The Green Shop

Key Observations from RILA

cathyedens — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 23:07:24 +0000

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I attended the RILA Conference on Sustainability and Compliance in San Diego. I’ve finally captured observations drawn from keynotes, education sessions and informal discussions with attendees and presenters which you can read or download from our website here.

-Cathy

Value of LEED Volume Made Clear in Pilot

Maggie Santolla — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 23:55:36 +0000

Sustainable Industries recently interviewed Brad Pease, Paladino’s building science team lead, for an article about the value of LEED Volume for companies seeking to certify multiple buildings based on a prototype. You can find a preview and a link to the full article on our web site.

Sustainable Industries is also hosting the white paper we authored, ““LEED Volume: What Is It and Do You Need It?” The paper delves deeper into the question of using a volume certification approach over a “one-off” approach for volume builders.

Check it out, and let us know what you think!

Maggie

RILA: Sustainability as a Strategic Imperative

cathyedens — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 20:41:59 +0000

Having just returned from an extended trip to San Diego and then on to Los Angeles for a few meetings, I wanted to quickly share some of the key take aways from my attendance at the RILA Conference on Sustainability and Compliance, held in San Diego last week.

Overall, I agree with Green Retail Decisions that the conference was a success. It was attended by a great group of retail leaders and service providers all focused on the same high level outcome; a sustainable future driven by sustainability as a business imperative. No longer is sustainable retail an option, but rather critical to survival.

Other key conference themes were supply chain transparency, authenticity and green stores strategies, including Energy Star and the upcoming LEED Volume program opening.

I’ll be writing more about these discussions in coming days, both here and in the form of another white paper to be made available to Paladino friends and family.

Cathy

Headed to RILA

cathyedens — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 23:42:51 +0000

A note to readers that I’m headed to the RILA (Retail Industry Leaders Association) Conference on Compliance and Sustainability in San Diego this Thursday and Friday, and then on to Los Angeles on Monday and Tuesday.

If you’re attending, please introduce yourself!

Cheers,

Cathy

LEED Volume Program Opening Expected Soon

cathyedens — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 23:29:51 +0000

We’re hearing rumors that the hotly anticipated LEED Volume Program may open to additional participants sometime in November, likely in conjunction with Greenbuild. The program is based on Paladino’s work with PNC Financial Services and the USGBC to develop a streamlined certification process that helps volume builders of same type locations based on a prototype design embed LEED into the building supply chain and achieve certification in a much more cost effective way.

Based on the number and types of questions we’ve received from clients, we’ve authored a white paper titled “LEED Volume: What Is It and Do You Need It?” to help volume builders understand the value of pursuing a volume certification approach over a building by building, or ‘one off’ certification approach.

A portion of the white paper can be found on our website here, along with instructions to request the full version.

Cheers!

Cathy Edens

Volume Builders Making News

Maggie Santolla — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:34:24 +0000

A couple of companies are in the news because of their efforts to reduce their climate impact through green building measures. IKEA recently released its 2009 sustainability report, announcing that it reduced its total CO2 emissions by 5% in 2009 compared to the previous year. The report also offers details of their “IKEA Goes Renewable” project to reduce the carbon emissions of their buildings and move towards powering all buildings with 100% renewable energy. The report may be downloaded here. They don’t give a timeline for achieving 100% renewable power, but IKEA expects to have solar panels on 30 to 40 buildings by the end of FY2011.

Enterprise Holdings, which operates Alamo Rent a Car, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, National Car Rentals, and Enterprise Fleet Management, announced a new sustainability initiative this week that aims to reduce energy use and costs by 20% by greening their neighborhood car rental branches and airport facilities. Called 20/20 Vision, the energy efficiency program was piloted in select markets in 2009 and was so successful it is now being rolled out globally across all their brands. Enterprise expects to save $50 million in energy costs over the next five years as a result.

-Maggie Santolla

Levi’s Care to Air Design Challenge

Maggie Santolla — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:00:05 +0000

Clothing retailer and manufacturer Levi’s is holding a clever design competition to find innovative new answers to the common clothesline. After conducting a Life Cycle Assessment of their jeans, they found that 60% of climate impact happens after the consumer takes the product home, and 80% of that comes from drying. However, the average US household chooses a dryer appliance over air drying, and apparently some communities find clotheslines (and, I assume, the unmentionables and other items hanging from them) so unsightly that they have banned them altogether. Levi’s contends that with a stylish, sustainable and innovative solution, more households and communities will embrace air drying. As an apartment dweller I would love to see an indoor alternative to an unwieldy drying rack or my current method involving lots of hangers and every available hook and doorknob, but it’s hard to beat the simplicity of a piece of string and some clothespins in terms of a sustainable alternative to the dryer. If a new air drying concept requires a lot of additional material, is it really that green?

This contest is part of Levi’s effort to bring their carbon footprint down to zero and I appreciate the acknowledgment and involvement of the consumer in an organization’s climate impact. Many companies are concentrating external carbon reduction efforts on their supplier base and directing those efforts to the people using your products seems like a logical step for a green economy retailer. It makes sense that Levi’s would concentrate their CSR communications on their iconic product line, but next I’d like more information about what they are doing to align their stores to their carbon neutral goal.

-Maggie Santolla

Green Retail Panel Postponed

The Green Shop — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:22:16 +0000

I regret to announce that the green retail panel on June 10 in New York has been postponed until a later date. I thank you for your interest in the event, and invite you to continue to visit the Green Shop blog for information on this and other future events, as well as conversations about green store development and operations practices for retailers and other volume builders. If you are interested in other green building events in the New York area this summer, please visit Urban Green Council’s web site at http://www.urbangreencouncil.org/.

Corporations Take Charge on Climate Change

Maggie Santolla — Fri, 28 May 2010 01:48:45 +0000

A new survey from Ernst & Young exploring C-suite attitudes towards climate change reveals that 70% of surveyed companies plan to boost their spending on climate change initiatives between now and 2012. Three hundred global executives representing companies with revenues of more than US $1b annually were surveyed as a way to take a temperature check at the halfway point in the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

The report contains many interesting findings but one that struck me was that the increase in activity is happening despite uncertainty surrounding regulations. Though carbon legislation is still being debated in the US and the outcomes from Copenhagen were disappointing, companies are recognizing that climate change initiatives have incredible value as ways to save money and align with changing consumer philosophies. It’s exciting to see large companies lead the way by responding proactively rather than reacting only when they are forced. I also found it interesting that companies are increasingly looking at supply chains as abundant opportunities for action and innovation. We have noticed a similar trend in our own work with retailers and other owners of large building portfolios—the transformation of the entire building supply chain to deliver greener buildings on a consistent, cost effective basis is often one of the most valuable outcomes for our clients and an effective driver for change towards participation in the green economy.

-Maggie Santolla

Join us June 10th for our Green Retail Panel

The Green Shop — Tue, 25 May 2010 21:48:23 +0000

Save the date–or better yet, purchase your tickets now–for our upcoming event on green retail building portfolio development. Part of Urban Green Council’s High Performance Building Salon series, this panel discussion will explore green portfolio management strategies through the experiences of retailers in varying stages of the green development process. Also, please note there has been a change in venue. The event will now take place at the following location:

The Mohawk Group showroom
71 West 23rd Street
New York, NY 10010 (map)