Category Archives: SustainableBusiness
Online since 1996, we provide global news and networking services to help green business grow. We cover all green business sectors including renewable energy, green building and green investing. Services include: Daily Green Business and Green Investor News; our leading green jobs service, Green Dream Jobs, a hands-on green investing newsletter, Progressive Investor; and networking services for green businesses that seek capital and partners.
Bloomberg Announces Insane NYC Climate Plan
Yesterday, NYC Mayor Bloomberg presented a creative, thoughtful plan to protect the city from the inevitable impacts of climate change, setting a precedent for other cities to follow. The $20 billion plan, “A Stronger, More Resilient New York,” includes a wide range of projects, from restoring dunes and wetlands to vegetating streets and rooftops to absorb water, [...]
New Jersey Solar: The Situation Gets Bigger
New Jersey is about to get a major expansion of solar – mostly sited on landfills and brownfields – because the state’s Board of Public Utilities approved the utility’s extension of its Solar 4 All initiative. Public Service Gas & Electric Co. (PSE&G) will spend $440 million over three years – about half of what it asked for - and [...]
Samsung Galaxy S4 Smartphone Certified Sustainable
Samsung is the first to achieve the new international smartphone certification, which rates the devices on environmental design and socially responsible manufacturing. Its flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone received certification from TCO Development, which launched the rating system last month. Its also the top-rated smartphone by Consumer Reports. Samsung is the largest manufacturer of smartphones worldwide. “The demand for environmentally friendly [...]
Cool: Kyocera’s Green Curtains
Kyocera’s Green Curtains are a big hit and now the company is planting them every spring at offices in Japan and various parts of the world. Foliage plants and vegetables are planted on trellises along walls, providing shade and reducing heat gain. Just having plants outside on walls lowers the indoor temperature inside about 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit during summer. They are not [...]
NASA’s Sustainability Base: Open for Business
NASA’s “Sustainability Base” is open for business, setting the bar for green federal buildings by exceeding LEED-Platinum and making use of the same closed loop processes used in space travel. Designed by pre-eminent green architect Bill McDonough, known for cradle-to-cradle solutions, the new building is designed to showcase NASA’s culture of innovation by adapting many of its technologies to [...]
The “Renewables Club” Formed by 10 Countries
If an international treaty to cut carbon emissions hasn’t worked how about using the opposite approach? Instead of focusing on ”eliminating the bad” perhaps a shift toward “increasing the good” can accomplish the same goals. 10 countries have formed an international ”Renewables Club” to scale renewable energy worldwide. Proposed by Peter Altmaier, Germany’s environment minister, founding members are: China, India, UK, Denmark, France, Germany, [...]
International Finance Corp (IFC) Sells Over $2B in Green Bonds
In February, the International Finance Corp (IFC) issued the biggest green bond to date (also called “climate bonds”) and since then several government agencies have done the same. IFC, part of the World Bank, issued a $1 billion, 3 year, AAA-rated “Green Bond” that’s tied to making climate investments. The interest rate is pinned to 3-year US Treasuries +15 basis points. The bond was quickly oversubscribed. [...]
Apple Hires Hires Former Head of EPA
Lisa Jackson, who recently left her post as the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has landed a fantastic job. She has taken a job with Apple and will report directly to CEO Tim Cook as Vice President for Environmental Initiatives. That puts her in charge of environmental policy at Apple. Working at Apple will surely be a relief from [...]
The California Carbon Challenge
Next10, which develops online tools that help people gain a deeper understanding of complex issues, has released the California Carbon Challenge. The idea is to simulate the tough choices policymakers face in how to address climate change. It allows people to choose strategies to cut the state’s carbon emissions through an interactive game and get feedback [...]
Solar Power: Cheaper than Wind?
Everyone knows wind is cheaper than solar, right? Wind energy was the first renewable to mature and the first to achieve parity with coal in many situations. But solar is growing up and catching up to wind on price and definitely on installations. Last year, in certain markets, it cost less to buy solar systems than wind per watt. [...]
Why are Auto Dealers Hating on Tesla?
Tesla has been thriving on much success lately – its stock price is up to $91 since exceeding analyst expectations in its first quarter of profit. It’s getting kudos all over the place for gaining traction on its electric car, including getting 99 out of 100 possible points from Consumer Reports for its Model S Sedan. But there’s one [...]
The Solar Panel Black Market
We were surprised to learn that there’s a growing black market for solar panels – people are stealing them from solar farms and re-selling them. That’s because they are easy to steal and hard to track. In fact, a German utility, Stadtwerke Senftenberg GmbH, now marks its panels and inverters with artificial DNA so they can [...]