Whenever anyone doing Sustainable Business gets funded we like to send out a Congratulatory Shout. Todays shout goes to SunEdison, LLC.

According to the Private Equity HUB- “SunEdison, LLC, a Beltsville, Md.-based solar energy services provider, has raised $131 million in new private equity funding. It also secured $30 million in debt financing. Backers include Greylock Partners, HSH Nordbank AG, Applied Ventures, Black River Commodity Clean Energy Investment Fund, MissionPoint Capital Partner; and Allco Renewable Energy Ltd. Read more…”

“Sun Edison LLC is North America’s largest solar energy services provider and operates across a global marketplace. SunEdison provides solar-generated energy at or below current retail utility rates to a broad and diverse client base of commercial, municipal and utility customers. For more information about SunEdison, please visit www.sunedison.com”

Sattler Eco & Fair Labor Clothing

http://www.sattlerclothing.com 

Boise-based Hewlett-Packard recently launched a new label designed to help consumers quickly spot the eco-features of a product. The new eco-labels will appear first on some HP Deskjet and LaserJet printers but will eventually grace all of the company’s products. The labels, called Eco Highlights, will be on the product packaging as well as online.

A few days ago we talked about how Dean Foods, the largest processor and distributor of milk and other dairy products in the U.S., is making energy out of cow manure - so why can’t Heinz generate energy from potato peels? According to an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

“At the Heinz facility in Ontario, Ore., the company is developing a process to convert potato peels into biofuel, which then will be distributed to a natural gas pipeline for sale and distribution. The project is expected to generate enough fuel to heat 4,000 homes.”

The energy creation program is part of a new H.J. Heinz Co. goal to reduce greenhouse gases by 20% by 2015.

“From using potato peels to generate energy, to reducing the amount of our packaging, every day we’re finding new ways to reduce the environmental footprint and improve the efficiency of our company,” CEO William Johnson said.”

How is H.J. Heinz approaching this effort towards sustainability?

-  Reducing energy consumption by 20 percent through improved operations.

-  Reducing packaging by 15 percent through the use of alternative materials and reductions in existing packaging.

-  A 10 percent reduction in transportation by improving its distribution network. By transporting fuller trailers with more direct routes and using more rail transportation, Heinz expects to save more than 2 million gallons of fuel globally each year.

-  Mandating that 15 percent of all energy used comes from renewable sources, such as solar, biomass and biogas.

-  In its agricultural operations, Heinz projects a 15 percent cut in greenhouse gases, a 15 reduction in water usage, and increasing by 5 percent tomato yields by using hybrid seeds that require less water, fertilizer, pesticides and fuel to harvest.

-  A 20 percent reduction in water usage through reuse and improved sanitation.

-  A 20 percent reduction in solid waste by increased recycling and waste reuse.

Sattler Eco & Fair Labor Clothing

http://www.sattlerclothing.com 

It’s begun.

It was only a matter of time and some say that it has come too late, others can’t believe it is actually happening. According to an article that appeared in the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Bay Area has approved a fee of 4.2 cents for each metric ton of carbon dioxide Bay Area businesses release into the atmosphere. The funds generated as a result of the new fee will be used to pay for the air district’s climate research. Of the 2,500 some odd businesses that will pay the fee, five oil refineries in the area will pay the elephant’s portion of the expected $1.1 million in revenue from the annual fee. The fee for most businesses? – approx. $1.

The measure passed overwhelmingly, 15-1, making the Bay Area’s air pollution board the first in the United States to impose fees on businesses based on their impact on the environment.

The sole air board member to vote against the measure, Mike Shimanski, explained his vote –

“He said that once the fee is in place, it likely will escalate sharply, burdening oil refineries and other businesses with higher costs they will pass on to consumers. “Minimal as it is, do you think this fee is going to stay the same?” he asked. “It’s going to rise, and before you know it, it’s going to affect the economy.”

“Air board member Scott Haggerty, an Alameda County supervisor, said charging an oil company as much as $180,000 a year was a minimal fee when compared to the billions of dollars of profit the oil industry makes. “I’m having a hard time crying for them,” Haggerty said.”

What do you think? Should businesses pay for their impact on the environment?

Sattler Eco & Fair Labor Clothing

http://www.sattlerclothing.com 

Ever since January it has become much easier to get an accurate picture of the carbon footprint of your business. Earlier this year we talked about how to Green Your Supply China, er Chain, but last week IBM Research and IBM Global Business Services announced the release of the Carbon Tradeoff Modeler. The new software is designed to enable organizations to “understand the outcome of critical tradeoffs to make smarter energy choices and better economic decisions by optimizing on service levels, quality, cost, and carbon dioxide emissions”.

The Carbon Tradeoff Modeler will represent to managers the “complex interaction of factors driving supply chain carbon dioxide emissions from both a manufacturing and distribution perspective.”

Using key factors that like packaging options, alternative transportation modes, energy sources, inventory policies, and sourcing policies, the carbon tradeoff modeler generates recommendations to meet reduce both carbon emissions and cost.

“To achieve a carbon efficient supply chain, companies need to assess the CO2 emissions impact of their end-to-end operations,” said Sanjeev Nagrath, Global Leader, Supply Chain Management, IBM Global Business Services. “By incorporating Research-based tools to model the cost and carbon impact of key steps in the supply chain, organizations now can take action to reduce CO2 emissions and influence suppliers’ behavior toward reducing their own greenhouse gas emissions.”

IBM also released “Mastering Carbon Management: Balancing trade-offs to optimize supply chain efficiencies”. According to the IBM Press Release “The paper emphasizes how carbon management, energy consumption and other environmental issues should be analyzed and approached in an integrated manner — evaluating overall performance goals (cost, service, quality and carbon dioxide emissions) in terms of their relationship to one another. A trade-off model looks at these areas and considers relevant factors such as design, packaging and processes. These options represent the “levers” available to influence cost, quality and service, as well as greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.”

The paper recommends an interesting five-step process to limit the greenhouse gases generated in the supply chain;

1. Strategy: Diagnose, assess, plan and operationalize
2. Carbon asset (facility) management: Implement asset management and realize point solutions
3. Functional Optimization: Address emissions in supply chain functions
4. Internal Horizontal Integration: Find the optimum solution for integrating across functions
5. Collaborative, end-to-end Optimization: Collaborate with supply chain partners to realize overall potential

In the market for a green supply chain software? Not the first company to introduce a software to help supply chain managers identify areas where carbon emissions and costs can be reduced, IBM is probably the largest. Software vendor ILOG, Profit Point and Logility and EPS have all released similar programs in the last 3 months. All three seem fairly robust and detailed enough to allow accurate reporting to shareholders of what is being done specifically to reduce your carbon footprint.

Profit Points’ tool, Green Network, “is a stand-alone planning software package that is used to design supply chain distribution networks that must balance profitability and environmental impact. Green Network can be used to measure your operational footprint while you analyze the placement and location of production facilities, distribution centers, and warehouses over a multi-period planning horizon.” Who uses Profit Point? – Morton Salt, Dole, Sunoco, Georgia Pacific, Bridgestone, and others.

Sattler Eco & Fair Labor Clothing

http://www.sattlerclothing.com

                    
Sometimes Renewable Energy…Happens. According to a PRNewswire, “Dean Foods Company today announced that it has begun development of an anaerobic digester on the Big Sky Dairy farm near Gooding, Idaho. The anaerobic digester will capture animal waste from the farm’s approximately 4,700 dairy cows, reducing both odors and emissions of methane gas into the atmosphere. The resulting captured methane will then be used to generate electricity. The project, which is expected to be operational by early 2009, will be owned and operated by a partnership between Dean Foods and AgPower Partners, LLC. AgPower Partners, LLC consists of an affiliate of Andgar Corporation, an affiliate of GHD, Inc. and Cenergy USA, Inc.”

The approximately one megawatt per hour of renewable energy produced from the cow manure will be sold into the local power grid and should provide enough energy to power 650 homes. You’ll never look at cow manure the same. Similar to the paper made of elephant poo, the digester will also produce a sanitary fiber by-product that can be used as clean animal bedding or as organic soil enhancement.

Dean Foods Company is the largest processor and distributor of milk and other dairy products in the U.S. selling dairy products under more than 50 well-known local and regional brands such as Land-O-Lakes, Viva, Meadow Gold Creamers and a wide array of private label products.

So, support renewable energy and find out which brand is sold in your area by visiting their site.

Sattler Eco & Fair Labor Clothing

http://www.sattlerclothing.com

    
TNS, a global market research company, recently finalized the Green Life Study. The study was conducted among 23,000 consumers and 17 countries over the course of two months in Q1 2008 and provides insight at how different groups of consumers perceive and buy green products.

The TNS researchers identified 8 distinct consumer groups but since I didn’t get the entire report here is a summary of some of the segments from the press release. Interestingly the top two segments that represented the highest levels of eco-concern were also the most different of the groups. So from most concerned to absolutely unconcerned –

Respectful Stewards – 7%, This group is 86% Hispanic and are characteristically less educated, lower-income Hispanics living in large urban households. Not at all cynical, they are inclined to believe in a company’s green credentials.

Eco Centrics – 16%, comprised of well-educated, high-income individuals in the urban South and West. Members of this segment work actively to protect and improve the environment through green activities, such as vegetarianism and recycling, and are willing and able to pay more for eco-friendly products. They are generally scornful of companies’ green efforts, viewing corporate green initiatives as nothing more than marketing tactics.

Frugal Earth Mothers – 18%, thrifty females in lower-income rural households who embrace environmentally friendly activities to reduce day-to-day costs. While they are likely to take steps such as buying used items, washing clothes in cold water, turning off appliances and installing insulation, they are only somewhat willing to pay for green products.

Proud Traditionalists – 14%, typically Midwesterners in rural markets. These consumers are environmentally responsible in order to keep the household running smoothly – investing in insulation, water-efficiency and clean-air filters – and seek out environmental products with long-term cost savings.

Eco-Villians – 7%, predominantly Midwestern, middle-income family-men in small to mid-sized metro areas. They do not believe in global warming, disdain eco-conscious products and suspect that environmental media coverage is propaganda.

The research also suggested that –

-        More than 60% of Latin Americans polled said they have changed their behavior significantly to benefit the environment, compared with only 36% of Americans.

-        Latin Americans purchase decisions are more highly influenced by a product’s green credentials at 62% compared to US consumers at only 26%.

 The TNS study also indicated that “A comparison of the 17 countries represented in the research found that the Latin American Countries represented (Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina) scored overwhelmingly higher in their concern for the environment when compared to the rest of the world.

The research also indicated that –

“Responses from the developed nations (the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong and Korea) were invariably clustered at the least environmentally conscious and responsible end of the spectrum. Developing nations (Mexico, Thailand, Brazil and Malaysia) showed the highest concern for the environment and greatest willingness to take action and seek out ‘greener’ products. Global highlights include:

- The vast majority of respondents from developing nations believe in the threat of global warming (positive responses ranged from 84 percent to 94 percent, dependent on country), whereas those from industrialized nations are not yet convinced (only 49-64 percent believe)

- Developing nations’ respondents also claim to be willing to pay more for eco-friendly products. A staggering 94 percent of Thai respondents and 83 percent of Brazilians were willing to pay more for environmental friendliness, while only 45 percent of British and 53 percent of American respondents were willing to dig deeper to help the environment.“

 Sattler Eco & Fair Labor Clothing

http://www.sattlerclothing.com

In today’s fluctuating energy marketplace more and more companies are finding competitive advantage by being proactive with energy management. Smart Papers, a 115-year-old paper maker, recently broke ground on a 40-megawatt, $30 million cellulosic biomass energy production facility. The new high-efficiency co-generation power plant is slated to be completed by spring of 2009 and so by the end of the year all brands will be made using renewable energy created at the biomass facility. The biomass will consist mainly of yard waste as well as industrial wood and fiber waste.

Why would Smart Papers do this?

“This move to carbon-neutral production is the centerpiece of our environmental and energy strategies. It enables us to have a future that is completely independent of volatile energy markets,” said Dan Maheu, President and COO of SMART Papers. “We will reduce production costs, make carbon-neutral papers and greatly reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. We will also be a positive contributor to the green power needs of Ohio and the Midwest.”

Mars Snackfood, the makers of Snickers, also recently began powering Texas based candy production with energy created from a Waco, Texas landfill. The project is part of the EPA’s Landfill Methane Outreach Program, a voluntary partnership program aimed at encouraging the recovery and use of landfill gas as a renewable energy source.

Why would Mars do this?

The EPA estimates that this will save Mars about $600,000 a year in energy costs and cut methane emissions equivalent to more than 10,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide since methane is 20x more effective then carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere.  

Who else is taking this kind of energy management approach?

Frito-Lay’s Sunchips

The chip factory in Modesto, CA recently installed a five-acre solar field to power its manufacturing facilities. The total 192 solar collectors amount to 54,000 square feet of concave mirrors to capture the sunlight.

REI

In order to meet their objective to be completely carbon neutral by 2020, REI is putting solar electric technology on 11 of its stores this year. The company estimates that the technology will produce approx. 1.1 million kilowatt hours of electricity each year, or about 35% of each store’s energy needs.

“This investment in solar technology will deliver both financial and environmental benefits, helping to contribute to the long-term  strength of the co-op and support our goal to reduce our carbon footprint,” says Brian Unmacht, REI’s executive vice president of Sales, Service, Store Development and Logistics.

With energy becoming an unpredictable factor in the business equation, more companies are trying to hedge their risk by engaging in efforts to minimize their exposure to expensive, non-green energy sources. As Will Sarni, Sustainable Life Media Advisor wrote, “The fact is, energy and carbon management may soon become a core competency for business, just as environmental, health, and safety was brought “in-house” once companies recognized these competencies as critical for successful business operations.”

Sattler Eco & Fair Labor Clothing

http:www.sattlerclothing.com 

May 10 is World Fair Trade Day. This year the Fair Trade Resource Network is trying to set the world record for the World’s Largest Fair Trade Coffee Break. What is a “Fair Trade Coffee Break?” –

“A Fair Trade Break is simply an opportunity for a community, a workplace, a class, or a group of friends to take time out to consume, showcase, and discuss the benefits of Fair Trade. The focus is on increasing awareness and educating others about the importance of Fair Trade and the producers who make and grow the products that we consume.”

Download a 1 page PDF doc with some brief info on fair trade coffee, bananas, chocolate, flowers and other products. See this page for all of these free, cool resources.

Where can you get your hands on some Fair Trade Coffee in the Boise area? Two that come to mind off the top of my head –

Java – in Hyde Park

Rembrandt – down in Eagle

- If I missed any - sorry, and please let me know by posting here.

Megha Bahree, Forbes, has been writing about Fair Trade for years now and in February wrote an excellent article about how cotton is being harvested in cotton fields of India – today. This is still going on – this did not stop after the Nike sweatshop fiasco. I really recommend reading the article, it is an excellent read and very well written and will change they way you purchase. Marshall Loeb provided a summary of tips Mr. Bahree provided on how you can steer clear of purchasing products made using child labor –

- Know the company and learn about its labor policies. Every time you buy an imported homemade carpet, an embroidered pair of jeans or a soccer ball chances are you’re acquiring something fashioned by a child. Such goods are available in places like GapKids, Macy’s, ABC Carpet & Home, Lowe’s and Home Depot. These retailers say they are aware of child-labor problems, but a supply chain has many links and even a well-intentioned importer can’t police them all.

- Check the label. This may seem obvious, but if you are serious about fighting child labor, check the item’s registered identification number (RN) on the label against the Federal Trade Commission’s database ( http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/rn/index.shtml). Among the noteworthy offenders are Mali, CambodiaGuatemala, with 63%, 38% and 23%, respectively, of children working. and

- Keep an eye out for certifications. While no universal certification exists for child-labor-free products, there are groups that monitor specific industries. The Rugmark Foundation (www.rugmark.org) certifies rug manufacturers that adhere to strict labor standards. TransFair USA (www.transfairusa.org) monitors commodities like coffee and tea and makes sure farmers are paid a far price for fair-trade-certified goods. Additionally, when you see the emblem of the AFL-CIO (www.aflcio.org) on a product or store, you can rest assured the employees who make the product are fairly treated members of a union.

- Avoid counterfeits. Counterfeit items such as watches, purses and clothing don’t just shortchange the companies that produce the real thing. Their    proceeds often support criminal activity, and there’s a fair chance the goods were made in a sweatshop.

In the article written by Megha Bahree of Forbes Magazine he interviews a cottonseed grower in India -

“Cottonseed farmer Talari Babu is a slim, wiry man dressed, when a reporter visited him, in black for a Hindu fast. “Children have small fingers, and so they can remove the buds very quickly,” he says, while insisting that he no longer employs the underage. “They worked fast, much faster than the adults, and put in longer hours and didn’t demand long breaks. Plus, I could shout at them and beat or threaten them if need be to get more work out of them.” He could also tempt them with candy and cookies and movies at night.”

- and these aren’t organic cotton growing fields - the article by Megha Bahree continues;

“Children’s hands are ideal for the delicate work with stamens and pistils. Their bodies are no better at withstanding the poisons. At least once a week, says Davuluri Venkateshwarlu, head of Glocal, farmers spray the fields with pesticides like Nuvacron, banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and endosulfan, methomyl and Metasystox, considered by the EPA to be highly toxic. Venkateshwarlu ticks off the effects of overexposure: diarrhea, nausea, difficulty in breathing, convulsions, headaches and depression.”

This is the reality of modern uncertified labor and conventional cotton growing methods. The UN International Labor Organization guesses that there are 218 million child laborers worldwide, 7 in 10 of them in agriculture, followed by service businesses (22%) and industry (9%). Asia-Pacific claims the greatest share of underage workers (122 million), then sub-Saharan Africa (49 million).

A previous Sattler Post on Child Labor

Take your Town Fair Trade

Eco-friendly and Fair Labor Clothing

Sattler Clothing

Just how deep has the green movement integrated into the mainstream? According to a report from the Natural Marketing Institute, which appears to no longer exist (weblink doesn’t work), the number of households with organic products across six product categories increased from 57% to 59%. Not a huge jump but 2% of the U.S. population represents approx. 7 million people.

They also categorized consumers into 4 different groups based on their perception of purchasing eco-friendly products. They describe them as such –

“DEVOTEDS, as their name implies, are the most committed to organic and its ideals and are most likely to have changed their lifestyle to integrate organic. The more a category is used, the more it has to be organic. TEMPERATES have modern organic attitudes and fit organic into their lifestyle; the more they use a category, the more an organic version becomes a treat. DABBLERS are non-committal about organic – they can take it or leave it. For them, buying organic is more about hipness than the health benefits. RELUCTANTS are the least trustful of organic and believe that conventional products are just as good (if not better) than organics and that organics are not worth the extra cost.”

2007 2006

Devoteds 18% 16%

Temperates 22% 22%

Dabblers 41% 44%

Reluctants 19% 18%

Based on their research, it appears that the number of Dabblers decreased. And looking at the chart it appears that the 3% of the Dabblers that 2% became Temperates or Devoteds while the other 1% of them became Reluctants. So what kind of green consumer are you?

According to the EPA, small business employs more than half of all U.S. workers and is responsible for the majority of new eco-friendly technologies developed in the country. That may explain why the EPA has become a quasi venture capitalist firm in recent years providing funding to the best eco-friendly innovations emerging from small businesses. As reported in a recent GreenBiz article, the EPA will award $1.75 million to 25 small business on the forefront of eco-friendly technologies.

According to George Gray, EPA assistant administrator for the Office of Research and Development; “There are huge new opportunities for profits in the booming green technology business sector.”

The Small Business Innovation Research program is designed to support the development of nanotechnology, pollution prevention, biodiesels, solid and hazardous waste, air pollution control and homeland security, in particular.

One previous winner, Edenspace Systems, produced a plant that could remove arsenic from the soil and was used by the Army to clean parts of Spring Valley, Washington D.C. This year’s winners will receive an initial $70,000 to produce a proof of their concept and then they may apply for a second phase to begin commercializing the product. The EPA is accepting submissions for next year’s contest until May 21 of 2009.