Themselves.

Technology, markets, financial vehicles, business methodology, government regulations, entertainment, media, and so on, all aspects of our professions and our entire lives will change at a continuously increasing rate in perpetuity. Which technology, market, industry should I commit to? I don’t believe this is the most relevant question for a student. More relevant questions are: What do I want in my life? Who do I want to help? In what ways? Who needs my help? What positive changes can I contribute to? How can I learn, and continue to learn, and advance my pace of learning? What activities truly engage my passions, and my abilities? What goals can I set for myself which will drive me to excel, and to maximize my potential?…and many others.

Individuals learn, professions learn, societies learn. Young individuals who truly recognize the importance of the art of learning will place their attention on that throughout their years, and they will not only be better able to manage their futures, they will be able to contribute much more. Being prepared for the future is about accelerated learning more than picking the right path at each future fork in the road. Butcher, baker, candlestick maker, it doesn’t really matter.

One of the twentieth century’s greatest entrepreneurs, Dr. Kazuo Inamori, the founder of Kyocera Corporation, has committed throughout his professional life to technological innovation, but always towards a specific positive societal outcome. He is a student of life, and his business commitment, inseparable from his life commitment is to contribute to “the material and spiritual happiness of humanity and society.” Dr. Inamori is a stellar example of someone who first studied themselves, which prepared him and his company each step of the way, resulting in extraordinary evolution and success of their enterprise, according to their standards.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

[Editor's Note: We asked selected Xconomists a series of questions designed to zero in on the big issues of the year, including "What would you be willing to throw a punch over?"]

In both of my fields of distributed renewable energy infrastructure and environmental composites, I would throw a punch at corporations and/or public sector entities, agents, or elected officials who have an environmentally destructive agenda, yet make no real effort to alter that agenda—and to add insult to injury, lie about their activities in the interest of power or profits. “Greenwashing” is rampant in most industries and sectors and needs to be targeted. It is a particularly disingenuous form of false advertising.

Plundering our environment is a type of crime, and in most cases it is done, not out of ignorance, but out of a singular focus on profit above all else. This is unacceptable by any standard.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

[Editor's note: As a New Year's exercise, we asked a select group of Xconomists to answer this question: "What's the craziest idea out there that just might succeed?"]

All-electric commercial boats, ships, railway engines, and aircraft. The hyper-convergence of energy generation, battery storage, electric vehicle systems development, and electric charging infrastructure has first focused commercially on cars, and now trucks. These advancements may, sooner than we have expected, transition into other highly polluting vehicle markets. As the economies of the all-electric automobile industry are understood and realized, the specific systems and technologies will migrate quickly into these other markets. Air and noise pollution will be dramatically reduced, and everyone on board will enjoy a much smoother ride. And pilots and other EV operators will love the hyper-responsiveness of their electric motors.

Comments (1) | Reprints | Share:          

[Editor's note: We asked a group of Xconomists to answer the following question: "If you could patent one thing, what would it be?"]

Two patents:

a. A low-cost holographic pad: an “hPad,” which would sit on your desk and project three-dimensional fixed and moving images. It would include a touchscreen-like functionality. This would not only have extraordinary commercial potential, but would provide very high utility for medical diagnoses, building and infrastructure visualization, energy management, and many other individual and societal benefits.

b. A low-cost photovoltaic coating material and application process for virtually any exposed surface, including road surfaces, which when combined with simple conductor fabric could provide low cost, low maintenance, embedded renewable energy generation infrastructure everywhere energy is used.

Comments | Reprints | Share:          

[Editors note: Architect Robert Noble wrote this article with Glenn Croston]

The San Diego area is the home of numerous cleantech businesses that are developing innovative green cars (Aptera, V-Vehicle Co.), developing alternative fuels (GreenHouse International, Synthetic Genomics Inc., Sapphire Energy), finding alternatives to petrochemicals (Genomatica, Verdezyne), and providing renewable energy and energy efficiency solutions (KEMA, Kyocera, Envision Solar).

Assisting our growing cluster is a network of non-profits, trade groups, government agencies, universities, and investors who share a common interest in cultivating a green economy. These groups collaborate on many projects, strengthening our vision for more green businesses, jobs, and investments in cleantech innovation. But while they share common goals, local green groups are also distinct in many ways and often compete for money, members, and media; their varying perspective, focus, message, membership, and goals can be confusing. If you’re an entrepreneur, how can you find support for the green innovations you hope to commercialize? Where do investors look for opportunities and advice? Where can founders find the resources they need to move their ventures forward?

We’ve compiled a listing of these groups to help San Diego entrepreneurs and others find the resources they need to grow green, and to help San Diego’s green economy grow.

—The California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) is the cornerstone in developing San Diego’s green business cluster. As a non-profit, the CCSE works to advance the adoption of renewable energy, green building design, clean transportation options, and energy efficiency by providing workshops, information, and training.

—Cleantech San Diego is a membership-based non-profit industry association that sponsors events for businesses, investors, and others working in the cleantech cluster. They summarize their mission on their website, saying, “Cleantech San Diego advocates for new sources of investment capital, workforce development, international trade, federal and state research funding, targeted regulation, and sustainable land use planning and development.”

—San Diego Clean Enterprise Program, which is administered by Cleantech San Diego through a partnership with the City of San Diego and the mayor, which provides interest-free financing for energy efficiency improvements for small businesses. Cleantech San Diego also is working with the rest of the green community to support funding and grant applications, such as the effort to win $260 million in Clean Renewable Energy Bonds (CREBs) for local solar projects.

—San Diego Gas & Electric committed to develop a distributed solar power generation system in the San Diego region in 2008. So it’s no surprise that … Next Page »

Comments (3) | Reprints | Share:          

As a longtime advocate for sustainable building design, I have spent decades listening to people associate solar energy with ugly black boxes on the roof of the house that belonged to the neighborhood nutcase. I’m here to tell you those days are gone forever. I now find myself sharing the dais with the owners of those early solar systems. That nutcase is now a keynote speaker, and we’re finally beginning to appreciate the beauty of that vision.

Nowadays we’re bombarded with images that convey a different aesthetic of solar technology. Brilliant, elegant black solar panels gleaming in the sun against a perfect clear blue sky. Political candidates and even petroleum companies are parading their green initiatives with these beautiful images. Solar now means a sustainable future, clean energy, clean air, and a solution to global climate change. It might seem unusual, but in this case, the image matches the reality.

Historically, architects have translated new structural and functional technologies into elements of expression. We’ve done this with virtually every material we build with: stone, wood, concrete, steel, and composites. Our palate of materials has expanded throughout history for functional reasons, but as designers we use them to express shape, line, texture culture—and in the case of renewable technologies, powerful societal changes, values and aspirations. Now leaders in the architectural and construction communities are thirsting for new elements that express progressive aesthetics, elements that imbue meaning and value to the clean and sustainable energy movement.

We now have designers and architects using clean technology—solar energy, wind generator units, and other products and materials—as their preferred palate of expression. This is helping elevate early renewable energy enthusiasts to visionary status. And this contemporary connotation of clean and sustainable alternative energy is coming to your neighborhood and mine.

What needs to be understood, taught, and reinforced is that we … Next Page »

Comments (7) | Reprints | Share: