The two days of presentations and discussions brought specialists and practitioners in green building techniques, applications, financing and the regulatory environment. We have heard from Sonae Sierra about their quick financial returns from energy and resource efficient developments, from AIG Lincoln about their upcoming green project in Romania and the region and from F&C Property Asset Management and EcoNavitas about the financing and valuation of green buildings. Innovative products and technologies for greater energy efficiency and ecological design were revealed by Philips, DuPont and Lafarge, while government representatives and the Association for Energy Auditors discussed about the regulatory framework and actions necessary for the promotion of this sector.

Selected video presentations and photos from “Build Green CEE” will be available on the conference website - www.BuildGreenCEE.com - after May 15.

Building upon the momentum created by this conference, EcoNavitas announced the foundation of a Romanian Green Building Council, a non-profit organization modeled after the various chapters of the World Green Building Council.  It aims at becoming a forum for discussion and actions towards transforming the construction market toward greener technologies, materials,  services,  and techniques.

We’ll be back after the event. In the meantime, make sure you visit the conference website, register if you intend to, and watch the conference blog for the latest news.

Sara has spotted in an earlier post the opportunity of coaching middle-aged and elderly people in the complicated internet world.

Via Springwise I found out about Bellendoejezo, a Dutch company who took this idea one step forward. Bellendoejezo employs students aged 12–16 to conduct cell-phone workshops that cover topics such as using predictive text, creating contact groups, voice mail management, enabling Bluetooth and exploring mobile internet. They target the corporate market and have worked with law firms, banks and an energy company.

If they don’t do it already, Romanian businesses will soon start investing in smartphones for their employees - including middle-aged and elderly persons - with the goal of increasing productivity. However only a small percent of the productivity gains will be available if the most interesting features of the cell phones will never be used. This is why businesses may consider providing their employees with the necessary skills as to maximize the benefits that can be obtained from the new technologies.

On the other hand, teenagers and students seem to be some kind of experts in this domain. This might be a great opportunity for young people with an entrepreneurial bent to launch a relatively easy to manage project. Or it could be transformed into a non-profit initiative - like Bellendoejezo - which would aim at improving the young coaches social skills and self-esteem and at introducing the to the corporate world.

What do you think? Are you already taking advantage of all your cell phones features in order to get thing done faster and easier? Or would you find some coaching on this topic helpful?

There is one website out there offering multiple-choice tests for kids to prepare for Bac and other exams - TesteGrila.ro -  and it is horrid. You actually have to download the test and then access a new page to enter the answers. It has been around since 2003, but the highest-ever number of visitors per day is 134 - and that was more than one year ago.

However, in the meantime, ConQUIZtador is a very popular trivia game online. Why not adapt this approach to help kids prepare for their Bac exams? It could be either for pay or ad-supported, but if made fun and kept up-to-date, it would surely attract a large number of kids.

I got a sandwich at a Princess store this morning - and spent about 3 frustrated minutes trying to get the very thick plastic to tear, so I could actually eat my sandwich! Guess what? I’m not getting a sandwich there again. If it’s convenience food, I shouldn’t need scissors to get to my food.

Every other business out there - make it easy for people to actually get to whatever goodies you have to offer. Are you a restaurant or a cafe and you’re not on Metropotam? I may really want to get to you (I’m continuously searching for nice, quiet places, non-smoker and vegetarian-friendly), but I never will, because I can’t break through the plastic wrapper. Do you have a gym and you’ve just sold me a membership? If I don’t know how to use the equipment, I’m not going to come back, nor renew my membership.

When you start your new business, do think about how easy it will be for people to access your product once they have purchased it.

We’ve been talking about food quite a lot… Anca , Sara, Alex approached in several posts the healthy food restaurants topic. And so I am.

This time, it is about a fresh and healthy fast food - Juice Zone - that we have just discovered close to our office (close to Piata Victoriei). A wide variety of freshly made smoothies, fruit & vegetables squeezes and energy drinks, and a nice assortment of salads, wraps and panninis made our day today. Although the shop is mostly dedicated to take away orders, there are a few seats available if you wish to enjoy your lunch at the Juice Zone. Moreover, they have a nice offering for vegetarians, too.

I hope they’ll introduce home delivery, also.

Enjoy!

 

In these past few weeks it has been quite difficult to be a vegetarian, so I was really happy to read about a couple of meatless fast-food chains that are developing around the globe. They aim at revolutionizing the fast food world with natural, wholesome vegetarian foods that have the look, feel, texture and taste of meats without the negative effects on health and the environment.

Vegan V.G. Burgers goes even beyond healthy ingredients. Their packaging comes from vegetable sources and is compostable. The restaurant also runs on wind power and continually strives to achieve the goal of zero waste.

With an estimate of about US$2 billion spent on fast food at the end of 2005 and an annual average sales growth of 26% the Romanian fast-food market is impressive. My colleagues Sara and Alex already blogged about the lack of “green” restaurants. A healthy fast-food chain would be more than welcome by serious and sometime vegetarians alike. As more fast-food fans begin to grasp the environmental impact of eating meat and choose a (semi) vegetarian diet opportunities will no doubt expand for those entrepreneurs who skillfully combine the two aspects.

I would certainly love to replace from time to time the usual “falafel”. What about you? If you’re not a vegetarian, would the “green” ethics convince you to consider such a fast-food as an option?

Green buildings and energy efficiency have been some our our preferred topics on the blog. We’ve been telling you stories of green, recommending blogs and websites… and now…. We are pleased to announce you our upcoming event: Build Green CEE: Energy Effcient and Ecological Design for the Region! Discover the growing demand for energy efficient and ecological construction techniques, design expertise, technologies, materials and services in Europe’s most promising construction region - Central and Eastern Europe. The confence will explore the improving business case for eco-efficient  design and sustainable construction in an environment of rising energy prices, more stringent building codes, newly available technology and specialized financial products.

If you want to be part of a visionary group of investors, real estate developers, construction companies, architects, engineers, technology and service providers, building management companies, real estate agencies, students and professors, and if you’re eager to explore and benefit from the opportunities of building green, join us for:

• WHAT: The first comprehensive regional Green Building Conference
• WHEN: 23rd-24th April, 2008
• WHERE: Bucharest
• MORE INFORMATION: BuildGreenCEE.com

Register and pay by 24 March to get a 30% discount for the registration fee. Limited number of scholarships is available for interested professors and students.

We sincerely hope you can join us for this exciting event!

Who else thinks they’d be a good business in Bucharest as well? Based on my earlier experience with a very crowded health food diner in Victoriei square, I believe I’m not the only one.

Browsing the web for new cool business ideas I found out, via Springwise, about Tadacopy - a Japanese company offering free photocopies for students. Well, they are not exactly free, as on the back of each copy paper they print ads that pay for the freely offered service.

The idea reached Europe, and a group of students in the Netherlands started StudyPrint . Students must register with their university email address and then they can either upload the desired documents, bring them on a USB flash drive or email them to a dedicated email address. The free printed copies have horizontal banners placed at the top and bottom of several pages and a few full page ads.

Romanian students are probably printing and photocopying more than any other students in the world - according to my personal subjective statistics. And knowing that once the exams have passed all that printed or photocopied material wonn’t be of much use, most of them would definitely prefer a few ads, here and there, to clean, but expensive copies.

Moreover, an automatic system would reduce the current costs of employing personnel to handle the equipments.

Would you find such a service useful? What other products or services do you think could be offerend in a similar free version?