Zeons Corporation (ZEON)

[speckulater]

Re: it could also turn out to be a big nothing. we haven't heard from Mike in a long time. something tells me that deal fell apart.

I refer you to this article dated April 30, 2007. Since you appear to be unwilling or unable to do your own Due Diligence, I point out the following comment by Mr. Garjian "It’s all about creating a sustainable, alternative energy infrastructure in this region,” he said, explaining that Vee-Go is prepared to move forward aggressively with the plan to introduce biofuel to Western Mass."

Fueling the Imagination

Ideas for New Energy and Economy Introduced Through Vee-Go and E2M

By JACLYN C. STEVENSON
Michael Garjian is moving forward with two initiatives aimed at increasing the use of green energy and improving the overall economy.

To begin explaining his latest venture, inventor and entrepreneur Michael Garjian turned to the words of author Kurt Vonnegut, who passed away just last month.

He said, ‘denial is the 51st state,’” Garjian quoted.

It’s a sentiment that gives Garjian, of Easthampton, a little extra energy as he moves ahead with two new, innovative business plans. The first is geared toward creating and marketing sustainable fuel products. The second, a more lofty initiative, is devised to address issues within the global economy, and to introduce a new model that gives the power of distributing funds to communities, not corporations.

“The world is changing,” said Garjian, “and we need to be thinking about that, and doing something.”

To lead the way, Garjian, who left a career in product conception and manufacturing in 2000, founded Vee-Go (Vegetable Energy Group LLC) in 2005, incorporating in 2006.

The venture’s initial product is Vee-Go Energy Pellets, which are made from converting inedible waste produced when processing grains — wheat, soy, sunflower, or rapeseed, for example — into fuel.

The pellets, designed for pellet stoves, just hit the market this month in the region, and represent the first such product manufactured locally; Garjian said Vee-Go has forged partnerships with a number of local farmers in Massachusetts and Connecticut, using feedstock to create the pellets, and the new use for grain byproducts is creating a new revenue stream for the local agriculture industry.

“All of our materials are purchased within a 100-mile radius,” said Garjian, adding that the pellets burn cleaner than wood and are also less expensive.
But the pellet sales are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg for Garjian. In the coming years, he hopes to produce and market biofuels as well, in particular to the area’s utility companies.

“It’s all about creating a sustainable, alternative energy infrastructure in this region,” he said, explaining that Vee-Go is prepared to move forward aggressively with the plan to introduce biofuel to Western Mass.

Gaining Speed

In January, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Sustainable Energy Corp. (USSE, a publicly traded company); its subsidiary, Sustainable Power Corp.; and E2M.org, an entity also created by Garjian with the goal of introducing a new economic model (more on that later).

The group will serve as a green electricity consortium in the region, which could become the largest such group in the Northeast, providing wholesale green energy and generation plants to public and municipal electricity buyers throughout the state.

The electricity itself, Garjian explained, will be generated through a “revolutionary” process, developed by John Rivera, CEO of the USSE, that produces liquid biofuel and biogas, and leaves behind an organic fertilizer as a byproduct. Garjian said the process also produces three times more biofuel than other green fuel processes, and has an efficacy similar to petroleum diesel.

“We’re prepared to sell to major utility companies at 10% below the lowest fossil fuel price,” he said, noting that offer is slated to remain for the next 10 to 20 years. “The utility companies in this area have been unbelievably amenable to the prospect of new energy sources.”

That’s encouraging to Garjian on a few levels. First, it suggests that his soon-to-be introduced product has a viable audience to which he can sell, further expanding Vee-Go’s presence in the alternative energy arena.

But beyond that, Garjian said increased interest in Vee-Go’s products also benefits E2M, the non-profit organization he founded in 2000 and now promotes actively as “the soul of Vee-Go.”

It’s Elementary

Garjian describes E2M as “the invention of an idea,” and the inventing process is one with which he’s very familiar.

He holds nine worldwide patents, including one for a tubeless neon light source, and he served as the president and CEO of Neon Technologies in Chicopee until 2000, when the company closed.

“In the late 1990s, the Asian economy collapsed, and that affected Neon,” he explained, noting that a Japanese corporation that had invested heavily in his company was forced to withdraw that support. “We couldn’t make up that quick loss of cash flow.”

Garjian liquidated the company — noting that first, he helped his employees find jobs elsewhere — and started thinking about his next venture.

“I decided I didn’t want to invent an object — I’d already done that,” he said. “I wanted to invent a concept.”

His attention turned to sustainable energy, but later broadened to include the local and global economies at large, and an idea began to take shape: a pilot for a sustainable economic model, which became E2M — an Economic Model for Millennium 2000.

“Our current economic system is not sustainable,” he said. “I thought, it doesn’t make sense to build sustainable businesses and energy infrastructures in an unsustainable economy. So I created E2M to serve as a regional model for sustainable, community capitalism.”

To succeed, the E2M model requires equal participation from communities and corporations. Garjian said he’s looking to recruit companies to become ‘E2M-certified,’ which, in short, requires that they make a 5% to 20% contribution of their profits to the community, and set aside an additional 5% to 20% for purchase or sharing with employees. These businesses can be existing companies, or newly formed by entrepreneurs to fit into the E2M model.

A non-profit organization has been designated to manage the funds contributed by various firms — the Regional Economic Council (REC). The funds received from a given business are then disseminated to a number of charitable organizations, 50% of which are voted on and approved by the employees of E2M-certified businesses.

According to Garjian’s proposal, 75% of the remainder is distributed across the local region by the REC; 20% is distributed nationally, and 5% globally.

That process, he said, was formulated to keep the majority of dollars local (“acting locally has the greatest effect globally,” he said), and to create new lines of communication between the region and communities around the globe. That, in turn, said Garjian, will help the E2M international network grow. He said he’d like to see the capital generated and distributed lead to the formation of new businesses, both locally and beyond.

“Western Mass. is the first region where the E2M model is being tested,” he said, “and it will look different in every region it reaches. What is important is that the model is representative of the local community, and understands its needs.”

Winning the Human Race

“E2M creates a sort of oneness,” he added. “It’s a sign of a tipping point — this is where we decide if, as humans, we want to be controlled by corporations, or if we want our communities to be in control.”

Garjian created Vee-Go to serve as E2M’s flagship company, and he hopes that, as its biofuel arm is launched, the unique economic model he’s devised can be proven out.

“We’re using energy to create economic sustainability,” he said. “We know that we can sell our biofuel — there’s a market for it for the long term. Plus, I think everybody wants this to happen, and we’re ready to move forward.

As Kurt Vonnegut would say, “so it goes.”

Jaclyn Stevenson can be reached at [e-mail]


http://www.businesswest.com/details.asp?id=1055

The Massachusetts Consortium Info:
http://www.investorshub.com/boards/read_msg.asp?message_id=19929613

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