Author: Adam Clare

Investing in Green Companies = Profit

windmillCompanies that address global warming head-on is where you should put your money. Green companies in the KLD Global Climate 100 Index outperformed the market by almost 5 percentage points!

It’s easier than ever to put your money where your beliefs are.

“This past July marks the first birthday of KLD’s Global Climate 100 Index, which lists 100 global companies that are committed to positively influencing climate change.

The diverse index is made up of companies varying drastically in size that focus on issues of renewable energy, “future” fuel, or clean technology and efficiency. “

Google Earth Saves

Two men used Google Earth for disaster release according to Ahmedabad News. I think this is an absolutely wonderful use of technology, I wonder if anyone predicted that Google Earth could be used in this way. It shows how a complex technological tool can be used to solve some really basic problems.

“Using Google Earth maps of Surat city, the duo passed on exact locations of societies, houses and apartments in need of rescue and relief, to airport authorities.

The co-ordinates were then relayed to helicopter captains to be logged on to their GPS devices and locate the homes. By Friday evening, they had managed 47 targeted air drops.”

As a quick aside, if you google earth you get Google Earth (kinda spooky).

Carbon-Neutral Buildings by 2030?

A Sante-Fe based architect has started the 2030 Challenge to encourage sustainable architecture. Modern buildings are notoriously inefficient when it comes to energy use and hopefully we’ll all benefit from green buildings in 2030.

“Simply put, he challenges architects, engineers and contractors to cut the carbon intensity of buildings by 50% from the average of their peers today, 60% below peer average in 2010, 70% below peer average in 2015, and so on, until 2030 by which all buildings should be carbon neutral (zero net carbon emissions).”

Open Sourced, Except for Killing

robot attacksThe GPL is designed to let people modify the code for almost any purpose. Every so often the GPL is modified to reflect our changing needs and wants of software.

Right now there is a debate whether or not to include Isaac Asimov’s first law of robotics:

“A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.”

I hope this is included into the GPL even if it isn’t really enforceable.