Invest & Save
For those in Britain . . .

Your eligibility for assistance will depend on a number of factors, including where in the country you live, the measures you are interested in implementing, your energy supplier, whether you own your own home, whether you are aged over 60, and whether you are in receipt of certain State benefits. Any grant, however, will cut the cost of making home improvements that will save money in the long term.
For the more serious, committing to larger-scale measures to make the most of renewable energy, such as installing solar panels or putting up your own wind turbine, can save hundreds of pounds over the long term, as well avoiding tonnes of carbon dioxide output every year.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 11:09 AM (0) comments

 
Flickr
This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 5:02 PM (0) comments

 
low pollution autos for China
Bloomberg.com:Asia: "General Motors Corp., the world's
largest carmaker, and China's SAIC Motor Corp. signed an
agreement to study joint production of gasoline-electric hybrids
and other low-pollution vehicles in China.
The companies will also consider expanding a hybrid-bus
demonstration project in Shanghai and produce low-pollution
models for China by 2008, GM said in a statement today. The
first model will be a vehicle using a belt-alternator starter
system similar to the hybrid Saturn VUE sport-utility vehicle
that GM will sell in the U.S. next year, spokesman Kyle Johnson
said. The companies already jointly build GM vehicles in China.

By working together, we can help take China one step
closer to the era of sustainable transportation,'' GM Chief
Executive Rick Wagoner said in the statement."
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 11:09 AM (0) comments

 
Fuel Cell Works Supplemental News Page
Fuel Cell Works Supplemental News Page: "Fuel cell supplies municipal wastewater treatment works in the Westphalian City of Ahlen with electricity and heat Ahlen/Essen Together with the North Rhine-Westphalian
Ministry for the Environment, the project partners RWE Fuel Cells and the City of Ahlen have today officially commissioned a high-temperature fuel cell that generates electricity and heat from sewage gas and is unprecedented in Europe."
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 7:26 PM (0) comments

 
ARTICLE: Two hours of battery life got you down? Get some sun. To go. (Associated Press - HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com)
ARTICLE: Two hours of battery life got you down? Get some sun. To go. (Associated Press - HamptonRoads.com/PilotOnline.com): "The stylish Solio charger, which uses traditional rigid silicon panels, is among the products trying to go mainstream, and is already sold at J&R electronics and Apple stores in the U.S., and Quiksilver Boardriders Club shops in Europe.

The phone-sized gizmo is made by the British company Better Energy Systems, Ltd. It folds open like a fan to reveal three solar panels and charges in about eight hours of sunlight. It can then be plugged in to your PSP, GameBoy or whatever, for an environmentally-friendly power boost."
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 7:25 PM (0) comments

 
Forget hybrids, America; diesels will provide economy, performance - 10/26/05
Forget hybrids, America; diesels will provide economy, performance - 10/26/05: "'Diesels are all round superior to hybrids in terms of running costs, manufacturing costs, flexibility in town and highway, they are winning hands down. Hybrids' only plus? A marginal advantage in very heavy traffic congestion,' said Schmidt."
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 7:23 PM (0) comments

 
Solar for iPods!
TechWeb: The Business Technology Network: "Soldius, the leading developer of portable, solar-based chargers for consumer electronic devices, and mysoldius(TM), the exclusive, U.S.-based Soldius distributor, today announced the New England debut of the Soldius1(TM) Universal Solar Charger for iPods. mysoldius will be unveiling Soldius1 in New England today, Wednesday, October 26 at the Fox Run Mall, 50 Fox Run Road, Newington, NH. The product will be sold from a kiosk built with lights that simulate solar energy. The Soldius1 is sold exclusively at the Fox Run kiosk or at
http://www.mysoldius.com
ranging in price from $89.99 to $109.99."
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 7:23 PM (0) comments

 
First Global Study of High Expectation Entrepreneurship
I got an email today about this study since I submitted a paper for the Babson Entrepreneurship Conference in June in Indiana.

I don't exactly believe their claim that this is the first such study, but nonetheless . . .

The first global study of high
expectation entrepreneurship has found that just 9.8% of the world's entrepreneurs expect to create almost 75% of the jobs generated by new business ventures.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor ("GEM") international research
consortium (co-directed by Babson College and London Business School) has
examined high expectation entrepreneurship in a new GEM special topic report.
This study has been sponsored and made possible by Mazars, the international
accountants and business advisors. Exploiting the richness of the GEM data-
set, this report analyzes 505,000 survey responses across 44 countries over a
five-year period to gain unique insights into high expectation
entrepreneurship.
The report defines high expectation entrepreneurship as all start-ups and
newly formed businesses which expect to employ at least 20 employees within
five years. These ventures have far reaching consequences for the economies
in which they operate, particularly because of their impact on job creation
and innovation.

The report's key findings include:
* Among country groups studied, more high expectation entrepreneurial
activity occurs in North America (USA and Canada) and Oceania
(Australia and New Zealand) than in any other country group. For these
groups, high expectation entrepreneurial activity ranges from c. 1% to
1.6% of the adult population
* Among five countries studied individually, high expectation
entrepreneurial activity is highest in the USA (c. 1.6% of adult
population), roughly twice the rate in the UK and Germany (c. 0.7%
each)
* Worldwide, 9.8% of entrepreneurs expect to create 74.1% of all jobs born
out of new business ventures
* High expectation entrepreneurial ventures are most prevalent among well-
educated men aged 25-34 years with high incomes
* Governments should be aware of the importance of high expectation
entrepreneurial activity and consider highly selective support measures
to encourage it. The report includes a number of policy
recommendations for:

-- high-income countries, e.g. removing "dis-incentives" for
entrepreneurial growth, and facilitating spin-offs particularly from
knowledge-intensive and/or research organizations, and
-- low-income countries, e.g. improving elementary and secondary
education provision, and improving the overall infrastructure for
business.

Erkko Autio, Professor, HEC Lausanne, the lead researcher on this report
concludes: "This study shows that it is only a small fraction of all new firms
that really matter for job creation. Therefore, selective policy measures by
governments targeted at high potential ventures are likely to prove more
effective for job creation purposes. Policy makers should also address the
anatomy of entrepreneurial activity (i.e., the relative share of high-
expectation entrepreneurs), rather than the overall level of entrepreneurial
activity."">First Global Study of High Expectation Entrepreneurship: "The first global study of high
expectation entrepreneurship has found that just 9.8% of the world's
entrepreneurs expect to create almost 75% of the jobs generated by new
business ventures.
The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor ('GEM') international research
consortium (co-directed by Babson College and London Business School) has
examined high expectation entrepreneurship in a new GEM special topic report.
This study has been sponsored and made possible by Mazars, the international
accountants and business advisors. Exploiting the richness of the GEM data-
set, this report analyzes 505,000 survey responses across 44 countries over a
five-year period to gain unique insights into high expectation
entrepreneurship.
The report defines high expectation entrepreneurship as all start-ups and
newly formed businesses which expect to employ at least 20 employees within
five years. These ventures have far reaching consequences for the economies
in which they operate, particularly because of their impact on job creation
and innovation.

The report's key findings include:
* Among country groups studied, more high expectation entrepreneurial
activity occurs in North America (USA and Canada) and Oceania
(Australia and New Zealand) than in any other country group. For these
groups, high expectation entrepreneurial activity ranges from c. 1% to
1.6% of the adult population
* Among five countries studied individually, high expectation
entrepreneurial activity is highest in the USA (c. 1.6% of adult
population), roughly twice the rate in the UK and Germany (c. 0.7%
each)
* Worldwide, 9.8% of entrepreneurs expect to create 74.1% of all jobs born
out of new business ventures
* High expectation entrepreneurial ventures are most prevalent among well-
educated men aged 25-34 years with high incomes
* Governments should be aware of the importance of high expectation
entrepreneurial activity and consider highly selective support measures
to encourage it. The report includes a number of policy
recommendations for:

-- high-income countries, e.g. removing 'dis-incentives' for
entrepreneurial growth, and facilitating spin-offs particularly from
knowledge-intensive and/or research organizations, and
-- low-income countries, e.g. improving elementary and secondary
education provision, and improving the overall infrastructure for
business.

Erkko Autio, Professor, HEC Lausanne, the lead researcher on this report
concludes: 'This study shows that it is only a small fraction of all new firms
that really matter for job creation. Therefore, selective policy measures by
governments targeted at high potential ventures are likely to prove more
effective for job creation purposes. Policy makers should also address the
anatomy of entrepreneurial activity (i.e., the relative share of high-
expectation entrepreneurs), rather than the overall level of entrepreneurial
activity.'"
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 6:37 PM (0) comments

 
Biomass energy report criticised
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Biomass energy report criticised: "Biomass, which sees crops grown for use as environmentally friendly fuels, should be used to generate heat, a year-long task force study concluded.
But critics say the recommendations do not go far enough as energy suppliers are not required to source a percentage of heating fuel from renewable sources."
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 10:34 PM (0) comments

 
Asthma exercise
This question was posted in the comments today. Does anyone have any advice? I know that I used to have a bit of asthma and was told that playing the saxophone would help. It eventually went away, though I can't say for sure that it was playing an instrument that did it.

Looking at asthma exercise info online today while my son coughs I came across this post. Does anyone know a good asthma exercise site to help?
- posted by Chuck Eesley @ 8:56 PM (0) comments