Tag Archives: Energy
Lessons from . . . Pond Scum?!
Humans are wired to understand and respond to threats like a lion chasing us down. Climate change, population growth, and other stressors happen too slowly for our minds to get around. Furthermore, doubling rates always seem extremely slow – until it’s too late: pond scum with a doubling rate of one day, would starve the life out of a pond just one day after the pond was only 1/2 covered…
Can goats help your green initiatives succeed like this?
Its pretty common to want to start your environmental initiatives with activities your colleagues will see and feel and even participate in. Something like recycled paper in the copy room. That can be a success – people get inspired, they notice they can make a difference, and they start having ideas about how to contribute more.
Sustainability can grow your business. Profitably.
Surprised? No need – you’ve heard me right. There doesn’t need to be a contradiction between environment and growth. Whether you are running a company or a market, working on brands or purchasing, you’ll see that going green is a straightforward, step-by-step process that you can drive – in a way that supports you, [...]
Why now?
You believe you’re doing the right thing and that your way of working is keeping you competitive. But you may want to rethink this. Research has shown that people and businesses routinely overestimate the goodwill others will show them. Take a look at the following cases, and ask yourself to what extent your answers would [...]
What energy has in common with hard drugs.
by Caroline Rennie How do you know that your avant garde initiatives are actually mainstream? The Mafia is muscling in as a supplier… According to the Financial Times, renewable energy, particularly wind-farms, is increasingly owned and run by the Mafia – for the value of the subsidies, for the value of the renewable energy credits, [...]
Just how transparent is transparency?
by Caroline RennieHow transparent is transparent? Well, how about publishing the webcast of your internal Sustainability meetings and presentations online on a site that has your goals, actions, performance, stories and videos? That’s what Wal-Mart has done here. Mike Duke, the new CEO, speaks to his vision (and how it continues Lee Scott’s) for Wal-Mart [...]
How is carbon like reporters in Iraq?
by Caroline Rennie They’re both embedded: journalists in the army, carbon in … everything. When you calculate your company or product’s CO2 impact, you’re not just counting what you added – you’re counting the embodied impacts – the energy used and CO2 released when the materials were made, distributed, manufactured into products, used and even [...]
Lobbying: a proven way to lose money?
by Caroline Rennie The International Energy Agency estimates that coal companies ought to be spending $2 billion a year for ten years on clean coal technologies, and Credit Suisse suggests they should be spending at least $1.5 billion. Actually, coal companies are spending a fraction of that on development, and half again as much in [...]
Exploiting Green Guilt for profit: a lesson from the Catholic Church
by Caroline Rennie Purchases of carbon offsets* by individuals are at an all time high – despite the grim economic news, reports the Washington Post. And this tells us that there is money to be made by businesses who invite consumers to participate in solving environmental problems. A lesson from the ChurchThe Catholic Church has [...]
Hot Sh*t! Cow Power
by Caroline Rennie Too clever. A farm in Vermont wanted to use the offgasses from their cow’s manure to power their farm. Which they have done. But then they went one better – they saw that this power was renewable energy and could fetch a premium. So they worked out an agreement with the local [...]