Ecofactor Smart Thermostat System Wins Cleantech Open
Posted by BC Upham November 20th, 2009 
0 Comments
A maker of thermostat data systems that claims to be able to reduce heating and cooling costs for buildings by 20-30 percent won Grand Prize at this year’s Cleantech Open, one of the leading environmental technology competitions in the country.
Ecofactor makes integrated systems that calibrate a residential or commercial thermostat for maximum energy efficiency without having any noticeable effect on comfort. The system uses information from 24,000 data points, such as local weather, typical customer behavior and the design characteristics of a home or business to control the thermostat, which is connected to the Internet via a broadband connection.
As National Prize winner, Ecofactor took home $250,000, including $100,000 in seed capital. This is in addition to $100,000 the company won as California regional finalist in October. Started in 2006, Ecofactor has raised angel funding, and currently in negotiations for its Series A round, according to Earth2Tech.
Cleantech Open runners up were: Alphabet Energy (waste-heat recapture); and MicroMidas (transforms raw sewage into biodegradable plastic). Earlier in the day, audience members at the Awards Gala voted Alphabet Energy as the People’s Choice business competition winner.
Electric Cars Should Be Customized for Different Drivers: Report
Posted by BC Upham November 19th, 2009 4 Comments
A report released recently by McKinsey and Company argues that electric car makers should consider engineering their vehicles for different market segments, rather than try and build a “one size fits all” electric car.
According to the report, the “one size fits all” model means a longer range, and thus a larger battery, than many drivers need. For instance, people who use the car mainly to drive around town use significantly less juice — less than half, according to the report — than someone using the car to commute to work on highways. (Most of that difference comes not from the increased range required by commuting, but by the higher speeds on the highway, which drain power dramatically.)
How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sarah Palin Wearin’ Your Product?
Posted by Mary Catherine O'Connor November 19th, 2009 6 Comments
Marketers’ jobs aren’t easy. They need to politely, but aggressively, get the word out about their products, and then get those products into as many pairs of hands as possible. And sometimes that works out a little too well, or in unexpected ways. A good case in point graces the cover of Newsweek this week. Sarah Palin might think that shot of her, taken for a Runner’s World profile, is turned into a sexist statement when in the context of a news magazine. The folks over at Icebreaker, manufacturer of that Icebreaker GT base-layer she’s sporting, no doubt find it perplexing.
“Not only can former Governor Palin see Russia, but apparently she can see New Zealand too,” wrote Lee Weinstein, who handles communications for Icebreaker, in a letter to its list of media contacts this morning. A Kiwi outdoor clothing manufacturer, Icebreaker strives to maintain a sustainable supply chain and responsibly and ethically source the merino wool that makes its garments so fabulous (I say that based on the Icebreaker garments I own, and covet).
Chance to Win $200 by Giving Your Opinion on Your Workplace’s Sustainability Initiatives!
Posted by Scott Cooney November 18th, 2009 0 Comments
Have you ever wanted to know how many companies give their employees the chance to recycle or compost? Ever wonder how your company stacks up to others in terms of sustainability initiatives? Ever ask, “why is my boss such a jerk?”– only because your boss said no to your suggestion for installing a programmable thermostat?
Brighter Planet, a Vermont-based company whose credit cards offer users the chance to give to community renewable energy projects with each purchase, has just launched a survey to give all of us the chance to talk about our company’s true environmental commitment. Each completed survey contestant will be entered into a raffle for a $200 prize.
SolarCity CEO Says Solar Installation Biz Splitting into Big Guys and Little Guys
Posted by BC Upham November 17th, 2009 0 Comments
Solarcity CEO Lyndon Rive said in an interview Friday that he is seeing a growing market schism between the thousands of small, local solar panel installers and a “half a dozen or so” national players that can provide “a trusted brand focusing on scale and services.”
Rise of the Brand Names
Solarcity, which the 32-year old Rive co-founded in 2006, has grown to be one of the leading solar panel installers in California, and perhaps the most recognizable solar installation company in the country.
The solar panel industry is still one where success is measured in the thousands of customers, not millions or billions, however, and despite its high-profile status in the news media, solar installers are still in a very niche business.
Coca-Cola Rolls Out Plant-Based Recyclable Bottles
Posted by BC Upham November 16th, 2009 12 Comments
Seemingly every day a different company announces a new greening initiative, so when Coca-Cola said this morning that it has begun distributing plastic bottles of Coke and other beverages made with up to 30% plant-based material, it might have seemed like just another press release.
In fact, consider it a milestone. The Coca-Cola cursive logo is the most recognized consumer brand in the world, and now, in some places, it will have a little green stamp on it, symbolizing not only that company’s sustainability efforts, but the degree to which green thinking has penetrated the corporate mindset.
Introducing PlantBottle
The Coca-Cola Company dubs the new packaging PlantBottle, and boasts that it is the first-to-market plant based PET plastic bottle in the industry. PlantBottle is already on the shelves in eco-conscious Denmark (in time for Copenhagen) and will be introduced in Canada in December, and San Francisco, LA and Seattle in January.
Social Media For Sustainable Business
Posted by Scott Cooney November 11th, 2009 3 Comments
At the Green Business Conference, Joey Shepp, founder of Earthsite, a boutique web design and strategy company, gave his presentation for best tips in using social media for sustainable businesses. This includes social networking, blogging, online reviews, and direct communications devices. The statistics are a bit surprising, even to someone like me who uses social media on a fairly regular basis.
- Four out of five people are using social media to interact with companies.
- Two thirds of people feel they can use social media to influence companies.
- Twenty percent of people trust advertising, 60 percent trust editorials, and 80 percent trust reviews written by their peers.
Shepp’s advice for businesses to take advantage of these trends?
Top Five Reasons to Like Rickshaw Bagworks
Posted by Carly Smolak November 9th, 2009 0 Comments
Mark Dwight, former CEO of Timbuk2, has taken his vision of sustainability and experience in messenger bag industry and spun it into San Francisco’s newest bag company- Rickshaw Bagworks. Rickshaw is a relatively new company, and operates out of a two year old factory situated in San Francisco’s Dogpatch neighborhood. Rickshaw comes after a long line of San Francisco messenger bag companies- most notably Timbuk2 and Chrome. Although not the first bag company in the city by the bay, Rickshaw is the first to embed sustainability into the culture of the company.
If you haven’t familiarized yourself with its offerings, here are five ways Rickshaw distinguishes themselves from the proverbial messenger bag pack:
Liberty Mutual Responsibility Project Conjures Laughs AND Consciousness
Posted by Gennefer Snowfield November 5th, 2009 1 Comment
I haven’t been blogging too much ’round these parts lately, mostly because I’ve been busy creating the types of videos and films I’m about to feature, but Liberty Mutual’s latest short, “Good Vibrations” made me stop in my tracks so I decided to make the time to share it with all of you. (No need to thank me.)
It’s part of their Responsibility Project to get consumers to act more responsibly. Obviously, it serves an insurance company well to have responsible policy holders, but if you look deeper, you’ll realize that these messages, ensconced in entertainment, actually serve the greater good, too.
The video below had me positively riveted for the full four minutes, a mix of that awkward laughter that unexpectedly bursts out when someone trips and the cringe of the inevitable guilt that follows. It’s funny and sweet, and leaves you newly inspired to keep the karmic flow of the universe going.
Help TerraCycle Find New Life for Old Toothbrushes
Posted by Tom Szaky November 2nd, 2009 8 Comments
Toothbrush Terrain. Image credit: krossbow on Flickr.
Look at your toothbrush. It’s likely made of some form of plastic, rubber, and inventive design engineering, packed into a small space. After your initial decision process, where color, teeth cleaning wizardry, and perhaps recycled content and recyclability came into play, you don’t really notice it that much anymore. It’s become part of the background.
Until now.
Now being the start of another round of winter colds, one of the preventative practices being to throw away your toothbrush and get a new one. Hang on, you know I can’t let that be how it goes!
EcoUnit Partners with Organic Valley to Supercharge Sustainable Consumer Behavior
Posted by Paul S October 30th, 2009 2 Comments
How do you effectively shift consumer behavior with minimal cost to you as a business and minimum effort required of consumers? EcoUnit is one company attempting to answer that question.
When we last wrote about them in June, they were testing out ways to reward customers for bringing in their own bags. This earns them EcoUnits, redeemable for anything from store discounts to donations to local eco non profits of choice. As mentioned, the pilot store program was a huge success, a 77 percent increase in reusable bag use in the first two months after launch.
Where are they now?
Smart Choice Label Fails Industry, Consumers, FDA
Posted by Carly Smolak October 27th, 2009 1 Comment
On Friday, the highly controversial Smart Choice food labeling program announced it will voluntarily “postpone active operations” three days after the FDA unveiled its plans to review any health claims displayed on the front of food packaging. While this means there will temporarily be no new processed junk food added to the list of “smart choices,” many existing products will continue to boast the deceptive label.
That’s weird. Why would a label that claims to be “coalition-based” run for the hills upon the FDA’s announcement that it will begin to vet nutritional claims found on the front of food packaging? If “scientists, academicians, nutrition educators, public health organizations, food manufacturers, retailers and government observers came together to create a robust system designed” for the consumer, if they were truly “transparent,” and if their standards were sufficiently “comprehensive” to apply to the “diet and health needs of the entire U.S. population,” then there should be no cause for concern.
Your Fantastic Sustainability Business Plan: Four Areas of Focus
Posted by FairRidge Group October 27th, 2009 0 Comments
Today, many companies acknowledge that they can play a significant role in addressing climate change and sustainability in general. Some have even begun proactively beating a path to transform their businesses, reaching for lofty goals such as zero waste, carbon neutrality, or even restoration of degraded ecosystems. Most, however, are only just starting to figure out what it means to be a sustainable business. In a previous post, I discussed the 5 levels of sustainability management maturity, through which a company must progress in pursuit of a sustainability transformation. So where should a company invest to successfully reach their sustainability goals?
In my opinion, there are four primary areas that you should consider when developing a sustainability investment plan: management infrastructure, eco-efficiency programs, strategic initiatives, and marketing programs. Clearly, there is a need to address these areas somewhat sequentially; you cannot successfully market sustainability before making strategic changes, and you cannot develop strategic initiatives without already having an appropriate management infrastructure in place. There is, however, room for overlap, and most mature companies manage to do all four in parallel.
Causecast: Getting the Word Out, Bringing Donations In
Posted by Mary Catherine O'Connor October 23rd, 2009 0 Comments
When he founded Causecast, Ryan Scott focused on one major problem that charitable organizations were facing: they were paying too much in donation transaction fees. So he set out to find ways of lowering those costs, since they bleed so much money away from a non-profit’s core fund-raising goals. “I realized [nonprofits] needed better IT infrastructure because they were getting overcharged on transaction costs. I wanted to bring those costs as close to $0 as possible,” he says.
Now, about two years later, Causecast helps lower transaction fees using a number of methods, from linking the non-profits up with companies who cover the fees through dollars earmarked for cause-marketing, to making the payment processing infrastructure more efficient for non-profits using emerging technology. For example, Causecast is launching a system by which consumers can make donations via their cell phones, using a text-to-pay payment system that generates low or no transaction fees.
Sponsors
Where We’re Going
Nov 19, 09
San Jose: The Tech Awards
Dec 2, 09
Bard CEP National Climate Seminar: Hon. Ed Markey Sponsor event
Dec 16, 09
Bard CEP National Climate Seminar: Eban Goodstein, Live from Copenhagen Sponsor event
Partners
Recent Comments