Innovation

There are countless marketing agencies and sales rep groups that focus on generating sales and profit, and there are organizations advising on Sustainability reporting, but there are few other companies focused exclusively on accelerating the sales of sustainable solutions. Blue and Green Planet, Ltd is unique in that it has found a niche in helping businesses engage both in sustainable development and generating profit growth. Although only a single member LLC, Marité Ball manages many people across an array of projects. She creates cross functional teams to develop plans and implement strategies like she did when she worked for Fortune 500 companies. She helps companies validate and open markets for new product launches. Marité leverages her diverse industry experience and business intelligence skill-set for smaller companies and scale-ups.

Blue and Green refers to the promotion of both Blue and Green energy. Green growth is designed to use natural resources in a sustainable way. It also promotes affordable and clean energy, climate action, agriculture, and sustainable land management. Blue growth is a focus of the Europe 2020 strategy, and promotes aquaculture, coastal protection, desalination, marine biotechnology, and blue energy. Marité builds a collaborative framework with local Ohio companies and international environmental developers to mutually generate growth.

Inspiration

Businesses often have a poor reputation in terms of environmental consideration, yet it is businesses that power the world in terrms of economy and innovation. Marité believes that “business is wonderful, but it must be used for the right purpose." She is passionate about growing businesses through sustainable means as the earth is in crisis. Like many, she is concerned for the well being of her children as they inhabit an increasingly polluted world. Federal mandates and budget restrictions make sustainable development more difficult, but Marité is undeterred.

After hurricane Maria, Blue and Green Planet's client, Power Panel, donated a solar-thermal generator to a Puerto Rican village that had no electricity or hot water for four months. After seeing the devastation of the hurricane, Marité decided to become a member of the Community Emergency Response Team in Twinsburg, Ohio. Blue and Green Planet is continuously inspired to align brilliant sustainable developers with investors and companies. Marité loves to “inspire people to work for the right cause, and in this case the cause is very clear”.

Although her work has international implications, Marité is driven to promote blue and green energy locally as well. 1.5 million people rely on fresh water from the Great Lakes (which hold 21% of the world’s freshwater resources). She belongs to the Cleveland Water Alliance and the Akron Global Water Alliance, both of which help maintain potable drinking water for area residents in alignment with the clean water and sanitation goal of the UN. She is also a passionate member of Sustainable Cleveland, working with them to promote the sustainable cities and communities.

Overall impact

Through Marité’s consultancy work in new water technologies, waste-to-energy, materials recycling, and solar-thermal energy, several companies in the Ohio and Michigan regions have launched or expanded their sustainable technologies. For example, Blue and Green Planet’s new client QMS has a patented copper silver ionisation water purification system for HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) that uses no chemicals. It is used at Case Western Reserve University, Suma Hospital and many US Post Offices. It manages the purity of water in the chillers, boilers, and water circulation loops of HVAC systems. This makes the water more conductive, resulting in reduced energy and water use. Beyond the environmental benefits, she is passionate about the human aspect of sustainable consulting. In this project her consultancy helps reduce workers' exposure to hazardous and toxic chemicals. It also benefits sanitation workers that would have previously had to deal with the HVAC discharge. This exemplifies blue growth through clean water and water conservation, and green growth through reduction of energy consumption and correlative CO2 emissions.

In terms of green energy, she has partnered with a solar-thermal panel manufacturer from Detroit. The system uses PV cells on top, and BASF foam with casing that heats the water from solar cells quickly. It converts 80% of the sun’s energy directly into electricity and heating water, which is far more efficient than previous methods. She is working with prominent Cleveland hotels and institutions to accelerate the shift to clean energy.

Business benefit

Blue and Green Planet generated a sales pipeline of $1.5 million for their client Power Panel, and was able to them to market. One of its previous clients, Vadxx Energy, has developed a clean technology that converts plastic waste into ecofuels. A new European company, Black Bear Carbon harvests and recycles carbon black from the waste tires, rendering a a high quality green product. Blue and Green Planet is excited about the possibility to deploy this technology in the US and in Ohio as tire waste is the leading contributor of atmospheric and water pollution. Through her connection to angel investor networks, such as the Akron University Foundation, she is able to connect smaller clients with dynamic new sustainable developments.

In Blue and Green Planet’s business-to-business client service, Marité is able to leverage statewide initiatives such as Pathway 21. The materials marketplace through Pathway provides companies with lower costs, a resilient supply chain, and pushes society as a whole towards zero waste. By using the ‘circular flow’ model of material cooperation, companies have a far easier time following UN SD #12 (responsible consumption and production).

Businesses benefit intrinsically and extrinsically from blue growth as 5.4 million jobs are derived from maritime practices. Marité’s work in Cleveland with the Water Alliance helps ensure future work in aquaculture, freshwater biotechnology, and coastal tourism.

Social and environmental benefit

Blue and Green Planet helps companies and individuals to take their environmentally conscious products, services, and concepts to market. Being environmentally conscious and understanding that our planet requires care and maintenance is extremely important, and Blue and Green Planet is helping to accelerate practical, marketable solutions for our planet on the local, regional, and global levels. They are not simply discussing the moves that must be made to preserve our planet - they are taking action.

Interview

Marité Ball, President and Chief Sustainability Officer