The 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) just ended. Huffington Post did one of its quick polls of the coolest new gadgets at the show. See a photo, read a one-sentence description, and rank it 1 (fine) to 10 (fantastic!). Number One may surprise you.

It wasn’t Samsung’s laptop with a semitransparent screen, which got a 5.3 rating.

Two slate tablets by Que and HP didn’t even rate as high as the Samsung laptop.

My favorite, a mini-helicopter with a video camera that you control with your iPhone, only came in at 5.3.

Two new TV products scored a little higher at 6.1: 3-D TV and mobile DTV that you can play on your smart phone. Very cool, but well below the #1-rated gizmo, which is: Horizon’s HydroFill, which converts water into hydrogen and stores it in a fuel cell that can power your gadgets. It rated 9 out of 10.

As if to prove such a ranking wasn’t a fluke, #3 went to portable solar panels that fit on a backpack or lunchbox. (8 out of 10)

You have to see the photos, which you can view and rate here, to understand how much cooler almost every other gadget is than these two. The solar panel on the backpack looks absolutely nerdy, which leads to this conclusion: They’re getting the votes because they’re green.

Polls like this confirm that the desire to “go green” has reached a tipping point. Organizations used to be able to tout the paper they saved or the containers they recycled as evidence of their environmental leadership. No more. Such efforts are becoming the ticket into the game, an expectation that garners no praise if you do it but disdain if you don’t.

A green perspective means that organizations must address their societal responsibilities strategically:

• What strategic challenges confront your environmental plans?
• What are the principal environmental factors that may affect your competitive position?
• What does environmental leadership mean to your organization’s sustainability?
• What does it mean to your organizations’ ability to attract and retain talented employees?

It also opens doors to new customers and markets, as Horizon discovered when it rolled out the HydroFill. More and more people want to act on their desire to save energy, conserve resources, and act more responsibly toward the environment.

It’s a trend that’s only going to strengthen.

To read related articles, click on:

• 4 Parts of True Sustainability
• External Scan: Climate Change
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• 10 Critical Questions: Senior Leadership

(4 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)

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