Business Archives - Page 6 of 7

Walmart, Folgers Share Compost Farm

With $500,000 and 10 acres of land you may want to start your own Commercial Composting business. By Laura Baverman of the Cincinnati Enquirer Marvin Duren started composting 35 years ago because it was good for the environment Today, he's helping Walmart do the same. The owner of Marvin's Organic Gardens in Lebanon won a contract from the world's largest retailer to compost food waste from as many as 160 of its stores in Ohio. It's a major feat for the organic farmer, who founded the 75-acre operation in 1999 with a plan to dedicate one third of his land to composting. (more…)

Tesla Motors Confident in an Electrifying IPO

With only ONE operable prototype of it's new sedan, 12 dealerships and NO final design or manufacturing process, Tesla Motors still has high hopes as it offers public shares for the first time tomorrow. more from CNNMoney.com staff writer David Goldman: Tesla Motors will offer up its shares to the public for the first time on Tuesday, testing investors' faith in a company that has proven it can make functional and stunning electric cars but has never had a profitable quarter. PayPal founder Elon Musk's seven-year old auto company lost $55.7 million last year and $260.7 million since its inception. The company has performed so poorly from a financial standpoint that Musk recently said he lost his entire personal fortune on Tesla. But investors are giddy about the Palo Alto, Calif.-based automaker's initial public offering, prompting Tesla on Monday to increase the number of shares it plans to offer by nearly a fifth to 13.3 million. (more…)

Scientific Conservation Inc. gets the green – cash that is

Sometimes all you need is a little green in the form of new funding. Just this week Scientific Conservation Inc. (SCI), a leading provider of energy efficiency and system optimization today announced The Westly Group has joined Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ) as part of a Series A investment totaling $9M. It's a big move to further help commercial buildings around the globe significantly reduce their carbon footprint and consume far less energy. Why did the high profile venture capitalist company, which previously invested in Skype, Yahoo, and Hotmail, become interested in SCI? Well, they're working with companies like Neiman Marcus to oversee the engineering, energy management, sustainability, environmental/regulatory compliance and system-wide maintenance for their retail properties. In doing so Neiman Marcus moved forward in deploying the latest in building automation and control systems at its facilities to capture critical performance data from key mechanical,…

You Have Your Green Team, Now What?

Steps to establishing a cohesive and effective sustainability management team A graduate of Presidio's Graduate School of Sustainable Management, Jamie Simon was Red Bull North America's first Director of Sustainability, establishing the global giant's internal sustainability platform. Currently, she is a Managing Partner with Canopy Strategies--a team of professionals aimed at delivering forward-looking corporate social responsibility vision through applied, practical solutions. With a long history of project and team management, Simon provided valuable insight into creating the infrastructure, communications platform and time frame needed to facilitate an effective Green Team. What once was just a glorified buzzword has gone on to become the most substantial business practice movement of the past century. Sustainable business is no longer just a hypothetical notion, but a necessary aspect to any successful business model. With the impetus and desire to put a "Gr…

IKEA to Phase out Incandescent Lighting Starting August 1

Switch On. Switch Off. Switch Over. IKEA makes the change for a brighter future. Starting August 1, 2010, IKEA will begin to phase out all incandescent light bulbs in their US stores. This recent IKEA environmental initiative has a target date of incandescent bulb elimination by January 1, 2011. The aggressive IKEA US store phase out program exemplifies IKEA’s strong commitment to helping their customers live an everyday sustainable life. IKEA will be the first US retailer to completely phase out incandescent light bulbs. “IKEA is committed to integrating sustainability into all IKEA strategies and practices in the entire product life cycle. We also believe our customers are looking for every day environmentally responsible solutions for themselves. Eliminating incandescents is a simple way to lead the charge for IKEA customers to use energy saving light bulbs, thus reducing energy consumption and reducing the amount of greenhouses gases. It’s a little step with a big im…

Green executives: golf sustainably at Marriott UK!

Marriott-branded hotels in the United Kingdom have successfully reduced carbon emissions and greenhouse gases collectively by 7.3 percent to earn Carbon Trust Standard certification, a government program launched in 2008 in response to the U.K.'s Climate Change Act to benchmark and assess company commitment and success in addressing climate change impact. In addition, 25 hotels will achieve Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS) certification, a program validated by Visit Britain and the International Centre for Responsible Tourism (ICRT) which assesses energy and water efficiency, waste management and biodiversity, by year-end. One of the improvements involves the greening of all Marriott golf courses. Last year, the company announced a goal to have all of its golf courses certified by the Audubon International Cooperative Sanctuary, a program that helps golf courses protect natural wildlife habitats, improve efficiency and minimize potentially harmful effec…