Debugging the Elephant: My Aha! moment at IIT Clean Tech 2009

Have you heard that elephant story? When 4 blind people touch different parts of an elephant and they just can't figure out how it can possibly function? Software designers are required to laugh at this story to make the grade but it is relevant for all new endeavors. When it comes to figuring out the clean energy space- yep I didn't have the big picture. Aha! All is changed. On March 21, I attended the IIT Clean Tech Forum: "To inform and educate attendees about opportunities for jobs, businesses, investments, research and development in the emerging new energy economy." But I got more. I got to visualise the elephant. A software person, at such events, I position myself as a dilettante- its a defensive posture. The conversation quickly moves into PV cells, Silicon stuff, Nano or Giant windmills, even biomass (a polite word for waste matter among other things). Else its about policy, big government programs and so on. The Forum featured great talks (Solar energy, Biofuels, Energy Storage etc. ) but I was really interested in the talk by Raj Vaswani, Silver Spring Networks, on Energy Management. It was great - overview as well as details; not to mention entertaining. The energy crisis is real - NIMBY -> BANANA -> NOPE (not in my backyard, build anywhere nothing anywhere near anything, not on planet earth). He also called software the "Fifth Fuel" (I love that) and mentioned demand side management several times. I got the trunk of the elephant - I knew how software skills could be applied. But I still didn't have the big picture - Who cares enough to help me build my dream? The real AHA moment came during the panel. It came from Adam Grosser, Foundation Capital. In a nutshell: "Demand side applications are more amenable to VC funds than supply side- e.g. storage, transmission, data management - like Raj's company". So the companies that focus on "efficiency" are the "low hanging fruit" - and that is what VC's fund. Infrastructure energy projects are supply side - which is where solar, wind etc come in - payback (and witness increase in government funding) comes after a little longer period of time and required different capital strategy. That's it- this is how I can slice/dice the space - tell the tail from the trunk and what's in between. So, if you are in clean tech or thinking of getting into it- create a framework that works for you: ask - Supply side or demand side? Where is my expertise a strength? Low hanging fruit or long term payback? and then develop your funding and execution strategy. An oh, by the way, Raj's company is growing and hiring like crazy - write hr@silverspringnet.com . A word of caution - Raj says "my customers are the big Utility companies and they don't even like low hanging fruit; they will just pick up the fruit if its laying on the ground."

Social and Business networking study- Make your voice count!

This is the first of a kind event- where we are using the 'social web' to spread the word about how everyday people can make an incredible impact on a Sustainable Energy Future for us all. We have selected 10 videos and you need to VOTE HERE:
http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB227QE8J48Y6.

You can view the videos (they are inspiring!) or vote based on your cause. Winner gets $5000 prize and there is a $500 BEST RECRUITER prize. So if a friend told you about the event- make sure to give their name- $500 buys a lot of pizza and beer that can be shared with many friends!

Videos are as follows:
1. Shelby Tyne- Greenway Farms - S. Africa – Biogas Shelby teaches others how to manage farm waste and generate elec
2. Dan Robichaud - Canada - Solar Heater http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lz7k9El_d7A%20
Dan shows that anyone with a bit of initiative can create their own low-cost energy solution.
3. DAXU - China – Biomass
http://www.ashdenawards.org/video.php?action=view&nid=299&fileref=undefined&dims=undefined&title=undefined
Replacing coal with biomass bricks for home cooking.
4. Practical Action - Peru - Micro Hydro http://www.ashdenawards.org/video.php?action=view&nid=306&fileref=undefined&dims=undefined&title=undefined
Local schools keep teachers in villages with electricity.
5. AIDS - Phillipines - Hydro pumps
http://www.ashdenawards.org/video.php?action=view&nid=308&fileref=undefined&dims=undefined&title=undefined
Over 15,000 people now have access to clean and safe water
6. SKG - India - Biomass & Biogas
http://www.ashdenawards.org/video.php?action=view&nid=302&fileref=undefined&dims=undefined&title=undefined
Mothers and daughters making income from selling fertilizer and making electricity
7. BioTech - India – Biomass
http://www.ashdenawards.org/video.php?action=view&nid=301&fileref=undefined&dims=undefined&title=undefined
Keeping the streets clean and reducing the spread of disease.

8. Center for Rural Technology - Nepal - Micro Hydro http://www.ashdenawards.org/video.php?action=view&nid=300&fileref=undefined&dims=undefined&title=undefined
Each improved mill replacing diesel offsets 2.4 tons/yr of CO2
9. Deng Ltd - Ghana - Solar PV Panels
http://www.ashdenawards.org/video.php?action=view&nid=304&fileref=undefined&dims=undefined&title=undefined
Maternity wards now benefit from reliable lighting and refridgeration for vaccines.
10. SEEDS -Sri Lanka - Micro financing for Solar http://www.ashdenawards.org/video.php?action=view&nid=199&fileref=undefined&dims=undefined&title=undefined
Financing of over 52,000 solar home systems in rural areas of Sri Lanka

India Billionaires: So why am I not ecstatic?

Forbes just released its list of billionaires and there are 4 (not 1 not 2.. but 4) Indians in the top 10 - at 4,5,6 and 8 we have Lakshmi Mittal, Mukesh and Anil Ambani and KP Singh. If you grew up in India like I did - where the only foreign coverage we saw was BBC pictures of starving children or worse stories of "Suttee" and "thuggery" this is great news- its about India "arriving", India "shining" etc. Not only that I am personally a beneficiary of their endeavors: I am thankful for my flat in Gurgaon, great phone connectivity everywhere in India and not to forget - that Reliance data card - slow as it is - that gives me internet access from anywhere, everywhere in India.

So why am I not ecstatic? Because India's dreams are not big enough. Because I can't help but think that India could do more- we are not living upto the innovation potential of the full billion people. Wouldn't it be great if Gurgaon had green buildings? Ones that wouldn't have to run Diesel generators but could still have power 24/7? Better infrastructure? Is there enough investment in new R&D suitable for India's climate? Like Solar? Wind?

Technology can create wealth - Bill Gates (and the rest) has proven that over and over again. How about now we employ technology that will also distribute the wealth instead of making the income gap larger - especially in India where a majority still lives on less than $4/day.

Green is Good Gold

"I think many Googles will be created in the energy business" says Vinod Khosla - from the San Jose Mercury News, June 11, 07 - and Khosla Ventures is puting its money where its mouth is - Now couple that with some research needed for markets like India to bring costs down (see previous blogs on Selco and energy issues in Gurgaon) and we have something green and gold and good.

"solar energy is cheap for the poor, expensive for the rich"

Lighting up lives in rural India
24 Jun, 2007 l 0013 hrs ISTl-Neelam Raaj/TIMES NEWS NETWORK

NEW DELHI: An auto driver, a midwife, a rose picker...these may not sound like your average consumers of renewable energy but for Harish Hande, a 37-year-old engineer whose solar energy company Selco India recently won the prestigious `Green Oscar', it's all about tailoring innovation to match a particular need. "Rural India isn't running microwaves and ACs. Here, a little electricity goes a long way," says the IIT Kharagpur alumnus who founded the company 12 years ago.
Let there be light The solar panel installed above R Vijaya Kumar's small house on the outskirts of Bangalore has ignited the change from auto driver to entrepreneur. Every day at 4 pm, Kumar drives to the Bomanahalli market on the outskirts of Bangalore with 50 batteries that he hires out to street vendors for Rs 15 per battery per night. He returns at 11 pm to take them back, having made thrice what he would earn as an auto driver. Not only can the vendors give up their polluting kerosene lamps for a cleaner and cheaper energy alternative but Kumar gets enough money to repay the loan he took to buy the solar panels with which he recharges the batteries every day. Both in Karnataka and Gujarat where Selco works, lives have been touched — and transformed by solar power. From helping midwives in Gujarat to deliver children with the aid of solar lighting kits to giving rose-pickers outside Bangalore solar-powered headlamps so that they can work in the pre-dawn darkness with their hands free, innovation has been the key to success. "Design has to be customised to fit the needs of the customer. The one-size-fits-all approach that's usually used when the user is from a financially weak background invariably fails," says Hande. Selco, which won the Ashden Award (or the Green Oscar as it's called) for the second time, has also tied up with the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) bank in Gujarat where it plans to sell a range of energy services, including energy efficient stoves, to the bank's 300,000 low-income female customers.
Banking on micro-finance A few extra hours of work after sundown, less fumes from lamps and more study time for kids — it's all these things that make a difference to people hampered by electricity outages and the reliance on a few expensive litres of kerosene. Selco, say the Ashden award judges, is based on the conviction that solar energy is cheap for the poor but expensive for the rich — that is, poor people can afford to buy solar systems, because they pay so much for other forms of energy, such as kerosene and batteries. But it's still difficult to convince the poor to shell out anywhere between Rs 18,000 and Rs 20,000 for a standard 40-watt solar light system that can light several 7-watt bulbs and charge batteries which can be used after dark. For daily wagers, that's a stiff financial commitment. That's where microfinance came in, says Hande. Initially most banks were reluctant to lend money to those who earned less than Rs 100 a day but company executives managed to convince them that increased productivity would enable borrowers to repay loans. Now, fewer than 10% of customers default. It also taught Hande that financing had to be as innovative as the product. "While some found repaying Rs 300 a month difficult, they found it easy to put away Rs 10 a day." The answer lay in ensuring a collection mechanism that would work on a daily rather than monthly basis. Service success There was still the need to address a misconception — that solar-powered technology doesn't work. "Without after-sales service, the technology gets a bad name," points out Hande. And with ambitious plans of reaching 200,000 customers — the current client base is 80,000 — that's one thing he certainly doesn't want. neelam.raaj@timesgroup.com

I loved this article and I hope the experience in business innovation can also translate to research innovation (like technology to create lower price solar panels)

Infra sys and Solar energy

Infrasys is a for profit social business that is investing in rural India.
Check out the update on solar energy in India -
http://nri-home-coming.com/Infrasys/June2007_English.pdf