Posted by Kelly Smith on Wed, Jul 07, 2010
Codero offers web hosting services that are powered by 100 percent green power for small and medium-sized businesses. Anyone looking to fill their green IT needs should consider Codero, a sustainable business which is based in Kansas City and powered by wind farms in Iowa. An EPA Green Power Partner that purchases Green-e certified green electricity through EcoElectrons, Codero estimates that it offsets the annual conventional electricity usage of 1,255 homes.
Businesses that use Codero’s services get to use the Codero logo to show their customers that they are a sustainable business seeking to shrink their carbon footprint. Research shows that environmentally friendly companies increase customer satisfaction. There are many ways to become more environmentally sound in your business practices.
Becoming a member of the U.S. EPA’s Green Power Partnership is a good way to network with other businesses and organizations that are concerned about reducing their carbon footprint and fighting global climate change. It is also an excellent way to broaden your customer base. Choosing to patronize other Green Power Partners for your company’s needs, such as green IT services, boosts your eco-credibility.
Over 70 new organizations have decided to join the Green Power Partnership recently. Amherst College; the Indianapolis Zoo; the City of New Haven, Connecticut; the Baltimore Airport Hilton; Madison Computer Works; Biomass Thermal Energy Council; Dutch Mill Catering; and Ogden Publications are just a few of the new members spanning industries from green information technology to sustainable real estate to environmentally friendly health care.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Tue, May 18, 2010
Richard Branson’s Virgin Green Fund is doing a different kind of green investment. Virgin Green Fund is seeking to invest in established companies that are developing renewable energy and resource efficiency technologies. Virgin Green Fund’s portfolio includes renewable energy companies working on biofuels, biomass, fuel cells, geothermal, hydro, solar, and wind. They also invest in resource efficiency businesses in areas such as emissions reduction, energy efficiency, energy storage, monitoring systems, waste management, water management, and transport.
It is often much easier for start-up companies to get funding in the early years. Virgin Green Fund’s philosophy is a little different. They want to keep green companies in business once they are well-established and running smoothly but may not have access to additional financial support for expansion or other projects when they need it.
Virgin Green Fund is not alone in opting to invest in sustainable businesses in their teenage or young adult years. According to a recent New York Times article, “From 2007 to 2009, the total venture capital invested in clean technology companies dropped 15 percent, according to the National Venture Capital Association. But a parsing of those numbers shows that investment in late-stage companies actually increased 19 percent, to $821 million, while early-stage companies took the biggest hit, with dollars decreasing 41 percent, to $550 million.” Perhaps investors are seeing these already established green businesses as a safer bet for investment during uncertain economic times.
An example of a Virgin Green Fund project is their investment in GreenRoad. GreenRoad is an innovative green technology that gives real-time feedback to drivers about the safety and fuel-efficiency of their driving. GreenRoad tells drivers to do things that will save them gas, such as braking more smoothly rather than slamming on the brakes. Virgin Green Fund is one of the main investors in this green company which is concerned with both driver safety and environmental safety.
Neither Virgin Green Fund nor GreenRoad are currently members of the U.S. EPA’s Green Power Partnership, but purchase of green electricity would certainly be another way for them to fulfill their green missions.
Posted by Rahul Chitrapu on Mon, Feb 22, 2010
Facebook recently announced plans to build a data center in Oregon. The data center is supposed to be efficient and save on energy and cost. The plan was to use conventional electricity from fossil fuels to power the data center.
Some folks from Greenpeace picked up on this and started a Facebook group petitioning Facebook to purchase renewable electricity for the data center instead of electricity from coal and natural gas. The membership of the group has exploded. About 3,000 members joined the group just today. Purchasing renewable electricity can be as simple as buying renewable energy credits like many of these companies that already do. Tech companies like Intel, Dell and HP are already doing it.
This just goes to show how badly consumers want companies to adopt sustainable initiatives. Facebook will probably have to pay 3-5% more for renewable electricity. Will Facebook listen to its user base and switch to renewables?
Posted by Rahul Chitrapu on Sun, Jan 24, 2010
Golden State Warriors have installed solar panels to power the team's practice facility. The solar panels would produce about 26% of the facility's annual electricity requirements. It is said that the facility will save $2 Million over the next 25 years. Perhaps it is assumed that the cost electricity will rise year over year because the annual savings are said to be just $36,000. More info can be found at
Cooler Planet.
I don't think the $36,000 of annual savings take into account the actual cost of the solar system and its installation because the payback on solar systems are at the very least 5-10 years or more.
What else can a business/corporation/building do to reduce the impact of its electricity usage? Watch the video of US Environmental Protection Agency's
Green Power Partnership Video or visit their
website. Greening one's electricity can have far reaching consequences -
more so than recycling.
There are three ways for a facility to run on green power:
a) Install an on-site system like the Golden State Warrirors. This is an excellent option if you can afford it. However, on-site solar and wind installations can be very expensive and can only generate a percentage of the electricity needed for a facility.
b) Sign-up for a green power program being offered by a local utility company. Such programs are cheaper than installing an on-site system.
c) Purchase
Renewable Energy Credits from an independent certified provider. Electricity is like a tub of water with dirty water (dirty electricity) and clean water (clean electricity) flowing in from each end and the mixture of the two flowing out the other. This makes it impossible for the purchaser of clean water (clean electricity or green power) to consume just the clean water (clean or green electrons). Therefore, it is sufficient if the clean water (clean or green electrons) is injected on your behalf. Renewable Energy Credits are proof that 1 Mega-Watt of electricity was injected into the electric grid on behalf of the purchaser. Plus going through an independent provider can be even cheaper than a local electric utility (Shameless promotion alert). Want to find out how much the cost of green power through renewable energy credits?
Contact us today.
Posted by Rahul Chitrapu on Sat, Dec 06, 2008
We are proud to announce the launch of www.ecoelectrons.com.
Ecoelectrons helps its customers reduce their carbon footprints by supplying renewable energy credits.
Businesses can offset their carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions to zero by signing up with us.
The site was designed by Depthskins Design Studio.
Theyve done an outstanding job at delivering a professional website. Check their labs for a case study on ecoelectrons.