OK. You’ve heard the business arguments for going green. You know
you can save your company real money, savings that can last many years. You also know that a green program can attract new revenue and satisfy stakeholders, like customers and employees. But there’s still some hesitancy. You want to implement a program, but want to keep it low-key for now until you can show those more cautious its benefits and potential. What are some steps you can do to demonstrate benefits that can begin a green program and at the same time not overwhelm your company?
One possible way to make such “green” changes is to work with your Purchasing Dept and establish sensible purchasing policies that involve green products. For example, a major study by McKinsey showed that the most cost effective way to reduce your energy usage and, therefore, your carbon footprint is to replace aging equipment (i.e.,
computers, printers, refrigerators, etc.) with those having the Energy Star label. This has been shown to usually have the shortest Return on Investment (ROI) as the cost difference between an Energy Star-labeled product and comparable one that is not (which by the way, is shrinking over time) can be made up in energy savings in a fairly short time; for many. Establish a purchasing policy that Energy Star-labeled products have preference and measureable inroads (reduced electricity bills) will result.
Another area to work with Purchasing is the composition of your transportation fleet
(autos, trucks, etc.). With gasoline over $4/gallon and likely to stay that way for awhile, it
should not take much convincing of Purchasing and Financial to convert your fleet to
units with higher mpg ratings. One simple area is to offer your managers or salespeople
a choice. Just offering a hybrid will elicit many positive responses. They will be satisfied
having made the choice and your company’s carbon footprint and energy costs will be
reduced at the same time. The auto will still get the employee where he/she must go.
Carbon reduction and cost savings are achieved with no pain or change.
A third area is the growing use of “green building products”. A growing number of
products performs as well as traditional products, but contain no or fewer hazardous
substances, VOCs, etc. There are several directories of green building products
available. However, it should be understood that there is no standard, accepted
definition of what qualifies a product as a “green building product.”
Ideally, we would like a clear understanding of complete life cycle environmental
impacts to determine which product is “better” from an environmental standpoint. But
given how subtle, yet complex these impacts are, it is hard to compare. How does one
compare a product with high supply chain impacts to one with high manufacturing or
trucking impacts (i.e., trucked a long distance vs. made locally) to one with high indoor
air quality impacts (i.e., high VOC content).
With this in mind, here are a few ideas for potential green building products to “quietly”
provide benefits to your company and to your environmental and carbon footprint.
Origin of products. Being able to reuse a product instead of buying a new one (even
from recycled materials) saves on resource use and energy. Many salvaged building
materials (millwork, framing lumber, plumbing fixtures) are sold locally in salvage yards.
Of course, using material with a significant content of recycled material is beneficial, too.
Durable or low maintenance products. Such products are also financially beneficial
because they need to be replaced less often and have lower maintenance. Not only is
this positive in terms of direct cost of replacing or repairing the product, but also in the
reduced labor and risk (i.e., fewer trips by Maintenance up the ladder to replace light
bulbs). Therefore, purchasing products that meet these standards not only reduces
GHG emissions, but also can quietly reduce your costs and accident risks.
Reduced hazardous materials. There is a growing list of materials without hazardous
materials that achieve the same performance as others with such materials which
employees or customers can be exposed to, including cleaning fluids, furniture, paints,
and carpeting. Not only is there no drop in performance, but they provide a better
working environment for your employees, reducing sick time, an economic benefit.
This is just the “tip of the iceberg” of materials and strategies that can help you start a
“green” program, provide measureable business benefits, and yet function quietly and
smoothly. CCES can help you package an entire program with real, reachable goals.
Get more useful information in our blog: www.CCESworld.com/blog
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This Environmental News for You is meant to provide background on ways to make your
operations more “green”. Be sure to obtain professional, source-specific technical advice before
implementing strategies. CCES experts have the experience to assist you in the strategic and
technical tasks needed to develop a “green” program to meet your goals cost-effectively.
