By Danny Kennedy •
May 18, 2009
Editor’s Note: The is a guest contribution by Danny Kennedy, President of Sungevity. This is the fourth post in a series from the CEO’s of major solar companies. You can follow the complete series here.
Like a tide turning, there’s a big shift happening in the solar market that many people aren’t really seeing because they’re bobbing about on an ocean of opportunity. The implications are huge in terms of who will get capital and attention in the industry, and the trend should lift all boats and take this solution to climate change further than before.
By Dave Sattler •
November 17, 2008
Maybe the title should instead read “How to Fail at ‘Greening’ Your Business”. Often times companies seem to approach “green” or eco-friendly as just another product attribute that can simply be added to packaging or website to reach the “green” consumer segment. In the rush to be eco-friendly, and due to the typical structure of many organizations, the marketing team will take the lead of the greening effort and, in the interest of time & energy, they’ll create a brilliant plan to communicate “green” to a target consumer group, but no internal alignment.
The sustainability and marketing strategies of a typical entrepreneur are often times based on the same model - the shotgun approach. Typically, entrepreneurs start to think about marketing after at least 6 months of hitting the pavement, and then sustainability appears as part of a new “marketing plan” or is seen as some kind of charitable giving / community relations campaign. Sustainable business is neither part of a marketing campaign nor a community relations effort. Neither is it about shifting revenue, but rather how revenue is generated.
By mcmilker •
November 13, 2008
I often have email exchanges with ecopreneurs, non-profits, NGOs and various business folks that don’t necessarily end up as a blog post. Sometimes I start in one direction and end up in another. That’s what happened here when I received an email from Rob Wallace at Keep America Beautiful.
Rob had one of those ironic moments. He sent out an email and press release to us asking:
How can recycling wireless phones support the new administration’s energy policy? Our recycling partner, ReCellular, is a reuse-oriented recycler of cellular equipment, and we’re confident that their structure and operations support zero-waste wireless recycling.
Great email pitch. Bookmark this page for next time you send out a press release. However, this pitch landed on my screen the day after I wrote this post on 60 Minutes and Executive Recycling. I immediately asked Rob if he’d be interested in commenting on the whole issue of dumping of e-waste in China instead. And he was and here is what he had to say:
By Olga Orda •
October 29, 2008
We saw Wal-Mart, a company with worldwide-wide revenues only second to Exxon-Mobile, signal last week in Beijing that it is moving away from “intermittent transactions with many suppliers toward longer-term arrangements with a smaller group of manufacturers“. Then, this week in the news, IBM starts on a roll to eliminate the ‘burden’ of paper — including paper costs, compliance risks and environmental challenges — from their customers’ supply chains with a handful of recently launched software and services.
What is going on here? Both companies are adopting tactics used by sustainability minded entrepreneurs as part of the time tested sustainability supply chain model: measure, purchase local where possible, maintain long-term relationships and integrate accountability at all ‘nodes’ of the chain.
By Jennifer Kaplan •
October 22, 2008
Despite what you may think, times like these are perfect times to reassess your shipping and transportation practices. High fuel costs, increased freight rates combined with the demand for shorter delivery times and reduced inventories can lead you to a new way of thinking. There are ways to green your transportation and shipping practices by improving fuel and operational efficiencies, which in turn will also save you money.
Fuel prices cannot be controlled, but transportation costs can be cut by eliminating waste. For example, according to the National Private Truck Council Benchmarking Survey, approximately 25% of trucker miles are driven empty without cargo on return trips instead of being filled with another company’s outbound transport. Backhauling, using an empty truck’s return route to carry cargo, has long been used by recyclers, for example, since the cost of transportation often outweighs the value of the cargo. There’s no reason why any business cannot use backhauling as a shipping strategy for deliveries that are not very time sensitive.
What else can a small business do?
By Reenita Malhotra •
October 15, 2008
Carbon Sciences, the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) into high value, earth-friendly products such as precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is now developing a breakthrough technology to transform CO2 into the basic fuel building blocks required to produce gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and other portable fuels.
By Reenita Malhotra •
October 13, 2008
Energy independence seems to be each country’s topmost agenda in today’s challenging economic climate. While many companies are looking to take advantage of the new tax credits extended to renewable energy industries, others are looking to solve the problem finding ways to convert emissions into high value, sustainable technology. Carbon Sciences is developing a breakthrough technology to transform carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into useful carbonate products that can be used by the paper, pharmaceuticals and FMCG industries.
By mcmilker •
October 9, 2008
An interesting article in The Wall Street Journal, Six Products, Six Carbon Footprints, highlights the next trend in green marketing, calculating and promoting the supply chain carbon footprint.
Never mind that the average consumer isn’t actually aware or at least has a pretty fuzzy grasp of what exactly a carbon footprint is, manufacturers are busily calculating away. And, they are finding some fairly interesting facts.
Leather, milk and meat from cows pack a pretty big carbon footprint: The average dairy cow produces, every year, an amount of greenhouse gas equivalent to four tons of carbon dioxide, according to U.S. government figures. Most of that comes not from carbon dioxide, in fact, but from a more-potent greenhouse gas: methane.
The recipe for a low-carbon load of laundry: Use liquid detergent instead of powder.
… a six-pack’s carbon footprint was about seven pounds. The real surprise was where the bulk of that number came from: the refrigeration of the beer at stores.
I actually found some of these things pretty interesting too, but as a marketer, I have different questions. I’m wondering if this will be the next wave in green marketing. I’m wondering if we will really be able to educate consumers that much about the manufacturing process. I’m wondering if they will care.
At this point my gut feel is that this WILL become a trend. Consumers will react to carbon footprint information. Leather will be out. Mothers will switch to soy and rice milk (even more than they currently are). Powder detergent will become passé.
By John Ivanko •
September 17, 2008
Last week I shared the triple bottom line adapted from our ECOpreneuring book. The triple bottom line encompasses people, planet and (some) profits. Since people run a business, I started by examining how the DNA of a Green Business Starts with People, touching on customers and employees (apparently not highly valued at the now defunct Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns).
The other two People bottom lines are vendors/suppliers and investors (if your business has any), addressed below:
(3) Vendors and Suppliers
How a sustainable business chooses and interacts with vendors and suppliers, so-called business-to-business transactions, that provide the supplies and services the business needs to run is one way ecopreneurs are helping grow and magnify our impacts. We seek out like-minded vendors with whom to do business. Co-op America’s Green Pages (greenpages.com) is often our first stop to look for products our business might need, since it lists thousands of socially and environmentally responsible businesses.
A growing number of small businesses are perhaps inspired by the Amish and their collaborative sense of community and shared economic prosperity. Rather than working alone, many Amish provide goods or services to each other, working together on projects that on the surface may benefit only one farmer, but on the whole end up benefiting the entire community. As author Bill McKibben writes about in Deep Economy, there’s greater comfort and security from community membership than individual ownership. This idea is reflected in the business-to-business commerce mushrooming on the Internet and in small businesses, especially the nanocorps, or new forms of interlinked commercial websites, like Sohodojo.com.
By Jennifer Kaplan •
August 20, 2008
The U.S. retail sector represented 4.5 trillion dollars in 2007 and so when retailers talk about trends we should listen. A new study released by The Aberdeen Group shows where retailers are going when it comes to going green. The good news is that the opportunities for eco-entrepreneurs will continue to grow.
According to Environmental Leader, the new report titled “Getting From Green To Gold: Retail Success Factors and Outcomes” lists the six key focus areas for retailers:
- Adopt enterprise-wide policies for green sourcing/procurement (59%)
- Institute eco-friendly mandates for waste management (54%)
- Institute eco-friendly mandates around packaging (48%)
- Redesign the retail supply chain to align with green/responsible mandates (41%)
- Offer eco-friendly end-of-life product programs to customers (41%)
- Redesign store facilities and infrastructure around sustainability goals (35%)
By Olga Orda •
June 13, 2008
Kudos to my colleagues who go the extra mile to design seminars I’d wake up at the ungodly hour of 5:37 AM to sit and listen to in half-wake awe, Americano in hand.
Seminars that go by blockbuster titles - as least for green entrepreneurs - such as “How to manage carbon risk” have authentic learning value.
In our over-wired world, live events are a luxury, an hour or three to feel how much we really love context and contact, not just stoic information glaring out at us from a screen when we’re learning complex stuff - like international carbon trading markets.
More to the point, events are becoming an even more attractive “pull” medium than ever. And, the savvy, green entrepreneur should know how to harness the reputation and client lead potentials of a well-orchestrated event - an eco-friendly supplied event, that is.
