Ecopreneurist

Yet again, a LinkedIn question (asking for top 10 greening tips) got me thinking.  Is there really a thing such as a generic list of top 10 tips for greening? I don’t think so.

As a start, the foundation of a green program lies in what a business is already doing. Do you recycle? Do you use CFLs? Do you have a programmable thermostats? Do you leave their PCs on all night? How much water do you use? What are your transportation needs? Depending on the answers to these and other questions, you will be able to identify the areas where the top green opportunities lie.  Even if you business practices are not very green now, you will probably find that you’ve adopted a green business practices already, and that you can implement others with no cost or change in business performance.  As an example, for most small businesses, changing to high efficiency lights or using recycled copy paper will have no direct impact on your core business operations.

So how do you know what the top 10 things you can be doing to green yourself are? One way to determine which greening practices will yield the most bang for the buck (a.k.a. be a top 10 tip) is to focus on the largest expense areas. There is often a correlation between expenses and volume of use. If you cut back on what you spend, you will likely reduce what you use.

So, whether reducing paper use or switching to high efficiency lights is a top 10 tip depends, well, on how much paper and electricity you’re using.  A business may want to target all expense areas over a certain threshold amount. You can measure this in dollars or as a percentage of overall expenses, such as any expense on which you spend over $500 a month, or that represent 10% or more of total expenses. A list of business expenses can guide the planning process. Start with the areas of the business that will have the greatest financial impact. You may not be able to change things as dramatically as you’d like, especially at first. Look for actions that are achievable and cost effective to implement. If staff leave lights on in unoccupied rooms (bathrooms, storage sheds), you may want to make turning off the lights in unused areas a priority. That step may be as simple as posting signs on light switches. If, on the other hand the lights are generating significant added costs, they may want to install motion sensors or bi-level light switches.

• » See also: All-In-One Lowers Cost On Eco Max Recycled Pen™
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Another thing to consider is customer requirements. What practices are essential to your competitive advantage? Convenience? Then make sure you look at the ways in which greening the business will positively—or negatively—impact convenience factors before making changes. Is customer service a key competitive advantage? Before making changes, be sure you look at the ways in which greening your human resources policies and marketing activities will positively—or negatively—impact customer service measurements. Understanding and anticipating undeveloped customer needs can provide you with a real competitive advantage.

It is also important to think strategically about the greening process. Implementing specific practices—such as recycling, power management or sustainable food initiatives—may be necessary to be green, but, in and of themselves, they’re not sufficient. To maximize the benefits of going green, it’s important to create a well-defined green program with a mission statement and a plan that articulates your goals, action steps, timelines and desired outcomes. Without these, it will be difficult to fully communicate greenness to customers, investors, suppliers and other stakeholders. And communicating greenness can be (almost) as valuable as the greenness itself.

What do you think?  How have you chosen how to green your business?

Photo: Gábor Suhajda from sxc.hu

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