Strategies for SaaS, Cloud Computing, Open Source and Governance

While the whole world is grappling with the energy problems and the consequential economic impact, Palm Desert a small city in the Riverside County, with a population of 45,000 people has taken the problem head-on.
This desert town with summer temperatures well into the 100’s—and electricity bills into the thousands—is making major headway on its [...]

In response to President’s call to identify atleast $100Million in cost savings in unnecessary expenditure from their administrative budgets  the government agencies have come up with a list of 77 cost savings measures.
You can find the document that enumerates the list of savings opportunities in this document published on the The Office of Management and [...]

Finally it seems like some common sense has dawned on the mobile phone manufacturers. European Commission just announced that the telephone companies have agreed to back a standard charger in Europe. Bravo European Commission!!
Back in Aug 2007 I had written an open letter on what I thought about this craziness that seem to define this [...]

Hara Software, the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers funded, SaaS startup that helps companies be environmentally friendly by effectively tracking and managing their carbon footprint announced the availability of its software.
The company is led by ex-SAP executives from the GRC space.

Amit Chatterjee, CEO
Udo Waibel, Chief Technology Officer

Hara, meaning “green” in hindi, with its on-demand Environmental [...]

I ran into this article on FastCompany website about how Google is renting goats to replace their lawn movers and fertilizers. Apparently this is becoming a trend. First it was Bayer and now it is Google. Soon the days of job boards for contract labor for goats and cows might be the norm.
Reading this article [...]

The City of Miami took the lead and announced an Smart Grid initiative in Miami. The success of this initiative might serve as a model for other cities to follow.
General Electric, Cisco, Florida Power & Light and Silver Spring Networks have partnered in this initiative. More information can be http://www.energysmartmiami.com/

Shai Agassi recently spoke at Ted about his electric car plan through Better Place and the economics behind it.

I think the timing of this is impeccable with the Automobile giants in US stumbling (and on the verge of collapse) this could be the right incentive for them to adopt technology that will help the country [...]

Seems like the company which claimed it was the Dot in the .com could not muster enough interest or convince IBM to sign on the dotted line.  IBM had reportedly made a $9.40 offer to buy Sun and get its hand on the customer base, MySQL, Java, OpenOffice and other properties which Sun had not [...]

Charlie Rose interviewed Steven Chu, Secretary of Energy and discussed the various forms of alternate energy and what government is doing to foster the increase in alternative energy generation.

Recycling is one of the best ways to preserve the environment and world we live in. We can all do our bit to safeguard the environment. If you are a Recycling freak like me this free recycling magazine is for you – http://clickslink.tradepub.com/free/recy/

I came across one of the most intriguing companies that has been funded to do trade-ins. It seems like anything green is getting funded these days. But I particularly like this company for I am one of those personally impacted by not being able to trade in my old cellphone when buying a new one.
Flipswap [...]

After giving it a good try of doing it myself, the handyman in me gave up the challenge of painting the house (interior, of course), thanks to all the other demands of my work and home life.
So now our challenge was to find a reliable painter and started looking for a good referral from our [...]

Oracle has started a new series of sessions called Green Room Sessions, with their forthcoming customer conference Oracle OpenWorld where they will be focussed on the topics around sustainability, eco-friendly practices etc.
Check them out at http://www.oracle.com/openworld/2008/green-sessions.html

T. Boone Pickens now has turned his attention towards wind energy after making news last year by betting $100m buying up land.
Now he is investing upto $12b buying up land under his company Mesa Power and also launched a online community Pickens Plan to garner support for his initiatives.
Check out this video from Pickens Plan [...]

We all know India has always had a history of unfulfilled energy demands, all the new economic advances notwithstanding. The boom has just exacerbated the situation.
Now, if you travel across India, you see buildings being constructed all over the country (residential and office). The government, the real estate developers and owners seem to be missing [...]

I have to say that I am pleasantly surprised with some serious actions being taken in India to reduce the reliance on traditional electricity. Apparently each electric utility is required to produce 4% of their total output of energy through renewable forms. The Maharastra Energy Development Agency (MEDA) has levied a combined fine of USD [...]