Episode 151: Hunter Lovins looks ahead, a startup accelerator guide

Week in ReviewTune in around 6:57 for a roundup of news.Cop out: Can the U.N. Climate Summit Deliver?The road to automated driving systems in commercial vehiclesHow Kickstarter is encouraging designers to consider circularity and other environmental factorsFeatured StoriesMahindra's mission (23:28)Indian conglomerate Mahindra Group has set an ambitious goal to become carbon neutral by 2040. GreenBiz Executive Editor Joel Makower digs deeper into how that strategy is playing out in this interview with Lakshmanan Chidambaram, president of Americas Strategic Verticals.How to incubate cleantech and clean energy innovation (29:35)"What's an accelerator versus an incubator, prize or venture studio?" The answer to that provocative question is explored in the new book "Accelerate This! A Super Not Boring Guide to Startup Accelerators and Clean Energy Entrepreneurship." We catch up with author Ryan Kushner, who helped create the Free Electrons program backed by 10 prominent utilities.  The path to a more inclusive, constructive economy (38:58)Hunter Lovins has been a champion of sustainable development for more than 35 years. She has consulted on sustainable agriculture, energy, water and climate policies for governments, communities and companies. She has co-authored more than a dozen books, including the best-selling "Natural Capitalism." Lovins chats about why she's optimistic about the fundamentals of a "regenerative economy," the subject of her latest book, "A Finer Future: Creating an economy in service to life."  Calculating the footprint of building products (52:52)How much will a particular building material affect a construction project’s carbon footprint? Industry leaders in the building products space — including flooring company Interface, design firm Gensler, construction manager Skanska, ceiling manufacturer Armstrong, insulation company CertainTeed and wallboard producer USG — are collaborating on a database that includes about 17,000 low-carbon options for materials such as concrete, steel and gypsum. The resource builds off an internal embodied carbon calculator developed by Microsoft. Lisa Conway, vice president of sustainability for Interface, discusses materialsCAN (Carbon Action Network). *All music in this episode by Lee Rosevere ("As I Was Saying," "Thinking It Over," "Keeping Stuff Together" and "What's Behind the Door.")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.• Do we have a newsletter for you! Monday's GreenBuzz and Wednesday's VERGE Weekly are essentially unchanged. But the lineup includes Transport Weekly (Tuesday), Energy Weekly (Thursday) and Circular Weekly (Friday). You must subscribe to each newsletter in order to receive it. Please visit this page to choose the newsletters you want to receive.• Check out our Center Stage podcast, which features the best of live interviews on sustainable business and clean technology, conducted on stage at GreenBiz and VERGE conferences.• The GreenBiz Intelligence Panel is the survey body we poll regularly throughout the year on key trends and developments in sustainability. To become part of the panel, click here. Enrolling is free and should take two minutes.Stay connectedTo make sure you don't miss the newest episodes of GreenBiz 350, subscribe on iTunes.Have a question or suggestion for a future segment? E-mail us at [email protected].