The Position Makers

keith johnson over at environmental capital of the WSJ points us to the services of Firstlook, a new mashable combining atmospheric data with google maps. and the result is AMAZING.

i’ve been a big fan of alternative energy for years; being immensely curious about the potential of starting an energy production company, i was always dismayed at how difficult it is to quickly get estimates for power-production (how can i calculate #s without a basis in input figures?). actually getting site assessment is extremely clostly and Firstlook eliminates a lot of the intial grunt work, especially for entrepreneurs (or even environmentally conscious consumers) looking to compare regional advantages of solar over wind.

keith says that the company’s goal is to provide wind-farmers more information that can leverage their power-production efforts to be more valuable, essentially by providing them models for how “dry” seasons will differ from “wet,” making a great head-to-head with hydroelectic power.

i aslo see this mashable as emensely valuable for developing nations. by eliminating many of the costs for a professional site assesment, a local village could locate where in their region a small solar or wind farm could produce energy for them. there’s not even a need for creating an electric grid and services like this one can really empower a local community. this is a win-win for those nations since they can simply by-pass the infrastructure costs of building a grid from the ground up, by instead focusing locally, rather than nation-wide. once there’s a small bit of power, the local development options can increase quite quickly: from water and agriculture to increased literacy rates (not to mention the internet!!). from my understanding one of the major hurtles to raising the standard of living is satisfying basic necessities, power generation being among those needs since the applications are quite numerous: food preservation to education to water & sewage management.

there’s no information on the site now for non-US countries/regions but it’s still a fantastic start and i’m looking forward to seeing more come from these guys.

also worth a quick note, i’m a HUGE fan of the business model which allows for the basic use of the product for free but then charges for more detailed reports or maps. fantastic! 3TIER’s distribution margins went to zero by being on the internet so content is generally free to produce and distribute and only the most dedicated need purchase the servcie.

founder/ceo Kenneth Westrick may be an atmospheric scientist by training but he’s definitely got the internet figured out! his business plan could be a page right out of seth godin or chris anderson’s play book. go westrick; serious kudos!