NCET

Picture the new wave in conservation: a tree-hugging, socks-and-Birkenstocks, environmentally friendly … SUV?

A $60,000, eight-cylinder, 12 mile-per-gallon Land Rover as the car for the environmentally conscious might seem like an oxymoron. But it is just the latest seeming contradiction in a world where gun-toting conservationists, evangelical environmentalists and carbon-neutral corporations are increasingly the norm.

Land Rover Las Vegas says it achieves that balance of luxury and responsibility by purchasing carbon offsets - which aim to mitigate the effects of carbon emissions by planting CO2-absorbing trees - for every new and used SU it sells.

It’s a controversial way to have your Rover and drive it, too. To take it out for a guilt-free spin knowing that your Powered by Carbon Offset Credits bumper sticker will elicit a thumbs up from other drivers, not that other, less wholesome gesture.

In many ways, Las Vegas - where ostentation and conservation coexist, though somewhat uncomfortably - could be ground zero for the ecological consumerism movement. Read full story:

Technorati Tags: Land Rover, Phoebe Sweet, Las Vegas Sun, The Conservation Fund, CarbonFund.org, Carl Pope, Sierra Club, Las Vegas, Russell Simon, Volkswagen America, Jena Thompson, GoZero, Bill Burtis, Clean Air - Cool Planet, Steve Rypka, GreenDream Enterprises, NCET, Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, technology

Plans are under way to implement a number of projects recommended in last year’s Northern Nvision study.

A project to upgrade the Web sites of rural counties is nearly complete, says Ron Weisinger, executive director of the Northern Nevada Development Authority.

Next, to avoid conflicting dates, the Web site builders will craft a regional calendar on which agencies and associations can post business events such as the recent Governor’s Awards dinner. Read full story:

Technorati Tags: Pat Patera, Northern Nevada Business Weekly, Northern Nvision, Ron Weisinger, Northern Nevada Development Authority, Carson City, Fallon, AngelouEconomics, Lyon County, Bus Scharmann, Western Nevada College, Larry Miller, Reno-Tahoe International Airport, Rob Hooper, Vitamin Research Products, Kathy Halbardier, Tahoe Ridge Winery, Nevada Commission on Economic Development, Ben Loftsgarden, NCET, Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology

An initiative by the European Union to restrict the use of hazardous substances in electronic equipment could have big implications for a tiny company in Reno.

Or maybe not.

Much depends on whether executives of electronics companies embrace the spirit of the regulations as the rules spread to other jurisdictions around the world or instead take a narrow, legalistic approach, say executives of The Salot Bradley Group International.

Principals in the company are in a strong position to sell their knowledge. They wrote the specifications upon which the electronics industry developed processes that certify that manufacturing restricts the generation of e-waste. Read more:

Technorati Tags: John Seelmeyer, Northern Nevada Business Weekly, European Union, The Salot Bradley Group International, Dennis Bradley, NCET, Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology, technology

The largest study on the financial returns of angel investors in North America, released in a new report today by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Angel Capital Education Foundation, shows that angel investors participating in organized angel groups achieved an average 27 percent internal rate of return on their investments.

Overall, this set of angel investors affiliated with angel groups experienced exits that generated 2.6 times their invested capital in 3.5 years from investment to exit. This return compares favorably to that of other private equity investments, including those of early-stage venture capital. Seven percent of exits generated returns above 10 times their initial investment.

The “Returns of Angel Investors in Groups” study was conducted over the past year and analyzed results from 86 organized angel investor groups throughout the United States, involving 538 individual angel group investors who have experienced more than 1,130 exits in which companies that had received the investments were acquired, went public, or were closed. It comprises the largest data set of angel investor exits ever collected.

Read entire story here

Technorati tags: angel investors, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Angel Capital Education Foundation, Venture Capital

Agreement should bring WiMax wireless broadband service to Las Vegas

Two Internet companies concluded negotiations with KLVX-TV, Channel 10, to occupy property along what officials call the “Wireless Electronic Highway,” a 95-percent share of the Public Broadcasting station’s digitized airspace. The federal government recently decided to lease the digital-television capacity to commercial companies.

A representative for KLVX-TV, also known as Vegas PBS, announced this month that a tentative “highway” agreement was reached with Sprint and Clearwire. The arrangement should bring the WiMax network, a formidable wireless broadband service, to Las Vegas, Vegas PBS General Manager Tom Axtell said.

The 30-year lease-agreement allows public television to use wireless broadband service to disseminate its trademark public services, providing even more educational material and programs to portable classrooms, school buses, and municipal agencies, Axtell recently told members of the Technology Business Alliance of Nevada.

Read entire story here

Clearwire Vice President of Network Development John Storch
(Photo courtesy of NCET)

Technorati tags: KLVX-TV, “Wireless Electronic Highway, ” Public Broadcasting, Vegas PBS, Sprint, Clearwire, WiMax, Tom Axtell, Technology Business Alliance of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, NCET, Nevada’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology