Nesmith's Notes

Entries for March, 2008

Colorado issues RFP for managers of carbon fund.

The state of Colorado is looking for managers for its newly formed Colorado Carbon Fund. This fund aims to aggregate Voluntary Emission Reduction (VER) offsets in an effort to help the state cut its GHG emissions by funding proven carbon abatement project in Colorado. This is in support of Colorado’s climate action plan which aims [...]

What am I doing here?

For the second year in a row, Forbes names Boulder ’smartest city’ in U.S.  While a more accurate name would be the most educated city in the U.S., I can easily support the argument that the place is full of people with impressive intellectual power.  Come visit us and see.

Conviction or Discipline

No, it’s Conviction and Discipline according to Fred Wilson, “Conviction and discipline are two sides of the same coin.” I like the view.  Similar to a great strategy with weak execution, conviction without discipline will often lead you into the ditch and will never get you to the mountaintop.

America’s Biggest Paydays From Vanity Fair

VF’s list of America’s 50 Richest Paydays is worth a glance.  However, I could not overlook Peter Newcomb editorial comments regarding the largest two “winfalls”.  Regarding Bill Gates’ take last year, Newcomb wrote, “Throw in a few hundred million dollars in dividend income and his impending retirement will be all the more comfortable.” Newcomb then [...]

Berkshire Hathaway’s Shareholders Letter

Berkshire Hathaway’s Shareholder Letter
is a must read and this one is no exception.  Continuing last year’s scolding of the sub-prime mortgage banking industr, my favorite lines included these:
John Stumpf, CEO of Wells Fargo, aptly dissected the recent behavior of many lenders: “It is interesting that the industry has invented few ways to lose money when [...]

Is Founder Control in Public Companies a Good Thing?

Another high profile company going public has decided to maintain control while selling a majority of the economic stakes in the company to the public.   This time it is Al Gore as a founder of  Current Media.
I certainly agree, the company’s shareholders have a right to decide the control structure they want to have [...]

Steven Spielberg’s Ghost Town

Steven Spielberg’s Ghost Town suggests the social networking theme will take, or at a minimum test, the boundaries of segmentation. In this case not market segmentation, but segmentation of social circles. The main question I raise is “Do I want a lot of distributed social network tools?” Of course, I am [...]

  

    • RSS Green Tech News

      • Industrial-Strength Kites Could Pull Floating Power Plants
        Take a huge oceanic catamaran, stick a hydroelectric turbine underneath it, and hitch it to a 6.5 million-square-foot parafoil flying nearly a mile in the air. That's a Korean research team's new proposal for generating gigawatts of clean energy. Read more: Korean Kites, Wind Power, Kite Power Plant, Green Technology, Parafoil Power Plant, Clean En […]
      • Mystery Electric Car Maker Wants to Take Over Toyota’s Nummi Plant
        Aurica? Isn’t that the bald guy from Goldfinger with the laser? […]
      • News Wednesday: Revenue, Losses Grow at A123; EnerNoc Bundles its Apps; Algae Soap and Smart Meters
        Battery orders should zoom in 2011, 2012, says A123. […]
      • NC Utilities and Regulators At Odds Over Smart Grid Reporting
        Commissioners to decide whether deployment plans, interactivity details must be disclosed. […]
      • Cornell Professor Develops Cotton Fabric That Charges Your Electronics
        Juan Hinestroza, assistant professor of Fiber Science and Apparel Design, has developed cotton threads that, while remaining flexible and comfortable to wear, can conduct electric current as well as a metal wire. Read more: Renewable Electricity, Cotton Fiber, Cornell Cotton, Cornell University, Green Technology, Juan Hinestroza, Cotton, Fiber Science, Cotto […]
      • Underwater Skyscraper Harvests Renewable Energy, Grows Own Food
        Ocean levels are rising around the globe, so rather than tethering our buildings to the sinking shoreline why not suit them for a life at sea? That's the approach behind the Water-Scraper, a futuristic self-sufficient floating city. Read more: Underwater City, Evolo Skyscraper Competition, Rising Tides, Sustainable City, Floating City, Green Technology, […]
      • Green Kingpins Part 3: VC John Doerr of KPCB
        “We need a clean energy Netscape moment.” […]
      • Green Kingpins Part 2: Craig Venter of Synthetic Genomics
        “We are at the early stages of seeing what biology can do.” […]
      • David Melcher: Making Our Skies a Little Greener
        If you've spent any time recently waiting for a delayed flight in an airport terminal or found yourself sitting on the tarmac for a few hours, you know first-hand that air traffic congestion in the U.S. is a growing problem. Without significant improvements to the nation's current air traffic control network, the Federal Aviation Administration (FA […]
      • Devon Swezey: Beyond "Buy American": The U.S. Needs a Clean Energy Strategy
        By Jesse Jenkins and Devon Swezey The introduction of "Buy American" legislation in the Senate in response to a report that more than three quarters of funds from a clean energy stimulus program went to foreign companies is understandable and probably good politics. Unfortunately it will do nothing to solve the root of the problem, which is that fo […]
      • $100 Million in Stimulus Funds for Green Tech
        The Department of Energy announced this week that $100 million in stimulus funds would be distributed to help accelerate innovation in green […]
      • Shari Arison: Celebrate Good Deeds Day
        Good Deeds Day by Shari Arison, author of Birth -- When the Spiritual and the Material Come Together How easy it is to do a good deed! Every one of us can do a good deed, almost anytime and anyplace. When an elderly woman gets on the bus, in hospitals that are crying out for the help of volunteers, in nursing homes where lonely older people are desperately i […]
      • Figure out Toyota's problem: Win $1 million
        Nobody knows why Toyota cars are having issues with "unintended acceleration". […]
      • Green tech seeks its 'Netscape moment'
        Entrepreneurs and investors at a clean-energy conference say they are hopeful that new technologies can shake up the energy industry but are […]
      • Green Tech Gone Fake
        […]
      • The Greener Gadgets Conference (PHOTOS): 10 Notable Gadgets Of The Future
        Each year, the Greener Gadgets Conference in New York awards the most innovative product concepts out there in terms of energy efficiency and sustainable design. The competition this year included everything from a mobile phone food app to an automan/sound system. According to Treehugger, the judges were not as impressed by certain gadgets that didn't n […]
      • Inhabitat's Week in Green: Solar cars, solar boats, solar... gold?
        ...the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us. This week Inhabitat peered into the future of green tech as we... […]
      • David Becker: It's Alive! That Roof is Alive!
        You want to do the right thing. Eat locally and sustainably 12 months of the year. Easy enough in California, but you live in Vermont or Minnesota or even New York -- where winter settles in early and leaves late. As currently deployed, New York State's 36,000 farms can supply perhaps 40% of local food needs, so unless all New York residents become vict […]
      • Greg Selkoe: Grand Theft Auto- Part 1
        What is the most overlooked key issue of our time? A nuclear Iran, America's failing education system, the need for better dental hygiene? The answer is no, no and no. Now I am not saying that these aren't important issues facing us, but there is one massive, destructive issue plaguing this country like no other, an issue that just doesn't see […]
      • Gregory Unruh: Sustainability Management vs. Sustainability Leadership
        In the hallowed halls of B-School academia there is an ongoing debate over the meaning of management versus leadership. The distinction turns out to be really important for business sustainability. In an earlier life, I was an environmental consultant managing remediation work -- a fancy word for cleaning up the industrial pollution of the past. But after co […]