Eco Friendly Icon - Reduce Greenhouse Gases & Oil Dependeny
An icon identifying food that require less fossil fuel to produce allowing consumers to choose the environmental impact of their diet. A store/manufacturer could identify their products as more eco-friendly to produce. This is a product differentiator similar to an organic or heart healthy label.
Q1: What is your initial impression of this idea?
Would it be possible to implement?
Is there a person or organization who I should be talking with?
Idea Description
Food production accounts for over 18% of all greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. That is more than transportation. But that can be changed. There are alternatives available that require little to no change in diet, but use substantially less fossil fuel. Unfortunately few are aware of the environmental impact of their dietary choices. The Eco-Friendly Icon (EFI) is the solution to this problem. Using a small packaging graphic, EFI identifies food choices with a reduced environmental impact. This gives the consumer the opportunity to choose foods that require less fossil fuel thus reducing their carbon footprint. This will help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and foreign oil dependency
What will you do if you win $10,000 for this idea?
The next steps would be to approach food producers and supermarkets about the advantages of labeling there products with EFI. Having an EFI label is an excellent differentiator. Many stores, are already promoting energy efficient stores. Why not promote the eco-friendly food within the store as well. EFI would be a natural fit. It will create its own market much like the booming organic and hormone free markets. It is a great public relations strategy.
Vote for it now.
I like your idea; I want to improve your odds of getting funding I will vote for your idea if you will vote for mine. My idea is for a web site that raises money for inventors and entrepreneurs called New Idea website Check out my idea blob submission and visit New Idea Website and see what I can do for you. http://www.ideablob.com/ideas/4060-NEW-IDEA-WEBSITE The need for jobs is one of the biggest problems that a democratic government faces because creating jobs is an unwanted byproduct of business and industry. The reason I say its unwanted is the more jobs a business creates the more its expenses are and the smaller it’s bottom-line. If business and industry have their way they would run their companies with no jobs at all no management or labor. To deal with this dilemma I pr…moreopose a federal venture capital carrot fund that literally pays entrepreneurs to create jobs. The investment bank would be expected invest in seed level startup projects like yours and to lose money at a specified dollar per jobs ratio for example during hard times that figure may be as high as $20,000 per job and good times the figure may be as low as five dollars per job, by controlling this ratio the fed could roughly control unemployment. The bank will be expected to fund novel products and services and stay away from things like restaurants that will simply draw jobs from other restaurants or moving factories from one part of the country to another. If you like this idea vote for it and send the congressional letter from the website. Sincerely Frank Scruggs
With so much attention drawn to globlal warming this would a great way for people to feel like they are making a difference. I can see this application being used beyond the grocery section. Imagine you have a choice say between two shampoos, one has an EFI label and the other does not, that could be an advantage to some of the smaller brands on the market. It would be really great if it was mandated that all packaged goods had to have some sort of EFI labeling, similar to the Nutritional Information labeling found on all food packaging. It might even force companies to look at how they manufacture, package, and ship their products and change for the better.
This is a great idea! With the increased attention given to eco-friendly companies resulting in higher sales volumes for “green” companies, this could be a winner. I’m curious how you plan to validate the products and what will be the basis for the criteria. This will require collaboration with scientists, nutritionists and perhaps a federal agency such as the Food and Drug Administration. You might consider calling your local state representative to see whether any prominent scientists live in your area and would consider talking to you further about it. Also, check with colleges and universities that may specialize in agriculture and those that may have funding to research impact of fossil fuels on the environment. They may jump at the opportunity to support this effort in or…moreder to generate attention to the issue and their efforts to combat harmful environmental factors. It will certainly take some time to pull all these resources together, but many of the aforementioned resources could be willing to work with you for little cost if their organizations invest in the idea. One benefit to the scientists, nutritionists and other collaborators is that their organizations could also be known as “eco-friendly” and the experts on minimizing fossil fuel reliance. As you point out, there’s certainly benefit to the companies that place the labels on their products as consumers reach for the box of cereal or other product because it’s less harmful to the environment. The environmental trend has led to a higher volume of sales for the producers of green products which has also resulted in lower cost of goods sold (economies of scale) and lower prices to the public. This idea seems like a win-win for all the stakeholders involved. The challenge will be to get the attention of supporting organizations who are seen as authorities in the scientific community and can successfully validate whether a product consumes a lot of fossil fuels or only a small amount. You might even consider creating a scale similar to small, medium, large or bar graph that can be placed on a product to identify the relative amount of fossil fuels consumed in making the product. As is the case with testing new food products on the market, perhaps you could convince a small store to place these labels on their products (obviously find a store that produces goods with a small amount of fossil fuels) and test whether it makes a difference in sales volumes. You might do this in conjunction with standing by the front door of the store and handing out literature about fossil fuel consumption. Some further research may show which states in the U.S. tend to have more environmentally conscious consumers. By identifying these states, it may identify an even better test bed to try out the label. Good luck with this idea as I hope to one day see the “Eco-friendly icon” on products in the grocery store. This a major issue at the forefront today with higher gas prices, limited natural resources and the tendency of consumers to grab the product with the green label versus the one without IF prices are equivalent.