By Loyd on October 21st, 2008
So your company’s gone green. You’re doing all your printing on recycled stock. You’re shipping with recycled cardboard containers and using biodegradable foam for packing and you’ve switched to more efficient lights in the office. The only problem you still have is getting your employees in the game. You could always do what Earth911 of California did, offer the prime parking spaces to employees who frequently carpool or drive hybrid vehicles.
Earth911 is located in San Francisco California, a city notorious for minimal parking and rampant crash and runs. You’re more likely to get your car damaged by simply parking it on the street than stepping in front of a moving train. Well…ok…I’m over exaggerating a little. Just a little. But in a city where parking is hard to come by incentives like this can really make the difference to your employees.
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Keywords: green, greenhouse gases
By Loyd on October 8th, 2008
With the ups and downs of Wall Street and bank closings topping the news every night it’s easy to see why millions of Americans think the $700 billion financial bailout bill is going only to the banks and Wall Street but, the reality is, the bill is targeted at almost everyone across this country from teachers to cattle ranchers and even the environment.
The new bill, passed last week, creates and extends tax credits and incentives for businesses large and small. The incentives for renewable and green energy extend investment credits for solar energy, as well as breaks for wind, geothermal and other alternative sources for another eight years. According to the solar industry by extending the credits through 2016 an additional 440,000 jobs will be created and more than $230 billion in investments as well as encouraging growth in the renewable energy market.
If you decide to buy an electric vehicle you could receive a tax credit ranging of up to $7,500. If you bike to work your employer can exempt from taxation what they spend on some of the fringe benefits for workers who commute by bicycle (e.g. reimbursing the cost of parking the bikes.)
So whether or not you believe the fiscal bailout bill was a good idea or bad, know that at least, in the long run, some good will come of it.
Photo by Bruce McAdam.
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Keywords: energy efficient, green, solar, wind
By Loyd on October 3rd, 2008
What would you do if someone knocked on your front door and wanted to replace your old, inefficient toilet with a new, state of the art, low flow model? Did I mention they’d do it all for free? Well that’s exactly what the Mile High Youth Corps and Denver Water are doing in the Denver area.
The program is part of a contract between Denver Water and the Mile High Youth Corps, a Denver based job training program, which began in 2007. At the time the youth corps was already greening up area residences by conducting energy audits for dwellings listed with Colorado’s Low Income Energy Assistance Plan, installing compact fluorescent light bulbs, efficient shower heads and other items to cut energy use.
Going door-to-door the youths offer to replace toilets with newer efficient ones, install water conserving aerators, and install high efficiency shower heads saving just this year alone an estimated 18.2 million gallons of water for Denver residents. That’s enough water to fill 28 Olympic sized swimming pools.
Awesome job guys!
Photo courtesy of DenverPost.com.
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Keywords: green, green living, recycle
