Posts Tagged ‘News’

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.

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…

GreenSmartNow.com Now Certified Member of The Green Business Bureau

Green Business Bureau Helps Businesses Go Green
National Green Business Certification Demonstrates Companies’ Commitment to the Environment 

 HOUSTON, TX February 19, 2010, –/WORLD-WIRE/–As customers demand their business partners prove their environmentally responsible business practices and commitment to serving the planet’s best interest, business owners must implement new processes – but until now have not had an affordable means.

Enter Green Business Bureau’s Green Business Certification. Read more…

The 20 Most Popular Stories of 2009

By GreenBiz Staff

Oakland, CA — What to make of the 20 most-read stories among the 2,350 (or so) articles and blog posts we ran during 2009 on GreenBiz.com,ClimateBiz.com, GreenerBuildings.com,GreenerComputing.com andGreenerDesign.com

It’s hard to make head or tails of them, in terms of the themes, interests, or. Yes, packaging and Walmart seem to be two recurring themes. Rankings and ratings stories always rank high. Beyond that, 2009 seems a muddle — as, perhaps, in real life, it was. After all, what links termites and windvertising?

Themes or not, here are the stories of ours that you, dear reader, clicked on, Googled, Digged, Scribd, StumbledUpon, tweeted (and retweeted) and linked to the most. Do you see any noteworthy patterns or trends herein? Let us know if you do. Read more…

Obama: US spending necessary to create ‘green’ industry jobs

By Tom Raum

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — President Obama is promoting new U.S. spending to create tens of thousands of clean-technology jobs.

He outlined the initiative Friday after a weak government jobs report raised new questions about the sustainability of the recovery.

“Building a robust clean energy sector is how we will create the jobs of the future, jobs that pay well and can’t be outsourced,” Obama said.

Obama announced $2.3 billion in tax credits — to be paid for from last year’s $787 stimulus package — that he said would create some 17,000 “green” jobs. The money will go to projects including solar, wind and energy management.

He said more than 180 projects in over 40 states — including six projects in Arizona — would receive the tax credits.

He also called for an additional $5 billion in spending for clean energy manufacturing, an idea being promoted by Vice President Joe Biden.

Such initiatives are “an important step toward meeting the goal I’ve set of doubling the amount of renewable power we use in the next three years with wind turbines and solar panels built right here in the U.S. of A.,” Obama said.

Obama spoke after the Labor Department said the U.S. jobless rate was unchanged at 10 percent in December, following a decline the previous month. But the government’s broader measure of unemployment — which includes people who have stopped looking for work or can’t find full-time jobs — ticked up 0.1 percentage point to 17.3 percent.

That, plus the larger-than-expected loss of 85,000 jobs in December, put new pressure on the administration to step up job creation.

“The road to recovery is never straight,” Obama said, although he added that the trend is pointing toward an improving jobs picture.

House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio ridiculed Obama’s effort.

“Instead of wildly pivoting from one issue to the next, the Obama administration needs to listen to American families asking ‘where are the jobs?’ and employers calling on Washington to scrap … policies that are already costing jobs,” Boehner said.

After generating 23 million new jobs during the 1990s, the economy is coming off a lost decade, with no net increase in jobs. Even so, losses have been moderating substantially since mid-2009 as the U.S. economy slowly recovers from its worst recession in decades.

Companies branching out with green executives

By Tiffany Hsu
Los Angeles Times

During his more than three decades in real estate, David Pogue served many roles, but environmental expert was never one of them.

That didn’t stop his company, Los Angeles real estate brokerage CB Richard Ellis, from naming him the company guru of all things eco- friendly nearly two years ago. Pogue suddenly found himself in charge of making the company and its projects more energy efficient and environmentally conscious, an abrupt switch from his previous property-management responsibilities.

“I’m an outsider, a real estate guy trying to become an environmentalist,” said Pogue, the company’s national director of sustainability. “But I believe in what I do, that it’s something bigger than myself.”

As companies grapple with climate change, try to attract eco-conscious customers and develop alternative energy agendas while complying with regulations, a new kind of administrator is moving into the executive suite to help out.

Sustainability officers and green supervisors, some say, are successors to the diversity managers and innovation specialists of the 1990s — with their focus equal parts corporate responsibility, public relations and profit.

“Our clients expect this,” Pogue said. “A company of our size doesn’t have the luxury any longer of not participating.”

After attending a rigorous series of conferences and cramming in hours of reading on the so-called green industry, Pogue settled into the position. His efforts include connecting CB Richard Ellis with programs such as Energy Star from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Energy Department, and the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building code.

Positions such as Pogue’s are often placed in the upper echelons of companies, where they are highly visible and directly overseen by the chief executive. At Coca-Cola Co. and Mitsubishi Motors North America Inc., chief executives Muhtar Kent and Ryoichi Ueda, respectively, have adopted the sustainability officer title as well.

Other companies bundle in extra duties, such as dealing with the supply chain. At Levi Strauss & Co., Michael Kobori works on labor standards and general green issues as vice president for social and environmental sustainability.

“Ten years ago, the position I have didn’t exist,” Kobori said. “Now, we are seeing a new generation of business leaders who have grown up with sustainability. There is actually a career path in this field for someone at a corporation.”

Some companies, eager to cash in on the eco-enthusiasm, have been accused of hiring sustainability officers who are little more than figureheads. Instead of greening the business plan and inspiring the staff, critics contend, these executives end up isolated, ineffective or overburdened.

“There’s a danger in creating a chief sustainability officer, because it places all the responsibility of that issue onto one person,” said Kobori. “We’re successful when sustainability gets embedded in all the roles in the company.”

Read more: http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_14108391#ixzz0bYuj8qG6

Telcos Facing Energy Concerns: AT&T Appoints Energy Director

By Katie Fehrenbacher

About 37 percent of the carbon footprint of the entire information and communication technology sector (ICT) in 2007 was due to the energy consumption of telecom infrastructure and devices, according to the Climate Group (14 percent came from data centers, and 49 percent came from PCs and peripherals). Contrast that with telecom’s carbon footprint figure in 2002 which was 28 percent of ICT’s carbon footprint. Phone companies are starting to notice that trend: this morning AT&T announced that it has hired its first Director of Energy John Schinter.

Schinter will be in charge of managing and reducing AT&T’s energy consumption across its network and direct its energy-related purchasing. AT&T says they are in the process of “reorganizing the way AT&T optimizes our energy use,” and hiring Schinter is one part of that. Other energy-related initiatives the phone company has taken in recent years include: creating an Energy Council within AT&T to enable different divisions to talk together about the companies energy goals, establishing a goal to cut “electricity usage intensity (relative to data growth on the AT&T network) by 15 percent, compared to 2008 levels,” using 1E’s NightWatchman power management software on 310,000 AT&T employee computers and looking at alternative energy for AT&T facilities.

Phone companies, like computing companies, are facing a growing expense due to their energy consumption. By 2020 energy use related to mobile networks will make up 13 percent of the total ICT carbon footprint, according to the Climate Group. But the Climate Group is anticipating that phone companies’ energy efficiency efforts (like AT&T’s) over the coming years could provide significant savings. Energy optimization software could save up to 44 percent, renewable energy for base stations could reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent and adopting a variety of measures like these could lead to “the avoidance of almost 60 MtCO2e in 2020,” says the Climate Group. According to Pike Research “there are sufficient technology and process improvements that could reduce 2013 [telco] infrastructure emissions by at least 101 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent, a decrease of 42 percent from business-as-usual (BAU) trendlines,” (more on that on GigaOM Pro, subscription required).

Phone companies are also moving aggressively to get into the business of using their networks for both the smart grid and home energy management. AT&T has teamed up with startup SmartSynch, as has T-Mobile. And telcos with home fiber deployments are rapidly looking to layer on energy management as a service, along with voice, video and data (read more about that on GigaOM Pro, subscription required).

Image courtesy of Ericsson.

Hyatt recognized as 2009 Green Business Leader

Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino has been honored as a 2009 Business Leader by Keep the Sierra Green.

Keep the Sierra Green Sustainability & Waste Reduction Business Recognition Program honors and recognizes businesses and organizations who lead by example in sustainable business practices.

“Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe consistently strives to be environmentally conscientious, and we are extremely honored and proud to be recognized as a Green Business Leader by Keep the Sierra Green,” said Mark Pardue, general manager. “Through the introduction of our Green Team, a group committed to generating awareness and implementation of all things ‘green,’ we are becoming a more sustainable business from the inside out. This recognition is a testament to all that we have achieved to date, as well as what we can accomplish in the future.”

The Hyatt was recognized, along with other outstanding green businesses, during Keep the Sierra Green’s Annual Green Business Recognition Awards luncheon on Nov. 10.

In the review, Hyatt excelled in energy and water conservation as well as employee awareness categories.

Last year, the resort’s efforts included recycling 65,000 pounds of waste, and a $50,000 commitment to retrofitting the resort’s lighting, including compact fluorescent applications in all 422 guest rooms and motion sensor lighting throughout many areas.

Over the past year, Hyatt Lake Tahoe has reduced electrical consumption by 35 percent due to extensive “turn it off” programs.

Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino has been honored as a 2009 Business Leader by Keep the Sierra Green.

Keep the Sierra Green Sustainability & Waste Reduction Business Recognition Program honors and recognizes businesses and organizations who lead by example in sustainable business practices.

“Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe consistently strives to be environmentally conscientious, and we are extremely honored and proud to be recognized as a Green Business Leader by Keep the Sierra Green,” said Mark Pardue, general manager. “Through the introduction of our Green Team, a group committed to generating awareness and implementation of all things ‘green,’ we are becoming a more sustainable business from the inside out. This recognition is a testament to all that we have achieved to date, as well as what we can accomplish in the future.”

The Hyatt was recognized, along with other outstanding green businesses, during Keep the Sierra Green’s Annual Green Business Recognition Awards luncheon on Nov. 10.

In the review, Hyatt excelled in energy and water conservation as well as employee awareness categories.

Last year, the resort’s efforts included recycling 65,000 pounds of waste, and a $50,000 commitment to retrofitting the resort’s lighting, including compact fluorescent applications in all 422 guest rooms and motion sensor lighting throughout many areas.

Over the past year, Hyatt Lake Tahoe has reduced electrical consumption by 35 percent due to extensive “turn it off” programs.