ColinAke.com…until I write a book.

Let’s talk for a minute about something that intrigued me recently.  I was reading my newest WIRED magazine (an always superbly excellent magazine) and I read their feature article on Shai Agassi (former SAP executive) and his new project, Better Place.

Better Place is Agassi’s solution to environmental issues - his goal is to retire the internal combustion engine and put in a nationwide network of electric charging stations to charge electric cars. How?  He wants to separate the cars from the battery.  You buy cars from a manufacturer, and you subscribe to a plan of miles - want to drive 15,000 miles in a year?  Buy that plan.  Charge everywhere.  Shopping malls, your house, your office. Anywhere you go, plug in.

Did I mention he has the nation of Israel signed on?  And Denmark?  And he’s raised $200 million, planning $160 million more?  And he’s not worried about competition - “The mission is to end oil - not to create a company.”  He plans to pay a premium for clean energy to fuel his plan and make clean energy technologies more economic.

I like this idea.  It’s something that can be put in place NOW and can impact our dependence on foreign oil.  Now, I don’t buy into Al Gore style global warming (I’m not convinced it’s human triggered), but I do want to see our dependence on foreign oil lessen.  This would do the trick.  It’d be like your cellphone provider - companies would sell you a car at a steep discount to make profits off the energy.  Read the article if you have some time (it will take some time) - but it’s a great article.  I’m interested to see what happens with Better Place.  Soon, I’m fairly certain we’ll see it make some waves in the US.

What do you see as the next step to increase independence from foreign oil?  Would something like this work?

Would Better Place make the world a better place?

Take care, I’m off to day two of classes.

Colin