Posted by Kelly Smith on Thu, Aug 26, 2010
Seventh Generation is the U.S.’s leading eco-friendly household products brand. Based in Burlington, Vermont, Seventh Generation has made a commitment to both green living and green business for the past twenty years. From making products without toxic chemicals to educating consumers about how their individual choices make a difference, Seventh Generation works hard to live up to its environmental mission each day.
Walmart has shifted its direction to be much more aware of its environmental impact. For the past five years, Walmart has focused their energies on reducing waste and energy consumption and on carrying more sustainable products. Walmart now insists on certain environmental ethics and standards from all of its suppliers. It seems like a natural transition that as Walmart tries to become more environmentally friendly and to offer more ecologically sound products to its consumers that it would want to carry one of the best eco brands.
For a long time, Seventh Generation avoided any association with the largest retailer in the world. But when Walmart began to incorporate sustainable business practices into their mission, Seventh Generation co-founder Jeffrey Hollender saw a way to make his products accessible to a wider audience and to potentially make a big difference in educating people about living in greater harmony with our planet.
Walmart has asked Seventh Generation, the Environmental Defense Fund, and others to help in their mission to become a model of green business practices. They are starting to screen the products they sell in order to avoid stocking items that contain harmful chemicals. They plan to gradually introduce Seventh Generation’s green household products to their stores, with a full offering available through Walmart.com this fall.
Phot via joshspoon
Posted by Kelly Smith on Thu, Aug 12, 2010
Lenovo, a computer company based in Hong Kong, has just gained recognition for their green business efforts by being chosen as one of 30 companies to be a member of a new Hong Kong and China corporate Sustainability Index. Energy efficiency, recycling, and carbon emissions have long been on the mind of Lenovo as they have continued to incorporate sustainable business practices into their global company. Such recognition makes environmentally aware consumers more likely to turn to companies such as Lenovo (or Dell or Hitachi) for their green technology needs.
Not all sustainable companies will be sought out for this kind of recognition and publicity. Many companies need to be proactive in sharing their green business practices in order to increase customer interest.
Purchasing green power that is Green-e certified is one way to get recognition for corporate sustainability. The US EPA’s Green Power Partnership is another organization that offers support and publicity to companies that wish to shrink their carbon footprint while boosting business. Green companies that are at the forefront of environmentally friendly business practices might even win Green Power Leadership Awards.
Businesses seeking a market share with green consumers should also consider launching promotional programs for Earth Day or Earth Month each April, detailing their eco-business practices on their websites, and coming up with innovative green products such as PepsiCo’s compostable SunChips bags. Continue to improve your business’s environmental policies while coming up with new ideas for getting publicity and gaining customer interest.
Posted by Rahul Chitrapu on Mon, Aug 09, 2010
Renewable Energy or Green Power is the solution to some major challenges like climate change, dependency on foreign oil and sustainable economic development thatface us today. Consumers have become sophisticated enough to realize this and they have started to support only those businesses that have sustainability built into their core values. Getting your organization green powered is thus not only the right thing to do but it makes sense from a business standpoint. Businesses are also realizing this as can be seen from the dramatic increase over the last few years in renewable energy purchases made specifically by commercial parties.
Due to deregulation of the electricity markets in select states, it is now possible for organizations in such states to run on green power while they cut down on energy costs. Our new whitepaper gives the reader some background on green power, its benefits to business and how an organization in deregulated electricity markets can go green while realizing energy savings at the same time.
Click here to download the whitepaper and learn how organizations can go green while realizing energy savings.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Thu, Jul 29, 2010
Demand for sustainable products and services worldwide continues to expand. Green businesses are thinking in new ways about how to protect the planet and satisfy their customers at the same time. UPS began a carbon neutral shipping program last fall to serve customers who wish to pay a little extra to offset the carbon dioxide emissions from shipping their packages. UPS was the first package delivery service to offer this kind of green shipping option.
This popular program has now expanded to UPS locations across the United States, online, and around the world. For only 75 cents, a customer can ship a package carbon free from the United States to any international location. Domestically, the optional surcharge is as low as five cents for customers to ship their packages without pollution or guilt. In 2010, customer purchases of offsets will go twice as far, since UPS will match their investments.
UPS currently purchases carbon offets from the Garcia River Forest Climate Action Project. This organization is overseen by The Nature Conservancy and The Conservation Fund to ensure its validity as a provider of reliable carbon offsets. It is important for businesses and consumers to purchase offsets or renewable energy credits that are certified or verified. UPS also plans to support other offset projects worldwide.
Offering a simple and inexpensive way for customers to feel better about the sustainability of their purchases is an excellent idea for any business to increase business and improve customer satisfaction.
Photo via Justinls
Posted by Kelly Smith on Tue, Jul 13, 2010
From gourmet cooking and artisan baking to making simple homecooked favorites, the recession and concerns about global environmental issues have conspired to raise interest in do-it-yourself cooking projects at home. Rather than driving a car to spend a lot of money at an expensive restaurant, people are learning the ropes in their own kitchens. Even the purchase of premium ingredients is cheaper than paying for someone else’s expertise.
Premium choices include organic ingredients. Choosing organic ingredients is better for the environment as well as for families. Children are especially susceptible to pesticides, which makes organics the obvious choice for many people.
Organic milk and organic produce may be closer to the forefront of people’s minds when they are shopping, but organic dry goods are also widely available at many groceries. Choosing a company that grows and processes organic foods is often making a choice to patronize a company that is concerned about environmental sustainability beyond just the issue of pesticide usage.
One such sustainable business is Great River Organic Milling, a company that has been working towards environmental sustainability for 25 years as they provide consumers with premium flours, hot cereals, and baking mixes. A US EPA Green Power Partner based in Wisconsin, Great River Organic Milling purchases Renewable Energy Credits to equal 100 percent of their conventional power usage while also working to minimize their carbon emissions.
Great River Organic Milling produces stoneground organic flours, which are better for people and the environment as well as being more flavorful than conventional white flours. Best of all, Great River Organic Milling products can now be found at some Sam’s Club locations, mainly in Wisconsin, Illinois, and Minnesota. Interested shoppers outside of the upper Midwest can also purchase Great River Organic Milling flours from Amazon.com.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Thu, Jul 08, 2010
In today’s economy, many of us are looking for ways to save money or get a better deal, both at home and in our businesses. Unfortunately, the cheapest choices are not always the best options for our planet. Doing business cheaply can neglect steep environmental costs. Fortunately, this is also a time when consumers are looking for both sustainability and value. Customers are more satisfied with green businesses. For many people, it is worth spending a little extra money to help protect the planet.
For this reason, it is important for sustainable businesses to manage their operations with the planet in mind each step of the way. This means more than just reducing, reusing, and recycling. Companies also need to consider where their physical resources are coming from. Wal-Mart operations are a good example of the need to consider the sources of both products and raw materials. Wal-Mart’s big sustainability push has made Wal-Mart consider the sources of their low-cost products to hold up under the scrutiny of environmentally conscious consumers. Wal-Mart now insists on high standards in labor and environmental practices in the factories they do business with. Chemical dumping and using rainforest wood are not acceptable, for example.
Another question green companies should ask themselves is where their services are coming from. Sustainable businesses should look for services such as green real estate companies, green printing presses, green catering, green IT, and green banking / investing firms whenever possible. Green utilities are even more important. Traditional electricity sources may be relatively cheap, but they have a much higher environmental cost. Purchasing green energy is a choice to purchase a premium product that is better for the environment and helps expand a green customer base.
Some even choose to take the search for green utilities even further by producing their own green power. The University of New Hampshire, for example, is now largely powered by a system that utilizes waste methane from a nearby landfill. This technology is now well enough established that many businesses and organizations could easily tap into this energy source considered to be renewable by the U.S. EPA’s Green Power Partnership, provided they are located near a landfill.
With a little creative thinking, businesses and organizations can extend the sustainability of their operations to encompass both products and services from their source.
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 Thu, Jun 24, 2010
I picked up a copy of a free Home Depot publication called “The Green Guide” when I wandered into Home Depot last week in search of low-VOC paint and recycled cardboard moving boxes for my upcoming move.
Inside the guide, Home Depot recommends ten ways to reduce energy and water consumption at home. These green home improvement ideas, which range from the most simple to more advanced, will also save consumers some money with a few easy purchases from the Home Depot or from other home improvement suppliers that carry green building supplies.
These same ideas can also be easily applied in the process of creating a sustainable business with eco-friendly office space.
1. Replace standard incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent. Home Depot sells packs of Energy Star certified CFL bulbs for cheaper than many other retailers. Using fluorescent bulbs is an easy step towards reducing your carbon footprint.
2. Change the filters in your heating and cooling system regularly to help it run more efficiently. Look at the filter packages to see the recommended life of the filters you buy. Some are one month filters, others are three month filters. Home Depot also sells air filters which can be rinsed out and reused to reduce waste.
3. Install a programmable thermostat which you can program to keep the air cooler at times when you are home but raise the temperature when there is nobody in the house or office to enjoy the air conditioning.
4. Toilets use more water than almost anything else in the home. Purchase high efficiency toilets, which use less water.
5. Make sure that your attic is insulated and the cracks around your doors and windows are sealed so that you are not pumping that expensive heating or air conditioning to the outside.
6. When you need new appliances, look for Energy Star appliances, which use less energy than conventional models.
7. Use a Kill-A-Watt device to detect energy that is being used by appliances that are plugged in but are not in use.
8. Insulate old water heaters to prevent heat loss.
9. If it is time to replace your water heater, be sure to choose a new Energy Star model.
10. Install your own green power sources. Look for tax credits for solar panels and wind generators. The U.S. government is also offering tax credits for extra efficient windows and doors.
Photo via Cthoyes
Posted by Kelly Smith on Tue, Jun 08, 2010
Seventh Generation is a company that produces green household and personal care products which are made using safe, plant-based ingredients. They avoid the use of toxic chemicals and continually seek other ways to improve the sustainability of their business practices. Seventh Generation is inspired by part of the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy which states, “In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.” It is important for Seventh Generation to think about how their business affects both our environment and the environment of future generations.
One way that Seventh Generation fulfills its sustainable business mission is consumer education. Each product package tells customers how their product compares to similar products at the grocery store in terms of its environmental impact. For example:
Did you know? If every household in the U.S. replaced just one roll of 120-ct. virgin-fiber paper towels with our 100% recycled ones, we could save 1,000,000 trees.
Did you know? If every household in the U.S. replaced just one box of 48 oz. petroleum-based powder laundry detergent with our vegetable-based product, we could save 96,000 barrels of oil, enough to heat 5,500 U.S. homes for a year.
Indeed, doing the laundry has a big environmental impact. Ninety percent of the electricity used for washing clothes comes from heating hot water. Seventh Generation laundry products are specially designed to work well in cold water washes. They also make detergents especially designed for high efficiency washing machines (which use less water and electricity than standard machines).
The environmental impact of the laundry does not end with the washing machine. Dryers are notoriously big energy users. Energy Star, the US government certification agency for energy efficient appliances, does not even rate dryers since they consume so much energy (up to 15 percent of a household’s total electricity use). The best clothes drying option is a clothesline, and that is another thing that Seventh Generation is working to educate consumers about as part of their green business mission. For starters, consumers can easily shrink their carbon footprint by switching to cold water and a clothesline.
Posted by Kelly Smith on Mon, Jun 07, 2010
A truly sustainable business should go beyond purchasing green power to offset its conventional power usage and reduce its carbon footprint. Green businesses need to think about how to use less conventional energy from the start.
First, consider the office space. An office that is well-insulated and has energy-efficient windows will use less energy because it will not lose nearly as much heat in the winter or air conditioning in the summer. This allows businesses to turn the thermostat up a few degrees in the summer and down a few degrees in the winter, which saves a lot of energy. An office with lots of natural light also uses less energy for lighting. Fluorescent fixtures and light fixtures with motion sensors are both big energy savers. It can also be useful to use task lighting to light a small area such as a desk rather than a whole room.
Purchasing choices make a big difference, too. Make sure that any new appliance or equipment purchased is Energy Star certified. Have office managers look for Green-e certified products ranging from printer paper to teabags for the break room. Products with recycled content is also preferable, since recycled materials use less energy than virgin materials in the manufacturing process.
Next think about employee habits. Cultivate a climate of dressing for the weather in order to use less electricity for heating and cooling. Encourage employees to turn off all lights, computers, and other equipment when they go home each day. Unplugging items such as computers can also save energy. Start an office recycling program. Have employees bring their own coffee cups each day. Encourage biking, carpooling, and the use of mass transportation. But beware of lecturing. Instead, educate your employees by serving as a model of energy-saving behavior, and by coming up with contests and incentives to make conservation fun.