Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls… come right in for another edition of the Greenest Show on the Web: the Carnival of the Green! Fresh off of a stellar performance at Ms. Malaprop, the Carnival’s here at Green Options this week to amaze and delight you. But don’t wait around — the show has a limited engagement here, and then it’s moving on for a stint with our friends at Greener Magazine.

What’s the Carnival of the Green (or COTG, as we green bloggers like to call it)? It’s a roundup of some of the best posts on green blogs from the past week. Always moving, the COTG stops for a visit on a green blog every Monday. The Carnival was the brainchild of Al Tepper, publisher extraordinaire at City Hippy, and Nick Aster, the man behind (and often in front) of the curtain at Triplepundit. These days, our friends at Treehugger play tour manager for the Carnival.

Now that we’ve got the formalities out of the way, let’s get on with the show. And if you’re suffering from a case of the Mondays, here’s a little music to put you in that carnival mood…. wherever you are.

The Hall of Science

Come on in, and take a gander at the latest technological wonders. Won’t cost you a dime…

We’ve got a double-header from EcoGeek this week. Want some help adjusting your driving to save fuel? Hank and co. take a look at the Fuel Mizer, which can monitor your stops and starts for you. And if you’re a walker (which we hope you are!), two students at MIT are just won a prize to harvest the energy from your footsteps (yep, we covered that one, too).

The Naib, over at The Sietch, investigates the Watercone, a device that uses solar energy to desalinate water. This piece of simple technology could do a lot of good for people without easy access to fresh water.

For the Dedicated Followers of Fashion…

We’ve got some Fall previews, and some new looks.

The Natural Collection is predicting an ethical Autumn as they roll out their Fall fashions online. Keep an eye on their site, as they promise "some fantastic giveaways, competitions and freebies" are on the way.

Nature Mom Tiffany Washko takes a look at some furnishings (particularly beds) that are both green and stylish.

Inhabitat shows us how designer Stephan Boltz gives a second life (and new sense of style) to airplane trolleys.

And speaking of reuse, our own Victoria E. shows us how the Broken Plate Pendant Co. turns "useless" china into unique pieces of jewelry (on her own blog).

The Carnival’s Trade Show

Catch the latest trends in green business and finance.

Sox First has a podcast interview with Erik Mather, managing director of Regnan, on the growing pressure for companies "…to come clean on their contingent liabilities that include environmental, sustainability and governance risks."

Great Green Gadgets expresses some skepticism about carbon offsets, particularly those involving tree planting. Doesn’t mean they’re against planting trees, though… even guerrilla style!

And the Savvy Vegetarian shares a post from market gardener Jocelyn Engman on the importance of supporting local farmers.

Time for a Break… and a Beer

All this carnivaling can make you thirsty…

GO’s Gavin Hudson shares some tips on making your own eco-friendly brew: cheers!

And the Green Cougar points to that inevitable post-college dilemma for green grads: aluminum cans or glass bottles?

The Medicine Show

Health and safety stories with a green tint.

Allie’s Answers takes note of some of the potential dangers presented by manufactured nanoparticles in sunscreens.

The Environmental Working Group’s Enviroblog presents a video on the danger that still exist from arsenic-treated lumber used for decks and playsets.

Finally, at sustainablog (my other blog), I took a look at an editorial in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star-Tribune claiming that greener development of transportation infrastructure could create less wear and tear on roads and bridges (so they’re less likely collapse!).

Get a Glimpse of Far-Away Lands…

A couple of our participants in the Carnival this week share some travel information and experiences.

Intelligent Travel spotlights several green hotels you might want to consider on your next getaway.

Sally Kneidel of Veggie Revolution recounts her visit (complete with some great photos) to the South African village of Welverdiend

The Souvenir Stand

If you must buy, make sure it’s sustainable.

The Millionaire Mommy Next Door claims that "Memories are made of the things we do, not the things we buy." We couldn’t agree more!

La Marguerite reminices on times past when we didn’t throw away so much stuff.

And Green LA Girl takes a look at some eco-friendly claims made by some companies about their products, and shows that a little digging often chips the green gilding off of these fairly ordinary items.

Finally, Take a Stroll Down the Midway…

You never know what you may find.

INNside Innkeeping in Montana highlights efforts by Xanterra Parks and Resorts, the owner of hotels and restaurants inside a number of state and national parks, to green up their own operations. That’s right… Yellowstone is going green…

Maria Energia, the blog of our own Maria Surma Manka, considers the implications of recently-announced renewable energy deals by BP.

Jetson Green takes a look at an ancient case of urban sprawl, and wonders if it provides some insight into more recent calamities such as post-Katrina flooding in New Orleans, and the bridge collapse in Minnesota.

In another post, Intelligent Travel offers its congratulations to Java Green, a D.C.-area cafe’ that recently won the title of "Best Vegetarian Restaurant" in a contest held by VegDC.

Flower-Garden-Bulbs.com provides some tips for getting flower bulbs started right… the organic way.

The Good Human muses upon the messages sent by environmentalists concerning climate change, and claims that the planet itself will survive this crisis; the human species, on the other hand, may not be so fortunate.

And, finally, our good friends at Lighter Footstep help spread the word on the October 15th Blog Action Day, when a diverse array of bloggers, ranging from Lifehacker to ProBlogger, will be writing about, and raising funds for, environmental issues.

That’s a wrap, folks — thank you for coming by and enjoying the Carnival. We’ll see you next week at Greener Magazine!

Image sources: Treehugger (COTG banner) and Wikimedia Commons (here, here, and here)

Have you ever rented a movie from a video store? Or stayed in a hotel room? Do you belong to a fitness club or gym? If you can answer "yes" to any of these questions (and you probably can), then you’ve paid money not for a product, but rather a service or benefit: enjoying a film, getting a good night’s sleep, or a killer set of abs. All of these businesses fall into the category of the "product service system," and while these examples are really common, many other companies are recognizing the earnings potential that exist for "renting" products rather than selling them outright.

So, why would we care about this on a green lifestyle site? Product service systems (PSS for short) can not only make businesses a lot of money; they can also force them to adopt greener business practices. If you own a video store, constantly having to replace DVDs isn’t in your financial interest: you get paid for a customer’s use of that product, so it’s to your benefit to make those discs last as long as possible. Similarly, a gym that constantly has to replace stationary bikes and treadmills isn’t going to be very profitable. The PSS makes reuse and recycling not just nice ideas for the environment; rather, they become critical to a company’s financial success.

A couple of weeks ago, Rodger Vistacion, the founder and CEO of iLetYou, wrote a post on the company’s blog about the PSS concept:

…most everyday activity involves a Product Service System. You don’t
own the roads you drive on, you don’t own the restaurant or parks you
eat in, and you don’t own the health club that you work out in. When
you take a vacation, luckily you don’t need your own airplane and you
can conveniently get all the comforts of home, transplanted into a new,
relaxing (maybe) environment. If you rent your home, apartment or car,
you’re even more ensconced in Product Service Systems.

A Product Service System also very accurately describes what rental
is. Generally, rental is defined as when you physically pay a fee to
generally own an item for a set period of time. The only really
difference is the fee (it’s simply lending and borrowing otherwise) and
some Product Service Systems use shared, aggregated renting when
appropriate. The two concepts are basicly identical - in many ways, the
exact same thing.

New companies are emerging to fully embrace this trend. Zipcar is a leader in cars, BagBorrowOrSteal in handbags and designer goods, and there are many more emerging examples.

He’s right — there are some very exciting applications of this concept that have significant environmental benefits in terms of reducing, reusing and recycling:

• Interface, Inc.’s "Evergreen Carpet Leasing System" was revolutionary for the commercial floor covering industry: in this program, a customer pays for "floor covering service" rather than buying carpet or other coverings outright. The system has allowed Interface to focus on methods of reusing and recycling old floor covering, as well as maintaining it for as long as possible. If you haven’t reade Interface founder Ray Anderson’s Mid-Course Correction, it’s very inspiring! I can’t say for certain that this program still exists (having trouble finding anything on the Interface web sites).
• SunEdison has brought this concept to solar power: rather than buying solar panels, commercial clients can enter intro a contract with the company and just buy the electricity produced at a set rate. SunEdison owns and maintains the equipment. CitizenRE wants to implement such a system for the residential market… we’re not sure that it will work, though.

These are just two examples — there are plenty more. Companies that keep ownership of their products have a real incentive to "keep it green"… and that’s a model we’d love to see more.

WorldChanging:Product-Service Scenarios for the Bright Green City

Treehugger: Eco-Tip: Product Service Systems

sustainablog: GM, Whole Foods Using ‘Solar Service System’ (please note: sustainablog is my personal sustainability blog.)

Amazon Link: Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution

Photo: A view of the Mediterranean

Editor’s note: I started working on this post yesterday, and after writing and writing and writing, I realized it was turning into a David post While I heard a lot of interesting discussion yesterday, I’ll try to stick to an overview of main ideas and questions, and then respond to your comments and questions. Perhaps we can extend the symposium into our own space here…

This morning, I got to attend my first major session at the Papandreou Foundation’s Symi Symposium. Entitled "Energy in Flux: Safe Passage to a Future of Alternatives," the session consisted of three presentations on transitioning to a new energy future, and a lively debate over the challenges and opportunities created by the need to shift energy priorities in the face of global climate change.

Overall, I was delighted by the optimistic tone that ran throughout these presentations (which, in some cases, became points of contention in later open discussion): all three speakers acknowledged the enormity of the environmental challenges we face, and noted that combined efforts of the public and private sectors will be necessary to mobilize the larger public to action. In each presentation, the speaker focused on public involvement (in the roles of consumers and citizens), and made the case that an educated populace will provide the momentum for adoption of clean, renewable energy options. Let me just give a very brief overview of the main points offered by each speaker.

The first presentation focused on consumers’ roles in transitioning to a low-carbon energy infrastructure. Dr. Joseph Stanislaw noted that, traditionally, when we talk about energy, we talk about supply: where does it come from? He argued that a shift in mindset and language towards the services energy provides creates greater opportunity for transitioning towards more sustainable energy options. Consumers don’t want energy created from coal, or from solar power, for that matter: they want the services that reliable energy provides. By focusing on meeting this demand, we can address our contributions to climate change by implementing currently available technologies (particularly conservation technologies) while also working on the next generation of cleantech solutions. Consumers can be empowered to contribute to lower consumption by educating them on the "low hanging fruit" available: CFLs, for example. Finally, Stanislaw noted that the private sector is well ahead of the (US) government in recognizing these opportunities: he specifically discussed Wal-Mart’s sustainability efforts.

The second and third presentations both focused on engaging populations as citizens in transitioning towards cleaner energy technologies. The first, presented by James Fishkin of Stanford University of the two described experiments conducted by Texas utilities in "deliberative democracy": representative groups of customers were brought together in person, and through television, to discuss opportunities to purchase "green" power through their utilities. The sessions served to both educate the people gathered, and to listen to their concerns. These sessions produced amazing results: before these sessions, 52% of these consumers will willing to pay more for green energy; afterwards, 84% expressed willingness. The speaker noted the the increased prices don’t have to be much larger: even a $.25 addition to customers’ monthly bills would generate millions of dollars for increased renewable infrastructures. The success of the Texas experiment has led to other requests to hold such events: they’ve been repeated in Nebraska and Nova Scotia (with similar positive outcomes), and more will be held in Vermont, and as part of the next National Governor’s Association meeting. The third speaker, John Panarenos, provided the results of a similar effort in Europe: when asked, the representative samplingof citizens choose "energy and environment" as the most pressing issues facing the EU. The combination of terms was important — when the word "environment" was presented by itself, it didn’t receive nearly as high numbers.

As you might imagine, other symposium delegates had plenty of questions and even challenges for these speakers. A few points offered:

• The "small steps" position of the first presentation was challenged with the Chinese proverb "You can’t cross a ravine with small steps": ultimately, the enormity of these problems require much bigger responses.
• The market focus (which was not exclusive — he wasn’t arguing for "letting the market fix the problems") of the first speaker’s presentation was also questioned, with at least one respondent noting that we must focus on what scientists say is necessary, rather than what is possible in a consumer market.
• Several respondents also argued for more top-down regulation — in fact, that seemed to be a major point of debate: a focus on grassroots action (which is what I heard coming from these presentations) vs. government regulation.

Needless to say, this session was fascinating and provocative: as the first speaker noted, we can’t separate energy issues from climate change, so these kinds of discussions are necessary. I’ve just given the briefest of overviews here — feel free to offer comments or ask questions…

The evening sessions at the symposium are shorter and a bit less formal. Tuesday’s evening’s focused on a presentation by Kim Alter (Oxford University) on the concept of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise: the hybridizing of business and non-profit models into a unique endeavor that harnesses market forces in innovative ways to address social (and environmental) challenges. As with the morning session, the discussion was lively following the presentation. The concept of social enterprise as a distinct category, rather than another form of non-profit, was a major question for participants in the discussion.

Tomorrow: Excursion day…. with lots of photos from Paros and Antiparos….

Paros, Greece, from the back porch of my hotel roomThis week, we've got something exclusive for you: an inside look at a major symposium on climate change hosted by Greece's Andreas G. Papandreou foundation. The Foundation invited me to participate in the event, and I just arrived on the Greek Island of Paros a few hours ago.

Needless to say, I was very excited by this invitation, and not just because I get to spend a week in the Greek Isles and still call it work. Papandreou's annual Symi Symposium brings together great minds from around the world each year to discuss solutions to global issues. The participants include politicians (several members of various parliaments, and one president), business leaders, academics and representatives of non-governmental organizations. This year's theme is "Climate Changes Everything," and I'm definitely looking forward to hearing the perspectives presented on addressing the global climate crisis.

Some minor travel mishaps kept me away from the symposium's first session, "After Kyoto: How to Design a New Global Accord." Now that I'm here, I'm definitely looking forward to upcoming sessions and workshops on energy alternatives, social entrepreneurship, the "Green Economy," and climate change in the developing world. I'll be providing details throughout here, and may even give podcasting a try (there's a studio for it here). I'll also take plenty of photographs… everything is worthy of a picture here!

The Papandreuo foundation has graciously picked up the tab for me to attend and cover this event.

Cross posted at sustainblog

Editor's note: I had hoped to actually complete this series last week, but my administrative duties got the best of me. So, here's part two on my trip to Bentonville, Arkansas, for Wal-Mart's media day and shareholders' meeting. You can find part one here.

After finishing up at Sam's Club, our next stop was the Bentonville Supercenter. Like the Sam's Club we visited, the Supercenter was fairly new: it had opened in May, 2005. Like the store we'd just come from, this one also sported ample skylights and bright white walls, and had a definite "upscale" feel. One of the executives who met us on the tour confirmed this was intentional for the particular store… a part of the company's "store of the community" concept.

That idea perked my ears up, of course — wouldn't a "store of the community" be carrying local foods and produce in the grocery section? That question was answered before I got to ask it: yes, a handful of produce items were purchased from local farmers. We also saw plenty of evidence of Wal-Mart's organics push as we walked through other areas of the store's grocery section.

At one stop, I was surprised to hear sustainability brought up: at the back of the store, we were introduced to Wal-Mart's "Site to store" program. Think Wal-Mart meets the long tail: thousands of items only available on the company's web site can be shipped to a Wal-Mart store with no shipping charges for the customer. I expected to hear about how such a program improved customer choice while still offering low prices, but the team from Wal-Mart.com also discussed how the program fits into the company's sustainability goals. Site to store items are shipped on trucks already bound for stores where the customers will pick them up; as such, they don't require the packaging needed if they were shipped by a parcel service. For individual items, of course, this probably doesn't add up to much, but, of course, Wal-Mart works on huge scale: the collective amount of fuel and packaging saved wasn't given, but one can imagine it's sizeable.

In housewares, we got to see a visual representation of the retailer's commitment to selling compact fluorescent light bulbs: there were several rows of shelves carrying the a wide variety of bulbs. An endcap display on one of these rows served to educate consumers about the energy-saving benefits of using CFLs, and also gave them the conversion values for the wattage of CFLs vs. incandescents.

Our tour ran out of time, and our visit to the electronics section was cut short… unfortunately, that meant we didn't get the hear the part of presentation on sustainability and electronics. I'll see what more I can find out on this front.

While our tour guides in other parts of the store didn't necessarily stress sustainability, I saw organic cotton highlighted on a number of displays in both clothing and home decorating sections. The notion of personal sustainability was also highlighted, particularly with health and wellness items. This concept isn't one that Wal-Mart just stresses to customers: thousands of associates have also committed to "personal sustainability projects" (PSPs) that involve improving their personal health and lightening their environmental footprint.

My question from the last post still remains, and surrounded by literally acres of merchandise, I still wondered about the pairing of consumption and sustainability. It's tempting to point at the retail giant and say "Look at all of this stuff you're selling… can we achieve true sustainability while hawking such a wide variety of goods?" I'm going to keep thinking on that, but, again, I invite your thoughts on the topic.

UPDATE: I found out yesterday that Wal-Mart has completed the roll-out of the Site to Store program to over 3300 stores throughout the US. Now, I can tell you how much fuel and packaging is saved by this program: according to the company's press release, "As a result of transportation and packaging efficiencies, 1,000 gallons of gasoline are saved each week and 20,000 fewer boxes are used each month."

A couple of events happening this weekend came across our radar over the last few days, and we thought you might be interested

Tonight in San Diego, the newly-formed Eco-Investment Club will hold a "Greenmeet" at the Hotel Solamar (downtown). International real estate investment strategist Gary H. London, of the London Group, will be speaking about his recently-published article “Green Economics as Applied to Development." Gary will be joined by Kyle Cross and Ruben Robles of Destino Real Estate; they will speak on "Wholesaling Green Propeties."

Tickets for the event are $25 for the general public, and $10 for club members — details and ticketing information are available at the Club's website. We're especially pleased to announce this event, as Eco-Investment Club founder Yeves Perez will soon be joining the Green Options writing team!

On the other coast, in New York City, Tomorrow Unlimited will present Jennifer Leonard, a designer and writer who co-authored Massive Change, and Sarah Rich, a solutions-based journalist who co-authored Worldchanging: A Users Guide to the 21st Century in a discussion entitled "Sustaining Change." Jennifer and Sarah will explore ideas about making the ideas of sustainability sustainable themselves for the long haul. They’ll also discuss ways their own thinking on sustainability has changed since completing their respective projects. In doing so, they’ll ask questions about the role of innovative design and technology in our global future, confront the trendiness of contemporary environmental thinking, and consider the importance of change itself for the long-term viability of the sustainable movement.

The discussion will take place at 12:30 pm on Saturday, and is just one part of Tomorrow Unlimited's Creators Series this weekend. Tickets to "Sustaining Change" are $10; an all-access VIP pass to all of the weekend's events is $50.

Our own Amy Stodghill won tickets to the "Sustaining Change" discussion, and will be reporting back on what she saw early next week.

Enjoy your weekend!

Today’s guest post comes from our friends at Solar Kismet. You can find Part 1 of this series here.

The three most common reactions from many CitizenRE supporters when questioned about unrealistic goals is to:

1. Dismiss any questioning as being a solar industry conspiracy against the new competition. However, three other solar companies already offer a similar rental model, and you would be hard pressed to find any serious debate on their integrity.
2. Chastise the existing industry as having accomplished little and not having a real vision for the revolutionary ideas, even though the industry has grown at a rate of 40% annually over the last decade. Thousands of people work in the solar industry, many of whom have no vested financial interest in any one company, and a sizable portion are skeptical of CitizenRE’s claims.
3. Explain what CitizenRE isn’t rather than answering the substantive questions about what it is and can reasonably accomplish.

Ultimately, the skepticism of CitizenRE is founded in overstated plans that have relatively little supporting documentation, other than “trust us.” CitizenRE’s goals are ambitious to say the least:

• World’s Largest Solar Manufacturing Plant - Last June, Nanosolar (a company started in 2001 and backed by the Google founders) announced the construction of a 430 megawatt solar manufacturing facility, the world’s largest. Nanosolar’s new thin film technology was met with cautious optimism: as one industry insider put it, announcing and producing are two different things. CitizenRE states it intends to develop an even larger 500 megawatt solar manufacturing plant that will use a new combination of lower-quality silicon material. Originally slated to begin production in early 2007, the CitizenRE website now states a production goal of early 2008. In a recent interview, Sharp Solar, one of the world’s largest solar companies, indicated they have manufacturing lead times of 18-24 months under the best circumstances, which would further push CitizenRE’s new plant into 2009. The proposed plant is not on the radar of any solar news or industry analysts and CitizenRE has still not announced a location.
• New Solar Technology - CitizenRE’s new solar manufacturing plant will use a lower-purity silicon in the production of the solar panels, in hopes of lowering costs. All things being equal, this will result in a lower-efficiency solar panel. The new technology has no commercial track record. Furthermore, silicon supplies are tight, impacting multinational corporations like Sharp and Kyocera. CitizenRE will also need to deal with this tighter market.
• New Inverter Manufacturing Plant - Solar panels produce DC power, like batteries. Inverters convert the DC power into grid-compatible AC power. CitizenRE also intends to build their own inverter manufacturing plant.
• Third-Party Solar System Ownership - Three companies already offer “third-party ownership,” where a solar company owns and operates the solar system installed on a customer’s building. CitizenRE is similarly proposing to operate the third-party ownership model on residential homes, a scale over 200 times smaller. The also plan to do business in 30 or more states than existing companies currently operate. Industry analysts indicate that they cannot run any realistic scenarios where such a venture could be profitable.
• 100,000 Installations per Year - There are currently about 35,000 solar systems in the United States, with approximately 30,000 (PDF) of these coming in the last six years. CitizenRE originally had a stated goal of 100,000 installations per year, which has since been scaled back to a reported 25,000 per year.
• 2025 Vision - By 2025, CitizenRE has a vision to operate 25% of net electricity generation (presumably in the U.S.), 20% of peak capacity (also presumably in the U.S.), 330,000 megawatts of solar manufacturing capacity, and over 1 million megawatts of installed capacity. It is truly unclear how these are in the realm of reality. They will need to build 660 of their 500 megawatts plants in the next 18 years - that’s thirty-eight plants per year. And the first one has been delayed at least one year.

If any ONE of these things was announced by an unknown company, the idea would be met with serious skepticism. Frankly, if many of these things were announced by an established company, there would be skepticism. But the combination of industry-changing goals, all with serious learning curves, really brings into question CitizenRE’s basis of understanding. Could five established companies accomplish these goals, let alone one unknown?

CitizenRE’s business structure and start-up methodology also raise questions. As a multi-level marketing company, CitizenRE has recruited over 5,000 “ecopreneurs” who are not company employees, but rather associated with the company and will potentially receive a payment based on signing up other customers. Typically MLMs involve emotional sales pitches, sold from person to person, and can be associated with devolving into pyramid schemes, where a few top leaders make money by exploiting the lower ranks.

In CitizenRE’s case, money isn’t exchanging hands, which is frequently cited as a reason CitizenRE can’t be a scam. Instead, an equally powerful motivator is being used, one that drives the environmental movement: hope. CitizenRE is essentially promising THE energy, environmental and economic solution all rolled into one. It’s a powerful emotional driver that has resulted in the viral spread of CitizenRE’s ecopreneurs and potential customers, many of whom are no doubt one in the same, and whom may not understand the nuances of what they are selling or purchasing. Perhaps the promise of a future solar system is reason enough to participate, in leiu of immediate payment. Since ecopreneurs will ultimately be compensated (PDF) based on the number of systems they refer, misinformation and excessive hype has been the common marketing strategy. The company has since disapproved of such tactics, and ordered associates to stop using such tactics.

In addition to the sales force and resulting customers, CitizenRE will also need to train and recruit hundreds, if not thousands, of site inspectors and installers across the country. Not all homes will be suitable and every installation is unique, with the permitting and interconnecting process varying by each locality and electric company. Imagine trying to process 25,000 permits for a backyard deck, a common permitting request, in a few thousand cities. Now imagine doing so with a technology of which the inspectors are only vaguely aware. As permits delay things, installation quality will likely suffer in the name of making up speed and efficacy. And once the installation is complete, the system needs to be inspected for safety with the electric grid. Delays are inevitable at nearly every level of the sales and installation chain.

Ultimately, one wonders why they did it this way - marketing heavy and delivering lightly. Why not start building the manufacturing plant, which in order to raise money from investors or loans from banks, would have to show fiscal solvency in and of itself? Prove that idea. Why not start installing tens, and then hundreds of systems in the California first, the best market for solar systems, and build some industry experience and credibility? Prove that idea. Why not focus on doing one thing well before doing all things hypothetically? I am amazed at how far the hypothetical has taken this company.

Instead, CitizenRE has promised it all to everyone. There is basically nothing they haven’t decided they can do bigger and better than the existing solar industry, as if forging new paths is only a matter of an idea. But ideas are cheap and CitizenRE needs to hit grand slam after grand slam in order to come close to their vision. The shifting time frames and requests for patience have already started, and it is only a matter of time before various parts of the plan fall apart. The best businesses do one of two things - “promise and deliver” or “underpromise and overdeliver.” It’s kind of ironic that the industry is now abuzz about CitizenRE, a brand new company that hasn’t delivered anything…only promised.

Next Time: What effect might CitizenRE’s improbable success have on the industry? What about failure? (part 3 of 3)

I received a note from fellow green blogger John-Paul Maxfield yesterday about his new Colorado-based concert promotion company Simple Folks Present. John-Paul's a pretty green guy himself, but he'd like some help in figuring out how to make his new venture more eco-friendly:

I would love your input on ways to green the company and bring people together in a way that allows them to enjoy the music they choose, while also giving them the opportunity to give back to that upon which they groove.

As a fairly regular concert-goer (though not as regular as I once was), I know greening these events is a pretty big challenge. Once need only look at the packed parking lots (in which most cars are all idling in the bumper-to-bumper race to leave after the show), and the packed, usually overflowing, trash cans to recognize the need for green. Yet bands, venues and promoters are all on the job:

• Berkeley's Greek Theatre, in parnership with Clif Bar and Native Energy, hosted a carbon-neutral concert series last year.
• Pearl Jam, Gomez and Jack Johnson are among the many performers taking efforts to lighten the impact of their tours and concerts.
• And, of course, there's the big concert planned for this summer.

Those are the fex examples that come to mind immediately. What have I missed? Give John-Paul your own ideas in the comments, or join in the discussion on this topic in the Forum.

Editor’s note: Today, we’re happy to bring you the first of what we hope will be many guest posts on the Green Options blog. Today’s guest post comes from our friends at Solar Kismet.

Most of us in the Green Blogosphere have followed new company Citizenrē, and its REnU program, with great interest. Mike has been analyzing the company at Solar Kismet, and we asked him to share his thoughts with our readers.

As Green Options launches new features and tools in the coming weeks, you’ll see that we’ll be involved in helping consumers consider their options for solar power. As such, we firmly believe that full transparency is necessary for the solar industry’s continued growth. This author’s thoughts and ideas are his own, and do not necessarily reflect those of Green Options, its management or staff.

Green products come in all shapes and sizes, with many varying claims about their content, performance and cost. Sometimes it’s hard to understand the nuances of something you don’t want to become an expert in - you just want it to be excited about your green choice and have it work. Renewable energy is no exception.

Renewable energy captures everyone’s imagination, much more so than its practical cousin, energy efficiency (those funny-looking lightbulbs really do work). But it’s hard to evaluate what the best renewable energy options are environmentally and economically. You can buy green electricity (but is that really helping anything?), you can install a solar system on your house (but it’s so expensive!), you can get more energy efficiency (so boring!), or you can have a solar system installed on your house for no money down and fix your electricity rates for the next 25 years (really?).

Did you catch that? “No money down” and “solar energy” aren’t two words that normally come together. But they have in the last two months and it’s caught the eye of thousands of people interested in selling and buying these systems. But what’s the catch? Exactly. Here’s a short lesson in “too good to be true”…

I should preface this by saying that I’m a skeptical person. I’m not going to be the one leading the masses with inspiration, so when I first heard of Citizenrē, a new solar energy company and their “no-money down” solar business model, small flags went up. I didn’t think too much of it at first. But when I started to get questions from multiple, non-related sources (consumers, industry, consultants, etc), I realized that Citizenrē had started to gain real marketing traction and decided to look into it a little more…

Citizenrē purportedly offered consumers the best of all solar energy worlds - a solar electric system on your home for no money down, no risk, and insurance against future electricity cost increases. Their goal was to install 100,000 solar systems per year on homes across America and they were recruiting salespeople from all over the internet, as well as pushing press releases, websites, and blogs touting their goals and promises everywhere. (Editor’s note: According to Renewable Energy Access, Citizenrē now plans to install 25,000 systems annually).

Here’s how Citizenrē’s model would theoretically work:

Interested consumers sign a contract with Citizenrē to have a solar system installed in exchange for a monthly solar system rental fee; reportedly, if you signed a 25 year contract, no deposit was required. Homeowners and businesses in more than 35 states would be eligible (those with net metering and a retail electric rate of 7 cents per kilowatt-hour or more). The monthly rental fee would be equal to the amount of electricity the solar system would produce annually multiplied by your cost of electricity (or even less). So instead of paying your electric company $100, you might pay them $50 and Citizenrē $50, if it offset 50% of your electricity use that month. Note that you haven’t saved any money at this point. Theoretically, you could pay Citizenrē a little less, say $45, if your Citizenrē rate was lower than your electricity rate. But the main benefit is that you lock in your electricity prices for the length of the contract and assuming electricity rates go up over time, you started to pocket the difference as personal profit.

A quick example:

• A 3 kilowatt solar electric system installed in Colorado might produce 4000 kilowatt-hours per year;
• If a home uses 8000 kilowatt-hours per year, it will offset 50% of your use;
• If your electricity rate was 9 cents per kilowatt-hour (cents/kWh) and you signed a contract with Citizenrē for the same amount, you pay each $360 per year (save nothing);
• If your electricity rate went up to 10 cents/kWh the next year, you would pay the utility company $400 and Citizenrē $360 (save $40);
• You can move your solar system once at no charge, or reassign the contract to the new homeowner.

What’s in it for Citizenrē? They take your monthly rental fee, the federal solar tax credits, accelerated business depreciation benefits, potentially lower costs from vertical business integration, and potentially the renewable energy credits (if legal).

I should stress that this business model in and of itself is not new. At least three companies (SunEdison, MMA Renewable Ventures, and Solar Power Partners) offer the same concept to companies or utilities installing large solar systems in limited markets where the incentives and policies align. And I suspect the concept will trickle out to more states and smaller solar systems over time. But not now and not Citizenrē.

Unfortunately, Citizenrē has put their marketing cart before their solar panel horse. They have built up a salesforce of thousands and pre-sold thousands of solar systems, but they have nothing to install for at least a year. Not one solar panel.

Next Time: If the business model isn’t new, why does Citizenrē raise so many flags? (part 2 of 3)

Andy Ruben is the Vice President for Corporate Strategy and Sustainability for Wal-Mart. Green Options’ Senior Editor Jeff McIntire-Strasburg spoke to Mr. Ruben on January 16, 2007 by phone. The company was preparing for the opening of its first High-Efficiency (HE. 1) store prototype in Kansas City, MO.

Green Options: The new high-efficiency store opens in on Friday. What can you tell me about the store, and how it’s different from those in McKinney, Texas and Aurora, Colorado?

Andy Ruben: Though we never set out with the goal to build experimental stores, the McKinney and Aurora locations gave us room to try a wide range of high-efficiency techniques. In Kansas City, the new HE. 1 store takes the successful elements from McKinney and Aurora stores, and rolls them into a working prototype.

GO: And how well will that work? In other words, what kinds of efficiency levels do you expect to attain?

AR: We expect the Kansas City store to be 20% higher in efficiency than our other prototypes being built today. It’s a step towards a larger goal of a prototype store that achieves 25-30%, which we expect to create by 2009. We’re going to achieve that by focusing on three major energy-consuming systems: refrigeration, heating and air conditioning, and lighting. Each of these represents roughly one-third of the total store efficiency goals. Additionally, we’re incorporating things like white roofs, daylight harvesting systems, light-emitting diode [LED] signage – all technologies that we’re currently putting into all of the new Wal-Marts, Sam’s Clubs and Neighborhood Markets.

We’re also taking advantage of technologies that allow us to harvest waste heat from one element of the store, and use it in another. For instance, the Kansas City store is at optimal efficiency during the winter because 100% of the heat generated by the refrigeration systems is reclaimed by a pump and boiler package that uses water to move heat into the store space. Additional waste heat will be used to heat water for public restrooms and kitchens.

GO: This all sounds a lot like William McDonough and Michael Braungart’s “cradle to cradle” concept.

AR: McDonough and Braungart’s ideas are our guiding principles in designing these systems. We’ve worked with McDonough, and continue to work with one of his “disciples.” We’re looking at everything from products to store design in terms of “cradle to cradle” thinking. It gives us a chance to look at the built world, and to figure out what we can do right now. That’s particularly exciting for me, because it gives me the opportunity to look at different parts of the business, and try to figure out how we can implement practices that align with these principles.

For instance, we built the first commercial building in the US that integrates a closed-loop CO2 system. One of our competitors came to take a look, and proceeded to build the second such building. We’re now in the process of building the third. I’m coming to realize that the indirect opportunities for change may outweigh the direct one.

GO: How is all of this working out with your suppliers? Wal-Mart’s known for keeping a pretty tight reign…

AR: Across the board, it’s working well. But let me address that perception first, because our relationship with our suppliers isn’t exactly like that. We’re a customer of our suppliers. We don’t get to go in and say “We’d like you to do X.” And that’s for the best: our suppliers know much more about their business then we do.

As far as our sustainability goals, we’re willing to let our suppliers grow into these roles. Sustainability is a personal journey in which people need to see themselves first. We’ll encourage our suppliers to look at transportation costs, packaging, and environmental savings. We’ll show them the positive wins we’ve created by addressing these issues. And then we hope that they’ll use their talent and expertise to innovate.

We can’t go in and dictate solutions, though. We expect our suppliers to work through their own sustainability journeys, and to create open-ended solutions that work for both companies.

It is working for them, though. Dana Undies, for instance, claims it has realized 50-70% energy savings by implementing practices that we’ve put into place.

GO: One solution that Wal-Mart is considering is solar power: news leaked out in December that the company had issued a request for proposals (RFP) on solar systems for some stores in five states. How does renewable energy in general figure into the company’s sustainability plans?

AR: Our long-term goal is to be powered 100% by renewable energy, and solar power is certainly part of that goal. We wanted to set such long-term goals to align the whole company around thinking big and new for all areas of the company. It’s certainly important to have near-term goals, also, and the RFP plays into that. I can’t really say much more, though, as that request is still very much in process.

GO: Where is the company in terms of the long-term goal?

AR: Currently, renewably-produced energy accounts for only a small percentage of the power we use. At this point, it doesn’t make sense to simply add more renewable power, and ask our customers to pay more for that added value. So, we’re focused on the long-term value of renewable energy. We believe that we’ll create more value if we work to change the way people think about these things.

The RFP is one way to do that. We believe that the competition it creates is a good thing, and that the overall market will benefit.

GO: Let’s move on to some of the criticism of Wal-Mart’s sustainability plans – it’s certainly out there! One of the major issues I hear is that you’re not really in this because of environmental concerns; rather, you see sustainability simply as a way to save money. How do you respond to that kind of criticism.

AR: That’s not where we focus. We understand where that criticism comes from, but we ask our critics not to focus on motivation, but on results. Measure us by our actions. We’ve set goals, and we know we can get a lot better. Setting those goals means people show up to work every day thinking “What can we do better?” We then focus on solutions: on organic cotton clothing, on bamboo, on Fair Trade coffee.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t hear the criticism. It can be helpful, and we learn from it. We can’t get enough feedback from our critics. At the same time, we know that some critics will never be satisfied with our efforts. Criticism comes in varying levels of intensity: we focus on feedback that helps us become a better company.

GO: One near-term goal the company announced was doubling its offerings of organic food? Where are you on that?

AR: Actually, I can’t verify that we said we’d double our offerings. What I can say is that we’re responding to customer demand. We view organics as a preference that allows customers to make better choices for themselves.

GO: How do you respond to criticism that Wal-Mart will end up “watering down” organics, or at least the meaning of the word?

AR: We understand the concern, and are taking a hard look at how things are produced… including where they come from.

I had the opportunity to take part in an event called the “Earth-to-Earth Summit,” which was run by [executive vice president of merchandising] Claire Watts. In this meeting, we brought together people that had never sat in the same room together: people who represented the life cycle of our food products along every step of the way. We get a lot of value out of sessions like that.

One of our biggest wins in this area involves tomatoes. There are a lot of local tomato growers who produce fruit that might look strange to many shoppers – it has a different shape, for instance. After meetings like the Earth-to-Earth summit, we started thinking about food miles, and the heavy footprint they create. We started to wonder why we don’t have greater options for buying produce, including the local option: buying from farmers that live and work near a particular store. So we’ve gone back aggressively to those local tomato growers, and started working with them to create a more marketable product.

There’s no downside to these kinds of developments: we get fresher produce, and local farmers and communities benefit economically.

We’ve also started thinking about alternative locations for growing products. Cilantro, for instance, has traditionally been grown on the West Coast, but the climate in Florida is ideal for it. We’ve worked with Florida farmers to start growing the crop, and now source all of the cilantro for our Eastern Seaboard stores from them. That allows for a significant reduction of food miles on that one product.

GO: It sounds like the company has adopted a “learning organization” approach?

AR: Exactly! We want to find out what lenses work for getting people to see things differently. That’s a learning process, and one that we’re engaged in.