It may seem like big businesses are the only companies getting buzz for going green, but for small and medium-sized enterprises, there are countless ways to reap rewards by adopting sustainable practices.

by Anna Clark, President of EarthPeople and Author of Green, American Style: Becoming Earth-Friendly and Reaping the Benefits. Follow Anna Clark on Twitter.

The “greening” of America is not just the latest trend; it’s a cultural revolution. What does this phenomenon mean for the business sector? Even if you’re not yet sold on the science of climate change, it’s hard to ignore the changing tide of public perception.

Magazines as diverse as Glamour, Fortune, and even Sports Illustrated are publishing green issues. Green has gone mainstream and smart business owners are looking for ways to capitalize on this phenomenon.

An aerial view of sustainability shows us a principle with the power to preserve our world intact for our grandchildren even as we consume resources today. When we apply this principle to business, we get “corporate sustainability,” which strives to balance the financial, social, and environmental aspects of an organization.

A company’s corporate sustainability strategy depends on such variables as its size and industry. Applications of sustainability can range from retrofitting facilities with energy-efficient features to integrating recycled and/or biodegradable materials into product design and packaging. Other applications exist and many more are still at the conceptual stage.

Large green companies, such as Starbucks and Whole Foods, experience remarkable consumer loyalty and earn a fortune in media attention. But to small and medium- sized enterprises, or SMEs, it may seem like big businesses are the only ones getting the buzz for going green.

Does sustainability offer any real advantages for SMEs? If so, how does the small business owner or even the executive management team of a mid-sized corporation apply such a lofty ideal to daily operations? There are many methods but only one formula: leadership, an inquiring mind, and creativity. For those pioneers eagerly embracing sustainability, the payoffs of going green are significant and the risks are minimal.

One way to describe how to green the SME is by example. Hot Lips Pizza in Portland has earned a reputation as “the most sustainable pizza parlor in the U.S.” Hot Lips’ pizza is made with locally-grown organic ingredients and is delivered in eco-friendly vehicles. Hot Lips pizza has been covered in print and broadcast media nationwide.

You don’t have to operate on the West Coast to cash in on going green, either. Even in Dallas, a town known for its culture of conspicuous consumption, successful strategies for sustainability are at work. Fashion designer Laura Chapuis uses organic fabrics for her line Habitude. She has been featured in magazines such as Shape and Town and Country — without the expense of a publicist.

Alan Hoffmann, a Dallas-based homebuilder searching for a better way to build, discovered insulated concrete forms, or ICFs, arguably the most energy-efficient type of home construction available. The Alan Hoffmann Company is now selling custom homes before the designs are even drawn and has earned media coverage in numerous regional and industry publications.

Good P.R. isn’t the only payoff to going green. Companies should consider the cost savings available through energy efficiency. The Energy Star website is rife with case studies of SMEs that have retrofitted their facilities with energy efficient features, recovering their investment within three years and saving thousands of dollars a year on operating costs. Adding wind power to your energy mix can also earn you points with your customers. Companies taking these measures can also earn recognition via EPA programs such as Climate Leaders.

Companies that want to start small can capture some of the market by adding a green product or service. Identifying opportunities can be a fun and creative process. Retailers, for example, can introduce an organic line or offer customers recycled bags. Banks can add loan products for green building. The possibilities are endless.

And, let’s not forget our most valuable resources — the human ones. Training employees on sustainability leads to material savings and increases efficiency, productivity, and loyalty in the workplace. The Human Rights Initiative completed such training through the company that I run, EarthPeople, a Dallas-based sustainability consultancy. CEO Cannon Flowers said his staff enjoyed the training seminar in energy efficiency, and added, “We’ve identified ways to reduce our operating costs through conservation. We’re also pleased to be able to set an example of environmental responsibility that other organizations can follow.”

Leadership is the key to successful implementation of sustainability initiatives, no matter the size of the company. For SMEs, going green is largely a voluntary action dependent upon the vision and conviction of one or a few individuals. One advantage is that SMEs are free to experiment with sustainability without the pressures of meeting compliance regulations or pacifying activist groups. Enterprising companies with a flair for promotion can earn immediate recognition from stakeholders and the media for their efforts.

Challenges arise when well-intentioned individuals lack the leadership ability to sell their CEOs on their vision. Moreover, most CEOs lack the time, interest, or expertise to manage sustainability initiatives, which they often deem ancillary to the company’s primary purpose. What’s a SME to do? Revisit the formula: greening the SME calls for personal leadership, an inquiring mind, and a little bit of creativity. For those lacking in one or all of these areas, a sustainability consultant is the best solution.

The moral of the story is that sustainability, while not for the faint of heart, is a strategy that SMEs can apply with phenomenal speed and success as long as the commitment is there. Smart SMEs will embrace the changes and recognize the process as evolutionary. Stagnant SMEs may give green a nod, but without commitment and consistency, it will never stick.

The business landscape in the 21st century offers some rich rewards to sustainability pioneers who can muster the courage to reach for the brass ring. The best part is that, in this game, we all win.

This article originally appeared on earthpeopleco.com.

© 2010, Anna Clark. All rights reserved. Do not republish.

Industrial Ecology is the practice of making industrial systems operate more like natural systems. This involves less wastage and associated benefits in terms of profitability and environmental improvement. However, in order for these systems to work it is essential that those industries involve are capable of beneficial interaction. This article asks whether, given the required interaction options, retrofitting of industrial ecology principles to existing industry has potential.

by Peter Garvin, Green Economy Post

Before we can discuss the potential for retrofitting, we must first establish what exactly is meant by industrial ecology.

Definition

Industrial ecology is the idea that as natural systems do not have waste, we should model our systems after these examples if we want them to be sustainable. It involves the shifting of industrial processes from open loop systems, in which resources and capital investments move through the system to become waste, to a closed loop system where wastes become inputs for new processes.

It can involve the sharing of information, services, utility, and by-product resources. However complex the system, the outcome is always intended to add value, reduce costs and improve the environment. Industrial symbiosis is a subset of industrial ecology, with a particular focus on material and energy exchange.

Physical exchange of materials, for example energy, water, and/or by-products, is the most traditional form of industrial ecology – possibly as it offers the most obvious cost savings to industrial players. It has been said that “the keys to industrial symbiosis are collaboration and the synergistic possibilities offered by geographic proximity”.

Examples

A notable example resides in a Danish industrial park in the city of Kalundborg. Here several linkages of by-products and waste heat can be found between numerous entities such as a large power plant, an oil refinery, a pharmaceutical plant, a plasterboard factory, an enzyme manufacturer, a waste company and the city itself. Surplus heat from this power plant is used to heat 3500 local homes in addition to a nearby fish farm, whose sludge is then sold as a fertilizer. Steam from the power plant is sold to Novo Nordisk, a pharmaceutical and enzyme manufacturer, in addition to a Statoil plant. This reuse of heat reduces the amount of thermal pollution discharged to a nearby fjord. Additionally, a by-product from the power plant’s sulfur dioxide scrubber contains gypsum, which is sold to a plasterboard manufacturer. Almost all of the manufacturer’s gypsum needs are met this way, which reduces the amount of open-pit mining needed. Furthermore, fly ash from the power plant is utilized for road building and cement production.

Another great example is the emerging concept of the Circular Economy that is being promoted in China. Although the definition of the Circular Economy has yet to be formalized, generally the focus is on strategies such as creating a circular flow of materials, and cascading energy flows. An example of this would be using waste heat from one process to run another process that requires a lower temperature. This maximizes the efficiency of energy use. The hope is that strategy such as this will create a more efficient economy with fewer pollutants and other unwanted by products.

In Canada, eco-industrial parks exist across the country and have enjoyed some success. The best known example is Burnside Park, in Halifax, Nova Scotia. With support from Dalhousie University’s Eco-Efficiency Centre, the more than 1,500 businesses have been improving their environmental performance and developing profitable partnerships.

Other usage

Eco Industrial Parks can, and often are, used as a stimulus for economic diversification in a community or region. Anchor tenants, such as bio-based product manufacturers or waste-to-energy facilities, etc., can attract complementary businesses as suppliers, scavengers/recyclers, service providers, downstream users and other businesses that could benefit from eco-industrial strategies.

Retrofitting Potential

So, having covered the basic concept, we can now discuss the potential for retrofitting industrial ecology principles to existing industry.

Long-Range

Is the retro fit of industrial ecology practices really a fair goal? Is it not at odds with the ideal approach of sustainable production – where transportation of goods is kept to a minimum? In my opinion the very point of industrial ecology is that by products and waste streams are utilized in the same area, to streamline and refine the process so everything works in harmony. Transferring waste across a country or even internationally is a system we already use, and an inefficient one at that. I do not believe this can be industrial ecology.

Short-Range

In terms of retro fitting, industrial ecology processes may be limited to placing proposed new developments beside others that produce useful products for the new business, or that could utilize the waste streams of the new development. Is this realistic? Well, the industrial symbiosis seen at Kalundborg was not created as a top-down initiative. Instead it evolved gradually. As environmental regulations became stricter, firms were motivated reduce the cost of compliance, and turn their by-products into economic products. Looking at this example it looks like retrofitting may not only be possible, but also one of the primary routes of implementation.

In this case the technique worked well, but it relied on the creation of useful by-products by neighboring industries. If this were not the case, then implementation of the theory would not be possible without restructuring the industrial park with new types of industry at the expense of existing ones.

This may be very limited in scope, particularly in developed nations given the space constraints and prices demanded by commercial real estate. It ends up coming down, at least in part, to price. Even a company with a green approach would not purchase land costing significantly more just because they may be able to utilize a waste stream (depending, of course, on the value of that stream).

So, if retrofitting is not ideal, is a more planned approach to industrial park design a better option?  The engineered design and implementation of industrial ecology systems from a macro planner’s perspective, on a relatively short time scale, actually proves quite challenging. Often, access to information on available by-products is non-existent. These by-products are considered waste and typically not traded or listed on any type of exchange. It may be the case, then, that without the initial combined plan for industrial ecology when setting out a new industrial park, it is far from a simple or exact science.

Conclusion

It is easy to see the potential benefits that industrial ecology offers businesses. It is therefore also easy, in my opinion, to understand just how good an idea it actually is. But, how far could the ideology and principles expand in the current world, particularly in the West where factors such as space, cost and even secrecy come into play?

© 2010, peter.garvin. All rights reserved. Do not republish.

Al Gore delivered the keynote address to green building professionals at the Greenbuild conference. He praised the leadership of the USGBC for bringing real change to the marketplace.  He also urged the crowd to take responsibility for expanding green building globally and to call out greenwashing.

by Jessalyn Dingwell, Green Economy Post

On November 11, former Vice President Al Gore delivered a keynote speech to builders, architects, contractors and other professionals involved in the green building industry at Chase Field in Phoenix.  The speech marked the kick off of the US Green Building Council’s (USBGC) three-day conference convening over 24,000 attendees.

Gore praised leadership of the USGBC for bringing real change to the marketplace, and for being a leader in the change for a sustainable future. He noted his own home in Tennessee achieved the LEED Gold certification. He also thanked high school and college students around the country who have changed their course of study to one that will help solve the climate crisis. At the same time, he issued a call to action directed toward each member of the audience to personally strive to get involved in changing the future of our environment.

“We’re in a time now where we’ve got to make some big changes,” said Gore. “The green movement is growing leaps and bounds across the U.S. and the world—the green movement is not only good for the environment, but for the economy and national security.”

He mentioned outdated building codes that need updating as well as sweeping national legislation ensuring that homeowners do not bear all the upfront costs of building sustainable homes that will produce widespread benefits over the life of the home.  He also urged the audience to call out greenwashing, which he asserted distracts from the real solutions to climate change.

He spoke of three converging crises: the environmental impacts of climate change, the flailing economy, and national security. He identifies energy dependence on carbon-based forms of fuel as the driver behind all of these crises. Perhaps in response to a handful of protesters outside the stadium claiming that climate change was not real, he stated that even Americans that don’t believe climate change is real should support the vastly improved national security that comes from clean forms of energy that the US does not import from other countries. Additionally, Mr. Gore spoke of the economic benefits of retrofitting old, energy-guzzling buildings both in terms of reduced energy demand and increased green jobs.  He also urged the crowd to take responsibility for expanding green building globally.

Gore discussed and read excerpts from his new book on the environment, Our Choice: A Plan to Solve the Climate Crisis,  including imaginary letters to people in the future about what changes were made now to create a healthy and sustainable society in the years ahead.

Mr. Gore asserted that America has the technology and the ability to save itself and the world from these crises. He remains positive that the summit in Copenhagen next week will yield meaningful agreements between world leaders. He stated that all the US is lacking to make meaningful environmental and energy changes is the political will to do so, but indicated there was still room for hope.

“We’ve got to decide to seize control of our own destiny,” Gore said, closing with the line, “I know that we’re going to solve this, because in the United States, political will is a renewable resource.”

Along with four terms in Congress, two terms in the Senate, and two terms as Vice President, Gore has written the bestsellers Earth in the Balance, An Inconvenient Truth and the just-released “Our Choice.” Gore is chairman of the Emmy-award winning Current TV; chairman of Generation Investment Management, a firm focused on a new approach to sustainable investing; is a member of the board of directors of Apple; a senior adviser to Google; and a partner with the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He is also a Visiting Professor at Middle Tennessee State University and chairs the Alliance for Climate Protection, a non-profit organization designed to help solve the climate crisis.

© 2009, Jessalyn Dingwell. All rights reserved. Do not republish.

I see three green job conversations going on right now in the country, which causes confusion for most job seekers. I  first must caution to watch out for all of the hype. There is a blue collar to green collar job movement which is defined by our manufacturing sectors migrating, for example, to build the wind and solar industry supply chains, those maintaining our wind farms, and those retrofitting our houses and commercial buildings to be more energy efficient, including installing solar panels. These jobs might require some specific training and seem to be included in the discussion surrounding environmental justice. I see steady growth in this sector and certainly include sales, managerial and entrepreneurial opportunities.

Secondly, the light green collar involves higher and deeper levels of skills, education and experience. These jobs are not new and the amount is not growing overwhelmingly these days. These jobs include those that develop wind farms, those involved in the carbon sector, environmental engineering, energy and water technologies, etc. There are opportunities for graduates in this sector and requires the proper motivation and focused job searching skills. Entrepreneurship opportunities abound here.

The third conversation involves how we are building sustainability (green) into every industry, every company and every job in the country over the next ten years. This is where the ”green economy” become a real movement with its greatest impact. Green is being defined in real business terms and processes right now across the nation. Learning what this means to you and your industries is vital. There are green jobs out there for those who understand how they personally fit, therein, and have exceptional job hunting skills.

It is important to understand that many of the jobs and careers we have lost recently will not be coming back as they were. As we build the green economy, the language and skills we will need to get a job and then to build a career are different than before – for both employees and employers. We now talk in cradle2cradle terms about the jobs we do and the career we build. We truly no longer have linear job paths; rather, we take charge and create our own sustainable careers.

Recommended Green Career Resources:

VAULT GUILD TO ENVIRONMENTAL CAREERS> – Career Intelligence on Environmental Careers with a 360-degree approach that includes employee insights and employer perspectives.

SIX STRATEGIES TO FIND YOUR GREEN CAREER – This free ebook by Carol McClelland PhD is a step-by-step process helping green career seekers use their passions, interests, experience, and training to plug into the green economy.

THE COMPLETE GREEN JOB GUIDE 2009: SECRETS FOR GETTING THE JOB YOUR WANT – Discover How To Unlock The Booming Green Economy For Your Job Search And Future Financial Security with the 10 Breakthrough Steps You Need To Know To Find And Land A Green Job Quickly.

CLEANTECHIES RESUME AND COVER LETTER WRITING SERVICE – Cleantechies help job seekers ease the transition from mainstream to Cleantech. Learn More!

© 2009, Mark_Gragg. All rights reserved. Do not republish.

The market for green buildings is exploding and the lion’s share of the opportunity exists in retrofits, not new buildings. McGraw-Hill Construction’s latest SmartMarket Report, Green Building Retrofit & Renovation: Rapidly Expanding Market Opportunities Through Existing Buildings, was released at the Green Retrofit Conference in New York earlier this week. The report finds that new buildings represent only 2.5% of the US building market, while retrofitting provides an enormous market opportunity for green builders, owners and building product manufacturers. Currently, green building comprises 5-9% of the retrofit and renovation market activity by value. This equates to a $2-4 billion marketplace for major projects. By 2014, that share is projected to increase by 20-30%, creating a $10-15 billion market for major retrofit projects in only five years.

“It is critically important that 20-30% of all retrofit and renovation activity will be green in five years because 98% of our buildings already exist, and they represent some of our most inefficient buildings,” said Harvey Bernstein, Vice President of Global Thought Leadership and Business Development at the McGraw-Hill Construction. “This is a $10-15 billion market opportunity in major projects alone, and it will significantly contribute to the expansion of green products and services, which will have a long-term impact on our future economy and ability to build green.”

The Green Building Retrofit & Renovation SmartMarket Report, profiles more than 20 projects to provide qualitative insights and offers cutting-edge research data to the growing green building industry. Market opinion and indicators suggest much higher levels of activity long-term for retrofits and renovations overall as well as for the green share, which is expected to reach a tipping point in 10 to 15 years. At this time, half of all retrofits and renovations will be green.

The report finds that owners and tenants with green retrofit experience are likely to do more green retrofit projects. In fact, 70% of owners who have engaged in green retrofit or renovation activities are planning to continue to do so for over 15% of future projects. Tenants fall into two extremes: one-third are committed to green retrofits for over 60% of projects, while 17% are not yet committed.

The economic downturn is encouraging the adoption of energy and water efficient practices in renovation projects. A majority of owners (62%) expect the savings achieved from energy efficiency improvements to recoup their investments within 10 years. The most frequently applied features include energy-efficient lighting or natural lighting. Nearly all (92%) also report installing more energy-efficient mechanical and electrical systems.

The Green Building Retrofit & Renovation SmartMarket Report was produced with support from Autodesk, CB Richard Ellis, Siemens, UL Environment, Inc., and the U.S. Green Building Council.

© 2009, Jessalyn Dingwell. All rights reserved. Do not republish.

Retrofitting 50 million buildings in the United States, about 40 percent of the building stock, by 2020 to make them energy efficient would create 625,000 permanent jobs, John Podesta, CEO of the Center for American Progress, told CNBC.

“There’s probably a $500 billion investment that’s needed, but the vast majority has to come from the private sector,” Podesta added. “The government has a role to play in orienting policy toward getting the financing right.”

Additional Green Retrofitting Resources:

The Dollars and Sense of Green Retrofits

It is a study based on a survey of organizations or companies whose existing buildings underwent a green retrofitting. Participants were asked what motivated them to consider the projects and what influenced their decisions. Findings concluded that while savings from energy efficiency was a top goal, as cited by 75 percent of respondents, corporate environmental commitment was the leading motive. Another 75 percent of respondents reported improvement in employee health. One hundred percent of respondents experienced an increase in goodwill/brand equity.

A Policy Framework for Investment in Energy Efficiency Retrofits
Investments in building efficiency retrofits can simultaneously address the challenges of economic recovery, energy insecurity, and global warming by laying the foundation for sustained economic growth, driving demand in the construction and manufacturing sectors, and creating hundreds of thousands of good jobs across the country. Retrofitting our homes and businesses will also slash consumer energy expenditures, increase real estate values, and provide low-cost, near-term reductions in global warming pollution.

Today, buildings account for 70 percent of all U.S. electricity consumption and 40 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Yet much of our housing and building stock is old, inefficient, and unnecessarily wasteful. While building codes and green building standards offer a tool for achieving deep improvements in energy use for new buildings, half of the buildings that will be standing in 30 years already dot our landscape. Any strategy to capture the benefits of energy efficiency in our “built environment” must include a program to retrofit our existing stock of residential, commercial and industrial structures.

Deep building retrofits can cut energy use by 20 to 40 percent with proven techniques and off-the-shelf technologies. Best of all, they can pay for themselves from the energy they save. “Rebuilding America,” a national program to cut energy waste in buildings, could reduce energy bills economy-wide by hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Energy efficiency retrofits also create good local construction jobs across the country at a time when well over a million construction workers sit idle in a sagging housing market. Demand for the manufactured products needed to retrofit buildings will also result in jobs by revitalizing the manufacturing sector and contributing to sustainable, long-term economic growth.  Read the whole document at Center for American Progress
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/08/rebuilding_america.html

Recommended Green Career Resources:

SIX STRATEGIES TO FIND YOUR GREEN CAREER – This free ebook by Carol McClelland PhD is a step-by-step process helping green career seekers use their passions, interests, experience, and training to plug into the green economy.

THE COMPLETE GREEN JOB GUIDE 2009: SECRETS FOR GETTING THE JOB YOUR WANT – Discover How To Unlock The Booming Green Economy For Your Job Search And Future Financial Security with the 10 Breakthrough Steps You Need To Know To Find And Land A Green Job Quickly.

© 2009, Tracey de Morsella. All rights reserved. Do not republish.

A new report released recently assessed exactly how 40 of the country’s largest cities are trying to limit their carbon footprints and take the steps needed to raise these efforts to the next level. The report,  initiated and conducted by Living Cities, a collaboration of 21 of the world’s largest foundations and financial institutions is titled Green Cities: How Urban Sustainability Efforts Can and Must Drive America’s Climate Change Policies.   Included in the report is information on where cities have generally fallen short.

The report is an effort to showcase and support the innovative ways in which cities are creating an equitable green economy – one that connects low-income people and under-invested urban communities to the economic mainstream.  Living Cities’ is also serving as a resource to inform the usage of federal dollars available through stimulus funds and the workforce dollars associated with investments in the energy efficiency sector. The Green Cities report is focused on building energy retrofits, green workforce development and transit-oriented development, three areas also identified as priorities by local leaders and to which the recently passed stimulus bill brings extraordinary new resources.

Sustainability is a Top Priority

The study revealed that most cities are starting to seize the challenge and opportunity of addressing climate change.  Four in five big cities report that sustainability is among their top five priorities and more than half of the big cities are either currently creating a sustainability plan or have already finished creating one.  Several cities report that they have a single staff member dedicated to these issues; while others report they have several dozen.  However, but few cities are prioritizing the needs of low-income people and communities as part of their green strategies and programs.

These cities have shown their commitment to sustainability by putting dollars behind their pledges. Living Cities asked officials about the staff and funds they’ve committed to the work. Nearly all said it was a challenge to come up with hard and fast figures: fighting climate change is typically handled by staff across many agencies and programs, rather than just in a single department. Nonetheless, most cities were able to at least make an educated guess as their resource commitment. Reports about budgets are similarly varied, with responses falling between $75,000 and $15 million. Most cities reported budgets of between $150,000 and $500,000.

Most Big Cities Have Greenhouse Gas Reduction Plans  and Place Emphasis on Energy Efficient Buildings

More than three-quarters of big cities have, or will soon have, detailed plans on how they will reduce greenhouse gases. However, how much big cities are investing in reducing greenhouse gases varies widely.  Cities are building more efficient buildings and nearly have of cities have programs subsidizing insulation, energy-efficient appliances and weatherization.   About one in four cities have green building mandates that go beyond city buildings and apply to private construction: usually commercial and, in a few cases, residential

Most Big Cities are Placing an Emphasis on Green Jobs

Nearly all cities want to attract green-collar jobs and industries. In fact, one in three cities have partnered with area colleges and created green-focused training programs.  One in six report they have programs that place trainees in green jobs.

Transportation Figures into Most Big City Sustainability Plans

Rising energy costs have driven increases in public transit ridership in virtually every city in the survey and a significant number of cities reported they’re investing in one or more of four central strategies to boost mass transit.  Most cities report they expected their commitment to battling climate change to remain strong noting that retrofitting city buildings and greening a vehicle fleet can actually save cities money and pave the way to a new green economy.

Cities surveyed (ranked by population): New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Philadelphia, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose, Detroit, Jacksonville, San Francisco, Indianapolis, Columbus, Austin, Fort Worth, Memphis, Charlotte, Baltimore, Boston, El Paso, Milwaukee, Seattle, Nashville, Denver, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas, Louisville, Portland, Oklahoma City, Tucson, Albuquerque, Atlanta, Miami, Oakland, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Saint Paul, Cleveland.

© 2009, Tracey de Morsella. All rights reserved. Do not republish.