Earth Profit

November 19, 2008

• Millipore Unveils Its First Biodegradable Bioplastic Product
  Millipore Corp. unveiled the EcoStand tube holder, the company’s first bioplastic product which is also biodegradable and compostable. The company says the EcoStand device is made from a corn-based plastic resin rather than from conventional petroleum-based plastic. The device is biodegradable in active microbial environments such as soil, home, compost, industrial compost as well as fresh [...]
  
  - 1 day
  source: (Environmental Leader)
• CSR, Enviromental Programs Good for the Bottom Line, Report Finds
  
  

  With the global financial meltdown sending every company "back to the blackboard," a new report from the Economist Intelligence Unit finds that almost three-quarters of businesses with CSR programs in place are seeing financial benefits as a result of achieving environmental goals.

  
  - 1 day
  source: (GreenBiz.com Green Business News)
• ‘Heat Wheel’ Cools Data Centers, Cuts Energy Bills
  Rich Miller writes on Data Center Knowledge about the “heat wheel,” a new approach to data center cooling which Miller says is likely to gain a higher profile from an upcoming demonstration of the technology. The heat wheel, also known as a rotary heat exchanger or Kyoto Cooling, improves the use of outside air to cool [...]
  
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  source: (Environmental Leader)
• California Clean Tech Open Awards
  Video from the California Clean Tech Open, which announced six category winners dor its 2008 competition earlier this month. The award winners will each receive a $100,000 “start-up in a box” package to assist them in transforming their clean tech visions into businesses. The winners competed in six categories, and include: Air, Water & Waste Award: Over [...]
  
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  source: (Environmental Leader)
• Panasonic Eyes Sanyo’s Green Tech in Takeover Bid
  Panasonic is planning to take over its rival Sanyo Electric. The deal would create one of the world’s largest electronics makers, but Panasonic is not in it for Sanyo’s gadgets. Instead, Panasonic wants Sanyo’s green-energy pillars: solar-cell technology and rechargeable batteries, Associated Press reports (via International Herald Tribune). Panasonic does not have a solar panel operation [...]
  
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  source: (Environmental Leader)
• Tips On Greening Your Business
  As part of NBC Universal’s “Green Week,” its affiliate CNBC published a piece on greening businesses. Here are some tips: 1. Offer flexible employee commuter options Encourage staff to give up cars by subsidizing the cost of mass transit tickets, offering telecommuting, or providing preferred parking spots for car-poolers or hybrid cars. Cisco System created 36 VIP parking [...]
  
  - 1 day
  source: (Environmental Leader)
• New Carbon Standard Set for Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use
  The Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) recently launched at the London Stock Exchange. It is being touted as the first time a standardized approach has included land use projects including forestry and agriculture and made them accessible to all market players in the $330 million voluntary carbon market. VCS rules allow agriculture, forestry and other land use [...]
  
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  source: (Environmental Leader)
• This Week NBC Showcases Ecopreneurs Who Help You ‘Green Your Routine’
  

  For those of you who didn’t know already, this week is “Green Week” at NBC Universal. On Monday (till the end of the week) the network started broadcasting 150 hours of environment-themed programming on its various TV channels and other properties.

  Green themed programming includes prime time shows such as “The Office” which will air an episode about the company considering recycled paper. And then local NBC stations are incorporating green-themed stories into their newscasts. As a Healthy Living Consultant, I spent this morning at the Farmer’s Market with NBC11 talking about “How to Have a Green Thanksgiving.” The segment will air on NBC11 this Thursday at 6.45pm so stay posted!

  I think it’s a great opportunity for Ecopreneurists.  Both in terms of finding interesting eco businesses…as well as a tool for drawing visibility to your own eco business. Last year, the company launched its first Green Week and also a “Get On Board” program to encourage consumers to reduce greenhouse gases and raise awareness. This year’s theme is ‘Green Your Routine,’ the network will feature tips and resources that offer consumers advice on this area: green cleaning companies, sustainable food producers, greening your commute and so on. More information about the programing can be found here.

  So Ecopreneurs, it is time to start creating you NBC pitch.  Your company or product might just be their next Green find!

  
  - 2 days
  source: (Ecopreneurist)
• Van Jones’ Ecopreneurial Vision
  

  

  Yesterday I had the pleasure of hearing Van Jones, author of The Green Collar Economy, talk about his vision for a green economy at The Center For American Progess.

  It was an oversubscribed crowd and Jones sat comfortably on an arm chair on a slightly raised platform, giving the impression of a living room chat. He started by talking about how the floor on America has been torn out, but so has the ceiling and now is the time when we are “free to fall or to fly.” He spoke of our unsustainable economic model that is based on consumption not production, run on debt vs. savings and thrift, and environmental destruction vs. preservation. But soon after the gloom, Jones shifted the rhetoric to one of hope. He spoke of building a new economy with clean energy power centers and a clean enemy corps. An economy where all people, including people often left out of economic expansion such as the poor, people of color, etc…, have a place at the table. He spoke of the low hanging fruit in a new green collar economy: retrofitting. He laid out his vision where out of work construction workers — workers he predicted would be idle for 12, 24, 36 months — are put to work retrofitting existing building across America.

  And therein lies the ecopreneurial opportunity. In Jones’ vision, people from all economic strata can start a business that provides retrofitting services or produce the products needed to retrofit. And, retrofitting is just the beginning. Jones went on to say that the days of the environment being a “a box you check off” are over and we have entered an era where environmental impacts are a lens through which all economic activity must be viewed. The result is an economy with a host of ecopreneurial opportunities and where our two worst problems, the economy and climate change, are solved by ecoprenuers. In Van Jones’ world, there never been a better time to be an ecopreneur.

  Photo courtesy of Van Jones.

  
  - 2 days
  source: (Ecopreneurist)
• Aluminum Association Sets Industry-Wide Recycling Goal
  
  

  The Aluminum Association hopes to be recycling 75 percent of aluminum beverage containers by 2015, though for now recyclers are having a tough time finding buyers.

  
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  source: (GreenBiz.com Green Business News)
• Verdiem Takes Campaign to Cut PC Energy Use to the U.K.
  
  

  Three months after launching energy management software to help U.S. consumers cut their PC energy use, Verdiem introduced the free software to the United Kingdom market.

  
  - 2 days
  source: (GreenBiz.com Green Business News)

November 18, 2008

• An Eco-Stimulus Package for Our Economy
  In his recent op-ed for the New York Times, Al Gore laid out a clear plan for America to lift itself out of both the energy and economic crises. The movement to build a clean energy future began in the grassroots, and has become a nationwide imperative involving the government, companies and individuals alike. Gore [...]
  
  - 2 days
  source: (Environmental Leader)
• Want To Win Awards? Write Longer Corporate Responsibility Reports
  Spada released its Environmental Reporting: Trends in FTSE 100 Sustainability Reports (PDF) and said longer corporate responsibility reports increase the likelihood of winning “sustainability” awards, with every extra page in a CR report increasing the likelihood of a company to win an international environmental award by up 3 percent. The study found that companies with more [...]
  
  - 2 days
  source: (Environmental Leader)
• United Flight Saves 1,600 Gallons Fuel Without New Technology
  United Airlines, a participant in the Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions, says it has reduced CO2 emissions by nearly 33,000 pounds and saved about 1,600 gallons of fuel on United flight 870 from Sydney, Australia, to San Francisco International Airport. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger met the flight in San Francisco, saying, “This amazing [...]
  
  - 2 days
  source: (Environmental Leader)
• Consumers Loyal To Brands That Support Good Cause During Recession
  According to Edelman’s goodpurpose global study of consumer attitudes (PPT), 68 percent of respondents said they would remain loyal to a brand during a recession if it supports a good cause and 71 percent say they have either given the same or more time and money to good causes during an economic downturn, CSRwire reports. However, [...]
  
  - 2 days
  source: (Environmental Leader)
• Harris Opens Green Branch, Installs Geothermal Technology
  Harris opened its first “green” bank branch on the South Side of Chicago. The City of Chicago supported the bank to install geothermal heating and cooling system in the branch, which is expected to reduce up to 30 percent of energy consumption annually, compared to a conventional system. The branch was designed by STL Architects and [...]
  
  - 2 days
  source: (Environmental Leader)
• Dell: OptiPlex Desktop Customers Cut 29 M Tons of CO2 Since 2005
  Since 2005, Dell says it has enabled customers using OptiPlex desktop systems to save an estimated $3 billion in energy costs and avoid nearly 29 million tons of CO2 through power management and energy-efficiency. In addition, the company says select configurations of the OptiPlex 760 and 960 desktops; Latitude E6400 and E4300 laptops, and Dell Precision [...]
  
  - 2 days
  source: (Environmental Leader)
• Atlanta Establishes First ‘Carbon Neutral Zone’ in the U.S.
  Verus Carbon Neutral and Antje Kingma, founder of Eco-Bella, say they have established the first “Carbon Neutral Zone” in the U.S. The zone - a community of 18 businesses in the Virginia Highland shopping district in Atlanta - completed carbon footprint audits and volunteered to purchase the required offsets to create a carbon neutral zone. Verus [...]
  
  - 2 days
  source: (Environmental Leader)
• AGs: Automakers Must Make Greener Cars To Receive Federal Aid
  Seven state attorneys general have written to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, urging them to require financially troubled automakers to produce more fuel-efficient cars and cut GHG emissions if those companies receive any federal aid, Legal Newsline reports. “[I]f the U.S. auto industry is serious about taking millions in [...]
  
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  source: (Environmental Leader)
• 5 Tips To Encourage Employees To Go Green At The Workplace
  

  Read more of this story - 3 days
  source: (Ecopreneurist)