Top 10 Eco-Business Ideas of 2006

Hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas weekend! Ours was relatively quiet and low-key, but still an awfully good time. My coolest gift is not particularly green, but I love it: a massaging desk chair...! If it balances things out at all, I bought my wife some jewelry from local Fair Trade shop MacroSun International (among other things)... their stuff is gorgeous if you're in the market.

New Year fever has taken hold in the blogosphere and elsewhere as we all reflect on the outgoing year, and make plans and resolutions for the new one. So far, one of my favorite "10 Ten of 2006" lists is Springwise's "Top 10 eco & sustainability business ideas in 2006." Springwise focuses on cool, and all ten of these ideas fit that qualification. Among the concepts that got the nod:

• The sustainable dance club, complete with a dance floor that harnesses the energy of patron's movements. Did a post on this one at TH.
• Buying carbon offsets via text message, an concept implemented by Great Britain's World Land Trust. Oh, my.... did a post at TH about this one, too.
• Residential wind turbines... there's even competition in this category.
• Household and retail recycling solutions.
• Hybrid taxis and rentals. Now, there's a sustainablog post...
  

Others have already noted that 2006 was a great year for green thinking and action -- some have even claimed a tipping point occurred. We'll only really be able to tell that in retrospect, but the business world, from start-ups to blue chips, seems to have embraced Ray Anderson's maxim of "doing well by doing good." Are there stragglers? Without a doubt? And greenwashers, too. The Springwise list demonstrates, though, that a lot of creative energy is going into profitable green business solutions (and quite a bit of investment capital, also). Let's hope that these business ideas, and the others that came to fruition, provide inspiration to entrepreneurs and corporate chieftains both in the new year.

Categories: business, innovation, green, sustainable, top10, 2006, springwise