Alternative Energy from Ewaste...with Profits

Here's a new way to look at alternative energy. What if you could take ewaste (think electronic junk) and instead of creating a toxic dump, convert it to clean energy with no toxic residue? To top it off, it would make unreal profits.

Well thank the US Govt. After $20M of R&D, they figured it out. I've been working with a group www.volcanopartners.com that is commercializing the technology. Here's a summary:

Overview:

Volcano Partners hold 2 awarded patents for the production of clean energy from E-waste. This is not incineration, and the EPA has approved the technology with immeasurable (6 digits) pollution. Most of all, it provides for 1 order of magnitude cost advantage over any other system and is the only one that produces non-toxic and useful byproducts: Ecomelt and
Electricity (in addition to profits).

Computer and other electronic equipment vendors are producing millions of tons of toxic Ewaste each year which has become a real economic and political problem. E waste is now banned from landfills and the recycling
industry, which already only handles a fraction of this stuff, cannot keep up. This has opened up a $1.5 billion market in the US alone for the company with the right solution.

They have a demonstration plant running in New Jersey that turns this toxic waste into:

1) Electrical Energy ( with no toxic air particulats) which can be sold
2) Ecomelt: Inert non leaching material (similar to crushed lava rock) used
for building materials
3) Profit: (Breakeven is $65/ton while disposal fees are $500+/ton)

E Waste is not only computers, motherboards, and monitors, but also printers, fax machines, copiers, cell phones, etc. and as of 2005 it will also include TV sets.

Don’t drink that tea… doin’ biz in the new Japan

Things have changed a lot since I first traveled to Japan back in 1987. For one, Japan is cool, hip, and generally an innovator in a couple of fashion/art trends like Anime, Manga, Glasses, High Fashion. There is a live and kickin’ rave scene and not working (among a subculture) is cool. Secondly, they are no longer as tightly linked to the idea of lifetime employment which is really changing the basic philosophy of the younger workers. They are more independent, more prone to take risks, and less loyal to the mother lode: the kaisha (company).

Don’t get me wrong. Japan hasn’t had a cultural seismic shift…yet. Then again Japan is a place that values consensus and frowns on sticking out. Japan has (in my humble opinion) been a place that values consistency and reliability. That is to say, they like the trains to run on sub-minute schedules, the food always just so, everything neat (you ever go to a store in Japan?), order, and don’t like variability. Things “work as they should”. Therefore, nothing changes until there is consensus and then things changes drastically. The famous example is Admiral Perry with his black fleet ushering the lightning fast shift from a feudal Japan to a modern country. The Japanese realized they needed to modernize, and did so, creating the 2nd largest economy in the world.

So back to the cultural shift. Cultural attitudes are treated the same way in Japan. Things haven’t changed. Now another “black fleet” is upon the Japanese. A rapidly plummeting population, restrictions on immigration, and China. Japan will change, and when it does, it will be a revolution. It’s tough to figure out how it will change, but increased immigration, more diversity in all sorts of areas, and less reliance on the all-mighty kaisha is a pretty good bet. There are already 2 Japans: the salariman of yore, and the younger, hipper crowd.

Which brings me to the title. I’ve been doing deals with Japan since 1993. It is certainly a different process than in the US and Europe, but don’t drink that koolaid..er..tea…too much. Be polite, don’t exaggerate, and be aware that there are real undercurrents going on which will lead to new and exciting possibilities. Pick which Japan you want to deal with…

Don't read this...

So I wrote this to a friend Monday morning:

"Thought about the question you posed while I got dresssed today (no relationship to the activity). The question was around if I were split who would I be. I answered something like neither. To refine that answer: I believe we change all the time, nothing is permanent. Who I was yesterday is not who I am today, etc. So if you split me, I am neither but there are parts of me in both. Something along the lines of the Buddist.

So to get back to my energy = soul comment, my soul continues in both and when they are destroyed, they will unify, split, merge or whatever souls do only to be returned in some way. Not necessarily to earth or humans, that is WAY to egocentric, but to the universe in some way. I’d like to believe I join a cool ass near supernova and get dispersed all over the place only to get mostly slurped into an event horizon and emerge out the end and then…..Whoa, a bit too much for Monday morning.

Had fun and let’s get together soon, hopefully when we’ve both had more sleep!"

He wrote back:

"I think your answer is somewhat similar to mine, but I have a slightly more technical interpretation:

I am a pattern / algorithm that takes data from the outside world / environment and processes it. I locally reverse entropy and exist to process information according to my core set of algorithms. My algorithms update constantly based on environmental input. Just as you posit, who I am changes constantly as my algorithms and environmental data change.

I don't believe in the soul unless the soul is a pattern. In that sense, parts of my pattern are constantly being implanted elsewhere, and only the unsuccessful memes fail to replicate, and therefore, die. But the patterns live on.

Just like any algorithm / pattern, I can be cloned. However, the clones are not the same since they are in a different physical location and therefore processing a different dataset. Therefore they are not me and I would not accept being shut down to activate one of those. It's the same distinction as between two executing copies of the same self-modifying program. They are running the same algorithm, but because they are executing in different parts of the machine, they are immediately divergent as they modify themselves.

I hate Mondays."

Selling Cement in Mexico...don't do as you're told

My first post-college job was a real mind warp for me. I had held 5 jobs to pay my way through school: managing a blues band, as a waiter, bartender, Spanish tutor, and as a self-defense instructor. So there I am at a top tier consulting firm with the other associates who had spent their summers as interns with Wall Street firms, Washington Lobbying groups and what not. I am assigned to work for a Mexican Cement manufacturer and I’m shipped off to Mexico City. Manager comes in and the associate (me) gets the spreadsheets, the consultants go out to meet the client and top buyers. Funny thing…I don’t know how to use excel. So I self teach myself with help from some really nice consultants on the project and start crunching heavy duty sales numbers, trying to tie it to their marketing spend.

Manager comes back and little progress to report. I had a thought: Since I’m the only native Spanish speaker, how about we just ask the consumers why they pick a particular type of cement? “Umm…you’re an associate, get back to those spreadsheets.” Weeks pass, still little progress. Someone senior comes up with the brilliant idea to interview the individual consumers who represent a big (huge) chunk of the revenue. Out go the consultants, but they miss a small point. The consumers are primarily dirt poor laborers who build their houses with cement and blocks, usually several blocks a month or as much as they can afford that month. Back come the consultants to report that most the laborers either didn’t understand them or weren’t willing to talk. Wonder how open they would be to see suited Gringos come up to them to ask them questions in broken English. Probably assumed they were US Agents and ran.

Client is getting anxious. They are spending millions in billboards, print ads, etc. touting how their cement is better. It dries faster, it’s stronger, it slices/dices, in a pinch it makes good salsa. Manager breaks down and lets me go into the field. My turn finally. I criss-cross Mexico meeting with users – in a tshirt and jeans – and buy them a beer. Funny how people open up when you offer them a beer on a hot day. We sit down to watch the local soccer team as a break. Yes, nearly everyone has a TV even when they lack a roof over their heads, and yes, there is almost always a game being played/replayed, etc. (Sidenoting the obvious: Soccer –futbol- is huge in Mexico and everyone has their favorite local team) .

So why do people buy a certain brand of cement? The quality? Availability? Drying speed? Price (most brands are priced nearly the same)? Nope. The answer: they thought all cement is about the same. They bought from the company that supported the local soccer team. Our client effectively used this to clobber their competitors and is a major player now.