Three upcoming events in New York City

I’m going to be in New York May 26 through May 30th and I’ve got three big public events set up during that time.

May 28, 3:00 pm: Join Dean Putney, BoingBoing’s intrepid tech guru, and me for an informal Memorial Day picnic in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. We’ll be meeting out front of the Brooklyn Museum and we’ll be bringing bubbles. You bring your food and any cool projects you’d like to show off to other Happy Mutants.

May 29, 6:00 pm: I’ll be talking to the Science Writers of New York about my book, Before the Lights Go Out, the process of book writing, and the benefits of working online. The talk will be at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, 219 West 40th Street, in room 330. It’s free and open to the public, but you do need to RSVP. If you want to buy a copy of Before the Lights Go Out, I’ll have some on hand to sell and sign. They’re $24 and I can accept cash or check.

May 30, 6:30 pm: I’ll be leading a panel on decentralized/distributed electricity generation. From DIY home power projects, to the benefits (and problems) of fitting smaller scale power into the grid, this panel will look at what happens when we start making electricity on a smaller scale. Joining me are Chris Hackett—host of the Science Channel’s Stuck with Hackett—and Susan Covino of PJM Interconnect, one of the independent organizations that controls movement of electricity around the grid. Again, this is something you should RSVP for.  It’ll be at 199 Lafayette Street, Third Floor, in Manhattan. If you want to buy a copy of Before the Lights Go Out, I’ll have some on hand to sell and sign. They’re $24 and I can accept cash or check.

Hope to see you at these events!

Events in the Bay Area – May 2 and May 3

I’ve got a whirlwind tour of book events set up in the Bay Area for May 2nd and May 3rd. All of these events are open to the public, but you do need to RSVP for some of them.

May 2

Noon: Speaking in San Francisco to the San Fran chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The subject: Electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy.

6:00 pm: I’ll be giving the same presentation in Berkeley to the Berkeley Science Review.

May 3

Noon: Speaking in Berkeley at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on the “6 Things Scientists Can Learn from Science Journalists”.  Building 90, room 3122.

7:00 pm: Speaking in El Cerrito at Barnes and Noble. I’ll be talking about Before the Lights Go Out, and about why I think online comment sections were a key part of helping me write a better book.

Book launch party for Before the Lights Go Out – April 19th in Minneapolis

Please join me April 19th, 6:30 pm, at the Bakken Museum to     celebrate the publication of Before the Lights Go Out, my new book about the future of energy in the United States.

I’ll be giving a talk about our energy past, present, and future. There will also be a book signing, snacks, and an opportunity to experience electricity first-hand with the help of the Bakken’s shocking Leyden jar.  If you’re not familiar with the Bakken, it’s a whole museum dedicated to the history and science of electricity. The perfect place to celebrate a book about the electric grid. 

The party is hosted by the Bakken Museum, the Minnesota chapter of the US Green Building Council and the AIA Minnesota Committee on the Environment. The evening is sponsored by the Weidt Group.

The event is free and open to the public. Seating is limited to 70.

More about my talk:

Putting the Fun Back in Infrastructure

Electricity just happens. Flip a switch, and the lights turn on. The system is reliable enough and invisible enough that it’s easy to spend your entire life not knowing how it works, even though you use it every day. But in an age of limited resources and environmental change, ignoring our electric infrastructure is a luxury we can no longer afford. The good news: Infrastructure is fascinating. Maggie Koerth-Baker explains how our flawed and surprisingly precarious electric system evolved, how it controls what we can and can’t do to solve our energy crisis today, and what we can learn about the future of energy by studying its past.