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Since TriplePundit spent a few days in Detroit for the Auto Show earlier this month, I thought I would share some of the positive trends that are underway in the Motor City. It is easy to focus on Detroit’s negatives: the derelict buildings; the crime and grit; and a dysfunctional city government that maintains an infrastructure supporting two million people when its population is now just over 700,000. But, out of crisis comes opportunity for those who want to retrofit an incredible home, enjoy Michigan’s natural beauty and Midwestern grace and hospitality.

To that end, let me share some developments pointing to why I believe Detroit’s transformation is turning the city into an exciting sustainability laboratory:

Urban Farming: We have covered urban farming in Detroit in the past, and the movement is still growing. The local planning commission also approved a new urban farming ordinance last month, which will recognize the scores of farms and orchards that have sprouted across the city. Meanwhile a local entrepreneur who has been deeply involved in the movement, John Hantz, has pledged to purchase over 140 acres, clear out the debris and plant 15,000 trees.

Food Deserts are Blooming: One of Detroit’s must-sees is Eastern Market, a public market that boasts Michigan’s bounty throughout the year. This market has been around for decades, but business has boomed since Dan Carmody took the helm a few years ago. Eastern Market’s growth is important because finding fresh food can be difficult for Detroit’s citizens; and even though some drugstores try to fill the gap with milk and fresh fruit, the pickings are slim and most of the produce is packaged and imported from afar. Carmody is working on developing a network of food hubs throughout the city as well as a community supported agriculture (CSA) program to bring food to residents instead of them having to take a long bus ride or taxi to suburban supermarkets.

Public schools going green. As 3p editor Andrea Newell points out, Detroit’s public school system is attempting to “go green.” So far the results are mixed, but the beleaguered school system is making gains in six areas of impact: energy and water; waste and recycling; transportation; the outdoor environment; the indoor settings; and nutrition.

Automakers getting a clue. Hopefully, some of those Detroit public school students will end up having meaningful careers at one of the Big Three automakers. Ford is making strides from having a climate scientist and futurist on the payroll to ramping up its electric vehicle offerings such as the Ford C-MAX Energy plug-in hybrid. Meanwhile, GM has made progress on meeting solar energy targets, has a booming recycling business and even goes so far as to compost . . . coffee grounds. Now even trucks are going plug-in! At last week’s North American International Auto Show, some of Ford’s speakers talked about how the Detroit infrastructure could become the Silicon Valley of transportation. Let’s hold them to their word.

Green building: With all the brownfields in Detroit, the jump on LEED points is an easy one to make. The local U.S. Green Building Council (USGSB) chapter in Detroit is an active one--buildings from those on Wayne State’s campus to the first LEED certified project, Lithuanian Hall, are emerging as some of the Motor City’s staunchest advocates are determined to groom Detroit as a 21st century sustainability laboratory.

Renewable energy: Did you know over 140 buildings in downtown Detroit are heated by district energy? Detroit’s huge cogeneration system, fueled by 3300 tons of municipal solid waste, is now expanding midtown to the Wayne State University campus. Detroit Thermal’s system is more efficient than each individual building having its own boilers and furnaces.

Bicycling: It may seem odd to talk about bicycling in a city that is the birthplace of the automobile, but Detroit is a great place to explore on two wheels. The symptoms of the city’s economic decline: empty roads and reemerging woodlands add to the city’s bike paths. Earlier this month, a local advocacy group organized a bike-a-thon to raise money for a local nonprofit bike shop. The Hub of Detroit and Back Alley Bikes are among the businesses working to turn Detroit’s residents and visitors onto bicycling.

Green jobs: Just a few miles from downtown Detroit near the city’s museum district is Tech Town, one key towards transforming southeastern Michigan into a 21st century greener economy. Housed partly within a 1920s Chevrolet factory, dozens of startups, including those in the clean energy sector, is a buzzing hub of entrepreneurship.

Bio-fueled public transport? Detroit’s public works, including its bus system, is a basket case, but some are attempting to fill the void. The Detroit Bus Company is attempting a privately-run approach and is currently seeking residents to fill out surveys on potential routes. A bus loop connecting Hamtramck, a thriving town surrounded entirely by the Motor City, and downtown Detroit is set to launch soon.

Hope for Michigan Central Station: Once a glorious transit center, this Beaux-Arts beauty has been derelict since the last trains rolled out in the 1980s. Matty Maroun, the building’s current owner, as well as the trans-border bridge that links Detroit to neighboring Windsor, Ontario, has caught plenty of heat over the years for leaving it empty--though in fairness there is huge risk in retrofitting the building into a facility no one will visit. Anyone can send a suggestion, however, to talktothestation.com. We applaud one tiny step, however: the Maroun family spent some coin illuminating the station over the holiday season.

Take our photo tour to see what Detroit offers and its future potential.

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This is Leon Kaye's 750th article on Triple Pundit. Based in Fresno, California, he is a sustainability consultant and the editor of GreenGoPost.com. He also contributes to Guardian Sustainable Business; his work has also appeared on Sustainable Brands, Inhabitat and Earth911. You can follow Leon and ask him questions on Twitter or Instagram (greengopost). He will explore children’s health issues in India next month with the International Reporting Project.

[Image credits: Leon Kaye]

KPMG's recent research, tellingly entitled The Transformation of the Automotive Industry, observes that, “The global automotive industry is undergoing a fundamental transformation due to increasing consumer preferences toward vehicles with a lower carbon footprint.”

This growing consumer focus upon carbon emissions is now being reported from Beijing to the Jersey shore. China has seven of the top ten most polluted cities in the world because of their growing fleet of fossil fueled urban vehicles and their use of coal to generate 75 percent of their electricity. A reported dark joke among Beijing citizens is that the measure of a day’s air quality is whether you can see your feet when you step outside.

American consumers are increasingly linking weather volatility events like Hurricane Sandy to the higher air and ocean temperatures created by human emission of green house gases. Today, approximately 65 percent of citizens between the ages of 18 and 65 view climate changes as a serious or somewhat serious problem. In search of solutions, governments and consumers are looking at automobile manufacturers for answers.

Auto industry climate change strategy

Fuel Efficiency. Automobile manufacturers have linked fuel efficiency and tail pipe emissions as their climate change target metric. In response they are introducing at a record pace new cars and trucks that achieve reduced emissions through increased fuel efficiency.

Alternative Fuels. Automobile manufacturers are growing their product offerings that use natural gas, or biofuels like ethanol that can be blended with gasoline, to reduce the consumer’s pain at the pump while also emitting fewer tailpipe emissions.

Electrification. Electrification is the auto industry’s ultimate solution to tailpipe emissions. The auto industry has seen an explosion of new hybrid and plug-in hybrid car launches. Consumers are responding by buying cars equipped with electrification technologies at record rates for this market segment . The Prius is the top selling car in California. General Motors sold three times as many Chevrolet Volts in 2012 as it did in 2011, which was the car's first full year on the market.

But the sales volume for cars with electrification technologies are still only at a fraction of the size of the gasoline fueled car market. To grow sales, the auto industry is focused on a two-part strategy. The first part of their strategy is to grow consumer acceptance of electrification technologies and their benefits. They are doing so by integrating cost effective electrification technologies into gasoline fueled cars like auto start and stop engine technologies that turn off a gasoline engine at stop lights. The second part of their strategy is to make electrification cost competitive with gasoline and diesel technologies. This will be a maturation process as the car companies introduce consumers to electrification technologies while investing in research to advance next-generation electrification technologies that hold the promise of being price and performance attractive to the mass market of consumers.

Ford’s electrification car technology

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4LwoY7cAdI

This is the third article of a four-part case study on how Ford is going green. Their best practices can be used by every business to grow revenues and win customers. The first article in this article series profiled Chairman Of The Board Bill Ford and CEO Alan Mulally on Ford’s CSR vision and how it is driving sales. The second article profiled Ford’s Go Further brand messaging tied to sustainability. The final article will be a test drive of the Ford plug-in electric C-MAX Energi and how digital technologies are re-engineering cars to be fun to drive, cost less to operate and mean more in terms of reduced tailpipe emissions.

Travel and accommodations to NAIAS in Detroit were covered by Ford. Opinions are my own.

Bill Roth is an economist and the Founder of Earth 2017 He coaches business owners and leaders on proven best practices in pricing, marketing and operations that make money and create a positive difference. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles business case studies of pioneering best practices that are proven to win customers and grow product revenues. Follow him on Twitter: @earth2017.

Petitions come in all sizes and on all topics. The right to petition the government holds an elite status in the American political system. After all, it’s one of the few methods that the average citizen has to capture the attention of, say, the White House administration when he wants something.

These petitions also say an awful lot about our priorities.

The White House takes on the Death Star

Not surprisingly, the administration turned down its unenviable new role.

“Why would we spend countless taxpayer dollars on a Death Star with a fundamental flaw that can be exploited by a one-man starship?” Paul Shawcross, Chief of the Science and Space Branch queried in his response to the petition.

Ale to the Chief

“Following in the footsteps of great men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin, Barack Obama has reportedly been enjoying the rewards of home brewed beer,” the petition notes. “In keeping with the brewing traditions of the founding fathers, homebrewers across America call on the Obama Administration to release the recipe for the White House home brew so that it may be enjoyed by all.”

Indeed, homebrewers were delighted when the Obama administration released not only a recipe for the White House Honey Ale, but one for the White House Honey Porter, along with a four-minute video on tips and how-to’s.

The petition was submitted last August before the Obama administration had raised the minimum threshold for signatures from 5,000 to 25,000. Still, the Ale to the Chief petition, as the White House giddily referred to it in the response, had met the requirement by more than double that number, clocking in with 12,240 signatures.

Don't hold your breath

The petition “We Request that Obama be Impeached for the Following Reasons,”  probably didn’t need all of its 49,980 signatures to grab the attention of the Obama administration. But as it had met the newly minted requirement of 25,000 signatures, the White House was keen to reply.

“(The) short answer is that we won't be calling for the President's impeachment – and given the fact that you made your appeal to the White House itself, we doubt you were holding your breath waiting for our support.

“The key is that we can disagree without being disagreeable. That's the kind of public dialogue Americans deserve.”

White House: The new threshold

“(It's) exceeded our wildest expectations. Through the past year, interest in We the People exploded and we're closing in on 10 million signatures,” explains Macon Phillips, director of digital security for the White House. Petitioners will still be held to the same time frame of 30 days in order to meet the requirement for a formal White House reply.

But even if the new threshold sounds steep, Americans don’t appear to be daunted.

The touching and long-sought-after, request to provide military service animals the dignity of a soldier’s burial, (the current petition was created less than a week ago) already stands at 1,519 signatures, while a another equally moving petition to recognize the health needs of veterans who were exposed to toxic substances at Fort MacClellan has less than 500 signatures, but is growing. So is one requesting that paid maternity leave be federally mandated.

And, of course, in keeping with Americans’ passion for the stars, there’s also a petition to the White House to award Kennedy honors to William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, George Takei, Walter Koenig and Nichelle Nichols. With an expiration date of February 23, and only another 99,915 signatures needed, anything is possible.

Image of Death Star courtesy of Ryan Vaarsi.

The U.S. Army has embraced sustainability reporting

Renewable energy has certainly made tremendous progress in the past decade. Indeed, most people would acknowledge that it has grown from being little more than a mascot, to a full-fledged member of the energy generation team.

And yet, despite the fact that people as reputable as the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have come out and said that renewables could provide 80 percent of our electricity by 2050, there are still plenty of naysayers who remain convinced that renewables will continue to play little more than a minor role in our energy future.

It is a simple, but inconvenient fact of life that we don’t know what we don’t know. Our ability to predict the future is ultimately limited by our imaginations. Indeed, if we were to go back 37 years and ask who, if anyone, came close to predicting what our world looks like today, it would more likely be the science fiction writers than the scientific authorities, who, encumbered as they were with all the facts, had plenty of reasons why certain things couldn’t possibly be done, in the absence of technological breakthroughs that would come later.

Today’s story is about a potentially very large source of renewable energy that has received very little attention: hydrokinetics, which is the production of energy from the flow of moving water. The term applies to both ocean tidal power systems as well as river flow systems, both without the benefit of dams.

According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), this source of clean energy could very possibly produce as much as 23 GW by 2025 and 100 GW by the year 2050, and this just barely scratches the surface of its technically achievable potential. This latter figure represents roughly 10 percent of our present generation capacity, a sizeable chunk, especially considering that, unlike solar or wind, this power can be far more predictable and reliable. For comparison purposes, the U.S. had 51.6 GW of installed wind power as of September 2012. According to Christopher Mahoney, Director of Communications for the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), “technically recoverable wave energy alone could provide about 25 percent of U.S. energy demand.” (Cited in Mechanical Engineering, "Waves, Currents & Electric Potential", by Mark Crawford, Feb. 2013).

We have already written about various types of tidal systems, including the barrage, the tidal fence and the tidal turbine. Other types include the oscillating water column and the heave surge device. Some companies involved in this space include Ocean Power Technologies, which partnered with Lockheed Martin on a 19 MW project in Australia. Aquamarine Power, a Scottish Company with an offshore pump called an “oyster” which powers an onshore hydro plant, claims they have a 64 GW installed capacity potential.

Less well known are methods for capturing power from flowing rivers without a dam. Verdant Power’s 1.05 MW Tidal Energy Project at Roosevelt Island in NYC’s East River will use turbine generators mounted to the bottom of the river that can sway to follow the direction of the current.

Last summer, Ocean Renewable Power Co. installed the first of several planned turbine generators in Cobscook Bay, Maine, a 180 kW unit. It became the first grid-connected tidal energy project without a dam in America. Two more units are scheduled to be installed this coming fall (see video).

With each passing week, month, year, we can expect to see new innovations in these areas that will not only help us achieve NREL’s prediction, but quite possibly surpass it with years to spare.

[Image credit: parl: Flickr Creative Commons]

Who are the real sustainability leaders in the business world? The various lists organizations have released in recent years, including here at TriplePundit, are always controversial, and sometimes our perceptions interfere with reality. Those of us old enough to remember the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, cringe at the thought of considering ExxonMobil as “sustainable” in any way, shape or form. Apple, widely lauded as a good corporate citizen when it was the underdog during the 1990s, has attracted much criticism in recent years for good reason--but still enjoys a reputable image.

Technology companies are often seen as leaders, and TriplePundit has repeatedly showcased companies such as SAP, IBM, Dell, Intel and Cisco for their solid work on social and environmental issues. But who are the unsung heroes of the corporate sustainability movement? Last fall’s BrandLogic survey, and an analysis by The Conference Board, discuss some of the “challengers” who are emerging as true corporate sustainability leaders. Some of the companies may surprise you; others will be controversial. 

Using data from CRD Analytics and The Institute for Supply Management, BrandLogic’s study divided almost 100 companies into four groups: leaders, laggards, promoters and challengers. The study defined challengers as firms with good sustainability performance but low perception ratings. Among the up-and-coming “challengers” who perform well, but are just not communicating their work at the rate matching their achievements, include:

UBS: Its is difficult for any bank to gain the trust of the public these days, but UBS has a long record of social and environmental responsibility. Energy efficiency, responsible supply chain and a spirit of inclusiveness within the company are among UBS’s successes--and some of these programs date back to the 1970s. Citi, HSBC and Bank of America are additional financial institutions that rank in BrandLogic’s “challenger” category.

AstraZenica: Pharmaceutical companies are emerging as sustainability leaders, including AstraZenica. Like many of its competitors, the company has worked on expanding access to health care to those who need it the most; sensitivity towards research ethics; and supplier diversity are amongst the tools in AstraZenica’s CSR kit. Roche, Merck and Bayer also round out the pharmaceutical “challengers.”

Allianz: The Germany-based insurance giant has been on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index since 2000. A reputation for transparent carbon disclosure, investment in electric fleets and a hefty investment in training its employees boost Allianz’s reputation in the BrandLogic Survey--just not enough to qualify it as a “leader.”

Surprises? Companies we have covered at TriplePundit, and of which I personally think very highly, are amongst the challengers. HP, UPS, Nike and British Telecom are in this group.

And what may cause some consternation, a bevy of energy companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and Shell--generally because of performance compliance, governance or social issues.

The gut reaction from corporate headquarters may be to push out those sustainability communications even more. But before these companies decide to bombard TriplePundit and other publications with more press releases about how they are doing good, they may want to consider who their audience really should be.

As a follow-on report by The Conference Board points out, there are certain groups where corporate social responsibility is key when it comes to making important decisions--especially on social issues, where stakeholders are becoming both much more aware and vocal. Investment professionals are basing decisions even more on all facets of a company’s performance, not just the financial. Purchasing managers are starting to favor suppliers who strive to become more sustainable. And recent university graduates, who are focused on melding business ambition with social good more than ever before, want to work within a company they believe shares their values. The confluence of more conscious investment, sustainable supply chain management and the need to attract talent indeed shows that corporate social responsibility means smart business.

Leon Kaye, based in Fresno, California, is a sustainability consultant and the editor of GreenGoPost.com. He also contributes to Guardian Sustainable Business; his work has also appeared on Sustainable Brands, Inhabitat and Earth911. You can follow Leon and ask him questions on Twitter or Instagram (greengopost). He will explore children’s health issues in India next month with the International Reporting Project.

[Image credit: Allianz]

Corporate giving programs are still a large component of many company’s social responsibility strategies. The roots go back to corporate philanthropy dating back to the era of the Rockefellers, Morgans and Carnegies. The practice of giving has its share of critics, including here on TriplePundit. And while writing checks does not substitute for actually “doing good” on social, environmental and corporate governance issues, watch the practice to continue. And it should: at least here in the United States, many institutions, from leading cultural centers to public libraries, have their roots in the Gilded Age of the late 19th century.

Now the structure of many companies (i.e., they are publicly owned) complicates the efforts of companies that wish to launch more robust corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. And more stakeholders demand that companies move beyond a foundation or doling out checks. So these companies are responding in kind, from Unilever boldly committed to doubling sales while slashing its economic impact to Ford tinkering with recyclable and even edible materials in its cars--but both companies still run giving programs. Corporate giving programs are here to stay, and are one tool in a company’s kit to engage their employees and improve the communities in which they conduct business. We cover a few leading examples below.

Microsoft: Microsoft may still be a behemoth, but is a dutiful one and an exemplar on the CSR front. Thirty years ago the once “tiny” company with 200 employees raised $17,000 for nonprofits. Now that yearly mark has topped $1 billion: the contributions of 35,000 employees have reached 31,000 non-profits since the program launched in 1983. Year after year, the company matches its employees’ contributions, and Microsoft raises additional funds from a bevy of activities from a 5K run to online auctions. The giving goes beyond cash; employees at Microsoft have access to an online volunteering matching tool that connects them to nonprofits who can benefit from their skills. Microsoft Citizenship is indeed no oxymoron--its emphasis on giving is part of its new $500 million YouthSpark initiative to solve unemployment problems while building technical skills around the world.

Toyota: Since 1974, Toyota and its eponymous charitable foundation has completed much good work on both sides of the Pacific. In 2010, the Toyota Foundation shifted its focus as a response to the increased threats across the globe, including environmental degradation and food security. From its headquarters in Nagoya, Toyota provided grants totaling almost $6 million (¥533 million) during FY2011; out of its U.S. headquarters in Torrance, CA, Toyota USA has donated over half a billion dollars to American nonprofits since 1991.

IBM: Corporate giving at IBM is an example of how a company can link community building to the company’s overall strategic initiatives. Each year, the Armonk, NY-based firm provides tens of millions of dollars for a variety of grant programs. The Smarter Cities Challenge will involve 100 cities divvying up $50 million in grants that will fund projects ranging from urban farming to leveraging technology for greater civic participation. A community grant program links IBM employees and retirees who wish to volunteer for nonprofit groups. Retirees in North America also can have IBM match their donations to organizations such as schools, environmental groups and even hospices. Of course, technology is a large component of IBM’s corporate giving, with millions given annually to support information technology projects within the nonprofit sector.

So philanthropy and corporate giving programs are not going away; this decades-old movement has merely morphed into a more democratic process that touches more people with a wide array of passions. Other companies have a long tradition of doing well: Target has been an engaged community stakeholder for a half century and Boeing is well regarded for its spirit of generosity. Add the countless small and medium enterprises whose donations of time and money go unheralded, and corporate giving will proliferate across the globe even more in the future--thankfully as there are a multitude of problems that must be solved that governments cannot handle.

Did we skip someone? Please share your examples of best-in-practice corporate giving programs with us.

** The author would like to thank Dr. Marcy Murninghan, Susan McPherson of Fenton and Dave Stangis of Campbell Soup Company for their input.

Leon Kaye, based in Fresno, California, is a sustainability consultant and the editor of GreenGoPost.com. He also contributes to Guardian Sustainable Business; his work has also appeared on Sustainable Brands, Inhabitat and Earth911. You can follow Leon and ask him questions on Twitter or Instagram (greengopost). He will explore children’s health issues in India next month with the International Reporting Project.

[Image credit: Microsoft's Technet Blog]

Business Insider recognized Ford Motor Company as one of the world’s top-ten “hottest brands.” Ford’s peers in this ranking include Google, Kindle and YouTube. Tellingly, no other car company made this list. This branding success has helped Ford to sell 2+ million Ford-branded vehicles in the U.S. for the second year in a row.

Ford's marketing research published for the first time

For the first time, Ford has published the market research upon which they are crafting this brand leadership success. Their view for winning brand leadership is based upon this analysis:

The social contract as we know it has been broken; mistrust of corporations, governments and media is rampant. Weary of misinformation, people are reappraising their relationships with companies and brands, making integrity a new
form of competitive advantage.

Ford: Go Further

Go Further is Ford’s branding response to this changed competitive landscape where consumer trust is won through integrity, not advertising hype. Ford’s Go Further program seeks to build customer loyalty by delivering cars and trucks that are fun to drive, price competitive, are leaders in fuel economy and also support achieving lower tailpipe emissions. Go Further is Ford’s path for delivering on consumers’ search for value and values in the products they buy.

Electrification

Electrification is a key technology for executing Ford’s Go Further strategy. Ford has designed their cars and trucks to be smart digital machines. Digital technology enables their gasoline fueled Eco-boost engine to offer the power of a larger gasoline engine from a smaller four- or six-cylinder engine. This downsized, but powerful, engine delivers performance, fuel economy and lower emissions at a competitive price.

But the real future of Go Further is the introduction of electrification into Ford’s drive train and braking systems. Ford has just launched a series of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and total electric cars based upon their electrification technology made in the USA. The price for these cars built around electrification are currently higher than Eco-boost cars so while they are achieving encouraging sales results, their sales levels are modest compared to all-gasoline fueled Ford cars and trucks sales.

Future electric car sales driven by higher gasoline prices, economies of scale and increasing consumer awareness

Ford Motor Company sees electrification of the automobile as its sales future based upon three major trends. Gasoline prices are the most obvious first trend. Today, the United States is producing more oil than ever before in its history including during the 1940s when Texas alone represented 75 percent of the world’s oil supply. But that doesn’t mean Americans will see the return of $1-2 per gallon gasoline prices because the economic reality in today’s global oil market it that oil demand, not supply, is driving the price at the pump. This trend is opening the cost-competitive door for electrification of cars and trucks as pump prices climb up into the $4 and $5 per gallon price range.

Manufacturing economies of scale is the second trend driving electrification. The per unit cost of electrification will decline over time as manufacturers like Ford figure out how to produce more electric cars for a lower per unit cost. The auto industry is investing in massive research to find new materials that will drive down the cost of batteries. Success measured by electrification technologies gaining price competitiveness will stimulate an electric car sale explosion having the potential for freeing customers from pain at the pump.

The third important trend is the increasing awareness among consumers that there are costs associated with burning fossil fuels beyond the price at the pump. Market research is pointing to a sea-changing growth in awareness among consumers regarding climate change. Over 65 percent of consumers over the age of 18 and younger than the age of 65 view climate change as a very or somewhat serious problem. Seventy percent of the Latino community, that is America’s fastest growing demographic, holds this opinion. This current consumer opinion aligns with the car company’s focus upon introducing electrification technologies and working to drive their costs toward competitiveness against polluting fossil fuel technologies.

John Viera, Ford Global Sustainability Director

This 3-minute video interview of John Viera, Ford’s Global Sustainability Director, outlines Ford’s Go Further “brand promise.” His remarks are insightful for every business seeking to win customers who are actively searching for “in me, on me and around me” solutions. He talks about Ford’s focus on offering superior product designs, best-in-class safety, introduction of smart technologies and being green.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMRAJJcrqok

This is the second article of a four-part case study on how Ford is going green. Their best practices can be used by every business to grow revenues and win customers. The first article in this article series profiled Chairman Of The Board Bill Ford and CEO Alan Mulally on Ford’s CSR vision and how it is driving sales. The next article will be an interview with Ford’s Global Electric Fleet Director on their electrification technologies and the last article will be a test drive review of the Ford plug-in electric C-MAX Energi profiling how digital technologies will make our driving experience more fun, cost less and mean more.

Bill Roth is an economist and the Founder of Earth 2017 He coaches business owners and leaders on proven best practices in pricing, marketing and operations that make money and create a positive difference. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles business case studies of pioneering best practices that are proven to win customers and grow product revenues. Follow him on Twitter: @earth2017.

If the name Ellen MacArthur rings a bell, you're probably thinking of the person who set a record for circumnavigating the world in a high tech sailboat, solo no less, but that's not the only circle for which she is known. Ms. MacArthur, through the charitable organization that bears her name, has formulated an economic concept called the circular economy, which is quickly becoming a buzzword around sustainability circles.

As far as buzzwords go, "circular economy" is a fairly pedestrian combination (as opposed to, say, Sex Pistols) and perhaps that's just as well. Rather than getting distracted by the words, it's far more interesting to pick through the concept itself and see how MacArthur's vision of economic growth meets the challenges of a world of shrinking resources.

The Circular Economy

As described by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, it comes out like this:

"The circular economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative and in which materials flows are of two types, biological nutrients, designed to reenter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere."

Why the Circular Economy is more than mere recycling

"One of the biggest confusions around a circular economy framework is that sparked by the word ‘recycling’...'The vast majority of wastes are created during the manufacturing process, and that is where we should focus.'”

Recycling puts the onus on consumers to use goods more carefully and to dispose of the leftovers responsibly. The circular economy asks that manufacturers produce goods that involve less waste in the first place, and that enable consumers to integrate recycling into their daily habits more intensively.

Case studies for the Circular Economy

The waste oil sector in England, for example, was historically focused on animal feed until new legislation targeted biofuels. The Yorkshire waste oil processor Brockelsby Ltd. adapted not only by pivoting to the biofuel market, but also by double-purposing its operations as a research and development platform to find new values for low-grade waste products, which normally would be discarded.

Another Foundation case study is Massachusetts-based Digital Lumens, which aims to help industrial customers transition out of the "criminally inefficient" incandescent light bulb into high-efficiency LEDs integrated with an energy management system. The company is transitioning, too, from an equipment sales model to a service-based model that could enable it to reclaim spent or damaged components more efficiently.

One final example is New York's Ecovative, which produces fully compostable bio-based packaging products that stand in for petroleum-based plastics. Ecovative's unique approach is to literally custom-grow its packages using fungi, which has caught the eye of green-transitioning companies like 3M and Dell among others.

Where the rubber hits the circular road

To buttress the case for the circular economy, the Foundation has begun to issue detailed reports on the economic benefits of transitioning out of "an increasingly resource constrained 'take-make-dispose' model," both in the short term and over the long run.

The first report, in 2011, took a look at the stimulating effect on European Union manufacturing sector from economic activity related to product development, remanufacturing and refurbishment.

The second report just came out in 2013, and it focuses on applying the principles of the circular economy to "fast-moving" consumer goods, namely food, beverages, textiles and packaging, which also happen to account for a good deal of municipal waste while absorbing - and wasting - a significant amount of agricultural output.

[Image: Circle inversion by fdecomite

By Yogesh Mankani

When green energy options are underfunded, they don't get equal time in the marketplace. Consumers might not even know that green energy alternatives are available. Because of this, consumer will choose only what they know - traditional energy sources like coal, oil, and natural gas.

However, electric choice is changing all of that. Electric choice is a program available in 17 states and the District of Columbia. Now consumers have a choice as to what kind of energy powers their home. Not only will this competition help lower energy prices for the end user, but it lets consumers vote their conscience and support what they think is the best energy source.

What is Energy Choice?

However, green options, like solar, wind, and hydro-electric have made their way onto the scene. These energy sources represent only a fraction of the total energy produced in the marketplace, but they're being given the opportunity to compete with the "big boys."

Benefits of choice

It's sort of like choosing the right grocery store when you go shopping. Some grocery stores will have what you need. Others won't. Either way, you get to decide which stores get your business. In the energy industry, it's traditionally not that easy. For one thing, there are existing infrastructures that are owned by power companies with close ties to the fossil fuel industry.

You can overcome this through new deregulation in the energy industry since power companies now have to offer you a choice of energy suppliers. Yes, your power company will still deliver the energy, but you can choose to source your power from whomever you think will provide you with the best energy.

The three main sources of green energy include wind, solar, and hydro-electric.

Wind Energy - Windmills draw their power from the sky. Wind turns windmill blades which, in turn, pass through to a generator. The mechanical energy of the windmill blades is transformed into electrical energy. It's not a new concept though. Wind energy is something humans have used in some form since at least 5,000 B.C. - when it was used to power boats on the Nile River. Today, windmills are used to power homes. While wind turbines tend to perform best where there is constant wind, modern windmills are self-adjusting and will always attempt to face the wind to generate energy. With wind power, you can expect monthly savings between $50 and several hundred dollars depending on where you live.

Solar Energy - Harness the power of the sun. NASA has been making use of solar energy for years (on satellites in space). Massive solar panels trap light and heat from the sun and convert it to electrical energy. Again, this kind of thing isn't new. It's thousands of years of years old. Today, however, highly efficient systems are capable of powering entire homes, office buildings, and experiments have been used to test the technology on vehicles. With this as your energy source, depending on where you live, you could save anywhere from $50 to well over $100 per month by switching to solar.

Hydro-Electric - Release the power of a river, and you'll have almost unlimited power at your fingertips. Hydro-electric has been used for many years to generate electricity for homes and offices. This form of energy has been in use, in one way or another, for at least 2,000 years. It was the Greeks that first used it to grind wheat. Today, we use it to power electrical gadgets. If you live in the western part of the U.S., you could see excellent savings on your electricity bill since this is where much of the hydro-power is generated.

Choices, choices

Yogesh Mankani is an environmental and energy supply researcher. He enjoys sharing his findings and insights on various environmental blogs. Visit  www.Saveonenergy.com to learn more.