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February 2010
I am always astounded by big trade shows — the number of people, size of the buildings, and all the crates and booths. What can convention centers do to be Green, and what can we do to be Greener exhibitors after we get to the show?
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Believe it or not, some convention centers have been making strides behind the scenes for years. A number of them have programs to divert waste and promote Green practices with show organizers. And, as your question suggests, some of the Greenest opportunities depend on what exhibitors do before and after a show.
Who’s In Charge Here?
We think of convention centers as places, but they are really communities. Every show has an organizer and general contractor, plus a myriad of labor contractors, technicians, exhibit houses, van lines, florists, concessioners, and entertainers who converge for few days to create a tradeshow experience. Every one of them has a different workforce and unique policies and challenges. Greening a tradeshow means getting them to buy in and coordinate their efforts. It takes communication, good intentions, and clear goals.
San Francisco’s Moscone Center involved its user community in building that kind of plan. Their success in diverting three quarters of their landfill waste offers some useful lessons.
The big challenge was easy to see: it’s the mountain of waste that every tradeshow generates. That mountain includes truckloads of foam core, pallets of abandoned literature, cardboard and wooden packing materials, food containers, plastic beverage bottles, and exhibits that some companies simply abandon on the show floor in order to avoid return shipping costs.
Abandoned exhibits can be a significant challenge, partly because much of an exhibit is difficult, if not impossible to recycle. Suffice to say, your exhibit is your responsibility and shouldn’t contribute to a convention center’s waste stream. If you are interested in disposing of an old exhibit after the show, some convention centers will help you find schools or nonprofit organizations that would appreciate the donation.
Like Moscone, some convention centers have active donation programs for used foam core and lumber also. Meanwhile, some concessioners use compostable food containers that can be separated from recyclables and trash when people discard them.
Garbage In, Garbage Out
These programs divert a tremendous amount of waste from landfills at the back end, but their capacity for waste diversion has limits. We need to think about tradeshow waste at the front end too.
Roughly three-quarters of the material in convention center debris bins is wood, most of it from discarded shipping containers. A lot of that wood made a one-way trip from the forest to the show floor. When you consider that plywood is extremely energy intensive to manufacture, much of that waste also carries a substantial carbon footprint along with last-minute show graphics.
Some show halls recycle wood but many do not. If your shipper or labor contractor can’t haul it to a recycling center, but you want to avoid the cost of packing out what you pack in, the trick may be finding ways to minimize last-minute shipments that require wooden boxes, pallets, and braces. Printing graphics locally or renting local properties might fit the bill.
Another significant portion of show floor waste comes from discarded literature —all those opened boxes of brochures that nobody wants to ship home. It’s worth remembering that very little of this literature ever leaves town. Most of it ends up in hotel wastebaskets, where recycling is an iffy proposition.
That’s a poor ROI equation by any measure: you pay for printing and ship boxes of brochures to the tradeshow, often on pallets, often bundled in plastic, and often at premium airfreight and drayage rates. During move-in, the plastic and pallets enter the waste stream. You distribute a large percentage of your brochures to attendees who dutifully contribute them to the waste stream for you. During move-out, you stack the remaining brochures in the aisles, where the show contractor adds the rest of them to the waste stream too. From cost and environmental perspectives, literature looks like a bad investment, which is why so many companies are switching to e-brochures instead.
Conductors and Players
We are all familiar with the energy conservation during move-in and move-out, when lighting is dimmed and some escalators and elevators are unavailable. These practices are ubiquitous because convention center managers can implement on their own.
The next steps depend on exhibitors and industry suppliers. Convention centers are communities, after all, not single entities, and their managers are like conductors who coax music out of an orchestra’s diverse instruments and personalities.
Every sound an orchestra makes comes from an individual player, and the same can be said of tradeshow waste. Ultimately, reducing tradeshow waste comes down to the things we ship in and out of their doors.
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January 2010
I’ve heard rumors that new environmental regulations will increase exhibiting costs and change the way we do trade shows. What’s the truth behind the rumors?
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Rumors about new government regulations are flying. With so much concern over jobs and the economy these days, some of the rumors seem downright worrisome. The facts are far less daunting, yet change is definitely in the air. Let’s look at the two major regulatory initiatives and see how smart companies can prepare for what lies ahead.
California and the EPA
Some of the rumors involve the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s recent finding that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare. The “endangerment finding” paves the way for EPA regulation of carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act. Actual rules have yet to emerge and climate or energy legislation could supersede them.
Other rumors involve California’s landmark carbon emissions law—called "AB32"—and its potential impact on California businesses. Since California often leads the way on environmental measures, some of the state’s new rules will probably spread across the country in the coming years.
Will These Regulations Apply to the Exhibit Industry?
Emerging regulations focus on so-called “big polluters,” especially in energy, transportation, and energy-intensive manufacturing. Regulation will certainly be the buzz at their industry tradeshows, and some companies might look at show participation through a public relations lens. Actual compliance, meanwhile, might raise the prices we all pay for energy, fuels, and some products. But it is not clear how significant those cost increases might be.
Most companies supporting the exhibit industry itself are small businesses, not large polluters, and they are not highly energy intensive. So they will not be regulated directly. The one exception, in California at least, is that truckers might be forced to replace older trucks with cleaner models much sooner than they otherwise would.
Will Exhibiting Costs Soar?
The Union of Concerned Scientists recently published a study forecasting the impact of AB32 on small businesses, including the kinds of companies that support hospitality, tradeshows, and corporate events. The bottom line is striking: even if a company does nothing to improve energy efficiency, AB32 will increase its annual operating costs by an average of just 0.3 percent over the next ten years. Individual results will vary, but the average cost increase is trivial and it can easily be overcome by making small energy efficiency improvements.
The potential impact on transportation costs, including flying and shipping exhibits in trucks, will ultimately depend on the price of fuel, which is already quite volatile. Here again, regulators want to encourage efficiency improvements to offset potentially higher prices.
New Metrics in the Marketplace
But regulators are promoting change by creating new forms of competition. In Washington, DC, for example, commercial building owners are now required to measure and report their energy use. When results are published, beginning in 2012, energy-conscious tenants may choose to lease space in the most energy efficient properties. The law gives owners two years to make efficiency improvements before the comparison-shopping begins.
New York City is taking a similar approach with a new law requiring building owners to install a separate meters for each tenant. As with pending climate legislation on Capital Hill, these new laws will encourage energy efficiency labeling on buildings and products to help consumers make Greener choices.
How Can the Exhibit Industry Prepare?
Getting ahead of the efficiency curve is a smart and cost-effective move. It’s easy to foresee energy efficiency questions showing up in RFPs, or shows gradually migrating to the Greenest convention centers. As Americans become energy savvy buyers, efficiency could help define a company’s brand image.
The all-important first step is measurement—benchmarking your energy footprint—and it is easy to get started today. Here are the three most popular ways to baseline your energy use:
1. Ask for a free energy audit. In some parts of the country, utility companies provide them at no charge. They often give efficiency incentives too.
2. Create an EPA Portfolio Manager profile. Washington’s new law uses the EPA’s online benchmarking tool. Take a tour and create a voluntary profile by clicking here.
3. Join The Climate Registry. The Registry is a non-profit organization that is setting standards for calculating greenhouse gas emissions across North America. At minimal cost, the Registry provides verified annual reports with useful feedback. (Click here for more info)
Regulation probably won’t transform the exhibit industry anytime soon, but the marketplace is changing rapidly. Already, half of American consumers are willing to reward or punish companies based on climate performance, and new energy efficiency labeling rules are beginning to emerge. Smart companies can take action now to get ready before energy-conscious customers knock on their doors.
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December 2009
I’ve been assigned to my company’s “Go Green” task force. It’s new, so we are just getting started. We’ve talked about organizing recycling programs in every department. Is that a good place to begin? What should we recycle in our trade show program?
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Most of us are familiar with recycling, so that it’s the obvious place to begin. In fact, the people you see pulling aluminum cans and paper out of the trash are often recruited for task forces like yours, even at some of the biggest companies. They might not have any technical training in sustainability; they are simply going with what they know. The good news is that recycling can take you a long way if you take advantage of all the opportunities it offers.
Unintended Side Effects
If you have ever listened to the lists of potential side effects in television ads for prescription medications you know that the benefits of medications always come with unintended risks. The same can be said for the products and materials we use every day in our exhibit programs.
Imagine what you might think if every exhibit proposal included similar warnings. “Using plywood may increase the risks of habitat destruction, stream pollution, and health problems for mill workers. Oil spills may accompany the use of plastics in some cases. Patients who use aluminum may be at higher risk due to rising energy prices, air and water pollution, and global warming, so ask your exhibit builder if aluminum is right for you.”
It might be hard to imagine seeing such disclaimers on exhibit proposals, but these environmental consequences are all too real. This is why the old slogan reads, “reduce, reuse, recycle” in that order.
The best way to eliminate environmental risks is by using fewer resources in the first place. In practical terms, this means eliminating printed brochures and cutting down on packing materials, especially all those last-minute one-way shipping containers that make expedited journeys from your exhibit house to the dump with a brief layover on the show floor.
The overwhelming majority of printed brochures make the very same trip. Research shows that attendees leave nearly all printed literature behind when they check out of their hotels. Many exhibitors abandon their extra brochures too, rather than paying to ship them home. The route from forest to landfill can be a short one, so consider whether your company is gaining marketing or sales benefits that are worth the costs to your exhibit budget and the environment.
Reusing materials for as long as possible is more sustainable, and it is often more cost-effective too. Most companies replace exhibit properties years before they are worn out. A good strategy is to build part of your new exhibit out of your older panels and cabinets. They can be excellent resources if they are reconfigured and refinished, and using them as raw materials reduces the risks of unintended environmental harm. Another option is to contribute older exhibits to a custom rental program. Don’t forget to consider upgrading your existing exhibit with custom rental properties instead of building a new exhibit.
Circular Logic
We tend to think that recycling is the last step in the resource chain—as a way to reduce the amount of trash that piles up in local landfills. But the recycling logo is a circle by design. The circle signifies that recycling is another way to reuse raw materials and reduce the environmental side effects that accompany forestry, mining, and refining.
For some materials, such as aluminum, the recycling advantages are striking. Creating new aluminum from scratch takes an enormous amount of energy, which has consequences for pollution and global warming. Recycling aluminum requires just five percent of that energy. Like steel, aluminum can be recycled many times without degrading its quality. In fact, most of the aluminum that has ever been created is still in use today.
Worn out carpets offer similar advantages. Depending on your location, some carpet mills will haul your old carpet away and use it as raw feedstock for future production. You can contribute to this circle in two ways: by recycling your old carpets and buying new carpet that is high in recycled content. Virtually every carpet mill offers recycled content carpet, so ask your exhibit house to use them.
Plastics are worth recycling too even though their quality degrades along the way. Plastics are made of very long molecules, and those molecules break into smaller and smaller pieces each time they go through the recycling process. This is why old soda bottles become park benches and carpet when they are recycled rather than new soda bottles.
It is even more difficult to close the circle with cabinets and wall panels that are made of lumber. Recycling construction scraps is not a problem, but once a cabinet or panel is painted or covered with plastic laminate, separating the various materials and adhesives from the wood can be prohibitively difficult. Your best strategy is to reuse wooden properties for as long as you can. If possible, donate them to a local charity at the end of their useful life.
Shipping crates, cardboard boxes, and paper packing materials, on the other hand, can be recycled alongside construction scraps. While the best strategy is to use as little as possible in the first place, most of these products can be recycled when the time comes.
Balancing Tradeoffs
In a perfect world, we would enjoy the benefits of natural resources without any harmful side effects. In the real world, we face tradeoffs every day. You can enhance the benefits and minimize the risks by making your recycling program as thorough as possible. That old mantra, “reduce, reuse, recycle” has been around for a long time because it really works.
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November 2009
We want to tell people about our Green exhibiting programs on the show floor, but it seems impossible to keep up with all the changing information. What is the best way to say that we are going Green?
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Welcome to the Wild West! The Green marketplace is still very new and, like all new markets, it is changing rapidly. Some of the movers and shakers behind the dot-com revolution are diving into Green-tech now to catch the next big wave. In fact, the venture capitalist that backed Amazon and Google says that going Green “is bigger than the Internet; it could be the biggest opportunity of the 21st century.”
With that much money and enthusiasm pouring into Green there is bound to be some turbulence. The opportunities are huge, and so are the risks. Catching the Green wave can certainly promote your brand image, but getting it wrong can expose your company to a greenwashing backlash.
Suspicious Minds
Many corporations are finding that going Green promises marketing and sales advantages, plus a real public relations challenge. The public sees it both ways too. Richard Edelman, CEO of an international public relations firm recently did a study that shows public trust in corporations is at an all-time low. Other PR firms echo these findings. They say that companies can no longer just contribute to environmental charities while conducting business as usual. The public is demanding more.
Combine distrust with widespread confusion about what it means to be Green and you have a prescription for high risk. The biggest danger is overselling your program by making claims that seem too good to be true. Just ask yourself whether you would buy the claims your company wants to make if you saw them in someone else’s booth. You are likely to be a little biased, of course, so if you have any doubts about your claims, customers and the news media are likely to be even more suspicious.
The Other Side of the Coin
But the Green marketplace also presents great opportunities to build customer loyalty for your brand. Suspicion is a sign that people care about going Green. In fact, a recent survey found that half of Americans are willing to reward companies for going Green. Opportunity is always the flip side of risk.
How can you make the most of these opportunities? First, look at your Green programs through the “corporate social responsibility” lens. What is your company doing overall to be a Greener citizen and help protect the environment? Nobody expects a company’s environmental footprint to disappear, but they do expect a genuine effort. If you can show real progress without overselling it you can build lasting trust in the brand.
Greener on the Show Floor
Back to the show floor and your original question: how can you talk about your Green exhibits program on the show floor? Here are some solid guidelines:
1. Link Green exhibiting to broader corporate initiatives. What else is your company doing to go Green? Present your Green exhibit program as part of the bigger plan. People are looking for corporate-wide commitments to Green.
2. Be a partner on the path. Is your exhibit program completely Green? Of course not — no program is. People are looking for realistic steps along the path. Showing progress is valid, but saying you have arrived could be risky. Tell people how far you’ve come and how far you intend to go.
3. Chart your course. What are your company’s top Green priorities? Are you focused on reducing landfill waste, cutting carbon emissions, improving energy efficiency, preserving ecosystems, improving air quality, or promoting sustainable communities? You might have a singular goal or a broader agenda. Ideally, you can position your Green exhibit program as a means of achieving your broader objectives. Presenting a solid and consistent plan will help you stay on course while the marketplace evolves and trends come and go.
4. Keep it simple. As with everything else on the show floor, you’ll only have people’s attention for a heartbeat. You can capture people’s interest with a short statement about your commitment. Consider a simple statement that captures your key objective and contribution. Perhaps you’ve eliminated printed brochures, used your properties longer than usual, built with sustainable and recycled materials, rented locally, cut back on travel, conserved energy—whatever you’ve accomplished. You can always have further details on hand for those who want to learn more.
Even though the Green marketplace is ever changing and public trust in companies is low, this is still an excellent time to talk about your Green programs. People are looking for corporate commitments to Green and real progress in fulfilling your goals. Chasing fads is unnecessary and, in fact, could lead you to overstate your progress. As is so often the case in marketing and public relations, authenticity is your most valuable asset.
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October 2009
Since my company doesn’t sell Green products, can we really go Green? We recently bought a Greener exhibit. Does that make us a Green business?
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Congratulations on your new exhibit purchase. It’s a great step in the right direction. Like yours, most companies have opportunities make their products and services a bit Greener, but relatively few companies are in the business of inventing Green products per se. So your question applies to nearly every exhibitor and industry supplier.
An official at the Environmental Protection Agency recently told me that he eagerly supports Greener products, but he is even more eager to see companies become Greener businesses. This means minimizing your company’s environmental footprint by addressing your facilities, vehicles, and operations. And there is good news on this front: that old slogan, “It’s not easy being Green,” isn’t really true. Becoming a Greener company can be astonishingly easy.
The Easiest Road to Green
Here’s a true story that proves the point. In 2006, I decided to conduct an experiment. Since my company is located in California, I wanted to know whether a small business could achieve California’s lofty greenhouse gas emissions goals entirely on its own. It would mean slashing emissions 15 percent by 2020 and a whopping 95 percent by 2050. Not wanting to wait forty years for the answer, I set even more ambitious goals than California’s: a 10-percent cut by 2010, 75 percent by 2020, and 95 percent by 2050. To challenge us even further, I set similarly outlandish goals for water conservation, landfill waste reduction, and creating greener exhibit programs for our clients and production partners.
This experiment is based on a simple, but nagging question: Can a small business really afford to go Green on its own? We didn’t know.
Low-Hanging Fruit
The first step was measuring baselines. We joined the non-profit California Climate Action Registry (now The Climate Registry at www.theclimateregistry.org). We report energy used at our facility and fuel used in company cars each year and they verify our results. This gives us an easy way to track progress. Measuring landfill waste is easy too: we simply count the waste and recycling bins that get picked up each week.
Since we assumed cutting emissions would be difficult, we started with the lowest-hanging fruit. First, we traded the company SUV for a very fuel-efficient car. This decision immediately reduced fuel costs by nearly two thirds. But we also made one other change: Instead of visiting production partners in the middle of the day, we combined shop visits with commutes to and from work. Because of this change, a wider range of our staff now performs turnovers and quality-control inspections, which has forced some adjustments in our coordination habits. But the results have been astonishing: About 75 percent less business driving — and expense — with no changes in quality or service.
Next, we plugged our computers into power supplies to eliminate “vampire power” at night, and we called the electric company for help. The utility company sent us enough CFLs to re-lamp the building. The free light bulbs were a pleasant surprise, but the utility company could not help us with bigger-ticket items.
We learned that window films and a lighter colored roof would keep us cooler on hot afternoons, while an operable skylight would help vent the excess heat. Our building would need less energy as a result, so if the time ever came for larger expenditures on air conditioning or solar panels, we would need smaller, less expensive units.
But we never got that far. While we were weighing our options, events intervened and we had to replace our copier. We took the opportunity to select an efficient, multi-function machine and unplug three other printers that were located at our desks, plus a scanner and a stand-alone fax machine. The new copier’s central location in the office means we now have to get up from our desks and take a short walk to collect printouts. This subtle change actually encourages us to print less often. The result: less paper waste and fewer machines to maintain with no impact on operating costs. Then, our air conditioner broke down and replacement became necessary. Even though we hadn’t invested in the skylight, window films, or roof, we chose an energy efficient unit and upgraded the efficiency of our ducts too. Total cost was about seven thousand dollars.
The Big Surprise
With these simple changes, we reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 65 percent in just two years. Remember that California’s overall goal is 80 percent over forty years. We are most of the way there already. At the same time, we also cut both landfill waste and recycling volumes in half.
None of these changes involved making sacrifices or paying high costs. We continue working normally in a very pleasant office. And finding ourselves so far ahead of schedule has inspired everyone. Window films, a skylight, solar power, and a drought-tolerant landscape remain in our plans, and I suspect we will find additional happy surprises along the way. Meanwhile, our clients and production partners are stepping up by printing less, reusing more properties, and choosing more recycled and sustainable materials. When an experiment works, it creates infectious energy.
We are just one company, of course, and every business will face a different set of opportunities and limitations. But if a small business can make such dramatic changes so easily and inexpensively, most others can probably do the same. In other words, while we work on ways to Green our exhibit and events programs, we can answer the call to become Greener businesses too.
And the truth is, becoming a Greener business is pretty easy.
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September 2009
Going Green sounds good, but I’m having trouble getting people to buy in and participate. How can I overcome the resistance and get everyone involved?
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You’re not alone. If we’re honest with ourselves, most of us will admit that our efforts to go Green often fall a little short of our goals. We might feel inhibited from time to time or bump up against barriers, such as inconvenience or high costs. And in this difficult economy, those barriers make it easy to put Green on the back burner.
Truth is, we don’t always know why we act a little less Green than we’d like to. Researchers who study this question say the answers depend a great deal on our perceptions of the task and other people’s perceptions of us, and these insights can help you create a more successful program.
Why Do We Do It?
When people make choices that seem contrary to their own views the reasons are largely unconscious: We tend to act according to social expectations. For most of us, luxury cars, big homes, and lots of travel are signs of success. Unfortunately, recycling and energy efficiency are not. So your Green exhibit program is almost certainly pushing against these unspoken norms, even for people who say they support your program. To make your job seem even harder, if people think that recycling, using less energy, or adopting your other Green standards is too difficult you probably won’t make much progress.
There Is No “I” in “Team”
The good news is that this behavior actually paves the way to success. Individuals have a very hard time bucking social norms, but when they sign up with others they tend to honor their new commitments. So, your best option is to create a new kind of peer pressure or groupthink within your company.
A strong mandate from the boss certainly helps, but you can get the job done with just a tacit blessing as long as the boss isn’t undermining your efforts. For example, if your company rewards speed and efficiency, you might have to overcome perceptions that going Green is more time-consuming. If possible, get senior management to endorse your program so that your Green goals become part of the company’s expectations.
Getting Buy-In and Making Change Happen
Building a buy-in strategy can take time and effort, but most successful programs are based on just a few key steps.
1. Make your goal clear. People have trouble achieving vague visions, so it helps to set a clear objective. You might try a quantitative approach, such as cutting landfill waste by thirty percent. Or, you might take a more qualitative tack, such as eliminating every possible ounce of landfill waste. Either approach can work if you follow the next steps.
2. Ask why it is hard. Conducting a survey can tell you a lot about people’s attitudes toward the goal and the barriers they encounter. Some barriers make compliance virtually impossible, such as a lack of recycling bins. You’ll need to remove those barriers first. Other barriers might have more to do with perceptions, so you’ll need to address those next.
3. Use a personal touch. E-mails and memos are easy to ignore, but people are not. So you should ask people to commit to the program in person. The old adage about catching more flies with honey applies here: Coercion usually fails to get results.
4. Seek public commitments. Your goal is to create new social expectations among your co-workers, and the best way to do this is to ask for commitments from groups of people. Try to involve everyone, so nobody can remain passive. This will help people see themselves as environmentally conscious and on the team. Whenever possible get them to sign up in writing — and do it in public — because written commitments are stronger than verbal ones. Getting commitments is a very big step, but many people will have difficulty staying on track, especially at first. The next step is to help people stick with the program until it becomes a habit.
5. Use prompts. Reminders help, especially when they are easy to see and understand. Pictograms and simple words work best. Put them where you want people to make a change, such as above wastebaskets or recycling bins, in the copy room, or wherever you want people to change their behavior. Encouraging messages empower people while negative messages tend to turn them off.
6. Remind people of new norms. Many factories have big banners reminding workers about the importance of safety and doing high-quality work. Reminding people about the company’s sustainability goals is equally important.
7. Talk about progress. Acknowledging progress and talking about challenges and barriers is an ongoing part of building new norms. Over several weeks or months, your Green program will begin taking on a life of its own.
We tend to think about our Green goals, but the art and science of changing behavior is an equally important piece of the puzzle. This outline can get you started on the right path.
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August 2009
My boss wants me to buy carbon offsets for shows, but there seems to be a lot of controversy. Will they make our program Greener or just expose us to Greenwashing?
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A lot of companies are buying so-called Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. The market is growing rapidly and, as often happens in hot markets, there are controversies about quality, price, and whether offsets are even a good idea in the first place.
Why Buy RECs?
At the most basic level, greenhouse gasses are emitted whenever we use energy from fossil fuels or buy products that lead to the destruction of wild lands. For example, one ton of greenhouse gasses results from about 2,000 miles of air travel, 1,900 miles in an average car, 1,350 miles in a large SUV, or 60 days in an average U.S. home.
Since greenhouse gasses are being added to the atmosphere much faster than nature removes them, their stocks are building up year by year. Most climate experts think it will take decades to reduce emissions enough to stop those stocks from growing. In fact, emissions have grown much faster since the year 2000 than ever before — faster than even the worst-case scenarios predicted.
Renewable Energy Credits are a voluntary way to help turn this trend around. The idea is pretty simple: For every ton of greenhouse gasses a company emits, they fund a ton worth of new Green energy or reforestation projects. The company continues emitting greenhouse gasses, but its REC contributions reduce emissions elsewhere by the same amount, making the net result carbon neutral.
Many RECs fund Green energy projects, such as wind farms that will reduce future emissions. Others invest in replanting forests to remove greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere. Since global warming is a global problem, the offset projects can be located anywhere in the world, from your own back yard to tropical rainforests in Brazil or Indonesia.
What’s the Controversy About?
The big questions boil down to whether RECs really work. The answer is a qualified yes, but the caveats are also important.
Since the goal is to reduce future emissions by the amount that you are emitting today, your RECs must actually fund projects that would not happen otherwise. If a new wind farm were being built anyway, for example, your company’s contributions wouldn’t actually increase the amount of renewable energy being created. You’d be paying, but you wouldn’t technically be offsetting anything.
It follows that a high percentage of your contributions should fund the project, not just overhead or profit. Non-profit REC providers have an obvious advantage in this regard, but there are no pricing standards in the REC marketplace. Prices range from about $8 to $15 per ton of emissions. The one factor that seems to influence prices consistently is that providers who buy offsets through the UN’s Clean Development Mechanism, which verifies projects in the developing world, tend to charge more due to their higher transaction costs.
It’s worth noting that reforestation projects are much more effective in the tropics than in the north, and many economists agree that promoting economic development in developing countries will help them cope with the warming climate. But other offset providers are working in the developed world, and some are developing energy resources in Native American communities. At the end of the day, the projects your company chooses and the prices you pay are up to you.
RECs have also been criticized as nothing more than smoke and mirrors — a way to make us feel better without reducing emissions at all. Whether that’s true depends entirely on your company’s circumstances. But the criticism raises a crucial question about how offsets fit into your overall Green exhibiting program. Here is a simple four-step approach to offsets that will help to proactively shield your company from accusations of Greenwashing.
1. Measure your carbon footprint. You can use the free online calculators offered by REC providers or have your emissions verified by The Climate Registry for a small fee (see theclimateregistry.org). You can’t measure an exhibit program this way, but you can measure emissions from your facilities and travel, which is at least a start.
2. Reduce your footprint. The idea is to reduce emissions as much as possible and then offset the emissions you can’t eliminate. Carbon offsets aren’t intended to be get-out-of-jail-free cards, and shouldn’t be treated as such. Do what you legitimately can to reduce your company’s emissions before considering RECs.
3. Assess your remaining emissions. These are the emissions that you would offset. If they truly are unavoidable emissions, attempt to quantify them using the carbon-footprint calculators mentioned above. If you reduce emissions a little more each year, you will have less to offset as time goes by.
4. Buy RECs. Find an offset provider that offers a good value and projects that align with your corporate goals. Clean Air-Cool Planet provides an excellent consumer guide to offset providers that includes profiles and rankings (see cleanair-coolplanet.org).
Remember that RECs are a voluntary approach to slowing global warming. If your company chooses to participate, make sure you are doing everything you can to reduce emissions too. Doing both is the best hedge against Greenwashing and the most effective way to help the planet.
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July 2009
My company is very cautious about doing anything Green because we don’t want to be accused of “greenwashing.” What is greenwashing and how can we avoid it?
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We live in a world of compromises and tradeoffs, and going Green is no exception. Life would be much easier if we could take a few simple steps and call our exhibits “Green.” Unfortunately, “Greener” is easier to define than “Green,” and companies that overstate their claims in an overzealous rush to become leaders risk a backlash from wary consumers.
With so many different approaches to Green in the marketplace, there is also plenty of room for honest mistakes even if you cautiously avoid misleading advertising. But you don’t need to let these concerns keep you from moving forward. The answer, in fact, is as simple as being honest.
When Greener isn’t Green
A classic example of mixed messages occurred at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2007, when the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid won the Green Car Journal’s Green Car of the Year award. A full-size SUV winning the top Green accolade might seem like a contradiction in terms. After all, the hybrid Tahoe achieves an EPA-estimated 20 mpg, which is close to the national average for all makes and models on the road. Average fuel economy doesn’t seem especially Green. On the other hand, the hybrid Tahoe gets 25 percent better fuel economy than its conventional siblings. In other words, the Tahoe is significantly Greener than many other large SUVs, but calling it the “Green Car of the Year” when so many other vehicles on the road average 35 to 50 mpg seems a little odd. Too bad there wasn’t an award for most improved.
Were Chevrolet, the LA Auto Show, or the Green Car Journal guilty of greenwashing? From an environmental perspective, greenhouse gases and toxic pollutants are measured by a vehicle’s output per mile, and the atmosphere doesn’t care whether a vehicle has the lowest emissions in its class. Total emissions are all that matter. From a practical perspective, though, it might be unrealistic to think that SUVs will disappear anytime soon. A case can be made that improving SUV fuel economy is a step in the right direction. From a marketing perspective, where consumer perceptions are king, the “Green Car of the Year” claim comes across as counterintuitive and, possibly, disingenuous.
Greenwashing Defined
In the simplest terms, “greenwashing” means making false claims about environmental performance. It often boils down to marketing spin: putting a Green stamp on business as usual. Some products and processes are inherently Greener than others, of course, so some companies have an historical Green advantage. For example, aluminum exhibit components can be recycled into other aluminum products after their years on the show floor are over. But are they being recycled? Could some of those components be made from recycled aluminum in the first place? The answers vary, so perhaps “Greener” or “potentially Greener” would be a better moniker than “Green.”
Sometimes greenwashing means taking Greener actions out of context. For example, a company might build a new exhibit using certified sustainable lumber, low-VOC paint, recycled carpet, and energy-saving LED lights. But, if the company makes a habit of replacing exhibits every year or two, the use of Greener materials would be seriously undermined by the sheer volume being consumed.
Other times, greenwashing simply means jumping to conclusions that have not been proven. For example, Green catering often relies on serving foods from local sources. But, if those local foods are heavy on beef and dairy products, or they are not organically grown, the advantages of local sourcing are overwhelmed by the disadvantages of industrial agriculture. The Green claim is spurious, but since many caterers are unaware of the underlying science, the greenwashing might be accidental.
To make things even more challenging, there are many different definitions of “Green” in the marketplace today. For some, Green begins and ends with recycling, toxic chemicals, or carbon emissions; for others a sustainable business also supports community development and its local economy. Anticipating every possible angle is probably impossible, but there is an easier answer.
Just Talk Your Walk
Clif Bar, which is an established champion of environmental stewardship, publishes a statement of its environmental goals and annual performance. The company has yet to meet every goal, of course, and that’s the point. Rather than risk greenwashing, the company is forthright about its initiatives, successes, and obstacles. So, for example, while the company reduced packaging waste, it could not avoid using certain materials that are required by federal regulations. Likewise, when carbon emissions rise due to growth, the company publishes the data, just as it does in years when emissions fall because of green initiatives.
The lesson here is a simple one: Keep moving forward on your Green priorities, but keep your Green marketing in line with actual performance. Just tell people where you are going, how you plan to get there, and where you are on the journey. If everything works out, your company will be recognized as a Green leader. And when you encounter setbacks along the way, your company’s reputation will be protected from the hazards of rushing too quickly into making false claims.
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June 2009
I am getting so much Green advice — how can I tell the good stuff from the fluff? What’s fact and what’s fiction?
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A lot of the information swirling around our industry and the Web has a life of its own. Some of it is solid, but some is just urban legend. For example, it’s been reported that the EPA considers trade shows the second most wasteful industry in America. It’s not hard to imagine all the trash on the show floor ending up in landfills, but the now-legendary EPA stat is actually false. The EPA never issued any such a finding (for more on this, visit here). Below, I’ve put four other common Green myths to the test to help identify which are factual and which are fictional.
Myth 1: Green Costs More
Some Greener materials do cost more than other options. But when you look at total trade show costs over the five-year lifespan of the average custom exhibit, the materials used in construction only account for about 7 percent of the total. Suppose you spend 20 percent more on Green materials for your next booth: That’s 20 percent of 7 percent, or just 1.4 percent of your total program costs over five years. You’d be hard pressed to notice that increase.
Furthermore, most exhibitors replace their exhibits long before they have worn out. Using the exhibit you already own just a year or two longer — even giving it a major facelift — is inherently Green and will save that 1.4 percent many times over. Of course, you can use lots of other cost-cutting Green strategies too, such as eliminating crates. And if you buy Green products like energy-efficient LED lights you’ll reduce show service bills show after show after show.
Does going Green cost more? It doesn’t have to.
Myth 2: Lighter is Better
A lightweight exhibit means lower drayage costs, which is great. But does it really improve fuel economy and reduce air pollution when you ship it to the show?
The EPA says that trimming 3,000 pounds from a fully loaded truck can save 200 to 500 gallons of fuel and 2 to 5 metric tons of greenhouse gases per year. Since a truckload of lightweight exhibits might be 3,000 to 5,000 pounds lighter than its heavyweight cousins, buying a lightweight booth seems like a big step.
But, in actuality, it is a small step. The EPA calculations are based on a truck’s total mileage for the year, so your lightweight exhibit shipment represents a tiny fraction of those savings. And the Rocky Mountain Institute notes that wind resistance is an even bigger factor in fuel economy at highway speeds than weight.
So what should you do? First, follow the EPA’s advice and pick a van line that uses lighter, more fuel-efficient trucks and the latest fuel-saving technologies, such as wind-cheating fairings and auxiliary power units that reduce idling. Next, skid your exhibits instead of crating them so you can squeeze more of your shipment onto each trailer and help pull a few rigs off the road. Third, if it fits your budget, by all means invest in a lightweight exhibit.
Are lightweight exhibits better? They help a little, but other options help a lot more.
Myth 3: Biofuels are Better
Many believe fuels made from crops will reduce our dependence on oil and cut greenhouse gas pollution. It sounds too good to be true and, sadly, it is. When scientists add up the pesticides and herbicides used on farms — after all, pesticides and herbicides are made from oil and natural gas — plus all the forests being destroyed to grow fuel crops, ethanol actually yields more greenhouse gases than gasoline. The numbers for biodiesel look bad too. As California’s new clean-fuel standards indicate, biofuels still have a long way to go.
Are biofuels better? Not yet.
Myth 4: Locavore Dining is Greener
Is serving local foods the best way to cut emissions at catered events? If you’ve been reading this column you already know the answer: Food transportation accounts for just 11 percent of greenhouse gas emissions from food.
Emissions from the world’s one-billion-plus cows — from the crops we feed them to the water they drink to the methane they produce — are a much bigger factor in global warming. Shifting just one day’s calories per week from beef and dairy to other foods does more to reduce carbon emissions than buying every last bite from local sources.
So what’s the answer? Drop the beef and cheese. Next, serve organic foods to eliminate the petrochemicals used in regular farming. Third, serve local foods.
Is locavore the best option? No. Serving locally produced foods helps, but other choices are preferable.
Busting Green myths usually comes down to seeing the bigger picture. Going back to where we started, are trade shows inherently wasteful? The EPA stat is fiction, but exhibitors do generate a lot of trash. Convention-center managers say most of the waste comes from discarded packing materials, leftover literature, and booths that some exhibitors actually abandon on the show floor.
But when we look at the bigger picture, it’s clear that trade shows offer great value because they beat other marketing and sales options dollar-for-dollar. Making the most of sales and marketing opportunities at trade shows can, in fact, reduce the need for other, more expensive sales activities. So, going Green means balancing two objectives: if you are doing everything possible to reduce waste while getting the best sales and marketing results you can, the tradeoffs are definitely in your favor.
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May 2009
My boss says we should put Green on the back burner until the economy picks up. Since we’re up to our eyeballs in budget cuts, my company’s momentum to go Green has all but vanished. Is Green taking a back seat to budget cuts in other companies? Should we put our Green plans on hold?
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Great question! Surprisingly, giving up on Green right now could be a very risky move. The latest consumer research shows a strong and growing preference for Green action, even in these challenging economic times.
Like a lot of people, your boss might think that going Green means going shopping, and that’s a losing proposition. Instead of shelving Green, this might be a good time to adjust your Green strategy. You’ll be better off focusing on Green actions that reduce waste and save money.
Word on the Street
This past March, researchers at Yale and George Mason Universities published a national survey on consumer activism and attitudes about energy, climate change, and other top national priorities. They conducted their survey in September and October 2008 — after the summertime spike in oil prices and the stock market crash last September.
Some of their results were not surprising: Concerns about the economy trumped every other issue. As in other surveys, issues like global warming ranked below other priorities. Even so, a majority of Americans (72 percent) said global warming was important to them personally, and that’s new.
Here’s where things get interesting: In spite of the economic crisis, a large majority Americans said that everyone — including companies and individuals — should do more to reduce global warming. What does this mean for your Green exhibits program?
If They Only Knew You
When it comes to deciding which companies to buy from, half of the consumers surveyed said they were willing to reward or punish companies based on their climate-change activities within the next year. According to the researchers, this could signal a dramatic increase in consumer pressure to go Green.
So, are you hearing about Green from your customers yet? A third of consumers said they had already rewarded companies for taking action on climate change by buying their products, while a quarter said they had punished other companies for not taking eco-friendly action. But most consumers said they were held back simply because they did not know which companies to punish.
Does this mean going Green is a sure way to win new customers? Unfortunately, “marketing sure thing” sounds like an oxymoron. But this survey suggests that positioning your brand as committed to Green — even in today’s economy — is a smart way to differentiate yourself from companies that put Green on the back burner.
Cash Is Green Too
If you are like most exhibitors, you are probably thinking about deferring large investments. Now is the time to focus on Green actions that save money.
• Account for Change. Many companies capitalize new booths and depreciate the cost over five years. It’s time for a new booth when the tax deductions reach zero. But few booths are truly worn out after five years. Consider refreshing the booth you already own with a new floor plan, new finishes, and new graphics, and take an expense deduction off your tax bill instead of depreciation. It’s a Green win-win.
• Cut Hidden Costs. Eliminating brochures often means cutting last-minute airfreight and premium drayage costs too, and those costs can really add up. The Center for Exhibit Industry Research reports that 65 percent of the literature given away at tradeshows goes straight into the trash. That’s a huge waste of paper, fuel, and funds. You can cut costs, pollution, and landfill waste with e-brochures, especially when you use them as a way to follow up with prospects after the show.
• Share the Wealth. Rentals aren’t what they used to be. Many exhibit houses are showcasing sophisticated custom rental properties. Rentals can be a great way to squeeze more life out of these resources instead of buying new ones, and it can be more cost-efficient than building new as well.
• Hold the Beef. Choking on the high price of organic cuisine? You can take a bigger bite out of carbon emissions and your catering budget by replacing beef and dairy choices with chicken or fish. The carbon emissions associated with growing, watering, and feeding cows outweigh every other factor when it comes to food, including local sourcing.
• Make ‘em Count. The quality of leads goes up during economic recessions. People are watching their bottom lines and making trade show attendance count. This means you need to put the right people in your booth and make sure they maximize their time at the show. The silver lining is that a leaner booth staff is a Greener staff too.
Look at your trade show program through the efficiency lens right now. Travel less, print less, e-meet more, and focus on Green options that improve the bottom line. The good news is that consumers will reward you for making Green a top priority.
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April 2009
We ship a lot of literature to trade shows, and we send a lot of it right back after the show. Can you suggest some ways to cut back on all this paper waste?
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Sometimes literature seems more important to product managers than to anyone else. Judging by the huge volume of brochures, offer cards, and cut sheets that end up in hotel wastebaskets and convention-center dumpsters, it’s a wonder companies are willing to invest in literature at all.
Unfortunately, reducing waste and paper consumption isn’t quite as simple as forgoing paper literature altogether. If you want to reduce waste, the challenge is finding alternative ways to achieve sales objectives on the show floor. So the answer to your question involves a solid Green strategy and a bit of savvy marketing.
The Shrinking Power of Paper
What purpose does printed literature play in a sales transaction? The answer is surprisingly complex. In the days before Internet searches, reading printed literature was really the only way to learn about companies and their products. Literature has always been an outlet for expressing brand values and consolidating details. This is knowledge that sinks in slowly. It can’t be transmitted from seller to buyer in a single conversation on a noisy show floor. So literature provides a take-away: a reminder, a way to fall in love with a brand, and a way to review product details.
Whether you prefer surfing company Web sites or turning catalogue pages, the truth is you can do virtually all of the research you’ll ever need on the Web. Most people do. Given the large number of exhibitors that a customer might visit at a trade show, the odds of having your brochure carried home and read after the show seem poor. It depends on how vital the piece of paper is to the customer.
The Price of Paper
Companies pay a significant price to gamble that their literature will ever be read. The most visible cost is the price of design and printing. Fortunately, recycled paper and soy-based inks lighten the environmental load at this stage of the game.
But getting literature printed and delivered in time to ship with the booth can be challenging. When it’s late, literature invariably travels by air, where carbon emissions are two to three times harder on the environment than they would have been on the ground. The company pays a premium, and the environment takes a bigger hit.
Each and every shipment into the show hall gets dinged with its own minimum drayage charge, too. For companies with many divisions in different cities, the number of deliveries and the extra drayage costs can be staggering.
Faster, Better, Cheaper
Can you get better results at a lower environmental cost? Consider the simplest solution of all: Have a sales rep follow up with the attendee sometime after the show. Delivering literature provides a reason for a sales call in a less crowded environment.
But electronic media offers some very flexible options as well. For example, you might install e-brochure/print-on-demand stations at your reception counter or demo stations. Reps can send e-brochures to customers from these stations. Customers get what they need without the burden of paper, and reps know how to reach them later on.
Another option is to download your company’s e-brochure onto flash memory sticks. Print your logos on the drives, and you’ll be giving customers a premium that they will probably reuse. This option is more costly than email, but it combines the benefits of a valuable gift with the elimination of printing.
The New Reality
Effective sales, cost control, and environmental stewardship converge nicely on the question of distributing literature at the show. As wonderful as printed literature can be from a creative perspective, its value to the customer may be low in a high-intensity trade show environment. This is not always the case, of course, and your mileage may vary. At the very least, however, you should ask what role literature plays in the sales cycle and how many show attendees will benefit from its cost and environmental impact. The good news is that computer technology allows you to customize content and distribution options to suit each customer’s needs. For many exhibitors, this could mean the end of bulk printing, airfreight, and waste.
This customer-driven and environment-driven approach may require some adjustment on the part of your booth staff and managers. But it’s not a difficult adjustment for most people to make once they get accustomed to an e-brochure system.
And, it beats leaving boxes of unused brochures behind on the show floor or languishing in your exhibit builder’s warehouse.
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March 2009
I just received a mandate to Green my tradeshow program. Where should I start? Would you suggest forming a Green Team?
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Absolutely! If you’re like most exhibit managers, you’re probably long on responsibilities and short on help. Chances are, none of your other responsibilities are going away either, so your new Green assignment is an overload. That’s a prescription for frustration. Forming a Green Team is a great way to share the load. But forming a Green Team is more than just a good idea; it’s also a necessary step.
Don’t Tread on Me
A client of ours recently tried to switch the coffee served in her office to a fair-trade, shade-grown, organic blend. She also wanted to replace the paper cups with ceramic mugs. Considering the resistance she ran into from her coworkers, you would have thought she was cutting the company’s health benefits or pilfering the pension plan!
She was right to ask, “Coffee seems like such a small thing. But if changing it was so hard, how am I going to make other Green changes?” Behavioral psychologists have studied situations just like this and their discoveries might surprise you.
Actions Speak Louder than Words
Our client’s problem was that her co-workers didn’t behave the way she expected them to. She assumed, as we all do, that once people understood the issue, they would make a rational choice and take action accordingly. It turns out they expressed human nature instead.
As Oxford scholar Laurie Michaelis observes, “Much of our behavior is habitual … Consumers often feel they have no choice: they are ‘locked in’ to their consumption patterns.’” Those patterns, it turns out, are governed more by social expectations than our views on sustainability.
In fact, we often make choices that contradict our Green priorities. A national survey by Ed Maibach at George Mason University shows why a Green lone wolf will be a lonely voice in the wilderness. He discovered that people’s sense of urgency about global warming aligns with their political views: most Democrats express more urgency, while most Republicans express less. But here’s the surprise: when he compared their actual behavior on fourteen sustainability issues, you couldn’t tell the Republicans and Democrats apart. In other words, believing in Green doesn’t make people go Green. Our actual behavior doesn’t necessarily match our ideas.
There Is No “I” in “Team”
But Maibach also found a way to overcome this problem: people make Greener choices when they share ideas and agree on common goals. As Michaelis puts it, “…messages directed at individuals have little effect. The most effective strategies are those that engage people in groups, and give them opportunities to develop their understanding and their narratives about consumption in dialogue together.” In other words, it takes a team — a Green Team — not a Green Czar.
We identify strongly with the companies we work for. We all do it, and it’s why companies work so hard to develop strong brands. When groups of people share the same expectations and values, those values become norms that drive behavior. It’s human nature, and it works whether you’re selling Green programs, colas, or running shoes. The key to implementing a Green exhibit program is to help your coworkers develop shared values and expectations.
No Pain, No Gain
Believe it or not, going Green doesn’t even have to be easy. You just have to share the load. Princeton psychologists Dale Miller and Rebecca Ratner demonstrated that when people are confronted with shared problems, they almost always vote against their own selfish interests. It turns out that sacrificing for the common good is something humans are wired to do. Knowing this can help you overcome people’s entrenched habits or get them to make uncomfortable changes.
The message is clear: Don’t be afraid of inconvenience and sacrifice. Instead, turn your Green assignment into your coworkers’ program and your exhibit team’s mission.
A More Convenient Booth
Exhibitor’s survey, An Inconvenient Booth, proves these points: Many exhibitors and their suppliers are looking for common ground. Exhibitors want suppliers to offer more Green options. Suppliers want exhibitors to commit to Greener choices. In other words, everybody is ready to dive in, but nobody wants to take the plunge alone.
So think about forming a Green Team. Start with your company, but remember to bring your exhibit suppliers into the process too. Together, you will discover new opportunities and establish shared expectations that lead to rapid progress.
You’ll be amazed how quickly your new Green team will become invested in fulfilling your Green assignment.
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February 2009
When I order new brochures I can get them printed with recycled paper and soy ink. Can my exhibit graphics be just as Green?
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If you had asked this question just six months ago, the answer would have been very different; that’s how fast the world of graphic materials is changing. And with companies like 3M and Avery stepping in to the market with eco-friendly adhesives and papers, exhibit graphics are getting a lot Greener.
But, as is so often the case, the choices are not perfect and there are still tradeoffs to consider. Jeff Baker of Image4 has tested most of these products, so with his help we’ll survey some of today’s Greenest options.
Cut from Whole Cloth
When people talk about Green graphics, they usually mean banners. There’s good reason for this bias: Since banners don’t require adhesives and mounting boards, you can avoid some potentially toxic materials and keep them out of your local landfill. Given consumer demand for Green clothing, it’s no surprise that textiles have led the way in sustainable graphics.
Organic cotton is a viable option if the look is right for your company. While you can’t print with soy inks, which are too thick to flow through inkjet printers, non-VOC, non-petroleum ink has become the industry standard. The main tradeoff is that inkjet printing requires a binding agent that works like a primer on the fabric, and the binder chemicals are not always environmentally friendly.
A newer technology involves polyester fabrics, such as EcoSpun, which are made from recycled plastic bottles. It can be hard to tell, though, whether the fabric in your banner comes entirely from post-consumer sources or contains some post-industrial material as well. Dye sublimation, a printing process that does not use a binding agent, offers a less toxic way to put your graphics on these fabrics, especially as more and more “dye sub” printers move to non-VOC, non-petroleum inks. Since binders also make fabrics stiffer, dye sub banners will have a softer, more flowing appearance.
In the latest news, recycled stretch fabrics are entering the market. We can expect to see these materials come into wider use in the near future.
The Hard Stuff
Banners are not right for every corporate image or display situation, so you might need Greener alternatives to traditional board-mounted graphics as well. A typical graphic involves paper, ink, some kind of mounting board, and an adhesive to hold them together. Fortunately, the large-format printing industry is making progress on all of these fronts.
Paper is sometimes paper, but sometimes it’s a paper-like polyester material. Today, the Greenest options are blends that combine up to 60-percent recycled paper with virgin stock. This recycled content is post-industrial, not post-consumer, since the latter would introduce colored flecks that interfere with your graphic images. Again, the inks are typically non-VOC, non-petroleum products. Non-VOC adhesives are now available too, which makes the mounting process greener.
The biggest challenge has been finding mounting boards that are made from recycled content and end their lives by breaking down in landfills. Sintra (PVC), for example, kills bacteria that would otherwise decompose it. Some of these products also contain mercury, zinc, and other toxic metals. A range of more environmentally friendly options can address many exhibitor needs, but some require special treatment.
At one end of the spectrum, recycled poster board is available in thicknesses up to 1/8”. As with all poster board, it must be framed or pinned at the corners to prevent warping. Foamcore, the lightweight option for many temporary signs, is available in a biodegradable form, as is an equivalent to the more durable Gatorfoam.
PVC board is still a challenge. One European product is free of toxic metals and contains 20% recycled content, but the sheets are still made of petroleum and they do not break down readily in landfills. Honeycomb boards, such as BioBoard, provide one alternative. BioBoard contains just over 60-percent post-consumer waste and is 100 percent recyclable. As with Sintra, the white surface can be printed on directly, or the boards can accept paper prints. Unlike Sintra, however, honeycomb boards do not have finished edges, so you may need to frame them.
The Medium and the Message
All of these new materials and techniques mean that your booth graphics can be a lot Greener than they were just a year or two ago. But graphics are still one of the most disposable elements in a trade show program. We tend to think of graphics — the hard panels with images mounted on them — as if they were as temporary as the messages they express. While the messages are often intended for one show, the panels could have longer lives. If your graphic panels are handled and stored with care, you can reuse durable mounting boards as a resource, show after show.
As always, the Green mantra applies: reduce and reuse. And plan ahead, so when the time comes you can also recycle.
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January 2009
We have a corporate mandate to “go Green” in every department, but I don’t know how far I need to go with my exhibit program. How Green do I really need to be?
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If you listen to the people who will soon take the helm in Washington, the short answer is, “Go as Green as you possibly can...and keep going.”
Welcome to 2009! It looks to be a year for big changes in government and the economy. It could be a very big year for Green exhibiting too. Let’s look at some of the reasons why and see what they mean for exhibit programs.
A Carrot and A Stick
The Convention Industry Council is working with the EPA and ASTM to define standards for “Green events.” They are considering a rating system whereby your event or exhibit program would earn points for making a variety of Greener choices. This is how the LEED system works in architecture.
But it is likely that the standards will keep evolving over time. If so, they will reward you for continuing to make progress and penalize you for standing still. The Energy Star system works this way: It’s like grading on the curve. Only top performers get Energy Star ratings, based on comparisons with industry averages. So, if everyone else in an industry improves, the Energy Star product must improve too in order to stay ahead, or else it will lose its beneficial rating. The goal is to encourage progress by constantly raising the bar.
There are good reasons for this approach. In a recent report about America’s energy future, The National Academies estimated that, “The world’s energy consumption could grow by more than 50 percent by 2030….” This shocking number suggests that volatile energy prices could be here to stay. When you look at going Green from this perspective, finding ways to conserve more energy and other resources year by year is a cost-effective strategy for long-term growth.
This One’s On Us
A clean energy future with hydrogen-powered cars, cleaner coal, and boundless sources of renewable energy is still years, if not decades away. Unfortunately, we can’t afford to wait. The economic and environmental costs of “business as usual” are too high. And, experts agree, there is no “silver bullet.” We need to pursue every available path to a more sustainable future.
Steven Chu, Nobel laureate and incoming Secretary of Energy put it this way: “Maximizing energy efficiency and decreasing energy use will remain the lowest hanging fruit for the next several decades. It is something that we should do and we must do.”
One of Chu’s predecessors at the DOE, Samuel Bodman, agrees: “We all must actively promote enhanced energy efficiency wherever we can — in our homes, our vehicles, our offices, and across all industries. Because the truth is, the largest source of immediately available, ‘new’ energy is the energy we waste every day.” That means us: our buildings, our supplier’s buildings and vehicle fleets, the way we travel, and much more.
These ideas will begin taking shape in 2009. California, for example, recently outlined its plan to cut carbon emissions 35 percent below “business as usual” within the next eleven years and eliminate them, more or less, over the next four decades. With the world’s eighth largest economy, California will undoubtedly help shape the nation’s environmental policies. As regulators work out the details, we can expect them to call on each of our companies to start picking the low hanging fruit.
Five Easy Pieces
Reaching some of this fruit takes up-front investment, which might be tough in a down economy. But we don’t have to wait to take actions that provide immediate cost savings.
Here are five big ideas that might help. You can return to them again and again as you look for new ways to stay ahead of the Green curve. Just remember that going Green is a process, not a destination. Happy 2009!
1. Reuse to reduce. Can you finance a new build this year? If not, ask your exhibit house to reconfigure your properties into new shapes with new finishes and new graphics. Not only will you avoid throwing your entire existing property into a landfill, you’ll consume comparably fewer resources to refurbish your booth than you would have if you built an entirely new structure. Plus, you can write the refurb off as an annual expense rather than capital asset, and save your budget too.
2. Share the wealth. Rentals — customized, in the show city, or among your company’s various business units — increases the use of exhibit properties, saves resources, and reduces costs.
3. Travel smart. Airplanes are the least efficient and most harmful mode of transportation; trucks are second, cars third, trains are better yet, and ships are best. Use this guideline when planning travel. And don’t forget to consider alternatives to those last-minute air shipments.
4. Cut the beef. Really. Huge carbon emissions are associated with cows. Shifting menus away from beef and dairy makes for Greener catered events.
5. Call for help. Utility companies in many parts of the country already offer free analysis, free equipment, incentives, and rebates to help businesses save energy and cut costs.
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December 2008
What is Green Catering?
We have a mandate to Green our catered events, so we have been trying to use locally grown foods. Is that the best way to go Green?
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It’s common wisdom that eating locally grown foods is one of the best ways to reduce your carbon footprint. After all, food production has become a global business. We import produce from Latin America, meat from the Southern Hemisphere, dairy products from Europe, and on it goes. That’s a lot of miles. But food is also one of those areas where scientists are turning common wisdom on its head.
Two researchers from Carnegie Mellon University published the first comprehensive study of greenhouse gas emissions from food earlier this year. To their surprise, transportation only accounts for eleven percent of greenhouse gas emissions from food. The carbon footprint is dominated, instead, by the production phase where fertilizers and pesticides made from oil and natural gas are widely used. And in this phase, different food groups give very different results.
Where’s the Beef?
So, here’s the kicker that your executives might not want you to tell them: Red meat is around 150 percent more greenhouse-gas intensive than chicken or fish. The difference is so large, in fact, that shifting less than one day’s worth of calories per week from red meat and dairy products to chicken, fish, eggs, or vegetarian choices reduces your carbon footprint more than buying everything you eat from local sources. That’s big. The good news is that if you can convince management to cut back on the cheese trays and tri-tips, carbon reductions are easy to come by.
This might be bad news for steak lovers, but the idea is catching on worldwide. The chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change recently urged all nations to move away from a diet dominated by red meat and dairy. Why? A big reason is that cows emit methane, which has 20 times the global warming potential of CO2. As food ferments in their stomachs, cows exhale methane with every breath. Multiply this, plus methane from their waste products, plus the chemicals used to grow the cops they eat by a global population of nearly one billion cattle, and you get a significant contribution to global warming, pollution, and because of the drugs they are fed, even the emergence of antibiotic-resistant super-bugs. To make matters worse, people in developing countries are beginning to eat like we do, switching to beef-based diets, and placing new demands on a global food-production system that is already under stress. This is why so many experts are urging people to cut back on the beef, at least part of the time.
Buy Organic?
Yes, even though results vary, buying organic is still a good way to go. The fertilizers used to grow most crops eventually wash out to sea, where they enable algae to bloom. In more than four hundred ecosystems around the world, those well-fertilized algae are killing everything else, leaving dead zones in once-productive marine habitats. This is bad news for the world’s fisheries, most of which are already in decline and many of which have crashed altogether in recent years. The scarcity of popular fish has gotten serious enough to encourage some clever marketing: Slimeheads are now sold under the savory name orange roughy, and Patagonian toothfish now appear on menus as Chilean sea bass.
Organic farming is easier on the climate too, but the exact figures vary from crop to crop. Still, it’s easy enough to remember that organic foods use less fossil energy, preserve topsoil, and minimize the impacts of agriculture on the world’s oceans.
What Should I Serve?
The director of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health puts it this way: Eat farther down the food chain. Not only will you reduce your environmental impact, you’ll be serving more healthful meals too. That sounds great if you’re a mother or a public health official, but you’ve got to sell the idea to your managers. Good luck.
Meanwhile, here’s a short list of tips to help you Green your catering.
- - Serve less red meat.
- - Serve fewer dairy products.
- - Serve more chicken and fish.
- - Serve sustainable seafood — “seafood watch” guides are available online.
- - Serve more produce.
- - Serve local foods if you can — 11 percent isn’t the biggest bite, but it’s more than a nibble.
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November 2008
My exhibit house is suggesting sustainable plywood for my new exhibit. Is it really any Greener? What will it do to my budget?
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The life of the average exhibit is traumatic. It suffers long-distance truck rides, harsh handling on forklifts, and repeated assembly and disassembly. To withstand all this, exhibits are built using a furniture-grade material: birch plywood. Birch is a durable hardwood with a smooth surface, and the plywood has tight layers that help builders work quickly and get great results.
Business As Usual
We need a little background in order to understand Green plywood. Plywood is graded based on its quality from “A,” which is flawless and costly, to “D,” which is cheaper but needs to be covered up with plastic laminate or other materials.
Most exhibit houses use an inexpensive form of birch plywood that isn’t graded at all. So-called “shop birch” is an accidental byproduct — like factory seconds that don’t meet normal product standards. Shop birch is an economical choice for exhibits because the surface is almost always covered with something else, usually plastic laminate, paint, or graphics.
Unfortunately for the environment, inexpensive shop birch is imported from Asia, where forest management practices and pollution controls are notoriously lax. And it usually contains glue with added urea formaldehyde, a toxic chemical that pollutes indoor air.
The Greener Choice
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certifies sustainable lumber and plywood according to a set of principles that include long-term forest stewardship, preservation of biodiversity and forest ecosystems, and the respect for the people who live and work in the forests. The FSC’s principles make a compelling statement about the joint welfare of forest ecosystems and human communities. Distributors must also be certified to ensure that FSC products follow a chain of custody all the way from sustainable forests to your exhibit house.
FSC-certified products are not necessarily free of added urea formaldehyde, but combined certifications are available. Look or both “FSC” and “NAUF” certifications if you want sustainable plywood that also avoids the added formaldehyde.
The Catch
FSC-certified plywood is still a niche product, so there just aren’t enough factory seconds out there to make sustainable shop birch readily available. So your only option is to go with more expensive grades.
How much more does it cost? That depends on the day. Lumber is a commodity product and prices fluctuate. Today’s high-priced lumber might be replaced by tomorrow’s swinging deal. But here is a ballpark comparison of the lowest cost options for “business as usual” and FSC-certified cabinet plywood.
$38 per sheet — imported shop birch (this is the most common choice for exhibits)
$47 per sheet — domestic shop birch
$63 per sheet — FSC C3 maple
$73 per sheet — FSC B1 birch
Royal Plywood, a distributor in Cerritos, California, has seen demand for FSC products go through the roof in the past year. Look for prices to fall as demand increases and more mills make the move to sustainable forest products.
Also remember that lumber is just one part your overall exhibit, so the higher up-front price of FSC–certified products might amount to peanuts over the life of the booth. If, for example, you decide to reuse your exhibit a little longer than normal, possibly by updating its colors and graphics along the way, the higher up-front cost will be offset by a big savings on new construction down the road. Getting more use out of your exhibit extends your Green investment by reducing your exhibit’s impact on forests in the future.
The Import Dilemma
The FSC certifies both U.S. and foreign sources, so certification doesn’t necessarily eliminate the carbon footprint from overseas shipping. In order to do that, you must specify domestic FSC products. Is it Greener to use domestic shop birch from clear-cut forests or FSC-certified plywood from overseas? Unfortunately, nobody has done that study yet, but a number of other agricultural studies suggest that sustainable production is far and away the most important environmental factor. So, FSC-certified lumber products are possibly Greener no matter where they come from. Still, if given the option, FSC-certified plywood from domestic sources is the Greenest way to go.
Forest Controversy
Last May, Wired magazine stirred things up, saying that we can fight global warming by cutting down old-growth forests and destroying their natural ecosystems to make way for forest farming. Since trees absorb CO2 while they grow, Wired argued that new forest plantations that are constantly growing new trees would do more good than mature forests. Unfortunately, they got it wrong by looking at just one piece of the puzzle. Clear cutting disturbs the soil, which releases far more carbon into the air (see www.realclimate.org for a detailed review).
FSC gets the carbon issue right. That alone makes finding ways to afford FSC a very strong Green choice.
For more information: Forest Stewardship Council at www.fscus.org.
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October 2008
What is Green Exhibiting?
How do you define Green exhibiting? What should be the top priority: recycling, pollution, global warming?
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How about all the above? Green exhibiting means that we are reducing pollution and landfill waste, using fewer natural resources, building with more sustainable materials, saving energy, cutting carbon emissions and, for many exhibitors, saving money too. But this long list explains why there are so many different approaches and confusing claims about what it means to be Green.
Do you really have to choose your own shade of green? Not necessarily. The trick is to find a Green metric—just one metric—that makes choices easier to prioritize. That metric turns out to be the carbon footprint. It’s the point where most of the top environmental priorities come together and overlap.
Mixing Shades of Green
The global warming controversy has died down in recent months and a growing number of companies are asking what they can do to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But even if you remain skeptical, as many Americans do, climate change can still give you a convenient and effective way to organize your other green priorities.
When you find ways to reduce carbon emissions in your exhibit and events program you will also find yourself conserving energy and water, cutting air pollution, recycling more and wasting less, buying more recycled products and materials, and helping preserve natural ecosystems. Of course, you could flip the whole thing around: if you go after all these other challenges you will help solve global warming too. But it’s a lot easier to focus on a single target that encompasses many goals when you’re trying to fit going Green into a busy schedule.
The Top Green Priorities
Even if reducing greenhouse gases (GHGs) isn’t the whole Green enchilada, it certainly provides the recipe. Here are the key ingredients.
- • Don’t clear-cut forests. Clear-cutting trees disturbs the soil, which releases greenhouse gases into the air. This is the #1 reason to specify sustainable, FSC-certified lumber products for your next exhibit. Too expensive? Try extending the exhibit’s life by a year or two to offset the costs.
- • Minimize air travel. Airplanes are far and away the most carbon-intensive form of transportation. Use trains whenever possible. Ship via truck rather than air. Make sure everyone who flies to a show is truly necessary. Use e-brochures too — collateral often goes to shows by air at the last minute at a high cost.
- • Cut down on red meat and dairy products at catered events. It might be unpopular to say this, buta 2008 study found that red meat is 150% more GHG-intensive than chicken or fish. Cutting back some on red meat and dairy products makes an even bigger difference than buying locally grown foods. (See the study by Weber and Matthews appeared in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, 42.)
- • Choose more organic foods at catered events. Industrial farms use fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides that are made from oil and natural gas. In addition to increasing global warming, fertilizers are also the main cause of the “dead zones” that are affecting ocean fisheries more than 400+ ocean ecosystems.
- • Buy genuinely useful give-aways. Resist the temptation to buy premiums that are headed straight for the trash anyway. People are more likely to keep premiums that look good and work well.
- • Recycle everything. Recycling cuts down on clear cutting, mining, and energy use. Recycle carpets, lumber, plastics, paper, and metals. Ask suppliers for recycled materials whenever possible.
- • Drive less. You know the tricks. Fortunately, telecommuting, web meetings, and videoconferencing offer very effective alternatives to commuting and travel. The same ideas apply to shows: carpool with your fellow exhibitors; rent booth properties in the show city if you can.
- • Press suppliers to reduce emissions. Your buying power is one of the most effective ways to make a difference. Use the RFP process to encourage energy efficiency and recycling up and down your supplier chain.
- • Buy carbon-neutral products. Many products and services become carbon-neutral by purchasing renewable energy credits (RECs, a.k.a. “offsets”) to offset GHG emissions. They are second-tier solutions, but they do make important contributions at little or no cost to you.
- • Use ROI to evaluate events. Is a particular show worth your time, money, and carbon footprint? Adding ROI to the Green mix is a good way to make sure your carbon emissions are being well spent.
It’s Easy to Remember
The benefit of pursuing a single, overarching Green metric is its simplicity. You only have to keep one goal in mind.
Howard Frumkin, director of the National Center for Environmental Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests using an easy-to-remember low-carbon mantra: travel differently, eat differently, green your home and workplace, and be prepared.
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September 2008
Finding Green Suppliers
I need to find Green suppliers. What questions should I ask in my request for information (RFI)? What should I look for in their responses to cut through the Greenwash?
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Suppliers who are serious about sustainability know they need to walk the talk. Some companies are making great strides behind the scenes while others are focusing entirely on the Green that shows — it’s the Green that sells and sometimes it’s just Greenwashing. When you go shopping for Greener suppliers, it’s easy to feel like Dorothy when the Wizard says, “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
Green Where It Counts
Greening a business is a lot less fashionable than pitching Greener products and services. Your Green RFI (or you can include this information in your RFP if your company doesn’t issue RFIs) is a great way to look behind the curtain and see which bidders are walking the talk, where they’re going, and the steps they’re taking along the way.
It might not be sexy, but Greening an operation can really help a company’s bottom line. DuPont, for example, saved $2 billion and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 72 percent over fifteen years just by modifying its manufacturing processes. UPS’ policy of avoiding left turns saved the company 3.3 million gallons of fuel last year and cut greenhouse gas emissions by 32,000 metric tons — the equivalent of taking 5,300 cars off the road. Companies of all sizes — from 3M, Walmart, and Google to Clif Bar and Patagonia — are making huge strides and realizing big cost savings through changes that customers never see. Your RFI can help you find suppliers who are on this path, too.
Top Green Priorities
Since Green doesn’t come in just one color, picking a Greener supplier depends on matching your Green goals with your partners. As we discussed last month, Green RFPs begin with a question to you: What are your top Green priorities? Are you focused mainly on reducing landfill waste? Are you trying to conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions? Are you cutting down on toxic chemicals and air pollution? Take that same approach to your RFI when trying to identify Green suppliers.
Identifying your top Green priorities will help you find suppliers who share your goals. And it’s the only way to compare responses. If your RFI is vague, as in “Preference will be given to suppliers with Green initiatives,” you won’t be able to rank the companies. Is one bidder’s recycling program Greener than another bidder’s energy-saving lighting system? There’s just no way to tell.
You’ll be much happier with responses that address your top concerns, so ask suppliers to address each of them directly. For example, “Our #1 priority is reducing landfill waste. Please tell us what your company is doing to achieve this goal.”
But there’s a catch. Every company is in a unique situation. For example, industrial recycling is available in some places, but might be out of reach in a town that’s just 20 miles away. Companies that own their buildings might have more latitude than companies with uncooperative landlords.
A Greener RFI
How can you make sense of these inconsistencies? Try a two-step approach. In the first section of the RFI, state your goals clearly and ask bidders to respond to each of them. Give bidders who can’t meet your goal an opportunity to explain their circumstances. For example, “Our #1 priority is reducing landfill waste. Please tell us what your company is doing to achieve this goal. If you cannot achieve this goal, please tell us why.”
In a separate section of the RFP, ask questions that expose how committed a bidder is to going Green. This way, you’ll be able to identify Greener companies, even if circumstances prevent them from sharing your top priorities. Here are the questions that will let the Greenest bidders rise to the top.
• Ask to See the Plan
What are their top Green priorities? A well thought-out sustainability plan is the sign of a strong commitment. But if the plan is vague and lacks any metrics, it might just be for show. Try this: “Has your company developed a sustainability plan? Please explain your top priorities and how are you measuring progress.”
• Trust but Verify
Some Green actions come with third-party verification. For example, any company that joins The Climate Registry or partners with a provider of carbon offsets must measure their carbon emissions and have them verified every year. This is a voluntary step, but it indicates a commitment. After all, nearly one third of America’s carbon emissions come from buildings. If climate change is your top Green priority, you might find suppliers who share your concerns and are willing to show you their reports.
• Ask How
In this world of “silver buckshot,” where no single “silver bullet” can achieve all every goal, bidders might be making all sorts of Green moves from conserving energy to reducing waste to eliminating toxic chemicals. These Green initiatives could be rock solid or they could just be window dressing. The key questions to ask are how and why. For example, “In addition to our top priorities, tell us what other Green initiatives your company has undertaken. What resources are you utilizing to achieve them, and how are you measuring progress?”
Measurement is the only way to know whether a Green program is working. Many utility companies offer help with free evaluations and incentives on conservation programs. Some companies keep logs of their VOCs from paints and glues. Employee mileage reports can be used to track a shift from travel to e-meetings. Shops can measure the amount of waste they are throwing away vs. recycling.
Finding the Greenest Suppliers
We are all subject to something called “single action bias” — we do one thing and we think we’re done. It’s human nature, but it isn’t very Green. A bidder that hangs its Green hat on just one solution might be falling into this very natural trap, or they might be trying to baffle you with Green hype.
Look for suppliers who are going Green in more ways than one. They’ll be able to explain their reasons and show you how they’re measuring progress along the path to sustainability. In the end, demonstrating a commitment to going Green is the metric that counts.
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August 2008
I need to write a Green RFP for a new booth. What questions should I ask my bidders? What should I look for in their answers to avoid being sold a bucket of Greenwash?
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A Green RFP can include two parts. The first part, which we will address here, has to do with the booth itself and the materials used in it. The second part, which we will address next month, focuses on your bidders’ internal efforts to Green their operations. Both are important if you’re really serious about going Green.
Writing a Green RFP begins with a question to you: What are your top Green goals? For example, are you focused mainly on reducing landfill waste? Are you trying to recycle everything possible? Are you cutting down on toxic chemicals and air pollution? Are you looking to build with more sustainable materials? Are you trying to reduce your program’s carbon footprint?
You might be thinking, “All of the above!” But if you rely on blanket statements like, “We are looking for the Greenest possible exhibit property,” you won’t have any useful metrics for comparing the responses. Is one bidder’s recycled carpet Greener than another bidder’s LED lights? It’s comparing apples and oranges. Ultimately, the comparisons are meaningless and they can leave you awash in a sea of confusing claims and counterclaims.
The best way to avoid this is to give bidders a clear list of your top Green priorities. You might just have one, but probably no more than three. You’ll be able to use your priority list to compare responses and ask follow-up questions about how well each bid achieves your specific goals, and at what cost.
Getting a Good Response
When you write the RFP, it’s a good idea to organize the questions so that the responses meet your needs. Some bidders will want to impress you with their commitment to Green products and services, and the deluge of information can be overwhelming.
Ask bidders to break their responses to your Green questions into two categories. The first and most important category should be responses to your top Green priorities. You’ll be able to see how well each supplier addresses the issues you consider most important without being distracted by additional options. If you are on a tight budget — and who isn’t these days? — you can even ask bidders to estimate any cost differences between Green and “business as usual” choices.
Next, ask bidders to tell you about their other Green suggestions in a separate section of their responses. Bidders might offer ideas you haven’t considered yet. You’ll want to review them, but keeping them separate from your specific goals helps keep things straight.
Your Greener Booth
When it comes to specific materials, there are several things to look for and ask about. Here is a quick list of some Green options you may come across in your design proposals. This list isn’t comprehensive, so be open to additional suggestions as well.
• The Forest and the Trees
The Forest Stewardship Council certifies wood products that sustain forests and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They cost more, but they are the clear Green choice, and they are certified according to rigorous standards. Remember that the higher up-front cost might amount to peanuts over the long haul.
• Greener Underfoot
Carpet is available with various amounts of recycled fiber. Some companies will recycle your old carpet, too. You can ask for the Green Label or Green Label Plus certification to minimize air pollution from toxic chemicals in the carpet. Cork, linoleum, and rubber composite floor materials are also available with recycled content.
• Paints and Adhesives
Low-VOC paints that don’t emit toxic volatile organic compounds are available for every application from cabinets to metal. They are standard in some parts of the country, and they should be everywhere. The glue that sticks plastic laminate to your exhibit is another matter. Low-VOC cement is OK for flat surfaces, but doesn’t hold so well on curves.
• Other Green Options
Be sure to ask about other options that address your Green goals, such as high-efficiency LED lighting, recycled metals, recycled fabric for banners, and more.
The Big Picture
Sustainability is rapidly becoming a core strategy for many businesses. Your new project can certainly go Greener, and so can this industry. However large or small your new project is, your buying power has an influence. When suppliers see the business going to Greener companies the market will shift, so your Green RFP will make a difference.
What should your top Green priorities be? That’s a great question and we will address it in an upcoming column. Keep in mind that going Green is a step-by-step process. Whichever priorities you choose today will get you started. Exhibitors and suppliers are in the pioneering stage and there is a lot of confusion about Green choices. Identifying your top Green priorities and organizing your RFP to make them clear will bring order to the bids and help you evaluate the responses.
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Tom Bowman, president of Bowman Design Group in Signal Hill, CA, works with national institutions on climate change and sustainability communications and is a frequent speaker at exhibit industry and professional conferences. tom@bowmandesigngroup.com
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