Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Senergy helps NC farmers improve energy efficiency
Wednesday, July 21, 2010, 3:03 pmOur world is undoubtedly becoming more and more concerned with energy efficient processes and renewable energy sources. And although it may not always be so obvious, the government is actually helping the cause.
In 2003 the US Department of Agriculture created the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP, then known as “Section 9006”) to provide grants to farmers and rural small businesses to cover up to 25% of the total costs associated with purchasing and installing renewable energy systems and making energy efficiency improvements.
As with any government program however, there’s a tedious process to go through and paperwork to fill out before receiving the funds. One of the first steps in the process is having an independent professional engineer conduct an audit estimating the potential energy savings on the specific project that they’re applying for to receive grant money. Kurt Creamer, Ph.D., says that the “actual percentage energy savings, in some cases are quite phenomenal.”
That’s where Senergy Inc., the Apex-based company hired to conduct these energy audits, comes in. Kurt Creamer, PhD, president of Senergy, founded the company in 2003 in response to REAP while he was still enrolled in the Biological and Agricultural Engineering PhD program at North Carolina State University and working full-time at the school. Even though there was a new need for energy auditors, business remained relatively slow for a few years.
“In the early days farmers had to pay up front for the energy audits which were often times quite difficult for the farmers,” Creamer said. Business for Senergy spread solely through word-of-mouth and only those farmers that could afford to front the initial costs of an audit got on board for the first 5-6 years of the program.
But then, in 2008, the North Carolina Farm Bureau got involved. The Farm Bureau covers the costs of the audits up front so that the farmers are much more willing to go through the process of applying for the REAP grants. The program (and business for Senergy) skyrocketed. It’s “been a real boom to my business to have the Farm Bureau involved in the project,” Creamer said.
Senergy’s work
Senergy typically works with farmers in Eastern North Carolina specializing in grain farms, but has had the opportunity over the years to work with a variety of types of farms including tobacco farms, some on swine & poultry farms, and a handful of dairy farms, often times on some very nontraditional projects.
One particular project on a hog farm required comparing the energy efficiency of burning the dead hogs to composting them—composting is more energy efficient, in case you were wondering. Creamer has also worked on energy efficient organic dairy farm feed grinding systems, poultry barns, irrigation systems, and grain dryers. But he’s not just limited to working on energy efficiency projects. Kurt also works on some renewable energy projects, including one this fall where he’ll be working on a “project to look at the use of sweet potatoes in an anaerobic digester,” Creamer explained, that “could generate enough biogas from the sweet potatoes to meet the requirements of the farm.”
What’s next?
Creamer says that he would love to expand in several ways:
- Geographically: There is still plenty of opportunity to pursue this program in other parts of North Carolina and beyond
- Explore the energy needs of rural small businesses (outside of the farm base)
- Take on more renewable energy projects
- Improve his engineering methodologies
At the end of the day Creamer says he really enjoys the work he does and “it’s a really good program for the farmers, and a good program for the environment.”
Serious Gaming at Sigma Xi
Sunday, May 30, 2010, 10:33 pmLast week I went to this season’s last American Scientist pizza lunch at Sigma Xi featuring Phaedra Boinodiris (Twitter, blog), Serious Games Product Manager at IBM.
I first saw Phaedra Boinodiris speak as the opening speaker at TEDxRTP (my review) back in March, but this was a different kind of talk, geared more towards scientists and science communicators.
I remember playing Pong when it first came out. I remember spending many hours back in 1980 or so playing The Hobbit on Sinclair ZX Spectrum. And I played many games at arcades (still not knowing which games started out as arcade games adapted to computers and which the other way round). Then I quit playing games for a couple of decades until my kids were ready for them. I loved Zoombinis – an amazing game of logic and a brilliant preparation for taking IQ tests! I loved Richard Scarry’s Busytown – the one and only game I know about infrastructure, where players build stuff and deliver it to others for the good of the town – from baking bread to paving roads – learning along the way how those things are done.
And sure, Phaedra Boinodiris started with a slide depicting Pong (to the chuckle of the audience) but soon got into the real stuff – the serious gaming and the story of how she got involved in developing such games, as well as about studies of gaming and how different kinds of games help develop different real-work skills, from eye-hand coordination to leadership to cooperation. Her first game – INNOV8 – was developed as a prototype, a proof of concept, in only three months and instantly became a huge hit. It is used by businesses and business schools around the world to teach Business Process Management. It is essentially a first person shooter game (without guns) in which the player is brought as an outside consultant into a company where s/he has to figure out the flow, the bottlenecks, etc. (including by interviewing employees, as well as data-sheets) and experiment in making it more efficient. The 2.0 version came soon after, adding such problems as traffic, customer service and supply chains.
The next game, recently announced and coming out in October 2010, will be a Sim-City-like serious game CityOne, designed to help city planners, town councils, citizens, and engineers plan better, more efficient infrastructure for their cities. Put in your city’s specs and start building new infrastructure, see how much it will cost, see what problems will arise, see what solutions are available – probably something you could not have thought of yourself and may be surprised.
As I am currently reading ‘On The Grid’ it occured to me that the developers of CityOne should read that book, and that Scott Huler should be given a test-run of the game, perhaps for him to review for Charlotte Observer and Raleigh News&Observer and the local NPR station. And for Science In The Triangle, of course.
RTP Week Ahead, May 17-21
Monday, May 17, 2010, 10:04 am
Monday, May 17
BizMix: A Professional Approach to After-hours Business Connections
5:00 – 7:00pm
The Matthew House, 317 West Chatham Street, Cary, NC 27511
Looking for a business after-hours that’s worth your time? Benefit from a structured setting, connect with leaders and meet our reporting staff.
$15 Triangle Business Journal subscribers; $25 others. Read more here.
Tuesday, May 18
Widening the Pipeline: Excellence in STEM Education (Luncheon)
12:00 – 1:30pm
CED’s Entrepreneurship Center, 100 Capitola Drive, Durham, 27713
How Do We Build the Pipeline of Next Generation STEM Employees? Join the Contemporary Science Center for lunch as we explore and discuss with award-winning Science, Technology, Engineering & Math educators from Charlotte and Raleigh.
Registration $20. Register here.
TARDC May Lunceon
12:00 – 1:15 pm
RTP Headquarters, 12 Davis Drive
Speaker: Dr. Maria Escolar, Director of the Program for the Study of Neurodevelopmental Function in Rare Disorders at UNC Chapel Hill. Lunch will be provided.
Free for TARDC members; $35 others; $25 CED members. RSVP to rousseau@rtp.org
Wednesday, May 19
President’s National Export Initiative Luncheon
11:30am – 1:00pm
Hotel Indigo, 151 Tatum Drive, Durham, NC 27703
TOPIC: President’s National Export Initiative; Speaker: Ro Khanna , Deputy Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration, Office of Domestic Operations.
Free. More info here.
CED’s BioTech Forum
5:30 – 8:00 pm
North Carolina Biotechnology Center, RTP, NC
During this presentation and interactive panel discussion we will answer several key questions to provide insight into what will likely drive the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries’ partnering efforts moving forward.
Find out more here.
Speed Networking in the Triangle
5:45 – 8:45pm
Wyndham at RTP, 4620 South Miami Boulevard, Durham, NC
Based on the format of speed dating, attendees will have five minutes to network with each new person you meet. Once the five minutes is up, you will move to the next person and continue networking.
Only 50 attendees allowed! Purchase a ticket here.
Thursday, May 20
If It Isn’t Broke, It Will Be! Reinvent your Business Model
11:30 – 1pm
CED Headquarters, 100 Capitola Drive suite 106 Durham , NC 27713
Participants will focus on evaluating, creating and re-inventing current business models. This seminar teaches state-of-the art methods that produce transformative ideas and solutions.
$20, including lunch. Sign up here.
Quality In BioPharma Conference (through Fri, May 21)
8:00am (5/20) – 5:00pm (5/21)
NC State University, Centennial Campus, 2410 Campus Shore Drive #218, Raleigh, NC 27695
The focus of the two-day event will be Environmental Monitoring in Biomanufacturing, and will have noteworthy talks, discussions, and networking events for professionals involved in the Quality, Manufacturing, Environmental Microbiology, and Process Engineering areas of the industry.
Register here.
Friday, May 21
BTWW: Cyclists’ Breakfast at RTP HQ
7:00am – 9:00am
Cyclists can mingle and enjoy free breakfast
courtesy of the Research Triangle Foundation.
Saturday, May 22
ProductCamp RTP: Share In The Innovation!
8:00am – 6:00pm
Cambria Suites @RDU Airport, 300 Airgate Drive, Morrisville, NC
In the spirit of BarCamp, ProductCamp is a collaborative, user organized unconference, focused on Product Management and Marketing.
Register online here.
Ongoing (All Week)**
Bike to Work Week
All around the Triangle!
Sponsored by GoTriangle.
Find out more here.
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To view a complete calendar of RTP community events, please visit the Science in the Triangle calendar.
Wanted: Global innovation (part 2)
Saturday, April 17, 2010, 12:13 pm… Continued from Part I of this two-part series:
While it would be impossible to separate the global from the state-level issues discussed at the forum, some of the local business people offered examples for specific challenges to innovation that they faced.
Alexander Macris is the president of Themis Group which is based in Durham, N.C. and is a strong example of the power of a science park like RTP to attract additional tech-based businesses to the region. Macris said that the Triangle region is one of the largest concentrations of gaming companies in the U.S. Most of the innovation potential in gaming is at the gaming engine and software level, he said, and the average median income of someone in the gaming industry is about $75,000. He expects to see about 300 to 400 new gaming-related jobs in the area over the next three to five years, he said, because the industry is growing in the double digits. But at the same time, the cost of game development is going up – whereas a decade ago it may have cost $1 million to develop a game, it costs $20 to $30 million to do so today, Macris said. Foreign countries give more tax credits to their gaming companies, he said, which makes them more competitive in the global field and is hurting U.S.-based gaming companies. “Targeted tax credits are a huge attractant to small and start-up businesses in the gaming industry,” Macris said. “And cool downtowns, the creative class really likes a vibrant downtown too.”
While deeper tax credits may help some start-ups get a toe-hold in emerging markets, retaining the best talent is necessary to sustain them over time. And while uber cool downtowns like the American Tobacco District in Durham are one component of enticements to retain the best brains, it’s a smaller part of the issue. Read more…
Wanted: Global innovation (part 1)
Saturday, April 17, 2010, 11:39 amRepresentatives of businesses and research organizations in the Triangle met Friday April 16 at Research Triangle Foundation Headquarters to explore the role of government in spurring homegrown global innovation. The meeting was the first of a handful planned by the National Foreign Trade Council, a Washington DC-based organization that advocates for both domestic and foreign trade policies favorable to its member businesses.
“We’re here today to learn from you so that we can go back to Washington and do what we do,” said NFTC president Bill Reinsch in his opening remarks. “We want to build relationships with companies and open a conversation with them to develop stronger links.” Reinsch said that his group was traveling to technology-innovation clusters like RTP and Silicon Valley to find out first-hand from companies what sort of policies were encumbering them from doing business globally, which were helping, and what sort of ideas they had for the future.
How to create and sustain jobs and businesses is a question that both federal and local governments have wrestled with sharply and frequently since the economic downturn. Research Triangle Park, NC has long been a technology-hub and economic engine for the state, noted RTP CEO Rick Weddle, and the area has excelled in life sciences, information technology, and biotech markets, but capturing emerging markets like gaming and clean energy technologies will be vital to RTP maintaining its vitality in the future. But how can science parks like RTP, and the states they’re rooted in, cultivate homegrown small businesses (and they jobs and economic resilience they generate) in emerging and established markets, especially when the banks are slow to lend — if they lend at all — and cash is plain hard to come by?
Read more…
ScienceOnline2010 – interview with Sabine Vollmer
Tuesday, April 6, 2010, 7:32 pmContinuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. See all the interviews in this series here. You can check out previous years’ interviews as well: 2008 and 2009.
Today, I asked Sabine Vollmer to answer a few questions:
How much life is there in Second Life?
Sunday, April 4, 2010, 4:45 pmMore than 2,000 researchers and educators from 69 countries attended the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education conference last month, including Tony O’Driscoll of Duke University and Brent Ward from RTI International in Research Triangle Park.
Like the other attendees, O’Driscoll and Ward didn’t travel to VWBPE in person. They sat in front of a computer and had their voice-activated avatars teleport to one of 20 specially constructed virtual islands, where the conference took place over 48 continuous hours. Some of the islands resembled the Guilin mountains in China, an Irish seaside cottage and Stonehenge, the famous English prehistoric monument.
Brent Werber
Wada Tripp, O’Driscoll’s avatar, gave a presentation on 3-D learning, which requires students to interact in simulated, or virtual, environments. Brent Werber, Ward’s avatar, moderated a panel at the conference.
O’Driscoll is a professor at Duke’s Fuqua School of Business and Ward provides RTI researchers technical assistance as the research institute’s director of commercialization. Both are professionals holding positions of responsibility, but neither thinks twice about slipping into his “digital sockpuppet,” a computer-generated persona that lives in Second Life, a three-dimensional virtual world maintained by Linden Lab of San Francisco. Read more…
RTP Weekahead 3/15
Sunday, March 14, 2010, 3:21 pmEvents taking place the week of March 15 in the Research Triangle area that are open to the public: Read more…
Duke’s Dan Ariely on how we cheat
Thursday, March 11, 2010, 9:20 pm
Dan Ariely
To better understand stock markets or economic recessions, Dan Ariely likes to go where push comes to shove.
The Duke University professor is a behavioral economist who’s been in demand since the economy tanked nearly two years ago. The reason for his popularity is in his research.
Ariely looks at things that make no sense: Why does the price of an energy drink determine how many puzzles we solve? Taking a cue from his mother’s job as a parole officer, he also looks at behavior we know can get us into trouble, such as procrastinating and cheating.
Sometimes it’s hard to tell whether Ariely has an experiment going. Read more…
TEDxTriangle: Old techniques and new technology to harness ideas
Monday, March 8, 2010, 8:38 pmFeeling dull and uninspired? Try to practice selflessness like a Trappist monk. Play a video game that does more than entertain. Doodle.
The three tips could have come from self-help books, a consultant or a mentor. Instead, they came from the first TED talk in the Research Triangle Park area. The all-day, free event Saturday at RTP headquarters attracted more than 150 people, who on a sunny and balmy winter day sat inside, listened, did the wave and talked to people they had never met before.
Amy Calhoun
Durham couple Amy and Eric Calhoun organized TEDxTriangle, an offshoot of the TED conference, over the past 10 months using word of mouth, Twitter and Facebook to recruit speakers. In the spirit of TED, whose motto is “ideas worth spreading,” TEDxTriangle brought together local speakers willing to share their ideas and insights.
“We’ve been TED fans for a long time,” said Amy Calhoun, who runs a management consulting business. The goal of the conference, she said, was to get attendees excited, plant seeds of passion and help people connect to solve problems. Read more…
