949,000 U.S. jobs." The investment in new technologies is seen as laying a foundation for productivity gains and innovation, and is what Obama was referring to when he referred to "lay[ing] a new foundation for growth."