Slate Launches ‘The Hive’

Today, Slate launching the first in a series of projects that will, they hope, will harness the collective intelligence of their readers for the good of society. They’re calling this enterprise The Hive.

This is essentially creating a mastermind group that discusses important topics that affect society and how to be more conscious consumers and caretakers of this planet we live on.

The first project they are launching into, is to tap into the braintrust of Slate and wants your best ideas for how to live a cheaper, more energy-efficient life.

Slate talks about this first issue:

The Efficient Life

Energy efficiency is in vogue. Most people are concerned about emissions and global warming, but even if you are not, you’ve surely realized that reducing energy use is an excellent way to free up money for better uses. Indeed, an economic consensus is emerging that America can raise its national operating income by focusing on energy efficiency and alternative energy—and that doing so would create jobs, improve the health of the planet, and free us from the tyranny of foreign oil producers.

For a typical American family, household energy is 4.46 percent of total consumption, according to the consumer price index. (And for many families, heating, cooling, and lighting homes costs a lot more than that.) There’s never been a better time to try to save cash by saving energy. We’re in a period in which family income hasn’t been growing, which means the only way for many Americans to feel richer is to cut costs. What’s more, the government is eager to subsidize our efficiency efforts. The Obama administration, for example, has followed up its cash for clunkers program with a cash for caulkers program. And there has been an explosion in energy-saving products and services available.

Readers can submit their ideas here, and all of your ideas will be posted on Slate here, where readers can comment and vote on them.  The winning and finalist ideas will be publicized and presented to policymakers.