City sustainability awards

The Spokane region might be covered in slowly melting white stuff right now, but one city of Spokane staffer is thinking green. Incentives and Green Business Specialist Kim Powe is spending January reading applications from businesses that want recognition for adopting sustainable management practices. A new city initiative called the SMART Recognition Program awards companies for setting green goals or for changes they’ve already made to reduce their carbon footprints. The changes might include installing low-flow showerheads in an apartment building, replacing incandescent light bulbs with more energy-efficient compact fluorescent ones or starting a carpool incentive program for employees. Once businesses earn either a “participant” or more stringent “certified” status, they’ll be given a decal to display in their storefronts along with a digital version that can be placed on letterhead, Web sites and other marketing materials. The goal of the program is to raise awareness about environmental concerns, lead consumers to companies that make decisions with the earth in mind and encourage more businesses to change their ways. “By having this recognition, you can share it with your customers and you might bring in customers you didn’t before,” Powe says. SMART is a partnership between the city, Avista, Eastern Washington University and the Washington State Department of Ecology. Companies earn recognition in one or more categories: energy efficiency, pollution prevention, renewable energy, waste reduction, water conservation, green building and transportation. In each category, three businesses will be named “innovators” for moves they’ve made toward sustainability. As part of the program, the city offers a free service where a waste-reduction specialist is sent to a company that requests it and evaluates the trash. “Someone actually goes through the garbage and says, ‘This is something that can be recycled, this is something you can sell, and this is garbage,’” Powe says. To earn “participant”-level status, businesses commit to certain earth-friendly practices. To be considered SMART “certified,” businesses must provide documents that demonstrate they’ve made green changes. About 45 businesses applied for the SMART designation by the Dec. 31, 2008, deadline. The first round of companies to be labeled as SMART is expected to be announced by the end of the month. One of the businesses vying for the recognition is the Spokane Athletic Club. The club is featured in a video about the SMART program on the city’s Web site, at www.developingspokane.org/swf/smart_program.html. Some of the changes the club made include replacing a 40-year-old HVAC system that used 100 gallons of water per hour with one that doesn’t use water at all; encouraging members to refill reusable water bottles rather than drinking from disposable cups; purchasing incumbent bicycles that run on pedal power instead of electricity; and building a locked bicycle cage to encourage members and employees to ride to the club instead of drive. General Manager Mike Fleig says in the video that in addition to helping the environment, the changes save the club money. Powe calls that a “win-win situation.” “Doing these activities ultimately lowers costs to business, and in hard economic times, that makes a difference,” she says. Fleig also notes that the moves toward sustainability are in line with club members’ values. That’s key, says Powe, citing the 2007 Cone Inc. Cause Evolution Survey. Cone Inc. is a strategy and communications company that specializes in brand marketing and corporate responsibility. In 2007, its annual survey of about 1,100 adults found that increasingly Americans care about companies’ values when deciding where to spend their money. Eighty-seven percent said they were likely to switch from one brand to another—price and quality being about equal—if the other brand is linked with a good cause. That’s up from 66 percent in 1993. Eighty-three percent said businesses have a responsibility to support causes. What causes do they want companies to get behind? Health, education, environment and economic development, the survey said. If you didn’t know about the application process for the first round of SMART recognition, don’t fret. Powe was recruited from New Orleans last summer to find ways to encourage Spokane businesses to go green and says the SMART program will be an ongoing project, with another call for applications expected to go out later in 2009. “Trying to get greener as a city is a priority for the mayor,” she says. To learn more about the SMART program and other initiatives to green up Spokane, visit www.developingspokane.org/incentives and click on “green incentives.”