CleanTechnica

Laura Kurgan, Chris Jordan, Lorrie Vogel and Assaf Biderman - Pop!Tech 2009 - Camden, ME

In Part One, Lorrie Vogel explained some of the work Nike is doing to increase recycled and organic content in their products. Our conversation continues with discussing how Nike designers are encouraged to use sustainable principles in their work.

SS: You mentioned something about rewarding designers for innovating around sustainability, how does that work?

LV: As with any company centered on innovation, the process begins with Nike’s designers. To influence the designers to make responsible choices, Nike designers are scored against the Considered Index. In order to get new Considered innovations adopted faster, Nike gives innovation points to designers who come up with a brand new idea, as well as to teams who adopt considered innovations in the first year.

SS: And how are employees outside of the design department scored against the Considered Index?

LV: At Nike, there are so many different groups in different matrices, a lot of them are expected to calculate their CO2 footprint. But the Considered Index is primarily for designers.

SS: Sustainability 101 and Step by Natural Step (mentioned in this press release)- are they teaching personal sustainability practices, or teaching employees how to spot opportunities to be more responsible in the choices they make in their jobs?

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This impressive footprint is Nike’s Considered Air Jordan XX3, their first basketball shoe designed using the Considered Ethos.

Lorrie Vogel is the general manager of Nike Considered, Nike’s in-house sustainability think tank. She holds a degree in Industrial Design from Syracuse, and numerous patents. Her work in innovating around sustainability has helped put Nike on Fast Company’s Fast 50 list multiple times. Considering how aggressive Nike’s sustainability goals have been, it’s even more impressive that they are on track to meet their targets.

Sustainability is second only to performance when ranking the critical factors of a product. Nike is committed to making their entire collection as environmentally responsible as possible. Lorrie Vogel spoke at the Opportunity Green conference in Los Angeles, explaining some of the ways Nike is meeting these targets. In this phone interview, Lorrie expands on some of the points she touched on in her presentation. The conversation is split into two articles, in order to go deeper into the many changes that need to happen to increase use of recycled and organic materials in apparel and footwear. We begin with a discussion about materials, and conclude with the human element needed to ensure these changes occur in a timely manner.

From Nike: The long-term vision for Considered is to design products that are fully closed loop: produced using the fewest possible materials, designed for easy disassembly while allowing them to be recycled into new product or safely returned to nature at the end of their life. By 2011, 100 percent of footwear will meet baseline Considered standards, apparel by 2015 and equipment by 2020 – creating better performing products while minimizing environmental impact by reducing waste, using environmentally preferred materials and eliminate toxins.

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Earlier this week, I was lucky enough to interview Andrew Winston, the author of ‘Green to Gold‘, a seminal work in the environmental space and all round green guru. If you haven’t read it already, I’d highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the sometimes difficult relationship between the environmental sector and commercial organizations. As ever, Andrew provided thoughtful commentary on the state of the environmental movement and CSR:
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Wilmington, Mass.-based fuel-cell company Lilliputian Systems, which announced it raised $28 million this week, wants to set the record straight.

In October, The Wall Street Journal wrote that the company would be shipping its matchbook-sized fuel cells late this year. But now, the company — which is developing the cells for a range of consumer electronics, including cell phones and laptops — isn’t saying when its products will be commercially available, only that it plans to announce the timing this summer. Does that mean we can expect a delay?

Mouli Ramani, vice president for business development, tells me that’s not the case. When he spoke with the Journal, he was referring to a test-market launch with its partners, not a commercial launch that would make the fuel cells available to the general public, he says. In other words, don’t expect to be able to buy Lilliputian fuel cells at Best Buy this year.

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Think of the Czech Republic and you’re more likely to think of beer, castles or Kafka than solar power. But the Eastern European country is one of the world’s fastest-growing markets, says Jenny Chase, a senior associate with London-based research firm New Energy Finance.

The country installed 50.8 megawatts of solar power last year, up dramatically from only 3 megawatts in 2007, she says. The bulk of that capacity — 31.5 megawatts — got installed in December, which represented more than fivefold growth from the 5.81 megawatts installed in November.

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Looking for a green job and wondering where they are? Well, as job hunters flood the usual suspects — such as solar and wind companies — with mountains of applications, you might have better luck finding your dream job in a more unexpected sector.

That’s the advice from Amy Vernetti, a managing director at headhunting firm Taylor Winfield. She says many of the green jobs are coming from areas that probably don’t leap to mind when you think of cleantech, such as companies developing fuel additives and air-filtration technologies. “These are hidden gems in the market,” she says, adding that some of them are “hiring like crazy.”

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Last night was a long one for Los Angeles solar aficionados, and the wait’s not over yet. The fate of Measure B, which calls for the LA utility to install 400 megawatts of solar power on city-owned property, is still too close to call after Angelenos cast their ballots Tuesday.

At last count, the measure appeared to be on the verge of failing, with the “No” votes ahead by 1,322 votes — a narrow 0.6 percent — and only one precinct, with about 156 ballots, left unreported. But supporters still have a chance, as thousands of late, provisional and write-in ballots have yet to be tallied.

At stake is the only piece of Solar LA, an ambitious 1.3-gigawatt solar plan that newly reelected Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled in November, put to a public vote.

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Few energy technologies fit CleanTechnica’s “Technology Inspired By Nature” tag-line as thoroughly as the University of Michigan’s VIVACE Converter—which as we’ve already mentioned derives many of its innovations from imitating how fish create and exploit turbulent currents.

As adorable and eco-friendly as that sounds, it’s also reassuring for investors and geeks to know that VIVACE has additional foundation in over a century of really hardcore (and phenomenally mind-numbing) mechanical and structural engineering research (i.e. Fluid Dynamics). Read the rest of this entry »

Editor’s note: On Monday, Ecopreneurist’s lead writer Leah Edwards published this post on approaching venture capital firms with a cleantech business concept (with guidance from a member of one of the most influential VC firms in the world, Khosla Ventures). We figured a few of you out there are bouncing around business ideas, and might find this information useful, so we wanted to bring it to your attention.

First of all, don’t worry about the business plan.

I realize that sounds like crazy advice coming from a business consultant. However, I have seen too many entrepreneurs stalled or stressed when trying to write up a business plan when the plan really is not the critical issue. Many green business ventures that would be of interest to VC firms are in the cleantech, new materials, information technology, and life science spaces. If you are an ecopreneur with an idea in areas like these, your most important task is to explain the technology or science behind your idea and whether you have, or can get, the rights to the intellectual property.

Don’t spend your valuable time wordsmithing a long document. Just be able to say:

• why your idea works
• how it is different from an existing technology or product, or what is being developed by others
• how it will change the world, e.g., by dramatically changing a market or supply chain or by creating a new market or standards for how a market operates, etc.

This is not just my humble opinion. I spoke with Khosla Ventures’ newest operating partner Ford Tamer who explained that the firm is looking for leapfrog innovation—new technologies or new business models that can increase the size of a market by five-times or can drive costs down so significantly that entire new markets become available. He says, “We’re interested in ideas that can significantly affect the earth and can build big companies… We have no problem taking the risk if the risk is worth taking—for a huge benefit to society and the ability to be a major player.” Read the rest of this entry »

On Friday I spoke with CEO Glenn Farris about his company, Biomass Gas & Electric.

CleanTechnica: What does your company do?

GF: We use biomass (primarily woody biomass), but also forest residues, agricultural waste, and woody crops, to produce renewable energy in an environmentally beneficial gasification process that doesn’t involve combustion, and so is carbon neutral. BG&E currently has three contracts (Georgia Power Company, The City of Tallahassee and Progress Energy of Florida) to provide biomass-generated electricity, pipeline gas, and hydrogen. We have many, many other projects in development both in the U.S. and abroad. In states that have a Renewable Portfolio Standard, we provide tradeable renewable energy certificates. In other states, we sell renewable energy credits to large companies like IBM and Alcoa, who want to reduce their carbon footprint. We believe the future of the company is in the production of methane.

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