Green Energy in South Carolina

Last week, I was reading Clean Tech Revolution and discovered that Austin Energy is the nation's leader in selling green power. Curious to see how they pulled this off, I logged on to Austin Energy's website, and found that they offer a Greenchoice energy program in which their customers pay an additional 2.05 cents per kilowatt hour to be supplied with local, clean energy. This made me wonder, does South Carolina have a program like this set up? The answer is yes they have a program, but not an identical one. As of April 2008, SCE&G, Duke Energy Corp., and Progress Energy Inc. are all offering to sell green energy to their 1.3 million South Carolina customers.

So why have South Carolina’s programs not been as successful as Austin Energy, who’s Greenchoice program often has a waiting list? The answer may lie in the fact that South Carolina’s energy companies charge a 4 cent premium for green energy while Austin Energy only charges a 2 cent premium. Also, Austin Energy offers a 5 year green energy contract. This binding agreement is popular because many customers believe that it will save them money in the long run, as regular energy prices continue to rise. If South Carolina energy companies enacted similar programs, demand for green energy would rise, as would local green energy production. Currently, South Carolina’s energy companies are supplied with green energy from several landfill methane projects and one solar project. If demand for green energy rises as much as it has in Austin (up 400million kwh since 2007), South Carolina would see a large amount of growth in the green energy industry, especially wind and solar. This would create more jobs in South Carolina, and put this state on the map as a mecca for green energy production.

Green Salon

**picture courtesy of greenhairpdx.com; click on their picture to go to site**

As the semester progressed I began thinking of ideas that would interest me and at the same time enhance the green movement. The other day while I was at the hair salon I overhead some hair stylist discussing a green salon so I began doing research on the idea. It turns out there are many "green"salons worldwide. The products used in these salons are organic products and the furniture is recyclable. You can locate a green spa/salon near you at: www.gogreensalon.com. Green salons include products such as organic shampoo, organic nail polish, recyclable furniture and materials, plastic material, etc. I found this idea to be quite interesting being such a girly girl. If there was a green salon near I would definitely support it because after all they are contributing to your carbon footprint...lol. You can also visit www.greenhairpdx.com to see a real green salon. Some of their green updates include:

• Reclaimed wood when rebuilding each station
• All paper goods were printed on recycled paper using soy-based ink.
• Styling chairs were upholstered in Eco-friendly PVC-free material.
• Low VOC paint was used to paint every surface inside the building.
• Cotton denim insulation was used wherever new insulation was needed.
• Use Energy Star appliances
• Use earth-friendly cleaning products.
• Use Davine products; Davines is a company that produce products with all natural ingredients. They also only use renewable energy sources in their laboratories. For more information on their products visit: www.Davines.com.

The American Clean Energy and Security Act

Attention Charleston Green Business Community:

Just under the national political radar looms an opportunity to finally pass comprehensive Clean Energy and Green Jobs legislation.

The American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act of 2009-2010 will be debated and voted upon immediately after the final decision regarding the Comprehensive Healthcare Reform Bill. This is a call to action for the Green Business community to educate themselves and speak out with their opinions in support for this legislation.

Current Supporters say the ACES act will:

"* Put America back to work
* Transition the U.S. to clean, affordable energy
* Make us safer as we lessen our dependence on foreign oil
* Help America regain the mantle of leadership as the international community negotiates a global climate treaty later this year"

(www.repoweramerica.org)

Current critics claim:

"The Kerry-Boxer bill could mean a huge new energy tax on farmers, truckers, small businesses and America’s families and imperil millions of U.S. jobs."
(energycitizens.org)

Senator Lindsey Graham has decided to contribute bi-partisan support to the ACES act and is currently under extreme pressure from special interests to reverse his decision. Please take the time to educate yourself about the stipulations of the ACES act and join me and other concerned voters by writing a letter to senator Graham. As members of the Green Business Community and citizens of the World it is our responsibility to voice our support for this bill and share our opinions about how it could be better for the American people.

The bill will provide the right mix of Federal incentives to support growing green businesses and facilitate the creation of clean energy and sustainability focused jobs. Trade negotiations with nations that fail to respect the environmental concerns of this age will ensure that U.S businesses are not put at risk by these new policies. Most importantly, the new energy resources explored by this bill will drastically reduce our country's reliance on foreign petroleum products and help regain energy independence for the United States of America.

I have created a facebook group to facilitate open discussion and share opinions. Search for Support Clean Energy Legislation on facebook to join. Our members, with help from RePower South Carolina, intend to host several events to rally other concerned citizens to this cause. We will host sessions to share ideas and letter writing events to get legitimate arguments on to the senator's desk.

If you would like to help our efforts or contribute in any way, please contact me, Benjamin Gordon. You can find my contact information on the facebook group and explore the links and discussions being held on the subject. For more detailed info, a brief summary and open discussion of the ACES act can be found on my blog at www.generationbinary.com/wordpress.

Thank you for your interest in helping to fight for successful Clean Energy and Green Jobs legislation. Make your voice heard and help turn the pages of history for a brighter 21st century!


Benjamin D. Gordon

Outdoor Education as a Business Opportunity

We have had various discussions this past semester in Ecopreneurship about the realm of education and the importance of informing the general public on issues concerning the environment. As the world of eco friendly business expands it is important to consider this environmental education of our future generation. No matter what goods or services a “green” business provides, its success depends on environmentally conscious individuals at every level. This past summer I had the incredible opportunity to work at the Green River Preserve summer camp for “young naturalists”. The camp sits on 3,400 acres of pristine wilderness and teaches kids the importance of respecting our environment, living sustainably and understanding the interconnectedness of all life. The program director has taken this model and implemented it into the local schools in the area along with other environmental leaders. A program called Muddy Sneakers has come about due to his vision and is currently found in 18 schools around the district. Muddy Sneakers uses values and practices, like that of the Green River Preserve, to get kids outdoors and help them understand our intimate connection to the natural world.
Programs like Muddy Sneakers are beginning to pop up all over the country and for good reason. The understanding our society is beginning to have about our effect on the environment is causing a “green revolution” to sweep the nation. The business world is being affected just as much any other area of society. In my opinion green business should not only provide eco-friendly products but should also work to support the environmental education system that is beginning to develop in the US and around the world. This would aid green businesses in two ways. One, with more support from local businesses, education programs like Muddy Sneakers could continue to do the great work they do while receiving more financial support from local green business owners. Green businesses could improve their reputation, their networking and their advertising market by helping support communities with strong environmental education programs.
Secondly, the more financial aid green businesses can provide to environmental education systems the greater the amount of people those systems will be able to educate. With more environmentally conscious citizens, come more potential customers for green businesses. The benefit could go both ways. Green Businesses are constantly in need of more public relations and a larger customer base. Environmental education programs are constantly in need of financial support and interest from their local communities. Green businesses, no matter what their product line may be, need to start seeing these areas of education as business opportunities in order to help out our future generations.

For more information on the recent news of Muddy Sneakers, please check out:
http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20090421/NEWS/904209947?&tc=autorefresh

EPA's Greening Your Products

Hello, fellow Charleston Green Business supporters! I just wanted to share a document with you that I ran across while surfing the Internet.

In February 2002, the EPA released a very educational document entitled “Greening Your Products: Good for the environment, good for your bottom line”. In the paper, they give reasons why introducing green products can be more profitable. The authors provide thoughts on identifying, producing, and marketing green products.

They also provide many useful links, diagrams, and environmental program descriptions that may aid in a green businessperson’s product/service conceptualization. The article also supplies several case studies that set the ecopreneurial mind in motion.

Whether you already have or are considering launching a green business, this publication is definitely worth your perusal.

The full document (a great source of reference) can be viewed and downloaded at:
http://www.epa.gov/epp/pubs/jwod_product.pdf?cm_sp=ExternalLink-_-Federal-_-EPA

Funding a Green Business

I gave a talk on funding green businesses at the Green Business Expo last week. This week there is an article on greenbiz.com the topic from a VC perspective. Some of it mirrors what I talked about:

AC: You outline 5 types of investment capital in a business: self-funding, friends and family, angel investors, venture capitalists, and traditional lenders. Which strategy is most appropriate for seed stage, early stage and late stage companies?

BK: Seed stage is really just an idea and a business plan. Early stage is when you have a product or service ready to handle sales and customers. Late stage is when you are up and running, you've got customers, and are further along in generating revenue. Most venture capitalists are early and late stage investors because seed stage deals carry greater risk to the investor. For these seed and early stage companies, self-funding, friends and family, and angel investors are the best bets.

But it does get more into the VC perspective than I discussed.

One key lesson - get out there, start the business and focus on generating revenue. You're not going to get much investment without proven sales.

Carrotmob

Check out this video to see how people can help a local business be more green.

charleston carrotmob represent. from Justin Nathanson on Vimeo.

Ecopreneurship

I recently attended the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference (BCERC), the premier conference for entrepreneurship research. I attended a couple of paper sessions on social entrepreneurship, but there was only one on sustainable- or eco-preneurship. Academically, there seems to be a greater interest in the sociatel than the environmental business. In fact, over the last few years nearly every time there is a paper or session on sustainable business/entrepreneurship, it is always tied with social business/entrepreneurship (and usually ends up being secondary). While I realize the triple bottom line does often represent sustainable views I wonder if sustainable business/entrepreneurship can ever stand on its own. The issue may be that sustainable business is just what many of think of as the way all business should be, but social enterprises are a distinct subset. So I pose the question to those of you that consider yourself ecopreneurs - is there a social aspect to your business philosophy and if so is it equal to, less than or greater than the environmental aspect?

Interesting New Business

I just read a story, linked from GreenBiz.com, about a new gas station in Dover, NH that sell only biofuels (blended) and has a "congreenience" store. The store pledged that 75% of its products will come from within 100 miles. The store is also powered by solar panels. What will be interesting to see, besides whether the business will succeed, is whether the greater availability of biofuels will impact local residents' vehicle purchase decisions. Will they be more likely to by a E85 car or a diesel so they can run on biodiesel? I know that if I could get biodiesel conveniently, I would seriously consider trading in for a diesel. So who wants to open a station like this downtown?

Today's Green Business Networking event

For today's event we're going to continue to brainstorm ways to make local businesses more green. I've taken the list we came up with last time and divided it into 5 categories, which can be seen below. These will serve as a starting point for generating more ideas tonight. So come out to the Tate Center from 4:30 - 6:30 and bring your creative thinking cap.

Office/Materials/Supplies
Turn off lights when not needed
Print on recycled paper
Print less
Mandate 2-sided printing
Use freecycle or craigslist to acquire and dispose of materials
Offer reusable items in kitchens
Educate employees about wasteful practices
Compost foodscraps
Use green cleaning/janitorial services

Employees
Institute a 4-day work week
Offer telecommuting
Facilitate carpooling and bicycle commuting
Have a mid-day recess

Building
Select sustainable worksites (e.g. LEED certified)
Install green roofs, rain barrels, programmable thermostats, solar panels
Seal building envelope
Use existing structures
Create an organic garden on site

Internal Organization
Name a sustainability officer and develop a plan
Use lifecycle analysis in formulating environmental plan
Use or create environmentally friendly products
E-organizing

External
Partner with DHEC for SCEEP
E-marketing instead of paper
Partner/work with other sustainable businesses

New Theme for Next Networking Event: Bring Your Creativity

I've been asked a few times what the theme will be for the next event. After a bit of thinking I decided that while it's great to have themes about particular industries and gets people thinking of new ideas, it would be really great if we could puts all of those great ideas together and create some value to share with everyone. As my emails note the primary intention of the events is to bring together a wide range of minds. That wide range of experience and knowledge can lead to a wonderfully wide range of ideas. So we will try something new: brainstorming.

Here's what I have in mind. While the regular interactive networking is going on, I will have poster boards or something for capturing ideas. We'll set a new topic each month to address and ask everyone to contribute some ideas. So for the first month we'll do something easy, "tips on how to make businesses more green." With two to three dozen diverse people we can easily come up with a list of 100 or more ideas.

This of course won't take away from the regular networking since the brainstorming will be mostly silent (like a silent auction). And since one of my areas of research expertise is creativity, especially in groups, I can take some time in a separate room to facilitate a more interactive brainstorming session if needed.

Better Know a Lowcountry Green Business - Southeast BioDiesel

Southeast BioDiesel, sebd.biz, is a relatively new company to the area, launching in 2006 by Jim Thompson and Dean Schmelter. They are up in the Noisette area in North Charleston. You won't find their product widely available however, local retailers haven't bought into the idea...yet. There is one gas station in North Charleston, but I don't recall which one. Local shrimpers have been using their product and I understand that they really like how clean it burns compared to the noxious exhaust from petro-diesel.

Besides being a "clean tech" industry, what makes them green? Unlike many other biodiesel producers that use soybeans, SEBD uses rendered poultry fat - a waste product. On top of that their plant was built with plenty of environmental benefits - for example: a lot of reused/repurposed materials including the buidling itself and wise use/reuse of water and rain leading to having no sewege. In fact, the plant is really cool to check out. They seem to like giving tours (I've taken the tour twice), so get in touch with them if you want to see it. I should mention that I know so much about SEBD because Jim and Dean have been kind enough to speak to and work with my students on several occasions - they are true friends of the College.

New Feature - Real Charleston Green Businesses

Over the past year I've come to know many green businesses in the area, and new ones keep popping up on my radar daily. In the past I've mentioned them here and there in posts, but now in the tradition of Stephen Colbert's "Better Know a District/Lobbyist" I will begin a new feature in which I will devote a weekly post entirely to one company. I'll begin with the companies that I know best or are "hot" right now for one reason or another. If you have a company and you would like me to feature it just let me know about it.

Sustainable Business Venturing Class

This may be a little late, but if you're a student at the College of Charleston (or know one) and you're still looking for classes for fall, consider the new class I'm teaching. Here is a course description and list of learning objectives:

MGMT 360-002: Sustainable Business (Venturing)

Fall-12358 – Hansen, T/H 1:40

Course Description

This course approaches environmental problems as entrepreneurial opportunities and sees entrepreneurs as influential in creating social and economic change. This course will help students recognize opportunities to create new businesses that move us towards a more sustainable economy. Industry sectors with strong representation the Lowcountry with a high need and/or possibility for improvement in environmental sustainability will be a particular focus. Students will learn about these sectors through speakers, case studies and industry research. Students will also learn about the business case for sustainability and about creating value for all of an organization’s stakeholders. Students will work in teams to develop a well-defined sustainable new business concept.

Outcomes & learning objectives:

• Understanding of the importance of sustainability/ impact of business on the environment
• Understanding of consideration of value creation for all stakeholders
• Knowledge of locally-represented sectors of sustainable business
• Ability to recognize sustainable business opportunities
• Development of a well-defined sustainable new business concept
• Four written reports, with accompanying presentations: sector report, market research, existing sustainable business, team final business concepts (will include updates of first two)
• Graduate students will conduct a review of the sustainable entrepreneurship literature

Greening Your Office

There's a good article today over on GreenBiz.com about creating The Zero Waste Office. Waste has been one of my primary concerns going way back to grade school in the 70's where I was taught to "waste not, want not" and "reduce, reuse, recycle". The latter of which is hierarchical. That is, try to reduce first, if that's not possible, reuse, then recycle. It seems too often people jump right into recycling without trying the others first. Being one that pretty much abhors waste, I'd like to see people begin bragging about how much they've reduced and reused before they talk about their recycling efforts. Which gets me back to the article. It's one of the few I've read recently that actually brings up the old reduce, reuse, recycle concept. The thing is, it makes perfect business sense. Reducing and reusing saves money, recycling usually doesn't, and in fact may even cost money. Any organization, whether it's a for-profit business, a non-profit charity or even a family, can benefit from saving money by reducing and reusing.

Predicting the Future for Business

In one of the many various electronic newsletter that I receive (getfuturethink.com - focused on innovation) there was a link to a recent NPR piece on predicting the future for business. The main gist of story was about companies' attempts to come up with the next iPod or similar "next big thing." Although not discussed in the NPR piece, the e-mail led into the story with

"While every company is looking for “the next big thing,” few successfully find it. How can you avoid failure when looking toward the future? Keep it simple, and solve people’s most fundamental problems."

This is something I teach my entrepreneurship students - focus on solving problems. This works for the case of green business very well - work on solving environmental problems, but from a consumer perspective. That is, look at consumer problems that are also environmental. A good example is in energy. It costs quite a lot for people fill up their cars or heat/cool their homes. Many of the solutions we can think of also have environmental benefits, primarily that being getting us away from or reducing the use of fossil fuels: solar power, led lighting, bio-diesel, etc.

Green Business Connections

Looking for investment or an investment opportunity? Looking for some other green business connection? I just ran across this page this morning. Build Business Relationships, Find Vendors, Distributors, Partners, Sell Excess Inventory!

Here are a couple examples:

African Wood Inc

We are looking for development partners for our business promoting and facilitating travel, trade and sustainable investment in Africa.

Futura Solar, LLC

Futura Solar seeks licensing partners, manufacturers, installers, green developers.

South Tropical

Ecuador organic shrimp farm seeks development partners and distributors.

MINK
Upscale vegan women's shoe line hand-made in Italy seeks strategic partner knowledgeable about the shoe industry.

One thing I notice is lots of bio-diesel businesses. The other notable is that these businesses are all over the world.

Local Living

I'm back in Charleston now, and it's time to get back to local stories. I ran across an interesting organization this morning, the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies, which has a chapter here in Charleston, Lowcountry Local First. It should be of interest to most of you that read this blog, whether you're a business and would consider joining or you're just looking to support local businesses. Here is the LLF description:

Mission:

Lowcountry Local First advocates the benefits of a local living economy by strengthening community support for independent locally owned businesses and farmers.

We are an alliance that educates the public on the importance of supporting the local economy, and encourages businesses and consumers to be environmentally sustainable and socially responsible. We are one of 52 chapters of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE) www.livingeconomies.org.

We envision a sustainable global economy as a network of Local Living Economies, building long-term economic empowerment and prosperity in communities through local business ownership, economic justice, cultural diversity and a healthy natural environment. Independent businesses create wealth by engaging local people in the production, marketing, and consumption of goods, they pay taxes, and reinvest in our communities.

We educate the public to:

• Reduce material and energy costs

• Recycle and reuse waste

• Buy and sell locally.

• Support local agriculture

The list of member companies is a good resource (found under membership page). While you probably already know local businesses from national chains, it's good to know which businesses are getting involved in things like this. Buying local is of course one of the simplest changes we can make towards being more environmentally-friendly from the simple fact that transportation is reduced. Which means less fuel burned and all the benefits that accompany that. And that goes for not just consumers, but businesses as well - remember that your supply chain can have a huge environmental impact.

Greening Your Business

Continuing on this topic from a couple of weeks ago... I ran across this (pdf) today. Five technology companies provide advice on making the office more green. Most of what's in there might be old hat to many of you, but this is geared more towards the mainstream. What do you think? Is there anything in there that's new to you or perhaps presented in a different way that might make the argument to go green more appealing to the average corporate executive or middle manager? Does the message sound any different given that's it's European (other than talking about Pounds and Euros)?

Another Good Event Tonight

Just a quick note to say that I hope everyone had a good time this evening and did some good networking. Turnout was a little less than I expected, but a combination of: holiday, weather and short span in time since the last one kept some people away. But I will still say this was a success. Several people indicated that they met someone in their industry of interest or made some other worthwhile connection. And it's especially satisfying to know that several of those connections were between CofC students and members of the community, because that's one of the main reasons we hold this event. As I've mentioned in an early blog, I'd like to hear some of the success stories. So if you've got one from this event (or the previous one) and are willing to share, please post a comment.