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Newsroom
BioRenewables Innovation, Investing & Commercialization News
BioMaterials & Bioplastics News |
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 "OxoDegradable" Label Less Eco-Friendly Than It Promises
South Africans buying products with "biodegradable" plastic packaging are often duped by companies eager to profit from the current trend towards environmentally-conscious consumerism. While the plastics do break up into small pieces, they remain toxic and potentially dangerous to human health. |
| >>> read full story |
IPS | 15 Apr 2009 |
 Slum cooker protects environment, helps poor
Kenya's huge and squalid slums don't have much of anything, except mountains of trash that fill rivers and muddy streets, breeding disease. Now Kenyan designers have built a cooker that uses the trash as fuel to feed the poor, provide hot water and destroy toxic waste, as well as curbing the destruction of woodlands. |
| >>> read full story |
Reuters | 3 Apr 2009 |
 Evian and Volvic to become ‘plastic neutral’ in UK
anone Waters plans to make Evian and Volvic bottled water ‘plastics-neutral' in the UK, through the use of recycled plastic. The scheme will save the company £250,000 ($356,000) in the first year of the ‘closed-loop' plastic recycling initiative, which Danone plans to reinvest in environmental projects. |
| >>> read full story |
Environmental Finance | 12 Feb 2009 |
 A Sea of Garbage
Many businesses are up in arms over the decision of the City of Toronto that merchants must charge consumers five cents for each plastic shopping bag as of June 1 st , 2009. The measure is designed to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in city landfills. |
| >>> read full story |
GLOBE-Net | 8 Dec 2008 |
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BioRenewables & Cleantech News Article Archive:
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| April 9, 2008 |
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Green Chemistry news from DuPont, Cargill and others |
NY Times article, Harnessing Biology, and Avoiding Oil, for Chemical Goods, on rising petroleum prices and the case for "green chemistry," with industry profiles and updates. |
|
| March 14, 2007 |
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Cleantech Startup Fervor |
NY Times article, Start-Up Fervor Shifts to Energy in Silicon Valley, discusses the shift away from dot coms and investor interest in sustainable and clean technologies. |
|
| March 28, 2006 |
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Report
on the growth of "cleantech" investment space ... |
See report from Inc.com entitled Venture
Capitalists Flock to Green Technology for an update
on the cleantech trends and drivers. |
|
| Aug., 3, 2005 |
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Investment
in environmentally friendly technologies hits a first-quarter record:
$335.9M |
| Clean technology ("cleantech")
venture investing -- from renewable energy to advanced materials,
water, and some nanotechnology applications -- has averaged around
4% of all venture capital investing in North America and Europe. This
article highlights the record-breaking first quarter 2005, rising
to $335.9 million, or 7.3% of all venture capital in N. America, which
represents a 4.8% increase over the same year-ago quarter, and a 10.3%
increase over 2003, according to the Cleantech
Venture Network (CTVN). Download CTVN First
Quarter 2005 Venture Monitor (PDF) |
|
| June/July, 2005 |
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Need
help in your search for angel funding? Join an angel network. |
Directory
of Angel-Investor networks of the US, organized by region,
with "sweet spot" investment preferences listed for
each network. Note that only a selection of these angel
groups cater to "sustainable" technology ("cleantech")
ventures or projects. Also bear in mind that most angels do not
invest more than a hundred miles or so from where the venture
is located.
Note that although these groups are easier to contact than "angels
at large" (individual angels usually don't want to be known
as such), angel groups represent perhaps only 15% to 20% of all
angel deals. The majority happen, quietly, in private deals between
founders and angel investors they already know, or VCs that happen
to specialize in early-stage deals. See the article Angels
With Angles for further details.
Related link: Angels
In America (7/05) angel directory overview by state
or region.
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|
| May 10, 2005 |
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Newsweek Radio Interview with Bill McDonough,
and online
feature article (PDF)
about Cradle to Cradle (C2C) design. |
In an 8-minute LEADERSHIP
& INNOVATION Radio Interview, Bill McDonough presents examples
of how their "cradle to cradle" design work is revisioning
the industrial revolution to eliminate the concept of waste, and also
makes good business sense. Newsweek's Designing
the Future online
article goes into greater depth about this C2C approach. Download
Printable (PDF) version.
William McDonough is an award-winning ecological architect and with
design chemist, Michael Braungart, co-author of Cradle to Cradle:
Remaking How We Make Things. |
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| May 6, 2005 |
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General
Electric (GE) Ecomagination
Press Release |
GE has adopted a company-wide focus on addressing
pressing environmental challenges. See website
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|
| May 8, 2005 |
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Solar
Today article Power Investing (PDF, 872 KB),
shows the photovolatics industry may be coming of age. |
Has the solar photovoltaic market finally reached
the tipping point? Solar Today magazine (article
abstract) by In3-affiliate Rona Fried, PhD., describes how
the industry is finally showing signs of mainstreaming. "With
annual growth rates exceeding 30 percent and expanding profit
margins, solar PV is on track to become a fast-growth, profitable
industry." This article is excerpted from "Investing
in Solar PV: A Market at the Tipping Point,” recently published
by Progressive Investor, SustainableBusiness.com’s
sustainable investing newsletter. ( Full
article )
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| March, 2005 |
Sustainable Technology Conferences and
Events for 2005 |
| Here is a calendar of events nationwide
that you might consider attending. This list will be updated periodically,
so check back from time to time. Events calendar. |
|
| June 1., 2004 |
|
The "Cultural Creative" Market
Report Documents Consumer trends |
LOHAS, or Lifestyles Of Health And Sustainability,
is a term used to describe the diverse green business and investing
sectors and embodies the idea that seemingly unrelated industries
are reaching the same group of consumers. The three year trend
shows that LOHAS consumers continue to have clout in the marketplace,
though recently there is a rise in concerns for immediate personal
and national security, distracting from the longer-term concern
about the sustainability of our patterns of consumption and investing. Original
story. Or LOHAS
Consumer Report Series 2004 information from Natural Marketing
Institute.
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|
| Sept. 30, 2003 |
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Socially Responsible Investing
is taking off. |
Good Vibes: Socially responsible investing is gaining fans and
clout, by Robin Goldwyn Blumenthal: (Barron's Mutual Fund Quarterly
Report, July 7, 2003 edition). "The fast-growing investment
sector -- which stresses social responsibility -- has drawn $2.34
trillion into mutual funds and private accounts. Can you really
do well by doing good?" Complete
story (Green Money Journal website) |
|
| August 20, 2003 |
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Carpet Manufacturer Uses
Landfill Emissions to Power Plant |
Yesterday's Waste Fuels Today's Manufacturing: The City of LaGrange, Ga., the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and Interface
Flooring Systems today announced the formation of a partnership
to convert naturally occurring methane gas from the local landfill
into a green energy source ... Complete
story |
|
| July 15, 2003 |
 PI Releases Top Sustainable Public Stocks |
Progressive
Investor (PI), SustainableBusiness.com's
monthly newsletter, has released its second annual list of the most
sustainable businesses worldwide. Topping the list are Electrolux
AB (NasdaqNM: ELUX), STMicroelectronics NV (NYSE: STM), JM Inc.
(Stockholm: JM.ST) and Swiss Re (RUKN: SWX). Complete
story (LOHAS website). |
|
| July 22, 2002 |
|
| California Takes
Lead on Auto Emissions |
California today will enact legislation that
for the first time will reduce the amount of greenhouse gases coming
from the tailpipes of all passenger vehicles sold in the state,
even the beloved SUV, in a move that could change the kinds of cars
Americans drive in coming years. .....
Complete Text |
|
| April, 2002 |
|
| Identifying the LOHAS
Consumer and Business & Branding Opportunities |
This groundbreaking, integrated research report
identifies and quantifies the true LOHAS opportunity. How many consumers
are there in this marketplace? Who are these new consumers and how
can you reach them? And, more importantly, how can you identify
the emerging consumers who will gravitate toward these products
and services as they become more concerned about LOHAS-related issues?
.....
More info on the first annual, 2002 report (PDF) |
|
| March,
2002 |
|
Working Towards a Sustainable Economy: The 'Triple Bottom
Line' Path to Competitive Advantage |
Multinational corporations are re-designing
products with the environment and their bottom line in mind. Buildings
are being designed to clean their own wastewater and to provide
superior energy efficiency. There's a monumental change afoot as
businesses recognize the long-term economic rewards and return on
investment of environmentally-sound choices.
Complete Text |
|
| January,
2002 |
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| Clean-Energy Markets: Five Trends to Watch in 2002 |
|
Amid turbulence and uncertainty across most
investment markets, investor interest in clean-energy companies
remains strong, from angel investors to venture capital firms to
investment banks and strategic investors. The reasons are many and
varied, ranging from investors' natural curiosity in "the next big
thing" to a vast confluence of political, technological, and social
forces that make clean energy a compelling investment strategy.
Complete Text
|
| July/August, 2001 |
|
| Courtesy of the LOHAS Journal |
|
The dot-com investing bubble may have burst,
but capital for LOHAS-oriented business growth is still out there
- for the right companies. By Nancy Nachman-Hunt .....
Complete Text
|
| July, 2001 |
|
| Tracking the health
and sustainability markets. |
|
The Natural Business LOHAS Journal tracks business
and consumer trends in this fast-growing marketplace. LOHAS Journal
spotlights industry leaders, innovative companies, authors, market
research, ideas and research that help generate financial and societal
rewards. Find out more about the LOHAS Journal here.
|
| Spring, 2001 |
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| The New New Economy |
|
For all the hype about the New Economy-the
irrationally exuberant e-world that is now getting its comeuppance-a
real, and sustainable, new new economy is emerging. It is based
not on ephemeral (and dubious) products and services, but on providing
clean energy, clean transportation, clean water, and other goods
and services that embody the principles of industrial ecology,
resource productivity, and natural capitalism. by
Joel Makower and Pernick Ron. ...... Complete
text
|
| April, 2000 |
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| Smart Money Eyeing Advances
in Clean Energy |
|
Seattle, WA - Prominent investors, high tech
entrepreneurs, policy makers, and environmental leaders gathered
in Seattle April 3-5, 2000 for the Seattle Summit On Protecting
The World's Climate, highlighted by the Symposium on Clean Energy:
The Next High Tech Revolution. ..... Complete
text
|
Remember to check back periodically for venture developments, market
and technology trends updates, industry tracking, news and events.
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