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GreenBiz 350 Podcast

Episode 16: Cities built for self-driving cars; The fight over clean power

This week on the GreenBiz 350 podcast: Where to from here on the clean power, and what's the next frontier for green infrastructure?

It's been a big week for sustainability — Clean Power Plan, anyone? — but never fear. The GreenBiz 350 podcast is here to make sense of it all.

For those new to the game, click play on the track above to listen now, or head over to iTunes and subscribe. You can also find us on SoundCloud or Stitcher.

Got a question, comment or suggestion? Send us a note at [email protected]. The full episode archive is always available at greenbiz.com/350.

Finally, follow along with the stories, companies and initiatives mentioned during the show with the guide below:

GreenBiz week in review

A weekly roundup of the news you need to know about.

Best Buy hits a roadblock on e-waste

Voluntary corporate recycling is great. Until it isn't. That was the takeaway for electronics mega-retailer Best Buy, which hit an economic obstacle in it's long-running electronics takeback program thanks to the high cost of recycling materials commonly found in gadgets.

As Senior Writer Heather Clancy reports, the company has decided to implement a $25 fee for consumer takebacks and alter the standards it requires for recycling, btinging into focus issues like lagging recycling infrastructure and the challenges ahead for concepts like the "circular economy."

How to close a clean energy deal

Whether it's wind to power a data center or solar keeping the lights on for a big box retailer, closing a clean energy deal still isn't easy (even for a big corporation).

Senior Writer Barbara Grady reports on the state of the corporate renewables market in the piece, "What it takes to get corporate clean energy deals done."

Business travel meets the Internet of Things

You can't throw a rock without hitting a company trying to leverage Internet of Things technology — the Internet of Food, Pets, Brains (?) — but one particularly big opportunitiy lies in the realm of connected transportation.

As BusinessGreen Reporter Madeleine Cuff reports, one upstart called AutoTrip is looking to apply connectivity and data analytics to optimize business travel for efficiency and minimal environmental impacts.

Featured stories

An in-depth look at two stories changing the game for green business.

What's next for the Clean Power Plan?

By now you've probably heard that the Supreme Court has (at least temporarily) hit the brakes on the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan, which is an integral part of the U.S. commitment to the Paris climate agreement.

That's a big problem for businesses that are counting on policy drivers like the Clean Power Plan to support their movement toward renewable energy.

The future of green infrastructure

Old-fashioned gray infrastructure doesn't cut it anymore for cities aiming to build for climate resilience and sustainability. As a result, green infrastructure (one our top 10 green business trends for 2016) is gaining currency.

John Eddy, principal of the infrastructure practice for engineering firm Arup, weighs in on what's next for the built environment — including the push to retrofit cities for self-driving cars.

What's new at GreenBiz?

News, events, webcasts — the list goes on. Keep your finger on the pulse of the latest in sustainability by keeping up with GreenBiz.

Heading for warm weather

We've got two big events coming up: GreenBiz 16 from Feb. 23-25 in Phoenix, Arizona, and the VERGE Hawaii Asia Pacific Clean Energy Summit slated for June 21-23 in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Stay connected

To make sure you don't miss the newest episodes of GreenBiz 350, be sure to click subcribe on iTunes or bookmark greenbiz.com/350.

Have a question or suggestion for a future segment? E-mail us at [email protected].

Technical direction for GreenBiz 350 by Sureya Melkonian.

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