Small businesses take big steps into green practices
As environmental practices sweep much of the corporate world, U.S. small businesses also are jumping in.
Tens of thousands of small companies - from mom-and-pop stores to manufacturers - are going green by cutting energy costs and reducing the "carbon footprints" from their facilities, offices and fleets of vehicles.
Many work with corporate giants, such as Wal-Mart and General Motors, that now require supply-chain partners to adopt ecologically sound practices, says Joel Makower, founder of GreenBiz.com, an Oakland clearinghouse on business and environmental topics.
"Small businesses have barely scratched their potential," Makower says. "In every market now, there's a retailer, dry cleaner, auto mechanic, coffee shop with a green consciousness."
In Ohio, restaurant owners Peter and Laurie Danis recently embraced environmental practices after much prodding over dinner from their 16-year-old daughter, Cameron.
As owners of the Figlio and Vino Vino restaurants in Columbus and Dayton, the Danis family launched a recycling program, installed new energy-saving light bulbs and now buys produce from local grocers rather than overseas suppliers that burn more fuel to ship produce.
Peter Danis says his restaurants, with $5 million in sales, will save tens of thousands of dollars in the coming years.
Danis also bought $2,700 in "clean energy credits" from EcoVoom, an energy firm in Dublin, Ohio. The money will offset the greenhouse gasses emitted by the Danis' restaurant business by going to a solar, wind or other clean-energy program.
"We want to lead our lives and business not for short-term profit, but for future generations," Danis says. "We want to leave a legacy."
Robert Bechtold, a U.S. Army veteran and founder of Harbec Plastics, a tool- and mold-maker in Ontario, N.Y., has touted renewable energy for decades. But he couldn't get financing from skeptical bankers who looked at him as if he was "a burnt-out hippie or tree-hugger," he jokes.
Not now. Harbec, whose customers include Xerox, is recognized as a national leader among small business manufacturers.
The company's plant uses wind and natural gas turbines, a state-of-the-art water-cooling system, hybrid cars and trucks and fluorescent lights. The moves have saved $1.2 million in recent years, while slashing annual carbon dioxide emissions by 750,000 pounds.
"Everybody has this notion that being green costs more money, but that's a misconception," Bechtold says. "Done correctly, being green positively affects your bottom line."
Small businesses report savings of 20 percent to 30 percent by making energy-saving moves, says Byron Kennard, executive director of the Center for Small Business and the Environment. "As energy and gasoline prices rise, small businesses can voluntarily and profitably lower their energy bills," he says.
It's too early to tell how many of the 26 million U.S. small business owners are going green. But their numbers are rising.
Surveys by trade groups show that small firms are worried about the global climate, rising fuel costs and other environmental issues.
Some 80 small business owners queried recently by the National Small Business Association, which represents 150,000 small firms, found that 73 percent would invest more in energy-saving products and services if energy prices keep rising, and 76 percent said that cutting energy costs would boost profits.
That's a good sign for the clean-energy sector. Research firm Clean Edge says the global clean-energy market will rise from $55 billion in revenue last year to $227 billion by 2016.
Meanwhile, trade and community groups and the federal government are working with small businesses. Energy Star, a program of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, offers resources to small firms. The National Automobile Dealers Association and National Small Business Association are urging small businesses to cut energy costs. Co-op America and the Green Chamber of Commerce are creating networks of environmentally friendly businesses.
Of course, many small businesses lack the resources of Fortune 500 corporations. But they still can take dozens of smaller steps to pare costs and to tap into the growing number of consumers who want to buy from green companies, says Anna Clark, president of EarthPeople, a Dallas consulting firm.
For instance, small businesses can reduce waste and carve 5 percent out of their operating budgets by changing their office-management practices, Clark says. They can encourage employees and customers to save documents digitally and not print out millions of paper copies.
"Not every company is going to sit down and calculate their carbon footprint," Clark says. "But they can take time to start looking at things that will help them capture the environmentally conscious market."
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