Kuan Yean

Category: Business

  • Green Guilt

    Australia today set out on a path towards a low-carbon economy, with the government announcing a set of measures intended to force Australian businesses to transition their energy supply to renewable sources. As a consumer of energy, I’m not insulated from the impending energy cost increases. I expect that one way to insulate oneself from these increases would be to make the switch to renewable energy as soon as it becomes affordable enough to do so. Right now, I can transition to 100% wind-power for an additional 5.5c per kWh, which is not unaffordable. My only question is this: the logical paths for pricing of the two available energy sources should be inversely correlated. As conventional electricity pricing increases, market availability of renewable sources should as well, leading to lower prices. Therefore, 5.5c per kWh now should be as expensive (per CPI) as it should ever be. Origin Energy alludes to this in their FAQ on the subject:

    Why does GreenPower cost more?

    Power from renewable sources is currently more expensive than traditional generation such as coal fired power stations. This is partly because the renewable energy industry is still emerging and does not enjoy the same economies of scale as traditional power and production.

    I wonder if this will really be the case… or if it’s just a cynical opportunity to cash in on green guilt?

  • Nokia + Windows Phone

    It’s difficult for a nerd not to get excited at announcements like this:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCTH7rBoGck

    Nokia is losing market share in a big way. Their problem has never been hardware – every Nokia phone I have ever owned has been thoughtfully designed and beautifully made. My most recent decision to turn away from Nokia was based entirely on the fact that Nokias of late have shipped with software that was obsolete 3 years ago. With Windows Phone 7, Nokia re-enters the game. I am desperately excited about this!

  • On time, on message… on something

    Thanks to the delirium of pneumonia and its remedial drugs, I remember practically none of this being filmed.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6C9xgWnT1s

    With thanks, Nine News October 14 2010

  • Another troglobyte

    Graeme Wood, founder of Wotif, joins the ranks of IT cavemen who are blind to the real value of the NBN. At the World Computer Congress here in Brisbane he has lauded the benefits to business and government, but cannot see any value to private users of the internet.

    If the mix of the normal usage – email, music, video, Facebook, gaming, stays the same, but just happens faster – is there an economic or social benefit in that for the private user?

    Well he kind of answers his own question… incorrectly. Normal usage of the internet is going to change so drastically over the next 5 to 10 years that we will wonder how we survived without fibre. Where is the vision that someone like Graeme should have?

  • They got the gong!

    The wonderful folks at the Queensland Division of the Institute of Public Administrators Australia took home the award for best brand extension at the Australian Marketing Institute award luncheon today. Congratulations to the team who have worked tirelessly for the last few years to build the iQ brand, and I wish them all the best at the national awards in Melbourne next month!

    Now for a plug: ConsortiumWeb was responsible for the framework and back-end of the website. Check it out here.