All Discussions Tagged 'Trusted' - InnovatingSMART2024-03-28T11:14:21Zhttp://www.innovatingsmart.org/group/theinnovations/forum/topic/listForTag?tag=Trusted&feed=yes&xn_auth=noEnergy Innovation - Waste-Annihilating Molten Salt Reactortag:www.innovatingsmart.org,2013-11-19:5294332:Topic:437602013-11-19T04:06:45.843ZSue Lebeckhttp://www.innovatingsmart.org/profile/SueLebeck
<p><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>Transatomic Power, powered by a youthful innovation team, has developed the 500 MW-generating WAMSR - a Waste-Annihilating Molten Salt Reactor. WAMSR, which can be mass-produced, is a molten salt reactor that converts high-level nuclear waste into clean electric power. “We can take that waste and power the entire world for 72 years, even taking into account increasing demand. So, you’re powering the world…</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>Transatomic Power, powered by a youthful innovation team, has developed the 500 MW-generating WAMSR - a Waste-Annihilating Molten Salt Reactor. WAMSR, which can be mass-produced, is a molten salt reactor that converts high-level nuclear waste into clean electric power. “We can take that waste and power the entire world for 72 years, even taking into account increasing demand. So, you’re powering the world while simultaneously getting rid of all its nuclear waste. There’s a lot to like there, we think.”<br/> <br/>
</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311746802?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" class="align-right" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311746802?profile=RESIZE_180x180"/></a></p>
<p><em>Dr. Leslie Dewan<br/> Co-Founder and Chief Science Officer<br/>
<br/>
Mark Massie<br/>
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer<br/>
</em><br/>
<em><a href="http://transatomicpower.com/" target="_blank">Transatomic Power</a></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">Watch the video ...</span></strong><br/> <iframe width="500" height="281" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/AAFWeIp8JT0?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<p> </p>
<div><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"><br/> Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<ul>
<li><div><p>Right now, nuclear power is at a crossroads. Some countries like Germany and Italy are getting rid of nuclear entirely… Other countries like China are greatly expanding their nuclear infrastructure. A lot of new technologies are being developed, focused on solving safety and waste problems.</p>
</div>
</li>
<li>A nuclear reactor is just a fancy way of boiling water. No - it’s true. Think of the reactor core as a black box. You can replace what’s in that black box.</li>
<li>Right now, we really only use one kind of nuclear reactor – the light water reactor. In the early years of the nuclear industry, there was a tremendous amount of innovation taking place….How did we go from all this innovation to building just one type of nuclear reactor?</li>
<li>The US Navy used the light-water-reactor on the Nautilus. Then they simply took the design they used for the submarine and made it on land [to create the first nuclear power plant]. The problem is the companies that build nuclear reactors are only familiar with this one type of design. It’s really hard for new technologies to break into the industry, to convince people to take a chance on something new.</li>
<li>After Chernoble, people didn’t want to join the industry. But now there are environmentally conscious people who believe nuclear is the way to go. So it’s a younger workforce.</li>
<li>The future might not be developed in the United States… China has allocated far more [funding] and have [built, planned or proposed] a total of 212 [nuclear power plants]. So the future might be there.</li>
<li>Within the U.S. [alone] 2000 metric tons of high-level nuclear waste is generated each year…. No one knows what to do with it yet. Most of it is sitting above ground waiting for a solution. That’s where we come in. We’ve invented the Waste-Annihilating Molten Salt Reactor, or WAMSER [laughter]…which can run entirely on the nuclear waste produced by conventional light water reactors.</li>
<li>We can take that waste and power the entire world for 72 years, even taking into account increasing demand. So, you’re powering the world while simultaneously getting rid of all its nuclear waste. There’s a lot to like there, we think.</li>
<li>What we call nuclear waste isn’t waste at all. There is a tremendous amount of energy in it. Fuel can stay in a conventional reactor for only 4 years, which limits the energy it can take out to about 3%... It still contains 97% of its original energy. It’s like being a hungry grad student, you make yourself a sandwich, and eat one bite. Then you make another sandwich, and eat one bite. Eventually you’ll get full, but you’ll create an amazing amount of radioactive sandwich waste. We’ve devised a way to eat this leftover sandwich waste.</li>
<li>We can extract almost all of the energy out of it. So the waste that comes out of it will be radioactive for only a few hundred years not a few thousand years – a solvable engineering problem.</li>
<li>This reactor is walkaway safe – if it loses power, and even if its operators are gone, it will coast to a stop over the course of a few days</li>
</ul>
<p> </p> Cool City Challenge - Taking the "Low Carbon Diet" to Scaletag:www.innovatingsmart.org,2013-09-10:5294332:Topic:422962013-09-10T00:15:42.306ZSue Lebeckhttp://www.innovatingsmart.org/profile/SueLebeck
<p><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>The purpose of the Cool City Challenge is to bring to scale proven behavior change and community engagement methodologies to help households achieve deep carbon reduction, create disaster resilient neighborhoods, and catalyze demand driven green economic development.<br></br> <br></br></p>
<p><em>David Gershon</em><br></br> <em>Managing Director, Cool City Challenge…</em><br></br></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>The purpose of the Cool City Challenge is to bring to scale proven behavior change and community engagement methodologies to help households achieve deep carbon reduction, create disaster resilient neighborhoods, and catalyze demand driven green economic development.<br/> <br/>
</p>
<p><em>David Gershon</em><br/> <em>Managing Director, Cool City Challenge</em><br/>
<em><a href="http://www.empowermentinstitute.net" target="_blank">Empowerment Institute</a></em><br/>
<em><a href="http://www.coolcitychallenge.org">www.coolcitychallenge.org</a></em><br/>
<em><br/>
With:</em><br/>
<em>Northern California Mayors, City Managers, City Commissioners,<br/>
research specialists and Low Carbon Diet participants. </em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);">Watch the video ...</span></strong><br/> <iframe width="500" height="281" src="//player.vimeo.com/video/202436615"></iframe>
</p>
<p> </p>
<div><strong><span style="color: rgb(0, 128, 0);"><br/> Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<ul>
<li><p>"Can humanity free itself from climate change paralysis?" ... The change that's going to be necessary is going to happen in cities, and it's not going to happen anyplace else.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Right now [cities with Climate Action Plans]... are cities that want to do something... but now we don't have resources, we don't have models to engage our cities especially in the residential sector. With the Cool City Challenge we'll be able to do that.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The world's cities are responsibile for up to 70% of GhG emissions.</p>
</li>
<li><p>[The CCC is based on proven programs, practiced in] 300 cities in 8 countries... The households averaged greater than 5000 lbs reduction. But we had gone a mile wide and an inch deep. We knew we had to actually now pull in the reins and ... go deep in a few communities.... We will be working with 3 cities over 3 years.....household by household, neighborhood by neighborhood.</p>
</li>
<li>David is a visionary. He has learned what works and doesn't work. He has taken motivation and turned [it] into a science.</li>
<li><p>[We set out to answer] three questions. Can we change behavior? Can we sustain it over time? Can we take it to scale?... We used a structured program, recipe-style actions, peer groups of neighbors, and replicated it over hundreds and hundreds of blocks.</p>
</li>
<li><p>We are tapping intrinsic motivators... Amazing conversation and amazing action was happening in our one group. What gets me really excited is imagining that happening... in all kinds of different homes.... rippling out over the whole community... It is incredibly powerful, and very simple at the same time.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The opportunity of the Cool City Challenge, without the need for policy, is the best government I can think of.</p>
</li>
<li><p>If we can scale this beyond a few communities.. it looks like a different future for California, for the country, for the world.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><em><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311746605?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311746605?profile=RESIZE_180x180"/></a></em><em><br/> "What we do in the next few years to address climate change will determine our future. This is the defining moment."</em><br/>
<br/>
- Chair, UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>To help the Cool City Challenge succeed, contact<br/> David Gershon at <a href="mailto:dgershon@empowermentinstitute.net">dgershon@empowermentinstitute.net</a>.</p> TSC: The Sustainability Consortiumtag:www.innovatingsmart.org,2013-03-13:5294332:Topic:280082013-03-13T03:56:47.340ZSue Lebeckhttp://www.innovatingsmart.org/profile/SueLebeck
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>Creating a scientific foundation for the environmental measurement and reporting of consumer goods.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Dr. Jon (Jonathan) Johnson<br></br></em></p>
<p><em>Academic Director and Co-Founder</em><br></br><em>The Sustainability Consortium</em><br></br><em><a href="http://www.sustainabilityconsortium.com">www.sustainabilityconsortium.com…</a></em></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>Creating a scientific foundation for the environmental measurement and reporting of consumer goods.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Dr. Jon (Jonathan) Johnson<br/></em></p>
<p><em>Academic Director and Co-Founder</em><br/><em>The Sustainability Consortium</em><br/><em><a href="http://www.sustainabilityconsortium.com">www.sustainabilityconsortium.com</a></em><a href="http://www.sustainabilityconsortium.com"></a><br/><em>Executive Director, Applied Sustainability Center<br/>Walton College Professor of Sustainability<br/>University of Arkansas<br/></em> <em><a href="http://asc.uark.edu">http://asc.uark.edu</a></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Introduction...<br/></span></strong><br/><iframe width="320" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/rYOMPiopncQ?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<ul>
<li>The anchor tenant and the one that most people affiliate with the consortium is Walmart.</li>
<li>In 2005, when [Walmart] made their commitments to sustainability, they made three: One around waste and one around energy, which are internal goals…. And one around consumer goods, the product itself.</li>
<li>They found they had a lot of control over the internal pieces, but the product goal is more difficult... When you count your vendors in the hundreds of thousands, and your SKUs in the millions, it’s an enormous task.</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">TSC Members:<br/> </span></strong><br/><iframe width="320" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/PV1rYoYl_8k?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<ul>
<li><p>[Walmart] provided the seed funding for the consortium, which was created by the University of Arkansas, and Arizona State University….[The University of Arkansas knows much about Walmart, and ASU has a great sustainability program].</p>
</li>
<li><p>Any company that is interested in promoting the sustainability agenda can join... We have retailers, manufacturers... We also have NGO members, more academic members, and even governmental members.</p>
</li>
<li>Full Member list can be found <a href="http://www.sustainabilityconsortium.org/members/" target="_blank">here.</a></li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Personal Journey:<br/> </span></strong><br/><iframe width="320" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/W1am0O3L1A8?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<ul>
<li><p>I am a professor of business strategy, organizational theory and ethics, and… have published for a long time, have always had an interest in the environment, and corporate social responsibility. I had a good strong relationship with [Walmart’s] strategy Vice President, who became their sustainability and strategy Vice President.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The company made a convincing argument that they were interested in sustainability... How often do you get a chance to work with the world’s largest company on something you’re passionate about?</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">TSC Achievements and Challenges:<br/> </span></strong><br/><iframe width="320" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oLxx0xUyV5w?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-left: 2em;"><ul>
<li><p>We set out to create a system for measuring and reporting sustainability impact for consumer goods, and we’ve got a really good start on that… The system we have built is multi-stakeholder, grounded in science, vetted against the best scientific information out there, translated into language businesses can understand, and further translated into performance indicators (KPIs) – metrics of how your suppliers are performing.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The knowledge products we’ve created can be used as tools for helping buyers and suppliers understand what the biggest impacts are, and some of the best improvement opportunities, for the product categories we’re developing.</p>
</li>
<li><p>We’ve developed knowledge products for 100 product categories so far. [In choosing product categories] we’re looking for high impact (some substantial environmental and social impact), high volume so there is opportunity to actually move the needle, and relevance to our members.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Challenges? Every dad gum thing. The things that make the consortium unique also creates complexity and challenge. We are multi-variable -- We do things like carbon emissions, and water quality, and biodiversity, and social, and we’re multi-sector… and we’re international, as we are rolling into China here pretty soon.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Apples to apples comparisons of, for example, carbon emissions across electronics and textiles and food is a challenge… And each of those industries have their own initiatives going on trying to evaluate those issues as well… So there are methodological and social/political challenges to overcome as well. We are always collaborative, so the degree to which we can work with other systems we will do it.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">TSC Data Sources:<br/> </span></strong><br/><iframe width="320" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3DjUVDvpai8?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-left: 2em;"><ul>
<li><p>The information on the products themselves comes from published literature, interviews, systematic surveys. [Our work is] multi-stakeholder, very systematic. What’s gets recorded against the KPIs is provided by the companies that respond… Eventually we will try to get that anonymized.</p>
</li>
<li><p>PE International (which owns the GaBi database) and EcoInvent [both providers of product lifecycle databases] are both members of the consortium…. We do lifecycle models for market-typical products.… That said, we are not explicitly relying on GaBi or EcoInvent outside of the general models.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Words of Wisdom...<br/></span></strong><br/><iframe width="320" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/P1HDRrj9BYo?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<ul>
<li><p>In the face of uncertainty, try something -- acknowledging that mistakes will be made... It’s going to be a learning process, and be very open to an honest evaluation.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: right;">Learn more about the texture of TSC in<br/><a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2012/10/06/driving-sustainability-consortiums-ambitious-agenda?page=full" target="_blank">Joel Makower's interview with its<br/>new Executive Director</a>.</p>
<p> </p> Trucost - Putting a Price on Natural Capitaltag:www.innovatingsmart.org,2013-03-12:5294332:Topic:279022013-03-12T20:09:47.706ZSue Lebeckhttp://www.innovatingsmart.org/profile/SueLebeck
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>Putting a price on natural capital, and developing frameworks for applying that into business settings; meanwhile, watching closely the state and value of the natural capital on which business depends.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Libby Bernick<br></br> Senior VP, North America<br></br> Trucost<br></br></em> <em><a href="http://www.trucost.com">www.trucost.com</a></em></p>
<p> …</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>Putting a price on natural capital, and developing frameworks for applying that into business settings; meanwhile, watching closely the state and value of the natural capital on which business depends.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Libby Bernick<br/> Senior VP, North America<br/> Trucost<br/></em> <em><a href="http://www.trucost.com">www.trucost.com</a></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Introduction...<br/></span></strong> <br/> <iframe width="320" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/A85_DSgNdBQ?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<ul>
<li><p>We’ve developed frameworks for applying that into business settings, to measure risk, find opportunity, and speak about sustainability in terms your business colleagues can understand.</p>
</li>
<li><p>A way to unlock opportunity….For example, if you are a business that bottles beverages, then it is in your interest to understand … where there will be less risk to business. For example, by knowing which kinds of fruit need the most water, and which are grown in areas of risk, [one of our clients has] been able to lock in a strategic contract… so that they’ll have a secure source.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">TruCost and the Green Business Narrative...<br/></span></strong> <br/> <iframe width="320" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/ZlTDd1DVJvU?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<div style="margin-left: 2em;"><ul>
<li><p>Trucost was formed about 13 years ago, and since that time we’ve been measuring and tracking all of these [sustainability] indicators, and we’ve been working with investors to help them understand the risks... and working with businesses to help them understand the opportunities [that come from looking through] this financial lens. So to now have GreenBiz use this [in the green business narrative]…. We think this is exciting </p>
</li>
<li><p>We believe that by putting sustainability into terms everyone can understand, it will spur sustainability progress.</p>
</li>
<li><p>When I talk about gallons of water, or kilograms of carbon, it doesn’t always mean much to a lot of people. But everyone understands what the dollar is… It is the language of business, but it is also the language of many parts of civilization.</p>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Words of Wisdom...<br/></span></strong> <br/> <iframe width="320" height="255" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_yzhkTYMkJA?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<ul>
<li><p>Given our experience, I would say that slow and steady and persistent progress is what’s important… and helping people understand why putting a price on nature is important, it doesn’t always happen overnight. But then a step-change happens, like at GreenBiz.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/speaker/libby-bernick" target="_blank">See Libby's bio at GreenBiz.com</a></p>
<p> </p> Baking Sustainability into Businesstag:www.innovatingsmart.org,2013-03-12:5294332:Topic:278012013-03-12T19:24:03.326ZSue Lebeckhttp://www.innovatingsmart.org/profile/SueLebeck
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>Sustainability is, at last, being deeply embedded into business decision-making and practice. This was among the clear messages at the <a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/events/greenbiz-forum" target="_blank">2013 GreenBiz Forum</a>, hosted by <a href="http://www.innovatingsmart.org/group/theinnovations/forum/topics/joel-makower-and-the-state-of-green-business" target="_blank">Joel Makower</a> and the folks at…</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>Sustainability is, at last, being deeply embedded into business decision-making and practice. This was among the clear messages at the <a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/events/greenbiz-forum" target="_blank">2013 GreenBiz Forum</a>, hosted by <a href="http://www.innovatingsmart.org/group/theinnovations/forum/topics/joel-makower-and-the-state-of-green-business" target="_blank">Joel Makower</a> and the folks at GreenBiz Group. As a reflection of that, <a href="http://trucost.com" target="_blank">TruCost's</a> performance indicators have become a central part of GreenBiz' <em>State of Green Business</em> narrative. See the <a href="http://info.greenbiz.com/rs/greenbizgroup/images/state-green-business-2013.pdf?mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonv6TAZKXonjHpfsX56OwuWa%2B3lMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4ASMZrI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFSLHEMa5qw7gMXRQ%3D" target="_blank">2013 State of Green Business</a> report, now optimized for mobile devices.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311746242?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="296" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311746242?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="296"/></a></em><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311746242?profile=original" target="_self"></a>At InnovatingSMART, we participated in the <a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/events/greenbiz-forum/2013/02/san-francisco" target="_blank">2013 GreenBiz Forum SF</a> conference, eager to learn about the emerging changes happening at the very heart of business. While <a href="http://www.innovatingsmart.org/group/theinnovations/forum/topics/conversations-on-the-verge" target="_blank">VERGE</a> focuses on deep changes in physical infrastructure, this year's <a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/microsite/greenbiz-forum" target="_blank">Forum</a> spotlighted deep changes occurring within financial and business operations infrastructures. Check out our one-on-one conversations with some fascinating folks, below.</p>
<p>In the coming months, watch for more InnovatingSMART conversations with folks we met at the Forum who are facilitating even more deep changes within even more infrastructures. From consumerism itself (that 20th century-invented economic lifeblood) to the management of materials (the stuff we make stuff from), and from our infrastructure-usage models to a return to nature for our physical and social engineering ideas -- business as usual is changing. <a href="http://ning.us2.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=eef87f3b2ef642e6833d35b71&id=6c14a6dca8" target="_blank">Stay tuned for more.</a><br/> <br/> <em> </em></p>
<p><em><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Our Conversations...</span></strong></em></p>
<p><a href="http://www.innovatingsmart.org/group/theinnovations/forum/topics/trucost-putting-a-price-on-natural-capital" target="_blank">Libby Bernick - Trucost:</a><br/> THE INNOVATION: Putting a price on natural capital.<br/> <br/> <a href="http://www.innovatingsmart.org/group/theinnovations/forum/topics/sasb-informing-the-investment-community" target="_blank">Marisa Mackey - SASB:</a><br/> THE INNOVATION: Fully informing the investment community.<br/> <br/> <a href="http://www.innovatingsmart.org/group/theinnovations/forum/topics/tsc-the-sustainability-consortium" target="_blank">Jon Johnson - The Sustainability Consortium:</a><br/> THE INNOVATION: Scientific environmental reporting for consumer goods.<br/> <br/> <a href="http://www.innovatingsmart.org/group/theinnovations/forum/topics/lca-holistic-decision-support" target="_blank">Tom Gloria -- Industrial Ecology Consultants:</a><br/> THE INNOVATION: Bringing LCA to a much broader audience. <i><br/> <br/></i> <i><br/> PLUS: from GreenBiz.com:</i></p>
<p><a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2013/02/12/microsofts-carbon-pricing-scheme-progress-report?page=full" target="_blank">"One Great Idea": Implementing an internal carbon fee at Microsoft</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311746513?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="120" class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2311746513?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="120"/></a>Watch as GreenBiz' own coverage of the 2013 Forum unfolds. Check out their <a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/microsite/greenbiz-forum" target="_blank">microsite</a>, or sign up for their <a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/enewsletter/signup" target="_blank">newsletters</a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p> Smart Supply Chain - Stopping the Value Leakstag:www.innovatingsmart.org,2012-12-04:5294332:Topic:265422012-12-04T23:57:14.587ZSue Lebeckhttp://www.innovatingsmart.org/profile/SueLebeck
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>Helping major brands and other companies in taking sustainability serious and deep – not as an add-on or nice-to-have or regulatory requirement – but embedding it to enhance business and brand value, while decreasing environmental impact and contributing to quality of life in the world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Gil Friend, CEO</em><br></br> <br></br> <em>Natural Logic, Inc. – Strategic Advisors to the Sustainable…</em></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p>Helping major brands and other companies in taking sustainability serious and deep – not as an add-on or nice-to-have or regulatory requirement – but embedding it to enhance business and brand value, while decreasing environmental impact and contributing to quality of life in the world.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><em>Gil Friend, CEO</em><br/> <br/> <em>Natural Logic, Inc. – Strategic Advisors to the Sustainable Economy</em><br/> <em><a href="http://www.natlogic.com/">http://www.natlogic.com/</a></em></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Watch the video ...</span></strong><br/> <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/sKtrCleFx4Y?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<p> </p>
<div><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<ul>
<li>Increasingly, businesses are finding that a very significant part of brand value and share value is intangible…reputational. A lot of [forms of value] have not found their way to the balance sheet. Smart companies are courageously moving ahead of the mechanics based on their sense of where the value lives…</li>
<li>Typically people think of the value chain as 'where do you add value?'…. The question we’re asking is 'where is there value leakage?' such as excess resource spend, resources that make their way into the landfill instead of into the product, or lost sales opportunity, or that are one-shot instead of ten-year. This is a systemic exercise.</li>
<li>Sustainability holds the biggest business opportunity of the 21<sup>st</sup> Century. We are finding that we were understating the value. The value is massive… Both we and our clients were staggered by the kinds of value opportunities that this work has been opening up.</li>
<li>Everyone wants to know the providence of everything…. You can’t get it now – due to difficulties technically, confidential business relationships, and people’s fear of sharing data. [A startup company we're working with] Open Data Registry is building an information infrastructure to make it possible and safe to access and share that information. The question ODR is asking: What happens in the world when it is more valuable to share information that to keep it secret? A very powerful question.</li>
<li>Advice for other innovators? Pay attention to what you really care about. A lot of people get distracted by the myth that it is only business… We know from personal experience and research data that the very best companies are driven by purpose…. Profit is the consequence, not the focus. If you do something valuable and do it well, the money follows. So get to the heart of what matters to you, and then how do you bring that forward cost-effectively into the world…. There are some real human needs that need to be met, the folks who can do that, and do that well, are going to succeed.</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p style="text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.greenbiz.com/bio/gil-friend" target="_blank">See Gil’s posts at GreenBiz.com</a></p>
<p> </p> Rick Drain, Founder of Longsplice Investmentstag:www.innovatingsmart.org,2012-03-06:5294332:Topic:239402012-03-06T03:33:30.738ZAlyson Greenleehttp://www.innovatingsmart.org/profile/AlysonGreenlee
<p><strong><span><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></span></strong></p>
<p>A former computer chip design engineer turns his math skills toward managing a socially-responsible mutual fund. Longsplice Investments is a mutual fund company that explicitly emphasizes selection of portfolio companies that are good corporate citizens.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rick Drain, Founder<br></br> Longsplice Investments.…<br></br></p>
<p><strong><span><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></span></strong></p>
<p>A former computer chip design engineer turns his math skills toward managing a socially-responsible mutual fund. Longsplice Investments is a mutual fund company that explicitly emphasizes selection of portfolio companies that are good corporate citizens.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Rick Drain, Founder<br/> Longsplice Investments.<br/> <a href="http://www.longspliceinvestments.com">www.longspliceinvestments.com</a></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: #008000;"><strong>Watch a video of our conversation...</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Bvwps-LpiFI?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span style="color: #008000;"><strong>Excerpts:</strong></span></p>
<ul>
<li>" Socially-responsible means something different to absolutely every person on earth"</li>
<li>According to Longsplice's definition: “Good Corporate Citizens practice Respect:</li>
<li style="list-style: none; display: inline;"><ul>
<li>for the environment</li>
<li>for human and workers' rights</li>
<li>for shareholders</li>
<li>for the less fortunate"</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<div><ul>
<li>"I've found an aspect of finance that's very modeling and simulation - oriented, just like what I did as a chip designer, so in a whole new field I was right at home using skills I seemed to be pretty good at"</li>
<li>Advice for aspiring entrepreneurs? "Go for it" and "Have savings before you commit to supporting yourself"</li>
<li>"By the time I retire-- again-- I want 'socially-responsible mutual fund' to be redundant. I want all investing to be socially responsible."</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
</div>
<p> </p> Mushroom Growing in a Nearly Closed-Loop Systemtag:www.innovatingsmart.org,2011-11-18:5294332:Topic:124012011-11-18T20:02:13.560ZNatalie Forsythehttp://www.innovatingsmart.org/profile/NatalieForsythe
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<div><span>Growing mushrooms in a nearly closed-loop system, integrating many advanced indoor growing technologies.</span><br></br> <br></br> <span>John Ashbaugh</span></div>
<div><span>CEO of Premier Mushrooms</span></div>
<div><span><a href="http://www.premiermushrooms.com">www.premiermushrooms.com</a></span><br></br> <br></br> <strong><span style="color: #008000;">Watch an Introductory Video:…<br></br></span></strong></div>
<p></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<div><span>Growing mushrooms in a nearly closed-loop system, integrating many advanced indoor growing technologies.</span><br/> <br/> <span>John Ashbaugh</span></div>
<div><span>CEO of Premier Mushrooms</span></div>
<div><span><a href="http://www.premiermushrooms.com">www.premiermushrooms.com</a></span><br/> <br/> <strong><span style="color: #008000;">Watch an Introductory Video:<br/></span></strong></div>
<p><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5TCJ-_1uj-g?wmode=opaque" frameborder="0"></iframe>
</p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Listen to the full story on Podcast:</span></strong></p>
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<br/> <a style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; padding-left: 41px; color: #2da274; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: none;" href="http://www.podbean.com">Podcast Powered By Podbean</a></div>
<div><br/> <br/> <strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong></div>
<div><div><ul>
<li><span>"We are a vertically-integrated company. We start with a number of recycled materials: wheat straw, dried poultry waste, gypsum board, cotton seed meal. We mix it all together and start the decomposition process. This becomes a substrate for our mushroom growing."</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span>"We are a zero-discharge water facility... All of the water that we use for cleaning and watering gets captured back into a pond which we use for our composting process. All of the stems, from our picking of mushrooms, are recycled and [become] part of our composting process. The only output of our whole facility is our spent compost that goes back as a soil amendment to our local ranches and farms."</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span>"In any agricultural process where you are controlling it as much as we are, there is cost associated with that. You are going to use a lot of power... Our goal is to reduce the usage through a number of programs that we have with PG&E and what is left is to figure out solar and other renewable programs, perhaps a digester, where we can reduce or eliminate [our energy use.]"</span></li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li><span>"I’ve been in a number of different industries: technology, Internet, assisted living. What I have found is that there are things that are commonplace in [an] industry, that another industry may have never even contemplated using or thinking about, whether that is a distribution systems or technologies in one form or another. You really need to keep your eyes open to look at dissimilar industries to get ideas about what might work differently. Set that in your path and be the innovator."</span></li>
</ul>
</div>
<br/> <span><br/></span></div>
<p> </p> Future 500: Providing Innovative Diplomacy between NGO Watchdogs and Corporate Americatag:www.innovatingsmart.org,2011-08-30:5294332:Topic:91012011-08-30T21:08:45.678ZRobert Bostickhttp://www.innovatingsmart.org/profile/RobertQuickBostick
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Advancing the triple bottom line by finding common ground between corporations and NGO watchdogs - moving past entrenched self-interests toward equally shared goals.</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>Erik Wohlgemuth, COO</span></p>
<p><span>The Future 500</span></p>
<p><span><a href="http://www.future500.org">www.future500.org</a></span></p>
<p><span> …</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<p><span>Advancing the triple bottom line by finding common ground between corporations and NGO watchdogs - moving past entrenched self-interests toward equally shared goals.</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><span>Erik Wohlgemuth, COO</span></p>
<p><span>The Future 500</span></p>
<p><span><a href="http://www.future500.org">www.future500.org</a></span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Watch the video intro...</span></strong></p>
<iframe width="420" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/SMT_lolFn2I?wmode=opaque" height="345"></iframe>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;"> </span></strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Listen to the full conversation on podcast...<br/></span></strong></p>
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<br/><a href="http://www.podbean.com" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-weight: normal; padding-left: 41px; color: #2da274; text-decoration: none; border-bottom: none;">Podcast Powered By Podbean</a></div>
<br/><br/>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong><span><br/><br/>-You are seeing a change today where you have NGO’s increasingly professionalizing and </span><span>getting better at translating their social and environmental objectives into business terms </span><span>and you are finding businesses understanding that they have externalities that they impose </span><span>on society and they need to begin to integrate social and environmental thinking and considerations </span><span>into their business planning.</span></p>
<p><span><br/></span></p>
<p><span><span>-Our specialty is fostering casual engagement where people are much more likely to open </span><span>up over a beer, over coffee, where they don’t feel like they have to bring their ideology to the table. </span><span>Sometimes we encourage the NGO’s to show up at a conference where they know </span><span>a company they wish to speak to is going to be speaking and we encourage them to reach </span><span>out to them and say “I would love to meet you for a drink during one of the breaks or meet </span><span>you for coffee and similarily we do the same thing with the company.” </span></span><span>We even encourage both </span><span>parties to pick up the phone and call each other up for advice. </span></p>
<p><span><br/></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>-Activist groups and NGO’s are really trusted by consumers and the </span><span>media. Multinational corporations are not. So again you are having a David versus </span><span>Goliath story dynamic so when the activist groups popularize an issue over social </span><span>media it can be quickly picked up by the mainstream press because they see that </span><span>David and Goliath story and that sells papers. Companies should learn to see this </span><span>as feedback as market R&D about what they can and can’t do in terms of your social l</span><span>icen</span><span>s</span><span>e to operate.</span></span></span></p>
<p><span id="internal-source-marker_0.15807730751112103"> </span><span> </span></p>
<div><span><span>-Sustainability issues are highly complex. When you are grappling with an issue that is being put out into the popular mainstream everyone is using their soundbites to get their point across. Fundamentally when they get down to the table together and a company explains what they are doing operationally, what their challenges are cross functionally in terms of aligning various business units around common things like</span> <span>procurement specifications, and when the NGO’s begin to really understand the economic dynamics that are happening in various industries, they begin to understand the complexity of the problem and begin to work together on a more systemic solution to address the problem. Sound bites are not going to get you there. It is when you really roll up your sleeves that you are going to come up with a solution that will work.</span></span></div>
<br/>
<p> </p>
<p> </p> Object Security -- Protecting the Smart Gridtag:www.innovatingsmart.org,2011-08-17:5294332:Topic:88022011-08-17T02:17:57.760ZSue Lebeckhttp://www.innovatingsmart.org/profile/SueLebeck
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<div class="callout">To automate complex, manual, error-prone and expensive security processes, to make them cheaper, faster and better, with less user involvement.</div>
<p> </p>
<div class="callout">Dr. Ulrich Lang<br></br> CEO and Founder<br></br> ObjectSecurity</div>
<p><a href="http://www.objectsecurity.com">http://www.objectsecurity.com</a><br></br> <br></br> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Watch this short story…</span></strong></p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">THE INNOVATION:</span></strong></p>
<div class="callout">To automate complex, manual, error-prone and expensive security processes, to make them cheaper, faster and better, with less user involvement.</div>
<p> </p>
<div class="callout">Dr. Ulrich Lang<br/> CEO and Founder<br/> ObjectSecurity</div>
<p><a href="http://www.objectsecurity.com">http://www.objectsecurity.com</a><br/> <br/> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Watch this short story "from-the-field":</span></strong></p>
<p><iframe width="425" height="349" frameborder="0" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/wN0lb9pr7R4?wmode=opaque"></iframe>
</p>
<p> </p>
<p><strong><span style="color: #008000;">Excerpts:</span></strong><br/> <br/> - It's compelling to me because there is the gap in the market we saw many, many years ago; no one was doing it, and it had to be done.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>- Something on paper is relatively worthless; <br/> we wanted to make it real...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>- Without security, most of these applications that will materialize the eco-savings aren't going to happen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>- Cycles of change are snail-paced... <br/> You've got to have stamina... it's not going to happen overnight. </p>
<p> </p>