Amidst all the brouhaha about how the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report submitted to the UN has proven that global warming is man-made (or more accurately, there is a 90% likelihood that human activity is behind global warming), comes a refreshing voice of scepticism in the form of Ross McKitrick.
Ross is not a head-in-the-sand, oil-guzzling, live-like-no-tomorrow consumer of fossil fuels but a respected Professor of Economics and one of the Expert Reviewers who contributed to the report.
The article hints at data and research that may have been ignored or overlooked while making the case for global warming and climate change. If that is really the case, at the very least, it is shameful and doesn’t help us understand (or deal with) climate change at all…
Keep Reading…
February 17th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Development Issues, Emerging Markets |
8 comments
In one of its recent editions, (12th Feb ’07) Newsweek carried a cover story on “The $100 Un-PC” and how a product like this might fundamentally transform communities in Asia and Africa
Such a device may hold the key to connecting the next billion people to the internet (I know the same thing has been said of cell-phones but I still believe that given a choice (“choice” is important) a lot more people would prefer the larger display (and better user interface) of a computer for browsing, communicating and online commerce.
The story mentioned two prominent approaches – the first by an Indian start-up called Novatium which has pioneered a simple computer using cell-phone chips that connects to a TV set (and does away with hard-disk drive, extensive memory and pre-packaged software).
The appeal of the device is in its simplicity – the fact that it cannot do too many things actually becomes a plus – and large number of TV-owning families means that the only remaining barrier to go online will be a phone line (now available for less than $5 and within a week in most urban areas in India).
In fact after reading about the device, I am tempted to try one myself – and if it works – buy one for my parents.
Rajesh Jain, co-founder and Chairman of Novatium has thought up an attractive business model to go with the concept. He plans to offer the device as part of a lease deal (with supporting hardware, an internet connection, some application software and service) for $10 a month – at which point, I can see it will effectively penetrate the 300m ~ 400m middle class.
In contrast to Novatium’s thin-client model, the MIT effort – led by Nicholas Negroponte – has targeted the production of a laptop that will be as close to one that you and I use – except at a fraction of the cost. While this approach has its merits (it does not depend on the network for being fully functional) its performance may not be satisfactory and it may not be able to harness the full power of the network/internet.
While both the approaches have their pros and cons, if Novatium is able to get on a network (or find a broadband network) that can deliver the connectivity required for the thin-client business model to really work, its cost, ease of use and business model will, I think, trump MIT’s approach…
How can one have such a stable, omnipresent broadband network quickly? One way could be WiMax – which according to a recent IHT article might lead to as many as 10m-20m broadband subscribers in India within the next 3 years (compared to less than a million in 2006) – wouldn’t that be wonderful?
February 17th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
Emerging Markets, India |
3 comments
Liam Halligan writing in the Daily Telegraph shares this piece of jaw-dropping fact in his news-story, “Some electrifying facts about climate change – and how markets can save us” (11th Feb ’07):
“China last year added 102 gigawatts of generating capacity to its electricity network. If you consider that Britain’s total electricity usage is 63 gigawatts, you’ll see why this number knocked my socks off.So the People’s Republic last year increased its power output by more than 1.6 times our entire consumption. And we are the fifth biggest economy in the world….”
Accompanying the story is a graph that I found illuminating. It shows the GDP (on a PPP basis) and oil consumption of US, W Europe, China and other Asia and also shows CO2 emissions per capita.
Click to enlarge. Read the article in full here
February 17th, 2007
Posted by
Shantanu |
China, Development Issues |
no comments
