Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Friday, October 23rd, 2009
No matter who attends the BSR conference, we always seem to find a balance between the people who legitimately wish to improve sustainability, not just for their company but the planet, and those who set out to further their profits by subtle or blatant greenwashing.
During the Thursday morning breakfast, Zhang Yue, chairman and CEO of China-based Broad Air Conditioning woke the crowd up as he spoke through an interpreter. A few minutes before that, I found myself asking a colleague “Who is this guy?” After 10 minutes, I changed my mind. More people should listen to this guy. True, I haven’t done due diligence on his company but if his company does half the things that he says they do then I’m on board. Yue created China’s first “non-electric chiller” and insists on showing consumers how triple paned windows will reduce their need to use air conditioners. Consider that their business revolves around making air conditioners. 
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Tags: Broad Air Conditioning, BSR, Calvert Social Investment Foundation, china, Michael de Soyza Dialog Telekom, PPP, Sayjay Raman Howcast Media, USAid, Zhang Yue
Posted in Business, Eco-Entreprenuers, Events, San Francisco, Technology | No Comments »
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
Ah, it feels good to have the BSR conference back in San Francisco. Even though the economy has gone to hell, it is good see that probably close to 1000 attendees hit the conference so the sour economy has not killed the whole notion of notion of sustainability and companies.
Good start — as we walked in and registered the staff handed me a recyclable, biodegradable, compostable lanyard.
The theme for this year’s conference – Sustainability in a Reset World
After admiring our lanyards and breakfast we jumped into packed conversation with Pamela Passman of Microsoft. Of course we considered today’s launch of Windows 7.
The discussion centered on the sustainability of Microsoft. Now, most people will admit that the technology business isn’t the least sustainable or “dirtiest” business. But that doesn’t mean that they don’t press a heavy carbon footprint. Passman discussed that companies need software to track their own carbon footprint.Microsoft may have many ideas for other comanies but they need to look in the mirror as well.
She admitted the two most pressing issues that Microsoft needs to improve in so far as reducing their carbon footprint that includes:
1- Traveling (lots of it)
2 – Data centers — The data centers continue to be electric and water intensive.
Microsoft claims to be attempting reduce the footprint of these data centers. (more…)
Tags: BSR, china, data centers, human rights, Microsoft, Pamela Passman, San Francisco, sustainability
Posted in Business, Events, San Francisco, Technology | No Comments »
Monday, October 12th, 2009
Attending the recently concluded CAR Expo in San Jose CA we could see that things weren’t exactly hopping, especially in the Green seminars and Green expo booths. Who could blame everyone, with the still lingering effect of the economy, unemployment and overall uncertainty? The Expo offered a bevy of economic forecasts, short sale sessions and new DRE laws going into effect but of course we went to check the green goings on. How’s the Green movement within the ranks of the real estate world? If my Green colleague and I would guess from the sparse attendance at the few green sessions and Green display booths then the state of Green Real Estate isn’t exactly on everyone’s radar.
The Going Green Member Forum offered informative green facts from a CHEERS rater as well as some finer points from Build It Green’s Elise Hunter about the Green Point Rated system. We discovered that the HERS Phase II rating will include: whole house energy homes, uniform rating system based on a statewide rating scale, as well as labeling procedures for homebuyers, renters, real estate industry, mortgage lenders who have an interest in home energy ratings. We say Hoorah to that! The speaker also snuck in some tidbits of info that even surprised us such as the “”Energy Efficient Mortgage” that ties into the 203B FHA loan that allows five percent of property value in most cases, while VA loans allows up to $6,000 in green upgrades. (more…)
Tags: Build It Green, CAR, CHEERS, DRE, Expo, FHA, Green Point Rated, Green Real Estate, HERS, Realtors, san jose
Posted in Business, Events, Green Building, Programs and Standards | No Comments »
Friday, September 18th, 2009
When was the last time any moviegoer hard heard words lysine and high fructose corn syrup in the same movie? I’m not talking about a documentary but rather a major motion picture with real celebrities and budgets and that sort of thing. Those hungry for a “corn- based” movie will be excited to check out the new film “The Informant!” which opens later this week.
While some film fans may be psyched to see the Matt Damon’s newest role as Mark Whitacre, and others queue up too see director Steven Soderbergh do something other than an “Ocean’s” film, my friend and I liked the whole corn based aspect of the film. What other film maybe except for documentary flicks like King Corn, or Food Inc. open with such info about how corn exists in a ridiculous amount of food and even non food items. The Informant! delves right into the world of the corn based lysine and even high fructose corn syrup (the photo depicts a scene where one of the FBI agents spies yet another product containing high fructose corn syrup). (more…)
Tags: ADM, Archer Daniels Midland, Corn, Food Inc., high fructose corn cyrup, King Corn, Mark Whitacre, Matt Damon, Steven Soderburgh, The Informant
Posted in Business, Films and Documentaries, Food, money | No Comments »
Friday, August 7th, 2009
It’s kind of exciting to be around some of the top bloggers, social media giants, and computer media gurus at the 2009 Inman Connect. It would be silly to search for significant Green aspects within this conference, but the as they say it’s about people, planet, profit. Of course, the real estate industry here remains about profit but much of the new innovation deals with people.
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Posted in Business, Eco-Entreprenuers, Products, San Francisco, Technology | No Comments »
Monday, July 27th, 2009
For some people the act of walking in to a shopping mall during a huge sale makes them sort of shake like they are on crack and for me and my friend Mouse, walking into Scrap for the first time, it caused a similar reaction. How could I not have known about this place? True, the location could not be less in the middle of nowhere and in San Francisco that is quite a trick. But still, I have no excuse.
Scrap, which their pamphlet calls “a creative reuse center and workshop space” came about in 1976, way before recycling and Green became trendy, as a resource for artists and teachers. Scrap also set out to promote environmental awareness and creative reuse.
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Tags: landfill, non-profit, paper, recycle, reuse, San Francisco, scrap, textiles
Posted in Business, Eco-Entreprenuers, Resources, San Francisco | 1 Comment »
Friday, March 27th, 2009
Usually when people visit a winery, people look for various shades of white or dark red, but here our color paradigm might shift to say Green. The recently opened CADE Winery offers not only solar power and organically farmed winery but hopes to garner LEED Gold status and if so, would be the first Estate Gold LEED certified winery in the Napa Valley.
When visiting a winery, people’s olfactory system normally goes into overdrive but instead of inhaling the aromas of vanilla, rosemary, oak and sage here we took deep breaths of the air. As in indoor air quality. No stuffy AC here as the building relies on natural ventilation. Although the wines remain something to admire, we also dig the other green aspects. CADE utilizes 100% solar power and organic farming methods which both look so green and tasty.
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Tags: bicycle_racks, blue_jeans, cade, cade_winery, concrete_mass, electric_car, fly_ash, gold_status, hybrid_electric_cars, indoor_air_quality, land_trust, low_flow_showerhead, napa_valley, natural_ventilation, oak_cask, organic_farming_methods, solar_power, sustainable_cuisine
Posted in Business, Environment, Food, Programs and Standards | No Comments »
Friday, March 13th, 2009
The economy may be in the toilet but ones things for sure this time of year the Girl Scouts will be out in whatever city or rural town selling their cookies. Yes, they have expanded their selection from the basic chocolate chip to such flavors as Dulce de Leche but for $4 a box the economy would have to get real bad for people not to support the Girl Scouts and buy a box or two.
Here’s the thing that gets us. What then heck are these baked goods made from? These little morsels hardly come from just flour and sugar like cookies should be. Instead these little baked treats contain ingredients that would make Michael Pollen cringe. When little girls (or boys for that matter) hardly learn to bake they hardly reach for Palm Oil and TBHQ or Anhydrous Dextrose.
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Tags: baked_goods, chocolate_chip, cookies, dulce_de_leche, flavors, flour, girl_scouts, michael_pollen, palm_oil
Posted in Business, Food, San Francisco | No Comments »
Friday, March 6th, 2009
Perhaps bloggers need to be more visual and less wordy. Those were some of the first thoughts that crept into my head when I got wind of this new CCS (CO2 capture and storage) Web and interactive map from the Bellona Foundation.
Before even going further I had to check out Bellona, which we discovered is an Oslo, Norway based NGO that primarily functions as a nuclear watchdog focusing on developments in Russia. More recently they have moved into other sectors including technology and the environment. That’s where the colorful and helpful new CCS Web comes into play.
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Tags: bellona_foundation, ccs_projects, ccs_web, collective_heads, exxon_mobil, first_thoughts, including_technology, interactive_map, Maps, Norway, philanthropic_organizations, pretty_colors, splotch, storage_web, weyburn
Posted in Business, Technology | No Comments »
