Leasing Carpet

In 1994, Paul Hawken wrote a book called, The Ecology of Commerce: A Declaration of Sustainability, which argues that industry is destroying our planet. Ray Anderson (pictured), the CEO of a large international resource-intensive carpet company called Interface, read Hawken's book in 1994 and had an epiphany. Anderson realized that he had failed to take the earth's finite natural capital into account when balancing the books at Interface. He immediatly created clean technology goals for Interface and began studying how Interface might change its business model from products to services. In a service model, customers would rent their carpet.

The advantages are many.

• Interface installs, cleans, maintains the carpet


• Worn out carpet tiles are retrieved and replaced by Interface in a rolling, continuous facelift


• The worn tiles are disassembled and face fiber and backing, which are re-used or recycled.


• Carpet is usually viewed as having a lifespan of about ten years. In this new model, carpet is renewed rather that dumped in a landfill.


• Carpet is no longer a capital expense.
  
• In the future, the carpet tiles will be made from durable, non-toxic, non-petroleum-based materials
  
• Carpet tiles are designed to be disassembled and re-used.

Ray Anderson documents this radical shift in his book, Mid-Course Correction. In addition to presenting his plans for Interface, Ray discusses a number of new ways of thinking about sustainability. One of my favorites is Ray's analysis of, throwing away trash. Ray argues convincingly that there is no such think as "away". In a finite, sustainable ecosystem, there is no such place to throw anything. Its on page 114.

Plug-in Hybrids

There has been so much press about plug-in hybrids, PHEVs, that one would think that rechargeable cars with a gasoline range-extender are readily purchasable at WalMart. That's what i thought. There are none commercially available today and experts believe that dealerships will not offer affordable, factory-produced, reliable, and serviceable PHEVs for several years.

It is possible to convert a hybrid into a plug-in hybrid by adding a battery pack and a control system. The cost varies between $6000 and $24000, depending on your do-it-yourself abilities and the battery pack selected. After-market battery choices include old-fashioned lead acid, lithium-ion, and nickel-metal hydride.

Surprisingly, car manufacturers have been lenient on converted-car owners, apparently preferring to support grassroots clean technology and not further tarnish their own big iron reputation. Toyota, Mercury, and Ford manufacturer hybrids amenable to PHEV retrofit. The Honda hybrid cannot be easily converted because the engine and motor always run at the same time.

The CalCars web site web site describes the retrofit process in some detail and lists some vendors who will undertake the task. A photo of a CalCar battery pack is above. Plug-In Conversions Corp here in San Diego will soon retrofit Nilar NiMH batteries and the EAA-PHEV open source control system. They are taking orders now and will being conversions in early 2008. With installation requiring only one day, its faster than having your transmission rebuilt at Pep Boys.

Residential Wind Turbines

PacWind develops, manufactures, and installs wind turbines at residences starting at about $3000. After rebates and tax breaks the turbine should pay for itself in less than ten years through savings in electricity bills. Surprisingly, the turbine requires only 5 MPH of wind to begin generating electricity, and is safe in 100MPH winds. At 100MPH, the turbine is spinning at 600 RPM. PacWind reports that their cylindrical design appears as a solid object when spinning and so is friendlier to birds and bats than the familiar propeller design.

The entry level model is 30 inches in diameter, 48 inches tall, weighs 60 pounds, and generates 500watts. This is, by the way, enough juice to light 30 compact flourescent lightbulbs. Turbines can be stacked if you need extra power for a party.

SunCone Solar Power

Open Energy Corporation (OTC BB) develops and sells a number of renewable energy systems including photo voltaic roofing tiles, glass, and membranes. Open Energy's first product, SunCone (TM), is the most interesting. It uses an optical cone to concentrate sunlight onto rods at the base of the cone. The reflective cone stays cool while the liquid flowing through the rods is super heated, generates steam, and turns a turbine. This solar technology promises to cost less to build, operate, and maintain than existing parabolic trough or dish type systems. Initial testing of the first SolarCone prototype was successful and commercialization is underway.

The concept drawing does not include a tracking motor to keep the system aimed at the sun. Melvin Prueitt, the SunCone's inventor, will work out these details.

Open Energy is headquartered in Del Mar, California, walking distance from the horse track. I bet that Open Energy has a bright future.

Stainless steel is clean technology.

Stainless steel, sometimes called corrosion-resistant steel, is clean technology. Wholefoods sells a stainless steel refillable water bottle (SSRWB). Amazon offers dozens of makes and models. Think of the savings in natural capital if everyone carried a SSRWB. Hundreds of billions of plastic water bottles that would never be created, filled, capped, wrapped, boxed, shipped, shelved, sold, bagged, uncapped, and recycled, or trashed.

Stainless steel is resistant to oxidation because it contains between 13% and 26% chromium. Chromium forms a surface passivation layer that quickly reforms when the surface is scratched.

Stainless steel lasts for generations, is non-toxic, is low-maintenance, is easy to clean, and is relatively inexpensive. Its also lustrous. And according to wikipedia, "Stainless steel is 100% recyclable. In fact, an average stainless steel object is composed of about 60% recycled material, 25% originating from end-of-life products and 35% coming from manufacturing processes."

I'm going to get my Indian guide nation to decree plasticware as verboten, and mandate that each brave and dad invest in a stainless steel dinner kit.

CleanTech San Diego

CleanTech San Diego (CTSD) is a new non-profit organization that is incubating at CONNECT San Diego. CTSD's mission is to create an environment that attracts clean technology companies to San Diego and fosters their growth. Jerry Sanders endorses CTSD in this press release, http://www.connect.org/PRESS/CleanTECHAnnouncement.htm. First steps will be, "... cluster analysis on the current industry and resources in the region, recruiting a cleantech program manager, joining the board of a global cleantech venture network, and the launch of CleanTECH San Diego."

Currently, the highest concentrations of green companies are in San Francisco and Seattle. I am optimistic that, over time, CTSD will put San Diego on the green map.

Cheap Hydrogen

NextJoule appears to have bright and gaseous future. www.nextjoule.com The company has invented a method for creating hydrogen that uses a silicon nanocrystal to capture sunlight and split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The cost of production is approximately the same as petroleum. Using photocatalytic decomposition of water

I believe that if we take the society cost of petroleum into account, the cost of NextJoule's solution is a fraction of the cost of petroleum. Hydrogen is renewable, safe, and produces only water vapor as a by product of combustion.

SustainableBusiness.com

Rona Fried created the SustainableBusiness.com web site ten years ago. She now supports the site by creating and selling a high-quality monthly newsletter on sustainable business. The web site is packed with information, jobs, news, commentary, links, and events. There is also a terrific podcast. The free monthly eNewsLetter is also worthwhile.

When i first found SustainableBusiness.com, i wondered if it was aimed at all businesses that want to reduce their impact on the planet, or businesses that are specifically creating clean technologies for use by consumers and other businesses. I dug around on Rona's web site, and found this definition of sustainable business. Business that contributes to an equitable and ecologically sustainable economy.