EXP: sustainable Archives

Choose Change ATM x Charitable Giving

By Craig Kanarick on May 11, 2010 5:12 PM | No Comments

Here's an idea who's time has come: an ATM machine network that donates $1 (from the $2 transaction fee) from every withdrawal to one of eight charities, chosen by the customer. Choose Change. The New York-based organization doesn't have much information on their site. Anybody out there seen any of these?

Danish Hotel Lets Users Generate Energy to Reduce Costs

By Craig Kanarick on April 16, 2010 11:49 AM | No Comments | No TrackBacks

An idea I've been talking about for at least a decade is for a hotel or a health club to hook up their exercise machines to generators and capture the energy being produced by users and giving rebates to them. The BBC reported earlier this week that the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Copenhagen is about to launch the world's first version of such a program by offering meal vouchers to guests who produce energy on an exercise bike. The bikes are using iPhones to monitor and display usage. The program launches this weekend and will continue for at least a year. If a guest generates 10 watt-hours of energy, which should take only about 15 minutes, she gets a $36 meal voucher.

The initiative makes perfect sense to me. This hotel already has solar panels on its facade so they are pretty eco-friendly. Over 36% of the city's residents bike to work and treehugger.com just named Copenhagen the most bike-friendly city in the world. Copenhagen is one of the most bike-centric cities in the world, it makes perfect sense. What I like best is that they are saying this is a pilot program and if it is successful, they will roll it out to at least 21 UK Crowne Plazas soon.

A Magic Milk Jug

By Craig Kanarick on March 30, 2010 5:21 PM | No Comments

Saturday morning I made French Toast using milk that was past the expiry date. While I thought it smelled fine, my wife (who has a much more accurate sense of smell) told me it was spoiled. While we argued about it, I wished I had an easy way to tell the quality of the milk without depending on some printed date that doesn't take in to account environmental conditions.

Turns out British milk producers Cravendale has a solution to the problem -- a so-called "magic milk jug" that tests the pH level of the milk and reports back if it is safe to drink or not. Besides improving marital relations, Cravendale estimates that over 300,000 tons of milk is thrown away, almost a third of which is totally safe to drink. In fact, milk is the most thrown away food in the UK!

While the industrial design of the container leaves a lot to be desired (especially the display), I'm all in favor of smart containers helping consumers understand their contents better. The product is still in R&D, but I hope it gets released soon.

Ford Saves One Million Dollars...By Shutting Off Computers

By Craig Kanarick on March 24, 2010 9:56 AM | No Comments

Ford Motor Company Headquarters, Dearborn, Mi.

Image via Wikipedia

From Fast Company comes this inspiring story about how a simple thing can do wonders for both the environment and the bottom line. While $1 million isn't that much to a company the size of Ford, it isn't a small number and shows that the company is doing everything it can to try and reduce waste. It reminds me of how much money is wasted here in New York by simple things like companies leaving lights and computers on at night when nobody is around. Let's hope the trend towards reducing this waste continues.

NYC BigApps

By Craig Kanarick on December 10, 2009 11:37 AM | No Comments

Combining open innovation and sustainability into one program, NYC BigApps is a competition (unfortunately already closed) to create an application focused on delivering honest and useful information to NYC residents.

The city asks that its wealth of talented developers design an application using at least one data source from the City of New York Data Mine, which includes a vast amount of issues spanning Special Waste Drop-off Sites to Library Events, in order to make the city government more accessible to all of its citizens.

While the submissions deadline has already passed, you can still take part by suggesting an app you would like to see created or submitting a data set you would like to see added the Data Mine list. And the best way to become involved is by voting, which will be open to the public shortly. Until then have a look at the NYC BigApps application gallery.

The Story of Cap and Trade

By Craig Kanarick on December 9, 2009 9:26 AM | No Comments

Just a few days ago, I wrote about Annie Leonard's brilliant video about consumption, The Story of Stuff. Today she released a new story, The Story of Cap and Trade, timed to coincide with the two-week Copenhagen Climate Conference. As the press materials state, if "you have heard about cap & trade, but aren't sure how it works (or who it benefits), this film is for you."

The Story Of Stuff With Annie Leonard

By Craig Kanarick on December 2, 2009 11:42 AM | No Comments

Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff is easily one of the best videos I have seen all year. This 20-minute masterpiece about sustainable living on this planet has been viewed by over 7 million people in the last year, so perhaps you have seen it. If not, you really should.

Intrigued by questions about where all the stuff around her came from--and almost more importantly where it ends up--this former Greenpeace employee uses a cheerful tone and clever animations to convey important viewpoints about a serious subject.

As The New York Times points out, educators have embraced the short film as a way to supplement printed textbooks and add a more modern viewpoint. I don't blame them, given how the youth are embracing the notions of sustainability.

Sustainable: Baking For Good

By Craig Kanarick on November 29, 2009 11:53 PM | No Comments

A new online bakery started by New York-based Emily Dubner, Baking for Good donates 15% of each purchase to a cause chosen by the customer. By tying charity to a guilty pleasure, Baking for Good allows customers to feel better about consuming scrumptious snacks and desserts, while simultaneously providing a simple system for giving back. This additional sense of social justice far outweighs most dietary concerns, making this a delicious digital destination.

The nicely designed website also helps for a great overall experience.

[ Thanks->PSFK->made this for you ]

The Secret Life of Walmart's Deli Pizza Box

By Craig Kanarick on November 16, 2009 3:57 PM | No Comments

Say what you will about Walmart's business practices, but it is undeniable that the organization is making incredible strides towards a sustainable company.

Just watch this video below about how their deli pizza box is created. This video comes from their annual Sustainability Milestones meeting held just last week. On their site, you can see over 25 videos about recent efforts.

Sustainable Nau Pop-Up Shop

By Craig Kanarick on November 12, 2009 9:41 AM | No Comments

If you haven't heard of Nau by now (sorry), you really should. The company is a shining example of the new breed of socially responsible company. This west-coast clothing manufacturer is seriously devoted to sustainability -- not only are the clothes all made from renewable products or recycled synthetics, but the entire company was created with sustainability in mind, as explained in their inspiring Business DNA statement. Just take the first sentence as a summary of what they stand for:

The Corporation shall endeavor to conduct all aspects of its business in an environmentally and socially responsible manner, including the promotion of peaceful conflict resolution, the fair and humane management of factory working conditions, the equitable treatment of its employees, the implementation of a sustainable process of product creation, waste minimization and recycling, and philanthropy...

Today, the company is opening a temporary pop-up store in New York called Here/Nau/Now, located in Soho. To reinforce its corporate values, everything in the store aside from the apparel is repurposed items scooped up from the streets of New York, including the branches that comprise the ceilings of the dressing rooms, the coffee-stained curtains, the cardboard and metal displays and more.

You can read some great quotes from their CEO, Gordon Seabury, in this nice article from Fast Company.

The Fun Theory

By Craig Kanarick on November 10, 2009 1:44 PM | No Comments

The Fun Theory is a new project from Volkswagen that integrates digital technology into every day physical experiences with the expressed goal of making sustainable behavior (walking up stairs, throwing away trash, etc) into fun activities. The theory is that if walking up stairs was more fun, more people would do it, and I agree. How great would it be if every staircase was a piano?

They are also using Open Innovation practices to extend the project by awarding a cash prize called the Fun Theory Award to people who submit similar ideas to the one illustrated below...

[ Thanks, Alex ]

20 Years Later, Tim Berners-Lee Wants to Reinvent Data

By Craig Kanarick on November 9, 2009 12:34 PM | No Comments

Time Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has a new passion. His new mission is Linked Data. He wants people to post data on the internet in the same way and with the same enthusiasm that people post articles, documents and pictures. His assertion, and I agree, is that if people shared data the same way they share other information on the web, we'd be able to learn about and solve all sorts of problems we don't even recognize. Watch it and believe. After all, the British Government recently appointed him as the person responsible for opening up England's data to the web. Watch his TED talk below for a passionate and exciting presentation about the subject.

Heat Sensitive Street Lights

By Craig Kanarick on October 27, 2009 9:26 PM | No Comments

The fourth largest city in France, Toulouse, turned on new body-heat sensing street lights today in an effort to reduce energy consumption.

The one-third mile stretch of between a sports stadium and a university is just an experiment, says the Mayor, but if it goes well they plan on rolling them out across the entire town. The lamps now default to a new dim setting but if they sense body heat, they change to a brighter setting for ten seconds. As a result, the new lights are estimated to save about 50% of their energy costs.

They aren't the only ones experimenting with attacking street lights as a way to reduce energy consumption and light pollution -- earlier this year, the 9000-person German town of Dorentrup decided to turn all of its street lights off at 11pm but users can call specific lights by mobile phone to have them turned on for 15 minutes. Studies have shown that in most cases, lights are only turned on once or twice per night since the changeover.

I can't seem to find out exactly how the technology detects body heat or what happens in inclement weather, but it seems fascinating. If only we could get NYC to turn down some of its lights...

Digital Painting "The Landing" by SWEATSHOPPE

By Craig Kanarick on October 22, 2009 5:05 PM | No Comments

SWEATSHOPPE, comprised of New York artists Bruno Levy and Blake Shaw have released The Landing, an amazing video of their project that blends traditional wheatpasting x graffiti x digital video projection. By attaching green LEDs to wheatpasting roller brushes and tracking their motion in software, they are able to project a digital video reacting to physical actions.

This video is inspiring as an example of a digital physical integration that has a wide range of uses and I look forward to when they release software that could make digital painting kits accessible to a wide range of individuals and organizations.

GOOD Transparency is More Than Good

By Craig Kanarick on October 1, 2009 9:19 PM | No Comments

Good, a "collaboration of individuals, businesses, and nonprofits pushing the world forward" is a good magazine and a great voice for sustainability of all types in the form of a magazine, events, online community and more.

Some of my favorite things they make are data graphics, even though they are mostly all static (so they can live both in print and online). You can find a selection on their site in a section called Transparency -- a name with multiple meanings, including a nod to the transparencies of overhead projector days.

On the site interaction is limited to zooming in and out. After sampling the greatest hits on their site, head over to their flickr set where you can see almost the entire collection in the full colorful and informative glory.

Our Former Manhattan Terrace Garden

By Craig Kanarick on September 24, 2009 12:39 AM | No Comments

I recently read a great article in the New York Times about the downfall of taxonomy. I agree that we don't know as much about the natural order as we used to. It seems the current mind has replaced that knowledge with an equal number of complex taxonomies including flavors of candy, models of cars, sports teams, celebrities and operating systems.

Last week my family moved from our home of the last 10 years, the highlight of which was the 350-square foot terrace half-filled with plants. For us it was a small act of sustainability, not just in terms of ecology, but also culturally by instilling nature-based taxonomies to our children. Avid eaters, our guests enjoyed the many species the kids would identify, pick and taste. Here is a visual tribute to that garden:

I'll miss it.

How Does an Open Innovation Company Work With its Partners?

By Craig Kanarick on August 25, 2009 11:48 PM | No Comments

One of the aspects I find most exciting about the growth of open innovation is the consequent growth of firms' consulting services in order to better utilize open innovation to solve problems. How and why does that work? Watch Dwayne Spradlin, President and CEO of InnoCentive, explain how the process works in this quick and interesting video:

In this fascinating video about cleaning up the Exxon Valdez spill years after it happened, Spradlin explains why open innovation is essentially a sustainable business practice:

Ten Thousand Cents

By Craig Kanarick on August 21, 2009 5:14 AM | No Comments

Ten Thousand Cents is a innovative 2008 project from the talented Aaron Koblin and Takashi Kawashima. For the project, they used Amazon's Mechanical Turk system to get 10,000 anonymous participants from over 50 countries to draw one small section of a $100 bill without knowing what they were drawing. They paid each artist one cent, for a total cost of $100. Using custom software written in Processing, the process was recorded from start to finish and combined together to create a fantastic application of a large community of users all working on one small part of a larger solution.

The animations are viewable online as a whole or individually, creating a unique rendition of a $100 bill. I particularly love looking at the different drawings to find the ways in which people draw, and to see the few "easter egg"-like drawings that have nothing to do with what they are meant to become.

Printed versions of the final images are available for $100 each (naturally) and all proceeds from the sales of each piece are donated to OLPC.

I just recently posted a presentation by Aaron, which you can see here.

Technology on the farm

By Craig Kanarick on August 10, 2009 12:08 AM | No Comments

Demonstrating the broad reach of real-time communications tools, CNN recently published an article about how people like 39-year old Nebraska wheat farmer Steve Tucker uses twitter over ten times a day during work. This usage isn't unique -- every Tuesday from 6-8pm Eastern, farmers meet on twitter and post with the hashtag #agchat, utilizing the platform as a large public chatroom. Started by agriculture advocacy writer and speaker Michele Payn-Knoper, these chats have dedicated subjects each week and can draw thousands of participants.

Discussions aren't the only use of real-time digital technologies being embraced by the farm. PureSense, an irrigation software company, recently released an iPhone version of their main product, allowing farmers to remotely monitor the real-time water content of various locations of their land. According to most reports, the system not only saves farmers water, they also have higher yields, clearly a sustainable benefit.

Another example comes from Danish firm Smarterfarming who just released its CowDetect RFID system for tracking cows' locations, consumption and other activities. By looking at visualizations of the data, cow owners can discover information about a cow's health and optimie milking schedules. They claim that a $511 per cow investment (for a farm with 200 cows) will yield $500 per cow per year in savings. The system also issues daily warnings about cows it thinks might be at a health risk or crisis, allowing early intervention on potentially damaging conditions.

Nasa's New Green Challenge

By Craig Kanarick on August 6, 2009 1:06 AM | No Comments

Last week, NASA and the Comparative Aircraft Flight Efficiency (CAFE) Foundation announced the a $1.5 million dollar prize for aircraft that can average at least 100 mph on a 200-mile flight while achieving greater than 200 passenger miles per gallon. Calling it the Green Flight Challenge, this program joins the 6-year old Nasa Centennial Challenges, which also include the $2 miliion Power Beaming Challenge, a Tether Challenge (see below), the Regolith Excavation Challenge, the $1.6 million Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander X Prize Challenge and Astronaut Glove Challenge sponsored by the Innovative Partnerships Program and seeks to spur the development of high-efficiency aircraft. This contest is not only innovative, it is the most sustainable NASA challenge yet.

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