APRIL 9, 2009 ISSUE
Making It Easy To Be (Certified) Green
Watauga Green Business Plan Adds Businesses, Looks for New Clients
Nine local businesses are helping the local community, bolstering their image, cutting operating costs and helping to save the environment through participation in the Watauga Green Business Plan, a joint initiative of the Watauga County Economic Development Commission and the ASU Energy Center.
Currently, Watauga Green Business Plan Coordinators Landon Williams and Ross Dylan are looking to add more local businesses to the program, while celebrating the businesses that have already taken advantage of what they believe is an indispensable community resource.
The Plan
The Watauga Green Business Plan began in July 2008 as a first step in distinguishing Watauga County’s encouragement and cultivation of sustainable business enterprises. The program gives local business owners and entrepreneurs the tools needed to adopt practices that reduce environmental impact, improve operational efficiency and enhance a business’s reputation.
At the heart of the plan is a certification process that evaluates the breadth and depth of a business’s commitment to reducing its environmental impact and supporting a sustainable community. The basis of this evaluation is the Green Business Scorecard that reflects the best practices in eight areas of environmental and community stewardship: regulatory compliance; solid waste management; environmentally and socially responsible purchasing; energy conservation and quality; protecting and promoting natural and cultural resources; alternative transportation; and community involvement and leadership. As a prerequisite to be considered for the plan, each business must already recycle.
Based on the level of performance, participating businesses are awarded a Level of Green Excellence ranking of one, three or five stars, and certification is valid for two years. To become certified, each business must pay a fee that starts at $100 and is based on the company’s number of employees. Businesses just getting started but still wishing to participate in the program can be awarded provisional certification for up to one year. During this period, the business commits to put best practices in place and meet minimum implementation goals.
Moving Forward
In 2007, the ASU Energy Center and the Watauga County Economic Development Commission joined forces to develop criteria for the Watauga Green Business Plan. In July 2008, the commission, under approval from the Watauga County Board of Commissioners, allocated $25,000 to the ASU Energy Center for the development of a one-year pilot program for the Watauga Green Business Plan. In September 2008, the program was finalized and, from September until now, Watauga Green Business Plan representatives have been actively pursuing program participants.
Currently, nine local businesses are part of the program, and four more businesses are finalizing their commitments in the coming weeks. To gain a better understanding of the green initiatives that the Watauga Green Business Plan aims to encourage, a discussion of three of the participating business’s key measures from their scorecard is listed below.
Local Examples
Bubbles Car Wash is one of the founding members of the Watauga Green Business Plan program. In addition to other green practices, the business features a 90 to 95 percent water recapture system, which means that most of the water used to wash vehicles is recycled.
Bubbles Car Wash
Bubbles Car Wash Owner Andrew Wade, 27, adopted multiple key measures to green his business, making him a perfect candidate for the Watauga Green Business Plan. His business is currently ranked as a one star through the plan.
Bubbles features a 90 to 95 percent water recapture system, which means that most of the water used to wash the vehicles—sans what is lost due to evaporation and car drive-off—is recycled. The car wash’s water recapture system features four cisterns that capture the runoff from the wash, filter it, purify it and then return it to use.
Bubbles also features high-efficiency gas water heaters—the most efficient model on the market—and each spray nozzle is low-flow, high pressure, which reduces water consumption.
Since car washes in the High Country are susceptible to ice, Wade must heat his wash bays, which he does using a low-temperature, single-unit radiant floor heating system. The system uses the least amount of energy possible to heat the entire structure.
Wade also installed compact fluorescent light bulbs inside the car wash and dark sky lighting—lights that direct light down and not up, to guard against light pollution—outside the car wash.
In the future, Williams and Dylan hope to continue working with Wade to implement more green practices at Bubbles, which, they theorized, could be more community outreach or the installation and purchase of a solar hot water heating system.
Sam and Jennifer Parker’s Our Daily Bread in Boone received points on the Watauga Green Business Plan for greening their infrastructure and for community outreach and support.
Our Daily Bread
Sam and Jennifer Parker’s Our Daily Bread in Boone received points on the Watauga Green Business Plan for initiatives that have to do with greening their infrastructure, as well as with community outreach and support.
In addition to installing low-flow bathroom and kitchen fixtures, dimmer switches on 85 percent of their lighting and extra attic insulation to improve their energy efficiency, the Parkers also received points for buying local produce and dairy products and for supporting ASU, the Western Youth Network, the Downtown Boone Development Association and the Downtown Boone Art Crawl.
“One part of being green is giving back to the community,” said Dylan. “Green is all about your locality.”
Our Daily Bread also received points for installing a zoned and programmable thermostat, and for using recycled and/or Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood during its recent remodel.
Our Daily Bread is currently ranked as a one star through the plan.
Boone’s first green office building, The Greenhouse, helped one of its tenants, Frontline Conservation Real Estate, get a better score on the Watauga Green Business Plan because of all of its green building practices, such as daylighting and a high-efficiency HVAC system.
Frontline Conservation Real Estate
Jeffrey Scott’s Frontline Conservation Real Estate is currently the only company involved with the Watauga Green Business Plan to carry a three-star ranking. Part of this credit is due to its location, or envelope, inside The Greenhouse, Boone’s first green office building.
In regards to points for the plan, Frontline Conservation benefits from The Greenhouse’s daylighting systems, high-efficiency HVAC system and instant hot water heater, as well as the fact that the building was constructed using recycled glass, recycled carpet and recycled, reused or Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood.
Because the business supports the environment in its mission, it also received points. Other key green measures in place at Frontline include a programmable thermostat, showers for bike commuters and the use of post-consumer office products.
Become a Watauga Green Business
Williams and Dylan encourage all local businesses—even if they rent their building—to take advantage of the resources available through participation in the Watauga Green Business Plan.
“We want everyone to be involved. We want to be a resource to help businesses change their habits—help businesses develop new best practices,” said Dylan. “This is not about money for us. We’re here to help you reduce operating costs, lessen your impact on the environment, help the community and help your business’s image.”
For more information on the Watauga Green Business Plan, call 828-265-7267 or click to www.greenbusinessplan.com.
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