Barry’s comments reflect the growth of the green supply chain beyond manufacturing into professional services companies like Marsh & McLennan Companies which provides advice and solutions in risk, strategy and human capital.

The challenge confronting professional services companies is how to reduce an environmental footprint consisting of people in offices. Barry explains, “Our environmental footprint consists of our associates working in office buildings, using their computers and traveling to our clients. Our sustainability challenge is how to lower our environmental impacts to enhance our bid competitiveness without impacting the ability of our talented people to do their jobs.”

This challenge confronts every commercial business. There is an estimated 12 billion sq. ft of commercial space in the United States accounting for 9 percent of total U.S. energy consumption representing $24 billion in annual costs and 19 percent of the nation’s green house gas emissions.

Here are Marsh & McLennan Companies’ best practices for growing its bid competitiveness in response to the increasing number of bids asking sustainability performance questions:

Customer alignment 

“One of my most important contributions to Marsh & McLennan Companies is to help the company align with our customers’ metrics for measuring sustainability,” Barry explains.
“This entails two key activities. The first is to identify what the customers are measuring. The second is to develop metrics within our operation that align with the sustainability metrics of our customers.”

One outgrowth of this increased focus upon measuring an office’s environmental footprint is the growing use of sub-metering in commercial buildings that house multiple tenants. Marsh & McLennan Companies exemplifies this trend, “The majority of our commercial space is rented. We are actively engaged with the real estate companies we rent from to develop sub-metering that will allow us to measure our consumption of electricity, natural gas and water.” And more and more companies are also exploring questions tied to downsizing of their office space. “We recognize that one of the biggest contributors to our consumption of energy and water is our office square footage. At Marsh & McLennan Companies we continuously work to reduce the square footage of our offices without negatively impacting our ability to meet our customers’ performance expectations.”

Leadership 
“It isn’t enough to follow your customers if your business goal is to be a market leader,” Barry explains. “Market leadership requires being proactive in strategically identifying goals that will create the desired competitive advantage.”

The role of leadership does begin at the top 
“At Marsh & McLennan Companies our board of directors has established a subcommittee focused upon corporate responsibility, including environmental sustainability,” Barry explains.

“I submit monthly reports on our sustainability performance to this subcommittee and meet with them twice a year. And our CEO, Brian Duperreault, attends these twice-a-year meetings. Our senior leadership’s focus upon achieving sustainability goals is a key to our company’s success in winning bids that contain sustainability criteria for selecting the winning supplier.”

Associate engagement 
“We actively seek volunteers among our associates to help the company find and implement green solutions,” Barry explains. “The great news is that we often don’t have to ask. Increasingly, more and more associates want to engage in promoting sustainable behavior.”

A Green Traveler Program is one by-product from Marsh & McLennan Companies’ associate engagement. Associates asked for help figuring out green travel options. The Green Traveler Program provides associates with greener hotel and flight vs. train options.

“Today Marsh & McLennan Companies has green volunteers in most of our 500+ worldwide locations. Many work off hours volunteering their time to make a sustainable difference.”

A major challenge for Marsh & McLennan Companies and most professional firms is the love of paper by associates. “We have a paper reduction campaign. Our goal is to move most of our paper system to digital. In the short term we have mandated the use of double-sided printing and our printers are set to default to black and white type. In terms of going paperless, our associates are engaging in the small steps that will ultimately lead to realizing the goal of being digital. What is helping in this process is the increasing positive feedback from our customers on our associates’ efforts at using paper more efficiently and for our efforts at moving to digital files.”

Focus on the story
“One of Marsh & McLennan Companies’ secret sauces for winning bids is our credible and authentic communications strategy that explains our company’s sustainability commitment, our achievements and future plans,” Barry explains.

“Our ability to tell authentic stories on our efforts in adopting sustainability best practices is a growing key factor along with our price competitiveness and quality of work for winning bids.”

The focus-on-the-story best practice of Marsh & McLennan Companies is an example of the growing awareness among market leaders that a company can grow its brand equity through aligning the brand with the sustainability expectations of their associates, customers and stakeholders. The following are best practices steps for developing a brand aligned with sustainability:

Define Credible Metrics. A credible message demands real numbers. Two steps are involved for harvesting credible data. Step one is for an organization to ask itself the right data questions that link to the metrics definitions of your customers, associates and stakeholders. Step two is to design and execute processes for proactively gathering data in a format that is useful to your associates, customers and stakeholders.

SWOT. The traditional business school Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threat analysis (SWOT) creates value placing sustainability metrics into a context of competitive advantages and threats. For example, SWOT analysis-derived questions are driving many CFOs to explore the link between cost competitiveness and the scale of of their companies’ emissions and waste streams. The companion question being asked by COOs and CMOs explores opportunities created by a company’s sustainability strengths. Companies with sustainability strengths are realizing unprecedented revenue growth opportunities offering green solutions to their customers seeking to greening of their operations. And for many companies the most telling SWOT questions envisions scenarios where a more sustainable competitor or product offering endangers an existing firm’s revenues and customer base.

Marketing. The marketing of sustainability requires the same communications expertise and focus as marketing other benefits of a business. Two trends are happening in this space. The first is the explosion in the number of customers and investors reading CSR publications in their evaluation of companies. The second major trend is the engagement of communications, marketing and PR human resources in the crafting of case study sustainability stories that engage customers and stakeholders. Business is still a personal process heavily dependent upon examples of trust and performance. Case studies are an effective tool in communicating less metrics-driven bid selection criteria like the vision of a company’s leadership or the integrity of company associates. As a result, marketing of case studies profiling real people making a sustainable difference are a growing path for engaging customers, associates and stakeholders at a level of human connection that numbers never achieve.

Build Brand Equity. Brand marketing and the pursuit of brand equity is now being realized by companies that are successfully aligning with the growing search among consumers for authenticity, transparency and sustainability in what they buy and who they buy from.

“For Marsh & McLennan Companies our brand equity is being further strengthened with our customers and associates beyond our core price competitiveness and quality of work as we demonstrate our sustainability values through our increasingly metric-based CSR reporting and our outreach through our stories of achieving sustainable results,” explains Barry. “It is our secret sauce for winning competitive bids with the growing number of customers seeking to green their supply chain.”

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Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. He is the author of The Secret Green Sauce that profiles business case studies on best practices for making money going green. He is the Green Business Coach for the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Green Builds Business Program sponsored by Walmart that is coaching hundreds of small business owners on best practices for making money and a difference.

Staples, Inc. is a worldwide business supplier with Internet revenues second only to Amazon. At the retail store level they have promoted recycled paper, e-waste recycling and the introduction of electric delivery vehicles.

The Staples Advantage business division sells to the world’s largest companies. A growing revenue category is their green cleaning products. Roger McFadden, Staples Advantage’s Senior Scientist, is an example of the human resources that Staples brings to a Staples Advantage customer. Roger and his associates collaborate with Staples Advantage customers in identifying paths for greening the customer’s janitorial chemicals.

“Leadership companies are searching for green and sustainable solutions,” McFadden explains. “In many cases these solutions need to be created. My job is to contribute scientific insights and research to the efforts of Staples Advantage and its customers pursuing cost-effective, safer product solutions for reducing the toxins and unhealthy emissions in their facilities.”

This search for green product design innovations is at the core of the greening of the supply chain. Remarkably this search has emerged as a collaborative process engaging suppliers and competitors in a common pursuit of innovation. McFadden explains:

Customers are asking questions of their suppliers beyond the traditional ones involving cost, quality and delivery schedule. Their questions ask for detailed disclosure and metrics including the amount and type of toxin and wastes associated with the product and its manufacturing process, delivery, use and disposal. Product metrics must stand the test of validation and align with the customer’s goals for reduction of toxins and waste.

This trend is creating business winners and losers measured by revenue growth. Product makers and suppliers who are not engaged in the greening of the supply chain face a real threat of losing contracts and market share to greener competitors.

“Reporting in detail on a product’s environmental footprint is heading toward being as much a criteria for supplier selection as price,” McFadden notes. “You don’t want to be locked out from being a supplier because you don’t adequately disclose your product’s ingredients and its environmental footprint.”

The pioneering of green cleaning products that offer lower toxin and environmental footprints is one of Staples Advantage’s revenue growth successes. “The LEED certification of commercial space has really increased property owner and tenant awareness of indoor toxins and air quality,” McFadden explains. “Staples’ environmentally preferable cleaning products have seen impressive revenue growth. These price-competitive products improve indoor air quality and have a lower health impact upon cleaning associates and building occupants without sacrificing cleaning performance.”

Examples of these Staples environmentally preferable cleaning product solutions include:

Reduction In The Number Of Cleaning Products Used. Using cleaning products that are designed for multiple functions (multi-surface cleaner, glass cleaner, carpet spotter, bathroom cleaner and floor cleaner all in one). Staples reports that this best practice for some companies have reduced the number of cleaning products from twenty-two to just four. The result can be lower costs, simplified cleaning associates training and improved air quality.

Multi-Use Microfibers. This solution replaces single use (use one, throw it away) wipes and mops with wipers and mops made from durable multi-use microfibers which can be used again and again, reducing cleaning product waste streams.

Capture and Contain. Eliminating cleaning techniques that dislodge dirt and soil into surrounding air by replacing them with cleaning tools and techniques that capture and contain soils. For example, replacing feather dusters with wet cloths, microfiber wipers or wool dusters.

Energy Conservation. Use cleaning products that perform in cool water rather in heated water thus saving energy and reducing utility bills.

Packaging. Concentrated products designed to be diluted in tap water use less packaging material and have a lower transportation footprint than “ready to use” cleaning products requiring larger, heavier packaging. And since most of this packaging is plastic, there are environmental benefits gained from reducing the amount of plastic consumed, the associated reduction in oil/energy in the plastic’s production and reduced plastic flowing into landfill.

Staples Advantage’s consultative services are pioneering additional customer value. One example is McFadden’s team’s work with an international cruise line confronting tightened ship discharge regulations. “My team and I spent days on board in the engine room of a ship researching this customer’s situation. There was no obvious product solution. But through our role at Staples Advantage we created a cleaning product solution that aligned with both the cost and performance expectations of the cruise-line company and compliance with government regulations.”

These types of supplier opportunities are emerging across the greening of the supply chain. Buyers are searching for safer and more sustainable solutions that in many cases their existing suppliers do not offer. Never before have supply chain buyers been so open to new entrants offering green product innovations and working with their suppliers in open, collaborative relationships. McFadden summarizes:

It is no longer enough in today’s supply chain to sell based upon only offering the lowest price or fastest delivery. Today’s supply chain is demanding validation and disclosure on a product’s and company’s toxins and environmental footprint. Our experience at Staples Advantage is that this is a tremendous opportunity for strengthening existing customer relationships, to win new customers and to realize increased revenues.

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Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles businesses and their best practices for making money going green. Through the USHCC Green Builds Business program funded by Walmart, he is coaching hundreds of smaller business owners in their design of a project that will make them money, create jobs and enhance the environment within 120 days.

U.S. EPA: If you are looking to understand the numbers for yourself on the climate and health impacts of pollution then follow this feed and the EIA twitter feed I provide next.

Energy Information Agency: Want to see how far we have to go to gain Energy Independence? This is the feed that provides the numbers. It is a key source I use in my economic analysis.

KISSmetrics: What am I doing listing a twitter feed focused upon online marketing? Moving from molecules to electrons is a green business mega-trend! This feed has invaluable insights on how to help a business grow revenues online, very green!

Green Reports: Timely updates on companies launching pioneering green products and processes.

Energy Now News: Exactly what it names says, insightful source for green news that typically doesn’t get mass media coverage.

GreenBizTimes: This Twitter feed profiles information and resources helpful to companies and business professionals going green.

U.S. Green Building Council: Up to date insights on LEED and green construction.

SmartVehicle: Really timely and informative insights on car technologies and government policies. Not just green cars, I enjoy lusting over the really cool but gas-guzzling cars this feed also identifies.

Apple Followers: I am not picking PC vs. Apple (though my Millennial Generation kids finally got Dad to go Apple). But let’s face it, Apple has the lead in re-engineering our lives and businesses away from molecules. And they are emerging as a green supply chain leader. At least follow their news even if you are still PC.

Earth 2017. Yep, if you are not following my tweets you are missing out on key links to how to make money going green. My almost 4,000 tweets are a library of links to research, products, financing tips and business best practices.

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. He is the author of The Secret Green Sauce that profiles business case studies on best practices for making money going green. He is the Green Business Coach for the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Green Builds Business Program sponsored by Walmart that is coaching hundreds of small business owners on best practices for making money and a difference.

Monterey Abalone Company is a best practices example of aquaculture done correctly. Their production process is close to 100 percent green outside of truck deliveries of its seafood products. The company is recognized by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch List as a Best Choice.

Monterey Abalone Company’s market focus is the supply shortage of abalone due to global overfishing. The company’s aquaculture process is open-water cage farming using the natural environment as its host. Most importantly, they are farming a species indigenous to Monterey Bay. The feedstock for the abalone is kelp sustainably harvested from the bay. Kelp is one of the planet’s fastest growing plants and the company’s kelp harvest represents less than 1 percent of the entire kelp acreage in the bay. No chemicals or toxins are used in the growing process. Their farming aligns with the bay’s eco-system including sea otters that actually benefit the abalone aquaculture process by controlling the crab population that feeds on abalone.

The Monterey Abalone Company is enjoying commercial success because their seafood is viewed as being sustainably grown. They sell all the abalone they can produce. Even though there is great demand for their seafood in Asia they exclusively sell to US restaurants that actively seek their product based upon its size, quality and sustainable farming practices. This marketing strategy results in a smaller transportation environmental footprint, and they are creating US jobs.

There are two key best practices to harvest from the Monterey Abalone Company. Their customers are restaurants that are “greening” their supply chain through the purchase of healthier, locally grown food. Yes, abalone is a delicacy that commands a premium price, but the Monterey Abalone Company’s sustainable aquaculture practices have positioned the company for superior revenue growth and premium price leadership.

The second best practice is the potential that sustainable aquaculture has for restoring our oceans and supplying healthy seafood to consumers. Watch the following video to hear Trevor Fay, one of the pioneering owners of Monterey Abalone Company, talk about his vision for sustainable aquaculture and best practices that can help every company grow revenues selling into the greening of the supply chain:

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of businesses making money going green. His coaching of hundreds of businesses through the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation Green Builds Business program funded by Walmart has generated projects that are restoring jobs, the economy and the environment.

Here are the five megatrend drivers behind 2012’s sustainable economic growth:

1. Energy efficiency is #1 in ROI. The Return On Investment (ROI) on US 10 year bonds is 2 percent and the 2011 Standard and Poor 500 stock index closed the year with zero appreciation. Energy efficiency investments now offer 10-50 percent ROIs making them the superior investment available today in the United States.

Two fuel price trends are driving these superior returns for energy efficiency investments. The first is that 2011 marked the first time in US history that the average price of gasoline did not fall below $3 per gallon and diesel prices did not fall below $4 per gallon.

The second major fuel trend is the continuing rise in electricity prices. Electricity rates continue their long-term upward path driven by higher coal prices and the increased cost of pollution controls on coal fired power plants. In addition, the aging of the electrical grid and pressure to adopt smart technologies mean utilities are cash strapped and must request for higher rates to fund investments.

In response to electricity price inflation 52 percent of US companies report targeting a 25 percent reduction of their electricity consumption by 2014. The pain at the pump is now energizing the US automobile industry to act with new new models like the Chevrolet Cruze, Hyundai Elantra and Ford Focus. These vehicles with MPG over 35 mpg are succeeding in the market with sales up over 40 percent. The most telling trend-indicator of all maybe the successful IPO of Zipcar, a car sharing program.

2. Green supply chain is driving global economic growth. Corporations, not governments, are now driving the push toward sustainability as they harvest increasingly significant profit growth through design and process innovations that cut production, delivery, packaging and disposal costs while also reducing a company’s/product’s environmental footprint. This is a global trend led by international companies like Walmart, GE and Coca Cola. Its commercial impact is now evident in the increasing scale of Request For Proposal bid questions on sustainability metrics and performance results documentation. This global mega-trend is creating new revenue growth opportunities for smaller businesses that can offer price competitive lower environmental footprint products and solutions. It is also decentralizing decision-making as large corporations gain success using Green Teams to find and implement ideas that reduce costs and a company’s environmental footprint. Where CFOs once questioned the ROI of producing a corporate CSR report, the importance of these documents is now clear. CSR reports have an increasingly important role as a source document used by third parties that communicate to consumers and equity investors on the sustainability of a company and its products, which has an implicit impact on the bottom line. The combined impacts of the greening of the supply chain have now made this process the economic engine of the global sustainable economy.

3. Local farm to fork. Boomers are still the dominant economic force in America, accounting for 52 percent of the approximately $700 billion spent on groceries. Boomers are increasingly shifting their food procurement toward healthier choices in their lifelong quest for an “endless summer.” While still heavily influenced by price, convenience and mass marketing, the Boomer Generation is increasingly buying at farmers markets and adopting food gardening. Their mega buying power will accelerate the re-engineering of agriculture away from chemicals. It is also promoting Buy Local. Aligned with the Millennial Generation’s focus upon a healthy lifestyle these two mega-consumers will make 2012 a milestone year for moving the American food supply closer to a Local Farm To Fork supply chain.

4. “Smart” consumers bypassing the greenwashing explosion. 2012 will see a further explosion in greenwashing as 20th century unsustainable products attempt to align with the marketing power of smart, healthy and green labels. The boomerang of this increased greenwashing will be the acceleration in the consumer’s shift to their social networks for answers they view as authentic and transparent. 84 percent of moms now rely upon Facebook and 64 percent rely upon reading blogs to make their purchase decisions. The QR code accessed by a smart phone that links to third party assessments and analysis is emerging as the consumer’s information portal in evaluating price competitiveness, product claims and product safety. 2012 will see further acceleration of the “smart” consumer overpowering traditional brand marketing greenwashing.

5. Hispanic green leadership. The Hispanic community’s 50 million citizens now represent over 16 percent of the US population. Hispanic consumers have over $1 trillion of annual buying power. The US Hispanic community’s buying power is comparable in size to the GDP of South Korea, two-thirds the size of India and over twice the size of Turkey. The Hispanic community leads America in the new business start-ups and in new business start-ups by women.

Emerging market research now points to the Hispanic community also leading America in the green revolution. Led by their US Hispanic Chamber of Commerce the Hispanic business community is increasingly going green to lower costs, align with their Hispanic customers and win business with non-Hispanic businesses. The 2012 election year will see the Hispanic community gain increased influence at the ballot box and at the cash register as they align their vote and wallets with their strong sense of going green in behalf of their families and out of respect for their family values.

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Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles case studies of business best practices that make money and a difference. During 2011 Roth coached hundreds of businesses on green business best practices through the Green Builds Business program created by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce funded by Walmart.

Alternative Energy
Solar
Nuclear Power
Wind Energy
Ethanol
Biodiesel
Biomass
Fuel Cell
Geothermal Energy
Flex Fuel
E85 Gas Stations

Sustainability
sustainable development
sustainable energy
sustainable agriculture
sustainable design
sustainable living
sustainable communities
sustainable farming
sustainable fish
sustainable growth rate
sustainable food jobs

Environmental Questions
How to compost
What is vegan
What causes earthquakes
Is Fish meat
What is led light
How to dispose paint
What is deforestation
What is fracking
What is carbon footprint
Is styrofoam recyclable

What people are reusing
Reusable Bags
Reusable Diapers
Reusable Water Bottles
Reusable Keurig Filter
Reusable Canning Lids
Reusable Stras
Reusable Ice Cubes
Reusable Hand Warmers
Reusable Swim Diapers
Reusable Air Filters

Hybrid & Alternative vehicles
Prius
Chevy Volt
Smart car
lexus Hybrid
Honda Hybrid
Nissan Leaf
Ford Fusion
Hybrid Suv
Hyundai
Tesla

Waste Disposal
Garbage Island
E Waste Recycling
Apple Recycle
Trash Pack
Zero Waste Home
Free Junk Removal
Is Styrofoam Recyclable
Recyclebank Codes
Earth911.com Recycling
Oil Recycling Locations

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles case studies of business best practices that make money going green. He is coaching hundreds of small businesses through the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Green Builds Business program funded by Walmart.

Fingers are pointing in every direction.

Companies selling solar power systems point the finger at the tax-based system for financing solar power. The US does not reflect the real price of energy at the meter or the pump. For example, coal-fired electricity looks really cheap at the meter and solar looks expensive. But the real costs of coal fired electricity generation that include environmental and health impacts are not included at the meter. How significant are the costs not included at the meter? Think about whether you would rather live downwind from a coal-fired power plant or next to a house with a roof top solar system.

The US solution for balancing this pricing inequality is to offer tax credits to people who buy solar systems, thus lowering their cost of electricity to a level close to the cost of utility-supplied electricity. However, this adds a huge layer of financing complexity. The result is a bottleneck where today there are only about 20 banks that can finance a solar power system and the system for implementing financing involves lawyers, tax accountants and stacks of paper documentation. The result is a costly, cumbersome and restrictive financing system.

Installation is another bottleneck. Every utility has their rules. Every local city and county has their rules. The result is a layer of complexity that significantly adds to the cost of a solar system. Why is installing a solar system that much more complex than installing a refrigerator?

Utilities are also beginning to undermine the economics of solar through rate revisions designed to be “fairer” to non-solar customers. These utilities claim that a rooftop solar system customer doesn’t pay enough to have the utility system available when the solar system is not generating enough electricity to satisfy the solar customer’s demand for electricity. On the one hand this is a very legitimate rate issue. On the other hand, it smacks of a utility using its monopoly pricing power to restrict the growth of a technology that is an alternative to buying from the utility.

This battle is now fully enjoined by the San Diego utility SDG&E owned by Sempra, a company that also develops utility scale power plants including solar. SDG&E is proposing rate revisions that dramatically undermine the economics of current and potentially future rooftop solar systems. Walmart, which has a goal of using 100 percent renewable energy in their California stores, has now entered into this pricing fray against SDG&E’s effort. However, the immediate result of this type of action by utilities is a bottleneck as customers who are thinking about buying a solar system are stopping in their tracks to see how this price threat will play out.

A final bottleneck is the emergence of a trade war between China and the U.S. over the pricing of solar panels. The US claims China is dumping panels at prices that are below manufacturing costs to squeeze out US competitors. The result is greater uncertainty among solar installers on whether buying from China, now the world’s leading supplier of solar panels, could result in an unknown risk if the the World Trade Organization does rule in favor of the United States’ claim.

Solar is a microcosm of the inefficiency of the United States’ energy policy. For example, the US subsidizes ALL energy supplies including fossil fuels, nuclear, ethanol, wind and solar. Why?

And our pricing at the pump and meter reflects only the cost of production and not the true costs that include the very real cost impacts upon the health of people and the planet. How can a consumer really tell in today’s system what the true cost of their decisions are upon their budgets, their community’s environment, and their health?

Why is buying electricity so complex for the average customer? Only our cell phone bills are more lacking in comprehensible information that can be used to actually influence our cost savings and human health decisions.

The solutions are easy to implement and have been proven by other countries. They include:

Eliminate All Subsidies. Why are American taxpayers being asked to subsidize, through tax policy, any technology or energy resource? And because all of our energy sources are subsidized, who among us can figure out the true price of energy? Eliminating all energy subsidies could reduce taxes and the increased price transparency will enable consumers to make better procurement decisions.

Tax Externality Costs. Pollution creates a real cost upon humans and our planet. Wars protecting other people’s oil fields is a very real trillion dollar cost. Why are we charging these costs to taxpayers through income taxes? Isn’t the obvious answer to charge for these costs at the pump, cash register and meter? Doing so would then clearly communicate through price the real cost of consumption empowering consumers to vote with their wallet for their energy preferences.

Standardize Solar Policy. A national set of installation protocols for installing solar power that all utilities and local governments must follow would dramatically lower solar’s costs to all. Germany has this system and their cost to install roof top solar is 30 percent LESS than in the United States. Similarly, a federal policy that establishes a common net metering protocol for all utilities would enable the economies of scale for solar that could also drive down solar’s costs. We have national standards for most other products, why not solar?

Here’s the great news in all of this. Our challenge for restoring our jobs, economy, health and environment does not require a technology breakthrough. What we need is a breakthrough in the bottlenecks of our systems that will enable consumers to make prudent choices.

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Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles case studies of business best practices that make money going green. Through his implementation of the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Green Builds Business program, Bill has coached hundreds of businesses across the country on project design that makes money and a positive difference within 120 days.

The Custom-Fit Workplace has these three components:

• Telework
• Performance based management
• Non-Linear career paths

The business case for telework is growing. Examples include:

• AT&T New Jersey achieving a $6 million ANNUAL real estate savings
• 1-800 Contacts gaining $40,000 in per person sales revenues after adopting teleworking
• Enhanced work associate retention rates achieved by large companies and even small businesses like Johnson Storage and Moving of Denver, Colorado.

Key best practices are emerging from these business case studies. For work associates a key success factor is the ability to duplicate a work environment in their home or other non-central-office work locations. That means having a quite place to work without interruptions plus a dedicated phone and computer. It also requires a discipline to focus upon performance and the commitment to achieve measurable goals.

There are also key best practices for management. The first step is to review the range of jobs to identify those that are truly suitable for telework. A performance based management style is a critical step. All managers say they have this but in reality many are influenced by their “face time” with their associates. A successful telework system must have a rewards system that financially and psychologically recognizes those who deliver on performance targets. Another key best practices is having operational protocols that reflect a geographically distributed workforce including fair and consistent HR guidelines. Finally, a recommended start-up path is to begin with a pilot program of volunteers that will capture best practices for associates and management.

Telework also generates impressive societal benefits. Blades cites studies that show massive reductions in our country’s unsustainable trade deficit from reduced oil imports if those who could work remotely actually did work remotely only during half of their work week. And the savings in green house gas emissions are estimated at an annual 50 million metric tons!

In the following exclusive video interview Joan Blades talks about how the investment in developing a custom-fit workplace can create near term business profits, improvements in associates’ work experiences and solutions for our economy and the environment:

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles best practices of businesses that are making money going green. Through the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundations’ Green Builds Business program funded by Walmart he is coaching hundreds of businesses across the United States on the design and implementation of projects that will make money and a difference within 120 days.

Market research continues to affirm that consumers want to buy smart, healthy and green solutions. They just don’t want to pay more. But at price parity 85% of consumers claim they would buy the more sustainable good or service rather than a less sustainable product offering.

I have reported on test drives of the Chevy Volt and Nissan Leaf where the cost of energy was a $1 per day! For example, I drove the Chevy Volt 35 miles one Saturday running errands. The cost to recharge the batteries was $1. I heard from a Volt owner reporting he had gone 3,900 miles on $60 of gasoline and a $1 per day of electricity.

It is cleantech examples like the drop solar prices and emerging electric car technologies that I am an optimist regarding America, the economy and our environment. The price of doing right measured in terms of Energy Independence, our economic growth and the environment is rapidly becoming price competitive with products like imported oil.

There is a path for accelerating this success. In fact, the best path can be executed by American consumers without any government action. We just need to begin buying high mileage American made hybrid and electric cars. Doing so will restore our economy by adding jobs (car manufacturing is the single largest job creator in American history). And it will cut our importation of oil that drains our growth potential with each jump in global oil prices. If oil were a country our imports would be second in size to what we buy from China!

I am always ask what one thing I would recommend to government to get us out this economic mess plus help restore our environment. My answer is a strong incentive in support of American made hybrid and electric cars. The price of these cars are now a barrier to accelerated purchases. What if there was a $20,000 immediate cash rebate given for every American made hybrid or electric car that got at least 50 miles per gallon? Or what if we added a 20% sales tax on all cars sold that were not an American made hybrid or electric cars with at least a 50 mpg rating? My projections is this type of public policy is the single best action that could be implemented for restoring jobs, our economy and environment.

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. His book, The Secret Green Sauce, profiles case studies of best practices used by businesses making money going green. During 2011 he is implementing Green Builds Business coaching business owners in 11-cities on best practices for making money and a positive difference within 120 days that was created by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation with funding by Walmart.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to save money going green is in our offices. Here are three things you can do that will generate approximately 33-100% annual returns on your investment:

Install Energy Efficient Lights. The Edison light bulb is an energy hog. The light generated by our traditional light bulbs require a lot of energy compared to the new fluorescent and LED (light emitting diode) technologies. And they generate a lot of heat that requires running the A/C more during summer months. If you have Edison bulbs get rid of them and use Compact Flourscent or LED lights. Yes, they cost more. BUT, they save even more on your electric bill! If you have overhead fluorescent lights then install T-8 bulbs. And keep your eye on LED lights, they are coming down in price and can use up to 90% LESS electricity!

Downsize EVERYONE’s Waste Basket. You save money two ways. The first is that digital is cheaper (and more productive) than paper systems. The second is you are paying someone to cart away waste paper, probably priced on a volume basis. Less paper, less payment to the waste management company. An absolute best practices is to down size everyone’s trash receptacles. This more than anything I have seen motivates associates to go digital.

Cut Phantom Load. Phantom load is your computer you leave on after you “turn if off” at the end of the day. Estimates are that 5% of your electric bill is paying for electricity to run a computer or printer while NO ONE is in the office. How to solve this? You probably have these important digital devices connected to power strips. PUSH THE RED BUTTON ON THE POWER STRIP and put 5% of your electric bill back into your pocket!

Here’s my video interview with Pam Evans talking about all the ways you can make green going green in your office:

Bill Roth is the founder of Earth 2017. His book The Secret Green Sauce profiles best practices of businesses making money going green. He is coaching hundreds of business owners in an 11-city program called Green Builds Business created by the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Foundation with funding from Walmart.