I love Guy Kawasaki's blog - great ideas, crisply written. Today, he highlights Entrepreneurship Week USA from February 23rd to March 3rd, launched by the Kauffman Foundation.
He flags this cool energy pitch competition for 18-25 year olds. To enter, submit a two-minute video pitch that answers this question:
What product or service would you offer to help reduce America’s dependency on oil and other fossil fuels?
Deadline: February 28
The Grand Prize is a Panasonic Business Rugged Toughbook and a color inkjet printer. The Peer Prize is a 30GB Video iPod (known as a FatPod in my house).
You can upload your video here. Happy digitizing.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Sunday, February 18, 2007
World Wildlife Fund: More Green Weddings
Not to be outdone by the folks at NativeEnergy and Protovert Magazine, which you can read about here, the World Wildlife Federation launched its own green weddings website on Valentine's Day as well. This site includes a registry, which seemed an obvious component that was missing at the NativeEnergy site.The WWF press release opens with this cute lede:
Bridal gowns may still be white, but weddings are turning green according to World Wildlife Fund, who today unveils its first-ever green weddings website for engaged couples looking to make their big day not only memorable, but also environmentally friendly.
At the wedding registry, you can do the following useful stuff:
- Guests can make charitable contributions to WWF in the couple's name.
- Couples can make a donation in lieu of favors and download beautiful table tents to inform guests.
- Couples can plan an eco-honeymoon through WWF's Travel Partners.
- Couples can get helpful tips and information about how to have an eco-friendly wedding.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Exxon Mobil CEO Speaks at CERAWeek
Earlier this week, the CEO of Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded company, warned at an industry conference that "governments should not rush into policies that could damage the global economy in order to limit carbon emissions," according to the New York Times.
The Exxon Mobil chief, Rex W. Tillerson, was speaking at CERAWeek, which is being run this week in Houston by Cambridge Energy Research Associates. You can check out CERA Chairman Daniel Yergin's interview wtih Tillerson at CERA's site.
The Times reporters interpreted Tillerson's stance as a bit of a softening of Exxon Mobil's previously hard-line position, since he acknowleged that global warming may be leading to climate change. The article reported:
“The risks to society and ecosystems from climate change could prove to be significant,” Mr. Tillerson said. “So, despite the uncertainties, it is prudent to develop and implement sensible strategies that address these risks.”
The Exxon Mobil chief, Rex W. Tillerson, was speaking at CERAWeek, which is being run this week in Houston by Cambridge Energy Research Associates. You can check out CERA Chairman Daniel Yergin's interview wtih Tillerson at CERA's site.
The Times reporters interpreted Tillerson's stance as a bit of a softening of Exxon Mobil's previously hard-line position, since he acknowleged that global warming may be leading to climate change. The article reported:
“The risks to society and ecosystems from climate change could prove to be significant,” Mr. Tillerson said. “So, despite the uncertainties, it is prudent to develop and implement sensible strategies that address these risks.”
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Carbon Offsets: The Perfect Eco-Wedding Gift!
At first, I thought this was a Valentine's Day spoof, but it's not. The well-regarded Native American energy company, NativeEnergy, has teamed up with Protovert, "the first and only magazine for eco-savvy brides and grooms."NativeEnergy helps build Native American, farmer-owned, community-based renewable energy projects that aim to create social, economic and environmental benefits. (Most of the projects are wind based.) The company is working with Salesforce.com on its recently announced carbon neutral initiative, along with lots of other organizations such as Coca-Cola, Ben & Jerry's, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Timberland and Stonyfield Farm.
Back to our eco-wedding planning. According to the press release:
"Weddings are a special way to announce a lifetime commitment," says Portovert Magazine's editorial director, Meghan Meyers. "But the truth is, even the most eco-savvy couple will create carbon emissions on their wedding day."
At a special section of the NativeEnergy website, you can plug the data from your wedding into a calculator to see the total global warming impact from the projected energy consumption. If you can't afford to be 100% carbon neutral, you can aim for a percentage, or offset the reception or honeymoon, the site suggests. At the end of the process, you can click a button to buy the appropriate level of offsets.
Next year, they need to team up with weddingchannel.com, so that the bride and groom can add Carbon Offsets (no gift wrap needed) to their registry.
Monday, February 12, 2007
WSJ: The New Math of Alternative Energy
Today's Wall Street Journal devotes an entire supplement to energy, which features a front page article, "The New Math of Alternative Energy." The story opens with this promising perspective:
The numbers are starting to look promising.
For years, the big criticism of alternative energy was cost: It was too expensive compared with energy based on traditional fuels like coal and natural gas. <...>
Now the equation is showing significant signs of change. Costs are falling for some alternative-energy sources, driven by new technology and renewed development interest.
And a boatload of VC funding is helping things along, we might add.
The supplement includes an article on Hal Harvey, the environment program director at the flush William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. (They can afford better photos of their staff, but I digress.) Regarding his investment strategy, the article explains:
...he looks for "pinch points" likely to promote technologies that will deliver the most "tons of carbon avoided per philanthropic dollar invested." <...>
"Two things matter: Coal and cars. Two countries matter: China and the U.S.," he says... "In that little matrix, there's only a handful of policies that are going to make any damn difference."
(For Harvey's take on Schwarzenegger's new energy proposals, see this NYT article.)
The increased receptiveness to alternative energy comes in the nick of time. The recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) puts to rest any doubts about the severity of the issue, as the New York Times headline so clearly declares: "Science Panel Calls Global Warming 'Unequivocal.'" This is pretty sensational stuff for the Gray Lady:
In a grim and powerful assessment of the future of the planet, the leading international network of climate scientists has concluded for the first time that global warming is “unequivocal” and that human activity is the main driver, “very likely” causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950.
The numbers are starting to look promising.
For years, the big criticism of alternative energy was cost: It was too expensive compared with energy based on traditional fuels like coal and natural gas. <...>
Now the equation is showing significant signs of change. Costs are falling for some alternative-energy sources, driven by new technology and renewed development interest.
And a boatload of VC funding is helping things along, we might add.
The supplement includes an article on Hal Harvey, the environment program director at the flush William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. (They can afford better photos of their staff, but I digress.) Regarding his investment strategy, the article explains:
...he looks for "pinch points" likely to promote technologies that will deliver the most "tons of carbon avoided per philanthropic dollar invested." <...>
"Two things matter: Coal and cars. Two countries matter: China and the U.S.," he says... "In that little matrix, there's only a handful of policies that are going to make any damn difference."
(For Harvey's take on Schwarzenegger's new energy proposals, see this NYT article.)
The increased receptiveness to alternative energy comes in the nick of time. The recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) puts to rest any doubts about the severity of the issue, as the New York Times headline so clearly declares: "Science Panel Calls Global Warming 'Unequivocal.'" This is pretty sensational stuff for the Gray Lady:
In a grim and powerful assessment of the future of the planet, the leading international network of climate scientists has concluded for the first time that global warming is “unequivocal” and that human activity is the main driver, “very likely” causing most of the rise in temperatures since 1950.
They said the world was in for centuries of climbing temperatures, rising seas and shifting weather patterns — unavoidable results of the buildup of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere.
Two days after the Times story appeared, CNNMoney.com ran a story about memos sent to scientists by The American Enterprise Institute offering them up to $10,000 to critique findings in the IPCC report. According to the article, AEI is funded in part by Exxon Mobil (and its retired chairman sits on its board of trustees).
"The purpose of this project is to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the IPCC process, especially as it bears on potential policy responses to climate change," said the memo, which was sent to a professor at Texas A&M University.
"We are hoping to sponsor a paper...that thoughtfully explores the limitations of climate model [forecasting] outputs as they pertain to the development of climate policy..."
The article reports that:
A recent report from the Union of Concerned Scientists said Exxon spent $16 million between 1998 and 2005 funding 43 "organizations that seek to confuse the public on global warming science."
Closing the loop here for now, it should come as no surprise that the Union of Concerned Scientists announced that an investigative report conducted with the Government Accountability Project (GAP) "has uncovered new evidence of widespread political interference in federal climate science."
"The new evidence shows that political interference in climate science is no longer a series of isolated incidents but a system-wide epidemic," said Dr. Francesca Grifo, Director of the UCS Scientific Integrity Program. "Tailoring scientific fact for political purposes has become a problem across many federal science agencies."
Two days after the Times story appeared, CNNMoney.com ran a story about memos sent to scientists by The American Enterprise Institute offering them up to $10,000 to critique findings in the IPCC report. According to the article, AEI is funded in part by Exxon Mobil (and its retired chairman sits on its board of trustees).
"The purpose of this project is to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the IPCC process, especially as it bears on potential policy responses to climate change," said the memo, which was sent to a professor at Texas A&M University.
"We are hoping to sponsor a paper...that thoughtfully explores the limitations of climate model [forecasting] outputs as they pertain to the development of climate policy..."
The article reports that:
A recent report from the Union of Concerned Scientists said Exxon spent $16 million between 1998 and 2005 funding 43 "organizations that seek to confuse the public on global warming science."
Closing the loop here for now, it should come as no surprise that the Union of Concerned Scientists announced that an investigative report conducted with the Government Accountability Project (GAP) "has uncovered new evidence of widespread political interference in federal climate science."
"The new evidence shows that political interference in climate science is no longer a series of isolated incidents but a system-wide epidemic," said Dr. Francesca Grifo, Director of the UCS Scientific Integrity Program. "Tailoring scientific fact for political purposes has become a problem across many federal science agencies."
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Two Energy Funding Competitions
Ignite Clean Energy (ICE) Competition
The MIT Enterprise Forum Kick Off event for this year's Ignite Clean Energy Business Presentation Competition will be held tonight at the Stata Center on campus. You can get more information here. One of the speakers is Massachusetts' new Secretary of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, Ian Bowles.
SEED 2007 - Sustainable Energy Economic Development Initiative
The Mass Technology Collaborative has announced its 2007 competition, which provides flexible working capital of up to $500,000 per winning company for a 12-month period. The funding instrument is a convertible load. Get the details here.
The MIT Enterprise Forum Kick Off event for this year's Ignite Clean Energy Business Presentation Competition will be held tonight at the Stata Center on campus. You can get more information here. One of the speakers is Massachusetts' new Secretary of the Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, Ian Bowles.
SEED 2007 - Sustainable Energy Economic Development Initiative
The Mass Technology Collaborative has announced its 2007 competition, which provides flexible working capital of up to $500,000 per winning company for a 12-month period. The funding instrument is a convertible load. Get the details here.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
