ecorazzi.com :: the latest in green gossip

April 22nd 2008

Cate Blanchett Investing In California Solar Startup Sungevity

Filed under: business, green and famous — michael @ 10:05 am

Actress Cate Blanchett has been listed as a primary investor in a new solar startup out of California called Sungevity. This is a pretty slick idea — with satellite-imaging software that zooms in on your home, calculates the roof’s dimensions — the pitch and azimuth — selects appropriately sized solar arrays, and shows what they will look like installed — while computing your return on investment. Cool, right?

But it gets better. Once you place your order, a pre-packaged solar array is sent to your home, and an installation crew is dispatched. In the meantime, a database keeps track of all the necessary permits, fills them out, and send them to you for a signature. Additionally, the installation crew is sent all the local regulations governing solar arrays. Can you say finger-lickin’ easy?

The guy behind the concept is longtime Australian activist Danny Kennedy — which makes it easy to connect-the-dots to Blanchett’s involvement. Of course, the actress herself is one of the largest vocal supporters of climate change initiatives in Australia. She’s also recently placed the final touches on her new green home outside of Sydney — and is also following through with plans to add green elements to the Sydney Theatre Company.

If you live in California, check out the Sungevity website (which launches today!), pop in your address, and take a look at your solar future.

via vivabusiness2

[UPDATE] Ok, while the site may broadly say “California”, I just tried an address in Malibu with no success. Apparently, those of you living in San Fran will have the best luck.

April 3rd 2008

Michael Blooomberg Honored For Environmental Leadership

Filed under: business, events, events: nyc, green and famous, honors, politics, thegreenpicture — parrish @ 11:08 am

Tuesday night New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg was honored alongside Bank Of America CEO Kenneth D. Lewis by the Natural Resources Defense Council for their outstanding environmental leadership. The event took place in New York City and had a swanky guest list with names like: Ralph Lauren, Candice Bergen, Lauren Bush, Chevy Chase and Sam Champion.

The NRDC recognized PlanNYC, a project Bloomberg put into place to enhance New York’s urban environment and develop a model for efficiency and sustainable. It’s estimated that PlanNYC will contribute a 30% reduction in the city’s global warming emissions.

Kenneth D. Lewis from Bank Of America was honored for leading the bank on a $20 billion, ten-year initiative that encourages development of environmentally sustainable business practices through lending, investing, philanthropy and the creation of new products and services.

What do you think Ecorazzi readers? Are you happy with the Natural Resources Defense Council’s pick for environmental leaders? Chime in and tell us what you think.

February 20th 2008

Al Gore Has Big Plans For Current Media

Filed under: business, green and famous — parrish @ 11:29 am

I know as much about stocks and business as Aretha Franklin knows about compassion-fashion, so when I was tipped off that Al Gore (the granddaddy of green) was planning on raising close to 100 million for his company, Current Media, by filing for an IPO, the first thing I did was…go on frigin Wikipedia!!

For those out there who are just as confused about finance as I am, IPO stands for Initial Public Offering and is basically the first sale of a stock by a private company to the public. Still confused? Think of it this way: let’s say I own Vegan Bloggers Inc. and I want to build my company and raise extra capital. I file for an IPO and if it’s approved then it’s goes public for trading on the stock market and hopefully I make a bagillion vegan dollars. Now back to the topic at hand.

Al Gore wants to take Current Media public and according to the filing:

“We believe there is a significant gap between what is being delivered by traditional sources of TV and what is demanded by young adults. Young adults need and want news and information about what is going on in their world; however, they have not had a news and information source on TV that speaks to them. Young adults increasingly are turning to other platforms, especially the Internet, for news and information.

As a result, there is a large market opportunity to develop an integrated media platform capable of cost-effectively engaging young adults around news, information and lifestyle entertainment, and to build a brand premised on communicating what is going on in the lives of this young-adult generation. There is demand from both young adults and the advertisers.”

That’s right ya’ll-looks like the Goreminator is rolling up his biodegradable, eco-friendly sleeves and playing media ball with the big boys. Is Rupert Murdoch shaking in his boots? I guess only time will tell. The good news is that this only continues to prove that green is the new black and we’re really starting to see the world change. Here’s to a new tomorrow!

thanks: cleanenergynews.blogspot.com

February 19th 2008

Lance Armstrong Encourages Bike Commuting in Austin

Filed under: business, products, shopping — paige @ 4:35 pm

Looks like Lance Armstrong is bringing biking back - and not for the hard core gear heads. In an effort to promote the commuter bike lifestyle in his home town of Austin, Armstrong is unveiling plans for a new concept shop that helps bring a viable transportation solution to the explosive growth that the downtown is experiencing.

Mellow Johnny’s, based on the nickname Armstrong earned while wearing the yellow jersey, will serve as a bike shop, commuting center, training facility and cafe. Showers and a locker room will provide commuters a chance to clean up, store their bikes at the shop, and catch a ride on a pedicab or walk the rest of the way to work.

According to Armstrong and business partner Bart Knaggs,

“This city is exploding downtown. Are all these people in high rises going to drive everywhere? We have to promote (bike) commuting., says Armstrong. “There’s a bigger ambition we’re going to go for here. It’s not like there’s not a good bike shop in town. We want to add something to the community that will catalyze interest around riding bikes, about being bike friendly and folding it into life in Austin,” Knaggs said.

With the support of his home town and the optimism of rookie riders citywide, this could be the catalyst to making Austin, Texas a true bike commuter city.

Via: Grist

January 30th 2008

Ecorazzi Update: Clooney, Panettiere and Hannah

Filed under: animals, business, campaigns, cars-houses, events, green and famous, products, shopping, thegreenpicture, transport — parrish @ 11:38 am

The Peacemaker Starring George Clooney: As Ecorazzi reported earlier, George Clooney was recently elected an official “messenger of peace” by the U.N.  The title suggests that Clooney will use his reputation to help promote peacekeeping activities around the world. So has Georgey Porgey held up his part of the bargain? YES!!!

Clooney sat down for a meeting with Defense Secretary Vijay Singh and UN Assistant Secretary General for Peacekeeping Operations, Jane Holl Lute, in New Delhi on Tuesday. Reports show that George has recently been spending a good deal of time in India on official “peacekeeping business.” I said it once and I’ll say it again, “George, I would make a frigin fantastic Assistant Messenger Of Peace.”

Panettiere Wails For Whales: Here at the Razzi we love us some Hayden Panettiere!  Just a few days ago we reported that she was Saving The Whales…Again, and had planned to continue her efforts in Washington. Well, has she? YES!!!

This week Panettiere spoke at a press conference with the likes of Sen. John Kerry and House Natural Resources Committee Chairman, Nick J. Rahall, about the horrors of commercial whaling. They also announced an upcoming meeting to be held in March 2008, by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in London, England.

Daryl Hannah Adds Used Car Salesman To Her Resume:  Last week, Ecorazzi told you that Daryl Hannah had put her bio-diesel El Camino on eBAY. Sadly, just a few days before the auction closed, the highest bid was a measly 9,500 dollars. Ouch! Did Daryl pull in more loot for her scoot?  Yes!!

The auction closed on eBAY and the car was sold for 15,600 dollars! Knowing Daryl, I’m sure she put that money towards something deliciously activisty.  Ps. Daryl, my uncle owns a used car lot, so if the whole actor/environmentalist thing doesn’t work out, I’d be happy to put in a good word. You’re welcome.

January 16th 2008

Madame Environmentalist

Heidi Fleiss Will "Hook". You. Up.

Filed under: business, green and famous, magazines — kelli @ 1:59 pm

Everyone’s favorite 80 pound ex-con (what, you mean you don’t have one?), Heidi Fleiss has announced her return into the business that made her rich and famous: she plans to open the world’s first legal, wind-powered brothel for women. That’s right ladies- you’ll be able to hit the spa and hire yourself a male hooker- in eco-style.

Heidi’s Stud Farm will be located on 60 acres of land she owns near Pahrump, Nevada, where she’s just opened a new laundromat, Dirty Laundry. Heidi’s one keen businesswoman - when she saw that many people in Pahrump didn’t have money to own their own washers and dryers, she immediately knew there’d be a need for a laundromat. In a similar vein, Ms. Fleiss sees an opportunity to sell sex to women AND wind power back to the grid.

The Stud Farm will be “an exclusive resort, and I’ll make it really nice like the Beverly Hills Hotel”, says Heidi. She’s reportedly been looking into green building options, because she doesn’t want “anything polluting”. She believes that women will come to her resort as they would for any getaway- “for bachelorette and birthday parties…or simply because they have the time and the money and they want to get a manicure, a pedicure, and a shag”, she says.

The parrot-loving madam says she’ll run her Stud Farm on wind power because “there’s a need for it”, refers to herself as a “treehugger”, and seems genuinely concerned that her beloved parrots were born into such a polluted world- to which her father replies that “the world is a beautiful garden. It’s just, people are destroying it”.

Heidi is certain that her new idea is a sure shot- and that once she gets her wind turbines up to harvest wind power on her Stud Farm, she’ll never have to work again. She seems confident that women will embrace her new sustainable venture, and given her past successes, she’s probably right. Says Heidi, “The only problem out here is the climate”.

Thanks to Jezebel.com and Elle.com. Full story can be found in Elle February 2008 edition.

January 9th 2008

Bill Gates Gets Silly, Highlights Eco-Celebs

Gates Gives Final CES Keynote

Filed under: business, web — rebecca @ 11:02 am

As Bill Gates kicked off his final keynote at this year’s CES in Vegas, he introduced a video that he made with some friends, imagining his last day at Microsoft. In July, he’ll step down from day-to-day operations and move full time over to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. (I guess I thought he had already done this??)

Plenty of Ecorazzi’s favorite celebs make an appearance in the video, and eco-messaging can be seen in t-shirts and posters throughout the vid. My fave is his personal trainer…

December 27th 2007

Paris Hilton’s Grandpa To Give Almost All The Hilton Loot To Charity

Filed under: business, donations — parrish @ 1:13 am

If you’ve read my last three posts you probably think I have an old, white man fetish. Well I don’t! Indeed, I suspect an escaped Christmas elf of spiking the country club punch to account for all of this old man kindness of late.

In a recent announcement, Barron Hilton, Paris Hilton’s granddaddy, just announced that he will be giving 97 percent of his savings to charity. And how much is 97 percent of the ol’ Hilton billfold? Oh…just 2.3 BILLION DOLLARS!!!!!

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation will be receiving the money and putting it in a charitable trust where it will raise the total value to 4.5 billion. And what about the poor Hilton family? After all is said and done, they will only get a measly 69 million to split amongst everyone!! Do you think Barron was trying to be clever with the 69 million, or was it just a coincidence? I’m talkin sex tape here, people!!

At the end of the day you gotta respect Barron- if for not only being one generous mother fuc#@*, for confidently rocking the name Barron for 80 years! In other news, I will be donating 97 percent of my savings to charity as well. Wait, how much is 97 percent of zero again?

December 18th 2007

First Look Studios And Shorewood Packaging Team Up For A Greener Hollywood

Filed under: business, film-tv, green and famous, movies, television — parrish @ 5:24 pm

First Look Studios, a leading independent studio in theatrical, home video and television operations, has teamed up with Shorewood Packaging, and gone green for us all. The new friendship marks the first collaboration between any studio and packaging company with the goal of lightening their environmental footprint.

The duo’s first project is to start a tree planting program that will offset emissions that are generated by the manufacturing of one million DVD packages. But wait…there’s more. First Look Studios has officially switched to 100 percent recycled Prokote(TM) paperboard Flip-Paks for its screeners and reduced their overall paper usage. They’ve also switched all of their package printing from UV to water-based coated. And just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, they’ve topped it all off with a big, eco-friendly, green bow, by including recycling instructions on all of their products.

You guys, THIS IS HUGE!! To me, this is so obviously not just a P.R move to look like a “noble” company, but a genuine act of corporate responsibility that could aid in redefining ethical capitalism as we know it. Please, please visit the First Look website (HERE) and help support their projects in anyway you can.

Adrian Grenier…beat that!

November 30th 2007

Donald Trump’s Golf Course Plans Thrown To The Birds

Scottish officials reject billion dollar development

Filed under: business — michael @ 5:33 pm

Much like Clint Eastwood earlier this year, Donald Trump’s plans to develop a massive new golf course have been given the boot due to environmental concerns. The business tycoon was set to move forward on the new project along a stretch of remote and beautiful coastline in Aberdeen, Scotland — but was stunned when the town council voted against him. From the article,

“Opponents of the development said sand dunes at the Menie Estate, 25 kilometers (15 miles) north of Aberdeen, should be protected as the habitat of rare birds such as Lapwings, Redshanks and Skylarks. The vote is the latest hurdle in Trump’s four-year odyssey to turn a stretch of sand dunes north of Aberdeen into a 1 billion pound (€1.4 billion, US$2.1 billion) golf resort complete with two 18-hole courses, a luxurious 450-bedroom hotel, 950 vacation homes, 36 golf villas and 500 upscale homes costing from 400,000 pounds (€557,000, US$827,000) to more than 1 million pounds (€1.4 million, US$2.1 million) each.”

So how about that? These victories of environment over money are few and far between in today’s age. To say “no” to development of this size in favor of retaining ageless beauty and preserving the ecology of a region is highly commendable. To piss off Trump in the process is even better. Well played, gents. Well played.