Will the recent concerns of the condition of the environment truly change the way energy is produced?

The the Wall Street Journal blog post “Who’s Afraid of a Clean-Energy Future?” addresses the question of will energy production become cleaner and how will that happen. In the blog the author explains that the price of using fossil fuels may appear cheaper than wind or solar energy. However these costs do not include “externalities”, which are the costs absorbed by society which are not included in the sticker price.

I completely agree that, although cleaner forms of energy are more expensive, when you take into account the costs of an oil spill cleanup or the health risks of burning coal for example, dirtier forms of energy may be just as expensive. Not will cleaner energy benefit the world from an environmental standpoint, but it will also eliminate many of these hidden costs associated with oil and coal consumption.

As the need for more environmentally friendly forms of energy grows, more and more business opportunities will arise that will accomplish moral and financial success.

http://blogs.wsj.com/environmentalcapital/2010/01/14/whos-afraid-of-a-clean-energy-future/

After reading Connor Edinger’s blog post on the world’s largest buyout firm Blackstone, the uncommon topic of electricity in African appears to on the agenda of the firm.

In Connor’s blog he made it clear that there is a fantastic opportunity for Blackstone to invest in the building of new hydro and geothermal energy sources. I agree with him that by building these energy sources, Blackstone will tap into the sixty percent of Africans who are currently unable to access electricity. Newly developed sources of electricity could cause a massive influx of the number of people using electricity thus proving an intelligent investment for Blackstone.

However, Connor states that electricity has a very inelastic demand which would result in a large payout for the firm. I do not agree with this statement. In North America people can afford electricity as it is relatively cheap and people have become so dependent on it that it is indeed an inelastic good. In Africa on the other hand, if the price of electricity were to go up, there is a greater chance that many people would no longer use it as they have to use the little money they have on necessities.

If Blackstone is to find success in the African power industry they must go about their costs carefully as to not interfere with, in many cases, a fragile income.

For the fourth time since 1992, the NHL is in a lockout due to issues regarding money. One may think that the players, who already make an astonishing amount of money, just want to play the game they love and the money is just a bonus. However this is incorrect.

The players, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and a few owners cannot agree on a deal which will see the cap on salaries fall from 57% to 47% of revenue. To be fair to the players, this is a large decrease in salary percentage and if the deal is made almost all NHL players will see their salaries reduced substantially. No one is happy about earning less money than before, even if you are still making several million dollars a year. The owners, especially of lower earning teams, think the salary cap is needed in order for the weaker teams to compete.

Both the athletes and the owners can both go for extended periods of time without being paid which raises the question of whether this lockout is still about money or if it is now about pride. Neither side will want to adhere to the deal of the other because of the image it will display to the public of who has more of an influence in the NHL.

If these rich, stubborn individuals can finally agree on a compromise, hopefully the season can be saved.

http://www.economist.com/node/21563293

After reading Louie Wong’s Blog “Big Profit for Charitable Deed”, I found it interesting that although TOMS shoes do indeed help poor children around the world, that may be just as much of a marketing scheme as it is a good deed.

The combination of a shoe that deteriorates quickly and high profit margins per shoe shows TOMS is just as much of a profit seeking business as it is beneficial to people in need of aid.

However I partially disagree with Louie’s comment of there being better ways to give to charity. Although there may be more direct ways of giving money to charitable organizations, TOMS “One-for-One” program allows the average consumer to help people in need while buying a good which they would purchase regardless of it was part of a charitable organization.

Overall, TOMS benefits many people in underdeveloped areas and as long as they are in business, these people will continue to get shoes free of charge. Whether or not TOMS is striving for profits or not is irrelevant because they are still providing a service for the underprivileged.

A new idea which will see two high-definition cameras placed on the International Space Station has the potential to change many aspects of our current way of life. Urthecast  will provide live streaming of the earth from the view of their two cameras in space. There are many positive effects this new technology will have on societies across the globe such as giving people an opportunity to enrich themselves with the beauty of our planet. This could help spread environmental awareness when people can see the destruction of nature in real time. Urthecast will also provide entertainment to the masses and this could allow the Earth to have a more of a communal feel. This may be the start of a more unified planet where people can slowly close the gaps on the physical boundaries that keep us apart culturally.

Although UrtheCast can provide many benefits to society it may also diminish the little privacy that is left in our current technological dependent era. The cameras that will be placed on the space station will not be able to identify a single person on the street, however the fact the even day to day normalities will now go unseen is slightly frightening.

As the wonders of Earth are displayed across the internet, hopefully positive connections are made as people are drawn closer than ever by a common wonder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wVZA1V4Ttc0

http://urthecast.com/