Many environmentally conscious consumers, including a number of us at KLD, have signed up for “green power” programs. These typically charge ratepayers a small premium on each electric bill, which the sponsoring utility then directs towards the purchase of energy from wind, solar, biomass, or other renewable sources.

Or does it? BusinessWeek has reported that some green energy programs have directed more funds towards marketing costs than for alternative energy purchases.

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Al Gore recently challenged America to generate all of its electricity from carbon emissions-free sources by 2018. The Boston Globe has reported that John McCain and Barack Obama agree that Gore’s is a worthy goal. How can it be achieved?

Energy efficiency may be the biggest piece of the puzzle. “Efficiency is often referred to as the ‘fifth fuel’ for electricity generation. Coal, natural gas, nuclear, and renewables are the other four,” explains KLD Senior Research Analyst Andrew Brengle.

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The Sustainable Business 20 (SB20) highlights “20 public companies that are leading the way to a sustainable society,” according to Progressive Investor, which has produced this list for the past seven years.

SB20 companies must excel by both sustainability and financial criteria, and they include both established companies and smaller innovators, like Accsys Technologies – an English firm developing sustainable substitutes for precious hardwoods. Larger players include IBM, which aims to cut data center energy use by half by 2010, while increasing computing capacity by a factor of 10.

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“This is not driven by altruism.” -Paul Morris, Vice President of Sustainable Planning and Development, Cherokee

In a workshop at last week’s Ceres conference, Mr. Morris explained the benefits of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). His private equity firm redevelops brownfields – dormant industrial properties usually marked by significant environmental damage – into new, mixed-use developments.

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Co-Chair, Peter Kinder’s, Opening Remarks(1)
American Conference Institute
Warwick Hotel, New York City
February 27, 2008

What are the only three things you need to know about real estate? Location. Location. Location!

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I discovered this curve on Xigi.net, a social networking site. It shows where different market sectors or drivers behind sustainable development reside on the continuum of 1) acceptance in the mainstream, 2) visibility to the public eye, and 3) maturity as a social enterprise.

A good friend who used to work in the carbon offsets sector commented to me that this curve should be thought of as a zoomed-in pixel of a larger graph showing major social shifts in the twentieth century (think 1960’s, vietnam, civil rights). The larger wave is building very strongly right now and this wave (from xigi) will break on top of the broader, deeper and stonger wave as we shift toward a more sustainable mode of living.

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