Five Steps to Greening Your Business

 Five Steps to Greening Your Business

What is a green business?

Definition: An organization that uses renewable resources (environmentally sustainable) and holds itself accountable for the human resource aspect of their activities (socially responsible).

Source: startupnation.com

1 — Why would I want to green my business?

  • You want to save money
  • You want to contribute to reducing carbon emissions which reduce the impacts of global climate change
  • You don't like waste and want to reduce the amount you produce
  • Your customers and/or employees expect this from your product or service

2 — So much to do! How do I get started?

  • Identify your business' reasons for becoming "green". What market factors contribute to these reasons?
  • Form a Green Team. Members from all parts of the organization gather to help implement plans and bring new ideas to the table
  • Perform an Energy Audit
    • An engineer comes in and examines operations and provides a detailed report about how you can save on energy costs
    • Lower Valley Energy offers these to business
  • Create a tagline for your project
    • Be Green
    • Stay Green
    • Green=Green

    3 — Find the Low Hanging Fruit

    • Lighting
      • Artificial lighting consumes almost 15% of a household's electricity use
      • Replace regular light bulbs with CFLs. These cost 75% less to operate and last 10 times longer
      • Participate in LVE's ComLite Program. Their goal is to provide an incentive to upgrade old, less-efficient lighting fixtures and they provide a rebate on a 30% or greater wattage reduction
      • Install motion detectors or timers to help turn off those lights that may not get a lot of use
    • Paper and waste
      • Become a RRR Business Leader! Check out the RRR Resource Guide online to get started at www.howdoyourrr.org
      • The average US office worker goes through 12,000 sheets of paper a year! Cut down on your paper consumption by using both sides of the paper: implement a "double-sided" policy
      • Purchase paper with a higher percentage of recycled material. Staples offers a case of 100% recycled paper for $47- there is also 30% option for testy printers
      • Recycle used paper
      • Switch to electronic methods of communicating (bills, statements, newsletters). If 1 in 5 businesses did this, the collective impact would save 151 million pounds of paper thus avoiding 8.6 million garbage bags in the dump.
      • Stock bathrooms with postconsumer recycled tissue products
    • Electronics
      • Shutdown electronics when done for the day. There is software out there that turns computers off automatically. Be aware of the "Phantom Load"; don't just turn electronics off, unplug them too! Cell phone chargers suck more energy when not in use than when charging your phone.
      • Use Power Saving Energy Strips
      • Energy consumption from personal computers contributes to the same amount of greenhouse gas emissions as burning 32 gallons of gasoline
      • Lose the screen savers: flying objects and slideshows can use up to $50 in electricity a year. Look for power management or energy saving features on the control panel or system preferences
      • Purchase Energy Star office equipment. Most major brands carry energy-saving models marked with the Energy Star label
      • Blackle.com and thegreenspider.com search engines use blacked-out backgrounds to hundreds of thousands of kWh or 1 light bulb for 218,917 minutes
    • Heating and Cooling
      • Heating and cooling account for about 56% of the energy use
      • Insulate your hot water heater
      • Set your hot water heater to 115 degrees
      • Water heating can account for 14%-25% of the energy consumed in your home.
      • Install a programmable thermostat and keep it set at 68 degrees
    • Water
      • Landscape your business for maximum water efficiency; use plants native to the landscape
      • Check for and fix leaks in faucets or toilets
      • Install faucet aerators and low-flow toilets
    • Cleaning Products
      • Buy less toxic cleaners to improve indoor air quality
    • Purchasing
      • Implement a "green purchasing" policy where products purchased for the business are first sought out to be "green" products like green cleaners, recycled paper, or compostable silverware or plates
    • Employee Commute
      • Flexible employee commuter options; subsidize cost of START, offer rewards for biking or walking to work, create a ride share program
      • Shorten work weeks to four 10-hour days or allow employees to work from home. Utah just implemented a 4-day work week for all government employees to reduce the amount of commutes per week.
    • Internal "Competition" - the fun factor
    • Think locally

    4 — Making an Investment

    • Building renovations
      • Appliances and electronics are responsible for about 20% of the energy bill, BUT LVE gives rebates
        • Marathon Energy Star Water Heater $100.00
        • Water Heaters 50 gal. Or larger (0.93 MEF or higher) $15.00
        • EnergyStar Clothes Washer (DHW must be electric) $50.00
        • EnergyStar Clothes Washer (DHW any other fuel) $15.00
        • EnergyStar Refrigerator $15.00
        • EnergyStar Dishwasher $15.00
        • Recycled Refrigerator (must be in working condition) $50.00
        • Install a geothermal heat pump and receive up to a $3,000 rebate from Lower Valley Energy!
      • Look into replacing the windows, especially if they are leaky and old. The payback period could be much shorter than you anticipated. Caulking windows is also an option to reduce the amount of heat lost through your windows.
      • Insulate attic and other "bare" spaces. The Hospital insulated their attic last year for $600k and they received a payback in 3 months!!!
      • Consider replacing old heating and cooling systems
        • Carbon Offsets
      • At the end of the day you have done all the activities you can to reduce your carbon footprint. Take a look at a Carbon Offsetting Program to see how you can reduce your impact by purchasing renewable energy and removing "dirty" power from the grid. Pursue Balance offer BEF Offsets which bring a percentage of money back locally to put solar power and renewable energy curriculums in our local schools.

      5 — Evaluate your "Green"

      • Have you realized any competitive edge from your activities?
      • Have you realized any savings - What are the $ amounts that can be contributed to your actions?
      • What do your employees think about your activities?
      • What do your customers say about your green program?

      Local Resources

      • Teton Area 10x10
      • Green=Green Winter Series
      • Jackson Whole Grocer
      • RRR Campaign
      • Lower Valley Energy
      • Check out other Green Businesses and learn from each other!