Hoisting a Brew to Greener Businesses
Now, how about some news with relevance to the fight against global warming and other environmental ills that might be good enough to, say, warrant cracking open a celebratory cold one?
On Tuesday, the Environmental Defense Fund, joining with the top executives of some companies with notable ideas on how to both save money and the planet, tried to inject some optimism into what can be a pretty ponderous (and sometimes scary and depressing) subject. Along for the ride was California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (pictured), who seemed only too happy to oblige.
The occasion was the release of a new report by the environmental group highlighting efforts by companies to cut their carbon footprints and take other steps to green themselves in cost-effective or at least not cost-prohibitive ways. The balance between environmental and economic benefit was on the minds of many who appeared at a San Francisco news conference to launch the report and new online assets dedicated to sharing green business approaches (see press statement here; access report and other features here).
The idea wasn't to emphasize cutting-edge technology or to list the greenest companies. Rather, wrote the report's authors, the goal was to start "a process of bringing best practices to light so that they can spread more rapidly."
The report, "Innovations Review 2008: Making Green the New Business as Usual," highlighted such efforts as Fireman's Fund Insurance Company's creation of new insurance benefits targeted toward green buildings; Patagonia Inc.'s distribution center in Reno, Nevada, that operates without artificial air conditioning, and Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.'s suite of solar and other energy installations that allows the company to generate about 80 percent of its energy needs.
"No matter how good an idea is, if in the long run it's not sustainable economically it's not going to work," said Charles Kavitsky, chairman of Fireman's Fund. The company has offered a line of insurance benefits targeted toward green businesses and Kavitsky said homeowners will soon have the opportunity to buy similar policies.
At the news conference, Schwarzenegger enthused about the fact that of 31 companies highlighted in the report, 11 are based in California (see also formal press statement here):
"I love it when California's number one. It shows again that our companies are really number one and they show the rest of the world it can be done, that you can run a clean business and think about the environment all the time."
The ideas, he said, "are contributing so much to help us cleaning our environment and fighting global warming."
David Yarnold, executive director of Environmental Defense, which has concentrated many of its efforts over the years on trying to create economic incentives for environmentally beneficial behavior, made it clear that the report was intended to inspire other companies to improve their practices. The first step toward change is "modeling great behavior," he said. He also noted:
"The new business as usual looks less like a straight line and more like a series of loops, where wastes are turned back into energy or new materials, where suppliers and clients work together to create efficiencies and where corporate business plans see environmental issues not as challenges to be overcome but as opportunities to be harvested."
Illustrating some of those points, Casey Sheahan, president and chief executive officer of outdoor apparel and equipment manufacturer Patagonia, said that the company's Reno facility cost about 47 percent more to build than it might otherwise. But the structure, which, according to the report, incorporates such design innovations as a system that replaces hot daytime air with cool nighttime air, saves between 40 percent and 50 percent on energy costs.
"Companies are learning that being environmentally responsible can also lead to strong profits," he said.
Ken Grossman, founder and chief executive of Sierra Nevada, outlined his company's efforts, including installing a system that collects all of the carbon dioxide from the brewery's fermentation tanks, then compresses and liquefies the gas for use in bottling and dispensing beer. The company also collects methane gas from its in-house wastewater system and uses it in its boilers and fuel cells. In addition, the company makes extensive use of solar power, according to the report.
Not all of the benefits are economic, Grossman suggested:
"Some of these projects don't have the greatest payback. We've had things that we've done over the years that we felt were the right thing to do and we've really been investing for the long-term future of our company. I've got two of my kids involved in the business, and I'm hopefully going to set them up so there'll be a good environment in the future, as well as stable operations for us."
Beer drinkers now and in the future can likely get behind that concept.
(Photo: California governor's office)
