Being able to get across a green product’s essence to consumers and investors is a key that can turn it from a fringe interest to mass market success. Design can connect consumers with a cleantech product’s functions, values, and green character better than words can. This article shows the key role design played in the success of Toyota Prius, Nest thermostat, compact fluorescent lamps and other cleantech products.
$241 billion was recently invested in green R&D by large multinationals like Samsung, General Electric, and Nissan as well as smaller companies like Owens Corning, Cree, and First Solar. Guest contributors Hazel Henderson and Timothy Nash take us through where the money has gone to and what the trends are.
While some ‘green’ businesses do little more than changing light bulbs and focus on greening their reputations, TD Bank take a long term view and green themselves slowly and steadily from the inside out. In this exclusive interview, TD Chief Environmental Officer Karen Clarke-Whistler explains how this long term approach is applied to real estate management and energy conservation.
Solar and other renewable energy projects are going strong all over Ontario driven by the province’s Feed-In Tariff program. Businesses, communities, and homes are going green and earning income at the same time. As the FIT program passes its one year mark, I look at some of the experiences accrued so far.
The final part of this case study on Canada’s largest solar rooftop focuses on the Ontario Feed-In Tariff program application. We look at how LoyaltyOne got their FIT program approval to become the first solar system to feed electricity into the provincial power grid.