Green Business

It is difficult to start any type of business, so if you want to start a green business you better find out what your motives are. If you decide to begin the search, start by looking at the pioneer of green business, Mr. Ray Anderson. He will tell you his answers and motivations for starting an environmentally friendly carpet business many years ago, before running a green business was the thing to do.The reasons why the pioneer of green business started his company are truly inspiring. Two of Mr.Anderson’s philosophies?  Take nothing, do no harm and only take from the earth what can be given back to the earth.

I have mentioned Mr.Anderson in previous posts, but I wanted to write about him again because his message is an important one, and vital to anyone who wants to start a green business. The environment and the business community can work harmoniously and thrive as one unit, working together for a greater good. Sappy? Yes. Truthful? Absolutely. So take a look at Ray and be as inspired as I am of a man who was ahead of his time, becoming a pioneer in green business. His dedication and vision are as inspiring as his words in this video.

In the following video, Mr.Anderson speaks about the logic of sustainability. After watching the video you may ask yourself, how could you not start a green business?

It never seizes to amaze me the amazing ideas people come up with in terms of creating unique green businesses. I recently came across a green business that is an original. The green business I am referring to sells eco-friendly products to throw  sustainable parties for large and small groups. How smart is that?

The name of the company is Sustainable Party and they help you create environmentally friendly and socially responsible events of all sizes. Sustainable party sells compostable cups and other environmentally friendly products that anyone would need to throw a ‘green’ party. Part of Sustainable Party’s charm is they educate potential customers by offering information and tips on how to throw a socially responsible party.  Their website offers a Best Practices Guide, free of charge, which is a 35 page PDF to anyone interested throwing eco-friendly event.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created a program called Energy Star to help reduce energy use. The Energy Star website is a vast online resource that offers a wealth of information  to help everyone create a more environmentally friendly workplace. The site also offers tips and tricks to help your business become more energy efficient. Their spokesperson, Danny Seo, takes you on a video tour of an Energy Star program building. He shows you how to make small changes in your business or workplace to make it more green and leave a smaller negative impact on the environment.

One arm of the United States Environmental Protection Agency is dedicated to businesses and non-profits. Through this resource one can easily find information about complying with environmental laws and regulations as well as discovering a plethora of grants and fellowships ear-marked for those people dedicated to green business and technological innovation.

The City of Santa Monica is doing everything it can to help its citizens go green with the Santa Monica Office of Sustainability and the Environment’s website. Some of the areas the website covers are: buying green, education, energy, green building and hazardous materials. A superb idea and amazing resource from a city offering indispensable and helpful information. There are no more excuses for the average home and business owner not to make a transition to become cleaner and greener.

An extension of this amazing website is the part that is dedicated to green business programs offered by the City of Santa Monica. The four parts offered in this section are :

1. Green Business Certification Program
2. Business Greening Program
3. Sustainable Quality Awards
4. Buy Local Santa Monica

If you have a business in the Santa Monica area and are thinking about applying for a green business certificate the F.A.Q portion of the site will answer many question that you may have.

A pilot program in Trenton,  New Jersey offered by the Center for Energy and Environmental Training (CEET) teaches unemployed people how to perform energy audits in homes throughout the city.  Along with being a heart warming story the following video is a fabulous representation of the growth and importance that green collar jobs is having in our society as well as the economy.

One very important thing that an energy auditor does is inspect for heat loss. Simply stated, energy auditors improve the energy efficiency of a home or business which in turn saves the home or building owner money. Energy conservation is something that should be on the mind of every home owner. Having an energy improvement plan is not asking a lot. Providing each and every person an informed choice with regards to energy and cost savings is what energy auditors do best.

The following video presents some interesting views on how retailers, specifically Walmart, are turning green to increase profits. The reputation of Walmart has not been the greatest over the last few years, but their image is slowly changing because they are making real changes in their company. While green washing has unfortunately become common place in business, some companies have made real ‘green’ changes, and one of those retailers is Walmart. The panelist says that Walmart is saving millions of dollars PLUS they are receiving good public relations because of good corporate citizenship.

One of the panelist mentions the hype cycle of labeling a company as a green business. He believes that this will be a relatively quick cycle and those companies who are using the green phenomenon as simply a public relations move will soon be left behind. The companies who have invested time and money into becoming more environmentally friendly have profited and will continue to profit due to their willingness to truly become a green business.

Bullfrog Power is a leading renewable energy producer providing electricity to homes and businesses in the three Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario. They claim to be Canada’s leading 100 per cent green electricity provider. Bullfrog Power generates its electricity by using wind turbines and injects clean energy into power grids throughout the provinces. What a home or business can do if it wants to run on green powered electricity is match the amount of electricity it uses with a purchase through Bullfrog Power.  For example, the Calgary International Film Festival was Bullfrog powered. This was done by matching the total amount of power used by the events of the film festival with Bull Frog renewable electricity, thus powering the event with one hundred percent renewable electricity.

Bullfrog Power simply infuses clean, zero emissions electricity into the provinces electricity grids to match the amount of power used by thousands of homes and hundreds of organizations in Alberta, B.C. and Ontario. How much does this cost? In B.C., Bullfrog Power sends out a monthly statement. They charge 2 cents per Kilowatt hours. So in addition to a monthly electrical bill from B.C. Hydro, Bullfrog charges 2 cents per kilowatt hour or kWh. Here is a link the their website’s FAQ, for British Columbia homes, to help you get a better understanding of their services.

I have been lucky enough to be receiving a lot of media invites to sustainability expos from around North America due to our humble, little blog. Our reach on the topic of green business has been growing in leaps and bounds since we started it in the Spring of 2007. We have built our readership to hundreds of subscribers and through this readership we have received quite a few requests from earth, green business and sustainability expos . Even though 2010 is a little ways off, I wanted to mention a few different expos and a conference. Unfortunately I can not attend all of them, but I sure wish that I could.  It is another wonderful way for green product manufacturers to exhibit and showcase their products to the world.

The following two expos and one conference caught my eye.

Green Business Conference

When: November 11-12, 2009

Where: Hotel Whitcomb in San Francisco

Format: Numerous speakers will talk about their experiences.  Some of the confirmed speakers include:

Theresa Marquez
Chief Marketing Executive, Organic Valley Family of Farms

Margot Fraser
Founder and Former CEO, Birkenstock USA

Bob Johansen
Author,
Leaders Make the Future

Jenny McNulty
Executive Director, Urban Solutions

Green Products Expo

Invites media that focus their attention on green and environmentally friendly companies who have products and/or services that target environmentally friendly consumers. Bringing companies and media together with a focus towards the environment.

Format: Tabletop show where the room is open, and the tables are arranged to make it easy for the media to flow through the room at a comfortable pace.

When: February 18, 2010
11:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Where: Marriott Marquis New York in Times Square

Cost to Exhibitor: $1500.00-$2100.00

Epic Vancouver

Format: Consumer trade show open to the public. Shopping, information and education on sustainable living.

When:May 28-30, 2010

Where:The new Vancouver Convention Center

Cost to Exhibitor: $1750.00 before October 31, 2009

• $1950.00 after October 31, 2009

I stumbled on a home based, small green business that I thought everyone should know about. It is a green service that both homes and businesses alike could use. It is called ECO-audit and it helps homes and businesses become more environmentally friendly.

A list of the company’s reasons for performing an ECO-audit:

1. Improve air quality
2. Reduction of business and household waste
3. Provides easy access to local green products and services.

The ECO-audit consists of the following; an interview, an audit of the premises, a report with suggestions for improvements as well as on-going support. Along with audits of homes and businesses, the company offers a wide range of audits such as: baby audits, pet audits and diet audits. Their goal is to help improve all areas of one’s life to becoming the most sustainable as possible.

Educate Yourself

Learn as much as you can about living a green lifestyle and become an expert in the field of greening a home. How can one do this? Take a course and then start with your own home. Take the initiative to talk with people interested in greening their lives. You do not have to be part of a large company to be a green business consultant. Have a passion to green people’s lives and maybe with experience and knowledge, and by acquiring ‘know-how’, you too can become a green business consultant. Start off small by greening homes and small businesses that are interested in becoming environmentally friendly . Target businesses that cater to sustainability. Ask yourself how could those businesses become more green themselves.

People are becoming more environmentally conscious, and they might not have the time or knowledge to change their home or business, but you do. Use your expertise and start your own green business by becoming a consultant in greening people’s private and professional lives. Hats off to ECO-audit for starting a home based green business that provides services to help people become more environmentally responsible.