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February 2005
Social and Environmental Technologies Inventors Challenge
The SET competition, is a prize for a business plan for a new social or environmental technology. The idea is to bring together innovators with business students to look at how to commercialise technologies.
I think this is a great idea, as many innovations never get off the ground because of the lack of business skills of the inventors.
This is the first year of the prize, with full plans due March 31st 2005.
See www.set-info.com for more info.
(Full Disclosure - I'm a volunteer advisor to the competition).
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Peak Oil- Preparing for Energy Decent
Peak Oil Information Night
Saturday 26th February.
Talk: 7pm to 9-9.30 pm.
Venue: Ambaji Wellness centre, Shala Hall.
6 Marvel St, Byron Bay
Peak Oil- Preparing for Energy Decent
Energy availability is set to start declining inside a decade with the onset
of the peak in global oil production and soon after the peak in global gas
production. Global oil production may already be at maximum capacity,
levelling off before the inevitable rapid decline. Our whole way of life in
the modern, industrial/post industrial Western world is reliant on cheap,
abundant oil and gas. Is the war in Iraq related to securing the last of the
abundant hydrocarbon energy reserves? Why is an event of this importance not
widely understood? What about alternative energy sources? The realities of
peak oil are starting to emerge into mainstream media and policy making
circles. Find out the facts on energy availability, how energy decent will
effect your life, what you can do about it and the prospects for Byron Shire
and beyond. A list of information sources and resources will be available at
the talk.
Tim Winton is founder of The Permaforest Trust, a not-for-profit
sustainability education centre at Barkers Vale, on the North Coast of NSW.
www.permaforesttrust.org.au
Posted by at 9:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Resources for MicroEnterprises in developing countries
I found a really useful set of resources at Sustainable Village for developing Micro Enterprises in developing countries.
Very small businesses called microenterprises are built on dreams and hard work, but the assistance they need is often in short supply. Nowhere is this more apparent than in parts of the world where equipment, transportation and reliable electricity and telecommunications can be hard to come by. This web site was created to serve as a tool to foster new opportunities for rural entrepreneurs.Complementing the partnership between microenterprises and their supporting organizations, our mission is to forge new connections that will enable businesses to locate the resources they need, increase their customer base and expand their efforts into new places and markets. Using the power of the Internet, we can link your organization to people ready to help. If you need design plans for a piece of equipment or simply a book, we can find it. If you want to expand into new markets, we'll make the introductions and minimize your risk. If you're creating a product, we'll explore offering it to the world via our business-to-business network, web sites and consumer catalogs.
Whether you'd like to become a Sustainable Village microenterprise partner, are seeking new connections to like-minded organizations and efforts, or are simply looking for ideas, please contact us. We'd like to learn more about your work so we can share your experiences and wisdom with our global audience.
If you know of other useful resources in this area, please add them as comments.
Posted by at 2:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Environmental Bamboo Foundation
Posted by at 9:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
1000 things made of bamboo
is collecting information - and pictures - of a 1000 things made out of bamboo. They've got a nice collection already, and room for more (only thing they are missing is an RSS feed!)
Posted by at 5:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)