The number of people you need to ask for permission keeps going down:
1. Go, make something happen.
2. Do work you’re proud of.
3. Treat people with respect.
4. Make big promises and keep them.
5. Ship it out the door.
When in doubt, see #1.

If you’re starting out as an entrepreneur or a freelancer or a project manager, the most important choice you’ll make is: what to do? As in the answer to the question, “what do you do?”
Some questions to help you get started:
1. Who are you trying to please?
2. Are you trying to make a living, make a difference, or leave a legacy?
3. How will the world be different when you’ve succeeded?
4. Is it more important to add new customers or to increase your interactions with existing ones?
5. Do you want a team? How big? (I know, that’s two questions)
6. Would you rather have an open-ended project that’s never done, or one where you hit natural end points? (How high is high enough?)
7. Are you prepared to actively sell your stuff, or are you expecting that buyers will walk in the door and ask for it?
8. Which: to invent a category or to be just like Bob/Sue, but better?
9. If you take someone else’s investment, are you prepared to sell out to pay it back?
10. Are you done personally growing, or is this project going to force you to change and develop yourself?
11. Choose: teach and lead and challenge your customers, or do what they ask…
12. How long can you wait before it feels as though you’re succeeding?
13. Is perfect important? (Do you feel the need to fail privately, not in public?)
14. Do you want your customers to know each other (a tribe) or is it better they be anonymous and separate?
15. How close to failure, wipe out and humiliation are you willing to fly? (And while we’re on the topic, how open to criticism are you willing to be?)
16. What does busy look like?
In my experience, people skip all of these questions and ask instead: “What can I do that will be sure to work?” The problem, of course, is that there is no sure, and even worse, that you and I have no agreement at all on what it means for something to work.

EASTERN Cape businesses have been urged to move quickly and grasp opportunities provided by a leading-edge, power-saving project in Nelson Mandela Bay.

The message came from Central Energy Fund (CEF) executive Jabu Shabalala and followed an announcement that a R10-million pilot project to install the first of a planned 100000 solar-powered water heaters is only days away.

It is part of a wide-ranging R2-billion energy efficiency programme for the metro, details of which were announced at a packed Mandela Bay Media Association briefing at the weekend. The update was provided by CEF energy development general manager Dr Manny Singh.

The first phase, taking place after several years of discussions, involved the installation of 500 solar-heated geysers. It would begin within a week, Singh said.

The plan was to install 60000 units within five years, with more to follow.

Shabalala, the programme manager for CEF’s solar projects, said later in the presentation to close to 200 delegates that many of the components of the first geysers would be imported. These included special solar tubes, which were available from only two companies in the world.

But there would be many opportunities later for local businesses to make components and manufacture the solar panels and geysers.

“Within two years, the specialist companies will be looking at establishing local manufacturing and the opportunities presented by this will include some in Mandela Bay,” Shabalala said.

He urged local business to act immediately and contact organisations – particularly the Industrial Development Corporation – to capitalise on the opportunities.

“We do want local manufacture of these systems,” Shabalala assured the briefing.

In his presentation, Singh said a large number of energy conservation and efficiency projects were planned and budgeted for in Mandela Bay and other parts of the Eastern Cape and Garden Route.

These included:

A R498-million wind farm, which would also provide a number of support opportunities for local businesses;

The municipality standing to earn up to R500-million in carbon credits by trading these with countries overseas;

Savings of up to R180-million being made in the more efficient use of fuel and power in the municipality;

As part of the R180-million, projects would include replacing road lighting with energy-saving fittings and bulbs;

A R94-million landfill project to recover methane gas. This could provide on-site jobs for local communities, Singh said, as the gas could be used as the power source for an ice-making plant.

The herald – Weekend Post

Cape Town – Eskom has confirmed that it is busy with a viability study on an application to earn carbon credits for the construction of the Medupi coal-fired power station.

It is believed that Eskom wants to motivate the application on the strength of the power station being a modern, “cleaner” coal-fired power station.

This means that new technology will be used to allow the power station’s boilers to reach much higher temperatures than those in conventional coal-fired power stations. It will increase energy efficiency and generate more electricity from the same amount of coal, while less carbon dioxide is released per megawatt hour.

The United Nations Clean Development Mechanism – through which cleaner energy projects in developing countries can apply for carbon funding on the basis of each tonne of carbon dioxide or equivalent greenhouse gas that the project avoids – prescribes that projects should be able to prove that they would not be financially viable without the carbon credits they hope to earn.

According to the Eskom media office, coal-fired power stations such as Medupi could release 10% to 15% less carbon dioxide than a conventional power station, depending on the power station load.

Vehement criticism for Eskom’s plan is expected from environmental groups.

Jako Volschenk, a lecturer in environmental finance at the University of Stellenbosch’s Business School, thinks the Medupi project might pass the economic test, but not environmental and social tests.

- Sake24.com