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10 posts in the past 7 days
My last post on questioning conventional wisdom on recycled paper generated some terrific comments. After all, when you look more deeply into some of these issues, they aren’t all they are cracked up to be. Is possible that post-consumer waste (PCW) paper isn’t as green as we think it is? The question was worth asking…. Read More…
I’ve been thinking about postconsumer waste lately (apparently, I have too much time on my hands). What I was wondering was this: Postconsumer waste is only one of three waste streams for unused paper. There is also mill broke (scrap collected at the mill and recycled back into the same type of paper from whence… Read More…
If you want to “green” your news reading, just go online, right? Ditch that dirty, landfill-clogging paper. Not so fast, argues Sarah Westervelt, environmental expert and activist. In a recent article on The Dead Tree Edition, Westervelt said that she was “too informed about what’s going to happen to my computer when I’m done with… Read More…
When we think about greening “print,” we often think about books or marketing communications like direct mail. But what about the world of packaging? Because packaging provides the additional functions of shipment and product protection as well as marketing, it brings a host of unique issues far beyond other types of printed materials. Plus, it’s… Read More…
It’s the time of year when people are making resolutions to lose weight, better manage their finances, better manage their anger, and myriad other things. Is increasing your commitment to environmental sustainability on that list? As I wrote in my very first post for The Inspired Economist in the fall of 2008, the neat thing… Read More…
Do you like to play with online tools? I do. I like environmental calculators. It’s fun to plug in a bunch of numbers and see what you come up with. Take environmental calculators offered by paper companies. Want to know how much you can green your print marketing just by making a simple switch? They’ll… Read More…
Can you green your business for free? With the right qualifiers, you might. There is at least one company that will take a comprehensive look at your organization, project out the amount of money it can save on your electric bill by installing greener technologies, and outfit you — free — on a contingency basis… Read More…
As climate change legislation makes its way through Congress and stakeholders increase pressure on businesses and government to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, AltaTerra Research will be hosting the web conference “Carbon Footprint Reduction for the Long Haul.” This event will be held Thursday, December 3rd at 10 a.m. PST / 1 p.m. EST and… Read More…
I’ve written a lot in these posts about print vs. electronic media and the sustainability issues faced by both (yes, both! electronic media aren’t as green as people think). Now you can investigate more deeply for yourself. On November 17, Target Marketing and Printing Impressions will offer a webinar titled “Paper or Electronic? The Impact… Read More…
Did you notice something different on the back pages of The Order of the Phoenix? If you live in the Canadian market, you might. The fifth book in the Harry Potter series has something unusual on its back pages. It’s an environmental audit. The audit, produced using New Leaf Paper’s Eco Audit Calculator, uses New… Read More…
Companies marketing green products and, in particular, promoting their green energy initiatives are using words like “energy conservation” and “green energy,” but what effect has this had on consumers? Do they care? Do they even understand what these terms mean? EcoAlign, a strategic marketing agency focused on energy and the environment, decided to find out…. Read More…
Certainly, the development of these turbines is a case of challenge and response since they were developed to meet the Scandinavian environment. GE and others will develop generators that will provide wind farms offshore where the windiest but harshest environments exist. Animal lover will be delighted to know that sea birds are able to avoid offshore wind farms.
Did you know that copiers consume the most energy of all types of office equipment? That they consume power even when they are sitting idle? Simply by switching to a more energy-efficient type of printer, you can take a chunk out of your carbon emissions. In addition to their cost efficiency, this is one reason… Read More…
[social_buttons] We tend to think that if a company is big, it is automatically bad and doesn’t care about it’s environmental footprint. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Just take a look at the Top 10 Green Energy Users according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Surprising, isn’t it? Now, I’m not saying that… Read More…
Three days ago, I blogged about the EPA’s Green Power Partners site, which lists the top green power users in the country. That post got more traffic in a day than my posts normally get in a month. That was very exciting for me. People clearly care about this issue. At least for me, when… Read More…
I know I’ve been a bit like a dog on a bone about the fact that print is not necessarily the enemy, but I think it’s important. Marketers are being hit like a locomotive with the idea that e-mail and other electronic media are green because they don’t use paper, but there is a lot… Read More…
In today’s marketing world, the paper industry is seen as the big, bad guy — the energy hogging, landfill-clogging waste producer that needs to be replaced by cleaner, more efficient electronic media. But is this really the case? The paper industry claims that the opposite is true. It points out that electronic media are huge… Read More…
The energy giant BP and Martek Biosciences, a Maryland based company that uses micro algae to produce oil-based nutritional and dietary supplements, signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) earlier this month to produce microbial oils for biofuels applications.
Exciting developments are occurring in solar PV (photovoltaic) power generation. New technologies are improving manufacturing processes. Thin-film and organic (plastic) films promise to reduce PV power cost. Solar “grid parity,” the time when solar power will cost the same as fossil fuel power, is coming soon.
Aora-Solar, an Israeli company, has constructed and launched the first solar energy natural gas hybrid electric power plant. The flexibility of their design permits small communities to tap into solar power.
No recession in evidence here. Yesterday’s opening session of Intersolar North America was packed and full of energy. The solar trade show almost tripled its exhibition space and more than doubled the number of exhibitors from last year, when the first North America Intersolar show was also hosted in San Francisco. As far as I… Read More…
It’s no surprise that the United States Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufactures oppose the American Clean Air and Security Act, but so does Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth. Dow Chemical and Ford Motors support it.
US oil, natural gas and coal (fossil energy) companies perpetuate the “energy independence” myth. According to this myth, importation of oil is our energy problem. Buying foreign oil is “the greatest transfer of wealth in history,” and “It sends money to governments that hate us.”
Applied SunFab Solar Module Production Line Well it certainly looks like the sun is paving the way for our new energy economy. According to the Worldwatch institute, an environmental research organization based in Washington D.C., global solar photovoltaic (PV) power installations jumped from 9,000 megawatts in 2007 to nearly 15,000 MW in 2008, an increase… Read More…
Market Facilitation in Ecosystem Services; Contemporary Developing Cases in the UK Is there reason to believe that there maybe profit to be made by investing in eco investments while conserving the environment? There does exist some scepticism about the market’s involvement in green initiatives. Even though research conducted by Frost & Sullivan about the telecom… Read More…




