Green For Life

New partnership offers carbon reporting solution

Windmill Blades – To Make or Buy?

So you’ve decided to build your own windmill. Possibly you took the right steps and purchased one of the top guides that teach the subject. Or maybe you’re more daring and trying to do it without professionally written instruction. In either case one area where many people get stuck is when it comes time to create their windmill blades.

Really when you get to this step you have two separate options:

   1. Build them yourself – Obviously this is the least expensive route
   2. Buy premade Windmill Blades – Costs more but is a lot less work

From that I wanted to take some time to talk about the advantages/disadvantages of going either way. In reality if you put a value to your time, by the time you finish building the wind turbine blades yourself, the cost is close to equal. On the other hand, if you’re cheap like me, it might be that you’d rather do it yourself and save the money. In either case there are advantages to going either way.

Buying Your Windmill Blades

First let’s cover the advantages of buying your blades. In this case they are really quite obvious.

   1. The blades are professionally made
   2. More varieties of materials you can buy your blades in
   3. Less concern about getting the correct shape to catch the wind.

Of course there are also disadvantages to buying windmill blades instead of making them yourself. First, it becomes more difficult to tailor your blades to the generator you selected/created for your DIY windmill. And then, of course, there is the cost involved.
Machined blades can run you as much as $1,000 or more. To offset that cost, you may want to check eBay. Often you can find premade blades there, in diameters of 4’ to 6’, for around $100.

Making Your Own Windmill Blades

While there are advantages to buying your windmill blades, there are also some big advantages to building them yourself.

   1. The blades are created with your actual windmill design in mind.
   2. You save your money, and your home power system will cost less.
   3. You get to choose the style of turbine blade to fit your area. Especially in low wind speed areas, this is important.
   4. You get the satisfaction of telling everyone – you did it!

If you do choose to build your own windmill blades, I suggest you take the time to learn about the top three wind power conversion guides. With our top pick specifically, they recently added a video that teaches that exact topic.
In any case, be sure to take the time to design your blades to fit your application. Taking the time to do so will ensure your wind mill operates trouble-free for years to come!

Green leadership in corporate Canada remains up for grabs

Canadians do not walk the talk when it comes to their commitments to greener living according to findings from the second annual Canadian Green Gap Index released this week by Optimum Public Relations and Summerhill. Facilitated by Leger Marketing, the insight report revealed a continued trend showing Canadians believe they are much 'greener' than the actions they're taking to live a green lifestyle.

The Green Gap Index measures environmental behaviours in six key areas: fuel conservation, home energy conservation, purchase preference for green products, recycling, waste reduction, and food and household goods. The largest gap is still in the area of fuel consumption (over 40%) due to low adoption of alternatives such as public transport, hybrid vehicles and carbon offsets.

"Canadians have the power to transform markets, but they often look to corporations to help them adopt new behaviours or try new products," says Ersilia Serafini, CEO of Summerhill. "Our experience in environmental program delivery shows that the companies who are able to encourage Canadians to take action, experience the long term benefits of customer loyalty and trust, as well as bottom line results."

Another trend that has emerged in 2010 is that Canadians tend to overstate some of their own environmental actions. A demonstration of the newly labeled green pretense, shows 72% of Canadians say they use reusable drinking containers instead of disposable drinking cups, when in fact, the line ups at any coffee shop in Canada would suggest the percentage is much lower.

One reason for this incongruity between Canadians' green assertions and actions could be the perceived lack of leadership from corporate Canada in the area of green living and sustainability Corporate

Canada has a Gap to fill too

While much of corporate Canada has integrated sustainability into overall business through dedicated environmental policies, practices and marketing initiatives, surprisingly, green leadership is not entrenched in the hearts and minds of Canadians. This year's Green Gap Index asked Canadians to identify corporate green leaders in eight different sectors and identify reasons they believed these brands were green. More than three quarters of respondents were unable to identify a green leader or believed one existed.

"Canadians genuinely care about living greener, but they aren't being supported to do more than take small steps," says Nick Cowling, Vice President of Optimum Public Relations. "Many of corporate Canada's environmental platforms do not resonate with them because companies focus more on building corporate reputation versus helping consumers understand how their products and services can help them achieve their green living goals."

The insights generated from the Green Gap Index help Optimum and Summerhill identify communication and engagement strategies that build a bridge between consumers who desire to do more for the planet in their everyday lives but struggle to achieve it and companies who can lead them down a greener path.

The 2010 Canadian Green Gap Index is the second annual index and is a joint initiative between Summerhill and Optimum Public Relations. The two companies have consulted together to build award-winning environmental engagement and communication strategies for Fortune 500 companies, leading NGOs, and public sector organizations.

Green Business News: Thursday, 03 June 2010

Green house takes on a whole new meaning in eco-friendly projects

IEHN — Overview

Toxic Hazards in the Marketplace

Widespread publicity around recalls of lead-painted toys, toxic chemical-contaminated toothpaste and pet food, and vinyl bibs and lunchboxes containing elevated levels of lead underscores the risk to both manufacturers and retailers of “toxic lockout” — having their products banned from the marketplace because of the toxic chemicals they contain. Such lockouts are frequently accompanied by reputational damage and litigation.

Toxic lockout can be the result of tightening government regulations and environmentally preferable purchasing programs established both by government and by the private sector. The European Union has been responsible for much of the tightened regulation of cosmetics, electronics and individual chemicals such as flame retardants containing bromine. In the absence of strong environmental and product safety regulation by the U.S. government, California and other states are increasingly following Europe’s lead, shutting their markets to targeted products and chemicals.

Proliferating private sector environmentally preferable purchasing programs are also shifting market places to safer products. For example, in the health care sector, Kaiser Permanente has awarded contracts to companies based on their ability to provide products like carpets, medical devices, and building materials free of certain chemicals. Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, is working on developing a toxics scorecard for its buyers and suppliers, to encourage substitution of safer chemicals in products.

Companies Must Adapt…or Pay the Price

It is incumbent upon companies to know the chemicals in their products, lest they be caught by surprise. Sony learned this the hard way in 2001, when cadmium found in connecting cables of PlayStations in the Netherlands led to their sale being banned during the year-end holiday shopping season. The cost to Sony of lost sales and establishing a chemicals policy to avoid a repeat has been estimated to be between $100 and $200 million. Following the recall of lead-contaminated toys including Thomas the Tank Engine, toy manufacture RC2 announced large quarterly losses, estimated recall costs of $13-14 million, and its stock dropped by about one-third. The stock of the Canadian owner of the pet food company responsible for marketing contaminated pet foods hit a record low after the company said it lost a “significant” customer.

To build public trust, reduce overhead costs, stay ahead of regulation, and for other solid business reasons, increasing numbers of companies are adopting safer chemicals policies. They are working to identify chemicals in their supply chains, establishing reduction and phaseout goals, and reporting results to the public. They are building their capacities to address these issues, developing policies and practices to encourage safer chemicals practices by their suppliers, and working collaboratively with both industry coalitions and nongovernmental organizations to collaboratively address chemical safety issues.

via IEHN — Overview: Toxic Hazards in the Marketplace.

The Environment Report

HOSPITALS GO FOR A GREENER CLEAN

Even in hospitals, the same clean can be achieved without the harsh and dangerous chemicals (Photo courtesy of the National Institutes of Health)

You might have noticed some new choices for environmentally-friendly cleaners on supermarket shelves. Most people pass them over. They worry natural cleaners won’t do the job as well as the regular stuff. But, the places that need to be the cleanest, the most sterilized, are finding that green cleaners are more effective. Julie Grant reports that hospitals have started replacing the old chemical cleaners with natural products.

Visit: The Environment Report: HOSPITALS GO FOR A GREENER CLEAN for audio clip by producer Julie Grant.

Toronto Greenhouse – January 2010

Title: Toronto Greenhouse
Location: The National Club, 303 Bay St. Toronto, Ontario M5H 2R1
Link out: Click here
Description: Green Building, Design & Real Estate Edition

Toronto Greenhouse is a business forum for the “Green” sector. Environmentally focused companies and friends of the environment gather to mingle and make new connections.
Start Time: 06:30 pm
Date: 2010-01-26
End Time: 10:00 pm

Canadian Upcycling Program

… finds new life for packaging waste

One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. That’s the idea behind a new upcycling initiative rolling out across Canada.

TerraCycle, Inc. has launched the first-ever Canadian Upcycling Program.

Upcycling turns used, valueless materials into new products with aesthetic value.

The New Jersey company has churned out a range of upcycled items, such as pencils made of newspapers and kites woven from cookie wrappers.

Its Upcycling Program, which has been running successfully in the United States and the United Kingdom since the early ‘90s, pays organizations for collecting specific trash that can be turned into new products.

With Kraft Canada Inc. as a partner, the company is now opening up the program to Canadian schools, community groups, charities and other non-profits.

Organizations receive two cents for every piece of specific Kraft packaging that they collect and return to TerraCycle.

Kool-Aid Jammers and Del Monte drink pouches will be sewn into tote bags, handbags and other items.

TerraCycle will also transform Mr. Christie cookie and cracker wrappings into umbrellas, shower curtains, placemats and other items. The technology uses heat and pressure to fuse the wrappers into a waterproof fabric.

But it’s not the technology that’s new, rather the idea, according to George W. Chevalier III, TerraCycle’s senior publicist.

Chevalier said that, while regular recycling is based on material, upcycling focuses on how the garbage’s shape and form can be used in its new life.

A theme often runs throughout the upcycling process.

“For the snacks, obviously the original products are for children, so it follows that the upcycled products should be for children as well,” he said.

TerraCycle has also played around with an office theme, turning electronic waste into wastepaper baskets.

So far, the program has produced at least 102 products from a collected 1,241,920,204 units of waste.

Chevalier said that there’s an educational component to the program as well because it gets children thinking about waste diversion and recycling.

“They can say, ‘ok, I’m carrying this lunchbox to school that was made out of my garbage,’ which makes it much more tangible to them,” he said.

Bags made from drink containers could be available in Canadian stores by mid-2010, although Chevalier said that production timelines depend on how much waste it has to work with.

TerraCycle’s upcycled products may be charting new territory, but not many other companies are likely to follow that lead, according to Don Dewees, a University of Toronto professor of economics and law, who specializes in recycling.

“The idea of finding higher value uses for things is great,” Dewees said, but he added that “there will be few cases where a large volume consumer good can be upcycled by a large fraction of buyers into something more valuable to them.”

For Kraft Canada Inc. at least, the program does make sense.

Jonathan Ingram, the company’s director of environmental sustainability, said that dealing with its packaging at end-of-life has been “one of our biggest challenges.”

Kraft items under the Upcycling Program contain multiple layers to protect the shelf life and food safety of products.

“But because they’re multi-layered, they’re not recyclable in the current municipal streams,” Ingram said.

He said that until advances in technology can provide other solutions, “this program helps bridge us to that point.”

Organizations can sign on to the program at TerraCycle’s website.

- Erika Beauchesne, Web reporter
*******************************

Environmental Delinquency Likened to Ignoring Smoking ‘Etiquette’

Bosch survey finds 7 in 10 Canadians see disregard to the environment as ‘uncool’; senior scholar says eco-offenders will soon be considered outcasts.

TORONTO, Oct. 6 /CNW/ – In the near future, Canadians driving gas-guzzling vehicles, purchasing products with excess packaging, or giving dinner guests a tour of the house with inefficient old appliances will be seen as social outcasts. Already today, fellow citizens are watching. According to a new national consumer poll entitled, The Bosch Eco-lution Report, a full 7 in 10 Canadians say it’s a social faux pas to do things that are environmentally irresponsible.

“We’re seeing changing sensibilities around the environment and sustainability, just as our society experienced a major culture-shift on smoking not too long ago,” says Dr. David Bell, senior scholar, Professor Emeritus and former Dean of the Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University. “Today, it’s simply unacceptable to smoke in someone’s house – a norm of yesteryear. Our eco-culture is growing leaps and bounds in the same way today, and soon people who blatantly disregard the environment will be treated as outcasts.”

According to the survey, 85 per cent of Canadians considered themselves to be committed to greener living, and almost one in three Canadians (29 per cent) identified themselves as either “green crusaders” or “green ambassadors” proudly leading by example. Nearly all Canadians (95 per cent) reported doing something to live a more eco-friendly life such as: 1) using re-usable shopping/grocery bags (78 per cent); 2) switching light bulbs at home to energy-efficient ones (68 per cent); 3) purchasing earth-friendly household products (53 per cent); and 4) purchasing energy-efficient kitchen or laundry appliances (50 per cent). What’s more, a full 43 per cent of Canadians said they purposefully favour brands that are environmentally responsible.

“Canadians are starting to close the gap between their eco-beliefs and their actions – and while we have a ways to go, I see this country at the cusp of great social change,” predicts Bell.

Change happens when there are a combination of drivers, explains Bell, including government legislation, public policy incentives and disincentives, demonstrated leadership from the corporate world, government, schools, etc. and increased education and awareness. Because all of these things are currently aligning, Bell expects fundamental shifts in our eco-culture to take place not within 20 years, but as quickly as five years.

“Companies like Bosch, who have been leading by example in the area of sustainability and producer responsibility for decades now have a serious competitive advantage because many corporate companies are only now starting to catch up to the consumer mindset,” says Bell.

Interestingly, half of all survey respondents (51 per cent) said they believe the average Canadian is greener than most corporate companies, while an overwhelming majority (92 per cent) of Canadians said companies must invest more into developing smarter, greener technology.

It used to be that high-performing water and energy efficient kitchen and laundry appliances were a luxury, a nice-to-have. But today, as evidenced from the consumer poll, they have become a should-have. In the future, according to Bell, the expectation will be that it’s a must-have. Only the most efficient, technologically savvy appliances will remain on the market.

“Whereas in nature, the output of one natural process becomes the input of another, as a society, many businesses have operated in the opposite way with a take, make and waste model,” adds Bell. “That will have to change almost immediately, because in the very near future, the assumption will be: if you want to have a successful business, you must operate it a sustainable basis.”

Consequently, Bell says that 25 years from now, it is likely that only companies with a sustainable operation will be successful.

“At Bosch, we feel there is a great opportunity for us to partner with our local communities in order to empower this movement of change,” says Steve Preiner, Director of Marketing for Bosch and BSH Home Appliances Ltd. “To do this, we are searching for individuals and groups across Canada who share our commitment of pursuing innovation that embraces the planet we live on. We want to find these change agents, recognize them, and help further the sustainability cause so we can reach this country’s green goals even faster.”

“What’s Your Eco-lution?” is Bosch’s latest initiative to inspire Canadians and recognize those who are setting great examples of environmental care in communities across Canada. Bosch is inviting consumers to visit bosch-appliances.ca and submit examples of local Eco-Leaders. An Eco-Leader could be any individual or group who exemplifies Bosch’s commitment to environmental responsibility within their community – through their own commitment to sustainable living, education or business practices. In addition, consumers can follow Dr. David Bell’s Voice of Reason blog and watch a series of short videos – Bosch’s Lessons in Eco-Leadership – which speak to the simple environmental responsibilities shared by homeowners across Canada. Further information on the campaign can be found at bosch-appliances.ca.

The Bosch Eco-lution Report survey was conducted by Leger Marketing and analyzed by Dr. David Bell and Bosch Home Appliances between April 14th and August 31st, 2009. A total of 1510 interviews were completed with Canadian adults, 18 years of age and over. The survey has a margin of error of +/- 2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.