Clean Economies

Water doesn't usually appear on corporate balance sheets. But, that may change in the near future as investors begin linking water responsibility to companies' financial risk and overarching health. The increasing demand for clean water due to population growth, ecosystem pollution and disruption, economic development, changing consumption patterns, rapid industrialization and lack of sufficient wastewater treatment facilities isn't only hurting the developing world. It's beginning to take its toll on business and the economy. We not only need water to survive and for the global food chain, we need it for virtually all production processes. For example, a recent report by Ceres, points out that "vast quantities of ultra clean water are used to make the silicon chips that help power our computers, servers, and cell phones. Electric power plants depend heavily on water, and account for a staggering 40 percent of freshwater withdrawals in the United States."

Business competitions at universities help accelerate the commercialization of technologies and birth of startups. The MIT Ignite Clean Energy competition is a year long training and competitive forum for entrepreneurs in the clean tech industry. It is one of many events that is produced by the Energy Special Interest Group (Energy SIG) and the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge (MITEFC). Throughout the year, teams work with industry experts, mentors, and attend a variety of events all designed to polish business plans and get those ideas closer to market.

The future of U.S. media is uncertain. The iconic organizations that pioneered our access to information and defined it as an unalienable right, don't seem to be adapting to the shift of viewers from traditional media to the Internet. Last month's announcement by the New York Times that it will put up pay walls to its most loyal readers, raised hell in the blogosphere and at dinner tables across the country. And Comcast's bid to acquire a controlling stake in NBC Universal for $30 billion is down-right scary. The recent challenges faced by traditional media is partly due to the economy, the growing indifference of over-exposed consumers to advertising, the belief that everyone has the right to high quality content for free, and the diffusion of eyeballs across the Internet.

A few years ago, it would be hard to imagine that someone could start a car company with $4 million in venture funding and actually produce an extremely functional, drivable, production ready car to sell. Jay Rogers, the CEO and co-founder of Local Motors, has done just that and now has nearly 60 people waiting inline to build their own Rally Fighter. The Rally Fighter is designed by members of the Local Motor community who compete and collaborate in competitions to model various different pieces of the car. The community provides feedback, votes on changes and the car they'd like to see developed. They then collaborate with the Local Motors team to spec and build the car alongside them. Let me emphasize this...the car is entirely designed by the community! The team at Local Motors then assembles the car with a working model that others can purchase and then build their own similar to how you might build a model car, except life size.