Green Ideas Take Root in Business

For U.S. companies, going green has never looked so good.In one of the most dramatic turnabouts in corporate America, previously environmentally apathetic businesses of all sizes and in all industries are rushing to portray themselves as Earth-friendly or touting the eco-friendly aspects of their newest products.

Hardly a day goes by without announcements hawking the latest green initiative, new store or design. Corporate executives are flocking to green-marketing seminars. Even the Business Roundtable, a group of 160 chief executives of major U.S. companies, recently sounded the alarm about the need to reduce greenhouse gases.

In Michigan, it's playing out in everything from landscape services selling special lawn-care programs to protect the watershed to energy-saving skylights and refrigerated cases at a new Wal-Mart set to open Wednesday in Livonia. A Grand Rapids firm has rolled out the first tradeshow exhibit system made of recyclable and renewable materials.

With rising numbers of consumers awakened to the threat of global warming, being seen as green has become a competitive advantage, some marketing experts say. "It's sort of sexy to be green," said Bonnie Carlson, president of the Promotion Marketing Association. "Corporations are jumping on the bandwagon because there's a real positive halo attached to that position."
At the same time, businesses' environmental records face more scrutiny. Climate Counts, a new nonprofit, has evaluated and ranked the climate-change efforts of 56 large companies. Consumers can download free pocket guides with the rankings.

The growth of green marketing
But image isn't the only motivation. Green products often command premium prices. And reducing energy usage helps companies save money. In addition, companies in certain industries such as oil and gas hope to stave off tough climate-change regulations by selling themselves as environmentally conscious, said Thomas Lyon, a professor of sustainable science, technology and commerce at the University of Michigan's business school.

Various industries are "now positioning themselves for a carbon-constrained world," he said. U-M also has tapped into this market. Lyon heads the school's Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise, which offers a 3-year program that allows students to earn a master of science degree from the School of Natural Resources and Environment and an MBA.

"The challenge is to take something that is not naturally green and make it into a green product," said Sun Yu, president of Berkley-based Zen Design Group, which created a line of electronic toys that doesn't use disposable batteries.

Green marketing takes many forms, from traditional advertising to sponsorships of environmental groups or events such as the recent Live Earth concerts.

As it has spread, it also has become increasingly sophisticated. Gone are the days when companies simply labeled themselves or their products as green. Now, businesses must explain how they're green and advertise in multiple venues, not just television, said David Lockwood, research director at Mintel, a Chicago market research firm.

"Green awareness has progressed to the point where there is skepticism," he said. Lockwood and other marketing experts also warn that selling a product based on its green attributes alone often doesn't work. Ironically, to be successful, companies also must offer some non-green value, such as greater convenience or savings.

"The trick is to have products that are needed and to make them better," he said.

Companies' claims checked
The rise of green marketing has raised concerns about greenwashing -- companies exaggerating their products' eco-friendly attributes or making misleading claims about their environmental efforts.

"There are more and more pressures for companies to start appearing green," said Michelle Chan, Friends of the Earth's program manager for green investments. "Therefore, there are more and more promises."

But with technology, businesses could find it harder to get away with greenwashing than in the past. The Internet makes it easy for dishonest ad campaigns to quickly gain notoriety. And dozens of watchdog groups have sprung up to help consumers discern who's telling the truth. These efforts could ensure that green marketing doesn't lose its effectiveness and become a fad.
"If anything, it's overwhelming, this wave of awareness," said Kert Davies, research director for Greenpeace. "Hopefully, this sticks around and is not just a phase."

BeGreen: Carbon calculator

We all contribute to global warming when we do things like heat and cool our homes, drive our cars, and fly on airplanes. The good news? BeGreen empowers you to take an active role in neutralizing your carbon emissions and reducing your impact on global warming. Simply follow our tips to begin decreasing the energy you use each day, and offset the rest of your carbon-emitting energy use through our easy-to-use carbon calculator and BeGreen Carbon Offsets. Once you do, tell the planet (or at least a few friends). Together we can make a world of difference, but we need your help. So go ahead and be green, now.

Go to Carbon Calculator: http://www.begreennow.com/calculator

Microsoft Launches Green News Site

Microsoft has launched MSN Green, an environmental news site aimed at consumers.
MSNBC, The Daily Green, Conservation International, Environmental Defense, Grist, TreeHugger and StopGlobalWarming are supporting partners.

MSN says that the success of Live Earth was part of the impetus for the site. Liveearth.msn.com generated more than 15 million streams the day of the concerts and surpassing the number of people who watched the event on TV.

Today’s news includes a story on the disappearing bees, one covering whether climate change is affecting the color of foliage, and another on how many trees are used to make baseball bats.

From environmentalleader

Solar Power to Electrify Remote Australian Town

It’s sunny and hot in Cloncurry, Australia, so much so that the Queensland government is planning construction of a $7 million solar thermal power station to provide the community of under 5000 with 24 hour a day electricity.

Anna Bligh, the Premier of Queensland, announced the town will be powered by a 10-megawatt plant using 8000 mirrors to reflect sunlight onto graphite blocks. Water will be pumped through the blocks creating steam which will power a turbine electricity generator. According to the news source the amount of water used to generate the steam is no more than the amount of rainfall the area receives in a year.

The plan will deliver about 30 million kilowatt hours of electricity a year, enough to provide electricity for the community 24 hours a day. If all goes as planned, the small town will be buzzing with electricity by 2010.

Cloncurry is the site of a former copper mine and boasts the warmest temperature ever recorded in Australia, that was in 1889 when it got up to 53.1(C) or 127(F) in the shade. Maybe their new electrical system will afford them some much needed cooling in those hot summers. Of course we here in Tucson, AZ have temperatures well over the 100’s during the summer, but we like to say it’s a “dry heat”. Good chamber of commerce material.

Cloncurry isn’t the only community sited for electricity where it’s otherwise too expensive to deliver by normal means. The government has approved the expenditure of $75 million toward a $420 million large-scale solar concentrator in Mildura, Victoria. And a solar updraft tower has been proposed for Buronga in Western New South Wales. The tower construction would resemble a large circular greenhouse-like structure that funnels hot air through a tall tower, that drives turbines which produce electricity.

Small solar dish power stations have been installed in remote indigenous townships around Australia, proving solar power is gaining ground in acceptance as a sustainable energy source.

from: planetsavehttp://www.planetsave.com/blog/2007/11/05/solar-power-to-electrify-remote-australian-town/

Links: Carbon Footprint Calculators, Other Calculators & Carbon Offsets

Environmental Defense PaperCalculator - Calculate the environmental impact of the paper products you use.

The Carbon Diet - Track your carbon footprint every day and compare your footprint with those of your friends.

NativeEnergy - Carbon offsets and a travel carbon calculator.

The Nature Conservancy Carbon Calculator - Another carbon footprint calculator.

BeGreen - A carbon calculator and information resource that also offers carbon offsets.

zerofootprint - Helping individuals, organizations, and cities reduce their environmental impact (their goal is to get 1,000,000 people pledging to reduce their environmental footprint by 10% in one year).

Yahoo! Green Carbon Footprint Calculator - Another carbon footprint calculator.

Ecological Footprint Quiz - Find out how much “nature” your lifestyle requires.

terrapass - A carbon offset company that has an emissions calculator.

50 Ways to Green Your Business - Part V

41 From the department of small moves: This holiday season, Gap Inc. (NYSE:GPS) debuts gift cards made from recycled plastic. And next spring, its Gap and Banana Republic brands will convert their price tags to 100% post-consumer recycled material. It's not exactly retooling an entire soccer-mom wardrobe into sustainable organic cotton, but it does add up: Gap price tags alone account for 10 tons of paper.

42 Looking to create a computer-industry equivalent of LEED certification, the EPA in 2006 created EPEAT, the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, which rates the "greenness" of computers for large-scale buyers based on 51 criteria such as energy use and amount and types of plastics. Since it began, the program has rated more than 600 computers from 23 companies, which voluntarily submit their products for review. Early adopters include Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Dell, HP (NYSE:HPQ), and Lenovo.

43 Last year, U.S. sales of organic food increased 22% to $17 billion, but still accounted for only 3% of all food and beverage sales. To better understand this burgeoning market and the challenges faced by organic farmers, Wegmans supermarkets this year started a 50-acre organic research farm just outside of Rochester, New York. Starting small with just potatoes and tomatoes, the company hopes to develop best practices (read: cost-efficient as well as healthy) for organic farming in the Northeast. Once it gets it figured out, Wegmans hopes to share its findings with the 800 farmers who supply its stores.

44 Wal-Mart is the champ when it comes to twisting suppliers' arms to boost their sustainability efforts (and efficiency). Increasingly, other companies are doing the same--most recently Marriott, which announced it will be scrutinizing everything from its duvets to its shampoos. In true Wal-Mart fashion, suppliers that don't make the grade may end up out on the street.

45 Federal laws on greenhouse-gas emissions are inevitable, so let's get on with it already! That's the logic behind the United States Climate Action Partnership, a big-biz coalition pushing for federal standards. Notably, USCAP includes companies with mixed eco-cred--BP, Rio Tinto, GM (NYSE:GM) --as well as green stalwarts such as Environmental Defense and the Nature Conservancy. Its goals include a mandatory 60% to 80% cut in emissions by 2050 and a uniform nationwide market free of the current patchwork of state regulations. Oh, and fiscal incentives for new technology--a big opportunity for firms like GE, whose CEO Jeff Immelt led the effort to launch USCAP.

46 Another kind of network is sprouting in an old lamp factory in Chicago as Baum Development unveils the Green Exchange, a 250,000-square-foot retail and office space reserved exclusively for green companies. Billed as the country's first "green business community," the development's concept is that proximity will foster the exchange of ideas. Set to open in Fall 2008, the building is already 40% leased, with tenants including an electric-car dealer, energy consultants, and even a green pet-supply store.

47 Before Rick Rubin agreed to run Columbia Records, he made some unorthodox demands: He wouldn't wear a suit, travel, or have a corporate office. He also got Columbia to agree to eliminate plastic jewel cases from CD packaging. Pushing a green agenda during contract negotiations is rare--but maybe not for long. Both Jack Johnson and Pearl Jam have green requirements in their venue riders. How long until an enlightened CEO candidate makes eco-initiatives more important than access to a corporate jet?

48 In 2003, the tiny Presidio School of Management in San Francisco launched an MBA program in sustainable management. So far, only 56 students have walked away with green diplomas, but with 200 clocking in this fall, Presidio is heating up--and preparing for the onslaught of recruiters.

49 On the subject of hiring: Companies everywhere are suddenly clamoring to snag a vice president of sustainability. Or a director of environmental affairs. Someone whose job is to understand the environmental impact of the company and look for ways to turn it inside out. (Why aren't you using your empty roof to generate solar power, anyway?) Ten years ago, the job essentially didn't exist. But in the last two years, it has become common across a startling variety of industries. Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) has one. Ford too. Also Airbus, Albertson's, Alcoa, Alaska Airlines, and Anheuser-Busch (NYSE:BUD). Dow Chemical and DuPont have even given the position C-level heft--chief sustainability officer.

50 Visit your blog daily

50 Ways to Green Your Business - Part IV

31 One initial problem with Staples' new emphasis on recycled paper: less durable products. The solution? Reinvent paper. The company's hanging file folders now include 50% regenerated cotton (aka "denim"), and its "carbon neutral" notebook paper is 90% bagasse, a sugarcane by-product the company buys from Argentine farmers who would otherwise burn the spent cane, polluting their own communities.

32 Talk about turning garbage into a useful resource: The University of New Hampshire signed a deal this year with Waste Management Inc. to get 80% to 85% of the power and heat for its 14,000-student campus, using methane piped in from a nearby landfill. UNH must build a 12.7-mile pipeline to carry the gas, but the $45 million project is expected to save enough to pay for itself in 10 years.

33 Take the foodie trend of consuming only locally grown products and apply it to sportswear: That's what Nike (NYSE:NKE) has done with its Considered line. The company has committed to sourcing as much of the products' raw materials as possible--recycled polyester and rubber, organic cotton, hemp--from within 200 miles of the factory, cutting the environmental and financial costs of transportation. Of course, the finished goods still have a long trip to market; the Considered line is made in China and Thailand.

34 If flying is the new smoking, fractional jet companies are the eco-equivalent of Philip Morris. But this fall, Warren Buffett's NetJets begins hitting its clients with a healthy dose of guilt serum: $5,000 extra a year, to pay for carbon offsets.

35 Surfers are generally pro-environment; their petrochemical-based gear is not. Patagonia is looking to change that. Its latest wet suit is made of Japanese neoprene, unbleached New Zealand merino wool, and PVC-free kneepads; and it uses 80% less petroleum than its competitors. Better yet (for surfers), at 3 millimeters thick, it produces the same warmth typically associated with 5 millimeters.

36 Emissions aren't the only enviro-scourge of the air-travel industry. U.S. airlines throw away enough aluminum cans every year to build 58 new 747s. At the urging of its own flight attendants, Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) launched an on-board recycling program this past summer in a few of its hubs. In the first three months, flight attendants, who sorted cans, newspapers, and plastic, collected 60 tons of recyclables. The program will expand to all domestic flights by the end of 2008.

37 Not content to confine its green efforts to recycling, Delta has also become the first U.S. airline to offer its passengers carbon offsets for their trips at the same time that they buy their tickets. The offsets--available only at Delta.com--cost $5.50 per roundtrip domestic ticket, and the money goes to the Conservation Fund's Go Zero program.

38 Paper or plastic? The unsatisfying answer is neither. Retailers including Ikea and Trader Joe's sell heavy-duty polypropylene sacks designed to be reused. But how do you get convenience-obsessed American shoppers actually to use them again? Timberland's (NYSE:TBL) "Trash Is My Bag" totes (made from recycled plastic bottles) cost $5.50 each or come free with a $100 purchase; to encourage reuse--and more shopping at Timberland--each bag doubles as a 10%-off coupon through the end of 2008.

39 Speaking of reuse, Target (NYSE:TGT) has slashed its waste by 70%. The company has applied its signature craftiness to taking advantage of every opportunity to recycle. Last year, it recycled or refurbished 47,600 broken shopping carts, 2.1 million pounds of broken plastic hangers, 4.3 million pounds of shrink-wrap from distribution centers, and more than 10,000 pounds of rechargeable batteries.

40 Knocking down drywall and rebuilding the office every time your workforce shifts doesn't exactly square with running a sustainable business. Enter Steelcase's (NYSE:SCS) new Pathways Privacy Wall, a 10-foot-high steel-frame reconfigurable wall that also happens to be the first of its kind that's "cradle-to-cradle" certified--meaning the entire structure can be economically (and easily) disassembled into component materials for recycling. What's more, it contains 30% recycled materials to begin with.

From: Fast Company

50 Ways to Green Your Business - Part III

21 Casual Friday might not resonate with natty Italians, but when the country's largest power company, Eni, wanted to save some energy (and money), it asked its workers to embrace "lighter and cooler" attire and raised the thermostats at HQ one degree Celsius. The summer's savings: 217,000 kilowatts and CO2 emissions equivalent to 140 employees taking public transport for a year.

22 The much-hyped Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) Tower, which will be the second-tallest building in New York when it's finished next year, is the first skyscraper in America to pursue LEED Platinum certification. Our favorite innovation: a geothermal heat-exchange system that's the first of its kind in a high-rise. In the winter, pumps will draw heat from groundwater to help warm the building; in the summer, the process will work in reverse, pumping excess heat into the bedrock beneath the tower. The system will contribute to the building's goal of using just half the electricity of a conventional building its size.

23 Meeting LEED standards isn't the only way to green a building. Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:JAVA) likes to nix office space entirely. Its Open Work program, 10 years and 20,000 participants strong (that's 56% of Sun's workforce), gives employees the option to work from home. Talk about a triple bottom line: In 2006, Sun saved $67.8 million in real-estate costs, prevented nearly 29,000 tons of CO2 emissions, and increased worker productivity by 34%. The master of the virtual workspace now has a consulting practice to help other companies do the same.

24 Timberland awards its employees who buy hybrids not only with a primo parking spot but also with $3,000 toward the car's purchase. Bank of America has a similar program. Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is one-upping both with a $5,000 incentive.

25 At Enterprise Rent-A-Car, about half the fleet--more than 334,000 vehicles--gets more than 28 mpg (nearly 10 times the number of fuel-efficient vehicles offered by its closest competitor, Enterprise boasts). The company is adding thousands of hybrids and FlexFuel cars.

26 At its Manhattan headquarters, JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM) is starting renovations at the top--on the roof, 53 stories up, where the bank is building what is essentially a giant pan to collect rainwater. The water will be funneled into a 55,000-gallon tank in the basement, filtered, and then piped up for toilet flushing. Coupled with new low-flush urinals and toilets, this system will cut the building's water use--and cost--by 30%.

27 The corporate restroom isn't fully green without Dyson's new Airblade hand dryer, which does its job in half the time (12 seconds) and with half the energy (1,400 watts) of conventional dryers. It costs four times as much up front, but the energy savings can pay you back in three years. AMC Theatres is testing the units now.

28 California-based managed-care provider Kaiser Permanente knew that its vinyl floors weren't doing Mother Nature (or patients or employees) any favors: PVC in the vinyl releases dioxin when it's created, and it lets loose other harmful particulates when buffed, to say nothing of the harsh chemicals used in cleaning it. Kaiser started replacing the floors in 2005 with PVC-free recycled rubber, which costs more to install but pays for itself in five years by slashing maintenance costs by as much as 80%. A side benefit: fewer slips and falls (and calmer actuaries as a result).

29 It was 1853 when Otis introduced the first safety elevator and forever changed the urban landscape. With the introduction of the company's Gen2 lift, the company has re-imagined what has largely been unchanged for more than 150 years. Replacing steel cables with a flat, polyurethane-coated steel belt, Otis was able to eliminate a bulky machine room and create a lubrication-free system. The result is not only a quieter and smoother ride, but combined with "regenerative drive" technology that returns electricity to the building grid, the new elevators are 75% more efficient than conventional drive systems. Gen2 lifts are becoming de rigueur in the slickest, greenest new towers, including Fast Company's new home, 7 World Trade Center.

30 Unlike most big-box retailers that are debuting discrete green product lines, Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) has eco-modified a whopping 3,000 of its mainstream private-label products to include at least 30% post-consumer waste. From sticky notes to shipping boxes, nearly all of the new offerings do not have a nonrecycled alternative in the product line. The end goal: to pressure the entire industry to follow suit.


From: Fast Company

Comedy Central launches site to highlight environment issues

The "Address the Mess" initiative is "about giving people the information and resources to reduce their own environmental impact," said Tony Fox, EVP corporate communications for MTV Networks Entertainment Group, Comedy Central's parent company. "It's putting power in the hands of viewers, as opposed to a larger business or industry plan."

Introduced August 10, initial campaign components include PSAs encouraging viewers to visit AddresstheMess.com, a Web site loaded with specific, actionable ways to decrease their carbon footprints. Some are as easy as recycling outdated mobile phones and properly disposing household trash, Fox said. The site also lists links to partner organizations including Earth 911 and Native Energy.

Other than the PSAs, early PR efforts focused on the launch itself, Fox said. He added, though, that Comedy Central is committed to spreading its "Address the Mess" message. In the fall, for example, a network-sponsored college stand-up tour will include student involvement in branded recycling drives. All PR is currently being handled in-house.

According to Fox, Comedy Central had been looking to engage in a long-term “prosocial” project for some time. But "because we make fun of things in so much of what we do, coming up with the [right concept] was a challenge," he explained.

What the network knew for certain was that its primary audience – 18-34, educated, and affluent, Fox said – was "looking for information, and ways to make a difference."

Based on research by an outside firm, Comedy Central also knew that among its core demographic's most pressing concerns, "the environment was one that just kept coming back … this was what viewers were interested in."

Still, Fox said, now that "Address the Mess" has launched, the network is considering ways to broaden its reach.

"Giving people information, empowering them to make personal changes," can extend to issues beyond the environment, he said. That could mean topics such as education, literacy, or voter registration. Tackling the latter, in particular, would help "mobilize young people to have a say in the upcoming election," Fox said, as well as "provide partnership [opportunities] with a lot of organizations."

From: PRWeek

Ad Agencies Interested In Carbon Neutral Ad Space

Interactive agencies and publishers might be considering ways to promote ad space as carbon neutral, Internet News reports.

The Institute for Sustainable Communications wants to work with groups like The Green Grid and receive funding from ad agencies and other groups to quantify just what computing resources are used to generate ads, content and e-mail.

According to the article, ISC has received calls from four different interactive agencies who want to be able to calculate the carbon footprint of ads.

The idea is that ad agencies and publishers would see value in promoting themselves as certifiably carbon neutral through some kind of offset program they pay into.

From: environmentalleader

What's the Carbon Footprint of a Banner Ad?

The carbon footprint of a banner ad? Damned if I know, but read on for a few clues.
I had an interesting interview with Don Carli, research fellow at the non-profit Institute for Sustainable Communications (ISC).

Carli's a veteran tech analyst who's been working with the print industry on ways to measure the so-called "carbon footprint" of its activities. A carbon footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment, specifically, the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.

Carli's been looking at print because it leaves such a recognizable footprint, but he says digital publishers are hardly free of environmental responsibility.

"It is wrongheaded to assume that the use of digital media is without environmental impact," said Carli. "In addition to problems with e-waste disposal, much of the energy used to power and cool data centers and ISPs comes from coal-fired power plants. Keeping a megabyte of data alive on the grid and moving it from server to server means that somewhere puffs of CO2 are being released into the atmosphere to make it possible."

In April the U.S. Supreme Court ruled CO2 (carbon dioxide) is a pollutant giving the Environmental Protection Agency the legal right to regulate emissions from new cars.
We're not talking about cars here, but there's little doubt CO2 emissions faces greater regulation going forward. Carli argues that even some of the most environmentally responsible companies don't do enough to reduce their carbon footprint because they largely ignore their supply chain.
"Does a big digital publisher have a say over how a [third party] data center operates?" Carli said today that the answer is no, but that could change in the future.

He's looking to work with groups like The Green Grid and funding from ad agencies and other groups to quantify just what computing resources are used to generate ads, content and e-mail.
"I'm encouraged," said Carli. "I've got calls from four different interactive agencies who want to be able to calculate the carbon footprint of ads."

The idea is that ad agencies and publishers would see value in promoting themselves as certifiably carbon neutral through some kind of offset program they pay into. Carli said those funds would be invested in ways to re-engineer the supply chain.

The ISC walks at least a bit of the talk; its Web site is hosted by solar-powered Aiso.net, which I wrote about a few weeks ago.

Ad "Lock Ups" in Web's future?
Imagine you're watching a video on the Web of some innocuous fare like the latest attempt to break the record for eating hot dogs. The judges are just about to announce the winner when an animated remote control pops up, freezes the screen and a new video narration is super-imposed to remind you of other "great" shows you can watch. Finally, the screen is restored and you finish watching the show.

If you think this is far-fetched, you haven't been watching the TBS cable TV channel, which has taken the "pop-up" ad to a new low; I'm calling them "lock-up" ads.

I was watching a rerun of "Everybody Loves Raymond" when just such a virtual remote appeared in the hand of someone named Bill Engvall. Bill started yakking over the frozen image of "Raymond" to promote the debut of his new comedy sitcom (btw, trust me I saw the show; you're better off sticking to "Raymond" reruns). After his spiel Bill was nice enough to let me see the end of show I thought I was watching.

I should add that TBS didn't freeze "Raymond" until after a pop-up ad for Envall's show had already been super-imposed on the screen for a while. Someone in the network must have decided taking up part of the screen (the traditional print ad model) just wasn't enough. Instead, TBS went ahead with an abrupt lock-up, forcing viewers to watch and wait out the ad to see the end of the show. Brilliant.

TV advertisers face a lot of challenges in this age of TiVo, but this is not the answer. Let's hope this innovation doesn't make it to the Web.

From: internetnews

"Green IT": Save Power, Save Money

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is asking CIOs to do something Jimmy Carter couldn’t convince consumers to do in the 1970s: curb their energy consumption. No, EPA head Christie Todd Whitman isn’t going to don a cardigan and ask CIOs to turn off their extra computers. Instead, the agency is campaigning to get CIOs to save energy and is offering free software that’ll make doing so a cinch.

Monitors and computers represent 1 percent of the country’s electricity use, according to the EPA, but about half of that output is wasted by computers and monitors that are left on overnight or that don’t use the sleep mode feature. Research by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in Berkeley, Calif., reveals that about 70 percent of monitors and 55 percent of computers used by U.S. businesses and government offices are left humming after hours, and that sleep mode has been disabled or is not functioning on 40 percent of monitors and 75 percent of computers. Steve Ryan, the EPA’s Energy Star Project manager, explains that because sleep mode can inadvertently disconnect computers from networks, CIO-types often turn it off, and he suspects some computer manufacturers do so as well to appease customers.

The EPA has posted free software at www.energystar.gov that lets administrators activate sleep mode on all of a network’s monitors in one fell swoop. The agency is focusing on monitors, says Bruce Nordman, a principal research associate at LBNL, for two reasons: Sleep mode does not affect network operations when used on monitors, and it saves more energy when used on monitors than computers?approximately 85 watts per hour compared with about 20 watts per hour.

"The network [can] run smoothly and operate properly while improving [the organization’s] bottom line," says Ryan. The EPA’s suggested practices can save 380,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per year for every 1,000 computers, or roughly $38,000, he says. That $38,000 may not get you far, but it’s a lot better than losing money?Palo Alto, Calif.-based Electrical Power Research Institute estimates California businesses lost $1.7 billion because of last winter’s demand-induced blackouts.

From: CIO.com

Going Green

In different lexicons, "green" means different things. In business terms, we think profits. In environmental terms, sustainability. But today, the term green is just as applicable to dollars as it is to saving the environment. That's because environmental sustainability, once little more than a moral incentive for companies, is now an imperative to doing business. And that means it's an imperative for IT too.

Regardless of environmental impact, data center efficiency is one of the most prominent issues on the CIO's radar right now. Gartner estimates that most large IT orgs spend 5% of their total IT budgets on energy, a figure that could increase by two or three times within the next five years. But while the data center eats away at the green (environmental sustainability and profits alike), it's only one of the environmental challenges facing IT. It's also not the only place IT can have an impact on the company's environmental sustainability.

In fact, Gartner says that the CIO is in a unique position when it comes to environmental initiatives. While carbon emissions from the data center and toxic substances, such as cadmium and lead from e-waste, add to environmental problems, IT also has a chance to have a direct impact on environmental wellbeing. Through limiting those carbon emissions, launching e-cycling initiatives, utilizing virtualization and using BI tools to manage environmental compliance information, for instance, IT is actually in a position to have a huge impact on the overall sustainability of the company.

My new Green IT blog for CIO.com will address the environmental issues facing IT, the reasons why such issues can't be ignored, and how addressing them can actually help your company's bottom line.

What are some of the environmental issues facing your IT department? And what are some of the ways IT is helping environmental sustainability at your company? Let the discussion begin.

From: Cio.com

UK enjoys green consumer boom

The rapid growth of the market for firms producing environmentally sustainable and ethical products and services was again highlighted this week after a new survey revealed sales of "ethical" goods in the UK were now worth more than retail sales of beer and cigarettes.

The report found that UK ethical consumerism was worth £29.3 billion in 2005 up 11 percent on the previous year, and also accounts for a higher proportion of consumer spending, as overall household expenditure only grew 1.4 percent.

Sales of ethical food such as organic and Fairtrade goods soared 18 per cent to £5.4 billion while expenditure on energy-efficient electrical appliances, green mortgage repayments, home based renewable energy generators and green energy tariffs was up from £3.8 billion to £4.1 billion.

Spending on eco-travel, tourism and transport costs climbed fractionally from £1.7 billion to £1.8 billion, while sales of personal products, such as humane cosmetics and green-fashion, was up 5 per cent to £1.3 billion. Monies in ethical finance, which includes ethical banking and investments, stood at £11.6 billion, up from £10.6 billion last year.

The report proves there is a booming market for green products. However, the Co-operative Bank - which carried out the research in association with research group The Future Foundation and has established itself as one of the leading exponents of ethical banking - argued the market was not moving fast enough to tackle global issues such as climate change and as a result more government intervention was required to encourage more firms to adopt environmentally sustainable practices.

Craig Shannon, executive director of business management, urged governments to act, claiming in a statement that while the ethical market was booming spending was spread over a large number of different products and had only become the norm in sectors where legislators had intervened.

“Where the ethical or eco-choice has become the market leader, for example in sales of A-rated energy fridges (which account for some 60 per cent of the market), this has been underpinned by an EU labelling scheme, inefficient products being removed from sale and the support of well targeted subsidies," he said. “If, as many scientists are saying, we have ten years to make a dent in climate change, it is this type of radical overhaul of the choices made available to people that is going to deliver the rapid market changes required."

“The efforts of far-sighted, highly motivated consumers need to be leveraged and supported with business innovation and government intervention,” he added.

From: businessgreen

New Web Tool Makes Carbon-Neutral Buildings Easier

Green Building Studio Inc. recently launched a beta program to help architects virtually assess a building's carbon neutrality. Green Building Studio V3.0 is an updated web service that is geared toward the designers of carbon neutral buildings. Its carbon neutral building check can predict the feasibility of a building reaching carbon neutral status using local grid emission data.

The service can compute a building's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ENERGY STAR score or Architecture 2030 targets. The potential for use of a photovoltaic and wind energy generation at a given building can be analyzed, as well as PV potential for every building surface.

Architects, building owners and designers can perform a water use analysis to estimate water needs, efficiency savings, potential for rain capture and LEED credits.

The service also can peg the LEED Glaze factor for any room with lighting control energy savings. It's also possible to gauge whether a building is a good candidate for a natural ventilation strategy.

The web service was developed to create a whole building energy analysis linked to the design team’s CAD systems, cutting out the cost and time needed to perform energy modeling.

From: Greenerbuilding

Who are the green consumers?

Understanding the demographics of green consumerism can help entrepreneurs explore the environmental market, and home in on likely prospects. Research has shown that green consumers:

• are sincere in their intentions, with a growing commitment to greener lifestyles;
• almost always judge their environmental practices as inadequate;
• do not expect companies to be perfect in order to be considered 'green'. Rather, they look for companies that are taking substantive steps and have made a commitment to improve.

However, they also:

• tend to overstate their green behaviour, including the number of green products they actually use;
• want environmental protection to be easy, and not to entail major sacrifices;
• tend to distrust companies' environmental claims, unless they have been independently verified;
• lack knowledge about environmental issues, and tend not to trust themselves to evaluate scientific information about environmental impacts. However, at the same time they are eager to learn, and this means that consumer education is one of the most effective strategies that entrepreneurs can use.

The most responsive age group tends to be young adults, many of whom are influenced by their children. In addition, women are a key target for greener products, and often make purchases on behalf of men.

The best 'green' customers are people with more money to spend. As a result, the most promising products for 'greening' tend to be at the higher end of the market. The most promising outlets for green products are retail stores frequented by better-off shoppers.

In general, green consumers have the education and intellectual orientation to appreciate value; they will understand evidence that is presented in support of environmental claims.
In the US, children and teens are generally more concerned than adults about the environment, and are more knowledgeable about green alternatives. Increasingly, they influence their parents' purchasing decisions. Equally importantly, millions of them will reach adulthood in the next decade, and gain purchasing power of their own.

At the opposite end of the age spectrum, US consumers born before the 1950s are the least 'green'. As their numbers diminish, their share of consumer purchases will dwindle.

In Canada, children and parents alike tend to have strong environmental concerns. Older people, too, tend to be active green purchasers.

From: bsdglobal