From old-school Fortune 500 companies to start-ups barely out of first-round financing, businesses are committing big bucks to the green revolution. And while it seems like everyone’s doing it these days, we think these 20 companies are the ones pushing the ecological envelope. Whether it’s because of their reach, their potential, their influence, or the sheer genius of their innovations, we predict that each one will have a hand in changing the world in one way or another—sooner rather than later. Introducing the inaugural edition of...

The Plenty By Danielle Wood 2o The Plenty2o

1 Nanosolar Brin, the founders of , a proprietary formula made up can also use the algae-based fuel Palo alto, california are bolstering the company, and of non-polluting metals that are themselves or sell it on the open has been around a new deal with Conergy, the ground into a fine powder. When market. If it sounds like a pipe since the ’70s, but until recently, nation’s largest solar electric sys- added to a tank of hydrogen, the dream, it’s not. The company has people were about as likely to use tems integrator, gives Nanosolar a powder acts as a sort of sponge already launched small projects it as they were to live in geodesic huge jump on its competitors. to encapsulate the gas. When the in Arizona, Massachusetts, and domes and grow all their own hydrogen is needed for fuel, a small New York. A large U.S. utility food. The reason? No com- amount of heat is added to the company and a major U.S. power pany has been able to make solar 2 ECD Ovonics tank, which releases the element. generator are poised to begin power as affordable as electricity rochester hills, michigan Those who say a hydrogen car partnerships with GreenFuel to produced by coal and natural gas. When inventor Stanford Ovshin- is impossible need only look at build 1,000-megawatt plants, That’s where Nanosolar comes sky first opened ECD Ovonics Ovshinsky’s modified Prius, which which will each generate over 100 in: Its thin film technology in 1960, he had a lofty goal—to has an internal combustion engine million gallons of biofuel a year; involves “printing” a microscopic use science to change the world powered entirely by solid-state the owners of a 2,200-megawatt layer of solar cells onto metal completely. Over the past four hydrogen. George W. Bush has coal plant are also ready to try sheets as thin as aluminum foil. decades, he’s done just that, in- even shown interest. An unlikely out the technology. With $20 The resulting panels are lighter, venting everything from the flex- ally? Maybe, but stranger things million in venture capital invest- cheaper, and as efficient as ible to the nickel-metal have happened. A few years ago, ment in the bag, GreenFuel is traditional solar panels, but they hydride batteries that power every Chevron came calling, hoping to one to watch. require no silicon, short supplies hybrid car on the market. sniff out the threat. Instead, they of which have caused many solar The spry octogenarian’s latest invested $67.3 million for a 20 companies to stumble. Others obsession is that clean-fuel sticky percent stake in the company. 4 Envirofit International are pursuing thin film, too, but wicket: hydrogen. Though often fort collins, colorado Nanosolar is poised to produce touted as a replacement for In the U.S., two-stroke engines enough to generate 430 mega- gasoline in cars, hydrogen is ex- 3 GreenFuel Technologies are mostly used for chain saws watts of electricity a year—four tremely flammable in its gaseous cambridge, massachusetts and go-karts, but in the develop- times the amount produced by all state. But Ovshinsky has solved Former International Space ing world, they are the motor of solar plants in the U.S. combined. that problem by pioneering a Station researcher Isaac Berzin, choice. There are more than 100 Perhaps more importantly, method for storing hydrogen in along with his team of scientists million two-stroke vehicles in Nanosolar is the first company to solid form, rather than as a high- from Harvard, Columbia, and Asia alone, from Thailand’s tuk- figure out how to produce these pressure gas. The process involves MIT, have found a truly bizarre tuks to India’s auto rickshaws. cells cheaply. How cheaply? Less secret weapon in the fight against They ply the streets leaving swirls than $1 per watt, or one-tenth carbon dioxide emissions: algae. of brown smog in their wake; of the cost of traditional cells. GE expects Yes, algae. Not only does it “eat” the toxic clouds of ash, soot, and In other words, solar power will to earn at least CO2, it can also be used as a clean, other particles spewed from the finally be able to compete with renewable biofuel. The researchers exhaust cause hundreds of thou- gas and fossil fuels. $20 billion at GreenFuel Technologies have sands of people to die each year This year, the company will developed an emissions scrubbing from respiratory disease. begin building the world’s largest in revenue system that takes advantage of this Those days may be drawing solar-cell factory, which will triple happy coincidence. to a close, thanks to a retrofit kit U.S. capacity and make us second from green Power plants that use Berzin’s originally developed for snow- only to Japan in output. Invest- technologies system not only reduce their mobiles. Envirofit has retooled ments from Silicon Valley heavy- carbon footprints and gain valu- the technology to convert two- weights like Larry Page and Sergey by 2010. able emissions credits, but they stroke engines into cleaner-burn-

50 | Feb/Mar/07 plentymag.com ing, more efficient engines, test- So far, there are more than 40 lute our air, water, and soil with ing them first in the Philippine 5 General Electric products in development, from hazardous gases, toxic chemicals, cities of Vigan and Puerto Princ- fairfield, connecticut water-stingy washing machines and harmful pathogens. Big esa. By this fall, Vigan’s govern- Two years ago, GE hopped onto and fuel-efficient airplane engines farms have given consumers ment is requiring all 3,000 of its the sustainability bandwagon to hybrid locomotives and mam- cheap prices—but they come city taxis to switch to the new with its Ecomagination initiative, moth desalination plants. with a price, too. For years, large technology, and if all goes well, promising to attack some of the In the first full year of the farms have squeezed out smaller Puerto Princesa and other Asian world’s biggest problems with an program, revenues from Eco- competitors, who can’t charge the cities will adopt it, too. Though army of some of the world’s big- magination products topped $10 same low prices. the retrofit is relatively cheap— gest brains. Oil and gas reserves billion. With numbers like that, Recognizing that there’s power just $300 a pop—it’s still a lot being depleted? Greenhouse gases GE has been leading by example, in numbers, in 1988, Organic of money for most taxi drivers. out of control? Over one billion showing corporate America that Valley, a member-owned co-op, Luckily, government grants can people lacking clean water? GE’s doing good and doing well don’t recruited seven organic dairy help offset the cost, and the on it—and with 25,000 tech- have to be mutually exclusive. farms to unite against Big Agri- increase in fuel efficiency means nologists and 2,500 scientists on culture. Today, the label is made that the payback period is less staff in their research facilities up of 900 independent farms than a year. alone, it certainly has enough 6 Organic Valley whose combined size makes Envirofit expects to sell retrofits brainpower to make it happen. la farge, wisconsin them able to compete against the for 100,000 engines by the end of The company’s green awaken- In the U.S., today’s food pro- giants. Organic Valley cheese sits 2007, and two million by 2011. ing isn’t about altruism—it’s big duction is dominated by just a right next to Kraft on grocery Best of all, every retrofit the com- business. GE expects to generate handful of mammoth industrial shelves, and the co-op boasts pany sells eliminates more than a at least $20 billion in revenue farms—the sheer sizes of which 90,000 acres under its umbrella. ton of pollution a year. from green technologies by 2010. cause massive erosion and pol- Its farms produce juice, milk,

plentymag.com Feb/Mar/07 | 51 The Plenty2o Domini convinced J.P. Morgan Chase eggs, meats—more than 200 er introduced the Skystream—the ties without your knowledge. At to adopt a products in total. And they offer first small wind turbine designed to Domini, analysts don’t just look at a lifeline to struggling family easily hook into a home utility sys- the financial performance of the comprehensive farms, paying them up to 40 per- tem. With a price tag of $10,000 companies they invest in, they take cent more than what they’d get to $13,000 (including installation), social and environmental factors environmental for conventionally-grown fare. the Skystream costs half of what its into account as well. Armed with policy. predecessors did. And the resulting $1.8 billion in assets, Domini has power is not only clean, it’s cheap: filed more than 140 shareholder The auto-maker made en- 7 Tesla motors only 10 cents per kilowatt hour, as resolutions with more than 60 vironmental stewardship a key san carlos, california opposed to the 15 to 35 cents that corporations, actively engaging component of its business when it The old knock on electric cars local utilities typically charge. high-level management on issues established its first Earth Charter, was that they performed more Granted, you’ll need at least a ranging from product safety and a statement of environmental like golf carts than sports cars half-acre property and a breeze of sweatshop labor to climate change. responsibility, back in 1992. In (or even sedans). Tesla Motors ten miles an hour or more to make The company has talked to Coca- 2006, Toyota put nearly nine wants to change that. The com- it work. And depending on local Cola about human rights; coached million fuel-efficient vehicles pany’s electric Roadster, which zoning rules, you may need to get the computer giant Dell on energy on American roads and recycled sells for a cool $100,000, has the a permit for the 35- to 100-foot conservation; and convinced J.P. 500,000 pounds of materials, look and pick-up of a world- Skystream rising from your back- Morgan Chase, a $1.1 trillion including plastic wrap, solvents, class sports car—and it’s just as yard. But assuming that conditions bank, to adopt a comprehensive and even engine blocks. From reliable as many of the high-end are right, Skystream can enable environmental policy. steel and urethane foam to plastic gas-guzzlers on the market. Plans homeowners to make their houses bumpers, 85 percent of a Toyota are also in the works for more greener and cleaner. vehicle needs never hit the land- affordable models, according to 10 Toyota fill—any dealer trade-in that’s not CEO Martin Eberhard: Tesla is torrance, california resold is recycled by the company. aiming to produce a $50,000 9 Domini When greenies hear “Toyota,” they The new parts are also delivered electric sedan by 2009. NEW YORK CITY think of the company’s popular to dealerships in returnable To date, Tesla has already sold Do you support deforestation? Prius hybrid. But Toyota has more packaging, eliminating the need more than 200 Roadsters, mostly Child labor? Companies that pol- to boast about than this: Both its for the wood pallets and card- sight unseen. This year the com- lute? Maybe not consciously, but other hybrids (the Highlander, the board boxes they usually arrive pany will launch customer centers, your investments in mutual funds Camry, and the Lexus RX400h) in. And despite the company’s where consumers can kick the may sustain these very activi- and its wider eco initiatives. growth over the past several years, tires on the Roadster, then squeal its overall disposal of waste has off down the street for a test declined by 86 percent. Rumor drive—no gas required. also has it that Toyota may have an all-electric Prius on dealer floors by late 2008. 8 Southwest Windpower flAGSTAFF, ARIZONA These days, you don’t have to be 11 Whole Foods an engineer to convert your home austin, texas to run on alternative energy. After Whole Foods opened its first years of research and development store in 1980, when “natural (and cash infusion from investors), foods” were barely a blip on last summer Southwest Windpow- the culinary radar. It’s now the

52 | Feb/Mar/07 plentymag.com largest natural and organic food year. In the past decade, its cus- generating their own power and with assistance from the academic superpower in the world, with tomers have created a demand for foldout solar panels that would and non-profit communities. 189 stores and revenue of $5.6 13 new wind and solar facilities reduce the number of batteries billion in its last fiscal year. across the country, and it has sold soldiers must carry, as well as Not content to ride on this six billion kilowatt-hours worth wearable communication systems 15 Ormat Technologies reputation, in 2006 the company of renewable energy generated powered by sunlight. These tech- reno, nevada made the largest renewable-energy by a variety of sources, includ- nologies aren’t expected to hit the In a sense, the people behind credit purchase in U.S. history, ing wind, solar, hydropower, consumer market for a few more Ormat Technologies are min- becoming the only Fortune 500 geothermal, and biomass. That’s years, but with more than 200 ers, but they’re not after gold or business to offset all of its electricity the CO2 equivalent of not driv- global patents or patent applica- diamonds—they’re looking for usage. For every light flicked on in ing 4.6 billion miles. And Green tions and two Nobel Laureates on heat. Deep in the earth’s crust the produce department and every Mountain’s eMission Solutions its payroll, the company has the is a supply of mostly untapped oven fired up to bake organic-grain program is a relatively painless mental muscle to reinvent solar energy: hot water just itching to breads, Whole Foods will invest in way for businesses to offset their power as we know it. get to the surface in the form of wind technology. That’s 458,000 carbon footprints. With electricity steam. The hardest part is getting megawatt-hours of clean power generation still the leading cause to it. Here in the U.S., that’s only every year—the equivalent of of industrial air pollution in the 14 Goldman Sachs feasible along the “ring of fire”— planting 90,000 acres of trees, or U.S., every step counts. new york city California, Hawaii, and other yanking 60,000 cars off the road. This blueblood investment western locations known for their Some Whole Foods stores are bank rocked Wall Street when tectonic activity. But with just six making even more direct commit- 13 Konarka it called on the U.S. govern- U.S. power plants and four more ments to renewable energy. The lowell, massachusetts ment to address climate change. overseas, Ormat produces enough Northwest locations are already In the heat of battle, soldiers Rather than pressure Washing- geothermal energy to power run entirely by wind power, while in the field need reliable energy ton to shield big business from about 360,000 homes. the Berkeley, California, store sources. That’s why the U.S. environmental obligations, the Last July, the company put in powers its lights primarily with Army recently awarded $1.6 financial powerhouse rolled out a bid to help develop what will solar energy. In 2006, the EPA million to this small company. an eight-page environmental be the world’s biggest geothermal recognized the company as a Konarka’s solar-powered plastic, policy, stating that “voluntary project ever—a $600 million “Green Power Partner” for all its a nano-material that’s depos- action alone cannot solve the mega-plant in northern Sumatra investments in clean energy. ited like ink onto a surface or climate change problem.” set to generate another 340 mega- material, can be embedded Next, the company pledged to watts. Ormat’s still investigating 12 Green Mountain Energy into clothing, implanted into use its influence to move markets other opportunities, too. It has austin, texas consumer electronics, or woven and investors. In the past year it’s put significant research toward Since 1997, Green Mountain into textiles. It can help power done just that, pumping close to creating a market to capture waste Energy has allowed consumers to objects as small as a cell phone $1 billion into renewable energy. heat from manufacturing pro- purchase cleaner electricity and or as large as a Hummer. For Goldman Sachs has also cesses, and last fall, the company help reduce the amount of carbon the military, Konarka has begun committed to helping to develop announced a $63.5 million invest- dioxide released into the air each developing tents capable of a U.S. market for emissions trad- ment into biodiesel. ing and has spoken out in favor Green Mountain Coffee ships of government incentives for technologies that lead to a less 16 Ice Energy 25 million pounds of Fair carbon-dependent society. The windsor, colorado bank’s new public policy arm will Year after year, air conditioning Trade coffee beans each year. churn out independent research is the top contributor to peak

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electricity problems: Last summer tures, and they’re made from at alone, heat waves across the nation least 40 percent recycled content, left many cities with blackouts, including an eco-friendly foam and high electricity demand made by chemical giant BASF. forced the dirtiest of generators They can be fabricated from lo- to kick in. But this company says cally harvested biomass (like rice that a better solution lies in some- straw, mowings, or even roadside thing laughably low-tech: ice. weeds) and then coated with Ice Energy’s Ice Bear cooling Earthskin, a concrete replacement unit plugs into an off-the-shelf made almost entirely of dirt. air conditioner. At night, when Naturally fire-resistant, the panels electricity is cheapest and most are also strong enough to rebuff abundant, it makes ice. But dur- hurricanes and withstand earth- ing the day, when demand for air quakes, and they can be used conditioning soars, the Ice Bear in roofs, floors, walls, and even uses the ice—instead of electric- countertops and pools. But more ity—to cool down the coolant importantly to builders, Green in the air conditioner, reducing Sandwich structures can be built electricity consumption for air in half the time of conventional conditioning by up to 30 percent. construction—an enticement Right now, the company sells that might just make green build- the Ice Bear only for commercial ings more popular. buildings, but a residential version is being tested now. And many utilities are already offering huge 18 Green Mountain Coffee incentives for companies to buy waterbury, vermont them. Now that’s cool. Yuppies have been sipping organic, Fair Trade coffee for Green Sandwich years now, but the masses have 17Technologies yet to follow suit. Enter Green north hollywood, Mountain Coffee, which ships california 25 million pounds of beans a International Paper, Green Most people don’t think much year and is the sole coffee sup- Mountain unveiled the first 19 Fiberstars about the wood or metal framing plier for the popular Newman’s all-natural, renewably resourced, solon, ohio that holds up their houses—but Own Organics line. Last year, compostable hot beverage cup. Can fiber optics replace light- what if that framing could save through a partnership with Unlike conventional cups, which bulbs? This company thinks them 60 percent on energy bills? McDonalds, Green Mountain are lined with petroleum-based so—its technology already lights Green Sandwich Technologies brought its product to the plastic to prevent leaks, these the Declaration of Independence has developed insulated concrete mainstream, allowing customers biodegradable sippers are lined and the Magna Carta. (The U.S. panels that can be used to build to order a cup of its Fair Trade with a bioplastic made from government funded the research homes and commercial struc- joe with their hotcakes at more corn. With more than 2.5 mil- to develop the technology with tures. The panels provide nearly than 650 franchises throughout lion cups of Green Mountain about $16 million worth of four times the insulation of New England. And this past coffee consumed daily, all that grants.) Fiberstars uses a special wood- or metal-framed struc- summer, in collaboration with avoided trash adds up. fixture called a metal halide lamp

54 | Feb/Mar/07 plentymag.com to send light through a series consume one-third the amount with pesticides in search of Philip Catron decided he’d had of large plastic fibers that look of energy of even the most mi- the suburban emerald dream enough and launched a lawn-care something like plexiglass cables. serly fluorescent bulbs. To date, lawn—and we’ve got the polluted franchise that eschewed the use of The lights don’t create heat or most of Fiberstars’s customers groundwater to prove it. Pesti- pesticides altogether. Today, the ultraviolet rays, both of which have been hotels, casinos, and cides have been linked to birth Frederick, Maryland company degrade fragile papers, so they’re retailers—but if all goes well, defects, neurotoxicity, and liver is the country’s largest organic- suited for use in museums and consumers could be next. and kidney damage, and exposure based lawn care business, with other archival areas. A single to pesticides increases the likeli- over 50,000 clients in 24 states. 70-watt metal halide lamp con- hood of childhood leukemia by NaturaLawn’s customers have nected to the company’s fiber 20 NaturaLawn sevenfold. After nine years in the collectively prevented millions of optic system can replace the frederick, maryland field as a manager for Chemlawn, pounds of pesticide usage—and output of eight normal 50-watt At least 78 million American where he was surrounded by co- lawns look so lush that you’d bulbs; better yet, the lights households blanket their yards workers who were frequently sick, never know the difference.

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