Green Business Awareness

Let’s take a lesson in Green practice.  The common misconception is that nearly every Green project is expensive, an imposition, and poorly executed.  One of the newer discoveries about Going Green is that it will save your company money month after month and year after year.  When you understand the full impact of Green, the rewards will make a believer out of the most resistant critic.

One idea that illustrates my point is the bottleless water dispenser.  Let’s get price out of the way, so we can start this process fully informed.  A quality bottleless water dispenser will cost about $500 to $1000 if you buy it straight out.  It will last for 10 years, at least, with only an annual service requirement.

If your firm is using a bottled water system, it is easy to run up a $50 to $75 monthly charge.  Over a year’s time, the total outlay is $600 to $900, so the program is cost neutral at about 12 to 18 months.  Any business person knows that a one to two year return on investment is a good deal.

Bottleless water dispensers allow a near unlimited water supply which is a good idea for workers.  But, let’s now consider the other issues for a Green operation.  Think of the fuel spent and CO2 created hauling water around the city.  The five gallon bottles are a plastic waste, and the sheer liability of hauling water to the workplace is totally unnecessary.  If your firm is trying to be carbon neutral, these water dispensers are a good help.

Once the cost of acquisition is satisfied, a company is able to put the $900 per year back into the bank.  In ten years, a firm is likely to save $10,000 with the expected price increases.  But, this is just a small piece of the overall Green strategy.

Take the paperlesss system for an offce as an even greater financial impact.  It should be obvious that creating files, handling files, and updating files is a huge manpower drain and literally very expensive.  While it takes a while to upload these files to a paperless system, the speed of your business will be, quite frankly, amazing.  The cost of the system if about $2000 to $3500 per year, but you will find that three people can do the work of five.  Just one employee not hired can be a $30,000 to $40,000 savings.

Paperless systems operate fast and never lose or misfile your records.  Customer service is very fast, and you can access files from the office, at home, or while travelling.  There is no need to take files from the office.  Security is better, records are never lost, and everyone is impressed with speed of access to any record.

What would a 30% to 40% reduction in the electric bill mean to your business?  What if your heating or cooling bill was reduced by 20%?  Would a 50% reduction in the waste disposal bill help your company’s profit as well?

Green offices are also healthier places for employees.  The employees will be more productive.  There will be less sick days, medical claims, and eventual chronic illnesses.   These are hard to calculate, except that the U.S. Department of Labor estimates a $40 billion loss in actual cost from unhealthy offices.

There are more money-savings ideas that will impact any office that goes through the Greening process with a Certified Green Consultant.  The average person will not know how to make Going Green pay, and they will probably to it badly anyway.  It is true that Going Green is more than an environmental issue.  It is a smart economic decision.  The best advice, however, is not to take on this challenge in a half-hearted manner that will be a disservices to all involved.

One of the most enjoyable topics about the Green Business transition is the discovery that Going Green can save nearly any business a great deal of money.  As a Certified Green Consultant does the evaluation of a business, the initial emphasis is on improving the Green IQ.  Most of the changes involve the adoption of a variety of Green Practices, and frankly a number of the transitions are cost neutral or may require a modest investment spread out in a month-by-month program.

What we want businesses to know is that Green is very much about “Efficiencies.”  Each Certified Green Consultant is trained in something called “Zero Cost Consulting,” which means that one of the overall goals is to save the customer more money than they might spend in the Greening process.  This is not a 10-15 year return on investment, but a one or two year ROI.   The astute consultant can often identify dozens of cost-savings ideas that can be worth hundreds and thousands of dollars in savings year after year.

Let me share a few of these ideas that are novel and worth the effort.  If your company maintains a lawn or landscaping, there is a direct cost to your revenue, and any savings realized simply means that you have a fatter profit margin at the end of the year.  In these trouble economic times, I believe that the investment in a Certified Green Consultant is akin to hiring an efficiency expert years ago.

One environmental issue is the exhaust produced (including carbon dioxide) by lawnmowers.  Lawnmowers have been reported to produce as much pollutants as 4 to 6 vehicles.  Better machines are being made, but they are not subject to the same kind of standards as autos.  Therefore, there is a tremendous idea afoot that asks for those with ample mowed areas to revert a portion of the ground to a flowering field that cuts down mowing cost, reduces emissions, and adds a unique aesthetic feature to any neighborhood.  Your watering costs may go down as well.

The second idea is to gradually overseed or restart your grass with a hardier and healthier low-moisture (xeriscapic) grass.  Instead of the must touted Kentucky bluegrass, the careful blend of fescues or more native grass will produce a healthy and dense yard that frankly can survive most summers using just rainwater that falls naturally.  A mere 5000 square foot yard in Illinois will spend $300 in water costs each year, and most companies have more than 5000 square feet that they must maintain.

The good news is that there are hundreds of Green solutions that will improve the health of any business, contribute to the sustainable issues that we face in the world, and can also cut expenses out of the annual expenses.  The average person simply doesn’t know enough of these solutions or how to integrate them into their operation.  Find a Certified Green Consultant by going to the Green Business Directory.  The Green BusinessLeague offers a national recognition of “Certified Green Business” when businesses achieve a standard of Green Practices in their operation.  A business need not own the building.  Any business can participate in this certification process using an easy-to-follow plan and the assistance of a Green Consultant.