Last night’s topic was, obviously, greening your small business.  I had prepared a dozen questions and answers and was expecting to field additional questions. But what happened, and here’s the beauty of Twitter and why this kind of event is Twitter at its best, is that a real dialogue occurred.  I didn’t have much chance to interject, mostly because several people had perfectly good answers that came from their day to day operations. For example, when question #2 was posted:

I, as planned, posted my 140 character response:

Its a perfectly fine answer, but the chat took off and many other terrific “definitions” kept popping up.

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This week I spoke with Jamie Wimberly whose firm, EcoAlign, just came out with a report called “Green Gap Redux: Green Words Gone Wrong”. Wimberly is CEO of Distributed Energy Financial Group (DEFG), a company in the clean tech space that includes EcoAlign. Jamie has nearly 20 years of experience in the energy and environment space, previously having served as the Vice President of the Consumer Energy Council of America (CECA), the President of the Center for the Advancement of Energy Markets (CAEM) and a Director on Boards of technology companies. He is a published author, frequent speaker and the Executive Producer of the award-winning Day In The Life Of (DILO) video.

Q: Hi Jamie.  Before we talk about the “Green Gap Redux” report, can you talk about how your focus on energy makes EcoAlign different from other green marketing agencies?
A. I was attracted to the energy sector because it impacts so many of the big issues of our day, including the environment, and is integral to modern society in all aspects.  The relationship between energy and environment is a symbiotic one, meaning that we won’t be able to clean up our environment and manage climate change without a transformation on how we produce, deliver and consume energy.  Our deep expertise in energy (the partners alone have over 50 years of collective experience in the sector) means that we can go beyond your usual agency engagement and truly discuss all aspects of strategy – operational, financial, marketing, etc.  As such, we are able to elevate the discussion of such things as messaging/ communications, product development, customer engagement, campaign design, channels and metrics, and other marketing-related activities to the C-level suite of our clients.  Finally, I would note that “sustainability” is evolving into a complete management model.  For that transition to be effective, you need to have a lot of skill sets and a strategic perspective that only comes from a deep understanding of all the moving pieces of a company. The end goal is for sustainability to become a business and economic driver to enhance profitably.

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Corporate critics like Douglas Rushkoff would add that not only is our world dominated by corporations, but as individuals, we have all internalized the worst corporate values, becoming disconnected, profit-driven and absolutely “me” focused in everything we do.

That’s a pretty bleak picture.  After reading Rushkoff’s book (and even writing a long review about it) I thought about the legions of people (like me) working in companies.  Sure, there are a lot of narcissistic corporate drone types that fit the description above…but there are also a lot of other folks willing to shake things up.  Lets call them purpose driven corporatists.

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I find so many of you inspiring, I’m thinking: Could it be you?

They are looking for small businesses that are:

• Innovative
• Give back to the community
• Demonstrate a “customer first” mentality.

If so, they want to hear your story and you might win a $100K grant in cash and marketing support from American Express.

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Meet up with the mokugift team and other environmentally concious techies, fashionistas and fun people at the Green Software Unconference or at Digital Summer on Aug 19th.

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The Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc. and Nissan North America win a $99.8M grant from the Department of Energy to support the largest deployment of electrical vehicles (EVs) and charging infrastructure in U.S. history.

The project will use Nissan’s LEAF, an early stage zero-emission EV to study and develop the logistics and necessary scale behind the implementation of a national charging infrastructure, that will in turn, support large-scale EV deployment.  Initial stages of the project include the deployment of 5,000 EVs and EV charging stations in Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.  Don Karner, President of eTec, sums up the industry e-coup:

By studying lessons learned from electric vehicle operations and the infrastructure supporting these first 5,000 vehicles, the Project enables the streamlined deployment of the next 5,000,000 electric vehicles…Nissan and over 40 government and industry partners, will enable this Project to successfully pave the way for electric transportation nationwide.

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/08/06/ecotality-and-nissan-to-get-100m-from-department-of-energy/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/07/30/clean-energy-technology-has-arrived-funding-stalled/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/07/30/clean-energy-technology-has-arrived-funding-stalled/#comments Thu, 30 Jul 2009 18:40:46 +0000 Elizoebeth Jensen http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/07/30/clean-energy-technology-has-arrived-funding-stalled/

The House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming recently heard from a panel of leading edge scientists and industry executives on the state of existing U.S. clean technology and the lack of funding for developing and scaling the technology into commercially viable products and services.

The primary technologies discussed were solar and carbon capture technologies. Dr. Brent Constantz, CEO of Calera Corporation, which focuses on a transformational technology that converts CO2 into green building materials such as cement and aggregate, argues that this process is better than traditional CCS (Carbon Capture and Storage or Sequestration), as it represents a permanent CO2 conversion from gas to solid material.

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/07/30/clean-energy-technology-has-arrived-funding-stalled/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/07/02/how-to-have-a-truly-sustainable-cup-of-coffee/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/07/02/how-to-have-a-truly-sustainable-cup-of-coffee/#comments Thu, 02 Jul 2009 11:00:51 +0000 Paul Smith http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/07/02/how-to-have-a-truly-sustainable-cup-of-coffee/ You drink coffee. Tea. When it’s at home, it’s organic, and when you’re out, you do your best. In so many ways, you live a green lifestyle. And yet, there’s one sticky point: the cup.

You know about bringing your own mug, but it’s just so…clumsy. And it’s not the right size for the machines your barista uses, so they have to use a different cup when making it, defeating the purpose of you bringing a mug.

Yes, their cups are made from recycled paper, but they’re coated to make them waterproof, heat resistant, etc. Which means they aren’t getting recycled a second time. Compostable? Biodegradable? Possibly, but still, some materials had to be used to make that single use cup. Often more than twice the weight of the resulting cup. And for many, unless you have a professional grade facility at home, composting or biodegrading isn’t going to happen any time soon.

What to do? KeepCup has what may be just the thing:

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/07/02/how-to-have-a-truly-sustainable-cup-of-coffee/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/25/how-to-both-save-energy-and-sleep-easy/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/25/how-to-both-save-energy-and-sleep-easy/#comments Thu, 25 Jun 2009 11:00:40 +0000 Paul Smith http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/25/how-to-both-save-energy-and-sleep-easy/ It’s summer in the Northern hemisphere, and for many, that means going on holiday to warm, tropical locales. And using air conditioning. Lots of it. In fact, in some tropical places, nearly 80% of energy use in a hotel room is for air conditioning. 1200 to 2000 watts on average.

Evening Breeze is an interesting solution: It’s a canopy bed that has adjustments for both temperature and humidity, and delivers it quietly, overhead, using only 400 watts. As it’s focused just on the place where coolness is desired, there’s no need to try and cool the whole room. Simple, brilliant. The resulting energy savings can mean 4MWh, $1000 and 2.5 tons of CO2 reduction annually.

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/25/how-to-both-save-energy-and-sleep-easy/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/19/one-great-way-to-support-green-startups-think-inside-the-box/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/19/one-great-way-to-support-green-startups-think-inside-the-box/#comments Fri, 19 Jun 2009 11:00:17 +0000 Paul Smith http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/19/one-great-way-to-support-green-startups-think-inside-the-box/ Here’s an idea that comes from outside the green business world, but has much to offer us and I think should be repeated all over.

In London, KiosKiosk is a simple, powerful, powerfully fun idea: Create an attractive temporary space for upcoming (but ready to sell) businesses to be at, in a high traffic area. At no cost.

Backed by the London Sustainable Development Commission, businesses just need to submit a brief form describing what they’d like to use the kiosk for, when, and why they are a good idea for the KiosKiosk and vice versa.

While the KiosKiosk is focused on creative/design/arts/music businesses, such an idea could, and should be replicated for green startups, many of which, like any small company, may not have the funds or credit history to get a full fledged, full time space. Since there is no rent to pay, this could also be used by companies to create, say, memorable experiences and activities out of the space, of lasting promotional value and social media worthy mentions, growing their online business, for example.

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/19/one-great-way-to-support-green-startups-think-inside-the-box/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/17/green-grad-advice-an-ecopreneur-promotes-detours-at-high-school-alma-matter-commencement/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/17/green-grad-advice-an-ecopreneur-promotes-detours-at-high-school-alma-matter-commencement/#comments Wed, 17 Jun 2009 10:35:59 +0000 Lisa Kivirist http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/17/green-grad-advice-an-ecopreneur-promotes-detours-at-high-school-alma-matter-commencement/ That once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that both warms one’s heart and instills a swarm of nervous stomach butterflies came about for me last week:  giving a commencement address at my old high school, Glenbrook South in Glenview, Illinois. 

While it ranked an honor to receive the distinguished alum award, the five-minute speech proffering advice for the 2009 graduating class proved to be a unique challenge for me, requiring me to think about and process the “Lisa Kivirist” from 1985 when I graduated, when the only “green” I knew was the one in the padded paychecks I aspired to earn, to the green rolling hills of our Wisconsin farm and B&B today, Inn Serendipity and helping others launch green businesses through my book, ECOpreneuring.

Detours with a dose of serendipity quickly arose as the theme song for my last twenty years, a refrain that I wanted to leave with the graduating class.  Life may take unexpected turns, but remember, as I learned, to keep connected to the core values, your earth mission, figuring out ways to craft a life and livelihood based on your passions.

Here are some excerpts from my speech:

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/17/green-grad-advice-an-ecopreneur-promotes-detours-at-high-school-alma-matter-commencement/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/11/open-silicon-valley-forum-09-saturday-june-13th-discount-for-green-options-readers/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/11/open-silicon-valley-forum-09-saturday-june-13th-discount-for-green-options-readers/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:11:25 +0000 Ryan Keeshan http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/11/open-silicon-valley-forum-09-saturday-june-13th-discount-for-green-options-readers/ OPEN (Organization for Pakistani Entrepreneurs) Silicon Valley is holding their Forum ‘09 this Saturday, June 13th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. This year, the forum will include a Cleantech track that will bring business leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, and policy makers together to discuss different perspectives of clean and sustainable technologies for the future. If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area and want a new and interesting perspective on the subject, head out to Mountain View this Saturday.

Tickets are $55 in advance and $95 on-site, but OPEN was kind enough to offer Green Options readers a bargain discounted price of $40. The discounted tickets can only be purchased through this link: http://tinyurl.com/OPENforum-DISCOUNT.

Here is a brief overview of the Cleantech panel sessions:
Session I: Where’s the Green in Clean? Investment Opportunities, Valuations and the Funding Gap in Cleantech.
Session II: Innovations in Energy: Viable business propositions after Market Corrections.
Session III: The Stimulus Act: The Impact of Government Policy on Cleantech Start-ups and Investors.
Session IV: Workshop: Crafting your personal brand to transition into the Cleantech sector.

For more information on OPEN Silicon Valley Forum ‘09 Cleantech sessions, click here.
For a full schedule of events click here.

]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/11/open-silicon-valley-forum-09-saturday-june-13th-discount-for-green-options-readers/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/11/zipcar-iphone-smart-integration-of-two-tools-for-one-big-result/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/11/zipcar-iphone-smart-integration-of-two-tools-for-one-big-result/#comments Thu, 11 Jun 2009 13:00:12 +0000 Paul Smith http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/11/zipcar-iphone-smart-integration-of-two-tools-for-one-big-result/ Unless you’ve been laid up in bed all this week, you’ve heard that Apple is releasing a new iPhone 3G-S with an amazing array of features But one you may not have heard of is a brilliant bridging between the iPhone and Zipcar.

These two are as they say peas in a pod, technology enhanced life(style) enhancements, for a demographic that I imagine likes that they get to both have what they want, when they want it, and do good by the planet at the same time.

Impressing your friends in the bargain is a fine dessert.

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/11/zipcar-iphone-smart-integration-of-two-tools-for-one-big-result/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/10/interview-with-carmen-spagnola-of-m-smart-designs/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/10/interview-with-carmen-spagnola-of-m-smart-designs/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 16:57:53 +0000 Olga Orda http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/10/interview-with-carmen-spagnola-of-m-smart-designs/

A Green Printer interview with Carmen Spagnola, entrepreneur and owner of m.

1. What made you want to start m?
I started m because I was a frustrated consumer.  I decided that  if I want to have access to smarter, more beautifully designed, more  responsible products and amenities for my home and family, I was going
to have to create more demand.  Markets are a bit of a chicken-and-egg  relationship.  Many retailers will tell you that they only provide  what their customers want.  That is only part of my modus operandi.
I want to showcase the possibility of a better performing future, so  much of what I sell and promote is currently considered ahead of the market.  But how will the market know what it wants if we don’t inspire it to want more?

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/10/interview-with-carmen-spagnola-of-m-smart-designs/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/08/finding-like-minds-2-artists-athletes/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/08/finding-like-minds-2-artists-athletes/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:49:51 +0000 Krates http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/08/finding-like-minds-2-artists-athletes/

In Februrary 2009 mokugift started to see traffic coming from Elle magazine France.  This piqued our interest and decided to find the article.  It turns out that Marion Cotillard mentioned mokugift as one of her favorite sites along with L’alliance pour la planete.  We aren’t very familiar with the entertainment world, so we had to look up this name.  We were pleasantly surprised to find out that Marion won the best actress Oscar in for her role in 2007’s La Vie En Rose (remake).

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/08/finding-like-minds-2-artists-athletes/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/05/finding-like-minds-1-open-doors-for-green-business/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/05/finding-like-minds-1-open-doors-for-green-business/#comments Sat, 06 Jun 2009 02:25:11 +0000 Krates http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/05/finding-like-minds-1-open-doors-for-green-business/

The internet makes knowledge accessible, but at the end of the day it is about communications and connecting.  Global Green Links came to Mokugift, signed up to our corporate rewards program and became an affiliate in less time that it takes took us to figure out where to go for lunch.

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/05/finding-like-minds-1-open-doors-for-green-business/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/03/ecopreneur-profile-world-of-good-sells-shopping-with-a-conscience/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/03/ecopreneur-profile-world-of-good-sells-shopping-with-a-conscience/#comments Wed, 03 Jun 2009 23:55:42 +0000 John Ivanko http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/03/ecopreneur-profile-world-of-good-sells-shopping-with-a-conscience/
“Empower people in the US to realize that they have power to influence the global economy through their purchasing choices.” That isn’t some pie-in-the-sky wistful, unrealistic dream. That inspiring vision forms the Earth Mission, that driving force behind World of Good as they aim to transform how we shop by connecting us directly that individual who made our product, even if they are half-way around the globe.

Fostering an economy based on social and economic justice, World of Good, launched by co-founders Priya Haji and Siddharth Sanghvi — just after they graduated from University of California Berkeley Business School — features unique gifts and handcrafts from artisan communities around the world. By selling through an ever-expanding distribution network of retailers nationwide, they are building a whole new economy based on Fair Trade.

Ten percent of their profits get funneled to their sister non-profit organization, The World of Good Development Organization, which helps support artisan communities and works to strengthen international fair wage standards.

“Our aim is to make it easy to help customers make a good choice — not to buy more, but to buy differently,” explains Priya. “They can expect quality, convenience and style — yet the products can be made in a way that actually helps the people who make them. Right now, our products are women’s accessories and housewares. As World of Good grows, our aim is to make the choice for people-positive products easy to find in every category of daily life. We want every human-made product to be a tool of relationship and empowerment for the person who crafted it. Imagine every product not as a material thing but as a bridge of connection and transformation.”

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/03/ecopreneur-profile-world-of-good-sells-shopping-with-a-conscience/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/02/small-wonders-promoting-green-entrepreneurs/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/02/small-wonders-promoting-green-entrepreneurs/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:36:28 +0000 mcmilker http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/02/small-wonders-promoting-green-entrepreneurs/ A new player on the green scene launched today. SmallWonders .

Today the Center for Small Business and the Environment (CSBE) launched a new initiative aimed at the 111th Congress and the Obama Administration, reminding them that the best way to revive the ailing U.S. economy is to think green – green entrepreneurism that is.

With multiple options to explore greening your business, this new initiative gives green entrepreneurs a chance to share their stories and connect with other entrepreneurs. Launched with an eye on social media, they’ve included all of the right tools. You can join the community on their Facebook Page or follow them on Twitter.

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/06/02/small-wonders-promoting-green-entrepreneurs/feed/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/05/28/shred-stop-makes-efficient-use-of-your-time-resources-andreport-cards/ http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/05/28/shred-stop-makes-efficient-use-of-your-time-resources-andreport-cards/#comments Thu, 28 May 2009 13:00:59 +0000 Paul Smith http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/05/28/shred-stop-makes-efficient-use-of-your-time-resources-andreport-cards/ In these days of increased risk of identity theft, people are looking for ways to manage their sensitive materials. Get a shredding machine? Maybe. But typically, people would rather things be easier, in the stream of their other activities. So it often doesn’t happen, things piling up, or getting thrown away with some trepidation, or perhaps incinerated.

The Shred Stop seems to have hit on an idea that both integrates with the rest of people’s lives and does a better job then a personal size shredder could do, with a higher degree of environmental sensitivity.

It’s simple: locate them in grocery stores and other places that already have coin counting machines, charge $2/minute for shredding, able to do it much faster than your usual home/small biz shredder, and you’re able to quickly get done what would either not get done, where you’re already going anyway, or would otherwise take much more of your valuable time.

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