The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Fuel Cell Technologies Program has issued an RFI (Request for Information) seeking feedback from stakeholders regarding the commercial readiness of fuel cell and hydrogen technologies.

DOE is interested in industry information about (more…)

With little debate on the fact that we have reached the bottom of the global downturn and are entering a period of resurgent growth, there is however, a differing of opinion on the speed, location, and stability of economic prosperity. The CFO Magazine article, The Great Divide, explores what the post (more…)

Concern for the environment and climate change is on the rise in emerging economies. And according to several new pieces of research, concern is particularly acute in Asia.

One might argue that the research, highlighted in a recent New York Times article, found evidence to back up the theory of sociological post-materialism, (more…)

Ten years ago, Silicon Valley was the place to be. The brightest entrepreneurs, engineers, and venture capitalists flocked to a burgeoning number of high-tech companies to get in on the Internet boom. As a result of their collective work a new industry was born, and it revolutionized our economy.

But in a sign of the times, entrepreneurs today are turning (more…)

In the September issue of Harvard Business Review, authors Ram Nidumolu, C.K. Prahalad, and M.R. Rangaswami provide a framework for adopting sustainable practices to bring about technological and organizational innovations that will ultimately yield top-line and bottom-line returns, providing a competitive advantage when the recession ends. They feel that sustainable companies will emerge from the recession ahead of their competitors, who will face difficulties trying to catch up.

The authors argue that sustainability is not the drag on the bottom line that many executives perceive it to be, and that it can actually lower costs, and increase revenues. This is an indicator that business leaders will have to rethink business models, processes, technologies, and products.

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Happy Earth Day… I hope you rode your bike to work, ate only vegetables, brought your own cup to Starbucks and followed the instructions in the signature line of your boss’ email and didn’t print it unless it was truly necessary.

If you are new around here – I was a Marine officer before running off to Europe for grad school and dedicating my professional life to sustainability. One of my happiest associations is with that group of men and women (the Marine Corps), and I can continue to do so through the Marines’ Memorial Association here in San Francisco. I’m very happy to support bringing relevant discussions to this venue that satisfy both my interests (likely yours if you are on this site) and that organization’s values, so if you have some ideas that need a venue and a good audience, please send me a note and we can chat about putting events together.

That said, next week you might want to mark your calendar for an event there and another fantastic event down the street at the Hotel Nikko.

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