Ecopreneurist

Another post inspired by a HARO request.  This time it was an ask for low or no-cost tools used by small businesses.  I did a quick search for the word “free” in my book and realized there are dozens.  Here are my 19 favorites:

1. Free energy-efficiency information, resources, and technical advice—ENERGY STAR for Small Business provides free information, resources, and technical advice on hundreds of cost-savings practices. Includes a downloadable copy of the free ENERGY STAR for Small Business Guide, “Putting Energy into Profits” and information about ENERGY STAR–labeled products.
2. Free recycling and conservation signs—You can customize, download, and print free recycling and conservation signs at recyclereminders.com.
3. Free control of your IT—If you run a network, software from companies like LocalCooling.com allows the settings on computers to be controlled centrally so you can automatically turn those babies off when no one is using them.
4. Free Green IT for Dummies—HP sponsors a free, downloadable, condensed, limited edition of the Green IT for Dummies guide.
5. Free recycling bins—The Coca-Cola/NRC Recycling Bin Grant Program provides recycling bins to selected grant recipients for the collection of beverage container recyclables in public settings.
6. Free rideshare widget for websites— at GooseNetworks.com. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a basic marketing tip: Don’t position your product as green.  Well, not primarily green. Instead, position your products and services first as delivering core consumer benefits then-as a second set of attributes-green. You may even find that your competitors are not onto this savvy positioning strategy.

A couple weeks ago I was looking for examples of this principle. I wanted to show how a company’s marketing message should extend beyond greenness to appeal to other core consumer attributes people expect from a good products.  I put out a query on HARO and received dozens of interesting products.  Of those, five stood out.

The first thing I noticed about Vers iPod Docks is that they are incredibly beautiful.  But, they first thing theat Vers wants you to know about their products is that they sound great. They let the fact that they have been touted as the most environmentally friendly iPod dock available speak for itself and focus instead on the benefits that consumer’s want in a an iPod dock: Great sound and good looks.  In the words of David Laituri, partner in Sprout Creation makers of Vers products:

“We tend to focus on superior sound quality and design, and environmental thoughtfulness a fast second. Since our sustainable design efforts are a work in progress, we avoid ‘green’ and ‘environmentally friendly’ whenever possible.”

Green Toys are made out of recycled milk containers and are made in the USA (so from a supply chain position they are very environmentally sound.) Green Toys are also packaged in recycled corrugated boxes with no plastics, cellophane or twist-ties, and are 100% recyclable. But most importantly, they positioned as safe (they contain no traceable amounts of Phthalates or BPA and have no external coatings with lead paint) and fun (they are chunky and colorful and beg to be played with). Read the rest of this entry »

You hear so much about people striving to live a greener, more sustainable life. You may at times wonder, who else is doing it, and is all that happy talk translating into real world results?

Three friends decided to find out. As they put it,

Mandy, Ryan and Brady are ‘bikepacking’ 12,000 miles to the East Coast and back to California, using solar-powered electronics and leg-powered bicycles.  The result is a feature-length documentary film that will present a realistic experience of seeking out and living in sustainable community.

Started October 2008 and 3800 miles into it as of this writing (with 209 PB&J’s consumed if you must know) they have been filming and Twittering their way across to country, giving a peek into what it looks, feels, and works like to live in sustainable, intentional community, the end result being a film called Within Reach.

It’s clear that these people are 21st century environmentalists - they don’t shun businesses supporting their venture, and in fact proudly list their sponsors on the front page, all of which bear relevance with what they’re doing. This project is Creative Commons licensed, and they are a non profit, allowing for people to support their journey and the making of it into a film afterwords.

So what have they found?

Read the rest of this entry »

June 5th is United Nations World Environment Day.  The U.N. Environment Programme has setup a twitter campaign called ‘twitter for trees’.  All you have to do is ‘follow’ http://twitter.com/unepandyou and they will plant a tree.  The goal is to get 100,000 followers by June 5th.   That plants 100,000 trees, so lets get started!

If you’d like to promote the campaign, feel free to tweet:

Please RT: follow @UNEPandYou and a tree gets planted for free.  Plant extra trees for $1 via http://www.mokugift.com

Mokugift is an official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme.

Image source: United Nation Environment Programme

By contributing guest author Ida Cheinman, Principal and Creative Director of Substance 151, a strategic design agency for Green Printer’s “Design Goes Green” series.

We live in a time when “sustainability” is topping the buzzword charts and a wave of greenwashing is flooding the mainstream. We live in a time of intense competition, gloomy economic forecasts and rapidly disappearing marketing budgets, but also in a time when more and more companies and organizations strive to uphold higher environmental and social values, making the shift to the triple bottom line economic model. Sustainability and social responsibility are the forces that drive many of today’s business decisions; they also change the way organizations re-think their branding and marketing strategies. As marketers and business leaders, we are faced with the challenge of finding differentiation by creating empowering and memorable brand experiences for our audiences in the increasingly crowded sustainable marketplace.

So, What are the rules? Read the rest of this entry »

Last month, Hewlett Packard offered to let us (and many other bloggers) try out their new wireless all-in-one, the OfficeJet Pro 8500.

One caveat: I don’t do many reviews of technology products with lots of features, so if that’s what you’re looking for, there are many in-depth reviews out there for this new model, as well as previous posts by Ecopreneurist Editor Reenita Malhorita, here and here.

Ecopreneurist was chosen to weigh in because HP believes that this new model provides efficiency advantages over even low-grade laser printers, which I originally found hard to believe. I haven’t done a ton of searching to make a technical comparison, but after about a month of use, I’m not sure how that claim is justified, except that color lasers tend to be expensive, bulky, and have less-than-all-around functionality.

HP’s press people also told us “…in Hewlett Packard’s eyes, cost cutting is one of the printer’s best value propositions.” Based on a quick search of printer cartridge prices, I’m not sure how this claim pans out, unless you’re making the argument that one could cut costs by not buying a standalone piece of equipment for each of the printer’s functions, and just buying the Officejet Pro 8500 instead. I suspect, unfortunately, that this is the subtext below the claim, which would seem pretty disappointing from a PR standpoint, given that we’re in 2009, and all-in-ones have existed for a long time.

However, despite shaky PR claims, one thing’s for sure: this all-in-one really is, and all of those features are useable, which I can’t say for all of the all-in-ones I’ve used previously, even from HP.

I’ve definitely seen better standalone scanners, and faster (even inkjet) printers, but the 8500 does do all of the jobs it advertises. Also, the wireless functionality is some of the best I’ve seen in a printer. Maybe it’s just me, but other printers I’ve tried to set up with wireless functionality have either taken forever to get working, or failed outright to work wire-free. This one was easy, on both Mac and PC.

Overall, the Officejet Pro 8500 wouldn’t make a bad choice if a) you could afford it, b) it was the only piece of equipment you could fit in your home office, and c) wireless printing would make it easier for your home networking setup. I’m just not sure there’s a case to be made that it’s any greener than any other similar solution.

Special Offer for Ecopreneurist Readers

Now for the good news. If you are interested in possibly purchasing one of these printers, HP has arranged a special offer for Ecopreneurist  readers to save 20% ($80) on the new HP Officejet Pro 8500 Wireless All-in-One.

Click here for the coupon code and terms and conditions. Visit here for more product information. 

(Note: you may be able to find better deals)

EcoAlign, the group that brought you the research that found that consumers pay attention to the ENERGY STAR label, just released their third report of the Project Energy Code series, Cracking the Green Code. This report, like other EcoAlign research is a provocative and thought-provoking exploration of the “causes and consequences of effective communications in the energy and environmental space.”

The report starts by saying that marketers “are cracking their proverbial heads open trying to figure out new ways to make green behaviors more enticing to the masses.”  While I’m not so sure marketers are trying to make behaviors more enticing (aren’t we trying to make our products and services more enticing to consumers who behave in a relatively predictable way….), I do find consumer reports of “greenness” and the paradoxically non-green behaviors they exhibit perplexing; hence, the “green gap.”  But, in this report EcoAlign suggests that green messaging can be effective for about 75% of the US Population.

In this study, EcoAlign (many of whose clients are utilities) classified utility consumers in four groups and then analyzed three (the forth group was not sufficiently represented in the research group.) Although the report focuses on utility consumers, it seems reasonable to assume the analysis can be extended to all consumers: 

1. The Individualistic Consumer (estimated 30% of U.S. population). These are consumers who are self-centered and primarily concerned with the financial bottom-line.  It is suggested that no-nonsense fiscally responsible products and services that provide a sense of control over energy and energy-related financial expenditures (and all green consumer behavior?) is likely to get their attention if properly messaged. Read the rest of this entry »