Green Ump

Transparent Energy Generation (and marketing tool)

The West LA College is generating 350 kilowatt-hours of energy for it's campus and they aren't afraid to show it. (At least that's what it said when I checked it.) Go ahead check it out yourself, link here and see how much power it's creating.

Who ever thought that making/saving energy could also have such a cool marketing edge to it? West LA College serves 12,000 students on campus and on-line. That means that 12,000 students can learn first hand the benefit of converting a parking lot into an energy creating machine.

That's marketing in the same way that Apple made Macs a driving force in computers, i.e. get 'embed' with the next generation of buyers. Once you've seen what is possible in school, it's hard to go back to the old way of thinking. And until these watchable energy systems are as ubiquitous as thermostats, the cool factor will get passed on in blogs like this. That's more free marketing for the college that is part of the Los Angeles Community College District and for Solar City, the business behind the panels and the monitoring sites.

Solar City also serves the residential market. Now that the students are accustomed to parking under solar panels it'll be easier for them to imagine panels on their own homes.

On March 30th, the campus dedicated the 1000 space solar parking structure and celebrated its 40-year anniversary with festivities and music from the 60s - giving new meaning to, "Talking 'bout my generation..."

Zero VOC's, the starting point for sustainable paint

Full bloggy disclosure up front, my Dad was a house painter. When he painted a wall or the window sill it stuck and looked perfect for years - decades actually. He could match colors and cut a line that few bother with today.

He also paid dearly for his craft. Each night he'd come home and wash out his brushes and rollers in turpentine and other toxic stuff. He had rubber gloves, but often he didn't use them and the skin on his hands would bubble with the contact. Mom would slather his hands with Vaseline, then layer them with cotton gloves followed by a thin plastic version. The next morning, he'd take off the gloves and go back to work.

ENTER WATER-BASED

When water-based paint came in, he'd complain about the quality, that it just wouldn't stick like oil-based paint, but he was very happy to be able to use soap and water during clean up. Eventually he changed.

While the oil was out, the VOCs remained. I can remember the smell of the garage and the homes with "new paint" smell when we'd go on tours to see his work. Today, that new paint smell and all the VOC's (volatile organic chemicals) that go with it, are leaving the paint industry. It's about time. It's one thing to paint your own home and breathe in that stuff for a few days and another if you make a living at it day after day after day.

ZERO VOCS

Enter the next movement in colored surfaces - zero VOC paint. Green Building Pages has a nice selection of them. The companies bringing them to market are both young and established names:

• Old Fashion Milkpaint Co.
• Green Paint
• EcoTrend
• Pure Performance by Pittsburgh
• Acro PURE by Miller Paint
• Harmony Interior Latex by Sherwin-Williams

LOW COST / FAST INFORMATION ACCESS

With competition the margins are tightening up. We're almost back to business as usual before the battle of the green started. ALMOST because there is a new game in town called, online word-of-mouth.

I'm a member of a large group of green women bloggers. Between our online carnivals, there are many email discussions over which green products are the best. Last week the question was raised over "Which green paint is the best"?  Diane MacEachern, who is behind the book and blog Big Green Purse, suggested Pure Performance. She did her whole home in it and "it never had the new paint smell."

So what? who cares? Diane just told a group of 30 or so super bloggers that Pure Performance was a winner. Others gave their experienced opinions. If you're selling paint to consumers, this is the holy grail of a group that you want lovin' your stuff.

Diane also put Pure Performance in her book and she talks about it on her lecture circuit, and now I'm mentioning it here.

Permanent, positive promotion is what companies are getting for their efforts to offer safer products to the world. They deserve to be talked about. That's social media and social equity at work even if the marketers don't see it on their radar.  

That all said, Zero VOC's is a starting point. High mileage is what set the Prius on the market darling path, now buyers want to know that the manufacturing of the Pruis is in line with sustainable expectations as well. Zero VOC's is just the beginning for paint. Next the buyers of the world will want to know how safely the product is made.  Expect to see LCAs (Life Cycle Assessment) and it's impact to become the norm to fuel this word-of-mouth market.

 

Managing Social Media 101 for Green Building Products

Twitter, Blogs, Linked in, Posts, Comments, Chats

Do you know how to use Social Media as easily as you use a phone? Can you create a Marketing Safety Data Sheet? Does the idea of turning transparent terrify you? How do you make Twitter, Linked In, and Blogs work together?  What do you do if someone gives you a bad rating?

This group of webinars are designed for those with products listed on Green Building Pages over the fear factor of Social Media and part of the modern marketing world. Because the series is anchored in authentic information, only listers in good standing can take advantage of this free service.

YOU’LL LEARN HOW TO:

•  Create permanent, positive promotion.
•  Refine your “searchable” attributes.
•  Understand how to manage your green message when you have no control over the “writers.”

 

WEBINAR WEDNESDAYS:

WHEN:                    12 noon PST, 1:00 MST, 2:00 CST, 3:00 EST

SIGN UP:                Go to www.GreenBuildingPages.com  and sign up by adding your name to the webinar newsletter or contact

                                 Mary.Hunt@GreenbuildingPages.com

                         

 

41.09       Introduction to Social Media Parts

4.8.09      Building Searchable Green Brand Management

4.15.09    Creating a “Marketing Safety Data Sheet”

4.22.09    Getting Linked In for Sales, Public Speaking and Business!

4.29.09    Twitter: How to Put 140 Characters to Work

5.6.09      The Top Rules in Social Media Writing

5.01309    How to Overcome Bad Ratings

Social Media Classes for Green Building Products Start on April 1

Last week at the California Green Summit, I asked vendors the question "Do you use Social Media"? The answers ranged between "we go to trade shows" to "we let our marketing department handle that" to complete blank stares.

While Social Media does fall under the marketing department, the fact that the front line at a trade show didn't have the answers at their finger tips told me that their marketing department would give me a complete blank stare as well.

No worries, don't flip out if you weren't an early adopter, just don't be a never adopter. To not employ social media in your modern marketing strategies is a akin to doing business without a phone today. In the future while you're making cold calls, others have already made alliances and friends boxing you out of an opportunity. People do business with friends first.

Social media gives you a leg up (or face up) on the competition. It's where they get to know you just like they would if you lived in a small town. In a small town, you have to show up and be present, let people kick your tires during the times when they don't need you and know that you can be trusted when they do.

If you're a service driven corporation using distributor networks, dealers and installers,  social media should be at the very top of your list of corporate skill sets. It is NOT just for the marketing department. SM needs to be taught inside of sales, customer service and part of every employee's orientation training including the CEOs.

Social Media turns you transparent and opens up new conversations: 

A) You're able to prove you are sustainable when purchasing asks the tough questions.

B) You're able to standup to open public opinion on blogs, vlogs, twitter, and 50 other open communication venues. Lately, Salesforce added Twitter to it's tool box as a way to respond to customer complaints.

C) You're able to gain free PR in the form of permanent, positive promotion.

WHERE DO YOU START?

To close that knowledge gap Green Building Pages is offering a new series of webinars to help any GBP product lister over the entry level social media hill and ready to begin a progressive program. The program could later be used by the company to train their distributors and dealers as well.

The program is free, but only for Green Building Pages product listers as it builds on top of the authentic information provided in listings covering the triple bottom line, sustainable product attributes.

You can sign up by going to the Green Building Pages and checking the WEBINAR WEDNESDAY's box in the email registration box or send a request directly to me at Mary.Hunt@GreenBuildingPages.com

Here's the schedule:

WEBINAR WEDNESDAYS:

WHEN:                    12 noon PST, 1:00 MST, 2:00 CST, 3:00 EST

SIGN UP:                Go to www.GreenBuildingPages.com  and sign up by adding your name to the webinar newsletter or contact

                                 Mary.Hunt@GreenbuildingPages.com

                         

41.09       Introduction to Social Media Parts

4.8.09      Building Searchable Green Brand Management

4.15.09    Creating a “Marketing Safety Data Sheet”

4.22.09    Getting Linked In for Sales, Public Speaking and Business!

4.29.09    Twitter: How to Put 140 Characters to Work

5.6.09      The Top Rules in Social Media Writing

5.01309    How to Overcome Bad Ratings

California Green Summit Award Winners

The Wall Street pundits who need a push towards the positive should have been at the awards ceremony last night to see what success in the next market looks like.

Tom Hall, the Director of Facilities Management for the LACCD accepted the Green Building Award for the Los Angeles Valley College Allied Health and Science Center.  The building generates 50,000 kilowatts of power from it's solar array and also has a storm water retention pond that biologically cleans the rain water run off. It also has windows with a sensor that assures energy used to heat or coola room is not wasted, a white roof to bounce energy back, and high efficiencycy glazing.

Marilyn Farmer, the director for Green Building Pages presented the Award for best Green Culture to the Department of Motor Vehicles for promoting Sustainable Processes.

Other award recipients included:

CLIMATE CHANGE: County of Sonoma for Climate Change Initiatives

WASTE MANAGEMENT: Cal Fire for recycling Damaged Fire Hoses to make hammocks for zoo animals.

ENERGY INNOVATION: County of Lake, Innovation in Sustainable Community Infrastructure.

ENERGY INNOVATION: Sacramento Municipal Utility District, SolarShares Program

WATER MANAGEMENT: Orange County Water District and Orange County Sanitation District for their ground water replenishment system.

PURCHASING: Santa Clara County, Integrated Pest Management Program

California Green Summit

If you have green products which you want to sell to the State of California, Sacramento is the place you want to be of the Green California Summit.

As the intro to the "Buying Green" workshop states,"... considering the environmental  impact of products and services before purchase is not just a 'good idea' - it is the law."

Bob Tetz, the Manager of the State of California Buying Green Program, moderated the all day workshop which included: Scot Case, VP TerraChoice, Mark Rentschler, VP Green Seal, Connie Kurando, US Communities, Stanley Rhodes, President/CEO SCS, and Alicia Culver, Ex. Dir. Green Purchasing Initiative.

None of them were in total agreement as to what standards should be used, but all agreed that Life Cycle Assessment (LCAs) with third party administrators were the best way to gather the required PROOF that buyers are now requesting.

Where are You on the Sustainability Curve?

The market is quickly moving from the "We're Green" stage to "We're Sustainable;" at which point buyers and citizens of the world alike are saying, "Prove it"!

This week in LCA land (Life Cycle Assessment)  Apple is conducting a full LCA on their products. Apple computers aren't building products, but if an electronic device can conduct a Life Cycle Assessment, doing one on a building product should be easy. At the very least it flags that LCA's are a thing of the present, not the future. According to this article:

"Life Cycle Assessment takes into account every phase of a product's life, including the mining of the raw materials; manufacturing of the product; packaging; missions related to transporting it to market; the power consumption during the product's use; and the energy required for eventual recycling."  

Greenpeaceis pushing Apple to publish their environmental footprint. It will be interesting to see if they begin using their highly visible tactics to motivate other big companies.

In New Zealand, penalties for the following greenwash claims can include fines of up to $60,000 for individuals and $200,000 for a company

• making claims that are vague ("green" or "environmentally friendly")
• overstating the environmental benefits of a product
• using environmental images to imply environmental benefits that don't exist
• using business names ("The Absolutely Green V8 Car Company") that imply green credentials that don't exist.

 

Here in the U.S. the EPA provided guidelines as well. Corpwatch gave out greenwash awards. The GreenWashingIndex provides example after example of what isn't working in the market.

 

Where are you on the scale? Just starting out? Sustainable before it became a trend? Let us know what you did to get your company moving in the right direction.

Facebook's New Face

Does it matter what is happening over on Facebook? If you're selling business products - absolutely!

 

To wear the sales/marketing hat and not use the new tools to help your business grow is akin to working without a phone and expecting to stay in business - while you're communicating by mail, your competition is taking calls. In that same light, while your website sits still, your competition is creating relationships in virtual clubs and social media spaces such as Facebook and Linked In.

 

Today in Ad Age, Ian Schafer, the editor of Deep Focus gave us a fast facts list on the changes at hand in Ad Age.  

• Existing Facebook "Pages" will start to look/act/feel more like typical Facebook "Profiles."

• Brands pages will move from segregated areas of Facebook to within users' social graphs.
• Information subscriptions will allow people to opt deeper into others' data streams.
• A new "publisher" feature allows for selected broadcasting of information to those subscribers' Facebook home pages.
• A new Facebook home page (take a tour here), with a general (real-time) news feed but also filters to allow you to sort through information, friend lists, and apps will launch by March 11. You will also be able to share any type of content on the home page with your friends.

Go to his full article and links here. 

It's time to test the new waters while everyone else is in the same learning curve position as you. If you feel overwhelmed at the thought of one more learning curve, fear not, we'll be providing the first 7 steps in digestable bites to all our listers by mid March.

Put Your Company on the Cap and Trade Map

Before you read any further, go here. Is your company listed?

The Environmental Defense Fund(EDF) has over 1200 companies and their case studies listed. It's as informative as it is compelling and inspiring. Job hunters can quickly see who will be the leaders in the next market. The companies listed "get" what this next market is going to look like and are poised to play on its terrain.

The site is hosted by LessCarbonMoreJobs.org and according to a write up in Environmental Leader it provides,  "the locations, products, services and contacts as well as select case studies and worker profiles for companies in 12 states: Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indian, New Hampshire, Arkansas, Tennessee, Colorado, Georgia, Missouri, Virginia and Florida..." 

With Carbon Cap and Trading getting locked into place, having a Life Cycle Assessment(LCA) conducted on sustainable products is a given. The numbers have to come from somewhere and an ISO LCA is the most recognized place to start.

Yesterday I spoke with an LCA consultant who admitted that already companies who conduct LCA  audits are over booked with requests.  

This is another example of play now or play later, but you will play if you want to stay in the game. The choices are to get moving now, while everyone is scrambling to figure it out or do it later after the competition is way ahead and you're left to play catch up.

Carnival of the Green #169

When Treehugger asks, "Can you host the Carnival of Green"?  You say "Yes" even if it's for the 169th Carnival...  or maybe because it's the 169th Carnival. We like being part of blogging history. Thanks Beth for the heads up. 

For those of you who aren't familiar with these online events, carnivals are when one host blog lists many blog posts on a given subject (in this case, green), gives a brief description and then links the reader directly to the blog post.

Everyone wins in this arrangement even if the subject matter isn't exactly a match up for the hosting site. By linking out to supporting carnival-ites (and they back) we draw more attention to each other's work. Treehugger gains social media momentum as well. My Zero Waste, who hosted the prior month get additional traffic to their post as will next month's host the Natural Patriot. If there is one thing about Social Media, there is no such thing as a bad link or carnival.

Let's take a peak inside the tent shall we?

GREEN CAREERS

If you're looking for your next green career, check out"Profiles in Green Careers: Entrepreneur",in it GreenGirl interviews Glenn Croston, author of 75 Green Businesses You Can Start to Make Money and Make a Difference.

Why pine for a green career when you can grow your own. That's what one t-shirt manufacturer is doing which Juliana Sloane captures on her Veggie Revolution site.

 

CALIFORNIA SALMON, THERE'S A CANARY IN OUR STREAMS

 

Over on Divided We Stand United We Fall, David takes on the debate over the dwindling population of salmon and the choice of water for food or water for one of natures most precious food chains.

 

HOW SMALL CAN YOU LIVE?

 

Could you live in a boxcar? Check out this caboose of a cottage brought to by the Greenest Dollar. I'm all aboard with that idea.  

 

CLIMATE COOLING

 

As long as there are pros, there shall be cons. Here's the latest take on climate cooling opinions from True Science Fiction.  (no irony intended)

 

ARE YOU A CHEMICAL COCKTAIL PARTY?

 

Organic Lipstick, questions the sanity of rubbing chemicals on our lips and skin and how a few daily chemicals can add up to a big health risk.

 

While you're cleaning up your body, what about disinfecting your home? A1 How to takes the issue of home cleaning products just in time for spring cleaning. Can a few small changes really save our drinking water?

 

WIND OR SOLAR, WHICH ENERGY IS BEST?

 

Over on Alternative Energy (part of Earth4Energy.com) they are posting a selection of articles on wind vs. solar vs. DYI vs. buy it made. It's a great place to begin your research. First check out this exploration of wind vs. sun.

 

How do solar panels work? There are two different types of solar panels - one produces heat and the other produces electricity, each have their own working mechanism.

 

Is thinner better? What about solar roof shingles? The thin film solar panels are one of the newest breakthroughs in the booming solar industry.

 

Could you go all the way? Could you go off grid? Have these economic times make you want to try for the first time? This article will send you feasibility shopping. 

 

When it come to construction of a solar unit. Can you do it yourself? Should you do it yourself? What are the pros and cons of becoming your own utility company? For a top level discussion go here.

 

PLASTIC SEA / SOLUTION

 

Watch Captain Charles Mooreof the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. This 7-minute video captures the problem at it's throw-away start. Our thanks to Green Thinking Blog for bringing it to our attention.

 

Beth Terry of Fake Plastic Fish offers one solution to plastic waste, use Lunch bots instead of plastic throw-aways. She's giving one away on her site this week and encourages us to drop by and leave a joke. LunchBots are 100% stainless steel and fit easily in a purse or lunch box.  It's a great alternative to disposable plastic baggies and one less thing to end up in the ocean.

 

RECYCLED CARDBOARD or 12 THINGS TO DO ON  A RAINY DAY

 

Wait, don't throw away that cereal box just yet, Craft Stew tell us that there is still has a very imaginative life left in it. And while we're on rainy day crafts, check out how Lisa used T-shirts for a quilt. It's just another of the many green and frugal things she does.

 

WILL BIKE FOR ABS

 

How many carbon footprints can you save by riding your bike, well, everywhere?  Here's how Steward's  the act of making due when a car broke down turned into a new, fit lifestyle.

 

The Barefoot Badger concurs on the biking mission, it's good for the personal triple bottom line of the environment, personal economy and social equity.

HOME AND GARDEN AND PETS

It's now coming out how pets are suffering from our non-organic ways as much as our children. Here are a few causes and home remedies you can try.

Alison Kerr is racked with Green Guilt and is taking a survey of others feeling the same way.

The economy got you down? Here's how to furnish your house on any budget for free. (Our friends over on the Sustainable Furniture Council would like this. )

If you don't think consumers are concerned about trash, check out Leila's interview with artist, activist, author and garblogger, Cynthia Korzekwa. 

INCINERATE OR LANDFILL?

Lastly prior hoster My Zero Waste is back with a very serious post on a topic that is heating up in the UK, should citizens go back to burning their trash vs. landfilling. She invites you all to read the article, watch the demonstration video and add your thoughts. It is a global world afterall.