Israeli VC on Sand Hill road

My Shoes have a Carbon Footprint

Each week, our Moshav newsletter publishes a “green corner” which offers suggestions relating to conservation and environmental protection. Besides offering helpful advice, it serves as a weekly reminder to keep the “green” agenda on our minds.  This week’s newsletter reminded me more of advice on how to survive the financial crisis…. the basic idea was “consume less”. 

We all consume more than we really ought to, definately more than we need to, and in may cases, more than we can actually afford.  As marketeers convince (seduce) us to purchase the newest, faster, bigger, better “thing”, we throw away the old (or tuck it away the closet/garage), adding more landfill, utilizing resources for production and distribution, while spending our hard-earned money, often on things we can really do without.

I’m as guilty as everbody else when it comes to shopping… but I do think I have developed greater awareness.  Faced with the temptations of the store window, I think I now have the ability to ask “Do I really need that new pair of shoes???”, and answer “probably not”, well, at least some of the time.

Tags: carbon+footprint, green+corner

Green Economy Conference - thoughts

Last Thursday, the 2nd annual Green Economy Conference, organized by Ernst & Young, The Marker and Life and Environment, took place in Tel Aviv.  The conference attracted over 700 attendees, beating expectations. You can read a pre-conference discussion with E&Y Cleantech Leader Itay Zetelny, and Cleantech Israel blogger Jonathan Shapira here.

Similar to many conferences, much of the action took place in the corridor.  There were plenty of breaks, but some people never quite made it into sessions…. 

One of the major issues relates to the current financial crisis and it’s impact on the adoption of renewable energy.  It is clear what is the opinion of those in attendance… Cleantech is not for the short term.  The entire space has long term viability, but will struggle with short-term challenges like everybody else.

Nick Parker, of the Cleantech Group, reflected on how the industry has developed in the past 5 years, with increasing amounts of capital invested, and quality of entrepreneurship getting better and better.  This means that the supply side has come together, as we now move to the adoption phase.

There has been much discussion on the significance, or rather critical function that public policy plays in the adoption of new energy solutions.  The Obama “New Energy for America”  plan has the potential to have major impact on the development of this space.  Check out an excellent blog post by Andrew Revkin of the NY Times entitled “Climate Plan Firm Amid Economic Woes”.

Actually, the Israeli government has also issued a plan in light of the current financial crisis… unfortunately, and very disappointingly, it failed to include anything pertaining to renewable energy. 

Today GM, and tomorrow???

Not a day goes by without another company announcing lay-offs.  Big companies, small companies, tech companies, non-tech, etc., etc.., etc.   Just a few hours ago, Deutsche Bank adjusted the price target for General Motors to $0. Never a dull moment, who knows what tomorrow brings.

There are plenty of people dishing out advice on how to survive this crisis… so I thought to give a pointer of my own to those entrepreneurs that still monitor my not-so-active blog…

Spend every dollar (or shekel) as if it were your own.

Many people have repeated the famous lines “Cash is King”, “make sure to have 24 months of cash in the bank”, and so forth.  Rarely does a start-up raise enough money for 24 months of operation, so I think that is a slightly unrealistic approach, but sounds good.  As for Cash is King, it’s always true, crisis or not.

I believe in keeping things simple.  Believe me, if you were spending your own money, you would probably do things differently.  Anyhow, just food for thought from an ex-VC, formerly on Sandhill road.

Tags: Deutsche+Bank, General+Motors

Got Hope?

I do !

While I’m terribly disappointed with the results of several of the California propositions that I supported, these were BIG elections.  History in the making, etc., etc., etc.  Makes me proud to have taken part.

Tags: got+hope?, Barack+Obama, Elections+2008

Election Day - viewed from the other side of the ocean

This year was the first time that I cast an absentee ballot.  For the Presidential race, it doesn’t seem like California really needs me, yet I felt compelled to cast my vote.

Actually, Jonathan, my oldest son was the one that went on-line and registered me. Once the ballot appeared, my middle son Yoav helped me “connect the lines” as we voted.  As a parent, it was a great “hands on” lesson in civics.  In addition to voting for elected officials, we voted on CA propositions, expressing our values with regards to peoples right to marry, women’s right to choose as well as supporting propositions for renewable energy.

Even though I reside 10,000 miles away, this election feels very close to home.  Israeli’s follow these elections very closely, as do citizens of probably most of the world.  We have up-to-date information on the progress of these elections from what are the police doing in Chicago, to the latest in New Hampshire. 

Tonight, on this side of the ocean, we will go to sleep before the polls close…Yoav has already told me that he can’t wait until tomorrow.

Tags: us+elections, absentee+ballot, jonathan+alush-aben, yoav+alush-aben