Archive for October, 2010
Auto-mobile: A WSJ blog on robotic cars
- October 12, 2010, 2:00 PM ET
Google’s Robot Cars: A Coming-Out For Automated Vehicles
By Jonathan Welsh
- Hexus.net
- Google’s automated cars drive themselves with help from video cameras and numerous sensors. They also carry people who can take over in case of emergency.
For many car fans, people in the auto business and technology enthusiasts, the revelation of Google Inc.’s test fleet of robotic cars is not a big surprise.
But for those of us who love driving, the development of automated vehicles like those depicted in the 2002 film “Minority Report,” seems like a mixed blessing. While it promises to make automobile travel safer, it could take away an activity many people find pleasurable.
We’ve seen it coming. Car makers have been developing technology using cameras, radar sensors and global positioning systems to prevent collisions and keep cars from getting off course. A Google spokesman says systems in the company’s automated cars are “almost like an extension of the technologies” already available in production cars.
Even before the Tom Cruise movie showed vehicles driving themselves, the auto industry was selling cars with features like adaptive cruise control, which uses radar and laser range finders to monitor the proximity of other cars. More recently cars have rolled out with lane-departure warning systems that are one step away from guiding them without any driver input. Braking systems on some new cars can stop them short of an obstacle if the driver is too inattentive to do so.
Still, the Google project is an eye-opener for people who assumed driverless cars were decades away. The company says its cars have driven themselves more than 140,000 miles including trips on California’s Pacific Coast Highway, the Golden Gate Bridge, down Lombard Street in San Francisco and around Lake Tahoe.
Read more at the WSJ blog Driver’s Seat.
Green Car = Dream Car
Looks like the proverbial point has been tipped, to join the chorus of Malcolm Gladwell quoters.
A top AOL News story today cites Sheryl Connelly, manager of Ford Global Trends and Futuring, on the popular demand for green cars.
Noting a worldwide study by Synovate, the global market research firm, Connelly says, “When people were asked if they could have any vehicle they wanted — with money not being a consideration — six in ten said they wanted a green car over a luxury car. Additionally, one third of respondents said their ‘dream car’ was a green car.”
Check out the story here: http://tinyurl.com/32v3llw
Apart from doing the right thing and apparently the cool thing, driving an efficient car saves you money.
The New York Times has coverage on the tax incentives.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/business/08electric.html?_r=1
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/electric-cars/?ref=business
It’s the women, stupid. Details to come at the GreenBusiness Works EXPO.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info: Rachel Pomerance, Pomerance & Associates rachel@pomeranceassociates.com
What You Don’t Know About Sustainability:
The Role of Women in Making Business Thrive
Crafting a sustainable business means more than going green. In fact, sustainability rests on three pillars: Environment, Social Responsibility and Governance.
And when it comes to governance, women’s representation is paramount.
“The best clue to a nation’s growth and development potential is the status and role of women,” says David S. Landes in “The Wealth and Power of Nations.”
That’s a quote often cited by Calvert Investments, a Bethesda, Md.-based firm dedicated to sustainable and responsible investing, that says women hold the key to prosperous growth.
Alya Z. Kayal, Calvert’s vice president of sustainability research will make that case at the closing lunch of the GreenBusiness Works EXPO on Oct. 28 at the Cobb Galleria.
“This year’s EXPO is entitled ‘Poised for Prosperity,’ and we are covering every angle of best practices to sustain our businesses for the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit,” said Stephanie Armistead, general manager of GreenBusiness Works, which educates companies about sustainability and produces the annual EXPO.
Calvert outlines seven principles companies must consider in the treatment of their female employees: employment and compensation; work-life balance and career development; health, safety, and freedom from violence; management and governance; business, supply chain, and marketing practices; civic and community engagement; and transparency and accountability.
One of the foremost human rights practitioners in the world of sustainable and responsible investment, Ms. Kayal has focused on human rights and labor rights in the global supply chains of key retail sectors such as footwear, apparel and toys, as well as on the corporate impact on the rights of Indigenous Peoples around the world.
She tracks companies’ environmental, social and governance impact with its performance. Before coming to Calvert in 1994, Ms. Kayal worked at the US Department of Labor’s International Labor Affairs Bureau, the US Information Agency and the United Nations. She is a co-author of The Forty-Fourth Session of the United Nations Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and the Special Session of the Commission on Human Rights on the Situation in the Former Yugoslavia, 15 Human Rights Quarterly (1993) and authored the Human Rights chapter of the Calvert-Henderson Quality of Life Indicators.
Calvert itself has won multiple awards for outstanding practices, including the Alliance for Workplace Excellence’s “Great Place to Work” Seal of Approval, Health and Wellness Trailblazer Award and Eco Leadership Award in 2009.
Ms. Kayal’s keynote address marks the culmination of three days of discussion on sustainable businesses, featuring a special track on energy efficiency, a Clean Tech Forum and exhibits by sustainable businesses across the Southeast.
The EXPO will also feature keynotes by: Rosalind Brewer, executive vice president of Walmart and president of Walmart Stores, Inc.’s South Business Unit; Edward Kerschner, CFA, chief investment officer for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney; Chris Deris, Global Head, CSR & Sustainability Practice of Edelman; and Auden Schendler, executive director of sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company and author of “Getting Green Done: Hard Truths from the Front Lines of the Sustainability Revolution.”
For more information about Calvert Investments, please visit www.calvert.com.
For EXPO details and to register, visit:www.greenbusinessworksexpo.net.
Please note that the closing luncheon is specially priced at $45.
###
GreenBusiness Works EXPO to feature energy parley
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info: Rachel Pomerance, Pomerance & Associates rachel@pomeranceassociates.com
GreenBusiness Works EXPO to Feature Special Track:
“Conference within a Conference” Energy Focus
ATLANTA – The conversation is conservation at the GreenBusiness Work EXPO’s Conference within a conference on the future of energy. The special energy track will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 27 at the GreenBusiness Work EXPO 2010: “Poised for Prosperity,” located at the Cobb Galleria.
Energy efficiency and sustainability are at the heart of the EXPO’s “conference within a conference,” sponsored by Servidyne, an Atlanta-based company that helps businesses optimize building performance, and the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance, a nonprofit coalition that promotes energy efficiency to improve quality of life in the Southeast region.
“While the adoption of solar, wind, and biomass energy gets a great deal of press, the largest and least expensive resource to help meet our future energy needs in Georgia and across the Southeast actually lies in our existing buildings,” said Todd Jarvis, president of Servidyne. “Working together to improve the energy efficiency of these buildings can free up 20 percent or more of their energy consumption, helping to fund future economic growth across the region. Importantly, this resource is also far cheaper to develop and bring to market than renewables or new generating capacity.”
When it comes to energy efficiency, this region is particularly poised for prosperity.
“The Southeast has traditionally lagged in the adoption of energy efficiency programs, but over the last few years more attention has brought energy efficiency programs and practices to the forefront,” said Ben Taube, executive director of the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance. “As the South looks at new energy needs, SEEA is committed to making energy efficiency cost effective across the region and sees the value of sharing best practices on energy efficiency programs that are returning an investment to building owners within months.”
The Energy Conference within a Conference features session such as:
- Energy Policy and Finance – An exploration of the intersection between energy policy and finance programs to broker innovative progress.
- How to Design and Implement a Strategic Energy Program — an introduction to starting a strategic energy program that will create a competitive advantage for your organization.
- Delivering Energy Efficiency and Sustainability – a discussion on best practices by some of the leading practitioners of energy efficiency and sustainability.
- What is a Smart Grid – an explanation of the effort to generate, transmit, deliver and manage energy through an intelligent grid and the various smart grid applications across the country.
Learn how you can become “Poised for Prosperity!” www.GreenBusinessWorksEXPO.net.
###
GreenBusiness Works EXPO to highlight Clean Tech and Social Responsibility
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more info: Rachel Pomerance, Pomerance & Associates rachel@pomeranceassociates.com
GreenBusiness Works EXPO to tackle investment trends in added day
Leading investment gurus to unpack “Clean Tech” and “Social Responsibility”
“Clean tech” and “corporate responsibility” are the biggest buzz words in current investment trends.
Which investments are worth banking on, and how do these initiatives pay off – in dollars and sense?
The answers to these questions are so important that they deserve their own day. And the GreenBusiness Works EXPO 2010 has added a third day to address these issues at its conference, entitled “Poised for Prosperity,” Oct. 26 to Oct. 28 at the Cobb Galleria.
“The business game is changing, and so are the rules,” explains Stephanie Armistead, General Manager of GreenBusiness Works, which produces the EXPO. “Companies must champion the values of environmental stewardship and moral governance as well as economic prosperity to warrant success, and they can discover how to best execute all three principles at the GreenBusiness Works EXPO.”
Among the key speakers to address the EXPO on October 28 are:
- Edward Kerschner, CFA, Chief Investment Officer for Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, who will outline “the rising risk of water bankruptcy” in a keynote address that anyone working in water issues won’t want to miss! A leading Wall Street strategist, Kerschner will explain how declining supply and growing demand may render water the biggest commodity story of the 21st century. Kerschner will also discuss such technologies as desalination, “virtual water,” rainwater harvesting and “toilet-to-tap” recycling.
- John M. Segrich, CFA, head of the Green Research Team for Gabelli & Company, Inc., a renowned institutional broker and dealer. The portfolio manager of The Gabelli SRI Green Fund, Segrich formerly helmed JPMorgan’s sell side European technology research team and also headed the European Software research team for Goldman Sachs in London.
- Shawn Lesser, founder and president of Sustainable World Capital. With more than 15 years of experience in institutional equity sales, Lesser, who is based in Atlanta, identifies and supports “hidden gems” within the “green” sector through longstanding relationships with sustainability portfolio managers throughout the world.
Attendees can expect a primer on the key elements in the world of doing good while doing well and how to successfully navigate today’s challenges and opportunities, whether that means supporting women in lesser developed countries through microfinance or employing fair trade and sustainable practices.
The day concludes with an inspiring luncheon keynote on The Calvert Women Principles, the practice of investing in women to nurture gender equality as well as economic prosperity.
Underscoring its commitment to help broker business relationships for a cleaner, greener Southeast region, GreenBusiness Works EXPO and its partners will introduce the Clean Tech Forum on the final day of the show to provide opportunities for education and networking. A special entrepreneur showcase will feature presentations by exemplary startup companies in the space.
Registration for the EXPO as an attendee or exhibitor includes this day at no additional charge.
Special Rates: One-day registration for a rate of just $10 is available for those interested in attending the Clean Tech Forum only. Those who wish to attend only the luncheon may do so for a special rate of $45. Register for both the Clean Tech Forum and the luncheon for a total of $55.
Learn how you can become “Poised for Prosperity!” www.GreenBusinessWorksEXPO.net.
