Posted on my employer's blog on the stuff I'm doing around global sustainability there.
http://blog.bitepr.com/2008/04/walking-the-tal.html
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Don't Forget to Follow Your Own Advice
I was laughing a bit yesterday at the Green Party. A colleague of mine posted about political conventions going green, using the Republicans as the example. Ironic.
I'm sure the Green Party has "green" events. But in forgetting to tell the world, they got scopped by the Republicans, and depositioned a bit. It's a bit like living in Scandinavia and being asked what you do that is "green." The government mandates a ton of stuff, so you might not even think of it as a green lifestyle practice, though you may be doing more than anyone.
It reminded me of my own choices (and communication to my netowrk about what I was doing to live green).
Last week I finally signed up from PG&E's ClimateSmart program, to offset my energy use through funding of forestry projects in California. Despite the real concerns about forestry as an offsets category, I'm comfortable with a symbolic gesture, at the least. And I do think that California is ahead of the game on standards and enforcement, so I feel confident that carbon sequestration is going to happen through my investment. And, being one guy in a sub-1,000 square foot apartment who likes things a bit cool, ClimateSmart is going to run me well under $5 a month.
And I've been sulking about my reliance on a car for my daily transportation. I got rid of my 4 liter Jeep 4X4 recently. Suprisingly, it got about 17 MPG in the city, and about 22 on highway. Not bad for an old SUV ('97). My buddy is letting me use his '07 Audi A3. I assumed that would be a big jump in efficiency. Wrong. It gets 20 MPG in the city, and about 26 MPG highway. With the benefit of ten years of technology and 2 liters less of engine displacement, very disappointing. Plus, it demands premium grade, which is more refining.
I tried MUNI again today (San Francisco's public transpo system). It took me an hour to go 8 miles. Driving takes 30-40 minutes. That adds up over a week. Time is precious to me, so I'm going to continue to drive daily.
So, today I bought an offset for 5,000 pounds of carbon from TerraPass. That's for about 6,000 miles/year for this car. TerraPass seem to be the easiest, most well-known brand, and they give a bumper sticker to help block some shame vibes. Of course, all of offsetting is done as a last resort. Energy efficiency and other lifestyle changes come first.
A bunch of carbon footprint calculators are out there; here are some:
Cool California
3Degrees
LiveNeutral
BP
SafeClimate
I'm sure the Green Party has "green" events. But in forgetting to tell the world, they got scopped by the Republicans, and depositioned a bit. It's a bit like living in Scandinavia and being asked what you do that is "green." The government mandates a ton of stuff, so you might not even think of it as a green lifestyle practice, though you may be doing more than anyone.
It reminded me of my own choices (and communication to my netowrk about what I was doing to live green).
Last week I finally signed up from PG&E's ClimateSmart program, to offset my energy use through funding of forestry projects in California. Despite the real concerns about forestry as an offsets category, I'm comfortable with a symbolic gesture, at the least. And I do think that California is ahead of the game on standards and enforcement, so I feel confident that carbon sequestration is going to happen through my investment. And, being one guy in a sub-1,000 square foot apartment who likes things a bit cool, ClimateSmart is going to run me well under $5 a month.
And I've been sulking about my reliance on a car for my daily transportation. I got rid of my 4 liter Jeep 4X4 recently. Suprisingly, it got about 17 MPG in the city, and about 22 on highway. Not bad for an old SUV ('97). My buddy is letting me use his '07 Audi A3. I assumed that would be a big jump in efficiency. Wrong. It gets 20 MPG in the city, and about 26 MPG highway. With the benefit of ten years of technology and 2 liters less of engine displacement, very disappointing. Plus, it demands premium grade, which is more refining.
I tried MUNI again today (San Francisco's public transpo system). It took me an hour to go 8 miles. Driving takes 30-40 minutes. That adds up over a week. Time is precious to me, so I'm going to continue to drive daily.
So, today I bought an offset for 5,000 pounds of carbon from TerraPass. That's for about 6,000 miles/year for this car. TerraPass seem to be the easiest, most well-known brand, and they give a bumper sticker to help block some shame vibes. Of course, all of offsetting is done as a last resort. Energy efficiency and other lifestyle changes come first.
A bunch of carbon footprint calculators are out there; here are some:
Cool California
3Degrees
LiveNeutral
BP
SafeClimate
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Shrinking Bottles
As I don't have TV, I get excited (sometimes) about commercials. This past week, I saw one from P&G touting it's shrinking bottles of detergent. Fun creative and great message.
Although this move to concentrated detergents is old news, as reported by the WSJ in May 2007, it is a nice notch in the sustainable business bedpost.
Back when I consulted with the Feds on ENERGY STAR, we worked with P&G on campaigns around Tide HE, trying to get the word out through partnerships with utilities and manufacturers. This was as early as 2003, and was focused on the front-loading washer boom that required a more concentrated detergent. Good to see the full group has embraced the LOHAS market, even if it's been pushed there by Wal-Mart and others driving waste out of their businesses through pressure on the supply chain.
Shrinking bottles of detergent ties into the bottled water debate, which is gaining momentum. Detergent is basically large bottles of mostly water. It doesn't add any value to ship more water across vast distances. No added value + extra plastic + more transportation costs = waste. BrandWeek had a nice piece back in February 2008 that shows that the big bev boys are concerned about bottled water backlash.
Good to see Unilever changing too, though darker green brands such as Method, Seventh Generation and others (I have a super concentrated detergent at home that I'll update this post with) having been doing it for years.
Although this move to concentrated detergents is old news, as reported by the WSJ in May 2007, it is a nice notch in the sustainable business bedpost.
Back when I consulted with the Feds on ENERGY STAR, we worked with P&G on campaigns around Tide HE, trying to get the word out through partnerships with utilities and manufacturers. This was as early as 2003, and was focused on the front-loading washer boom that required a more concentrated detergent. Good to see the full group has embraced the LOHAS market, even if it's been pushed there by Wal-Mart and others driving waste out of their businesses through pressure on the supply chain.
Shrinking bottles of detergent ties into the bottled water debate, which is gaining momentum. Detergent is basically large bottles of mostly water. It doesn't add any value to ship more water across vast distances. No added value + extra plastic + more transportation costs = waste. BrandWeek had a nice piece back in February 2008 that shows that the big bev boys are concerned about bottled water backlash.
Good to see Unilever changing too, though darker green brands such as Method, Seventh Generation and others (I have a super concentrated detergent at home that I'll update this post with) having been doing it for years.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Green Mixers
Everyone's scrambling to capitalize on the swarm around cleantech. SF Green is a new one that's charging $15, and EcoTuesday starting charging $10 in advance and $20 at the door a couple months ago. There are several freebies too. Here's a quick collection of offline social networks in the Bay Area for cleantech/sustainability:
Green Drinks @ Varnish
EcoTuesday
Climatini
Green Drinks @ Elixir
SF Green
Sustainable Business Alliance Events
Please post any others that you know of, or feedback on these events to help people choose wisely.
Green Drinks @ Varnish
EcoTuesday
Climatini
Green Drinks @ Elixir
SF Green
Sustainable Business Alliance Events
Please post any others that you know of, or feedback on these events to help people choose wisely.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Playing with Sustainability
Gaming has become a huge part of the modern lifestyle (though my last console was a Nintendo, as in NES). Many think it's wasted time.
Can we harness the raw manpower going into gaming (from players and creators) to drive the sustainability movement (and maybe even policy and behavior, both consumer and business) forward? Both serious games and alternate reality games may help.
Back in April 2007, World Without Oil opened my eyes to this concept. I dabbled in it a bit, blogging and being a passive spectator. My primary solution was to get rid of my four liter Jeep and take public transpo, buy more from the farmers market, support local businesses, and protest. But now that my social media chops are better, my participation (and many other's) would be richer. I hope to see more of these types of alternate reality games.
IBM just launched a virtual reality game called PowerUp. They used some nice social media elements too, check out the video news release.
There are a variety of other online sustainability games popping up, most based on the SIMS model, or simple boardgames. These don't capitalize on social networks, which is where the power is (as SETI knows), but it's an example of using games to solve societal problems and educate folks. They can be effective communication tools, but I'm more interested in an exponential jump in solutions and behavior change, which requires more freedom and user generated content. Here are some of the simpler ones:
Stop Disasters from the UN/ISDR.
Chevron's Energyville.
ElectroCity from Genesis Energy (New Zealand).
Consumer Consequences from American Public Media.
The Cloud Institute for Sustainability and Union of Concerned Scientists have very simple ones.
Can we harness the raw manpower going into gaming (from players and creators) to drive the sustainability movement (and maybe even policy and behavior, both consumer and business) forward? Both serious games and alternate reality games may help.
Back in April 2007, World Without Oil opened my eyes to this concept. I dabbled in it a bit, blogging and being a passive spectator. My primary solution was to get rid of my four liter Jeep and take public transpo, buy more from the farmers market, support local businesses, and protest. But now that my social media chops are better, my participation (and many other's) would be richer. I hope to see more of these types of alternate reality games.
IBM just launched a virtual reality game called PowerUp. They used some nice social media elements too, check out the video news release.
There are a variety of other online sustainability games popping up, most based on the SIMS model, or simple boardgames. These don't capitalize on social networks, which is where the power is (as SETI knows), but it's an example of using games to solve societal problems and educate folks. They can be effective communication tools, but I'm more interested in an exponential jump in solutions and behavior change, which requires more freedom and user generated content. Here are some of the simpler ones:
Stop Disasters from the UN/ISDR.
Chevron's Energyville.
ElectroCity from Genesis Energy (New Zealand).
Consumer Consequences from American Public Media.
The Cloud Institute for Sustainability and Union of Concerned Scientists have very simple ones.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Greenwashing: How to Avoid It
Businesses are under increasing pressure to go green - from consumers, regulators and shareholders - and the threat of greenwashing is rising. Greenwashing is essentially when companies say they're green, but aren't - their communicatiosn don't map to their operational realities.
Bite Communications' Cleantech Practice (which I'm a part of) issued a whitepaper today that suggests that while the threats of being accused of greenwashing in today’s market are very real, so are the potential upsides from pursuing a corporate sustainability strategy. There's an executive summary over at Bitemarks blog.
In addition, Bite published a podcast with Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic, which explores the issues in the whitepaper, and how Virgin has found true competitive advantages with its green and sustainability efforts.
We issued a social media release, with links to the whitepaper, podcast, images, through Marketwire's new service.
I saved some good resources on greenwashing on Delicious.
Bite Communications' Cleantech Practice (which I'm a part of) issued a whitepaper today that suggests that while the threats of being accused of greenwashing in today’s market are very real, so are the potential upsides from pursuing a corporate sustainability strategy. There's an executive summary over at Bitemarks blog.
In addition, Bite published a podcast with Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic, which explores the issues in the whitepaper, and how Virgin has found true competitive advantages with its green and sustainability efforts.
We issued a social media release, with links to the whitepaper, podcast, images, through Marketwire's new service.
I saved some good resources on greenwashing on Delicious.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Smarter solar power could revolutionize industry
I just love that headline from the Santa Rosa Press Democrat - and that fact that it's backed up by proof points.
Solar micro-inverters are officially here after a long struggle by by the entire industry to make them commercially viable.Enphase Energy completed CSA listing per UL1741 for its micro-inverters, which means that it passed difficult tests and can be sold in the US. This is a market first and signals the beginning of a shift in the solar industry from central/string inverters to micro-inverter solar energy systems.
Most of the investment in solar has been to tweak incremental efficiency out of PV cells or even to get economies of scale on the installation side (Solar City). Micro-inverters represent the potential for significantly increased ROI in solar systems. Enphase has a smart system, including communications hardware and software, web-based anlaytics and other technologies, that represent the best option to date. The product is in beta now and will be coming to market in Q2 2008.
More stories on this:
Earth2Tech
VentureBeat
CNET
Red Herring
Enphase Energy is a client of Bite Communications, where I work in the cleantech practice.
read more | digg story
Solar micro-inverters are officially here after a long struggle by by the entire industry to make them commercially viable.Enphase Energy completed CSA listing per UL1741 for its micro-inverters, which means that it passed difficult tests and can be sold in the US. This is a market first and signals the beginning of a shift in the solar industry from central/string inverters to micro-inverter solar energy systems.
Most of the investment in solar has been to tweak incremental efficiency out of PV cells or even to get economies of scale on the installation side (Solar City). Micro-inverters represent the potential for significantly increased ROI in solar systems. Enphase has a smart system, including communications hardware and software, web-based anlaytics and other technologies, that represent the best option to date. The product is in beta now and will be coming to market in Q2 2008.
More stories on this:
Earth2Tech
VentureBeat
CNET
Red Herring
Enphase Energy is a client of Bite Communications, where I work in the cleantech practice.
read more | digg story
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