All over Canada, businesses in diverse fields are coming together for the Clean 15, which brings clean technology to the world, at a faster pace than was previously attempted. Here’s a little bit about the companies behind the competition.

The Canadian Business Journal is a digital journal sent every month to approximately 30,000 senior executives. It offers executives and entrepreneurs a close look at what issues matter the most to the industries of Canada. They tell about Green success stories, and profile the innovations and news that relate to going Green. The Journal connects leaders in business all over Canada.

Fogler, Rubinoff, LLP is a law firm who assists emerging and established businesses. They have developed a CleanTech group, that provides legal services to companies using clean technology in their business or startup. This Clean energy specialist group contains professionals and lawyers who are experts in the fields of environmental and energy law, so they can do a thorough job of guiding businesses towards clean technologies.

OCETA is a non-profit corporation that works to support the adoption and commercialization of environmentally sustainable solutions and cleaner technologies. They provide ways in which companies can have their performance benchmarked, to verify whether the clean technologies are being utilized properly. OCETA has helped about 1,500 Canadian entrepreneurs in making their Green innovations commercially possible.

Drayton Weissenfels Inc. connects industry to ideas and innovations that will allow them to use clean technology more effectively. Based in Toronto, this company helps businesses to create revenue streams from intellectual properties that are underutilized.

Bond Consulting Group can help your company to handle the Research and Development that must accompany all new CleanTech ideas. This consulting group has helped many businesses to incorporate their Green ideas and make them a reality for their companies.

Ricardo McRae.com does web design and branding for corporations looking to achieve their business goals. They use innovative solutions to help their clients gain an advantage in using Green Tech plans to grow their businesses, so that they can be competitive and gain enhanced customer loyalty.

To get more information about the competition, check out www.clean15.com.

Have an old laptop or desktop lying around and you can’t imagine anyone would want ‘That old thing?’ Think again. There are several programs in Canada that divert computers for being shipped overseas to be ‘recycled’ by underpaid workers that come in contact with the mercury and other toxins, often without proper safety gear. Here are a few suggestions…

ReBOOT Canada
Reboot Canada refurbishes old computers and then redistributes them to charities, senior centres and high school students. You can also buy one directly from them if you need a better priced computer. reBOOT can be found in Toronto, Fredericton, Dartmouth, Peterborough and Vancouver.

Computers for Schools
Computers for Schools take old government and corporate  computers, refurbished them and then distributes them to our nations libraries, schools, and not-for-profit learning centres.

Free Geek
Free Geek Vancouver is an ethical computer recycling organization in Vancouver. Their mission is to  reduce the environmental impact of waste electronics by reusing and recycling donated technology.  They provide workshops, job skills training, Internet access and free or low cost computers to the public.

Little Geeks
Little Geeks is a Toronto operation that refurbishes old home computers and redistributes them to children in need. Although the only operate in Toronto, their dream is to expand throughout Canada and internationally. Their Mission is “to provide  free computing technology and education to children and families who cannot afford this resource on their own. ”

Take responsibility for your old technology and make sure it is not shipped overseas and ‘recycled’ into a useless shell that is dumped. It is far more efficient and economical to give it to one of the above organizations.

There has been some interesting news that I have been following lately.

Firstly, UBC came out with a study which revealed that Hybrid rebates are ineffective. According to this study, the majority of people who purchase hybrids were going to purchase them anyway so the rebate did not act as an incentive, but instead are “subsidizing planned purchases“. The study further claims that the rebates spend an average of $195.00 per tonne of carbon saved. There are other technologies and green jobs which are less expensive and could have the same or greater environmental impact, that the government  could invest in instead. The study went so far as to say, the rebates could be viewed as another form of bailout for the limping auto industry in North America.

Just around the same time this study came out, the Ontario goverment committed $17 million to Mississauga-based Electrovaya, a company that makes lithium-ion  battery packs and is working toward producing components for electric cars for a number of international companies. 240 new jobs will come about for this community as well. This money goes directly to a Canadian company working on new technologies, rather to any car company through consumer rebates. Is this what the UBC study was talking about?

Finally, GM has announced Volt, their new rechargeable electric car with fuel consumption of about 1.0 litre per 100 km of city driving (yet to be proven officially). That makes the Volt four times as efficient as the Toyota Prius, which is currently the most efficient car sold in Canada. That is quite a jump in efficiency.  It will cost $40,000 before the provincial rebate, which in Ontario could be as high as $10,000.

The rate of movement seems to have picked up and no longer are companies secretly crushing electric cars. I haven’t yet seen the new documentary, Revenge of the Electric Car; instead I am watching it in real time.

If you are living downtown Vancouver and happen to be in a building wired by Novus - a small internet/cable/phone provider - you might have received a call from Shaw offering you internet/cable/phone for $10.00 per month each with the first two months free. Regular price? Over $140.00 per month. A discount of $110 if you order all three!

If you happen to be a Shaw customer anywhere else in Canada, you are subsidizing these great rates. Shaw has stated that this is for any multi-dwelling unit in Vancouver (not just Novus customers) so if you are a Shaw customer, give them a call and get your $10.00/month Internet service. If you live anywhere else, call Shaw and let them know you do not want to subsidize customers who happen to live in multi-dwelling buildings in Vancouver.

What is Shaw doing? Novus claims that Shaw is underselling them to drive them out of business, an unethical business practice that forces the little guys out so that the big corporations have little or no competition.

Flashback to September 2003, when Shaw complained that Telus was offering high speed internet for the low price of $16.95 per month.  At the time, Jim Shaw, CEO of Shaw Communications was quoted as saying, “We’re in favour of fair and sustainable competition because we believe it is in the best interests of the consumer.”

He went on to say, “However, if these predatory pricing practices are permitted to continue it could significantly reduce competition in the Internet access market in Western Canada, that is not in the best interests of serving Internet customers.”

I agree. Offering a Internet for $10.00 is predatory pricing and could significantly reduce competition…which is not in the best interests of customers.

Go to 10buckstoo.com and find out what you can do to send a message to Shaw - and by extension other large corporations acting unethically - that this behaviour is unacceptable.

Links:

Website: http://www.10buckstoo.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=107302697894

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/10buckstoo

We spent $4.2 billion dollars on computers in 2006 and 64% of us now carry cell phones. I kept my last cell phone until is stopped working and my computer tech says my computer isn’t doing too bad for its age. But we have 3 or 4 computers and everyone except my youngest daughter has their own cell phone, music device, camera and so on so we are still tech junkies no matter which way you look at it.

These devices that we love - yes you, reading this online article - contain lead, mercury, arsenic, and cadmium to name a few toxins. Over one third of Canadians store old IT waste at home, one half of us give it away, drop it off at a depot or return it to a supplier and about 16% of Canadians are still trashing their old IT.

Computers for Schools
Industry Canada has a program to turn surplus computers into resources for public schools, libraries and not for profit learning organizations, allowing young people to access information technology and learn the skills needed for their future. To sign your corporation up you can go to Computers for Schools and find the donation form. Or as an individual, you can go to the provincial list of contacts.

Electronics Product Stewardship Canada is an industry lead not for profit organization working on solutions to Canadian IT waste. To find a current manufacturer’s recycling program or a provincial program you can go to their resources page and look for a program near you.

Christmas has come and gone and just about now, those batteries from all the new toys, phones, and music players have died and been recharged or disposed of and replaced. In 2004, Canadians purchased around 450 million batteries and disposed of about 348 million batteries. That number is growing.

Many of the batteries we dispose of contain heavy metals that pose a threat to our environment if not dealt with properly, yet 60% of Canadians still put dead batteries in the garbage. Only about 25% of us dispose of batteries properly. The rest of us tuck them away somewhere in our homes, either because we don’t know what to do with them and probably have it on the bottom of a to do list that found its way into paper recycling bin eons ago.

There are three types of batteries to dispose of

• Non-rechargeable batteries also called alkaline batteries are the least dangerous of the three and many provinces do not have provincial programs set up for them. However, you can still find retailers and private companies that do have programs set up.  The only national retail program that I know of is the Future Shop/Best Buy program so if you happen to shop there, you can drop off your non-rechargeable batteries. I called them to ask for more information but just got the run around so what happens next is a mystery.
• Rechargeable batteries contain toxic substances such as nickel cadmium (Ni-Cd), nickel metal hydride (Ni-MH), lithium ion (Li-ion) and small sealed lead (Pb). Canada has a program that has been running since 1994, Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC).  Canadian Tire takes rechargeable batteries and old cell phones nationally so if you are looking to dispose of old batteries, that’s one place. If not, go to http://www.rbrc.org/ and enter your postal code to get a list of place to return your used rechargeable batteries. Either way they head down to the States, where the materials are separated and reclaimed.
• Automotive batteries are often recycled when you get your car battery changed and the good news is that about 90% of car batteries in Canada are recycled which means that the 8 to 12 kg of lead in each battery does not leach into our soil and waterways. If you do need to dispose of one, call your local Canadian Tire and ask as some stores accept old car batteries.

Global warming has emerged as the most important issue of our generation and the topic of “the environment” is hot these days- no pun intended. The question is: how do we best run our businesses in this context? We as businesspeople are becoming conscious of our ability to take an active role in solving our societies environmental crisis. At the same time, studies show that people will choose an eco-friendly or green option if given the opportunity. Increasingly, consumers are “voting with their dollars” to support green businesses that are reducing their carbon footprint and reducing the amount of carbon dioxide they produce.

Given this reality, it makes business sense for each of us to make our companies as eco-friendly as possible. Given the economic context of running a business, this shift towards low carbon use must be balanced with sound financial judgment; we must chose options that reduce our carbon footprint and also maintain profitability.

In this context, choosing green web hosting is a good business investment. In terms of pricing, green web hosting rates are reasonable. Solar Energy Host offers individual plans starting at only $9.95 per month ($119.40 per year.) For larger businesses, managed dedicated servers are also available. This compares to about $6.99/month for hosting that uses non-eco friendly energy sources. Conventional hosting seems cheaper. However, when the marketing benefits to your company of using green web hosting are taken into account, an option such as Solar Energy Host is actually more cost effective than conventional hosting.

The key to maximizing the benefit of green web hosting to your company is in publicizing it properly and using it as a marketing tool. Green web hosting conveys a key marketing message; “Trust us, we are doing the right thing, just like you are.” However, consumers are increasingly aware and critical, they are looking for proof. They want to know that the businesses they support are not engaged in “green washing.” This is why it is critical that companies go further and explain to their customers just what makes their web hosting “green.” This in turn will increase the customer’s trust and loyalty. Using an option such as Solar Energy Host allows companies to promote their web hosting as the “greenest” because they power their servers directly with solar panels. This reduces the carbon footprint of the Internet. This contrasts sharply with other “green” hosting companies that simply buy Carbon Credits while they continue to use “dirty” energy.

How this information is communicated depends on the nature of your company and target market. For example, it can be displayed on a special page of your website and/or links and logos can be displayed at the bottom of each page of the site to signify that your company is using the greenest hosting option possible. Your companies “green web presence” can also be promoted in other marketing material. In such a way your efforts to green your businesses can also improve your sales and leads and, ultimately, your bottom line.