SUSTAINABILITY STARTER KIT v. 2008

CONGRATULATIONS

As a Finalist in the Cleantech Open's California competition, we encourage you to embrace the goal of total sustainability that we aim for within our organization. We recognize that as an entrepreneur, you are stretched in untold ways. You may think that working sustainability into your myriad activities creates extra work, but this kit will do just the opposite. The Sustainability Team of the Cleantech Open have created this kit to set you up for success and save you undue time and money down the road.

We have assembled this kit to:

show you how others have raised to the challenge of making their products sustainable
prompt your own creativity to develop new ways to reduce your environmental footprint
inspire action to make your business plan flourish by making more sustainable choices

Why Sustainability Matters

Sustainability is a fundamental priority for the Cleantech Open and a core competency you as a Finalist will be judged on. Beginning with this kit, you have the opportunity to establish a practice that will reduce your eco-footprint and make you business sustainable early on, when it's easiest to incorporate these practices.

A small footprint is good not just for the planet but also for your firm. Many times, green choices reduce costs and waste. Other times, you will be ahead of your competitors when new regulations require sustainable practices. And never forget that you can attract customers by touting your sustainability. Green, as they say, is the new black, and clean is the new way to do business.

Talk to Us

We value what you have to say. So, please help us improve this kit. Consider it an "open source platform", and tell us what you like, don't like, and what you think would make it better.

The Cleantech Open provides these items and information only as a resource to contestants.
It does not specifically endorse these products or services. We try hard to make sure all the information is current, but some links and information may have changed.

Let us hear from you at starterkit [at] cacleantech [dot] com.

Please also take a look at the 2007 Sustainability Starter Kit for additional guidance.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The Cleantech Open Sustainability Starter Kit v.2008 would not be possible without the generous support from the following:

Sustainability Category Sponsor:

Kit Item In-Kind Donors:

CONTRIBUTORS

The Cleantech Open Sustainability Committee wishes to recognize the many individuals within donor and Clean Tech Open organizations who worked so hard with committee members to make this project a reality.

Special thanks to Meredith Williams, Sustainability Committee Chair, and Victor Madrigal, Sustainability Kit Project Manager

Kit Contents (Best-of-Class Examples):

	The Sustainable Product Designer's Bible Why did we pick the book "Cradle-to-Cradle" (C2C): Remaking the Way We Make Things"? This book is a both a handbook and a manifesto on how to best design, manufacture, and distribute products while avoiding negative consequences to the environment. The C2C concept advanced in this book is modeled after the regenerative cycles of nature, where resources circulate in closed-loop cycles. In simpler terms, C2C products either have materials that quickly decompose nurturing nature or are designed so that their component materials are reused or recycled to make the same product over and over again. The authors are now helping companies around the world to put C2C into practice and provide C2C certification, arguably the most reputable environmental product and material certification available today.
	Leading Us to Healthier Lives in a Toxic World Greenopia: the urban dweller's guide to green living. We chose the San Francisco and Los Angeles editions of this book because they provide exhaustively researched, non-paid green business listings for our cities. Greenopia has an easy-to-follow Green Leaf award system to rate the level of locally produced, organic, and sustainable products that local companies provide. As the old adage says, "think globally act locally." This book ranks local businesses based on their capacity of helping their communities make a smooth transition to green living. Says the Author, "It doesn't have to be all or nothing. Even small changes make a big difference."
	Just Say No to Throwaway Bags One might think, why did Clean Tech Open include a Timbuk2 messenger bag? We picked Timbuk2 because they are "on a mission to become an eco-effective firm with products that are profitable yet having a net regenerative influence to the environment." Accordingly, they were the first bag manufacturer in the world to produce a C2C certified product. The company has a strong commitment to ethical working conditions, local community involvement, and promotion of bike usage. We at the Cleantech Open believe that sustainability touches almost all aspects of a business and Timbuk2's serves as a good model of this. Happily, green-minded bike messengers describe Timbuk2 bags as "indestructible". Whether or not you ride a bike, Timbuk2 offer many bags made locally and with eco-friendly materials. Regardless of how you use it, this bag's style with the Deloitte logo can meet your needs for a long time. Click here for more details.
	Reduce Phantom Loads Automatically Phantom loads are one of the conservationists' biggest pet peeves because they use energy without providing anything in return. Any appliance with either a clock or a stand-by feature has a phantom load. These features keep the appliance's entire power supply "alive" just to stand-by. Stand-by power consumption varies greatly between appliances. However, according to a field research report by ECOS consulting, even a typical home office with frugal appliances can burn up to 30 W of stand-by power. On a national scale, those watts could add up to entire generating stations. Reliable macro-studies are harder to come by, but PG&E, the utility covering the San Francisco area, has targeted savings of fifty per cent (50%) in phantom power used by equipment in both home and office through their "Flex Your Power" program. Granted, one can unplug appliances and/or turn-off power strips. However, we selected Bits Limited's Smart Strip because it provides a convenient alternative to reduce phantom loads: Namely, a plug strip that would turn off external peripherals whenever a central device, such as a PC or TV, goes "to sleep" or stand-by mode.
	Reducing Your Travel Carbon Footprint Corporate travel represents a major portion of enterprises' carbon footprints. The most direct strategy to reduce business travel is for companies to encourage alternatives such as web conferencing (or teleconferencing) as substitutes for in-person meetings and events. We chose Dimdim Pro web conferencing product because avoiding air and car travel produces results that are both cost effective and eco-friendly. In addition, we like Dimdim because it is an open and transparent firm that caters to the needs of the open source community, with open source code, a hosted offering, product roadmaps, and technical documentation freely available online. This item is a Web-based one-year subscription service. Kit recipients will receive a winning letter announcement from Dimdim with instructions on how to subscribe.
	Greening the Supply Chain USPS has received 70+ environmental awards over the last decade alone. While most of their efforts have been behind the scenes, such as using bio-fuels, they are now taking an green-leadership role affecting their end-customers and supply chains alike, and on a mass scale. We picked the USPS supply-chain for Eco-boxes and shipping supplies because they became the first set of manufacturers in the world to have their packaging products C2C certified. We encourage you to order C2C packaging and shipping supplies, in various sizes, directly at shop.usps.com. Many eco-friendly items are available, stickers, labels, boxes, envelopes, etc. Both ordering and delivery are free-of-charge; Just open an account. Click here for more details.