Web Resources:

Unlike library databases, Web resources are available wherever you have web access; they do not require that you access them via the Off-Campus Access button, in the upper right of all library webpages. When using web resources, be sure to evaluate the credibility of these resources. For a subject index to web resources, see Business Resources on the Web on the Foster Business Library homepage.
• Better Energy Systems Ltd:   This United Kingdom company was founded in 2001, with the intent to commercialize renewable energy technology, with one of their major products being the Solio, "the world’s smallest, smartest and most environmentally friendly solar charger."

• Cosmos Ignite Innovations:   "Cosmos Ignite Innovations Pvt. Ltd. is an Indo-US Joint Venture in “Social Entrepreneurship’ between a team of young entrepreneurs from India & Stanford University USA, with the Vision of “Empowering lives through innovative products. Building on the work of Stanford University, LUTW Foundation and backed by some of the leading thought leaders from India & Silicon Valley, Cosmos Ignite Innovations commenced as a collaboration between Cosmos Energy, India & Ignite Innovations Inc. USA, with the mission to help “Removal of Darkness” for millions without light at the “Bottom of the Pyramid” (who are forced to use expensive & dangerous kerosene oil lamps in India & developing countries around the world)." See their major product, the solar powered MightyLight.

• International Energy Agency:   This organization "acts as energy policy advisor to 26 member countries in their effort to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for their citizens." See their IEA Energy Information Centre, and their Renewable Energy section.

• International Solar Energy Society:   This organization "has been serving the needs of the renewable energy community since its founding in 1954. A UN-accredited NGO present in more than 50 countries, the Society supports its members in the advancement of renewable energy technology, implementation and education all over the world." See their Rural Energy Supply Models: Practical Models By Region.

• Light Up the World Foundation:   Founded by University of Calgary professor David Irvine-Halliday, this organization helps to "distribute low-power, white light-emitting diodes (LEDs), at low cost or free, to thousands of people around the globe." It is "the first humanitarian organization to utilize renewable energy and solid-state lighting technologies to bring affordable, safe, healthy, efficient, and environmentally responsible illumination to people who do not have access to power for adequate lighting." See their Technology and Applications and their Approach. See also their Project Archive.

• Dr. Evan Mills:   Dr. Mills has "worked as an energy and environmental systems analyst since the early 1980s--from a local to global scale. [His] specialties are energy efficiency in buildings and industry and the intersection of energy technology, global climate change impacts, and risk management." See his project area links for Lighting Markets & Energy Efficiency, and The Specter of Fuel-Based Lighting.

• NationMaster.Com:   This Australian site uses data from a huge variety of sources to provide graphic rankings, lists and interactive comparisons for countries' crime, economy, education, energy, environment, geography, government, health, media, military, people, religion, sports, and transportation, for 251 countries. This site also enables viewing of individual country profiles, with maps and flags, and of regions and groupings. See Electricity : Consumption by country.

• U.S. Energy Information Administration:   "The Energy Information Administration (EIA), created by Congress in 1977, is a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy. Our mission is to provide policy-independent data, forecasts, and analyses to promote sound policy making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment." See their Renewable and Alternative Fuels for solar energy.

• Wikipedia:   This free online user-created and maintained encyclopedia can be a good starting point for an orientation to a topic. See their entries for LEDs and Solar Power.

The Foster Business Library Reference Collection consists of business handbooks, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other quick reference tools. It is located behind the Reference Desk in Foster, arranged by call number. Reference materials cannot be checked out; they may only be used in the library.
• World development indicators.
  This World Bank volume contains a large number of tables listing each country and key data about its people, environment, economy, markets, employment, poverty, etc. For data about personal computers, internet hosts, secure servers, etc., see section 5.10 for Information Age.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HC59.15 .W656 2006.
  Also available, in part, online at http://www.worldbank.org/data/wdi/home.html.

  See Power & Communications on pages 298 to 300, for electrical power by country, including power access, quality, and affordability.

• Encyclopedia of emerging industries.
  Five page descriptions of over 100 new industries, with an industry snapshot, organization and structure, background and development, pioneers in the field, current conditions, industry leaders and references to further reading.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: HD2324 .E528 2001.

  See Photovoltaic Systems on pages 593 to 599.

• Thomas register of manufacturers.
  This large green annual multi-volume set covers the universe of manufacturing products and services in the United States and Canada, in three sections: products and services, arranged alphabetically by product or service (with an index to products and to trademarks); profiles of the manufacturing companies, arranged alphabetically by company name; and product catalogs from many of the companies in the register.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: T12 .T62. 2006.
  (Also available Online)

  See volume seven for Lamps: Light Emitting Diodes, on pages 15327 to 15328 (but none in Washington state).

• How products are made.
  This multi-volume illustrated set explains, in essay form, in simple terms, how more than 700 products are produced.
  Foster Business Library Reference, CALL NUMBER: TS146 .H67.

  See volume one for Light Emitting Diodes, on pages 261 to 266.

The Foster Business Library maintains a collection of over 70,000 books on all business topics. To search for materials on all three campuses of the University of Washington, go to the UW Libraries Catalog, in the upper left corner of the Foster Business Library homepage. Search by keyword, title, author, series, etc.

To limit the results of your search just to materials in the Foster Business Library collection, use the Modify or Limit options at the top of the search results and change the library location to Foster Business Library. Availablity is indicated on the right of each online catalog record. First, note in which collection, within Foster, your materials are in, since the library has ten different Collections, each in a different location and often with differing arrangements. "Available" indicates that the book should be on the shelves under that call number and available for you to check out. "Due" and a date indicates that the book is already checked out to someone and is due back on the date indicated; you can have the "Request/Place Hold" feature to recall the book for your use.

If the material you want is not in the collections of the University of Washington, you can use the "Search Summit" feature to repeat your search in the combined holdings of over thirty cooperating libraries in Washington and Oregon. Use the "Request This Item" feature in Summit to have books in those library sent here to Foster for you to check out.

The Foster general stacks collection is located south of the main part of the Foster Business Library, through the two pass-throughs into the basement of Balmer. The arrangement is by call number, from A (at the east end) to Z (at the far west end).

A subject search for Light Emitting Diodes retrieved over sixty records in the UW Libraries, but none in the Foster Business Library. A keyword search for Solar Energy produced over 1,200 records in the UW Libraries but just two older records in the Foster Business Library (from the 1980's). A subject search for Solar Energy – Developing Countries produced just three records in the UW Libraries (including two titles from the 1970s). A few recent titles on solar energy include:

• Children of the sun: a history of humanity's unappeasable appetite for energy   (2006)
• The power of light: the epic story of man's quest to harness the sun   (2003)   (Also available electronically)

See also this title, mentioned in some of the articles below:

• The fortune at the bottom of the pyramid: eradicating poverty through profits   (2005)

Foster Business Library Articles:

Articles in academic journals, magazines, trade periodicals, and newspapers are one of the best sources for any kind of research. While the Foster Business Library offers a large periodicals print collection, comprising over 800 titles, articles are most easily accessed online, 24/7, in such fulltext article databases as EBSCO Business Source Premier, Factiva, LexisNexis Academic, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest Databases. These article databases are available in the library or from off-campus, and provide access to over 10,000 periodicals and millions of articles.

Library access to most ProQuest databases will terminate at the end of spring quarter 2008, except for ProQuest NewsStand, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, Historical New York Times, and the Historical Wall Street Journal. For more about this change, see UW Libraries Providing New Databases. After this change, comprehensive article searches should be performed in EBSCO Business Source Premier, Newsbank Infoweb, and ProQuest NewsStand. Also, after this change, links to the articles below will be broken.

• ProQuest Databases:

  This database--actually, a family of over two dozen databases--offers full text articles for over 10,000 publications, including scholarly journals, magazines, trade and industry periodicals, newspapers, and reports on a very wide range of topics. To find articles on specific topics, search by word or phrase by keying your search phrase into the search box--or search for your topic in the Topic Guide.

  Your search terms will be highlighted in red in each article.

  A subject search for Light Emitting Diodes produced over 800 articles, including over sixty articles in scholarly journals, over eighty magazine articles, over articles in trade and industry periodicals, and over newspaper articles.

  A subject search for Solar Energy produced over 6,300 articles, including over sixty articles in scholarly journals, over eighty magazine articles, over articles in trade and industry periodicals, and over newspaper articles.

  A search for MightyLight produced just two articles; a search for Solio, over 100 articles.

  These searches can be narrowed by combining it with other subjects, such as:

  • SUB(Light Emitting Diodes) and SUB(Lighting)   (over 100 articles)
  • SUB(Light Emitting Diodes) and SUB(Trends)   (eleven articles)
  • SUB(Light Emitting Diodes) and SUB(Market Potential)   (seven articles)
  • SUB(Light Emitting Diodes) and SUB(Lighting Systems)   (six articles)
  • SUB(Light Emitting Diodes) and SUB(Lighting Industry)   (two articles)
  • SUB(Light Emitting Diodes) and SUB(Solar Energy)   (three articles)
  • SUB(Light Emitting Diodes) and SUB(Developing countries--LDCs)   (three articles)
  • SUB(Solar Energy) and SUB(Developing Countries--LDCS)   (over sixty articles)
  • SUB(Solar Energy) and SUB(Lighting)   (fifty articles)
  • SUB(Solar Energy) and SUB(Rural Areas)   (over forty articles)

  Examples of articles, from the searches above, include:

  • "The New Electric Lamp"   (Time International. (Atlantic ed.). New York: Oct 9, 2006. Vol. 168, Iss. 16;  pg. 67)
  • "PolyBrite puts energy into white, solar LEDs"   (Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Ill.: Oct 2, 2006.  pg. 6)
  • "Lighting up the world"   (The Economist. London: Sep 23, 2006. Vol. 380, Iss. 8496;  pg. 27)
  • "An even brighter idea"   (The Economist. London: Sep 23, 2006. Vol. 380, Iss. 8496;  pg. 27)
  • "Perth man urging Scots to help light up the world"   (The Press and Journal. Aberdeen (UK): Aug 9, 2006.  pg. 19)
  • "Advances in white LEDs signal a switch to solid-state lighting"   (Solid State Technology. Tulsa: Aug 2006. Vol. 49, Iss. 8;  pg. 36, 2 pgs)
  • "A Bright Idea"   (Business 2.0. San Francisco: Jul 2006. Vol. 7, Iss. 6;  pg. 38)
  • "Cool Tools For the Third World"   (Time. New York: May 29, 2006. Vol. 167, Iss. 22;  pg. 51, 4 pgs)
  • "Illuminating changes"   (Science News. Washington: May 20, 2006. Vol. 169, Iss. 20;  pg. 314, 3 pgs)
  • "Low-cost lamps brighten the future of rural India"   (The Christian Science Monitor. Boston, Mass.: Jan 3, 2006.  pg. 01)
  • "Powering up solar"   (Canadian Business. Toronto: Sep 12-Sep 25, 2005. Vol. 78, Iss. 18;  pg. 41, 2 pgs)
  • "He's a Light To the World's Poor"   (New York Times. (Late Edition (East Coast)). New York, N.Y.: May 8, 2005.  pg. 14NJ.)
  • "LED Market Shines As LEDs Replace Light Bulbs"   (Electronic Design. Cleveland: Feb 3, 2005. Vol. 53, Iss. 3;  pg. 23, 1 pgs)
  • "LEDing the way: the story of a Canadian hero"   (Design Engineering. Toronto: Nov/Dec 2004. Vol. 50, Iss. 8;  pg. 46, 1 pgs)
  • "The Light Fantastic"   (Harvard Business Review. Boston: Oct 2004. Vol. 82, Iss. 10;  pg. 24)   (Fulltext from EBSCO)

• EBSCO Business Source Premier:

  This database covers all disciplines of business, including marketing, management, accounting, finance, international business, econometrics and economics. It also contains company profiles, SWOT analyses, market research reports, and full text for the Harvard Business Review, California Management Review and other important journals and databases.

  A search for Light Emitting Diodes produced over 2,700 articles, including 300 articles in scholarly journals, over 790 magazine articles, over 1,600 articles in trade publications, one SWOT analysis, two market research reports, and over 100 product reviews.

The Foster Business Library Reference Desk is staffed many of the hours that the library is open. The staff at the desk will be happy to help you find business research tools and resources, exploit business databases to the fullest or advise on research strategies. For e-mail questions, direct your query to buslib@u.washington.edu. For assistance by telephone, dial (206) 543-8012 during library hours.

See also the Foster Business Library's Business & Economics FAQ, with answers to over nine hundred frequently-asked questions.

For research guides on a wide variety of industries, products, companies, issues and topics, see the Team Librarian Consultation archives.

• Team Consultation Course/Program Index
• Team Consultation Industry Index
• Team Consultation Quarter Index
• Team Consultation Title Index
• Team Consultation and Research Guide Index