Farming the Fertile Ground at the Convergence of High Tech and Green Tech

From Glenn Croston's Fast Company blog

The most fertile ground for innovation is often found where one field runs into another and the two mix together. The convergence of cleantech and high tech is one such rich field of innovation, giving rise to a host of opportunities for innovative businesses from Google to Fullcircle Innovations to make money and make a difference in the world.   High tech and green tech work together in many ways. Google has employed their growing influence and success to support renewable energy and other worthy measures, putting their money behind their tag line "Don't Be Evil". Information technology itself uses a great deal of energy, one reason for Google's interest in energy efficiency and renewable energy. The 2010 Energy Efficient IT report from CDW found that more companies are once again investing in energy efficiency for their IT systems, helping to unlock an estimated 1200 to 1600 megawatts worth of electricity that can be realized through greater efficiency of IT systems.   Information technology and cleantech also find common ground in the field of energy efficiency beyond data centers. As the smart grid rolls out, a wealth of information becomes available for businesses, consumers, and the energy industry. Small green businesses like Celadon Enterprises, EcoDog and Fat Spaniel (now part of Power-One) are helping to ease the flow of information, providing homes and businesses with better information about how they are using energy to help them make better decisions about energy and save money.   Consumers can make use of information for better green decisions in many ways, often on their very own mobile devices, our portable portals to the world The Smartphone eco apps promoting channel EcoAppsFree.com from Fullcircle Innovations is one example, or the hot recycling app My Recycle List from 1-800-Recycling.com, part of Electronic Recyclers International, a leader in electronics recycling (another intersection of clean tech and high tech).   Recognizing the importance of the congruence of information and the environment, Red Herring nominated my friends at Fullcircle Innovations for their Red Herring 100 Asia Award. Fullcircle Innovations which is only 10 months old, is a Tokyo-based eco-startup that is innovating in several ways in this field. In addition to the eco apps channel they have, they also are creating an innovative network of like-minded cleantech and eco-professionals at GreenITers.com (You can contact them at media@fullcircle.co.jp).   "We are delighted with this award," said Flavio Souza, Founder and CEO of Fullcircle Innovations. "It not only recognizes Fullcircle Innovation's past and fast achievements, but our potential for the future as well."   The potential in the congruence of greentech and high tech remains enormous for them and many others at the juncture of green and high tech, where information becomes not just knowledge but wisdom.   Follow @FastCoLeaders for all of our leadership news, expert bloggers, and book excerpts.   Glenn Croston is the author of 75 Green Businesses and Starting Green and the founder of Starting Up Green, showing businesses everywhere how to go green and grow green. He is also the co-creator of the Home Sustainable Challenge, helping more people to thrive in the growing conserver economy.

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