Technology

The New Great Race - - Tesla versus Clarity

Terry Tamminen — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:14:00 -0400

Listening to battery enthusiasts wax poetic about the Tesla recently - - and seeing a few of them appearing on the streets of west Los Angeles - - I began thinking about the old Tony Curtis film "The Great Race" (remember every time he smiled, there was a shiny sparkle of superiority that gleamed from his teeth?). The roads and Holiday Inns have improved dramatically since the period depicted in the movie, but the idea of testing the claims of exciting new technology at the dawn of a new transportation age is very much the same. So let's have a 21^st Century "Great Race" and pit the Tesla against the other electric car on the market today, the Honda Clarity.

The Tesla is an electric sports car powered by batteries, while the Clarity is an electric sedan powered by hydrogen (a fuel cell converts the hydrogen to electricity). The range of each is rated by USEPA-approved testing at about 230 miles. The similarities end there however - - the Tesla is the fastest production car ever built at zero to 60 mph, giving the little hot rod a distinct advantage that would seem to make a race with a Clarity anything but "great". Or would it?

The venue for the race has already been set - - in late May, hydrogen enthusiasts are staging a road rally from BC to BC (Baja California to British Columbia), some 1400 miles up the west coast of North America. The idea is to demonstrate the commercialization of numerous hydrogen vehicles and the fueling stations along the way - - the "Hydrogen Highway" - - that will power the 2010 winter Olympics in Whistler near Vancouver. Already, clean electric buses powered by hydrogen fuel cells shuttle skiers around the resorts and slopes of the soon-to-be Olympic venue.

So all that's needed for The New Great Race is to get a Tesla to participate. Surely the champions of battery technology, the undisputed 0-60 mph speed record-holders, would accept such a challenge. Well, given that they haven't, let's use a little math and imagination to stage The New Great Race anyway.

Acceleration speeds aside, highway laws in the four states/provinces along the route will limit competitors to something around 60 miles an hour. The 1400-mile distance means that each car will be driving for about 23.3 hours. At 230 miles range between fueling stops, the cars will also each stop 6 times. It takes me about 7 minutes to refuel my Honda Clarity, so add about 40 minutes for refueling and it will take Team Hydrogen about 24 hours to get from Tijuana to Vancouver.

Team Battery, however, will need four hours of charging time for each battery refueling according to the Tesla website. That's 24 hours for charging stops in addition to the 23.3 hours of driving for a total of about 48 hours to cover the same distance. Oh well, The New Great Race isn't so great after all.

In recent testimony before Congress, Energy Secretary Steven Chu acknowledged that for batteries to compete with the performance expected by consumers - - and delivered today by the Honda Clarity and other hydrogen vehicles - - it will take $2 billion of taxpayer subsidies (in the current energy bill for starters) and many years of R&D. The results are uncertain, as recent announcements by MIT researchers suggest - - their "breakthrough" in the lab with lithium batteries that dramatically decreased charging times is years from commercialization and doesn't address the half ton of batteries you still need to lug around to power a car, which makes the battery-electric vehicle much less efficient than hydrogen-electric vehicles.

By the way, the hype around plug-in electric/gasoline hybrids is also deflated when examined in a distance-driving setting like this. That technology would either make all but 40 miles of the trip on gasoline (the range of the batteries) or stop 35 times to recharge, adding days to the trip.

While all of these technologies are important to help us kick our oil addiction and solve climate change, the clear winner of The New Great Race is definitely hydrogen. Cue the sparkling smile and roll the cameras!

Digital Media, Literacy Instruction And The Linchpin: Well-Trained Teachers

Lisa Guernsey — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:30:00 -0400

A recent article about the 4th grade reading slump, in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, features a blueprint for change built on a provocative premise. The authors argue that instead of banning, disdaining or simply ignoring digital media in the classroom, educators should be emboldened -- and supported -- to use as much of it as they can.

The article, "TV Guidance," was written by James Paul Gee, a literacy professor at Arizona State University and Michael Levine, executive director of the Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop and a senior associate at Yale University's Zigler Center. They write:

"Current literacy practices and policies have cost tens of billions of dollars over the past decade with almost no integration of the new digital tools and teaching practices that have the potential to build the skills and knowledge demanded by universities and employers in the twenty-first century."

Meanwhile, they point out, digital media -- whether TV shows, games, Web sites or social and virtual-world networks -- have become mainstays in the lives of children on afternoons, evening and weekends. Some might see that as a reason to curtail electronic media's use in classrooms. But Gee and Levine argue that elementary school teachers are missing out on a chance to expose students, using technology that clearly engages them, to new vocabularies, new realms for scientific or cultural discovery and new landscapes of rich academic content.

Gee and Levine say this pivot must include "well-trained and committed adult guidance and instruction." We agree. In fact, it cannot be stressed enough: Gains in literacy skills will only emerge when well-qualified teachers, mentors and other adults are considered the key component of instruction. In short, no matter how smart and engaging digital media can be, well-trained and inspiring teachers matter most. Digital tools and games, Gee and Levine write, "can only be useful if parents, teachers, and more advanced peers help children seek out good learning media and fruitfully draw on their internal design features for learning."

What's more, if left to fend for themselves, children risk facing an ever-broadening landscape of media content without the literacy skills to do any in-depth reading and critical thinking about what they are seeing.

Teachers need, and many of the latest generation of teachers desperately want, better training on how to use digital media in their classrooms and better guidance. They need insights on the types of games or programs that will truly engage their students instead of boring them with automated drills or causing whole classes to get hung up in technical difficulties.

One of Gee and Levine's proposals is to establish a Digital Teacher Corps of 6,000 literacy leaders, two for each of the 3,000 lowest-performing school communities in the United States. It is an intriguing proposal that deserves some thought. We like that it echoes broader arguments for more professional development, ensuring that pre-k and elementary school teachers have access to high-quality workshops, mentors and continuing education opportunities that bring more vibrancy and relevance to today's classrooms.

For more on literacy instruction and electronic media -- for good and ill -- see Gee's research, recent Cooney reports, the New York Times' series last year on "The Future of Reading," and a 2007 report from the National Endowment for the Arts about reading at risk. Also see Q-and-As with two innovative thinkers on education and technology, published by Parents' Choice last summer: Barry Joseph of the Global Kids' Digital Media Initiative, and Nichole Pinkard of the Urban Education Institute at the University of Chicago.

(Flickr photo by Diego Cupolo copied under the Creative Commons license.)

Thompson: Should The Main DOJ Lawyer Have Recused Himself From the Google-Yahoo Talks?

Nicholas Thompson — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 00:30:00 -0500

Fred Vogelstein and I just published a Wired story titled The Plot to Kill Google. It's long --- but apparently not long enough! Fred and I also gathered plenty of material in the reporting that we couldn't fit in the magazine story but that we're going to publish online now.

The first post is about something I've gotten several emails about: Should Tom Barnett, the assistant attorney general for anti-trust who led the investigation into the proposed Google-Yahoo business partnership this summer, have recused himself?...

Climate News Roundup: June 30 - July 3, 2008

Kristina Haddad — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:05:00 -0400

Friday, June 27, 2008

FEDERAL POLICY: Court says no deadline for EPA on global warming. A federal appeals court refused Thursday to make a resistant Bush administration speed up a decision on whether greenhouse gases and global warming threaten public health and welfare. Associated Press. 27 June 2008.

STATE POLICY (CA): State renews climate battle. California's next great experiment starts today. The state Air Resources Board will outline this morning a plan to slash greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2020 and prepare the state for much deeper cuts in the years beyond. Sacramento Bee, California. 27 June 2008.

CANADA - TARGETS: Greenhouse gas reductions within reach, B. C. premier says. British Columbia is well on its way to achieving its goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions and if world oil prices remain as high as they are, the province will have no trouble hitting that target, says Premier Gordon Campbell. Canadian Press. 27 June 2008.

FEDERAL POLICY - SOLAR: Citing need for assessments, U.S. freezes solar energy projects. Faced with a surge in the number of proposed solar power plants, the federal government has placed a moratorium on new solar projects on public land until it studies their environmental impact, expected to take two years. New York Times. 27 June 2008. [Registration Required]

STATE POLICY (WI): Global warming plan approved. Wisconsin utilities should slash greenhouse gas levels to nearly three-quarters of 1990 levels by tracking emissions, considering nuclear power and joining cap-and-trade programs, Gov. Jim Doyle's global warming task force recommended Thursday. Associated Press. 27 June 2008

EU - AIRLINE EMISSIONS: EU reaches landmark deal to cap airline emissions. The European Union reached a landmark agreement Thursday to cap emissions from aircraft, raising the stakes in an increasingly ferocious battle with the United States over how to regulate global greenhouse gases. International Herald Tribune. 27 June 2008.

G8 CLIMATE TALKS: Climate breakthrough unlikely at G8 summit - UK envoy. G8 rich nations and major emerging economies probably won't achieve a big breakthrough in talks on global warming in Japan next month, Britain's climate envoy said on Thursday, echoing other forecasts for modest progress at best. Reuters. 27 June 2008.

POST-KYOTO: Climate change - France heads into the labyrinth. When France takes over the European Union's rotating presidency, one of its key challenges will be to get all 27 member states to approve the European Commission's proposal aimed at fighting global warming by reducing carbon-dioxide emissions. Bangkok Nation, Thailand. 27 June 2008.

UK - RENEWABLE ENERGY: UK's Brown launches "green revolution" energy plan. Britain set out plans on Thursday for a tenfold increase in renewable energy within 12 years in a scheme welcomed for its ambition but criticised for lacking concrete policies to cut carbon emissions and reduce dependency on fossil fuels. Reuters. 27 June 2008.

GREEN CITIES - DIESEL: Clean Trucks Program is OK'd. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa on Thursday signed the controversial Clean Trucks Program, which aims to reduce big rig diesel emissions by 80 percent within five years Los Angeles Daily Breeze, California. 27 June 2008.

Monday, June 30, 2008

FEDERAL POLICY: White House Fights To Edit EPA Document On Emissions Regulations 6/30/2008 - The White House is fighting an intense private battle with officials at the Environmental Protection Agency to prevent the publication of a document that could become the legal roadmap for regulation of greenhouse gas emissions across the U.S. economy, according to people close to the matter. Senior White House officials are eager to prevent the original document from being published because it is in opposition to their belief that regulating emissions could create major policy havoc. For more read Clean Technology Investor 6/30/08

UK TARGETS: Study Says UK Energy Bills To Rise 20% By 2020 To Meet CO2 Target 6/30/2008 - U.K. domestic gas and electricity bills will rise by at least 20% by 2020 to meet the carbon emissions reduction and renewable energy targets laid out by the government, but polling data shows the public isn't ready to meet this cost, a study published by consultancy Ernst and Young LLP Monday shows. The rise would mean GBP5.3 billion extra on annual domestic energy bills in 2020, equating to GBP213 a household based on current prices, the report said. There are four main reasons for the 20% increase, the report said. The government's renewable energy subsidy will account for a third of the increase. The installation of higher technology gas and electricity meters over the next 10 years, which the government believes will encourage households to save more energy, will add another third. For more read Clean Technology Investor 6/30/08

OFFSETS: Growth Of Offset Projects Anticipates Legal Change 6/30/2008 - Investors are diving into projects in the U.S. to cancel out greenhouse-gas emissions, a year or more away from the creation of nationwide climate-change regulation. Regional caps on emissions of heat-trapping gases and confidence in the eventual creation of a large federal emissions market are driving the development of projects, such as capturing landfill gases or planting forests to soak up carbon dioxide, that were rare here just a few years ago. "We are heavily concentrated on the U.S.," said Mauricio Vargas, chief executive of GE AES Greenhouse Gas Services. "We think that's the best market opportunity today." For more read Clean Technology Investor 6/30/08

CANADA - RENEWABLES: Canadian Senate Bill Allowing Renewable Fuels Mandate 6/30/2008 - The Canadian Senate voted in favor of the government's biofuels bill Thursday. The amendments to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act will give the government authority to develop regulations for renewable fuels mandating a 5% renewable content in gasoline by 2010 and 2% renewable content in diesel fuel and heating oil by 2012. Canada's renewable fuels strategy will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 4 megatons per year, according to the government's press release - or the equivalent of taking about one million cars off the road. For more read Clean Technology Investor 6/30/08

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

ALT FUELS: Prince Charles's Aston Martin is wine powered. The Prince of Wales has reduced his motoring emissions by running his 38-year-old Aston Martin, a 21st birthday present from the Queen, on fuel made entirely from English wine. London Daily Telegraph, England. 1 July 2008.

CARBON STORAGE: Carbon-storage partnership formed. The Kentucky Geological Survey and three energy companies have formed a partnership to test storing carbon dioxide permanently underground. Louisville Courier-Journal, Kentucky. 1 July 2008.

STATES POLICY (CA): Governor entices Tesla to build cars in Bay Area. In a surprise move, Tesla Motors will build its electric-car factory in the Bay Area, not New Mexico as previously announced, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday. San Jose Mercury News, California. 1 July 2008.

CARBON STORAGE: Experts urge states to invest in CO2 carbon capture and storage. Capturing and storing carbon emissions from power generation holds the key to managing climate change amid rising use of polluting oil, gas and coal, an international CO2 conference heard in The Hague on Monday. Agence France-Presse. 1 July 2008.

UK - CARBON STORAGE: Government puts carbon capture on fast track. The government has stepped up the pace of change in the battle against global warming by announcing a shortlist of bidders for its carbon capture and storage demonstration project and outlining a proposed new legislative framework for "clean coal". London Guardian, England. 1 July 2008

STATES LEGAL - COAL (GA): Judge: reduce CO2 or don't build coal plant. In a ruling believed to be unprecedented, a Georgia judge halted the construction of a coal-fired power plant because it had not made provisions for reducing its emissions of carbon dioxide. The Daily Green. 1 July 2008.

INDIA CLIMATE PLAN: India unveils plan to combat climate change. India's prime minister announced a plan Monday to combat global warming by focusing on renewable energy, even as he stood by a refusal to commit to greenhouse gas emission targets that could stall the country's economic growth. Associated Press. 1 July 2008.

ELECTRIC CAR INFASTRUCTURE: Israel Corp. Transfers $15.5M To Electric Car Recharging Project 7/1/2008 - Israel Corp. Ltd. said Monday it has transferred $15.5 million to its electric car venture Project Better Place, a U.S.-based company working to develop networks of charging stations for electric cars in various cities, including Tel Aviv. Israel Corp. said this transfer followed a review by its board of Project Better Place's budget and plan to raise further funds. The transfer was based on an agreement signed in January, in which Israel Corp. will give a total of $100 million to Project Better Place over the next few years. For more read Clean Technology Investor 7/1/08

OIL MARKET: IEA Says World Oil Market To Tighten Over 5 Years 7/1/2008 - The world will find itself increasingly pressed over the next five years to produce enough oil to meet surging consumption, the Paris-based International Energy Agency warned Tuesday in an assessment gloomy for those hoping conditions may soon ease to bring down record-high oil prices. In its annual medium-term outlook, which forecasts conditions through to 2013, the agency said that it sees world oil supplies tightening more than it previously expected due to sluggish growth even though higher oil prices and weaker economic growth are set to trim demand. For more read Clean Technology Investor 7/1/08

FEDERAL POLICY - LOANS/NUCLEAR: DOE Solicits $30.5 Billion In Clean Energy Loan Guarantees 7/1/2008 - The U.S. Department of Energy on Monday solicited $30.5 billion for clean energy loan guarantees. The guarantees will boost the nuclear power and renewable energy industries as part of the Bush administration's effort to encourage projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The DOE is soliciting $18.5 billion for nuclear power projects, $10 billion in renewable energy and advanced transmission and distribution projects, and $2 billion for advanced nuclear power projects, which refers to the next generation of nuclear power. For more read Clean Technology Investor 7/1/08

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

STATE POLICY (CA): State's car shoppers to get information on emissions. All new cars for sale in California starting with 2009 models will be required to display a window sticker indicating how the vehicle's greenhouse gas emissions compare with other vehicles of the same model year. San Jose Mercury News, California. 2 July 2008.

GREEN INVESTMENT: Renewable energy is 'green gold-rush'. Buoyed by soaring fossil-fuel prices and concerns over the carbon dioxide emissions, investment in clean energy last year rose three times faster then predicted by the United Nations, to $148 billion. Reuters. 2 July 2008.

EDUCATION/RESEARCH: Princeton gets a $100 million gift. Princeton University plans to announce a $100 million gift today that will establish a major new engineering center to tackle the issues of energy and the environment, with a strong focus on climate change. Philadelphia Inquirer, Pennsylvania. 2 July 2008. [Registration Required]

WESTERN GOVERNORS: Huntsman calls for climate change plan to rival Kennedy moon challenge. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is challenging the Western Governors Association to put together a comprehensive energy and climate change blueprint that the group can present to the next U.S. president, in hopes of driving the nation's energy future. Salt Lake Tribune, Utah. 2 July 2008.

Thursday, June 26, 2008

CANADA/U.S. EMISSIONS: Canada, U.S., worst in climate-change ranking. Canada and the U.S. are the worst countries in the G8 when it comes to taking effective measures to forestall the risk of rapid and uncontrolled climate change, according to an assessment of the major industrialized countries compiled by a European-based environmental consulting firm. Toronto Globe and Mail, Ontario. 3 July 2008.

FEDERAL POLICY: Bush makes final push for global climate deal. In his final months in office, President Bush is mounting a last-ditch effort to forge a new global deal to limit greenhouse-gas emissions but finds himself once again at odds with much of the rest of the world on how to address climate change. Washington Post. 3 July 2008. [Registration Required]

COAL: Old King Coal. Converting coal to gas before burning it is plausible, but finding an economical way to dispose of the carbon dioxide besides venting it is, to put it mildly, an ambitious goal. Forbes. 3 July 2008.

IMPACTS: Penguin population plunge points to climate havoc . Penguin populations have plummeted at a key breeding colony in Argentina, mirroring declines in many species of the marine flightless birds due to climate change, pollution and other factors, a study shows. Reuters. 3 July 2008.

FINANCE: World Bank approves climate funds before G8 summit. The World Bank on Tuesday agreed to establish two investment funds to help developing economies switch to clean-energy technologies to curb carbon emissions and help poor countries adapt to climate change. Reuters. 3 July 2008.

UK EMISSIONS: CO2 emissions up by nearly a fifth in 12 years. Carbon dioxide emissions caused by UK consumers increased by almost a fifth between 1992 and 2004, research revealed today. London Independent, England. 3 July 2008.

STATE POLICY (CA): ARB's greenhouse gas plan raises questions among enviros, others. The draft blueprint released last week by the state Air Resources Board to curb California's climate-changing pollution is a worthy effort but has a number of weaknesses that could limit the landmark law's ultimate effectiveness, critics note. Sacramento Capitol Weekly, California. 3 July 2008.

STATE POLICY - SOLAR (CA): California ballot: betting on big solar. This November, Californians will have a chance to try to settle questions about how to harness renewable energy sources and how to pay for it as they vote on the Solar and Clean Energy Act of 2008. Sacramento News and Review, California. 3 July 2008.

STATE POLICY (NJ): DEP late to report emissions response, wants a few more. A report detailing how New Jersey is going to reduce 80 percent of its greenhouse gas emissions over the next four years has been delayed, state environmental officials confirmed Wednesday. Bergen County Record, New Jersey. 3 July 2008.

STATE POLICY (MA): State starts a green era. Governor Deval Patrick signed a landmark energy bill yesterday that does away with long-standing obstacles to building renewable power projects in Massachusetts and making homes and businesses more energy efficient. Boston Globe, Massachusetts. 3 July 2008.

AUSTRALIA - EMISSIONS TRADING: Australia Moves Closer To Emissions Trading Scheme 7/3/2008 - Australia will this month embark on the biggest structural change of the economy in decades as it takes the first steps toward introducing a domestic emissions trading system by 2010. Australia contributes only around 1.5% of global emissions, but tops the U.S. on a per person basis due to its heavy reliance on hydrocarbons for power generation. For more read Clean Technology Investor 7/1/08

COAL: E.ON Has 3 New Projects For Low CO2 Coal-Fired Plants 7/3/2008 - German energy company E.ON AG said Tuesday it has three new pilot projects for carbon capture and storage, or CCS, technology for low carbon-dioxide coal-fired plants. "We are working at full steam to make coal capture and storage technology commercially available by 2020," Chief Executive Wulf Bernotat told journalists Tuesday. Bernotat added his company aims to invest around EUR100 million in its total of seven CCS technology projects by 2014. CCS is the storage of carbon dioxide in rock formations, which prevents CO2 from entering the atmosphere and causing global warming. For more read Clean Technology Investor 7/3/08

UK/CHINA PARTNERSHIP: UK, China Environmental Groups Team Up To Tackle China CO2 Emissions 7/3/2008 - U.K. and Chinese government-backed environmental groups joined forces Wednesday to explore ways to reduce carbon emissions in China by focusing on the global supply chain of Chinese goods and services. The U.K.'s Carbon Trust, an independent company set up by the government to speed up the move to a low carbon economy, and the China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation, a state-owned enterprise set up by the Chinese State Council, are to collaborate on a series of carbon foot print studies that will measure total carbon dioxide emitted by Chinese businesses: from manufacturing a product to delivering the product to its final consumer. The joint venture expects to establish a carbon-labeling program for Chinese products and also promote investment in commercially viable and clean energy opportunities for emerging businesses and technologies in general. For more read Clean Technology Investor 7/3/08

CHINA - G8: China Sticks To Its Guns On Emissions Ahead Of G8 Meeting 7/3/2008 - China said Thursday it was eager to discuss "long-term goals" on fighting climate change at the G8 summit but stuck to its position that rich nations must lead on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, AFP reports. "We are ready to discuss the establishment of a long-term global goal to cope with climate change including sustainable development, emissions reductions and efforts to tackle climate change," said Chinese official Su Wei. Su, head of the climate change department in China's top economic planning agency, gave no specifics. China and the United States are the world's top sources of the industrial and other emissions blamed for global warming, an issue expected to top the agenda at the G8 meeting next week in Japan. For more read Clean Technology Investor 7/3/08

FEDERAL POLICY - SOLAR: US Government Agency Reverses Moratorium On Solar Power Proposals 7/3/2008 - The federal government is again accepting applications to build new solar power plants on public land, reversing a previous moratorium on new projects, a key agency said Wednesday. The Bureau of Land Management said it will keep its doors open for new proposals while it studies how large solar plants might affect the environment of undeveloped areas of California and the Southwest. The agency had said last week it would put a hold on new applications pending its environmental review. "By continuing to accept and process new applications for solar energy projects, we will aggressively help meet growing interest in renewable energy sources, while ensuring environmental protections," James Caswell, the agency's director, said in a statement. For more read Clean Technology Investor 7/3/08

MSW-TO-ETHANOL: Edmonton to site first MSW-to-ethanol facility The city of Edmonton, Alberta, ethanol producer GreenField Ethanol (Toronto, Ont.), and biofuel technology developer Enerkem (Montreal, Quebec) have signed an agreement to construct and operate a facility designed to convert municipal solid waste (MSW) into ethanol-the first of its kind in the world, according to the parties. The $70 million facility will have an initial production capacity of 36 million liters per year. The city of Edmonton and the government of Alberta, through the Alberta Energy Research Institute (AERI), are contributing $20 million to the facility, and Edmonton will also contribute $50 million to a related processing and research facility. Climate Change Business Journal.

Taxing Digital Products - Let's Also Use the Technology to Modernize Collection

Annette Nellen — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:47:00 -0400

When today's forms of taxes were created decades ago, there wasn't any technology to consider in making computations and collection easy. But that is not true today. While some states are slowly modernizing their laws to address new ways of living an doing business that are partly due to changes in technology, the technology as a tool of tax compliance and administration is often overlooked.

Tennessee enacted various tax law changes which the governor signed on June 5, 2008, including expanding its sales tax to include most digital goods provided the tangible equivalent is something already subject to sales tax. [SB 4173 enacted as Public Chapter Number 1006]

"The retail sale, lease, licensing, or use of specified digital products transferred to or accessed by subscribers or consumers in this state shall be subject to the tax levied by this chapter on the sales price or purchase price thereof at a rate equal to the rate of tax levied on the sale of tangible personal property at retail by the provisions of § 67-6-202."

The law defines various types of digital goods and notes a few exemptions. To determine where the buyer resides, the new law provides:

"(g) The tax imposed by this section shall apply to retail sales in this state, indicated by the residential street address or the primary business street address of the subscriber or consumer."

Thus, Tennessee joins New Jersey, Nebraska and a few other states that have modernized their sales taxes to include today's forms of consumption, although they don't also address using the technology for collection ease. For equity reasons and continuation of the tax base, as forms of consumption progress beyond what yesterday's legislators ever envisioned, such as the digital equivalent of tangible goods, including software and music downloads, a state needs to update its laws.

First - why include digital downloads in the sales tax base? As a consumption tax, there is no reason to tax a song sold on a CD that you'll play in your CD player, but not one downloaded online onto your MP3 player or computer to listen to. The result in both situations is the same - you enjoy the music. And both forms are consumption which is what a sales tax is designed to tax.

One argument sometimes voiced about including digital downloads in the sales tax base is that you may not know the location of the buyer. But, unless the song is free (in which case it is unlikely to be taxed unless it was bundled with something else that is taxable), the consumer is using a credit card which includes their address. While the credit card user could have the card registered in a different state, it is unlikely and there are ways to still require the user to let the credit card company know where the cardholder is located.

Another argument against taxing digital goods is that it will hurt Internet companies. This is a distractor argument. The sales tax is paid by the consumer, although collected by the seller if the seller has a physical presence in the state (if not, the buyer pays use tax on their own). Will people stop buying digital downloads because of sales tax? It seems unlikely because if they really want the product, their alternative is to buy the taxable tangible equivalent. Also, retailers of tangible personal property have been collecting sales tax for decades and they seem to be able to remain in business. Certainly, moving something from being non-taxable to taxable is shocking at first, but people will get used to it. If the states that are modernizing their laws to comport with today's ways of consuming and doing business help explain why the change is needed - equity, fairness, neutrality, to keep state tax bases from eroding, consumers are more likely to understand. And, the sooner the states update their laws, the better because the longer the delay, they are really indirectly educating consumers that digital consumption is not subject to sales tax.

Many states with sales tax, added it in the 1930s when digital goods were not in existence. So, most laws were written to apply to the key type of consumption - tangible personal property. If states had originally written their laws to apply to consumption of goods without using the word "tangible", digital downloads would have been taxable from the start and I don't think consumers would have questioned it. After all, if you pay sales tax on your music CD, why wouldn't you also pay it when you download the music onto your MP3 player to enjoy.

Another issue sometimes raised is the cost to vendors of collecting the tax on digital items. This is also a distractor in that other vendors have been incurring costs for decades to collect sales tax on the tangible items they sell. I do think though that vendors should recieve some relief for these costs, something very few states do today. I also think this is an area where technology could be better used to collect the tax. Again, when sales taxes were enacted decades ago, the use of technology to collect the tax was primarily paper and pencil.

Better Use of Technology:

Today, the sales tax could be collected by the state tax agency at the same time the buyer's credit card is billed for the item. This would enable the state tax agency to get the money sooner, there would be no need for the vendor to file any reports and it would still be transparent in that the buyer would see the sales tax charge when they buy the item. Checks and balances could still be in place in that in auditing a vendor, the state agency would primarily review the system for charging to see that it works as intended and check a sample of transactions to be sure the collected tax was charged by the correct state tax agency.

This sales tax billing system could also be used for tangible goods. Whenever the credit card is charged, the sales tax portion gets charged by the state tax agency. The credit card or other payment card would just need to have the customer's state noted or they could be asked at the register (already, many stores ask for a zip code - apparently for marketing purposes).

Let's truly act like we're in the 21st century and not only modernize sales tax to apply to the digital equivalent of tangible consumption, but use technology to make it easier and more cost effective for vendors, consumers and state tax agencies.

[For further information, see my 21st Century Taxation website.]

Making the Most of Early Education Technology

Sara Mead — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Cutting edge technological innovation isn’t typically the first thing that comes to mind when we think about early education. Many of the things we associate with young children’s learning—caring adult-child interactions, alphabet blocks, the caterpillar-in-the-jar—are decidedly low-tech. For better or for worse, early education seems like one area unlikely to be revolutionized by the kind of technology-driven productivity increases that are transforming modern life.

But things aren’t always as they seem—and that’s certainly true of technology and early education. A new generation of technology-driven innovations in professional development, assessment, and curriculum and instructional materials have real potential to improve the quality of early education teaching and learning.

Consider the example of www.freereading.net, which offers a research-based, forty-week early literacy intervention for kindergarten and first graders. The curriculum, along with a rich variety of supplemental resources and activities, is available for free on the internet. The State of Florida recently approved www.freereading.com for use in its public school classrooms. By using this free “open source” curriculum instead of a costly commercial textbook, school districts can free up funding for other activities that improve the quality of early education, such as professional development or more customized supports for struggling students. Teachers add their own ideas and activities to the site’s resource bank, disseminating effective practices to a broader audience and building a professional community of early educators online. Moreover, the internet allows www.freereading.com to offer resources ordinary textbooks can’t—for instance, videos that allow teachers to watch and learn from effective teachers implementing literacy activities.

Online video sharing has tremendous potential to improve professional development for early educators. My Teaching Partner, created by researchers at the University of Virginia, is another website that provides resources for early educators, including an activity bank, video examples of high-quality teaching, and a 36-week language and literacy instruction program. MTP also uses videoconferencing and online video sharing technology to provide individualized coaching and professional development for teachers. Teachers record video of themselves teaching and send it to a coach, who evaluates the video and edits it to provide feedback and help the teacher evaluate her own practice. Teachers and coaches discuss the video and set goals for improvement via videoconference, and the coach can direct the teacher to resources and videos in MTP’s online library that address skills she needs to improve. Online videosharing and videoconference technology provide an efficient way for a limited number of trained coaches to provide professional development and support to many teachers in far-flung locations.

[slideshow] Teachers can also use technology to help customize instruction in the classroom. Teachers in Montgomery County, Maryland, use handheld computers to monitor students’ achievement on a real-time basis, map students’ abilities back onto aligned state literacy standards, and plan instruction to meet students’ needs. A growing number of school districts nationally use similar handheld devices to administer one-on-one and observational assessments of young children’s learning—a task that this technology makes far less burdensome and time-consuming for teachers.

Technology holds particular promise for early education because it enhances teachers’ ability to customize instruction to individual students’ development. Young children’s development is highly variable, and while early educators must work to bring all children to the same high standards by the end of third grade, doing so effectively requires customizing instruction and support to each child’s unique developmental progress. Technology, such as Montgomery County’s handheld computers, or www.freereading.com and MTP’s activity banks, can provide teachers analysis and resources that help them better customize instruction to where students are developmentally. This makes teachers both more effective and more efficient. That’s important because early education is a labor-intensive industry, and technology that makes labor more productive is highly beneficial.

Technology is no replacement for the core of quality early education—verbally rich, emotionally supportive interactions between children and adults. But technology can help improve teachers’ ability to create those types of interactions, and it can help them better align them with standards and customize them to children’s needs. That’s quite an accomplishment.