"WIKINOMICS" How mass collaboration Changes Everything
Don Tapscott to speak at the University of Akron January 10th – Free admission

Don Tapscott, internationally renowned expert on the strategic value and impact of information technology, and author of “Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything,” will speak at E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall at The University of Akron on Thursday, Jan. 10.

I know what your thinking....what the heck does Bizooki on Ideablob all mean? Cool stuff I assure you. It is a call for help from a great local entrepreneur - Andy Tabar. Andy recently launched a cool tech company called Bizooki (www.bizooki.com) and was looking for a fun way to raise some coin for his new venture. Ideablob (www.ideablob.com) is a listing of cool ideas and tries to connect the idea to good advice.

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to sit down with Cleveland Public Radio's Dan Moulthrop to discuss Cleveland's efforts to brand the region of Northeast Ohio. I later connected our conversation to some slides.

It's called The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See, and it's taking the web by storm. Essentially, it's little more than a high school science teacher named Greg Craven, set up in his home with a whiteboard and a felt-tipped marker.

The Buffalo News reports today that the complicated gearboxes on the Clipper wind turbines in Lackawanna, New York have caused the facility to shut down.   The photo above was taken in September of 2007 and shows the eight Clipper turbines on the old Bethlehem slag heaps with Buffalo in the left hand background.

Happy New Year 2008 to all the top-through-under dogs of Northeast Ohio. My resolution is to question everything.

Do you hail from Cleveland? 

What draws you to our metaphysical train of thought?

The big picture... I am still trying to get back far enough to see it.

If They Can Do This In Greenville, Why Not Cleveland???
Sunday, December 30, 2007

Story of the Year
A year of ups and downs for solar panel manufacturer

rjeltema [at] staffordgroup [dot] com
Assistant News Editor

This year was up and down for Greenville's newest major industry, United Solar Ovonic.

The Auburn Hills-based solar panel manufacturer opened the first of its two Greenville plants in the fall while recording a significant sales increase. United Solar Ovonic's parent company, Energy Conversion Devices (ECD) of Rochester Hills, still fell well short of profitability, however, and two accidents at the first plant caused disruptions to the surrounding area.

ECD also experienced a major shift in management with founder and inventor Stanford Ovshinsky retiring in August followed by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Robert Stempel in November. They were replaced by former United Technologies Corp. executive Mark Morelli amid a major restructuring effort.

With hopes for the local economy pinned on United Solar Ovonic, the company's quiet opening of the first local plant in Greenville's new industrial park north of VanDeinse Avenue on Nov. 1 was greeted with relief.

Meanwhile, construction is continuing on the second nearly identical plant next door with an opening slated for sometime next summer.

Each plant employs about 200 workers. Michigan Works began the hiring process for 70 workers last June.

Company officials declined to discuss progress on the plants after springtime.

Stempel told the audience during a statewide alternative energy conference in April that two more solar panel plants are "on the drawing board" for the company but would not disclose where they would be built and when they would be officially announced.

He said other cities and states continue making pitches to the company to locate plants in their areas.

"We're down to the final selection stage," Stempel said. "There's a lot of pushing to put the plant here or there. People see the scope of what we're doing and what it could bring for them and obviously they're interested."

He said company officials are pleased with the progress of both Greenville plants, which could bode well for locating the new facilities here. Construction on the second plant is coming along better than the first due to some lessons learned during construction.

"It's looking pretty nice. We're on schedule," Stempel said. "We've had a very good relationship with the city and that certainly is a plus."
 The positive feelings surrounding the opening didn't last long.

A minor explosion in the pump room blew off an exterior wall panel on Building 1 just before 8 a.m. Nov. 21. Emergency responders determined the blast was caused by a "procedural error" when an employee improperly left a valve open. No hazardous materials were released into the air endangering the public.

"It was an overpressure explosion," said United Solar Ovonic Senior Vice President Jay Knoll. "It was caused by a failure to close a valve during a routine system changeover."

All 153 employees inside the building were evacuated. No injuries were reported.

Less than two weeks later, everyone within a one-mile radius of Building 1, including hundreds of people attending Greenville Community Church's morning worship service, were evacuated Dec. 2 after a report of a gas leak at the plant.

"We were in the middle of the service," said Joel Heron, lead pastor at the church. "I was actually preaching at the time."

Greenville Department of Public Safety Director Michael Stuck said residents were able to return to their homes about an hour after being evacuated.

"Their (United Solar Ovonic's) safety control system did exactly what it was supposed to do," he said.

Knoll blamed the mishap on an exhaust stack, used to vent gases between Buildings 1 and 2, springing a leak.

"We're working out the bugs of the plant," he said.
 United Solar Ovonic announced one of its largest sales to date on July 24, a three-year distributor agreement to provide Advanced Green Technologies Inc. in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., with $108 million of photovoltaic solar panels.

"We are convinced that our relationship with Advanced Green Technologies will further successful installations of building integrated solar power systems and demonstrate the use of Uni-Solar products for improved energy self-reliance," said United Solar Ovonic President and Chief Operating Officer Subhendu Guha.

The company also gave a sneak peek into its new residential solar system on a Habitat for Humanity house in Traverse City during the National Governors' Association meetings in July. Governors of several states participated in building a Habitat home powered by Uni-Solar panels.

"United Solar Ovonic's contribution to our project aids us in our mission to build high quality, energy-efficient homes at the lowest possible cost and we are grateful," said Ken Bensen, Michigan's Habitat for Humanity president. "We look forward to seeing Uni-Solar solutions on Habitat homes throughout the world."

Guha said the system will be released to the public soon.
 United Solar Ovonic also expanded overseas in 2007, entering the Chinese marketplace with a joint venture with Tianjin Jinneng Investment Co. (TJIC) of Tianjin, China, to open a photovoltaic solar panel manufacturing facility in the city of 4.5 million people.

The plant will have a capacity of manufacturing enough solar panels annually to generate 30 megawatts of electricity without affecting the company's plans in Greenville.

Guha said the company still plans to produce mile-long rolls of solar panels, cut them into nine- by 14-inch sections and implant electrodes in Greenville. The parts then will be shipped to the Chinese plant or a similar plant in Tijuana, Mexico, to be assembled into strips of solar roof laminates or other products and covered with a protective plastic coating.

He said the China and Mexico operations were on the drawing board well before United Solar Ovonic announced plans to locate in Greenville.

"The Chinese market is going to expand rapidly and we have to be there," Guha said.

Under Chinese trade laws "we cannot sell products in China unless we have a manufacturing presence," he said.
 Still, despite all United Solar Ovonic's growth in production and sales, the company's profits have not been able to keep pace.

United Solar Ovonic posted a $2 million profit for the fiscal year that ended June 30, down from $8.2 million a yea earlier.

However, sales grew 11 percent during that same span to $91.5 million due to robust European sales and ramping up production capacity. With the addition of a second plant in Auburn Hills, solar panel manufacturing capacity increased from 28 megawatts to 58 megawatts annually. That is expected to triple during the current fiscal year with the addition of both Greenville plants.

"Going forward, improvements in the energy conversion efficiency of our products and our cost-reduction initiatives will drive gross margin improvement," said James Metzger, ECD's executive vice president and chief operating officer.

He said a $19 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar America Initiative will help accelerate improvements in products during the next fiscal year and beyond.

United Solar Ovonic projects a sales increase to from $205 million to $225 million over the current fiscal year, more than double that of the previous year.

The first fiscal quarter was a good start.

United Solar Ovonic reported $41.9 million in revenue during the three-month period, which ended Sept. 30. That represents a 76 percent increase over last year's first quarter.

Morelli noted that supply agreements and product commitments for the second quarter exceed United Solar Ovonic's current capacity.

"Our laminates continue to gain momentum in the marketplace, as demonstrated by our growing pipeline of business," he said. "I am encouraged by our opportunities and our progress."

From the Greenville Michigan Daily News: http://www.thedailynews.cc/main.asp?SectionID=2&subsectionID=11&articleID=17864

It has been a trying couple of months for me – needing things I had no idea how to find and all of these issues fraught with stress. But I have two success stories to relay of two Cleveland companies that really came through with flying colors.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

By Rachael Derrick

Brunswick Sun Times

When I visited The Art Institute of Chicago there was an icy rain coming in off of Lake Michigan.  The sky was slate gray and at two in the afternoon the headlights and tail lights of the cars on South Michigan Avenue reflected off the shiny wet asphalt as I crossed.   Getting inside the warm lobby of the museum felt good.   A $12.00 ticket provides entry to the galleries.  I hadn’t been here before – I had pleasant surprises ahead.

I've long believed that one particular angle or lens from which the facilitation of environmental consciousness and awareness can be fostered is via creative use of technology. Socially conscious websites such as REALNEO help build voice and community around issues that really matter to communities and their vitality.  I was particularly energized and enthused by a recent article in the latest issue of Inside Business which elegantly articulated the efforts of local social entrepreneur Craig Zamary, who sold a successful market research firm to focus on a driving passion for environmental awareness.

Does demolishing a building wash away the sins of the past?

From PreservationNation:

"It continues to intrigue me that taking a position in favor of rehabilitation and modernization of these old structures—even a position that includes calls for selective demolition to reconnect buildings with neighborhoods by restoring street grids—is automatically seen as favoring a return to the bad old days of public housing mismanagement.

From Richard Herman:

Dear Rustbelt Bloggers:

Thank you (particularly Chris Varley, Ed Morrison, Jim Russell, Norm Roulet) for spreading the word on the proposal for new immigration law that would create “High Skill Immigration Zones” in the most distressed cities in the U.S. Jim (Pittsburgh Diaspora) has re-framed the issue as an opportunity to encourage Rustbelt economic development collaboration around immigration. Voices are now jumping into the fray from Youngstown, Erie, Buffalo, etc.

Global warming will bring an end to white Christmas and winter as we've always known in, here in NEO, so during the first real snowstorm of this season, December 16, 2007, I went in search of a visual symbol of NEO, in my neighborhood, strong enough to stand out in white-out conditions, and I came to the Breuer! Not the Breuer Tower, of global controversy, but the Breuer Museum wing of global celebration, design elements of which are featured in the latest additions to the Cleveland Museum of Art, shown on the left here, now evolving form in the hands of Vinoly.

 

On December 14, 2007 Judge Gaul presented University of Northern Virginia LLC’s president, Mr. Ho, to Myers’ students and the media at Myers University in Midtown, Cleveland, Ohio. 

Mr. Ho’s English is a bit difficult to follow, but what I made out was that Mr. Ho had in the past been a professor, and he still considers his relationship to the various for profit schools he operates as that of a professor – Mr. Ho is not currently teaching as a professor, but is negotiating the take over of the Myers Board of Trustees.  As of December 20 Mr. Ho had appointed eight of his candidates to the “Board” with Judge Gaul’s approval.    

Mr. Ho (center with glasses), and his associate Mr. Lee (on right with glasses and striped tie) went on to say that it was their intention to expand the student population at Myers by attracting foreign students – with a goal of about 2,500 students.  

Derek Hess showcased his latest work in a one-night exhibit at Kelly Randall Gallery, in Tremont, December 14, featuring new prints and original illustrations and collages that continue growth and demonstrate innovation in this fine artist's work. His work makes powerful statements in form and message, and Derek's message is stronger and more on-target than ever, in these troubling times.

After what seemed like quite a lapse in postings, Northeast Ohio's original b'logger (billboard logger), Harry "X" Sysack, recently put on-line what he promises is "the truth & the whole truth your overpaid teachers & benighted college professors never teach you". Sysack's line is on the RTA, on his private property where W.25th forms Pearl, and his "truths" begin with "Yo, students" and include "What is Christian America all about? Everybody is fuckin' everybody & everybody is lyin' about how they're fuckin' everybody. All politicians are evil & dishonest...". And, one of my favorites, "All lawyers are legal ho's."

In My Colombian War*, Silvana Paternostro reports that the average Colombian reads less than 2 books a year.  Does the average northeast Ohioan top that number?

George Nemeth, over on Fresh Brewed Daily, has picked up this bellweather post which has the metrics on blog discussions re topics of local interest around the US.   The blog index is a new and, I believe, very important statistic.