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The Avenue des Champs-Elysées

The IBM Commuter Pain Survey reports that traffic conditions have improved over the past decade, but people are more stressed about traffic than ever.

The survey reports fuel prices and weak economies are the root of lessened traffic. Other reported “commuter pains” include morning talk radio programs, and the way cup-holders aren’t actually built to hold any size cup.

IBM Commuter Pain Index

The worst commutes are in African and Asian cities like Nairobi and Beijing, where a traffic jam could last long enough that your suitcase better double as an overnight bag.

“We don’t make products aimed at individual citizens, but we help clients understand where the pain is and what they should be focusing on.”
– Vinodh Swaminathan, IBM
IBM believes it can help traffic-heavy cities with its Intelligent Transportation solutions. But can they make the impact they need to prevent extreme traffic around the globe?

Meters

Smart power meters could be the bridge to a more energy efficient world if people understood the technology better.

“There have been major strides with new energy saving technologies, new programs and incentives, but in many cases the market is seeing more confusion amongst consumers than expected.” – Michael Valocchi, IBM
The uninformed are rallying against smart grid technology as a whole, bolstered by worries that smart meter inaccuracy could end up raising energy costs.

Smart Meter

If they don’t act quickly, utility companies are going to have to start marketing smart meters as high-end paperweights to cover costs. Could consumer education be the solution?

Cassava farmers in Africa

Genetic modification (GMO) remains controversial, often thought of as the prologue to a horror movie. And yet, the Gates Foundation is determined to further efforts of GMO crops in Africa.
“Some of our grants [in Africa] do include transgenic approaches, because we believe they have the potential to address farmers’ challenges more efficiently than conventional techniques.”
– Bill Gates, Word Food Prize gathering 2009

Cassava

Gates has donated $11.9 million to the Virus Resistant Cassava for Africa project. A staple food in Africa, cassava is capable of thriving in environments unsuited for life, like arid zones, or the Jersey Shore.
“The problems sometimes do impact the accuracy of the billing that comes from those meters, but they’re not the meter accuracy per se.”
– Helen Burt, PG&E VP of Customer Relations

GMO plants are a hot-button issue. And Gates’s partners, Cargill and the Monsanto Foundation, aren’t exactly popular.
“The fact is that Cargill is a faceless agri-giant that controls most of the world’s food commodities and Monsanto has been blundering around poor Asian countries…”
– John Vidal, The Guardian

In spite of critics, the Gates Foundation is moving forward with GMO. Will this create some kind of horror monster, or simply help Africans get something to eat?

Hurricane Irene from space

After Hurricane Irene, insurers face tremendous losses. To avoid future loss, insurers could raise costs and price families off the coasts, shattering their compassionate reputation.

“Imagine a world in which economic damage equivalent to… [the] detonation of a midsized nuclear weapon in a major city could materialize with a warning of only a few days.”
– John Seo, Catastrophe Bond Pioneer
The idea that one storm could lead to bankruptcy has left companies shaking in their boots. Insurers are already updating their models, a step towards higher prices.
“[We are] running our business as if this change [in extreme weather] is permanent.”
– Thomas J. Wilson, CEO of Allstate

Answers involve uncapping insurance premiums on the coasts, or finding solutions like London’s Thames Flood Barrier, built to withstand a storm from a Roland Emmerich film.

It remains to be seen whether a trillion-dollar storm arrives in a thousand years or the next decade. What steps will be taken to prevent total disaster?

Wallmart cart

Claims of sustainable business practice at Walmart aren’t so strong when you consider a UC-Berkeley report claiming they could raise wages without raising prices.

Walmart’s cheapskate policies could lower the local average wages wherever they open a store, making extravagances like “food” and “a roof” difficult to afford.

Wallmart store exterior

If Walmart implemented a $12/hr wage, it would cost the company just 1% of its annual sales. They wouldn’t even have to empty the swimming pool of money at stately Walton Manor.

“Walmart does not pay living wages – It pays slave wages.”
– Bill Perkins, New York State Senator
If Walmart raises wages, will it alleviate fears in the cities where it’s trying to expand?

ReadyForZero

“There aren’t enough technology startups focused on solving real problems.”
– Rod Ebrahimi
Instead of focusing on how much investment they get, startups should make something that solves problems.

Rod Ebrahimi and Ignacio Thayer,
Co-Founders of ReadyForZero

“The only validation a young company needs are people who are using what the company creates and, even more importantly, people who believe they can’t live without it.”
– Rod Ebrahimi

“Make something people want.”
– Paul Graham, Co-Founder of Y-Combinator

Y-Combinator shirt

Will startups be able to shake the habit of holding investors over innovation?

You Have 101 Slaves Working For You.

It’s not easy to be a socially responsible consumer, since it wasn’t magic that dug up the minerals in your smartphone or picked the cotton in your shirt.

“The issue seems far away but the truth is you can’t leave your home in the morning without touching something that was made with slavery.”
– Justin Dillon
Slavery Footprint, a new website, can tell you approximately how many slaves have pitched in to make the goods you enjoy.

What’s on Your Plate?

“Success for us means that we’ve shifted the conversation in the marketplace, [making it] a little more that makes it easier for corporations to engage in [the slavery issue] in a substantive manner.” – Justin Dillon.
Can consumer efforts help pressure companies out of using cheap forced labor?

Argonne battery research

The future of clean energy has long been tied to the accumulation of 17 chemical elements known as rare earth metals.

The problem is that China owns the majority of rare earth metals, and will only sell them for incredibly high prices.

The DOE announced funding for 15 research projects that focus on rare earth alternatives, raising public worries of another Solyndra.

Without rare earth metal alternatives, can the U.S. reliably create new clean energy technology? Can they even support the technology that’s on the market today?

Solyndra v. The Solar Industry

Solyndra has been causing headaches for the Obama administration since the solar firm went bankrupt this August.

Solyndra may not prove much besides that the market punishes weak businesses. The DOE’s mistake wasn’t investing in renewable energy, just a bad business plan.

Average prices of solar power

One Block Off The Grid took a look at Solyndra, and the truth is that their solar panels were simply beaten by cheaper rivals.

The Solyndra Loan

The worry is that the DOE’s efforts could be halted by a meaningless blunder. Will people realize that Solyndra’s failure doesn’t matter before it’s too late?