September 22nd Conference

On Sepember 22nd in Oconomowok (yes I’m serious), WI the 7th annual Sustainability and Energy Efficiency conference will be held. As companies that are founded on green building techniques grow, the marketplace and economy for this sector is growing significantly as well. The conference will feature a couple of the leading experts and contributors to the green building industry! If this is of interest to you, check out the website for more details!

How Hip is "Green"

Sierra Magazine, a publication of the Sierra Club, is trying to link cool to schools that are going green. The article rates schools coolness based on their sustainability and “greenness”. For a copy of the article click here. Now I’m curious to find out how many students would rate their school’s “greenness” as a top 3 factor in their school choice. Has green become so cool that 18 and 19 year olds are refining their school searches based on the “green” factor. My guess is that it would average 7-10 on the priority list.

Green Fallout by Jason Daley

Entreprenuer magazine came out recently with a great article called, “Green Fallout!” by Jason Daley.  It takes a look at the new roots developing in the “green marketing” community.  The article points to BP being a fundamental example of the need and symbol of this change.  BP for years marketed themselves as the green oil company, but all the marketing in the world can’t change the fact that BP is now responsible for the largest oil spill in US history.  Daley takes an expansive look into the green subculture for businesses and marketing and is seeing a growing trend of becoming more transparent in what green strengths a company will offer rather than washing itself over in Green.  Companies are realizing that “green” on the label doesn’t convince as much as honesty and an open conversation.  Take a look at the article, it’s an interesting read!

A whole new level of savings.

Whirlpool announced their new energy and water efficient washer and dryer.  If the numbers they are claiming are correct this could be an amazing jump towards a more “green” and “cost effective” washer and dryer pair.  This new combo is called the Whirlpool Cabrio, and surprisingly this new innovative set costs less than $1,100, keeping it competitive with other sets that are far less efficient.  Take a look at this:  the new set uses 74% less water and also uses 76% less energy per load.  Estimates say with these energy and water savings the consumer could save more than $2,100 in the lifetime of the dryer.  How about they give me the washer and dryer free and just have the savings directly deposited to them?  That’s pretty sweet though!  Nice job Whirlpool on taking us to a whole new savings level when it comes to washing our dirty, stinky clothes!  Check out the press release with more info here

This is an excellent article that offers a realistic viewpoint to the “Green” conversation. I love thinking through why we, at Unique, and why we, as a society do the things we do. The realistic side of “going green” is that its a great ideal but it must work and be economical in real life. Read the article and let it make you think. I’ll offer some of my thoughts on this article as well:

Many feel that it is now every person’s responsibility to become more green.  I don’t buy that, rather I feel it is the responsibility of every green minded student, entrepreneur, scientist, etc.  to find ways to make it inevitable for people to become more green.  We do this by thinking up new products and services that are better and more cost-effective in the long run for the consumer.  I can’t tell people that they are better off using say, Unique’s Carpet Shampoo unless I am confident that it is competitively priced with less green competitor’s and that it works as good if not better.

If someone has a huge amount of disposable income its one story, but for most of us who live within budgets and tight finances (especially with how difficult things are right now) it is asinine to think that socially we are expected to purchase products that are more expensive and work less effectively, but that are environmentally friendly.  Some have done this, rather its on us to create products that are effective, cost-efficient, and “green”.  It will take work, but its worth it!  What’s your take on this article?

Green? or Greenwashed?

(Before reading this article take a look at the previous article, it leads into this one!)

Unique has been around since the early 90’s, back then the term “green” was just putting on training wheels and took an occasional ride around the neighborhood.  Now it’s one of the hottest topics in America nonetheless the world!

Unique’s early roots were founded in the necessity of a product that could effectively and completely remove the stains and odors from pet urine in apartments.  Back then there was no product that could do it, and apartments would have to replace the carpets if an animal ever peed.  Our owner Don saw this need, and with some basic chemistry knowledge and the help of some chemist friends, he developed a product that really did eliminate pet urine stains and odors.  They formulated a bacteria based mixture that employed nature’s process of waste elimination using naturally occurring bacteria.  This mixture concentrated the bacteria in a way that would eliminate waste in minutes and hours rather than weeks and months.  From this basic concept we now have safe, green bacterial products that will remove oil from driveways, open clogged drains, liquefy and deodorize rv holding tanks, clean bbq grills, and so much more!

It just so happened that when the “green” craze hit we had a product that fit the parameters!  Yet when we originally formulated our products they were not designed with the “green” marketplace in mind.

Yet now we have a product that fits a label it was not initially built for, so for the past 2 years we have been working doing a lot of research and testing to make sure that our products can be called “green” with integrity!  Yet the issue many companies have had to wrestle with is a product that is far from “green” but it works to solve whatever issue it confronts.  So they mess with the formulation which may now meet specifications but it’s not as effective as the original product.  This is where many green products get the reputation of being watered down.

So at Unique we work hard, and think hard about how we can provide our customers with a product that is truly green and that truly works!  This process is constantly being refined as technologies and science are growing in the green arena, so while our products are green and safe now we know that with time we can make them greener and safer.

Unique prides itself in a truly green product that we believe far exceeds the efficiency of most products we compete against, but we think that this “green” title that we hold goes beyond the liquids that we put in our packaging, and that we need to continue to “grow green” in our practices and packaging.  We are far from where we are heading in this arena, but we are journeying down that road.

So that is what Unique means when we call ourselves “GREEN”!

Socially Conscious Investing

My local state newspaper, the Denver Post, featured an article on its website called “Going Green because it feels good” by Ben McKee, and in this article he talks about how investment trends are beginning to take on a green tint as socially conscious investing is beginning to grow. The article cites that $2 trillion are currently being invested in companies that are responsible for socially and environmentally conscious products and services. Essentially its investing with a conscience!

Denver is hosting a traveling seminar called BaseCamp SRI 2010, focusing on equipping investors to invest in socially conscious companies. It is scheduled for Wednesday, May 12th from 9am to 4:30pm at Hotel Monaco, located at 1717 Champa Street. Cost is $20.

Road Trip w/ the Dogs!

We all love to travel, but while traveling what do we do with our four legged friends? Traveling with your pets is becoming the latest, greatest trend! Many hotels cater to the four-legged crowd. Not just affordable places but many are 4 and 5 star hotels. The Kimpton hotels are extremely welcoming to your pets. I also found many web sites:
Pets On The Go, Trips With Pets, and Pet Travel.

Fido Friendly magazine has several hotels listed in each issue. One bed and breakfast in New Mexico even gives your dog swim lessons.

As much as I would love to take my dogs with me, when I fly somewhere I have to leave my three (I can’t imagine taking three large crates to the airport) at home but I have great friends who come and stay with them so they can keep their routines, maybe even get more hikes that I can provide.

This summer I think I will have to take a nice road trip and bring the gang with me.

Does it have to be

The topic of “Going Green” carries some important talking points when looking at the issues of economic impact, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness. I saw an article today that got me thinking on that topic again. The article is written by Selena Robinson regarding a talk given by Lisa Jackson with the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), see it here.  She talks about the issue of “going green” not being sustainable within a recession.  Rightly so, there is a belief that Green means expensive, many times this is true and in such cases our growth in these areas ought to be strategic and well planned out.  The end result must be worth the cost and risk involved.  Making a small positive environmental impact may not be worth the time or money if it is too costly.  But we are innovative and I am confident that if we put our minds to work and think hard about how to become more environmentally friendly we can do it and do it efficiently.  I can speak from experience when it comes to the products that I oversee production on here at Unique.

either/or?

By going through our manufacturing processes and business model we have found ways to provide products that are both environmentally conscious as well as cost effective, and more importantly work better than most unhealthy chemical cleaners out there, and we have not asked the government to pay for it.  For example we have a natural, safe, and effective product that eats oil off the driveway, cleans car engines, etc. called Grime Eater.  Normally such products use harsh chemicals to do the work. It takes time and effort to find ways to do and make things better but if we work hard at it we can do it in a way that is economically friendly as well!  Throwing our money at the issues isn’t the answer, rather we ought to throw our innovation into find a solution!