Green-Age Modular Homes: The New Prefab Home Market
If you’ve still got a notion that prefab, or factory-built, homes are anything but fabulous it’s time to take a fresh look at the industry. Prefab homes can have significant environmental benefits including reducing material and waste. The marriage of high design, sustainable and factory-built are starting to arrive in modular homes that can be assembled on site in less than a day.
One of the architects leading the new prefab revolution is Michelle Kaufmann, lead of Michelle Kaufmann Designs and creator of some of the most beautiful, sustainable prefab homes on the market today. Ms. Kaufmann has succeeded in fulfilling the promise of prefab - high quality, sustainable, reasonably priced. Her designs are some of the most thoughtful around in terms of aesthetics, engineering and just about everything else related to home design.
Her own home in California is the prototype but was built on site. Kaufmann had an identical modular home built in the factory and the comparative results speak volumes about the benefits of prefab. Smithsonian featured Kaufmann’s home the Glidehouse earlier this year reporting that the site built home took almost two years to build and cost $363,950 or $233 per square foot. The factory-built Glidehouse took four months and cost $290,500 or $182 per square foot.
Prefab is part of the momentum that green building is gaining in the mainstream. The market is growing fast and it’s estimated that by 2010, 10 percent of the new home construction market will be green, according to the 2006 McGraw-Hill Construction Residential Green Building SmartMarket Report. Michelle Kaufmann’s prefab designs - filled with energy-efficient elements, sustainable materials and healthy finishes - are not just a part of that momentum, they are a leading factor.
And, in the spirit of the season, her latest prefab design the mkLotus is also made in gingerbread!
Solar Leads Green Tech into 2008
Solar has become the leading sector of the greentech market with a fast transformation in recent reboom years. Greentech Media recently reported
VC investment in the solar industry has gone from a few deals in 2004 to potentially reach $1B in 2007. This phenomenal investment growth is spurring innovation and efficiency in every sector of the booming $15B solar industry. We are seeing a VC-funded entrepreneurial wave get the attention of incumbent solar vendors, private equity investors, government, and even reach the public consciousness at the consumer level.
The solar industry is fast growing at 25% per year, a trend that is expected to continue for at least the next five years, according to Greentech Media’s VC Investment in Solar: 2005-2009. The graph below gives a graphic idea of how the industry has outpowered others in its class, as well as showing how investors are balking at biofuels this year compared to last year’s buzz.
Get more on cleantech this year at Cleantech Venture Investment Hits $2.6B at Earth2Tech where “by sector, solar took the cake, with 35 solar deals worth a total of $664.6 million.” And at Green Tinge Is Attracting Seed Money to Ventures at the New York Times.
How solar is getting around:
- Tindo, the Solar-powered Bus!
- Solar Green Homes delivered by Truck!
- Solara: California’s First Solar-powered Community
Via EL
Green Biz Year in Review 2007
As 2007 comes to a close soon, I’d thought a look back at some of the stories that made their way to Greener Assets this year would be a good way to round up and head into 2008. Around the b5 business channel, other bloggers will be doing the same and I’ll keep you posted with links to some of the best business posts of the year. Until then, here are my favorites from Greener Assets 2007…
Wal-Mart: Green, greener or greenwashing?: While the mega store wasn’t founded on sustainable principles, other than sustaining the Walton’s, the corporation responsible for moving over 300 billion dollars worth of merchandise in 2007 continues to announce green initiatives that are standing up to scrutiny.
Budweiser ‘Double Mashing’ on GE Rice: Budweiser fans have a bad taste in their mouth, and it’s not just the beer. A recent analysis commissioned by Greenpeace has “detected the presence of genetically engineered (GE) rice (Bayer LL601) in three out of four samples taken” at an Anheuser Busch mill in Arkansas.
Is Burt’s Bees Still Sweet As Honey?: Burt’s Bees is one of those sweet start-up success stories. Boy keeps bees, boy meets girl, girl makes candles, candles evolve into a thriving, full line, all-natural cosmetic and personal care business worth millions kinda thing. One thing led to another and before you know it Burt’s Bees is worth $925 million on the open market.
Do Ethical Companies Survive the Buyout?: TreeHugger had an interesting post about the fate of small, ethical companies in big corporate buy-outs. The scenario has been playing out with some hard true green favorites taking on questionable parent companies - like Burt’s Bees, recently purchased by Clorox, and The Body Shop, who sold to L’Oreal last year.
Two Companies That Are Changing Small Wind: Wind power is getting a lot of attention these days as a fast growing segment of the renewable energy industry. While many of the headlines focus on “big” wind - industrial wind power - there are several companies working to advance wind power for residential use or “small” wind.
How the Hydrogen Market is Growing: The race for renewable energy is driving a new focus on hydrogen as a clean energy for home and transportation. Worldwide initiatives are fueling research and innovation to make hydrogen cost-effective and efficient. Here’s just a few of the latest headlines in the hydrogen economy.
UPS Greens its Fleet With 'Package Flow'
UPS has saved nearly three million gallons of gas and has reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons by not turning left.
The New York Times recently reported on the company’s efforts to green its corporate fleet, which includes more than 95,000 trucks, by providing more efficient routes to their drivers so they can avoid idling in the left turn lane.
According to the NYT
The company employs what it calls a “package flow” software program, which among other hyperefficient practices involving the packing and sorting of its cargo, maps out routes for every one of its drivers, drastically reducing the number of left-hand turns they make (taking into consideration, of course, those instances where not to make the left-hand turn would result in a ridiculously circuitous route).
The result: UPS shaved 28.5 million miles off of its delivery routes saving gas, time money and alleviating the toll the delivery business takes on the environment. Pretty efficient green-thinking.
Pictured: UPS’ World’s Most Efficient Delivery Vehicle, get the scoop at TreeHugger
Ray Anderson's Environmental A-ha Moment
This week’s “Apprentice” challenge is to share an inspiring business success story with our fictional small biz owner Kay. The story I want to share is about a man I’ve never met, he’s not exactly famous but his story of transformation towards a sustainable future inspired me. It’s a story for business owners, consumers and anyone who believes that they hold the power to change for the better in their own hands.
Ray Anderson is the founder of Interface carpet tile company. In 1994, the company was successful, Mr. Anderson (then 59) was also by all counts a successful business owner.
Then he was asked to provide Interface’s sales force with the company’s environmental agenda. While Interface complied with manufacturing laws, the company was far from an example of an environmentally sustainable business. He couldn’t provide the answers.
So he started looking for them. He began to research environmental issues and soon realized how his company was harming the planet, a moment that he called “a spear in the chest.” (NYT)
From there, Anderson began a full-force makeover on Interface challenging his colleagues to turn the company into “a sustainable operation that takes nothing out of the earth that cannot be recycled or quickly regenerated, and that does no harm to the biosphere,” and to do it by 2020.
And they are, as of spring 2007, about 55% percent of the way to their collective goal. Anderson enacted waste reduction, recycling, and energy efficiency steps to get the business going towards sustainability.
Use of fossil fuels is down 45 percent (and net greenhouse gas production, by weight, is down 60 percent), he said, while sales are up 49 percent. Globally, the company’s carpet-making uses one-third the water it used to. The company’s worldwide contribution to landfills has been cut by 80 percent. - NYT
His new definition of success is one that is changing the landscape of corporate sustainability, through example and through Anderson’s efforts to share his experience with bottom-line minded corporate executives around the globe. He has turned over the operating responsibilities at Interface and, at 72-years-old, is making sustainability his full-time job.
Ray Anderson transformed a business, a corporate mindset and his own life. He now drives a Prius and lives in an off-grid home with minimally invasive landscaping.
On reaching the epiphany that he could turn Interface from a waste making company into a “restorative enterprise”, Anderson said, “I’m part of the problem, I have to be part of the solution. Or I cannot look my grandchildren in the face.”
Via Executive on a Mission, NYT - There’s a video interview here where you can meet Ray Anderson which I highly recommend. And also, Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The Interface Model
*Photo Jessica McGowan for The New York Times
Enter The Sunday Times Best Green Companies Awards
Know a deserving UK green biz? You can nominate any business for The UK’s Sunday Times Best Green Companies Awards. The paper is seeking entries for the inaugural Sunday Times Best Green Companies Awards – “a project designed to encourage, acknowledge and publicise businesses and other organisations, which are striving to improve their environmental performance.”
You can nominate any business, you don’t even have to work for them, from now until February 29, 2008. The winners of five competitions within the contest will be announced in May. The award categories are divided by size and environmental impact as follows:
- Large companies of more than 5,000 employees and mid-sized companies of 250-4,999 employees, operating in high environmental impact sectors
- Large and mid-sized companies operating in medium impact sectors
- Large and mid-sized companies operating in low impact sectors
- Small companies of between 50-249 employees, operating in high and medium environmental impact sectors
- Small companies operating in low impact sectors
It is an opportunity to get the good business deeds of your company or your favorite company out in the spotlight with an excellent accolade. The winners will be profiled in a special section of The Sunday Times next spring and get a special logo for branding on publicity and advertising.
The awards will be decided by The Sunday Times, environmental consultancy Bureau Veritas and data analysts Munro Global in relation to two survey sections:
The company survey (worth 70% of the overall score)
The first section collects information from organisations on their approach to environmental management and measures performance on key indicators. This includes standard core areas such as energy use and recycling, but also allows organisations to describe their environmental objectives and efforts to increase awareness of green issues in the workplace.
The employee survey (worth 30% of the overall score)
The unique bit. This second section will be answered by employees (40% of your workforce up to a maximum of 1,000 employees) and seeks to understand the extent to which management strategies are embedded in, understood and acted on, throughout the organisation. Employees are asked to rate from strongly agree to strongly disagree their responses to a series of more than 50 statements to do with their company’s approach to the environment.
The impact categories are in line with those contained within the FTSE4Good criteria - designed to measure the performance of companies that meet globally recognized corporate responsibility standards.
Enter at www.bestgreencompanies.co.uk
Find a Corporate Sustainability Report Online
Sustainability is a buzz words these days, and not just in reference to how long companies will be in business. If you are curious about the competition or just want to know how corporations stack up in their sustainability efforts you can find out online.
Social Funds - the largest personal finance site devoted to socially responsible investing - has an online database with downloads of corporate sustainability reports.
The database includes a significant number and variety of corporations. I didn’t find an exact number but would guess around 300 or so. Some of the companies on the list include Bank of America, BMW, Green Mountain Coffee, Halliburton, Johnson & Johnson, Seventh Generation and Wal-Mart.
The information is from the companies themselves of course but it is interesting to both consumers and business owners. As a consumer I think the info is a good place to start researching and thinking about the companies behind the products we buy. As an business owner these reports show a variety of examples and approaches to dealing with sustainability and presenting it.
Of course, the reports are compiled by the companies themselves so they are far from unbiased. It’s up to the reader to find the value and determine whether these are true sustainability accounts or PR gestures.
The reports are available here: Sustainability Reports at Social Funds
That Third Kid Might Cost You: Proposal for Carbon Tax on Babies?
The carbon trading market is growing and one Australian academic sees kids as fair game for a carbon tax.
According to ABC News, Barry Walters, an associate professor of obstetric medicine at the University of Western Australia, has suggested a proposal to reduce the human ecological footprint and population growth…
a carbon tax on babies!
Dr. Walters’ proposal has been published in the Medical Journal of Australia and, although it has raised many an eyebrow, it has also refueled some interesting debates on what many consider a taboo subject.
While suggesting a limit on kids might sound a little strange at first, consider that many governments ‘encourage’ people to have children - to cover costs of caring for the aging, retired sector of the population. Australia is one of several countries that offers financial incentives for people to have kids. Having a kid in Australia and you will, at current, get a Federal Government bonus of $4,187. Next year it goes up to $5,000.
Germany has similar incentives which add up to a couple hundred dollar per month stipend. And remember “Family Contact Day”? The Russian sex day to boost births where one governor offered prizes to couples who have babies on Russia’s National Day. Family Contact Day was, of course, scheduled accordingly. Russia pays big bucks for new babies, something like $9,000 for second or third kids.
It seems that Dr. Barry’s proposal is pointing out that while these incentives may be economically advantageous, in theory anyway, they aren’t environmentally friendly. The premise of Barry’s suggestion is based on how population increase leads to more greenhouse gas emissions.
So what’s the suggested carbon cap for kids?
“Two people per couple would be a reasonable ‘tax-free’ number, because it represents ‘replacement value’”, according to proposal supporter Garry Egger, an adjunct professor of health sciences at Southern Cross University in New South Wales.
Of course, with the incentives people have a choice and with a carbon tax on kids there are some other subtle issues that aren’t as easy to address with a flat out tax.
I see the point but really don’t think it’s that simple. While population growth is a real environmental concern I have to think that there are better ways to deal with carbon footprints of individuals. After all, it’s really about more than just population numbers, it’s about consumption patterns per individual.
At least they’ll give you two freebies I guess - a carbon kid compromise.
Put Carbon Tax on Babies: academic at ABC News
*(photo AAP: Mario Borg)
‘Best Business Advice Ever’ from b5 Biz Channel Bloggers!
If you are a business owner, or dream of becoming one, you need to find good sources for advice. Today, on b5media’s Business Channel, the biz bloggers are digging up the best business advice they’ve ever received and posting it - it’s a wealth of knowledge from an experienced group of professionals.
The posts are actually part of our ongoing channel challenge, an “apprentice” type challenge, where two teams have been brainstorming for solutions in one small business, a marketing endeavor for children’s aprons and hats.
If you haven’t been following along, you can catch up on the full, ongoing challenge by starting over at TaxGirl, run by our channel editor extraordinaire Kelly Phillips. You’ll be able to find all the links to today’s posts there as well or by surfing through the Business Blogroll here on Greener Assets.
So, as part of the b5media Business Channel Apprentice Challenge, my mission is to tell our small business owner “Kay” the best business advice I’ve ever received in 50 words or less. Mine is simple:
Listen to your gut.
No matter what business you are in, no matter what challenge you face or what decisions you need to make, when all is researched, said and done, listen to your gut before you make a move.
Business is not so different from survival in the sense that it takes instincts to survive. In my experience as a small business owner, which stretches well past a decade now, I have made decisions that weren’t aligned with my gut and regretted them later. I also look back and recognize that my best decisions were based on what my gut said was the right decision.
With a fair bit of hindsight, I can look back at these decisions, right and wrong, and realize fully that the simple business mantra “listen to your gut” is the best business advice I’ve ever received.
Rising Tide: Van Jones on Green Jobs
A little while back I mentioned Van Jones in Green is Good Business. Mr. Jones is a civil-rights lawyer and activist whose initiatives hold the combined promise of solving social inequality and environmental problems. They are intertwined or share, in the words of Anne Fahey, roots in “kitchen table issues: jobs, industry, manufacturing, health, education.”
Fahey’s recent article, A Wave of Green Jobs can Lift All Boats, delves into Mr. Jones’ social and environmental leadership in, what she calls, his “moment in history.” If you haven’t met Jones yet, this is a good place to get to know him.
And you should. Van Jones is powerful force for economic and environmental change who “has the ear of every 2008 Democratic presidential contender as well as top policy-makers like Nancy Pelosi. He’s all over the national climate scene,” according to Fahey.
Mr. Jones, who founded the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights which promotes alternatives to violence and incarceration, got the City of Oakland to adopt the Ella Baker Center’s “Green Jobs Corps” proposal, and he is working to create the first-ever Green Enterprise Zone in Oakland.
His latest endeavor is Green for All, an initiative
to help build a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. By advocating for a national commitment to job training, employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in the emerging green economy – especially for people from disadvantaged communities — we fight both poverty and pollution at the same time. We are committed to securing one billion dollars by 2012 to create “green pathways out of poverty” for 250,000 people in the United States, by greatly expanding federal government and private sector commitments to “green-collar” jobs.
Here’s Van Jones on Green Collar Jobs…
A Wave of Green Jobs can Lift All Boats by Anne Fahey at GreenBiz.
Untapped Energy Market: Waste Heat
If you’re not familiar with the term waste heat recovery it is, in short, exactly what it sounds like: capturing heat from exhaust as a source of energy.
The World Watch Institute recently ran an article called Clean Energy’s Best-Kept Secret that highlighted the fact that most heat energy, from smokestacks in particular, is wasted.
Implementing heat recovery strategies is an efficient way to conserve energy and boost the bottom line. Heat-recycling equipment has a short payback, shorter than solar or other renewable energy systems.
The WWI points out that even if just a tenth of the smokestacks in the US were fitted with equipment to capture waste heat the amount of energy created would equal half of what’s produced by US nuclear power plants.
That’s a lot of energy.
And it’s not just for heating. Recycled heat can produce steam, spin a turbine and produce electricity. The process is efficient and pretty simple. Waste heat recovery can be used on any scale from residential to big industry. In fact, I was recently discussing this possibility for a client in a small residential project.
WWI mentioned several companies on the forefront of this market including Recycled Energy Development (RED), Cain Industries and GTS Energy, Inc - all of them working to advance waste heat recovery in the United States.
In other countries, like Germany, waste heat recovery is built in to the infrastructure. Düsseldorf’s Energy Efficient Stadttor Gate, a high tech commercial building along the city’s main artery, uses recaptured heat energy from an electrical plant upriver on the Rhine.
‘Sustainability’ Rides Blogosphere Buzz
Environmental Leader has the scoop on sustainability. According to a recent Nielson BuzzMetrics report, the buzz on “sustainability” in the blogosphere has increased 169% over the past year (from July to July) and continues to rise. The top categories that buzzed around sustainability included organic, solar energy, fair trade, light bulbs, Energy Star, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and bamboo flooring.
According to EL, Al Gore’s Oscar win for “An Inconvenient Truth” sparked a peak in the blogosphere buzz around sustainability and Wal-Mart was the company mentioned most.
“Fueled by Al Gore, growing media attention, and other factors, these higher, lasting buzz levels suggest sustainability is further becoming a deep-rooted priority in consumers’ lives,” said Greg Thornhill, VP and Practice Lead, CPG, Nielsen BuzzMetrics. “For marketers, this new era of sustainability means they must prepare for rising consumer awareness and scrutiny in everything they do and how it relates to the future good of the planet.” - EL
Some of the most popular brands among the blogosphere sustainability buzz include: Seventh Generation, Shaklee, Method, Ecover, M.O.P., gDiapers and Greening the Cleaning, according to EL.
If you haven’t checked out these companies, they are definitely worth a look. Personally, I’ve used a mix of products from several of them including Seventh Generation’s all-purpose cleaner, Method’s shower cleaner (even before I knew they were green) and Ecover’s dish detergent. All are products and companies that deserve positive attention so I’m happy to see the buzz about them. Also glad to see a buzz about gDiapers - which my cutie-pie niece is modeling this season - one of the first C2C (Cradle-to-Cradle) certified products.
Tech Recycling at Staples: Is it that easy?
EcoGeek recently posted about how Staples Tries to Make Recycling Easier by starting an “in-house” recycling program. Apparently, they are the first national chain to offer this service to customers. I have not visited Staples in quite awhile, neither in-store or online, so a recent inquiry has me realizing that the mega-chain has made some changes since I was last there.
Staples has, somewhat seamlessly, turned their “easy” tag line into a slick “eco-easy” campaign. It’s not their homepage sell but it is found here - with lots of “easy” eco highlights. Like eco-friendly products (pretty easy), easy ink recycling (hmm), recycled paper & supplies (easy), free cell phone recycling (easy?), greener copy & print center (I’m intrigued), corporate leadership (I like that one) and, the topic du jour, easy technology recycling - is it?
EcoGeek pointed out that Staples “found, after having a research firm survey some 1,000 adults online during October, that only 23 percent of us recycle old or unused electronics. Forty-one percent throw these items away or don’t get rid of them at all.” And “that between 2000 and 2007 an estimated 500 million computers have become obsolete.”
So Staples is offering “in-house” recycling where you can recycle anything tech for a small fee. Great! Sounds good. Of course, tech recycling is a challenging endeavor. Jennifer Van der Meer of o2-NYC recently tackled this subject in TakeBack My TV: Think Before You Recycle. Her article is an eye-opening look at the different aspects of e-waste - everything from landfills to exporting to prison labor.
The quality, or greenness I guess, of the recycling service depends on the recycling company. Staples has partnered with Amandi (Asset Management and Disposition Services) - a product of a merge between the nations leading electronic recyclers Envirocycle, Inc, and Nxtcycle, Inc. Amandi is a national e-waste recycling infrastructure with over 500,000 square feet of production and warehouse space in 10 operations in North America. Other than the basics, I don’t know much about Amandi. I am looking into the company and will let you know what, if anything, I find out.
The Staples program sounds good but, honestly, I don’t know for sure what happens after you part ways with your old devices and leave them in the hands of the store. I can tell you that they are not the only game in town.
I have heard good things about Green Citizen in San Francisco, if that’s your recycling stomping ground. Another good resource for tech recycling is eRecycle.org - they are set up to help you find a responsible e-waste recycling location near you.
Jennifer Van der Meer’s article TakeBack My TV: Think Before You Recycle has some great insight on how to take charge of your tech e-waste, including lots of links to initiatives that are making a difference. Also useful, How to E-Cycle Your Gadgets and E-Cycling Gets Even Greener, both at Earth2Tech.
You Break It, You Buy It: Big Bill for Wealthy on Climate Change Costs
The rich caused the problem and must therefore pay the price of fixing the global climate change crisis, a new report said on Monday. - Reuters
My first reaction is: well, duh. My second reaction is: let’s not hold our breath.
The report is from Christian Aid, an agency of British and Irish churches who said “industrialized nations were historically responsible and therefore morally liable to foot the multi-billion dollar cost of tackling the problem of man-made emissions of carbon gases.”
Um, plot spoiler, Washington’s got a big bill. The Greenhouse Development Rights estimates that the United States’ share of climate costs is 34.3 percent, with the European Union on 26.6 percent. India and China owe 0.3 percent and 7.0 percent of the bill respectively.
This has not stopped the US delegation from blowing hot air on Kyoto at the Bali UN Climate Conference. Pretty ballsy considering the tab due from Washington is somewhere around $212 billion, annually, according to British economist Nicholas Stern.
Ireland Shines With New Light Bulb News
I have a little soft spot for Ireland in general so the news that the Emerald Isle is getting a little greener just gives me the warm fuzzies. Starting in 2009, Ireland will ban traditional light bulbs in effort to promote energy-saving alternatives. The move is part of the country’s first overall “carbon budget”.
The big push is to get rid of incandescent bulbs which the Irish Green Party leader called a “technology invented during the age of the steam engine.”
In the “just one thing” category, Ireland’s light bulb ban is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 700,000 tons per year and save residents some $185 million euros ($269.3 million) annually.
Greenpeace, who have been campaigning the Irish Government to ban conventional energy-wasting incandescent lightbulbs by 2010, noted that Ireland is the first country in the EU to make a move to energy-efficient lighting as the standard.
My aunts and I were recently talking about the “Celtic Tiger” - the roaring economy that started to rear in the 1990s. This rapid growth has brought many benefits but it’s also brought more consumption, emissions and waste. The recent green moves acknowledge that Ireland has not been at the top of the EU class on environment, in no small part due to the economic growth.
But, speaking as a foreign born Gael, I think Ireland will put the work down to meet the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol - a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 70 million tonnes to 63 million tonnes by 2012.
More illumination:
- Bulb ban could make Ireland Guiding Light in EU at Greenpeace
- Ireland goes green with light bulb rules and car tax at Reuters
Green Jobs Bring Good News for the Economy
News headlines continue to pile up with good news about the greening economy. Recent surveys have revealed that employees want green jobs and a surge initiatives are leaning towards the acceptance that green is good business. Reuters has brought to light more good, green news that green jobs will “exceed layoffs elsewhere in the economy, a U.N. report said on Thursday.”
The findings are part of the focus at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali, Indonesia. This is good news for workers worldwide concerned with job loss as a result of stricter environmental policies.
At Reuters, head of the U.N. Environment Program (UNEP) Achim Steiner said “Millions of new jobs are among the many silver, if not indeed gold-plated, linings on the cloud of climate change. New research reveals that these jobs are not for just the middle classes — the so-called ‘green collar’ jobs — but also for workers in construction, sustainable forestry and agriculture, engineering and transportation.”
Among the fast job growth industries are biofuels, solar technology and renewable energy where millions of jobs have emerged around the globe in recent years. Reuters reported that the “environmental industry employed more than 5.3 million people in the United States in 2005″, according to a UNEP statement.
Once again, good business and green business are not mutually exclusive. In the midst of climate change worries it seems that finding a decent livelihood will be nothing to fear.
Green jobs to outweigh losses from climate change at Reuters
Enterprise Rent-a-Car Will Offer Carbon Offset Option, and Match Your Purchase
Travel is inevitable sometimes, especially for business. A new initiative from Enterprise Rent-A-Car is making the business trip by car a little greener, actually carbon neutral. Enterprise has teamed up with TerraPass to help customers offset their car rental. This is a huge step - the Enterprise fleet is over a million autos. What’s more is that Enterprise will match the carbon offsets purchased by customers dollar for dollar (up to $1 million).
The idea is not without its irony of course. Offsetting car rental is theoretically like taking cars off the road, the exact opposite of what the nation’s largest car-rental company does. They like ‘em fueled and running. But the move just acknowledges the need for businesses to find a greener path to their bottom line.
What do you think of carbon offsets? Would you pay an extra buck to offset your car rental?
Read the full story ‘Nothing But Green Skies’ at Inc.
Via TreeHugger
‘Green is Affordable’ Exhibitor Showcase at NEXUS Green Building Resource Center
NEXUS Green Building Resource Center in Boston (a project of The Green Roundtable) is offering a great green building event next week - ‘Green is Affordable’ Exhibitor Showcase.
This is a wonderful chance for anyone interested in a sustainable built environment - including green building professionals, architects, engineers, builders, funders, community development corporation staff, policy makers, NGO leaders, facility managers, property owners, LEED APs, homeowners and renters.
It’s also a great opportunity to tour the NEXUS Green Building Resource Center Exhibit Hall, get advice from industry professionals and listen to keynote speakers Barbra Batshalom, The Green Roundtable Executive Director, and Dick Jones, Chief Operating Officer and Managed Assets President of Boston Community Capital.
‘Green is Affordable‘ will be held December 6th from 2:00PM to 6:00PM at the NEXUS Green Building Resource Center, 38 Chauncy St., 7th Floor, Boston.
For More Information:
To RSVP for the NEXUS Exhibitor Showcase, contact Aaron Desatnik by email at aaron@greenroundtable.org or by phone at 617-374-3740 x.127.
*The Green Roundtable, Inc. is an independent non-profit organization whose mission is to promote and support healthy, efficient and sustaining development and building projects through strategic outreach, education, policy advocacy and technical assistance. GRT is an affiliate of the US Green Building Council.
Ethisphere Names 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics 2007
Ethisphere Magazine brings to light the connection between ethics and profit and they’ve just released the 2007 100 Most Influential People in Business Ethics. A panel of ethics experts nominated and ranked individuals who made an impact on the way we did business this past year.
The list has some expected nominees like Nobel Laureate Al Gore and Wal-Mart President & CEO H. Lee Scott, Jr. There are also many surprises and a couple of people I sort of forgot about. Like Wang Shouye’s mistress who, yes, made the list for exposing Shouye’s economic crimes, an act that led to his expulsion from China’s national legislature.
Nine categories were used to compile the list including:
Government and Regulatory - Did the individual impact government rules or enforcement trends?
Business Leadership - Did the individual substantially transform a specific business’ operational practices consistent with profitable ethical leadership, forcing competitors to follow suit or fall behind?
Non-Government Organization (NGO) - Did the individual impact a company’s (or industry’s) practices through external, non-regulatory leadership either through positive collaboration or negative publicity for a positive end?
Design and Sustainability - Did the individual substantially contribute to or lead a product or service redesign, which resulted in less natural resource use, or increased consumer acceptance of sustainability without diminishing the quality of the original product or service?
Media and Whistleblowers – Did the individual raise awareness on a critical issue or expose corruption?
Thought Leadership – Did the individual conceive of new approaches or otherwise materially contribute to the field of business ethics theory in a way that could be easily applied by corporate leaders?
Corporate Culture – Did the individual show success to transforming the ethical culture and behavior of a corporation or institution, particularly if such corporation or institution previously had a less than ethical culture and values system?
Investment and Research – Did the individual impact corporate behavior through influencing investor decisions and the deployment of investment capital due to research or institutional fund management practices?
Legal and Governance – Did the individual impact any legal cases which set the precedents in corporate compliance, or influence trends or structure in effective corporate governance for public and/or private companies?
Ethisphere says: “You may not agree with the politics, methods or actions of all of the people on the 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics for 2007. In fact you probably don’t. However, the bottom line is that all of these people influenced business ethics and resulting business behavior over the course of the year, whether that be influencing customers to demand ‘greener products’ from companies, to requiring greater disclosure by corporations about product safety, to forcing companies to look at their anti-bribery or anti-competitive compliance programs. All were influential somehow.”
So who are 2007’s 100 Most Influential in Business Ethics? Find out here.
- Ethisphere Magazine Profile on Corporate Social Responsibility
- Via CSRwire
The Clean Tech Revolution Book Review at Social Funds
Social Funds - the largest personal finance site devoted to socially responsible investing - has a good book review of The Clean Tech Revolution: The Next Big Growth And Investment Opportunity. I haven’t gotten this read yet but it sounds like a fascinating look at sustainable technology.
Social Funds says the authors, Ron Pernick and Clint Wilder, have written “a comprehensive guide to investing in sustainable technology that covers four main sectors—energy, transportation, water, and materials—and lists specific firms that bear watching by investors.”
In The Clean Tech Revolution
Sounds like a very interesting read for anyone with an eye on green technology. The Social Funds review is quite good available here.