Green Colorado: the payoff may not be immediate, but these sustainability standouts are proving green is good.

AuthorCaley, Nora

THE APHORISM, a rising tide lifts all boats," is doubly true of businesses dedicated to preserving or improving the health and wellness of the planet. Such companies not only strive to protect the environment; they encourage others to do so, and a growing number of them go well beyond recycling paper and turning off the lights.

"I think nationally you are seeing a lot of big corporations say they are becoming greener because they know it is popular," said Lyn Halliday, president and CEO of Environmental Solutions, a Steamboat Springs firm that provides sustainable business coaching and certification.

Halliday says sustainable initiatives can range from switching to more efficient light bulbs to constructing living buildings that essentially create no waste. 'There are a lot of great commercial spaces that are much more efficient, and I think that's what is going to drive it," she said.

Colorado companies are not only making commercial spaces green; they're helping make their communities more sustainable. ColoradoBiz unearthed businesses and the clever, creative and cost-effective ways to save energy, water and other resources, and the high-tech methods to measure progress.

"We look for companies that understand how they run their businesses," said Lynette Myers, administrator of the Colorado Environmental Leadership Program of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. "We look at companies that are continually improving."

Myers--one of the panelists who helped evaluate businesses for the Green Colorado issue--adds that she is not devaluing companies' recycling efforts. Of course, that's a commendable start, but many companies go above and beyond the basics with pioneering programs and policies to preserve the planet. For example, one best practice is to encourage the public to engage in sustainable efforts. "What are you doing as a company and what are your employees doing to reduce that carbon footprint?" she asks.

The other panelists:

Kim Riether Coupounas, director of B Lab Colorado, which certifies businesses for meeting standards of transparency, accountability and performance. She also co-founded and serves as chief environmental officer of Go-Lite, an international outdoor clothing and equipment company based in Boulder.

Jeff Hohensee, director of strategic partnerships for the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, which runs the Alliance Center, a multi-tenant nonprofit center for organizations working on sustainability.

David Payne, instructor at the Center for Education on Social Responsibility at the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado. Payne teaches MBA courses such as Topics in Sustainable Business and Socially Responsible Enterprise.

Nick Sterling, director of consulting and research at Natural Capitalism Solutions, where he consults with the food and beverage, outdoor, energy and education sectors, and works on strategy, stakeholder engagement and communications.

INDEX

[M] Manufacturing

[TH] Tourism / Hospitality

[CB] Consumer Business

[FCPS] Financial/ Consulting/ Professional Services

[HC] Health Care

[CT] Communications/ Technology

[NG] Nonprofit/ Government

[T] Transportation

[RECD] Real Estate/ Construction/ Development

[M] SMARTWOOL

Apparel manufacturer

Steamboat Springs

SmartWool--which makes socks, base layers and other clothing--has a different outlook on sustainability, according to Jeff Snow, digital marketing manager. "It's not just environmental, but also a lifestyle component," he said.

Employees are urged to use alternative transportation to commute to work. If anyone on the team bikes more than President and General Manager Mark Satkiewicz, an elite triathlete, employees earn cash or a stay at Vail Resorts.

SmartWool recently renovated its Steamboat Springs facility and used recycled materials and energy-efficient appliances. The clothing maker also participates in the city's Spare the Air campaign, which puts up signs asking FedEx and other delivery drivers not to let their vehicle engines idle. The brand also sources its merino wool from sheep ranchers in New Zealand and traces wool to each farm, making sure the animals are well-treated smartwool.com

[M] QUALTEK manufacturing

Metal stamping, heat treating, finishing

Colorado Springs

Metal manufacturing is an energy-intensive industry; so in 2011 Qualtek set goals to reduce its electricity and natural-gas use. The company--named a Silver Member of the 2013 Colorado Industrial Energy Challenge--created an executive position, Director of E. (Energy, Efficiency and Environment), and established the E-Team, which runs projects from battery recycling to the Qualtanic Garden, which composts coffee grounds and vegetable waste on-site.

Qualtek installed a 30-kilowatt solar array on its office/warehouse building in January 2012, and the system supplies 100 percent of the business' electricity needs. The water used for cooling in the Heat Treat Department is diverted and reused, saving roughly 100,000 gallons of water.

In 2013 Qualtek's Director of E. and CEO served on Colorado Springs Mayor Steve Bach's Sustainability Advisory Committee. qualtekmfg.com

2.3 MILLION

Pounds of carbon, metal, oil and other materials United Technologies recycles each year.

UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP. AEROSPACE SYSTEMS

Carbon brake disks for aircraft

Pueblo

utcaerospacesystems.com

COOLERADO

High-efficiency air conditioners

Denver

Coolerado's air conditioners work without chemical refrigerants and use 90 percent less electricity than traditional units. The environmental impact of saved energy and avoided carbon emissions would be the equivalent of planting 715,000 trees and taking 6,000 cars off the road for the last 10 years, according to CEO Tom Teynor. The company projects those figures to increase to the equivalent of 12.5 million trees and 103,000 cars in the next five years coolerado.com

65,000-189,000

Number of kilowatts each Larkburger restaurant offsets through the purchase of wind-power credits from Boulder-based Renewable Choice Energy.

[TH] LARKBURGER

Fast casual restaurants | Arvada | larkburger.com

[M] BALL CORP.

Metal packaging and aerospace

Broomfield

Ball Corp. provides metal packaging for colossal food and beverage companies such as Coca-Cola, Miller Coors and others. According to Director of Sustainability Bjoern Kulmann: "From 2011 to 2013, we reduced our absolute energy consumption by 3 percent. That is pretty significant in terms of costs and environmental footprint, as we make 65 billion cans a year."

Ball achieved its 10-year goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, so the company set a new goal: Reduce emissions by 10 percent against the 2010 baseline by 2015. By the end of this past year, it achieved a 7.9 percent reduction, according to Kulmann.

The company also looks at the entire lifespan of its aluminum cans and is trying to reduce that carbon footprint by 10 percent from 2010 to 2020. Those efforts range from light-weighting to making plants more energy-efficient to encouraging the increase of can recycling rates. The current rate of aluminum recycling in the U.S. is 67 percent, according to the Aluminum Association. ball.com

212

Number of KW of solar power generated by the three arrays at Devil's Thumb Ranch, believed to be the largest privately owned solar panel system in the state, according to Penne Pojare, chief marketing officer for the Ranch.

DEVIL'S THUMB RANCH

Resort & Spa

Tabernash

devilsthumbranch.com

[TH] ASPEN SKIING CO.

Ski resorts

Aspen

ASC operates four ski areas --Aspen, Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk and Snowmass, two hotels, 21 retail locations, 15 restaurants and 580 beds of employee housing. The company has won the National Ski Areas Association's Golden Eagle Award for overall environmental excellence in the ski industry six times, most recently in 2012.

That same year ASC opened its $5,5 million coal mine methane-to-electricity project, which converts vented methane into 24 million kilowatt hours of electricity that is sold back into the utility grid. There is also solar power from a 147 kilowatt solar plant in Carbondale and 20-plus kilowatts of distributed solar throughout ASC locations. ASC replaced 10 snow guns at Buttermilk with higher efficiency Rubis EVO guns, reducing 98 kilowatts of usage to 4 kilowatts. The Limelight Hotel reduced its corridor lighting, saving 30,835 kilowatt hours a year.

ASC is committed to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 2000 levels. aspensnowmass.com

[TH] SNOOZE AM EATERY

Restaurants

Denver

The...

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