Sustainability Builds Brands
The more sustainable a brand is perceived, the more meaningful it becomes to consumers, according to research from Havas Media. A key finding of the "Brand Sustainable Futures" analysis find that only one-third of brands are considered meaningful to consumers. It also reveals that while sustainability is a key issue for consumers worldwide, few brands live up to increasing expectations.
According to the survey of more than 30,000 people across four continents and nine markets, the vast majority of mainstream consumers wouldn't care if two thirds of today's global brands disappeared in the future. More than half of the consumers surveyed say confusion, a lack of clarity, and perceived higher prices prevent responsible purchasing. The analsysis also shows that social issues and sustainability still rank as major concerns among consumers worldwide, with 80 percent of consumers expecting business to act responsibly. In addition, an increasing majority (76 percent vs. 70 percent in 2009) place the responsibility for environmental and social issues on business, rather than governments, say researchers.
These barriers varied by country, with price the main issue in western economies (France, UK, US and Germany) and lack of information the most important in Spain and fast growing markets such as China, Brazil, Mexico and India. Havas Media says the project's proprietary metric, the Brand Sustainable Futures Quotient (BSF Quotient), allows a company to assess, track and compare its brand's sustainable health over time.
Branding of green products also is considered to be more difficult than traditional products.
Environmental Leader 10/15/2010
IBM Plays 'Smart' Games
IBM has unveiled CityOne, a Smarter Planet interactive simulation game that is designed to help business and civic leaders make their cities and industries smarter by solving real-world business, environmental and logistical problems. The simulation game enables players - business leaders, city planners, government workers - to develop and budget improvements that address some of the biggest challenges in global cities. It provides more than 100 real-world scenarios to transform cities through technologies that reduce traffic congestion, save water, streamline supply chains and tap alternative energy sources, says IBM. You can view a trailer of the Smarter Planet Game at Youtube.
In all of the missions, players must determine the best way to balance the city's financial, environmental and sociological interests, says IBM. They are challenged with improving the city by attaining revenue and profit goals, increasing customer satisfaction, and making the environment greener with a limited budget. Players also will learn how to adopt technologies such as business process management, service reuse, cloud computing and collaborative technologies to help make organizations in city systems more intelligent.
Cities consume an estimated 75 percent of the world's energy, emit more than 80 percent of the greenhouse gases, and lose as much as 20 percent of their water supply due to infrastructure leaks, according to IBM. CityOne is a virtual environment that helps business and government leaders learn how to use advanced technology and to better understand how their city infrastructure works in order to improve their energy and water efficiency and cut greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, CityOne content is linked with cloud-delivered business process management capabilities that allow real-time communication with other players and IBM industry experts. This allows players to discuss how the process models from the game relate to real world implementations.
Since plans for the game were announced in May, more than 8,000 people have pre-registered to play CityOne, IBM says. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also provided content and resources to help develop the CityOne simulation game. IBM's Smarter Planet strategy is aimed at helping cities and utilities become smarter with new technologies and tools that help them better manage their resources, while reducing cost, increasing reliability and lowering energy and water consumption. Environmental Leader October 5, 2010
Do Not Fly at Night-
Flying during the day is greener and bluer
One thing that you can do to reduce carbon emissions when traveling by plane is by booking a flight in the daytime instead of at night. Contrails left by airplanes at night have a greater impact on global warming than the ones left in the day. At certain altitudes, aircraft produce contrails- condensation trails caused when the plane's hot exhaust hits the chilly atmosphere. These contrails have a surprisingly big, but also complex effect on the climate. Because they are clouds, they trap heat that is emitted by the Earth's surface, creating a "greenhouse effect" that adds to warming. Yet during daytime, these clouds have a cooling effect because they are white and thus reflect some of the Sun's energy back into space.
As weird as it sounds, flying during the daytime can help reduce your carbon footprint. So if you have a choice of when you are going to fly, opt for the afternoon flight. It's the greener way to fly.
Josh Peterson, News in Science
Aquafina's New Eco-Fina Bottle: Greenwash or Progress?
Aquafina, Pepsi's bottled water brand, is apparently paying attention to consumer demands. the new Eco-Fina bottles are designed to reduce their environmental impact, using 50 percent less plastic than bottles produced seven years ago. They are actually a pretty snazzy bit of industrial design. The plastic is paper-thin through the body of the bottle. It would crush in your hand if it weren't for a cleverly designed system of decorative ridges. These add enough strength to the container that it performs like a conventional bottle. The whole thing weighs a bit less than 11 grams.Chris Baskind in Recycling 10/18/10
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