Power Pal

Read an interesting article a couple weeks back in the WSJ on how biofuels may actually increase carbon emissions in the medium to long-term. Apprently the shifts in land-use necessary to support the production of bio-materials like soybeans, corn, or palm could in fact release more carbon emissions. The time it takes to get carbon-neutral on some of these projects is pretty crazy - 319 years for soybean biodiesel from Brazil (assuming you're clearing rainforest), 93 years for corn ethanol from the U.S. (assuming you're clearing grasslands), 86 years for palm biodiesel from Indonesia (assuming you're clearing rainforest). I suppose biofuels really aren't meant to reduce carbon emissions, but just crazy that they potentially exacerbate the problem so much.

I love reading the editorial page of the WSJ. I came across an article a couple weeks back by William Easterly, an economics professor at NYU, about how Bill Gates' recent push at Davos for what Gates called "creative capitalism" was, although admirable, not really going to help anyone. (It's a 36 min video, so it takes some time to watch). The main point that Gates makes in his speech is that traditional capitalism only benefits those that have money - i.e. those that can participate in the system at all. He was trying to push corporations to to look for innovative ways to incorporate the poorest people of the world into the global economy. He suggested that "recognition" might be one reason a company might want to do that. If companies are recognized for their philantropic works more, that's good PR and free marketing and would motivate them to do more. He used "tiered pricing" as another example for how they might go about it. For

I've never been to China, India, or Brazil, so it's really interesting to read how different retailing works there. I had a previous post on the subject about how chaos sells in India . I recently read an article in the McKinsey Quarterly on the subject. A couple interesting highlights: China : The average Chinese person doesn't really distinguish clothing for different occasions or uses. Work, weddings, special events, etc. all generally fall into the same category for them. And they don't view foreign brands as at all superior to domestic brands. That's the average Chinese person of course. The youth in China are much more similar to those in the U.S. They view foreign brands more favorably and are willing to spend more on clothing as their incomes rise. Lesson here is to focus on the youth. India : For Indians, apparently shopping is a family affair. Indians (across all regions, income segments, and age ranges) believe that shopping is a family activity. In fac

A co-worker forwarded this to me. A fantastic example of innovation run amok .