Green Business Tools

Please don't roll your eyes. Although it's still a relatively new discipline of business, terms like sustainability and the green movement are starting to become a little hackneyed and marketers are now faced with presenting the idea in fresh and engaging ways. I'll leave that to the eco-branding experts.

For now, I'd like to share my ideas on the merits of using "green" business tools in the work place. If not only to preserve the environment for future generations, these tools are quickly becoming attractive to the bottom line.

The three main distinctions that make a business tool green are the following:
1. They're Open-source. Open-source tools are green by their very nature as developers are committed to improve design efficiencies that reduce energy requirements. Also, these communities are constantly cranking out improvements to these systems for free, as opposed to paying a core group to do this and charging it back to the customer by way of expensive upgrades. In addition they:

* Use less packaging
* Increase efficiency of shipping/receiving
* Cut back on unnecessary print advertising
* Don't force customers to purchase more product than they need

2. They're Free. Not having to buy the product means less salespeople traveling around in cars and planes (let's leave all the travelling to jet-setters like your truly ;^). Free business tools also benefit us by:

* Their sped-up product development cycle
* Not using resource-heavy validation management services or expensive anti-piracy campaigns

3. They're web-based. By hosting data and functionality on centralized servers designed for optimal performance, companies no longer have to dedicate resources and real-estate to manage server rooms, which include costly environmental controls to keep them cool. Other benefits include:

* Less office space allocated to servers
* Less energy costs
* Server consolidation through virtualization

Here are some examples of green business practices and tools that I recommend:

1. Cloud Computing. A typical server runs at just 15% utilization, so most of the power drawn to run the server is wasted (A rack of blade servers uses enough electricity to satisfy the peak demand of 30 homes). A solution offered by outsourced data management vendors is to consolidate multiple servers on the same hardware platform through virtualization. That is, though their data is on the same server as another company, it appears to them as if they have their own server. They only use the power that they need and can scale up or down as necessary (i.e. seasonal requirements).

2. Netbooks. On a smaller scale, most laptop users use only a fraction of the programs installed on their laptop. They run on Linux so the expense of a Windows operating system is cut. As more companies are using Software as a Service (SaaS) products, most if not all of their work is done through a web interface. Netbooks use much less power than their notebook counterparts and are much less expensive as an added benefit. Potential Downside: Limited capability for people who need better processing capability like graphic designers and video editors.

3. Cell Phones. Google's Android open-source operating system for mobile phones has a community of developers that are continually adding and tweaking applications that rival or surpass the options offered by the iPhone.

4. Powering Off Unused Machines. A company can reduce power consumption by nearly 50% by turning off servers, printers, fax machines, desktops, notebooks, etc that are not in use. Power management software is available that automatically shuts off systems. Potential Downside: Loss in productivity and power surge for booting up machines.

5. Telecommuting. Among the benefits of allowing employees to telecommute is the reduction in greenhouse emissions from driving and hedging real estate costs by requiring smaller offices. Instant messaging and teleconference programs keep employees in check with their employers. Potential Downside: Energy costs tend to increase at the employee's home.

6. Teleconferencing. Air travel costs and greenhouse emissions can be curbed by holding teleconferences with off-site partners and clients.

7. Software to support the above

* Word Processing and Spreadsheets: Google Docs -- Web based word processing and spreadsheets. Potential downside: Limited robustness of formatting and execution of formulas, etc.
* Project Managment and Collaboration Software like Open Workbench
* Operating System: Linux
* Web Server: Apache
* Database: MySQL
* Web technology: PHP
* Teleconferencing: Skype*
* Web Content Management: Joomla, Drupal, Wordpress.
* Social Networking (Marketing): Facebook*, Twitter* (of course, and countless others I'm sure you've heard of. I guess I'll post another article about up-and-coming social networking, marketing, and CRM applications)

*I should note that apps like Skype, Facebook,and Twitter are proprietary web-based free tools, but not open-source. Though it really isn't a concern since they are such specialized products.

Businesses, especially start-ups, should implement these tools and practives now since they are difficult to convert to once non-green tools are already in place. However, most of this still works on non-green platforms.

Composite #1

I drew this about 13 years ago, during uncertain times.  Doodling like this was a way for me to escape.


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Culinary Bricolage

On my way home last night, I thought I'd stop by the Supremo for some much-needed groceries, but being that it was a little after 9pm when I arrived there, I wasn't surprised to see that they were closed. So I thought to myself that I would place an order at the Chinese place down the street, though that could have been a frivolity considering how I can't seem to stop when selecting things from the menu.

When I got home, I took a look inside the fridge to see what I could nibble on in the meantime. All I saw was the last quarter of a head of romaine lettuce and three carrot sticks. My first intention was to crunch on the carrot sticks as a snack, then I realized I could make a very simple salad with the carrots and lettuce by tossing them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Too bad I didn't have any onions, but I saw some garlic and it occurred to me that I could mince it up and fry it in olive oil as a nice accompaniment to the salad.

As I started chopping up the garlic I figured I'd just throw in the carrots with it and serve it over rice, as I had the Minute brand in the cupboard. So I set a bowl of rice in the microwave while I got the frying pan heated up. I thought it would sure be nice to have some meat with this little stir fry, but found nothing in the fridge except an almost empty jar of bacon bits. Good enough for me!

Once the frying pan was heated up, I poured in some olive oil and threw in a nice dollop of butter. As the ingredients sizzled, I thought what kind of aromatics I could add. I looked in the spice rack and didn't want to mess it up with anything too distinct, but I did find some ground mustard and dried minced onion to sprinkle into the mix. And then I realized I had some ginger paste in the fridge to add a bit of Eastern flare.

Things were coming together into a substantial dinner. Since I had the smokiness of the bacon and the sweetness of the ginger, all I needed was a little nuttiness to round it off - Thai style. So back to the cupboard I went and scraped out the remaining contents of the peanut butter jar and threw that in. Then I took the rice and mixed that in as well, making it nice and dirty. I chopped up the lettuce, tossed it with a little balsamic, ginger paste and olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, and topped it off with the rice and had myself a nice meal. MacGyver might have been proud :^)

Labor Day Weekend

Here is video I edited from some video footage of my Labor Day weekend, last week. This features my brother Chuck's friend Mark, his girlfriend Amy, and his friend, Chuck, who is my brother. It's only two minutes long and features a soundtrack by Gorillaz and Beck.

Enjoy...

Vacation Bible School Video

My second video project was commissioned by my mother for her church. This summer, scores of little well behaved, God-fearing children came to Vacation Bible School's theme park themed "SonWorld" (where "Son" refers to that of "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit") and learned how to believe, obey and choose Jesus as their savior. I was there with my trusty video camera to capture all the fun. Believe it or not, the voice-over is actually me!

High School Drawings

I used to doodle a lot during class in High School. I wasn't very good at drawing, technically, but somehow a lot of them were pretty funny. I would draw on my class notes, book covers, homework assignments, and quizzes and tests that I got back from teachers.

I decided to scan them all into an electronic format to show others. In so doing, I felt that if I erased out the notes that surrounded my odd collection of images then you the audience (well, me) would appreciate the pieces more. But now it occurs to me that I should've left them as they were. The contrasting subject matter of the notes I was taking down at the time seem to make the drawings funnier somehow.

OK, so here is a video I created featuring my drawings, with an unrehearsed, unedited narration by yours truly to help explain what's going on.

I suppose this has the potential to be the most boringest movie you've ever seen, or if you're high, the most hilarious. Please pack a bowl now, if you are so inclined...

I like singing in F#

I can't get this song out of my head: