The Challenge Your World Blog

Some problems can be real headscratchers. We often hear the advice: "Look at it differently", or "Think outside the box!", but those are not often really helpful. The SCAMPER method offers real advice as to how to tackle a problem, to work around it and to follow simple guidelines that help seeing the problem differently. SCAMPER is the acronym for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Magnify, Put to other uses, Eliminate (minify) and Rearrange. Each step has a number of simple questions meant for you to visualize the possible solutions to a nagging problem. Substitute helps you find a way to replace part of your problem to come up with something [...]

Our director of sustainability, Cameron, wrote up an idea about distributing composting toilets. Others around the planet are finding new uses for our deposits. Virginia Gardiner designed a new toilet, the GCH4 using a closed-loop using human waste to create electricity. The collected poop is collected in a degradable film, and cooking gas is produced from the methane. Her website has a nicely crafted visual scenario for all to enjoy: http://www.gardinerch4.com/scenario.html Such an idea could be developed and commercialized as a Challenge Your World official idea and prosper! Make sure to go on the other side of Challenge Your World and submit [...]

Tallest building of the world during 24 years and still America’s tallest; the Sears Tower will receive a major overhaul in the next 4 years. The LEED upgrade should reduce its energy consumption by 80%. On top of all this, the upgrade should save 24 billion gallons of water every year. 16,000 solar panels, elevators that consume less energy, modern windows, wind turbines to generate electricity and gardens are all included in this gigantic upgrade. Name any green energy solution you can think of, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, the firm responsible for the upgrade contract, are probably integrating it to the born-anew tower. The name will [...]

The United States of America’s House of Representatives passed, on Friday, the Waxman-Markey Clean Energy bill, creating an unprecedented milestone for the USA’s energy autonomy and security. Creating millions of jobs and saving billions of dollars, the bill is expected to revitalize the economy as well as obviously helping the greenhouse gases emissions. The bill is the “American-made solution” to a “man-made problem”, according to Henry A. Waxman, Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It includes provisions such as requiring 20% of the country’s energy to come from renewable sources, diminishing carbon emissions by 17% by 2020, and [...]

Guy Kawasaki stated one day: don't do 10 better than your competitor. Be 1000 time better by getting where the others aren't yet : Jump to the next curve.
Who would think about reinventing laudry washing machine today? Xeros, someone? They created a virtually waterless laundry washing machine. "Although only in prototype stage, this new machine may be able to save up to 90% of water compared to a conventional machine and will also cut carbon emissions. Created by Xeros, this machine replaces the old school idea of cleaning clothes. The technology goes with full on chemistry advances by replacing the majority of the water with reusable nylon [...]

Are You a Tech-Savvy CEO? Only 2 of the top 100 CEOs in Fortune’s 2009 list have twitter accounts. Of course, twitter is relatively new in the blogosphere, being around since 3 years only. Even then, a recent study made by www.uberceo.com shows a number of interesting facts showing those CEOs’ lack of interest in social media. For example, only 13 of them have a LinkedIn profile, and only 3 of those have more than 10 connections. Not a single one of them has a personal blog. The full study is available on their website. Source. Oil Mega-Corporation to Launch Its Electric Car in 2011 ExxonMobil is part of a partnership with Electroaya that will [...]

The IT department is usually not associated with green measures. IT is a part of any company that has to throw out, replace and upgrade a lot of electronic equipment, some of the hardest and most expansive items to recycle, or reuse, due to their components. Tod Arbogast, Dell’s Director of Sustainability, is a leader in the area and has created a number of strategies to make your IT department greener. According to him, the hardest part in managing a green IT department is the initial push that it needs. Changing core habits can be hard, but once the push has been given, the sustainable strategies snowball. Of course, Dell’s size gives Arbogast [...]

The Wall Street Journal has an interesting piece on 5 things to avoid doing when creating your business plan. They don’t stop at telling you what’s wrong, either, but they also give a constructive insight about how to fix the problems, which can be crucial to your business plan. If you want investors to stay interested, you need to read that. Here are the problems they mention: “Here I am, never mind the problem” – Not answering a specific need “A Coke for Every Kid in China” – Not precisely targeting your initial market “Just Look at Our (Paper) Profits” – Numbers aren’t everything “Our Team Walks on Water” – Diplomas and credentials [...]

Fast Company has a list of 5 actions to take to create and manage your microgrid. Even if you don’t go all-out and cut yourself from the grid completly, there is a way to significantly decrease your dependency to the city grid. They break it down in the following actions: 1-Find the Money (Tax incentives) 2-Cut Your Use 3-Choose Your Fuel 4-Find a Partner 5-Sell Back to the Grid These 5 steps will make sure you have a good start and that you can keep on living off your own microgrid. Saving money over time and raising your clean and renewable energy use is a win-win situation for you and the planet! [...]

The International Civil Society brings international organisations together such as OXFAM, WWF, Équiterre, and Greenpeace among others. Thanks to a $300,000 support from the Government of Quebec and a startup help from Montreal International, GCCA was able to launch its Secretariat. The Global Campaign for Climate Action's mission is to get people around the planet ready for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Copenhagen and help build the post-Kyoto plan. They joined the “Tck tck tck” movement which makes reference to the urgency of a clock ticking, meaning the world has to start acting now. Mr. André Gamache, President and CEO of [...]