Certification by Santa Barbara County Green Business Program

To: Bluedot Living

From: Kori Nielsen, Program Director, Santa Barbara County Green Business Program

Subject: Certification by Santa Barbara County Green Business Program

The Santa Barbara County Green Business Program helps make our communities healthier and more livable while also helping businesses by conserving resources and saving money. The Green Business certification is a great way to evaluate your business’s current practices and make improvements. Certified Green Businesses voluntarily follow best practices for energy and water conservation, pollution prevention, waste management, toxics reduction, employee commute, and education. Here are some main topics that our green businesses look at when getting certified:

Energy

Equipment Replacement/Upgrades:

• Replacing inefficient lighting with LEDs.
• Replacing gas furnaces and gas water heaters with efficient electric heat pump systems or obtaining future replacement quotes.
• Obtaining quotes for solar panel installation.
• Considering on-site renewable energy sources like solar panels, geothermal, or wind turbines.
• Implementing lighting controls like occupancy sensors, timers, photocells, or time clocks.
• Upgrading to Energy Star–qualified refrigerators.
• Checking and replacing cracked or ineffective refrigerator/freezer seals and gaskets.
• Utilizing programmable/smart thermostats with recommended settings.
• Installing pipe insulation.
• Conducting HVAC maintenance.

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing:

• Using Energy Star office equipment and appliances that are set to hibernate after 15 minutes.
• Opting for Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) Silver/Gold printers, computers, laptops, monitors, and mobile phones.

Paper and Cleaning Products

We require our businesses to use certified non-toxic laundry, cleaning, and building maintenance products in non-aerosol containers with Green Seal or U.S. EPA Safer Choice certifications. Here are some guidelines: 

• Use unbleached and/or processed chlorine-free (PCF) paper products with a minimum of 30% post-consumer waste recycled content.
• The 5 R’s — refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle, and rot — are essential principles for sustainable living.
• We encourage our businesses to support our other green businesses, such as Mission Refill and Sunkissed Pantry, both of which provide zero-waste cleaning options in our community.

Transportation

To enhance employee commuting options and reduce single-occupancy vehicle usage, several initiatives can be implemented:

• A commuter benefits program to facilitate pre-tax deductions for transit, vanpool, or biking expenses and to encourage enrollment in a guaranteed ride home program.
• Telecommuting and flexible schedules to avoid heavy traffic commutes.
• Incentives for biking such as rebates, maintenance subsidies, secure storage, and designated parking.
• Shuttle services and amenities like bike kits, EV recharge ports, lockers, showers, and company bicycles.
• Subsidized shared bike memberships to encourage participation in local bike share programs and promote active commuting.

Check out our ridesharing partner at trafficsolutions.org/links.

Water

Our businesses achieve best practices for indoor and outdoor water usage by:

• Retrofitting toilets, urinals, and faucets to meet low GPM requirements.
• Leak detection and repair.
• Irrigation system management.
• Native or drought-tolerant landscaping practices.
• Drip irrigation installation.

Community

We address the social side of sustainability:

• Invite another business to enroll in our program.
• Post resource conservation signage.
• Research renewable energy options.
• Track water and energy usage.
• Commit to emission reduction.
• Educate employees on renewable energy options.
• Offset carbon emissions.
• Establish an environmental policy statement covering waste reduction, toxin elimination, and more.

For more information about the Santa Barbara County Green Business Program, contact program director Kori Nielsen at [email protected] or visit greenbusinessca.org/SantaBarbaraCounty.