Alex Lindahl's blog

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.

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.

Every year, there are 3.5 billion people who surfer from a lack of clean water. Of these 3.5 billion people, 3 million kids die each year. Michael Pritchard, in his TED speech, explains that “each day…there are millions of people who are forced to drink dirty water or face death.” In response to this tragic reality, he's invented “LifeSaver” bottle. Check out the following demonstration to see why it's a remarkable invention...

According to ancient medicine, Meringa leaves may prevent up to 300 different types of disease. Although, that has yet to be quantified, there are clearly some very interesting facts about the Moringa Tree. The non-profit, Trees for Life International, believes these tiny leaves could save millions of lives around the world. After you read a bit more and discover its nutrient packed statistics and possible applications, you'll wonder why you haven't heard of tree and aren't taking it yourself. It could turn into the hottest new trend or turn into a potential cure for malnutrition in developing countries.

Stanford University Professor of civil and environmental engineering, Anne Kiremidjian, compares the 7.0 magnitude earthquake to a nuclear bomb. She also goes into more detail about why the earthquake flattened so many buildings from an engineering standpoint.

My friend, Chikodi Chima (founder of TechTrotter) just introduced me to MobileActive.org. Besides the absolutely beautiful site design, I love their initiative that brings together a community of people using mobile technology for social impact. MobileActive has tons of resource, one of the more interesting blogs I've come across lately, and a directory of social impact organizations, technologies, and movements. For instance, one of their latest posts provides information on the latest Haiti tragedy and how you can donate money through text messages.

I work for Acquia, an open source startup, that provides commercial support for Drupal, a widely popular social publishing CMS platform. As I mentioned before, Google believes that the future will be built on open systems, especially open source software and open information. The new Open Government Directive follows in those beliefs and has recently set out a mandate for agencies to open their websites, provide data in more accessible, open formats, and ultimately increase transparency and citizen participation.

Konarka's revolutionary 3rd generation flexible solar technology has been in the making for the past 9 years and has received over $150 million dollars in financing. The company hasn't produced a product yet, but it has raised an additional $23.8 million dollars. [Konarka SEC Filing] The new money could signal it's solar film is close to being market ready. After reading about the technology, I'm sure you'll come to agree the company is posed for success.

The insertion of technologies and new business models can make a huge difference in third world countries. For example, A recent Stanford University study shows how solar powered drip irrigation systems in sub-Saharan Africa are changing the economics of agriculture for people in the poverty struck area where people live on less than $1.25 a day.