Ecopreneurist

Ecopreneur Toby Foster’s organic vodka is made from locally grown Alaska potatoes and glacier water and marketed under the name Permafrost vodka. The Glaciar Creek distillery is Alaska’s first licensed distillery and Foster hopes to cash in on the increased interest in the last frontier.

Or does he?

Alaskan entrepreneur Foster has been working on his pet project, an organic vodka for the past 5 years. His eco friendly operation uses only locally harvested product and plans to use the ethanol extracted during the distilling process to help run the plant’s electrical generators. The unused potato parts will be composted for use in plant side gardens planned for the future.

So what does this have to do with Sarah Palin? Not much until a few months ago. Ecopreneurs in Alaska have benefited from the increased interest in all things north of the lower 48. As reporters bundle up and head for Anchorage, coverage of all things Alaska pop up in mainstream media sites and blogs across the web.

But will it last? Will investment dollars follow? Will consumers suddenly start noticing and purchasing goods from the frozen north in an effort to be hip? What impact will the results of the election have…if the GOP wins or loses? Read the rest of this entry »

The following is guest post submitted to me by the ecopreneurs over at Grow and Make - The Sustainable Living Store.

When MC Milker at Ecopreneurist asked me to consider sharing some of the writing we had been doing at Grow and Make with her readership, I reflected on what it means to be an entrepreneur in this emerging era of sustainability and the  dilemma that we face as both responsible stewards of the earth and successful business people. Grow and Make was founded on the premise that we should create a business which encourages and enables consumers to return to the consumption habits of the 19th century when, through necessity, individuals and families would ‘grow’ and ‘make’ more of their everyday essentials.

Individuals and businesses wishing to adopt more sustainable practices must recognize that minimizing consumption is key to living in a more sustainable manner. Moreover, it is critical for consumers to understand the life-cycle of the goods they consume recognizing that all products leave a significant environmental trail from the cost of conception and production, through the supply chain and into the hands of the consumer, until it’s ultimately discarded and placed in landfill and/or the atmosphere.

While each of these links in the chain can be offset by responsible manufacturers and consumers to some degree, there is no substitute for the benefits of a decision to not consume a product at all.

As an entrepreneur, business owner and consumer, this does presents a dilemma. How to continue to encourage and enable production of goods for consumption while simultaneously discouraging and raising awareness about the perils of consumption?

I believe that the best way to overcome this dilemma is to create best practices for both manufacturers and consumers to consider when creating and consuming goods. Read the rest of this entry »

Since last night’s presidential debate, all I have heard from everybody around me is ‘What about Joe the Pumber’? Clearly, the most talked about man in the U.S. presidential election is now a 34-year-old Ohio resident otherwise known as Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher.

Joe was referenced more than 20 times in Wednesday night’s presidential debate, and has quickly found himself caught in a deluge of media attention, political parody and personal scrutiny. Obama and his running mate, Biden, both criticized Joe as a false idol of the Republican cause. Read the rest of this entry »

Carbon offsets are a great idea, in theory. Buy an offset, which goes to renewable energy or carbon absorbing projects, and increase the health of the planet, right?

Not so clear cut, unfortunately. The path from offset purchase to impact made has been muddied by lack of transparency on how much of your money paid goes to purchasing actual offsets versus to the company you bought them from, does it actually help further already happening projects, and might it actually be going towards an offset that’s already been purchased by someone else, or is expired?

It’s this smoke and mirrors that’s both made people distrustful of these schemes, and in the process missed out on more actual impact being made. Village Green, a company that previously had declined to start an offset program for just these reasons, is now launching one of their own, tomorrow, with complete transparency and at a much more affordable price. Read the rest of this entry »

The recent $700 billion bailout package has extended tax credits to wind and solar energy companies. However since mostly all renewable energy projects depend upon project financing, it is suspected that only large utilities will actually benefit from the tax credits. However, companies such as Carbon Sciences, Inc. (CABN) are proving otherwise.

Transforming CO2 to Fuel

Carbon Sciences, the developer of a breakthrough technology to transform harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) into high value, earth-friendly products such as precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) is now developing a breakthrough technology to transform CO2 into the basic fuel building blocks required to produce gasoline, diesel fuel, jet fuel and other portable fuels. Read the rest of this entry »

Energy independence seems to be each country’s topmost agenda in today’s challenging economic climate. While many companies are looking to take advantage of the new tax credits extended to renewable energy industries, others are looking to solve the problem by finding ways to convert emissions into high value, sustainable technology. Carbon Sciences is developing a breakthrough technology to transform carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions into useful carbonate products that can be used by the paper, pharmaceuticals and FMCG industries.

Carbon Sciences has recently developed CO2-to-Carbonate technology , an industrial platform for transforming CO2 emissions into high value carbonate products such as precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC), a carbon captured product that replaces wood and clay in the paper industry. Carbon Sciences’ clean technology process combines CO2 with industrial waste minerals and transforms them into PCC.

The multi-billion dollar global market for PCC is projected to grow to 10 million tons by 2010. Carbon Sciences attributes this growth to increased worldwide paper consumption and construction. The company has been in discussion with various paper manufacturers to test the use of PCC. An in-house plant will test and optimize the development of this highly valued carbonate product Read the rest of this entry »

The following is guest post submitted to me by the ecopreneurs over at Grow and Make - The Sustainable Living Store.

Last Friday congress passed the renewable-energy Incentive Tax Credit, as an attachment to the $700b financial bail-out. This legislation provides an extension of the existing renewable tax credits, but also includes provisions for new tax incentives as well as bonds and the relaxation of regulations for industry and changes for major utilities.

As an entrepreneur and consumer, I was very curious to learn more about the implications and constraints of this legislation.

Aside from the research I did on my own, I discussed the meaning of this legislation with a few good sources of information, one being Bill Gross at IdeaLab, who has investments in renewable energy. Another excellent source of information was Solar Oregon, a non-profit based in Portland providing consumer information and resources on solar energy. I ultimately ended up talking to the Department of Energy and the IRS to nail down specifics.

What became clear from my inquiries and research is the following:

First, the new legislation applies in 2009, although it extends existing 2005 legislation for renewable energy.

Secondly, there has been a removal of the $2000 tax-credit cap which previously limited the amount that was eligible for a tax-payer refund on their investment. Additionally, you can offset AMT taxes with the credit if you have outstanding AMT taxes due. Residential homeowners can recover 30% of their investment costs and a business can recover 50%.

Additionally, the existing wind power credit has been extended for one year and the geothermal and biomass energy credits have been extended for two years. The 2005 solar energy credit has been extended for eight years. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re a company that’s looking for additional ways to green beyond the obvious, I suggest you look at how you ship internationally. Have you ever looked at where it  goes? If not, do it soon. If it’s with one of the big three, It is far from a straight line. It first goes to a central hub. Even if that’s flying backwards further into the US. Then It goes overseas, but most likely to another hub. Then if it’s lucky, it gets to go to the intended destination.

UPS can talk all it wants about eliminating left turns on their driving routes, but if you’re adding 2-3 legs to the flight getting it there, that makes for a long, carbon intensive trip. And it doesn’t have to be that way.

Read the rest of this entry »

Photo credits: Wired.com.

Entrepreuneur.com recently wrote an excellent guide for small business owners on proactive moves they can take to survive - and better yet, thrive - in the nose-diving economy.

“You Can Weather the Economic Storm (Product price sensitivity and financial creativity can help you thrive in any economy)” is especially relevant for green entrepreneurs as many of the principles underlying Dennis Romero’s advice aligns with what sustainable business leaders already know: go for local resilience, understand the value of community-based goodwill and when in doubt, simply, simplify, simplify to the bare essentials (do the latest farm-fresh food recipes or eco-cleaning supplies mantras sound familiar, anyone?). Read the rest of this entry »

We have a number of loyal readers of this blog in the green apparel industry and its rapid growth is yielding rewards for ecopreneurs targeting the variety of consumers that I mentioned in my post, The 4 Green Fashion Consumers – Which One For You?

The Living Green consumer, who has embraced the whole concept of the environmental lifestyle

The Core Fashionista, “who is looking to build up the green in her fashion portfolio,”.

The Walking Green consumers, “driven by wanting to belong to a greater community. These are trend followers.”

The Spending Green profile, the shopper who buys green clothes because “that sense of exclusivity and entitlement are important to her.

The green fashion industry is exploding. More and more companies are entering the field every day and still, the consumers’ voracious appetitive for eco fashion seems to be not even close to be satiated. Read the rest of this entry »