New York SBDC Research Network

From Smart Steps Greening Guide : As a small business, there are many opportunities to partner or benefit from EPA sustainability programs, tools and research. Whether your business is in need of reducing its energy, water and resource use or needs to better understand what green products are available for purchase, EPA can provide your small business with assistance in reaching your sustainability goals. Consider joining into a voluntary partnership with EPA. ENERGY STAR’s Small Business Network , which lists more than 12,000 small businesses, throughout the country, who have committed to improving their energy efficiency with ENERGY STAR. These leaders recognize that saving energy is not only good for the environment, it’s good for their bottom line. The small businesses that have joined this network are varied in size and in industry. Everything from an auto collision repair shop in Dover, Tennessee to a home improvement firm in Oxford, Massachusetts are proud to carry the EN

Most entrepreneurs have a pretty good idea that they need to know about the bottom line. But which one? Usually, it's the economic bottom line, involving capital, i.e., money. But in recent years, business folks have focused on other bottom lines such as social (people capital) and environment (natural capital). People in this movement use terms such as performance, features, reliability, durability, serviceability, aesthetics, and perceived quality. In this economic climate, an appetite for cheaply-made items with planned obsolence may have come to an end. But brands that provide for a more sustainable future, concerned with health and safety, honesty, doing good as well as convenience, will come to the fore. To that end, the leaders of the Going Green workshop I attended in September recommended these websites: Branding for Sustainability LOHAS - Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability U.S. Green Building Council Pennsylvania Material Trader - a free online service established