Category Archives: Eco innovations

Engaging occupiers in environmental goals

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It’s a surprising fact that occupant behavior is the main caveat preventing buildings from meeting their environmental performance goals. Even with state-of-the art building automation systems (BAS), eco-savvy design teams and efficiency at the forefront of designers’ minds, the largest counter to actually achieving these stated goals is the occupants’ behavior.

Through expert interviews with masterminds from companies like Lucid Design Group and YR&G Sustainability, our guest columnist Ashley Halligan presents five ways to boost occupant compliance and, therefore, the likelihood of meeting environmental performance goals.

1. Measure energy usage with new technologies.
2. Take a holistic approach.
3. Engage occupants before they move in with an eco-charrette.
4. Provoke competition among tenants.
5. Establish a sense of transparency.

Ashley Halligan is a market analyst at an Austin-based software advisory firm, providing CAFM (computer-aided facility management) software comparisons. Read in detail about each strategy and gather expert insight by reading the original Occupant Behavior article here.

Sustainability key for tomorrow’s CEOs

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Get ready to meet the Sustainable Generation. According to Sky, a new generation of business leaders are emerging from university that are determined to place sustainability at the heart of business.

Dubbed ‘the Sustainable Generation’ because they have grown up with issues like environmental protection and social responsibility as a constant feature in their lives, this new generation describes itself as knowledgeable about sustainability and confident in what they will do in the future to address it.

These young business leaders are also sending a clear message to HR directors about the importance of sustainability credentials to their own career plans. In Sky’s survey, 34% of respondents see creating social and environmental value as an overall career goal, just 1 percentage point behind earning personal financial rewards.

However, despite their drive towards embedding sustainability into business, they have mixed views about how the current crop of corporate leaders are faring. Just three per cent believe UK businesses are succeeding in their efforts to integrate sustainability.

Their views are hardly surprising in this respect. There seems to be an awful lot of announcements by organisations about their intentions, but far less comparable evidence of of concrete achievements. When the best example of a UK business walking the walk, talking the talk remains M&S with Plan B, that’s really not good enough, is it?

May be it’s just the general appetite for climate change and sustainability-led issues. Certainly, as the national newspaper and broadcast media coverage of Durban, has shown climate change is no longer front-page news. It’s not even page seven. Al Gore has made it his mission to make Americans treat climate change as a priority. What does that mean in real terms? To make it a top ten issue. Right now, it’s nowhere near. For example, more than half of Tea Partiers do not believe in man-made climate change. So much for sustainable generation on that side of the great pond!

UK future leaders, however, are a more certain and ready to lead bunch if Sky’s survey is to be believed. 70% agree that sustainability can create new opportunities for business. And the despite the woes of the economy, 68% believe that it should not be an excuse for businesses to ignore sustainability.

The Sky survey raises questions about the quality and quantity of sustainability training provided by business schools and businesses. Just over a third of the 750 graduate trainees, middle-managers and MBA students polled do not believe that their employers are providing adequate levels of training or education on sustainability. For many current MBA students dedicated tuition on sustainability does not feature significantly in their business courses.

Yet despite all of this they are optimistic because they feel that the business case for sustainability cannot be ignored, and with much of the groundwork (in the area) being tackled by today’s leaders, they are confident that they will be able to go much further themselves. In this latter respect, the sustainable generation has a ‘five-point plan’ to go further than their predecessors in integrating sustainability when at the helm of the UK’s businesses. This plan includes collaborating across industry to share best practice; taking more responsibility for supply chain sustainability credentials; integrating sustainability into values and decisions; using new technology to improve business performance on sustainability; and improving employee engagement.

Make a ding in the universe

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If you gave your employees one day to work on any project or idea that they had to make your business more responsible, the chances are that you’d get a whole load of ideas and stuff done that would go way beyond the things that you instruct them to do. Let’s all try it, we can make the world a little bit better, or as Steve Jobs would say ‘ make a ding in the universe.’

Why cutting carbon is good for you

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I believe that good business goes hand-in-hand with positive social and environmental actions, which is why we chose to be Planet Positive.

Planet Positive certification is an international recognition of the highest sustainability standards. Planet Positive has measured the carbon footprint of our business ( it is 8.81 tCO2e ) and we have made a commitment to reduce emissions by 5% on an annual basis. One way that we are cutting carbon is through technology. Cloud-based apps enable our consultants to work smarter, reduce our impact, and make time for the important stuff that matters, like family and children. We think this is a good way to run a business, just like our friends over at Planet Positive and Salesforce.com who made this short movie to show that cutting carbon and good living go hand-in-hand.

IPSO shines a light on Solar

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IPSol provides testing, certification and consultancy services to the solar photovoltaic (PV) industry writes Tim Carter of IPSO Ventures.

While its customers are the manufacturers of the solar panels you see on roofs and in solar farms, the value of what it does cascades through the supply chain all the way to the beneficiaries of the clean energy that is generated. The economics of solar electricity production rely in significant part on the long-term performance of the panels, generating day-in-day-out for 15-25 years. Such assurance comes in the shape of an international system of certification that rigorously assesses safety, performance and reliability.

IPSol has recently been recommended for accreditation to test these international standards by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service. It is the first such lab in the UK, and competes with only a handful of specialist providers around the world. Partnered with the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST) at Loughborough University, it is also able to provide bespoke testing and measurement for clients developing new PV products, including thin film and concentrator panels. A consultancy division completes its service offering, allowing IPSol to advise on aspects of solar PV from manufacture to design, installation and monitoring.

So why did we invest?

A couple of years ago IPSO Ventures looked to make its first play in the clean energy market. While solar was and remains an attractive sector, even then there were a reported 150+ privately-backed solar PV technology companies globally. So IPSO looked further for its opportunity in this gold rush, eventually focussing on the significant unmet needs in testing and certification. IPSol was the result, and its timing could not have been better.

UK solar, long a small backwater of the fiercely growing global clean energy market, was finally poised to enter the mainstream. In April last year the government introduced a ‘feed-in tariff’ for the generation of clean energy, including solar PV. A similar subsidy in Germany has given it the largest installed PV capacity in the world, and that despite no more sunshine than in the UK. From just a few installed MW of PV capacity at the introduction of the tariff, the UK now has around 500 MW. The growth potential of IPSol lies in international growth and this massively expanding, but naïve, national market, which requires testing and advice.

IPSol did not find easy traction with the venture capital community, not being based upon disruptive technology and a 20x return. However, for those with knowledge of the solar PV market the business’s solid fundamentals, lower risk profile and high capex spend proved an attractive package. Following seed investment by IPSO, the company raised £400k in finance late last year predominantly from angel investors. The company is currently considering raising growth capital, enabling it to take full advantage of the current expansion in its customer base.

The power of video to tell a story

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The global laundry industry is worth over £60 billion per annum. Xeros uses polymer beads instead of large amounts of water to clean clothes. The process not only saves water, but also energy, carbon, waste and costs. It’s a game-changing technology named by TIME magazine as one of the best inventions of 2010.

We commissioned The Communications Group to tell the story of “The Power of Polymer Cleaning” Click here to watch the film.

Richard Garton from The Communications Group, explains why video is a great way to clearly convey your message.

“From start to finish the sequence was designed to present the viewer with a comprehensive understanding of the focus of Xeros’ development of ‘virtually waterless’ laundry cleaning, getting close not only to the unique washing action, but the ideas behind it – visually explaining the process, the company’s ethos, and the benefits of the Xeros system.

Establishing shots of the Xeros offices and their location in a high tech industrial park, resplendent with renewable energy sources, help to set the scene of the forward looking nature of Xeros.

The video sequence goes on to lay the foundations of the company’s years of research by Professor Stephen Burkinshaw and the University of Leeds, building confidence and identifying the brand.

By introducing clear animated titles, including bespoke text transitions emulating the Xeros beads, we were able to highlight the unique technologies the company are developing.

Telling the complete story of the washing process from load to completion, gives the sequence a linear timeline which is then punctuated with on-message one liners highlighting important stages, technological advances and unique benefits.

Through the use of a Steadicam team we were able to literally ‘walk through’ the Xeros offices, from the computer aided design studio to the testing floor where the latest prototypes are put through their paces.

Close-ups and split-screen editing allowed us to focus the viewer’s attention on the special polymer beads used within the Xeros washing machine, the beads were also modelled in 3D for greater clarity and to further emphasise their importance.

The overall colour, look and feel was carefully managed throughout, presenting the viewer with a concise, clear and convincing message of the Xeros brand, tailored to leave a lasting impression.

Game-changing technology brought to life via the emotive clarity of video!”

Talking Timestrip with Charlie Morgan

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Tell us about Timestrip?
Reuben Isbitsky devised the world’s first electronic cartridge exchange indicator, the Brita Memo for Brita. This created a new multi-million revenue stream by solving a simple problem, namely when it’s the right time to change your water filter.

Inspired by its success, he launched Timestrip with UK R&D expertise to develop time-based monitoring solutions. The company now has a wide range of products providing information from elapsed time to breaches of temperature. They are used to aid efficacy and compliance in markets such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals by ensuring products stick within their ‘use by date’, ‘shelf life’ or storage conditions.

What are the applications?
Timestrips have been embedded into many different products. These range from filters, such as odour eliminators, aquariums and refrigerators, to the likes of floor mats for latrines and even, lipsticks and toothbrushes!

The technology is now being used in smart labels. These Timestrips are akin to plasters with peel off adhesive backs, enabling them to be stuck straight on to products to not only monitor their shelf life but also the temperatures at which they have been stored.

Which companies / brands are using Timestrips?
Timestrip has customers including major blue-chips such as 3M, Whirlpool, Hamilton Beach, Tetra and Siemens. Healthcare represents a major opportunity. Walton Hospital in Liverpool uses Timestrips for IV monitoring, so that staff comply with changing patients’ dressings within three days. A growing number of NHS pharmacies as well as John Bell & Croydon (pharmacists to HM the Queen) use Timestrip Plus to ensure its medicines are stored and transported within safe temperatures.

What makes Timestrip so appealing to you?
When there’s a temperature breach in the cold chain, you need to know quickly and you need to trust the information you receive. Timestrip’s cold chain products combine low cost with high performance, a combination not achieved anywhere else in the market. For those who have previously had difficulty justifying the cost of implementing cold chain monitoring, Timestrip can now provide precision, reliability and affordability. This is a massive market and just one that Timestrip is ideally poised to lead.

http://www.timestrip.com/

Charlie Morgan is a partner at Parkwalk Advisors