Agoada walked me through the basics. “We come in on the rooftop as a tenant of the building. We rent the rooftop space. We pay for the upgrade, the insurance costs, the fixed costs for planning and development and the soft costs of architects, etc. We take all of that on. We outsource the equipment. We don’t invent technologies. We’re taking existing proven technologies and applying them to this rooftop. Then we make our money off the sale of the produce. The technology is controlled-environment greenhouses, year-around systems keeping constant temperatures and controlling the environment there. No pesticides, no herbicides, all integrative pest management systems and composting and trying to use paper and food waste from the building as the nutrient stream for our plants.“

A typical project covers about 20,000 square feet — about half an acre — and fairly efficient, says Agoada. “Our growing techniques use somewhere between 5% and 10% of the water that they’re using to grow lettuce out in Salinas Valley,” in California’s Central Valley, considered the nation’s breadbasket. Given that around 80% of water use in the state goes toward agriculture — and about a fifth of the state’s total energy use goes to move and treat water — such efforts could create significant water-efficiency and greenhouse gas benefits, should the Sky Vegetables model catch on.

More here – Joel Makower at GreenBiz.com

We need more details on energy costs etc. They may be able to use less water but it is incredible if they are more efficient on greenhouse rooftops than normal farming.

Marc Gunther talks to Ray Anderson about Interface and the business model for a sustainable company.

MG: So talk about the change of the business model because I do think it’s a kind of a shift that we could see beginning to be adopted by other industries as well.

RA: Right. As we look at our own business model we are taking raw materials from the Earth through a supply chain, creating products in this linear take-make-waste system that’s common to the industrial system, all of that driven by fossil fuel derived energy, wasteful, abusive, and focused on labor productivity, more carpet per man-hour.

As we studied that system we realized that linear had to give way to cyclical, that fossil energy had to give way to renewable energy, that wasteful had to give way to waste-free, abusive to benign, and that we had to learn to focus on resource productivity, the productivity of all resources, not just labor.

When you think about that you have just modeled an industrial system after nature, because nature is all of those things: cyclical, renewable, waste-free, benign, and nature is of course very productive.

MG: You were into biomimicry before the word was invented.

RA: That’s exactly true and when I read Janine’s book, Biomimicry and got to the last chapter, it described Interface. She had never met anyone and knew nothing about Interface, never met anyone from Interface. I didn’t know her until I read her book and then met her later, but she had described Interface in general terms.

MG: Again for people who don’t know the company, give me a brief description of how you did change the business model from selling and disposing of carpet to something else.

RA: Well we make carpet tiles primarily, but also broad-length carpet, but the core business is modular carpet, and we make carpet tiles around the world. It’s this linear take-make-waste system. Well we set out very early on to create a system that would sell the service that the product delivers as opposed to selling the product itself.

For us that means color, texture, comfort under foot, design, ambiance, functionality, acoustical control, all the reasons anybody would want our product become the service that the product delivers, and we would retain ownership in the stuff, the means of delivery.

That approach to the market did not fly. There was so many impediments that became just too hard, but –- and then today practically all of our business is done in transactional mode, selling the stuff yet again but with a commitment to take the stuff back at the end of its life.

[...]

MG: Just a couple of other questions, Ray. Reading from your book this transformation of the business model, cut greenhouse gasses by 82 percent, fossil fuel consumption by 60 percent, waste by 66 percent, water use by 75 percent. Of course the numbers a lot of businesspeople are gonna wonder about are sales and profitability. What’s been the impact on the company purely from a business standpoint?

RA: Over that same period of time those reductions were achieved, sales increased 60 percent and profits doubled.

MG: So it’s been good for business.

RA: Yeah, and that spans the recession in our industry that’s the deepest recession since 1929, so we survived that recession when we might not have without the advantages of sustainability.

When I talk about the advantages it’s very clear cut. Our costs are down, not up. The waste elimination effort alone, the first face of Mount Sustainability, has produced over $400 million in waste avoidance, cost avoidance, which has more than paid for all the rest of the sustainability initiative, so sustainability for us has been self-funding. Our products are the best they’ve ever been.

[...]

Like Deepak Chopra says, people are doing the best they can given their level of awareness. This whole transformation is about raising level of awareness.

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prAna – Born From the Experience

16 years ago, what began as simple love of the outdoors has moved with us through all of our adventures over the years. It has brought a breath and vitality that continues to energize our thinking and designs.

Nature has guided prAna since the very start, with its abundance of color, materials and energy along with endless inspiration to make products that can be well worn and, more importantly, well lived in. Whether in our sports, our travels or in our yoga practice, the adventure has never failed to make us many wonderful friends and memories. For these incredible generosities, we are grateful and hope to give back something in return.

We’re always looking for new ways to fold sustainable materials and practices into our collection, working to reduce the impact on soils, water supplies and other natural resources.

PrAna’s commitment to the environment begins here at home and extends outward to our retailers and the homes of our employees. As part of our Natural Power Initiative (NPI), prAna works with our partner 3Degrees to support new US based wind energy projects through the purchase of renewable energy certificates (REC’s). In 2009 the impact of the NPI program will prevent over 12,000 tons of carbon dioxide from entering the earth’s atmosphere. Simply by supporting renewable energy for our prAna Headquarters, all of our employee’s homes, our two prAna retail locations and 250 of our US retailers, the NPI program will create an environmental benefit equivalent to removing over 1,677 average cars from the road annually.

We support a number of organizations who share our values. As a member of the Organic Trade Association and the Organic Exchange, prAna is continually increasing the use of organic cotton, as well as sourcing other natural fibers and innovative recycled/upcycled materials. The Access Fund helps to keep Climbing areas open while the Conservation Alliance protects wild and natural areas. HERA supports local ovarian cancer groups and the Outdoor Foundation helps to get kids active in the outdoors.

via prAna – Our Story.

Craigslist Foundation’s 6th Annual Boot Camp – Eventbrite

Connect. Inspire. Act.

Imagine 1500 passionate people gathering together to change the world. That’s Boot Camp – a fun, intensive one day gathering where people learn how to bring their ideas for stronger communities into reality.

Boot Camp is for you if:

* You’d like to participate in all this new energy for community change and just don’t know where to start.
* You’d like to meet people who share your interests.
* You’re looking for new career options in this challenging economy.
* You work in the nonprofit sector and want to learn new skills and meet new people.
* You’re in business or government and you wonder how you can collaborate with others to strengthen your community.

At Boot Camp, you will learn how to take action in interactive workshops, meet people who can turn dreams into action, receive expert coaching, and get fired up by stories of successful community transformations.

Now only if something like this is possible in Adelaide!