In a survey released in September 2008 by KPMG, the audit, tax and advisory firm, two-thirds of those polled said that green technology investment is sustainable. Almost all said they expected venture capital for start-ups producing these technologies to continue to increase in 2009. Half predicted an increase of 20 percent or more over 2008 levels. [via NYTimes]
I wonder what the current statistics look like for the first half of 2009? I have a feeling they were very close. Green is not only trendy right now, but it’s the way of the future. Green is sustainable, and makes good business sense. Message to firms out there: get in before you’re toast.
Cloud computing could become mainstream with Google’s annoucement this week to release the Chrome operating system for NetBook PCs.
I believe the cloud is the platform of the future, and Google is uniquely poised with their already popular office suite, Google Docs, and their other Google Apps which do just about everything owners of netbooks would be looking for.
This is certainly an exciting announcement for consumers looking to the future, and should cause real innovation and competition within the other computer and software makers.
On a side note, Ars Technica has an article discussing the reliability issues with cloud computing, and whether or not our infrastructure is ready for Chrome. I agree, with the downtime that Google has faced earlier this year, which took down a large chunk of Internet traffic in North America, it may be too soon for firms to invest their money making ability (read: computer software) in the cloud. What happens when Google’s data center is down, and my netbook can’t open an office document that I have to send to my client because of a server issue? Well, we need to make reliability and uptime as close to 100% before people will take this service seriously.
But, SaaS and Cloud are looking brighter as we move further into the future.
Update: See this Barron’s article describing the problem with Chrome, and what they believe to be Google’s major misstep. (Editorial Note: I think they are missing the value of the cloud. They are using the old value model of standard software architecture, and are discrediting future innovation and consumer preferences changing in the open market. In short, I think they got it wrong.)
Thomas Friedman is an interesting man. For one, his book on globalization: The World Is Flat was mandatory reading at Lehigh in an intro course to Information Systems, and caused a great deal of debate on the topic during many a class session. But, his current op-ed in the New York Times this weekend has a very real message for the west: follow the path to a cleaner, smarter planet, or face an inevitable decline in power and wealth.
Over the past decade, whenever I went to China and engaged Chinese on their pollution and energy problems, inevitably some young Chinese would say: “Hey, you Americans got to grow dirty for 150 years, using cheap coal and oil. Now it is our turn.”
It’s a hard argument to refute. Eventually, I decided that the only way to respond was with some variation of the following: “You’re right. It’s your turn. Grow as dirty as you want. Take your time. Because I think America just needs five years to invent all the clean-power technologies you Chinese are going to need as you choke to death on pollution. Then we’re going to come over here and sell them all to you, and we are going to clean your clock — how do you say ‘clean your clock’ in Chinese? — in the next great global industry: clean power technologies. So if you all want to give us a five-year lead, that would be great. I’d prefer 10. So take your time. Grow as dirty as you want.”
Whenever you frame it that way, Chinese are quizzical at first, and then they totally get it: Wow, this energy thing isn’t just about global warming! In a world that is adding one billion people every 15 years or so — more and more of whom will be able to live high-energy-consuming lifestyles — the demands for energy and natural resources are going to go through the roof. Therefore, E.T.— energy technologies that produce clean power and energy efficiency — is going to be the next great global industry, and China needs to be on board.
Well, China has gotten on board — big-time. Now I am worried that China will, dare I say, “clean our clock” in E.T.
Few companies have had the foresight to grow a green business model, and I believe that Mr. Friedman is right on this point. If the United States wants to continue to develop and lead the world in “global citizenship,” then we must do what’s best for the planet, and in the end, our future. E.T. is going to be the next big thing and we must get on board. And like I’ve said before, it makes good business sense, just ask IBM what they think.
