Bob Cline, National Geographic Society’s director of general services was aware of the environmental and health impacts of the conventional cleaning practices within the facility. “Basically, it was a matter of goal congruency,” Cline says. “Conservation is part of the National Geographic Society mission, and we felt that it would be good if our facilities matched our vision.”

As part of this drive, the following statistics were disclosed by the environmental consultant, Stephen Ashkin …
● Institutional cleaning uses some 6 billion pounds of formulated chemicals a year
● Commercial buildings also use 4.5 billion pounds of hand towels and toilet tissue, much
of it chlorine-bleached and from virgin pulp
● 35 billion plastic trash bags were used and disposed every year.

The green cleaning revolution has taken off in a big way and as a response, industrial production of green cleaning products has been adopted by some of the biggest players in the business – 3M, Johnson Wax. In a complementary move to this customer need and market demand, the four largest U.S. janitorial companies – ABM, Aramark, OneSource, and Unicco have endorsed and joined USGBC ( U.S. Green Building Council ) in the last few years. Its worth mentioning here that the drive to go green has influenced the corporate strategy of some of the largest corporations in the world – Hewlett Packard, Dell, Johnson & Johnson, Intel and IBM, Nike, Starbucks, Cisco…

Un-Green Statistics…

Any scientific and technological revolution is shaped around figures and statistics and green revolution is no exception. Here are some facts and figures which can change the way you perceive and preserve your environment..

● Out of the 17000 petrochemical available for home use, only 30% have been tested for human health and environment friendliness
● An average American home contains 63 synthetic chemical products – that is equal to 10 gallons of harmful chemicals
● The combined institutional cleaning usage is 5 billion pounds each year
● In a year, a janitor uses around 90 litres of of chemical – out of which 25% are hazardous
● According to a study published in New Scientist in 1999, in homes where aerosol sprays and air fresheners were used frequently, mothers experienced 25 percent more headaches and were 19 percent more likely to suffer from depression, and infants under
six months of age had 30 percent more ear infections and 22 percent higher incidence of diarrhea.

Nothing is alarming about the metamorphosis of the language that is used for personal communication. However, the corporate lingo is seeing a definite change that is more inclined to match the change in its ideology. Corporate ideology has achieved a green nuance to suit the changing need of the times. Eco-friendliness is the emerging keyword and a prerequisite to any future oriented corporate program.

Obviously, the corporate world has incorporated green words in its vocabulary. Any corporate trying to pitch in with new ideas and products must be well conversant and use these green words.

Eco-friendly: (You may be very friendly on the Facebook.) Your business is not happening if it’s not ‘eco-friendly’. In simple words, every aspect of your business must take care of our precious environment and ecosystem.

Green marketing: (It has nothing to do with buying spinach and lettuce.) Your marketing methodologies must use the bare minimum natural resources and minimize, if not eliminate in total, its adverse impact on the environment.

Global warming: (We aren’t talking about the summers.) It is a slow but certain rise in the atmospheric temperature over the years. It is proving detrimental to our planet’s eco-system. A socially responsible corporate must contribute to check this.

Green house gases: Certain gases viz. Chlorofluorocarbons, per-fluorocarbons and hydro fluorocarbons are responsible fro causing global warming. (You are not alone.) most of these gases are banned from use in most of the nations.

Carbon footprint: (We know that everybody wears shoes in your office.) This is the impact that your business leaves on the environment. It may be in the form of emissions, wastage or energy efficiency.

Well, using this green lingo will show your concern for the planet we live on. Further, keep yourself abreast of the changes in the lingo and yes… you are free to invent some of your own green words.

This is a promising New Year, and we have it for real. There are going to be many new surprises that will follow, The Bloom Box is just the beginning. Our long awaited revolutionary energy breakthrough is finally here. A little power plant in a small box giving you inexpensive and clean energy with no emissions at all, and this is no more a pipe dream. With the help of this box, we will be able to generate our own electricity, and, which will be wireless. This is like having your own ‘Sun,’ our source of energy in the backyard.

The big power plants and transmission line grids, can now be replaced, and expected to be a thing from the past. We sure are good enough to make this world a better place to live in, just give us a little freedom and lots of time.

Bloom-Bloom energy – Bloom time

Dr. K. R. Sridhar is the CEO, and principal co-founder of Bloom Energy, KPCB’s first green-tech investment; a company engaged in the making of these tiny fuel cells called “Bloom Boxes”, that are able to create massive amounts of power. These flexible fuel cell systems produce clean, reliable and affordable energy using a wide range of fuels. This enables the consumers to be able to generate our own cheaper electricity. This will also help us cut carbon emissions by 50-100% per kW, depending upon the fuel consumed.

Fortune magazine has cited Dr. Sridhar as “one of the top five futurists that are inventing tomorrow today.”  Dr. Sridhar had earlier led a team developing technologies for sustaining life on Mars for NASA, and also worked as a professor of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, as well as Director of the renowned Space Technologies Laboratory (STL) at the University of Arizona, before founding his brainchild ‘Bloom Energy.’

Green-tech solution – a milestone

He is also a sought after speaker and adviser on energy and environmental issues. We are closing on to realizing his dreams, like he says “we can solve our current energy problems through a combination of technology, innovation and conservation.” May his words, as they are, come true.