The holidays are about giving and when this is applied in a business setting the collective results can make a world of difference. If you are wondering how to give back from the success of your business think about 1% For The Planet, a growing network of companies that donate 1% of their sales to a network of over 1,500 environmental organizations worldwide.

There are over 600 members in the United Says alone including Via Viva, Totally Organic, Purely Shea, N’East Magazine, Native Energy and many more great companies and individuals.

How it works: Members of 1% For The Planet can contribute 1% of sales to any of the environmental organizations listed on the internet site. Member companies donate directly to their desired nonprofits—not through 1% FTP. We do this to encourage independent, personal relationships between member companies and the groups they support. These relationships are a real positive for businesses, enabling them to get involved and affect change firsthand.

Why give? In the words of playwrite Thornton Wilder: “Money, if you’ll pardon the expression, is like manure. It’s not worth a thing unless you spread it around encouraging young things to grow.” And that’s the idea of 1% FTP, to help good things grow by encouraging corporate giving.

The list of non-profits is growing steadily but today include important organizations like Worldwatch Institute, World Wildlife Fund, Wild Aid, The Sierra Fund and The Nature Conservancy, among many others.

This holiday season, and throughout the year, think about giving 1% For The Planet to make it go around for the environment and keep the earth in business.

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InfoWorld has rounded up over a dozen IT experts who have had an eye on sustainable technology over the past year to share predictions for 2008 and beyond.

Green tech has flourished in the past year as vendors and customers alike have invested plenty of resources in making their products and practices more energy efficient, less wasteful, and eco-friendlier.

But is this sustainable-tech trend a mere green flash in the pan? Hardly. The flourishing world of green technology is driven by true need. Companies are running out of space and power in their datacenters, not to mention struggling with high energy costs. Business leaders, politicians, and consumers alike are becoming increasingly concerned about their impact on the environment.

Among the experts sharing their predictions:

• Christina Page, director of climate and energy, Yahoo, Yahoo Green
• Ted Samson, senior analyst and Sustainable IT blogger, InfoWorld, Sustainable IT
• Dave Stangis, director of corporate responsibility, CSR@Intel
• Pat Tiernan, VP of social and environmental responsibility, HP’s environmental sustainability page
• Steve Vassallo, principal, Cleantech practice at Foundation Capital, Cleantech site
• Larry Vertal, senior strategist for AMD Green, AMD, AMD green
• Hu Yoshida, CTO, Hitachi Data Systems, Hu Yoshida’s blog

What are they saying?
Find out at IT leaders share green-tech predictions for 2008.

What are your predictions for green tech in 2008?

Via EL

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Inhabitat founder Jill Fehrenbacher has teamed up with Marc Alt + Partners to present the Greener Gadgets Conference in NYC February 1st, 2008.

Greener Gadgets is a one day conference featuring key representatives from some of the largest consumer electronics companies in the world, innovators from academic thinktanks, members of startups focused on renewable energy, and some of the leading minds in the word of sustainable design and business.

Industry leaders, entrepreneurs, journalists, and designers will gather to discuss the business case for the greening of the consumer electronics industry.

Topics to be addressed include: design for sustainability, product life cycle management, take-back and recycling programs, energy efficiency, greener materials, and green lifestyle and product marketing. An attached gallery space will feature a green prototype office display and technology exhibits from companies on the cutting edge of green tech.

The Greener Gadgets conference will showcase revolutionary design and tech innovations that’ll shape the future of the consumer electronics and change your world… for the superior.

Presenters include representatives from HP, Nokia, Sony, Philips, Intel, EPEAT, the Green Electronics Council, IDEO, Engadget, Earth2Tech/GigaOm and many others to be announced.

Learn more and get involved at the Greener Gadgets website!

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If you’ve still got a notion that prefab, or factory-built, homes are anything but fabulous it’s time to take a fresh look at the industry. Prefab homes can have significant environmental benefits including reducing material and waste. The marriage of high design, sustainable and factory-built are starting to arrive in modular homes that can be assembled on site in less than a day.

One of the architects leading the new prefab revolution is Michelle Kaufmann, lead of Michelle Kaufmann Designs and creator of some of the most beautiful, sustainable prefab homes on the market this day. Ms. Kaufmann has succeeded in fulfilling the promise of prefab - high quality, sustainable, reasonably priced. Her designs are some of the most thoughtful around in terms of aesthetics, engineering and just about everything else related to home design.

Her own home in California is the prototype but was built on site. Kaufmann had an identical modular home built in the factory and the comparative results speak volumes about the benefits of prefab. Smithsonian featured Kaufmann’s home the Glidehouse earlier this year reporting that the site built home took almost two years to build and cost $363,950 or $233 per square foot. The factory-built Glidehouse took four months and cost $290,500 or $182 per square foot.

Prefab is part of the momentum that green building is gaining in the mainstream. The market is growing fast and it’s estimated that by 2010, 10 percent of the new home construction market will be green, according to the 2006 McGraw-Hill Construction Residential Green Building SmartMarket Report. Michelle Kaufmann’s prefab designs - filled with energy-efficient elements, sustainable materials and healthy finishes - are not just a part of that momentum, they are a leading factor.

And, in the spirit of the season, her latest prefab design the mkLotus is also made in gingerbread!

Michelle Kaufmann Designs

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Solar has become the leading sector of the greentech market with a fast transformation in recent reboom years. Greentech Media recently reported

VC investment in the solar industry has gone from a few deals in 2004 to potentially reach $1B in 2007. This phenomenal investment growth is spurring innovation and efficiency in each sector of the booming $15B solar industry. We are seeing a VC-funded entrepreneurial wave get the attention of incumbent solar vendors, private equity investors, government, and even reach the public consciousness at the consumer level.

The solar industry is fast growing at 25% per year, a trend that’s expected to continue for at least the next five years, according to Greentech Media’s VC Investment in Solar: 2005-2009. The graph below gives a graphic idea of how the industry has outpowered others in its class, as well as showing how investors are balking at biofuels this year compared to last year’s buzz.

Get more on cleantech this year at Cleantech Venture Investment Hits $2.6B at Earth2Tech where “by sector, solar took the cake, with 35 solar deals worth a total of $664.6 million.” And at Green Tinge Is Attracting Seed Money to Ventures at the New York Times.

How solar is getting around:

• Tindo, the Solar-powered Bus!
• Solar Green Homes delivered by Truck!
• Solara: California’s First Solar-powered Community

Via EL

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As 2007 comes to a close soon, I’d thought a look back at some of the stories that made their way to Greener Assets this year would be a good way to round up and head into 2008. Around the b5 business channel, other bloggers will be doing the same and I’ll keep you posted with links to some of the best business posts of the year. Until then, here are my favorites from Greener Assets 2007…

Wal-Mart: Green, greener or greenwashing?: While the mega store wasn’t founded on sustainable principles, other than sustaining the Walton’s, the corporation responsible for moving over 300 billion dollars worth of merchandise in 2007 continues to announce green initiatives that are standing up to scrutiny.

Budweiser ‘Double Mashing’ on GE Rice: Budweiser fans have a bad taste in their mouth, and it’s not just the beer. A recent analysis commissioned by Greenpeace has “detected the presence of genetically engineered (GE) rice (Bayer LL601) in three out of four samples taken” at an Anheuser Busch mill in Arkansas.

Is Burt’s Bees Still Sweet As Honey?: Burt’s Bees is one of those sweet start-up success stories. Boy keeps bees, boy meets girl, girl makes candles, candles evolve into a thriving, full line, all-natural cosmetic and personal care business worth millions kinda thing. One thing led to another and before you know it Burt’s Bees is worth $925 million on the open market.

Do Ethical Companies Survive the Buyout?: TreeHugger had an interesting post about the fate of small, ethical companies in large corporate buy-outs. The scenario has been playing out with some hard true green favorites taking on questionable parent companies - like Burt’s Bees, recently bought by Clorox, and The Body Shop, who sold to L’Oreal last year.

Two Companies That Are Changing Small Wind: Wind power is getting a lot of attention these days as a fast growing segment of the renewable energy industry. While many of the headlines focus on “big” wind - industrial wind power - there are lots of companies working to advance wind power for residential use or “small” wind.

How the Hydrogen Market is Growing: The race for renewable energy is driving a new focus on hydrogen as a clean energy for home and transportation. Worldwide initiatives are fueling research and innovation to make hydrogen cost-effective and efficient. Here’s just a few of the latest headlines in the hydrogen economy.

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UPS has saved nearly three million gallons of gas and has reduced CO2 emissions by 31,000 metric tons by not turning left.

The New York Times recently reported on the company’s efforts to green its corporate fleet, which includes more than 95,000 trucks, by providing more efficient routes to their drivers so they can avoid idling in the left turn lane.

According to the NYT

The company employs what it calls a “package flow” software program, which among other hyperefficient practices involving the packing and sorting of its cargo, maps out routes for each one of its drivers, drastically reducing the number of left-hand turns they make (taking into consideration, of course, those instances where not to make the left-hand turn would result in a ridiculously circuitous route).

The result: UPS shaved 28.5 million miles off of its delivery routes saving gas, time money and alleviating the toll the delivery business takes on the environment. Pretty efficient green-thinking.

Pictured: UPS’ World’s Most Efficient Delivery Vehicle, get the scoop at TreeHugger

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