Conscious Choice: What's good for the planet is good for business

May 2003

What's good for the planet is good for business

Meet Chicago's 'Triple Bottom Liners'

by Edevina Quetua

Picture this: George and Jane Jetson wake up in their wind-powered, toxin-free home. With the flip of a switch, Jane sends electricity throughout the house and powering appliances from energy-saving "sleep." Solar-powered Rosie the Robot makes the breakfast of organic oatmeal, locally grown berries and fair trade jasmine tea. After breakfast, George drives to work in his hydrogen-powered aerial car and Jane takes garments to the corner wet-cleaners.

Can today’s fast-paced society, with its devotion to convenience, money and excess, birth such a future where modern, everyday living and sustainable practice go hand-in-hand?

Some local business leaders definitely think so, and they say the way to do it is through business. "In our American capitalist economy I believe that the biggest way to change the world is to influence how people use their dollars," says Noam Frankel, owner of The Greener Cleaner, a Chicago "wet" cleaner.

Frankel’s cleaner, along with energy consulting firm Sieben Energy Associates, community investment bank, Shorebank, and toxin-free homebuilders, Heaven on Earth, Inc., are Chicago pioneers for a different business model: having a triple bottom line, where a company’s success is measured by its impact on the planet and on its people, as well as by its monetary profit.

And with the advent of a Chicago chapter of the Business Alliance of Local Living Economies (BALLE — see partner story), it will be easier for like-minded business leaders to work together for their common goals. In turn, such an alliance can speed the emergence of a sustainable and profitable future.

Meet four leaders who are pioneering socially responsible business in Chicago.

Lowering consumption and raising the bar

From his corner office in the Sun-Times building in downtown Chicago, Craig Sieben can see the fruits of his work. His firm, Sieben Energy Associates, has helped such Chicago River landmarks as the Wrigley Building, the University of Chicago Gleacher Center, and the Sheraton Hotel and Towers to lower energy costs. "We’ve saved our clients tens of millions of dollars in energy costs and the environmental impact of that is substantial," Sieben says.

Indeed, the 13-year-old company, which is on the BALLE start-up roster, has helped its clients lower energy spending by at least 10 to 20 percent, according to Sieben. Its 15 employees work with clients to choose energy providers, assess patterns of energy spending, and assist in developing long-term plans for energy efficiency.

The firm tries to take care of its employees, Sieben says, by paying them well, training them to stay at the top of their game, equipping them with robust computers, allowing them the flexibility to work from home, and "giving them the latitude and respect they deserve." He adds, "We believe in private offices here. People need room to think, and we want to honor that."

Sieben, who grew up in Evanston, got his start as an energy policy and planning major at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, in the 1970s.

"I had a passion for energy conservation," he explains. "But then my professor said to me,‘So what are you going to do about it?’ I knew we had a huge opportunity in this country to use energy better. I became an energy activist."

Sieben then worked for the U.S. House energy subcommittee, the U.S. Department of Energy, and an energy research firm. He has also worked in the energy-efficient lighting services industry in Chicago.

Founding Sieben Energy Associates, Sieben says, was like a dream come true for him. "I have a growing company with a solid reputation, is reasonably priced, and has a niche here," he muses. "We are influencing how people are spending money to make a difference!"

Building toxic-free

Homebuilder Aurel Solomon is selling his house on Thayer Street in Evanston — a large, beautiful structure with plentiful windows to let natural light in. The home, which also houses the offices of his construction company Heaven on Earth, Inc., is built according to the principles of feng shui and Sthapatya Veda architectural philosophy.

Best of all, Solomon built it with non-toxic materials. "We spend half our lives indoors," Solomon explains. "New materials typically emit toxic fumes for at least three to five years, but we don’t notice. Why not pay attention to this and do something about it?"

Building with non-toxic lumber, paints, adhesives, stains, and carpets are not necessarily more expensive, he says. However, he adds, builders have to go the extra mile to find these materials and many often do not want the extra hassle or simply do not know to do it.

But for Solomon, an Israeli immigrant who is vegan and regularly practices yoga, tai-chi, and meditation, being aware of and doing something about the issue came naturally. "I see it as a quality of life issue," he muses. "And I think it’s better business. It’s healthier for the clients and healthier for my workers."

For the company’s 15 employees, it also means fewer injuries and lower health costs. Solomon says he tries to promote an open, caring working environment where people can be proud of their work. And on Friday afternoons in summer, they quit work early to go to the park to play soccer.

Solomon has been building homes in Evanston for the last 20 years and started working with non-toxic materials in 1995. He is now trying to raise capital to fund a resort in Jamaica where visitors can study wholistic and sustainable living.

Despite the fact that requests for Solomon’s non-toxic homes have doubled in the past few years, he thinks there’s still not enough awareness about the issues, "Otherwise," he says, "there would be more builders out there like me."

Making the Dry Cleaner all Wet

The Greener Cleaner, near the corner of Broadway and Berwyn Streets in Chicago, stands out in the professional cleaning industry because it doesn’t dry clean; it wet cleans. By using biodegradable, protective soaps and European machines, the Greener Cleaner safely washes garments in water, eliminating the harmful exposure of plant workers, clients, and the environment to the toxic dry cleaning chemical perchloroethylene.

"Besides our environmental impact, the difference is noticeable in the end product," owner Noam Frankel notes. "Every good cleaner knows water is the best cleaner. Whites get really white, the clothes are softer, and they don’t smell."

To do wet cleaning successfully, a cleaner needs the right soaps, the right machines, and highly trained workers, he says. Often, this means more hassle and cost for already established businesses, which helps explain why The Greener Cleaner is the only one of its kind in Chicago and one of only eight nationwide.

There is a noticeable air of camaraderie in the plant. Frankel said he believes this is because his 10 employees are paid well for the industry, are highly trained, and don’t have to worry about being exposed to harmful chemicals. "Also, we all believe we’re doing something different and so do our customers." Frankel explains. "Our customer satisfaction is very high and our re-do and return rates are very low."

The cleaner now has drop-off locations at Dominick’s grocery stores in Willowbrook, Wheaton, and in Chicago’s West Loop. It also provides a delivery service from the Loop to Evanston and is looking to expand service into more grocery stores and a couple downtown hotels.

Frankel says he has always seen himself as an entrepreneur and previously owned a successful trucking company and a medical firm. He has always been interested in sustainability and when the Center for Neighborhood Technology offered him the opportunity to start a local business that was ecologically-friendly, he jumped at it. "I think social factors are key to the bottom line," Frankel said. "We are having an impact on the industry by drawing more and more customers to a high quality product that is good and healthy."

Going Where Other Investors Dare Not

Chicago-based ShoreBank Corp., headquartered in the South Shore neighborhood, is the only bank in the nation whose investments go completely toward community development. "Our investors bank with us because we believe in the future of the communities we’re in and we’re actually making it happen," comments Jean Pogge, ShoreBank’s senior vice president for mission-based deposits.

Indeed, the bank’s board of directors and shareholders hold the management to the triple bottom line of profitability, conservation, and community development (people)...and the bank delivers on each one.

Since its inception in 1973, ShoreBank has directed more than $1 billion in development loans to residents and entrepreneurs in underdeveloped and minority neighborhoods in the cities of Chicago and Cleveland, as well as parts of Michigan and the Pacific Northwest.

The bank has also lent $42 million in conservation loans, mostly to new businesses and homeowners seeking to make their buildings energy-efficient. The bank’s employees then take on conservation goals — such as paper reduction targets — in their performance plans.

Additionally, Pogge says, the bank has been profitable every year since 1975 and its loan losses are equal to or less than those of its peer groups.

The bank was founded when four friends, Milton Davis, James Fletcher, Ronald Grzywinski, and Mary Houghton, whose backgrounds encompassed banking, social service, and community activism, bought the former South Shore Bank. The bank’s former owners were seeking to get out of the South Shore neighborhood, which was undergoing racial change at the time.

The new owners believed that a commercial bank could effectively restore neighborhood economies and Pogge points to South Shore as a prime example. "It used to be that nobody wanted to invest here but now the property values are very high," she says. "The bank has been instrumental in that development."

Pogge describes ShoreBank as "one of the best employers in Chicago." The management maintains a very open environment and gives employees health insurance with premiums that are scaled to income. This year, the bank also gave each employee $500 to use in any way they saw fit to increase their professional skills.

"Best of all," Pogge adds, "you can make money here but you feel you can sleep at night because what you’re doing is in line with your values."

Edevina Quetua is a graduate student at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism and writes for the Medill News Service.

Contacts

Sieben Energy Associates LLC
Craig Sieben, President and CEO
312-828-0700
csieben@siebenenergy.com
www.siebenenergy.com

Heaven on Earth, Inc.
Aurel Solomon, owner
847-475-2257
www.heavenonearthinc.com

The Greener Cleaner
Noam Frankel, owner
888-875-8345

ShoreBank Corp.
Jean Pogge, Sr. VP
800-669-7725
www.sbk.com

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