MindSet = Dataset

For anyone reviewing what has happened and projecting the future, data is essential, but numbers are sometimes confusing, and its easy to misread a trend. So its a real joy to see the work at gapminder.org where data is represented as coloured bubbles.

It's easier to check it out yourself, go play with data, it's great fun and a mind shift about how we view the world. Or check it out at the latest TED TALK by Hans Rosling.

ABC of our carbon world

Sometimes you just want an answer. Has anyone looked at the carbon footprint of wine? Why are peatlands important for carbon storage? Where do I find a Green Vehicle Guide? And who are the IEA? Well, for answers to these questions and many more, check out Ken Hickson's new book "The ABC of Carbon" which is a solid work full of easy to use summaries of the carbon world that we inhabit and that need to understand.

What I found most useful is that every topic in this book - and there are many in the 26 chapters - comes with web addresses where more good information can be found. I have my copy, and if you want yours, then see Ken's ABC Carbon site.

Bamboo soaks up CO2

It seems I'm just one of the many fans of Bamboo. A recent article called "What's Driving the Bamboo Market" by Jonathon Bardelline published in Green Design claims that "Bamboo plants sequester four times as much carbon dioxide as hardwood trees (taking in 62 tons of CO2 per 2.4 acres versus 16 tons per 2.4 acres of trees) and puts out 35 percent more oxygen".

Bamboo is becoming more popular, and my bamboo flooring is certainly not unique, though well admired for it's soft feel and durable finish. I have bamboo in my wardrobe in the form of some quite smart business jackets and some exceptionally soft t-shirts. According to what I have read, bamboo doesn't require pesticides to grow, and it's a low water use plant, actually mostly considered a weed because it grows so fast and is so hardy.

So if you are in business, and are looking at new materials, take a look at bamboo, and some of it's many varieties. It's a material that I expect we will see lots more of in the future.

Pic ex Flickr Bamboo by The Pug Father

Socially Speaking

My thoughts have been on communication, and in particular, using Blogs, Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter. What is the optimum package? And there are many thoughts on this - see a really thoughtful article on this based on the writings of Steve Rubel. The article shows how we are evolving - from printed media, radio, TV, then to websites, blogs and we are now in the era of social networking.

Obviously, too many formats! So something has to give. I rarely read newspapers, though I do like the odd well written magazine, and TV is much less important - and less credible, as it attempts to mimic the social element of blogs and twitter. Daily news now comes to me via my computer, and mostly through the blogs and selected twitter feeds that I receive. The real key, is to focus on what's important to you - and to filter out the overwhelming mass of quite useless chatter. Social Media is global, so no-one in your local geographic area, with their own agenda, such as an owner of printed media or TV, can control what is there.

It's taken a while but I have decided that I like Twitter - I tune in to short bits that I find interesting but only from those who I trust. While I may blog once a week or so, I put links up more often on my Twitter page - and I share what I find useful! -see GoBizGreen Twitter.

All-Energy now in Australia

For nine years, Aderdeen in Scotland has hosted a major renewable energy exhibition and conference, called All-Energy. At the recent All-Energy ’09 event, some 380 companies exhibited and 5,500 people from all industry elements came from 60 countries.

In the past, I have attended similar overseas events and certainly, there’s a buzz that so far has been absent in Australia. That – hopefully - is about to change! Melbourne, with support from the Victorian Government, has now secured the first All-Energy Clean Energy Show in Australia for companies actively involved in the clean energy industry. And the bonus is that the exhibition and conference sessions are free for visitors from business, industry, government and the university sectors.

All-Energy 09 Australia will be held in Melbourne in October and is set to become Asia Pacific’s major clean and renewable energy exhibition and conference, with sponsors such as Abengoa Solar already on board. Coming just before the Government's call for tenders for the major Australian solar contract, it's well timed. So mark it in your diary for 7/8 October, and – click here to check it out.

Funding Deployment

In the US, the Waxman-Markey American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) is making it's way through Congress, and being aggressively debated. However, one key amendment, the Clean Energy Deployment Administration seems to have bipartisan support.

According to a post on Watthead "Clean Energy Deployment Administration: added as an amendment overwhelmingly adopted on a 51-6 bipartisan vote during markup, this provision establishes a sort of public clean energy bank to finance and accelerate clean energy technology commercialization and deployment.

Sponsored by Representatives John Dingell of Michigan, Jay Inslee of Washington and Bart Gordon of Tennessee, the provision establishes a new Clean Energy Deployment Administration (CEDA) that will be responsible for creating an attractive investment environment that will spur the widespread deployment of advanced clean energy technologies, including higher risk "breakthrough technologies." The Administration would also support the widespread deployment of critical enabling infrastructure technologies (like new grid technologies), energy efficiency technologies and advanced clean energy manufacturing technologies."

Now is the time for deployment of emission free dispatchable power and it is encouraging to see the US moving in this direction - it's now also the time for support for this urgently needed deployment to happen on a global scale.

Re-powering our cities

This week I was delighted to meet one of my heroes, Allan Jones, former CEO of the London Climate Change Agency. Allan was speaking at an event in Sydney. He talked about his "show by doing" approach and he updated us on on the work at Woking and in London. Allan does not wait for the future, he creates it, by taking technology that is proven and using that to develop low emission projects that link to other projects. In Woking and London, these projects are based on cogeneration and photovoltaics and they deliver energy savings in very short time spans, and he designed this for both new buildings and for retrofit of older ones.

There is no one solution to the new energy era - it's a combination of renewable utility level power and local decentralized systems, smart grids and energy efficiency. We are now in the deployment phase and every organisation can "show by doing". In Allan's words, "the barriers to this (a sustainable low carbon future) are not technical but regulatory, mindset and vested interest".

The City of Sydney has an ambitious plan to reduce CO2 emissions by 70% by 2030 - so we need lots of Aussie people to follow Allan's example of the Power of One and to be part of this new future!