Springing back into action
Article Date: Apr 22 2009Maybe it was Easter Holiday sun, spring daffodils, or the ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ campaign, but business is proceeding somewhat normally, politicians are back to arguing with each other rather than governing, and news has momentarily slowed to the sedate pace of a Kings Cross re-development or the UK’s green policy.
Meanwhile companies, in search of extra revenue, convene at trade and consumer shows, give each other self-congratulatory awards, and hope to impress in a demand mating ritual synchronised (like the Galapagos tides) to fuel and feed the anxious supply engines of Asia and burn up resource inventories towards an endless spiral of growth.
I’ve never liked trade shows, being confined for days to a few square metres of opportunity – slowly turning into Jack Nicholson’s Shining movie character, parrot-repeating sales pitches, or forking out on overpriced electricity, internet and food. A scenario made more ridiculous by the same internet allowing you to find and connect with anyone at a single click.
Despite my apprehension, last week Moixa joined the trade fair merry-go-round at Ideas for Greener Living, organised by social enterprise UK Aware. The idea was to interact with and get feedback from customers and showcase our USBCELL batteries and latest technology.
We powered the stand from our own renewable energy – an integrated solar PV/battery panel unit charged from the sun, or topped up via a discounted overnight energy tariff. We also provided, via our Moixa Energy server, direct current (DC) power to Osram LED spotlights, an LCD screen, a laptop, and a low energy ‘Sunray’ computer from Sun Microsystems. With more and more devices becoming low power, it is much better to get rid of bulky and inefficient AC/DC adaptors and keep everything as DC.
In fact such systems could be rolled out to millions of houses at low cost, just as BSkyB installed satellite systems in a third of households. When combined with our iPhone energy usage application they could potentially help households save over 25 per cent on their energy bills and carbon impact. The show also gave face time with customers (our USBCELL reusable batteries have recently hit the shelves of Waitrose, Ocado and Morrisons and were released today, Earth Day, under private label for the Hasbro Toy Company) and a forum to launch SaveBatteryWaste.com as a campaign to help the UK hit battery recycling targets required by the EU Batteries Directive, and due to be adopted into UK law in May.
The UK collects less than five per cent of its battery waste, against an EU target of ten per cent by 2010, and 25 per cent by 2012, so our site, launched for Earth Day, is helping to provide advice on nearest recycling points. To kick it off we collected over 90kg of household battery waste at the show – equivalent to a one-hundredth of the current UK weekly collection.
Succeeding in a recession is about going back to basics, accurately targeting your marketing, and solving problems facing customers or government.
