by David Bruce, Tina Butler, Brian Bishop and Jennifer Boynton,

Policies developed by the Obama administration need to integrate an entrepreneurial approach, government support, and the community in order to fully realize the triple bottom line. With full participation, we can successfully move beyond the Triple and create an integrated bottom line wherein social, environmental and financial benefits are all achievable at the same time

One of the biggest barriers to adopting an integrated bottom line into a traditional business model is agreement on how to quantify the value of environmental and social benefits. Another significant challenge is the ability of investors to capture a return on social benefits. The consequence of these barriers is that projects that can have major gains for a community may not be considered feasible by investors. Developing a community center, for example, with a café, bookstore, farmer’s market, light industrial, and residential housing could have great benefit to a struggling neighborhood by providing jobs and services and drawing other businesses to the neighborhood. But the high cost of capital means a net negative return to investors over a typical payback period. As a consequence, such a project is not considered viable even though the net return for all stakeholders is positive. Our current system only measures benefits of such a project based on the financial returns to the investor. The external benefits like more jobs and services for a community are not captured unless the local government is brought in as a player.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that installing and using a programmable thermostat to customize and automate room temperature can save energy as well as money. In fact, 25 million households in the U.S. have already installed programmable thermostats in their homes. That's the good news. The bad news is that only half of those homes actually program them, effectively rendering the potential efficiency of using them moot. It's reminiscent of the old VCR forever blinking 12:00, except the consequences for homeowners - and even the planet - are greater.

I recently spoke with Geoff Godwin, Vice President of Marketing for Emerson Climate Technologies, the manufacturer of components for HVAC systems and producer of the White-Rogers line of programmable thermostats, about the advantages of using digitally programmable climate control, and how Emerson is seeking to expand the potential market and get that market to not only install the units, but to actually use them as well.

As most readers of Triple Pundit know, efficiency is the big white elephant in the room in terms of addressing dependence on foreign oil and reducing greenhouse gas emissions, not to mention saving energy costs in hard economic times. It's the low-hanging fruit, a strategy in which, according to a report released last fall by the American Physical society, the "opportunities are huge and the costs are small".

A small, yet significant, aspect of this huge opportunity, says Godwin, is the installation and proper use of programmable thermostats.

Though North American and Western European countries have long been the largest emitters of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases, the economies of fast growing developing countries, particularly in Asia, are quickly making up for lost time and ground. China's rapid industrialization and reliance on conventional coal plants has in a relatively very short time span put it in on a par with that of the U.S. in terms of CO2 emissions, while emissions in rapidly industrializing countries across the Asian continent and around the world are growing faster than elsewhere, a trend that's forecast to continue for the next few decades.

This divergence has been a contentious “sore” spot between industrialized and industrializing countries as their representatives seek to negotiate a successor to the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, and the workings of the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism, the principal technology transfer mechanism for developing emissions reduction projects in developing countries.

Seeking to bridge the divide, researchers at the United Nations Environment Program's Risoe Center in Copenhagen are proposing a set of “no lose” targets for developing nations' electricity sectors post-2012. Addressing weaknesses in the CDM, they advocate making structural changes that they believe would facilitate achieving significant CO2 reductions in developing countries' power sectors. Keys to their recommendations are a method for establishing national power sector emissions baselines and credit targets post-2012 for seven large CO2 emitting developing countries, and assessing the amount of potential emissions reductions and credits that could be achieved using them as a reference.

Guest post from our friends at Good Capital:

Jack Alter, a Philadelphia schoolteacher, started giving loans to some of his fellow teachers in 1951 with big dreams and less than $100 in seed money. Since then, Advanta has grown into one of the nation's largest credit card issuers (through Advanta Bank Corp.) in the small business market. Today, as a respected company with close to 1,000 employees and well over one million small business customers nationwide, they are choosing to give other entrepreneurs and small business owners a chance to pursue their dreams. For those not already in the know, Ideablob.com is an online community sponsored by Advanta Bank comprised of entrepreneurs and small business owners who share their ideas. In addition to the feedback and support provided by a community of like-minded peers, each month the site’s users vote for their favorite idea. The winner is awarded a $10,000 cash prize to either turn their idea into reality or increase the scope and scale of their project.

The Environmental Protection Agency is, yet again, not doing the very thing its name implies.

For the umpteenth time in the past few years, the EPA is simply turning its nose up to carbon emissions, as if it shouldn't and couldn't regulate them. And that's bologna.

It started early in 2005, when California asked the EPA if it could more stringently regulate emissions from its millions of automobiles. By 2007, the EPA still hadn't answered the question, and California sued the EPA in April of that year.

Of course, all this came after most of the civilized world was already three years into the Kyoto Protocol, by which over 150 countries signed-up to voluntarily reduce their emissions by millions of tons.

We better get our act together. Our hubris in failing to regulate emissions on a national level could quickly turn out to be a multi-billion mistake, with expensive ecologic and economic consequences.

Around this time of year, big Fortune 500 companies resuscitate their annual giving campaigns, tossing boatloads of cash at a variety of charities in an attempt to demonstrate their philanthropic side, garnering a substantial amount of PR in the process. Meanwhile, in most cases, these very same companies are those engaging in socially irresponsible business practices such as exploiting offshore labor, animal testing, and wasteful manufacturing processes. It is also often these companies who emit harmful chemical pollutants and represent sizable carbon footprints.

While many of their products represent blockbuster brands in the market who remain popular -- and highly profitable -- the 2008 Cone Cause Consumer Behavior Study indicates that more than two-thirds of Americans now actively consider a company's business practices when making purchasing decisions, underscoring socially conscious values as a key driver in the success of emerging companies and brands. In addition, American workers have also indicated that they want to work for an employer who supports a social cause or issue.

Tomorrow morning, the gym will be quite crowded with new members hoping to start the year off right. It is one of the most common new year's resolutions of all time, and also one that sounds good in theory...but in practice, rarely lives up to expectations.

Sure, it's easy to make goals, but it's not always easy to reach them. And these days, given our expectations of instant gratification, sticking to a program in an effort to achieve long-term success is an idea that has become harder and harder to comprehend...or even accept. But this is a very dangerous mindset. It leads to the assumption that anything in life worth having, must require no patience, no work, and no long-term planning. It is also this mindset that has allowed our dependence on fossil fuels to cripple us.

Many industries experienced turbulence this year and renewable energy was no exception. 2008 was really a mixed bag for the industry, with lots of good and bad news.

1. High Energy Prices
Natural gas and oil reached record highs in July, 2008. This impacts the price of energy overall and make renewable energy more favorable. The return on investment for a solar power plant for example is shorter when considering the cost of the electricity generated from natural gas.

2. Toppling Energy Prices
After peaking in July, the price of oil and natural gas have since plummeted. This has made it harder to finance renewable energy projects.

3. The Credit Crunch
It is not just hard to secure a mortgage. Homeowners wishing to pay for a solar system using a home equity loan may have been denied. Even billionaire, T. Boone Pickens hasn't been able to finance his enormous wind farm in Texas.

The proposed Obama extreme makeover of our government and economy includes good news for nonprofit social entrepreneurs. Recognizing that these social entrepreneurs are often the drivers of innovation in education, economic development, healthcare and the environment, Obama plans to expand their effectiveness and reach by:

• Providing R&D tax breaks to nonprofits similar to those available to the private sector;
• Establishing a Social Investment Fund; and
• Creating an agency dedicated to building the capacity and effectiveness of the social enterprise and nonprofit sector.

Obama’s plans for high-impact nonprofits are part of his larger agenda to expand Americans’ engagement in national service.

Our problems are not too big, but our solutions are currently too small.

Would a dramatic reduction in demand for oil caused by a green vehicle revolution cause the same type of reduction in oil prices that the global financial crisis has?

Overall, I don't see why not.

In fact, I'm guessing that the eye-opening impact of the financial crisis on oil demand and prices is exactly what major oil producers are afraid of should the world experience a green vehicle revolution.

Think about all the benefits that our society would receive from an oil demand-destroying green vehicle revolution that lowers gas prices via efficient, clean technologies rather than via a global financial crisis:

* Broad economic stimulus beyond the oil sector: the combination of highly efficient clean vehicles and low gas prices will free up untold fortunes of peoples' gasoline money to be spent on all things non-energy, providing a green injection of economic stimulus far and wide. Previously, I noted that:

Switching from a car that gets 20 mpg to one that gets 50 mpg will save the average American nearly $1,100/year in gas costs at $3/gallon (given the average distance Americans drive per year – about 12,000 miles; savings rise considerably as gas prices and miles driven go up). That savings is nearly two times the cash provided to us by our 2008 stimulus checks! Multiply that by the 112 million households in the U.S. alone, and that’s $123.2 billion/year that American households are now spending on gas that with a mandate for more efficient vehicles, they would have to spend on…everything else.

Even at currently lower gas prices, a Clean Vehicle Revolution promises to be a significant stimulative force in our economy.

It sounds iffy; running your company's network on a WiFi connection that is entirely powered by solar energy. But a Mountainview, CA firm says it provides a 100% uptime solution. And it reports a mad dash for its products by companies in the range of 50 to 200 employees.

Mesh WiFi firm Meraki started shipping its Meraki Solar December 4th, after a year long delay because it needed to improve its battery technology.

The delay lands both the firm and customers in a slightly awkward situation. The worldwide run on solar power equipment seemed overly justified when oil prices spiked. Now that the price of oil is in the 40 dollar bracket, what should solar be priced at? Meraki has found a creative way around this stumbling block. Customers can bring their own panels! They're selling solar Wifi solutions for apartment blocks or businesses and small communities at $749 a piece for a bring-your-own-panel model up to $1,499 for areas with shorter days or less light which require a battery.

Company cofounder Sanjit Biswas told ArsTechnica that Meraki decided to change from sealed lead-acid to lithium iron-phosphate for greater capacity.

Biswas said this dropped the battery's weight, which in turn reduces shipping costs for the many remote areas that the Solar unit is being deployed.

But then seen from another perspective, it's like asking a smoker to stop cold turkey. Possible. but unlikely. And in the case of plastic packaging manufacturers, it would likely require a retooling of equipment to accommodate such a change. Again, possible, but in these tighter times, not likely.

Enter Goody Products. They offer three options, depending on where you are as a company, to help companies kick the petro habit.

As 2008 comes to a close and we take a look at the year in review, we reflect on the year that has passed and begin to think about the future. There have been many climate change-related headlines over the past year, from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative holding its first two auctions, to global representatives meeting in Poland to discuss climate change, to global warming as a major issue in the most publicized U.S. election in history, and more. As this exciting year in climate change comes to a conclusion, we look forward to the major (and minor) events that will take place in 2009. This week, ClimatePULSE will take a look at the top 3 climate change headlines to watch for in the upcoming year.

In their year-end report, the American Wind Energy Association shows another banner year for wind power in the U.S. For the third year in a row, wind energy development has grown at a record pace, generating over $18 billion in revenue.

Even though Germany has more turbines and greater capacity (22,300 megawatts), the U.S. has stronger winds (perhaps in more ways than one) and overtook Germany this summer as the world leader in actual megawatts of electricity produced from wind generation when the U.S. "blew past" 20,000 MW of installed generating capacity. By the end of the third quarter, the U.S. had more than 21,000 megawatts of electricity in place. Fourth quarter statistics show Germany's wind development slowing and the U.S. sprinting to the finish line, no doubt spurred on by the better-late-than-never extension of the renewable energy tax credit.

This is the kind of "arms race" that will do the world good.

"With additional projects coming on line every week since (September), the wind industry is on its way to charting another record-shattering year of growth," AWEA said in its report.

A press release from the AWEA last May reported that wind energy is well on the path of supplying 20% of electrical generation in the U.S. by 2030, supporting over a half million jobs. Subsequent wind development since then bears that out.

Less than six months after discovering a massive geothermal field 180 miles southwest of Salt Lake City near Minersville, Utah, Raser Technologies expects to begin delivering clean, renewable electricity to residents of Anaheim, California under the terms of a 20-year power purchase agreement with the Anaheim city government.

A dramatic demonstration of just how quickly and effectively such “new” geothermal energy, heat and power resources can be brought on line, Raser wasted no time in tapping into what may turn out to be |one of the more important geothermal energy developments of the last quarter century," according to University of Utah professor of geothermal exploration Greg Nash.

Discovery of the field—where superheated water circulates through a porous limestone deposit more than a mile thick several thousand feet below the surface—has prompted management to drastically revise its capacity estimate and development plans for the project. Originally slated for 10-megawatts, they now anticipate being able to develop a 230-megawatt plant on the site, and that may only be scratching the surface, according to an AP report run today in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette's Northwest Arkansas edition.