Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Wed, May 26, 2010 AXcess News: Environmental Company Gives Green Consumers Something to Cheer About
HOUSTON, TX--(Marketwire - May 26, 2010) - As environmental products move up in the marketplace, retailers are making more shelf space available as "going green" becomes the mantra of marketers everywhere. For Viaspace, Inc. (
Green Logs are fireplace logs manufactured from [ Giant King Grass ], a proprietary variety of grass which grows at a remarkable pace, which is the dreamchild of Doctor Carl Kukkonen, a former Ford Motor Co. researcher who led Ford's research team in the development of hydrogen as an alternative fuel before moving on to work at NASA where he served as Director of the Center for Space Microelectronics Technology. Kukkonen, now Chairman and CEO of Viaspace, envisions Giant King Grass as the biomass fuel of the future.
Seeing it developed for the $400 million a year consumer firelog market, Kukkonen called Green Logs a [ 'stepping stone' ] to cash flow growth in order to develop Giant King Grass into a recognized global biomass fuel source.
"Green Logs complement our strategy," Dr. Kukkonen said.
Viaspace's plans are to enter the lucrative U.S. fireplace log market with a bang, and according to buyers at last week's National Hardware Show, Viospace's Green Logs were a hit. "This is exactly the kind of product we're looking for," said a national grocery chain's buyer who attended the 2010 show in Las Vegas.
Green is In
According to [ Green Futures ], a UK organization focused on sustainable development, three in ten American adults were considered "green consumers" in a survey conducted in 2005. Those consumers brought 229 billion dollars of spending power to the U.S. market that year alone. Last year, the Financial Times put the number far in excess of that.
Bill Ryan, business development specialist with the University of Wisconsin Extension, Center for Community & Economic Development, says two-thirds of Americans "worry about the environment," buying products that are healthier and less harmful to society and the environment.
For Kukkonen's Viaspace, that type of sentiment is playing well for the introduction of his company's Green Logs into the marketplace. The company expects to report orders as soon as August, having shipped samples to buyers in April from Viaspace's manufacturing plant in China's Guangdong province.
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