Cleantech

Where these next-generation electric cars are going, we don’t need plugs.

In late 2013, Yelloblu reported on the state of the electric vehicle (EV) market, highlighting how improved access to EV charging stations could make eco-friendly cars more appealing to consumers.

Frustrated by the continued lack of convenient charging stations, some automakers are looking to remove the need to plug in altogether and see more sustainable energy sources as the key to EV proliferation.

This past week at CES 2014, for example, Ford unveiled its newest electric concept car, which boasts a series of solar roof panels built into the C-MAX plug-in hybrid.

Solar and EVs might seem like an obvious match, but even after spending an entire day in the sun, the power generated is negligible. Toyota’s solar-paneled Prius, for instance, can only harness enough solar energy to run its ventilation fan.

To help resolve low output, Ford’s latest prototype pairs their solar car with a specially designed car canopy comprised of an acrylic roof called a “Fresnel lens.” Similar to a magnifying glass, the Fresnel lens concentrates the sun’s rays during peak hours and transfers them directly onto the vehicle’s solar panels, boosting the impact by a factor of eight.

Additionally, as the sun moves across the sky, Ford’s prototype is able to independently move back and forth under the canopy – ensuring it’s maximizing energy as the sun passes overhead.

After 6 hours of magnified charging, the Ford hybrid is said to be capable of traveling up to 21 miles, a range that covers the average trek for over half of the country's commuters.

While relying on a specially designed solar canopy isn’t exactly cost effective, it’s a step in the right direction and a promising development for the electric car market. And as the price of solar panels continues to fall, we're getting much closer to spending less plug-in time and more travel time away from the grid – at least, until sunset.

Produced by: Patrick French

Some unexpected social tricks to drive traffic and search performance.

When it comes to marketing strategy, we think of brands as diverse ecosystems, made up of interconnected elements that have to work in harmony for brands to flourish.

Like natural environments, these brand environments function best when supporting elements (social media) fit into larger systems (SEM) in a truly symbiotic relationship.

Using this dynamic view, we can help uncover untapped brand potential, especially in social marketing. There’s a lot to it, but for the sake of this blog we’ll focus our attention on Pinterest, Google+ and Quora.

Skeptical? Stay with us. You might be surprised how these social media channels can generate new opportunities and get brands one step closer to becoming one cohesive marketing ecosystem.

Google+
Google’s latest social pet project, Google+, has been seamlessly integrated with Google’s search engine and Gmail services – the likely source for the network’s whopping 359M+ active users. Yes, Google Hangouts are cool and it’s one of the few male-dominated social sites, but its true value stems from its direct ties to Google’s search engine.

That’s right, as Google continues to integrate Google+ into its web services, brands will be able to take advantage of their presences and use branded content to shape search performance. Gaming the system? Not really; think of it as content marketing backed by Google.

Tips for Implementing Google+:

• Create a Google+ corporate account and add it to your other branded sites
• Repurpose content from other internal sources, including corporate blogs or Twitter feeds, to continually refresh your network (and search results)
• Optimize content by using brand keywords and site links to boost search
• Post regularly to provide fresh content and bolster Google page rankings
• Connect the dots by tying Google+ posts to current PR, SEM and sales efforts; ensuring they’re easy to search, informative and ranked above the fold
  • Unlike Twitter or LinkedIn, these posts can resemble ads, as SEO is the main goal vs. user engagement

Pinterest
For brands unfamiliar with Pinterest it’s time to get acquainted. This influential photo-sharing site has over 25 million users and generates more referral traffic than YouTube, LinkedIn and Google+ combined (according to a recent Forbes article).

It’s still heavily dominated by women (84 percent of users) and high-income visitors, but represents one of the fastest-growing social networks on the web. Retailers have been the biggest players in the space so far, using it as a reliable e-commerce option and brand recognition engine.

When it comes to cleantech, green businesses have to be brave, and savvy enough, to stake their claim before competitors – especially as industries like solar become more dependent on female consumers.

Tips for Implementing Pinterest:

• Become a Pinterest authority by adding a corporate profile (logo, bio, etc.)
• Curate quality content by sourcing site and branded imagery that promote:
  • Green, eco-friendly lifestyles
  • Interesting infographics
  • New technology features and applications
  • Engaging multimedia demos
• Drive referrals investingby pinning high-quality content from others to build rapport, trust and expand your reach (and thus referrals)
• Track referrals on your site, determining which elements had the biggest impact
• Write informative descriptors and tags to take advantage of Pinterest search features, while expanding reach on and off the network

Quora
A more real-time version of wiki-Answers, Quora was started by two former Facebook engineers and has grown to 500,000+ active global users. The Q&A site gained popularity in 2010, as tech innovators like Robert Scoble sang its praises and helped forge its role as an intellectual hub for entrepreneurs and investors.

Quora has largely been ignored by brands and remains an academic forum that’s ripe for the picking. Its two most impressive assets: influential professional audiences and powerful search features.

Both offer pioneering brands unfettered access to promote industry expertise, while helping to easily identify underserved industries and engage real-time with quality sales leads. What’s not to like?

Tips for Implementing Quora:

• Lead by example and get engaged personally, build on-going credibility and source new lead opportunities for sales representatives slow to make the shift
• Follow relevant Quora questions and blogs, opting in for email recaps to stay abreast of the most dynamic discussions
• Engage directly with influencers and prospects, keeping it friendly and informative without being too self-promotional
• Leverage the forum’s brain trust to source new trends and identify areas where brands can provide more education/industry expertise

Do you use Quora regularly or contemplated adding a Google+ profile? Share your experiences with us here, via LinkedIn or Twitter (@Yelloblu), and we’ll factor them into our next social marketing post later this month.

Produced by: Gretchen Fitzgibbons

Ever contacted the sanitation department to retrieve something you lost down the drain? Jewelry? Keys? A turtle? Dentures, even?

Or maybe you’ve never felt strongly enough about a nick-nack or a pet to go through such indignity. Now what if you lost 350 billion kWh of energy down the drain? What then?

According to New Scientist magazine, the US pulls the plug on that much energy every year. After paying good money to heat baths, dishwashers, sinks and washing machines, we flush all that hot water away. Affluence, meet effluent.

On average, that wasted heat warms the sewer to a useless 60°F. Around the world, cities are now going back to get that precious energy. In Oslo, Norway, for example, engineers are reversing the principles of refrigeration to drag heat up from under the city.

Large coils containing refrigerant fluid extract heat from the sewer and carry it above ground. It’s then concentrated to 194°F using compressors and piped to 13,000 apartments. In Vancouver, a similar system was used to provide 70% of the heating for the 2010 Winter Olympics village.

With progressive farmers already proving there’s good methane energy in effluent—generating up to 4 kWh per cow, per day—this is just another way to rethink the relationship between energy and waste.

Produced by Eammon Conaghan

Chicago’s green credentials are well established. We’re America’s only recycled city (rebuilt 1872), we’re nicknamed after renewable energy and our Cubs do their darnedest to prevent fans from bothering to drive to Wrigley.

Now the co-founder of the Global Cleantech Cluster Association (GCCA), Shawn Lesser has listed ten more reasons why we can, and should, be a cleantech hub. As managing partner of trans-Atlantic investment bank, Watershed Capital Group, Lesser’s opinion comes with serious credentials.

His list is below. Seeing as it was first published in February 2011, we’ve taken the liberty of updating it to account for intervening developments.

1) Employment

Exelon and the SunPower Corporation are helping make Chicago a center for green employment. The 2012 World Business Chicago report, A Plan for Economic Growth and Jobs, shows we’re now the US’s second-largest center for clean jobs, with 79,388.

2) Chicago cleantech companies

Chicago is home to many large cleantech corporations, including heavyweights such as SoCore Energy and G-Tech Energy, Inc. Other reports also indicate significant advancement in the cleantech startup sector.

3) Chicago Climate Action Plan

As of October 2010, the Department of Energy had retrofitted 19,000 homes with energy efficient improvements; 30,000 square feet of green roofs had been established by the Department of Aviation; and energy-efficient code updates had been mandated by the Department of Buildings.

4) Keeping it green

Our mayors make moves. At the time of Lesser’s report, Daley had created the Chicago Green Office Challenge and Chicago Climate Action Plan. Now Rahm Emanuel is showing similar dedication.

Prior to taking office, he said: “People want to invest in our city…And I want to make clean technology the cornerstone of that investment.”

Since taking control, his legislation has prompted ComEd to invest $2.6 billion modernizing Chicago’s smart grid technologies.

5) Chicago Clean Energy Alliance

Providing networking opportunities to businesses in wind, solar, biomass, biofuel and general cleantech sectors, the Chicago Clean Energy Alliance (CCEA) is alive and well. Just last week, they hosted a successful cleantech pitch competition in association with the GCCA.

6) The residents of Chicago

Chicagoans are embracing renewable energy through the Chicago Climate Action Plan. We’ve also seen significant activity from the Chicago Green Homes Program, which promotes water-, waste- and energy-efficient residential living.

7) Chicago as an international cleantech business center

A variety of global cleantech companies have set up headquarters here, including Chinese wind energy company, Goldwind, plus Johnson Controls, Siemens Building Technologies and Schneider Electric.

8) Education and awareness

Awareness programs are driving greater community interest in sustainable housing. The Museum of Science and Industry’s “Smart House” and the Chicago Centre for Green Technology both showcase the upside of eco-friendly housing. In doing so, they’re growing the market for residential-focused cleantech companies.

Universities are also introducing cleantech programs into their curriculum. DePaul, IIT, and UIC all feature programs, while the University of Chicago has a cleantech lab.

9) Mainstreaming cleantech

City officials have set ambitious goals for the expansion of sustainability initiatives. By 2020, they want 50% of Chicago buildings to be energy efficient and 35% to consume zero carbon-derived energy. They also want 90% of new construction to be built green.

10) Improved transportation systems

In conjunction with the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE) and the US Department of Transportation, Chicago is developing a High-Speed Rail Plan to promote environmentally friendly transportation.

What to learn more? Follow us on twitter: @yelloblu

Posted by: Julia Sparkman