Shoreline Green Business Program

 

Smart Investments for Energy Security

 

Washington State is highly dependent upon snow pack for its electricity. With climate uncertainty, alternative energy can provide more security and reliability for the foreseeable future.

 

Just how vulnerable is Washington State to climate uncertainty?

 

The Union of Concerned Scientists has put together an interactive map that shows "climate hotspots" or areas already being impacted by climate uncertainty.

 

This map tracks impacts on people, fresh water supplies, oceans, ecosystems and temperature. The viewer can click on any one of the noted locations to read about the effects of climate change for that location.

 

The Ross Dam (pictured above right) on the Skagit River in Washington's North Cascade Mountains provides 70 percent of the regions electricity (including Seattle). Declining snowpack averaging 25 percent and as much as 60 percent in some areas and earlier peaking of spring runoff because of global warming threaten hydropower productivity and other uses of the water supply in the U.S. Northwest.

 

This decline is projected to continue as the climate warms further this century. "Reduced snowpack is likely to curb hydropower during parts of the year, and to place other stresses on the regions water supply." "Scientists project as much as another 40 percent decline (of the snowpack) by the 2040's."

 

This translates into increasing costs of electricity, also greater conflict between sustaining water flows in the summer months for salmon and electricity generation.

 

Increasing intensity of climate events adds another layer of complexity to energy security. A warmer atmosphere has been shown to produce greater extremes; Higher winds, more volume of precipitation of snow or rain in some areas and greater proclivity for drought in others.

 

In the Pacific Northwest that means more instances of power outages due to high winds. A photo voltaic system with a back up battery has a lot to offer a business owner:

• Obtain credit from your local utility on any excess production
• Have access to electricity and stay in business even during a regional power outage
• Be positioned to capitalize on increased electrical rates as a producer
• Avoid the negative impacts of increased electricity rates

 

If you decide to explore investing in a Photo Voltaic system for your business here are some tips: Ask for references when interviewing potential providers, find out how long they have been in business and get bids from at least 3 companies. Ask them if they use Washington made Solar Panels and inverters.

 

 

 

Sustainable Industries Green Office Guide

 

Want to know how to create your own sustainability plan so you can effectively reduce costs and environmental impacts? The “Green Office Guide” offered by Sustainable Industries offers guidelines for getting started and staying on track.

 

There is a lot of advertising in the guide that can be distracting from the core information, but even the ads have helpful ideas and strategies.

 

There are many resources under each topic mentioned in the report including:

• "Self Assessment Tool" called Eco-Eval put together by the North American Green Purchasing Initiative Commission for Environmental Cooperation.
• National Resources Defense Council "Green Advisor" a detailed guide that provides information on air quality improvement, paper and energy reduction information, and more.
• Openeco.com a global online community that provides free tools to help organizations assess, track and compare energy performance, and share best practices to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Global Reporting Initiative The world's most widely used sustainability reporting framework, the initiative helps businesses and organizations measure their social, environmental and economic performance.

Some of the links listed are not active, but are easily found with a Google search of the topic.

 

Purchasing habits are divided into subtopics:

• Paper
• Printing
• Office Supplies
• Technology
• Vehicles
• Furnishings
• Cleansing Supplies
• Food
• Carob Offsets & Green Power
• Meetings
• Event Planning

Once a business has a baseline assessment with help from the Green Office Guide the Shoreline Green Business Questionnaire can be used as a reference for specific actions to reduce costs and environmental impacts. The Shoreline Green Business Program also offers certification, which businesses can use in their advertising.

To become certified with the Shoreline Green Business program:

• Register on the Shoreline Green Business website
• Complete the questionnaire online
• A volunteer will contact you for a site visit to verify what steps have been taken and determine if there are other resources that the business can benefit from

Once accepted as a "Green Business" based on the provided documentation a pdf file of the Shoreline Green Business Logo and a sticker will be made available.
Arrangements can also be made for posting a web link and a write up on the Shoreline Green Business website.

Can Bike Sharing Benefit Small Business?

 

Paris, Copenhagen and Mexico City have bike-sharing programs. As reported in Smart Planet, an online science news outlet:

"Mexico City's bike-sharing program is modeled on those in Paris and Copenhagen and was at the vanguard when it opened in 2010. U.S. cities are following suit, with programs recently begun in Boston and Washington, D.C.; New York plans to implement a bike-sharing program this year."

 

Mexico City established segregated bike lanes that run through the heart of the downtown business district. Ground-level barriers prevent automobiles from crossing into the cyclist's lane.

Most of the clientele of the bike share program use the system for business. In 2008 before the program began roughly 70 riders per day used bikes for travel. By 2011 that number has jumped to 1,817 per day.

 

What are the benefits to increasing bike commuting to the kind of numbers seen in Mexico City?

• Reduced traffic congestion for those using cars
• Reduced air pollution
• Healthier happier more productive population of employees
• Reduction in transportation costs for those using bikes
• Increase in revenue to local retailers on the bike routes and creation of new niche businesses.
• More jobs
• Increasing retail tax to the State

 

Challenges to implementing a bike-share program in the Puget Sound region include:

• To get large numbers of people to switch to bike commuting it will be necessary to make it safer.
• There are bike lanes and the interurban trail; but we do not have a networked bike system.
• Capital costs for establishing dedicated lanes that are physically separated from traffic would be significant.
• In today's economy with the State looking for ways to generate new revenue and make further cuts it is not likely that the State would be willing or able to offer funds for establishing bike lanes.

 

However, the potential exists for including capital for dedicated bike lanes as part of a larger jobs package that includes repairs for deteriorating transportation infrastructure. It will be up to the business community, bike enthusiasts and environmental organizations to lobby the State should Federal Funds become available to ask for inclusion of infrastructure for bike commuters.

 

 

Increase Profits by Reducing "fixed" Expenses

 

When it comes to business budgets many business owners take it for granted that there are fixed expenses and variable expenses. The assumption is that the most logical way to increase profit is to increase sales and production. Business owners try their best to influence variable expenses downward, and don't see the point of considering fixed expense.

 

But what if some of the so-called "fixed" expenses could be reduced, without changing production or employment levels? Profits would go up.

 

What are some "fixed" expenses?

• Cost of heating and cooling a facility
• Management of solid waste
• Transportation Costs
• Water consumption and treatment

 

Reducing these "fixed" expenses can be done sometimes with little or no capital investment. The Shoreline Green Business Program has a comprehensive checklist and links to resources business owners can use to start saving money.

 

But wait. How can you measure the results to know which changes provide the biggest savings? Without this knowledge it becomes difficult to set priorities or enroll employees into making changes that will provide savings. 

 

Business owners that know their baseline costs of operations are well positioned to track incorporated efficiencies and associated savings.

 

There are resources available to help companies determine their business baseline costs. The City of Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment has a Benchmarking and Reporting program. Their mission is "to make green building standard practice in Seattle."

 

Their Benchmarking tool called Portfolio Manager that can be used to take an initial measurement and with help from local utilities automate tracking of energy use.

 

For waste management Cleanscapes, serving Seattle and Shoreline can send one of their representatives out to analyze your business waste stream and develop waste reduction strategies that save you money.

 

Waste Management in Snohomish offers an "eco-consultant team" that serves the same purpose.

 

For tips on Water conservation and Transportation options the "Working Green" pages on the Shoreline Green Business Program are full of resources for measuring and conserving for the benefit of the planet and your bottom line.