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Grant Murphy: For a number of growing small firms going green in business starts with green construction.
In the United States buildings account for merely 40% of total energy use, 12% of water consumption and 38% of carbon dioxide emissions. More states and cities are adopting regulations that encourage or requires small businesses to be green and energy efficient.
Mayor Linda Goldstein: I know that in other cities across the country. They are giving incentives to developers for example to have lead certified buildings and do green grooves and various other things. The green movement has to take place on the local grass roots level, and that if anything is going to change, if behavior is going to change, building is going to change we need to really emphasize that on a local level. So cities are really getting on board.
Grant Murphy: Green buildings use 30% less energy on average than a standard building, but do cost settings mean a return on an investment for green buildings?
Ari Kobb: Well, from a new construction standpoint, all the data indicates that a new building doesn’t cost anymore to make by using green technologies. And that’s because of the availability of new products that are environmentally responsible and the new technologies that really focus on energy savings. From a retro fit environment, you might spend a little bit more of money up front, but at the end because of the energy savings and the energy efficiency there’s a certainly a payback over the life of the building.
Grant Murphy: Now a small business owner does not have to start from the ground floor to make green building improvements.
Ari Kobb: So understanding where your energy is being used and then taking steps to reduce it for example automating lighting and automating the temperature in the building so it’s not too hot in the summer or too cold in the winter has immediate economic benefit.
Grant Murphy: You’ll find more ways to make your small business operation more environmentally friendly on SBTV.com.
I’m Grant Murphy for SBTV.com where small business is our only business.
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