SunbitsSass Peress – CEO of ICP Solar – Solar Blog

The most efficient retail outlet for consumer goods selected a few of our Energizer(R) brand products for their stores next year, with more to come online. Its a great feeling that this move is the right one for ICP Solar and its consumers. The Energizer(R) brand brings credibility and confidence by consumers who are first time buyers of solar and want to be assured that the company behind the product is serious.

Costco Canada has been a long-time client, yet this program is different in that its also going to be better managed. I won’t give the details, yet ICP Solar hired the right team to make this happen and to manage moving forward, as witnessed by the fact that we got the business.

Its a big vote of confidence in ICP Solar’s ability to deliver and product portfolio, as well as the superior customer service we are known for. Rare is there a consumer that doesn’t feel treated like the best. That’s the only way forward if you want anyone’s hard earned dollars spent on you. They are trusting so, so you’d better deliver the goods.

More to come…

Sass

Many of us often hear “I need” this or that. What do we really “need”? Do we NEED the BMW? Do we NEED the house in the centre of town? Do we NEED that two-week christmas vacation in the islands? I could go on and on…

My point is that we often confuse needs and desires, and therein lies a secret. When we make something a desire rather than a need, we’ll often get it. When me make something a need, that is not, we will not. The mind that believes that it needs something is often tricking itself, because the very act of needing, makes you less likely to get it. Letting go of the need, helps you relax, and helps you do whatever it is you must do in order to actually get that thing you desire. Staying anxious or over-focusing on the need, is actually helping you create a situation where it doesn’t become possible.

Does this mean we don’t work towards achieving those things we identify as needs that could be nice to have? Not at all. I am only writing about making that need into a desire in our minds and then getting what you want. If you need chocolate ice cream today and they don’t have it at the store…do you have a fit…or do you accept the choice they have that day, knowing full well that chocolate ice cream will soon be back on their shelves?

So by the same token, make your needs (except those basic ones which nature demands) into wants and then you will live a relaxed state which will help you get what you want. Athletes who relax before their performance, often do better. Business people who walk into negotiations relaxed often win what they wanted in the first place. Guys or girls who walk into a bar with that “need” look…what to they get?

So relax, enjoy, desire…and win.

Sass

Second major meeting, second major success. The Energizer brand, and the products we have developed for it, are by far the biggest thing we’ve ever done… I know I’ve said it before, but the combination of new technologies, new products and this brand is a killer combo….

Sass

OK, sometimes I’m cheesy yet I have my right to have some fun too! Today we announced the iSun(R) brand will be revived with a range of innovative pocketable devices for road warriors and urban explorers.

We finally retarget the billions of mobile electronic devices that are always running out of power. Its a new range that will feature all of the chararacteristics which my old friend Po always focused on “portable, scalable, modular”. Each of them will have some or all of these attributes to varying degrees. The key, as always, is the user experience. So if you think of how much iFUN it is to user your iPod or iPhone, it will be just as easy and fun to use your iSuns…

Sass

A pretty cool review of green technology cars going back a century.

Sass

Here is an excellent article on leadership, whether in business or your personal life.

It calls to the true leaders in family or businesses, who inspire others to become more than they could have. Like the tip of an arrow, a leader is simply a reference point for where to go, on its own, it embodies little, yet with the rest of the arrow, it creates a united being in purpose and direction.

sass

So today news that Germany’s generous subsidies for solar are at risk because they are no longer supporting german jobs, rather mostly chinese jobs in the manufacturing of solar panels.

The fact is that subsidies will work…for a while…and only so long as you have a distinction which gives a value to your customers that others don’t. With China now making over 50% of the world’s solar panels, gone are the days where the German government (or any other for that matter) can be sure that the consumption subsidies will lead to jobs. Only by a superior product which the market demands, or quicker delivery which the market expects, can a company in Germany compete with the low labor realities across the world.

So as I like to say “the truth always comes out in the end”, its just that what one sees as “truth”, the other may not. Yet what is true in economic markets, is that the law of nature is as relevant there as anywhere. In a changing environment, you evolve or you die.

Stay tuned, its going to get more interesting if the German government takes that step. Fact is, I am not so sure that the industry, at near $1 per watt, needs the subsidies to promote jobs. I think that if the governments continue to stay focused, as hard as it is, on the savings in environmental cleanups that clean energy permits, then the business case still exists for subsidies. Its just that politicians like to have photo opportunities for their money, to show us they are spending us wisely, and standing somewhere in mid air pointing and saying “we subsidized this” is not as easy as planting a shovel in the ground and being photographed helping a new factory start up.

Stay tuned…

Sass

There are signs worldwide that the stimulus packages which were enacted by governments across the world earlier this year are finally making their way into the general global economies and having a positive impact. It would appear that housing starts have bottomed, and some economies are reporting upswings. I guess with the cost of capital so low, pumping money into the economies is finally taking its positive toll.

What I hope is that once the economies start, the governments will be able to rollback some of the planned deficits because all we are really doing is putting on our kids backs the ills we helped to cause. The correction to the internet industry of the early 2000’s was followed by a correct of the banking industry in the last year or so and yet the difference is that while one was internal to a new industry created by technology changes, the latter was a more macro based correction in an old industry which suffered because of technology changes gone rampant and greed.

I hope we’ve all learned our lessons about over-borrowing, yet I fear that memories are short, that credit card balances will go back up and that banks, if ever left to their own devices again, are programmed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Sass

In all the huff about the economic crisis, people resort back to doing what is best for their wallets first, and secondly what is best for anything else. Its a normal reaction to the insecurity that such a situation can create. So the challenge in marketing products on the basis of “green” is greater in times when other things are primarily important, rather than in times of abundance where we “permit” ourselves to make investments we would otherwise refrain from.

I believe therefore that its our duty to show the consumer HOW buying “green” makes economic sense. Of course its hard to show them that the carbon savings resulting from their use of our sunsei(R) solar charger will results in a particular saving in cleaning up our environment (also at a later time) yet its important nevertheless to continue to market to forward thinkers, adjust your strategy and show savings of other kinds as well.

The convenience of solar can be promoted as saving time, and time is money. You’ll note that in such times, brands are important too, for their convey longevity. People will gravitate less to no-names or names they have never heard of, in favor of major brands they trust.

So it is not “bye bye” to buying green if you adjust your strategy to the reality of the people you are trying to attract. It will be if you don’t.

Sass

In December 2002 I visited a company called Konarka, a young technology startup in Lowell, Mass. At that time I believed it to be disruptive. OK, so it took a few years to come to market, yet my patience, and belief in their chairman Howard Berke have been validated. So this morning when we announced the very first solar charger in the world using their organic solar cell technology, it feels amazing. Its fun to change the rules of the game, and be the one to do it. So now everyone is playing catchup again…and we launch a product today at half the market price of competition in the same power range, yet without the flexibility and brand of Coleman(R) behind us and a great innovative package which is similar to what ICP Solar has done in the past with previous flexible products.

Availability is Q4 yet we will start pre-orders on our website much sooner than that…so get ready to rumble in the camping market for portable solar chargers! See full press release below:

ICP Solar to Launch New Products at Outdoor Retailer Show
Disruptive Technology to Boost Coleman Charger Portfolio

ICP Solar Technologies Inc. (OTCBB: ICPR.OB, FRANKFURT: K1U.F), a developer and marketer of innovative, proprietary, next-generation solar panels and products, today announced several of the Company’s products will be on display at the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market July 21-24 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Outdoor Retailer Summer Market is billed as the world’s largest outdoor sports industry gathering, bringing retailers and media together with over 1,000 brands in the business of producing and selling the active outdoor lifestyle. ICP Solar’s Coleman®-branded solar chargers and accessories will be on display at Coleman booth #36104.

One of the revolutionary products to be highlighted will be a solar charger that ICP Solar has developed in conjunction with Konarka Technologies. Konarka is a leader in solar plastic films that convert light into energy, utilizing organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology as a source of renewable power. Konarka’s Power Plastic® is lightweight, flexible, scalable and adaptable for use in a variety of commercial and consumer applications. ICP Solar and Konarka have designed a new line of solar chargers utilizing Konarka’s Power Plastic® solar cells, integrated under ICP Solar’s specifications. The units are to be sold in North America under the Coleman® brand and should be available in the fourth quarter of 2009 via the internet sites of a number of major retailers along with www.colemansolar.com.

“This relationship with Konarka is one more example of ICP Solar expanding its global reach with new, innovative technologies and partnerships to better position the company for sustained growth and profitability,” said Sass Peress, Chairman and CEO of ICP Solar. “We expect thousands of visitors to be at the Outdoor Retailer show this week and can think of no more appropriate venue to showcase these solar chargers, marketed under the respected Coleman® brand name. Given the uniqueness of Konarka’s OPV applications, we look forward to a long and beneficial relationship and the opportunity to offer additional low-cost, cutting edge solar solutions in the years to come.”