by Shane Henson — November 16, 2012—The ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA (ICLEI USA) recently announced that 1,000 businesses across the United States have now used its Green Business Challenge Web App to save energy, money and natural resources.
ICLEI USA, a nonprofit membership organization of U.S. cities, towns, and counties working to address climate change, clean energy and local sustainability and part of ICLEI Global, says it developed the powerful tool to allow local businesses to participate in a Green Business Challenge program run by their local government. The Green Business Challenge engages businesses and commercial property managers in a fun, friendly competition to improve their business’s environmental performance. This innovative program in turn helps local governments reach their energy and climate goals, says ICLEI USA.
Through using ICLEI’s app, local governments can launch a Green Business Challenge program in weeks, not months, and administer it with fewer staff and less money, says ICLEI USA. Participants access the app through the local government’s Web site, and use it to register, take a baseline survey, browse a library of tips and resources, update their achievements, view a scorecard that tracks their progress toward goals, read customized suggestions for ways to increase their score, and operate a carbon calculator.
According to ICLEI USA, participants in Green Business Challenge programs launched in Chicago, Illinois; Houston, Texas; Bellevue, Washington; and Port of San Diego, California have already had success through employing the app.
For example, in 2011, Chicago commercial property managers and businesses used the app to engage in the Chicago Green Office Challenge and saved a collective $17.5 million in energy costs, reduced energy use by 124 million kilowatt hours, kept more than 85,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and diverted 43 percent of their waste from landfills. Businesses participating in the Houston Green Office Challenge had much to brag about as well. In 2011, they reduced their energy use by 28 million kilowatt hours, water use by 74 million gallons, and diverted 40 percent of their waste from landfills, says ICLEI USA.
