Inspired Business

Conscious Capitalism

Sustainability is just an accounting problem

In the end we as individuals and businesses pollute because it is free or nearly free to do so. The actual costs of our actions are recognized elsewhere in taxes, healthcare or put off for future generations to pay. They are called externalities. All of the products (like water, coal, oil and other extracted things) [...]

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Want to Turn Your Business Around… Go Green

Whatever business you are in, the best way to put yourself on a track to long term success is to master the green trends of your industry. Are you a builder? Green building is the only growing trend in the space. A pest control company? People want green solutions over the conventional. Parts supplier to a [...]

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Want Affordable Clean Energy? Remove ALL Subsidies

Subsidies for Fossil Fuels Far Outweigh Renewables A report of energy subsidies from 2002-2008 by the Environmental Law Institute shows that subsidies for traditional fossil fuels and corn ethanol totaled 87 Billion dollars. During the same period, subsidies for traditional renewable energy and carbon capture and storage were a paltry 14.5 billion. Although some would argue corn [...]

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100% Wind Power Cheaper Than Coal

The Empire State Building has gone to 100% wind power for one reason. It is cheaper than using coal and prices are more stable. Not only are operating costs lower, but the building owners are able to attract the best tenants and higher rent because of the switch. “Clean energy and our nearly 40% reduced [...]

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Green pays big for GE

If you want to look at a great company by most traditional business school measures, GE gets top billing. Hence, business people should follow their lead. GE’s Ecomagination line now has annual sales of $20 Billion. More importantly it is one of the fastest growing business lines in the company so its influence will continue [...]

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Stages of ROI on Eco-efficiency

Eco-efficiency pays dividends year after year. Various practitioners have different titles and phases for implementing sustainability in organizations (and buildings for that matter). I have taken those stages and put them in financial terms. The good news is the more mature you get in the phases, the more money you make over time. 1. Pre-compliance [...]

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Employees forego pay for carbon neutrality

Think employees only care about money and time-off. Think again. New Belgium Brewery in Fort Collins Colorado is most famous for its wonderful Fat Tire Amber beer. But it is also one of the leading companies in the world for creating a sustainable business. But the story of how it went to clean renewable energy [...]

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Sustainability delivers higher productivity

It has been proven over and over again that businesses that have a higher purpose than just profit can recruit and keep the best employees. Furthermore, those good employees are more productive than their counterparts in companies that are only focused on profit. But why is this so? How do you nurture those great employees [...]

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Sustainability Vision

If you think sustainability is important in our human systems, then you have some vision of what your company should be doing about it. Whether you are a line worker, middle manager or senior executive, your vision has some relationship to current reality. Here is a graphic I absconded from the excellent book “The Sustainability [...]

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More Evidence: Conscious Capitalism Pays

OK. So nobody is colder and more bottom line oriented than Wall Street. And Goldman Sachs is getting the brunt of it now. So that’s why if they say green is most profitable, it probably is. After all, The Street values profit over all else. According to a Goldman finding, “from 2005-2007, organizations that are [...]

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