Articles on Green Businesses - Page 40 of 45

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…

The Sustainable YOU: Be true to the environment and yourself

Got green? Sound familiar? It should. The “green” movement in America has become so talked about, so widely spread, that you would need to be hiding under a rock, lying at the bottom of the ocean, and stuffed with earplugs to not hear the colorful buzz around “sustainable” living. At this point, most of us are trying, even in small ways, to decrease our use of ozone depleting goods, taking inches off our carbon footprint, and devoting ourselves to a much more sustainable America. And the ideas behind many things green are typically two-fold: re-use and recycle. Of course, anyone of authority and opinion within the green community could, most likely, describe each of these in detail, as well as add fifteen more adjectives for all things sustainable; but this is not my aim. Funnily enough, I began to contemplate the American “green” movement three months ago, as I settled into living abroad in the small town of San Francisco de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. Given that …

With Congress at Home for Recess, Americans Demand Clean Energy Now!

As oil continues to gush into the Gulf and our country spends more than a billion dollars a day on foreign oil, groups of Americans across the country are showing their support for clean energy through "American Clean Energy Now" events. Beginning this week, as Congress adjourns for Memorial Day recess, Repower America, a project of the Alliance for Climate Protection, is holding dozens of events across the nation showing urgent support for climate and clean energy policies from diverse communities including veterans, business, labor and faith leaders. "The massive oil spill off our coast has devastated whole industries, ruined the entire Gulf way of life, and proven that our dependence on dirty sources of energy is more dangerous than we ever imagined," said Dave Boundy, Repower America campaign manager. "Meanwhile we are still spending over a billion dollars a day on foreign oil." President Obama has made it clear that, in the wake of the worst oil sp…

EverDrive Reminds Consumers About Used Auto Parts to Conserve Resources

For many consumers, going green still means paying more, but Joey Woodfin, president and chief executive officer of EverDrive LLC, a leading supplier of used auto parts, says that consumers are actually making the best decision for themselves and the environment when they purchase recycled parts for their vehicles or request their use at their repair shop. In a recent report, the monthly Green Confidence Index noted that U. S. consumers indicated that price and performance are major roadblocks to purchasing more green products. “EverDrive has covered both those obstacles,” said Woodfin. First, price. Used car parts are recycled and so they are Original Equipment Manufacturer parts, but they can cost up to 50 percent less than an OEM new part. Consumers can purchase EverDrive used auto parts online at www.everdrive.com, from any of EverDrive’s participating retailers or simply ask for …

RICOH Completes Time Square’s first 100% Solar Powered Billboard

The Ricoh Eco Board, which is 47 feet high by 126 feet long, is the first billboard in Times Square to be totally lit by solar energy. It is powered solely by 62 solar panels and 24 thin-film PV solar modules, and illuminated by 16 LED floodlights. Ricoh made a promise not to use conventional electricity from the grid to light the Eco Board and will allow it to go dark due to lack of sunlight. By using only solar power to light the sign, Ricoh is playing a part in reducing the amount of carbon emissions released by conventional electrical power sources. A special ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Eco Board will take place on June 8 in New York's Times Square. "When Ricoh decided to advertise in Times Square, we wanted to do so in an environmentally-responsible way that would have minimal negative impact on the environment. Our hope was that the Eco Board would become a powerful symbol of Ricoh's commitment to green practices and would challenge o…