clean tech

Perhaps it’s seasonal, but the past few weeks have seen a gusher of studies, surveys, analyses, and reports from a wide range of organizations, including three of the Big 4 accounting firms. I’ve perused the latest crop and summarized six of them below.

If you start with the premise that many of the solutions to our global sustainability challenges require smart design and systems thinking, it doesn’t take long before you find your way to Autodesk. The 29-year-old design software company has made a series of impressive moves into the sustainability realm over the past few years.

If you were to believe the mainstream media, the future of transportation is electric. And so it seems: In the coming year or two, we'll see a parade of electric vehicles (EVs), hybrid-electric vehicles (HEVs), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), and extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) — and probably a few variations on those themes — all of which employ kilowatts where gasoline once reigned. They're coming from both the world's biggest car companies and some of the smallest.

One of the truly positive stories of the Great Recession is the continued growth of clean technology in general, and clean energy in particular. This isn't the prevailing narrative. According to the mainstream media, the excitement over cleantech has eased, the victim of global economic travails, the dearth of investment capital, and the cooling of political momentum to curb global warming. It's a bubble that, if not burst, has at least depressurized a bit.

I've had the good fortune to view the world through a Japanese lens over the past 10 days — specifically, the worlds of green business and clean technology, about which I've come to Japan to speak.

Some of my favorite questions begin with the same four words: "What would it take..." What follows those four words can be just about anything, as in: What would it take to ... make solar energy as cheap and efficient as fossil fuel-based electricity?... routinely build zero-waste factories?... recycle 90 percent of the waste in my city within five years?... make organic foods cost-competitive with conventional ones? ... make airplanes operate on electric power? ... create zero-energy low-income housing? And so on.

by: Michael Hoexter

by: Michael Hoexter

by: Idris Mootee

Social networks are finally converging with mobile connectivity and eco-friendly concepts. Nokia is at the cutting edge of innovation again (Motorola, what are you guys doing?) with this visionary concept of Eco Sensor Phone System. This new design concept consists of a cell phone and compatible sensing device that allows you to stay connected to your friends as well as to your health and local environment.

by: Michael Hoexter