The money invested in North American companies producing green technology rose 35% in 2005, to a total of $1.6 billion, according to a new report by the Cleantech Venture Network.
OLPC is funded by a number of sponsor organizations, including AMD, Brightstar Corporation, eBay, Google, Marvell, News Corporation, SES Global, Nortel Networks, and Red Hat. Each company has donated two million dollars.[6]
distribute them free to rural primary school children.
The computer comes with a wireless Internet connection and webcam despite its low cost, and is thought capable of withstanding wear and tear in the kingdom's rural regions.
Imagine this: you buy a new computer monitor, take your old one and just bury it in the garden. 3 years later the monitor has biodegraded and your prized tomatoes are growing better than ever
Short video on how technology will affect/improve the potential of microfinance. He talks about how they tried a village computing center, but also how they (Grameen Bank) are working on using mobile phones that will allow borrowers to access bank accounts, and connect to customers to improve business transactions, and many other things.
When
the dramatic discovery of the ozone hole in 1986 forced the banning of
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the refrigeration industry switched
to hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) and hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs).
HCFC¹s are also ozone depleting substances but less so than CFCs.
Meanwhile, both HCFCs and HFCs are potent greenhouse gasses.
Greenfreeze uses hydrocarbons as the
blowing agent for the insulation foam and for the refrigerant.
Hydrocarbons are completely ozone friendly, and used in refrigeration
have minimal global warming impact.Hydrocarbon technology is
not dependent on patented foaming agents and refrigerants. The
operating costs are lower, and the maintenance is easier than with HCFC
or HFC technology.
develop, evaluate, and promote cleaner products and cleaner technologies that minimize
pollution at the source and contribute to long-term sustainable development.
Despite the fact that neither the children,
their schools nor their parents will have anything to say in the
creation of the design, large orders of multi-million units are
planned.
Have they asked the people who are getting these computers what they want, maybe they would have some new ideas that woudl make the computer keyed more to what they want and need rather than to match them to the upper middles class.
It would seem apparent that serious
social research must be done to determine family, village and
societal attitudes before proceeding with a program like OLPC.