Green Building – LEEDing the Way

Going Green today encompasses much more than just recycling and changing to CFL bulbs. With a global energy crisis, combined with climate change, companies are just now beginning to look into a relatively new concept: Green Buildings. The online Wikipedia defines a Green Building as “the practice of increasing the efficiency with which buildings use resources — energy, water, and materials — while reducing building impacts on human health and the environment during the building's lifecycle, through better siting, design, construction, operation, maintenance, and removal.”

Green Building is based upon the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Certification standard developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. In the commercial arena, LEED buildings are typically healthier work environments and have lower operational costs than conventionally designed buildings. LEED incorporates a scoring system to achieve various levels of certification which are: Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. These are based upon the following criteria:
• Sustainable sites
• Water Efficeincy
• Energy and atmosphere
• Materials and resources
• Indoor environmental quality
• Innovation and design process

Since LEED’s inception in 1996, there are now more than 14,000 projects in 30 countries. CitiBank began its LEED building program back in 2006 and has so far opened several new LEED Gold facilities in Irving, Texas, Queens, NY and in Germany. The company has committed $10 billion in green real estate initiatives over the next 20 years. On a smaller scale, Navy Federal Credit Union completed their new LEED Gold Call Center in Pensacola, FL which currently houses 300 employees. This is the first stage of a four building corporate campus which will eventually house over 3,000 employees. Their studies show a 25-40% reduction in energy usage and their employee turnover rate was reduced from 60% to only 17%.
Typical costs for new LEED building average only 2% above conventional building. However, other factors such as availability of sustainable materials and unfamiliarity of LEED processes may cause delays which could affect the costs. However, when averaged over a building’s 40 year life span, the benefits clearly outweigh the costs.

While the new construction makes the news, LEED construction is also making headway in the refurbishing and renovation of existing buildings. Due to original construction limitations, LEED renovated buildings rarely receive a rating of higher than “Certified”, although based upon how thorough and extensive the renovation, a rating of Silver is possible.

You can find complete information on LEED at www.usgbc.org.

Joseph Winn is the President/CEO of GreenProfit Solutions, Inc. which assists businesses in becoming environmentally responsible. You may view their website at www.greenprofitsolutions.com or e-mail Joseph at jwinn@greenprofitsolutions.com .

The New Green Language

Embracing new, environmentally sustainable ideas is often confusing. New terms like “Greenhouse Gases”, “Carbon Footprint”, "Greenwashing”, and even the “Three R’s” (nope, not what you learned in school) are tossed about by a new generation of green techies but for most of us, they may as well be speaking in Latin. Before a financial institution can truly become green, the principals must understand the dynamics, procedures, and the corresponding terminologies.

Let’s start with Recycle. Sounds easy. Most of us are familiar with recycling glass bottles, plastics, and newspapers. The confusion starts with plastic coding, that little number inside the recycling logo on the product. All recyclable plastics are now coded with a numerical value between 1 and 7, representing the type of material used to produce them. However, in most parts of the country, only plastics coded 1-3 are generally being recycled. The others end up in a landfill for the next eon or so. So, instead of simply recycling, we now use the 3R’s: Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. Carefully consider the waste before purchasing an item; try to purchase an item that can be reused at least several times; and, of course, continue to recycle what you know can be recycled.

Greenhouse gases refers to all gases in our atmosphere, but generally refers to the elevated amount of carbon dioxide (CO2 ), a major contributor to global warming. A carbon footprint is a measure of human activity on the environment in terms of greenhouse gases produced, in units of pounds of carbon dioxide. Just about everything we do, from washing our clothes to driving a car to lighting an office building, increases our impact or carbon footprint. The major environmental goal in Going Green is to become as close to carbon neutral as possible.

Greenwashing is the intentional or unintentional misleading of consumers into believing their product or service is environmentally sustainable and comparable or more effective than it’s conventional counterparts. Institutions must take extreme care to not overstate green offers, and make sure to back its claims, or members and customers may lose faith in green services, setting back the entire movement.

These are just a few examples of the new green jargon. A more complete listing can be found at the online GreenProfit Community portal. Learning the new green language can not only make you green savvy, but can also help you to develop a healthier and greener business environment.

Joseph Winn is the President/CEO of GreenProfit Solutions, Inc. which assists businesses in becoming environmentally responsible. You may view their website at www.greenprofitsolutions.com or e-mail Joseph at jwinn@greenprofitsolutions.com .

Greenwashing – The Dark Side of the Green Movement

For every positive action in nature, there is an equal negative reaction. Yin and Yang. And so it has been since history began. The Green Movement is no different.

Now that a growing number of consumers are becoming educated on the environmental issues facing us all and wanting to do their part to protect the health of their families, employees, communities and planet, a new evil comes lurking out of the shadows. This evil is not easily recognized as it is dressed in friendly green garb, and comes with promises of purity and environmental benefits.

It’s known as “greenwashing”. The watchdog and testing agency, Terra Choice Environmental Marketing/Eco-Logo defines greenwashing as: “the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.” With the amount of money being spent each on year on green products and services increasing at a rapid pace, it’s no wonder individuals and companies who prior, had little concern for the environment, are rushing to portray themselves and their products as green.

What is the extent of this practice? In an effort to describe, understand, and quantify the growth of greenwashing, TerraChoice Environmental Marketing Inc. conducted a survey of six category-leading big box stores. Through these surveys, they identified 1,018 consumer products bearing 1,753 environmental claims. Of the 1,018 products examined, all but one made claims that are demonstrably false or that risk misleading intended audiences.

Each of these greenwashing claims fell into one of six categories, labeled by TerraChoice as the “Six Sins of Greenwashing”. The categories included:

1. Sin of the Hidden Trade-Off – a product is claimed “green” for a single attribute
2. Sin of No Proof - A “green” claim that cannot be substantiated.
3. Sin of Vagueness – Claim is either too broad or ill defined and easily misunderstood by consumer.
4. Sin of Irrelevance – Claim may be truthful, but unimportant in making a decision on that product.
5. Sin of Fibbing – Making environmental claims that are simply false.
6. Sin of Lesser of Two Evils - These are “green” claims that may be true within the product category, but that risk distracting the consumer from the greater environmental impacts of the category as a whole.

The Green Movement is still in its infancy and is just starting to build trust among people now concerned about the environment. These are people who, in many cases, are now willing to pay more for a green product. Should that product not be green or live up to its promises, many new green consumers will lose faith in the movement as a whole.

It’s easy for companies to tout their own horn on how green they are. When possible, consumers should look for product certifications from governments and standard setting bodies such as EcoLogo and Green Seal. However, not all small and medium size companies can afford the fees required for testing by these agencies. Companies in this category, and those in the service industry, should review their own company practices, set a plan for their own green initiatives, and strive for professional third party recognition of their efforts. With all that is at stake, no company can afford to be on the “dark side” and lose the confidence of the new green consumer.

Joseph Winn is the President/CEO of GreenProfit Solutions, Inc. which assists businesses in becoming environmentally responsible. You may view their website at www.greenprofitsolutions.com or e-mail Joseph at jwinn@greenprofitsolutions.com .

Corporate Social Responsibility - Is it Good for Business?

Going Green today is more than just setting up a recycling program or using e-statements. While many businesses, particularly credit unions and community banks, are familiar with the old concept of social responsibility, wherein companies, on a voluntary basis, reached out to assist their customers/members and communities, the definition now has been greatly expanded. Possibly due to the growing environmental issues facing our communities and planet, a new concept is being applied.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept that organizations and mostly companies, have an obligation to consider the interests of customers, members, employees, shareholders, communities, and ecological considerations in all aspects of their operations. Just like the old definition of social responsibility, this obligation is seen to extend beyond their statutory obligation to comply with legislation.
This concept applies to all businesses in all industries. Regardless of whether the company is a white collar office based service organization or a blue collar based manufacturing facility, there are steps that must be considered and taken to alleviate the impact of the company’s activities on the environment. While a factory belching smoke has obvious environmental impacts, other industries impacts may not be as apparent. Consider the nice clean white collar office building. How much energy is it using? How much paper? Ink? Water? All of these factors , and many more, while unseen, have an deleterious impact on the environment.

How? Let’s just consider water for now. For every gallon used, the water must be cleaned, processed and re-purified. This is an energy intensive procedure and requires substantial use of electricity, most of which is produced today from fossil fuels. Processing paper from wood pulp typically requires enormous amounts of water usage, not to mention the trees destroyed and chemical emissions released into our atmosphere and sometimes, waterways. And it’s not just the factories using water. Think of it this way: each time you flush the toilet, you are indirectly releasing additional CO2 into the atmosphere, speeding global warming.

Of course, we are not advocating that you send your employees into the woods whenever nature calls, but an overall policy of CSR should include a systematic program on water usage reduction. Most importantly, your CSR policy should consider not only local effects of your business activities, but also the far reaching effects.

Besides the rewards of “doing the right thing”, there are monetary rewards for CSR: recent surveys indicate a growing number of your prospects and customers now take a company’s environmental policies into consideration before doing business. Companies that truly Go Green enhance their marketability, improve their employee relations, and reduce their energy costs. As they used to say, it’s a win-win-win for everyone.

Joseph Winn is the President/CEO of GreenProfit Solutions, Inc. which assists businesses in becoming environmentally responsible. You may view their website at www.greenprofitsolutions.com or e-mail Joseph at jwinn@greenprofitsolutions.com .

photo credit: Swisscan on Flickr

Environmental Responsibility vs ROI…Is There a Balance?

Green is truly the new black on the American business balance sheet. We read almost daily announcements citing Fortune 500 companies and small, but well funded, start-ups engaging in new green initiatives, all speaking of exciting technologies and strategies rapidly becoming a part of daily life. Fueled by the ever-increasing consumer demand for sustainable products, companies are seeking to couple environmental and social responsibility with an enhanced bottom line. Recent surveys by Intellitrends, LOHAS, Bentley College, and even Sun Microsystems share the consensus that going green is not a fad, but a new trend in business. While it may seem everyone is going green, the truth is only a fraction of small and medium size companies, including financial institutions, are actually participating. The question is, with all the survey evidence and news coverage, why wouldn’t a financial institution just jump in and go green?

The answer is two-fold: Cost and Education. While we all read about industry giants including GE, CitiBank, and Navy Federal Credit Union investing heavily in major projects and initiatives, the same numbers are simply far out of the reach of even the most well established small to medium size institutions. Such extreme proposed investments are also made more difficult during a slow economy. Watching the industry giants build new LEED certified buildings, construct wind farm installations, or invest in Bio-Fuel research and technologies, while impressive, creates an uninspiring mood for smaller institutions, and helps to widen the gap between “the big boys and the little boys”. As a result, a huge market segment of financial institutions is becoming rapidly excluded from the going green efforts. This group, comprising more than 90% of active community banks and credit unions is mistakenly being led to believe that Green requires green.

What most institutions do not realize is that they can initiate small-scale and far less expensive changes to their own business practices, while still realizing financial savings and increased profits through becoming community leaders in environmental sustainability. We have all read how a homeowner can make a simple change from incandescent to CFL bulbs that will save thousands of watt/hours per household, and provide a long term savings return on the initial investment. Such an example of a transitional change also has indirect benefits: the CO2 reductions due to lower power requirements as well as a waste stream reduction (CFL’s last 5-10 times longer than incandescent bulbs). Now imagine this homeowner passing on that knowledge to their friends and family. Small investment = large returns.

In coming issues we will provide ideas that any size financial institution may embrace to affordably journey towards becoming models of environmental leadership. Readers can expect to learn about various strategies covering methods of capitalizing on the emerging green marketplace. We will also examine the “dark side” of the new green industry, now called “greenwashing”, and some tips on how to recognize the specter of false promises and keep your institution’s image truly green.

Joseph Winn is the President/CEO of GreenProfit Solutions, Inc. which assists businesses in becoming environmentally responsible. You may view their website at http://www.greenprofitsolutions.com or e-mail Joseph at jwinn@greenprofitsolutions.com.

Photo credit: HaMeD!caL on Flickr