Consumers

New Wind Turbine Design Good for Rural, Urban Environment

Wind power is one of the fastest growing forms of alternative energy in the world. More and more, wind power mills are seen in the countryside, in large wind farms and for the most part, away from city life. But a new form of wind power is now designed to work in an urban environment. VOA producer Zulima Palacio has the story. Mill Arcega narrates.

Home Wind Power: How You Can SAVE Money Using It

Home Wind Power: No More Energy Bills to Pay! Read on to Learn More

Over the past years, most people never considered wind power as a serious source of generating energy and electricity, that too, for domestic purposes. In fact, wind was perceived as just another natural phenomenon with very limited usage in life. People generally reveled when the weather was pleasant, and tried to protect themselves when storms or blizzards attacked an area.

However, the situation grew more serious over time, as the oil crisis hit the world. The prices of oil rose rapidly, and the need for an alternative, less expensive source of energy was felt acutely. Such an energy source would indeed be required pretty soon. Now, wind power fitted the bill perfectly. In addition, the supply of wind power was plentiful as well. Thus, many experts tried to combine automobile alternators to radiator cooling fans. This was expected to produce 12 volts of DC current, and was quickly stored away on automotive storage 12 volt batteries. However stretching whatever little power that was produced to 120 volts of AC current, proved to be an unpractical task for most people. And thus, these trials on wind energy harnessing came to an end. Read more…

The Ultimate Consumers Guide To Wind Power.

This Ebook Offers A Non-technical Easy To Understand Approach To Wind Power. You Get An In-depth Tour Covering Every Topic From Selecting The Best Location To Choosing The Right Wind Turbine. Includes Candid Reviews Of Turbines Currently Sold In The U.s.
The Ultimate Consumers Guide To Wind Power.

Green Business Certification. Why?

At GreenSmartNow.org, our mission is to foster environmental awareness among businesses and promote business practices that are both environmentally responsible and commercially beneficial. Our Green Certification Partner The Green Business Bureau  has designed a cutting-edge web-based and tool and program that provides businesses the road map they need to implement eco-friendly practices in the work place that will have a real impact on the environment and your business. 

Why Going Green Makes Business Sense  

1 Gain a Marketing Edge

By going “Green” you can differentiate yourself from your competitors and tailor your business to a growing base of green consumers. 

2 Gain New Customers

Eco-friendly is customer-friendly because your customers want to feel good about who they do business with. 

3 Bring Employees Together 

Creating a sustainable business will keep employees happy and excited about their workplace. People value working in a socially-conscious environment. 

4 Help Reduce Costs 

Protecting the environment means protecting your bottom line. You can reduce costs and grow revenue by following the simple green business solutions offered by the GBB. 

5 Protect the Environment 

With so many corporations irresponsibly wasting resources and dumping contaminants into our air and water supply, the planet needs a hero. It doesn’t matter if your business is Mighty Mouse or the Hulk. By doing your part to save the earth, you give society someone to look up to. 

Please click here or use the Green Biz Certification link above to learn more about this valuable step in greening your business

Another Green Business Idea

What is Hubze? Who is Hubze?

By MGJack: www.hubze.mgjack.com

Just imagine this. Would it not be great to have only ONE place you had to go online to be social? Right now many of us have to perform the overwhelming task of signing onto and posting to all our social networking sites. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, FriendFinder, Ning and all these other social networks…and the truth is…it is a lot of work. I mean should social networking not be fun and easy to do so we in fact do it. Add to that the fact that many of us use social networking as a business application promoting our business and building are brands.

How do we fix this? Enter Hubze. Hubze plans to simplify your life by giving you a platform where you only have to go to ONE place to enter any content. One place to blog, update, share, chat, email, market and search. One place to simplify your online life.

Hubze is not going to be just another social network. Hubze is not going to be just another online marketing system. Hubze is going to be the ONE STOP SHOP you need! And at Hubze simplifying your online life is only the beginning.

Hubze is all about what it’s founders call “Elegant Organization” This concept allows you to bring all of your social interactions into one place. Twitter, Facebook, Direct Matches, Linkedin, BetterNetworker, Myspace, etc. and post to all of them at the push of a button from one single platform. The Hubze MeCard is only the tip of the iceburg here and will be the first of many other services to come. Recently Hubze let out of the bag that they will provide a service that will allow anyone to customize the look and feel of there Facebook page similar to the customization folks enjoy in MySpace. The HubzeCard will always be a free service for all who sign up. For more information on Hubze and to get the HubzeCard service free go to: www.hubze.mgjack.com  for full details. You must be invited by another Hubze member like me so Click and join for FREE.

Companies Increasingly Turn to Environmental Actions to Cut Costs

Reposted from : gbb.org

While this recession has broken the mold in many ways, one surprising outcome is that corporate environmental activity has survived, even thrived during as companies increasingly turn to environmental actions to cut costs, comply with customer demands, and remain competitive, according to the annual “State of Green Business” report produced by GreenBiz.com

You may be inclined to think that the difficult economy of the past two years may have caused companies to put their green initiatives on hold. But, in a recent survey of CEO’s conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers, more than 60 percent of CEOs said their companies are moving forward with green initiatives and believe those efforts will improve their company’s reputation. Overall, the recession had little impact on the green momentum: 61 percent of companies with green initiatives saw no effect of the recession on their strategies and 17 percent raised such investment each year.

These companies recognize that consumers’ concern for the environment has morphed into behaviors that are at least somewhat recession-resistant. When public relations firm Edelman surveyed 6,000 global consumers, they found that 87 percent believed it was their “duty” to contribute to a better environment and that even in a recession, 55 percent would pay more for a brand if it supported a cause in which they believed. Plus, as is the case with most corporate priorities, going for green makes sense in financial terms. Read more…

Recycle by Mail

By: gbb.org

There are now more recycling options than ever for conscious consumers looking to responsibly dispose of unwanted stuff. Many of us have access to curbside recycling for the basics and several retailers offer convenient take-back programs.     

Still, it can be hard to figure out what to do with often overlooked things like plastic hotel key cards, wine corks, and CDs. Luckily, a simple trip to the post office can accomplish a lot.   

Plastics and Packaging

• Earthworks recycles PVC plastic cards (hotel keys, gift cards, etc.) and turns them into sheets that new cards can be made of. Drop cards in the mail if your retailer doesn’t already take them back. Address is: Earthworks, c/o Halprin Industries, 25840 Miles Road, Bedford, OH 44146. Magnetic strips are okay. Don’t send credit cards or those that contain paper backing.

• Recycline’s Preserve Gimme 5 program collects clean plastic containers that have a #5 stamped on the bottom (yogurt cups, ketchup bottles, sour cream containers, and more). Recycled plastic is transformed into razors, bowls, and many other cool products (that you can also send back when you’re done with them). To maximize eco-benefits, the company suggests using ground shipping.

• TerraCycle creates shower curtains, totes, and funky fashion accesssories out of old energy bar wrappers, drink pouches, and other packaging. It recyles wine corks too. In some cases, you need to mail in large quantities so look for a drop-off location or send in your neighbors’ stuff too.

Apparel and Shoes

• Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program has collected almost 22 million worn out athletic shoes since 1990. The shoes are ground up and turned into athletic fields. Nike’s prefers that you drop off shoes at participating stores, but you can also mail them.   
   
• Patagonia’s Common Threads Garment Recycling Program turns your old Patagonia clothing into new garments. Visit it website for specifics on what they take back and where you can send it.    

E-waste

• Battery Solutions sells boxes that you can fill up with batteries (both rechargeable and non-rechargeable), cell phones, PDAs, iPods, and others. The $24 fee includes a pre-paid FedEx shipping label.  

• GreenDisc recycles CDs, DVDs, video and audio tapes, and their cases. You can also send in most computer related waste-anything from printer cartridges to mice to laptops. It costs $6.95 to process up to 20lbs of waste.

• Waste Management’s Think Green program sells recycling kits for batteries, CFLs, fluorescent tubes, and electronics.  Prices vary depending on item. Fill the box they send you and mail it in.Source: Lori Bongiorno

Top 15 Green Blogs

Reposted from: GBB.org

There are over 6,000 blogs related to the environment on Technorati, and countless more news feeds, and webzines.. There are hundreds of high-quality, well-written green blogs, so it’s very difficult to limit the list to just 15. This list seeks to balance depth with breadth and rankings popularity with diversity. These blogs represent many different topics, from general interest to news to lifestyle to tech.

1. Treehugger - Launched in 2004 by serial entrepreneur and designer Graham Hill, Treehugger defined a new online green space and quickly ascended to the ranks of the web’s top blogs. With radio, forums, video, television, its own social bookmarking network, and more than 30,000 posts, Treehugger is a comprehensive resource for sustainable modern living. Treehugger publishes posts by over 30 writers around the world updating 24/7. Discovery recently bought Treehugger and the site is now partnered to Planet Green. It’s not hard to see why: with over 2 million unique visitors per month and a Technorati rank of 19, Treehugger is by far the biggest green blog online today. The content is focused on green news, products, and events. Read more…

Deloitte: Best Practices for Going Green

By Deborah Fleischer

What do you think of when you hear Deloitte? You might think of a professional services firm or Big Four auditor. Today, the company has also put a big green stake in the ground, both looking internally to green its operations and as an offering in its consulting practice.

Two aspects of this work are worth noting: Deloitte’s internal green team, working to engage employees in sustainability, and its Green Sync™ tool.

I had the chance to have an e-mail exchange with Thomas Dekar, vice chairman of Deloitte LLP, regional managing principal of the North Central Region and corporate responsibility officer for the Deloitte U.S. Firms. He shed some light on the origins of Deloitte’s programs and offerings.

Read on to learn about Deloitte’s best green business practices for engaging employees in sustainability. Read more…