In general, entrepreneurs and green tech investors believe that putting a price on carbon emissions will act as an incentive for businesses to develop low-carbon energy. Many also argue that utility regulations need to change so that all utilities have an incentive to use energy more efficiently. Meanwhile, financing remains a challenge for many green tech startups because many businesses require hundreds of millions of dollars to produce their products at scale.

The ARPA-E agency was first funded last year with a $400 million budget with the goal of nurturing breakthrough energy technologies. ARPA-E Director Arun Majumdar said the agency is structured to yield “home runs” by focusing research in different areas, such as grid storage or carbon capture and storage, which can be developed within the next three to five years.

In my opinion, the success of early companies such as Tesla Motors, A123 Systems, and solar firm Solyndra show that new technologies are penetrating the market faster than many would have predicted five to eight years ago. But to make a large-scale impact, the industry still needs a handful of enduring success stories. I think we need a moment as a nation when a company goes public and its potential and success infects the average American, so that there’s a change in attitude toward this market.

View a previously written post by Mouli Cohen about clean technologies

“Respected companies aren’t going to fall as far in the bad times, and they come back better,” says David Hartzell of Cornell Capital Management, a participant in the survey that helped produce Barron’s list.

In 2009’s roller coaster market, the top-ranked stocks generally experienced lower volatility and outperformed during the bear leg. And now, even after the market’s rally, the value of respect is still understood: For the most part, shares of the most respected companies are either above or not much below their bankruptcy levels, and have beaten the market since that crisis erupted. Indeed, Apple, which topped Barron’s list, is above its pre-crisis stock price.

It’s not uncommon to see a few changes at the top of the list’s annual rankings, and this year is no different. Johnson & Johnson, a perennial leader, slipped from No. 1 to No. 2, and Berkshire Hathaway dropped to fifth place from second. The ever-steady Procter & Gamble remained at No. 3, while IBM jumped 10 notches to fourth place.

Survey participants say respected companies have strong management, good governance, valuable products and services, and strong stock returns. They act ethically and treat their shareholders, customers, and employees well. And while some money managers name respect as the first cut in their investment process, others say respect is more often the result of a sound investment process.

For my part, respect answers the question ‘Is management going to be a good steward of the clients’ money?’ In my experience, I have seen that respect takes a long time to build and can quickly be destroyed.

View a previously written post by Mouli Cohen about innovation in business

Regardless, of the how the foundation moves forward, the potential benefits for Microsoft are numerous, given that many of the early projects will likely focus on the their product ecosystem, despite claims that the foundation will be platform agnostic. Ultimately, the possibility of delivering a better product to consumers was perhaps too good to pass up, in spite of the financial outlay. Think of it as money invested in R&D with greater leverage. Depending on the spin, this announcement can also go far in bolstering Microsoft’s standing in the eyes of the general public as well, the very same people that could be buying their software down the road.

Bill Hilf, general manager of Windows Server, explained the decision on his blog:

“The perspectives on OSS at Microsoft have evolved to the point where Microsoft’s open source strategy is no longer just locked in a single ‘lab’ on campus – now OSS is an important part of many product groups and strategies across the company. We have become increasingly clear on where we work with open source – development methodologies, projects, partners, products and communities – and where our products compete with commercial open source companies or platforms. Today, there are engineering and business leaders across the company, myself included, looking at how to drive interoperability for customers and as a lever for new growth.”

[image via schoschie]

In one move (given its strong web presence), Google announced a plan to build on its online payment platform, Google Checkout, in a bid to create a universal system that will enable newspapers and other media producers to charge for their content online. Think of it as a gated community for that handles content created across multiple sites.

Google collects the micropayments, either through subscriptions or pay-as-you-go plans and distributes the money based on traffic or some other metric. The benefits for the producers are obvious, assuming they’re still able to pull in readers, but the boon for Google is twofold. They collect a percentage on the transactions and get to learn more about their audience’s habits. Which leads me to ask, will the public being willing pay, and will they have any choice?

The other deal is much farther afield. Google announced that it is working hard to improve the tech behind solar thermal heating systems. Essentially, seeking to improve the reflective surfaces to generate greater heat and more efficiencies. A plan that follows with its philanthropic quest to develop green technology, but also has the potential for big pay-outs given that the clean energy market is still relatively new.

But what’s most curious about this move, is that it appears to compete with Google’s early investments in solar, namely  eSolar and Brightsource. Apparently Google was unhappy with the level of innovations happening within this space and is seeking a more active role. This will have to be another wait and see, but with a working prototype expected in the next few months, it appears we’ll know soon enough.

[image via Yodel Anecdotal]

Currently, the high cost to build and maintain offshore turbines combined with their design constraints – they are still installed directly into sea beds and require additional stabilization to deal with the stresses of the ocean currents – they can’t compete on price with conventional land-based models. But with the Hywind’s innovative floating design, wind farms could be installed virtually anywhere, in waters with depths up to 2100 feet.

The dynamic turbine design, which employs stabilization technologies already in use on offshore oil and gas rigs, needs further improvements – lighter materials and blades that spin closer to the water’s surface – before it is economically viable and ready to be manufactured on a mass scale, but it’s early successes have already silenced many critics. Considering the infrastructure to transport the power is relatively inexpensive by comparison, the Hywind could be an attractive solution further down the road and one to keep an eye.

[image via phault]

The underlying thinking is that with greater transparency, consumers can take a more active role in affecting the culture of the corporate world – most notably, through their collective purchasing power. As founder Michael Mossoba notes in an article for Advertising Age, “When consumers are empowered to evaluate companies based on data rather than preconceptions, companies have a business case to compete with their peers on social responsibility.” A fact that has real implications for the ways corporations operate and ultimately, for society as a whole.

Mossoba admits that while the data is far from comprehensive, it is designed to get the conversation started and lead to further examinations of the companies and brands that we’re choosing to spend our money on.

[image via jvc]

eBay had planned to integrate its online auction business into the Skype platform, “making it easier for buyers and sellers to communicate. But the planned integration failed to work,” according to the Financial Times. While this sale will likely alleviate many of eBay’s current financial woes (though perhaps only temporarily), it will likely provide little solace to a company that came to define the early years of internet consumerism.

The investment group buying the stock and $125 million debt instrument is led by Silver Lake Investment Group, a technology investment firm based out of Silicon Valley.

[image via andreas W]

This builds on the several key drivers of the overall market as consumer demand for ease of transaction, mobility, convenience and immediacy continues to grow. As more banks and retailers get on board it opens more doors for everything from traditional real world purchases to virtual buys.

In the US, the key component appears to be the widespread adoption of the smartphone and all of the functionality that comes along with it. Nokia enters tis emerging sector at a time when there are few competitors, but other players do exist – big names like Mastercard and Facebook and lesser-knowns like Boku and Zong – all trying to establish a universal platform. And this universality will be essential in determining who rises to the top, as developers look to seamlessly push their service across multiple platforms and handsets.

In the meantime, I’m curious to see how banks and retailers respond. Will they go for the appeal of reaching the largest audience and leverage every system or will they back a winner and negotiate lower transaction fees? This will be an interesting show to watch.

[image via whiteafrican]

Spot.us funds citizen journalism, SellABand allows fans to help out their favorite musicians and Contenture allows sites to monetize their web traffic, three interesting ventures that enable potentially innovative ideas the chance to reach a much wider audience. And while these models are no guarantee of success, given the small cost of participation, they also carry very little to no expectations either. This is because none of them are built with any returns in mind, making them essentially donations as opposed to actual investments, but the possibility of adding that component exists. Which could create an interesting subculture around micro-investments.

While the likelihood that it would ever replace the venture capital system is extremely small, considering the significant amounts traditional startups need to raise, this doesn’t mean it couldn’t have its place, particularly on a local level. It simply requires developing the proper risk/reward structure and determining what kind of oversight (if any) would-be investors would have. Entrepreneurs are by their very nature resourceful so I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a model along these lines released sometime soon.

[image via Library of Congress]

Ten African nations, including South Africa, Kenya, and Nigeria, will be discussing the best ways forward for the continent in a summit this week. They will also be making waves by chiming in on the debate, asking western nations to cut down emissions by 2012 according to BBC news.

If the African continent can be subsidized to use clean burning fuels and sustainable energy, it will improve both the economic well-being of the continent as a whole, and by extension it will improve the global effort to combat global warming.

It think it’s up to western nations and the private sector to prop up these countries with money for research, investment, and implementation of a green infrastructure. If sustainable sources of energy can be harnessed in the developing world, it would not only benefit the planet, but serve as evidence that this model can be successfully adopted on a grand scale.

[image via epcp]