This challenge attracts competing teams from around the world proposing green product innovations. I am honored to be selected as a judge for this year’s event taking place in Washington D.C. April 12-13, 2011.

Contestants represent the four corners of the world. Here’s the list of competing teams:

Team Cyrus from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. They are presenting an Adjustable Standard Binder made of recycled materials.

Team EcoZeal from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, India. They are presenting an Eco-Tape Cutter made with 30 percent less material than typical dispensers.

Team Silver Monkeys from the University of Cincinnati, United States. Their portfolio-style binder is about half the size of a three-ring binder, and secures paper so it won’t slip out as it can when in a folder.  The Folio is made of a reusable material.

Team GreenSparkle from Tsinghua University, China. They are presenting a Reusable Container of Glue Stick that eliminates waste by enabling the container to be refilled rather than purchasing a new glue stick.

Team Simplicity from the University of Cincinnati, United States. They are presenting a sleek reusable notepad made of recycled and biodegradable materials designed to eliminate individual paper waste.

Team Silver Monkeys from the University of Cincinnati, United States. Their EcoEasy Button is an evolution in surge protector design that is made of environmentally-preferable materials, and can be placed on the user’s desk for easy access.  It also alerts the user when their devices have been draining energy for extended periods of time.

Team Bolton from the Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland. They are presenting a metal staple that creates a strong hold on documents without wasting material to secure it.

Who will be the winner? We all will be thanks to Staples and these innovators from around the world that are contributing to the entrepreneurial awareness that you can make money going green.

And if you would like to vote for a favorite team, this year’s challenges now provides online voting!

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017 focusing upon the emerging smart, healthy and green economy. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of companies making money going green.

Is this picture our renewable energy future? Look at the technology deployed. There are the obvious solar panels. But there is also a battery storage system that would enable this outdoor light to operate at night using solar electricity generated and stored during the day. And there is the worker installing this technology on an age-old timber pole, speaking volumes on the potential for growing green jobs.

What this picture doesn’t speak to is cost. Utility electric lighting is typically supplied from the utility’s “base loaded” power plants that are the most efficient and therefore have the lowest per kWh operating costs. The implementation path suggested by this picture is directly tied to the economics of solar and batteries compared to based load power plants.

In much of the U.S. based loaded power comes from either nuclear or coal. The great news for the consumers during the last couple decades is that this is really low cost energy, averaging around 5 cents per kWh, or less! But that trend could be changing. Utilities across America that rely on coal fired power plants are announcing significantly sized rate increases. Independent rate tracking organizations are projecting up to 50% rate increases for customers in the Midwest and South.

And the cost for solar and battery storage is declining. How soon and how low are critical strategic issues the world solar industry is pursuing out of recognition that someday subsidies will go away and they will have to compete on price. A telling example comes from India where their government recently committed to a national program targeting solar electricity pricing parity with utility generated electricity by 2022. Their expectation is that price parity will result in solar accounting for 22,000 MWs of electricity supply.

I will always remember this picture as a symbol of what could be and what might be happening sooner than later.