Building the Renewable Beast
Adventures in renewable energy -centric social entrepreneurship
Dan Goodman
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Building the Renewable Beast
We own "renewable"
We own "renewable". Well, not the concept, but the word. Sort of.
I read an article in Wired magazine about a couple of college students in Ireland who built a website to sell all the words in the dictionary, at $1 per letter. Buying a word lets you "redefine" it by linking it to the site of your choice.
Now that may sound like a silly idea to you, but off-the-wall entrepreneurial business models like this intrigue me. Particularly their application to social ventures. Enough so that I plunked down my $9 each to buy RENEWABLE and BIODIESEL point them to the Biodiesel University website. You can see for yourself at www.thebigwordproject.com.
As of this writing, "our" words are two of almost 4000 that have been bought up so far. These guys may be on to something...
What do you think?
I read an article in Wired magazine about a couple of college students in Ireland who built a website to sell all the words in the dictionary, at $1 per letter. Buying a word lets you "redefine" it by linking it to the site of your choice.
Now that may sound like a silly idea to you, but off-the-wall entrepreneurial business models like this intrigue me. Particularly their application to social ventures. Enough so that I plunked down my $9 each to buy RENEWABLE and BIODIESEL point them to the Biodiesel University website. You can see for yourself at www.thebigwordproject.com.
As of this writing, "our" words are two of almost 4000 that have been bought up so far. These guys may be on to something...
What do you think?
Global biodiesel travelers stop in
The Biodiesel Adventure team from Japan is driving around the world in a stock diesel Toyota Landcruiser. They have built a beautiful biodiesel processing unit into the cargo area of the SUV. They stop at restaurants and schools to collect waste vegetable oil, convert it into biodiesel, then move on. Their mission is to demonstrate sustainability and spur discussion. These guys are educating, exploring and meeting people wherever they go, and it's a very cool thing.
So far they have driven over 8000 miles and used no petroleum diesel at all, and have made almost all of the biodiesel themselves. Shusei Yamada, Tatsuya Ito and Satori Murata, came through the Washington, DC area on Earth Day on the final days of the U.S. leg of their journey.
I arranged for them to do a presentation at Sandy Spring Friends School (which met with much excitement from the students) and through my friend Julie Gabrielli, another school presentation at Roland Park Country School in Baltimore. Local news coverage of their visit is here. We also put them up for a couple of days in my father's home where they had some much-needed R&R.
I finally got to meet them in person yesterday in a Quiznos parking lot near the Baltimore Washington International Airport. I was flying back from speaking at Jane Goodall's Global Youth Summit in Orlando and they were on their way to drop off the Landcruiser at the Port of Baltimore so it could be shipped to Europe for the next leg. We had only an hour together, but it was clear that we were kindred spirits. A video of our encounter is here.
In an email update to the tour's supporters today, Satori writes "We keep telling people that our car runs on biodiesel, but your passion and hearts are our real fuel."
I hope our paths cross again soon.
Jane Goodall's Global Youth Summit
Well, I'm just back from an amazing trip to Florida. I was speaking at the Jane Goodall Institute's Global Youth Summit, which brought together 100 truly outstanding youth leaders from 28 countries. These college and high-school aged leaders and activists are working on wildlife conservation, environmental protection, poverty and water issues in their home countries, and came together to learn new skills and best practices for becoming even more effective change agents.
I was delighted to be invited to speak at such a special event, and the experience was far better than I could have imagined.
To begin with, these youth leaders are a stunningly smart, clear-headed, focused, and accomplished bunch. They have built schools in places where there were no schools. Envisioned animal welfare programs - and then implemented them. Raised money for conservation. For Darfur. Spoken in front of the U.N. Been named ABC Person of the Week. Appeared on Animal Planet. And on and on.
Being around them was like watching Coming Attractions for what you know is going to be a fantastic show. These are the people who really are going to make the world a better place. And they've started already.
Then there was Jane Goodall herself.
Most people recognize Jane Goodall's name and associate it with the tremendously important work with chimpanzees she did for decades in Africa - work that forever changed man's perception of primates and their similarities to humans. Her books and films have been enjoyed by millions. Through absolutely tireless effort over many years she has expanded her sphere of interests and influence to include the overlapping domains of conservation of wildlife, animal rights, protection of ecosystems, reduction of poverty, availability of clean water, and promotion of peace.
Through all her work in all those areas, she has woven a significant thread of youth activism. Her wonderful Roots & Shoots program engages children and adults in all these activities, and more, around a gardening paradigm. She is a trusted advisor to leaders of nations, and a Dame Commander of the British Empire. To my mind, Jane now resides at the top of the pantheon of living environmentalists and naturalists.
As if that wasn't enough, Jane is an amazing person to be around. Her passionate desire to save people, places and animals is infectious, and she possesses an intensely powerful blend of centered calm and focused drive I have never encountered before.
I'm not exaggerating when I say Jane is tireless. At 74 years old, she travels world-wide 300 days a year. One of her staff told me she averages a mere three hours of sleep a night.
My seven year old daughter, whose bedroom contains an array of stuffed chimps, chimp posters, and other primate paraphernalia, has been actively idolizing Dr. Jane for almost two years now, ever since my wife brought home some books featuring Jane. For my daughter to get to meet her hero, have dinner with her, play on the beach with her...it was a wildly exciting time. And a rare gift for a father to be able to give.
It was no less exciting for me. I had a 90 minute speaking slot following Jane's kickoff of the event. One of my rules for public speaking is "If you can help it, avoid following a speaker better than you are". So much for that.
Jane is an absolutely world-class speaker who delivers truly inspirational content supremely straight from the heart. As a lifelong student of the art of presentation, I was deeply impressed with her talent. And much to my surprise and delight, following such a pro helped me give what felt like my best presentation ever. Later, when we had some time alone and I complimented her on her remarkable ability, she said simply and without a speck of ego, "It's a gift." And the way she said it made it clear she meant, "It's a tool I was given to help do this important work".
My talk covered two topics: "Social Entrepreneurship - A Mindset and Lifestyle for Becoming Who You Want to Be and Changing the World" and "Biodiesel University", the latter providing an example of a social venture designed and executed with an entrepreneurial mindset. Apparently, I didn't put anyone to sleep, which was a great relief.
To tell the truth, before I had met Jane, I was surprised by the invitation. She was one of the first to speak out about the dangers of unsustainably produced biofuels and the issues of deforestation, water use, and chemical runoff. I imagined she might not be comfortable having me speak at the conference, because some people hear the Biodiesel University name and infer that we're focused on teaching people in the biodiesel industry better production techniques and mindlessly pushing proliferation. Thankfully, she understood that we're about growing renewable energy knowledge and environmental sustainability mindsets.
She was so very right when she signed one of her books for me, "Together we make a difference".
MSNBC picked up the story here.
I was delighted to be invited to speak at such a special event, and the experience was far better than I could have imagined.
To begin with, these youth leaders are a stunningly smart, clear-headed, focused, and accomplished bunch. They have built schools in places where there were no schools. Envisioned animal welfare programs - and then implemented them. Raised money for conservation. For Darfur. Spoken in front of the U.N. Been named ABC Person of the Week. Appeared on Animal Planet. And on and on.
Being around them was like watching Coming Attractions for what you know is going to be a fantastic show. These are the people who really are going to make the world a better place. And they've started already.
Then there was Jane Goodall herself.
Most people recognize Jane Goodall's name and associate it with the tremendously important work with chimpanzees she did for decades in Africa - work that forever changed man's perception of primates and their similarities to humans. Her books and films have been enjoyed by millions. Through absolutely tireless effort over many years she has expanded her sphere of interests and influence to include the overlapping domains of conservation of wildlife, animal rights, protection of ecosystems, reduction of poverty, availability of clean water, and promotion of peace.
Through all her work in all those areas, she has woven a significant thread of youth activism. Her wonderful Roots & Shoots program engages children and adults in all these activities, and more, around a gardening paradigm. She is a trusted advisor to leaders of nations, and a Dame Commander of the British Empire. To my mind, Jane now resides at the top of the pantheon of living environmentalists and naturalists.
As if that wasn't enough, Jane is an amazing person to be around. Her passionate desire to save people, places and animals is infectious, and she possesses an intensely powerful blend of centered calm and focused drive I have never encountered before.
I'm not exaggerating when I say Jane is tireless. At 74 years old, she travels world-wide 300 days a year. One of her staff told me she averages a mere three hours of sleep a night.
My seven year old daughter, whose bedroom contains an array of stuffed chimps, chimp posters, and other primate paraphernalia, has been actively idolizing Dr. Jane for almost two years now, ever since my wife brought home some books featuring Jane. For my daughter to get to meet her hero, have dinner with her, play on the beach with her...it was a wildly exciting time. And a rare gift for a father to be able to give.
It was no less exciting for me. I had a 90 minute speaking slot following Jane's kickoff of the event. One of my rules for public speaking is "If you can help it, avoid following a speaker better than you are". So much for that.
Jane is an absolutely world-class speaker who delivers truly inspirational content supremely straight from the heart. As a lifelong student of the art of presentation, I was deeply impressed with her talent. And much to my surprise and delight, following such a pro helped me give what felt like my best presentation ever. Later, when we had some time alone and I complimented her on her remarkable ability, she said simply and without a speck of ego, "It's a gift." And the way she said it made it clear she meant, "It's a tool I was given to help do this important work".
My talk covered two topics: "Social Entrepreneurship - A Mindset and Lifestyle for Becoming Who You Want to Be and Changing the World" and "Biodiesel University", the latter providing an example of a social venture designed and executed with an entrepreneurial mindset. Apparently, I didn't put anyone to sleep, which was a great relief.
To tell the truth, before I had met Jane, I was surprised by the invitation. She was one of the first to speak out about the dangers of unsustainably produced biofuels and the issues of deforestation, water use, and chemical runoff. I imagined she might not be comfortable having me speak at the conference, because some people hear the Biodiesel University name and infer that we're focused on teaching people in the biodiesel industry better production techniques and mindlessly pushing proliferation. Thankfully, she understood that we're about growing renewable energy knowledge and environmental sustainability mindsets.
She was so very right when she signed one of her books for me, "Together we make a difference".
MSNBC picked up the story here.
Seed-cycle rolls out
We just finished designing and building our first bicycle-powered oil seed press on Thursday and “rolled” it out at Earth Stewardship Day at Sandy Spring Friends School ...<< MORE >>
World's first "dark" algae -powered truck
Yesterday we procured a 2008 Ford F-450 pickup truck and tanked it up with 100% biodiesel made from non-photosynthetic algae. This was first and only truck in the world running
on it. ...<< MORE >>
Lucky to be an Entre-what?
I consider myself a very lucky guy, and for many reasons. One of them is that I get to share my deep, lifelong passion for the topic of entrepreneurship and all it's varied elements with others who also care about it or are interested in learning about it. ...<< MORE >>
Sustainability Rising
Biodiesel University's Director of Education Megean Garvin, our Senior Advisor Steve Boyd and I have just returned from the National Biodiesel Conference in Orlando. Two obvious trends at the conference were noteworthy: One is that rising feedstock prices have put tremendous fear in the hearts of investors and producers, and the other is that sustainability has finally come into its own as an industry focus.<< MORE >>
Validation
Often, what you think you know about the problem you're developing a solution for is incomplete or irrelevant. Sometimes, it's simply wrong. Without end-user validation, your new venture can be walking in the minefield.<< MORE >>