BeGreenNow.com - Internet Technology vs. Global Warming at Outside the Valley

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BeGreenNow.com - Internet Technology vs. Global Warming

By Adam | May 4, 2007

Most internet services are designed to serve our needs as individuals. Social media sites make us feel more connected, video sites entertain us, and web apps make us more organized and efficient. While these categories undoubtedly create value, rarely do they address far reaching global problems.

Austin based Green Mountain Energy is challenging this convention. As the leading provider of clean energy and carbon off-set solutions in the U.S., Green Mountain has launched an ambitious online project to reduce America’s carbon consumption – a well known catalyst for Global Warming. Through its new internet service, BeGreenNow.com, users are able to attain “carbon-neutrality” – a state where one’s carbon outputs are counterbalanced by the development environmentally sustainable initiatives.

Why is there a need for such a service? While the awareness of Global Warming has gained a lot of momentum the last few years, it is still incredibly challenging for people to personally contribute to the solution. For even the most environmentally motivated Americans it is simply not feasible to finance a wind farm or plant thousands of trees. BeGreenNow removes this complexity by giving individuals the opportunity to “buy back” their carbon consumption through an easily accessible, internet driven platform.

Here’s how it works:

You determine your carbon footprint using the site’s “carbon calculator”. This analyzes the impact of your electricity usage, vehicle usage, air travel, and natural gas consumption.
Based on your carbon footprint, the site determines the total number of carbon credits required to offset your consumption.
You purchase carbon credits from their suite of offerings on the site to offset your carbon consumption. Options include: Renewable Energy Credits – which help to build and maintain clean energy production facilities; Forest Sequestration Offsets – which invest in the re-planting of trees; The Climate Trust – an initiative that improves the energy efficiency of office spaces.

In addition to these services, the site has built-in some Web 2.0 features including a MySpace video contest, blog widgets, and an online social community. While it will be a major challenge for BeGreenNow to entice people to pay for intangible carbon credits, you have to tip your hat to the lofty ambitions of the project. Win, lose, or draw I think it’s a great idea.

Outside the Valley Score

Location: Austin, TX = 1
Founders: Prior entrepreneurial experience = 1.5
Technology: New application of internet technology = 2
Funding: Funded by parent company = 0

Total Score – 4.5 Since BeGreenNow.com is based in tech friendly Austin and backed by a financially stable parent company, their OTV score is relatively low. That being said, their ambitious use of internet technology definitely differentiates BeGreenNow from other Silicon Valley internet companies.

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