Leveraging the “Green” Factor to Your Bottom-Line
Going “green” is big business today. Not only is going “green” an environmentally responsible approach for businesses of all sizes to take and one that is the current rage, but going “green” can leverage profit dollars to your bottom-line too.
First, what exactly do we mean by having your business go “green”? When we talk about “green”, we mean making a concerted effort to save our natural resources concerted action. Actions such as:
1. Saving on paper supplies – consider going digital for all of your internal office correspondence thereby saving on office supply costs and saving trees at the same time. Read more
Finding Grants for Green Construction
When it comes to new construction techniques, grants are often a way to cut costs. Federal grants for green construction are plentiful with billions literally available.
A federal grant is an award of financial assistance from a Federal agency. It is intended to carry out a public purpose or support or stimulate a purpose that is authorized by a law of the United States. Federal grants can be found and applied for electronically. The site Grants.gov is the central clearing house for Federal Grants.
There are twenty six different agencies that offer over 1,000 grant programs. The grants that apply to green construction are mostly offered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Read more
Top 5 Considerations – Startup Business Loans
If you want to start your own company it will take a little money to get started and on your feet. Banks put many things into consideration when you ask them for money for startup business loans. Here are five of the most important considerations when you want money from a bank for a loan for your new company.
1. When you want to get money from a bank the first thing they will consider with startup business loans is your credit. You should have a healthy credit score that looks great. If your credit is bad it tells a lender that you do not repay your debts and this may stop you from getting a line of credit. Read more
Funding Green Construction Projects

photo credit: samdaq (AT) hotmail
To the surprise of many, the government tries to modify our behavior through monetary strategies and the same is true for promoting green construction. In this case, we are talking about funding a green project.
There are numerous sources for the funding of green project research and construction. They exist on the National, State, and local level. They include grants, tax credits, and loans. The important thing to understand when you begin a search for a source of funding is that the government and society in general is very anxious to assist you with your green project. We are not just waking to the global dangers. Our leaders are already wide awake and know that green construction is an essential element of the future health of our nation. They want to help, particularly on the state level. Read more
Green Fundraising Isn’t Just About Saving the Earth!

photo credit: Mikey G Ottawa
Fundraising Coordinators have been looking for something new for years that their groups can take and sell to raise money. Everyone, it seems, already has enough wrapping paper and frozen cookie dough and chocolate bars and they want something different, something they might actually use.
Enter green fundraising. Green fundraisers work exceptionally well as they are capitalizing on people’s newfound desire to save the planet. Read more
Organic” Is A Marketing Label

photo credit: OakleyOriginals
With everyone and their mother jumping onto the Green Movement bandwagon, words like Organic, Natural, Safe, are tossed around like water balloons at a county fair. If you’re the one catching the balloon, make sure it doesn’t unexpectedly go SPLAT all over you. The key to successfully navigating the New Green World and knowing whether you are purchasing safe, healthy and nutritious products is having a solid understanding of how to read the labels, and what the words Organic and Natural really mean.
Fertilizer Increases Yields
Widespread, frequent and excessive use of synthetic organophosphate fertilizers began in the 1930s, when such fertilizers became affordable and accessible to the masses. Food production quickly increased as a result of fertilizer use. Unfortunately, the effects of widespread organophosphates would not be realized for many years. Read more
Green Technology Marketing and the Triple Bottom Line

photo credit: Wonderlane
Social and environmental issues play a greater role in consumer and B2B choices than ever before. The “Green” movement was on the fringes of mainstream culture just a few years ago. Today, global warming, eco-sensitivity, fair trade and sustainability are issues that can have a tremendous impact on businesses of all sizes. A relatively new marketing model — the triple bottom line — offers businesses of all sizes an opportunity to create sustainable businesses that benefit people, the plan and corporate profits.
While the traditional marketing model’s success is typically judged by increased revenue, there is a new approach adopted by companies who want to become sustainable businesses. The triple bottom line – economic, social and environmental – creates a framework for marketers to use their knowledge of customer attitudes about sustainability and environmental issues to inform and influence a company’s external communications and executive-level decision-making. Read more
Hemp Houses – The Secret of Building Sustainable Homes
Once the areas major agricultural product, hemp is making a comeback in the Altiplano area of Granada, Spain. Until the late nineteen sixties industrial hemp growing formed the backbone of this wholly agricultural area of Spain. Towards the end of the Franco era, with the invention of nylon and the mechanisation of agriculture most of the population was forced off the land to find work on the coast and major cities.
With the advent of the eco-age the interest in industrial hemp is being revived as it is a major constituent of eco-bricks, a vital component of sustainable housing.
Hemp comes from the Anglo Saxon word ‘haemp’ and is the popular name for plants of the cannabis genus. Hemp usually refers to the strains of the plant cultivated exclusively for industrial use as opposed to cannabis which is associated with pot and similar drugs.
Hemp has a huge variety of uses but continues to be overshadowed by the cannabis connotation of illegal drugs, with which it is often confused. However hemp can legally be grown, under licence, in many countries, including the European Union countries and Canada. Read more
Energy Efficiency Pays Best

photo credit: x-eyedblonde
In some parts of the Northeast, the skyrocketing cost of oil could cause residential winter heating bills to climb as high as $7,000. Oil reached $145 a barrel in late May, and many analysts are predicting $150-200 per barrel oil within two years. With heating oil averaging $4.71 a gallon, natural gas rates headed for a 20 to 30 percent rise. Add that to electricity bills up, some municipalities are shifting to four-day work weeks, and moving aggressively into renewable energy & energy efficiency.
Utah made headlines in July by becoming the first to put most state employees on a four-day week of 10-hour days. About one-third of the state’s 3,000 government buildings will be closed on Fridays, with expected savings on heat and air conditioning to hit $3 million a year. Commuters will also save on gasoline. Utah’s Governor Jon Huntsman said, “The reaction from the public has been very much a willingness to give this a go.” Read more
Top 5 Green Careers – More People Pursuing Green Collar Jobs Out of College
SIn addition to the recent attention that elevated it to the American mainstream, the Green Jobs Industry has been a developing field for the past few decades. Patrick Heffernan’s 1976 study Jobs for the Environment – The Coming Green Collar Revolution informed congress on the importance of environmental awareness in business and government. Alan Durning’s book Green Collar Jobs first introduced the term to America. Focusing on the post-logging towns of the Pacific Northwest, his work examines the shift from an economic dependence on the natural resources of the land to an awareness of environmental and ecological preservation. This opened the doors for the green collar industry and such fields as sustainable forestry, natural resource conservation, and ecological restoration. And, in 2006 Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes of San Francisco State University defines green collar jobs as “blue collar jobs in green businesses – that is, manual labor jobs in businesses whose products and services directly improve environmental quality,” finally offering a concrete definition of the term.
Today, with environmental awareness at an all-time high, we are seeing an increase in employment opportunities across the board. Scientists are needed to analyze, protect, and monitor the environment and society’s interaction with it. Read more





