CleanTechies.com Contributor

It’s no secret that many of the planets biggest brands are advocates of the environment. But, many small business owners believe that a greener business model is a luxury only afforded to those who have the money to invest into it – but this doesn’t have to be the case.

In fact, a green business model can offer a number of benefits which can make it not only an attractive option to SME owners, but also a viable one.

Below we have put together an infographic that looks at a number of different brands – from Sony to Ikea – who are doing their bit for the environment. From these brands we have dissected some valuable lessons that small business owners can learn from to help them benefit from a greener business plan.

One barrier that many small business owners encounter when looking to implement a green business plan is the upfront investment cost. However, with many SMEs over paying on their business gas and business electricity there are plenty of opportunities to cut your costs and raise the funds. Take the time to get a quote from one of Make it Cheaper’s energy experts, and you may be surprised by how much you could be saving. These savings can then be put towards your businesses new greener future.

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Article by Hannah Corbett
Hannah is a Content Producer for Make It Cheaper, focusing much of her time on creating useful content and online tools for small business owners. You can email Hannah at hannah.corbett@makeitcheaper.com

It’s set to be the largest divestment from fossil fuels ever made.  Just hours after a coalition of groups delivered nearly 50,000 signatures and a worldwide Twitterstorm to #DivestNorway, the Norwegian parliament last night issued a unanimous recommendation to divest its country’s sovereign wealth fund from the coal industry.

The largest sovereign wealth fund in the world has just agreed to divest. Can you feel the momentum? #DivestNorway pic.twitter.com/GX3Zc46trX

— 350 dot org (@350) May 27, 2015

The Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global is not only the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund; it is also one of the top ten investors in the global coal industry. This recommendation asks the government to exclude companies deriving more than 30% of their revenues or their power production from coal. With all parties endorsing the recommendation, it’s widely expected to be formally adopted by parliamentary vote on June 5.

Norway’s coal exclusion criteria go further than French Insurer Axa‘s divestment commitment last week and set a new standard for investors worldwide that signals another death knell for the coal industry.  Bill McKibben’s tweet as the news broke last night underscores the true significance of this move:

Norway's $900bn fund, that just divested from coal, is in fact the world's largest fund. Like, in the world. The whole planet. Earth.

— Bill McKibben (@billmckibben) May 27, 2015

“We expect that billions of euros will be withdrawn from the coal industry, when this happens.  This is a huge win for the divestment movement and a real sign of hope that investment patterns can be changed” Truls Gulowsen from Greenpeace Norway.

But while this news will send shockwaves through the financial world and investment community, it’s also a huge victory for all the communities worldwide impacted daily by the activities of coal companies.

Norwegian Parliament votes against coal funding. http://t.co/fpAkoLOTQz @PMCJ_ph #DivestNorway pic.twitter.com/U67zSFFuVb

— 350 East Asia (@350EastAsia) May 28, 2015

We expect that Norway’s Pension Fund investments in companies like Germany’s RWE, China’s Shenhua, Duke Energy from the Unites States, Australia’s AGL Energy, Reliance Power from India, Japan’s Electric Power Development Corporation, Semirara Mining from the Philippines and Poland’s PGE will, for example, all be shed.

“Norwegian NGOs will not be alone, when they celebrate.  There are broad popular resistance movements against the coal industry in all of these countries, and they are going to say: Thank you for divesting, Norway!” Heffa Schücking, from German environmental group urgewald.

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This article was first published on Fossil Free and is reposted here with the author’s permission. 

About the Author: Louise Hazan is a Digital Campaigner for 350.org based in Europe.

By JORGE MADRID | BIO | Published: FEBRUARY 23, 2015

We need to have “the talk” about solar power and equity, because ignoring uncomfortable questions will invite misinformation and bad decisions. We need an informed dialogue about how local solar power can impact low-income communities and communities of color in the U.S. We need to talk about “all the good things, and the bad things, that may be.”

First things first: the price of solar panels has fallen by 80 percent since 2008. This significant decrease in cost, coupled with incentives such as net metering which allow customers to send the energy they produce from their solar systems back to the grid and receive a credit on their bill, and the emergence of new financing models like solar “leasing” programs, has led to an explosion of local solar in the U.S.

We now boast an estimated 20 gigawatts of solar energy nationwide (enough to power more than four million U.S. homes), and the United States added more solar capacity in the past two years than in the previous 30 years combined. In fact, as President Obama highlighted in his State of the Union address, “every three weeks, we bring online as much solar power as we did in all of 2008.”

So, who is benefiting from this solar boom? In regard to rooftop solar, it is mostly middle-income and working class homeowners, according to analysis from the Center for American Progress:

“Rooftop solar is not just being adopted by the wealthy; it is, in fact, mostly being deployed in neighborhoods where median income ranges from $30,000 to $90,000.”

The growth of the solar industry is also creating good jobs, and plenty of them. The solar industry added jobs nearly 20 times faster than the national average in 2014, and solar employment has increased 86 percent in the past five years.  Solar installers make an average of $20 to $24 per hour, and solar salespeople can make $30 to $60 per hour. And, as I have written before, solar and other clean energy jobs are generally more accessible to people of color and folks without advanced degrees.

Not to be overlooked are the environmental benefits of solar: the deployment of this clean energy resource helped avoid an estimated 20 million metric tons of harmful carbon dioxide emissions in 2014, the equivalent of taking four million cars off U.S. highways. The fact that solar averts dirty, fossil fuel pollution has a critical equity aspect, as approximately 68 percent of African Americans (and a similar percentage of Latinos) live within 30 miles of a coal-fired power plant, and a recent study claims that nearly 40 percent of communities of color breathe polluted air.

While all of this news is encouraging, there are still important questions about local solar access and affordability for low-income people, renters, and communities of color – constituencies that greatly overlap.

There is no easy answer, but fortunately this issue has been a priority for many lawmakers and advocates – including Environmental Defense Fund – who are working to find solutions. A community solar pilot project in Los Angeles, for example, will empower residents to own a share of a local solar garden without installing panels on their own roofs. This has the potential to reach 51 percent of the population in L.A. who rent, and large swaths of residents who can’t afford their own solar system. These and other policies can create access and affordability for people who otherwise could not join the clean energy revolution – and we need to get these policies right.

But, in the meantime, we also need to counteract misinformation and bad ideas.

Enter the “solar hurts low income people” argument, which claims that low-income people are paying higher bills to subsidize solar power they can’t afford, and thus advocates and lawmakers should oppose it. This argument is misguided, ignores critical information, and often emanates from industry groups trying to turn low-income communities against clean energy.

To be clear, asking important questions regarding clean energy and equity is productive; so is pushing lawmakers to find solutions that work for all communities and don’t place unfair, burdensome costs on low-income people. What’s unproductive is misinformation and conjecture. To forge fair, lasting solutions, we needreal, unbiased data and analysis on the costs of solar to customers and the grid, some of which already exists:

• Fact: a study commissioned by the California Public Utilities Commission found that solar customers on average cover their full costs to the electric grid;
• Fact: a study by the Nevada Public Utilities Commission and a study from the Mississippi Public Service Commission found that solar customers provide a net benefit to all ratepayers;
• Fact: an analysis from Deutsche Bank finds that rooftop solar will be as cheap as traditional power by 2016 in all 50 states (this is already happening in 11 states); and
• Fact: an analysis from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) found that even the most aggressive net-metering solar programs would have minimal (0.1-2.7 percent) impact on electricity rates.

So, why would some industry groups want to slow the growth of local solar? (Spoiler alert: it’s about THE MONEY!) The LBNL study found that local solar will have significant impacts on utility shareholder profits – up to a 40 percent loss for some. It seems clear that the efforts to attack local solar may have more to do with threats to utility profits than negative impacts on low-income people.

And, thus, we arrive back where we started: let’s not decoy, avoid, or make void this topic. We need to ask complex and sometimes uncomfortable questions when it comes to local solar power and equity. It’s ok that we don’t have all the answers figured out ahead of time, as long as we learn together and arrive at solutions based on real information. But it’s not ok to allow misinformation and bad ideas to lead us to making the wrong decisions.

BY NICK BLITTERSWYK, CEO of UGE

Distributed renewable energy is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world, and working in such a nimble industry means that every year brings new innovations and developments. This year is no exception.

While 2014 had its share of renewable energy headlines, at UGE we’re incredibly excited for 2015 and the developments we foresee this year. Here are three that we’ll be watching closely:

1) Renewable energy deployments go global:

Global adoption was front and center at the UN Climate Summit in Lima, providing a striking look at the new landscape for renewable energy. The world’s fastest-growing markets for renewable energy have shifted to developing countries, and with better economies of scale, distributed generation now has unlimited potential in places all around the world.

Flash back to five years ago — the growth markets were in highly developed regions like California and Germany. Today, markets like China, Chile, and India are exploding, and it’s not because of incentives. The scales have now tipped, with electricity from distributed energy already cheaper than from the utility grid. Distributed renewable energy is simply the cheapest, most reliable source of energy for these customers, and that means we can electrify remote telecoms towers, small islands, and new industries as easily as modern cities.

One of UGE’s fastest-growing markets is the Philippines, where businesses face one of the most expensive and intermittent electricity grids in the world, and used to turn to diesel or coal to increase reliability. Now, many facility managers are instead turning to renewables as a way to guarantee both

lower energy bills and a consistent energy supply for the operations of their building. For example, UGE installed a 153kW hybrid renewable energy system for a hospital that offsets 20% of the hospital’s electricity, and ensures that critical life-saving operations never lose power.

Though many of these developments began in the past year, we are on the brink of a massive shift in the way the world’s far-reaching regions generate electricity.

UGE’s Solar Installation in the Philippines

2) Corporate adoption reclaims the spotlight:

The residential solar market has been the darling of investors, consumers, and the media, especially following SolarCity’s IPO in late 2012. But this year, attention will turn back to the commercial sector, as companies commit to huge renewable energy targets in the coming years, and the economics make ever greater sense. Mid-sized commercial projects represent a huge market for the industry, by some estimates larger than the residential sector. In the United States alone, there are 5.6 million commercial buildings, and most of those suitable for solar can only fit arrays that are 200 kW or smaller. This project size is not without its challenges, but with the Fortune 500 rapidly investing in renewable energy, it’s a virtually limitless one for companies that can navigate it.

UGE’s Wind Installation at the Hilton Ft. Lauderdale

3) Off-grid systems and storage take off

If you got tired of hearing the word “storage” last year, you may want to crawl into a bunker. Energy storage paired with renewables will continue to scale this year as the chemistry and the software improve and are combined for better performance. U.S. grid infrastructure is aging and storm-related outages are happening ever more frequently. That means the need for resiliency and reliable backup power will only grow. In many other places around the world, the grid was never very reliable in the first place, so battery storage technology has vast off-grid applications to help fill in these gaps. While we expect it will be up to five years before battery storage goes mainstream, 2015 will be a key year in the development of the business models that will allow that to happen.

Whether it’s the territory, the technology, or the type of customer, one thing is clear: in 2015, distributed renewable energy will no longer be just an “alternative energy” but a widespread and economically viable solution to many of the energy challenges we face across the world.

Nick Blitterswyk is the CEO and founder of UGE International, a leading developer of distributed renewable energy solutions for business and government, with projects in over 90 countries, including several for Fortune 1,000 companies. This article originally appeared on CleanTechIQ.

By BEN SCHNEIDER | BIO

With a new year comes new promises and new opportunities – and that also goes for the United States and China, the world’s biggest climate polluters. The good news is both nations appear ready to embrace solar and other renewables, investments that will cement their recent, bilateral agreement to tackle climate change. Here are five signs renewables will finally gain traction in China and the U.S. in 2015 and continue to grow in coming years:

1. China’s solar investments are not slowing down.
   Even in the very near-term, China is poised for dramatic solar adoption. The country was rushing to build 10 gigawatts of solar photovoltaic projects in the fourth quarter of 2014 alone, enough to power more than 7.5 million homes. And 2015 shows no signs of slowing down, as China and other solar energy markets across the world are expected to continue to gain ground.

2. Cost of solar panels in China is plummeting.
   It’s easy to understand why solar is on the rise. For years now, Chinese photovoltaic module costs have steadily declined. Five of China’s largest module makers, which made up 27 percent of all 2013 shipments, reported a 14-percent drop in production cost that year. What’s more, solar panel cost reductions aren’t going to stop any time soon. By 2020, multi-crystalline silicon modules, a common and inexpensive solar panel type, are projected to drop 30 percent.

3. Materials are in ample supply.
   You can’t make solar panels out of any old scraps of metal you find floating around. Fortunately the materials needed are readily available. By the end of 2014, manufacturers were expected to produce 288,000 tons of polysilicon, a raw material that’s a central component of solar panel production.

4. Utilities are already greening their fleets.
   Don’t think the U.S. is missing out on the clean energy boom. Forty-five percent of all new electric generating capacity installed during the first three quarters of 2014 came from renewable sources. A confluence of factors – the cost of renewable energy sources plummeting, the retirement of outdated coal plants, and the natural gas boom – illustrate that the country’s power sector is ripe for a transition. By 2030, one-quarter of U.S. fossil-fuel plants are expected to close. It means we’ll switch to a cleaner energy portfolio that will drastically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions over the next 15 years.

5. Renewable energy is cost-competitive.
   Without even considering the massive reduction in greenhouse gases that renewable energy sources provide, adoption of clean energy resources is becoming a simple matter of dollars and cents. Wind and solar are going to cost less; wholesale, traditional power prices are going to go up. A recent study found that by building on the progress we’ve made so far, the United States can get 23 percent of its energy from clean sources by 2030 by investing “just a fraction” above business as usual. The outlook for China is just as good.

On the right track
We have a long way to go before China and the U.S. commit to the deep greenhouse gas reductions we need to avoid the worst outcomes of climate change. But make no mistake: There are signs of real progress in both countries.

Photo source: Flickr/Solar Wind Technology

This post originally appeared on the EDF Voices blog. 

In 2010, around one-third of the food produced in the United States was not consumed, and ended up being wasted. That is a troubling statistic, and represents a food waste crisis that if left ignored will continue to burn holes in the pockets of families, and contribute to waste and the myriad problems it causes our planet.

One of the first things you can do to cut food waste in your home is to stop treating the “best-before,” “use-by,” and “sell-by” labels as gospel that determine when food must instantly been thrown out. These labels are used for shelving and inventory purposes in stores, and you should always trust your eyes and nose before you trust a number on a package. Consider using food rather than throwing it out, unless your senses tell you otherwise!

Make your meal plans and take stock of what you have in your fridge and pantry before you go shopping, and shop accordingly. Consider joining a CSA to take advantage of freshness, and buy your groceries a few times a week and when needed, rather than all at once.

Follow our complete guide to preventing food waste to learn how your fridge and freezer habits can help change your wasteful ways, and learn which foods are more likely to contribute to waste in your fridge. By following a few simple suggestions and changing your shopping and eating behavior in minor ways, you could make a major difference.

Republished with permission from: Fix.com

Smart home technology has emerged as homeowners want to improve the comfort of their homes, and at the same time, minimize daily responsibilities and expense. A home is considered ‘smart’ if some of it’s mundane functions are integrated into the Internet of Things to enable remote management and monitoring.

Smart homes today include the automation of some or all of the following:

• Appliances: audio systems, electric cooker, refrigerator, etc.
• Home security: monitor, alarm, fire, smoke, gas, etc.
• Environment: lightning, humidity, temperature, etc.

Most of the automation takes place via the internet, either wireless or wired, connected to a remote server, which collects data from appliances and security systems, and then processes it.

The remote computing servers then decide how the devices should respond to varying conditions. Commands are sent back to the appliances to function properly. However, this exchange of data over the network through the internet raises security risks that homeowners often tend to neglect.

Most smart home systems are connected to the internet, which raises cyber security risk. A researcher found out that he could haunt a house hundreds of miles away by hacking into the website for the homeowner’s smart lightning system. In another shocking case, a baby monitor company was penalized in the United States for developing a security system that a hacker was able to get into and insult a baby through a camera, from thousands of miles away.

As the Internet of Things (IoT) grows from home to home, such incidents may rise in intensity and frequency. By not paying attention to internet-based threats, smart home owners risk exposing their home and family to the whims of cyber criminals.

What needs to be done?

Unfortunately, it may take some time before smart home manufacturers start advising homeowners about the potential security risks of their implementations. So how can you stay safe in the meanwhile? Here are a few measures to take when using Internet of Things devices:

Lock down cameras: Remote Access Tools and other similar malware enable criminals to see through the webcams of compromised smart home systems, so it is critical to ensure that your home monitoring cameras are secure. If you’re not using a camera, switch it off. If the camera is built into a device, cover the lens with a duct tape while it’s not in use.  Also, think about where the cameras are pointing inside your home. The security cameras are there to give you peace of mind, so make sure they’re pointed at the entrances, rather than towards people or goods in your house.

Manage passwords: Nearly all smart home devices come with a password. Change these default passwords using the website for these devices on your smartphone or laptop manually, or by utilizing the option of a password manager that can easily see and alter weak passwords. Some password managers can also manage security by locking passwords when you step away from the computer, and by protecting the passwords you type from cyber criminals via keystroke encryption.

Update device software: Smart TVs, automated refrigerators, and other similar technologies are new in the market, so many manufacturers are still figuring out security kinks after they offer the product to consumers. To secure smart home devices, make sure their software/firmware is updated to the latest version available. You should also check for these firmware updates on your device on a monthly basis.

About the Author
Amanda Green is a freelance blogger interested in writing about intersection of cleantech and the internet of things.