Economics, Miscellaneous, Most Popular, News, Sustainability
The Private Equity Industry Just Got Greener
This past summer, one of the world’s largest private equity firms, Kohlberg Kravis and Roberts (KKR) released updated results from the company’s Green Portfolio Program and their accomplishments are impressive. Across eight portfolio companies, the program has generated a combined savings of more than $160 million in operating expenses, the avoidance of over 345,000 metric [...]
Growing a Business Through Growing Gardens
When Gavin Newsom announced last week that the city’s new sustainable food policy calls for more urban land to be used to grow food, many residents wondered where the additional land would come from. According to Garden Fare, a new and growing business in the Bay Area, most residents don’t need to look any farther [...]
Texas Instruments Saves Big with Efficiency Projects
In 2008, Texas Instruments (TI) saved $5.1 million through reducing energy use by 5% and water consumption by over 7%. As a result, TI reduced its worldwide carbon footprint to 2.07 million metric tons of CO2, which represents a 2.8% reduction in the company’s worldwide carbon footprint. The company’s 2008 Corporate Social Responsibility Report outlines [...]
The Impact of Free Trade on Climate Change
On Friday, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) published a report that indicates increased economic activity could result in a rise in carbon dioxide emissions. However, the report also stipulates that increased ease of trade can also help combat climate change through delivering energy efficient and renewable energy technologies [...]
New Study Finds F-gases Are Making It Harder to Stay Cool
Earlier this week, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences confirmed that refrigerant chemicals known as “F-gases” pose a greater threat to global climate change than was previously thought. The paper, which was authored by a team of scientists from NOAA, EPA, Dupont and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, estimates [...]
Sustainability from a Shed
For years, Patagonia has established itself as one of the strongest leaders of sustainability within the business community. Although it’s a well-deserved reputation, there are a number of innovative strategies behind why Patagonia’s industry leading reputation is so widespread. From their product catalogs, which serve as environmental education materials to their product labeling strategy that [...]
Volvo Plug-In Available in 2012
Earlier this week, Volvo introduced a new model that integrates a lug-in lithium battery and a diesel engine, which Volvo plans to make available by 2012. When compared to Volvo’s earlier plan to have a hybrid vehicle available in 2012, the new plug-in model represents a more aggressive move on Volvo’s behalf. Notably, this move [...]
Hara launches with an Enterprise Solution to Environmental Accounting Software
A major new player in the energy management software arena named, Hara began selling their software-as-a-service offering on Monday. With a $6 million investment from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Hara has launched with a promise to enable customers to reduce the cost of doing business through monitoring and managing their consumption of natural resources. [...]
Google Power Partners Announced
Earlier this year, Google announced the development of a gadget called Google PowerMeter which delivers personal electricity usage data to consumers on their individual computers. This effort took a big step forward on Wednesday of this week when Google announced a list of eight initial electric utilities that will serve as partners. United by a [...]
Climate Change: Developed and Developing Nations Share the Burden of Change
On Wednesday, The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) released a first draft of a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol (1997) which is set to expire in 2012. This new 53 page document is considered to be the basis for the agreements to be made in the international climate talks scheduled for December [...]
