Painting The Industry Green

Ford reemphasized it's view that green technology is key to not only the success of itself or future auto makers but the viability of having a healthy economy in Michigan. While most of us live in citys that aren't dependent on one industry, there are many cities that rely heavily, sometimes completely, on the success of a single company. 


One thing that has always been part of the Ford brand is the channeling of it's heritage in everything they do. Very Detroit, very American, very unlike anything the automotive industry has been moving towards. Yet, they've seemed to have found a place for it in their vision moving forward; 


“While Michigan is the home of the auto industry, the trends affecting our industry offer a great opportunity to make it the home of a variety of other industries as well,” said Bill Ford. “We are heading in the right direction to grow Michigan by putting the right policies in place and investing in Michigan’s future.”


How wonderful would it be if Ford were to lead the industry toward other forms of mobility, outside the scope of the automobile, as urban areas become increasingly congested. After all, at the core, they are a mobility company.

The costs associated with redefining or reinventing automobile use and similar moves are tremendous of course. Ford has spent nearly $1 billion in electric vehicle investment alone. But believes it's absolutely necessary it become a core competency for Ford in the 21st century.

This may be one place where we would like to see more big picture thinking come from Michigan. We agree that innovative technology and automobile should be tied at the hip, and it can only mean good things for the state of Michigan which has already seen a large increase in jobs associated with high technology. But what about adding an alternative mobility division at Ford? Where the automobile is taken out of the equation. Where mobility is at the center of research and development, and the simple concept of helping people reach a destination leads the conversation. 

Rio+20 Update: @DowChemical, @GM, @KCCorp, @Xerox, @marriotthotels amongst other major firms commit to assigning a value to nature

We're following Rio+20 closely, so it's great to see this news filtering in, of major corporations such as Dow Chemicals, General Motors, Kimberly Clark, Marriott and Xerox (along with 20 others) all signing up to look at how to better "account" for nature in corporate practices.

We earnestly believe that it's not until we account for the environmental impact of firms, that sustainability will truly succeed.

Some estimates suggest the value provided by the environment is something like US$33 trillion, on average per year. Which is more than half of Global GDP.

And that's why we have an increasing clamor of voices demanding a better articulation and calculation of success than GDP, because right now it's just not sustainable. And this is something policy makers are unlikely to be able to implement -- it's more likely that firms will have to proactively learn to account for the environmental and social costs of doing business and modify their value chains accordingly.

Looking forward to the rest of Rio+20.

Photo Source: Inhabitat

On @Nest, Personal Sustainability, and Simplicity in form and function

At The Green Radar, we're big fans of firms that put design first. Our belief is that design -- when used as an intrinsic function of the overall product,  when it is educated by human insight and a keen understanding of a given problem -- can scale up to alter behavior itself.

And with matters of personal sustainability, we feel it's going to be products like Nest's thermostat (pictured here) that will go a long way in helping achieve this.

Nest is a smart meter that learns your energy usage habits and can help you optimize and minimize any losses in energy use. It knows when you wake up, when you leave for work, when you get back, and adjusts the temperature accordingly. They also have other products in the works, like* a humidity control mechanism called Airwave.

It also helps to know that Nest was designed by Tony Fadell, the guy who designed the first iPod. A firm to watch for the future, certainly.

More here.


*Correction: Airwave is a part of the Nest thermostat, and not a separate product. Thanks to the Nest team for confirming this!

On Sustainability and @Nike's Better World project

We love the Better World initiative by Nike. They have been focused on developing sustainable solutions at all points in their value chain, including all the material that goes into their shoes and their merchandise.

For example, they talk about "Considered Design:

"Considered Design is Nike's ongoing commitment to design without compromise – either to performance or the planet. It is a continually progressing standard, applied every day to everything we do.

As an ever-evolving standard for both innovation and sustainability, it's applied every day and to everything we do. By continually raising that standard, we envision a future where the shoes you wear today become the shoes, shirts or equipment you use tomorrow. This "closed loop" manufacturing process, where nothing is wasted and everything is kept in play, is not just wishful thinking, it's the future."

Or FlyKnit and Recycled Polyester.

NIKE Flyknit: NIKE debuts the NIKE Flyknit Racer and NIKE Flyknit Trainer, lightweight shoe. NIKE believes that to design for the future, we need to create products in a completely new way today.
Our innovation is in the NIKE Flyknit manufacturing process; NIKE uses only the materials needed to knit the upper of a shoe. Traditional footwear manufacturing processes use a number of materials and cuts.  NIKE Flyknit reduces waste using special yarns, knitted together to create one lightweight, formfitting upper.

Recycled Polyester: Utilizing recycled PET plastic bottles, NIKE designs superior performance apparel. Reclaimed, discarded plastic bottles are melted down to produce new yarn and converted into fabric to create NIKE’s high performance apparel.  This process saves raw materials and reduces energy consumption by an estimated 30% compared to manufacturing virgin polyester.

All said, Nike is another great firm that puts its money where it's mouth is, and delivers true impact and value for consumers and the broader sustainability movement.

Green is sexy

It's long, long time ago when the green movement was seen as a nerdy movement of a small minority of Birkenstock wearing "alternatives" (no offence here, I am wearing Birkenstocks as well). 

By today sustainability is mainstream, and I mean this in the best possible way!

With this development, sustainability is entering more and more aspects of our lives, e.g. did you ever think of a nightclub when you where pondering about sustainability?

We learned about a Dutch nightclub the other day. The Dutch might not know how to play football, but they sure have a unique sense of creativity. Check out this sustainable dance club!

Their sustainable dance floor is remarkable. The more people jump, dance, enjoy themselves, the more energy is created and can be reused (remember the BMW post a few days ago on a similar topic?).

By now the sustainable dance club initiative takes pride in developing sustainable concepts and solutions for clubs and festivals, aided by innovative technology. We feel they are onto something big as it makes young people think about their own impact on sustainabilty and in a playful way introduces the future decision makers of our world to this critical idea.

Solar Mosaic: the crow-founding project

Solar power has always got a lot of incentives (only for USA is sufficient to check the DSIRE to figure out how many are available).

Solar panels are not cheap so, even with the incentives, it is difficult for citizens and small companies to invest in this "new"technology.

Solar Mosaic, a company founded by a team of entrepreneurs, coders, finance experts and change-makers, wants to enable people to invest their own money into solar energy projects large and small.

It can look like a copy of Kickstarter (the most known crow-founding portal), but it is not! According to Solar Mosaic’s website, investors earn a return from each project’s eventual revenue — so it seems to be facilitating actual equity investing, not the donation model (due to some legal restriction) used by sites such as Kickstarter.

Thanks to the JOBS Act (signed into law on April 5, 2012) anyone is allowed to invest in private companies.

We think Solar Mosaic seems like a smart idea that comes at a smart time.

Moreover it has just been awarded a $2 million grant from the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Sunshot Initiative.

So far the company has facilitated the crowd-funding for five projects in its beta mode, in which more than 400 people invested more than $350,000 in five rooftop power plants in California and Arizona. It plans to put its venture capital and grant money toward building out its platform for crowdfunding on a larger scale.

Source: TechCrunch

From Denmark to India: Top 100 Companies Leading the World in Clean Capitalism

According to Corporate Knights, media, research and financial products company focused on quantifying and animating clean capitalism drivers for decision makers, “In business, sustainability is when what is good for a company is also good for the planet, and vice-versa”, says Toby Heaps, editor-in-chief.

In other words, we can say that sustainability is a company’s power to align efforts towards balancing money, people and the environment.

In this sense, Corporate Knights just announced 2012- List of the 100 World’s Most Sustainable Companies. “For us at Corporate Knights, sustainability is closely tied to what we call ‘clean capitalism,’ which we define as an economic system in which prices fully incorporate social, economic and ecological costs and benefits, and actors are clearly aware of the consequences of their marketplace actions,” says Doug Morrow, vice president of research at Corporate Knights.

The research group evaluated 400 companies using 11 environmental, social and governance performance measures, including energy productivity, waste productivity, CEO-to-average-worker pay ratio and employee turnover. Premise: to assume that companies were sharing reliable information, be objective and if there is no data available then penalize the criteria.

Banking Going Green, Are We Seeing a Trend?

It looks like another bank, Bank of America, will be making some heavy investment into green technology. 
Last week we highlighted Goldman Sachs as they announced a 40 billion dollar commitment toward investing in green technology, following Wells Fargo's own dive into supporting green tech found here. 
Bank of America's plan includes a 50 million dollar venture that will span 10 years. Specifics beyond that portion of their announcement aren't know, but they're also committing themselves to a reduction in energy consumption of 25% from 2004 levels and additional reductions in paper and water. 
To many, this effort from B of A appears like the latest from big banks trying to divert attention from their fading image. Besides the negative perception that many banks have received from the 2008 crisis, deservedly or not, B of A has also been the target of criticism for their part in lending to the coal industry.

Sustainable Architecture and @Inhabitat

@TheGreenRadar we are now following @Inhabitat on twitter. We love the architecture they curate.

And we loved their most recent feature on the bright red GO Home in Belfast, Maine.

It's classified a Passive Home, and ends up saving $300 a year -- a 90% reduction in heating bills. And with solar panels on its roof, it is also a Net-Zero home.

Check out the video walkthrough on how PassiveHouse works, by GoLogic Homes below:

The Football Carbon Footprint

This week we were thinking about a subject to post on the blog and sports came to our minds.
There is no doubt that sports are, in general, a positive element for society.  Sports practice improves the quality of life of the population, sporting goods industry generates jobs around the world and major sports events literally transform the life of a population of a city or even a country (The legacy of Barcelona Olympic Games is a great example).

But in an era of scarcity of resources, are huge sports events like Olympic Games or FIFA World Cups sustainable?
Since 2005 FIFA is putting efforts into a program called Green Goal to reduce the carbon footprint of football events. The incentive to construct environmentally friendly stadiums is part of this program. Although these efforts, a study of the consulting firm Ernst &Young Terco brought a shocking conclusion that 2010 FIFA World Cup generated a carbon footprint of 2,7M tons of CO2, mainly caused by transportation emissions (international travel: teams, fans, administrators, and support staff all contributed to the 1,856,589 tons).
For the 2014 World Cup that will take place in Brazil, the policy to build “green stadiums” has been taken in practice but, due its location and continental size the transportation remains a huge challenge.

The @DesignObserver looks at the Evolving Narrative of Sustainability

We love this article by the Design Observer, which looks at the evolving narrative of sustainability over the years.

There is a technological progression towards efficiency, towards creating smaller or lesser polluting systems. But that's not necessarily the solution, and in fact can perhaps get in the way of every achieving true sustainability.

The article implores us to differentiate between technologically-driven sustainability, which is where a lot of what we're talking about lies, and instead also pay attention to the broader questions of ecological sustainability. To look at and develop new models for consumption itself, not just more efficient ways of producing and consuming as we always have, being cognizant that there is a broader ecological impact of iterations within the narrow field of "efficient products".

This is a conversation we hope to have on The Green Radar over the next few weeks, and would love for you to participate.

“Ever bigger machines, entailing ever bigger concentrations of economic power and exerting ever greater violence against the environment, do not represent progress: they are a denial of wisdom. Wisdom demands a new orientation of science and technology towards the organic, the gentle, the non-violent, the elegant and beautiful.”E.F. Schumacher

Qatar 2022 - a sustainable idea?

As excitement about the upcoming EURO 2012 is about to burst, we can't help but post about a football topic, namely the tremendous infrastructure project of development for the World Cup in Qatar in 2022.

When we first heard about the decision of FIFA to host the 2022 World Cup in Qatar reactions ranged from disbelieve to anger. Why on earth would it make sense to host the World Cup in a country where there is no football infrastructure at all, the history of football is close to non-existent and drinking beer on the streets could theoretically be punished with lashes? Leaving all political, social and financial aspects aside, we came across this interesting (english) article at German newspaper Spiegel.de on German Architect Albert Speer and his sustainable approaches to build the stadiums and infrastructure.

Speer's firm Speer&Partners is renowned for development of large scale cities with a special focus on sustainability. Naturally, Speer was an ideal partner for Qatar and as Speer says, "Major events like the Olympics or the World Cup make the unthinkable thinkable".

And suddenly we are confronted with seemingly crazy but also fascinating ideas, e.g. all the stadiums are designed in a way so that they can be either significantly downscaled after the world cup or even completely dismantled to be shipped to developing countries as smaller sports venues. Another idea focuses on cooling the stadiums down in a sustainable CO2 neutral way using a technology called absorption cooling, using water from the Persian golf that will enable the stadium to "sweat".

So, all in all, although we are still skeptical of the idea, at least we feel that this development might turn out into an interesting playing ground for sustainable development technologies and ideas. So after we have survived EURO frenzy, we will continue to follow up closely on developments in Qatar. 

Plastic from plants?

Two days ago five global brands (The Coca-Cola Company, Ford Motor Company, H.J. Heinz Company, NIKE, Inc. and Procter & Gamble) announced the formation of the Plant PET Technology Collaborative (PTC).

Their aim? To accelerate the development and use of 100% plant-based PET materials and fiber in their products.

Everything started almost 3 years ago, when CocaCola unveiled "PlantBottle", a new plastic bottle made partially from plants.
Traditional PET bottles are made from petroleum, a non-renewable resource. The PlantBottle is made from a blend of petroleum-based materials and up to 30% plant-based materials, reducing carbon emissions by up to 25%.

A good result considering that more than 50% of Coca-Cola beverage volume is delivered in plastic bottles! In 2010 alone, the use of this packaging eliminated more than 60.000 barrels of oil.

You will never distinguish a PlantBottle PET bottle because it feels like traditional PET plastic, they have the same weight and function identically.

The Green Radar applauds this commitment and hope that the 100% renewably sourced bottle goal will be reached in 2020 . PTC is worth keeping an eye on. We can see wide spread adoption for it.

PORTABLE SOLAR POWER – ENERGY EVERYWHERE!

Portable Solar Power – Energy Everywhere!

 

The renewable energyindustry moves fast and it is well known that solar energy is one of the most trendynowadays. Probably we all know of a city, an organization or even a neighborthat is investing in this technology (to use it in a building, car or otherassets) not only because the renewable sources like the sun provide free energybut also because they are eco – friendly. I think it worth to mention that theinitial cost of implementation and other required systems might be quiteexpensive but at the end this alternative is very convenient because its regularusage has no cost.

Furthermore, thisindustry has been evolving at the same time that portable electronics. That iswhy we can find companies like Goal Zero that has a very interesting offer of productsthat by means of portable solar panels allows us to charge our devices whereverwe are. They have even developed chargeable backpacks, lanterns and “powercontainers” and they are prepared to connect to the devices by USB, DC, AC. Theprocess seems easy:

1.     Collect Power in a “power pack”: Depending on the devicethat you are looking to provide power to in the future it may take a while.Imagine that you can consider from an iPod, iPhone, tablet, laptop, TV to a 12Vrefrigerator!

2.     Store Power: Once the power pack is charged, you can takeit wherever you want and have it available for whenever you need it.

3.     Power your device: Use your power pack to power orrecharge your device.

Once again, the initialcost is not that cheap and the size of some products is not comfortable, but Iam sure that as much as we get used to this technology, it will keep improvingon the go faster and faster.

In general, this sustainable technology, trendy and available worldwide, is very recommendable foradventurers that like to camp or hike, travelers that stay long hours waitingin the airports or train stations, students that carry several electronicdevices at the same time, and for every eco – friendly user that wants to depending on electric power at home or office.

Very motivating to all of those who wants to be part of the "green revolution" that is coming... actually, that is already around us now.

Goldman Goes Green. Investing 40 Billion On The Way.

Ah... and another. We know, Goldman is all about money, sure, but, 40 billion is a lot. So regardless of the connotations associated with the firm as of late, 40 BILLION is a lot of money!

And they've done it before. In 2011 Goldman Sachs helped finance green technology companies worldwide to the tune of 4.8 billion dollars. Now, this is in contrast to the types of commitments we've seen from universities and other firms like Harbro and Microsoft who've pledged operational changes within their own organization mirroring mostly internal changes to reflect their steps toward being green. And while Goldman Sachs has pledged to zero carbon emissions by 2020, we haven't heard of much else on that front.

We can say a lot, and perhaps not positively, about the many green technology companies that have received heavy funding in the past decade and seen little to no growth, we can't think of any other firms investing this much cash into green technologies. And it's the not the usual suspects of clean enery solutions that Goldman Sachs plans to invest in... "The banks new 40 billion dollar target applies to investments and financings for solar, wind, hydro biofuels, biomass conversion..." and the list goes on.

We recognize green technology is a valuable investing opportunity to huge upside, and we're happy to see another firm does as well.

Alternatives to sustainable transportation

The city of São Paulo in Brazil one of the main the business centers of Latin America is well known by its cosmopolitan lifestyle with great options of restaurants and night life.

São Paulo is also known for its terrible traffic, one of the worst in the World. The huge amount of cars and a poor public transportation do the Paulistano spend in average nearly 3 hours a day stuck in the traffic, causing, according some studies, estimated losses of 33M per year.

A recent initiative of the government in partnership with private companies (Banco Itaú) is trying to solve part of the problem by changing the way people move around the city. The alternative is to invest in bike renting system similar to which is used in France and UK. The system allows the users to rent a bike in one of the bike station for short journeys around the city.

In addition to diminishing traffic congestion, such option reduces the emission of CO2 on the atmosphere and, as a consequence, contributes to the improvement of the quality of the air.

The system is working well so far, but to make a real impact on quality of life the number of users need to increase significantly. To do this the Government should increase investment in exclusive routes for bicycles and educational programs focused on changing the mindset of the population with emphasis on the advantages of use bicycles instead of cars to cover short and medium distances.

Lord Smith of the UK Environment Agency at the RSA: "Are green and growth compatible?"

‎"Part of my purpose in being here... is to shout out as loudly as I can that the environment still matters, that green is as important as growth, and that the two do absolutely walk hand-in-hand." 


Lord Smith, the Environment Agency

On Marks and Spencer, Corporate Sustainability, and Plan B

We came across an interesting project by Marks & Spencer, referred to as Plan A.

In their own words, they describe it as

We launched Plan A in January 2007, setting out 100 commitments to achieve in 5 years. We've now extended Plan A to 180 commitments to achieve by 2015, with the ultimate goal of becoming the world's most sustainable major retailer.
Through Plan A we are working with our customers and our suppliers to combat climate change, reduce waste, use sustainable raw materials, trade ethically, and help our customers to lead healthier lifestyles. Explore our Plan A commitments for 2010 - 2015. 

We're doing this because it's what you want us to do. It's also the right thing to do. 

We're calling it Plan A because we believe it's now the only way to do business. 

There is no Plan B.

We feel that such initiatives are important. Sustainability is only going to truly become meaningful with firms when they build it into their brands -- what people expect of them, what they're known for delivering. It needs to go beyond Corporate Social Responsibility and become a key part of the Corporation itself. We look forward to more firms reengineering themselves to achieve this.

300 Years of Fossil Fuels in 300 Seconds by @postcarbon

Interesting video titled "300 years of Fossil Fuels in 300 seconds" that we discovered today.

It's by the Post Carbon Institute. While the narrative occasionally gets amusingly neo-Malthusian, the issues it raises are genuine and of great concern, and something many of the projects we have looked at here on The Green Radar have looked to tackle.

In the Post Carbon Institute's own words,

Fossil fuels have powered human growth and ingenuity for centuries. Now that we're reaching the end of cheap and abundant oil and coal supplies, we're in for an exciting ride. While there's a real risk that we'll fall off a cliff, there's still time to control our transition to a post-carbon future.

BMW i's neat idea to advertise electric mobility

We love how sustainability is getting more and more into focus with major companies and the way companies find innovative ways to promote sustainability. Today we found this nice little video of BMW promoting their new sub-brand BMW i, which stands for visionary mobility and sustainably conceived electric vehicles.

They created an exhibition at the Gare de Lyon in Paris where passers-by have the opportunity to walk over an piezoelectric floor. The clue is that each step on this piezoelectric floor generates energy, thus vividly raising awareness for energy sustainability. The energy created is made visible on the edges of the floor and culminates in the creation of the BMW i logo.

Check out the video below: