Business has always been about "making green," but in recent years more emphasis has been on "going green." And a variety of businesses on the North Shore are getting in on the action.
Some make products with "green" appeal. HER Design, based in Marblehead, for example, creates environmentally friendly and cruelty-free handbags sold in shops across the country and even in the United Kingdom. They're made from more sustainable materials, such as linen and microsuede, and with eco-sensitive glues, solvents and other materials.
Helen Riegel, designer and principal, said when she started the company in 2004, she spent a good portion of her sales pitch explaining why green products are important. She doesn't need to do that anymore.
In fact, Riegel said, new "green" shops now call her asking to carry her bags.
The shift came after last year's Oscars. Riegel said the event had a very green feel with Al Gore being one of the big winners with his film "An Inconvenient Truth." Riegel's bags were featured in one of the gifting suites that had a "green" theme.
Other businesses are looking to make their buildings more eco-friendly.
Ann Goggin, owner/developer of the former Osram Sylvania complex on Sylvan Street in Danvers, said any business looking to move into an office space should question the building's energy footprint. A study by the U.S. Green Building Council concluded that 65 percent of electricity consumption and 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States can be attributed to buildings.
When Goggin's company bought the old Sylvania building, they refitted it top to bottom with environmentally friendly features. The floor is covered with "green material" carpet tiles instead of broadloom. The walls are coated with paint that is low on volatile organic compounds. And most of the building's light comes from a naturally abundant source — the sun.
At midday you can find employees eating their lunches in a room that is fully lit but has no windows and no artificial light. The light comes through solar tubes that carry the sunlight in through what looks like duct work and uses prisms to scatter it through the room.
Danversbank was the first tenant at the building, and Eileen Lubas, the first vice president and project manager, said Goggin's environmental approach has inspired her and the company to think greener.
Danversbank recently adopted a "green as you go" approach. Lubas said all the bank's future locations will use the eco-friendly products, and existing locations will gradually get greener as carpets, lighting, paint, and other necessities are replaced.
