Souring Economy Snags Pickens’ Wind Energy Plan

Even billionaires are being affected by the current state of the economy, as evidenced by the fact that T. Boone Pickens has been forced to delay his massive wind energy project in Texas. A drop in natural gas prices and the tightening credit market have led Pickens to believe now isn’t the right time to get started on the project.

From CNN Money:

“With natural gas prices where they are, you can’t kick off a wind project, you’re not economical.” Pickens said Tuesday at a news conference in Arizona.

But Pickens, who has spent millions over the last few months promoting his “Pickens Plan” to wean the United States off foreign oil by switching to wind and natural gas, said natural gas and oil prices will rise again in less than a year, and characterized the setback as temporary.

A spokesman for Mesa Power, Pickens’ company that is building the Texas wind farm, laid the blame more on the credit markets.

“The capital markets are problematic for everyone and…may lead us to scale back a bit,” Jay Rosser, a spokesman for Mesa, said in a statement. “But we are still going forward with our wind business.”

Picken’s wind farm in Texas, known as the Pampa Wind Project, would have been the largest wind farm in the world, generating enough electricity to power 1.3 million homes. It’s not grinding to a complete halt, however – a spokesman for Pickens says turbines are still being purchased for the first phase of the project, which will generate 1,000 megawatts of power.  Pickens remains confident that once this economic downturn is over, wind energy will continue to rise in demand.

It’s frightening to see how many important projects are being put on hold right now, just when we need them the most. This economic crisis has the potential to stall crucial action on renewable energy and global warming, if we let it. Hopefully, many projects will still be moving forward.  Time will tell.

Link [CNN Money]
Photo credit: Zimbio

Number of Nashvillians Working From Home Soars 54%

Nashville, Tennessee has seen a huge increase – 54% in a year – in the number of residents working from home, according to new census data. Davidson County now has 14,990 telecommuters, outpacing the nation’s growth as well as that of comparable cities like Charlotte, North Carolina.

From Business Opportunities:

The growth spurt was probably boosted in small measure by musicians working out of their homes rather than going to a larger studio, said Dr. Patrick Raines, dean of Belmont University’s College of Business Administration and professor of economics.

In addition, businesses that outsource work to at-home workers are often able to trim office expenses, and that may be another factor driving the trend here.

More home workers is always a good thing – less cars on the road means less pollution, and Nashville’s highways are already packed on weekdays. I wonder if pajama sales have gone up in the area, too. Because, you know, all of us telecommuters sit around in our pajamas all day. Or naked. With an alcoholic beverage in hand at all times.

Hopefully this will become a national trend – there are so many people getting on the road to head to an office every day, for no good reason. There are plenty of jobs that can be done at home, at least part-time. It’s better for morale, less expensive for the company and has an environmental advantage. And, contrary to some boss’s fears, a good employee isn’t going to suddenly stop doing their work as soon as they’re no longer being watched.

Link [Business Opportunities]
Photo credit: Flickr user Brit Selvitelle

Specialty Garage in San Francisco Makes Hybrids Even Greener

Hybrid car owners in San Francisco can have their car repaired in at an eco-friendly garage so clean, you could eat off the floor. Luscious Garage has solar panels on the roof, hanging plants and paper lanterns everywhere you look, and a line of recycling containers for paper, plastic, rubber, metal and oil. The garage’s real specialty, though, is transforming hybrids into fully-electric vehicles.

From The New York Times:

Luscious is a secular temple built to serve hybrids, the cars powered by both an electric motor (most often engaged when starting or stopping, thus most efficient in city traffic) and a gasoline engine (most efficient on the open road). But its owner’s forte is converting them to plug-in hybrids, which are functionally all-electric cars that can go 12 to 15 miles on one charge.

That’s right. Fifteen miles, maximum. For a mere $6,000. (If you go farther, the gasoline motor kicks back in. )

“People do it because they are ideologically committed,” said Ms. Coquillette, the co-founder and now sole owner of the garage, which employs two other mechanics, one male and one female.

That’s certainly expensive for 12-15 miles per charge, but many dedicated environmentalists are willing to pay – especially those who have a short commute. One Luscious Garage customer said he can now go the entire week without buying gas. He used to spend $100 a month on gas, so while it would take him five to six years to regroup the cost of the conversion, he figures he can either spend that money being green and efficient or on gas.

Coquillete recycles almost everything, including air filters, and makes her own windshield-washing fluid with vinegar. The shop was named ‘green business of the year’ by The San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Link [The New York Times]

Dubai Reveals Plans for Green Skyscraper Shaped Like a Wind Turbine

When it comes to eco-skyscrapers, Dubai’s definitely at the front of the pack, revealing plans for a new one practically once a month. Everything that’s been coming out of Dubai has been grand, innovative, and visually breathtaking, so it’s no surprise that the latest one – Anara Tower – is so spectacular.  It’s designed by Atkins Designs Studio and developed by Tameer Holding Investment, and will stand 2,150 feet tall. The developers are aiming for LEED silver certification.

From Inhabitat:

Shaped like super-massive wind turbine, Anara Tower is a mixed-use high-rise that will features residences, offices, retail spaces, a hotel, and a world-class art gallery. The 125 story structure will incorporate sky gardens every 27 floors and will boast a luxury restaurant situated within the glossy glass capsule in the center of the tower’s peak. Atkins Design Studio is aiming to maximize the skyscraper’s efficiency by incorporating water and energy efficiency strategies and potentially installing renewable sources of energy.

Construction is set to begin in 2009, so we’re not too far away from seeing it completed.

These designs coming out of Dubai make me feel like I’m looking into a portal at the future of green architecture. Everything seems so advanced. I guess that’s one perk of having so many billionaires eager to be at the forefront of the country’s environmental movement.

Link [Inhabitat]

Lexus Reprimanded for Greenwashing

Lexus was recently forced to pull an ad claiming that its premium hybrid SUV was “perfect for today’s environment” and “perfect for today’s economic climate”.  Though the automaker claimed they were only trying to compare their hybrid comparably to non-hybrid SUVs, England’s Advertising Standards Authority disagreed, concluding that the ad misled people into thinking the SUV is more environmentally friendly than it really is.

Greenwashing is definitely running rampant right now, with manufacturers all too eager to cash in on what they see as a trend among buyers. MTV recently released a public service announcement warning us about just this – ironic, given their recent trashing of a pristine Costa Rican island for a reality show.

The fact is, even brands that you generally consider ‘safe’ will occasionally release a product that doesn’t quite meet green standards in their industry – but they won’t tell you that.  Always check out the specs – whether it’s a car, a food product, cosmetics, clothing or home furnishings.

Link [Matter Network] + [YouTube]

3M Jumps into the Wind Power Business

Adhesive company 3M may not seem like a logical fit with the booming business of wind power, but they’ve found a smart way to profit from the alternative energy industry.  The company has released a new line of fillers and protective coverings that extend the life of wind turbine blades.  The Wind Tape product line is part of 3M’s new Renewable Energy division.

From Finance and Commerce:

“About two years ago, we started an effort to search for wind-energy business partners,” said Dr. Mike Strommen, global wind-energy segment leader for the company’s renewable energy division. “Of our 55,000-plus products, many of them would be a natural match for the wind industry.”

3M quietly rolled out clear and opaque Wind Tape in mid-2007 – one year before the formation of the Renewable Energy division that includes solar and wind power was announced.

Designed to protect the leading edge of 120-foot, 12-ton fiberglass turbines, 3M’s Wind Tape comes in eight-inch wide, 54-foot rolls that cost at least $288.

That’s pretty expensive for a roll of tape, but Strommen said many turbine blades with a factory finish have significant damage after just two years of generating electricity.

“It has a lot to do with wind and erosion control,” he said. “Wind (turbine) blades spin at 180 miles-per-hour. Remember that these blades are composite materials. After a year or two years of use, you can get erosion or pitting at the leading edge of that (turbine) blade.

Very smart, 3M, very smart. It just goes to show that there are thousands of ways that companies can secure a piece of the green pie for themselves – it just takes a little creativity.  Wind tape.  Who woulda thunk it?

Link [Finance and Commerce]

Forbes: America’s Hottest Green Job Markets

Amidst all of the gloomy news out of Wall Street lately, Forbes.com is offering up a beacon of hope: the green job market.  Green jobs will be available by the millions in the coming years, and if you’re wondering where the best places to snag them are, check out Forbes.com’s new list of the hottest green job markets.  Unsurprisingly, big cities claim most of the spots on the list.

From Forbes.com:

No. 1: New York, N.Y.

The looming prospect of layoffs on Wall Street could be a blessing in disguise for the nation’s largest green jobs market–New York City. The Big Apple reported more than 25,000 green jobs in 2006. By 2038, New York’s green economy could generate nearly 200,000 jobs, many in architecture, engineering and design. If a lot of super-ambitious, ultra hard-working investment bankers suddenly find themselves out of work, odds are they’ll reinvent themselves in the green space.

No. 2: Washington, D.C.

In January, the CIA opened the first of two new buildings designed to comply with green building standards. Interestingly, the CIA is a relative latecomer to the green game in the nation’s capital. In the past two years, the nation’s largest landlord–the U.S. government–has put energy efficiency high on its list of priorities. Ultimately, the investment could generate substantial returns the federal government in the form of lower energy costs for the more than half-million buildings it oversees. It can add sparking the growth of a green jobs market in the capital to the list.

Check out the rest of the list at Forbes.com.

If the future for your job market is looking decidedly bleak, now’s a great time to start thinking about how you can parlay your skills in the green market.  Everyone from salespeople and factory workers to engineers and marketing experts will be able to make the shift to a more secure future.  Watch for EarthFirst’s ‘great green job of the week’ every week, and check out the job board at Treehugger.com.

Link [Forbes] + [Treehugger]

Green Oil Recycling Plant Opens in Ohio

Northeast Ohio is now home to America’s first oil recycling plant, which removes contaminants from used transformer oil so that it can be re-used.  The Hydrodec plant has brought dozens of new green jobs to the Cleveland area, helping to replace lost manufacturing jobs.

From The Washington Post:

The plant removes contaminants in a process with virtually zero emissions from oil that otherwise would be burned off and generate carbon dioxide, he said.

Transformer oil generally lasts about 10 years and Cowan estimates that U.S. utilities annually discard about 120 million gallons.

One advantage Hydrodec’s recycled oil offers is price stability, Cowan said. Transformer oil is made from crude oil and therefore linked to its price fluctuations.

It’s a small step, but it’s important. Not only do companies like these address important environmental issues like carbon emissions and oil usage, they add to the green revolution that’s gaining steam across the country. We definitely need more green jobs like these!

Link [The Washington Post]

The Greenest Hotels in the U.S., from Manhattan to Waikiki

Most of us have learned by now that you can’t trust a company to be honest about whether they’re truly eco-friendly or not.  Greenwashing is rampant right now, and many consumers are noticing the terms ‘eco-friendly’, ‘green’, ‘earth-friendly’ and other claims on brochures and other marketing materials for all kinds of products and services.  Lately, more and more hotels have been trying to get in on the game, and as Forbes Traveler found, some claim to be green with nothing but an ‘optional recycling program’ to back it up.  That’s why Forbes Traveler set out to find the greenest hotels in America – the ones that have worked sustainability into the daily operations of their businesses.

Some of the hotels on the list, from Forbes Traveler:

• NYC, NY – New York Marriott Downtown: Company-wide policy to cut energy consumption by 25% by 2017; biodegradable cutlery; turned golf courses into Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuaries.
• Townsend, MT – Bison Quest Sanctuary and Spa: Founded by a wildlife biologist on a private bison reserve; completely wind and solar powered; composting for organic waste
• Key West, FL – Banyan Resort: Solar-powered swimming pools; biodegradable tiki bar; deck made of recycled lumber; grounds are xeriscaped with native flora; first ‘Green Lodging Facility’ in the Florida Keys.
• Boston, MA – Seaport Hotel: Chemical-free, electrolyzed water instead of bleach for cleaning; food waste is composted; purchases from eco-friendly suppliers; on-site vegetable and herb garden.

The list also includes hotels, resorts and bed & breakfasts in Honolulu, Hot Springs Arkansas, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Homer Alaska, San Francisco, Asheville North Carolina, Taos New Mexico, Buena Vista Colorado, Austin Texas and Maiden Rock, Wisconsin.

Check out the rest at ForbesTraveler.com.

Link [Forbes Traveler]

‘Truth in Hydration’ Pushing Bottled NYC Tap Water

Bottled water aficionados were upset when we all learned the truth about where the Dasani and Aquafina brands of bottled water actually come from: the tap.  The public had been led to believe that bottled water was cleaner, purer, safer and better-tasting than tap water, so they felt duped.  Maybe that’s why bottled water company Tap’dNY is pushing their product through a blog called ‘Truth in Hydration’.  Tap’dNY is NYC tap water in a bottle, and the company is focusing on the idea of ‘honesty in marketing of water’.

From the Truth in Hydration blog:

Tap’dNY is a bottled water company with a local twist and a knack for honesty. We don’t travel the world from Fiji to France seeking water or offer the usual bottled water gimmicks. We work with NYC’s public water system to source the world’s best tasting tap water, purify it through reverse osmosis and bottle it locally, leaving out ludicrous transportation miles.

We offer an honest and local alternative to thirsty New Yorkers, giving them a smarter choice: to drink their own (award winning) water.

…local tap water? Is this a retreat in the war on bottled water, or a pragmatic solution to a problem that’s not going away (that is- people like the convenience of bottled water and are too lazy to carry around a Sigg)?  It’s difficult to predict whether a bottled-water-obsessed America will ever shift toward carrying reusable containers instead of buying and tossing so much plastic.

For New Yorkers, at least, Tap’dNY water doesn’t seem worth the price: they can get the same thing from any tap in town, for free.  And, many people across the US could benefit similarly by simply fitting their faucet with a filter and getting in the habit of bringing a container everywhere they go.  But, America is entranced with anything labeled ‘more convenient’, so bottled water might not be going anywhere.  In that case, at least Tap’dNY is being honest about where their water comes from, and bottling local water is certainly greener than importing it from across the globe.

Link [Truth in Hydration] via [Neatorama]

Google Considering Wave-Powered ‘Data Barges’

Google may be moving their data centers offshore (and toward green), if the patent they applied for is any indication. It seems as if they’re seeking to cut power costs and avoid paying property taxes by placing their supercomputers on barges anchored 3-7 miles offshore, where they would use wave energy to power and cool the computers.

The Times Online has it:

In the patent application seen by The Times, Google writes: “Computing centres are located on a ship or ships, anchored in a water body from which energy from natural motion of the water may be captured, and turned into electricity and/or pumping power for cooling pumps to carry heat away.”

The increasing number of data centres necessary to cope with the massive information flows generated on popular websites has prompted companies to look at radical ideas to reduce their running costs.

Data centres consumed 1 per cent of the world’s electricity in 2005. By 2020 the carbon footprint of the computers that run the internet will be larger than that of air travel, a recent study by McKinsey, a consultancy firm, and the Uptime Institute, a think tank, predicted.

Technology experts dubbed the offshore data barges ‘a computer army’, drawing reactions across the web with titles like, ‘If Google was Iran, wouldn’t we be scared right now?’  A lot of questions have arisen about the idea, including the fact that 7 miles offshore is within the jurisdiction of many states, the fact that security could be an issue and that having the exclusive right to attempt such a thing would prevent other companies from achieving similar carbon-cutting progress.  Google has refused to clarify the plan, saying they often file patent applications on ideas that may or may not ever become reality.

Seems like a pretty smart move to us.  If, as noted by The Times Online, the carbon footprint of these supercomputers could outweigh that of air travel, something should be done about it now, and the idea of using wave power is pretty innovative.

Link [The Times Online]

Visiting Sweden? Stay in a Jumbo Airplane Hostel at the Arlanda Airport

Entrepreneur Oscar Diös had been itching to set up a hotel in the Swedish city of Arlanda for years.  Arlanda Airport is the biggest airport in the country, and he was convinced that demand for more lodging there was great.  So, when he heard there was an old disused Boeing 747-200 sitting at the Arlanda Airport, an idea popped into his head: he would turn it into a hostel.

From Jumbo Hostel:

From the beginning of December, hostel guests will, for the first time ever, be able to spend the night in a real, seasoned jumbo jet – on the ground! This is the perfect way to start your trip abroad. The plane is a used out jumbo jet model 747-200 made in 1976. It has been awarded a brand new, modern interior decoration, offering night guests an experience apart. It’s exciting for aviation enthusiasts and families with children as well as for business people. This exhilarating experience leaves no-one indifferent –we promise.

Even if you don’t want to stay there, visitors are welcome to stop by for a snack in the cafe.  You can even walk out on the airplane’s wing.  They’ll be taking reservations for overnight stays starting this December.

All in all, pretty awesome reuse! You can join the mile-high club without ever leaving the ground.

Link [JumboHostel] via [Gizmodo] via [RandomGoodStuff]

Green Search Engine Forestle Gets the Boot from Google

Just four days after it went public, green search engine Forestle was forced to shut down due to a decision by Google to end their partnership. Google claims that Forestle offered incentives to artificially click on sponsored links.  Forestle disagrees with Google’s assertion and says they’re working on getting the issue clarified so they can get back up and running.

The new green search engine delivered results through Google and money was made through sponsored advertising links at the top of each results page.  The site’s income from the sponsored links, minus administrative costs, goes to the Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre program, which helps sustain rainforests.  Within four days of operation, Forestle says 15,000 total square yards of rainforest were saved.

From ars technica:

Forestle insists that, despite what Google thinks, it did not offer incentives to click on sponsored links or ads. At the top of every search result page, the company displayed a note explicitly saying not to click on Google sponsored links unless users are truly interested in them. “You harm Forestle, Google and the advertising websites with artificial clicking,” reads the warning. Apparently that’s not enough for Google, though, and perhaps the only incentive required to pull the plug is the mere admission that Forestle was making money on advertising that it planned to donate to charity.

Forestle goes on to accuse Google of ending the partnership because Forestle ‘became too successful’.  They’re asking users and bloggers to rally to bring them back, and to use another green search engine, Znout, in the meantime.  Znout doesn’t donate money to green charities, they just claim to reduce energy using black backgrounds (which doesn’t really work, by the way) and EcoServers.
Link [ars technica]

Processing Plants That Turn Waste Into Oil

What kind of processing plant can turn a rotting, slimy, disgusting-smelling pile of turkey slaughterhouse waste into $12,600 worth of fuel oil? How about municipal sewage, old tires and mixed plastics? Discover Magazine highlighted Changing World Technologies, the company that owns this plant, back in 2006.  It’s exciting technology, and Changing World Technologies is hardly the only company working on it.  The Dutch have harvested enough power from chicken manure to power 90,000 homes.

From Discover Magazine:

The smell is a mélange of midsummer corpse with fried-liver overtones and a distinct fecal note. It comes from the worst stuff in the world—turkey slaughterhouse waste. Rotting heads, gnarled feet, slimy intestines, and lungs swollen with putrid gases have been trucked here from a local Butterball packager and dumped into an 80-foot-long hopper with a sickening glorp. In about 20 minutes, the awful mess disappears into the workings of the thermal conversion process plant in Carthage, Missouri.

Three tanker trucks arrive here on peak production days, loading up with 500 barrels of oil made from 270 tons of turkey guts and 20 tons of pig fat. Most of what cannot be converted into fuel oil becomes high-grade fertilizer; the rest is water clean enough to discharge into a municipal wastewater system.

Despite these breakthroughs, Changing World Technologies has struggled over the years.  The highly complex process is expensive, and government subsidies were hard to come by. People who live near the plant complain about its odor incessantly.  Changing World Technologies recently applied for a $100M IPO, hoping it will help them get off the ground.

Other companies have had more luck.  Inhabitat reports that the Dutch have built the world’s largest biomass power plant to run entirely on poultry manure.

Situated in Moerdijk, the 150 million euro plant was constructed by the Dutch multi-utility company Delta. It will convert roughly 440,000 tons of chicken manure into energy annually, generating more than 270 million kilowatt hours of electricity per year. The plant also addresses a key environmental problem in the Netherlands: “managing the vast excess stream of chicken manure, which, until today, had to be processed at a high cost”.

Delta’s biomass plant has even been described as being carbon neutral, since it will prevent the manure from sitting in fields and seething greenhouse gases into the air. Once methane from the poultry waste has been extracted and ignited, the left over ash will be used to make fertilizers and other agricultural products.

This is exciting stuff.  Imagine if we could use this technology to its full advantage – fuel from waste! It’s the ultimate in Cradle to Cradle.

Link [Discover Magazine] + [Inhabitat]

Green Business Jobs Driving Rising Enrollment at Business Colleges

The Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise has seen a 30% rise in enrollment over the 2007-2008 school year due to students’ confidence in the bright, lucrative future of green business.  The Erb Institute is a program that partners with the University of Michigan Stephen M. Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and the Environment.

School administrators at the Erb Institute believe that enrollment in 2010 will be even higher, as more students seek to get into the green business field.  From Mlive.com:

“The program has been growing steadily over the years, especially since 2004, but still this was such a big jump that it took me by surprise” said Thomas P. Lyon, Erb Institute director. “I think the biggest driver has been the greater public awareness of green issues, especially climate change. A number of things have contributed to this shift: new scientific information about the risks of climate change, Al Gore’s movie ‘An Inconvenient Truth,’ (and) Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath.”

“I think a lot of that trend is people seeing a shift in markets, this ‘greening’ of America,” said Brewster Boyd, an MBA student planning to graduate in 2009.

Rising enrollment at the Erb Institute is no doubt a sign of a broader trend across the country.  College students are looking toward the future, and they’re seeing success and fulfillment in green industries.  Environmental issues are tied to our country’s economic future, and many opportunities will be opening up over the coming decade.

Lyon, the Erb Institute director, hopes that the younger generation’s drive toward green business will help the Michigan economy, which is the weakest in the nation.

Link [Mlive.com]

25 Rich Ass Greenies Who Made Their Fortune Saving the Environment (#5 - #1)

All this week, EarthFirst.com has counted down the world’s richest green entrepreneurs who have amassed fortunes ranging from the low millions to an incredible $3.4 billion mostly from doing good deeds for the planet.

We’re down to the top 5 – green billionaires who didn’t just start helping the environment after they became billionaires, they made the bulk of their fortunes from helping the environment. These industry giants range between $1.5 billion and $3.4 billion in net worth, and the top three are all from a country that might surprise you: China.

5. Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello, Cosan

The world’s first ethanol billionaire, Rubens Ometto Silveira Mello has seen his fortune decrease dramatically over the past year due to the decline of sugar and ethanol prices and rumors of a takeover of his company, Cosan S.A. Of course, $1.5 billion still ain’t bad.

Cosan is one of the world’s largest producers of ethanol, which they brew from sugar cane. Mello has been described as ‘the world’s first biofuel tycoon’. Cosan began way back in 1936, when Mello’s family established a sugarcane mill in Piracicaba, Brazil, outside Sao Paolo.

4. Frank Asbeck, SolarWorld

Frank Asbeck founded SolarWorld, a company that manufactures solar cells and modules which are then installed as solar panels, in 1998. Asbeck has proven to be an innovative leader for this family-owned German company, taking an aggressive entrepreneurial approach that many predict will help the company grow by 25% each year. SolarWorld is at an advantageous position right now, since the manufacture of solar cells will likely be somewhat of a bottleneck in the solar power industry and his company will be able to step in and meet much of that demand.

Asbeck, worth an estimated $1.6 billion, said in a 2007 press release, “Solar energy is on the way to attaining full competitiveness with grid power in the next few years. This means that a major factor for a climate-friendly turning of the tide in the energy sector would be achieved. Yet, in order to actually achieve this ‘grid parity’, the solar industry must continue to invest in the expansion of its capacities and also earn these investments. Because only mass production and efficiency improvements can make prices drop further.”

3. Peng Xiaofeng, LDK Solar

A relative newcomer in the field of solar energy, Peng Xiaofeng’s wealth soared dramatically over a period of only a few years. Just last year, he was worth a whopping $3.85 billion, but his net worth decreased to ‘just’ $2.5 billion in 2008 after allegations by a former employee that his company, LDK Solar, had inflated inventory figures of a key raw material, polysilicon.

Peng’s business began as a safety-product manufacturing plant, until he realized that no Chinese company as of that time was producing solar wafers, a key component of solar panels that make up 25% of their cost. He poured millions of his own fortune and $80 million in venture financing into his new operation, and soon LDK Solar began its rocky journey through the solar industry.

2. Shi Zhengrong, Suntech Power

This China-born Australian citizen is the world’s richest solar tycoon, with about $2.9 billion to his name. Shi Zhengrong runs Suntech Power, which he founded in China in 2001. Suntech makes the photovoltaic cells used in solar panels, and was the first Chinese company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Shi, born in poor rural China and given up for adoption by his parents so that he could have a better life, is now one of the richest citizens of both China and Australia.

Suntech Power has a current market value of about $6 billion, and Shi is confident that his company will grow to the size of the world’s largest oil conglomerates as we shift toward renewable sources of energy.

1. Cheung Yan, Nine Dragons Paper

Reported by some sources as the world’s richest self-made woman, Cheung Yan gained her fortune in what many might find a surprising place: recycled paper. Cheung (her name is often spelled Zhang Yin as well) is worth an estimated $3.4 billion based on 2007 revenue figures (2008’s aren’t in yet), and she’s made it over the span of just a few years. Nine Dragons Paper takes post-consumer paper from the U.S. and processes it in China into new paper goods. Cheung held the title of world’s richest woman for nearly two years before being toppled by a young woman who inherited her father’s vast fortune (Yang Huiyan, worth $16.1 billion), but is still richer than both Oprah and J.K. Rowling.

25 Rich Ass Greenies Who Made Their Fortune Saving the Environment (#10 - #6)

All this week, EarthFirst.com will be counting down the world’s richest green entrepreneurs who have amassed fortunes ranging from the low millions to an incredible $3.4 billion mostly from doing good deeds for the planet.

Next up on our countdown of 25 of the richest green businesspeople in the world are a husband and wife team, two eco-friendly cosmetics pioneers and a man who wandered into the lucrative world of wind power by accident.  Today’s list starts at $100 million and ends around $1.4 billion, incredible fortunes made while simultaneously doing good things for the earth.

10. Tom Chappell and 9. Kate Chappell, Tom’s of Maine

Tom and Kate Chappell began making eco-friendly personal care products in the late ‘60s, when they were unable to find any on store shelves.  Taking out a $5,000 loan from a friend, they started Tom’s of Maine with ‘Clearlake’, the country’s first phosphate-free laundry detergent.  In 1975 they introduced the first natural toothpaste, which cemented their future as a leader in the natural personal care industry. Tom and Kate share in the $100 million fortune they made from selling Tom’s of Maine to Colgate in 2006, and remain the CEO and VP of the company, respectively.  Tom’s of Maine pulls in about $45 million in annual sales.

Of the green industry’s future, Tom told SFGate, “The current consciousness for environmental sustainability is different from anything I’ve ever seen before. It’s coming from industry, from companies, for the first time. You’ve had small companies doing a grassroots effort for decades, along with consumers and nonprofit groups, but now you’ve got large companies with senior leadership saying we’ve got to take this seriously. That’s terrific. We know that green solutions are possible. We just need to have green solutions become more available and affordable.”

8. Anita Roddick, The Body Shop

One of the pioneers of the natural beauty industry, Anita Roddick amassed a fortune of $200 million through her cosmetics and toiletries business, The Body Shop, making her one of England’s richest women.  Anita began The Body Shop with the vision that all types of businesses could be run ethically, and that every ingredient has a story.  Anita passed away in 2007, and her husband, Gordon, now manages her fortune.

Of her inspiration to start The Body Shop, Anita said, “My early travels had given me a wealth of experience. I had spent time in farming and fishing communities with pre-industrial peoples, and been exposed to body rituals of women from all over the world. Also the frugality that my mother exercised during the war years made me question retail conventions. Why waste a container when you can refill it? And why buy more of something than you can use? We behaved as she did in the Second World War, we reused everything, we refilled everything and we recycled all we could. The foundation of The Body Shop’s environmental activism was born out of ideas like these.”

7. Roxanne Quimby, Burt’s Bees

When Roxanne Quimby met Burt Shavitz (#23 on our countdown), she was a single mother of twins living in a cabin in the North Woods of Maine. Her husband had just left her and she was desperate for income.  Burt, who had been selling jars of honey out of the back of his pickup truck, had hives labeled ‘Burts Bees’ and pounds and pounds of beeswax, and that spurred an idea: making products like lip balm, shoe polish and beeswax candles.  Over time, her efforts paid off in a big way: Burt’s Bees is now the most successful natural care products company in the world.  The company sold to Clorox in 2007 for $1 billion, and Roxanne made an estimated $300 million from the sale.

Roxanne told Hilary Career, “I think it takes a lot of hard work, persistence, and belief in one’s vision to build a successful company. That sounds sort of trite but one must possess these basic traits to carry on when faced with the daily challenges and sheer exhaustion of running one’s own company. Good luck and good timing also play a role in one’s success. For a product-driven company like Burt’s Bees, I think it’s important to stay ahead of the curve with product innovation and listen closely to what the consumer tells you she wants, and remain faithful to your mission and values.”

6. Tulsi Tanti, Suzlon Energy

Tulsi Tanti, an Indian businessman, didn’t set out to save the environment.  It sort of happened by accident. In 1995, when he owned a fledgling textile company called Suzlon, he received a shocking electric bill that made him wish he could do something about the price of power.  That led him to decide to provide for his own energy needs, buying two wind turbines to power his company – a risky and expensive move, but one that he felt strongly was the right thing to do.  Then, in 2000, Tanti read an article about global warming that predicted that some of his favorite tourism destinations, including the Maldives, would be underwater by the year 2050.  He told TIME Magazine, “I had a very clear vision. If Indians start consuming power like the Americans, the world will run out of resources. Either you stop India from developing, or you find some alternate solution.”

That’s when Tanti decided to sell off his company’s textile manufacturing and enter the field of wind-turbine generators. Suzlon is now the fourth largest wind-turbine maker in the world, with annual profits of about $850 million. Tanti is now worth an estimated $1.4 billion.

Check out the rest of the Rich Ass Greenies: #25-#21, #20-#16, #15-11

25 Rich Ass Greenies Who Made Their Fortune Saving the Environment (#15 - #11)

All this week, EarthFirst.com will be counting down the world’s richest green entrepreneurs who have amassed fortunes ranging from the low millions to an incredible $3.4 billion mostly from doing good deeds for the planet.

Today’s 5 rich ass greenies include three organic foods moguls, a wind company executive and a hero that has helped spread the message of environmental responsibility more than anyone, perhaps aside from Al Gore.  Though we don’t know the exact net worth of all of these businessmen, we do know that it’s in the double-digit millions or higher and that they’re now enjoying the high life after dedicating their careers to helping the planet.

15. Chuck Marcy, Horizon Organics

Charles ‘Chuck’ Marcy is the former president and CEO of Horizon Organic, one of America’s largest organic milk producers. The company had been around since 1992, but didn’t start major marketing efforts until 2004 when acquired by Dean Foods for $246 million.  Marcy also owns Healthy Food Holdings, a private-equity backed company that buys organic and healthy food brands including Van’s International Foods and Breyers.

14. Mike Gilliland, Wild Oats Market

Mike Gilliland helped kick off the natural foods industry when he founded Wild Oats Markets with then-wife Libby Cook in 1987.  The Boulder, Colorado-based company quickly became the second largest natural foods chain in America.  Gilliland left Wild Oats in 2001 when the company’s sales suffered after an acquisition spree.  Wild Oats was purchased by rival Whole Foods in 2007 for an estimated $565 million.  Gilliland then went on to found Sunflower Farmers Market, a chain of natural foods outlets in the Southwest.  His fortune hasn’t been disclosed.

13. Michael Skelly, Horizon Wind

Michael Skelly is the former CEO of Horizon Wind Energy, a renewable energy company located in Houston, Texas.  Horizon is a wind energy developer and independent power producer which as developed wind farms all over the country, and is the third largest wind company in the United States.  The company was acquired by Goldman Sachs in 2005 for an undisclosed amount and then sold to Energias de Portugal for $2.15 billion.

Skelly, a Democrat, is now running for Congress in Texas’ 7th congressional district against three-term incumbent John Culberson.

12. Steve Demos, White Wave

Steve Demos has had an interesting life, to say the least.  He’s a Buddhist, and once lived in a cave in India. He spent a lot of time traveling, and that’s when he had a revelation: that he wanted to construct a “right livelihood”, making money and doing good for society at the same time.  He set out to make healthy vegetarian foods, with a particular focus on soy.  It was quite a battle, though: for 20 years he struggled to get soy products accepted into mainstream society through his company, White Wave.  It wasn’t until 1996 that he realized that tempeh and tofu weren’t likely to end up on most Americans’ plates, but soymilk was a product that could be accepted more easily.  After that, sales rose dramatically and Demos spent the next 8 years helping the company grow. In 2005, Demos was unexpectedly ejected from the company he founded by the board.

We don’t know exactly how much Demos is worth, but consider this. When White Wave sold to Dean Foods in 2002 for $295 million, Demos ensured that the company’s 100 employees who had worked there for at least 2 years each got a share of $15 million of the profits.  So, we’re sure he made out pretty well – in the double-digit, if not triple-digit millions, most likely.  At the time of his ousting, White Wave was worth $1.2 billion.

11. Captain Planet

For years, Captain Planet educated the world about environmental issues, showing off his incredible skills as he flew, blew hurricane force winds, shapeshifted, moved objects with his mind and performed amazing feats of matter transmutation.  As we all know, the smog, radiation and toxic waste that continue to pollute the environment at alarming levels harmed Captain Planet’s health, so it’s only natural that after his show was canceled he retired to the island of Taos to build his strength back up.  Captain Planet invested his money wisely and now lives in an off-grid home on the island, relaxing and taking in the fresh air and clean water.

Check out the previous installments:

25 Rich Ass Greenies (#25-#21), (#20-#16)

25 Rich Ass Greenies Who Made Their Fortune Saving the Environment (#20 - #16)

All this week, EarthFirst.com will be counting down the world’s richest green entrepreneurs who have amassed fortunes ranging from the low millions to an incredible $3.4 billion mostly from doing good deeds for the planet.

Today’s 5 green businessmen are a diverse bunch: two energy moguls, the founder of a carbon mitigation firm, a tea titan and the man who changed the face of natural food stores. Each of these men has made $7 million or more off of their eco-friendly ventures, and they’re all likely to keep on hauling in cash by the truckload for the foreseeable future.  These 5 rich ass greenies help prove that environmental responsibility and reaching millionaire status aren’t mutually exclusive.

20. David Scaysbrook, Novera Energy

When David Scaysbrook founded Australian firm Novera Energy in 1998, he was convinced that unlike other forms of renewable energy that were available at the time, wind power had real potential.  He became a millionaire when cashing in $7 million worth of shares in the company, and is still a non-executive director on the board. He’s also a founding shareholder of Viridis Energy Capital, a specialist green energy fund with a global focus and a portfolio of investments in landfill gas, biomass and hydro power.

David is confident that we haven’t seen anything yet when it comes to the success of the wind power industry, telling Reuters that he believes fears about energy security, the rising price of oil and growing concerns about the environment will push the scale of investment in wind to far greater proportions, which will undoubtedly continue adding millions to his bank account.

19. Pedro Moura Costa, EcoSecurities

EcoSecurities is an Irish carbon mitigation firm that has developed more projects than any other similar business, and co-founder Pedro Moura Costa got $10 million richer last year when he sold some of his shares in the firm.  Moura Costa knew that the carbon market could be big business, especially once the Kyoto Protocol was established.  It may have taken longer than he expected for the market to become very profitable, but he’s done well and will continue to make even more: his remaining shares are worth an estimated $83 million.

When asked by Reuters whether the thought green business was a bubble, Moura Costa said, “It’s become quite obvious we do something now or it will be an irreversible trend with catastrophic consequences.  The only chance of it being a bubble is if we lack the political commitment to drive emission reductions worldwide — and if we do that we might as well forget about any environmental effort whatsoever because climate change is hitting us hard and the trend is likely to accelerate. I think it’s very unlikely political support will go away.”

18. Steve Hughes, Celestial Seasonings

Often referred to as an ‘organic mogul’, Steve Hughes is a veteran of the natural foods industry and had already held several high-profile positions before becoming CEO of tea company Celestial Seasonings in 1997.  Serving for just 3 years before Celestial Seasonings was sold to natural foods giant Hain in 2000, Hughes made a whopping $20 million from the merger. He’s credited for reinventing the brand after four years of stagnant sales, resulting in the interest from Hain.

Hughes is now CEO of natural margarine producer Smart Balance, which analysts predict could become a billion-dollar company over the next decade, especially as more people turn to products that don’t contain trans fats.

17. Ryan Turner, Pacific Ethanol

Ryan Turner co-founded Fresno, California-based energy company Pacific Ethanol in 2002, and after just four years, became a multimillionaire. After the company went public, its stock price quadrupled and Tuner, who had been acting as the company’s chief operating officer, cashed in $29.5 million worth of stock.  At just 31, he resigned and set out to enjoy his new fortune. Pacific Ethanol may or may not continue to see the same success and support as it has over recent years, depending on what the future of this biofuel holds. But, either way, Turner’s got it made – if he resists the temptation to spend it like Hammer, he’s set for life.

16. John Mackey, Whole Foods

Way back in 1978, John Mackey dropped out of college and borrowed $45,000 from family friends to open Safer Way Natural Foods, a small vegetarian health food store in Austin, Texas.  After experiencing some difficulty in his first few years in business, Mackey approached the owners of another Austin health food store about a merger, and together they became Whole Foods, which later became the most successful natural foods chain in the world.

Mackey has declined to disclose his personal net worth, but we know that prior to 2006, when he announced that he was no longer in the business to make money and would henceforth only make $1 per year, he was netting $400,000 annually.  He reportedly has enough money now to give at least $1 million away to charity every year, and as CEO of such a huge company, we’re sure he’s pretty damn comfortable.

Check out last week’s installment of ‘25 Rich Ass Greenies Who Made Their Fortune Saving the Environment (#25 - #21)‘.

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