Biz Ideas, a new category to GreenerMiami, will cover ideas for businesses that I think should exist in the Miami area and other areas. You may take these ideas and develop them in complete confidence. If you’d like to team up with me on one of these ideas, that’s great, too. Use them, talk about them, and make them happen – and be sure to let me know how it goes!

Our first Biz Idea is based off of PhillyCarShare’s business model (thanks for the tip, Treehugger). Here’s the idea: rent cars to people not by the day, but by the hour. Have cars located around the city for easy pick up and drop off. Include in the price: insurance, gas, maintenance, and child-seats. Use hybrids/fuel efficient cars and also have trucks available for larger loads.

PhillyCarShare’s Mission:

PhillyCarShare is a Philadelphia-based non-profit organization dedicated to reducing automobile dependency in the Philadelphia region through community-based car sharing – improving neighborhood livability; increasing transit ridership, walking, and biking; improving air quality; promoting economic development; mitigating development; mitigating parking demand; and increasing accessibility while alleviating the burdens of auto ownership.

And their prices? $15/month for an Advantage membership, $5.90/hr plus 9 cents/mile. Customers only pay 2 hours from midnight to 8am.

So, using those numbers, if a car was stationed in Brickell, and rented to go to the nearest Wal-Mart,  2 hours / 24 miles, it would cost just under $14.

Think about it – for people that may live in walking distance to work or use public transportation to get there and only need a car occasionally, or any number of other different scenarios. It could work in Miami!

This book is a fun and interesting read – I highly recommend it.

Ben and Jerry talk about the beginning of their business, how they got started, and how they made decisions on the direction of their business.  They also talk about a concept called Social Responsibility which will talk a lot about here in GreenerMiami in the future.  I’m not really a Ben & Jerry’s customer, in fact, I can’t even think of the last time I had their ice cream.  But this book made me want to be associated with them. 

The idea of social responsibility basically boils down to companies doing the right thing.  Something interesting that they talk about in the book Is the difference between for-profit companies and nonprofit companies and the difference that they can make .  While obviously there’s a reason that both types of companies exist, I really became convinced that for-profit, responsibly companies are the way to go. American consumers and the American public in general put so much trust into businesses – many times more so than the government. Maybe it’s because it’s easy to see which companies are doing well and which aren’t – you just need to look at the bottom line.  So why not create a company that makes a profit and usesome of those profits to support good causes? And at the same time use your consumer base and your place in society to send out a message.  Sometimes activists are viewed very negatively – this is a different twist on activism that can be viewed much more positively.

Now, I could provide the Amazon link with my Amazon vendor ID attached to it, encouraging you to buy the book and receive a commission. But the truth is, I don’t want you to buy the book – I just want you to read it.  The Miami-Dade Public Library System owns seven copies of this book and one audio book. If you’re not a member – join.

If it’s been many years since you’ve entered a library: The concept is the same, but the technology is modern. You can search through the entire card catalog online, request that the book, DVD, etc. that you want and it will arrive at the library of your choice.  The automated telephone system calls you when your selections have arrived, and will hold them there for one week for pick-up…all at no cost to you.  And the best thing? When you’re done with the book you give it back and someone else can use it. Sharing!

Sharing is another concept we will be talking about a lot here at GreenerMiami. Graham Hill of Treehugger has been talking about it for a while under the name of "Product Service Systems", as he did recently in an interview in IF by PSFK. Read about the idea – but it’s basically sharing things that individuals don’t need to own. Netflix is the perfect example. So is the public library.