The alternative fuels movement has finally reached a tipping point. The juxtaposition of oil prices skyrocketing over $110 a barrel and coal prices doubling has been instrumental in awakening a new sense of consciousness about alternative fuel.
With American drivers paying close to $4.05 per gallon of gas and California drivers paying roughly $4.25 per gallon, enthusiasm is increasing for a national commitment to accelerate adoption of alternative fuels. Whether these be hydro, nuclear, or solar, American consumers are finally realizing that our nation's energy independence and economy are totally linked to reducing our reliance on oil.
It would seem as if the political climate has never been better for the alternative fuels movement. To truly seize this opportunity, the organizations that comprise the movement would be well served to consider the benefits of technology in enhancing the cross community collaboration needed to secure lasting accomplishments.
Indeed, many alternative energy lobbying groups can experience benefits from using new technologies that enable communication. Examples include Rondee.com's free conference call solution which enables easy to deploy teleconferencing as well as online conference calling and networking tools.
First Tip: Use online tools to network
The most successful alternative fuels advocacy groups create networks of supporters who believe in their values and mission. While the word networking frequently gets an undesirable reputation, the clear reality is that these networks can provide significant aid. Today in San Jose, the expectation is that professional folks will have at least a rudimentary LinkedIn profile.
At the same time, other networking systems such as Facebook are starting to see usage by more professional users. Such services also provide a relatively easy way of increase your network.
Tip #2: Leverage a free conference call application
In the last handful of years, there has been increasing degrees of coordination between geographically separate alternative fuels advocacy groups. One cause of this trend has been lower air travel costs – a trend that may now be reversing with the leaping oil prices alluded to earlier.
Another reason is the ubiquity of the sorts of free conference calling services mentioned above. All of these services, including those provided by Rondee work on the same central principle. They provide users a personal access number and a toll number to call. If all teleconference participants dial the same toll bridge number and enter the same code, they are placed into the conference call.
Third Tip: Consider systems to provide for desktop sharing
Some alternative fuels advocacy groups have distributed leadership teams, and it is difficult to have face-to-face meetings. Technology is addressing this problem by way of desktop sharing. Whether it's displaying a PowerPoint presentation illustrating the group's development plan or a spreadsheet showing the tracking of volunteer participation desktop sharing can be very useful for many green groups.
Fourth Tip: Deploy an electronic news platform
It wasn't that long ago that sending out an email newsletter was time consuming and difficult. That has now changed. On-line services are making it possible to use templated and scalable newsletters. These services reduce the work load by at roughly 90% and in so doing enable green groups to focus on content creation as opposed to delivery of messages.
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Bob Letterman was part of developing the Rondee free conference call service that provides quality teleconferencing.
