Egology As Good Business

One of the newly emerging high technology is eco-technology: making ecology good business, not just bad politics. The existing technology support net (TSN) is significantly appropriate for the old-fashioned burning of fossil fuels and use of non-renewable resources. The lack of a new TSN significantly hampers innovation and prevents introducing ecologically cleaner products, processes and business models. Only clear economic and business advantage shall usher in alternative technologies as high technologies. The accelerating competition for oil, taking its price well over $100/barrel plus increasing eco-taxation, is making alternative sources of energy more competitive. The search for corresponding technology and business innovations is on.

Ecology is good business! As soon as this becomes an accepted reality, the forces of capitalism and human greed will take over and clean up the environment much more effectively than any political “green” movements, consumption curtailing and redirection or cultural re-education. Capitalism brought about the energy crisis and environmental degradation, but only capitalism can replace the old TSN with a new one, and so bring forth the clean up of the environment with equal vigor, speed and ruthless perseverance. Once the new appropriate TSN is established and accepted habitually, then even a precipitous drop in oil prices would not bring the nonrenewable energy sources back in business.

The processes of recycling, resource recovery, material reduction, product reuse, remanufacture and systems redeployment lead to innovation and the reinstatement of the business life-cycle.

Old supply chains have become demand chains and now reverse value chains, demonstrating that value can be added in both directions: through the forward pass of production as well as through the backward pass of recovery and remanufacture. Both directions are value-adding processes, as in all of nature.

Bills, Bill, Bills

It is the most unpleasant correspondence that we receive regularly in the mail. It tells us that we owe money for services rendered, or for a violation. It is sent regularly and usually consists of more than one page. It is the paper bill. Most everyone is familiar with the format and the layout of the document. It is estimated by the EPA that more than more than 15.8 million trees are used up each year just to produce the paper that bills are printed on. It is why a lot of companies are marketing the Electronic Bill Payment Process (EBPP) as beneficial to the environment. Not to be lost in all of this is the fact that EBPP is not just “eco-friendly” but also good for business as it makes the customer feel that the company cares about the environment, and also provides for a significant reduction in operating costs, an increase in good will between customers and the corporation. This brings about the “Ecology as good business” movement amongst corporations.

With the advent of the Internet, e-commerce, and online communities; new alternatives to the traditional “get bill in mail, sign and send check in mail” model. By becoming a part of the online world; corporations have enabled themselves to create new methods of bill collections, payment receipts, and reduction of operating costs. While most corporations have moved into electronic billing, the amount of consumers who have switched to the paper-free method of payment has a long way to go.

The most common EBPP options are available from financial institutions, retailers, online commerce sites, and utility companies. These offer several options amongst them one-time bill payments for the exact, or partial amount of the bill; and recurring monthly payments which will automatically deduct the amount owed from the bank account of record.

As the environmental movement has gained more steam in recent years thanks to ground-breaking studies on air pollution, waste management, and land conservation; the corporations made a realization that along with good customer service and fair prices, people wanted to feel as if they were making a difference in the world that they lived in. The perfect marketing opportunity presented itself in EBPP.

For years environmental activists were pushing for increased recycling of paper and wood products in order to preserve trees, which serve a vital role in the cleanliness of the air around us. EBPP created an opportunity to market the companies as environmental do-gooders and at the same time attract environmentally conscious consumers. A more significant benefit to the corporate balance sheet is the tremendous reduction in spending on printing, paper, and mailing expenses.

Environmental Impact

Many reports have been issued on the benefits of EBPP since the system was first introduced. The biggest factors in these reports were the reduction of paper use, reduction of waste, reduction in energy consumption, and reduction in air pollution. If every single online customer switched to EBPP a significant environmental impact would occur. Here are some of the key numbers:

Ð'* More than 29 trillion BTUs of energy would be saved, enough to provide power for a city the size of Jacksonville, Florida for an entire year.

Ð'* More than 18.5 million trees would be saved. This is enough lumber to build 216,054 average one family homes.

Ð'* More than 15.8 million gallons of wastewater would be saved. This is more than the amount of wastewater generated by Fresno, California.

Ð'* Reduction of toxic air pollutants by 2.2 billion tons of COÐ'І. This is the equivalent to having 390,326 fewer cars on the road.

Ð'* Reduction of solid waste by 1.7 billion pounds. This is equivalent to the amount of raw tonnage of waste generated by Detroit, Michigan.

Ð'* Save a significant amount of landfill space and reduce the amount of methane gas that is released into the atmosphere by decomposing paper. Methane gas has 21 times the heat trapping power of carbon monoxide and is believed to be a major contributor to global warming.

A 2003 survey by Javelin Strategy and Research revealed that