Springwise’s Top 10 Eco Business Ideas 2006

So you want to think global and act local? Check out Springwise’s Top 10 Eco Business Ideas in 2006. Springwise’s list may be UK-based, but the implementation doesn’t have to be. Here’s their list – visit via the link above to see full profiles of each one.

1. Hailing a hybrid: greentomatocars’s taxi fleet consists only of hybrids.
2. Consumer generated power: Buy a wind generator for your building or neighborhood.
3. Household recycling plant: Save time with an indoor recycling plant – , designed by BMW to be the ultimate recycling machine.
4. Green rentals: Rent only hybrids from EV Rental Cars, and it’s based in the U.S.! Why is this #5 instead of #1? Probably because people in #1 drive less.
5. Eco-chic entrepreneurs: Fashionable recycled handbags from ECOIST.
6. Innovative olive farmers: Adopt an organic olive tree from Nudo and receive organic olive oil from your own tree. Easily applied to local community gardens.
7. Retail approach to recycling: Convenient recycling drop-off for your computer/electronics’ junk via Green Citizen in Palo Alto, CA. Every city should have one.
8. Carbon offsets by sms: Text message at $3 a pop, worth 140kg of C02 offset, to the World Land Trust’s program to regenerate rain forests. Imagine a similar program to improve quality of life in your own neighborhood.
9. Zen approach to cleaning industry: Eco-home cleaning combined with aroma therapy, via ZENhome Cleaning in Brooklyn, NY.
10. Hot nightclub, minus global warming: Organic beer and energy-generating dance floors at the Sustainable Dance Club in Rotterdam, Netherlands. This one’s worth a more detailed look. Every city is hiding an entrepreneur who would be inspired to open such a place. That’s what beta communities uncover.

Check out their website to see their other Top 10 lists that reflect an evolution to a higher quality of life: Tourism & travel, financial services, fashion & beauty, automotive, and life-hacking business ideas.