From Guest Blogger Rodrick Johnson: Starting Green–Eight Ways to Green Your Start-Up

Starting a business is now easier than ever. There are many tech tools a savvy entrepreneur can leverage. You can create relationships and market your business via Twitter and Facebook. To handle the financial side, you can take advantage of cloud accounting software for small business. There are also apps like Streak available to help turn Gmail into a sales and marketing tool. But with all these advancements we can’t forget about the priority of going green.

Environmentally-conscious and sustainable business makes the most sense as we move into an era of increasing temperatures and calls for divestment in fossil fuels. By going green from the outset a start-up can both save money and unapologetically use these practices as a selling-point to the increasingly environmentally-conscious consumer. So, without further ado, here are 10 ways for a start-up to do it green.

Take advantage of rebates

Through buying Energy Star-qualified products you can access utility rebates that are available in most states. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program has been around since 1992. It is specifically designed to give business-owners and home-owners incentive to purchase products that save energy. This includes building products, appliances, food service equipment, and office equipment. For more information on the Energy Star program visit the Energy Star site.

Take advantage of the Sun

Instituted in 2005 the ITC, or Solar Tax Credit, provides a 30 percent credit for businesses that invest in solar panels. Planning on operating a business out of your home? In that case you can file for both the home office tax deduction and ITC, which applies to income taxes. The ITC incentive applies to both residences and businesses. So, if you’re going to start a home-based business, ask your accountant if you qualify for the Solar Tax Credit for both your home and your business separately.

Take advantage of paperless options

We’ve all seen Square, the paperless credit-card machine that attaches to iPhone and allows credit-card transactions from anywhere you can get WiFi—in other words these days, from anywhere. Beyond Square, there are other paperless options for doing business. These include Shake, which is an app for creating and signing legally-binding documents, Zipmark, which does for checks what Square does for credit-cards, and SimpleScan, which scans documents directly to the cloud.

Take advantage of the cloud

As mentioned earlier, cloud-based computing has become a highly valuable resource for small business. You can use cloud technology to handle multiple aspects of your business, from document-sharing and data-management to accounting and general finance. All this adds up to a smaller hardcopy-trail and carbon footprint.

Partner with local non-profits

Well, it doesn’t have to be local, but it wouldn’t hurt. This is a good way to show the community you are serious about sustainability and environmentally sound practices. Partnering with a green non-profit organization will allow you to build relationships. You have to spend money to make it; investing in the environmentally-friendly community these non-profits represent will allow you to put your name in the hat, so to speak, of businesses people can trust. And, if you adhere to as many green practices as you can, their trust will be well-earned.

Xeriscape

If you are opening a business in a location with lawn-space, or even if it’s happening out of your home, consider xeriscaping. This practice involves using rocks instead of grass and planting plants that use little to no water. Granted, some of us are in locations where you might not have to water a lawn, but this is rare. Using rocks instead of grass is a great way to make your business stand out and to save money on water utilities. Most importantly, if your business is going to last, creating a water-conserving landscape will help conserve this precious resource.

Bike to work

It saves money and minimizes fossil-fuel usage. The research says 90% of fossil fuels have to stay in the ground for us to meet our climate change goals. If you’re going to have employees, encourage them to bike to work in whatever way you can, whether through an incentive program or old-fashioned verbal encouragement. If you need a car to get the job done, consider an energy efficient vehicle—the tax incentive and business transportation write-off make this a smart option.

Plant Plants

Although they consume water they also give back to the environment. For a more vibrant and healthy interior space, there are a lot of options for decorating with plants. Distributing plants throughout your office is a subtle and effective way of indicating you are a supporter of green practices. Your actions here, once more, will speak volumes.