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Energy from Wastewater

January 7, 2011 by Geoffrey Styles
with 1,189 views
0

Producing energy from waste is hardly a new idea, as illustrated by efforts such as the landfill methane-to-LNG project I mentioned in November and by numerous demonstration projects to turn various forms of solid waste into liquid fuels. However, I don't normally think of wastewater as having any noteworthy energy potential to extract.... [read more]

From the Gulf to the Volt

December 20, 2010 by Marc Gunther
with 666 views
0

When trying to save the planet, every litter bit helps. But let’s not lose sight of the forest when we’re saving a tree–or when General Motors is recycling “plastic boom material used to soak up oil in the Gulf of Mexico” into auto parts in the Chevrolet Volt. Recycling is laudable–indeed, it points the way to a sustainable, zero-waste... [read more]

Waste Management earns its name

December 7, 2010 by Marc Gunther
with 874 views
2

Big companies aren’t good at breakthrough innovation.  Disruptive innovation usually comes from start-ups or entrepreneurs. (See Big Business’s big innovation problem.) Big companies are even worse at innovation when it threaten to cannibalize their existing business. Think about why newspapers failed to create a Craigslist or why... [read more]

Rewards as a Driver of Green Consumer Engagement

November 26, 2010 by David Widger
with 1,239 views
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I joined RecycleBank for many reasons, one due to an observation regarding the application of rewards in the green space.  Quite simply, rewards have the potential to change consumer behavior without necessarily changing attitudes first. I first wrote about this in a 2007 blog post. Today, it remains a powerful way to... [read more]

What Happens at the End of a Wind Turbine’s Use?

November 10, 2010 by Glen Estill
with 966 views
3

I have often been asked by members of the public what happens to wind turbines at the end of their lives. For many of the components, that’s easy. Steel, copper and aluminum have well established scrap markets – the vast majority of the turbine is worth money. But what about the blades, usually made of a fiberglass composite material... [read more]

Glimpsing the future at Net Impact 2010

October 30, 2010 by Marc Gunther
with 1,211 views
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My favorite conference is Net Impact’s annual gathering, mostly because of the crowd—this weekend, about 2,500 people, most of them MBA students, undergrads and young professionals, gathered at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business in Ann Arbor. These fare the smart, passionate and committed business leaders of tomorrow. I’m... [read more]

Recycling Our Way to Sustainable Waste Management

September 20, 2010 by Robert Rapier
with 1,231 views
2

While my focus is primarily on energy, I am also interested in other sustainability issues. Some of those include food production, water issues (e.g. water desalination to increase availability of fresh water), and waste management. I have discussed waste management here before in My Composting Experiment. (My experiment has gone quite... [read more]

CEO Dan Hesse: Sprinting towards sustainability

September 19, 2010 by Marc Gunther
with 2,308 views
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“People just want a cell phone,” Dan Hesse, the CEO of Sprint, told me. “They don’t care how green it is.” “But we think they will over time.” Is that sufficient reason to try to sell “green” phones, aggressively promote recycling and buy renewable energy? “People want to do business with good companies,” Hesse says. “I want us to be... [read more]

College Sustainability News, Part 2

August 30, 2010 by Matt Dernoga
with 1,065 views
0

There was so much progress over the summer that I needed two posts to capture all of the neat projects being undertaken on college campuses. Berkshire CC Kicks Off Energy Monitoring and Management Program Berkshire Community College (MA) is part of a $55 million pilot project to monitor and better manage energy use in state buildings.... [read more]

Mega Watt to Mai Tai--How Hawaii Uses Energy

August 30, 2010 by Nathan Temple
with 1,312 views
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Grab your sunglasses and your sun tan lotion because we are headed to the Hawaiian islands..oh don't forget your calculator.Energy production in HI sparks the imagination.  Think of all the natural resources available: Wind, Solar, Geothermal (big island), Hydro, biomass, ocean thermal, and tidal.  So where then does all the... [read more]

News on College Sustainability Efforts

August 28, 2010 by Matt Dernoga
with 2,192 views
1

Here are some examples of progress universities have made over the summer at reducing their environmental impact.  As a recent college graduate who is going back for a Masters, I like to provide an update every so often of noteworthy actions taken by the higher education system. California State U Bakersfield to Install 1MW Solar... [read more]

A Green Supply Chain Takes a Systems Thinking Approach–And Patience

August 24, 2010 by Dave Meyer
with 2,467 views
0

As I have been involved with organizations through the years on environmental issues, I have discovered many things about supply chain management: Contractors and suppliers often create environmental impacts, sometimes related to the nature of their product or work, sometimes by accident Most organizations for some reason feel “... [read more]

What Does an Oil Industry Climate Bill Look Like?

July 30, 2010 by Tim Hurst
with 1,061 views
1
Photo credit: Tim Hurst/LiveOAK Media

Last Thursday I experienced one of those unique days I sometimes have when I get the opportunity to interview people that don't always stand on the same side of the street, as it were.  Not only did my day see an interview with environmental activist and global eco-adventurer, David de Rothschild, as he and a nine-person crew... [read more]