August 7, 2008

Chamber Connection

It is easy being green

By Pat Dando
President/CEO, San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce
Special to the Times

In July, we published a special “Green Issue” in the Advocate, which focused on the growing interest in renewable energy and environmental sustainability. We felt it important enough to devote an entire issue to awareness of the growing energy crisis and the many ways we can reduce our carbon footprint.

As oil prices and global temperatures continue to rise in contrast to receding glaciers, never has the need for reduced consumption and green initiatives been higher or affected such a wide variety of industries. We saluted Mayor Chuck Reed and our chamber members who have answered the call by taking the lead and embracing aggressive goals. Silicon Valley companies have proven to be both responsible and willing to change for the greater good.

A good example can be found with PG&E and its energy efficiency programs that have helped California customers save more than 118 million megawatt-hours of electricity and 10.7 billion therms of natural gas. To put it into perspective, the savings equate to powering an additional 18 million homes and heating another 15 million. As a result, our atmosphere has been spared an additional 125 million tons of carbon dioxide. These efforts also earned PG&E nods as the 2008 Environmental Business of the Year.

On the Advocate’s cover, Mayor Reed highlighted the uniqueness of San Jose’s Green Vision over the green agendas set by other cities. It is clearly an ambitious plan to solve environmental issues, while at the same time, growing the local economy by creating 25,000 clean tech jobs. With the opening of the Silicon Valley Photovoltaic Development Center and a challenge that encourages local solar companies to come up with innovative financing solutions for homeowners, San Jose is now on its way to becoming the global center of Clean Tech innovation.

Also on the cover, we highlighted the Home Builders Association of Northern California and how it became the first in the nation to openly embrace mandatory sustainable green building standards that would reduce energy consumption on new Bay Area homes by 15 percent. In an effort to raise the bar further, the 1,000 plus member organization also pledged to cut in half the amount of energy used in the homes it builds by the year 2020. It is an impressive goal that far surpasses California’s current construction standards and puts the Bay Area at the forefront of the green construction movement.

Our featured Community Builder was eBay (Chamber Advocate, page 10), selected for its commitment to green building and healthier working environments, in addition to providing employees with carbon offsetting programs, solar discounts and ongoing education in alternative resources. eBay’s North Campus is also the site of the first building in San Jose built to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold standards for new construction—the second-highest LEED rating a building can receive. The environmentally friendly facility now shares the campus with the largest commercial solar installation in the city.

Also on page 10 of the Chamber Advocate, our featured member, Gourmet Gifts founder Debbie Quintana, insisted on creating an environmentally friendly operation that is completely paperless and uses only recycled or biodegradable packing and shipping supplies. Out-of-the box thinking also led to her unique decision to reduce carbon emissions by ordering exclusively from northern California vendors—one that earned her high praise and a Green Certificate from the Santa Clara County Green Business Association. Not only is she helping the environment, she is also adding support to the California economy—a win-win on both fronts.

High praise should also be given to Gordon Biersch (Chamber Advocate, page 13) for its ongoing conservation efforts—from off-peak brewing and a thermal energy recovery rate of nearly 75 percent to reusable glass bottles, biodegradable cups made from corn and energy efficient appliances—nothing goes to waste, not even the leftover barley and yeast.

The Chamber will continue to advocate for a “greener” valley by supporting additional opportunities such as Zipcars, the largest car sharing company in the world. With each Zipcar replacing over 15 privately owned vehicles, our transportation network needs will still be met, while benefiting from less strain on urban parking infrastructures, lower fuel consumption, fewer greenhouse gas emissions and less congestion on the roads.

This response to customer-driven demand to show more respect for our environment, coupled with continued efforts to set trends rather than follow them, has made Silicon Valley a driving force on the global stage. We now have the nation—and the world watching. We need to let them know at the end of the day, that it actually is easy “being green.”

The July issue of the Chamber Advocate, which includes the full text of all the articles mentioned above, is available for download and can be found at http://www.sjchamber.com/pdf/july_08_advocate.pdf. Reprinted courtesy of the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce.