EleBlog

29 Jun, 2009

Every month, the American Institute of Architects reports on what its members are seeing -- the "work on the boards" data.

Is this scientific? I trust it more than "sentiment" indices (which ask people how they feel about things). The survey that leads to this report is asking AIA member what they are seeing at their companies. Plus, the guy who supervises things (Kermit Baker, AIA's chief economist) seems to me to be an economist who you might actually trust (as opposed to, say, Ben Bernanke!).

One month ago, the "architecture billing index" (official name) showed "optimism," according to reports. The report for May  put the index at 42.9, up a smidge from the 42.8 in April. Essentially, no movement. Two interesting notes (see the longer of two reports on the June data here).

1. Baker's comments noted that the May data "indicates that business conditions at architecture firms are still deteriorating." That tempers the optimism with which the report on April's data was greeted.

2. There is a component of this report -- "inquiries for new project activity" -- that came in strong for the 3rd straight month. But here's what Baker wrote about that:

29 Jun, 2009

For reasons that anger me too much to note here, I didn't get to Philadelphia for the PV America event a few weeks ago. Here's what people who DID show up had to say about it:

29 Jun, 2009

I stumbled over a LOOOONG web page of links, apparently updated monthly, on the Financial Crisis -- from a legal point-of-view. It's on the site of Morrison Foerster. There are an incredible number of links. Here's the directory to the page (these are not the links, but the LISTS of links on the page) --

29 Jun, 2009

I just stumbled across a page on the AIA site with PDFs of presentation from the architects' 2009 annual convention. Some stuff EleBlog visitors might find interesting:


The first two are 13 pages each; the last is 5.

The 2nd is from CEDIA; the 3rd is from Lutron.

25 Jun, 2009

I'm not happy for my country, but I am reasonably enjoying the fact that I was right about this (at least in the short term). I've added some boldfacing to the piece and a comment at the end.

- - - - -

25 Jun, 2009

Jerry Yudelson blogs weekly for TEDGreenRoom.com. Disclaimer: I work (as a freelance writer) for TED and TEDMAG, so this isn't entirely disinterested.

However, you SHOULD get over to his most recent post, What Makes Smart Meters So Smart? Short, to the point, and with links if you want more.

25 Jun, 2009

The April issue of WIRED magazine put the grid on the cover. I know this comes a couple of months late, but if you didn't see it, and you don't get the magazine (and most people certainly do NOT read the thing and do NOT receive it) -- see the thing here.