People, Planet, Profits & Projects

In our book, Green Project Management, we included an entire chapter on life-cycle assessment (LCA).  As a matter of fact, we went even further to work with Dr. Mary Ann Curran, the director of the US EPA’s LCA research program at the National Risk Management Research Laboratory in Cincinnati, Ohio.  And, Dr. Curran wrote the foreword to our book.  That’s how important we believe the connection between LCA and sustainability. 

 Recently we read an interesting article about the efforts of Levi Strauss & Company to take that next step and develop their own LCA tools, to better measure their unique inputs, outputs and to better understand and track the impacts of products from the design stage to end-of-life.  “Levi’s is working to take LCA out of the sustainability silo and into the design room. The company's clothing designers are using its Evaluate tool on a daily basis to make decisions about things like fabric choices, washes and dyes.”

They are using their tool “Evaluate to reach down to the material level to assess the impacts of various components” to be able to make informed decisions.  Levi designers are evaluating fabric sustainability early in the process to be able to make choices prior to the design process.  According to Paul Dillinger, senior director of global design for Levi's Dockers brand, “Now we have 16 core fabrics we'll put through the tool to further hone the assortment -- so all that information will be available to us prior to the design process. Rather than audit our choices later, this gives us a chance to start off with the right fabrics."  As we have always said, like quality, greenality needs to be planned in, not inspected in.

 Levi’s is not unique, other companies like Canon, Kraft and Mazda are also doing work in the LCA arena prior to product design.  In our book, we used Proctor and Gamble as an example of a company using LCA tools to view their products holistically.  Nike is another company who is using, and has been using for a while, LCA in the apparel industry.  When you look at Kraft – food industry, Levis and Nike – apparel industry, and P&G in the consumer goods industry, the use of these tools is wide-spread and pervasive, a good thing. 

 Chapter 10 of our book is about waste reduction and our 4-Ls, Lean, Learn, Linked and Lasting.  The aforementioned companies make the same connections we do, between LCA and the 4-Ls.  They are approaching sustainability in a holistic way, considering their entire footprint.  One example of this approach is Levi’s use of “Waterless Jeans” process.    According to the company it has saved 172 million gallons of water since introducing the process in 2010. 

 We certainly are encouraged with these holistic, LCA, approaches to sustainability.  These are all projects and the more familiar today’s project manager is with these processes the better.  We believe that Green Project Management is the future and we, as PM ourselves, want to be on the leading edge of it.

Do you know that there are 800 pound gorillas driving sustainability?  Why do they do that?  The answer is, because they can.  Walmart is a good example of an 800 pound gorilla driving sustainability into their vendors.  They are examining looking at product lifecycle assessment “…from materials used in making them, to the factories or farms where they are made, to how they are used as an end-product (our emphasis).”  Walmart is also committed to providing their customers the best value for their money, and “When it comes to sustainability, we’re dedicated to providing that same value.” 

Some additional efforts include:

• Supporting farmers and their communities by doubling the sale of locally sourced produce and increase the purchase of select U.S. crops.
• Require certification of all fresh and frozen, farmed and wild seafood products, certified by a third party using Marine Stewardship Council, Best Aquaculture Practices or equivalent standards.
• Supporting farmers in Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador in diversifying their crops to meet real market needs.
• Support a Heritage Agriculture program that reintroduces the cultivation of produce in areas where it once grew, globally as well as in key regions of the US.

Being the 800 pound gorilla, Walmart could have stopped with driving sustainability into their supply chain.  But they didn’t.  Instead they’ve made a commitment to become 100% supplied by renewable energy, create zero waste, as well as selling products that sustain people and the environment.

To that end, we read about a local project that advances Walmart’s commitment.  It is definitely a “green by intent” project.  They are planning to install solar panels on top of more than ½ of their 50 stores in Massachusetts as early as August of this year.  The stores are in the engineering and permitting stages, but the target is to provide a total of about 10.5 megawatts, equivalent of powering 2,600 homes.  It should provide 10-15% of each store’s power requirements. 

Because they are the 800 pound goilla, you might ask so what is in it for them?  There are a couple of things at work here.  (1) It is a giant step toward a better perception of corporate responsibility for a company may not be well liked, especially in the smaller towns of America.  (2) Forecasts indicate that there is money to be saved in the long run.  Whatever the motivation, the momentum of a company the size of Walmart can have a positive influence on the entire retail community.

One of the most frequently asked questions at our webinars and conferences is “How do we sell the idea of sustainability?”  Our answer is; because it makes cents (sense).  One of the reasons projects are undertaken is to help the organization's bottom-line.  In the case of the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cuelty to Animals (NHSPCA) executing projects that will make their facilities more sustainable will help the bottom-line and help the animals.  "NHSPCA Embraces Renewable Energy and Saves Big?” is a headline on the most recent NHSPCA Newsletter.  “It’s all about pets here at the NHSPCA, where the goal is to put all the money possible into saving animal’s lives.”

While looking at their operating budget for 2009-2010 season, to operate the Adoption and Learning Center, the noted that it was costing them over $55,000 in oil expense.  They equated that with 35,000 pounds of dog and cat food.  That can feed a lot of animals.  Projects began to take shape designed to increase efficiency through lighting audits and upgrades as well as upgrading the heating and ventilation controls.  While executing those projects, they “learned of a more significant project through the Community Loan Fund and the Office of Energy and Planning.”  There was a stimulus program called the Enterprise Energy Fund.  “With stimulus money available for grants and low interest loans our conversion to renewable energy systems began in earnest.”

The first thing the people at NHSPCA did was hire a consultant for an energy audit project.  That audit looked at insulating efficiency, hot water usage, space heating needs, etc. and made recommendations showing efficiency gains vs. potential costs, projected savings, and pay back periods.  It allowed the NHSPCA to choose which projects had the most “bang for the buck.”  Out of the many possible projects, they chose 3; insulating and air sealing the basements and attics, solar thermal collectors to preheat the vast amount of hot water they use on a daily basis, and wood pellet boilers as renewable heat sources. 

Bottom-line, and we all care about the bottom-line, it is projected that 80% of the oil used (11,000 gallons) will be offset by the pellet heating.  Not only is there a considerable cost savings for the equivalent number of BTUs used, since the burn is very clean, the carbon foot print is reduced, and estimated offset of almost 3 million lbs of CO₂.  Finally, the pellets are purchased from a company that harvests locally (profits, planet, and people). 

“We will be continuing to work with the Jordan Institute, (“The Jordan Institute is comprised of uniquely motivated staff whose collective experience includes energy policy, residential construction, engineering, project management, education, and architecture.”) to examine the existing mechanical systems to determine other efficiencies and continue to look for additional sources of energy savings.  We are tracking and recording our energy consumption so stayed tuned to see our actual energy savings!”  Be sure, we will and let you know how the projects pay off.

We were recent guests of The Sustainability Learning Centre - a partner of the prestigious Network for Business Sustainability.

We gave a 45-minute presentation and took some questions.  And they captured the whole thing on WebEx, for you to view for absolutely free – here .

Rather than a long blog post - we invite you to let the webinar literally speak for itself!

We've often covered "green-by-definition" projects - those where the ultimate deliverable is reduction of waste, generation of renewable power, preserving biodiversity, and so on.

We also continue to stress that projects of any kind can have a green (or at least sustainability) component.  This is the concept behind our "Spectrum of Green" as discussed in our book, Green Project Management.

Well, here is an example of a green project which has folded two green objectives into one - generating renewable energy, and preserving a precious resource (water).

A first of its kind, Gujarat (a state in northwestern India) will dedicate India’s first 1 MW Canal-top Solar Power Project on the Sanand Branch Canal of the Sardar Sarovar Project.

Here's another photo:

This project was developed by Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited (GSECL) with support from the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL). It will generate 1.6 million units of clean electricity per year and 90 lakh litres of water will be prevented from getting evaporated.

We won't give all of the technical details, you can read them all here.

And, if you want to hear about it directly from Narendra Modi, the CM (Chief Minister) of the state of Gujarat, he has actually blogged about this right here:

So think about it.  Are there any "regular" projects on which you're working where there may be a possible sustainability benefit?  Or, if you're already working on a 'green by definition' project, is there a way that a secondary benefit may be an outcome?

Just some food for thought if nothing else...