GREEN BUSINESS VIEWS

Posts Tagged ‘green business’

As everyone looks to the government to prop up “Cutting Edge” Green industries, there may be a better solution.  One of the first suggestions is to know that the newly created (or funded) Green programs are viable in a scenario that is not artificially promoted by over-hype advocates.  At the end of the cycle of Green business, these promotes must exist in a competitive market.  Solyndra was already in trouble as the Chinese had a more efficient process and a better product under way.  The blind-enthusiasm to put money into any program with Green energy behind it has cost America a half billion dollars, and undoubtedly there are some politicians with fatter wallets and dirty hands.

The fact is the Green business can be found everywhere.  I believe that a Green business may well be a very traditional business that has made a significant change in its building, operation, and its people.  It need not product a Green product to be a Green business.  A vegan does not stop eating.  They simply change their diet.  So while the vegan still consumes food, they changed their behavior.  A Green business can continue to do the business that they did before, but now they are committed to a higher standard.

We can create more Green businesses and develop more Green jobs if we realize that we don’t have to invent them from scratch.  Not, that that isn’t a good idea.  Let’s just not think of a Green business or Green jobs as tied to a Green energy product only.

Also, small and medium size business need access to capital markets and financial resources as well.  Why do the brilliant politicians throw millions at speculative Green energy businesses when the businesses which are the backbone of the country are constantly worried about new regulations, new taxes, and tight money markets?  If we want Green businesses and Green jobs, why not incentivize the millions of regular businesses to Go Green?

The start costs of Greening an existing business is already paid.  The chances of success are far greater than start ups.  The results will be more widespread.  The concepts of promoting Green has become extraneous because the best efforts go to the worst candidates.  In the spirit of “Invest in America,” we should look to the existing businesses in this country and help them get better.

Yes, we should leave room for the innovative and new project, but the business plan needs to be more than high speculation.  Green jobs come from Green businesses.  Why not put our best efforts behind the best bet for success?  No matter how many innovations that are funded, we should not forget the heart of the job-creation machine.

We should promote innovation and new Green ideas, but we must put our strength behind existing businesses that need to be Green and promoting a Green program.

While doing your part to save the earth, it may be helpful to know the benefits that come from a Greener environment at home.  The EPA warnings are now well known.  Indoor air quality is 5-6 times worse than outside air.  That being said, there are very few things that anyone has suggested beyond changing the cleaning products of the facility.  In fact, the process of identifying and making a few changes in the building is smart as well as practical.

There are twenty-four detoxification suggestion in a new book called, “Detoxify Your Home.”  The same ideas can apply to any building as well.  Candace Richmond R.N. offers the second in her Naturally Green Clean series.   This is a great addition to any home owner or business office.  The reasons are explained in the book, but suffice it to say that we pay a price in our health and employee productivity when it comes to the indoor air quality.

Candace Richmond also revised her first work, “Naturally Green Clean” to include the natural way to deter and eliminate pests as well.  The two books now offer one of best presentations applicable to Greening any operation.  The books can be found at www.NaturallyGreenClean.org allowing an immediate download of great information.

It would appear to the casual observer that sustainability programming is a little like watching people at a horse race.  Each one is betting on their favorite horse, not caring that there are a dozen other horses in this frantic race.  The spectator’s singular interest is a good example of sustainability applications.  Present day Green programming tends to be myopic and not a little biased toward the person’s favorite subject.

Right now, energy is the favorite horse in the race.  After all, it is commonly understood that this segment of a sustainability plan has the fastest ROI, and everyone likes to see the bills go down while “doing their part to save the earth.”  Solar panels, lighting systems, new insulated windows are sold based upon the time it takes to get a return on the investment.  Of course, there are the other coincidental solutions like reduced CO2 and less demand for foreign oil that make everyone feel downright patriotic.

Maybe your horse is named recycling.  There is not as big a savings to these programs, but they are fairly easy to install and manage.  Invest into some recycling bins, hold a few in-house training programs, and starting buying recycled paper goods; and you’re now about a Green as anyone can imagine.  Right?

Of course, there is the dark horse in every race.  This one is CO2.  By conducting a rather complex (and expensive) carbon assessment (footprint calculation), the amount of carbon output is determined.  The next step is to buy enough carbon credits to offset the company’s carbon footprint.  And, there you have it.  The company is “Carbon Neutral.”  By the way, the company may have made no real change to the operation, but some will assert that the company has “Gone Green” because it is carbon neutral.

Which horse does your company favor?  Regardless of your choice, a fundamental flaw exists in this myopic planning effort.  A serious plan is not built on just one leg of environmental concern.  The topics to consider are more than a single issue.  In fact, consider some of the topics in a full sustainability plan, a sustainability officer would consider all these topics:

1. Indoor Air Quality
2. Source Reduction and Recycling
3. Energy Reduction Strategies
4. Water and Waste Management
5. Paperless Office Transition
6. Green IT
7. Green Fleets
8. Green Purchasing
9. Corporate Social Responsibility
10. Green Facility and Landscaping
11. Carbon Footprint and Offsetting
12. Environmental Risk Management

This is not an exhaustive list, but it serves to demonstrate that there are many elements to a winning sustainability plan.  Rather than single out one part of a serious plan, the sustainability plan is designed to create a short list of sustainable ideas that will move the company further down the road this year.  Don’t try to do it all, but do not choose one element and neglect the other important concerns.

It is the clear duty of a sustainability officer to understand the company’s operation and opportunities.  Measuring against the many ideas that could be done, the CSO will set the sort-term goals for the year to a time table for the year.  This is something to present to management so that everyone is supportive of the effort and funding is available.  The long list of items are a kind of “Wish List” that are part of the planning for the next year.  We believe that any Green company transition is a three to five year project.

Avoiding near-sightedness as a sustainability officer is important to the company.  We did not create the environmental issue in a year, and we will not solve it in a year.  The most important commitment is that we must start that journey today.  As a sustainability officer, the practical skill is the ability to develop a sustainability plan that fits the company, established credible milestones of achievement, and results in a progressively Green operation.

Learn to be an effective sustainability officer by taking a proven course of study such as the Certified Sustainability Officer training.  This course can be taken online and contains one of the most compete programs for integration to the workplace.  It seems clear that every company will eventually need a sustainability officer in-house.  It is simply unwise to appoint anyone to this task unless they have had the basic training needed to do the job well.  The in-house sustainability officer is obvious far less expensive than outsourcing the task.  The benefits of the CSO is a more cohesive and custom approach to sustainability planning.

It is an old saying, “You never miss the water until the well goes dry“. In many parts of the world, water is plentiful and safe. However, there are many places where water is scarce and not safe. 97.5% is salt water, and the rest of the water isn’t always accessible or drinkable.

Scientists tell us that less than 1% of the world’s water supply is drinkable or potable. A good portion of that water is underground, in snow and ice, or in lakes.

Any pollution of the water supply only aggravates a very serious world issue. This belies that fact of an exploding world population. Suffice it to say that we all know countless areas of the world where water is as scarce as gold, and nearly as precious. This gives rise to the need for water management for families and companies regardless of available supply in the community.

The good news is that water is being replenished day after day, but it is under more and more stress. As communities develop, populations increase, and manufacturing grow; the demand for water will be potentially be the next environmental crisis. Like so many resources, there is a need to treat water as a precious commodity.

Without beating this subject to death, we have all see countless examples of wasteful water use. There are sprinkler systems running in a rainstorm, or a broken sprinkler shooting a 20 foot arc of water into the street.

Hotels and other businesses with large grassy areas often have hidden leaks that can pour hundreds of gallons of water into the soil. The loss of water from the water source to the end user is less than 30% of what enters the system. The older the system, the worse the water loss will be.

Replacing municipal water systems will be very expensive and a major intrusion. There are many things that nearly any home or facility could do to improve the waste of yet another commodity.

There is one statement that tends to evoke a knee-jerk reaction, and that occurs when I say that the reputable Green business programs have had less than a 3-5% penetration into the marketplace.  This does include such good programs as LEED, ISO, and Green Business League that perform live audits instead of some token programs that use self-assessment or Internet forms.  The honest programs always prove their value by requiring a live audit and benchmark for achievement.  The rest are simply not credible.

As for the statement of 3-5% penetration into the business, the 2009 U.S. census showed that there were over 27 million business in the United States.  So, we have a fair starting point for the further facts that will be related.

According to an April 2009 report by the U.S. Green Building Council, they state that there are 2,476 LEED certified projects and 19,524 registered projects, distributed in over 90 countries.  ISO reported in 2002 that the of ISO 9000 total stood at 510,616 in 161 countries.  While both of these numbers are impressive in the progress being made, it seems obvious that the penetration of the Green business program is a small percentage of the U.S. or world marketplace.

Look at the major cities.  Another LEED provided statistic relates the extent of LEED buildings in major metropolitan areas:

1 – Chicago, IL — 88
2 – Portland, OR — 73
3 – Seattle, WA — 63
4 – Washington, D.C. — 57
5 – Atlanta, GA — 53
6 – San Francisco, CA — 50
7 – New York City, NY– 46
8 – Grand Rapids, MI — 44
9 – Los Angeles, CA — 40
10 – Boston, MA — 38

So, while these numbers are not critical of LEED or ISO, the concern for the real impact of our efforts are real.  Businesses are slow to the process, at best.  There seems to be a pressure to make progress combined with an inability to accomplish the task in a meaningful way.

Making the program accessible to whole cities, chambers of commerce, or business organizations allows communities to install a powerful Green business program at literally no cost to the community or the customer.  Fees apply only for requested training, auditing, or certification programs.