November 29, 2007
links for 2007-11-29
-
Losing a sister isn't the same, but losing anyone is different for everyone. A heartfelt and honest account on one man's loss of his son.
-
And now something to lighten the mood. An excellent idea for a game where you scrawl on the "page" with a "crayon" and your drawings become physical objects that move a ball around... oh, just watch the video.
November 26, 2007
The Green Marketing Manifesto Hits Italy
A couple of days ago as I was passing the little bakery in the bottom of our apartment block the lady who owns it called me over. She wasn't checking if I wanted another siciliana loaf, one of the cool things about life in an Italian apartment block seems to be that one of the shops acts as an informal parcel collection point. Pop in for some bread, and pick up that Amazon delivery that arrived this morning...
Or in this case, my signed, bloggers-review copy of The Green Marketing Manifesto (Amazon UK, Amazon US).
And just to prove that it has made it all the way out to Turin, here's a photo of me holding it in Piazza Bodoni, just down the road from our apartment.
I had intended to make up some stupid pun about the Green Marketing Manifesto and the verdigris on the statue of Alfonso Ferrero, but whilst I was sat in the piazza I realised that I could mention the two green Torinese initiatives which were metres away from where I was sat.
Of course, this being Turin - home of FIAT and Lancia - both initiatives are transport-related. The first is the Autobus Elettrico, an electric bus service. The Star 2 route (so there are at least two electric bus routes) started recently and runs past Piazza Bodoni. The buses (see pic below) don't produce any emissions, and are much quieter than normal ones; they are still loud enough that you hear them coming, which is something I'd wondered about when I'd heard of such schemes before.
The other scheme is the Car City Club car-sharing club. They have lots of parking spaces dotted around the city-centre (like the one at Piazza Bodoni pictured below) and cars are available from 2 Euros/hour during the day (or there's some monthly payment system too).
I must admit I haven't used either of these services, but that's because we live in the middle of town and either walk or cycle (Turin is quite bike-friendly) to get anywhere locally.
Tags: green_marketing_manifesto green sustainability torino turin
links for 2007-11-26
-
If the terrorists want to use fear to disrupt and affect our lives then, with the continued ridiculous measures from the government, haven't they succeeded?
-
The video of a presentation given by Dan Germain of Innocent smoothies fame. An honest and passionate talk about the business and getting started as an entrepreneur.
November 23, 2007
More Thoughts on the Solar Water Utility
After my post about encouraging take-up of solar water-heating, self-confessed professional sceptic Jeff raised some interesting questions. Rather than have them languish in the comments section of that entry, I thought I'd pull them into a new one and offer some form of response.
Here's what Jeff said:
1. The biggest problem is probably financing the operation: you are tying up the capital and cost of installation for the payoff time. It could work if the cost was cheap, and payoff was short, but if the payoff was over 5 years and it was £2500, I think you'd have a problem. Being below the interest rate provided by banks is a sure-fire way to make sure that the company is not going to be financed. You probably need to be hitting about 10% return per year. Not that much different from the rates on credit cards.
2. Energy users can swtich at any time. What if they switch 1 week after installation. You need a good contract. What if the house is re-possessed? You lose your investment.
3. UK government grants are not likely to pay for it. I think I've heard that they usually get all taken up on the first day that each grant season opens.
I'm not all doom and gloom, but I might be a professional skeptic. There are probably ways to make it work, but I think that the cost of the units and of installation have to come down.
I think they're all valid concerns, with the first one being the biggest and the one that I'm going to address here (given that I've thought the most about it).
I'm going to assume that the second point can, as Jeff suggests, be sorted out with the right contract - with the worst-case scenario being that the equipment lies dormant until you persuade a future householder to start paying you again. The third point just makes the first one harder, and wasn't something I was relying on - if "free money" is available, it makes sense to try to claim some.
Some Numbers
I figured all this was a pretty pointless exercise if it was conducted with hand-wavy guesses as to the costs, payback period, etc. so I've done some very rough-and-ready calculations to give it a grounding in the real world.
Installation cost. Going on the price of a DIY-kit from this supplier and a throwaway comment on their FAQ (if I remember correctly), I reckon that each installation would be somewhere between £1500 and £2500.
Energy saved. A while back I came across some government research (warning: pdf) into the effectiveness of solar water-heating. That showed (averaging the results from table 7.7) that solar panels can provide about two-thirds of a household's hot water, or around 1050 kWh-worth of energy. That's the equivalent of around 117 litres of petrol, or 14 days of non-stop kettle boiling. The research is almost a decade old, so current technology should be better - however, the "old" solar panels were already providing more energy than could be used during the summer, so any gains would only help in the winter months.
Payback: replacing gas. npower charge 4p/kWh for the first 1000 kWhs, and only 2p/kWh after that. Solar energy is only likely to affect the second, lower pricing band which means it would save you a woeful £21 each year! Even if you assume that the price will almost quadruple over the next 30 years (pretty much what happened over the past 30 years) you wouldn't pay off even a £1500 installation cost over a twenty-five year lifespan of the panels.
Payback: replacing electricity. As electricity costs around 8p/kWh, it's easier to make a case for replacing it with solar water-heating. Even with no price increase you could payback a £1500 installation cost within 18 years, and given the same 30-year increase as we did in the gas example, the lower end installation would be paid off in eleven years and the £2500 installation cost in sixteen.
Carbon saved. Each year the solar water-heating system will save about 415kg of CO2 from being released, so over an expected system lifetime of 25 years that will add up to just over 10 tonnes of CO2. If you sold that today as a carbon offset it would be worth about £15.
Some Conclusions?
To be honest I'm rather disappointed with the way the figures stack up, regardless of any business opportunity. Whether there's any decent profit to be made will depend on how the energy prices change over the coming years; particularly the price of gas, given the popularity of gas-fired central heating in the UK and its highly competitive current pricing.
I think there's still scope for a business that isn't entirely profit-driven in this area, although as Jeff points out, funding would be a huge issue. Could some form of hybrid charity/business be formed with the mission to remove our reliance on the energy grid?
As a charity (or charity-like entity) it could raise some of the funding from people who just believe in the goal and want to help out. It could add to the pot by selling the carbon-savings as carbon offsets - there's debate over how useful carbon offsets are, but if they can be used to help finance endeavours such as this then that's fine by me.
That won't solve the money problem, so if I was trying to start this myself I'd bootstrap it. Start small, and operate as a regular solar water-heating installer at the same time. That must be profitable because people are doing it, and the profits would be used to pay for the long-term investments.
If nothing changes then it continues slowly making the world a better place, but if the costs come down or gas/electricity prices soar you're perfectly placed to take advantage and scale things up.
November 22, 2007
A Tale of Two Phone Calls
Yesterday afternoon I spent an infuriating half-hour on the phone to PayPal; the latest in a series, as I try to prove to them that I've moved to Italy and wasn't trying to hack my own account the other day. Each time I speak to them I get a different answer as to how long they'll take to acknowledge the proof-of-address I faxed them on Saturday.
By the end of that call I was livid, but an hour or so later I hung-up a Skype call feeling refreshed and with my faith in humanity restored.
I'd spent the best part of an hour chatting to Curt Rosengren as part of his 30 conversations in 30 days project. We got to talk about the differences between the US and Europe; found out that Curt lived in Cambridge for some of his childhood and went to school round the corner from my house; and a host of other topics.
So I just wanted to thank Curt for an enjoyable chat.
Tags: curt_rosengren paypal 30in30
November 18, 2007
November 10, 2007
links for 2007-11-10
-
Nifty tool to convert bitmap files into vectors. Very useful if you've got a logo or something that you want to blow up without getting all blocky.
-
Interesting approach to learning a new language. I can see some of these patterns and inferences starting to form with my Italian-largely-by-osmosis technique.
-
A lovely presentation about typography and design on the web. Explains why typography is important and gives some insightful examples of how popular websites are laid out.
November 08, 2007
The Green Marketing Manifesto
In a blatant plot to promote his new book The Green Marketing Manifesto, John Grant is giving away a free copy to each of the first 50 bloggers to link to him.
It looks like an interesting read, and if I can get a free copy then all the better.
It Might Be True, But it Wasn't Really Appropriate
I think today's 30-in-30 should be to revise the difference between these two verbs:
- lavare
- To wash. lavo - I wash
- lavorare
- To work. lavoro - I work
That will help me avoid conversations such as the one with the barista at the caffetteria opposite our apartment when Rebecca and I dropped in for a quick espresso...
barista: Are you not at work today?
Rebecca: I'm working later on, at the restaurant round the corner
barista: And you?
Not knowing how to say "I work for myself", I wanted to point out that the "office" was just across the road...
Me: I wash in the apartment
November 06, 2007
links for 2007-11-06
-
Google tries to do what Microsoft, Symbian and Geoworks have so far failed to achieve. Expect the tech blogs to be wetting their pants over this "GPhone" announcement for a while...
November 05, 2007
links for 2007-11-05
-
A brief but brilliant set of rules and recommendations about how to write good prose.
November 03, 2007
links for 2007-11-03
-
More info than you ever thought you'd want about how to setup your home recording studio
-
Another big collection of guides on recording music, studio setup, etc.
-
Standalone executable VNC server - good for supporting non-techie relatives remotely (although it requires you to not be behind a NAT)
November 01, 2007
Calling All Cambridge Technologists
This is just a heads-up for anyone interested in technology or business or technology businesses in or around Cambridge.
CHASE (the group for anyone interested in business and technology which is Currently Hunting A Snappier Expansion :-) will be celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and are planning a grander-than-usual meeting to celebrate.
The ordinary meetings are well worth attending, so I'm sure this will even better. It looks like it's shaping up to be some cross between a show-and-tell for locally developed technologies and a startup masterclass. You can find the full details over on the CHASE website.
Tags: CHASE Cambridge Entrepreneur Business Technology Startup