Green Options

Just yesterday, I was browsing the bottled water section at Whole Foods when I came across a new brand with a really cool looking logo and labels that read “Joy”, “Peace”, “Health”, and “Prosperity” featuring instructions to visualize this intent while drinking the contents. Intrigued, I bought some and brought it home. It tasted fresher and cleaner than other waters - and hopefully my chosen intent (Prosperity, of course), will manifest.

As today’s blue collar workers lament the loss of jobs to illegal immigrants or offshoring, a whole new movement is afoot that very well may provide the solution to unemployment woes. As we experience the total revolution of our economy as we know it, an entirely new set of jobs are being created; green collar jobs. In fact, not since the Industrial Age has the global economy experienced the onsite of such a dramatic transformation!

Frank Dixon is the founder of Global Systems Change and the former Managing Director of Research for Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, which is the largest corporate sustainability research company in the world. His perspective on corporate thought and sustainability is that flaws in our economic and political systems make it impossible for any company to become sustainable. In fact, Mr. Dixon managed to shake my belief in many of the fundamental “sacred cows” I learned in business school

Although many valid arguments have been put forth that the bailout of US automakers is not a positive move - Wall Street appears to think otherwise. Today’s stock market is showing an early rally with all major indices up.

Mountain View, California-based startup CherryPal announced that it is now shipping a fully green desktop PC (the C114) as of December 2nd, just in time for it to be a perfect green Christmas present. Although it is a desktop, it is about the size of a paperback book - perfect for space limited computer users. It consumes only 2 Watts of power (the company’s website tells us this is about the same as a clock radio), and uses [...]

Video blogger Jeff Korhan, in his “Black Friday” video blog, had an interesting perspective on the new green trends. It is hard to remember when PCs were “new and different”, but Jeff reminds us of when people didn’t quite trust them yet, and still used a typewriter when it absolutely had to be done right.

Traditional corporations continue to move towards sustainable energy, and Norfolk Southern Railway is at the forefront of this trend.
On November 13th, the company announced that a 50 kilowatt wind turbine supplied by Entegrity Wind Systems of Boulder, Colorado was installed at its railyard in North Kansas City.  This wind turbine can generate an estimated 100,000 kilowatt hours annually, and is built with three 24-foot rotor blades mounted on a 100-foot tower.  This is enough energy to offset the electricity consumed by the pumps and controls for the treatment plant.

A fundamental necessity for ALL life forms on earth is clean, potable water. Yet sustainable sources of fresh water are in limited supply, particularly in poorer areas of the world. Water is the ONLY resource that is not replaceable with another - oil can be made obsolete through the use of new, renewable energy sources, food sources can be substituted one for another, but pure water has no equal.

Climate change is a reality, and one that has never been more evident to us than now - as we experience 80+ degree temperatures in November and hear daily about the melting of our polar ice caps.  Unfortunately, it also may carry a hefty price tag.
According to a new study released by Next Ten and the University of California at Berkeley, the aftermath of climate change could cost the State of California anywhere from $300M to $3.9B annually in damages.  Most of these damages are expected to result from wildfire and coastal damage to real estate.  Over half of California’s real estate assets, amounting to roughly $2.5T, are at risk.

One ominous fact pointed out by this report is that five major California airports sit on or near a coastline, and are in danger of being submerged if climate change results in rising sea levels.  The San Diego and Santa Barbara airports as well as all three major Bay Area airports are affected.

As 90% of the world’s freight travels by sea, burning over half a billion tons of fossil fuel per year, it is no surprise that environmentalists are searching for cost effective, green enhancements to this traditional industry’s methods.
Seatrade Middle East Maritime 2008, set to run from December 14-16 at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Center is expected to be the stage from which several exciting new innovations in green shipping are unveiled.  As another hot topic for discussion at this event will be the effect of the economic downturn on the shipping industry, industry greening that shaves costs is certain to be highlighted.

One of exhibitors presenting during this event is Greenwave, a UK based charity that is focused on finding workable solutions to the 1.2B tons of CO2 (greenhouse emissions) released into the atmosphere every year by the global shipping industry. Greenwave has four programs in place, all of which are designed to enhance fuel economy.  As fuel costs for a single ship is roughly $3M/year, Greenwave’s programs also have a positive impact on the bottom line.