VOL.123, NO. 57
FINANCE-COMMERCE.COM
TUESDAY | MARCH 23, 2010

TheInsider
Minnesota companies looking for more energy efficiency have allies in Energy Smart and
Minnesota Waste Wise

BY ELIZABETH MILLARD

Special to Finance & Commerce

Mark Blaiser is the kind of cheerful energy efficiency-evangelist who could
spend an hour talking about light bulbs, and make it a fascinating conversation.
Even better, he can pinpoint the kind of significant cost savings that such minor tweaks can realize, and that type of chat is making businesses of every ilk listen just a little more closely.

As executive director of Energy Smart and Minnesota Waste Wise — programs developed through the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce — Blaiser heads a team that provides site visits to companies interested in making energy improvements, tapping into utility rebates, developing
recycling programs and achieving sustainability goals.

Q: How did you get involved with energy efficiency and sustainability?
A: I’ve always had an interest in the environment, and how we interact with
it, but I was also interested in business. So, in the late 1990s, I went through a
grad school program at Naropa University for environmental leadership.
Back then, it was really unique to address the intersection of the environment
and business, and as much as that’s become more common, there’s
still the basic questions at play: How does being environmentally responsible
become a business decision? How can we save money and protect the
environment? That’s where we need businesses, to help us come up with
good solutions to those questions. Mark Blaiser, executive director of
Energy Smart and Minnesota Waste Wise, says sustainability is not onlythe right thing
to do – but it also contributes to a business’s bottom line. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Q: What strides forward have you seen in the past 10 years in terms of corporate
awareness about sustainability?
A: Back in the late ’90s, there were just a few companies like Aveda and Patagonia
focusing on this, and they were considered progressive and out there. Even with more
companies taking on sustainability, Aveda and Patagonia are still good models of how
sustainability can be good business. Companies don’t just do a recycling program
on the side and call it a day, they can wrap it into their whole way of doing business.
That’s the biggest thing that’s changed, the awareness that environmental
responsibility isn’t a separate component of operations, it’s part of the business
model. Companies large to small are realizing this. The CEO of Wal-Mart was asked how the company could afford to be green and he answered with, “How can we afford not to be?” That’s a whole paradigm shift.

Q: Does the recession have any impact in terms of companies making changes
to their operations?
A: Some companies have been hesitant because they think there’ll be increased
costs to making operational changes, but our whole program is about showing them
that with less waste and saved energy, it will add to the bottom line. It’s just smart,
because if you crunch the numbers and look at the return on investment, you can
get big cost savings and relatively quickly. There are a lot of incentives, especially
with the stimulus package, so that’s promising. But some companies have buckled
down and said we’re not spending any money, period.

Q: What are you seeing ahead for the program, and what goals do you have for
the near future?
A: From our perspective, we really want to see the expansion of that concept
of sustainability as part of the business model. We think companies
will become increasingly aware that lighting or improved recycling can be a
good start, but that there’s so much more to explore. They can look at what
types of materials and resources they’re using, see how environmental
upgrades fit into their purchasing plans. It’s coming, that widespread
realization, and that’s why we’re here, to educate and go beyond throwing
around the word “green.” It’s beyond just trying to “go green,” it’s all about
doing the right thing.

Reprinted with permission of the publisher.
© 2010 Finance and Commerce, all rights reserved.