Business Plan for an Open Source
Solar Power Cooking and Canning Project
Executive Summary
We are going to sell
Products and Services relating to Solar Powered Cooking and
Canning. Ultimately, we plan to market these
to poor and disadvantaged people worldwide. We will develop and manufacture special equipment and provide services
for all aspects of field operations which will include, but not be
limited to, education, construction, planning, logistics and
troubleshooting. We will be able to supply everything
needed to set up and operate a Solar Powered Cooking and/or Canning
facility.
I feel that I am uniquely
qualified to spearhead this undertaking because I possess the esoteric knowledge
and expertise needed to effectively design, develop and manufacture it.
There do not appear to be any installations, equipment or products specifically designed for Solar Powered Canning on
the market today. However, there are a few small Solar Powered Cooking Units that have been available for quite some time.
Currently we are developing
for mass production a 6ft. Diameter Parabolic
Concentrating Solar Collector Kit. Without this Kit, a unit
of this
size would be beyond the ability of most people to make even though the materials to manufacture it are inexpensive,
commonly available and some, like Cardboard Boxes, can be
recycled materials.
Initially, it will be easy to contact, inform and network with
our potential
customers and clients because they will be, for the most part, in the
small, tight knit
community of educators involved with Solar Power. In later phases of development, the huge
Global Market will be addressed.
This kind of application of Solar Technology
has been in use since the mid 1800's. With so much of the
patentable rights to
this technology already in the public domain, we feel that it would be counter productive to
use traditional Business
Models. We anticipate that by applying the principals of a proven "Open Source"
Business Model that originated in certain Computer Software Development, this technology will have a viable way to continually
evolve and improve. As
the market and demand grow, we will be able to
manufacture and distribute our products and services at lower costs. By "plowing back" these savings directly to
the end consumer, the potential market will grow ever further.
While it is certainly true that there are advantages and benefits to
using Solar Power for these purposes regardless of the scale of an
operation, the best economies are likely to be in small community sized
installations. Only through experimentation will it be
possible to determine what the optimal parameters are.
Changing seasons and other conditions will cause large fluctuation in
the need for canning capacity. But there will be virtually
no waste in continuous operations, because any thermal energy captured
by a Solar Collector that cannot be used for canning will be used for
other purposes such as cooking meals, water pasteurization and
sterilizing of tools (i.e. medical) or other products.
Personal
Finances: Because of assets and multiple streams of income
I will be able to devote 100% of my time indefinitely to this project
if need be.
