Mike Hower
Founder & Principal Consultant, Hower Impact
Nestlé Launches Global R&D Center to Balance Taste With Nutrition
Nestlé has opened a $50 million global research center dedicated to transforming the way the world consumes frozen and chilled foods.Located in in Solon, Ohio, the new 144,000 square foot Nestlé Research & Development Center will balance consum... View More
Google Tests Air Pollution Monitoring With Street View Cars
Google and environmental sensor networks firm Aclima announced this week that they have partnered to map and better understand urban air quality.Three Google Street View cars equipped with Aclima’s mobile sensing platform took measurements of nitro... View More
UPS Halfway to Driving 1 Billion Miles With Clean Fuel Fleet By 2017
UPS logged 154 million miles in 2014 toward its goal of driving 1 billion miles with its alternative fuel and advanced technology fleet by the end of 2017 — an almost threefold increase from 2013, according to the company’s 13th annual Sustainabi... View More
Hillary Clinton Promises Half a Billion Solar Panels by 2020
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Sunday pledged to construct half a million new solar panels within her first four years of taking office, Reuters reports.Clinton called for a decisive national shift to renewable energy sources, s... View More
Startup ‘Democratizes’ Sustainability Reporting Software
Sustainability reporting isn’t easy, and it’s rarely cheap. Large companies may have the finances and dedicated staffs to develop custom sustainability software, but small businesses often must make do without — relying on “old-school” tech... View More
More Than 75% of Consumers Influenced By Eco-Friendly Packaging, Report Says
More than three-quarters of consumers claim that environmentally-sound packaging has an influence on the beverage brand they buy, according to a new global survey of some 6,000 consumers across 12 different countries.The survey, carried out thi... View More
TruValue Labs Expands ESG Monitoring to NYSE and NASDAQ
Information technology company TruValue Labs has announced a major update to Insight360, a technology-based platform offering real-time environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and sustainability data.The new release allows the tool to substantial... View More
US, Brazil Agree to Source 20% of Energy From Renewables by 2030
At a bilateral meeting with President Barack Obama in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff committed Brazil to an agreement for both countries to obtain up to 20 percent of their electricity from renewable power by 2030, Th... View More
FedEx to Purchase 3 Million Gallons of Jet Biofuel Annually
Red Rock Biofuels, maker of renewable biofuels, announced Monday that it will produce approximately three million gallons of low-carbon, renewable jet fuel per year for FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp.The agreement runs through 2024, with f... View More
IKEA to Raise UK Employee Pay Above National Living Wage By 2016
IKEA will be the first national retailer in the United Kingdom to pay workers above the government's new National Living Wage, BBC News reports.The Swedish furniture company said it would pay all of its 9,000 UK workers at least £7.85 (US $12.22) pe... View More
Wildlife Works Becomes Africa’s First Carbon-Neutral, Fair Trade Factory
Forest conservation firm Wildlife Works' factory in Kenya has become the first in Africa to be both carbon neutral and certified by Fair Trade USA.On the heels of this announcement, Wildlife Works is launching its first-ever carbon-neutral, Fair Trad... View More
EU Proposes Plan to Help Consumers Choose Energy-Efficient Products
The European Commission on Thursday proposed a revision to its energy efficiency labeling laws to "ensure coherence and continuity and makes sure that customers are able to make better informed choices that will help them save energy and money.&... View More
Biomass Boiler Helps Dewar's Distillery Cut CO2 by 90%
The Dewar’s Aberfeldy Distillery in Scotland has cut its carbon footprint by 90 percent after installing a biomass boiler late last year.Traditionally, distilleries are heavy users of fossil fuels, but this is the latest example of investment in bi... View More
UN Secretary-General Calls on Businesses to Help Finance Sustainable Development
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday called on the corporate community “to be our partners in supporting and financing this agenda” at a global conference on financing for development.The International Business Forum in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ... View More
This Startup Wants to Sell You a Solar-Powered Scooter
Canadian startup Daymark has developed a fully electric, solar-powered scooter capable of playing music from built-in speakers, charging your phone and traveling up to 10 miles using its 24V battery pack, which is available in lithium or lead acid va... View More
Boeing Developing Sustainable Aviation Fuels For 2020 Olympics in Japan
Boeing and Japanese aviation industry stakeholders have partnered to develop sustainable aviation biofuel for flights during the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, when millions of people are expected to visit Japan. The Initiatives for Next... View More
Startup Says It Holds Key to Better, Cheaper, More Sustainable Batteries
Battery storage has long been one of the last remaining significant barriers to the widespread adoption of solar energy — and a nimbler, more resilient energy grid. But a number of players are quickly emerging with solutions.In May, Tesla Energy do... View More
Social Enterprise Uses Mobile Technology to Deliver Healthcare in India
Sevamob, a social enterprise which aims to fundamentally transform primary healthcare in India through mobile clinics and a tele-health marketplace, has joined the Business Call to Action (BCtA) to reduce anemia by 30 percent, HIV transmission to chi... View More
Report: Renewable Energy, Energy Efficiency Will Grow Based on Cost Competitiveness Alone
Renewable energy and energy efficiency are competitive resources in today’s marketplace that will not only be cost-effective mechanisms for compliance with EPA’s Clean Power Plan (CPP) but should also be expected to grow strictly on the basis of ... View More
Novo Nordisk Launches Campaign to Improve Diabetes Awareness in Kenya
Novo Nordisk, in partnership with the Kenyan Ministry of Health and the Kenya Diabetes Management and Information Center, has launched a six-month diabetes awareness campaign in Nairobi to promote early diagnosis through screening, especially among l... View More
