Going Green: Local Businesses Honored for Sustainable Ideas

Investing in sustainable business practices can be as simple as changing a light bulb or as complex as installing a green roof, paying dividends that accrue to and go beyond the bottom line.

Such investments were highlighted at the second annual Sustainable Brookfield event Thursday which recognized seven businesses and the City of Brookfield for eco-friendly operations.

The Greater Brookfield Chamber of Commerce presented the event in partnership with host Johnson Bank, which was recognized at the 2010 event as a LEED certified building, the and of Brookfield and the Waukesha County Economic Development Corporation.

The honorees noted that although returns on green investments are important, investing in sustainable business practices is about more than an ROI tallied on financial ledgers.

Solar panels installed on the city’s public safety building in 2010, for instance, have kept more than 21,000 pounds in carbon dioxide emissions from the air, while generating $1,500 in savings to date, said Tim Casey, the city’s economic development director.

Although the city benefits from the reduced energy costs, Casey said, “we do it for the Co2 rather than the dollar.”

The city is tracking the benefits of its solar panel project on its web site, where the cumulative reduced Co2 emissions and cost savings are posted. “The Co2 offset,” Casey said, “is the more significant number.”

A more recent green initiative is the new roof at the . The city replaced the nearly 25-year-old roof with a vegetated roof that retains up to 4,200 gallons of rainfall. Keeping that water where it falls reduces polluted storm water runoff and keeps excess water from the city sewer system, while the vegetated roof adds insulation and reduces the facility’s heating and cooling costs.

These two green initiatives are just the beginning, Casey said, as “the city is just getting started on its sustainability journey.”

The city committed to pursuing sustainable practices two years ago, as noted in Chapter 7 of its 2035 comprehensive plan. That six-page chapter now is fleshed out as a 56-page draft sustainability report that details steps city departments can take to go green.

Small businesses contribute to big picture

committed to going green when it moved four years ago to its new office just east of the Brookfield border, at 11717 W. North Ave. in Wauwatosa. As a new tenant with no track record of energy costs to gauge potential ROI, creating a green business environment was embraced more as a way to best serve patients and be a good environmental citizen, Dr. David J. Foti said.

The practice invested in solar tubes, at nearly $250 apiece, to create natural lighting in the reception and treatment areas. The solar tubes, even on cloud-covered days, generate soft light that more gently brightens treatment areas. Large existing windows also add natural light, which helps create an environment conducive to healing.

“My priority was to make it an environmentally friendly thing, and make it a conducive healing atmosphere,“ Foti said. “When a patient is in an environment that is healing... the patient senses that.”

The practice also uses green cleaning products; recycles glass, paper and other recyclable waste; and uses shredded documents in composting.

“It’s just simple stuff,” Foti said, adding, “One drop in the ocean makes a wave.”

Among the eight organizations recognized, all of which are chamber members, only one business invested in sustainable operations from scratch, through new construction. The seven others, like Foti, made green investments as tenants or building owners who retrofitted, renovated or redesigned existing facilities to align with green initiatives.

Going green through retrofitting

Given the current economy and the drop in new construction, it is important to get the message to area businesses that going green is possible within existing space, said Carol White, chamber president.

“Being kind and good to the environment, for most, it is about the bottom line,” White said. “You can retrofit… and small steps can bring big rewards,” as a tenant or a building owner.

“There’s a lot of excitement with new construction,” Greg Bell, executive director of the nonprofit Smart Business Forum, told the nearly 50 people who gathered to gain green knowledge at the chamber event. “But existing buildings also can be sustainable buildings.”

Bell cited R.A. Smith National Inc.’s initiatives to go green at its building at 16745 W. Blue Mound Rd. The initiatives included converting fluorescent bulbs to low wattage T-8s, installing lighting sensors so that lights switch off when a room is not in use, converting a building sign from neon to LED technology and upgrading the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system with variable frequency drives.

Swapping out neon for LED lighting for the building sign alone is expected to reduce annual energy costs by about $300 a year, Bell said. That savings combined with those realized through upgrades in the HVAC and other lighting systems — a $20,000 investment — is expected to save $12,000 a year, generating an ROI in less than two years, Bell said.

“All of these things start to add up,” Bell said. And new construction is not the only route to realize significant savings by investing in green practices.

Squire Fine Men’s Apparel two weeks ago swapped out 225 75-watt halogen lamps with 17-watt LED lamps in its leased space at 3885 N. Brookfield Rd. The ROI on the nearly $14,700 investment is expected to be realized within 17 months through reduced energy costs and a rebate for the project from WE Energies.

The reduced costs accrue as the LED lights use less energy and also generate less heat, cutting costs to cool space that heated up under the 16,875 watts of the old 225 halogen lamps. The lifespan of the LED lights is about seven years, which saves on bulb replacement costs.

“The store is more comfortable, because we don’t have constant heat coming off the lights… so our air conditioning doesn’t have to run as often,” owner David Matsudaira said.

The energy saving trickles down to customers, Matsudaira said, as it frees the business to do more for customers due to reduced overhead costs.

“We pride ourselves on doing everything we possible can for our customers. We’ll go the extra mile — the extra 10 miles — for our customers,” Matsudaira said. “All of those things cost money. With the long-term savings like this project… we can afford to do things for our customers without it harming our operations.”

Other businesses recognized by the chamber include:

• , 18740 Blue Mound Rd., through a renovation project expected to reduce energy costs by up 25 percent, or nearly $28,000 a year;
• Innovess, 3485 N. 127th St., for a lighting retrofit that reduced lighting cost by 70 percent and generated an ROI within 18 months;
• , 16580 Pheasant Dr., with new construction that included a “cool” metal roof made of 100 percent recycled materials; and
• Kerns Carpet One, 19655 W. Blue Mound Rd., for its carpet recycling practices that generated a $10,000 ROI, reduced staff costs by $20,000 and generated 12 new jobs.