More Alaska businesses going green: from using energy-efficient bulbs, to recycling, to developing wind farms, companies see cost savings and benefit in 'green'.

• Author: Barbour, Tracy
• Position: ABM's 2007 ENVIRONMENTAL SPECIAL SECTION

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Increasingly, more Alaska businesses are going green--not just for the sake of the environment but to benefit their bottom line.

Companies historically have adopted environmental conservation measures as simply a good thing to do. Now, more businesses are appreciating the positive financial impact of going green, such as reducing costs, improving operations and raising employee morale and productivity.

Consequently, more companies in Alaska and elsewhere are turning green in a good way. They're making an effort to use less energy and fuel, recycle more and encourage more employees to bike, bus or walk to work. Alternative, renewable fuel sources also are gaining more support.

GOING GREEN GOOD FOR BUSINESS

Going green makes perfect business sense, says Randy Virgin, executive director of the Alaska Center for the Environment, a nonprofit citizen's group that works for the sensible stewardship of Alaska's natural environment. "Efficiency equals a win-win," he explains. "If you can cut down your costs, that's good, but then you can also get good will from your customers."

Arctic Wire Rope and Supply is a prime example of an energy-saving company motivated by its bottom line. After 24 years in business, the manufacturer of lifting and rigging products is implementing ways to cut energy and fuel costs. Granted, owner Eric McCallum likes the idea of saving carbon emissions, but saving money is his main goal. "The two major changes we're going to make are to address lighting and (natural) gas consumption," he explains. "Gas will be the one area that will increase dramatically."

The company will spend about $15,000 installing energy-efficient lighting in its 22,000-square-foot industrial warehouse. Most of the building consists of an open shop with high bays; about 6,000 square feet of lower-ceiling office space makes up the rest. The old lighting will be upgraded with high-output T5 florescent light bulbs. "By going to this new T5, we're going to go from 34,000 down to about 17,000 kilowatts in the warehouse," he says. "That's going to effectively halve our lighting costs. In the office, we will see comparable drops, going from 28,000 down to 14,000 kilowatts."

Lighting accounts for about half of Arctic Wire's electric bill, and the new lights will save the company $4,800 per year on lighting costs, according to McCallum. But the cost savings is only part of the benefit. "We're dramatically improving the quality of our...