It has been more than two years since Rudy and Asheen launched this Cleantech Dinner series for Net Impact Boston, discussing and debating the roles of cycled materials, clean energy, and appropriate technologies in a company striving for a positive “net impact”. Do the ideals with which we kicked off this dinner discussion series still hold?

We culminated this “cleantech” and “sustainable business” content development by running an intensive all-day Sustainable Innovation Workshop for some corporate and nonprofit clients recently. With this workshop and a couple dozen meetings’ worth of your insights behind us, we will revisit the motivating definition that we first posited together in 2007. Namely,

A sustainable company is one that:

• —Uses the waste of another industry as its input as much as possible, and minimizes the use of virgin materials extracted from the earth;
• —Creates output that can be used by another industry or returned to a natural state, and minimizes waste that can’t be used by another industry or returned to a natural state; —and
• Uses the least amount of energy to achieve the desired outcome, and uses energy ultimately derived from renewable sources.

Is this still a good working definition for a cleantech company? Is “cleantech” even the right word, now that the term has been co-opted by investors — or should we really be calling this the “Sustainable Business Dinner Series” or something else entirely?

Join us for an evening of lively discussion and active introspection as we review the tenets of corporate environmental sustainability, to work toward a new definition and set of values for this long-running dinner series.

New to the Cleantech Dinner Discussions? It’s just an informal group of folks — always with some familiar and some new faces — who gather over dinner and drinks to debate topics of cleantech and sustainable business. You can view previous cleantech dinner discussion topics at http://netimpactboston.org/category/events/cleantech-dinners/. The discussions are kicked off by experts, who have included leading faculty, EPA heads, and Fortune 500 sustainability officers. Read more about who’s behind the dinner series:

• Asheen Phansey: http://quakingaspenllc.com/about/who-we-are/
• Rudy Ruggles: http://quakingaspenllc.com/about/partners/

We hope you’ll join us! Space for the dinner is limited, so please RSVP to Asheen at asheen@netimpactboston.org to reserve a seat. Please also note the nominal fee of $5 added to normal dinner costs for nonmembers.

Date: Wednesday, July 22

Time: 6:30-8:30pm

Featuring: Terry Swack, Co-founder and CEO, Sustainable Minds LLC

Cost: Free for Net Impact members, $5 for non-members

Location: Andala Coffee House & Cafe: 286 Franklin St., Central Square, Cambridge (http://www.andalacafe.com)

Product design teams are being asked to assess the impacts of their products and understand how design changes affect the products’ life cycle performance, while uncovering opportunities for innovation. Currently, there is no standardized way to address these requirements. The opportunity is to operationalize environmentally sustainable (‘green’) product design.

Because 75% of manufacturing costs are committed by the end of the concept stage, the decisions about materials, energy, recycleability and longevity have locked in a product’s environmental life cycle performance. It’s too expensive to change the design later. Product concepts are numerous and loosely defined. Time, available data and budgets limit the ability to create detailed models to conduct ‘what-if’ analysis. Now environmental impacts must also be considered. Life cycle assessment (LCA) can be used to assess the ‘green-ness’ of products and identify opportunities for improvement and innovation. However, the cost, time and expertise required for full-scale LCAs exceed the reach of most product teams - and cannot be used for loosely defined or rapidly evolving product concepts. Operationalizing green product design starts with bringing life cycle thinking and a whole product systems approach to the front of the design process. The result is more sustainable, innovative products, lower costs by eliminating re-engineering, and greater competitive advantage!

Terry Swack will lead this month’s discussion, focusing on the path her company has taken to incorporate this knowledge and approach into the design process and look at some of the benefits, and challenges, of creating an on-demand business in this sector.

Ms. Swack is the co-founder and CEO of Sustainable Minds, an organization focused on helping product designers incorporate sustainable design principles into their work from the very beginning of the design process. To do this, the company created web-based software based on the Okala approach to life cycle assessment that acts as a decision support tool for designers. For more information, see their website at http://www.sustainableminds.com/

Space for the dinner is limited, so please RSVP to Rudy at rudy.ruggles(at)comcast.net to reserve a seat. Please also note the nominal fee of $5 added to dinner costs for nonmembers. You can view previous cleantech dinner discussion topics at http://netimpactboston.org/category/events/cleantech-dinners/

Today’s consumer is bombarded by eco-friendly messages, yet many are still unaffected and have grown suspicious because of all the greenwashing that surrounds the green industry. What is the best way to educate consumers on how to separate greenwashing from information, marketing from standards and self-declared certifications from the true certification process?

Stas Antons is a co-founder of Jump To Green, Inc., a software company that facilitates greener choices through interactive technologies. Recently, Jump To Green has launched JumpGauge™ technology, that tracks the greenness of products and services and presents them in easy-to-see visual format. We will discuss all aspects of eco-labeling, and Stas will touch on his company’s unique solution.

Prior to Jump To Green, Mr. Antons worked as a Director of Software Engineering in the financial industry, and has over 15 years in software engineering and management. In the course of his experience, he regularly briefed corporate leaders and executives on initiatives, proposal and project data.

Space for the dinner is limited, so please RSVP to Asheen at asheen@netimpactboston.org to reserve a seat. Please also note the nominal fee of $5 added to dinner costs for nonmembers. You can view previous cleantech dinner discussion topics at http://netimpactboston.org/category/events/cleantech-dinners/.

Emile Chin-Dickey will be leading a discussion around defining a green home. The discussion will cover topics ranging from energy efficiency and green materials, to cost-effectiveness and how an individual’s value set can impact what goes into their home.

ZeroEnergy Design (ZED) is an integrated architecture and energy consulting firm focusing on green modern home design and zero energy homes and buildings. The firm takes a calculated approach towards sustainable and green architecture by incorporating the fields of mechanical design and financial analysis into its design process. You can read more about ZED at http://www.zeroenergy.com.

Space for the dinner is limited, so please RSVP to Asheen at asheen@netimpactboston.org to reserve a seat. Please also note the nominal fee of $5 added to dinner costs for nonmembers.