For some businesses, going green was a cutting-edge decision. For other businesses, green means black – a stronger bottom line.
Still others use tools like online banking to cut down on driving, helping the environment and saving everyone time.
Whatever their motive, the way business owners from across the Portland region have been cutting back driving costs has been a help to regional planners, who have to address a state mandate to reduce vehicle emissions.
Every bit makes a difference. Trends in engine efficiency and fuel standards already have the Portland region close to its state-mandated goal. But could just a few changes in the way we do business get us there?
Climate Futures series
As Metro's planning staff looks at ways to address a state mandate to reduce tailpipe emissions in the Portland region, Metro News has been digging into some of the 144 ideas under study. Our goal is to paint a picture of what the Portland region could look like if any of those scenarios are adopted.
Please note that Metro planning staff is not responsible for this content. Comments on the content should be directed to Metro News at 503-813-7583 or [email protected].
Greening the fleet
Hotlips Pizza was on the cutting-edge in 2004 when its owners decided to start greening their delivery fleet by purchasing electric vehicles.
The high investment cost of electric cars can sometimes be prohibitive, but for Hotlips co-owner David Yudkin, the choice wasn't only motivated by climbing gas prices.
"We learned that it really made sense to deliver with electric cars, because most deliveries are within a mile or so of the store, a lot of short little trips, and that’s when most emissions come out of a vehicle – when you start it up," said Yudkin.
Franklin Jones, CEO and founder of B-Line: Sustainable Urban Delivery, said that his clients, while ultimately driven by price and economics, are very influenced by mission alignment as well. B-Line uses cargo trikes, electric-assist vehicles with a 600-pound cargo capacity, to provide the last leg of services for businesses with delivery needs in the urban core and close-in areas of Portland.
The trikes are smaller than conventional delivery vehicles and don't use petroleum or biodiesel, thereby reducing congestion and emissions in urban areas.
Many strategies
Other strategies for companies to reduce their emissions footprint include offering employees transit passes or even efforts to relocate employees in housing closer to where they work. Choices like those help regional planners address the state's mandate to cut carbon emissions from cars, pickups and SUVs.
Oregon's steps toward cutting greenhouse gas emissions have been years in the making. 2007 marked the Oregon Legislature's adoption of statewide goals for GHG emissions reductions: stopping emissions increase by 2010, a 10 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2020, and a 75 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050.
In 2009, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill directing Metro to come up with plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from light duty vehicles – passenger vehicles and freight trucks weighing less than 10,000 pounds. This decree has the potential to affect a wide range of businesses that use such vehicles for their services.
There is no plan in place that directly affects businesses – and one isn't likely to be introduced in the immediate future. Metro's Climate Smart Communities Scenarios Project, which is developing the plan to address the state mandate, is set to conclude with a way to address emissions targets by the end of 2014.
No one yet knows whether or not any elements of the adopted strategy will target businesses, but Metro is in the process of holding a series of focus groups for businesses around the region as the CSC project moves forward with exploring different scenarios. The focus groups provide an opportunity for dialogue about how Metro can develop policies that help them to remain economically competitive.
A main point of discussion during the focus groups is what businesses are already doing to be more sustainable, whether their motivations be environmental or cutting costs. Kim Ellis, the project lead for the regional government's tailpipe emissions study, said that many business owners talk about optimizing time and resources. From this, sustainability follows naturally.
"Removing inefficiencies almost always has a green dividend – resulting in less GHG emissions or vehicle miles traveled," said Ellis.
A green bottom line
Efficient business practices – like consolidating deliveries in a given area to save fuel, driving at different times of day to avoid congestion, or avoiding left-hand turns to reduce idling and labor time – can help businesses collect cost-savings low-hanging fruit that can enable them to invest that money elsewhere. For example, in green technologies.
However, even if a will exists, the way may not be following. Some businesses expressed a desire to transfer to more sustainable alternatives, but the current available technology "can't carry the payload," said Ellis. For companies such as FedEx, with their high-capacity delivery trucks, or roofing companies with heavily loaded pickups, electric vehicles can't outperform existing ones. The transition wouldn't make sense.
Other categories of tailpipe emissions that are attributed to businesses, like worker commutes, are more difficult for companies to influence. Businesses can (and do) offer transit passes, carpooling incentives, and end-of-trip facilities like showers and lockers for employees who commute by bicycle, but the fact remains that, for some companies, their employees travel from all over the region, sometimes up to 20 miles each way.
"People choose where they live based on schools, neighborhood quality, and other amenities," said Ellis. "Businesses can't affect that."
But some are making the effort to. Dave Eatwell, Economic Development Director for the West Colombia Gorge Consortium, is a strong advocate for employees living in the communities where they work.
"Look at it in a strictly economic way," said Eatwell. "Someone who is commuting 20 miles to and from work, cut that to three miles. That saves close to 10,000 miles a year off our roads. But it also saves that family about $2,700 a year just on gas, not to mention wear and tear on the car. It means that a two car family can be a one car family. It's like getting a hundreds of dollars a month raise."
Eatwell works with the New Work Program, an initiative through the Consortium that helps relocate employees in housing closer to their workplace. This program provides evident and tangible benefits to emissions reductions efforts, but for Eatwell, the contribution to community is the overwhelming selling point.
"For every hour a parent spends in their car staring at brakelights, that's an hour spent they're not doing something else – coaching a little league team, taking a night class, or being with their family," Eatwell said. "Ten hours a week commuting, 40 hours a month? That's time that's not contributing to the community."
Eatwell said that employers tend to be reluctant to sign onto the program, fearing hidden costs. They are having trouble finding a champion to sign on and go through the process to demonstrate to the community how it will work.
"To them, it seems too good to be true," he said.