I spent a couple of hours yesterday evening at the “New Ventures Forum” at the University of California at Santa Barbara (UCSB). Guests had the opportunity to meet a total of 22 different teams of students, some of them Ph.D. candidates, and ask them to present their concepts for new businesses. Great food, a little wine – a good time was had by all. (more…)
There’s a lot to like about geothermal, especially its lack of variability; utilities buy energy generated from the heat in the Earth’s crust as baseload, just as if it were coming from a coal or nuclear plant. Linked above is a good article that points out that the trends here internationally are quite positive; 2013 saw 530 MW commissioned, the most in a single year since 1997.
Sadly, the renewable energy market in the U.S. is riddled with permitting issues and other elements of bureaucracy, and thus geothermal experiences extremely counter-productive boom/bust cycles. Investors, understandably, are terrified of the uncertainty associated with all this, and are reluctant to get involved in an industry whose very underpinnings could change any minute.
Hey, here’s an idea. Why don’t we create a stable energy policy, where everyone knows the plan for the coming years and decades?
I hope you’ll check out this video on advertising and ethics. It sure spoke to me – especially considering my background: 25+ years as a marketing consultant to the Fortune 500, helping the IT giants (IBM, Hewlett-Packard, etc.) generate demand for their products and services. If you’ve ever faced ethical conflicts regarding the validity of what you’re promoting and how you’re going about your work, you’ll do well to invest a few minutes into checking this out.
Three times in as many decades I have functioned as a marketing consultant to enterprises run by my “serial client” and close friend, business titan John Tyson. John sits on the board of half a dozen large corporations, and currently serves as CEO of MicroBlend Technologies, a company that is redefining the paint industry.
John’s current gig is benefiting the world around him in many ways, and I’m sure he’s quite proud of the role of environmental stewardship he’s playing. (more…)
Starting a new business brings with it the need to make a lot of decisions and choices, including choosing the right name and branding, arranging the right business structure, building the right team of staff, and finding the right premises to operate your business.
Of course you’ll also need to think about how to promote and sell your product. In today’s climate (in both the business and weather context), it’s also important to think about keeping an eye on the environment and, connected to that, saving money. (more…)
Solar energy is ubiquitous, free, green and easy to use. Many of the primary drawbacks — extreme expense, the need for clear skies and the capacity of the standard battery — have been minimized or solved in the last decade. Today, solar energy is an effective way to power an entire home, if you’re willing to make the investment. Augmenting grid power or cutting yourself off the grid entirely can be rewarding, and it’s very doable.
A Benefit for Society
On a global scale, much can be said for the switch to solar. (more…)
At a party last weekend, someone asked me to speculate as to what Google’s grand plans are. Of course, I have no more real insight into this than the next guy, but, given their $3.2 billion acquisition of Nest, one would have to think that it involves the use of information to guide us in our use of energy. And here’s news suggesting that Google wants to become a major player in the energy sector more directly: their entry into the solar photovoltaics business.
Each month, we read more about the battle heating up between the traditional energy industry (the providers of fossil fuels, power generation, transmission, and distribution) – versus renewable energy. But aren’t they natural enemies? Can anyone be too shocked that powerful forces try to beat up on their competition? (more…)
Here’s a conversation the essence of which I have frequently. An inventor, in this case, one Lyle Bates, has a patent on an idea related to renewable energy and wants to raise the investment capital necessary to build it. There’s nothing theoretically impossible about the idea, and that, in the inventor’s mind, means “full speed ahead.” Essentially, it’s the use of waste heat from internal combustion engines to reform methane into hydrogen gas. (more…)
Mark Z. Jacobson is a researcher at Stanford University who has made a splash recently with his findings that, both technologically and economically, it’s possible for us to migrate away from fossil fuels in the direction of renewable energy. He’s even been on the (late-night television show) David Letterman to present his case to casual viewers at home.
In essence, he wants to see 50% of our planet’s 15 terawatts coming from solar, another 40% from wind (mainly offshore), and most of the rest of it from hydrokinetics.
I believe Jacobson is 100% correct that we can phase out fossil fuels altogether; in fact, I think we must. But I was surprised to see his solution. (more…)
