Thinking outside the box
 More than 12 billion incandescent light bulbs, based on Thomas Edison and Joseph Swan’s original 19th-century design, are sold worldwide every year. Indeed, the International Energy Agency (IEA) claims that light bulbs account for 19% of the world’s electricity bills; unfortunately, though, 95% of the energy they consume is, in fact, wasted. The IEA claims that energy-saving lamps could save the planet 555 million tonnes of CO2 – and €106bn – yearly.
Consumers, though, are not the only ones reluctant to change. While the EU is keen to announce targets this year it has lagged behind Cuba – the first country to ban incandescent bulbs, in 2006 – and Australia, which set a phase-out target of 2010 a year later. President Bush agreed to phase out incandescent bulbs in the US, starting with 100-watt bulbs in 2012.
Far from hiding behind policymakers, the European Lamp Companies Federation (ELC), which includes Philips’ and General Electric’s lighting divisions, Osram and Aura Lighting Group, are urging Brussels to firm up its directive on the eco-design of energy-using products to force the phasing out of inefficient bulbs. Currently the directive does not impose binding conditions on product design, but lays the groundwork to do so. Critics of some of the energy-efficient light bulbs currently on offer say they aren’t bright enough or that in the case of LEDs they simply emit the wrong shade of light.
Electric Dreams
 BMW stunned motoring analysts by announcing that it might build an allelectric car, confirming that the automotive landscape is changing more rapidly than at any previous time since 1945.
Unveiling the Bavaria-based carmaker’s annual results in March, its chairman Dr Norbert Reithofer, said: “An electric motor is an option we are looking into. It does not only work at a zero-emission level, the technology is now sophisticated enough to offer sheer driving pleasure. This is one of the reasons why we are evaluating the option of launching a battery-powered car. A decision will be taken this year.”
Noting that BMW’s R&D budget had risen 14.8% to €2.92bn last year, Reithofer tantalised shareholders by announcing that an experimental division called ‘Project i’ already exists. BMW, which currently makes BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce vehicles, manufactured a three-wheel mini car called Isetta in the post-war years. The vehicle briefly achieved pop-culture celebrity status. Could a Mini-like rebirth be too far off?
In the space of just a few months, $100-a-barrel oil has dramatically strengthened the attractiveness of the small car segment worldwide, while gas guzzlers have seen their residual values eroded.
Desert Springs
 A granular mud-like substrate from Ukraine does not exactly sound like something that countries in Africa and the Middle East are crying out for. But a British entrepreneur, Raymond Asquith, has stumbled upon an unusual business opportunity.
His silt-like substance functions as a nutrient delivery system for the sort of desert environments where vegetation struggles. And as more than half the world’s people live in countries where rapidly rising populations mean falling water tables, this is a big deal indeed.
Called Zander, after the hardy European fish that thrives in murky water, Asquith’s product is sourced from clogged Ukrainian waterways and delivered to dryer climes in 25-litre sacks. He says laboratory tests show that plants grown in it continued to survive 54ºC heat 11 months after a single watering, outperforming alternatives such as peat and coir.
Asquith has developed a Zander extract that can be diluted to cover larger areas and a third product that cleans soil contaminated with heavy metals. Zander is only just starting to achieve its potential, says Asquith, who has 17 contracts in Libya and Gulf states including Kuwait, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. “We won’t make things grow where they can’t,” he says, “but we can create the conditions to get the vegetation back.”
Asquith says the business is totally green, restoring wetlands and halting desertification, using an organic product. The only unknown factors are the venture’s scalability and how big Zander can grow. “Its more date trees and shrubbery than large scale agriculture,” he cautions. “We do not envisage becoming plantation managers.”
Snake Charmer
 For almost 20 years Cobra beer, with its exotic label and advertised Indian recipe, has been a favourite in British curry houses. In fact, Cobra is as English as fish and chips, brewed in the UK and concocted by law graduate turned marketing whizzkid Karan Bilimoria from a tiny government grant.
Now with annual revenues topping €150m, Bilimoria has embarked on an audacious plan to unleash Cobra on the Indian market, having acquired a 76% stake in Iceberg Industries, a brewery in the north-east Indian city of Bihar. He says that this reverse colonisation marks the first step in the London-based company’s plan to acquire a 10% share of the growing Indian market.
At the same time, Cobra, which recently installed a new Scottish chief executive, Adrian McKeon, has embarked on a three-year domestic expansion plan. The speciality beer hopes to become a top 10 brand in the UK through increased grocery store sales and draught presence in pubs and clubs.
Though, undoubtedly a charmer, Bilimoria’s dual strategy is ambitious. Just 10 companies produce more than half the world’s beer and China is the leading brewer. The slippery question is whether Cobra can continue to extend independently, or whether larger predators, such as Vijay Mallya, the billionaire owner of rival beer Kingfisher, will one day pounce. |