This roundtable is free to attend but space is limited.

When: June 22, 8:30-10am

Where: Chapel Hill Tire Car Care Center, 502 West Franklin St, Chapel Hill, NC

Reserve your spot now!

To facilitate quality discussion we’re limiting the number attendees, so reserve your spot quickly: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3606319599

Green Plus is hosting a series of educational and networking events designed to bring Green Plus businesses together to learn from and get to know each other.  Is there a topic you’d like to discuss?  Would you like to host a Green Plus event?  Contact Kirsten Hausman at khausman@gogreenplus.org or 919.627.1091.

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Winners of the Green Plus Community Awards include

Cleveland, Ohio

Savannah, Georgia

North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

Winners of the Green Plus Chamber of Commerce Awards include

• The Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce for Leadership in Sustainable Economic Development

• The Gatlinburg Chamber of Commerce for Leadership in Member Sustainability

The Green Plus Awards will be presented at a luncheon Thursday, June 16th, at the Gold LEED Certified PNC Bank regional headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Awards ceremony will be followed by a panel discussion of the winners. The audience will include representatives of the White House, U.S. mayors, legislators, and legislative staffers, chamber of commerce executives and other business leaders.

GlaxoSmithKline is Presenting Sponsor of the Green Plus Awards. The Institute and Partners for Livable Communities are also grateful to Co-Presenters the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce, the Chapel Hill – Carrboro Chamber of Commerce, and to PNC Bank for making these awards possible. (For photos and footage of the Green Plus Awards for Sustainable Enterprises, held in February at North Carolina Research Triangle Park headquarters, please click here).

Partners for Livable Communities has documented chamber leadership in sustainability extensively in its study, “The Dollars & Sense of Green Business,” made possible by support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

The 2010 Green Plus Chamber of Commerce winners included

• The Greater Cleveland Partnership / Council of Smaller Enterprises for Leadership in Member Sustainability
• The Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce (now Center State Corporation for Economic Opportunity) for Leadership in Sustainable Economic Development
• The St. Louis Regional Chamber and Growth Association for Innovation in Sustainable Development

About the Winners: The 2011 Green Plus Community Awards

Cleveland, Ohio

Always an innovator in public-private partnerships, Cleveland, Ohio has outdone itself in creating a community-wide effort to spur sustainable economic development. Under the leadership of Mayor Frank Jackson, Cleveland city government has led to Sustainable Cleveland: 2019 — a ten-year sustainability planning process involving thousands of area residents. Cleveland has also created one of the most ambitions PACE districts in the U.S. – the Northeast Ohio Advanced Energy District - and implemented a first-of-its kind policy rewarding bidders on city contracts for their sustainability efforts. The Cleveland Foundation - the oldest community foundation in the United States – is driving Evergreen Cooperatives‘ Foundation financed, employee-owned, green enterprises in some of the city’s most economically challenged neighborhoods. Last year, Cleveland’s chamber of commerce (the Greater Cleveland Partnership / Council of the Smaller Enterprises) was recognized for its partnership with the Ohio Department of Energy to help small businesses save and make money through energy efficiency.

Savannah, Georgia

Mayor Otis Johnson and members of Savannah’s City Council have led an aggressive effort to make Savannah a more environmentally sustainable community with programs like Thrive. Thrive is a process City Government began in late 2007, when staff started collecting data from throughout the City to establish the size of Savannah’s carbon footprint. The City conducted employee commuter surveys and analyzed electricity consumption, fuel usage, and gas emissions. By plugging all of this data into a formula created by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, a measurement of the city’s carbon footprint was established and reduction goals were set.

In recent years Savannah has been pro-active in converting all of its traffic lights to more energy-efficient LED’s. It has expanded its use of treated wastewater for irrigation, and has been a leader in adopting Georgia’s first graywater re-used ordinance. All 2,500 City employees have been tasked with coming up with ideas to create a healthier environment for Savannah residents. The City is looking at the way it operates its vehicles – from idling policies to the routes employees take. City government is also installing energy-efficient bulbs, and motion detectors to turn them off when no one’s around. The City is looking at everything from the kinds of computers and printers it buys to the kinds of materials it builds with to the latest technology that converts waste into energy.

North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina

The North Strand Coastal Wind Team was formed with the goal of turning North Myrtle Beach into a demonstration city for energy independence and success in the green economy. The public-private partnership comprises the North Myrtle Beach Chamber of Commerce, city government, the Savannah River National Laboratory, Coastal Carolina University’s Center for Marine and Wetland Studies, the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Authority, and the South Carolina Energy Office. Together, these organizations took the first step in bringing wind energy to North Myrtle Beach.

2011 Green Plus Chamber of Commerce Winners

Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce (TN): Clean Air, Clean Industries

In 1969, Chattanooga was noted for having the worst air quality in the United States. Chattanooga’s exceptional success in cleaning up its air quality led it to attract new companies that shared the city’s environmental values – notably the first U.S. home of Volkswagen AG’s manufacturing operations. Volkswagen is investing about one billion US dollars in the development of the facility at Chattanooga, which will be among the world’s most advanced and environmentally compatible automobile plants. 1,700 people are already employed directly by Volkswagen in Chattanooga. 10,000 additional jobs will be created in the U.S. component supply industry.

Gatlinburg (TN) Chamber of Commerce

In 2008, the Gatlinburg Chamber launched the Gatlinburg Goes Green program with the goal of educating and recognizing its members for taking steps to minimize their environmental impact.  One of the first of its kind across the country, the program goes hand in hand with the city’s efforts to keep Gatlinburg, the gateway to Smoky Mountain National Park, healthy and thriving. Over 75% of the Gatlinburg Chambers members have participated in the program to date.

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Background

The Institute for Sustainable Development is a non-profit university-business partnership to help smaller employers and their communities benefit from triple bottom line sustainability, and to help foster a new generation of sustainability leaders. For more information about the Institute for Sustainable Development, please see www.gogreenplus.org.

Partners for Livable Communities (PLC), is a national, nonprofit leadership organization working to improve the livability of communities by promoting quality of life, economic development, and social equity. For more information about Partners for Livable Communities, please visit www.livable.org.

The American Chamber of Commerce Executives’ (ACCE) mission is to support and develop chamber professionals to lead businesses and their communities. For more information about the ACCE, please visit http://www.acce.org/main/about-acce/.

The Institute for Sustainable Development / Green Plus

www.gogreenplus.org

If you’re unable to view the video below, please click here.

Congratulations to our winners: The Taylor Companies, Lube Stop, Laser Plus, Communication Matters, and The Scrap Exchange!

The Institute for Sustainable Development is a non-profit partnership of university and business leaders with the mission of aiding smaller enterprises and their communities become more sustainable, fostering a new generation of sustainability leaders, and promoting dialogues about the theory and practice of sustainability across cultures. Green Plus, the Institute’s flagship program, exists to educate, network, and reward small enterprises in their triple bottom line efforts.

“There’s a great deal of work to be done to connect sustainability efforts between business and government,” said Chris Carmody, Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development. “‘Help me help you,’ is often the message we hear from responsible businesses to city, state and federal governments,” Carmody concluded. “Many governments are strong particularly at making their own operations and public infrastructure environmentally friendly but haven’t figured out how to engage, encourage, or get out of the way when it comes to sustainable business efforts. We’re looking for cities that have made their local businesses active partners in their sustainability movements,” Carmody concluded.

“This award takes a broad view of social, economic, and environmental sustainability,”adds John Cary, President & CEO of Next American City. “Together with the Institute for Sustainable Development, we’re looking for innovative approaches, new models, and measurable impact in cities of all kinds across the country.” Next American City is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting socially and environmentally sustainable economic growth, examining how and why our built environment, economy, society, and culture are changing. The organization’s quarterly magazine, interactive website, emerging leaders program, events, and other initiatives are all creatively focused on the future of cities.

Nominate a municipality for the Green Plus Sustainable City Award

Deadline for Nominations: April 15, 2011 (Midnight)

Award Winner Announced: May, 2011 in Washington, D.C.

Nomination Guidelines

Green Plus is not only a “green” (environmental) program – it is an effort to encourage a balanced commitment to the triple bottom line – People, Performance, andPlanet. Through Green Plus, the Institute strives to help smaller enterprises learn across regions from one another as well as from academic experts. Through Green Plus, the Institute also aides business and public sector leaders in understanding how they can help smaller enterprises improve their communities – through education, revisions in regulation, access to capital and other means.

The Institute for sustainable development is looking for examples of cities that have gone above and beyond current best practices – institutions that have not only made their operations sustainable or their environment better, but have actively reached out to a) smaller enterprises and b) other public and non-profit partners to create a community-wide commitment to triple bottom line sustainability.

Rules

• Any legally incorporated town or city in the United States or Canada may be nominated for a Green Plus North American Sustainable Enterprise Award.
• Any individual or organization may nominate a town or organization for the award, and an entity may nominate itself.
• There is no fee to be nominated.
• There is no required membership in any organization to be nominated.

About Next American City

Next American City is published by The Next American City, Inc., a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting socially and environmentally sustainable economic growth in America’s cities and examining how and why our built environment, economy, society and culture are changing. Its team achieves this goal through the publishing of a print and online magazine, events across the country, and advocacy on issues central to the future of cities.

About Partners for Livable Communities

Partners for Livable Communities is a national, nonprofit leadership organization working to improve the livability of communities by promoting quality of life, economic development, and social equity.

For questions about this award, please email khausman@gogreenplus.org. 

“Our solution is unique,” said Founder and CEO Nancy Murray, a former developer who wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. “We incorporate economic, environmental and social solutions into our process.”

Builders of Hope has major development projects underway in Raleigh, Fuquay-Varina and Charlotte, North Carolina and has just planted roots in New Orleans, Louisiana and Dallas, Texas and is working with officials in other cities to forever change the face of affordable housing.  The ease of replication in our model affords Builders of Hope the ability to expand into many other states.

In Their Own Words

Common sense solutions.  Cutting edge technologies.

We hear the word “green” frequently these days, and it means something a little different to everyone.  At Builders of Hope green means we make old new again, and make the new better.  We believe the resources already exist to build housing that is affordable and healthy, that revitalizes neighborhoods and builds economic security for hardworking families and their communities.

We’ve created a model that captures our philosophy and goals, Extreme Green Rehabilitation, and it has set a new industry standard for green rehabilitation.  Extreme Green Rehabilitation is a patent-pending construction program that guides the rehabilitation process through home assessment, site selection, relocation, construction debris management, reconstruction with green building practices and materials and landscaping.”

The Institute for Sustainable Development / Green Plus

www.gogreenplus.org

Tommy Schenck – Vice President & General Manager of FOX 50 (WRAZ-TV), said, “As a locally-owned and operated station in the heart of the Triangle, we’re proud to be a partner in this effort.”

The national awards are held annually at Research Triangle Park Foundation and are presented by GlaxoSmithKline. Other major sponsors include The Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce; UNC Chapel Hill; the American Chamber of Commerce Executives; the Chapel Hill – Carrboro Chamber of Commerce; Wells Fargo / Wachovia; The Redwoods Group; and Duke Energy. FOX 50 WRAZ news anchor Gerald Owens will serve as the Master of Ceremonies for the event.

The Green Plus Awards recognize CEOs and small business owners from around the country for their excellence in business, environmental, and community practices.

“FOX 50 is a great fit for the Green Plus Awards,” said Chris Carmody, Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development. “FOX 50 has led a number of successful community efforts and received the Service to America Award in 2010 from the National Association of Broadcasters Foundation.”

Last year, FOX 50 created a number of community campaigns, including the “What Color Do YOU Bleed?” effort to encourage donations to the American Red Cross, as well as a series of E-cycling events to help residents and businesses get rid of electronic waste responsibly and create awareness around improper and dangerous disposal of electronic waste.

The Green Plus Sustainable Enterprise Awards will be presented Friday, February 25th at 8:15a.m. at the Research Triangle Park Foundation, following a light breakfast. For more information on Green Plus, the award finalists, and purchasing tickets, go to www.gogreenplus.org.

About FOX 50 (WRAZ-TV)

FOX 50 (WRAZ-TV) is affiliated with the FOX network and locally owned and operated by Capitol Broadcasting, Inc. FOX 50 covers 23 counties throughout North Carolina and Virginia as part of the 25^th ranked TV market in the US. FOX 50 is located in Durham, overlooking the Durham Bulls Athletic Park on the campus of American Tobacco.

About Green Plus and the Institute for Sustainable Development

The Institute for Sustainable Development and its business improvement program Green Plus was founded in the North Carolina Research Triangle in 2007 by a unique partnership of academic, business and philanthropic leaders. Early partners included Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Greater Durham Chambers of Commerce, GlaxoSmithKline and the Fenwick Foundation.

A vital part of Green Plus is providing real-life experiences to university students in the area of business and sustainability by connecting the students with real organizations engaged with these issues. The Institute trains interdisciplinary teams of graduate students and professionals to provide practical, affordable tools and assistance to help smaller enterprises and their communities become stronger, healthier, and more competitive. To date, more than 200 small businesses and non-profits in more than twelve U.S. states have benefited from the Green Plus program.

The Institute for Sustainable Development

www.gogreenplus.org

The certification was awarded by the North Carolina Research Triangle-based Institute for Sustainable Development,  a combined effort of universities and chambers of commerce to provide smaller employers with affordable tools to improve their bottom-line sustainability. The GCP/COSE is one of only four chambers in the U.S. that has received this certification. Others are the Durham (N.C.) Chamber, Chapel Hill-Carrboro (N.C.) Chamber, and the Columbus Area (Ind.) Chamber. Three NEO businesses – Lubestop, Pantek Inc., and The Taylor Companies -have also earned the national Green Plus Certification.

GCP/COSE is actively working to minimize the organization’s collective impact on the environment and reduce expenses. Staff-related activities, led by the GCP/COSE “Green Team,” include:

• Setting organizational sustainability metrics and goals
• Sharing “green” tips with staff through the monthly GCP 411 employee e-newsletter to promote adoption of environmental-stewardship practices in the workplace including reducing waste; conserving energy; screening products for environmental impact; and purchasing products made from environmentally friendly materials consumption,
• Promoting the use of public transportation by offering discounts for rail/bus passes
• Utilizing motion-sensor lighting and bathroom sinks
• Utilizing Green Seal cleaning products and Energy Star appliances; Promoting paper, plastic and glass recycling for staff and visitors with recycling stations placed in prominently throughout the workplace.

“Sustainability is a ‘hot topic’ in the business world,” said GCP President and CEO Joe Roman. “A growing number of businesses of all sizes are incorporating internal sustainability practices. For some, it also includes exploring emerging opportunities in the development of sustainability products and systems. As a business organization, we’re ramping up our internal efforts that signal to our members that we’re engaged in this emerging business trend.”

Through COSE, the GCP has taken an active leadership role in sustainability, offering discounts, incentives and resources for small-business members Among other initiatives, in October 2010, COSE launched an Energy Efficiency Guide with easy tips for improving energy efficiency and case studies of eight small businesses that successfully incorporated energy efficient practices into their enterprise.  COSE also offers discounted energy audits to its small business partners and sustainability news and tips to members through its Sustainability Blog.

“Finding the best rates on things like natural; gas and electricity is only part of the energy equation for us in helping our small business members” says Steve Millard, president and executive director of COSE.  ”Helping small businesses understand how sustainable practices can have a positive impact on their businesses is also an area of focus for us.  Earning the Green Plus certification encourages us to continue to ensure we  are  walking the walk on sustainability.”

The Green Plus™ model was developed by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler School of Business in 2007. UNC Chapel Hill and Duke University developed online sustainability tools for small business that were tested in Ohio and North Carolina throughout 2008. COSE was the Institute for Sustainable Development’s partner in beta testing the Green Plus™ program with Ohio businesses. Green Plus™ is now the official small business sustainability program of the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, a network of over 1,400 U.S. and Canadian chambers of commerce representing upwards of 1.5 million smaller enterprises. For more information on Green Plus, please see www.gogreenplus.org.

“GCP and COSE leadership not only supports their members but help companies across the country understand that sustainability is another great way to achieve bottom line savings and top line growth,” said Chris Carmody, Executive Director of the Institute for Sustainable Development.

About the Greater Cleveland Partnership

As an association of business members, the Greater Cleveland Partnership mobilizes private-sector leadership, expertise and resources to create jobs and leverage investment to improve the economic vitality of the region.

www.gcpartnership.com

About COSE

COSE is one of Ohio?s largest small business support organizations, striving to help small businesses grow and maintain their independence. Comprised of more than 15,000 member companies, COSE has a long history of fighting for the rights of all small business owners through group purchasing programs for health care, workers? compensation, or energy; advocating for specific changes in legislation or regulation to benefit small business;  and, providing a forum and resource for small businesses to connect with and learn from each other. (www.cose.org)

Contacts:

Judith Malone   216.592.2412  / jmalone@gcpartnership.com

Randy Carpenter 216.592.2371 / rcarpenter@cose.org

The Institute for Sustainable Development

www.gogreenplus.org

The Institute for Sustainable Development has announced its finalists for the 2011 Green Plus North American Sustainable Enterprise Awards. The Green Plus Awards recognize organizations not only for their environmental efforts, but for their success in balancing strong business, community and environmental practices. Paying attention to business performance and community involvement as well as to minimizing environmental impact is often referred to as triple bottom line sustainability.

The winners will be revealed at the awards ceremony, presented by GlaxoSmithKline, on Friday, February 25 at North Carolina Research Triangle Park Foundation headquarters.

Click here to purchase a ticket to the Green Plus North American Sustainable Enterprise Awards.

In addition to competing in its category, each organization is eligible to win the Green Plus People’s Choice Award.

Click here to vote for one organization to receive the Green Plus People’s Choice Award.

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2011 North American Sustainable Enterprise Awards Finalists

Research Triangle Park Foundation Sustainable Enterprise of the Year

• Counter Culture Coffee
• Irregardless Cafe and Catering
• The Taylor Companies
• TS Designs
• Wenger Feeds

Green Plus Sustainable Enterprise of the Year (50 Or More Employees)

• iContact
• High Construction
• Hughes Pittman & Gupton LLC
• Lube Stop
• The Umstead Hotel & Spa

Wells Fargo/Wachovia Small Business of the Year (3 to 50 employees)

• EcoLogic Solutions
• Environmental Solutions Group
• Laser Plus
• Pantek
• Pharamaceutical Calibration Services (PCI)
• Wingswept
• Yes! Solar Solutions

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Green Plus Sole Proprietor / Home Based Business of the Year

• Abigail Seymour Photography
• Conestoga dpi
• Communication Matters
• jke Marketing & Communications
• Yurich Creative

The Redwoods Group Non-Profit or Social Enterprise of the Year

• Builders of Hope
• Bull City Forward
• Cosmic Bobbins
• Entrepreneurs for Sustainability
• Urban Tree Connection
• The Scrap Exchange

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Purchase Your Ticket to the Awards

The awards ceremony will be on Friday, February 25 from 7:30-9:30am at Research Triangle Park Headquarters in the North Carolina Triangle Region.

About the Institute for Sustainable Development and Green Plus
The Institute for Sustainable Development partners nationwide with the American Chamber of Commerce Executives to bring Green Plus, its business improvement program, to smaller enterprises in the U.S. and Canada. The non-profit was founded in the North Carolina Research Triangle in 2007 by a unique partnership of academic, business and philanthropic leaders. Early partners included Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro and Greater Durham Chambers of Commerce, and the Fenwick Foundation.

Institute founders recognized that while many large companies were integrating sustainability into their operations, saving money and improving their reputations, most Americans were employed by businesses with 50 or fewer people, and these smaller employers had neither the time nor the financial resources to pursue sustainability. In the fall of 2007, the Institute engaged the Center for Sustainable Enterprise at UNC’s Kenan Flagler School of Business to develop a business plan to address this problem. This plan led to the development of Green Plus, a program to educate, network and recognize smaller employers in their efforts to achieve triple bottom line sustainability.

The Institute for Sustainable Development

www.gogreenplus.org

The city of Cleveland this fall enacted what’s believed to be the first law in the United States to give sustainable small businesses an advantage when bidding on city contracts. The legislation, part of a larger effort to lead the emerging green economy, grants certified companies the same benefits (a 4 percent discount) as minority- and women-owned enterprises (which, in turn, receive extra credit for becoming sustainable). In passing “the buy local and sustainable law,” officials aim to provide a model for cities nationwide and an economic incentive for small businesses to embrace so-called “triple” bottom line sustainability.

“Cleveland’s effort to reward companies for their triple bottom line sustainability – good business, environmental, employee and community practices – is groundbreaking,” says Chris Carmody, executive director of the Institute for Sustainable Development, which supports the city’s efforts. “In a sustainable economy, ‘green jobs’ won’t only come from clean energy or energy efficiency businesses; they’ll also be created by Main Street businesses becoming more competitive through sustainable practices.”

To qualify for the bid discount, companies must apply for Green Plus certification. The third-party standards, which were developed to help small businesses become more competitive through sustainability, requires a formal assessment of an organization’s environmental, business, and community practices. The process typically costs $550, but the area’s Council of Smaller Enterprises is offering discounted energy audits and scholarships backed by grant funding from the Department of Energy to offset the cost. According to COSE, two Cleveland-area companies have already achieved full certification and nearly a dozen others have applied.”

Click here for the full article by Rebecca Smith Hurd for Intuit.

About Rebecca Smith Hurd

Rebecca Smith Hurd is a veteran freelance writer and editor who, like you, runs her own small business. A savvy sole proprietor, Hurd is always on the lookout for new ways to make her operation smarter, greener, and more profitable. Follow her at twitter.com/Sustainable_SB.