Archive for the 'corporate' Category

Is it about being green or the green?

Published
by
greenhl
on April 9, 2009
in action, conservation, corporate, household, pollution and waste
. 2 Comments

The economy continues to battle through troubled times. Unemployment is near an all time high, wages are down, uninsured numbers are on the rise, housing prices continue to fall, and trillions of dollars in wealth has evaporated. On top of this, we in California are facing one of the worst droughts we’ve seen in years. The only bright stop is the recent rise in the stock market.

During these times, I’ve heard people are trading in being green for some extra green. When it comes to putting food on the table or keeping a roof over your head vs. buying products that have are green (and more expensive), it’s tough to argue which one wins.

However, keep in mind that being green often means living a smarter and more frugal lifestyle. For example, turn off lights and appliances when you’re not using them. Take shorter showers. Use cloth towels instead of paper towels. Combine trips when you need to go out and run errands. Bring a reusable shopping bag to the market – it doesn’t cost you a thing, and you may even get a little green back from the store. In fact, doing many of the things we’ve been discussing in ThingsThatMakeYouGoGreen will help you save green.

If you have ideas and tips on green things that save green, let us know. I can be reached at greenhl [at] ttmygg [dot] com. I would personally love to hear your ideas!

Add some green to your bottom line

Published
by
greenhl
on August 19, 2008
in corporate
. 0 Comments

I just came across an interesting study performed by AMP Agency, which found that green behavior and perspectives are less of a fad and more of a general movement. Of the 3,200 people surveyed, 19 percent of respondents were defined as influential or “Green Evangelists”. This means after these people learn a particular company or product is eco-friendly, they are very likely to recommend the company or product to colleagues, family, and friends. According to AMP Agency’s survey, these influential people tend to be in the 18 – 30 year old range, without 57 percent being female.

What is fascinating about this study is that industry standards usually find that 10 percent of a sample is considered influential. This particular study found nearly double that for the eco-friendly movement, indicating an extremely strong market penetration.

For a company, getting such “Green Evangelists” on their side is not only important, but it can offer huge returns to their bottom lines. As one can imagine, this particular group of people, especially those in the 18 – 30 year old range, can have strong influence in online social networks, offline social networks, and also amongst peers. In addition, if a company is able to capture such a demographic, the company can potentially have a customer for life! How’s that for a return on your green investment?

Of course, the flipside is that if these “Green Evangelists” find our your company and / or products are simply full of hot air, their influential effects can be just as devastating. It’s time to go green so you can add some green to your bottom line.

Green is where the green is

Published
by
greenhl
on July 16, 2008
in corporate, energy, investments and solar
. 1 Comment

I’m going to take a break from George W today. I need something positive to talk about. We all know the U.S. economy has slowed down. Unemployment is up, inflation is up, the stock market is down, earnings are down, and the pace of venture capital investment has slowed dramatically. We’ve seen dramatically fewer technology IPOs this year, and even the once “immune” technology sector is seeing the effects of the ailing economy.

One area bucking this trend is green technology. A United Nations report indicates over $148 billion was invested into alternative energy last year, up a whopping 60 percent from the $92.6 billion spent in 2006. The report describes this as a “green energy gold rush”. Wind energy led with $50 billion in investments, but solar was the largest gainer with a 90 percent rise, totaling $28 billion in investments. Even high profile venture capital firms such as Kleiner Perkins have established funds and partner areas earmarked for green investments.

What’s great is that this appears to be a global trend led by Europe, which as we all know is far more advanced from clean tech and alternative energy perspectives than the rest of the world. There appears to be strong and growing interest in emerging countries such as Brazil, China, and India as well, as these countries recognize their growth and development will soon be hindered by their consumption and dependence on foreign energy. In case you’re wondering, not only do we pollute the most in the U.S. (on both an absolute and per capita basis), but we are one of the worst, least advanced clean tech, developed countries in the world.

Walmart going local

Published
by
greenhl
on July 13, 2008
in action, corporate, retail and transportation
. 0 Comments

walmart_produce_employee

A while back, I wrote about Wal-Mart’s efforts to go green, including their efforts to implement green technologies and push their supply chain to go green. I’m happy to report that Wal-Mart is continuing to forge ahead with its efforts.

Over the past two years in the U.S., Walmart has increased the number of local farmers it works with by 50 percent. It expects over $400 million of produce will come from local sources this year, which is defined as purchasing and selling produce in the same state. Before you scoff at the fact that Walmart defines local as the same state and not within some arbitrary 150 mile radius, remember Walmart’s massive scale and the fact that there probably aren’t many farmers who can support supplying a few Walmart stores, let alone a single one. Also, ask yourself how many times you’ve eaten a Florida or California orange or produce grown in another state. Sourcing intrastate is a big step forward, especially since produce travels 1,500 miles on average before reaching consumers’ homes.

Walmart gave peach sourcing as an example. By sourcing peaches from 18 states instead of two, Walmart saves 672,000 miles and 112,000 gallons of fuel, equivalent to approximately $1.4 million in transportation costs. Given grocery accounts for 41 percent of Walmart’s U.S. sales, it’s easy to see how savings like this add up quickly. In addition, by sourcing more produce locally, Walmart is ready to accommodate the already large and growing demand for organic produce.

One of Walmart’s biggest principles is to lower costs so savings can be passed onto customers. It’s no secret a big reason Walmart is going green is that it’s good fiscal policy for them. Walmart saves money through many of its green initiatives, and they’re not afraid to admit it. Walmart may not do everything right, but it’s efforts to go green should be applauded by all of us. The next step I’d love to see Walmart take is to identify how eco-friendly (or not) a product is relative to competing products in the same class.

Best Buy should be ashamed of itself

Published
by
greenhl
on July 10, 2008
in corporate, pollution, recycling, retail and waste
. 1 Comment

worst_best_buy_logo

How many of you shop at Best Buy? When I’ve gone, I’ve been disappointed by their usually high prices and unhelpful staff. That said, I will start going there less than I even do currently.

Best Buy should be ashamed of their recycling program and efforts they speak so proudly of. Best Buy is probably one of the largest retailers of electronics if not the largest. In essence, Best Buy is one of the worst contributors to the tons of electronics thrown into our landfills each year.

Best Buy can mitigate a lot of this buy offering recycling at its stores, but unfortunately, it doesn’t choose to do so. It only offers the recycling of some appliances and home electronics if you purchase something from them AND get it professionally delivered or installed through a service you purchase through them. In essence, they are really trying to up sell additional services and make even more money, while masking this as some type of great recycling program and environmental benefit they are offering.

To Best Buy’s credit, they do offer cell phone, battery, and ink cartridge recycling. However, given Best Buy’s huge contribution to electronic waste in our landfills, they should be ashamed of their paltry efforts. They don’t even offer an on-going free recycling program for old computers, printers, CD / DVD players, fax machines or other common electronics. They do have special weekend events which appear to be one-time events in certain cities. Let’s be realistic though. Recycling should be a year round event, not a one-time marketing and promotional event. In addition, Best Buy doesn’t even accept appliances, microwaves, smoke detectors, or air conditioners during these events. Why even bother having these events, lest its for a corporate dog and pony show? Best Buy definitely pales in comparison to Costco’s efforts, which offers free recycling, complete with free shipping and packaging materials.

If someone knows of a great effort Best Buy is doing to combat this problem, let me know. I couldn’t find it on their website, and I would definitely love to be proven wrong in this case.