Making Useful Stuff -- What A Concept!
by Lee H. Goldberg
My visit to Silicon Valley last week found many of the usual suspects babbling the usual buzz, all chasing after "the next big thing du jour" -- which, for this week at least, is anything related to consumer electronics. With so much of the industry still staggering about after the crash of 2001, it's not surprising to see such a lemming-like stampede to anywhere the dollars are, but it's somewhat dismaying to realize that most of these folks will not be able to attract customers, let alone turn a profit, in this cutthroat and highly-specialized market. Worse yet, with some of the worst unemployment (and under-employment) since the Hoover administration, I fear that there will be lots fewer consumers with disposable income to spend on shiny new toys for at least the next year or two.
The cold hard truth is that unless you're into making Maverick missile targeting electronics, mil-com equipment, or other death-from-above products, there's a darned good chance that your business is going to be hurting for 12 - 24 months -- or longer. Given this grim prognosis for most existing markets, maybe it's time we applied our considerable skills and resources to something truly different and unique.
My suggestion? Making stuff that's actually useful!
Rather than concentrating our efforts on developing useless crap like gigabit busses for home entertainment systems, or cell phones that let us send photos of our pets to friends, many of us could be making our livings by creating products and services that fulfill real needs. This would include systems that provide energy, communication, clean water, and other essential services to the 2 - 3 billion people on the planet who are in desperate need of them.
The market for these items has already been validated, with a dozen or more companies already tooling up to deliver sustainable technologies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The small-scale solar systems, water pumping and storage products, communications and transportation technologies they are delivering are beginning to improve both the quality of life and the environment in developing nations. Equally important, the micro-enterprises they so often create are allowing people to end their reliance on foreign aid and begin to create their own wealth.
An excellent case in point is the Light Up The World Foundation. They have developed a small solar-powered solid-state lighting system that's a clean, safe, and healthy alternative to the smoky kerosene lamps used to light homes in many parts of the world. A typical system consists of a 4-W solar panel, a small battery and a couple of 1-W high-output white LEDs. Between their efficiency and light quality, each LED out-lights a kerosene lamp, without the harmful fumes, fire hazards, and recurring costs of fuel. The trial units already deployed in Nepal, Sri Lanka, and India have been a raging success as they bring clean, affordable light to homes, schools, and community centers. Once in volume production they can be sold profitably at $30 - $40 -- a price that the savings in fuel alone would easily justify, even in the poorest areas of the world.
This sort of "eco-preneurism" is popping up throughout the world, providing tools that enable people to live better with less impact on the land. You can now find everything from foot-powered irrigation systems that can triple food production, and sturdy, low-cost cargo-carrying bicycles that do the work of gas-burning trucks, to solar-powered communications systems that bring phone and Internet services to even the most remote locations. Go visit the Greenstar Foundation and the ApproTech Enterprise Creation group to see a small sampling of the many innovative technologies that are providing hope, reviving economies, and saving fragile ecosystems.
While some of these products don't have great profit potential for our high-tech business culture, there are many things we could be producing for sale at affordable prices that would yield much better margins than say, DRAMs or other commodity electronics. And over time the economies we help bootstrap could well become ready markets for many more of the things we produce.
One of the great showcases for these bold new enterprises is the first annual Sustainable Resources Conference, being held in Colorado September 29 - October 4. Although the conference will be over by the time you read this, you can catch up on what happened and begin planning for next year's event at www.sustainableresources.org. If you want to get truly inspired about what's possible simply take a look at the conference program, or the list of speakers and the enterprises they represent. I won't be able to attend this year either, but it's a must-go for my 2004 travel schedule. Hopefully, I'll see you, and many other budding green technologists there next year.
Questions? Comments? Exciting ideas for how we can make a difference?
Write me at lgoldberg@green-electronics.com.