, ,

Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth

A friend of mine from Paris sent me an article that recently appeared in the Los Angeles Times (no, I normally don’t receive my U.S. news from France… just another indicator that the world is flat!): “Flat-screen TVs to Face Energy-Efficiency Rules” (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-tv3-2009jan03,0,2869589.story). The article describes the reaction of the consumer electronics industry to the proposed regulations to limit the TVs retailers are able to sell: only those sets consuming power under a certain limit will be allowed to be stocked. While these regulations have not been adopted by the state of California, it is very likely that they will be before mid-year. The industry is opposed… it will lead to higher consumer costs, it will lead to lower sales, it will lead to fewer jobs, it will lead to lower sales tax revenue for the state.  Sounds like a familiar argument? They go on to say that consumer demand will drive the innovations anyway, so why regulate it? Anyone remember the gas crisis of the 70’s? 

Another example is the movement toward green building concepts. Buildings are one of the largest consumers of power in this country, and rank above the automobile on the amount of CO2 added to the atmosphere. Yet, there are still many builders today that build to the building codes and nothing more. Some of the excuses are the same ones given by the consumer electronics industry, or the auto industry or the energy industry.

This energy crisis is real. It doesn’t matter if you are a disciple of Al Gore or a follower of T. Boone Pickens. The problem is here to stay and business strategies should address it. Your business may be strictly a consumer of energy or your product may consume energy throughout its lifecycle. In both cases, you or your customers will be looking for ways to reduce that consumption.  Whether the changes are legally mandated or consumer driven the impact to your business is the same.

This does point out a very valuable lesson, and underscores the importance of a sustainable approach to business. A truly sustainable business operates on not just the financial bottom line but at the confluence of the triple bottom lines of people, planet AND profit. People meaning all of your company’s stakeholders, including your customers, your employees, your stockholders, your community and in this case government agencies and regulators. If you are like most businesses, incorporating these strategies into your business will be much less disruptive than waiting until it is legally required of you to do so.

The point is that these are complicated issues that are not going to be solved by only looking to the financial bottom line. It has to be an integrated approach that uses input from all stakeholders. In this difficult financial economy, looking out beyond the next payroll feels like science fiction. But we have to continually project ourselves 3, 5, 7, 30, even 50 years ahead as we plan strategy. We need to continue to evolve our businesses. Those that can and do will sustain. Those that don’t will simply cease to exist.

/2 Comments/by
, ,

Kill A What?

How many like to give money away? I don’t mean charitable giving; I mean paying for something and getting absolutely nothing in return.  Across the country and around the globe we spend millions each year for electricity that we never use. Called phantom power or vampire power, devices all over our homes and businesses are sucking electricity even when they are “turned off”. In the average home this can account for 5-10% of your electric bill. In businesses the power used at “the plug” can be the third or fourth highest user of electricity in an office behind the HVAC and lighting.

In some cases, this phantom power is used to keep a computer or TV in stand-by mode so that it starts in an instant. Other devices use the power to run clocks. From my kitchen I can see four or five different appliances that have a clock…and they never display exactly the same time! Still other devices use the power to do, well, nothing at all.
One of the gifts my wife gave me for Christmas this year was a Kill-A-Watt. (http://www.p3international.com/products/p4460.html)

The Kill-A-Watt comes in two models. I have the Kill-A-Watt EZ which has some additional features. The basic operation of both models is very easy. They plug into any wall outlet, then the device or devices that you want to measure plug into the Kill-A-Watt. It then measures the amount of electricity being consumed and projects the usage over a day, week, month and year. The longer it measures the usage the more accurate the projections become.

On the EZ model, you can also enter the rate your electric company charges for electricity. The EZ can then calculate costs of the electricity over the same time periods. Now, entering the rate sounds easier than it might actually be. After receiving the EZ, I grabbed our latest electric bill and was amazed to find out the actual rate appears nowhere on the bill. In fact, from the invoice itself, it is impossible to verify the accuracy of the charges.

Not to be deterred, I called our local electric company. After waiting on hold for a few minutes, I was greeted by a very friendly customer service clerk, who told me that the rates were “too complicated to describe over the phone” and instead, directed me to their website.

I jumped on the web, browsed to their site and proceeded to try to decipher the THIRTY SIX pages of disclosures and descriptions of how my electricity is charged. In the mean time, my wife called back to the electric company and got a supervisor on the phone. He was very nice and tried for 30 minutes to explain the calculations. He was especially proud of the fact that they had not raised residential rates in over 10 years. While, I guess that is true of the base service rates, but did not take into consideration the rider for Demand Management Programs (which I take to be the utility’s costs to promote residential electric efficiency, really, we have to pay extra for that?), nor does it include the Fuel Cost rider that is now being assessed, although it was calculated when oil was almost $150 a barrel rather than the $40 some a barrel today; nor does it include the rider for Environmental Compliance, which means we get to pay the utility for doing something they should have been doing all along, and oh, by the way, we also pay for the Green Power Initiative (and I am very happy to do so) which means our power comes from 100% renewable sources, so we pay for them to clean up from the coal and we don’t even use coal power (don’t even get me started on “clean” coal).
 
But, I digress. I was really writing about the Kill-A-Watt and phantom power. I have been surprised, not only by the amount of phantom power we use, but how easy it has been to begin to make changes. Admittedly they are small changes, but old habits are hard to break, and old lessons are hard to relearn. For years, we were taught to leave our computers on…all the time. How many hours a day does it sit idle? 15? 20? More? Our televisions are in standby when not in use, still consuming power.

Changing these behaviors and relearning these lessons in our offices can have even more of an impact. Walk through your office after hours some time. Count the number of office lights, conference room lights, and hallway lights still burning bright. Then look at how many computers are still turned on, monitors either in full display or with screensavers running. How many other devices are plugged in and using power? It could run into the thousands of dollars a year in utility costs for even an average sized office. Simply turning off the computers at the power strip could make a significant impact to the bottom line!

/3 Comments/by
,

Granny Was Right!

I think about my Granny often, but probably more so during the Holidays. Granny has been gone from us now for several years, yet as we gather for our traditional celebrations the memories of her are all around.

There was the Thanksgiving Day, watching the traditional Dallas Cowboy football game on TV when it began to snow in Dallas. Granny immediately declared that the astronauts were to blame! Sending men into space had disrupted the weather patterns years ago and that would explain snow in Texas.

Or playing a rousing game of dominoes and “catching” Granny cheating by going out of turn. When my brothers and I were really to blame as we sat there not making a play so Granny would assume it was her turn.

Or looking forward to Christmas because we knew that Granny would be making each family a “care package” of baked goodies. I can still taste those orange rolls! No one really even cared when, as she got older, she would forget an ingredient or two.

Or waiting (sometimes impatiently) as she veeeerrrrrryyyyy ssssssslllllloooooooowwwwwwlllllllllyyyyyyyy opened her gifts so that she would not tear the wrapping paper and then very meticulously folded the paper so it could be reused the following season (these days my mother has taken on this “tradition”).

Now Granny’s motivations might not have been trying to be green, or trying to save the planet, and the astronauts might not have caused the snow in Dallas (but I think there is little argument that mankind has had significant impact on the earth’s weather patterns). Granny grew up in a different time; a time when a simple game of dominoes was an evening’s entertainment; a time when, because of a very limited budget and a growing family, she would give baked goods in lieu of shopping for gifts; a time when during the depression and years following you learned not to waste a thing and reuse everything.

But, in her own way, Granny was right! Maybe the secret to sustainable living is learning from the past and adopting some of the same “simpler” approaches to life…Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

/1 Comment/by
,

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

It’s about the People people!

Of the three bottom lines of People, Planet, Profit, I think People is listed first because it is, by far, the most important.  Have you ever stopped to think about the number of “mouths” your business feeds? It is an incredibly humbling exercise to go through. Start with the employees, then their spouses, add in their children, but don’t stop there. Count the vendors whose products go into yours, their employees, their spouses, their children. Look at your customers or clients. Hopefully, they are buying your product to enhance their life or business in some way. Soon, you have a very big number (and probably you counted Kevin Bacon somewhere in there).  Look to the wider community and the impacts your business has on them. Whether you are a business owner, executive, middle manager or front-line worker, each and every one of them is depending on each and every one one of your decisions and/or actions.  Its an awesome responsibility and one that should not be taken lightly.

While I don’t think it is  feasible to consider each and every stakeholder in every day-to-day decision, I am continually amazed how little thought is given to the impact of a decision or of an action has on one or more of them. Just in the last few weeks I’ve talked someone who has been waiting a week for an employment offer that was said to be forthcoming immediately. No communication, yes, no, or still in progress. Another employee has an annual review that is three months late. Again, no communciation, yes, no, or otherwise. I’ve talked with a small business owner who has been waiting months for an invoice to be paid with no indication as to why it hasn’t been or even better as to when it might be paid.  I could go on, but you get the point.

Part of the triple bottom line approach to management is to identify these stakeholders, understand what strategies, policies and procedures impact them (both positively and negatively), and determine ways in which to measure those impacts. Next put in place strategies to reduce or eliminate the negative impacts and report the progress.

It is not an easy process and quite frankly can be painful. However, I think two words go along way in making this process easier: communication and respect. If we show respect to our stakeholders, even those with whom we disagree, and communicate openly and honestly with them, I believe we can identify strategies to resolve most impacts and issues.

/0 Comments/by
, ,

Water, Water Everywhere and Not a Drop to Drink

Ever since I accompanied my son’s youth group on a canoe trip in Ontario, Canada in the early 90’s, I have been passionate about rivers. While I don’t always make it out on the water as often as I would like, I always make it a point to canoe several times a year and, at the very least, stop to watch rivers in our area as often as I can.  There is something about the peacefulness, the solitude, the simpleness of dipping a paddle in the flowing water that helps to make the world make sense. There is something about the power, the roar, the magnitude of a river as it crashes and pounds its way through a canyon that creates a sense of awe and wonder. For years I have claimed a river to be my place of worship. In fact, for my mother’s 74th birthday I invited her to visit my “church”. We canoed for 10 miles on a perfect autumn day…and yes, she paddled the entire way.

It was through rivers and such organizations as American Rivers and Riverkeepers, that I first became involved in environmental issues so it seems fitting to begin with a discussion about water and rivers.

It has been said that water will be the next oil and that whomever controls the water, will control the money and power. Throughout history water and water rights have been the catalyst for disagreements, arguments, fights and even wars. You only have to look as far as Georgia and Tennessee to see the importance of water rights even today. Due to the recent droughts in the south eastern United States, water has become like gold and has prompted Georgia to lay claim to 150 square miles of Tennessee based on a border dispute dating back to the early 1800’s. Not so coincidentally, a portion of the Tennessee River flows through this territory. Having this piece of land and the water rights that would accompany it would be very beneficial to the state of Georgia. In another case, South Carolina has sued North Carolina over the amount of water the latter pulls from the Catawba River, a river which tops the American Rivers Most Endangered Rivers List.

As droughts grip portions of the country and perhaps become even more prevalent in the years to come, conservation of our water resources will become more and more important. I was very glad to see that the US Green Building Council increased its emphasis on Water Efficiency in the new LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Rating System for Existing Buildings. To me this validates an increased awareness.

Water conservation can have a positive impact on our rivers and streams in several different ways.

  • First, reducing the amount of water we use reduces the amount of water that needs to be drawn from our rivers and streams. You only need to look at the Colorado River and observe the trickle of water that now makes south into Mexico to see the impact of drawing too much water from a river.
  • Second, most of the water that is used is flushed back out into our rivers and streams adding pollution in the form of chemicals, garbage and human waste. A significant portion of our rivers are unsafe to drink from, fish from or swim in due in large part to this overflow.
  • Third, the embodied energy to pump and process this water adds to our overall energy usage which contributes to carbon emissions.
  • Fourth, we the consumers pay for the costs to pump, process, store and to building the infrastructure to support these activities in the form of utility, sewer and tax bills.
  • And last but not least, there is evidence that the continued draw of water followed by the flush of water back into the rivers is causing the them to “age” faster. The change in water flow is increasing erosion and sedimentation of the rivers which restricts the flow, may lead to increased flooding, and harms the wildlife that depend on the waters. Like the effect cholesterol has on our blood vessels, this sedimentation has the same effect on our rivers and streams.

A thought occurred to me while my wife and I were discussing ways to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle around our house. Several years ago my wife and I bought an RV so we could follow the Lewis and Clark Trail across the country. For those not familiar with RVing one of the great things about it is being “self contained”. You take your water and all your “facilities” with you. You can then park just about any where and camp. What you learn very quickly, is that you are limited in how long you can be “self contained” by, of all things, water.

An RV has three tanks (basically); the fresh water tank holds all your potable water for drinking, cooking, washing, showering and flushing; the gray water tank holds all of the waste water from the sinks and showers and the black water tank holds the flushed water. When either the fresh water runs out, or the gray or black tanks fill up you have to pack up, move the RV and dump the tanks and fill the fresh water. Because our RV and its takes are relatively small, we have learned to adapt.

When washing dishes for example, we get the dishes wet then turn off the water. We then scrub a sink full of dishes at a time before rinsing them. This method uses very little water. We use a similar concept when showering…get an area wet, turn off the water, soap it up, then rinse it. We find that even little things, like brushing our teeth are done with as little water as possible.

So, back to the thought I mentioned, I wonder if it would be possible to change our living habits to incorporate this minimalistic approach to using water in our day to day lives. I have started with turning the water off while brushing my teeth. Seems simple enough, yet a surprisingly difficult habit to break. Its a way to start, I think. Maybe we will try an “RV Week” and try use as little water as possible during the week. It will be interesting to measure the impact of just one week on our water consumption.

/1 Comment/by