Category Archives: Business and the Environment

September 14, 2008 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, Design, New Zealand 1 Comment

Sometimes you just gotta push people

By Ben Kepes

Awesome to read that Vodafone New Zealand are unilaterally ditching printed invoices. I’d consider myself at least marginally green (not forest-green for sure, more sort of a lime-y shade) but I have to admit I still get printed statement – mostly because it take a bit of effort to go

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August 9, 2008 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, Efficiency, New Zealand, Society 1 Comment

Sceptics employed to oppose cleantech

By Ben Kepes

I noticed over on the Local generation blog that the owner of the Naseby Hotel in Central Otago, New Zealand has found a novel way to oppose a planned windfarm in his area. He has engaged a team of climate change sceptics to argue that, since global warming isn’t actually

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August 7, 2008 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, Cleantech Leave a comment

Make your PC green…

By Ben Kepes

Verdiem, a company specialising in reducing energy waste for enterprises, has released a downloadable application, Edison, that seeks to reduce energy use on PCs. I downloaded and installed the application (which is kind of nice in its design and all) but I fail to see how it differs to a

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July 1, 2008 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, Collaboration, Design, Efficiency, IT, Society, Waipara 4 Comments

It’s the environment dummy…

By Ben Kepes

For those of you (there must be one or two) unaware of the perfect storm brewing, there’s a list of things happening all at once; Unprecedented oil price rises The possible approach of peak oil Biofuel production increasing in relation to #2 causing wide spread food shortages Climate change Decreased

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June 16, 2008 Posted in Business, Business and the Environment, Economic Development, Efficiency, Manufacturing, My businesses, New Zealand, Society, Strategy 3 Comments

Ethical manufacturing is great, until it hits the bottom line…

By Ben Kepes

I normally refrain from commenting on the domestic vs Asian manufacturing issue on this blog for two reasons; The focus here is on tech, not hard goods Given my ownership of a domestically manufacturing business I’m reluctant to whine But this morning I can’t resist. I read Icebreaker, the former

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May 13, 2008 Posted in Business and the Environment, Design, Efficiency 1 Comment

Now this is video conferencing… how much?

By Ben Kepes

Cisco has just released the latest in its TelePresence line of products that allow “total immersion” video and audio conferencing. Obviously video conferencing fills needs both in terms of environmental impact of travel, and time constraints of users. I was pretty excited to see the pictures, it looks like a

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April 15, 2008 Posted in Business and the Environment, Cleantech, New business, New Zealand, Society 2 Comments

Tidal power go ahead

By Ben Kepes

News that Neptune Energy has been given the go-ahead to place an experimental turbine capable of producing 1MW of power in 80m of water 4.5km off the south coast of Wellington. Director of Neptune Energy, Chris Bathurst says; When we first started this people said it wasn’t technically possible. Then

March 18, 2008 Posted in Business and the Environment, Cleantech, New Zealand Leave a comment

Good news for NZ windfarms….

By Ben Kepes

Not software related but definitely hi-tech and a NZ success story in the making. News this morning that Windflow Technology reports an improved six month position. They’re still running at a loss but less so than in previous periods. Good things on the horizon include; Orders for 30 turbines for

March 5, 2008 Posted in Business and the Environment, Design, Society 3 Comments

The future of transportation…

By Ben Kepes

This is cool. Project Better Place is partnering with the Israeli Government, Renualt and Nissan to roll out what is in effect subscription based transportation throughout Israel. The plan by Project Better Place to bring EVs to the masses by creating a network of charging stations and battery exchange depots.

March 5, 2008 Posted in Business and the Environment, New Zealand, Society Leave a comment

NZ Institute releases climate change report…

By Ben Kepes

Hot of the press is this report released today by the New Zealand Institute looking at climate change and specifically New Zealand’s response to it. The title, “Actions Speak Louder Than Words”, is very apt, the report is saying much that sensible New Zealand has been for quite some time

The Author

Ben Kepes is an analyst, an entrepreneur, a commentator and a business adviser. His business interests include a diverse range of industries from manufacturing to property to technology. As a technology commentator he has a broad presence both in the traditional media and extensively online. Ben covers the convergance of technology, mobile, ubiquity and agility, all enabled by the Cloud. His areas of interest extend to enterprise software, software integration, financial/accounting software, platforms and infrastructure as well as articulating technology simply for everyday users. More on Ben

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