Summary of Fall 2008 Technology / Public Policy Project Courses

Project Course: 19-452 and 88-222 (Project Course #1)

Classroom: Porter Hall A18C

Title: How Pittsburgh Residents Can Significantly Reduce Their Energy Consumption

Faculty: Baruch Fischhoff and Ed Rubin

Project Managers: Lee Gresham and Warren Katzenstein

Presentation Dates: Tuesday, October 7, 2008 and Thursday, December 4, 2008

Presentation Times: 3:30 PM -- 5:00 PM

Presentation Site: Baker Hall, Room 129, EPP Conference Room

Description:

Currently, efforts to reduce energy use have focused on nations, states, and corporations.  Ultimately, though, individuals are responsible for the majority of energy consumed worldwide.  Our project focuses on how Pittsburgh residents can achieve significant reductions in energy use without sacrificing their current standard of living. The Pittsburgh Climate Initiative has already laid out broad goals for sustainable energy consumption in its Climate Action Plan, but much of the Plan focuses on critical city infrastructure and services rather than the choices made by Pittsburgh residents.

The project examines three key domains of individual energy use – home energy, transportation and goods and services – looking at the potential for significant reduction in energy consumption in each. Students will identify gaps between residents' awareness of the need for a reduction in energy consumption and their adoption of the actions necessary to accomplish this goal. Within this context, the project will examine the institutional and economic barriers to action, including inconsistent incentives, such as those of landlords and tenants with regard to energy efficiency. The end goal for the project is to provide the Pittsburgh Climate Initiative with recommendations on the most effective government, technology, and education-based solutions for reducing Pittsburgh residents' energy consumption.

Project Course: 19-452 and 88-222 (Project Course #2)

Classroom: Porter Hall A18C

Title: The Digital Television (DTV) Transition

Faculty: Marvin Sirbu

Instructor: Victoria Hill

Project Managers: Alexandre Mateus and Rathapon Saruthirathanaworakun

Presentation Dates: Thursday, September 25th, 2008 and
Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Presentation Times: 3:00 PM -- 5:00 PM

Presentation Sites: Baker Hall, Room 129, EPP Conference Room

Description:

After February 17, 2009, all high-power television broadcasters, who are now transmit in analog format, will start broadcasting in digital format. This transition will allow broadcasters to make better use of the bandwidth available in each channel to transmit at a higher quality, possibly in high definition, or to transmit more than one simultaneous content feed (multicast). As a consequence, valuable spectrum will be released for other uses, such as public safety communications. This spectrum has already been auctioned and needs to be reallocated soon after the transition. The transition from analog to digital will affect all TV viewers that rely on receiving Over-The-Air (OTA) television signals. In order to be able to receive the new digital transmissions, TV viewers may need to purchase equipment that is able to decode digital signals: either new digital television sets or digital-to-analog converters that can convert the digital signal into their old analog televisions. The government has put in place a campaign to inform customers of the DTV transition, as well as a program to subsidize the purchase of digital-to-analog converters to allow people to keep using their old television sets without having to incur great expenses. In this project, the students will identify and address problems in several facets of the DTV transition, with a special focus on problems that users that rely on Over-The-Air television may face through February 18, 2009. Their approach is to create a troubleshooting resource in the form of a wiki, whose goal is to assist individuals by providing information on DTV transition issues.