My 5: Louis Hayner, CSO, Alteva

Louis Hayner, Chief Sales Officer for Alteva, responded to our favorite question for the folks we interview. Alteva provides hosted unified communications to businesses. Following is Hayner’s response.

BPGL: What are the five most important things we can do to protect the planet?

* Implement Hosted Technologies.

When a customer chooses a hosted vs. premise-based phone solution for its communications, they contribute to an overall reduction in resources and costs of power and cooling by up to 84 percent. By reducing energy consumption, they reduce the carbon dioxide gas emissions produced as a byproduct of generating electricity.

Unified Communications – A Green Solution for Business

As a small business owner, I’m well aware of the many expenses involved in meeting my company’s technology needs: an Internet connection, a telephone network, mobile phones, smart phones, voicemail, and probably a lot of other time-saving devices coming in the future. It all costs money. And that’s a critical factor for a small business, especially one that’s just getting started.

When I learned about Alteva’s approach to Unified Communications, I was struck not only by the lower cost, but also by the lower impact on the environment. I spoke with Louis Hayner, Alteva’s Chief Sales Officer, by phone from his Philadelphia office. I wanted to learn why his company’s services might be a good idea for small — and large — businesses to consider.

Volunteering Made Easy – Action Now + Network

If you’re like pretty much everyone else I know, you want to do “something” to help causes that are important to you. But your time is limited, and your demands are already huge. How do you find out what organizations support the issues that concern you and where you should expend your limited energy? Action Now + Network is a resource that will help you sort through the options available and choose one (or more) that is right for you.

Launched just two months ago, Action Now + Network is a new website that focuses on organizations that are doing real good for the world. Here’s how founder Sheila Wasserman described Action Now + Network to Blue Planet Green Living (BPGL) in an interview from her California office….

WASSERMAN: In this age of Facebook, Twitter, and instant RSS feeds, it’s really impossible to claim ignorance of the world around us. We are all constantly bombarded at warp speed with information on the life-threatening issues we face every day — perilous geopolitical tensions, global warming, and the destruction of our environment, flagrant and egregious acts of cruelty inflicted by humans upon both humans and animals, not to mention hunger, poverty, homelessness, absent or woefully inadequate health care — it’s hard to know where to stop. For most of us, it is mind-numbing to think of what needs to be done to make even a small impact, let alone to solve the overwhelming problems of the world….

Coolerado’s AC Technology Consumes 90% Less Electricity

An air conditioning unit that runs on a fraction of the electricity of traditional AC units? I was reading an article about Coolerado’s AC unit using 90 percent less electricity than the standard Freon-filled systems. 90 percent! My curiosity was piqued.

Air conditioning units are the primary power drains for utility companies during the summer nearly everywhere on the planet, but this drain is especially bad in some areas, like the U.S. Southwest. The article stated that there were some drawbacks, but for people in a dry climate with low humidity, this unit is the AC of the future.

A Tree Hugger for Book Lovers: Amazon’s Kindle

I love books. I love new books, old books, the smell of books, the feel of pages in my hands, holding books, and reading. Reading… I LOVE to read. I also LOVE trees. Trees make the world beautiful. Trees inspire me. Trees are the oldest living beings on the planet.

Amazon’s Kindle is perfect for book lovers, and tree lovers. No trees are sacrificed for my reading pleasure!