May 15, 2009
May is bike month and today is bike to work day. Did you ride your bike today?
ecobee is a bike friendly office and encourages everyone – employees and visitors – to ride their bikes to our office. We even have indoor bike parking to make it easier. Slowly but surely, more and more offices are creating space like this for employees, encouraging them to cycle in instead of drive.
Can’t think of a good reason to leave the car at home for a day or two? Chris Baskind at Lighter Footstep thought of twelve:
1. It’s easier to finance a new bicycle than a new car.
2. A bicycle has a tiny manufacturing footprint when compared to a car.
3. Bicycles produce no meaningful pollution when in operation.
4. Bikes save taxpayers money by reducing road wear.
5. Bicycles are an effective alternative to a second car.
6. Using a bike for transportation can help you lose weight and improve your overall health.
7. You can store a dozen bicycles in a single automobile-sized parking place.
8. Bicycles don’t burn gasoline.
9. Bicycling may be faster and more efficient than taking a car.
10. Bikes cost much less to maintain and operate than automobiles.
11. Bicycles provide mobility for those who may not qualify or afford to drive.
12. Studies show that bicycle commuters are healthier, more productive and require less time-off at work.
Are you convinced yet? If you can, biking is the way to go. Can you think of any other reasons to bike to work?
Posted in Around the office | No Comment
April 22, 2009
It is a solid bet that plastic bags are not the best choice for the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency in the US released statistics claiming that the world uses somewhere between 500 billion and a trillion plastic bags each year. Less then 1% of these are recycled and it costs more to recycle one then produce a new one. When I searched for statistics on plastic bags, some of the images that I came across were not pretty and definitely made me gasp a little. A website called reuseablebags.com keeps a running ticker of how many plastic bags are used this year. As you peruse the website, the number just keeps growing and growing.
Retail stores and municipalities everywhere are beginning to ban plastic bags or charge a fee for the use of them. This is to encourage the public to bring their own reusable non-plastic bag. Almost every store you walk into now has jumped on marketing their own version of the reusable bag. It might be trendy right now to do this but trend or no trend, it’s worth it. Certain places even offer bags that fold up into tiny packages so they are easy to throw in a purse, pocket or car.
I give this two thumbs up and hope more places stop allowing plastic bags to be readily available.
Posted in Green | No Comment
April 21, 2009
Recycling has come a long way. Historians claim that recycling has been around since pre-industrial times. Evidence has been found of bronze and precious metals being melted down over and over again and used for other purposes. During both World Wars, everyone was encouraged (and forced) to recycle and reuse what they could due to mass shortages of many products. Wide spread recycling throughout North America began to gain momentum in the 1970’s.
In 1973, Berkely, California began one of the first curbside collection programs. They picked up newspapers from homes throughout the city. Now, cities around the world participate in extensive recycling programs that include, paper, plastic, metal and even organic composting. The City of Toronto began an organic composting program in 2008 and has deemed it a success.
Recycling is becoming easier and easier.Many cities also charge for garbage collection but will pick up as much recyclable products as you can get to the curb.
TreeHugger put together a great slideshow of recycling bins from around the world. Check out how different countries recycle http://www.treehugger.com/galleries/2009/03/recycling-bins-from-around-the-world.php?page=1
How does your city measure up? Do you have a recycling secret you want to share? Let us know.
Posted in Green | No Comment
April 20, 2009
A friend of mine and I were walking through Yonge and Dundas Square in downtown Toronto on Saturday and were surprised to see a water fountain. Remember those? Now it seems weird to drink from a water fountain when I could just buy a bottle from any variety store. Bottled water is everywhere - airplanes, offices, schools. It is a convenient source to quench your thirst but the debate continues as to whether it really is better for you then tap water and at what cost?
ecobee, as a company, decided from day one to not drink bottled water in the office. It is a decision that more and more companies, individuals and organizations are making. Bottled water has become a staple in many households and offices. It is estimated that the average North American spends over $100 per year per person on bottled water. This may not seem like a lot but considering we already pay for tap water, it is unnecessary.
While it is true that some bottled water comes from springs and other pristine sources, about 25% is nothing more then local tap water that is purified, bottled and sold back to us at almost a thousand times the price. This money can be better spent elsewhere. Many will argue for the convenience associated with bottled water. With the overwhelming availability of reusable, refillable bottles at almost every store, it is just as easy and convenient to grab one of those and just keep refilling it.
Landfills across North America are being overrun with bottles from bottled water. The bottles are plastic, and can be recycled - if placed in the correct place. Many people do not recycle these properly or recycling bins are unavailable when out of the house. Estimates vary but insidethebottle.org states that roughly 70,000,000 PET bottles end up being dumped in North American landfills every year. That is a huge number!
Next time you are thirsty, think about drinking tap water instead.
Posted in Green | No Comment
April 17, 2009
By Stacey Cartmell
Today I went for my tour of this truly remarkable exhibit. As you wait in line for the tour you watch a video from David R Mosena the President and CEO of the museum. His motto at the end of his presentation is “ Inspired to be green”. Take the tour and you too will be inspired. This Smart Home is a feat of genius. It is three floors of green sustainable building technologies. It incorporates all the leading edge computer technology that control your environment. As you approach this real life working exhibit you are awed by its contemporary style. Once inside, it is a gadget lovers dream. Upon entering your are greeted by a voice telling you the status of your home; the current inside temperature, how much energy you saved by setting back your thermostat and advising you how much carbon emissions you didn’t create. Every nail, every board, the paint used in the home, floor coverings both wood and carpet and windows kept the focus of being green on track. Every possible green product that you could use in a home is in this Smart Home. Displayed prominently at the front door is the ecobee Smart Thermostat.
Not very many people have a career that is making an immediate difference to our environment. We at the ecobee team are making a difference. It was a proud moment for me listening while Nancy our guide pointed out our ecobee Smart Thermostat and passed on the passion we have to the attendants as if we at ecobee were doing the tour ourselves. We are creating the ground swell and giving the homeowner the power to make a difference. We should all be proud of what we have accomplished to date.
With a little bit of thinking outside the box, these types of buildings could be main stream rather than being on display at a museum. easy, smart, green.
Posted in Green | No Comment
April 9, 2009
Easter weekend is a great time to enjoy the Spring weather (hopefully it’s nice where you are) and, my personal favorite, chocolate. But, is Easter environmentally friendly? Can you make it green? What better website to go to then Inhabitant for tips on how to make your Easter just a bit more green? Inhabitant found a number of great websites that give ideas from fair trade chocolate to how to reuse those eggshells. Check them out in the post below. Read the original post here.
Mindful Momma gets warm and fuzzy with felted Easter eggs that are the perfect alternative to the plastic eggs that usually pepper kid’s baskets.
April 2, 2009
Backbone Magazine just published their Branham300 Top 25 Up and Comers list. ecobee is thrilled to be am up and comer with the other amazing companies on this list. All of the companies listed are Canadian and are creating innovative products and applications from a wide range of diverse fields. This list shows that there is a ton of promise in the Canadian ICT Industry. Backbone also makes notes that these Top 25 Canadian Software Companies generated combined revenues of $3 billion in 2008 – amazing. You can see the full list here.
Posted in Awards | No Comment
March 24, 2009
WIRED Magazine partnered with the Chicago Museum of Science and Technology to create and build an energy efficient house. It boasts a ton of green gadgets including, the Smart Thermostat. This house proves that you do not have to give up your gadgets and all the amenities that you enjoy now when you go green. You may even have more. They not only reduce your environmental impact, but save you money. As far as I’m concerned, you can’t go wrong.
Check out this amazing house at http://www.wired.com/promo/wiredhome/about.html
If you happen to be in the Chicago area, stop by, take a tour and learn about something new.
Posted in Green | No Comment
March 20, 2009
By: Quinto Petrucci
On Wednesday, we had the privilege of hosting a press event at our corporate office in Toronto. It was an announcement made by the Minister of Research and Innovation on a provincial funding programming that will help companies such as ecobee secure the capital needed to grow. See here for details http://www.news.ontario.ca/mri/en/2009/03/investing-in-emerging-technologies.html#. Yes, that is me in the video clip. What you get to see is the 2 minute clip on the news and many articles in the newspaper but what we got was the experience that came with having this occur here. We got a behind the scenes look at what is really involved in putting something like this together.
There was a lot going on behind the scenes. We got the call Monday afternoon and it all kind of just started happening from there. From the get go, it was a flurry of activity with site visits, advanced planning and coordination to make sure everything was exactly the way it needed to be. This was organised by the various ministry staffers and production people who clearly have done this time and time again.
The day of was even more impressive. The first team showed up early to set up the lights, test the audio feeds, determine the angles etc etc etc… When it was over, you couldn’t tell anything had happened, they were packed up just as quickly and efficiently as they setup. Overall, it was a great day and we were happy to be a part of it.
For me personally, it was extremely interesting to hear the other entrepreneurs talk about their company, the challenges they face and the common thread of wanting to flourish right here in Ontario. There are a lot of smart people here with some really good ideas and an obvious passion for what they are doing. Let’s hope the government of Ontario can roll this program out as quickly as promised.
Let us know what you think of the announcement.
Posted in Government | No Comment
March 2, 2009
Today is Dr. Seuss’ 105th birthday – the perfect time to remember The Lorax. The Lorax is a story written by Dr. Seuss in 1971 about greed, pollution and the environment. The story begins with a character called the Once-ler, telling a young boy his story of greed.
The Story
The Once-ler happens upon a forest of “Truffula Trees” and becomes enamored with them. He decides to cut one down to knit a “Thneed”, a garment that he claims everyone must have. When he does this, a Lorax appears out of the stump and protests the Once-ler’s activities. The Once-ler ignores the Lorax and continues to cut down the forest of Truffula Trees to produce Thneeds in mass production. Soon the water, land and air are so polluted that the animals and all forms of life are driven away. When the last Truffula Tree is cut down, the Lorax floats out of the stump and disappears into the sky. The Once-ler is left to reflect on his actions and realizes the mistakes he made. He gives the young boy the only Truffula seed he has left encouraging him to plant and protect it so that the Lorax, animals and life may return.
This powerful message is still relevant 38 years later. Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss.
For fun – watch the video of The Lorax. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Y0Az-4wUg
Posted in Green | No Comment
Older Posts »
