Topics in Corporate Responsibility
The Refrigerant Revolution
I was introduced to the 3form company at a local green gathering recently. The company produces materials for the architectural and design community and is working nicely in a green direction. I really liked the materials they used and the massive variety of applications for them. Their unique products cast a very modern and stunning image.
One of my favorites worth highlighting is “100 PERCENT” – it is low environmental impact material composed of recycled HDPE. In other words, it’s waste transformed into a very sexy and stylish design. It truly is beautiful and unique, but aside from the aesthetics, it’s tough, green, and clean.
What's Hot:
3form: Resin Encapsulated Technology; High-End Fashion Design
- Modern philanthropists prepared to give more – in the right circumstances
- YOUtopia: Public Gardens Pledge to Reduce Impact of Climate Change and Inspire Visitors
- How to Solve Wicked Problems
- Why It’s Important to Track the Results of Your Employee Volunteer Program, and How to Do It
Quick Presidio Business Survey
Small businesses have unique needs when it comes to implementing sustainability practices. MBA students at Presidio School of Management are working to address these needs with a new and innovative web-based service. If you are part of a company of 100 or fewer employees, and have 10 minutes to offer your perspective for market research, click here. (The survey will close next Friday, March 6.)
Thanks for your participation! Please click here for the survey.
Richard Branson’s new push, biofuels; coconut oil fueled airliner
Richard Branson, the business man that makes headlines seemingly every week. This time, it is for a green cause, he made history by becoming the first commercial airliner owner to fuel a flight with a partial load of biofuels.
The debatable point is this, it took the oil of 150,000 coconuts and some babassu palm oil to power only 20% of one of four fat tanks on one of his 747 Virgin Atlantic airliners. The headlined trip launched at Heathrow airport and touched down at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam, making the mark on what some would claim could be a revolution in environmentally responsible aviation.
Green Loop: green apparel, footwear, accessories
GreenLoop, the website for your green apparel, accessory and footwear needs. It is a portal to eco-friendly poducts for head to toe. An interesting company that provides a wholesale service to consumers for a wide variety of green wearable products.
The business is a no-nonsense green provider, it provides a portion of all sales to green causes and is far cry from green-washing compared to the standard business industry. All in all, I have been pleased with the customer service and the direction this relatively new green company is taking.
VIVAVI: Eco-friendly furnishings, design, build, connections
Those of you with big wqallets and a strong desire to go green with furnishings in your home or office should not overlook Vivavi.com. It is a site that offers a large variety of modern green furnishings from some of the industry’s top designers and manufacturers. I myself simply had a great time shopping through the site and viewing the unique and inspiring green pieces they offer. From vine-wrapped lounge chairs to bamboo dining sets and LED lighting, Vivavi offers it all in a convienent and user friendly online hub.
The site is very simple and yet sophisticated. The founder, Josh Dorfman, created a user firendly and versatile site that offers more than meets the eye. Not only is it a portal for green funishings but it also offers access to home design, architects, green builders, realtors and remodelers. Secondly, it even connects users to geen apartments, condos and residential communities. This site is worth checking out for the green enthusiast.
America’s Toxic 10 Corporate Polluters – A Story of Contradictions
America’s “Toxic 10,” a special report put out by Conde Nast portfolio.com, demonstrates that we have entered a new realm of corporate environmental governance. We frequently read headlines that highlight corporate sustainability initiatives, like “Ford’s New Green Roof Initiative” or “Boeing’s New Fuel-Efficient Airplanes.” But the sad reality is that corporate giants, by and large, continue to commit egregious crimes against human health and nature. Almost every company listed in the “Toxic 10″ has promoted some form of corporate greening, but this article shows that these may be attempts to legitimate and continue their polluting practices more than anything else.
Public & Private Sector Renewable Energy Leaders to Gather in D.C.
With energy costs, efficiency, security and climate change looking like they will be on corporate and political agendas for quite some time to come, government officials and executives from industry and commerce are increasingly networking to find ways of reducing energy intensity and greenhouse gas emissions – both operationally and by implementing organizational polices and best practices.
Cabinet level officials from more than 70 countries will be gathering alongside representatives from private sector, non-governmental organizations, the media and the public in the nation’s capital March 4-6 for WIREC 2008, the Washington International Renewable Energy Conference.
Conference focal points are organized around four themes: Market Adoption and Finance; Agriculture, Forestry and Rural Development; Technology, Research and Development; and State and Local Government Initiatives, each intended to provide a forum for examining policy initiatives that can facilitate a rapid ramping up renewable energy sources.
“This agenda has both the breadth and depth necessary for international leaders to address energy security, environmental quality, and wealth creation in rural areas.” said Thomas C. Dorr, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development, in a media release.
FuelMeister II: Personal Biodiesel Processor
One problem consumer’s face when wanting to use biofuels is building an in-house processor for creating biodiesel to further shave costs. This is no small feat so Renewal Biodiesel has created a second generation do-it-yourself system that makes it a snap. The system is aptly coined the FuelMeister II. The biggest benefit to this system is cost savings, producing your own biodiesel fuel can bank you as little as .70 cents a gallon!!
The FuelMeister II is faster, safer, and easier to operate than its older sibling. The FuelMeister creates biodiesel out of used cooking oil, methanol, lye, electricity and tap water. With these ingredients properly blended the FuelMeister can kick out 80 gallons of clean-burning fuel every day. This fuel can be used to power your vehicle or even your home or both.
How to get clean water: Play on a merry-go-round!
We in the West take it for granted that you turn on the faucet, and water comes out. But for many people, it’s not a given. In fact, in many places, you have to walk for miles, scooping it into a large jar, then carry it back. And there’s no guarantee of it’s cleanliness. This results in a large number of deaths each year. But it simply doesn’t have to be that way. The irony is, for many, water can be found, right where they are, albeit deep in the ground. How? Not via an electricity or generator powered water pump. Too expensive, and generally there’s a lack of infrastructure in many places to support such a thing. What then?
How about a merry-go-round and a prefab water tower. Come again? Yes, it’s called the Play Pump. What is it? Basically, it’s a water pump, that utilizes the energy of children (and anybody else who cares to play on it) spinning around on a playground style merry-go-round, that serves as the motor behind the pump. Rather then give them away, these reasonably priced devices whose water tower has nice large flat surfaces could double as a billboard, providing income to cover the maintenance of them, and publicity for local businesses.
What happens as a result of these?
Coming Soon to Your Home: Wireless Sensors
There will be some 14 million U.S. households equipped with wireless sensor networks come 2012. With the cumulative total worldwide WSN node market estimated to number 6 billion, the residential sector is an essential target for industry participants, according to recently released ON World research.
Energy management, along with lighting, security, entertainment control and home health are among the largest and fastest growing segments of the wireless sensor, “smart home” market, which ON World expects to expand nearly six-fold worldwide, from $470 million in 2007 to $2.8 billion in 2012.
Increasing energy costs, emerging standards and technological innovations are driving development, according to ON World researchers, who looked into more than 100 home installers, vendors and suppliers in conducting their research, published in the “WSN for Smart Homes” report.
“While proprietary WSN systems have been used by professional installers in luxury homes for over a decade, wireless protocols such as Z-Wave and ZigBee will make smart home solutions affordable for the average household,” Darryl Gurganious, senior research analyst for ON World, stated in a media release.
Ongoing development and success of wireless mesh networking protocols, such as the competing ZigBee and Z-Wave protocols, and the respective industry alliances promoting them, are credited for accelerating growth. OnWorld’s report provides in-depth chip level evaluations of the two competing standards, global market forecasts, primary research of installers and competitive analysis of 70 companies in the WSN smart home value chain.
AskPablo: Should I get rid of my standard light bulbs for those curlicue fluorescent ones?
Should I discard my still-working standard incandescent bulbs and replace them with compact fluorescents, or wait until they die a natural death and then replace them?
There are several reasons to get rid of those incandescent bulbs and replace them with compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). Incandescent bulbs turn less than 5 percent of the electricity they use into light; the rest is wasted heat. Besides being annoyingly inefficient, this can increase summertime air-conditioning costs and present a higher risk of fire. CFLs, on the other hand, are over three times more efficient, meaning they put out the same amount of light but use one-third as much electricity; they also put out much less heat.
Continue reading at: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/02/25/ask_pablo_lightbulbs/index.html
Hycrete Admixture: concrete waterproofing solution
Michael Rhodes was one of the masterminds behind solid rocket fuel over 40 years ago. Today he is throwing his chemical genius into the concrete arena. Welcome Hycrete Admixture, a blend of metallic ions and calcium moleculesthat react to seal the capillaries in concrete.
The result is a waterproof concrete through and through. Hycrete eliminates the need for external membranes, coatings, and sheeting treatments, which means that old concrete does not need to lay to rest in a landfill, it can be crushed and recycled. Hycrete concrete provides a valuable and sustainable approach to corrosion protection and waterproofing through a advanced yet simple evolution in performance concrete construction.
Communicating Sustainability Effectively Within the Workplace
As leaders in the corporate sustainability movement, it is important to be able to share our ideas with others who may not exactly “get it” yet. Anna Clark, president of EarthPeople (a sustainability consulting firm in Dallas, TX), shared her strategies for getting others in your workplace on board on ClimateBiz.com. Implementing these suggestions the next time you discuss why eco-efficient lighting works best at your next board meeting can help guide your company further along on the sustainability path.
Fiber Nanogenerators Put the Power in Power Walking
Truly amazing advances are being made in nanotechnology and electrical energy generation, one of which is highlighted in a
Renewable Energy World article by John Toon.
Researchers led by Zhong Lin Wang at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Materials Science and Technology, are developing power fibers that can be used to manufacture shirts and other clothing that can convert energy released during physical motion into electrical energy capable of powering small electronic devices in the field. Applications are widespread and extend beyond soldiers and other military personnel using such power generating clothing to scientists, engineers and other researchers, as well as everyday people eventually wearing them to sustain our ever expanding reliance and fascination with portable electronic devices.
Moreover, the concept applies to all types of physical motion, not just human movement. Fiber-based nanogenerators – made of fibers coated with cultured zinc oxide nanowires – may be used to generate low voltage electric current from wind, sound or other forms of mechanical energy.
Greening Your Small Business Can Have a Big Impact
The greening of small businesses across the country is a movement all its own. While it may be easy to dismiss the impact of small companies when compared to the big guys, consider the following stats from a GreenBiz.com article published today: “Small Businesses (defined as firms with less than 500 employees) employ half of the private sector workforce and use half of the electricity and natural gas consumed by the commercial and industrial sectors. In 2006, small businesses accounted for 99.9 percent of the 26.8 million businesses in the country.” Imagine the impact small businesses can have by collectively adopting eco-efficient technology and sustainable business practices. But how does a company start on this track, considering that most small business owners can’t afford to hire a “Green CEO” or “Director of Sustainability Initiatives”?
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