Dendrochronology is the science of using tree rings as a dating technique. However, trees and tree rings contain much more information besides time, and a variety of scientific branches are dedicated to their study.

Trees "manage" energy usage through reduced growth in unfavorable conditions, with certain limiting conditions, such as a drought, producing measurable effects. Thus, scientists can determine rainfall from past years; the effects of air pollution, fires, and insects; changes to the earth's surface (such as landslides); and changes to glaciers and water levels. Scientists can even determine the origin (location information) of particular pieces of wood.

The attraction for metering is that tree rings contain essentially multivariate data. Tree rings offer long-term information about the past, from which it may be possible to divine the future. Comparing rings of multiple trees helps to build a larger picture of a specific area over time, and information from trees of various ages can be combined to reconstruct timelines longer than might be possible from a single tree.

From these cues, one can imagine large-scale, collective or collaborative metering, with energy usage history and trends representing the unique circumstances of specific areas or neighborhoods.

Dave Chiu

CATEGORY: ENERGY PROJECT