Renewable Energy Must Think Outside the "Sector" Constraint

The convenience store in the center of Kiptusuri acquired a solar lighting system and can now stay open at night. Photo courtesy of The New York Times.

The New York Times: African Huts Far From The Grid Glow With Renewable Power

Increasing demand for home-sized renewable energy infrastructures in cost-inefficient, off-grid areas is offering another challenge to business innovation and social advancement. The market exists and is growing, but how should businesses make full use of this opportunity to penetrate and establish its presence so as to reap early-entry advantages?

Drawing inspiration from Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank's efforts in Bangladesh, a far-sighted enterprise should not be daunted by the energy needs of these areas, but should try to leverage on this gap and allow profit-driven innovations to improve the lives of villagers in these various areas. One conceptual obstacle that has impeded progress in this area is the inability to "think out of the sector".

Theoretical constraints, although useful as a hypothesizing platform, should never restrict the creative element required to innovate. In this particular case, there is immense potential for solar energy companies to start-up food and/or technology businesses that will utilize their panels. Centralization of services such as refrigeration, mobile-charging, and education premises as well as agricultural or mining-related technologies such as grain husking and ore sieving not only creates a stable demand for energy infrastructure but also introduces technological innovation that help villagers reap economies of scale.

Early branding is also very important, and it will not be difficult for energy companies to find willing partners in other industries to invest in small joint ventures like that. The positive effects of branding cannot be measured by accountants, and yet can bring immense value that outweighs the initially small profits of early market penetration.

Energy companies can learn a thing or two from the fast-consumables market: Look beyond supplying direct demand and create or support indirect demand. And why not, when in doing so one provides a service to mankind and move forward a step in eliminating poverty?

Listening to Businesses is the Key to Climate Change

 

Reuters: Climate Talks Might Need a Profit Motive

The UN Climate talks in Cancun has ended, and observers are divided about what to think about the outcomes. It was about time however, that state representatives recognize and acknowledge the role that businesses play in bringing about real, substantial climate changes.

Negotiators understand that the art of "positioning" a proposal is the key to making or breaking a deal. For far too long have climate change advocates and publications been putting big corporations and governments on guilt trips, which have resulted in the construction of defenses and eventually, nonchalance. The UN talks (as well as other major energy and environmental events) should be platforms not simply for political delegates to debate over circumstances beyond their control using general assumptions that wipe out any potential for ground-level changes. It should also cater for exchanges between green technology businesses and coal/oil guzzling industry trend setters, especially for opportunities where the latter can voice their concerns regarding their bottom line. 

Green technology is advancing at breakneck pace today, and climate-positive improvements to instruments and production processes are saturating the markets. What green businesses need to do is to penetrate their clienteles' markets and listen to the conversations within, before re-positioning their proposals. They have to identify key players and trendsetters, and from there cater their products to these clients' specific needs. If it means moving away from the fanatical green movement that has been mowing down other important considerations with their one-track minded zealousness, then such an ideology shift would be no less than a necessity.

This is not to say that all green efforts have to submit to the wimps and fancies of big corporations with no impetus to make changes. That analogy is itself a biased picture painted by environmental extremists. However, like the article has already noted, if private corporations continue to be ostracized from such high-level negotiations, such actions will only create opportunities to demonize them further. And shouldn't their profit objectives be taken more seriously, in light of their (admittedly overestimated) negotiation power over governments in the era of economic globalization?

Jumo: Linking Online Users to Charities

Chris Hughes, founder of Jumo, says he wants his site, to be unveiled Tuesday, to do for charities “what Yelp did for restaurants.” Photo courtesy of the New York Times.

New York Times: A Facebook Founder Begins a Social Network Focused on Charities

Social media is gradually gaining traction with regards to connecting people and charities. Most people with a serious desire to contribute back so society have a personal cause that they would like to know more about, and the Internet is one of the greatest platforms of readily accessible knowledge to make informed decisions. Citizens of developed countries are also more inclined to reach out to organizations with a foreign or even international reach, and media evolution has transformed communications to a two-way interaction channel. This allows donors to contribute not simply capital or funds, but also ideas, knowledge and passion.

Chris Hughes, already internationally renowned as one of the founders of Facebook, is one contemporary media mogul out to imitate the Facebook model to create what I would term another "middleman enterprise". Facebook acts as a platform to link the interests of online users to specific business or service organizations with the potential of catering to their needs. Based on this model, Jumo links the interest of donors online to specific charities that they would like to contribute to. This enterprise has already grabbed the headlines of many traditional publications and social media platforms, and will probably have to cater to the incoming tide of registrations.

However, as Jumo is a non-profit enterprise which survives largely on advertising profits, it is likely that many charities leveraging onto this platform will be inclined to spend money on advertising. Well-known charities with more money will be pressured to create a budget for it, and the bigger the charity, the more spending power it will have to monopolize airtime on the website. If caps are not implemented and the priorities of charity organizations not adhered to, social media platforms can potentially skew donations to one side, and donations become channeled to advertising instead of their target group.