How they went green -- and you can, too
| Tuesday, Apr 21 2009 05:10 PM
Last Updated Tuesday, Apr 21 2009 07:26 PM
LOCAL EARTH DAY EVENTS
Tehachapi Earth Day Celebration, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday on East Tehachapi Boulevard near South Mojave Street.
Features a spring growers expo, exhibits by local wind energy companies, advice on organic produce, a recycling fair and educational activities for the kids, along with live music, games, prizes, a petting zoo and bounce house.
Festivities to be between the Apple Shed, Village Grille and Mama HillyBean's Cafe.
More information: 822-6519.
Greenshops, the local eco-friendly boutique formerly known as Fresh and Green, will host in-store festivities and launch an essay contest Wednesday to coincide with the renaming of the store.
A new store Web site is also launching at www.greenshops.com.
Customers at the boutique Wednesday will be eligible for free giveaways and drawings for T-shirts and a $100 gift card to the store, 7737 Meany Ave. in Chloe's Plaza.
The essay contest theme is "If I Could Change the World" and submissions will be accepted until Nov. 1.
The winner, to be announced in December, will receive a $5,000 scholarship. Full details are available on the store's Web site.
The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District begins its Clean Green Yard Machines program Wednesday to encourage the replacement of gasoline-powered lawnmowers with a cordless electric mower.
The district offers vouchers good for up to 62 percent of the purchase of an electric mower. This year, participants have a choice between the Neuton CE5, 14-inch mower for $150 with the voucher, or the CE6, 19-inch mower for $250 with the voucher.
Vouchers will be distributed until May 31.
More information on the program: www.valleyair.org or call 392-5500. More information on Neuton mowers: www.NeutonPower.com/SJV.
The Bakersfield Recreation and Parks Department will plant trees 8 a.m. Saturday in the Park at Riverwalk to replace those chewed down by a beaver. Volunteers are welcome to attend. Free refreshments and snacks will be available. More information: 326-3701.
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Felix Adamo / The Californian Jennifer Cecero recycles plastic bottles at the Hair Fusion Salon
To commemorate Earth Day, The Californian asked local businesses and organizations to tell us what they've done to go green. We received roughly 30 responses describing efforts that ranged from solar panel installations to the sale of products made from recycled materials and projects to boost recycling at the office.
While all these companies deserve recognition, we're highlighting these for their dedication and unique approach to protecting the environment, and the ability for their ideas to be adapted by others.
'RECYCLED IT'
Jennifer Cecero jokes she's so devoted to recycling, her kids never told the teacher the dog ate their homework.
"They said, 'My mom recycled it,'" she said.
The owner of Hair Fusion, a hair salon with three Bakersfield locations, Cecero has always been environmentally minded at home and now is at work, too.
One day a week she totes hundreds of plastic bottles discarded at each salon to a recycling drop-off center.
"We're a high-volume salon and I was embarrassed by how much plastic we were throwing away," she said.
Cecero also had high-efficiency lighting installed in each salon. The first change-out she paid for herself; the other two were free through a Pacific Gas and Electric efficiency program.
Cecero, who's been in the salon business since 1981, said urban sprawl in Bakersfield has forced her to relocate her salons twice to "chase customers" migrating to the outer edges of town. So to mitigate the impact of her driving, she invested in a compact Volkswagen Golf.
"Between these things," she said, "we hope we make a little dent."
A GEEKY SHADE OF GREEN
Recycling and replacing light bulbs may be the hallmarks of eco-friendly efforts but Kern County's information technology department found major energy savings with a recent upgrade to its computer servers.
By moving to newer virtual server technology, it was able to replace 58 older servers -- which hosted everything from the countywide e-mail system to programs used only by specific departments -- with just six new servers, said county technology services manager John Devlin.
The upgrade saved on power to run the servers and to cool the room containing the machines.
The project amounted to an annual savings of 190,000 kilowatthours, according to utility company estimates. That's enough to power 17 homes for a year.
The county also got back $36,000 of $90,000 spent on new hardware through a promotional state rebate for high-tech efficiency upgrades.
"We're green and we're saving green as well," Devlin said.
LOTS OF SMALL STEPS
Local architectural firm Renfro & Cuningham promotes sustainable construction to its clients but that's just one part of a companywide philosophy of protecting the environment. Within its office -- a reconditioned 80-year-old home on Truxtun Avenue -- employees have taken numerous small steps to preserve resources.
"The company is 40 years old and it's always been about designing to be green," said project manager Renee Goodwin. "Now, it's what can we do to incorporate that not only into our design, but throughout our company and our personal lives?"
When a few employees began riding bikes to work, the firm not only put up bike racks but reinstalled a shower in an upstairs bathroom. There is an office ban on styrofoam cups, plastic eating utensils and paper plates.
The company invested in a full set of dishes and installed an energy-efficient dishwasher. Bottled water is discouraged; employees use a filtered pitcher instead.
The office's windows were recently unsealed so they could be opened for natural ventilation when weather permits, and a tinting was applied to reduce indoor heat created by sunlight. Company gift baskets contain gift certificates to Greenshops, (formerly Fresh and Green), a locally owned boutique that specializes in green products.
Employees also attend mandatory training in Natural Step, a scientifically based framework to help organizations and communities move toward sustainability. The process has been adopted by hundreds of businesses and organizations, including Nike, Home Depot, Starbucks and the U.S. Marine Corps.
Next on the company's to-do list?
"We're thinking of putting in a garden," Goodwin said. "The idea is people can either take the vegetables home or we can donate them to people in need."
AN ALL-NATURAL ODYSSEY
In 2007, Mama HillyBean's opened in Tehachapi serving organic and fair trade coffee. Since then, the business has expanded its edible offerings and its commitment to sustainability.
"Basically, everything that can be organic or natural is, from the food to the cleaning products and to-go containers," said manager Anthony McDemas.
Products like organic olive oil and orange juice, for example, are just too expensive. But otherwise, McDemas said, more than 90 percent of the food is organic.
When people order take out, the food goes into biodegradable containers made from corn starch. Even the plastic bags are biodegradable.
The products do cost 50 to 100 percent more than regular containers. So customers are charged 25 cents per container; employees explain the charge up-front and people rarely complain.
When the doors close each night, employees use cleaning products labeled earth-friendly.
McDemas said the philosophy fits in with the cafe's mission to bring the community together to make the world a better place. The coffee house also hosts musical acts, community theater productions, educational programs for children and serves as a venue for a mom's group, book club, gardening group and other community organizations.
"Our cafe slogan is 'coffee and community,' " he said. "That's been the goal from the beginning and we're doing the best we can."
CLEAN AND GREEN
Today Cleaners, a locally owned dry cleaner, has found that going green can alleviate regulatory burdens.
In 2001, after hearing reports of heavy contamination caused by the standard dry cleaning solvent perchloroethylene, the company invested in a new system. It chose GreenEarth Cleaning, a process that uses liquid silicone, and is non-toxic and non-hazardous, according to its manufacturer.
By contrast, perchloroethylene is a suspected carcinogen, a regulated air pollutant and one of the most common contaminants found in groundwater. Dry cleaners who use it must obtain air pollution permits and send waste to a special hazardous waste facility.
In fact, in 2007, California enacted laws to phase out the use of the chemical. At the time, the Associated Press reported that 70 percent of the state's dry cleaners still used it.
It cost Today Cleaners about $1 million to buy new machines and pay licensing fees for the technology.
"It did have a price tag attached but we thought the cost of not doing something may be greater," said Mike Daniels, company general manager.
In addition, the company no longer has to worry about air regulations, permits or hazardous waste disposal, which had cost about $1,500 to $2,000 each month.
Today Cleaners and its sister company Sparkle Textile Rental, a linen and uniform supply business, have taken other steps to reduce their environmental impact.
The companies replaced a natural gas water heating system with one that uses waste heat captured from the boiler exhaust stacks, cutting costs 25 to 30 percent, Daniels said. The companies have reduced waste, too, through paperless billing and a wire hanger recycling program.
"These things didn't come to us all at once," Daniels said. "They're ideas that we learned about and thought about how they could work for us."
