Greening the Corporate Sphere

Though we’ve focused quite a bit on commercial and public building here, we can’t say too much about the need for the private and public sectors–as opposed to residential, which faces a host of challenges–to get their respective acts together, look at the benefits of green building, and do something about it already. And as we’ve already established, green building does not stop at the building envelope, or how efficient things are on the day of the habitation inspection. It has everything to do with the entire process, and the life of the building after the tenants move in.The good news is that corporations are already beginning to see the benefits of going with green building and more eco-friendly practices all on their own. While the “incentives” of heavy regulation can produce quick action, benefits might be best realized in a more competitive environment. The suggestion has been floating out there for a while that green practices can actually save a company money in the long run, and it’s that vision that has taken Interface Corporation to the halfway point of some very ambitious goals. Aiming for zero net pollution and 100% recycling by 2020, the carpet tile manufacturer has made tremendous strides toward becoming one of the most eco-friendly big businesses on the planet–all the while remaining resolutely competitive in an open market that hasn’t quite seen the wisdom of green ways yet. The further upside, of course, is that if stringent government regulations do come–and they seem to grow more likely with every dollar added to the cost of oil–companies that have already positioned themselves in the lead like this will find themselves further out in front and unlikely to feel the sting of new and onerous regulations.As far as building goes, builders and designers are already looking toward a day when they will be putting up nothing but “green” buildings–that it will, in fact, become the standard way of doing construction in North America. That won’t be enough, of course, but it will position the industry well going forward. The bigger challenge is going to be in retrofitting existing structures to be more efficient and green, but that’s a process well underway, also. And in both arenas, it looks as though the private sector is staying ahead of government regulation and community standards for the most part. With it growing more and more likely that energy and material prices will continue to rise, and we’ll never again see a day where it’s more profitable to be wasteful, those that have an eye to seeing their businesses prosper beyond the next decade will be embracing green building and eco-friendly business practices.

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