How Wave Power Works

http://www.ecogeek.org/content/view/1258/

This website has a video (full of shameless, cheesy self-promotion — it’s a delight to watch) that explains how their aquabuoys (a form of wave power) work, as well as a short article about how California is planning to implement this technology.

Opportunity in Africa

http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1863

Ever since attending a USC luncheon bringing together all faculty and students doing work in Africa last week, I’ve been floored by the potential in Africa.  This article points out the golden opportunity of Africa: its lack of development.  New technologies (mobile communications, off-the-grid power sources, etc) face little regulatory resistance or entrenched corporate resistance.  As entrepreneurs and investors, we cannot afford to ignore Africa.  We may not know much about Africa; but neither does the majority of businessmen around the world.

Making Solar Economical for the Consumer

http://renu.citizenre.com/

What a great business model! This company is capitalizing on the high front-end investment requirements of going solar. Here’s the basic idea:

1. Solar power saves consumers money in the long run by lowering their electric bills.
2. Solar installation is expensive.
3. It can take roughly 20-25 years for consumers to recap their initial investment (a period far too long for most people to consider).
4. Long-term investors, however, are willing to wait 20-25 years to recap their investments, especially in today’s uncertain economy.
5. Citizenre offers to pay for solar installation; in exchange, consumers pay a rental fee to Citizenre.
6. Cititzenre performs all maintenance and repairs.
7. Consumers save money by generating their own power and Citizenre makes bank by guaranteeing a steady income for decades (consumers can ‘lock in’ their power rates for up to 25 years!).

Here’s to you, economics.

China’s Stock Bubble

http://www.knowledgeatwharton.com.cn/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&articleid=1749&languageid=1

Leave it to Wharton to have the eloquence to elucidate the complexities of the Chinese stock market bubble to a young American white boy.

From what I understand now, the problem is the following:

1. Bank savings rates are so low that returns are negative when you factor in inflation.
2. China’s emerging middle class, therefore, is putting all of its money into the stock market instead.
3. There are relatively few companies to invest in in China and those that do offer shares typically only offer a very small percentage to the public.
4. As a result, an increasingly large amount of investors dollars are chasing a small pool of investment opportunities, artificially driving up prices.

Potential solutions:

1. Raise interest rates.
2. Encourage companies to distribute more shares.

What does everyone think?  What are China’s best options?  Are there any industries/companies than would survive a correction?  If interest rates were raised and investors shifted their funds into banks, would banks be a good play (would the increased number of deposits make up for the higher rates they have to pay borrowers)?