An EON of Values

It's the ECO2NOMY..  If we look forward at 2009, we also will be looking at new values - new values for our assets, new values for our economy, and new values for the way we live and grow our businesses. In the US, incoming President Obama is working on his top priority - stimulus for the ailing economy. How to stop the slide to even deeper recession, and how to extract a new system out of one that is no longer functional.

It's a challenge, but it's more than that - it's a whole new way of thinking. We now have the opportunity to re-value our industrialised and consumer lifestyles, and the values of Energy, of Ownership and of Nature (EON).

Energy is the new economy, and whoever can produce clean energy will be the managers of that new energy era. Our values about this are the most important ones, because we, as one global family, will continue to fight with each other unless we can find equitable ways to access low cost and clean energy sources.
By Ownership I do not mean a move to a socialist economy - we have all observed the issues that come with that. Ownership is about stuff that we all, as one planet, should own - like intellectual stuff, pictures, words, formulae for medicines, and the air, sea, resources, the land. Certainly, there will be licences to manage and provide services, but Ownership? We need to ask these questions.
And thirdly, our new values will embrace Nature or else. This is not so much a choice but a sword hanging over our collective heads. Nature has its own power, its own agenda, and will very easily restore its own balance with or without us. Nature does not need us, so we need to include Nature as part of the EON of values.

Values come first - if we value something we then take steps to protect it. This downturn has given us a space to stop and consider big stuff, not just the economy but the values that underpin the way we live. My hope for 2009 is that we stop and consider, and re-value the way we consider energy, ownership, and nature and then set that new course to protect the future.

Ideas spin from ideas

It's a fast changing world, and with a "soon to be" President Obama taking the lead. With the new direction of energy self sufficiency, there will be a global "new energy" rush to provide products and services to increase supply of new energy and improve efficiency of existing energy use. So where do you fit in? What is your business idea, and how do you make it viable?

One of first places to look for clues is in conferences, where like minded people come together to share progress and to profile successes. In the next two weeks in Sydney, Australia we have the Decentralized Energy Technology, Policy and Opportunities conference and the combined ISES (International Solar Energy Society) and ANZSES conference. Its an information packed two weeks - for new energy scientists that's a feast, but for new energy entrepreneurs, it could be your key to a new business venture.

Sometimes it's about understanding the future, even more than the majority of people. Henry Ford is reputed to have said "If I'd asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said a faster horse". If you are considering a new venture and need inspiration, find and meet with others who are looking in the same direction. Find where you fit in this new energy future.