How to Have a Truly Sustainable Cup of Coffee
You drink coffee. Tea. When it’s at home, it’s organic, and when you’re out, you do your best. In so many ways, you live a green lifestyle. And yet, there’s one sticky point: the cup.
How to Both Save Energy and Sleep Easy
Evening Breeze sustainable bedIt’s summer in the Northern hemisphere, and for many, that means going on holiday to warm, tropical locales. And using air conditioning. Lots of it. In fact, in some tropical places, nearly 80% of energy use in a hotel room is for air conditioning. 1200 to 2000 watts on average.
Evening Breeze is an interesting solution: It’s a canopy bed that has adjustments for both temperature and humidity, and delivers it quietly, overhead, using only 400 watts. As it’s focused just on the place where coolness is desired, there’s no need to try and cool the whole room. Simple, brilliant. The resulting energy savings can mean 4MWh, $1000 and 2.5 tons of CO2 reduction annually.
One Great Way to Support Green Startups: Think Inside the Box
Here’s an idea that comes from outside the green business world, but has much to offer us and I think should be repeated all over.
In London, KiosKiosk is a simple, powerful, powerfully fun idea: Create an attractive temporary space for upcoming (but ready to sell) businesses to be at, in a high traffic area. At no cost.
Backed by the London Sustainable Development Commission, businesses just need to submit a brief form describing what they’d like to use the kiosk for, when, and why they are a good idea for the KiosKiosk and vice versa.
While the KiosKiosk is focused on creative/design/arts/music businesses, such an idea could, and should be replicated for green startups, many of which, like any small company, may not have the funds or credit history to get a full fledged, full time space
Zipcar + iPhone = Smart Integration of Two Tools for One Big Result
Unless you’ve been laid up in bed all this week, you’ve heard that Apple is releasing a new iPhone 3G-S with an amazing array of features But one you may not have heard of is a brilliant bridging between the iPhone and Zipcar.
These two are as they say peas in a pod, technology enhanced life(style) enhancements, for a demographic that I imagine likes that they get to both have what they want, when they want it, and do good by the planet at the same time.
Shred Stop Makes Efficient use of Your Time, Resources, and…Report Cards.
In these days of increased risk of identity theft, people are looking for ways to manage their sensitive materials. Get a shredding machine? Maybe. But typically, people would rather things be easier, in the stream of their other activities. So it often doesn’t happen, things piling up, or getting thrown away with some trepidation, or perhaps incinerated. The Shred Stop seems to have hit on an idea that both integrates with the rest of people’s lives and does a better…
What do you get when you cross Burning Man with a Green Business Conference?
There are tons of green conferences these days, and to be sure lots of great information to be learned at them, people to connect with, ideas to germinate, funding to be sought. And yet, something’s missing. Don’t get me wrong, magic has been made and minds blown with just Powerpoint and a good presentation. I don’t know about you, but how many times do you find yourself thinking, “I have something to add to what they’re saying,” or “Gah! I…
How to Find and Manage the Freshest Green Business Knowledge
In today’s rapidly changing sustainable business landscape, it’s becoming increasingly important to be aware of what’s happening, emerging, and yet to be created where you could fill a need. How best to do that?
Green Marketing Firm Curb Prove not all Advertising is Garbage. Sometimes it’s Snow.
Some people feel that advertising is garbage. London based Curb advertises with garbage. And sea water. And snow.
Calling themselves “The Natural Media Company,” Curb create advertising based on natural elements, the most recent being for the London Aquarium utilizing “sea tagging,” which is using sea water and a stencil to create temporary ads on the sidewalk. Sea water evaporates more slowly then water, but being a completely natural substance, no permit is needed to do it.
Another water based innovation is what they call H2Show, where a waterfall is somehow able to be manipulated to display words, logos, and images, and even accept text messages to display different words.
Crop carving, once the province of aliens and pranksters, is now being put to use in a smart way, as in their Shredded Wheat logo carved out of, yes, a wheat field.
In the clearest example of green marketing I’ve heard of,
A New, Open Source Model of Car Design Emerges
As the auto industry as we know it continues to crumble, a new model is emerging out of the Netherlands, known currently as c,mm,n. Open source design has proven itself successful in a number of arenas from software to restaurants. But a car? Yes, one where the design will be made available to the public, with the provision that their design be likewise made open to the public to do their own revisions and modifications on it.