Energy Independence for Sustainable Future

Sampath Srivatsan — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 09:06:37 -0500

Oil is one of the greatest inventions of mankind. It was derived from fossil fuels and has powered automobiles and machines for centuries. The worldwide demand for oil has increased faster than the supplies of oil. Globalization and population increase around the planet are some of the reasons that has increased the consumption of oil to several folds.

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Sampath Srivatsan — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:46:49 -0500

I agree with Rip of the point, making the customer understand between “green” and
“not-so-green”- How can the customer be educated about products that are green? I feel that advertisements can be one of the powerful medium in educating the customer. It is the prime time an individual is evaluating the product/service before purchase. There can also be a “green catalogue” similar to yellow pages to give individuals the complete list of green products and services available in the market. Rest is in the hands of customer to decide and act consciously.

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Sampath Srivatsan — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:49:16 -0500

It is good to have a technology that saves us on the long run in spite of initial investment. However what would be the maintenance of those hybrid cars. It looks like we have less trained automobile mechanics in the market which ultimately forces an individual to service the cars with the dealer. This might be one of the concerns of all customers as this technology is new in the market and it is expensive to repair those cars. I feel the government needs to change policies to implement hybrid technology in all new manufactured cars resulting in helping the green movement.

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Sampath Srivatsan — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 08:05:35 -0500

It is also a good start to involve everybody for an opinion to frame green standards. The awareness programs could be produced with help of Hollywood and sports celebrities which will urge individuals to watch it at least once. JT brings a good point of what could be the different ways to propagate "Green movement" worldwide. All these initiatives only help to seed the idea of green in everyone’s mind. However, it is the responsibility of each individual to develop conservation measures and consider lifestyle changes to keep the planet green.

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Sampath Srivatsan — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 09:19:49 -0500

Heather made a good point about ISO standards. I do feel it would be good to have policies and standards around "going green". Companies can publish “green activity reports” similar to CSR reports that would give an idea of how much the companies are involved in the green movement. These type of reports help determine customers/consumers when purchasing these products and also their commitment towards green movement. Non profit organizations such as UN and Government’s should have more emphasis and programs around “Going green”.

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Sampath Srivatsan — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:02:48 -0500

Heather you are right. I think the government needs to focus its directions on technology. It should provide tax breaks and subsidies to companies, who have a better technological solution for an alternate energy than oil from food crops. The idea of producing biofuel from the food crops is not the right solution to our current energy issue. Today the farmers have become more money centric as they like to convert all their farms to fuel crop. It may be beneficial for the farmer monetarily but loss for the nation.

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Sampath Srivatsan — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:02:26 -0500

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Sampath Srivatsan — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 00:12:50 -0500

I agree to Tiffany's point. We need to preserve the land used for cultivating food crops. Government need to change their policies towards bio-fuel. In recent few years corporations produced bio-fuel from plants such as corn, soybeans, and wheat. The government encouraged those corporations by providing a tax break. It reduced the dependence on oil from foreign countries but on the other hand caused an increase in food prices leading to an imbalance to the ecosystem.
Alternatively, there was breakthrough in producing bio-fuel from algae.

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Sampath Srivatsan — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:53:22 -0500

Tiffany you are right. Transparency is an important building block in the employee engagement. Once the trust is built between employees, then the results are drastic. There is positive energy around the work place with employees devoting valuable time to increase productivity. Transparency need to exist at all levels of the workplace and it is a crucial factor to build trust. The fruits of engagement are achieved only when the attributes of transparency, trust, and reward are applied together in a workplace.

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Sampath Srivatsan — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 23:05:30 -0500

I agree with Tiffany, The program employment engagement in any organization is a team effort from leaders and employees. Programs such as 360 assessments employ survey need to be conducted periodically to gauge the feedbacks from colleagues and co-workers. These feedbacks help to shape an individual’s development in character as well as work environment. Every employee should be energized with the 3 C’s. Competence, Confidence, and Credibility are three primary attributes that help leaders Increase productivity and be connected with employees. There needs to be a trust at all levels.