Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, a company which once consumed close to a megawatt of electricity, is now a generator of 100,000 watts of electricity a year, thanks to its recent installation of a 572-panel solar array on the roof of its Waterbury distribution center. Read the full story

The British Columbian government has introduced several initiatives to promote sustainability. Climate Smart offers scholarships for small businesses to attend workshops on the green economy. So far, 100 companies have taken advantage of the training. They’ve learned how to track their greenhouse gas emissions and develop personalized reduction plans. Read the full story

I majored in economics in college, where I learned all about the beauty of free markets. As a management consultant for the past decade, I’ve had the opportunity to work with small companies as they apply those lessons. Companies compete, grow, and evolve. Sometimes the growth comes at a (non-economic) cost but seemingly things improve. The mantra is always pure – let the company serve the shareholders, so they in turn can take care of the employees, the community, and the world around. It generally works, kind of, sort of. Productive employees (usually) benefit and capital moves throughout the economy. Read the full story

The Kyoto Protocol to prevent climate change and global warming will end in 2012. From December 6-18, Copenhagen will host a Climate Conference to create a Copenhagen Protocol that will renew a global climate agreement. Over 8,000 individuals are expected to attend, including government representatives from over 170 countries. Many clean energy companies that produce the tools and technology that help diminish the creation of greenhouse gases are skeptical about the value of the conference.    Read the full story

A soon-to-open suburban Philadelphia bank has sustainability on the brain. e3bank in Malvern, PA is built around people, planet, and profits. The bank understands that profit and sustainability don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

e3bank’s web site says, “By leveraging the full spectrum of available technologies, reducing our real estate presence to a bare minimum, and employing a broad range of sustainable business practices, we have decreased both our environmental footprint and our operating costs.” Read the full story