What Are Local Businesses Doing for Climate - Plenty!
With Earth Week in full swing, I wanted to catch everyone up on all the amazing work and partnerships that C3 has continued with businesses and nonprofits in our community. Over the last year, we have continued to grow and evolve our Corporate Sustainability campaign to make sure we are providing support for emissions reductions for organizations of all shapes and sizes. I’m excited to share this update on the great work that organizations in our community are doing to reduce their own emissions and lead on climate action.
Green Business Alliance
It’s hard to believe it’s already been two years since the launch of our Green Business Alliance. In the spring of 2021, 16 landmark Charlottesville area organizations banded together to set an ambitious greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions goal: 45% reduction by 2025. Acting on this commitment has required a dizzying pace of data collection, problem-solving, and substantial facility upgrades.
Our one-year anniversary blog recaps the GBA’s success in its first year on the job, including a 28% reduction after its first full year of existence! I’m thrilled to say the group has kept at it, with even more to show for their efforts since last spring on the part of both large and small. I’m still putting the finishing touches on the GBA’s emissions data for 2022, and excited to share the continued progress towards their 2025 pledge soon. Meanwhile, our GBA continues working towards its common goal. Highlights include:
Apex Clean Energy and Quantitative Investment Management (QIM) have settled into their relocated headquarters in two new, marquis downtown buildings. Apex Plaza now lays claim to being the tallest mass timber building on the east coast. Meanwhile, the CODE building, where QIM now resides, just achieved LEED platinum certification!
Several members have started to dig deep into savings opportunities in their facilities by completing energy audits. This includes Red Light, Sun Tribe Solar, and Tiger Fuel. Upgrades recommended from these audits are already underway with local contractors and other service providers.
Through aggressive HVAC re-commissioning and automated scheduling at their new building, The Center at Belvedere reduced their gas consumption by 45% in the second half of last year! This is one of my favorite GBA stories of the year because it shows the major impact of the behind-the-scenes efforts of energy efficiency that often go unnoticed. Big shout out goes to Facilities Manager Trevor Saunders for all his hard work, we see you Trevor!
WillowTree has set up energy sub-metering and a digital dashboard to better understand their consumption patterns at their new HQ at the Wool Factory. Needless to say, a data-driven approach to emissions reduction was not a tough sell to these guys!
Additionally, several members are starting to expand their scope beyond emissions reduction, including more holistic sustainability frameworks and climate action plans that will span their full operations. This ambitious bunch includes Apex Clean Energy, CFA Institute, Sentara Martha Jefferson Hospital, Sun Tribe Solar, and WillowTree.
Oh, and you didn’t think the GBA would stop there, did you? Behind the scenes, we’ve been hard at work finding new members to join this climate leadership circle. Stay tuned for some big news in May about the GBA expanding to a second cohort of businesses that will be stepping up their emissions reductions game!
Energy Efficiency Grants
We ask a lot of our GBA members, and we recognize that the level of action required to meet aggressive, public emissions goals is not realistic for smaller businesses. This is why we love the Energy Efficiency Grants program, where C3 gets to provide direct support and education to small, minority-owned businesses in our community. We’ve been hard at work finding a home for $20,000 in energy efficiency upgrades this spring!
The first recipient of our energy efficient grant was Sarah Sweet, owner of the Scrappy Elephant, an art/creative supply reuse store on Allied Street in Charlottesville. Sarah is a former art teacher turned business owner whose ethos of sustainability comes naturally as a business who’s diverted over 38,000 pounds of art and craft supplies from landfill since January of 2021.
Sarah was excited to have new LED lighting installed, a separate switch for her back of the store classroom installed, and a newly programmed thermostat that powers down her heating and cooling during closing hours. These upgrades have resulted in a 50% reduction in her energy bills. Sarah posted on her business Instagram: “These simple acts cut my electric bill by 50%😳😍!!! Thank you for this money saving, energy saving advice C3!”
Crystal Napier, owner of online clothing store and consultation business Renee’s Boutique, is breathing a sigh of relief knowing her new Energy Star washer and dryer are reliable and saving money for her growing business,. "It was truly a blessing to be awarded this grant because my old dryer was literally on its last leg.”
Those recipients weren’t the only ones to get excited about this program. Elizabeth MacGowan, reporter for Energy News Network got wind of our work and delved into the details in this article.
Climate Services
Last but certainly not least, our Climate Services program offers the same types of services that we offer to our GBA members (energy audits, carbon footprinting, and project facilitation) to help any organization in our community take their own climate action. Thanks to donor support, we are able to provide these services for free to community organizations, including small nonprofits, congregations, and schools.
One of our first Climate Services recipients, Piedmont CASA, has quickly turned into a shining success story. Piedmont CASA serves children in the Charlottesville community by providing court-appointed advocates to help youth navigate the foster care system. As they head into their third decade, their aging building near downtown Charlottesville required upgrades that also reduced their energy costs and environmental impact. C3 conducted an energy audit to help CASA save energy, improve comfort, and ultimately be able to better focus on their vital work of improving children's lives.
C3's report recommended easy actions and deeper impact investments. This allowed CASA to make quick decisions on immediate investment, and develop long-term strategy for continued savings. Kate Duvall, CASA’s President said, “I was shocked by the outcome of the assessment by how much we could save as a nonprofit financially by doing simple things like turning off the gas lights at the front of the building. We couldn’t have done this without the support of C3!”
You can find even more information in our CASA case study!
Tying it All Together - Support for Local Policy
Each of these programs offers direct support for emissions reduction for organizations of all shapes and sizes in our community. These reductions are vitally important for collectively meeting our community GHG reduction goals. However, as much as we’d love to, C3 recognizes that we’ll never be able to work with every single business or nonprofit in our community.
That is why perhaps the most rewarding part of working with these groups is that it helps to build coalitions of support for climate-friendly local policy solutions. We have found that, the more an organization takes its own action, the more comfortable they are speaking out and speaking up in support of policies that will help others do the same.
In the last year, C3’s policy efforts secured support from over 30 organizations in our community, including many GBA members and several other commercial partners. This included petitions for cleaner and more accessible transit, advocating for specific policies in Charlottesville’s Climate Action Plan, and support for transformative utility-scale solar in our community.
These unique coalitions span our community and ensure that we are building an impactful voice for climate-informed policy decisions in our community. Each of these efforts achieved direct impact by informing and influencing local government decisions and actions. C3 will continue our hard work to build this collective voice for local climate action, and I am thrilled to be able to inform and empower the businesses and nonprofits in our community to be a part of this vital work!
—Coles Jennings