Two days after from being named a Green Pioneer by the Phoenix Business Journal, Derrick Mains called on entrepreneurs and thought-leaders in Arizona to raise the bar if they want to turn the state into a Silicon Valley for Sustainability!

On his radio show, Your Triple Bottom Line, Derrick spent some time outlining the opportunity, and his call to action.

Sustainability will be a 2.7 trillion industry, with 50 percent of that in energy and process efficiency.

The keyword is efficiency.

Arizona is a land of pioneers and risk-takers, he noted. This pioneering spirit needs to be challenged, as we are sitting on a trillion dollar opportunity for ‘holistic sustainability.’

Listen to the podcast using the player below. Connect with Derrick via email.

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LED lights have come a long way over the last few years, with superior technology that allows them to last up to 100 times longer than incandescent lights, and they can be used in a much wider variety of settings and conditions than incandescent. LEDs use only about 20 percent of the energy that incandescent bulbs use and are gaining market share with governments and commercial and residential users.

Price has been the main barrier to widespread market penetration by LEDs.  At $25 for an LED bulb that works in a standard light socket, they cost more than many people are willing to spend, even though they are expected to last 25 years.

There are less expensive LEDs, but quality can be an issue.  Mike Rogers, EVP of Green Homes America, a green retrofitting company based in Irvine, Calif., says that while the big box store LED products are not really ready for prime time, he is willing to recommend some of the higher priced products for their unrivaled energy efficiency and quality of light.

Luckily, according to the New York Times, prices are dropping rapidly. The $25 bulb was about twice as expensive six months ago, and some analysts believe it will drop to around $10 within the year.

 “Lighting is going to completely change over the course of this decade,” said Alan E. Salzman, chief executive of VantagePoint Venture Partners, in the article.

What is the business case for LED lights? Read more about this energy efficient solution, here.

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We are so proud to announce our launch at DEMO Spring conference  today in Palm Springs.

The 6-minute presentation at 11.00 am was available on several feeds –the Ubergizmo live blog, Facebook, and via  a broad spectrum of tweets.

GreenNurture’s CEO, Derrick Mains talked of the central concept of GreenNurture’s application as the “virtual suggestion box” – and its tie-in with sustainability. As he stated (in today’s Phoenix  Business Journal), “We’re essentially launching a new market segment.”

DEMO is obviously an exceptional launch pad. (Go see why.) “As a start-up company, we could not think of a better way to introduce our technology than launching live at the DEMO Spring 2010 conference among the ranks of such previous DEMO presenters and technology giants as Salesforce.com, E*Trade and Symantec,” noted Mains.

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We just spoke to Mark Bowles, CEO of ecoATM, who has some 20 years of experience in the wireless, semiconductor industry. His company that engages in eCycling –technically automated eCycling stations– of cell phones. But phones are not the end goal, as you will see. (or hear –since this was recorded for a podcast iseries at GreenNurture.

So what’s an ecoATM, we wondered. Another green machine? How did the concept come about?

“We are a bunch of hi-tech guys, and we decided to see how we could use technology to solve problems. We had seen a Nokia survey of 100 countries showed how a me 3% of cell phones are recycled. We wondered how we could provide a solution …Girl scouts do cookies. Could boy scouts collect phones?”

Turns out there is a huge collection problem. So Bowles and his team came up with a system to give all stakeholders in the chain an incentive to not just do  the right thing, but make it convenient. “Incentivizing and convenience go hand.”

That’s where gift cards and store credit comes in.

It works like this: Consumer walks into a store with a  couple of old cell phones lying in the bottom of his drawer at the office. He uses a connector in the machine to plug the phones in. Algorithms and cameras in the ecoATM machine ‘grade’ the phones; he drops them into the kiosk and the machine spits out a credit –to be spent at that store.

But beyond the cool factor of trading in or eCycling your old phone, there is a big environmental benefit whenever you do it.

• We collectively buy $180 worth of consumer electronics (500 million devices) every year.
• Some 25 million get retired –stuck in our drawers and closets -  75 tons of phones every year.
• There are 3,600 phone models in the country.
• EPA estimates that the circuits and boards of phones which have gold, cadmium, palladium and copper, generate  3 tons of mining  waste.

None of this makes sense, unless you visualize it., says Bowles, and offers up this visual:

Of 150 million phones shipped into the US every year. That would make 2,000 boxcars of phones coming into the US every year!

Line those up it is a 20-mile long train.

With that as a backdrop, the idea of diverting phones from landfills (and drawers) looks like a viable model. “This is about giving electronics  a ’second life,’ says Bowles.

So how could electronics manufacturers and resellers take up the ecoATM concept and run with it? We know that Dell and HP engage in e-cycling on a large scale. How do other  manufacturing companies  get into an e-cycling game?

Bowles observed how Staples is running a wildly successful Trade-in/Tradeup program for customers’ old printers. For retailers, the ecoATM can simplify this, with a kiosk that doesn’t cost them anything.

So we wondered, why stop at phones? Could the kiosk accept other electronics? That is coming, says Bowles built to be—not just for iPhones, ipods, and cameras but for ‘non-binnable waste’ –i.e. PCs, printers etc. Maybe seeing these eco-ATMs in our neighborhood electronics and grocery stores will change behaviors.

Maybe it would help us slow down that train!

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We’re giving away a Kindle at this conference!

Yesterday we announced that all those send a text to 41513 would be entered to win. Also in a separate drawing, those who register as beta testers of the GreenNurture.com application, would also qualify to win. You would need to drop a business card at our booth before the show ends.

The Kindle, as you know, is as thin as a magazine, has 3G wireless coverage, and holds up to 1,500 books

Speaking of giveaways, we also have pens made from corn. Yes these pens look the part, too!

Our Media Kit – a quick Response Tag: Many people have asked about the curious looking bar code on our business cards. If you have a camera phone, download a simple app that then lets you take a picture of this. [Check out how Microsoft featured it.]  Your phone does the rest –connecting to a digital file.

We use a different tag on the back of our media kit. If you’re an eco-journo, it saves you having to haul back a fat (read: wasteful) packet! After listening to Annie Leonard’s Story of Stuff yesterday, aren’t you glad?

Opening Session: Systems by Joe Laur

“”We need to build a system that works like nature, to be as smart as ants, as smart as dirt,” said Laur.

Recycling, he noted, is not going to solve the problem. There needs to be a market for it. We are a supply chain.

I liked the example of Greenopolis, and the ‘reverse ATM’ –something we have featured here on this blog. It’s all about turning consumers into  into suppliers.

Beth Springer, Chlorox: ‘Green is Lean’

How can we navigate from being extreme green to ‘defensive green’ to shaded green. Springer founded the sustainability group in this 100 year old company.

Chlorox ’s Eco Assessment process helped rethink its footprint with suppliers, and stakeholders. They took on, rather than ignored, what she called the ’scary aunt in the closet’ – Chlorox Liquid Bleach chatter. They saw education as an important part of this.

OG25: EcoCradle, Greensulate, and GreenBox were some of the outstanding OG25 companies who were chosen to pitch their concept in one-minute.

And the Kindle winner is…Shams Kazi of Causecast.

A former print journalist, Shams noted the irony of getting his hands on the technology that maybe contributing to the disappearance of newsprint.

Congratulations, Shams!

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DAY ONE

This post will be updated periodically through the day. If you’re following us on Twitter, we’re at @greennurture, and using the hashtag #OG09

There’s so many back-to-back sessions in the first part of the conference, you got the feeling that these speakers were in such high demand, they did not want to put them into breakouts.

Mike Flynn, Karen Solomon and Nurit Katz, who created this conference, introduced Opportunity Green, and were followed by Chris Jordan’s stunning work on the Pacific Garbage Patch.

His photomontages are nothing like you’ve ever seen. The purpose, he says was to “turn the dry language of gigantic numbers into photographs.” This one, for instance, is made up of the plastic we toss out –the toothbrushes, disposable bottles and packaging –that ends up in land fills. Jordan photographed, photoshopped, and  designed a pile of trash to give you a sense of how big our waste looks like!

He ended with a slide presentation (below) on ‘Message from the Gyre’ about the plight of Albatross in Midway island.

Having seen images like this, it’s impossible  to look at plastic the same way again.

Great Jordan quote: “The sacred web of life if being destroyed”

Derrick Mains interviewed by KQED:

Nick Lange, of OnelensMedia caught up with Derrick to ask him about what GreenNurture was all about. The video will be also turned into a podcast.

Breakout Session: “Where sustainable Design and Business Converge.” A panel discussion by Sarah Rich, Yves Behar, Julie Gilhart uand Zem Joachim.

Who woulda thought! The breakout session on design features both high-end design, as well as products from WearPact.com which is reinventing the business of design in … underwear!

Watch the video they showed us. Stunning slow motion and animation.

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Considering our partnership with RecycleBank, it’s worth taking a look at what Recycle Bank does. Watch this:

It’s not only ‘cash for your trash’ but also a way of injecting money into the local economy because of the hundreds of local retail partners who redeedm the points earned.

The raison d’etre for RecycleBank is so obvious. The way to be involved is simple. An average American family generates about 2.5 tons of garbage a year. With RecycleBank’s program, that tracks each family’s contribution to the blue bin using a small RFID chip, the points a famiuly earns from trash adds up. That takes care of People and Profits

As for the third P, the benefit to the planet are staggering. As of today, those participating in RecycleBank have saved some 3,146,123 trees –a number that can be tracked daily, as you keep tab on the points in your ‘bank.’

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I was at a Fry’s grocery store this morning to exchange something, and was shocked to receive a plastic gift card because there happened to be a refund of 0.44 cents! I bet that 2-part plastic card cost about as much.

It reminded me of how much retailers need to educate their staff about not just reducing the plastic bags and reducing energy use etc. I have had to refuse plastic cards from so many other retailers it’s not funny. Several others have told me how they have tried to turn down  cards, but store staff don’t seem to care.

But there are some more positive trends to report as well. Some retail outlets are adopting these:

• An EcoATMs is yet another fascinating vending unit that accepts e-waste –basically consumer electronics. This machine too, scan the item deposited, and generates a coupon or credit.

• Reverse Recycling is showing up in stores such as Albertsons. Yes, there is such as thing as a Reverse Vending Machine, which can be used to give you store credit for your recyclables.

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Last week there was the news of George Soros investing $1 Billion in green energy.

This week it’s the other deep-pockets guy –actually it’s the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation — investing $120 Million  in the ‘next green revolution.‘

Investments have been up and down over the past few quarters, as the chart below shows, but October has certainly been a good month.

Venture Capital money is also flowing. Rob Day, who writes a great VC blog observed recently that 93 percent of money for start ups  is coming from individuals not VC firms.

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This morning, Derrick Mains, CEO of GreenNurture was be featured on Stan Hexom’s show, Energy Dynamics.

Broadcast from the Phoenix studios of KFNX 1100.

Hexom, whose weekly show focuses on topics such as solar, green buildings and energy efficiency, inquired about the role of ‘micro-sustainability’ and how organizations that promote want to go green can get started.

Click on image to see more

Derrick talked about the ’sleeping giant’ that executives could educate and energize in ways that affect the company’s bottom line. “Leaving the light on, or not reporting a broken sprinkler head, not only costs the company money, but ultimately costs jobs.” We need to point to the correlation between micro eco-actions and the bottom line.

He talked of recognition, a rewards mechanism, and pledging. The last, explained Derrick, is under-used; research shows that getting people to make a commitment  has a direct bearing on their long-term actions.

Great Quotes:

“Sustainability is an inside job” – Stan Hexom

“Sustainability is the next dot-com” – Derrick Mains

“Arizona could be the epicenter of the big sustainability movement” - – Derrick Mains

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This week, we’d like to point you to two resources – both blogs.

1. Solar Decathlon Winner’s blog

Heard about the Solar Decathlon this week? It was run by the Dept. of Energy. It was a different kind of show-and-tell in the nation’s capital. Amazing photos here.

Essentially a student competition to see how high-tech solar homes could be built. Twenty colleges competed, and the winner was Germany. Competitors were judged on 10 categories: Architecture, Market Viability, Engineering, Lighting Design, Communications, Comfort Zone, Hot Water, Appliances, Home Entertainment and Net Metering.

So the best way to get a sense of the run up to the contest is to read their blog.

2. Blog Action Day posts

Climate took the global spotlight this week in the blogosphere with Blog Action Day (our contribution was one of the 31,000 posts about climate change yesterday, creating a 500% jump). Some 155 countries participated, so there’s a lot of reading here! Blog Action Day 2009

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It’s been an amazing week, as we ramp up toward the launch of GreenNurture. But this bit of promotion, by Microsoft took us off guard.

We had started using a Quick Response tag in our business cards and marcom material, because it ties in nicely to our effort to reduce printed material. And then this, from Nadia and Elliott :

Watch what they say at 1.20 minutes into the vid.

As we like to say, use a tag, save a tree.

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It’s impossible to miss the numerous green initiatives swirling around us. And it not just because of the run up to GreenBuild International Conference next month.

Phoenix took the lead to be one of the nation’s greenest cities almost a year back.  Aside from making this Green list, it’s ranked as a top Solar city awell.

Not by accident, the Phoenix metro area is home of the Global Institute of Sustainability at ASU, with the backing of the Wrigley Investments, LLC. It has and put its money where it’s mouth is, with the light rail system, and together with GPEC, has been steadily attracting ventures such as SolarCity and First Solar.

At the county level, there is the Green Government initiative -watch a short video here –by Maricopa County. Just today, 15 Arizona schools received stimulus money for solar related projects. Naturally, we are excited to in conversations with Maricopa County, to help them use our social media platform toward their long term goals.

Just for the record, here two other indicators.

• Renewable Energy projects
• Green Building Initiatives

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