Businesses Lead the Way in Being Green…Because it Pays!

I often say that the market does a better job of making the big changes we need…and the government just gets things started. Again and again I find that businesses are leading the way, finding out how it just makes good sense to conserve, be green, and that it pays. Wal-mart, for example is going to be going buying local produce and using local sources for most of their stores in the months ahead. Wow, local produce at a megastore!

Today at the post office, I picked up a copy of FleetOwner, a magazine for trucking executives. Inside I find more of these intriguing examples of how green even the trucking business is becoming, BECAUSE IT JUST MAKE CENTS! One story was about how the New England Produce Center is getting rid of diesel generators that once ran 24/7 to keep produce cold. They’re installing 79 all electric refrigeration units which are being paid for by Obama’s stimulus program, and they will save $500K a year as well as stop spewing fumes into the Chelsea air.

Another story was about Frito Lay’s new fleet of electric trucks…they run 100 miles on an 8-hour charge and at the end of next year there will be 176 of them silently cruising the streets of New York City, delivering potato chips. They won’t have to pay for 500,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually.

Another story shows the kind of incremental gains that are the real meat…nothing dramatic but little by little. A trucking firm found out that complying with California’s tough rules about heavy duty truck emissions by adding aerodynamic side fairings to their trailers outweighs the cost in a short time. “Whether they were mandated or not, the benefits are too big to ignore,” said Lee Owns, VP of Interstate Distributing. Progress. That’s progress!