Rolf Papsdorf: Powering rural Africa

Rolf Papsdorf: Powering rural Africa

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

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Rolf Papsdorf is bringing green power to the people of Africa. Thanks to the Silicon Valley based Tech Awards 2009, the rest of the world is hearing about it. His company Alternative Energy Development Corporation manufactures zinc-air fuel cells to generate off the grid electricity for rural communities. His zinc-air fuel cell project, described as the largest in the world,  brings light and energy to the village of Guyuni in South Africa, as well as job creation and online education to the community’s youth.

This project echoes – in a small way – the aims of Bloom Energy’s KR Sridhar, who aims to bring Power to the People with its fuel cell design.

On the fuel cells technology

“We’re the only company in the world which produces a low cost zinc-air fuel cells manually rechargeable…we’re proud to say that we have no carbon footprint and are totally renewable. We recycle the zinc oxide to make new zinc using solar energy.”

On how he’s empowering South Africa

“Our passion really is empowerment. We supply them with basic electricity, we have skills development programs so that they can earn an income…only 3% of (the community) income goes towards energy, the rest is disposable income.” Rolf Papsdorf

Check back soon for the VIDEO of this exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview

KR Sridhar: Time Magazine Award

KR Sridhar: Time Magazine Award

By Alison van Diggelen, host Fresh Dialogues

This month Bloom Energy CEO, KR Sridhar was picked as one of Time Magazine’s Tech Pioneers Who Will Change Your Life

The Time article references a recent Fresh Dialogues feature, Power to the People

SEE A RARE FRESH DIALOGUES VIDEO INTERVIEW WITH KR HERE

Read the transcript and listen to this exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview – KR explains how the Bloom Energy fuel cell will change the world and give power to the people.

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window

SEE THE VIDEO INTERVIEW HERE – A FRESH DIALOGUES EXCLUSIVE 1. Bloom Energy: Fuel Cell Technology

2. Bloom Energy: Affordability is Essential Video

3. Bloom Energy: Mission to Change the World Video

To listen to an exclusive Fresh Dialogues interview with Kevin Surace, another Time Magazine Tech Pioneer Who Will Change Your Life click here

Paul Krugman: Will Climate Legislation Kill the Economy?

Paul Krugman: Will Climate Legislation Kill the Economy?

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window

As delegates gather in Copenhagen this week to thrash out a global treaty on climate change, the shrill from skeptics intensifies. It’s useful to listen to wisdom from Nobel Prize winning economist, Paul Krugman. In a recent interview, I asked Paul the question on many lips: Will climate legislation kill the economy?

 

 

Paul Krugman, Alison van Diggelen-Fresh Dialogues Interview“If history is any guide… it’s just not a big deal,” says Krugman, citing the example of acid rain legislation which many people also said would kill the economy.  “Dealing with it was cheaper than most estimates had suggested,” he says. “Given the incentives; the private sector found ways to generate a whole lot less acid rain.”

Krugman thinks the same will be true of carbon limits and has already explained his preference for cap and trade in a previous Fresh Dialogues segment.

We also discuss the power of his New York Times column and his influence on the Obama Administration. “We’re speaking across the transom…when I argue with them in my column this is a serious discussion…people in the administration do call me…it’s no longer this sort of Cold War as it was during the Bush years.”

And how does he view his role? “I’m trying to make this progressive moment in American history a success,” says Krugman.

But why not take a position within the administration to be more effective?

“I’m never going to be an insider type. You have to do bureaucratic maneuvering, be pretty good at being polite… reasonably organized…,” says the Pulitzer prize- winning columnist. “I’m none of those things. I can move into a pristine office and within three days it will look like a grenade went off.”

To read this segment transcript, click here.
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Scott Hublou, EcoFactor: CleanTech Award Winner 2009

Scott Hublou, EcoFactor: CleanTech Award Winner 2009

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh DialoguesScott Hublou, EcoFactor - Fresh Dialogues interview

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window

On November 17, I attended the CleanTech Open Awards Gala at the Masonic Center in San Francisco and enjoyed keynotes from Lesa Mitchell from the Kaufman Foundation, Bill Weihl, Google’s Energy Czar and Nancy Pfund, of DBL Investors.

Minutes after his company was picked as the National Award Winner. I sat down with Scott Hublou, co-founder of EcoFactor. His three-year-old start-up has created an energy management system for the home that uses weather data to optimize heating and cooling. Scott claims savings of between 20 to 30% are achievable. Sounds pretty attractive in this tough economy, and the judges thought so too.

How did the CleanTech Open and its mentoring help you?

“It forces deep thinking around various different business models. Because there are actual deadlines, it’s kinda like being back in school again where you have to have deliverables… You’re presenting to your peers and potential investors, so you always want to make a good impression… think about sustainability, and good market strategies.”

 

The Pitch, in layman’s terms
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Al Gore: What were you thinking?

Al Gore: What were you thinking?

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh Dialogues

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window

I talked briefly to Vice President Al Gore off mic, before his speech and look forward to interviewing him for Fresh Dialogues in the future. These audio and video links feature highlights from his rousing speech.

Here’s the VIDEO
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Former Vice President, Al Gore  showed his passion in front of a rapturous Silicon Valley crowd at the 2009 Tech Awards on November 19th. He described a “day of reckoning” and suggested future generations may look back one day and ask,

“What were you thinking?  Were you watching Dancing with the Stars? Did you care?”

Dancing? A little dig here to Silicon Valley luminary and co-founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak, who took part in the dance contest last Fall (you really ain’t seen nothing yet…)

Gore then echoed the hope in his new book “Our Choice” – that this generation that will develop a sense of shared purpose, and do what needs to be done to combat climate change. Gore described his deep belief that future generations will instead ask,

“How did you find the moral courage to shake off the lethargy… seize the responsibility and act in time to solve the crisis?”

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Paul Krugman: On China, Climate Change

Paul Krugman: On China, Climate Change

By Alison van Diggelen, host of Fresh DialoguesPaul Krugman, Fresh Dialogues interview

Download or listen to this lively Fresh Dialogues interview

 

We welcome feedback at FreshDialogues.com, click on the Contact Tab | Open Player in New Window

Here’s the transcriptSEE VIDEO of Part One (Part Two coming soon)

In advance of Obama’s trip to China this week, Nobel Prize winner, Paul Krugman gave a short, sharp economics lesson on climate change and China during our exclusive interview in Silicon Valley, November 12. What does he think the US and Chinese governments should be doing to combat climate change and stimulate the green sector?

Why is he not concerned about China’s lead in clean energy technology?

Krugman explains why negotiating with China over CO2 emissions would be preferable to trying to enforce a carbon tax. Hear all this and more in this Fresh Dialogues interview.

Here are selected quotes:

“Climate change is the mother of all externalities…left without any government intervention, we’re going to basically par-boil the planet.”

“You don’t want to get hung up on the specific sexy technologies (like wind turbines)…look at the history of information technology…nobody gets a monopoly for very long.”

“If we say to the Chinese, we want you to have a carbon tax – how can we really tell it’s enforced? But if we negotiate with the Chinese that they will have total CO2 emissions of so much, we can monitor that pretty well.”

For Part One of the Paul Krugman interview – on Obama’s Job Summit click here

The interview was recorded at Foothill College Celebrity Forum Series on November 12, 2009. With special thanks to Dick Henning.