One of the highlights of this year’s World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi was a tour of Planet Solar’s incredible solar powered yacht – the Turanor. The largest solar powered boat ever to set sail, the Turanor is on the final leg of a round-the-world tour, the first time anyone has managed to sail around the world powered entirely by solar energy. The massive 8.5 ton boat comfortably carries a crew of a half dozen or so with plenty of room to host a dockside party for 100. It cruises comfortably at 5 knots but is capable of double that speed on particularly good days as it cuts through the waves with its knife-like design. Most impressive – the boat can can store as much as 3 days worth of sailing power in a huge rack of lithium ion batteries – thus allowing it to sail in the dark of night without a hitch.

We normally reserve start-up company coverage for Friday, but we wanted to be among the first to scoop the launch of Replenish – a new company with a much smarter way to distribute household cleaning products. The basic idea isn’t rocket science: selling and distributing concentrated product is cheaper and greener than shipping water and extra plastic all over the country. The smart part comes from a very clever design.

Though their greening of the Empire State Building may garner more headlines, Johnson Control’s renovated headquarters building deserves its share of kudos too. The Glendale, WI complex has just been honored with a LEED platinum rating by the US Green Building Council which makes it (probably) the “greenest” headquarters among the Fortune 500. More importantly, it serves as a showcase for one of the company’s core business units – building efficiency.