Small Businesses Embrace Green

This infographic by Office Depot does a great job at showing the "greening" of small businesses.

What steps are you taking to go green?

Save Water: How To Tell If You Have a Leak

Don't be a drip - fix that leak!

Leaky faucets can waste thousands of gallons of water each year, like money down the drain. Repair or replace old or damaged fixtures. If you're not sure you have a leak, check the water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, you probably have a leak.

From the EPA: Learn more about Water Sense, an EPA Partnership program.

How "Green" Affects Your Purchasing Decision

Consumers need a lot of help understanding green claims. Nearly three-fourths said they’d like companies to provide more information on the packaging to help them make product decisions. And 71 percent said they need help better understanding the environmental terms companies use to describe their products and services. It's important that both the seller and the buyer understand the terms being discussed.

What marketing messages make a difference in influencing customers to buy green? Consumers want facts and details. Symbols or certifications were cited by 80 percent, and specific data or outcomes by 80 percent. Seventy-three percent said general environmental statements, such as “uses less water,” influenced their decisions. Stratus Building Solutions can provide all of these.

Understandably, the economic crisis of the last few years has had an effect on consumers’ commitment to purchasing green. Although 69 percent of American consumers routinely or sometimes consider the environment when making a purchasing decision, 42 percent say they have been discouraged from buying a green product because they believed it cost more than the traditional product. Here are some other reasons consumers don’t buy green:

• 42 percent say they believe the product is of lesser quality than the traditional version
• 27 percent say they didn’t trust the environmental claim on the product
• 23 percent say the product was difficult to find
• 16 percent say the product design was unattractive

What else motivates environmentally friendly purchases? Aspirational reasons are big drivers: Eighty-eight percent say they are inspired to buy environmental products because it’s healthier for themselves, their families or their communities; 85 percent say they want to preserve the environment for future generations. Still, the biggest motivator overall is money: 90 percent say they buy an environmental product because it will save them time or money in the long run.

From Network Solutions - read more here.

Why to Professionally Clean Your Facility

The IASQ asks what is the name for  microbes which have become resistant to
common forms of treatments or cleanings? Can you figure it out?