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UW entrepreneurs hope laptop stickers become 'Livestrong' of renewable energy

Jeff Richgels  —  10/08/2008 3:38 pm

Some of the guilt over using a power-sucking laptop may subside with a simple sticker.

University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Ted Durkee and recent graduate Brandon Gador co-founded a company called Powered Green, which they hope could "change the way everyday people perceive and use renewable energy."

The company is selling "Energy Seal" stickers for $16 each. People then affix them to their laptop computers to show that the computer's lifetime energy consumption has been offset with certified renewable energy credits from wind turbines.

Buyers gain the knowledge that they are doing good for the environment, and the sticker publicizes that good, potentially earning them a pat on the back or -- even better -- a convert to the cause, Durkee said.

"We provide a visual, tangible representation of what would otherwise be an intangible concept," Durkee said. "(The sticker) makes it easier for people to understand and allows them to express in public that they are actively committed to renewable energy.

"We always compare it to the Livestrong wristband, because you don't get anything out of the Livestrong wristband" beyond the knowledge of the good a donation does and the visibility the wristband brings, he added.

The yellow silicone Livestrong wristband was launched in 2004 as a fundraising item for the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the cancer-fighting group founded by world-famous cycling champion and cancer survivor Lance Armstrong. Tens of millions of the $1 bands have been sold.

Of the $16 cost of each Energy Seal sticker, $14 goes for the renewable energy credits and $2 goes to cover the company's overhead, including producing the stickers.

The company measured the energy consumption of eight common laptops and, based on 10 hours a day of operation for seven years, established a lifetime average use of 690 kilowatt-hours, or about $14 worth at retail cost. That's about what the average U.S. home uses in electricity each month, which if produced by coal, results in more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions and other pollutants.

"The idea was to provide more energy than the average person will use," Durkee said. "That way everyone's use will be accounted for, and we can have the greatest possible impact on renewable energy and emissions."

The company also sells separate stickers to companies for desktop computers, which use much more power than laptops, and plans to eventually offer the desktop stickers to consumers.

Powered Green buys renewable energy in orders of at least 1 million kwh, giving it a quantity discount that puts the company's cost slightly below the $14 it charges for the renewable energy credits in the $16 sticker cost. That slight difference will be the company's profit margin.

Durkee and Gador plan to donate 10 percent of their profits to land conservation charities.

The renewable energy credits cover the difference between the market price of power from traditional sources and what it costs to produce wind power.

"It's essentially a subsidy that allows wind farms to operate profitably," Durkee said.

It's similar to the programs run by utilities like MG&E and Alliant Energy in which customers agree to pay extra on their utility bills to subsidize the production of wind power: the more customers who take part, the more wind power the utility can buy or develop.

Powered Green's first acquisition was 1 million kwh from the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center near Abilene, Texas, "because more carbon dioxide is emitted per kilowatt-hour of energy in Texas" than anywhere else in the U.S., Durkee said. "So we can have more impact in Texas. Our next batch we want to be closer to home."

When they wanted to start a company, Durkee and Gador originally looked at the feasibility of installing small-scale wind turbines on telecommunications towers but were stymied by financial and structural barriers.

"We were going to call it 'Green Signals'," Durkee said. "But we still had the idea of providing renewable energy for consumer electronics in a way people could show off in public.

"We're just enamored with the idea of renewable energy credits. It gives you a way to pay for renewable energy no matter where you are and where the source is," he added.

Although the company, which includes the co-founders and four interns, only launched this week it already has more than 300 customers.

"We initially sent out an e-mail to our friends and family, and they e-mailed their friends and family, and it just kind of grew from there," Durkee said.

The stickers are for sale at Ancora Coffee Shops and at www.poweredgreen.com, which also has details on how the concept works. The Ancora in Fitchburg is hosting a Powered Green night on Thursday at 6:30, where the founders will be on hand to answer questions and talk about their goals.

Using the kind of grass-roots marketing that powered the Livestrong wristband, Powered Green -- which the co-founders have funded on savings, loans and debt -- has ambitious growth goals.

"We want to offset hundreds of million of pounds of carbon dioxide, even billions of pounds," Durkee said. "If we reach half the strength of Livestrong it could be hundreds of billions of pounds."

Jeff Richgels  —  10/08/2008 3:38 pm