Jagan Nemani

Many books and innovation speakers talk about importance of customer feedback during innovation process. They believe that building something without customer feedback is like gambling, the results are often not predictable and most innovations fail. Innovation success rate across all industries is around 4%, and there are a few preachers who believe this will be improved by gathering lots of customer feedback before building the product. While there is some truth to that and customer feedback is very useful in many cases, it does not necessarily help innovation in all the cases. And this is because of gaps in customer knowledge, something that I am calling “Customer Knowledge Chasm” For example, before iPhone disrupted the smart phone market, there were many researchers/innovators working on figuring out the way to combine mobility and internet together. There were... (more)

Employee Driven Sustainability

Imagine a situation where sustainability is second nature of all employees in your company. There is deep sustainability culture in your company and it shows in every aspect of your company operations. Your products are eco friendly and demand premium prices, your entire supply chain is carbon neutral and cost efficient, your data centers are fully utilized and energy efficient, your marketing is naturally green, and your brand is rated as most environment friendly. Not only this your employees are highly motivated which leads to higher retention and the best talent available w... (more)

The Good and Not So Good from State of Green Business 2010

Recently I attended the “State of Green Business Forum 2010″ organized by Greenbiz.com in San Francisco. There were a lot of Good and Not So Good discussions during the forum and I would like to share a few of them with you. Overall, I think it was a good event to attend and to learn from others in the cleantech industry. Moreover, I got an opportunity to connect with some cleantech gurus like Marc Gunther and Andrew Winston. The Good Zero Waste Upgrade of Empire State Building Windows: Serious Materials CEO Kevin Surace talked about energy efficiency retrofitting of Empire St... (more)

Energy Wasted at a Grocery Store During Off Hours

Energy waste is the biggest consumer of electricity in US and it is a serious issue, considering all the carbon dioxide emissions that are related to this wastage. One of the biggest contributors to energy waste is the lights used during off hours in most major stores. In Part I of “Addicted to Energy” book review and on Useful or Waste website I have raised the issue of energy wasted at various retail stores during off hours. In this post I wish to give you a better and deeper insight on the energy wasted at these retail stores. Yesterday, was Christmas day (Merry Christmas to a... (more)

Energy Efficiency – Enabler of Distributed Generation

“Distributed Generation”, also known as on-site generation, which involves generating electricity on-site using renewable energy sources is a topic that I am passionate about. A good example of distributed generation is the generation of electricity using solar panels on roof tops. Imagine a world where majority of qualified roofs have solar panels or wind turbines and generate electricity using renewable resources. The electricity generated here has lower distribution/transmission losses and lower carbon emissions. Owners of these building have no electricity bills and pay a smal... (more)