It was at Sustainable Brands, a conference I always make a point to attend, that I first heard market researchers discuss cost less, mean more as a key product design for winning customers. Cost less, mean more “Cost less, mean more” struck home for me because it aligns with economic theory which defines consumer procurement [...]

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The U.S. military is the world’s largest fuel consumer. The DOD and DOE have set their performance goal to have 30 Net Zero Energy facilities by 2030.

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The following outlines six best practices that enabled DuPont’s success in achieving zero landfill waste stream results

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“Our business revenues are directly tied to winning competitive bids,” explains Elizabeth Barry, Chief Sustainability Officer of Marsh & McLennan Companies. “Over the last couple of years an increasing number of our customers are inserting into their bid packages questions that seek documentation of our company’s sustainability commitment.” Barry’s comments reflect the growth of the [...]

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The greening of the supply chain is one of the economic engines of the global, $1 trillion revenue growth opportunity for companies selling sustainable products and services. KPMG reports that 95 percent of the world’s largest 250 companies now publish metrics on their environmental and social performance. This metrics-based focus upon environmental performance by the [...]

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The smart phone app is exploding in use with over 25 million apps downloaded just on Christmas Day. The Apple App Store is estimated to have shattered all previous records achieving 11 billion app downloads during 2011 and Android achieved 10 billion cumulative app downloads by year-end 2011. Apps have gone green enabled by the QR [...]

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2012 will be the milestone year that the US economy demonstrates sustained economic growth through adoption of 21st century’s sustainable solutions. Earth 2017‘s economic model estimates that sustainable product solutions have now achieved the breakthrough trillion dollars per year in global annual revenues level and is on the path toward achieving $10 trillion of annual [...]

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Bottleneck was the word of the day at the recently held Distributed Solar Summit. The good news is that solar panel prices are at historically low levels. The increasing price competitiveness of solar is attracting a growing number of customers. However, the potential for explosive growth in solar installations is bottlenecked by regulation, rule-making and [...]

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A common comment I have heard in working with hundreds of business owners across America this year is, “I would like to eat organic food but it is too expensive.” At first I tried to address these concerns intellectually by comparing value and values. Then in one city a business owner confronted me with this [...]

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Imagine being next to a Mercedes at an urban red traffic light while test driving the all electric Nissan Leaf. You are sitting there wondering, “Is this going to be embarrassing? Will the car behind me honk at me for being too slow in moving forward when the light turns green?” Now imagine your satisfying [...]

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If your daily roundtrip commute to work is around 40 miles then you are spending approximately $2,000 per year on fuel.  AAA estimates that the hidden costs of car insurance, oil changes, annual depreciation on your car purchase, etc. add a whooping $3,000 more to your annual costs. In addition, you are pumping approximately 20 pounds [...]

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Today, October 31, 2011, the world will have “officially” grown to 7 billion in population. Among those 7 billion, approximately one billion are malnourished. Even in America, a bread basket for the world, there is emerging awareness of “urban food deserts” where people face limited healthy food options. The 21st Century’s farming challenge is to: [...]

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Buy Local is an emerging American mega-trend driven by consumers discovering how their purchasing power can create local jobs and community solutions. The farmer’s market is the tip of the spear of the Buy Local movement. The USDA reports that the number of farmer markets has exploded from less than 2,000 in 1994 to over [...]

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Care2 is “the largest online community of people passionate about making a difference.” When I interviewed Care2’s President/CEO Randy Paynter in August 2011, the website had approximately 16.5 million members. In only one month, Care2 grew by 500,000 new members to over 17 million. During the day I wrote this article the site’s membership grew [...]

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By Ashok Kamal For decades, it has been clear that a better understanding of sustainability is necessary to ensure humanity’s survival. Now the green imperative has expanded from environmental activists to boardroom executives. The business community is confronting both a call to action and stark ultimatum: embrace sustainability or risk becoming obsolete. The evidence in [...]

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This award winning winery became the first winery in Napa Valley to provide an electric recharging station.

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America is searching for a path that will restore jobs, the economy and our environment. The Green Builds Business program created by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation with funding from Walmart is doing just that. As the Green Builds Business implementation-coach, I have worked this summer with business owners in Milwaukee, Irving Texas, [...]

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The American dream is being realized in Milwaukee. Local Hispanic business owners are designing and implementing green projects that will accelerate the restoration of local jobs, their economy and our environment over the next 120 days. Milwaukee was the launch city the week of June 6, 2011 for the Green Builds Business program created by the [...]

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The Groupon business model is to offer daily price specials via email to customers that sign up to receive these types of price promotions. How successful is this business model? Groupon’s revenues have grown in one year, during a recession no less, from $10 million per month to $80 million per month. And their estimated [...]

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Are you looking for a business strategy to spark your revenue growth? Or maybe you are looking for a job within a growth industry that would also enable you to contribute toward making the world a little better place to live in? One market segment to consider is organic foods. The organic food industry has [...]

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A Harris Poll posted this question with a list of various industries: “Which of these industries do you think are generally honest and trustworthy – so that you normally believe a statement by a company in that industry?”

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Research on the U.S. and German solar industry suggests a permanent job is created for every six to nine homes that install a roof top solar system. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics calculates there are almost 15 million unemployed Americans today. So if each of the approximately 80 million single family homes in America [...]

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“What’s a fair price for a solar power system?” This is a huge question facing a homeowner exploring the purchase of a roof top solar system. Confronting the homeowner’s search for answers is a lack of “price transparency” for roof top solar systems. In the solar industry there is nothing like the Multiple Listings Service [...]

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According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance research America ranks 5th in the world in terms of installed solar power capacity. The solar industry is experiencing an approximately 33% annual growth rate, an amazing success in this still depressed economy. America is approaching a milestone in residential rooftop solar installations. Sometime next year the 100,000th American [...]

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According to the EPA each of us contribute 64 TONS of landfill waste during our lifetime. Imagine the environmental benefits if this waste could be processed into a fuel. That is exactly the technology that an Irish company called Re3 has developed. They have engineered a technology that can divert 95% of landfill waste through [...]

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The chemical industry is a $3 trillion dollar annual revenue industry. It’s principal feedstocks are oil and natural gas. The global chemical industry consumes 8% of the world’s hydro-carbons. Bio-chemistry offers an alternative path for producing our needed plastics and other chemicals. It is based upon a feedstock grown from plants, algae and other bio-sources. [...]

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A recent Nielsen Company survey found that a majority of U.S. consumers would buy an electric vehicle. BUT, 65% of American car buyers don’t want to pay more for electric cars. Simon Saba intuitively gets it.  Saba is Founder and CEO of SabaMotors where he is creating an electric sports car with performance and a [...]

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Ed Note: We’re reposting Bill Roth’s earlier interview with Marin Energy Anuthority Chair Charles McGlashan because of it’s relevance to the ongling ballot initiative Proposition 23. It was originally posted August 4th. AB32 is California’s pioneering legislation signed by the governor in 2006 that caps greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. I am proud to have [...]

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“Our customers are the lifeblood of our business, so we want to help them advance their own sustainability initiatives,” said Alexander Toeldte, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boise, Inc. during a summit Boise Inc. hosted called “Choices – Paths to Sustainability.” The summit was held in a ballroom at a green-designated hotel attended by [...]

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By Ellisa Feinstein GoingGreen Silicon Valley conference, a two and a half day conference which started last night, comes on the heels of President Obama’s declaration that clean energy technologies and jobs “are essential for the country’s environment and economy.” With leading and emerging clean technology companies, luminaries and venture capitalists, leading the charge, the [...]

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