In Michigan, DTE Energy & the University of Michigan put on a Clean Energy Prize Competition for students.
Currently, 8 Teams have advanced to the Semi-finals, and according to a press release from DTE Energy, the new business ideas range from:
A system to enhance electric vehicle batteries
A new method to produce a gas used in solar cell production
Plans for turning food waste into fuel and more!
What do the students have to do? Teams have to develop business plans that promise to move a new, clean-energy technology from the laboratory to the market place.
How much $ is at stake? 1st Prize $50,000 2nd Place gets $25,000 3rd Place - $10,000 and 4th Place $7,000.
Below is what each of the 8 Teams are doing:
Advanced Battery Control: offers a proprietary smart battery management system, which will radically enhance battery utilization in electric vehicles.
Carbon Perks: a service that motivates people to incorporate energy efficient practices into their lifestyles while helping utilities reduce the costs of providing peak power.
Enertia: brings to market a multiple patent-pending innovation that will harness ambient kinetic energy and extend the lifetime of wireless electronic devices tenfold, while at the same time replacing toxic electrochemical batteries.
Food Waste Energy: manufactures and installs anaerobic biodigestors that help restaurants save energy and waste disposal costs by producing natural gas from food waste on site.
Green Silane: produces silane gas for customers on-site in a manner that is flexible, low-cost, and environmentally benign, revolutionizing the supply chain for this critical input to semiconductor, flat-screen display and photovoltaic panel production.
Ice Mitigating Systems: developed a two-fold approach to counter the effects of ice on offshore wind turbines. The solution, which addresses the turbine blades and its structural foundation, will be licensed to manufacturers and the company will provide the necessary consulting services to implement these systems.
ReGenerate: manufactures and leases modular anaerobic digestors to institutional food service operators, transforming food waste discards into on-site renewable energy as well as nutrient-rich fertilizer products that will be cobranded and sold through retail outlets.
Smart Energy Inc.: providing the bridge between the Smart Grid and consumers, empowering consumers with control over their energy usage and appliances.
Good luck to everyone! - Mike D., University Michigan School, & Guest Blogger for Green Energy TV
A few of our readers sent us emails asking us to post the following ideas for some recommended Green New Year's resolutions for 2010.
Below are 7 of the 2010 Green New Year's Resolution Ideas:
Go on a Green Diet- In the New Year, many people go on a diet. This means, you can start eating certified organic foods that do not contain the food toxins or chemical toxins that are in most of our foods. You can also start to buy more of your food locally as well and get food that is fresh and support the local economy and help create more green jobs as a direct result of your purchases.
Do the Green Diet Exercise - One of our Guest Bloggers wrote about how he lost over 70 pounds by pedaling his bike to power his TV. Here's a link to that blog post if you are looking to power your TV while you watch it and save electricity and lose a lot of weight in the process blog.greenenergytv.com/blog/wind-power-technology/0/0/new-green-diet-pedal-and-watch
Say good-bye to Household Toxins - You can have an environment friendly home by eliminating the chemical toxins. Most of the store bought cleaners contain very harmful chemical toxins, however, you can switch to safer cleaners from companies such as Shaklee or Seventh Generation. There are many new green and safer cleaning products out there right now that do a great job without exposing your family to chemical toxins in your home.
Green your Lawn - Most of the chemicals in fertilizers used on the lawns in the US are banned in Europe because of the dangerous chemical toxins they contain and they seep back into our drinking water and affect fish and other wildlife as well. There are more options for this year with chemical free lawn care and organic lawn care. You can use bone meal and other organic lawn care products that prevent weeds and still give you a green lawn without the chemicals. Check out your local nursery and read the labels!
Get Green Jobs& Get Certified- There is an increase in green jobs, whether you decide to become a solar installer, energy rater, get involved in Sustainability Programs, etc. We have green jobs posted on our main site, and there are many other major outlets advertising green jobs on Indeed.com and Monster.com
Get a Green Degree - There are more schools and independent organizations offering classes on Sustainability Programs, certifications for LEED, Energy Raters, Solar and Wind Installers and more. Many of the top green universities are also offering green educational classes and degrees now and this can help you land green jobs and prepare you for the future blog.greenenergytv.com/blog/green-jobs
Start a Green Business - There are many areas in green that are fast growing and opportunities increasing daily. We did a post a while back that talked about the growth areas of green and here's a link to some of the hottest and upcoming areas that deal with organic natural foods, eco friendly products, solar installation to geothermal energy, energy efficiency and green building.
If you have any Green New Year's Resolutions for 2010 that you would like to share, feel free to do so in the comments below. - Stay Green!
I have 4 dogs, and I love them. I have been doing a lot of research on behalf of my university and have found some scary info. Did you ever wonder why so many dogs have allergies now and why the rate of cancer in dogs is at an all time high?
More and more dogs get diagnosed with cancer every year. Some experts believe its from the drops used to prevent fleas and ticks since there are some very strong chemical toxins in that medication.
My research is showing that there are other chemical toxins that our dogs are being exposed to that are driving up the number of cancer rates, and number of dogs who now have allergies.
The Answer is right under our pet's nose:
Grass - How many people use fertilizer to get the perfect looking lawn now as opposed to how many people used it 30 years ago? Do you know the dangerous chemical toxins that are in lawn fertilizers and our dogs nose is constantly on the grass, sniffing or they are laying in the grass. READ THE BACK LABEL OF YOUR FERTILIZER next time before you apply it to your yard. You can research the ingredients and see the warnings that cause reproduction issues, kills aquatic life, etc. When your dog comes in your home, he/she is bringing those into your house too.
Your Home - Unless you use eco friendly products to clean your home, then you and your pet are being exposed to the chemical toxins in the floor, bathroom, and kitchen cleaners. These cleaners are known to cause cancer in lab tests.
Food - What is your dog eating? Check out the ingredients on the back of your dog food back and look them up, you will not believe the cancer causing agents that go into your pet's food.
Solutions: Organic lawn care and chemical free lawn care. There are a lot of organic lawn care products out there so you can keep your beautiful green grass without exposing yourself and your pet to the chemical toxins found in leading brand name fertilizers.
You can also switch to using chemical free cleaning products such as Seventh Generation, Shaklee and other eco friendly products. - Mike Stanford, Guest Blogger for Green Energy TV.
There are more and more Entrepreneurship Programs popping up on college and university campuses throughout the country. There are also many Entrepreneurship Programs being offered in High Schools.
I have been asked many times by students and others what are the best green business ideas to launch and the best green ideas and growth areas to focus on.
Everyday, there are more and more entrepreneurs launching green businesses, creating new energy innovation, green inventions, eco friendly products, green building, growth in renewable and alternative energy as well as organic food and products. I would recommend signing up for Google Alerts in the area of interest so you can receive emails when there is news in the subject area of your interest.
Below are some examples of Green Business Ideas and opportunities that students can start:
We have more than 10 Green Business Ideas to share with you and we will continue to do so in upcoming posts. There are many schools going green, sustainable campuses, green campuses, and various green initiatives taking place in schools around the world. Feel free to share what's going on at your school and we will keep feeding you more ideas. -Stay Green!
Going green is a great thing, but some people can go too far or be too extreme. Below is a list of 10 Gross Ways to Go Green, but you may be a little gross if you do them.
1. Pick your nose - Do you know how many tissues you will save when you pick your nose instead of using tissue paper for your boogies?
2. Wear the same clothes for 365 days - will help save the environment by not having to buy new clothes, that have to be shipped to you and the energy to make them, etc. It will also save on detergent, water and electricity to wash.
3. Pee outside - Yes, imagine how much water you would save if you went outside to pee or left a meeting to pee in the parking lot. Lots of water!
4. Use leaves - Well, think for a second...Instead of toilet paper, use leaves right? Make sure you don't accidentally use poison ivy.
5. Armpit & leg hair - That's right ladies, let your armpit hair and the hair on your legs grow. Stop wasting water, stop using the chemical toxins in shaving cream and tell your significant other that you are saving the environment.
6. Eat Bugs and plant a garden. Bugs, worms, etc. have a lot of protein, and combined with your own garden, you can help cut down on the Carbon Footprint that is left from farms, transportation of the food and the energy used by stores to stay open to sell you food.
7. Check the dumpster - If bugs, worms and your garden aren't cutting it, and winter is coming, then you can always check out the hottest restaurant in your area and see what the dumpster is serving. You will be recycling someone else's meal and composting their food scraps for them.
8. Use Cow poop - Hey don't laugh, many people around the world use Cow dung to keep themselves warm and to cook a nice home cooked meal. It adds an earthy flavor to the food.
9. Build a hut - Get out of that city or suburb and head for the woods or mountains and build yourself a hut. You will make the people who have solar on their homes look bad. You can tell them what real green building is.
10. Go indigenous - You can join a tribe. They can teach you everything you need to know and how to be green and they do not even have their MBA in Sustainability.
A company named GreenPeak, is a leader in battery-free communication technology for wireless sense and control applications.
GreenPeak's revolutionary technology utilizes energy-harvesting to facilitate battery-free operation in a totally wireless environment, without the need for either communications or power connectivity.
They have a product coming out called The Green Remote Control. This device can operate on a single low cost coin cell battery for over 15 years, which eliminates the need for end users to replace dead batteries. This could reduce the number of batteries used by remote controls by 90% or more as well as the chemical toxins from batteries found in our environment.
We gave GreenPeak the Two Green Thumbs Up Award for their green inventions, eco friendly products and for their energy innovation.
On D.light's homepage, they state: 1 in 4 people do not have electricity and live in the dark. Billions more face daily blackouts.
I just heard about D.light the other day on Twitter from Guy Kawasaki, when he mentioned how his company, Garage Technology Ventures invested in them.
So what does D.light do? D.light Design makes clean, affordable lighting and power solutions.
Why? Because 2 billion people in the world currently live without access to electricity. They rely on kerosene and candles for their lighting needs. These sources of light are expensive, hazardous and polluting.
Cost? $10 dollars for the "Kiran" solar lantern which aims to illuminate the lives of the 1.6 billion people in the world who live without access to electricity, relying instead on dangerous and dirty kerosene lanterns to light their homes.
Green Energy TV is giving D.light the Two Green Thumbs Up Award for their energy innovation, green inventions, eco friendly products and their solution to help people eliminate chemical toxins & household toxins. Check out their site and their eco friendly products that save lives http://www.dlightdesign.com/
Green Energy TV has Awarded a company named Repurpose with Two Green Thumbs Up for being one of the best green companies.
What does Repurpose do? Repurpose creates products from plants as opposed to using petroleum or other chemical toxins.
Type of Products:
Cups for hot and cool liquids, napkins, forks, knives, spoons, containers, plates, bowls, trays and more.
Here's what's cool about their products: In 90 days, their products can be composted, they do not contain chemical toxins, they are made from plants, use 3-4 times less CO2, and their eco friendly products can have a huge impact on the fast food industry as well as coffee shops, birthday parties and more.
It’s been 6 months since my son was born… how time flies. It’s been a joy and a blessing to see our new bundle of joy. My natural maternal instinct kicked in immediately and I couldn't believe how much I loved him at the first sight. It’s only natural, right? You would think that by 4th baby, I would be an expert in just about everything. Trust me. Theoretically, I am an expert. But when it comes to actually nursing a new born baby, I am a complete mess. The lack of latching, bleeding, soreness and aching, and to top it all off, I had swollen glands with each child… ugh! I just can’t understand how something natural as breastfeeding can be so incredibly infuriating!
The lactation specialist and other moms tried to help me through the process. But in the end, I gritted my teeth and plowed through it for the first 3 weeks until the pain subsided. I completely sympathize with other moms who give up because nursing becomes too difficult. But I chose to keep trying. In my personal opinion, there is nothing better I can give to my child than breast milk. The benefits of breastfeeding are endless and I’m sure you’ve heard most of them. It is the most effective way of providing organic natural foods.
But with the latest information about chemical toxins such as rocket fuel (perchlorate) in baby formula, I feel more confident that breastfeeding is best for my kids.
Although EPA believes that the level of perchlorate found in baby formula deemed safe, it is mind boggling that chemical toxins can be found in baby formula in the first place. So for those awesome moms out there that decided to give breastfeeding a try, don’t give up! You are providing your baby with nutrients free from food toxins and it really is the most eco friendly living. But to help ease into the transition, you should gear yourself with a really good breast pump. I wore mind out with the first three kids and recently had to get a new one. However, I also found out that my OB/GYN can write a prescription for a breast pump that is covered by my health insurance. I was able to get the newest Medela electric pump from an insurance approved medical supply store. I suggested this to several of my friends already and so far, all but one were successful. So give the insurance company a call and then talk to your doctor. Good luck and happy nursing!
Green Energy TV has Awarded Two Green Thumbs Up!to Kamal Meattle for his air-filtering plants and sustainable architecture.
Kamal talks about how 17 years ago he became allergic to the air in New Delhi, India and his lung capacity was going down and it was killing him.
Kamal decided to focus on How to Grow Fresh Air?
The researcher was able to shows how an arrangement of three common houseplants, used in specific spots in a home or office building, can result in measurably cleaner indoor air and creating an environment friendly home that helped remove chemical toxins in the air an more.
Check out his Ted Talk video below and see how these 3 plants can help green cities, homes and businesses around the world:
Most parts of the world lack access to clean drinking water. By time you finish reading this post, approximately 13,000 people around the world will be infected with diarrhea and 4 children will die from drinking contaminated water.
Green Energy TV Awarded Two Green Thumbs Upto Engineer, Michael Pritchard, founder of Lifesaver Systems. Michael came up with the portable Lifesaver filter, and his green inventions can make the dirtiest water drinkable in seconds.
The water comes out clean, without being treated with chemical toxins. His Lifesaver bottles are being used by thousands of people around the world.
A single long-lasting filter can clean 6,000 liters of water, and given the astronomical cost of shipping water to disaster areas, Pritchard's Lifesaver bottle could turn traditional aid models on their heads as well as eliminate the deadly viruses and bacteria that millions of people get from drinking contaminated water everyday.
We awarded the world’s leading organic yogurt-maker the Two Green Thumbs Up! Awardfor being one of the best green companies.
Stonyfield Farm, uses a simple recipe with only all natural and organic ingredients—never any preservatives or artificial flavors, colors, and sweeteners like other brands. And all of their organic ingredients are produced without the use of antibiotics, artificial growth hormones, chemical fertilizers, chemical toxins and persistent pesticides.
Cool Fact: They started out as an organic farming school, which means they have been caring for the planet longer than they’ve been making yogurt.
Here are some things Stonyfield Farm does:
Their organic ingredient purchases help to keep over 100,000 farm acres free of chemical toxins, persistent pesticides and chemical fertilizers known to contaminate soil, rivers, and drinking water.
To help reduce global warming, they offset all of the C02 emissions from their facility energy use.
Started a nonprofit called “Climate Counts” which shows people how they can help fight climate change by the way they shop and invest.
The solar array on the roof of their Yogurt Works, generates some of the clean renewable energy they use to make their yogurt.
Reuse and recycling, they prevent hundreds of tons of waste from reaching landfills and incinerators each year.
Give 10% of their profits to efforts that help protect and restore the earth.
We awarded Eden Foods with the Two Green Thumbs Up Awardfor being one of the best green companies.
Eden Foods was founded in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1968 by a group of friends who were trying to source good food. They were motivated by their studies of a worldwide phenomenon centered upon macrobiotics and its principles of whole grains, plant based protein, and locally grown food produced without chemical toxins and were looking for organic natural foods, etc.
Today, Eden makes and distributes a wide selection of organic natural foods which comes from 355 family farms which makes up 79,000 Organic Acres of land.
Eden uses no pesticides, fertilizers, or weed killers anywhere.
Cleaning products used are 100 percent biodegradable and contain no phosphates or petrochemical ingredients.
Their company continues to improves its sustainability programs and practices in how they compost, package, ship, recycle materials, utilize CFL lights in their plants, and more.
Green Energy TV has given Clif Bar the Two Green Thumbs up! Award for being one of the Best Green Companies.
Clif Bar, is a company that makes certified organic products that are portable, nutritious foods. Clif Bar & Company has developed many other great tasting, all-natural products, including LUNA®, The Whole Nutrition Bar for Women®, which in 2006 became the first nutrition bar for women to be certified organic
Here's a few reasons why they received Two Green Thumbs Up:
Clif Bar & Company’s use of organic ingredients not only provides consumers with better products, but also represents a major step toward safeguarding the nation’s soil and water.
They are working to reduce their ecological footprint by supporting construction of wind farms to offset its carbon dioxide emissions.
Use non-toxic inks and recycled paper for its print
Using recycled paperboard for the cartons that hold the bars on store shelves
In-house recycling and compost programs.
The company continues to be on a journey toward long-term sustainability and exploring ways to keep people, the planet, environment and local communities healthy.
Green Energy TV has awarded Seventh Generation Two Green Thumbs Up for being one of the best green companies.
For 20 years, the Burlington, Vermont-based company has been at the forefront of a cultural change in consumer behavior and business ethics. They also help companies going green as well as individuals to have an environment friendly home.
Seventh Generation brand-name products include:
Non-chlorine bleached, 100% recycled paper towels, bathroom and facial tissues, and napkins; non-toxic, phosphate-free cleaning, dish and laundry products; plastic trash bags made from recycled plastic; chlorine-free baby diapers, training pants, and baby wipes; and chlorine-free feminine care products, including organic cotton tampons.
Fun Fact: Seventh Generation's company's name came from the Great Law of the Iroquois that states, "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."
Seventh Generation is also one of the best green companies because their eco friendly products are helping by saving natural resources, reducing pollution, keeping chemical toxins out of the environment and making the world a safer place.
We gave the #1 natural nutrition company in the US Two Green Thumbs Up! Shaklee is one of the best green companies in the US and they have been green when green was just a color and biodegradable was barely a word.
In fact, almost 50 years ago, Shaklee Corporation made one of the first biodegradable household cleaners ever. And they were the first company in the world to obtain Climate Neutral™ certification and totally offset our CO2 emissions, resulting in a net zero impact on the environment.
Shaklee sells chemical free cleaning products, that do not have the chemical toxins that many leading brands have. The range of products they offer are from vitamins, cleaners, healthy weight products, healthy home, nutritional, beauty products as well as many other eco friendly products.
You may have seen or also heard about Shaklee on Oprah or by people like Dr. Oz as well as many other major TV networks and health magazines & journals.
These guys are very green from their products all the way down to the boxes and the soy printing that goes on the boxes that are delivered to your door.
Green Energy TV awarded WebEx, Two Green Thumbs up for being one of the best green companies because of their eco friendly products. Most people think of eco friendly products as being cleaners that do not have chemical toxins, or a solar backpack, etc. but WebEx's eco friendly products come in the form of a software.
WebEx is about having meetings, anywhere without having to leave your office, home or your couch. They are the leader in online meetings, desktop sharing, web conferencing, video conference, net meetings, and web conference.
You can meet with people without ever having to get in your car, or on a plane and do everything you would normally do in a face to face meeting except of course, shake hands.
This video shows how Sun Microsystems uses WebEx technology to further their work anywhere initiative to support keeping the air clean and saving the planet.
If you are doing something to be "green", then you can video tape it, and share it with millions of viewers.
When you share with others around the world, they can learn and also make an educated switch to cleaner alternatives in their home and work place. Link for uploads: http://greenenergytv.com/Upload.aspx
We air videos on the following topics:
Alternative Fuel ideas
What companies are doing to be green
Eco friendly inventions and green inventions
Eco friendly products
People who are making them home free of chemical toxins
Solar Energy, Wind Power technology, Wave/Tidal Energy, Geothermal
Hybrid vehicles
Hydrogen & other alternative fuels
Leed homes and Leed Buildings
Green Algae Energy
Green Business Tips
Green Campuses
Green Cities
Organic living
Sustainable Campuses and businesses
Tips for living green and more!
GreenEnergyTV.com commercial
Show your green self, and share what your doing w/ millions of others around the world. - Stay Green!
Many people upload alternative energy videos to our main site www.GreenEnergyTV.com and I keep seeing more and more videos on green algae energy.
There has been a lot of progress on green algae energy, and there are more and more companies who are looking to use algae as a replacement for today's diesel, gasoline and other petroleum based products.
The video talks about how it is a clean energy innovation and claims that 98% of the water is recycled, no chemical toxins or waste product and the micro crops absorb CO2.
Check out the video below:
We will continue to feature green algae energy, companies going green, green jobs that are being created, alternative fuels program, alternative fuel ideas and new green inventions. - Stay Green!
When fully commercialized, Polyflow's technology promises to be one of the most meaningful and far reaching advances in the history of the polymer and the solid waste industry.
The quality of the gasoline, diesel fuel and chemical feedstock (aromatic monomer) products produced by the Polyflow process has been verified by NIST certified laboratories.
Polyflow will be the worldwide process of choice for disposing plastic and rubber waste responsibly.
Check out the video demo below and their green inventions:
Do you have any green inventions, energy innovation, eco friendly inventions or doing something to be green? Upload your video for millions to see http://greenenergytv.com/Login/?next=/Upload.aspx
The Answer is right under our pet's nose:
We gave GreenPeak the 
Although EPA believes that the level of perchlorate found in baby formula deemed safe, it is mind boggling that chemical toxins can be found in baby formula in the first place. So for those awesome moms out there that decided to give breastfeeding a try, don’t give up! You are providing your baby with nutrients free from food toxins and it really is the most eco friendly living. But to help ease into the transition, you should gear yourself with a really good breast pump. I wore mind out with the first three kids and recently had to get a new one. However, I also found out that my OB/GYN can write a prescription for a breast pump that is covered by my health insurance. I was able to get the newest Medela electric pump from an insurance approved medical supply store. I suggested this to several of my friends already and so far, all but one were successful. So give the insurance company a call and then talk to your doctor. Good luck and happy nursing! 
The company continues to be on a journey toward long-term sustainability and exploring ways to keep people, the planet, environment and local communities healthy. 
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