Products Archives - Green Businesses

TreeHouse Aims to Make Homes Thoughtful, Sustainable and Healthy

Austin-based TreeHouse, a home improvement retailer focused on eco-friendly construction materials, has selected Dallas as its first stop outside its hip hometown. Tuesday, it will announce plans to open a store in early 2017 in a new shopping center in North Dallas. TreeHouse CEO and co-founder Jason Ballard believes he can sell the world on eco-friendly homes in the same way that Tesla is broadening the customer base for electric cars. As the first retailer that Tesla has authorized to sell the Powerwall, its battery for the house, TreeHouse is already a powerhouse of sustainable good. They are also one of the top-selling retailers of Nest smart-home products, Ballard said. “We resist being a niche company,” Ballard said. “We’re not just for customers with dreadlocks and card-carrying members of environmental groups. We’re going to prove with the Dallas store that we’re not a store for special people, we’re a store for everyone.” Single-store sales have increased 3…

The Anti-Wood Woody

By Kimbriel Dean for Igniteme Woody Harrelson was my first crush. As a kid, all it took was a cute face and a big smile to make my heart flutter. As a naïve, sweet but not-so-bright bartender on Cheers, Woody was right up my pre-teen alley. Today, it takes brains, passion and heart to win me over. (Though a cute face and a big smile certainly don’t hurt!). Once again, I have a crush on Woody Harrelson, for all the right reasons this time around.In this day and age, we form opinions of celebrities based, in large part, on their lives outside of work. Whether or not that’s fair to them (I don’t think it is right for us to judge based on what we see in the media), it may be a good thing for the future of our world. Celebrities know how we expect them to behave with the money we give them in the form of movie tickets and music downloads. We know there are plenty of celebrities who pay lip service to their cause of choice, but some of them appear to live their word with integrity.…

New: Businesses Find Benefits in Going Green

As a new media outlet, the mission of GreenBusinesses.com is to showcase what eco-friendly businesses are doing right. Studies show their products and services are paying off in new and scalable ways. See how green can work for you by checking out these forward-looking business models. We'd love to hear your comments below. by Joanna L. Krotz of BusinessOnMain Incentives to go green have moved way beyond lowering utility bills. “Cost savings are evolving into revenue generation,” says Lauren Kelley Koopman, a director for PwC’s Sustainable Business Solutions practice. “Sustainability is next-generation business thinking because it creates value, attracts customers, retains employees and improves capital and funding.” In 2012, an Office Depot tracking poll found 61 percent of small businesses were trying to go greener, while 70 percent anticipated going green over the next two years. If you’re still on the fence, consider how these four companies are energizing …

Green Business Opportunities For American Economy

Green goods market growth image via Big Green Opportunity Growth rates for green business products and services are rising faster than conventional goods in America’s economy, outpacing the overall economy through the depths of the recession, and creating opportunity for the 88% of US businesses classified as “microbusinesses” with five or fewer employees. These findings come from “The Big Green Opportunity,” a new survey of 1,300+ businesses conducted in 2012. Respondents said the greener a product, the more likely its sales increase, with 75% reporting an increase in green business from 2008-2011 at a 19% price premium compared to traditional goods. Consumer Demand Creates Green Business Opportunity The survey hints at a shift in consumer demand toward sustainability creating “green competition” among businesses, especially those with high environmental footprints. 79% of small businesses – particularly those in the food, personal goods, and construction markets – sa…

Apple sidesteps a recall and stays green

Last Friday Apple CEO Steve Jobs stepped in front of the world to address the widespread iPhone 4 antenna issues that effectively made the smartphone lose reception when a user engaged in the "iPhone death grip." He addressed his wide consumer saying, "You know, we're not perfect. We know that, you know that. And phones aren't perfect either." Most iPhone 4 owners claimed they didn't experience these problems but once notorious tech media writers got a hold of Jobs acknowledging the claims, word spread like wildfire. (more…)