The strategy gained prominence last year when Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi economist and banker who pioneered the global microfinance movement, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Grameen Bank, which Yunus founded in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in the mid 1970s, offers lines of credit as low as $9 for beggars to buy bread, candy, toys and other goods to sell on the street. It has also broken social taboos by offering small-business loans to women in Muslim countries to buy cell phones, sewing machines, and weaving materials. Today, the bank provides loans to nearly 7 million people — 97 percent of whom are women — with some 2,226 local branches throughout the country. It claims a 98 percent repayment rate.

“By defining ‘entrepreneur’ in a broader way we can change the character of capitalism radically, and solve many of the unresolved social and economic problems within the scope of the free market,” Yunus said at his Nobel Prize acceptance speech in December.

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The Energy for Sustainability program supports fundamental research and education in energy production, conversion, and storage and is focused on energy sources that are environmentally friendly and renewable.

Sources of sustainable energy include sunlight, wind, and biomass. Hydrogen and alcohols are potential energy carriers that can be derived from renewable sources. Research to produce and store hydrogen for use in direct combustion or in fuel cells is supported by the program. Potential sources of hydrogen include conversion from biomass and from electrolysis, photolysis or thermolysis of water. Biomass is available from agricultural crops and residues, forest products, aquatic plants, and municipal wastes. In addition to hydrogen, biomass can be a source of liquid, solid and gaseous fuels including biofuels such as ethanol. Fuel cells have the potential to convert fuels such as hydrogen and alcohols to electricity at high efficiencies and should play an increasing role in energy conversion. Critical components of low temperature fuel cells requiring additional research include catalysts, membranes, and electrolytes.

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Advanced nanotech batteries are becoming a driving force in making electric cars that go farther and faster between charges, up to five times farther than today’s conventional batteries, and China may play a role in bringing this new technology to market.

Electric car pioneer ZAP and lithium-polymer and nanotech battery developer Advanced Battery Technologies, Inc. today announced the opening of a joint development office in Beijing to expand their research, manufacturing and marketing of advanced batteries for electric cars using the latest in nanotechnology.

ZAP recently completed a purchase agreement to acquire $5.168 Million in lithium-polymer and nanotech batteries from Advance Battery Technologies for use in ZAP’s line of XEBRA electric cars and trucks as well as other vehicles and battery systems.

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You know who these “entrepreneurs” are. These are the snake oil salesman. The guys who talk a good game and can convince everyone from venture capitalists to the press to the general public that they are the biggest, coolest, most important new thing out there. So what if their product doesn’t do anything or has no way to actually make money or is a bad version of another product that’s already out there. These players are so good at marketing themselves and their products that they are able to generate irrational exuberance.

But these guys are really just a bunch of hot air. And you know what happens to bubbles when they get too full of hot air. Pop. And so the bubble bursts, taking down the shameful hucksters who caused the burst (though also typically taking down a few legitimate companies that deserved better).

But the bubble isn’t always a bad thing. For the technologies involved it can be a cleansing experience. With all the hype and hot air removed, the technology can settle down to doing its intended job. After all, despite the damage of the .com bust, eCommerce is doing just fine. So keep an eye on your bubble cycles and know when to avoid the hot air. And remember, somewhere out there right now is a technology-savvy and marketing weak inventor who is starting the first puffs for a whole new technology bubble.

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The Top Ten most economically impactful energy innovations by the year 2010 are predicted to be:

1. A shifting energy industry structure
2. Hybrid Vehicles
3. Smart Energy Management Systems
4. Distributed Power Generation
5. Fuel cells
6. Gas to Liquid Conversion
7. Advanced Batteries
8. Energy Farms
9. Solar Energy
10. Methane Hydrate Crystal Mining

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Many cities around the world now participate in annual car-free days to raise civic awareness of the effect of automobiles in the city and to help identify ways for urban areas to thrive without cars. In South America, Bogotá, Colombia has become well known for its annual Car Free Day. The streets of Bogotá, Colombia were first closed to personal motor vehicles from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM on February 24, 2000. A $25 fine encourages its seven million residents to use skates and bicycles as the only wheeled vehicles for the day. Nearly 200 miles of streets, alleys and other pathways are reserved for bicycles and pedestrians. The other streets are left open to buses, shared taxis and emergency vehicles. With fewer cars, air quality has been shown to improve.

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Shanghai took the first leap towards the future of ground transport by constructing the world’s first magnetic levitation (Maglev) train. Reaching speeds of up to 430 kilometers per hour (260 mph), the Maglev is the world’s fastest form of public ground transport. The futuristic train rushes commuters between the airport and downtown Shanghai. The 20-mile trip takes less than 8 minutes. Magnetic levitation transport has several benefits in addition to speed. The lack of wheels or onboard engines make the trip quiet, energy efficient, and pollution-free. Highlights:

* 8 million passengers had traveled on Transrapid in Shanghai by October, 2006
* Magnets lift the train 10 millimeters above the track
* China is planning a 125-mile line between Shanghai and Hangzhou
* Germany’s first maglev train to the Munich Airport is expected to start service in 2010
* Several Maglev routes have been proposed and are being studied for the USA

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Part sporty convertible, part shopping cart–the Concept Car, proposed by the MIT Smart Cities Project, is creating a new view vision for the future of personal urban transport.
As part of the Smart Cities Project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), researchers propose a stackable, foldable Concept Car designed to revolutionize urban transportation networks and improve transportation efficiency. The two-passenger car–still on the drawing board–can be stacked at key points of convergence throughout a city, near subway and bus lines, for example, allowing commuters the flexibility to combine public transportation with personal mobility. The electronically charged cars would be similar to luggage carts at an airport and to innovative bicycle sharing programs common in European cities. Users simply occupy the first car in the stack, and return it to any other stack throughout the city. Designed not as a substitute for but complement to personal vehicles and other forms of transport, the Concept Car will, it is hoped by its MIT innovators, promote a more “socially responsible and effective means of urban transport.”

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For many motorists, 75 cents and 100 miles per gallon of gasoline would be a dream. For Oakwood resident Alan Shedd, it’s a reality. For nearly six months, Shedd, an engineer with Jackson Electric Membership Corp., has been testing his company’s plug-in hybrid electric Toyota Prius, one of the first of its kind.

As part of a two-year research project, sponsored by Cooperative Research Network, Shedd and a team of engineers converted a hybrid Toyota Prius into a plug-in, gasoline-electric hybrid. The keys to creating this environmentally friendly and fuel efficient vehicle involved, among other things, increasing the size of the battery and adding a plug-in charger.

The car’s lithium-ion battery, located in the trunk, “is like an oversized computer battery,” he said. Holding up to nine kilowatt-hours of energy, it is composed of 2,400 smaller battery cells, each the size of a roll of quarters.

Using both electricity and gasoline for power, the modified Prius gets great gas mileage. The car can go 600 to 800 miles “easily on one 10-gallon tank,” Shedd said.

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The U.S. General Services Administration has purchased 55 Saturn Aura Green Line hybrid sedans to bolster its inventory of fuel-efficient vehicles. In addition to purchasing the Saturns, GSA also purchased more than 24,000 alternative fuel vehicles for federal customers this year.

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