You may have seen the article on Gizmag about the new Ford Focus Electric car. I am not going to comment on the traditional stuff; instead I would like to point out what I consider some very smart moves on Ford’s part. At Amadeus Consulting we tend to build revolutionary software systems for our clients. That sounds great but releasing new technology to the market can be a tricky endeavor for our clients.

We all like to think we are technical geniuses but the truth is for the most part we are not. If you are not sure where you fall in the spectrum you can just ask yourself questions like when was the last time you fixed a corrupted hard drive on a computer. Or when was the last time you tested the actual read/write speeds of different SSD drives. You get the point.

So what impressed me most is that Ford didn’t just toss this car out to a bunch of dealers which aren’t technical. They are trying to educate the masses. If they were Apple® or Microsoft® they would have teams of people who understand what it takes to release a new technology but car companies are not tech companies by any stretch of the imagination. They are conducting classes and the first graduating class will be a group of reporters. Smart.

Second, they are addressing what people are concerned about; range and charge time. It is obvious that this car was built to address range anxiety. Ford also built an affordable charging system for rapid charging.

Third, as we would say in the tech industry they are working on the “user experience.” By providing an app that indicates where charging stations are and creating easy to understand feedback on the dashboard about driving style, Ford is ensuring that consumers will get the most from the car. Ford also made sure that in the end this is a car and it drives just like a “normal” car.

So the only complaint (and I find it amazing that we are down to only one complaint) is the cost is high. To be fair there are lots of cars that cost more than $40,000 but they tend to be luxury sedans so what people are really complaining about when they say the car costs too much is that there isn’t enough value to justify the price. This is a rough issue for electric car makers. With the federal discount the amount becomes much more in line with other cars of similar value but given what batteries cost, a better approach would be to increase the value somehow.

One idea I think would be interesting would be to use the batteries to add value that isn’t normally associated with cars. For example, with the massive battery this car is lugging around it could be a used as a whole house backup generator which costs about $7,000 or more. Maybe the car could be integrated into those who have solar systems as an electrical storage device. The social demographics of a person who buys solar will have a strong correlation to who initially buys an electric car. So instead of waiting until battery technology drops in price why not figure out ways to make electric cars more valuable?

About the Author

John Basso

John Basso is the chief information officer and the co-founder of Amadeus Consulting, as well as Executive Director of BLAST! John is a veteran business technology consultant who has been leading technical teams and implementing leading-edge custom application development solutions for over 18 years. John focuses much attention and strategy on innovation and thinking about what the future holds. His passion for sustainability led him to co-create the BLAST! network and use not only his knowledge of green technology and other sustainable actions, but draw on everyone’s experience and make an even bigger impact.

John has received many awards and nominations over his tenure in the Boulder community, including being named a “Forty Under 40 Business Leader” by the Denver Business Journal in 2005 and received the Boulder County Business Report’s Eco-heroes Award in 2011.

Drum-roll please… we have another one of those “only in Boulder” moments to celebrate!

Any community that aims to achieve “Zero Waste – Or Darn Near,” as the City of Boulder has, needs to replace the landfill with seven different programs. Among the seven—in addition to programs for traditional recycling and composting—is the need for the most cutting-edge program of the lot: a facility to recycle all those non-traditional “hard to recycle” (HTR) items like electronics, block Styrofoam, plastic toys, porcelain toilets, old tennis shoes, yoga mats (that may be an “only in Boulder” element) and the list goes on (check out www.ecocycle.org/charm).

Ten years ago, Eco-Cycle pioneered the first facility in the nation (world?) here in Boulder to attempt this daunting task, and named it the Center for Hard-to-Recycle Materials, or the CHaRM. We are celebrating a decade of success in creating a facility that accepts a wider variety of items for recycling than any other facility we know of in America (or the world) as well as a beloved new local program that helps our community live according to its eco-values.

These days CHaRM isn’t just a Boulder-ism. It’s a whole new word added to the “sustainable waste management” lexicon. Four other communities have tried to follow Eco-Cycle on the CHaRM path:  Logan County, Ohio, Arcata, CA, Athens-Clarke County, GA, and New Mexico State University. They’ve had mixed success, and none of them takes nearly the number of items our CHaRM does. (I’m not sure “yoga mats” will ever be a nationally-accepted CHaRM item.)

Our operating theory has been “if we collect a pile of any one material that’s big enough, someone out there is going to want to either buy or take it from us.” So far so good. Many of our markets are local businesses making fun and creative products from discards.

But after a decade we are scraping the bottom of the trashcan. Every new material we add is getting harder to market. The original idea was to operate the CHaRM at a cost “equal to or lower than the local cost to landfill,” and Eco-Cycle partnered with the City of Boulder who agreed they would pay up to half our operating costs. We were under no illusions that the CHaRM would be profitable, but a landfill is never profitable either!

To our pleasant surprise, after ten years of hard work, risk-taking, public funding support, and a great recycling public ethic in Boulder County and beyond, we have never charged the City more than about 25% of our operating costs, and it looks like this year we might come close to breaking even if the recycled metals market stays strong. Wow, even we never saw that coming! Good job, Boulderites, and thanks for making the CHaRM something to brag about!

Learn more about the CHaRM and what happens to CHaRM materials at www.ecocycle.org/charm.

About the Author

Eric Lombardi

Eric Lombardi is the Executive Director of Eco-Cycle, Inc. (www.ecocycle.org) and is recognized as an authority on the social and technical aspects of creating community-based “Zero Waste” resource recovery programs. Lombardi has experience internationally as a consultant and public speaker, and was invited to the Clinton White House in 1998 as one of the Top 100 USA Recyclers. Eric is also a cofounder of the U.S. GrassRoots Recycling Network (www.grrn.org) and the Zero Waste International Alliance (www.zwia.org).

When it comes to selling sustainability there are essentially two kinds of people; those who believe in what you are selling and those who believe that what you’re selling is good for the bottom line. While some have belief in both, most are more dominant in one way of thinking.

We’ve all been there; attempting to get approval to implement a new “green” idea or trying to get folks to participate in an existing program, only to get rejected or find out that your message isn’t quite getting through to everyone. So what’s the problem, doesn’t everyone want to do something good for the environment?

The truth is everyone wants to be greener, just some of us are thinking more in terms of Benjamin Franklin’s rather than Al Gore. The key is to appeal to both audiences’ at once.

For instance let’s say you start a simple campaign to get people to use less disposable coffee cups. Most people look at a disposable coffee cup and see nothing more than trash. And for the most part both types of people see little value in their busy day to save one cup from the landfill. But if for example you make the argument that your company uses 50,000 cups per year at a rate of 150 per person and a cost of $7,000 (enough to buy everyone a reusable mug) and those cups require 20 trees, 2,400 kWh of energy, and 12,500 gallons of water to manufacture, and generate 6 tons of CO2 in the process…  Now you’ve made a value proposition and created a connection with both audiences that each and every coffee cup has inherent value beyond its presumed purpose. You can even get a little crazy by taking it up another level and discuss the costs and impacts that 23 billion (~76 per person) disposable coffee cups used each year in the U.S. has. (BTW – It’s over 9 million trees, 2 billion kWh of electricity, nearly 6 billion gallons of water, generating 2.9 million tons of CO2 and costing well over 2 billion dollars a year for starters.) Even good old Ben would think we are all a little crazy with this one!

While we won’t be able to make a business case for every single sustainability idea or get our message through to everyone, we are in a perfect storm of sorts with the economic downturn, and business’ are leaving no stone unturned when it comes to looking for ways to save money. Let’s face it: saving is back in style, so let’s ride the proverbial wave and look under every rock we can find and learn to speak in terms of the business. There are tons of ways to measure the costs and impacts of any particular sustainability project. When the low hanging fruit starts to dry up be creative, talk about how a project will improve your company’s reputation, or reduce impact on the community or other intangibles that can create added business value. And finally when it comes to facts, get them right or you will lose your credibility quickly.

About the Author

Rob Harsh

Rob Harsh lives and works in Boulder, Colorado where he manages Corporate Environmental Sustainability at Amgen Inc. With more than 17 years experience in the environmental field Rob’s career has spanned numerous industries, working in the chemical, automotive, beverage and pharmaceutical fields. Previous to joining Amgen in 2007 Rob managed sustainability programs at Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon National Parks in Utah and Arizona. Rob holds a BS degree in Environmental Health from Illinois State University.

As 2011 closes and 2012 starts things are looking good! There is a pulse in the economy, increased guests at the hotel and some amazing blues music coming up. I say “About time!” The last couple of years have been a long haul. Longer than I remember from previous economic downturns and it feels great to be on a positive track.

And not just for business, but for business’ impact on the environment. As a business owner, I know we all get our heads down sometimes, and I admit to having become an ostrich at times during this recession. It seemed that all we could do was to prepare for the next round of bad news rather than to take the next major step in our journey.

In the last eight months one of my colleagues in the local hotel industry undertook a major initiative in terms of their environmental strategy. I will tell you (as I told them) that it got me to get my head out of that hole in the ground and look at the next steps that we could take. We are just finishing a retrofit of our public area lighting and with the great rebates available it will end up costing me very little and saving me a lot.  If you haven’t taken advantage of these programs you should be contacting Boulder’s Energy Smart Program www.energysmartyes.com. Even if you are a tenant in the building, if you work with your landlord this can be a win-win investment.

On an even more positive note, just the other day I saw another local business having solar panels installed on their roof. And this is from someone who I had thought prescribed to the Rush Limbaugh Theory of Climate Change. If they have become convinced to take positive action, then the wind is really blowing strong at our backs. Let’s unfurl the sails and take advantage of it!

About the Author

Daniel M. King

Daniel M. King, CHA

Dan King’s hospitality career, spanning over 30 years, includes restaurant management, financial and real estate consulting, banking and hotel management and ownership. Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from The Hotel School at Cornell University and has received accreditation as a Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) from the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Dan has been a frequent lecturer at hospitality conferences and has authored articles published in the HVS Journal, Real Estate Forum, Real Estate Finance, Hotels On-line and the Real Estate Finance Journal. Dan serves on the Board of Directors for the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, and has served on the Executive Board for the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Boulder Parks & Recreations Finance Sub-committee, the City of Boulders Blue Ribbon Commission on Expense Controls and is a past-President of the Boulder Hotel and Motel Association. Dan was awarded the 2007 Volunteer of the Year Award from the Boulder Chamber of Commerce.

I just read this very interesting snippet about computers recycling (reusing) heat that is generated from their own system by turning a portion of the heat into electricity.

Why I find this interesting is because given current economic and environmental constraints we may be on the tipping point of actually trying to maximize the efficiency of all sorts of products. As we travel up the efficiency curve towards 100% (realistically 100% isn’t possible) the industry will shift from straight up better design to clever tricks to grab the last 10% or so of efficiency. We don’t hear about a lot of these sorts of inventions because honestly we haven’t even done the easy stuff yet.

Let me explain. Take something simple like a furnace. The main function of a furnace in a house is to keep you warm. I replaced my old furnace which was 40% efficient with a 95% efficient furnace. Of course my 95% furnace had a defect, so it was replaced with a 98% furnace. The main difference between the 40% and 95% furnace was the introduction of a computer system that more effectively coordinates the fans, flame, etc. To get to 98%, better motors and additional electronics have to be used. So ignoring for now that I doubt that the furnace is actually 98% efficient what sort of tricks would have to be deployed to more efficiently heat a home?

Here are some ideas:

• Completely seal the house so vents, such as bathroom vents, don’t vent to the outside but rather though a heat exchanger. This will reduce the need for heat.
• Run the hot exhaust through the center of the intake pipe (a heat exchanger) so cold air is pre-heated before it put in the furnace. This will reduce the load on the furnace.
• Install a computerized thermostat that turns off the heat when no people are in the house and can tell when occupants are at home or school based on those occupant’s calendars. This will reduce the run times of the furnace.
• Capture hot air from the dryer vs. venting it outside. This will provide an alternate fuel source.
• Better insulation. This will reduce the load.
• Capture heat from hot bath water. This will reduce the load.
• Circulate air in the house to create a more even temperature. This will level out the heat so people don’t over heat some sections and under heat others.
• Heat only the floors or rooms that are occupied. This will reduce the load.
• Stop heating rooms once beds are occupied because people are sleeping. This will reduce the run time.
• Higher efficiency motors will make the system more efficient.
• Multiple smaller systems may reduce the need to cycle the system and allow smaller units to run longer and only run one system on the floor you are currently on.

Some of these focus around making the furnace better and some of these focus around the desired result – keeping the occupants warm when they want to be. This is different than keeping the house warm. You can see how technology will start to play a great roll as we try to sap every drop of utility for our devices. Imagine if your furnace and your car were working together to keep you warm. Maybe if your car GPS knew you were 20 minutes from home it could signal the furnace to turn on next to the TV because you always watch your favorite show on Tuesdays. That is unless your show is a rerun which your TiVo would have to weigh in or it is your wife’s birthday; which your furnace could gather from your Facebook account. You get the point. We have all this technology and it will be great when it can all work together to help us consume resources more efficiently.

About the Author

John Basso

John Basso is the chief information officer and the co-founder of Amadeus Consulting, as well as Executive Director of BLAST! John is a veteran business technology consultant who has been leading technical teams and implementing leading-edge custom application development solutions for over 18 years. John focuses much attention and strategy on innovation and thinking about what the future holds. His passion for sustainability led him to co-create the BLAST! network and use not only his knowledge of green technology and other sustainable actions, but draw on everyone’s experience and make an even bigger impact.

John has received many awards and nominations over his tenure in the Boulder community, including being named a “Forty Under 40 Business Leader” by the Denver Business Journal in 2005 and received the Boulder County Business Report’s Eco-heroes Award in 2011.

The message we used to get was “Give a hoot –don’t pollute!” As long as we weren’t throwing trash out of the car window we could continue our guilt free trash generating lives, right?

Since then, we’ve learned that it’s not as simple as keeping trash off the highways and street paths. It’s not a simple matter of getting items in a trash can, it’s about what these items are AND where should they go. We now separate our “garbage” into several different bins rather than into one can.

Give a hoot has transformed into reduce, reuse, recycle.  And changed trash into resources!

This is the stepping stones to Zero Waste, changing minds, changes behavior.  At Amgen,we used the simple premise that less is more (less bins, less confusion, less frustration) and made the commitment to change a trash type campus to one where Woodsy would be happy to perch.

Result? Once our staff realized that there was no going back, they began to accept our message of reducing, reusing and recycling and then, even more importantly, started taking responsibility for the waste they created.

So the lessons learned are far more reaching than simply keeping the trash contained, it’s about what we create, what it is we can recycle, and the proper placement for these resources.  Who doesn’t trust an owl?

About the Author

Rob Harsh

Rob Harsh lives and works in Boulder, Colorado where he manages Corporate Environmental Sustainability at Amgen Inc.  With more than 17 years experience in the environmental field Rob’s career has spanned numerous industries, working in the chemical, automotive, and pharmaceutical fields.  Previous to joining Amgen in 2007 Rob managed sustainability programs at Zion, Bryce and Grand Canyon National Parks in Utah and Arizona.  Rob holds a BS degree in Environmental Health from Illinois State University.

It’s easy to forget that the burger, bacon or drumstick on your plate came from an animal. That’s why Whole Foods has partnered with the Global Animal Partnership to ensure the meats we sell, and you eat, are free of all hormones and antibiotics and come from animals raised with care and compassion.

The Global Animal Partnership developed the 5-Step Animal Welfare Rating System, and we at Whole Foods are happy to uphold these standards. This is a tiered system and being at Step 1 is an accomplishment! We are asking more of our farmers than we ever have before and the days of raising chickens in overcrowded coops and cows that can’t move around are over! Farms are third party certified using specific criteria to evaluate animal health, well-being, handling, living conditions and transportation.

No matter what the rating, it is prohibited for farmers to use any growth hormones, antibiotics or animal by-products in feed. In Step 1 animals must be able to move around freely and have space to get up, walk around, and preen themselves. It is prohibited to physically alter animals other than the purpose of castration. That means, chickens live their lives with their beaks and all their toes and pigs always have tails. Step 1 takes into account when an animal is weaned from its mother and how long it is allowed to travel. With each step the criteria and guidelines become even more animal centered, the weaning time longer, and travel shorter, all the way to Step 5 where the animal is required to be born and slaughtered on the same farm.

These ratings ensure that our customers are getting the best quality meat whenever they come into the store and that we at Whole Foods are as transparent as possible. Next time you are in the mood for a burger walk into a Whole Foods, take a trip to the meat department and look for the color coded signs and stickers around the department. You’ll know you are not only getting the highest quality meat but also that it came from a farm with the utmost integrity. Want to know more? Visit our Animal Welfare website; http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/meat/welfare.php

About the Author

Jade Sevelow Lee

Originally from Chicago, Jade has moved all over the U.S. and world, living in South Carolina, Tennessee, California, Canada, Israel and finally Boulder, CO! She graduated from College of Charleston with a B.S. in Psychology with a focus in Animal Behavior. Formally a dolphin trainer and snowboard instructor, Jade started her career at Whole Foods a year ago and is now working as produce supervisor and Green Mission representative at the Ideal Market location!

“Living sustainably comes in steps, and each step is as important as the next. We must eco-evolve to survive and to sustain this beautiful planet.  We have to change our thinking and work together to lessen our impact one step at a time!”

Here’s a head scratcher for you: Why did a private landfill company in Vancouver, Canada pay Eco-Cycle to speak at a conference of urban planners about creating a Zero Waste Vancouver with a goal of reducing landfilling by 90%?! Won’t this put them out of business? Aren’t we – the Zero Waste advocates of the world – the enemy of the landfill companies? Something strange is happening here.

The world is tired of building these facilities.

Landfills are political suicide for elected officials, they cost a zillion dollars, and no one wants one built within 100 miles of their backyard. It’s becoming more clear that resource recovery through recycling, composting and reuse is a better way to go, especially if a community really commits to pursuing a Zero Waste goal.

Since we define a successful Zero Waste effort as 90% diversion or better from the landfill/incinerator, what is the role of landfills? The answer is NONE, if they continue to do business as usual. Burying our natural resources has no place in the green economy of the 21st century. But if, rather than fighting Zero Waste, they are willing to substantially shift their business model toward being a piece of the Zero Waste infrastructure, there is a job for them. This new potential is what interests the landfill company in Vancouver, and, if they are serious, they may set a new green trend for their peers.

Materials come in pre-sorted by the community for recycling, composting and reuse. They can then screen any residuals, or whatever’s left, for potential additional recoverable resources. The Zero Waste model can help the community reach 90% landfill diversion. Only the remaining 10% (or less!) ends up going through the gates to be buried in what is now a cleaner, stabilized, recovery-oriented version of today’s landfills. This way the landfills can defeat their primary competition (trash incinerators), while joining the green economy!

It’s possible that within just a few more years we will have the full Zero Waste infrastructure in place locally, so that any community in our County could pursue and achieve that 90% landfill diversion goal.

About the Author

Eric Lombardi

Eric Lombardi is the Executive Director of Eco-Cycle, Inc. (www.ecocycle.org) and is recognized as an authority on the social and technical aspects of creating community-based “Zero Waste” resource recovery programs. Lombardi has experience internationally as a consultant and public speaker, and was invited to the Clinton White House in 1998 as one of the Top 100 USA Recyclers. Eric is also a cofounder of the U.S. GrassRoots Recycling Network (www.grrn.org) and the Zero Waste International Alliance (www.zwia.org).

We all have a choice. Take the red pill or the blue pill? I’ll present the options.

Throughout history, we have been given the choice of the inconvenient truth or the lie and with either one, the option of which pill.

Choose the blue pill and fall back to sleep, accepting the world as it’s been painted for you by the many and various interest groups. Choose the red pill and open your eyes to the man behind the curtain. Which will you choose?

In the recent past, our attention has been consumed by one topic of conversation: greenhouse gases. This one issue has absorbed most of the media’s “oxygen.” Now today, it’s time we bring it all back to that most uncomfortable and all consuming topic, the real elephant in the room: POLLUTION.

But where to start …from the American Economic Review’s August edition: “Environmental Accounting for Pollution in the United States Economy” written by Nicholas Z. Muller, Robert Mendelsohn and William Nordhaus conclude that “the largest industrial contributor to external costs is coal-fired electric generation, whose damages range from 0.8 to 5.6 times value added.”  They concluded that the cost to our society is upwards of $50 billion dollars a year in damages. Check it out: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.101.5.1649

Hmm …finally, the choir AND the preacher may be getting heard? Not only is pollution topic for discussion, but its biggest contributor, coal, perhaps the touchiest of all subjects, is getting addressed.

True. There are many of us who believe we’re already doing everything we can to protect our only life support system. But still, it all boils down to this. It’s your choice – red or blue. (I’ll warn you, if you decide to take the red pill – you might be dedicating yourself toward a healthier and more sustainable future.)

About the Author

Kai Abelkis

Kai Abelkis – Sustainability Coordinator – Boulder Community Hospital

BCH began their sustainability journey in 1996 when 2 nurses recycled paper and cans from their work area. Kai became their part-time recycling coordinator in 1999 and eventually the full-time sustainability coordinator in 2002. BCH is part of a growing choir of healthcare providers that are integrating sustainability into every aspect of their operations. The core motivation comes from the belief that human health is tied to environmental health.

Last year, I had the opportunity to work with the Governor’s Energy Office, particularly with The Colorado Carbon Fund, a great organization helping communities offset carbon with local projects – things that we can all see and touch.

Communication is the key to almost everything we do successfully and with the help of the Carbon Fund folks we put our heads together and came up with a successful program for our hotel. That’s what it was all about, the sharing of information.

Talking about sustainability, that’s what we’re trying to do with our community and with this blog! We all have unique approaches  to it and if our hearts are really in the right place we should want others to adopt the programs that work (and avoid the ones that don’t)…even with our competing businesses, which brings me to Andrea & Bert, the owners of the Quality Inn and the Golden Hotel. I shared this story in a group setting a few weeks ago and my local competitors were there.

After my story, Andrea asked me a few questions and then decided to start a similar pilot program at the Golden Hotel. Then again just recently, Andrea & Bert made a number of changes at the Quality Inn in Boulder, including the installation of solar panels. These changes will dramatically lower the environmental impact of this hotel. I’ll admit that when I first saw their press release my first reaction was along the lines of: “Man, they are getting ahead of me!” But, as I thought on it for a moment, I realized that we are all in this race together, and their efforts should give me things to think about and recommit myself to, like moving the bar a bit higher in my own operations.

After having been a bit in survival mode during “the Great Recession,” this approach was exactly what I needed. We took a couple projects off the back burner, and now will be spending some money upfront this year that will move our own sustainability efforts along. We really are all in this together and while I may sometimes compete with Andrea and Bert for business, in our sustainability competition we can both win by making each other better.

About the Author

Daniel M. King

Dan King’s hospitality career, spanning over 30 years, includes restaurant management, financial and real estate consulting, banking and hotel management and ownership. Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from The Hotel School at Cornell University and has received accreditation as a Certified Hotel Administrator (CHA) from the American Hotel & Lodging Association. Dan has been a frequent lecturer at hospitality conferences and has authored articles published in the HVS Journal, Real Estate Forum, Real Estate Finance, Hotels On-line and the Real Estate Finance Journal. Dan serves on the Board of Directors for the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, and has served on the Executive Board for the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Boulder Parks & Recreations Finance Sub-committee, the City of Boulders Blue Ribbon Commission on Expense Controls and is a past-President of the Boulder Hotel and Motel Association. Dan was award the 2007 Volunteer of the Year Award from the Boulder Chamber of Commerce.