We are in the midst of a shift in the way many of us look at the world, the shift toward a greener world.It’s a change in how we think, the decisions we make, and the actions we take.It’s a change from living just for today, to living in a way that can last for all the years, decades and centuries to come.It’s a big change, but when we’re talking about the future of our planet it’s worth it.Pete Green and Morrisa Zimmeth at “I’m Green. Are You?” are challenging us all to join in.
We’re not likely to make a big change like this without stirring up some controversy, though not always the way you think.The big conflict today is not between the red and blue states, or between planet lovers and planet haters.I don’t think there are very many earth haters around really anyway.But there are plenty of us who feel we just have too many other things to worry about now, and need to put the environment off until later.
The real conflict is between those who feel environmental issues are important enough and urgent enough to do something about them now, and those who don’t.If you’re in one group then you’re ready now to change how you live for the sake of your kids, your neighbors, and your future.If you’re in the other group then you’re not.
Which group are you in?That’s the question that “I’m Green. Are You?” is asking.Morrisa and Pete at www.ImGreenAreYou.net are creating a community of awareness all based around this one simple question.On their site you’ll find eco-apparel, bags and accessories all asking the same thing.The more people who wear this question everywhere they go, the faster the wave of change will spread in your neighborhood, your school, your group, and your workplace.
It’s not just about buying and selling things.It’s about spreading the word.It’s about living the change you want to see in every aspect of your life, and provoking others to do the same.By getting others involved, going green becomes the normal accepted way of doing things, the new standard.
Going green is about the environment, but it’s also about helping people, and this is important.The green community recognizes the importance of giving back to both ecosystems and to other people.To show their commitment, Pete and Morrisa are donating 10% of sales to eco-charities like the Captain Planet Foundation, teaching kids about the environment, or the Nature Conservancy.In addition, they’ve pledged to give another $1 for every t-shirt sold, hoping to see a million people wearing a million t-shirts that catalyze the change and generate a million dollars to help the cause.
“I’m Green. Are You?” is more than a question, and more than something you wear.It’s a challenge to think about which group you’re in today and which group you want to be in.It’s a challenge to get more of us into action to do the right thing.There are many great things happening, positive changes underway, but so far it’s only the tip of the iceberg.We have far to go, very far, and the stakes are high.But the more people that join in, the closer we are to creating a better world for us all.
Glenn Croston is the founder of StartingUpGreen.com and the Green Biz Blast, helping businesses to start green and grow successful. He is also the author of "75 Green Businesses You Can Start to Make Money and Make a Difference", and "Starting Green", a nuts and bolts guide to starting a successful green business (Entrepreneur Press, October 2009).
The green entrepreneurs I speak with every day have great stories to tell about their phenomenal work saving resources, cleaning our energy, and creating a better world.These stories do more than entertain; they get attention and bring in business.Telling your story is one thing, but making sure that it’s heard is another.Tools ranging from PR to Twitter can deliver your message, each with their pros and cons, and services like 3BL Media can amplify your story to reach more eyeballs and get noticed.
The first step is paring down your message to be crystal clear, making it as short and simple as possible. The value of clarity is often overlooked; clarity helps the message to stick, and also helps entrepreneurs to better understand their own business.
The next step is finding tools to deliver the message to the right eyes and ears.The tools to boost your business visibility include:
Blogging – Blogging doesn’t cost anything and can connect you to large numbers of people, but it does take time and it’s not for everyone.For blogging to attract an audience you need to post frequently, probably at least once a week.This may not sound like much, but the entrepreneurs I know are incredibly busy people.
Social networking –Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are free and potentially powerful ways of making connections, but they are also full of noise.The great hope is that your post will go viral, taking on a life of its own, but your content will usually need a big push to stand out and get noticed.
Partnering with media distributors – If you already have content and want it to reach more people, services like 3BL Media amplify your message through high profile distribution to a big chunk of the CSR world.
Ads – Ads on the internet can be highly targeted based on demographics of websites.An ad campaign does cost money, and the time to keep an eye on what is working, and not working.
Public relations – PR can be immensely powerful; getting others in the media to talk about you can provide credibility.It usually takes connections and time to make this happen, and the efforts of a paid professional.
For entrepreneurs working on tight budgets, free tools like blogging, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook can be very attractive.Small businesses are often so focused on their business and so cash strapped these days that they have little money for marketing.Free social networking tools can accomplish a lot and should be used as much as possible, but they can’t always do the whole job on their own.Public relations efforts provide a big boost with the right investment of time and money, although some businesses find it’s more than they can invest today.
That’s where media services like 3BL Media comes in, providing a low cost way for green businesses to reach out and grab the attention of the CSR community and beyond.To accomplish this, 3BL Media has assembled a network of media channels including opt-in subscribers, blogs, Reuter’s Project Insider, affiliate websites, the CSR Minute, and video feeds.Altogether their network reaches hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.It can be a powerful way to boost your signal, and I’ve recently partnered with 3BL to help small businesses get noticed even with the constrained budgets they are often faced with today.
No matter what approach you take, your story still has to be a good one to capture the imagination, but with a clear message, a compelling story, and the right strategy to tell it, your business efforts can be amplified many fold.You have little to lose by getting your story heard, and quite a lot to gain.
About Glenn Croston:Glenn Croston is the founder of StartingUpGreen.com, helping businesses to start and grow green. The Green Biz Blast produced by Starting Up Green connects those selling and seeking green. He is also the author of "75 Green Businesses You Can Start to Make Money and Make a Difference", and the author of "Starting Green: An Ecopreneur’s Toolkit for Starting a Green Business from Business Plan to Profits", a nuts and bolts guidebook.
Bob Hallam is in hot water, and he likes it that way.Hallam founded Dimension One Spas 32 years ago and has grown it into a $60 million business that designs and produces luxury hot tubs sold throughout the United States and in 35 countries worldwide.Over the years this forward-thinking company has continued to create innovative products that fuse savvy design and technological advancements with energy-efficiency.For D1 Spas and Hallam, having green products and great products increasingly mean the same thing.
While most people are not opposed to buying green products, environmental attributes are not the only thing they consider, and are not usually the first thing on their list.Most consumers are looking for products that are attractive, cool (or hot), fill a need, and make them feel good.In the case of hot tubs, I’m pretty sure people look for tubs that deliver a fun, relaxing experience that fits in their budget.“Hot tubs are a good product, great for relaxation,” says Hallam.“You can’t argue in a hot tub because you’re relaxed, and they’re also good for your health.”If a hot tub is also more eco-friendly than its competitors, all the better as long as it still delivers the tubbing experience they’re after.
Over the years, D1 Spas has worked to deliver not just state-of-the-art hot tubs with patented design and comfort technologies, but also products that are increasingly durable, efficient, and with less impact on the environment.In the 1980s D1 Spas began to enclose their hot tubs in foam to provide insulation and reduce energy losses.They also rethought the mahogany skirts they were using for tubs and realized this wood was expensive, prone to damage, and not generally sustainably grown.To change this they started making the skirts from recycled plastic made from milk bottles, which is cheaper, more durable, and with less of an eco-footprint.Any remaining wood components were mostly switched to FSC-certified wood, and most of the waste produced during manufacturing was recycled.
Sometimes going green is not enough though.Despite the improvements made in their products over the years, sales for D1 Spas plummeted in 2007 and 2008 along with others in the luxury market as the economy sank.Hot tubs are often considered a luxury item, with prices for some models ranging into tens of thousands of dollars.In the Great Recession of 2008-2009 many luxury items have been hard hit.
To get things back on a new and better track, Hallam created the “007” project in 2007, brainstorming with employees to find ways for D1 Spas to weather the storm by using their unique expertise in new ways.The results are taking the business in new directions.
One new initiative they have undertaken is a collaboration with VisionWerx of Canada to produce the SpaBerry, a bright, portable two-seater spa with lower price points than Dimension One’s signature hot tubs with all the bells and whistles.The SpaBerry comes in fun colors like cherry red and bright yellow and its small compact shape facilitates communication, always a good thing.In addition, its lower cost compared to most spas has helped it to do well even as other hot tubs have trouble in the down economy.They call it the “iMac of home spas”, a plug and play product that is powered by any standard 110V outlet and has possible broad consumer appeal.Even some people who might not have considered getting a hot tub may consider buying a product like this.
The brainstorming has also led D1 Spas to leverage their expertise to produce other types of products, expanding into new fields other than spas. “We are looking for things that are a good business to be in, making better products, often green, for a lower cost,” says Hallam.
One of the new fields D1 Spas is exploring is producing components for the wind energy industry.The materials they work with produce parts that are lightweight and yet strong, key attributes for materials like the lightweight, super-strong blades needed for wind turbines.Production of wind energy is expected to grow rapidly for years to come, but the field still faces many challenges and opportunities.Some wind turbine blades are so large that they are difficult to transport.If the blades could be produced in pieces and then assembled on site and bolted together, this would allow much greater flexibility in building wind farms.The processes D1 Spas uses in manufacturing may allow them to do just this.
Although news organizations have recently trumpeted the end of the Great Recession, there are still many businesses challenged by slow consumer spending and looking for strategies to reinvent themselves.Getting lean, innovative, and green like D1 Spas may be the key to surviving and thriving in the new economy, and opening the door to new opportunities in the future.
Glenn Croston is the founder of StartingUpGreen.com and the Green Biz Blast, helping green businesses to get started and grow. He is also the author of "75 Green Businesses You Can Start to Make Money and Make a Difference", and "Starting Green", a nuts and bolts guide to starting and growing a successful green business.
The new book SuperFreakonomics by Drubner and Levitt has become more than a mere book – it is a news event itself because of the chapter about climate change.The blogosphere and mainstream media are crackling with controversy over this section, practically guaranteeing huge book sales.This is no accident I imagine.
The book takes on climate change like other topics the authors address – they are intentionally provocative and good at it.They question the basic science behind climate science, question the value of addressing it, and question the value of carbon dioxide emissions.They question whether cap and trade will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and tout the advantages of pumping particles into the atmosphere to simulate the cooling impact of a volcano.Given the prominence of the authors, the heated nature of the climate discussion, and its profound global importance, it’s no surprise that this chapter has earned such a dramatic response.
They are authors, and best-selling authors at that; they know what they are doing when it comes to selling books.The authors know that getting people excited or angry gets attention, interviews, airplay, and book sales.I liked Freakonomics, which used the same strategy, describing Levitt as a “rogue economist”.Last time it was abortion, and this time it’s climate change.Same strategy though.
It’s like a lot of our public discourse.The discussion gravitates toward the extremes because the extremes get attention.The extremes sell books, draw web clicks, and draw TV viewers.
I haven’t read the whole book, just the part about climate change, but if the rest is anything like Freakonomics it’s probably a good read. You really can't go wrong with monkeys learning how to use money and using it to buy sex. Ka-ching. One thing the book shouldn’t do though is to drive climate policy.As talented as Drubner and Levitt are as writers, they aren’t climate scientists.Not many of us are, so a lot of what we hear about climate is from second, third, and fourth-hand interpretations of the science, or completely disregards it.Climate change is a complicated story and an extremely important one.We need to listen much more carefully to scientists, and craft policy based on the consensus scientific opinion.
Dubner claims to only want to stimulate discussion, and its hard to argue against discussion without sounding like one of the climate change acolytes they describe, but the danger is that they will drive the climate conversation off course at a critical juncture.
A recent poll found that only 57% of Americans believe that climate change is happening.That’s a big drop from other polls, and may reflect the complexity of climate change, and reluctance to deal with it now, when people are still worried about their jobs and mortgages.That’s where the middle is, and that’s where the discussion needs to be, talking about what climate change really means for them.We need to have discussions based on solid science and looking for cost effective solutions that work for everyone.We need to make sure the incentives are right to drive the right economics that ensure both a strong economy and a healthy environment.There are immense opportunities ahead for businesses inventing cleaner and more efficient ways of doing things, opportunities driven by putting the right economic incentives in place.That’s something that would have been interesting to read about.
There are solutions that can get us away from extreme polarization and back toward making real progress.In a recent New York Times Op-Ed Senators John Kerry (D - Massachusetts) and Lindsey Graham (R – South Carolina) proposed how to do this, saying we should grow renewable energy and take care of energy efficiency, but also consider nuclear, clean coal, and offshore drilling.I don’t love all of this, but if a compromise like this can get action on climate change moving forward, we should consider it.
Maybe the authors themselves hold the key to understanding the current controversy.Levitt and Drubner write in their books about the ways that incentives and punishments drive the choices we make.Sumo wrestlers cheat and monkeys learn how to use money because of the incentives they are faced with.The key to understanding SuperFreakonomics is to apply the authors’ own principles.
What are the economics of SuperFreakonomics? Look at the incentives and punishments that might influence authors of best-selling non-fiction, and then trace them to their impact on behavior.Stimulate controversy and you nab big book sales.Fail to stimulate controversy and you might be on your way out faster than you can say “yesterday’s news”.Viewed in this light, the whole thing makes perfect sense, just like the cheating sumo wrestlers.
I feel like a big of a rogue economist myself now.I’d write a book about the surprising impact of incentives in media, except that they’re not really that surprising at all.Maybe I’m just a little superfreaking jealous.I’ve written a couple of books myself - I’ll have to take a lesson from these guys for my next book.I’m going to call it “In Your Face Stuff Guaranteed to Get Your Goat, and Your Money.”Look for it soon at bookstores near you.
Glenn Croston is the founder of StartingUpGreen.com and the Green Biz Blast, and the author of "75 Green Businesses" and "Starting Green", helping people to start and grow successful green businesses.
As the US economy slowed, the US Government stepped in with the $787 stimulus package passed in February 2009 as the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA).A big chunk of the stimulus, about $67 billion worth, is designed to speed the development of renewable energy, clean transportation, and energy efficiency, as well as helping the economy.For many businesses tight on cash and credit these days this money can’t come quickly enough.While eager to access stimulus funds, these businesses often need help finding incentives with requirements that match their business, and finding their way through the application process.Greg Burkart of independent financial advisory and investment banking firm Duff & Phelps helps businesses to access this money.
Burkart and others at Duff & Phelps have worked with cleantech clients for years in the Detroit office of the firm, giving them a head start helping these clients.Funding opportunities from the stimulus package each have varying requirements for the stage of the business receiving funds, how much funding is provided, and the type of project proposed.Burkart sifts through all of the opportunities so that when clients call he knows what is available.
Burkart groups the incentives into a few broad categories:
1.Grants from the Department of Energy (DOE)
2.Subsidies from the Department of Agriculture, mainly for biomass and biofuel related businesses.
3.Grants that are used instead of tax credits for renewable energy
4.Tax credits
5.Loan guarantees for renewable energy projects
Since February the federal government has been sorting out how these incentives will work and money was slow to move through the system at first.Today stimulus money is moving through the system at an increasing pace, but even as the processes move forward they can frustrate and confuse those without experience.“People can be intimidated by the application process,” says Burkart.
For early stage businesses, applying for grants is usually the best path suggests Burkart, particularly grants from the DOE for the research and development of energy-related technologies.Many of the DOE grants expired in September 2009, soon to be released by a new set of funding opportunities for grants in the next fiscal year.“There’s a new batch coming up soon,” says Burkart.In general these DOE grants target the development, commercialization and implementation of technologies related to renewable energy (wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, fuel cells, smart grid, and components of these), energy efficiency, energy transmission, and transportation.To get funded proposals have to match the objectives stated for each of the grant opportunities.
Another important form of incentive included in the stimulus is loan guarantees.With the dramatic changes in the credit market in 2008 and 2009, many renewable energy projects have found it difficult to raise capital, stopping them in their tracks.Loan guarantees are designed to attract investors back to renewable energy projects, reducing the risk of these investments. Although ARRA provides for increased loan guarantees, implementation of these has taken time.Only one large deal has been approved in the last four and a half years in the existing loan guarantee program, but for loan guarantees in the stimulus construction must begin by Sept. 30, 2011, putting pressure on the process to speed up.In a recent solicitation, the loan guarantees can be applied to projects and technologies that are already commercially available rather than just research technologies, opening the door to greater use.
In the latest program for loan guarantees, financial institutions are added to the partnerships and the applicants for the guarantees are banks, who will act as aggregators of projects.Big US banks like JP Morgan and Bank of America are getting involved, as well as European and Asian banks who see using these loan guarantees for US projects as an opportunity to help component producers in their own country by promoting the sale of wind blades, for example.Banks are getting stalled wind and solar projects moving again by slapping a guarantee on them.
Given the time frame involved for loan guarantees, it will probably take more time for the guarantees to be approved and construction to get started on these projects.
Past measures to support renewable energy also included tax credits.Banks or other investors can “buy” these tax credits, helping to fund renewable energy projects.A wide variety of tax credits are still a key part of the incentives, including credits for manufacturing, investment tax credits and energy production tax credits..The appetite for tax credits has been greatly reduced though because of the recession, hampering the availability of capital and stopping many projects in their tracks.
Another funding opportunity in the stimulus allows investors in renewable energy projects to receive a cash grant instead of tax credits.With the cash grants, 30% of the cost of the project can be returned as cash within 60 days after the project is placed in service, rather than waiting for filing taxes to receive the tax credit. The cash grant can be a very attractive proposition, and money for cash grants has already started to flow, with $550 million in funding in August 2009 and a similar amount expected for September.
In addition to helping businesses find a good funding match, Burkart also helps them navigate the application process.“For the stimulus to be used in a transparent way, there is a process to apply for funds,” says Burkart.“Many people have good projects, but haven’t been able to think through the process.”
One business Burkart has been working with is developing a technology for lithium ion batteries.They started with just 2 people four years ago, and got a small grant from the state, in Michigan.Building on this funding, they parlayed it into a federal grant, adding researchers and growing to 25-30 people.Then, then went back to the state and received funding allowing them to build R&D further up to 50 people, and $125 million in a refundable credit.The US DOE provided $150 million to develop manufacturing here in the US, and build a $275 million manufacturing plant.
When working with clients, Burkart has four key tips to increase the chances for getting funded.The first is to read requirements for programs and grants carefully, making sure that your technology is matched with what is being funded.
Also important for getting funded is demonstrating that jobs will be created.“People really need to flesh out in their application the economic modeling for the number of jobs being created or retained,” says Burkart.
A third area they should pay attention to is getting funding from other sources in addition to the federal government.Burkart has found that state and local funding provide good opportunities, often progressing quite rapidly, raising awareness, and validating the business.
Finally, Burkart advises businesses not to underestimate how much time reviewers will spend digging into a proposal or application.“They want to know if you are going to be around,” says Burkart.Part of their examination will involve looking through your financial plan and finances, looking for errors or unrealistic assumptions.
The stimulus funds may not be for every business, and are not necessarily a magic bullet, but for the right business with the right help navigating the process, they can provide valuable capital and a big boost that might not otherwise be available.
Glenn Croston is the founder of StartingUpGreen.com, helping to start and grow greener businesses and delivering the Green BizBlast to connect those seeking and selling green. He is also the author of "75 Green Businesses You Can Start to Make Money and Make a Difference", and the author of "Starting Green", a nuts and bolts guide to starting and growing a successful green business (Entrepreneur Press, September 2009).
No matter what business you’re in, you use office supplies, and greening these office supplies is step in the path toward a more sustainable business.Shoplet.com is helping more businesses and consumers choose green office supplies by making the choice easy.
Shoplet.com sells over 200,000 office products, including everything from furniture to cleaning supplies. For many of these they can now suggest an alternative from a selection of over 8000 green office products, a wide selection.“Our mission is to provide our customers with the largest selection of green products possible and encourage users who are not already doing so to think about finding greener alternative to the products they already buy,” says Tony Ellison, CEO and founder of Shoplet.
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Shoplet is taking this route and making it easy to switch to green because they see an opportunity; in the last 3 years they have seen demand for these products grow over 700%. “We saw a demand for greener, more energy efficient office supplies and we wanted to provide our customers with the largest selection possible,” says Ellison.“While we see the biggest demand for things like recycled copy paper, we are also seeing more people buying other recycled paper products, recycled notebooks and even bigger items like recycled chairs and desks.”To help with shopping green, Shoplet has a Facebook application that calculates the number of trees saved, energy conserved, and water conserved as a result of buying more eco-friendly products.
Although there are many greener options available, common misconceptions about green products often get in the way of buying them.Many people still believe that green products don’t work as well as others, or that they always cost a great deal more.Some green choices do cost a little more while other cost less, but they all deliver value for your money.“In the past there may have been this stigma towards recycled products about them being more expensive and less of a value,” says Ellison, “but these days it is virtually impossible to tell the difference between a recycled item and its less green counterpart”.
Office supplies are probably not the biggest part of your budget, but they are highly visible and help to increase awareness of sustainability in daily business practices.“When employees see reams of recycled office paper it makes them naturally try to be more conservative with what they print and more vigilant in throwing paper in the recycling bin instead of the trash,” says Ellison.
Green purchasing is also influenced greatly by how easy (or hard) it is to find these products.Most people are not opposed to buying green, but they need the choice to be as easy as possible, or else it won’t always happen.“We wanted to provide people with an easy to use interface to could quickly find recycled office products as an alternative to the office supply products they have been using for years,” says Ellison. “Our innovative Green Your Office Checkout allows customers to compare the items they put in their cart with their greener counterparts”.
As more businesses move toward sustainability they find that they are not alone.Businesses are part of an interconnected supply chain, working with other businesses on sustainability.“We have also been working closely with our manufacturers to help them come up with eco-friendly ways to improve their products,” says Ellison. “HP, for instance, produces increasingly more energy efficient printers using more recycled materials. We try to convey to our manufacturers the demand we see from our customers for more recycled office supplies.”They now work with manufacturers like Smead and House-of-Dolittle that are responding to increased demand by offering whole lines of products made from 100% recycled material. Manufacturers of electronic equipment also see this mainstream demand for more energy efficient products, and are finding ways to incorporating recycled materials into their products and making them more easily recyclable at the end of their life cycle.
Buying green products is not just for a small group today.Government, businesses, and individuals are all buying green options.“The green movement has moved beyond the fringes to a mainstream movement,” says Ellison. “It just seems logical to use less when it benefits both the environment and your bottom line. Where five years ago the demand for recycled copy paper was minimal at best, now we see most of our enterprise-level customers asking specifically for green alternatives.”If you’re one these businesses joining the move toward sustainability, or just looking for a good value, consider green office products next time you’re shopping and look up Shoplet.com to help make the move easy.
Glenn Croston is the author of "75 Green Businesses" and "Starting Green", and the founder of Starting Up Green, helping green entreprenuers to make money and make a difference.
We all hear a lot about the problems we face, and there's no lack of them it seems. Our environment and our economy face great challenges.We need clean water and food.We need to produce energy for our homes and businesses without harming the planet, or ourselves.We need efficient buildings and transportation that get the job done without wasting energy and money.And we need good jobs and strong businesses that get our economy back on track again. Green businesses hold the keys to making all of this happen.
For all of the problems we face, green businesses are providing solutions.Not only is it possible for businesses to make money while helping the planet – more and more businesses large and small are doing it every day.
How we produce energy is changing, creating a trillion dollar opportunity for businesses that provide cleaner alternatives.Huge solar farms are sprouting in the desert, and more homes every year have solar panels on their roofs with help from innovative businesses like SolarCity.Millions of buildings are slated for renovation to be more efficient, saving energy and money.New cars from Aptera, Nissan, Tesla, Think, and Better Place are headed for our roads, fueled by electricity rather than gasoline, reducing pollution and reducing our dependence on imported oil.
While some argue that going green is an expensive luxury, some of the largest corporations have found that going green and wasting less is not just the right thing to do, but the profitable thing to do.In tight economic times taking steps like these to get lean and green can make all the difference between being profitable or not.
Anyone can find an opportunity that fits their unique skills and experience, while doing business in a greener and cleaner way.Work at home moms and others looking for a way to make money and do the right thing can work in direct sales as Green Irene Eco-Consultants and Zola Goods Coordinators.Contractors can retool and start a business in renewable energy or retrofitting homes and other buildings to make them more energy efficient like Sustainable Spaces, or Pro Energy Consultants.People can start their own retail outlet selling eco-friendly goods, or start an on-line Eco-Store with OnlyGreen4Me.com.
What do green businesses need to do to succeed?Green businesses need to take care of the business fundamentals like planning, marketing, raising money, operating efficiently, and delivering products that people want to buy, as well as measuring and monitoring their environmental impact.
In the webinar with Jim we’ll talk about the Nine Secrets to Green Business Success, covering the why, how, and what to create your own success.What’s not a secret is that this is the time for action.We can move from talking about problems to taking action and creating solutions.There’s a great, green future ahead and you can help to make it happen by building your own green business that makes the most of a changing world and works to change it for the better.
Glenn Croston is the author of "Starting Green" and "75 Green Businesses", and the founder of Starting Up Green, helping people to start and succeed with green businesses.
When’s the last time you had a look up on your roof?There’s a lot more going on up there than keeping out the rain.A roof sitting in the summer sun can soak up heat like a sponge, heating up the building that the roof is supposed to protect.Extra heat costs extra money that is spent needlessly on air conditioning.The answer is cool roofing, coating the surface of a roof with material that reflects heat, keeping the roof and the building under it cool.Innovative cool roofing solutions like EPOX-Z from AMCRG (the Advanced Materials & Composites Research Group) are helping buildings save energy and save money, and creating opportunities for those distributing, selling, and using cool roofing products like this.
We waste billions of dollars every year on wasted energy, providing a business opportunity as big as the amount of money that is wasted.Energy efficiency is such a big opportunity today because overall we’ve paid little attention to it up until now.Buildings in the past were often constructed with little attention to the long term cost of operating them, resulting in high energy bills.Energy secretary Steven Chu has noted that in addition to reducing energy costs, cool roofing can also help in the fight against climate change.
The savings with cool roofing are significant, reducing cooling bills by 20% to 70% in studies of buildings where it’s already been employed, providing one strong motivation for adopting cool roofing.Savings like this ensure that the money spent on cool roofing is an investment that pays for itself, often quite quickly.Rebates, tax credits and other incentives for energy efficiency provide further financial motivation.Another motivation for cool roofing is that it is required in a growing number of states.Increasingly stringent building codes like Title 24 in California require cool roofing for many commercial buildings; other states and cities including Georgia, Arizona, Chicago, and Florida are also moving to adopt similar measures.
Cool roofing products are generally a paint-like acrylic coating that is white, or close to it, bouncing light and heat away from the roof.These products generally require multiple coats going on and the coating must be reapplied every few years to keep working.
AMCRG has developed an epoxy-based coating called EPOX-Z NRG, which uses one coat and lasts for a much longer time, saving time and money compared to other products that require multiple coats. As an epoxy, it lasts much longer than most other Acrylic-based products, but is flexible, and does not crack or shrink.It can be applied to a wide range of surfaces using the same equipment used to apply other materials, making it easy to put on and with a 33% lower installed cost than other products like the acrylic-based elastomeric cool roof coatings.EPOX-Z NRG also contains no volatile organic compounds (VOCs), unlike most products, and has been tested to meet or exceed Energy Star requirements and received provisional Energy Star Partner listing, and is ready for a roof near you.
“EPOX-Z’s proprietary formulation produces a true chemical cure,” says Tony Camarota, one of the principals of AMCRG who has developed this innovative new product. “This eliminates shrinkage, voids or pinholes and allows high build single coat application and promotes superior adhesion over the roof surface, while retaining the flexibility needed during the freeze/ thaw cycle.”
In a field like cool roofing, there are opportunities for people involved in many different ways.
For roofers, there is the opportunity to work with innovative products like AMCRG to lower costs and bring in new business.
For property managers and building owners, there is the opportunity to reduce operating costs by getting greener and more efficient.
For green businesses and others concerned about sustainability, there is the opportunity to further green their brand.
For distributors, sales people, and those in marketing, there is the opportunity to provide all aspects of the business needed to succeed.
And for innovators, there is always the opportunity to provide new and even better solutions that help us to save energy, save money, and save the planet.
Glenn Croston is the founder of StartingUpGreen.com, helping businesses to start and grow green. He is also the author of "75 Green Businesses You Can Start to Make Money and Make a Difference", and the author of "Starting Green", a nuts and bolts guide to starting and growing a successful green business.
The Biomimicry Symposium held October 1-2 in San Diego brought together engineers, designers, scientists and others turning to nature as a source of inspiration.For cities, businesses, and entrepreneurs looking for the next great thing, the growing field of biomimicry is becoming a recognized research and development approach that can benefit both businesses and the natural world.
There are an estimated 30 million species on earth, of which about 1.8 million have been described.Each of these species is a rich resource, a lesson in the genius of nature’s engineering and design solutions.The solutions that living things have evolved include strategies for saving water, protecting against impact, insulating against heat or cold, providing fire resistance, and almost any other challenge you can imagine.These challenges are often surprisingly similar to the challenges facing human product designers and engineers.While humans have been developing industrial solutions for a few hundred years though, the plants and animals we share the world with are the result of billions of years of problem solving to arrive at unique and often far better solutions than we have.It should be no surprise that nature is so good at providing elegant and efficient solutions, while we are still catching up.
By studying the form of living things, how they work, and the processes they use, we can adapt the solutions they have evolved for innovations like faster trains, more efficient cars, cleaner paints, and stronger ceramics.A wide range of businesses are already engaged in the application of biomimicry, often inspired by the work of pioneers like Janine Benyus and Jay Harman who spoke at the meeting about the current state of the field and where it’s headed.
While the field has encountered skepticism from the corporate world over the years, a growing list of success stories are changing this.Swimsuits modeled after shark skin worked so well in the Chinese Olympics that they have been claimed to provide an unfair advantage.Paint from StoCorp modeled after the lotus leaf keeps surfaces clean like these leaves, and has now been applied to hundreds of millions of square feet.Biomimicry may be reaching the tipping point where it goes from a curiosity with pretty pictures to a standard approach to innovation.Thousands of people are working with engineers and designers to develop biomimicry-based innovations, with universities around the world joining in the effort as well.
For me, biomimicry has it all.As a biologist, I love the insights it provides into the living world, and the respect and care for living things it inspires.As someone working in the green business world, I’m excited by the huge repository of innovative solutions that nature provides for cleaner, greener, and better ways of doing business.
San Diego is hoping to position itself as a hub for Biomimicry-related enterprises in San Diego, stimulating the growth of local businesses and jobs.As the home of the San Diego Zoo, the city has a head start.The San Diego Zoo (along with the WildAnimalPark) is a world famous tourist destination, but their collection of over 5000 species has far greater value than this.The organisms at the zoo are also inspiring the next generation of biomimicry-based businesses.
In a tour of the Zoo featured as part of the Symposium, staff members talked about the animals they work with every day, and how these inspire new innovations.The same mechanisms that allow geckos to climb vertically on glass are being studied to design new types of adhesive materials.Hippos produce a secretion called “blood sweat” that isn’t blood or sweat, but does block UV radiation and bacteria, protecting hippos against both the sun and infection.Flamingo bills can inspire new types of more efficient filtration devices.By working with these animals daily, and studying their in and outs, zoo staff are ambassadors to the living world for business innovators.
San Diego also has world class research institutions that can help a biomimicry hub develop, and strong biotech and high-tech communities that provide a ready supply of entrepreneurs eager for new opportunities.The San Diego city government sponsored the event to help create future prosperity.“For entrepreneurs, there’s money to be made in this,” said San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders at the Symposium, and the city’s program manager for their cleantech initiative, Jacques Chirazi, noted several ways that government can help biomimicry-based businesses grow.
One of the key speakers at the event was Janine Benyus, author of the book Biomimicry: Innovation Inspired by Nature and co-founder of the Biomimicry Institute non-profit and the Biomimicry Guild consultancy.Benyus was one of the first to really appreciate the value of solutions from the natural world.Today her years of work are paying off, big time.“There’s a shift in science and design from learning about nature to learning from nature,” said Benyus.When they study the solutions that industry has developed (measured in patents) compared to the solutions that nature has developed, there is only 12% overlap where nature and industry have used similar strategies.“That means that 88% of the time we are surprised,” said Benyus.
Qualcomm, a telecomm company based in San Diego, has developed a novel display for phones called mirasol that produces images in the same way that butterfly wings produce color, by reflecting light rather than producing light like current LCD screens.As a result mirasol displays work much better in direct sunlight, and mirasol displays also consume much less power.“Doing business nature’s way is just good business,” said Cheryl Goodman, director marketing of Qualcomm.
Another San Diego business using biomimicry is Biomatrica, providing a better way to store biological materials.Typically drug companies, universities, and others storing biological materials like DNA, RNA, and cells store them in power-hungry freezers held at -80C.Hundreds of these freezers line the halls of universities, sucking up power, costing money, and taking up space.To find an alternative, scientists at Biomatrica studied tiny animals called tardigrades, or water bears, that can survive for a decade with practically all of the water removed from their body.Studying how these creatures accomplish this feat, Biomatrica found they could produce their own version that allows biological samples to be dried and stored at room temperature rather than -80C, avoiding the need for so many freezers.The universities and businesses using Biomatrica’s products are saving money on energy, and reducing their carbon footprint, a big component of sustainability efforts everywhere.
Businesses around the world are developing biomimicry-based products.The cement industry accounts for 6-8% of global carbon dioxide production.To find a better way to make cement, Calera Corporation (www.calera.com) studied how corals build reefs, and is developing coral-inspired cement that takes carbon out of the air rather than into it.QinetiQ is studying the Namib desert beetle to find new ways to gather water out of air.Baleen Filters is producing filtration systems for water based on the same methods that whales use.Columbia Forest Products is making PureBond plywood products that are formaldehyde free, using a soy-based adhesive that works in the same way that mussels attach themselves on rocks with waterproof adhesive.The list goes on and on.
The president and CEO of Pax Scientific, Jay Herman spoke at the Biomimicry Symposium about a pattern that he kept finding over and over again in nature, the spiral.It’s in seashells, hurricanes, draining bath water, and spiral galaxies.Harman isn’t the first to note this recurring pattern; cultures back to the dawn of civilization have used the spiral as a symbol of fertility and creation.There’s a reason why the spiral is so ubiquitous in nature.“This shape is the path of least resistance,” says Harman.“To use less energy, follow this path.”The industrial applications of this observation are enormous, including fans in computers, propeller blades, water pumps, motors, and appliances that use nature’s geometry to be more efficient.
“Nature sips energy, while humans guzzle it,” said Harman.As one example, he talked about water storage tanks used for municipal water supplies.Millions of gallons are stored in large tanks sitting in the sun, and treated with chlorine to reduce algal growth.Mixing can reduce growth, but takes a great deal of energy.Installing one of his small simple mixing blades shaped like a vortex several inches in length can mix these tanks, saving 80% of the energy and 85% of the chemicals that were previously used.
Harman also described some of the challenges that the next generation of biomimicry entrepreneurs will face.As an innovative field biomimicry needs patient capital, and would benefit from new sources of seed funding, Harman suggested.He also recommends having a clear focus for product development, and going after niche markets with whole products rather than just offering technologies or patents to license as sub-components.Finally, he recommends networking with fellow biomimics.
What’s next for Biomimicry?The answer could be important for all of us.
“We are moving from nature as model to nature as measure, setting the bar for success,” said Benyus.By looking at ecosystems, we can see how they build soil, store water, and store carbon, and architects, designers and others can work to do as well as nature, if not better.The Biomimicry Guild and HOK, one of the world’s largest architectural firms, are working together to move beyond developing individual biomimicry-based products.They are working to include biomimicry in the design of buildings, communities and even cities, producing whole systems working at the same high standards as nature.
How can you look into biomimicry yourself?If you have a business and are looking for an innovative solution to a challenge you face, investigate asknature.org, a database of nature’s solutions.For more help, talk to the biomimics at the Biomimicry Guild, the biologists at the design table.
With so many successes coming so quickly, biomimicry seems sure to attract much more attention in the years ahead.San Diego will have competition for its role as a center of the business of biomimicry, but that’s okay.The more cities and businesses that pursue strategies like this, the more that we all win with a stronger economy and a cleaner environment.
Glenn Croston is the founder of StartingUpGreen.com, helping entrepreneurs and small businesses to start and grow greener businesses, and the author of "75 Green Businesses You Can Start to Make Money and Make a Difference", and "Starting Green" (Entrepreneur Press, 2009).
The green revolution is not evenly dispersed.The companies that are revolutionizing how we drive, produce electricity, and build often stick together in specific locales forming cleantech clusters.As old industries struggle, cities are building up their emerging cleantech clusters as new centers of economic growth.San Diego is one of the cities vying for a position in the cleantech revolution with government, schools, businesses, and other groups all helping to make it happen.
San Diego has beaches, sunny weather, and Seaworld, but that’s not all.San Diego has world class universities and research centers, and strong biotech and hi-tech business communities.It has a unique asset in the San Diego Zoo, a world class institution that educates and inspires innovation.San Diego also has a city government that sees cleantech as an important opportunity for future economic growth.All of this has helped to attract over 279 cleantech companies to the city (June 2009 data compiled by CleanTECH San Diego).
Cleantech clusters don’t develop in a vacuum – they are shaped and grown by their local environment, including the efforts of government at all levels.Jacques Chirazi is the Program Manager of the Cleantech Initiative in the Mayor’s Office for the City of San Diego.His job is to help green companies get started in San Diego, and attract new ones by making the startup process as quick and easy as he can.
At the September 22, 2009 meeting of the Eco Investment Club, Chirazi described how he can help businesses interact with the city, acting as their “project manager”. Walking the halls at City Hall and collaborating with the local business community, he expedites processes from permits to partnerships.“I’m also helping to create the policies that help cleantech companies in San Diego, and create demand for their products,” says Chirazi.
One example of the policies the City of San Diego is working on is implementation of funding for green initiatives for renewable energy and energy efficiency in homes, based on AB 811.AB 811 provides for cities in California to fund home projects like renewable energy, creating special tax assessments on homes and allowing homeowners to pay back the money over a long period of time through their property taxes.Creative funding like this removes one of the biggest reservations homeowners have about green projects – the initial cost. Already started in PalmDesert and Berkeley, AB 811 based funding is being adopted by more towns in California like San Diego. San Diego is working to scale up this financing method for solar and energy efficiency projects in homes, and to expand to include projects like fuel cells and water conservation in the future.As the demand for solar power and energy efficiency increases from these efforts, local businesses that meet this demand will also benefit.
The City of San Diego is also supporting innovation with efforts like the Biomimicry Symposium they are partnering to support with the San Diego Zoo and the Biomimicry Institute October 1-2.Biomimicry looks at how living organisms in nature solve common problems like saving water or protecting themselves, and then finds ways to adapt nature’s solutions for innovative industrial applications.Qualcomm, a sponsor of the symposium, has developed its innovative mirasol display for phones based on how butterfly wings and peacock feathers produce colors, for example.
With initiatives like this, bringing together researchers and business people, San Diego can generate the next generation of businesses commercializing more innovations like this, driving economic growth for decades to come.For the city, efforts like this should have a bright future and a big payoff.
Glenn Croston is the founder of StartingUpGreen.com, helping entrepreneurs and small businesses to start and grow greener businesses, and delivering the Green BizBlast to connect those seeking and selling green products, services, events, and opportunities. He is also the author of "75 Green Businesses You Can Start to Make Money and Make a Difference", and the author of "Starting Green", a nuts and bolts guide to starting and growing a successful green business (Entrepreneur Press, September 2009).
