Living in the Suburbs

The Gristmill blog has a post up about living in the suburbs or the city, and the consequences that they have on the environment. The Seattle Times also states that the place we live can also make us fat. So the suburbs can screw the environment and your health at the same time?
If I was a real estate developer I would jump on the environmental bandwagon and cash in on those that are willing to pay a premium to help the earth. Think of Hybrid Cars and the premiums we're willing to pay. We need hybrid communities that are partly hooked up to the grid and partly self-sufficient. Not everyone is willing to look after their own humanure, but are lot of people would be willing to pay extra to live in a smart green home that treads softly.

Toyota Camry Hybrid

It's really only motorists that feel strongly about the environment and the impact they have on it that are prepared to pay the extra to own a hybrid, and having such small selection of makes and models to choose from makes them even less attractive. But rising fuel prices and more vehicle models becoming available is making them more of a mainstream choice for motorists. As new models are released and fuel prices rise, car makers will be forced to offer car buyers more options.
Toyota has realized that people are prepared to pay a premium. With their new Toyota Camry Hybrid option, they will be testing the more luxury end of the market.
The 2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid will be available in the United States in May this year, with plans to advertise a bilingual television advertisement during the Super Bowl.
Toyota to introduce Camry in Super Bowl ad
In the 30-second ad, a Hispanic father is driving his young son in their new hybrid Toyota Camry. When the father explains how the hybrid car switches between gas and electric power, the son compares it to the way his father can switch between English and Spanish.
"Because I'm always thinking of your future," the father says, explaining why he learned English - and why he bought a hybrid. Seattle PI
>> Hybrid Cars

Business Ethics Quotes

I was asked by someone if I knew of any good business ethics quotes by famous people. So I went for wander around the internet, holding the hand of Google, and here's a small collection of famous business ethics quotes..

• The biggest corporation, like the humblest private citizen, must be held to strict compliance with the will of the people.
  Theodore Roosevelt
• A business that makes nothing but money is a poor kind of business.
  Henry Ford
• Each generation wastes a little more. Of the future with greed and lust for riches.
  Don Marquis
• To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.
  Confucius
• I believe that every right implies a responsibility; every opportunity an obligation; every possession a duty.
  John D Rockefeller Jr
• Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.
  Isaac Asimow
• At this moment, America's highest economic need is higher ethical standards.. standards enforced by strict laws and upheld by responsible business leaders.
  George W Bush

If anyone know of anymore good business ethics quotes, please share them in the comments.

100 Best Corporate Citizens

The engine making company Cummins Inc. has topped the 100 Best Corporate Citizens list for 2005 over at the Business Ethics magazine. The Chairman and CEO of the company said that they have "reduced diesel engine emissions by 90 percent.. and within 10 years, we believe we’ll be at zero or close to zero emissions".
Here's a list of the top Ten Best Corporate Citizens..

• CUMMINS INC. CMI
• GREEN MOUNTAIN COFFEE ROASTERS INC. GMCR
• ST PAUL TRAVELERS COS. INC. STA
• NUVEEN INVESTMENTS INC. JNC
• INTEL CORP. INTC
• WELLS FARGO & CO. WFC
• HEWLETT-PACKARD CO. HPQ
• PROCTER & GAMBLE CO. PG
• NOVELL, INC. NOVL
• XEROX CORP. XRX

There's also a pdf file of the Top one hundred Best Corporate Citizens over at Business Ethics here.pdf
>> Business Ethics News

Sydney Homes Going Green

A small group of Sydney homes are actually doing something about change, rather than most people that just talk about, or think about change. 65 homes in Parramatta, Sydney did a GreenHome program with the Australian Conservation Foundation and have released the results of their changes.

Here's some of the simple changes they made, along with the impact of the changes.

• Reduced shower times by a total of 409 minutes per week and 31 fewer baths per week
  * Saves a total of 4,366,075 liters of water and 145,536 kg greenhouse pollution per year
• 48 old showerheads replaced by water efficient ones
  * Saves 1,752,000 liters of water and 58,400 kg greenhouse pollution per year
• Replaced 293 old lightglobes with compact fluorescents
  * Saves 9,625 kg greenhouse pollution per year
• Turned off the lights to a total of 182 hours per day
  * Saves 4,968 kg greenhouse pollution per year
• 0170 appliances were turned off standby power
  * Saves 14,892 kg greenhouse pollution per year
• Driving the car 80 hours less per week
  * Saves 56,842 kg greenhouse pollution per year
• Reduced garden hosing time by 796 minutes per week
  * Saves 703,664 liters of water per year
• Running the clothes washing machine 96 times fewer per week
  * Saves 559,000 liters of water per year
• 132 fewer dishwashing loads per week
  * Saves 205,960 liters per year
• Saving 560 plastic bags per week
  * Reduced waste to landfill by 70,000 liters per year

General Motors Energy Solution

One of the largest auto makers in the world GM, recently announced its plan to work towards energy independence. Rather than releasing something "cool" and hybrid like Toyota's Prius vehicle, they are taking the path of fuelling the current vehicles on the road and those to come with plant-based ethanol fuel.
Joel Makower has an in depth post here about the plans.
"Why push FFVs and E85? GM has several strategic reasons. First and foremost, the company has been under tremendous pressure from environmental groups and others to improve the fuel-efficiency of its vehicles. GM has been slow to market with hybrids, having invested untold millions in next-gen hydrogen fuel cell technology. GM views that strategy as forward-thinking, though many of its critics see it as a dodge to avoid improving the fuel efficiency of its current crop of cars and trucks."
>> Energy News >> Hybrid Car News

Hybrid Cars at International Auto Show

Big car companies are seeing the light and reaping the profit from more environmentally friendly cars, with most auto makers now having (or frantically trying to manufacture) at least one hybrid model.
Three Automakers To Unveil Hybrid Plans
General Motors of the United States and German automakers DaimlerChrysler and BMW will unveil their respective gasoline-electric hybrid car strategies during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit that begins Sunday, according to automotive industry sources. ENN
>> Hybrid Car News