Earlier this month, we spotted MyEex and Earth Aid, two initiatives that reward consumers for reducing household energy use. Taking a different approach is US-based Positive Energy, which compares households' energy consumption, adding a social twist to being green. The company works with local utility companies, which use its software to add persuasive information to customer bills. Instead of just listing their own energy use, it adds information for households on the same street or block, showing how the consumer measures up in comparison to all of their neighbours, as well as to the energy efficient ones. Households with low energy use are encouraged with smiley faces beside their usage.

Positive Energy's approach combines technology, marketing and behavioural science, based on the idea that social pressure is more effective than enforced pressure from far-off governments and regulatory agencies. By changing the customer's mindset, long-term changes in consumer behaviour are likely to be brought about, saving both energy and money.

While MyEex and Earth Aid use money as motivation, Positive Energy works on a transformative level by comparing individual practices against normative values, making low energy use a societal norm. Utility companies in other parts of the world: time to add some Positive Energy to your billing process? (Related: Energy meters get tweeting.)

Website: www.positiveenergyusa.com
Contact: info@positiveenergyusa.com

Spotted by: Jenny Lau

Back in 2007 we wrote about EarthFriendlyMoving's Recopack containers, which offer an alternative to traditional cardboard boxes for moving. Bringing the concept out of California comes Frogbox, a Canadian contender that currently serves the Seattle and Vancouver, B.C., areas.

Very similar to Recopacks, Frogboxes are green, industrial-strength plastic containers that are available in standard and wardrobe sizes. Consumers simply order the boxes they need, and Frogbox drops them off at their home using its biodiesel delivery truck. Pricing is by the week, and the company also picks the boxes up once the moving is all done. Moving dollies and packing paper are available as well. Frogboxes can be used hundreds of times before they get recycled, says the company, which thoroughly cleans them between uses. A one-bedroom bundle of 25 Frogboxes and one dolly is priced beginning at USD or CDN 79 for one week—the company charges in the customer's local currency—plus a delivery fee that ranges from USD or CDN 30 to 50, depending on the address. In much the manner of Save Your Logo, Frogbox donates one percent of its gross revenues to frog habitat restoration.

Cardboard and paper waste make up an estimated 18 percent to 26 percent of landfill material, Frogbox says, so it's nice to see the spread of reusable plastic alternatives. The company is planning an expansion across North America; time to introduce "frogs" to your neck of the woods...? ;-)

Website: www.frogbox.com
Contact: www.frogbox.com/contactus.php

Spotted by: Murray Orange

German utility company Yello Strom is clearly into accessible tech: it manages its meters directly via households’ broadband connections, and offers access to Google's PowerMeter. Now, it's keeping its customers informed by enabling meters to tweet about energy use.

Each "Yello Sparzähler" smart meter (designed by IDEO) is allocated its own Twitter account, which is automatically updated with energy consumption data. The owner can follow the account to receive regular updates, leading to greater awareness and hopefully lower energy use. DIY power monitors such as Tweet-a-Watt are also capable of tweeting, but Yello Strom seems to be the first utility company to offer the service as an integral part of their smart meters.

While adding Twitter to their mix will undoubtedly give Yello Strom a PR-boost, the larger goal is to feed energy data into any tool customers may be using. As explained by Yello Executive Director Martin Vesper, "Our goal is to use as many different channels as possible to inform our customers about their energy consumption." (Related: Smart thermostat is always online — Home energy monitoring, delivered by Google.)

Website: www.yellostrom.de
Contact: presse@yellostrom.de

Spotted by: Judy McRae

The global carbon trading market is projected to reach USD 669 billion by 2013, according to a recent report, so it's not too surprising to see intermediaries and consumer-focused services jumping into the game. Just last week we covered MyEex, which bills itself as a worldwide personal carbon exchange, and recently we learned of another like-minded contender: Earth Aid.

Much like MyEex, Earth Aid aims to reward consumers for the energy they save at home. Now in beta, the free service begins by establishing a baseline for a consumer's household from its utility bills over the preceding 12 months—consumers give Earth Aid direct access to their utility accounts, so it can not only see their past usage data but also monitor their current usage over time. (It can't, however, see any sensitive payment information, it stresses.) Earth Aid then provides the consumer with customised energy-saving tips along with information about rebates, tax incentives and discounts that can help. It monitors that user's energy usage over one full year, and then compares it with the original baseline; if energy was saved, Earth Aid calculates the corresponding carbon credits and sells them in the voluntary carbon market, sending the user a check for the result. Its own revenue, meanwhile, comes in part from advertising from companies that sell energy-efficient products and in part from commissions for bundling and selling users' carbon credits.

The carbon market has long focused primarily on businesses and large organizations, so it's exciting to see the same capabilities being brought to consumers—who, after all, have a big role to play in the fight against global warming too. Based in Washington, D.C., Earth Aid appears to be targeting US consumers with its service. Another one to partner with, emulate or be inspired by!

Website: www.earthaid.net
Contact: info@earthaidenterprises.com

Spotted by: Juan Pedro Gonzalez

Few in the Western world have ever heard of yak down, a cashmere-like fiber that is hand-combed once a year from the rugged animals dwelling in the mountainous Himalayan regions of Western China. Yaks have provided a livelihood for generations of Tibetan herders, and now a new effort aims to preserve that tradition by creating a market for yak down in the rest of the world.

The brainchild of two Chinese women who were classmates at Harvard's JFK School of Government, Shokay is an initiative to address the poverty of Tibetan herders in China by creating new markets for the raw fiber they can produce. Conceived in 2006 as part of a Harvard business-plan competition—which it ultimately won, according to China International Business—the effort now works with some 2,600 herders from the Hei Ma He Village of Qinghai Province in Western China through a series of fiber cooperatives that provide a sustainable source of employment and income. A single village can generate 10 tons of fiber in a year, CIB reported. Once it's harvested, that fiber gets sent to Shokay's team of about 40 hand knitters in Chong Ming Island off of Shanghai, who then use it to produce Shokay's collection of home items and accessories. Shokay helps build the knitters' skills in a safe and healthy work environment, rewarding them fairly for their knitting talents. It also makes sure to include personalized nametags with each item that gets produced, showing the name and signature of the knitter who made it. Prices range from about USD 25 to 330 for accessories such as hats and shawls and from roughly USD 20 to 950 for home items including pillows and throws. Shokay's finished goods and knitting yarns are available for sale online, in its own flagship shop in the Tai Kang Road district of Shanghai, and in a variety of retail shops around the world. Forty percent of Shokay's profits go back to the herders, another 40 percent go to the knitters, and the rest get reinvested in the business, CIB reported.

Combining social entrepreneurship with product life stories and (still) made here appeal, Shokay reminds us of the efforts of Crop to Cup in the world of coffee and Naked Wines for small, independent vintners. Next, we wouldn't be surprised to see Shokay adding a digital element with some traceability to spread its stories further and in more detail, much the way those (and other) contenders have. A personalized nametag is a good start, but if Icebreaker customers can find out which of many sheep stations produced the wool in their sweater, why not give Shokay customers a chance to meet the herder, yaks and knitters behind their new shawl? That's the beauty of transparency, and it can do wonders for creating an up-close-and-personal feel. One to partner with, support, or otherwise get involved in...? (Related: Tracking & tracing fashion brands' product stories — Design your own hat & choose your own knitting granny.)

Website: www.shokay.com
Contact: info@shokay.com

Spotted by: Danielle Matsumoto