City of Fort Collins Climate Wise Program Saves Environment and Money [INTERVIEW]

The City of Fort Collins Climate Wise program offers a resource to local businesses that is something special. Many business owners would love to run their business in a more sustainable way, but don't know how. Also, every business operates differently and therefore has different efforts they could make to achieve a higher level of sustainability. There is no 'one size fits all' plan for sustainability, except when each plan is individually tailored to explore all possible ways to save energy, reduce waste, conserve water and maximize use of transportation.

Enter Climate Wise, whose motto is Climate Wise, Business Smart. Climate Wise members save money, contribute to a more efficient Fort Collins business community, and improve their own reputation and the reputation of our business community as a whole.

Climate Wise Business Partners have the potential to save some serious dollars

• In 2010, Climate Wise members saved $13,000,000
• Since 2000, Climate Wise members saved $39,000,000

Going beyond dollars and sense, Climate Wise Business Partners have made substantial reductions

• In 2010 alone, Climate Wise Business Partners reduced 136,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent
• From 2000 to 2010, Climate Wise Business Partners saved 6.3 billion gallons of water

I spoke with Kathy Collier, Program Manager for Climate Wise and she told me how

It's very easy...it will take about 6 to 8 hours per year of effort and that includes the assessment that the businesses receive and the free assessment report as well. So, it's very simple. We have a lot of businesses really excited that [for] the small amount of effort, you receive a lot of big savings from that.

Any and every Fort Collins business is eligible, from the 2 person shop to Fort Collins largest employer, Colorado State University. Visit fcgov.com/climatewise for more information.