Eco Optimism

Who Needs Oil When You Have Sand?

Check out the world's largest solar array planned for the Sahara Desert. About 20 German companies are looking into scattering panels throughout the region, eventually creating enough energy to power Europe. 

Granted the $555 billion price tag is a bit daunting, but we spent more than that on the TARP bailout. GO EASY, I'm not saying we shouldn't have done TARP, I'm merely making the point that if we really want it, we could change things in the USA pretty quickly.

But why is it that it seems that this type of big thinking only comes from Europe? And when we try to give tax breaks and other incentives for companies to make bold moves, the left complains that we're favoring Big Business or the right claims Obama is a socialist?

In the words of Hyman Roth in Godfather II, we need a "true partnership" between business and government (of course he was talking about pre-Castro Cuba partnering with the Mafia). Other countries are wooing clean energy business, innovation, manufacturing...the whole 9.  And we can't even get a wind farm built off the shore of Cape Cod.

Wake up people.  The sun is shining, but getting closer to setting.

Air Cars: 100 mpg and 96 mph

By next year, hybrids could go the way of the 8-track tape: a relic of fast-moving technology.  2010 could see the first wave of "air cars", or more specifically, "compressed air cars." They could take you over 800 miles on a single fill-up, at speeds of up to 96 mph. They should refuel in less than 3 minutes, and at speeds over 35 mph emit about half the CO2 of a Toyota Prius.

Instead of me telling you about it, read Gas 2.0.  These look promising.

Green Marketing Newsflash: Don't B.S. Consumers

Greenwashing has become so common, it's almost already jumped the shark. Companies trying to market their way into the green heart of the American consumer are finding the the BS filter is at an all-time high. Most people are SICK of bogus claims from large organizations.  We've seen too much, from the sex scandals to Ponzi schemes to going to war on a flimsy premise (we should have just said we were going into Iraq to overthrow an idiot and stabilize our long-term interests in the region...but that's a topic for another blog).

In this space, we've been preaching the importance of REAL value: the basic "so what" that your company and products bring to the table. Just because green and social responsibility is all the rage doesn't mean you need to shoehorn it into your message or mission. True, you should have a long-term plan to get inline with the evolving climate around environmental and social responsibility, but putting a bow-tie on a pig in the meantime sure ain't the answer.

A new study shows that:

• 31 percent of consumers say their first impression of a business touting its social engagement efforts is "just about the marketing." 
• Another 16 percent say they feel these efforts take a company away from its primary business focus. That means that almost half of consumers are skeptical of companies that are focusing on social issues, especially in cases where those efforts are inconsistent with an organization's primary business mission.

At the same time, and despite their skepticism, consumers believe that businesses have a responsibility to engage on social issues. In the words of the study's author: 

• "86 percent of consumers feel it is possible for and incumbent upon a profitable business to address social issues. But consumers are specific about that engagement. They want social engagement to be done in the context of a company's business strategy and mission."

So the message: focus on deliver the best product you can, communicate its value clearly and consistently, and only blend in cause-related messages when its completely germane to your mission and the sensibilities of your target group.  Then and only then will you message build goodwill.

And if you do have some serious good to talk about, don't be shy.  Be real, be humble, but don't be afraid to be loud. The American consumer may be getting smarter, but they sure haven't improved their attention span.

Come up with a way to do THAT, and then you'll really have a mission worth talking about.

Back for Now, and Pulling for Wind Energy

The blogger is back...for now.  Still traditionally powered, but I'll get to wind power in a moment. 

Quick update: Working with my interactive agency, Overdrive Interactive, it seems that as we change over this blog to my agency's site (among other things in a project for my agency Cercone Brown & Co.), I don't have to stop writing.  They can import all this content into the next version of Eco-Optimism automatically. And because they are moving this week to a new 10,000 ft. space, let's just say I need to wait to get my move complete!

So without getting too much into that, thought I'd point out an encouraging sign for wind power in Massachusetts: The Boston Globe (still open for business!) today reports that the National Guard is hoping/planning to construct 17 wind turbines on their Cape Cod base.  The result would be 34 megawatts of power...just about enough to make the base self-powered.

But here's the thing...to me it just underscores the need to move ahead on the Cape Wind project that would build 130 turbines in Nantucket Sound. That's nearly enough to power all of the Cape and the Islands, making this pristine part of coastal Massachusetts independent of existing power sources.  And if this happens, could it be too long before we see more offshore wind farms?  Seems a logical move these days.

We'll keep an eye on it as the project moves forward.