Consumers Only Partially Embrace Green Products, CEOs Say
Written by GreenBiz.com
Thursday, 05 July 2007
At last week's Consumer and Retail Summit, hosted by Reuters, business leaders said that even though companies are greening products of all kinds, buyers are unwilling to pay a green premium.
Products ranging from clothing to laundry detergent, washing machines to paper towels, are undergoing environmentally friendly makeovers, and the demand for such products is steadily growing. But even though customers say they want to do their part to clean the environment and prevent climate change, CEOs say they balk at higher prices.
Reducing packaging, developing sustainable alternatives to current products, and increasing energy efficiency are all ways companies have begun adapting to the green revolution. But changing customers habits won't be easy, leaders said.
"How do you convince consumers that small is beautiful in laundry?" Keith Harrison, Procter and Gamble's global product supply officer, said at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit. "Everyone has managed to do that in cell phones and iPods, but how you get consumers to understand that small is beautiful in laundry will be an interesting challenge."
It's not only laundry that has manufacturers flummoxed. Other industries are finding that despite the talk from consumers that green is a top priority, they haven't completely committed to the idea.
"There is sensitivity, but I think they probably aren't ready to accept performance trade-offs," Steve Sadove, CEO of Saks department stores, told Reuters when asked if customers are seeking out clothing and accessories made from sustainable materials. "They want it to come from the same designers. As much as anything, it's going to be driven by what the designers are out there providing."
And price is still a bigger factor for consumers than energy efficiency, according to Jeff Fettig, CEO of appliance giant Whirlpool.
"Consumers absolutely appreciate environmentalism in our products ... I certainly wouldn't say they would be willing to pay for it," Fettig said. "We have to do it in a smart way where the consumer gets everything they want, because if we did it on a stand-alone basis and charged X percent more, there are not many who would pay for it."
One example of consumer reluctance when it comes to backing up their talk with action is the tampon industry. Playtex's CEO Neil DeFeo said that his company is searching for a sustainable replacement for the plastic applicator in tampons, since more women are switching away from biodegradable, environmentally friendly cardboard applicators to ones made from plastic.
"The essence of a consumer product is that it meets the consumers' needs," DeFeo said, adding that sales of the company's Beyond cardboard applicator tampon have been disappointing. "If it's biodegradable but doesn't work as a tampon, they're not going to buy it."
IBM unveils new Supercomputer
Written by Sandy Kaye
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
IBM has unveiled Blue Gene/P supercomputer, the second generation Blue Gene. According to IBM, the newest supercomputer nearly triples the performance of its predecessor, Blue Gene/L, while remaining the most energy-efficient and space-saving computer on the market. The Blue Gene/P is designed to operate continuously at speeds exceeding one “petaflop” – or one-quadrillion operations per second. Blue Gene/P is at least seven times more energy efficient than any other supercomputer.
Swedish shipping company Stena Bulk goes green
Written by Sandy Kaye
Wednesday, 27 June 2007
Swedish shipping company Stena Bulk and sister company Concordia Maritime are taking measures to limit the impact of shipping on the environment in the Baltic Sea, an area that has seen an increasing volume of tanker traffic. The companies operate P-MAX tankers, which won the Sjöfartsforum's Environmental Diploma in 2006. The MAX vessels have been designed according to a new concept for safer oil transportation and high maneuverability. All the P-MAX tankers are certified with a Green Passport by DNV (Det norske Veritas), a voluntary certification that means that all hazardous materials used in the construction of the vessel are identified and documented. With this certification, Concordia Maritime and Stena Bulk are acting proactively prior to any future regulations and recommendations on ship recycling that The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is expected to introduce.
IBM Allocates $1 Billion to "Green" Technology and Services to Combat Data Center Energy Crisis
Written by Sandy Kaye
Monday, 21 May 2007
Called “Project Big Green,” IBM is announcing new technologies and services to sharply reduce data center energy consumption and its impact on the environment. Using new approaches, IBM expects to double the computing capacity of
its data centers within the next three years without increasing power
consumption or carbon footprint. IBM is also providing expected energy
savings of 42 percent to its clients, the equivalent of removing the
emissions of more than 1300 automobiles off the road.
Companies making headway … TANDBERG
Written by Sandy Kaye
Friday, 18 May 2007
We all know that climate change presents real problems. Companies and individuals must be presented with workable steps they can take today to reduce their “carbon footprint.” When TANDBERG, a U.S. videoconferencing manufacturer, debuted its first
small group video system to the European market back in 1989, it was
viewed as a tool that would enhance business productivity.
The fact is, however, that what the folks at TANDBERG have been
creating all along, without even being conscious of it at first, is an
environmental solution for business. While alternative energy sources,
such as wind power and ethanol, are far from mature, videoconferencing
gives corporations a way, here and now, to reduce the levels of CO2
that they add to our atmosphere.
For example, TANDBERG’s client Vodafone, the European telecom, has
eliminated 13,500 flights per year since making the commitment to
teleconferencing as a business tool. This elimination of air travel is
a principal reason why Vodafone has reduced the company’s carbon
emissions by over 5,000 tons annually. Yet another of their clients,
the Swedish Customs Service, has calculated that its 60 monthly video
meetings have reduced CO2 output by seven tons each month.
The result of a study sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund and the
European Telecommunications Network Operators Association (ETNO), the
paper demonstrates how replacing 20 percent of business travel in the
European Union (EU) annually would keep 22.35 million tons of CO2 out
of the atmosphere.
IBM has unveiled Blue Gene/P supercomputer, the second generation Blue Gene. According to IBM, the newest supercomputer nearly triples the performance of its predecessor, Blue Gene/L, while remaining the most energy-efficient and space-saving computer on the market. The Blue Gene/P is designed to operate continuously at speeds exceeding one “petaflop” – or one-quadrillion operations per second. Blue Gene/P is at least seven times more energy efficient than any other supercomputer.
Swedish shipping company Stena Bulk and sister company Concordia Maritime are taking measures to limit the impact of shipping on the environment in the Baltic Sea, an area that has seen an increasing volume of tanker traffic. The companies operate P-MAX tankers, which won the Sjöfartsforum's Environmental Diploma in 2006. The MAX vessels have been designed according to a new concept for safer oil transportation and high maneuverability. All the P-MAX tankers are certified with a Green Passport by DNV (Det norske Veritas), a voluntary certification that means that all hazardous materials used in the construction of the vessel are identified and documented. With this certification, Concordia Maritime and Stena Bulk are acting proactively prior to any future regulations and recommendations on ship recycling that The International Maritime Organisation (IMO) is expected to introduce.
