iGo, uGo, we all go for eGo

The folks at eGo vehicles say they’re so much fun “you’ll be tempted to put cards in the spokes.”

That’s a smart statement that brings back childhood memories, describes the joy of the ride and at the same time clues you in to the quiet nature of the ride itself.

Launched in 2002 the eGo claims to be able to go up to 25 miles at 20 mph on a single charge – silently and pollution free.

”Ok,” so you say – “but then you have to recharge it.” Well, yes, but the eGO Cycle’s on-board charger allows "refueling" at any outlet for 10 cents worth of electricity.

"The eGO Cycle is the perfect product for the urban commuter, college student or gated community resident. It is dependable, fast, and emission free," said Andrew Kallfelz, President of eGO Vehicles. "We spent two years developing the eGO Cycle, and are now able to offer people the first street legal and safety compliant two-wheel personal electric vehicle."

The pedal-less cycle is unique, as its range is 36% greater than any other previously introduced electric scooter, bike or "transporter." The eGO Cycle gives anyone the opportunity to reconsider how they move around for fun or work," said Kallfelz.

The eGO Cycle can be ridden on any American street because it meets all National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) safety requirements, and with headlights, taillights, bicycle controls, large wheels and a low center of gravity it is safe and simple to operate for people of all ages.

Nearly 60 percent of all automobile trips are less than five miles, and 50% of trips are for personal (one passenger) transportation, according to the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "Today, Americans are thinking about new ways to get around. People want transportation convenience, young people want fun and everyone wants to find an alternative to oil and gas," said Kallfelz. In years to come the eGo, and other small personal transportation modalities may just be as commonplace as the automobile on local city and town streets.

eGO Vehicles, LLC
One Broadway, Suite 1400
Cambridge, MA 02142
USA
Phone: 800-979-4346 or 617-583-1379
Fax: 617-758-4101

The Challenges of Going Green with Your Business

“Finding products and components that are sustainably made is a combination of measuring “footprints” and exercising good judgment and common sense. Here are some things that you should understand when assessing the “ green creds” of any product.” - Wayne D. King


The term green is an unregulated term that can mean many things to many people, similar to "natural" with food products.

A products green credential can be measured in many ways because there are many steps in the manufacturing process. For example, one of our products MOP, Maximum Oil Pickup is – without a doubt – the most sustainable product on the market among oil absorbents. Yet there are a number of companies laying claim to the “green-space” in this multi-billion dollar industry. One competitor of MOP uses a very energy intensive mining process to mine a "natural" product which they label as a "green" product. Since the product itself is a naturally occurring item, it is fair to say that the raw material for manufacturing the sorbent (the term of an absorbent product) is green, but the manufacturing process is decidedly NOT green. Some customers who are looking to be able to claim that they are using a green product may find this sufficiently acceptable, particularly if they are seeking "window dressing" rather than a genuinely sustainable product. Customers who are sincerely seeking to reduce their carbon footprint will see through this immediately. Furthermore, organizations that make determinations about this will see immediately the shortcomings of products that are "greenwashing".

“Finding products and components that are sustainably made is a combination of measuring “footprints” and exercising good judgment and common sense. Here are some things that you should understand when assessing the “ green creds” of any product.”


Choosing a green product in today’s environment is a challenging task. It’s important for two major reasons:

1. If you are sincerely working to reduce your company’s carbon footprint, or working toward measuring your triple bottom line, you want to be able to choose a company that has a truly sustainable product and manufacturing process.
2. Consumers and watchdog organizations have an increasing level of sophistication when it comes to products that claim some level of green-ness and are savvy when it comes to companies that are employing greenwashing techniques to position themselves in the market, but not really achieving a level of sustainability that reflects well on people who use their products.

Having said this, it is important to say that some common sense and good judgement needs to be employed in this process as well. For example: Suburu of America is arguably the greenest automobile company in the US today, even though they do not manufacture a single hybrid vehicle. Why is this? Because the sum total of all their environmental efforts and products add up to an impressive environmental record. They have no hybrids but among companies building cars in the US they have one of the highest MPG ranking across their fleet. Add to this, just in time and regionalized manufacturing and inventory systems that reduce their shipping and the fact that every one of their facilities in the US has achieved a zero carbon footprint and you see a total picture emerge that is more sustainable than you might expect at first blush.

So how do you measure the sustainability profile of a company that you are considering as a vendor?

Products and Processes
To begin with, you want to examine both their products and their manufacturing processes. The degree of sustainability for any product can run the gamut from a product that is completely carbon intensive from start to finish to a cradle-to-cradle green product that is produced sustainably and is completely green itself - made from 100% recycled and natural products, organic or fully recyclable.

Furthermore, it is certainly worth considering other factors that are relevant. For example a quart of strawberries grown in your community may be grown using a carbon-based fertilizer making them ineligible for the claim of organic. However, their carbon footprint is surely smaller than the same quart of strawberries grown organically but shipped across the country.

Every product is going to have a different story to tell based on its component parts, its manufacturing process and its recycle-ability. The choices you make will need to be based on both the goals of your company and the profile of your clients/customers in the context of other obvious considerations such as price points for the products, shipping issues etc.

Returning to the MOP product addressed at the beginning of this article, we were attracted to the product from the beginning by its green power across the broad spectrum of product and production. Ultimately, MOP achieves the highest possible level of sustainability, a cradle-to-cradle level, by first utilizing only recycled and organic materials and employing a production process that uses green hydroelectric energy as its power source. Their claims regarding this can all be verified and validated allowing a business considering utilizing their product the confidence to know that they will not be subject to claims of greenwashing or individuals and advocates questioning the validity of the claims or splitting hairs over whether the sustainability of the product is counteracted by the production process. Assuming under these circumstances that you can make the other aspects work for your financial bottom line, a product like this covers the social and environmental bottom lines to achieve success in reaching goals in your triple bottom line.


Wayne King is a recovering politician, author and political commentator and President of Moosewood Communications in Rumney, NH. He blogs from his space in the Blogosphere, Greener Minds: GreenerMinds.Blogspot.com where he advocates for a sustainable planet; and from the Moosewood Communications Blog MoosewoodCommunications.blogspot.com.
King holds a BS Degree in Earth Sciences and a Masters Degree in Earth & Space Science Education from the University of New Hampshire, Durham.

Green Bar and Bat Mitzvahs

The average life-milestone party, like a wedding or Bar Mitzvah produces 600 pounds of waste and that's before you begin to address the issue of things that are not considered "waste" but end up in drawers or are rarely re-used.

That's why more and more people of the Jewish faith are looking for ways to make their Mitzvahs more sustainable.

There are a growing number of planners and websites providing services in this area like GreenMitzvot.com.

For any of these life-milestone parties, your first focal point should be on what can be eliminated or reused from previous parties and events as well as borrowed from friends and temples. After this - and only after this - one should begin to look at more sustainable consumables and making alterations to aspects of the party that represent a greener approach.

In the coming months we'll be bringing you ideas for greening these life-events.

"Beach Silhouette"



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The Triple Bottom Line Explained

The Triple Bottom Line Explained
Wayne D. King

You may have heard representatives of companies talking about their Triple Bottom Line. You probably stayed quiet because you held to the tenet that it is far better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. At the same time, you made a mental note to look it up on Wikipedia when you were in front of your computer. You may have forgotten to do this so we're providing you with a brief explanation here with references to some other places to learn more.

The concept of the Triple Bottom Line in its simplest terms describes expanding the traditional business reporting framework to take into account the environmental and social performance of a business in addition to their financial performance.

The concept comes from a term coined by John Elkington, founder of the think tank and consultancy SustainAbility. First adopted by the nonprofit world - and specifically those NGOs and NPOs whose missions were synergistic, it is now finding a place in the corporate world with large and small companies embracing the concept, if not the practice.

The triple bottom line is made up of three different bottom lines: separate but interrelated within the concepual framework of the Triple Bottom Line:

• social costs and benefits;
• economic costs and benefits; and,
• environmental costs and benefits.

Geese Over Tamarack

Social Costs and Benefits: By keeping human capital in mind, from both the perspective of your workforce as well as the community, a Triple Bottom Line business integrates the well-being of the company, the employees and the community.

Environmental Costs and Benefits: A Triple Bottom Line business integrates the natural environment into its inventory of concerns at the top level. Using best practices a Triple Bottom Line business seeks to minimize its environmental impact and non renewable energy consumption.

Economic Costs and Benefits: In a Triple Bottom Line company profit takes on a broader meaning than in a company where corporate responsibility is held silent. The company is profitable in the classic sense but the profit concept is expanded to the broader community as well.

Consideration of the Triple Bottom Line can take root in a simple philosophical standard that becomes more sophisticated as the business grows or be implimented immediately as a set of standards into the accounting practices of the company. In the case of the later approach it takes on a much more complex and costly form, though - by virtue of it demonstrability - that cost may be justifiable in the market.

For this and other reasons, it is often best for companies to use consultants to develop their approach to the triple bottom line, where larger companies can afford full time employees dedicated to the process, smaller companies n a temporary basis who can bring the most current best practices to light.

Bearing in mind that Economics is not a hard science to begin with, a concept like the Triple Bottom Line is open to interpretation but, most important, by embracing a broader conceptual framework for a company's bottom line it opens up a much broader and dynamic array of best practices.

For example: the practice of recycling is in the process of evolving from a "cradle to grave" approach to a "cradle to cradle" approach. A cradle to grave approach examines the product after conception and production. In other words, a product is created and the emphasis of recycling focuses on creating the best possible way to reuse as many components as possible. In the new "cradle to cradle" approach, the corporation that produces the product considers the environmental issues initially in the conceptual stages in order to maximize the recyclability of the product and minimize the waste produced after complete recycling. Additionally the company that is employing best practices under a Triple Bottom Line imperative, gravitates to the product that has been created with a cradle to cradle approach.

"A Breathless Moment Among the Lupine"

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