Gift with purchase, that is how I use to describe green marketing when I began working with new business partners.  I took this approach as it supported the widely held belief that the main-stream American consumer is not going to sacrifice product performance and is unwilling to pay any significant premium for a more sustainable product or service.  Witness the SunChips compostable, but noisy packaging disaster from just 2 years ago. Hence, I thought of green product benefits as a “gift with purchase,” a free bonus for choosing one product over another, but not something that can represent a trade off.  I had wanted my partners to think of green as the “tie-breaker”, allowing their brands to win the toss-up.

Today, I want to officially call B.S. on this logic.

The fatal flaw in this idea is that it assumes consumers are taking the time to full evaluate primary product benefits, make the determination that they are equal, and then move on to the secondary benefits.  I don’t buy it.  Focused and singular communications are the most impactful.  Cluttered multi-benefit messages get lost and consumers’ quickly lose interest trying to wade through it all.  If you have not seen the video below depicting the result of Microsoft designing the iPod box, it is a great example of this effect and worth a quick view.  Just imagine how many eco-logos could be slapped on there today!

So if green is not a secondary communication tie-breaker, and it is not a primary product benefit communication for the general market, where does that leave sustainability and green marketing?  I think it leaves green marketers promoting more sustainable products in a tremendous position, because let’s face it, being a tie-breaker is not that enviable of a position.

Inspiration recently came to me at the wine store as I reached for the “The Big Green Box” by Pepperwood Grove, a brand from Don Sebastiani & Sons.

The story I told myself as I bought the Big Green Box was that I wanted the very functional benefit common to all boxed wines, the ability to enjoy a glass or two at night without leaving half a bottle in the fridge, becoming slightly oxidized overnight and losing the tastiest aspects of the wine.  Most bag-in-the-box wines allow you to enjoy the wine over 4 weeks from when you initially open it with no oxidation.  While a nice benefit, the real reason I have recently adopted bag-in-box wines is not an increase in functionality – after all the original box wine, Franzia, has had an identical benefit for the last 25 years.  Heck they even trademarked it with WineTap(R).  Rather, it is the signal of quality and sophistication that a boxed wine positioned as a more sustainable and greener alternative tells me as the consumer, “you can trust me, I’ll taste good, look how enlightened I am in my eco-conscious packaging.”

I want to make the case that it is these higher order emotional benefits that are the real opportunity for green marketing to shine.  Just as a higher price can be a signal of quality, so too can green benefits.

Besides box wine I have another example closer to my work at Johnson & Johnson, that of reprocessed single-use surgical devices.  In this category the main functional benefit for hospital customers is significant savings, in many cases up to 50% versus purchasing new devices.  And while that is a compelling case for any resource constrained hospital, it seems that the emotional benefit of reducing waste going to landfills and contributing to more sustainable operations is what wins hospitals’ hearts and minds, as evidenced by the category leader Styker Sustainability Solution’s current marketing, website and blog.

With appropriate customer targeting, a green message can allow brands to strike emotional gold.

What categories have you seen where green has or could be used to signal quality and help deliver an emotional benefit for customers?

Related posts:

1. Touring a Green Bakery
2. Why the sustainability focus?
3. Sustainability Symbols, Icons and Certifications

Dell surpassed Johnson & Johnson by a mere 0.1 on a 100-point scale in the 2011 Newsweek Rankings of America’s Greenest Companies, edging my company out of the top 5.   It is probably in part because of efforts like the Reconnect Program in partnership with Goodwill, to refurbish and recycle computers and other electronics, that helped them in the Newsweek rankings.

I recently had the opportunity to use the Reconnect Program while back in Cincinnati for Christmas.  Amy and I rented a car for our trip and since we had use of a car, always a novelty for us, we decided it was a great opportunity to go through our closets and gather up our donations, add them to the trunk, and drop them off while we were in Cincinnati, which has a number of convenient Goodwill Reconnect locations.

Our electronic donations included three cable modems, after Comcast successfully convinced me that my intermittent Skype issues were related to my out-of-date modem and not the speed of my connection.[1] The drop off process at the Goodwill located at 10600 Springfield Pike, Cincinnati, OH 45215, was extremely convenient, with a manned pull-up drop off point and clear Dell Reconnect signs.  After taking our donations and providing a receipt, we were in and out in less than 5 minutes and all for free.  Other electronic recycling programs can carry a small fee, but the partnership with Goodwill is brilliant in a number of ways:

• Goodwill has the infrastructure to handle direct consumer collections, refurbishment and resale,
• Goodwill has a large footprint with more than 2,600 locations nationwide, while Dell is largely an online retailer, and
• The Reconnect program has created a significant impact by recycling more than 230 million pounds of end-of-life computer equipment since its inception in 2004.

We need more efforts to create these strategic partnerships across industries to solve problems for consumers, like how to easily recycle electronics at the end of life.

No related posts.

Let’s get one thing straight: I am a total sucker for technology.  Even as a marketer who knows many of the tricks and persuasion tactics, I love to be convinced that I need the latest and greatest new gadget. And while I just barely resisted the urge to buy the new 4GS iPhone, I was not as restrained when the need arose to replace our thermostat.  For the record, I did just equate a thermostat with a new iPhone.  Let me explain.

Sub-metering for our condo building is having the expected impact.  In fact, this summer when I was working from home and running the AC all day, we had some pretty steep electric bills, much bigger than the monthly decrease in our condo fees.  When the buttons on our current thermostat started to stick and become unresponsive, I realized that we needed to get a new one to avoid even higher bills.  So it was off to a home improvement store.  I am not sure if the saving energy commercial below drove me to Home Depot, or if it just happened to be the store we passed while out on other errands.  Either way, I found myself at the shelf of thermostats trying to make a decision.  Let me walk you though my decision process.

The first step was eliminating the cheap but “dumb” thermostats that only allow you to set it and forget it.  I knew I wanted a programmable version.  It quickly became clear that there were still plenty of programmable options to sort through.

The next step was to evaluate the price range of the programmable options. They spanned from $49-$99, quite the range.  At first glance there seemed to be little difference.  An extra $20 got you the ability to program every day vs. just weekend or weekday.  Nice, but not super meaningful. I was just about to walk out with a $49 model when the last thermostat in the row caught my eye with one line:

All it took to get me to pick up the most expensive model priced at $99 was wifi.   My immediate reaction was: How does it use wifi?  Touchscreen, that means no buttons! After picking up the package I found out that it connects to my home wifi network allowing me to adjust all functions of the thermostat from any internet device, including my iPhone. Sold!

When I got home and got it installed I realized that this was so worth the 100% premium I paid vs. the other base level programmable thermostat for two reasons:

1. What I hate about programming a programmable thermostat is that the keys and user interface usually suck. The directions look like hieroglyphics and you have to hit what seems like 25 buttons to program a single day.  The new thermostat solves that elegantly.  There is a web interface that allows me to program the entire week in about 2 minutes and then upload it to the thermostat, over wifi.  This alone is worth the price of admission. Also note the “Reset to Energy Star Recommendations” button, which makes it even easier to save money.

2. The ability to control all of the thermostat’s functionality remotely is very slick.  On a recent trip to Dallas I got a call from Amy.  She wanted to know how to turn on the AC as she had not used the new thermostat yet.  Instead of trying to walk her through it I just opened the app and turned on the AC, from my hotel room in Dallas. Now all I need to do is get the app installed on her new 4GS iPhone.

What I took away from this experience is that while it has become clear that consumers are unlikely to pay a premium, of any level, for a greener product, I am more than willing to pay a 100% premium for a product that makes my ability to save energy, and be greener, even easier and in some ways fun.  The big idea is not to just deliver a greener product with the same benefits, but delight the consumer to be able to command a premium price.

As a note my cousin Justin recently called my attention to an even cooler thermostat, the Nest Learning Thermostat.  This one also has wifi connectivity, but it learns your preferences to more efficiently reduce energy consumption. This new technology removes all of the barriers for saving energy and in turn money.  You can even have it professionally installed. Maybe I should have waited for this one? Then again, at $249, maybe not.  The payback on my current thermostat is already close to 2 years.

On a final note I do wonder if these companies are collecting usage data as these devices are internet enabled. A collective dollars or kilowatt hours saved would be pretty compelling.  Just a suggestion.

Product Details: 3M Filtrete 7-Day Touchscreen WiFi-Enabled Programmable Thermostat

Related posts:

1. My Moral Energy Hazard

Turning off the lights, setting the programmable thermostat and buying energy star appliances and CFLs; for the last 8 years I have been making these decisions largely driven by my conscious for resource conservation, not my wallet, due to the collective way I pay for utilities in my condo.   Essentially all utilities are pooled and then owners pay a percentage of the total based upon the square footage of their unit.  This creates a casebook example of moral hazard, meaning there is little or no relationship between the risk, or cost, someone bears and their usage or action.

Summertime Sweaters

I knew that this situation had to be fixed as electricity costs were the driving force behind increases to our monthly homeowner association fees (HOA fees), which are currently over $600/month for a 2-bedroom unit.  When you take into account that the HOA fee includes all utilities, insurance, common building maintenance – including the pool and gym, as well as services like the concierge and security it is really not too bad.  But seeing residents wearing sweaters in the summertime because their air-conditioning is cranked all the way up to a chilly 68, I knew that was not the behavior of someone who was paying for their own electric usage.

Knowing is Half the Battle
I am hopeful there is a straightforward solution to this problem: sub-metering of electric.  Last December our management company, Wentworth, at the urging of the Energy Committee, of which I am a member, invested in an electric sub-metering system that measures the use by each resident and then allows them to bill based upon actual usage, not square footage.  After 18 months of fits and starts we are on the cusp of rolling the program out and I could not be happier.   I recently got a “sample” invoice in the mail and while there is lots of room for improvement, I am at least happy to see that residents’ electric costs will now be tied to usage.

Understanding is the Other Half
While it is great that Wentworth has sub-metered the building and will be tying resident costs to their usage, the biggest issue here is communications and context, essentially marketing.  As you can see from my sample invoice above there are at least 3 areas in which it could be improved

1. How does this compare with the reduction I will see in my HOA fees?

- As it turns out through my extensive investigation these reductions are already known.  As such they should be communicated and compared to the bill residents are getting to show reductions/increases vs. what they were previously paying as part of the HOA fees.

2. How does this compare with other units like mine?

- Again this information is available but not being communicated.  The Wentworth team, through the Intech 21 system, has access to the entire building’s information including a comparison to each unit in a vertical section of the building.

3. What can I do to reduce my costs?

- Here is a missed opportunity.  ~50% of the residents will be paying more than their HOA reduction.  That is not good news for them, understandably so.  But instead of provoking anger, for any resident that will be paying more than they are saving in HOA reductions, Wentworth should be offering turnkey ideas on how to lower their usage such as: programmable thermostats, energy efficient appliances and lighting (CFLs), and blinds for south-facing units to limit solar gain in the summer.  Also offering to do a walk-through audit if requested would go a long way in building goodwill.

The lesson from this is that the technology part of the solution is just the first part; thinking through the challenges of how to most effectively communicate those changes is the critical second half, and unless Wentworth addresses the issues I have raised in the roll-out I am expecting an outcry by the residents.   Never doubt the importance of good marketing.

Resource Links:
Sub-Metering Company: Intech 21
CityView Management Company: Wentworth Management

Related posts:

1. Finding an Australian Solar City
2. Choosing to Use the Sun
3. Thermostats: CoolTech?

Financial Savings
That is what we save every year by not having a car.  The final amount amazed me after running the numbers this week.   I sat down to analyze the situation as I am now two months into my new job and wanted to see if it made sense for Amy and me to consider purchasing a car. Maybe it would be more cost effective, after all the daily train tickets cost me $26.07[2] every time I go to my office in New Brunswick, New Jersey.  It also should not be surprising that I wanted to involve excel in this calculation, as I did with the Beast on our U.S./Canada road trip.

Once I factored in the cost of buying the car[1], maintenance, insurance, gas, and the loss of our monthly rent from our parking space, the cost of the train, Zip Car and occasional rental car didn’t even come close.  And that is with rather conservative assumptions on the cost of gas ($3.50/gallon) and car maintenance ($150/month).   The details are below and if anyone sees a mistake or an assumption that is out of whack, call me out on it in the comments below.  I want to ensure this analysis is robust and credible.

Carbon Savings
I also thought I would look at the carbon savings and impact of choosing to not have a car.  My research led me to CarbonFund.org,  where I was able to compare the carbon impact of my train commute vs the same commute in a car.  For this part of the analysis I only compared the 12,000 miles that would make up my commute to New Brunswick, New Jersey.  The other 8,000 miles we would use a personal car for are also likely to be used with Zip Car or rental cars for longer trips so no savings is to be had there.  Turns out the savings was much less than I had thought, only 1.72 tons saved each year.  And if I tried to “sell” that carbon credit, I would be able to “monitize” my carbon savings at current rates of $10/ton to a whopping $17.20 annually.

Time Savings
While the financial savings are great, and a big reason we will not be buying a car anytime soon, there is another great benefit to commuting on the train: not having to drive.  The benefit of not having to actively engage in your commute is huge when your commute is 2 hours each way. One of the first things I bought in my new job was an extended battery for my laptop so I am able to be productive while commuting.  I snapped the picture below of a fellow work day commuter who was also using the train time to polish a presentation.  On the days when I just can’t bear the idea of another powerpoint, I am able to sit and enjoy the scenery.

So are you ready to sell your car and take to the trains?  Can you make due without a car?  For most Americans that do not live in a city it is likely not possible, but understanding the costs you assume when choosing to live where you do is critical, and for us to move out of the city we need to understand that the need to have car is an expensive choice.

[2] Factors in tax impact of 21% reduction due to use of the pre-tax Commuter Check program offered by Johnson & Johnson.

Related posts:

1. Training It

We took a variety of transportation options while traveling, but one of my favorites was the multitude of trains. The picture above is me on a steam locomotive at the Modern Transportation Museum in Osaka.  We took intercity trains in Egypt, Vietnam, China and of course Japan.  We also took many intracity trains and subways in numerous countries from,

Duabi’s automated subway system to,

Kuala Lumpor’s private system run by 2 companies that never seemed to connect in a convenient way.

The differences did not stop there.  Train stations varied widely across the different countries with the station in Aswan, Egypt ranking up there as the most uncomfortable and maybe even a little scary,

to the station in Kyoto, Japan as the most spacious and airy.

I would rather be at either of them when I miss my transfer in Trenton, New Jersey on my current work commute from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to New Brunswick, New Jersey.  The station in Trenton, while it does have a Dunkin Donuts, does not have free wifi, sushi or the spotless bathrooms of Japanese stations.

The one serious advantage the train systems have here in the United States is the automated ticket machines in multiple languages. Buying my 10 pack of tickets for NJ Transit while waiting on the platform in New Brunswick for the 4:23 to Trenton is quite easy.

And having an English language ticket machine when we were in China would have saved Amy and I the pleasure of the 15 hour ride in Hard Sleeper Class, which we explore in more detail in this post.

I was inspired to write this post in part because my current commute has me on trains much more than I have ever been in the past. And having seen many different train systems from around the world, I think the system here in the Northeast U.S., is quite impressive. However, I do not think that this means we can stop investing in the amazing infrastructure that moves millions of people everyday. Septa alone moves 400,000 riders every weekday, and transports 70% of Center City Philadelphia’s work force into the city.  This is a hugely sustainable option for these workers.  Imagine if we lived with this density of population, and lack of interstates without this great infrastructure.  The Schuylkill (I-76) would be even more clogged, which I am not sure is even possible.

If you are interested in the strategic development of rail within the US, I recommend looking through Amtrak’s vision for High Speed rail in the Northeast, which you can find here.

I will be following up this post with a detailed analysis on the rational behind our decision to remain car-free since our return.  As you might have guessed, there was an excel sheet involved and much like the cost comparison of the Beast we looked at all the angles.  In the meantime let me know what you think about trains.  Should we as a country invest in more rail infrastructure?  Do you rely on trains to get where you need to?

Related posts:

1. A Couple of Updates
2. The Truth About Travel in China – Part One: Language
3. Best Values in Japan

A half-priced blindfolded organic manicure, complete with accompanying mojito, is an offer that’s just too intriguing to pass up.  So when a good friend of mine called and asked if I wanted in on a deal being offered to Daily Candy subscribers, I jumped at the chance.  A few weeks later we found ourselves at Tierra Mia, the self-proclaimed first organic nail spa in the country.  Tierra Mia exclusively uses organic, water-based nail polishes, and the spa space is constructed from VOC-free recycled and sustainable materials.  Why does any of this matter?  Although many nail lacquers no longer contain formaldehyde, toluene and dibutyl phthalates (known as the “toxic trio”), there is evidence that the chemicals that remain in traditional nail polish pose health risks to both salon employees and customers.

With excellent reviews on Yelp, I was looking forward to what promised to be a unique manicure experience.

The Experience
Boy, was I disappointed.  I don’t know if the salon was overwhelmed with the Daily Candy response, or just poorly managed, but our appointment was double booked and we were asked to wait 45 minutes. Strike one.

When our manicurists were ready, we sat at lovely tables, offered mojitos, and had black cushy blindfolds placed over our eyes.  The sensory deprivation at first felt strange, but we quickly relaxed and settled into the experience.  Without my vision, my nose began to notice the lack of the chemical smell typical of nail salons.  Every so often our drinks were placed in our hands for sips between filing and soakings.  We were then asked for guidelines on the color we wanted.  That was part of the deal – not only do you give up your sight for the treatment, you give up exact color selection.  My guidelines seemed fairly straightforward to me: I have a law firm job interview in 2 days, so I need something very conservative and serious. Nothing fun.  In fact, the opposite of fun. When my blindfold was removed, it took a moment for my eyes to adjust. Then I saw my nails. Pink. Barbie pink.  And sparkling. I’m not entirely sure how pink and glitter qualify as conservative and serious, but beware that in the world of Tierra Mia, it does. Strike two.

The woman who did my nails offered to do a re-polish, but unfortunately due to the wait before our treatment, I didn’t have time to take her up on the offer.  My friend’s polish color worked out better for her, a beautiful dark navy color that was not dissimilar from the color she typically wears.

After our manicures, we were told to avoid any warm water on our hands until the next morning since although the water-based polish was dry, it wasn’t yet set.  I would have appreciated a heads-up on this one, since the restriction prevents showering, doing dishes or washing your hands for the rest of your day.  Luckily showering wasn’t an issue, and Keith handled any dishwashing that needed to be done.

Wear and Tear
Despite the poor color choice, I decided to keep the polish on (and hope no one noticed at the interview) and test drive the wear and tear.  Within two days I had chipping at the tips of my nails and flakes falling off at the sides.  By day three I gave up, bought non-acetone nail polish remover (required to get the stuff off) and began the process of soaking my nails and scraping them down with an orange stick provided complimentary by Tierra Mia.  It took about twenty minutes to get all of the polish off, and the whole process left my nails weak, peeling and cracking.  It’s been two weeks and my scratched up nails are still looking pretty ragged.  Strike three.

Conclusion
I am all for finding green alternatives to products that may be harmful.  And I am typically pretty laid back and able to overlook things like less than stellar service or poor color selection.  But with the list of mishaps piling up, and the poor quality of the manicure, I have to conclude that for me going organic isn’t worth the price, inconvenience or the resulting damage to my nails.  To avoid the chemicals found in traditional nail lacquer, I think I’d rather skip it altogether and opt for a good filing and buffing instead. Green is great, but if the product doesn’t perform, it’s just not something I’m willing to use.

Related posts:

1. Tasting Organic Wine in the Hunter Valley

After 13 years living in Philadelphia, there are a couple of local specialties I have come to love.  I even promoted one of my favorites, scrapple (a delicious Pennsylvania Dutch breakfast meat), as we traveled.  With room for only three t-shirts in my backpack, I purposely chose one from my favorite restaurant in Reading Terminal Market, Down Home Diner, that promotes eating more scrapple.  Below is a snapshot of me in my scrapple-promoting shirt on the banks of the Nile River in Luxor, Egypt.

So while I may have grown up in Cincinnati eating Little Debbie’s in my lunches, once I got to Philadelphia I had no choice but to embrace Tastykakes.  I am especially fond of the fruit pies, but the chocolate cupcakes are delicious with a glass of milk.  So when I had the opportunity a couple of weeks ago to tour the new Green Tastykake bakery in the Navy Yard I jumped at the chance.  The private tour for the Philadelphia Harvard and Wharton Alumni associations, was led by Autumn R. Bayles, Senior Vice President – Strategic Operations.

Autumn led us from the spacious new lobby to the mezzanine level that is designed to eventually allow the public to tour and view the workings of the bakery.  And while they do not allow pictures of the great overhead views you get of the machines and bakery operations, there are great signs and multi-media displays discussing the history of the company in Philadelphia and the Green aspects of the building.   It reminded me of the SPAM Museum we visited as we traveled through Minnesota earlier this year.  Both brands have very loyal followings and have tapped into that consumer passion by celebrating their products and brands.

After touring the bakery and seeing how Tastykake is strategically using their sustainability practices to guide capital investments and their marketing on packaging, and how Tastykake is increasing transparency to consumers (despite the prohibition of pictures on the mezzanine), it is clear that they understand how to use sustainability as a way to drive their business and their brand.  When they do open the bakery to the public, I recommend a trip down to the Navy Yard to check out the bakery and have lunch at URBN’s public cafeteria.

Key Tastycake Bakery Green Features:

• Targeting LEED-Silver certification, awaiting USGBC final certification.
• A white, reflective roof, which minimizes heat-absorbing surfaces that contribute to global warming.
• No-mow, drought-resistant grass that uses less water.
• All wood doors and half of the wood used in the building come from certified sustainable sources that work to conserve trees.
• Paints and carpeting with low chemical content that reduce ear, nose and throat irritation.
• Refrigeration equipment using environmentally friendly refrigerants to minimize emissions that contribute to global warming.
• Heat-recycling system, which reduces the amount of energy needed to produce products.
• All products are packed in recyclable cartons and cases to save trees.
• Solar panels on the roof that provide power to several of the building’s systems.

Related posts:

1. Green: A Gift with Purchase or Emotional Goldmine?
2. Rocky Mountain National Park
3. Sustainability and Beer

Both sustainability and beer were critical aspects of our trip.  Sustainability is, after all, the professional reason for the trip, what we plan on doing with our careers now that we’ve returned.  Beer was a necessary and enjoyable diversion along the way.

In fact, I managed to sample 63 international brews from Efes in Turkey to Murray’s Whale Ale in Australia.  Many of them were cold, refreshing and quite nice, but some, like Sakkara Gold in Egypt, were quite bad.  I did manage to get pictures of many of them along the way.   The documentation of the labels alone is worthy of a presentation.  (BTW – if there are any companies out there looking to tap my expertise in this area I am happy to discuss!)

Before we dive into the recent opportunity I had to combine both sustainability and beer here in Philly, below is a slide show of the beers I had while traveling.  The “*” captions are rating system from *= “wow, I want my money back” to **** = “amazing, are you exporting to the US yet,  and if not do you want to?”

With that background, it should come as no surprise that when I found out that the Wharton Alumni Club of Philadelphia was hosting an event at Yards Brewery I was probably the first one to sign up.   In addition to having quite tasty beer, Yards is Pennsylvania’s first 100% wind-powered brewery.

My take away from the event, which included tastings and a brewery tour, is that Yards has implemented a laundry list of sustainability tactics including:

Bowling Alley Bar

• Bar tops are reclaimed bowling alley lanes.
• Floors are made from recycled concrete and coated in SoyCrete sustainable compound.
• All fixtures, furniture and equipment are reclaimed.
• T-shirts and hats are created from organic cotton.
• All glass and cardboard is recycled through the Pedal Co-Op.
• Grains are donated to local farms as feed.
• Yards cases are printed using 65% post-consumer recycled cardboard at a local SFI-certified manufacturer.

And while all of these tactical efforts are to be applauded, when asked about what their commitment to being a “lean, green, brewing machine” has done to help with their marketing or sales there was no clear answer.  What was offered up was that Tom Kehoe, the founder, is now able to speak to it in talks and meetings, as well as the staff promoting it on tours like the one I was on.  It is a shame in a way. If Yards is implementing a more comprehensive sustainability strategy there are significant opportunities to secure relevant certifications and awards such as ISO 14000 or LEED Certification for their newly constructed brewery, just to name a few.

Also, other than a small section on the website, buried on the “Tours” page, there is no proactive marketing of the efforts being undertaken.  More importantly, Yards is not necessarily benefiting from the costs being incurred to implement these tactical efforts.  One that I saw while on the tour was that Yards is using Organic Sugar as an ingredient, and while there is a significant price premium on this ingredient, there is no mention of its use in the beer or a larger commitment to the use of organic ingredients.

I am sure that some of Yards’ strategies result in reduced energy costs and that is a great initial motivation. But unless you have a strategy to capitalize of the investment in terms of differentiated marketing, new products or industry certifications or awards, it will remain a list of tactical feel-good efforts.  And unfortunately they will likely lose momentum, as there is no larger goal that the company appears to be striving towards.

Related posts:

1. 3 Types of Sustainability in Cambodia
2. Books and Beer
3. EXPO 2010 Sustainability – An Editorial

Meet the Beast.  That is the affectionate nickname we gave to the Eddie Bauer Edition 1998 Ford Expedition my dad graciously offered to loan us for our 4-week U.S. and Canadian road trip.  One question that may immediately come to mind when seeing our choice for vehicle is, “Hey I thought this blog was GREEN Around the Globe? What’s with the massive gas-guzzling SUV? Shouldn’t you guys be driving a Prius?”  While Amy and I do have a passion for the environment and for businesses that have environmental sustainability as a core strategy, we are also firm believers that economic incentives play a huge role in the choices that we make as consumers.  As such, I wanted to detail the evaluation process we went through and why the Beast was the best option.

Need for Flexibility
When we returned from Australia and made the decision to continue traveling closer to home, we needed transport that offered flexibility.  After briefly considering the few public transport options, trains, buses, airplanes, etc. we came to the quick realization we were back in the car-centric US.  If we wanted to get across the country at a reasonable cost while being able to stop and see places along the way we needed to drive.  This was reinforced when flipping through the Lonely Planet USA in a bookstore.  In the things to remember section it said, “Driver license, even if you don’t plan on driving, once you see how big America is you may change your mind. “  So we needed a vehicle.  We also had to plan for the possibility that we might have to return to the East Coast on short notice and would prefer not to have to drive three days straight to do that.  With this as our primary evaluation criteria for transport we had two options: rent a car from a national company or borrow the Beast from my dad.  With the rental car, if we needed to we could go to the nearest airport and return the car, probably pay a penalty, and get on a plane.  With the Beast, we could go to the nearest airport, lock it up and get on a plane.  We’d then have to return when we could to get it back to Cincinnati.  However, my dad was not very concerned about when it was returned, increasing the flexibility of this option.  With that settled, next we needed to evaluate costs, which called for a spreadsheet.

Cost Comparison
Surprisingly, the Beast was the cheaper option, 30% cheaper in fact.  Let me explain how I got to that estimate.  For overall trip assumptions we estimated that the 32-day road trip would be about 7,500 miles and that gas would cost on average $3 per gallon.  Also built into the detailed assumptions was the cost to offset any incremental CO₂ that would be created by choosing the less fuel efficient Beast over a smaller rental car.  (Detailed assumptions are outlined below).  In the end, with the relatively cheap cost of fuel in the U.S., and the high per day rental cost, the Beast still had the cost advantage.  This savings amounted to nearly $9/day.  Not to mention the added flexibility borrowing a car from family offered vs. the prospect of dealing with a rental car company in the event our plans changed.  Somehow I suspect that Avis would be less understanding than KEA was with our camper van rental in Australia.

Detailed Cost Assumptions

What do you think?  Would you have taken the Beast, or rented a smaller, more fuel efficient car?  Let us know in the comments below.

Related posts:

1. To Car or Not to Car?
2. Land Yachts vs. Pup Tents
3. Finding a Home on Wheels