Startups

Sunshine is free, so can photovoltaics be cheap?

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Here’s how to make a solar cell from silicon: take one solid block of doped silicon, saw it into thin wafers, layer said semiconductors beneath a panel of transparent glass, connect them to a metal electrode that can channel away the electrons knocked loose by incoming photons and turn [...]

Tags: advanced research projects agency, arpa, doped silicon, electricity generation, photovoltaic device, photovoltaics, renewable electricity, solar cell, solar photovoltaic, solar power, thin film solar cells, thin wafers
Posted in Cutting-edge Research, Innovation, Innovation Needed, Project Energy, Scientific American, Startups | No Comments »

NoMix toilets make a splash in European study

If you’ve ever considered the humble urinal, you might have noticed that it uses much less water than a toilet. It only makes sense – since they don’t receive any feces, urinals don’t need all the water necessary to carry such solid waste through to the sewer line. When you use [...]

Tags: nomix, sewer line, solid waste, toilet, toilets, urinal, urinals
Posted in Innovation, Innovation Needed, Startups, environment, gizmag | No Comments »

India’s Rural Cell Movement: Can You Hear Me Now?

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Last time I was in India I wrote about the amazing business model innovation that had allowed telecom operators to make money on a paltry $6 a month per average user. That compares to a desired average monthly payment of $50 or more in the U.S.
The results have been phenomenal—550 [...]

Tags: affordable mobile phone, business model innovation, India’s Rural Cell Movement, mobile phones
Posted in Communications, Consider This, Innovation, Innovation Needed, Promising for so many reasons, Shape of Things to Come?, Startups, TechCrunch, economics | No Comments »

Vittana Applies The Kiva Model To Help Finance Education In Developing Countries

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The microfinance model has proved to be a valuable way to raise funds for entrepreneurs all over the country, as exemplified by the success of Kiva. Seattle-based Vittana is taking a similar approach to helping fund education in developing countries by allowing you to lend directly to students in [...]

Tags: education in developing countries, loans for students, microfinance organizations, student loans
Posted in Civilization, Consider This, Innovation, Promising for so many reasons, Startups, TechCrunch, learning | 1 Comment »

Dreaming the Possible Dream

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USA-centric but world important
THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
The thing I love most about America is that there’s always somebody who doesn’t get the word — somebody who doesn’t understand that in a Great Recession you’re supposed to hunker down, downsize and just hold on for dear life. I have a couple of [...]

Tags: calcium carbonate, carbon dioxide emissions, demonstration plant, Khosla, start-ups, thomas l friedman
Posted in Consider This, Innovation, Innovation Needed, NY Times, Process of Invention, Project Energy, Promising for so many reasons, Shape of Things to Come?, Startups, disruptive innovation, environment | 1 Comment »