Fall 2010 Final Project GNBS 125

The project for the semester is to develop a plan for a new green business or a plan to green an existing business.

Questions you should answer in the project are:

What is the product or service you are going to offer?

What is it about this product that makes it green?

Who will your customers be?

What advantages will your product have in the marketplace?

Who is your competition?

What problems will you have to overcome in the marketplace?


You can choose any aspect of green and sustainable business that interests you.

Some ideas include:

Recycling
Alternative energy
Organic Foods
Sustainable Farming
Socially Responsible Business
Zero Emissions

The project is due by Dec 15th. The last night of class.

Things to watch

Winning the Oil End Game

It's amazing this presentation is now 5 years old but still very accurate except for oil cost projections. It makes an excellent market case for getting off of oil.

Pickens Plan

Presentation by T Boone Pickens on how to get away from imported oil use

Solazyme

Natural Capitalism

Here are links to the book online

Natural Capitalism

Good presentation about where we are going next in discussing energy generation and use. Watch the short embedded video for some perspective.

Reinventing Fire

Latest Stuff to Check Out

Stewart Brand was one of the early environmentalists and the author of the Whole Earth Catalog.

Here is a link to his ted.com talk

Stewart Brand

Earth Day 7 New Rules to Live by

An interesting discussion on building green

Building Green


A discussion on Golden Rice

Golden Rice

Some interesting energy presentations

There are lots of different things to watch about energy. First is a presentation from Ted 2010 by Bill Gates talking about innovating to zero.

Innovating to zero

Here is a video with T. Boone Pickens talking about his plan

Pickens Plan

Here is the Windation web site

Windation

I just watched this presentation and does a much more eloquent job of discussing biomimicry than I ever could

Biomimicry

This is a presentation on changing the way we look at transportation by Amory Lovins one of the authors of Natural Capitalism talking about:

Winning the Oil Endgame

Upcoming Commonwealth Club Topics

Below are links to some Commonwealth Club presentations related to environmental issues. They are posted here in case anyone is interested but aren't required for the class.

2/23/10 Geo-engineering: Global Salvation or Ruin?

3/31/10 Electric Transmission: Enabling a Smart Grid

4/20/10 Our Energy Future: Forecast, or Invent?

Some Things to Look at

First here is the web site for natural capitalism. You can actually read the entire book online but there is a wealth of other information available on the site:

Natural Capitalism

One of the principal authors is director of the Rocky Mountain Institute one of the leading think tanks on environmental issues:

Rocky Mountain Institute

An for something amusing here is the Audi Green Police Super Bowl ad:

Audi Green Police

City College Green Business Programs

We're in the process of expanding our green business offerings. We have submitted a new class GNBS 127 Green and Sustainable Organizational Processes to the curriculum committee for consideration. The new class will look at the departments of a company, what their environmental profile is and steps each can take to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

We've also submitted a new Certificate of Accomplishment in Green Business using the two green business classes as their core curricula.

It's hoped that both will be approved by the curriculum committee at the February 24th meeting. We're not sure if we'll be able to offer the new class for the Fall, 2010 semester because of budget considerations but if you're interested in more information drop me an email and I'll let you know as things develop.

UPDATE

The new green business class and Certificate of Accomplishment in Green Business were approved on February 24th by the curriculum committee.