Green Day opportunities explode for businesses promoting sustainability

As sustainability awareness becomes second nature in the business world, more companies are coming up with ways to target environmentally conscious customers even if their primary business isn't making eco-products such as solar cells or organic foods.

The 100 vendors at the recent GreenSummit convention in downtown Phoenix offered examples of the growing diversity: a green handyman, a green broker, a green pest-control service and a green limousine firm.

"It's getting really big," said Kristin Berry, publisher of Natural Awakenings magazine, said of the environmental movement in business. "Everybody's jumping on board."

Cox Communications Inc., a provider of cable TV, broadband and telephone service, joined the expo to promote its green call-center program. It not only has 320 of its own call-center employees working at home in virtual offices but it has begun helping other companies and government organizations, such as Arizona's health-care program for the poor, shift their call-center workers to home offices.

"AHCCCS got rid of whole floors with our help," said Kathleen Dougherty, a Cox account executive.

Rainey Daye Holloway, a spokeswoman for the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, said about 350 of the agency's 1,200 employees have switched to virtual offices over the past two years, saving an estimated 2.5 million miles in driving time and $436,000 in fuel costs. The agency was also able to save about $1 million in lease costs this fiscal year because it doesn't need as much building space.

Wells Fargo Home Mortgage was there to point out how it could reduce the need for paper for mortgage transactions. Signed closing documents can be put on discs and other paperwork can be shredded and recycled at closing.

"Eventually we will be able to hand you a thumb drive with a billion dollars worth of documents," said Dave Baxter, a Wells Fargo mortgage broker.

Thomas Miklus, owner of the Millennium Gift Shop in Scottsdale, started out selling gifts and eventually branched out to slot machines, clothing, golf equipment and, about four years ago, to scooters.

When gas prices rose past $3 and then $4 a gallon, sales soared.

"Normally I would sell 40 a week," he said. "Now I sell 10 to 12 a day." The scooters, which get between 70 and 125 miles a gallon, sell for $800 to $2,400.

Companies that have been involved for some time in the green movement have watched environmental interest soar.

Lisa Miller, a Mesa resident who owns the "environmentally responsible" Lady Bug Pest Control Specialists, affirmed that it hip to be green today.

"When we started in 1995, nobody cared about environmentally friendly," she said. "Now it's the wave of the future. It is the wave now."

Her Mesa company, which has grown to 12 franchises, controls pests using natural substances such as thyme, rosemary and guava fruit.

Green upgrades

A number of exhibitors showed how companies could make money from the environmental movement by thinking differently and tweaking existing models.

Discount Cab is adding 200 chartreuse Toyota Priuses to its Phoenix fleet as part of a "green cabs for blue skies" campaign. EnviroCar, another local company, also uses Priuses and Lexus RX400h SUVs to give passengers "chauffeured hybrid transportation."

Robert Nelson of Surprise bills himself as an EZ Green handyman because he can help residents with simple fixes to help control their energy costs, such as replacing lightbulbs with compact fluorescents.

Anita Govert, a north Phoenix certified EcoBroker works for Greenovation, a company that offers green-home remodels. And she helps people find houses that can help them conserve energy, including commuting time.

She said her attitude is: "Let's try to get you as healthy as you can afford."

And while it's customary for exhibitors at trade shows to hand out candy, pens, key chains and other things, those at an ecology minded show have to be careful what they offer. Plastic pens wouldn't be appropriate.

That's where Wright Choice Promotions of Glendale comes in. It offers products such as pencils made of recycled newspapers, denim and currency, as well as pens made of recycled tires.

Finding a voice

But one thing that was lacking is a group that can take the lead and speak for all green or greenish-hued businesses, Berry said.

The field has become diverse and fragmented, she said. There are many groups dealing with niches, such as indoor air quality and biodiesel, and some deal in broader subjects, such as Sustainable Arizona in Sedona, the Arizona chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council and the Phoenix Green Chamber of Commerce.

Reach the reporter at betty .beard@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8667.

John Schaar of Xziex International drinks water made by Xziex's Elite machine that produces water from air at the GreenSummit expo.