I’m certain that you’ve seen the Energy Star logo on many an item. Energy Star is a very good program of the EPA. You can find out a lot more at energystar.gov, and see lots of programs that they endorse. I only have one problem with them, they’re to paperwork intensive. They are after all, a government entity. I tried to get us signed up as a participating store reecently. Well, they require a large amount of paperwork to sign up, then many forms to be filled out along the way. Again, not a bad thing, just seems to be counterproductive to me. So, why am I saying this? Because we have many Energy Star approved products in stock.

We not only have products to sell, but we use Energy Star products here ourselves. We have just purchased and will soon have installed two new CFL light fixtures for the exterior of our store. These will replace old mercury vapor lights. We are about nine months in to our new lighting, using electronic T-8 bulbs that replace the old T-12 bulbs. We not only have more and better light in the store, we’re saving 15% consistently each month on electricity.

We have also just reduced the paperwork we generate in our office. We buy 100% recycled office paper, but feel even better about reducing what we generate. We should use about 21 fewer reems of paper per year than before! We have two new toilets waiting to be installed as well. Yes, we’re awfully behind getting in line with the low-flow toilets, but we’re doing it.

So, we’re not the greenest store in the world, nor do we claim to be. But we do try to reduce, re-use and recycle as much as possible. And even though we won’t have the official Energy Star logo on our front door, we do sell and promote many Energy Star rated items.