Group items tagged

We may suspect that low-flow toilets and showerheads and thermostats that let the room get a little chilly or stuffy while you're gone are really just ways to reduce the hotel's utility bills.We may believe it's always and forever about the bottom line. Snyder's title is vice president of corporate responsibility at IHG, whose hotel brands include Holiday Inn, InterContinental, Hotel Indigo, Kimpton and more. His unofficial title is chief sustainability officer for the company. Whatever title he may go by, he is committed to being green, noting that saving money and saving the environment do not have to be mutually exclusive.

Norpac Fisheries Export is one of several companies that has found it profitable -- as well as environmentally helpful -- to track seafood catches along their entire supply chain and make sure they were not caught using illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) practices. Norpac's tracking system "actually saves us time and money," Managing Director Thomas Kraft said.

Disney is mentioned for saving money using a Switch service

Forests are massive carbon sinks, and the U.S., alongside other developed countries, are donating large sums of money to protect these carbon-rich landscapes from deforestation.

The Florida legislature has adopted a measure that allocates at least $250 million a year for 20 years to restore the Everglades. The money comes from a tax on real estate transactions.

Hotel chains and casinos are adding low-energy lighting to guest rooms, putting solar panels on roofs and using hotel limousines powered by compressed natural gas, but these sustainable practices could be bolstered by the use of third-party standards that measure hotels against one another, writes Marc Gunther. "[I]ndustry executives cite three reasons why they have begun to take action on the sustainability front: to save money, attract and motivate their employees, and respond to demand from business and leisure travelers," Gunther writes

Caesar's Entertainment is the first company to sign up for the EPA's WaterSense H2Otel Challenge for organizations to encourage hotels to use best management practices that will save water and money, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Some amateur ranchers use free-ranging cattle as part of land management, and they are finding they can make money by selling grass-fed beef. TomKat Ranch aims to emulate the migratory patterns followed by wild herd animals, allowing land time to recover between grazings. "Ranches can be working landscapes if people understand how animals and land work together," says Wendy Millet, a ranch director who once worked at the Nature Conservancy.

According to a recent billion dollar allocation of taxpayer money for water recycling programs, drinking toilet water is one way. Don't throw up quite yet. Water recycling refers the process by which municipalities process wastewater so that it's okay to drink. It's a very safe, very clean process and might even produce water that's cleaner than what's coming out of your tap.

The savings, in both energy and carbon pollution, can be considerable. At the city's St. Mary's recreation center in the South Bronx, where a solar hot water system provides hot water for showers and the pool, the city is saving $39,000 a year on energy and cutting the complex's carbon footprint by 141 tons a year-the equivalent of taking 27 cars off the roads.

Skanska has turned its Elizabeth River Tunnels project in Virginia into an example of how civil construction can improve its environmental impact while augmenting modern infrastructure. The company has a recycling/reuse rate of 99% for the project, and its creative ways to benefit the surrounding environment include using concrete waste to create oyster habitats. 

NPR 2010 waste ending up in different countries where it is toxic to the env. and workers.

Levi's is offering customers a 20% discount if they bring their old duds to the denim brand's retail locations for recycling -- even if the old clothes aren't Levi's brand. The take-back program is an attempt to further the company's "vision of a more circular economy or closed-loop system for our products," said sustainability chief Michael Kobori. 

California's new environmental rules, which will mean much tougher efficiency standards for buildings and greater use of renewable energy, are good news for the state's businesses, some experts say. Many large new-energy and infrastructure projects will be needed to meet the mandates, and that means money and jobs. "The most important thing the businesses need is a market signal," said Steve Chadima, director of California initiatives for Advanced Energy Economy

CNN Money reports that approximately 30% of Coke bottles in North America are PlantBottles, but only 7% of Coke bottles around the world are made from plant materials. The company's goal is to use PlantBottles exclusively by 2020.

Whole Foods, Bon Appétit and Dickinson College are among the organizations saving money by recycling food waste, the New York Times reports.

The commitment is one of several new sustainability initiatives, part of a 500 million Swiss francs ($547 million) program called The Positive Cup. Nespresso says it will invest the money over the next six years to shrink its environmental footprint. Part of this investment will be used to establish a new Sustainable Development Fund.

A growing number of billion-dollar companies are showing that sustainability can be a real driver of profits, writes Freya Williams. Companies such as Tesla, Chipotle Mexican Grill, IKEA, Nike and Whole Foods Market are making serious money through eco-friendly business models. "The green giants are turning a strategy of sustainability or social good into a billion-dollar business proposition, and profiting in the process," Williams explains

Buying electronics used to help fund war in Africa. Now big tech companies like Intel are working to make sure their money isn't used for destruction.

Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has introduced a plan to bolster energy efficiency. The plan, intended to save families and businesses about $70 billion annually, seeks to roll back energy waste by one-third within a decade. "Deploying more clean energy isn't enough -- we also need to cut energy consumption, which will save families and businesses money and reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that drive climate change," say informational materials on the program. The Hill (2/2)