What you measure gets managed. That is what Wal-Mart is doing with their plan. Check out the 15 questions (PDF) it is asking suppliers.

As the world’s largest retailer, Wal-Mart Stores is on a mission to determine the social and environmental impact of every item it puts on its shelves. And it has recruited scholars, suppliers, and environmental groups to help it create an electronic indexing system to do that.

The idea is to create a universal rating system that scores products based on how environmentally and socially sustainable they are over the course of their lives. Consider it the green equivalent to nutrition labels.

Rather than a retailer or a product supplier’s focusing on only a few sustainability goals — lower emissions or water conservation or waste reduction — the index would help them take a broader view of sustainability by scrutinizing and rating all sorts of environmental and social implications.

Did this T-shirt come from a cotton crop that was sprayed with pesticide? Was excessive packaging used to ship these diapers?

Wal-Mart’s goal is to have other retailers eventually adopt the indexing system, which will be created over the next five years.

via At Wal-Mart, Labels to Reflect Green Intent – NYTimes.com.

More here:

GreenBiz.com stories – 1, 2
Sustainability Consortium

prAna – Born From the Experience

16 years ago, what began as simple love of the outdoors has moved with us through all of our adventures over the years. It has brought a breath and vitality that continues to energize our thinking and designs.

Nature has guided prAna since the very start, with its abundance of color, materials and energy along with endless inspiration to make products that can be well worn and, more importantly, well lived in. Whether in our sports, our travels or in our yoga practice, the adventure has never failed to make us many wonderful friends and memories. For these incredible generosities, we are grateful and hope to give back something in return.

We’re always looking for new ways to fold sustainable materials and practices into our collection, working to reduce the impact on soils, water supplies and other natural resources.

PrAna’s commitment to the environment begins here at home and extends outward to our retailers and the homes of our employees. As part of our Natural Power Initiative (NPI), prAna works with our partner 3Degrees to support new US based wind energy projects through the purchase of renewable energy certificates (REC’s). In 2009 the impact of the NPI program will prevent over 12,000 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the earth’s atmosphere. Simply by supporting renewable energy for our prAna Headquarters, all of our employee’s homes, our two prAna retail locations and 250 of our US retailers, the NPI program will create an environmental benefit equivalent to removing over 1,677 average cars from the road annually.

We support a number of organizations who share our values. As a member of the Organic Trade Association and the Organic Exchange, prAna is continually increasing the use of organic cotton, as well as sourcing other natural fibers and innovative recycled/upcycled materials. The Access Fund helps to keep Climbing areas open while the Conservation Alliance protects wild and natural areas. HERA supports local ovarian cancer groups and the Outdoor Foundation helps to get kids active in the outdoors.

via prAna – Our Story.

Written By: Ricky Mak from buildaroo.com

Carmen interviewed John, founder of Kirei, at Dwell on Design.  Kirei had four products being showcased at their booth.  The first product John spoke with us about was Kirei board.  Kirei Board is a strong, lightweight, durable, environmentally friendly substitute for wood – usable in furniture, cabinetry, casework, and interior design elements.  It is made from the stalks or leftover straws of the sorghum plant.  Like wheat, sorghum is grown for food, so after harvest its stalks are commonly burned or tossed into landfills.  Kirei board hence reduces waste and sequesters carbon dioxide that would otherwise be derived from burning.  So as John states, Kirei “turning trash into treasure!”  In addition, the adhesive in Kirei board has no added urea formaldehyde.  Kirei board qualifies for LEED credits for rapidly renewable resource, recycled content, and indoor air quality (a non-formaldehyde binder is used).  Kirei is also a carbon neutral product according to the California Resource Board.

In addition to the Kirei board,  John’s booth also featured Kirei’s other products including bamboo panels, wheat-boards, and their soon-to-arrive coco tiles – tiles derived from coconut shells leftover from harvest.  Tiles from coconut shells!  That’s pretty cool!  Check out Kirei and look through this site for more videos of sustainable companies and products.

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We hear so much these days about ways to green our homes, but very little about extending that eco-awareness into the backyard. However, many are looking for ways to make a move towards environmentally responsible pool care. And, with recent reports that chlorine levels in pools are often 200 to 400 times higher than what is considered safe for the environment (source, Yahoo! Green) and findings that link regular swimming in chlorinated pools by young children to an increased risk of developing asthma (source, The Green Guide), the call to action becomes all the more pressing. It is good to know that there are alternatives out there.

Zodiac’s Nature2 mineral sanitizing products for the pool and spa dramatically reduce the need for heavy doses of chlorine and provide an eco-friendly choice for pool and spa maintenance. Call Raleigh Pool and Spa 7101 cheviot hills dr. (capital blvd) raleigh nc 27616 919 – 876 – 9494

Our very own Ambika interviewed John from CBPCA, and he shared with us that CBPCA is a group of building performance contractors that audit homes. Examples of issues addressed in the home audit include molds growing on the walls, high utility bills, or strange smells in buildings. John says that the association is the general physicians of the building industry; that’s a good use of figurative language! He then brings the interview to a more personal level as he gives us an example of green legislation at work in his own home, Sonoma county; 7 of 8 cities within this respective county have adopted green building ordinances that mandate auditers to visit homes and check if there are any energy inefficiencies. John then talks about the history of California’s title 24 back in 1979 which established minimum energy usage standards (the first state to ever do so!) in the industry within various contexts including insulation, window quality, and lighting. Subsequent to this date, there has been continuous upgrades and tightening of the standards every 3 years by the energy and utilities commission. In order to accomodate the title 24, certified products are often used during construction like those that possess the EnergyStar seal amongst others, and John makes a note that one can only tell apart what is truly a legitimate third party certification by being in the industry for a long time. He gives an example of one third party certification that he considers green washing that all wood users should be aware of. Find out that it is in the clip below! Thank you John for your wisdom; I am that much more prepared to build my own house! Check out CBPCA’s website here.

Craigslist Foundation’s 6th Annual Boot Camp – Eventbrite

Connect. Inspire. Act.

Imagine 1500 passionate people gathering together to change the world. That’s Boot Camp – a fun, intensive one day gathering where people learn how to bring their ideas for stronger communities into reality.

Boot Camp is for you if:

* You’d like to participate in all this new energy for community change and just don’t know where to start.
* You’d like to meet people who share your interests.
* You’re looking for new career options in this challenging economy.
* You work in the nonprofit sector and want to learn new skills and meet new people.
* You’re in business or government and you wonder how you can collaborate with others to strengthen your community.

At Boot Camp, you will learn how to take action in interactive workshops, meet people who can turn dreams into action, receive expert coaching, and get fired up by stories of successful community transformations.

Now only if something like this is possible in Adelaide!

The initial capital investment of any purchase represents only a small fraction of the total cost of ownership. Life Cycle or Whole Life Costing establishes total cost of ownership of a product or service over its anticipated life span. Life Cycle Costing (LCC) analysis has always been a useful tool for decision-makers who are interested in the big picture, but as corporations are moving towards more environmentally sustainable products and processes, the economical big picture alone is no longer enough.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a technique that determines the resource and environmental impacts of a product and tabulates the energy, water and resources used, as well as emissions to land, air and water over the entity’s life cycle. This method, when combined with life cycle costing, represents a critical component in triple-bottom-line calculations and a comprehensive approach to cradle-to-grave, or better yet, cradle-to-cradle operations.

Combining LCC and LCA requires companies to look far beyond pricing and consider everything from extraction methods, manufacture and transport to installation and operations. Is the product, process or service depleting non-renewable resources, does it contribute to global warming, deplete ozone, contribute to water nutrification or eutrophication, does it cause acid deposition, or does it release toxic substances into the air? Can it be deconstructed at the end of its useful life and safely re-enter the production cycle or the natural environment? A holistic assessment is clearly a significant step towards corporate responsibility, but it is not without challenges.

Combining LCC analysis with LCA and social responsibility guidelines ensures a fair triple-bottom-line.

Adequately assessing environmental impact in a model requires quantifiability of often incommensurable aspects, which is also why the social implications of production are hardly considered in LCA. This does not render life cycle assessment useless; rather it requires corporations to evaluate social responsibility on a separate, ethical scale to arrive at a fair triple-bottom-line.

The task of balancing economical, environmental and social factors may seem daunting, but utilizing tools like PE International’s GaBi LCA software, the ISO 14000 environmental management standards for LCA procedures, sound project management practices, and GRI’s or ISO’s social responsibility guidelines, among many others, will facilitate the process and ensure the survival of corporations in light of upcoming global environmental policies and standards.

MAN! Has it been a whirlwind of a week(s). I am super excited to have two new clients AND a new blog! Bark Radio, Thinkhaus Designs, and Investing Now. (These clients are in addition to my already awesome clients Just List ‘Em, Christine Walters, and Dana Merkel). 

I just wanted to take a moment to introduce you to my new clients and give them a virtual “shout out,” if you will.

BARK RADIO: Man, oh man, am I excited about working with Bark Radio. Bark Radio is currently a podcast, soon to be live radio show, hosted by Dee and Terry and they LOVE dogs. I mean, who doesn’t love dogs? I do. You probably do. Cruella DeVille doesn’t. Anywho, Bark Radio is EVERY Tuesday and Thursday and you can listen to them right on BarkRadio.com. They discuss all things dog and even share funny stories about their dogs. They offer advice, they discuss the latest trends, great activities to do WITH your dog(s), and even promote awesome causes FOR dogs. You should check out there blog here and follow them on Twitter: @BarkRadio. 

thinkhaus designs: A socially conscious design company. Thinkhaus is owned by an adjunct VCU professor named John O’Neill who is AWESOME. Currently, I am working with John and thinkhaus to discuss the promotion and production of their monthly talk and networking event called “HausTalk” (I actually promoted it in my last post). John’s first haustalk was great although it was small, but the last event had 80+ people. How awesome is that?! Needless to say, I am so excited to work with him. He and I are actually in the midst of planning an awesome social media workshop series to go on this summer (taught by YOURS TRULY ). So, keep checking back for more info on that. Oh, and you should follow him on Twitter, too: @thinkhaus. 

Investing Now: Investing Now is a real estate blog aimed at educating people on what is new, hot, and great about the real estate market right now. It REALLY is a buyer’s market and it’s time people really knew the 411, if you know what I mean. Their blog is updated weekly with awesome information for sellers AND buyers. We’re working right now on following a home through the whole process of staging, to placing it on the market, to selling, to closing. Awesome, right? Yeah, totally. You should follow their sister/brother company on Twitter: @justlistem.

Well, it’s Friday and I just had a tetnus shot this morning and my arm hurts so I’m going to stop typing. BUT I just want to reiterate how excited I am about working with new people. Know anyone who is looking for some consulting, blogging, social mediaing? Let me know.

All for now.

BTW: you should check out my comedy blog. I’m just saying. Who Has Two Thumbs?

Milton Friedman suggested a long time ago that socially responsible deeds that companies perform make sense only if there is a benefit for the company.

Now Freek Vermeulen, an Associate Professor of Strategic & International Management at the London Business School writes in his blog about CSR and its financial effect on companies.

He comments that there has been no evidence to prove that being socially responsible is financially beneficial to companies. In fact, it helps companies if they are in trouble.

Professors Paul Godfrey, Craig Merrill, and Jared Hansen, from Brigham Young University and the University of North Carolina, came up with a clever insight why the socially responsible types may be better off after all. They didn’t just look at the social and financial performance of all kinds of companies–they decided to specifically focus on companies that got into trouble because some negative event had happened to them. This could be the initiation of a lawsuit against the firm (e.g. by a customer), the announcement of regulatory action (e.g. fines, penalties) by a government entity, and so on. Then they measured what happened to the share price of the company as result of the event. Their finding? The degree to which you were punished by the stock market for the negative news depended on how much of a socially responsible company you were.

CSR may be insurance but again, it is still not justification enough.

We have covered those topics before.

Doing Well and Doing Good:

Joshua Margolis and Hillary Anger Elfenbein, writing in the January 2008 edition of the Harvard Business Review (subs req. free for the month) on social responsibility inform us that after a meta-survey of 167 surveys over the last 35 years they find that there is a low correlation between doing good and doing well in business sense.

Shubh Labh:

Meeting human needs is a big opportunity, and by being efficient and economical it is good for the shareholders. Considering the earth’s living system in design and operating decisions is being fair. To treat stakeholders with respect is just. To be committed to the well being of both economic and ecological systems is ethical business.

As the Dow Jones Sustainability Index defines it : Corporate Sustainability is a business approach to create long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments.

Sustainability; from a business point of view; is all about “Shubh Labh” – to make a fair and just profit.

There is a case for sustainable business but please do not put that under the wrapping of CSR.

Valley companies have reason to be proud this Earth Day and why it might make others green with envy. View video at: http://www.azfamily.com/video/?nvid=354480

It is evident that ICT can provide solutions which help in providing flexible work practices in turn having costs, energy and carbon savings.

Telstra, the large Australian telecommunication provider has created a whitepaper on ICT and Sustainability. Their PR agency contacted me by e-mail and provided the details.

This paper (which can be downloaded here by registering) co-authored with the World Wildlife Fund or WWF as it is generally called has inputs from CapGemini consulting on ROI.

Basically, this is a paper which highlights the use of video conferering, tele communiting and web contact center using Telstra solutions and its impact on savings in terms of cost and carbon. Even though it is a sell for Telstra’s solutions (and there is nothing wrong with that), I especially liked the Return on Investment tool provided in the Appendix.

This ROI tool is quite comprehensive and provides a detailed cost benefit analysis of the solutions. And in a time span of 5 years for large organizations there is a clear case of investing in these solutions.

For example, the Teleworking solution for a 1800 member organization starting with 200 teleworkers and increasing 5% every year in Sydney or Melbourne has a Net Present Value of $2 million in a span of 5 years. That is a good return.  This is based on a lot of assumptions in terms of costs etc however, one such assumption is a work from home of 3 days a week.

I think this is not feasible for many organizations and a more typical work week may be 3 days at the office and 2 days at home. I will be interested to check out the excel or webbased calculator to work with my own assumptions.

Interestingly, I am developing a new initiative to research and establish a teleworking solution within my organization starting in May. This will be quite handy.

The launch of the TATA Nano yesterday was a groundbreaking event in many ways. For me it was personal too. To see a automotive breakthrough from India is very satisfying. And it was all possible due to the vision of one man, Ratan Tata.

There has been much written on how the car could be a harbinger of problems in the world. Well, in this scenario any car is. Every car creates congestion (even electric cars!), pollution, uses materials to produce, creates waste at the manufacturing level and pollutes in some form or the other. The Nano is no different in that sense. However, it is much better in many ways.

The Nano  produces only 101g/km of emissions (It passes emissions norms – Euro III) , is as fuel efficient as a Prius (25 km per liter/4.2l for 100km or 52 mpg – US), is designed to use less materials, and is cheaper than any other car. In every sense it is green or greener than a Prius.

To compare, check out the Green Vehicle Guide from the Australian government. The Nano beats all.

All the environmentalists who praised the Prius and curse the Nano need to explain how a efficient car like the Nano is worse than a Prius. The same environmentalists must also been happy that the US and world automotive industry have had sales decreases of 45% in the last few months however, I do not see them celebrating it. Because it effects jobs too.

For comparison, a small country like Australia buys 1 million new cars a year. According to the LA Times, “India’s car industry has ample room to grow by the standards of other nations, with just 14 cars per 1,000 population, according to industry figures. That compares with 28 per 1,000 for neighboring Sri Lanka, 400 to 600 per 1,000 for Europe and Japan, and more than 700 per 1,000 for the United States.”

The Nano in order to cut costs has delivered a car which uses less material, less parts and less maintenance.It will also create jobs and may possibly make India the global hub of small cars. What will be interesting would be a lifecycle energy study of the Nano compared to the Prius.

The biggest benefit is in the future. When Tata Motors start putting in their electric technology developed for Indica EV into the E-Nano it will be a whole different game. A small, efficient, electric car below $10,000. Beat that!

One car gets 46 miles per gallon, features fancy accessories, and sports two engines with a combined 145 horsepower. The other car reportedly gets 54 miles per gallon, runs on a diminutive 30-horsepower engine, and is positively spartan in its interior trimmings. The first is a darling of the environmentally conscious. The latter is reviled as a climate wrecker. These two vehicles are the Toyota Prius and the newly unveiled Tata Nano, dubbed “the people’s car.” Is there a double standard?

via Analysis: Nano Hypocrisy? | Worldwatch Institute.

Can anybody explain?

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Curious on how to calculate your carbon footprint? Did you wake up this morning and suddenly feel an urge to live “green”. Have you spoken outloud the words “I care about the environment”? Well…before you spread rumors or decide to take on life altering changes. Lets examine what living green actually means and what a carbon footprint actually is.

 Okay, so over break, I admit it, I actually watched programming on the new network, Planet Green. I had no clue that there were so many options to pick from when acting out of concern for the environment. Plants, food, animals, construction, architecture, electronics..etc. There is a green version of everything. I will say I am most happy that the “greenest” family of laptops happens to have the last name of -Mac. Ha! “I’m a PC and I am not green” But what does it mean to be “green” and is it legit?

After looking through various sources etc. I found a blog that gave me a great view into this intangible spectrum of definitions. This also raised questions commercially, how far are companies pushing this “being green” movement? (but that’s later on)

In an effort to define their new spectrum rather than be misinterpreted along the old one, the Greens have drafted what they call their Ten Key Values. The list is refreshing to read. It is a sincere attempt to articulate the values by which a political movement tries to live, as opposed to the rhetorical values by which it manipulates. Each value on the list is followed by questions about how to achieve it. Imagine, a political party honest enough to ask questions rather than assert half-baked answers!

Here are the Greens’ Ten Key Values. The one-word labels are in most cases mine. The questions are theirs.

1. Nature. How can we operate society with the understanding that we are part of nature? How can we live within the limits of the planet, applying our technology to create a less wasteful economy?

2. Democracy. How can we control the decisions that affect our lives? How can we be sure representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them?

3. Responsibility. How can we encourage people and corporations to promote their own health and the health of all? How can we solve our problems without lawyers, judges, regulators, police, or other authorities?

(This is a conservative value, a yearning for a society sufficiently good that government, especially in its regulatory function, is much less needed.)

4. Nonviolence. How can we develop alternatives to our patterns of violence at all levels, from the family and the street to the nation? How can we reduce the atmosphere of polarization and selfishness that is a source of violence?

5. Community. How can we have a decentralized society with decisions made as close as possible to home? How can we restore power to neighborhoods, communities and regions? How can we draw the boundaries of decision-making to assure community self-determination while still maintaining central authority where it is necessary?

6. Economy. How can we establish economic security for all, ensure jobs with dignity, keep technology humane, distribute income fairly? How can we restrict the size and power of corporations without discouraging efficiency or technical innovation.

(This may be the most radical of the Green values, a strong questioning of business as usual and a willingness to rethink the first principles of economics — so that the economy serves people rather than vice versa.)

7. Humanity. How can we encourage a culture that respects feelings as well as logic? How can we be concerned about means as well as ends? How can we learn to respect the contemplative, inner part of life as well as outer achievements?

8. Diversity. How can we tolerate, honor, and celebrate cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, and religious differences?

9. Peace. How can we be responsible partners to struggling people in all parts of the world? How can we maintain world order without creating a world government? How can we cut our defense budget while maintaining an adequate defense?

(Critics of the Greens often accuse them of favoring world government. To the contrary, they are instinctive decentralizers, with a realization, however, that we are all part of an interconnected world and have a responsibility to make that world work.)

10. Sustainability. How can we learn to think toward the long-term future and not just short-range gratification? How can we encourage people to develop visions of the future and to move toward them? How can we make quality, not just quantity, the focus of future thinking?

Who does it best?

Public relations says caring about the environment is legit. It is substantial enough to establish a piece of a brand’s identity. But these days…isn’t everyone using this ploy? “30% less plastic” “Green!” “antioxidants” “organic” Who are today’s green giants? Are they minimalists? A credible commercialized source seems to have done this research, what do you think about their top then list? (CNNMoney.com/Fortune)

Honda

Location: Japan

Year founded: 1945

Revenue: $84.2 Billion

Employees: 145,000

The most fuel-efficient auto company in the U.S.

While other automakers gripe, Honda attacks the issues of fuel economy and emissions with relish. Working independently, it is focusing on two alternative fuel technologies, the natural gas powered “Civic GX” and the hydrogen fuel cell “FCX.” Honda has also taken a crack at solving a problem other automakers have left to the oil companies: creating an infrastructure for hydrogen. Honda’s solution is for individual refueling stations that provide heat and electricity for the home as well as hydrogen for a fuel-cell-powered car. Long term, Honda wants to be the world’s cleanest, most efficient manufacturer. It has promised to reduce CO2 emissions from its factories as well as its vehicles by 5 percent between 2005 and 2010 – on top of the 5 percent it achieved between 2000 and 2005.

Continental Airlines

Location: Houston

Year founded: 1934

Revenue: $13.1 Billion

Employees: 44,000

Worked with Boeing to engineer more fuel-efficient aircraft.

AMID RISING concern about aviation pollution, British Airways introduced a “CO2 emission calculator” on its website, letting passengers pay to offset the carbon dioxide generated by their flights. Lufthansa recently equipped an Airbus A340 with a 1.5-ton mobile laboratory to track gases and compounds. But it is American airline Continental that’s gone furthest to green operations. Besides spending more than $16 billion over the past ten years to replace its fleet with more efficient aircraft, it installed fuel-saving winglets that reduce emissions by up to 5% on most of its Boeing 737s and 757s, and reduced the nitrogen oxide output from ground equipment at its Houston hub by over 75% since 2000. Its 13 full-time staff environmentalists work with engine manufacturers, design green terminals, and track carbon emissions and chemical recycling daily. Even all the trash from company headquarters is later sorted for recyclables.

Suncor

Location: Canada

Year founded: 1917

Revenue: $13.6 Billion

Employees: 5,500

Measures the environmental impact of each project.

Finding black gold is a dirty job – particularly when it’s buried in tar sands. But Suncor still stands out for how it does the job. Its environmental and social efforts have earned it membership in the Dow Jones sustainability index and the British equivalent, the FTSE4Good. In a survey of 23 global oil companies last year, Jantzi Research, a Canadian consultancy, named Suncor a top performer, noting its environmental and greenhouse-gas management programs. Specifically, it has improved emissions intensity (the amount of oil it extracts per ton of greenhouse gases emitted) 25 percent since 1990. Ditto for energy, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide. Suncor is part of an initiative to develop carbon-capture techniques. And while Suncor hopes to double its production by 2012, its water management is so advanced that it expects to draw no additional water from Alberta’s Athabasca River.

Tesco

Location: Britain

Year founded: 1919

Revenue: $71 Billion

Employees: 380,000

Cut energy use and is trying to get customers to think green.

Wind-powered stores, high-tech recycling, biodiesel delivery trucks – Tesco does all that. Last year the company pledged to cut the average energy use in its British buildings in half by 2010; now it says it will get there two years early. State-of-the-art trains that have lower-than-normal noise and pollution reduce the use of trucks, slashing thousands of tons of carbon dioxide emissions; in a major store initiative, Tesco will estimate the “carbon costs” of each item. To ensure that its leadership walks the talk, Tesco now determines senior-management bonuses partly on meeting energy- and waste-reduction targets. Tesco is also encouraging customers to be greener by awarding points, redeemable for merchandise, to those who bring their own reusable shopping bags.

Alcan

Location: Canada

Year founded: 1902

Revenue: $23.6 Billion

Employees: 68,000

Investing in clean, efficient manufacturing

When Alcan took over French rival Pechiney in late 2003, the Montreal-based aluminum maker also landed world-class smelting technology. Because of Pechiney’s proprietary methods (and an aggressive push by Alcan to track emissions), the company has been able to reduce its greenhouse-gas output by 25 percent since 1990, while production increased 40 percent. Alcan’s latest goal is to install a high-capacity process that increases energy efficiency by as much as 20 percent and lowers emissions. A pilot plant in Quebec is already under construction. “It’s inherent to the engineering culture to respond to problems like these,” says Alcan’s Corey Copeland. “It’s what makes engineers tick.”

PG&E

Location: San Francisco

Year founded: 1852

Revenue: $12.5 Billion

Employees: 20,000

Strategic investments in efficiency and renewables.

PG&E Played a big role in getting mandatory controls on greenhouse gases enacted last year in California, and CEO Peter Darbee is now pushing for federal legislation.

The utility generates 56 percent of its retail electricity sales from non-greenhouse-gas-emitting sources, and it aggressively helps customers become more efficient. For instance, it subsidizes homeowners who buy energy-efficient appliances with $75 grants. PG&E is also experimenting with a variety of clean power alternatives. It is seeking permission to develop generation projects that could convert wave energy off the Pacific Coast into electricity. It is bullish on solar thermal technology, and it has a pilot project in the San Joaquin Valley in which cow manure is turned into electricity. “That’s a dung good idea,” cracks Darbee.

Jokes aside, Darbee is seriously excited about the prospect of plug-in hybrids that would draw power from the electricity grid at night and then feed power back into the grid during the day when demand peaks. These clean cars would burn less gasoline, pollute less and take advantage of the utility industry’s capital-intensive infrastructure. “The energy industry,” Darbee concludes, “is on the brink of a revolution.”

S.C. Johnson

Location: Racine, Wis.

Year founded: 1886

Revenue: $7 Billion

Employees: 12,000

Three generations of committed environmental stewardship.

In 1935, long before sustainability became a corporate buzzword, H.F. Johnson Jr. led a 15,000-mile expedition to Brazil in search of a sustainable source of wax, the carnauba palm tree, for his company’s first product, Johnson’s Wax.

His grandson and the current CEO, Fisk Johnson, has continued that legacy at S.C. Johnson, a family-owned company that makes Windex, Pledge, Ziploc bags and Raid. Its most notable innovation is its Greenlist process, a classification system that evaluates the impact of thousands of raw materials on human and environmental health. By using Greenlist, S.C. Johnson eliminated 1.8 million pounds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from Windex and four million pounds of polyvinylidene chloride (PVDC) from Saran Wrap, which is now PVDC-free. (VOCs and PVDC are both pollutants.) The company licenses Greenlist royalty-free to other firms that want to use it. It is also cutting back its reliance on coal-fired power, recently building its own power plant that runs on natural gas and methane piped in from a nearby landfill. Glenn Pricket of Conservation International says that when it comes to the environment, “Fisk Johnson is probably the most personally committed CEO I’ve met.”

Goldman Sachs

Location: New York

Year founded: 1869

Revenue: $69.4 Billion

Employees: 24,000

Bold climate-change policy shapes major investments.

When Goldman Sachs announced a groundbreaking environmental policy in 2005, critics said chief executive Hank Paulson was imposing his green ethos. Wrong. The bank has become even more planet-friendly since Paulson left. Why? Because it is doing lots of green business.

Goldman’s investment of $1.5 billion in cellulosic ethanol, wind and solar have paid off. Texas Pacific and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts turned to Goldman, which had built bridges to environmental groups, as they prepared a bid for Texas energy company TXU. Research clients are pleased that Goldman’s equity analysts in Europe now factor environmental, social and governance issues into their reports. “The world’s changing,” says one Goldman official. The company is too – some cars that take bankers home are hybrids.

Swiss Re

Location: Switzerland

Year founded: 1863

Revenue: $24 Billion

Employees: 10,500

Developing financial tools to deal with the risks of climate change.

Swiss Re’s main product is insurance for insurers, so its products never come near a smokestack. And Swiss reinsurance companies are not exactly known for boldness. Even so, Swiss Re has been way ahead of the pack on climate change, warning as early as 1994 about the bottom-line threat in the form of higher claims from storms and other weather-related disasters.

In addition, Swiss Re has pioneered products like weather-based derivatives to hedge these risks. Buyers can bet on future heat waves or cold snaps with puts and calls on specific periods of time and temperatures, much as conventional options have a preset strike price for a stock. So a farmer in India might be able to buy insurance from a local insurer in case the usual monsoon rains fail to arrive or, conversely, his fields are flooded. Swiss Re was also among the early supporters of the Chicago Climate Exchange, an emerging hub for traders in derivatives linked to carbon emissions.

Hewlett-Packard

Location: Palo Alto

Year founded: 1939

Revenue: $91.7 Billion

Employees: 156,000

Silicon Valley’s longtime industry leader in eco-sensitivity.

High tech is falling all over itself to go green. It may be that Prius-driving engineering types are more eco-sensitive than the rest of us, or maybe they’re simply battling for competitive advantage. The fact is, as more of modern life goes digital, the environmental impact of those computers and gadgets has gone from negligible to considerable. Hewlett-Packard has done the most to mitigate that. HP owns massive e-waste recycling plants, where enormous shredders and granulators reduce four million pounds of computer detritus each month to bite-sized chunks – the first step in reclaiming not just steel and plastic but also toxic chemicals like mercury and even some precious metals. HP will take back any brand of equipment; its own machines are 100 percent recyclable. It has promised to cut energy consumption by 20 percent by 2010. HP also audits its top suppliers for eco-friendliness, and its omnibus Global Citizenship Report sets the standard for detailed environmental accountability.

♣ What is a carbon footprint?

According to treehugger.com: A carbon footprint is the total amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases emitted over the full life cycle of a product or service, and everything has one, from the computer you used to find this article to the next meal you eat (and the one after that, and after that, and so on…) to the shoe that will leave a physical footprint on the ground the next time you walk outside. But that’s only part of the story.

It seems to me that calculating the actual footprint is much too crazy for me to do in this blog. I am no expert, just curious. But if you follow that link to treehugger.com, you can actually calculate yours there.

I bought mine two years ago when I found out that Patagonia makes a large percentage of its clothing out of recycled fibers. In fact, their spring collection this year is 38% recycled and their ‘09 fall collection will be 65% recycled. Pretty impressive. Of course, it’s always more eco to go to the thrift store but if you’re looking to buy new, this is the way to go. Patagonia planned to have it’s entire collection fashioned from recycled material in 2010 but it looks like that may have been too ambitious. Even so, we gotsta give props to any business trying to do the right thing.

I wrote about options for getting rid of old computers piling up around your office. Since then I have learned about a high volume company that can take those computers off your hands in a safe (i.e., data compliant) and green (i.e., environmentally friendly) way. Even if you have hundreds or thousands of computers ready for disposal (i.e., recycling), this company can handle the load.

TechTurn, based in Austin, Texas, specializes in technology recovery, refurbishing and remarketing. TechTurn currently processes more than a million assets a year, and the business will be expanding further since receiving a $50 million investment. There’s clearly a need for services such as those offered by this company; between 60 and 70 million computers will be retired this year in the U.S. alone. Worldwide, the need for a reliable way to retire assets is far greater.

But that doesn’t mean the equipment is heading to a landfill. Far from it, actually. TechTurn president Jake Player says there is a vibrant market for refurbished equipment. Just because a PC is several years old and no longer “good enough” for corporate use doesn’t mean it has no life left at all. TechTurn ultimately finds another use for the older equipment, and that’s good for the environment.

TechTurn helps its corporate clients plan for end of life for computer assets. The company partners with Altiris to help customers track assets and inventory everything to know precisely what it is retiring. Next, TechTurn’s nationwide logistics organization picks up the equipment. Player says the company has “secure logistics” to eliminate discrepancies between what was shipped and what was received.

Protecting the customer’s data is a high priority. TechTurn can provide onsite data encryption and/or data wiping before the computers leave a company’s premises, and it’s developing tools to do this remotely. Once the computers are brought to the TechTurn processing facility, technicians do a stringent wipe of the hard drive that is compliant with the Department of Defense’s highest level of data wiping. Then each drive is inspected forensically to ensure that no data is recoverable. If a drive is not reusable, TechTurn will smelt it to completely destroy it. Either way, the customer receives a certificate certifying that the data was wiped clean.

The next step is to refurbish the equipment. TechTurn tests the device to make sure it is fully functional again. Under an Authorized Refurbisher agreement with Microsoft, TechTurn is permitted to load Windows XP on the PC. TechTurn then sells the refurbished equipment themselves and through reseller channels.

Player points out that this is a good way for organizations to purchase large quantities of a single configuration of computer. Say you want 200 refurbished PCs that are all the same model and configuration. It’s hard to fill such an order from auction houses or even hardware manufacturers like Dell and HP. But TechTurn can deliver the lot because it takes in so many same-model assets from large corporations.

The company that recycles its equipment through TechTurn gets lots of documentation in return to satisfy the corporate auditors. The customer receives serialized reporting on all the assets listing the remarketing value. He knows and can prove that the data has been sanitized and the equipment isn’t going to a landfill. With corporations coming under pressure to have a Green IT initiative, the metrics received from TechTurn are proof of compliance with environmental initiatives as well as data security requirements.

Player says his company is in the early phase of helping companies recover software licenses from their PCs. This may help customers achieve cost savings as they can prove that a software license is no longer assigned to or used by a retired asset.

PCs aren’t the only devices TechTurn can retire for its customers. The company takes in storage devices, workstations, hand held PDAs, printers, keyboards, mice, and smart phones. Even the peripherals like mice and keyboards are wiped clean, as they, too, now have the capability to store data.

There are many small companies that provide similar services. However, TechTurn is well on its way to becoming a giant among them. Today, TechTurn operates two high-efficiency, maximum-security facilities in Austin, Texas and Richmond, Va. Through these locations, TechTurn can process 15,000 units daily. The company also has partner locations in the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Germany.

Source: By Linda Musthaler, Network World