Winning Causes:
Pepsi Drops Super Bowl Ads in Favor of Cause Marketing
Cause marketing, including asking consumers how they would improve sustainability and the environment, will take the place of PepsiCo's traditional TV advertising that accompanies the Super Bowl, reports DMNews.
Cause marketing, including asking consumers how they would improve sustainability and the environment, will take the place of PepsiCo's traditional TV advertising that accompanies the Super Bowl, reports DMNews.
This will be the first time in 23 years that the Super Bowl will not have an ad promoting Pepsi. Last year, Pepsi spent $33 million advertising its brands during the game. The average Super Bowl spot costs about $3 million.
This year, Pepsi is trying to build a two-way dialogue with consumers by asking hem to go to a Web site and suggest ways that Pepsi can be involved in social causes.
As part of of the promotion, Pepsi will be putting $20 million into its Refresh Project. (http://refresheverything.com/) Beginning February 1, consumers will have the chance to vote for how Pepsi should spend its money on suggested projects. Each month, Pepsi will be awarding up to 2 grants of $250,000 to projects proposed by large organizations. More grants in denominations of $50,000, $25,000 and $5,000 will be awarded each month for smaller organizations and individuals. The project includes a microsite dubbed "The Plant."
In its own operations, PepsiCo has saved more than 750,000 megawatt hours of energy and more than 7.5 billion liters of water as a result of gains in energy and water efficiency compared to the 2006 baseline.
The food and beverage company is committed to cutting company-wide water use by 20 percent, electricity by 20 percent and fuel by 25 percent by 2015, compared to 2006 usage levels.
The Super Bowl has been making efforts to present a greener image in recent years. The 2009 Super Bowl in St. Petersburg, FL featured green energy purchase and tree planting.
The 2008 Super Bowl in Glendale, Arizona, was the first ever powered completely with renewable energy by using solar, wind and geo-thermal energy to offset the GHG emissions.
Environmental Leader 1/4/2010
Efficiency: The real esate industry quietly removes a label showing energy use of older buildings
The pending climate bill passed by the House has a medley of programs to save energy in buildings, but there was one in particular that drew the attention of the multitrillion-dollar real estate industry.
It was a plan to create an "energy label" for homes and commercial buildings, showing in one simple illustration, how much energy they use compared to their ideal performance. In theory, the information would be like the miles per gallon stickers on cars, giving vital information to buyers and owners who are becoming increasingly aware of rising energy costs.
The pending climate bill passed by the House has a medley of programs to save energy in buildings, but there was one in particular that drew the attention of the multitrillion-dollar real estate industry.
It was a plan to create an "energy label" for homes and commercial buildings, showing in one simple illustration, how much energy they use compared to their ideal performance. In theory, the information would be like the miles per gallon stickers on cars, giving vital information to buyers and owners who are becoming increasingly aware of rising energy costs.
The industry had a different take: It called the labels a scarlet letter that would stigmatize old, energy-leaky buildings, making them harder to sell. They said it would hobble a market already suffering from the mortgage meltdown.
Before the bill reached the House floor, Realtors made their case to Congress. As originally written, the bill proposed by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif) and Ed Markey (D-Mass) would instruct U.S.EPA to develop two kinds of labels: one for brand-new buildings and one for the older buildings that cause the bulk of the sector's CO2 emissions--roughly 40 percent of the U.S. total.
Congressmen, lead by Rep. Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo) heard the industry's views and struck a bargain: EPA would still design a label, but only for new buildings and major renovations. Older buildings, which will make up the majority of the building stock for decades, were exempted.
"At some point, we've got to count votes," Perlmutter said in an interview. He said the deal swung several lawmakers behind a cap-and-trade bill that passed by only one vote. "We picked up the endorsement of the NAR (National Assoc.of Realtors) to a very substantial energy bill that is far-reaching in many, many respects," he said.
But the deal frustrated some environmental and industry groups that think a label for all buildings, new and old, is needed to make efficiency a valued commodity in the real estate industry, pushing owners to stamp out energy waste or face the wrath of the market.
You can read more by going to the Climatewire website.
Wal-Mart is turning cardboard waste collected from its stores into boxes for its private-label take and bake pizzas. The system reduces costs while creating a more durable box, according to the retailer.
After being bailed by employees and sent to partner Pratt Industries, the cardboard is turned into pulp and the pulp is made into liner board, a thick, brown wrapping paper that gets tested for contaminants before it's shipped to Pratt's box plant. There the paper is fed into a corrugator and it becomes cardboard. It's then cut and assembled into boxes.
"Quite literally this program we're partnering with Wal-Mart on is groundbreaking, it's doing something that's rarely been done before, if ever," said Myles Cohen, president of the recycling division for Pratt Industries. "We've totally and literally closed the loop using a retailer's own boxes to go through a paper mill and then to make corrugated boxes out of those same things again is something that's the future."
The ultimate goal of the project is to produce all of the boxes with cardboard supplied by Wal-Mart. The measure will divert 8,600 tons of waste from landfills, save 125,000 trees and 40 milion gallons of water, according to Wal-Mart.
Supermarket News 11/09
Green Growth? Maybe...
A survey sponsored by Siemens has found that Germany is the world's green technology leader, but could be overtaken in the next decade by the US and China. The survey collated responses from 270 researchers and sustainability experts from business, government and academia. Respondents were spit over whether economies could in the foreseeable future achieve non-environmentally-damaging growth, with 51% saying yes and 47% saying no.EthicalCorp.com
