The Electric 2010 Ford Transit Connect

Azure Dynamics Corporation announced AT&T has agreed to purchase two of the first Ford Transit Connect Electric vans, the latest addition to AT&T’s growing fleet of alternative-fuel vehicles.

The Ford Transit Connect Electric — the all-electric version of the 2010 Ford Transit Connect, the North American Truck of the Year — will be powered by Azure Dynamics’ patented Force Drive(TM) electric drivetrain with an advanced lithium-ion battery from Johnson Controls-Saft. The vehicle, which goes on sale later this year, has a range of up to 80 miles on a single charge and will be rechargeable using either 240-volt or standard 120-volt outlets. It has a top speed of 75 miles per hour.

“Cleaner, alternative-fuel vehicles are the future of our corporate fleet, and the Transit Connect Electric represents a real breakthrough and will be a strong addition to our range of alternative-fuel vehicles,” said Jerome Webber, vice president of fleet operations at AT&T. “It’s exactly the kind of vehicle we envisioned when we mapped our long-term vision to invest up to $565 million to deploy more than 15,000 alternative-fuel vehicles through 2018.” AT&T currently operates more than 77,000 vehicles in its corporate fleet, including 15 gasoline-powered Ford Transit Connect vehicles AT&T began piloting in 2009. [Read more →]

Naya Achieves Important Industry Benchmark Through Innovation and Ongoing Dedication to Reducing Its Impact on the Environment

Canada-based Naya Spring Water announced today it is the first bottled spring water company in the world to use 100 percent recycled plastic in its bottles. Recycled plastic, or rPET, is made from plastic that was previously used as packaging, then recycled and processed to create new bottles.

Less Waste

After seven years of R&D, Naya’s 100 percent rPET (recycled polyethylene terephthalate) bottles are engineered to utilize plastic waste, which otherwise could end up in landfills. The rPET plastic used in Naya’s new bottle is FDA approved and meets the same rigorous safety standards as virgin plastic bottles. Naya’s pure spring water will be available in the new bottles in the New York City area beginning this month and the rest of North America in early 2010.
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An Introduction to Sustainable Business Innovation

Sustainable Life Media announces the first Sustainable Brands Boot Camp, a 13 part online course in sustainable innovation. The course is designed to teach companies to build business value and brand equity by innovating for sustainability, and give students additional resume qualifications and the tools to enact change from within their company.

Developed by the producers of the Sustainable Brands Conference, Boot Camp participants learn from some of the world’s top sustainable business thought leaders, each a leading sustainable business expert in his/her specialty. These long-time sustainability practitioners have consulted with top global brands, including Coke, Pepsi, Walmart, UPS, HP and Kraft, among many others.

Designed for executives and managers seeking to understand how to identify and respond to today’s market demands around improving the environmental and social impact of business, the course follows Sustainable Life Media’s 4-step prescription for building the better brands of the future: “Observe, Re-Design, Measure and Communicate.” [Read more →]

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-Atlantic region welcomed two new members into its Sustainability Partnership Program in two signing ceremonies held today.

A Toyota facility keeps a landscape beautiful as a zero landfill contributor - Flickr shchukin

EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin joined Secretary Randy Huffman of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection in recognizing Toyota Motor Manufacturing West Virginia, Inc. at its Buffalo, W. Va., facility, and Dow West Virginia at its South Charleston facilities.
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Editor’s Green Notepad: Go green at work in your home business office by following a few pointers: use earth-friendly cleaning supplies, buying used furniture, go paperless, buy green office supplies, turn off the lights and electronics when out of the office, get a plant and grow it inside your home office and support vendors that also practice green principles in their business.

Recycle and reuse old office furniture - Flickr ChicagoGeek

Starting a business from home can be extremely advantageous. In addition to controlling expenses, the allowed IRS deductions can go a long way to reducing your tax liabilities. The eligibility rules are pretty clear and easy to follow, but it is important to understand the limitations on writing off the business use of your home. And, in order to receive the maximum benefit of the tax laws, it is critical to establish a system for managing the paperwork to keep track of deductible expenses.
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RONA Inc., the largest Canadian distributor and retailer of hardware, renovation and gardening products, was rewarded for its wood products procurement policy at the Boreal Awards ceremony held by the Canadian Boreal Initiative in Ottawa yesterday. RONA was one of six winners selected by a committee of the Boreal Leadership Council, which is made up of leading conservation groups, Aboriginal organizations, and businesses committed to taking action to preserve the boreal forest.
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San Francisco Climate Change Center

The agreement in principal was signed at Cisco’s Globalisation Centre East, an environmentally sustainable campus in Bangalore that serves as a showcase for urban development solutions. The Cisco Smart+Connected Communities initiative is designed to provide cities and communities with smart and connected solutions for utilities, safety and security, connected real estate, transportation, health care, learning, sports venues, and government services.
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• Enhanced role of corporate social responsibility in business strategy
• Achieved 10% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions between fiscal 2004 and 2009 and aims to reduce emissions by additional 10% by 2015

Discover a new sense of speed with the BOMBARDIER ZEFIRO

Today Bombardier Inc. released its second company-wide corporate social responsibility report entitled Moving Forward Responsibly. The report captures the company’s commitment to act responsibly as a public company, employer, neighbor and partner. It also details how corporate social responsibility is one of the top priorities of Our Way Forward, Bombardier’s corporate strategy.

“A sharper focus on corporate social responsibility augurs well for all of our stakeholders. It underscores our commitment to leverage our industry-leading innovation, talents, products and resources to increase our positive contribution to the communities where we are present around the world,” said Pierre Beaudoin, President and Chief Executive Officer, Bombardier Inc.
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CH2M HILL, a global full-service consulting, design, construction, and operations firm, announces the release of its 2009 Sustainability Report detailing the company’s activities for the 2007-2008 reporting period.

The report focuses on the complex and interrelated global issues of water, energy, climate change, and land use/development, and details how CH2M HILL is addressing these challenges internally and in support of its clients.

“Our goal is to both manage the impacts of our operations and apply our creativity and technical skills to help our clients become more sustainable,” says Lee McIntire, CEO. “With the interconnectivity of water, energy and climate change becoming more apparent, CH2M HILL feels it has the responsibility to improve the health of the planet. It is an exciting time to be creating new sustainable solutions in this world of threat and opportunity.”
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Gil Friend

The Truth About series, is a comprehensive guidebook for executives and professionals wanting to set pro-active priorities for all aspects of their business, including operations, marketing, design, finance, and management, with triple bottom line focus.
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By John Gartner – Matter Network

2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid

The company’s Sustainability Report, released Monday, show gains made in fleet-wide fuel economy (up from 25.3 in 2007 to 26.0 in 2008) as well as a reduction in CO2 emissions per mile, which fell by 3.4 percent. Those gains were in part due to the introduction of two new hybrid sedans, the Ford Fusion Hybrid and Mercury Milan, which each get 41 mpg in the city. Ford is also accelerating plans for plug-in hybrid and all-electric vehicles, with the first models being rolled out starting next year.
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Markets do work, but they work according to how they’re designed.
By Paul Gilding, from green@work magazine ‘05

Paul Gilding

I still buy the argument. However, if we’re honest we’d have to concede performance to date has actually been abysmal.

Sure, there are some impressive examples of individual companies doing things unimaginable a few decades ago. However, the reality from the point of view of the planet and its people is that the income gap is widening, climate change is upon us and getting worse, China and India are gobbling up the world’s coal (and will soon be emitting the consequences). Then when forecasts in global economic growth are combined with the forecast consequences of what is, in reality, largely business as usual, the situation starts to look very ugly, very quickly.
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Creating a sustaining architecture for the 21st century, using the enduring laws of nature.
by William McDonough and Michael Braungart, from green@work magazine ‘03

William McDonough and Michael Braungart

The Hannover Principles were conceived to lay the foundation for this hopeful, new paradigm. We knew at the time that our efforts were just a first step. Though we were striving to identify universal principles based on the enduring laws of nature, we also understood that our knowledge of the world was incomplete. So, too, was our ability to predict all the many ways in which the creativity of the world’s designers, architects, business leaders and NGOs would push design for sustainability beyond the limits we could imagine in 1992. Thus, we saw the Principles as a living document—a set of enduring ideals and an open system of thought that would evolve as it was put into practice.

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Company makes commitment to more sustainable packaging in the region

Wal-Mart Stores committed today to reduce phosphates in laundry and dish detergents in the Americas region by 70 percent by 2011. Wal-Mart also announced plans to accelerate its drive toward more sustainable packaging in the Americas region by reducing packaging by 5 percent by the end of 2013. [Read more →]

Designing a “green” building under the LEED guidelines presents a unique challenge to construction: the building needs to be more energy efficient than required by code. In essence, the code does not anticipate the obstacles of green building issues. With the help of Rolf Jensen & Associates’ (RJA) code expertise, the Genzyme Center synchronized sophisticated engineering and careful design to meet the five core features of the LEED standard’s framework for environmental design.
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Innovative project to generate $8 million annual savings, decrease dependency on fossil fuels

MILWAUKEE – Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tenn. has signed an $89 million energy savings performance contract with Johnson Controls, Inc. to apply advanced energy conservation solutions, including a biomass gasification system, to the campus.

This project is the first signed initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Transformational Energy Action Management (TEAM) Initiative, which is an action plan to dramatically transform the DOE’s energy, environmental and transportation management. TEAM aims to meet or exceed the aggressive energy efficiency goals set forth by the federal government laid out by President Bush, fundamentally transforming the way the DOE manages energy use in its facilities.

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Travelers of Massachusetts offers key discounts for those driving environmentally-friendly vehicles

An aerodynamic Aptera plugin - 50% of avg cars energy is used pushing air out of the way at a rate of 55mph

WORCESTER, Mass. — Massachusetts drivers are increasingly going green as the number of registered hybrid vehicles in the state has increased by 36 percent during the past nine months. The timing couldn’t be better for those drivers as the state’s new managed competition system for auto insurance allows them, for the first time in state history, to take advantage of auto insurance discounts created especially for hybrid drivers from insurers such as Travelers of Massachusetts.

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The Roof is Growing! Targets Middle School Students, Educators

WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) today announced the availability of The Roof is Growing!, an educational resource for middle-school students and teachers about green roofs and their environmental benefits. The resource includes a lesson plan, workbook, and online interactive program designed to engage students on how green roofs cool cities, clean the air, create habitats, and control stormwater.

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WASHINGTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Farm Bill passed yesterday by the U.S. House and today by the U.S. Senate will encourage biofuel producers to move more rapidly to commercialize advanced biofuels and help farmers transition to growing energy crops for a sustainable biofuel industry. Biotechnology Industry Organization President & CEO Jim Greenwood today thanked House and Senate leaders and issued the following statement:

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ATLANTA–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of financial institution executives say they plan to build new or undergo a major remodel of an existing branch in the next 12-24 months and the vast majority (88 percent) say green initiatives are important to their financial institutes, according to 2008 IBT Market Pulse Survey: A Different Shade of Green released today.

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