New Zealand is moving towards a more sustainable way of life. The government, business owners, and ordinary citizens are all doing their part to promote eco-friendly business tactics. Read the full story

Padosa.com is pleased to host Energy 101: Greening your Building for Efficiency and Profitability. This educational and networking event will focus on the most up to date commercial building practices and technologies that help to significantly reduce energy costs and increase asset value. This event is for the Real Estate Community.  Real Estate Professionals can receive up to 3 BOMI Continuing Professional Development Credits for attending the seminars.

Please visit our Events Registration Page to sign up!

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Three hundred million. That number has two very important meanings in this country.

First off, it is the number of people that currently live in the United States: three hundred million Americans who are out there trying to live their lives in whatever way they see fit. But that quality of life may be affected very soon, and that brings us to the second meaning of the number. Read the full story

As a university student who just geared up for a new semester, I had so much to think about: moving all my belongings into my dorm room, completing class registration, and buying all my textbooks. One process I dread is purchasing my books; the requirements for each class seem to drain my bank account of a few hundred of the hard-earned dollars I earned over the summer. Thankfully I found a new book resource that’s more convenient, easier on my wallet, and certainly much more green than the usual alternatives. Chegg.com allows me to rent my books at a cheap price, then return them at the end of the semester. For every book I rent, Chegg plants a tree. Many of Chegg’s practices exemplify how sustainability is a key driver of innovation, a concept that was introduced earlier this week on Padosa. Read the full story

Can you get support within your business for sustainability initiatives? Tough going.

Can you get support for innovation efforts? Much easier.

Would it be easier to get support for your sustainability efforts if you told your manager that one of the leading business gurus said, in the most prestigious business journal, that “smart companies now treat sustainability as innovation’s new frontier”? Read the full story

There is a concept called “social proof” that refers to our instinct to be influenced by what others around us are doing, without our being aware of it. This concept is being effectively applied to help individuals reduce energy consumption. Positive Energy, a Northern Virginia company, has developed tools and technology that help individuals reduce energy usage by revealing what their neighbors are doing. Read the full story

Japan is making great strides towards sustainable business practices. Local and state governments, companies, and individuals are all working together to make the country a more eco-friendly place to live and do business. Read the full story

Last week, I linked to a TriplePundit post about the death of the words “green” and “sustainability,” asking what words we should replace them with, if we should replace them at all. The piece’s author, William Brent, suggests “red and black” and “sustaINABILITY” as phrases that are more honest and indicative of the current state of the environmentalist movement. I find both of those expressions demoralizing and unhelpful. Sure, “green” carries as little meaning as “organic” these days, but do we really need to introduce the public to a new set of colors to identify such a divergent array of efforts? Read the full story

We talk about “going green” a lot at Padosa (it’s our biggest tag, after all) but rarely do we examine exactly how hard that can be to accomplish. Running a sustainable business takes a great deal of resources, cooperative employees, technical know-how, and, well, money. Are you adequately prepared to do what it takes to go green or does the prospect or so much change discourage you? This article takes a look at some of the barriers companies face as they try to go green and offers some resources and advice on how to beat them. Read the full story

Our friends at Triple Pundit have posted a thought-provoking article about the erosion of the environmentalist language we use. Do words like “sustainable” or “green” impart any significance or are they merely the PR-friendly, self-congratulating currency we pass around to mask a lack of real understanding or change? This is the question William Brent, the piece’s author, forces us to think about. He writes,

“I’m not sure the term ‘Green’ does more than add another cool-sounding, but largely meaningless term to the existing lexicon of self-indulgence.” Read the full story