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The green movement has created new marketplace opportunities with the emergence of intelligent green software. Industries, traditional and emerging, will soon be affected by the adoption or disregard of such technology as they move into some version of energy peak load or variable electrical pricing (where the current price is determined by the power load on the grid).

In the not-so-distant future, companies will need to prepare for the application of intelligent green software that will automatically manage specific aspects of production, distribution and consumption of electricity. This technology will enable energy customers (whether they are industrial, commercial or residential) to make smart decisions about their energy usage to cut electric bills and electricity consumption to just what they need. The good news is that this technology will not only help foster the production of efficient, smart appliances, but it will also encourage consumers to become more energy conscious and therefore more energy efficient.

The basic premise is simple. There will be devices that will automatically turn certain appliances on and off under conditions specified by the consumer. If you combine this with variable pricing in electricity and allow consumers to make decisions about which appliances to run based on the cost of running them, then you have a potential for consumer cost savings as well as power consumption reduction.

Such relatively simple devices are a significant part of smart grid technology proposals, though some proposals go even further. Some propose that the devices be used for energy suppliers as well as energy consumers. In the smart grid context, such devices can be powerful leveraging tools for consumers, enabling them to sell back power to the utilities if they have generating capacity themselves (such as from rooftop solar panels) or if they use plug-in hybrid cars.

These devices may even give consumers the capability of arranging with the utilities to buy power at a low price when the load on the grid is low, and sell it back to the utility at a higher price when the load on the grid has risen. Interestingly this benefits the utilities, since widespread adoption of such measures can save them building new plants to meet peak capacity needs.

Surprisingly, much of this technology has already been developed. It simply needs to be deployed. Test programs have shown consistent success, such as the GridWise Olympic Peninsula project, a study done by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. In this study, households were given digital thermostats and computer-controlled water heaters and dryers. The participants would then set the power usage of the devices based on the price of electricity at any given moment. For example, they would set the target temperature for their house, an acceptable range of variation, and their price tolerance (to the changing price of electricity). Every few minutes the devices would adjust their power usage based on the current price of electricity.

The test found that these households saved more than 10% on their yearlong electricity costs. But what energy policy planners found to be most revealing was not so much that the residents were able to reduce their consumption and save money but more surprisingly how the devices encouraged participants to alter their attitude and behavior to decrease their consumption because they now had the tool to actively monitor their consumption. This reinforces the notion that feedback is the best motivator to get people to change their habits. Weighing oneself on a scale is a perfect example of how a device can motivate people to lose weight.

From the electric utility’s point of view, new startups like Grid Net are working to develop the software that will make full smart grid systems a reality. The software systems being developed for use by the power utilities take advantage of modern computing and networking technologies to increase the information available to utilities about the state of the power grid.

The ultimate goal is to build power grids that can manage their own load spikes automatically, with spare generators being brought online via software triggers (say when the alternating current frequency dips below a certain level, which is a sign of high load on the grid), or power being transferred from other parts of the grid to meet demand in nearby areas, all without human intervention).

At present, few of these software technologies are deployed or even easily purchasable. While in some cases, the technology is well understood and well developed (e.g., software to power down appliances when the electrical grid is under heavy load), it is not widely available yet for those who want to use it now.

What smart green software is pointing to is the urgency to begin planning NOW for this inevitability to help protect industries and consumers from rising energy costs.

Bottom line? Apply this information to improve your profitability, reengineer business models, and strengthen or gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. And apply the free Fiscal Test at http://fiscaldoctor.com/fiscaltest.html.

From Gary W Patterson, www.FiscalDoctor.com Copyright 2008

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The green movement has created a plethora of buzzwords. One of the more popular phrases is renewable energy. And for good reason. Businesses, traditional and emerging, will soon be affected by how they will respond to the reality of renewable energy depending on where they fall in the supply chain.

Renewable energy is a term that refers to those potential sources of energy that are naturally replenished, which means that using them does not decrease the amount available in the future. This contrasts with nonrenewable sources (fossil-based fuels) that have a limited supply and will eventually be used up. Renewable energy sources include sunlight, hydrosphere/water cycle, geothermal and some types of biomass and biofuels. Think of energy as a source and electricity as an application.

The mechanisms used to generate electricity from these sources vary considerably. For sunlight, there are photovoltaic technologies that generate electricity directly from sunlight. But there are also systems that use the sunlight to heat an intermediate fluid, which is used to turn turbines to generate electricity. There are multiple ways that water can be used to provide electricity, of which the most commonly used is the hydroelectric dam.

Other systems that produce electricity from water include wave power systems that convert the kinetic energy of waves into electricity, tidal power systems that use the kinetic energy of tidal flows in a similar fashion, and systems that take advantage of the temperature differences between surface waters and deeper waters in the ocean to generate electricity. Geothermal systems rely on the heat of the earth’s interior to generate electricity in various ways, depending on the specific nature of the site. Biomass and biofuels consist of fuels derived from plant and other organic matter, which are renewable depending on the sustainability of the agricultural practices that provide the biomass. Examples include ethanol and biodiesel liquid fuels for transportation, and solid biomass from unused portions of other crops for electricity generation.

Presently, renewable energy sources provide only a small fraction of global energy production, and the majority of this is from biomass burning such a wood (which while renewable in the strictest sense is not environmentally friendly) in undeveloped regions of the world. Renewable energy provides less than 1% of the world’s energy production even though its use is expected to grow rapidly amid rising concerns about global warming and the rising price of oil.

The biggest impediment to the widespread use of renewable energy sources in the past has been its price compared to the price of coal, natural gas, and petroleum. At present, wind energy costs $0.04-$0.08 per kWh, while coal costs $0.04 per kWh. Other renewable energy sources are even more expensive, such as solar thermal at $0.12-$0.34 per kWh and solar photovoltaic at $0.25-$1.60 per kWh. Water sources vary in cost from being cheaper than coal to costing three times as much. This cost differential, however, is narrowing as the price of oil rises and new technological innovations are bringing down the prices of renewables.

Looking forward, the increasing likelihood of carbon taxes or emissions trading schemes being implemented in much of the developed world means that the cost of generating electricity from coal, natural gas, and petroleum will rise even more precipitously, which will make renewable energy even more attractive for future development.

The future of renewable energy depends on how government energy policy will develop over the course of the next presidential administration and congress. Will carbon taxes or emissions trading schemes be enacted to limit greenhouse gas emissions? Will green grid technologies become widespread? Will the development of new oil supplies be allowed? All of these possible scenarios will affect the future deployment of renewable energy technologies.

As an example, consider the application of rooftop solar photovoltaic systems. Not only will these systems provide electricity to homes and businesses, but they can even be used to sell energy back to the power utility. Farmers and ranchers can plant wind turbines on land unsuitable for growing crops. The widespread use of smart grid technologies can become a major method of decentralizing power generation.

Similarly, if emissions trading schemes are enacted, then the rising cost of carbon-producing energy sources will force a shift to renewable energy technologies for large portions of our energy needs. This is deemed so likely that many believe that renewable energy technologies will be the next major industrial boom, similar to the computer technology revolution of the 1980s and the internet revolution of the late 1990s. Increasingly, large quantities of venture capital are pouring into renewable energy companies in expectation of just such an outcome.

How you position your firm to take advantage of the probable boom in renewable energy depends on your business’s energy needs and usage. If green grid technology becomes widespread, the opportunity presents itself to businesses to become both an electricity consumer and a supplier. If carbon taxes or emissions trading systems drive the move away from petroleum transport fuels to biomass transport fuels, it is important to be prepared for that as well.

As the renewable energy debate gains momentum, NOW is the time to prepare for its eventual inevitability to help protect your business from rising energy and transportation costs.

Bottom line? - Apply this information to improve your profitability, reengineer business models, and strengthen or gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. And apply the free Fiscal Test at http://fiscaldoctor.com/fiscaltest.html.

From Gary W Patterson, www.FiscalDoctor.com Copyright 2008

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The green movement is creating new marketplace opportunities as a result of developing new green technology. One technology is smart grid software. Businesses, traditional and emerging, will soon be affected by how this technology will be deployed and adopted as they move into some version of peak load or variable pricing.

The modern electric grid is hardly modern; it has barely changed in seventy-five years. Most electric grid systems today consist of transmission and distribution networks that connect power plants to end users. These systems rely on centralized power generation and feature bottlenecks and choke points where damage to the infrastructure can disrupt service to thousands of customers if not more. Todays electric grids are poorly equipped to handle the demands of the post-modern economy, which due to the ever increasing use of digital devices requires higher load demands and uninterruptible power.

Part of the problem is information–information in current power systems flows only one way, from consumers to the power utilities. The utilities know what the power loads are and where they are, but they struggle to meet power spikes with marginal success. Consumers have no idea (besides learning about it on the nightly news report) what the load demands on the power grid are and thus are unable to make usage decisions based on that information.

The other part of the problem is logistical: Current power systems rely on centralized generating stations that send power over transmission networks to several distribution substations, which then send power over distribution networks to end users. To meet increased peak demand in local areas excess, generators must be kept on standby so they can be brought online as needed. Power, for the most part, cannot be routed from another area to help meet the demand. Since as much as 10% of total power capacity is needed as little as 1% of the time, this means that a large number of small local emergency generators are needed to meet rapidly changing demand (as larger generators take too long to startup).

Smart grid systems are an attempt to address the shortcomings of the current electric grid by changing the flow of information and logistics. The new grid systems use internet connections between power stations, power meters, and appliances ultimately drawing power to make the flow of information about the state of the grid a two-way process between utilities and consumers. This enables consumers to make better decisions about their power usage; which they can even do automatically via the smart power meters.

Smart grid systems change the logistical nature of the grid from the centralized transmission and distribution system to a decentralized network model where excess power can be transmitted from one area to another as needed. Even better is the ability to use energy storage devices in households (such as plug-in hybrids) and power generating devices such as residential solar panels to supply energy back to the grid during hours of peak demand.

The goal of the smart grid system is to increase the reliability and efficiency of the power transmission systems on two fronts: (1) It decentralizes power generation with households that are both clients and suppliers; (2) It improves power consumption. Consumers are now in the driver seat and are better able make more precise decisions about how they consume power.

Test programs of smart grids have been steadily increasing over the last few years. Enel S.p.A. of Italy built a smart grid serving 27 million Italians in 2005. Essentially Enel invented the concept by installing smart meters that enabled two-way communication between the utility and energy consumers. Austin Energy, a Texas power utility, has been working on a similar initiative to replace all its power meters with smart meters by December 2008.

The GridWise Olympic Peninsula project, a study conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, equipped homeowners with digital thermostats and computer controllers on their water heaters and clothes dryers. Participant homeowners were then able to set performance preferences of these devices according to their own preferences. The average household in the study saved over 10% on its yearlong electricity usage. A subset of the program used price-sensitive settings with the price of electricity varying as a function of power load on the grid and the performance of the appliances being set to respond to the price of electricity–these customers saved even more.

For businesses looking to leverage future developments in smart grid technology, it would be worthwhile to review all the power uses in their companies. Gaining an understanding of what power usage can be time shifted as well as coming to an understanding of inventory opportunities to sell power back to the grid will help businesses position themselves to take advantage of green grid technology to lower costs and even gain new revenue streams.

Given that the growing energy crisis is having a dramatic effect on the global economy, there is an urgency to begin planning NOW to help protect your business from rising energy costs.

Bottom line? - Apply this information to improve your profitability, reengineer business models, and strengthen or gain competitive advantage in the marketplace. And apply the free Fiscal Test at http://fiscaldoctor.com/fiscaltest.html.

From Gary W Patterson, www.FiscalDoctor.com Copyright 2008

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How can you tell if a paid survey site is legitimate or not. Sometimes it can seem almost impossible, especially with the seemingly thousands of sites out there offering free online paid surveys. If you’ve already tried online surveys you know that there are some that don’t pay very much at all and others that are just looking to take your hard earned money
I would suggest that before you register with any survey site you do some research to see if they are legit or not. Legit paid surveys are ones that are free to register with and pay you a decent amount for taking their surveys. Oh yes, and they also need to send you the check at the end of the day. If you do some research in advance you can certainly save yourself some time and possibly money as well. It’s always good to protect yourself from the online scammers.

How Can You Know Whether a Survey Site is Legitimate?

1. Are there a lot of pop ups on the site?
Any legitimate survey site will not overload you with pop ups as soon as you hit their page. I’m not talking about the pop ups you might encounter when you’re loading their surveys, but rather the pop ups that are advertisements for things like screen savers and anti-virus software. A good survey site wants their brand to appear professional and pop ups are anything but professional. I avoid paid survey sites that bombard me with pop ups and you should too.

2. Does the website itself look professional?
When I talk about professional I don’t mean that the graphics are flashy and the site reads like a sales letter. In fact, I would avoid sites that read like sales letters since they probably are; they are sales letters trying to get you to part with your money and buy access to their database of survey sites. You should also look for things like poor grammar and misspelled words which no legitimate survey site would allow.

3. Is the survey site asking you for money?
No legitimate survey site will ask you to pay them. The online surveys exist to collect opinions from people and they pay for those opinions because they are being paid by the companies that sponsor the surveys. Any site that is asking you to give them money just wants to sell you access to a database of surveys sites and guess what; you can get the same list yourself online for free.

There are lots of survey sites on the internet that are trying to get your money. Do your research and avoid them as much as possible. It may take some time, but you will come across the legitimate and well paying sites. Once you do stick with them and then find another and another. Soon you’ll be making some good money by doing free online paid surveys.

Find out more ways to get paid for surveys at the authors website where he lists over 300 legit companies offering paid surveys

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Online business has a lesser start-up cost as opposed to other types of business that you will have to rent a space and buy different equipment and materials before you can actually begin selling. It will make you save from having to hire a number of employees since internet business only requires maintenance and enhancement of the site and the products that you offer.

You will be freed from thinking of the hassle that if your staff will resign immediately, there will be no one to man your place. Furthermore, you need not to worry about paying overhead costs that you usually do if engaged in a business with a physical space. As a beginner, you can look for a domain at a cheap cost and you can also avail of the free domain and hosting valid for one year.

People from all over the world are lured to use the internet for various reasons, may it be for research, finding a match or simply because they want to purchase something. It has become a trend for most consumers these days because surfing the internet is very easy and convenient. Think of the accessibility of this phenomenal innovation. You can sell your products and services both in the local and international markets which means that you can boost the potentials of your business.

You can reach out to any part of the world with your products to be seen without having to spend additional expenses when you sell locally. With online business, you can aquire new customers and invite boundless opportunities at a relatively low cost.

In the internet business, you can increase your profits in no time because you get the advantage of offering your products twenty four hours a day seven days a week. Online shoppers can order or make inquiries anytime, anywhere at their convenience without having to deal with any additional costs on your part. Your customers can enjoy their physical comfort by paying you through several internet banking tools.

If you have gained the trust and confidence of your customers, there is no reason for them not to promote your site to their friends and relatives whose interests exactly fall on the type of products and services that you offer. You will need to establish a good relationship with your clients so that they will continue supporting you.

With your business right at your own home, you can ultimately enjoy the perks of giving more quality time with your family and being your own boss. You may find it difficult for you to manage your time if you are employed in a regular job because you have to deal with the 8-10 hours of spending your time at the office. It may be hard for you to stand the fact that your boss is putting a lot of pressure on you to beat deadlines.

Now, is the time to build your own business and the wisest decision is to venture in an online business which will provide you with greater possibilities of earning a considerable amount of money without sacrificing your time for family.

Because your site is open to the public, there is a tendency that your web visitors or even your customers will copy your concept and your marketing strategy. If people will realize that they can also do exactly what you are doing to gain profits, then they will compete with you. They won’t mind if they make a duplicate with every inch of detail of what you have conceptualized, so long as they know that they can soon be earning from this.

Online business can give the feeling of being isolated both for the entrepreneur and the clients. Sometimes, it is hard to build a good and trusting relationship when you do not see the people you deal with. Since there is a limited close acquaintance between you and your client, the chance for them to be a return visitor is indeed slim. Therefore, you will definitely need a lot of extra effort to establish trust with your potential customers to make them buy what you are offering and keep them coming back for more.

There has been numerous reports of credit card fraud which makes customers reluctant to purchase online. With the increasing cases of fraudulent events, people are so afraid to even give the details of their bank account number allowing them to opt for shopping in the malls.

To make money online, there are definite and infinite chances for you to succeed. All you need is pure determination and the earnest desire to bring forth the success of your chosen venture. Like any other conventional business, online business has its perks and hazards, you just have to develop a positive attitude that in time, you can achieve countless benefits.

A community of the right minded people
must be apart of your inner circle. Who do you have that will personally coach you?.

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A key element to entrepreneurial success is choosing the right people to be part of your management team. In fact, angel investors and venture capitalists both view strength of the management team as the major determining factor in whether they are willing to make an investment in the company. But it is also important for an entrepreneur to have outside advisors he or she can trust and rely on, an accountant being one of these. Even a start-up company with little or no revenues needs to have a good accountant available, as well as an attorney who has experience with young businesses.

Accountants are important members of a company’s team. If you’re a start-up or small business you may not have the resources to hire an accountant full time. There are software programs that can do most of the data entry but it’s still a good idea to hire an accounting firm on a consulting basis to oversee your accounting systems, processing, and tax returns.

Attorneys are just as important, perhaps more so than accountants. An attorney can guide you to select the most appropriate way to set up your business. The best time to retain an attorney is before you need one. It’s worth the money to know that if something comes up you have a legal expert who is familiar with your company. Attorneys have valuable contacts with venture capital firms and private investors. They know what is reasonable in a private offering , what isn’t, and what must be included.

An attorney can also help you protect your intellectual property, trademarks, trade names and trade secrets. While it may seem expensive to have an experienced attorney on your management team it will avoid problems later.

Business Appraisers can tell you how much your business is worth and why. If you’re considering refinancing, that business appraisal can help you determine how much debt the company can carry.

If you’re considering selling your business the business appraiser can provide a ball park valuation. Of course the buyer will want to conduct their own due diligence and may even hire their own independent business appraiser, that’s to be expected. The appraisal you have completed gives you a bench mark to start negotiations.

A Business Plan Consultant can expedite the business planning process. If you’re looking for investors a well thought out concise business plan is critical. If you’re considering starting a company, a business plan will help you improve your chances for success and avoid making serious mistakes. You may be the only one who reads this plan, although you should have input from a number of other people with business experience. A business plan is an important ingredient to the success of a start-up business.

Using Consultants to provide services you need on an outsourcing basis can be much less expensive in the long run than hiring someone as an employee. The consultant probably will cost more on an hourly basis but you only need their services on a project basis. Consultants can provide programming, technical assistance, and communications expertise, just to name a few areas.

When hiring a consultant, or consulting firm, ask for references and check those references. A good place to start the search for a consulting firm is to ask your attorney and accountant for recommendations.

More tips for entrepreneurs . Dee Power is the author of several nonfiction books. Find out why your business needs an attorney http://www.capital-connection.com/attorneys.html

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