Measuring Success

How do you measure the success of your efforts to reduce costs, environmental impact and increase profits? How can you tell which action made the biggest difference?

For most small business owners with thin profit margins these are important questions to ask.

There are two areas most companies can focus on. The efficiency of the building they own and the overall efficiency of their entire operation.

Building efficiency can be measured using "Portfolio Manager" to get baseline data on current energy and water usage. Portfolio Manager is software being used nation wide as a tool for business and property owners to use. Once set up, if the automated setting was selected you will receive monthly updates from your utility.

Making annual comparisons will help you measure how changes made to lighting, water fixtures and operations management are reducing your carbon output and the costs associated with purchasing electricity and water.

The Energy Star Program has information on their website with a link to a Benchmark Starter Kit offered by the Environmental Protection Agency that explains how to use Portfolio Manager.

Within the Bechmark Starter Kit is an animated training for Benchmarking, with step by step instructions building managers and owners can view as needed.

For measuring overall efficiency of your entire operation, Pollution Prevention Resource Center(PPRC) offers metrics for developing your own tailored measurement system.

PPRC offers specific steps, practical guidelines and a healthy list of other available resources.

To get a sense of the scale of what is possible in the region take a look at PPRC's "P2 Results Data System."

The system was initially developed for the region and is now a national repository for collecting activity, behavioral change and outcome measures resulting from pollution prevention work in public agencies and their clients. The system is designed to report annual results by region. 

For the Environmental Protection Agencies Region 10 (Alaska, Washington, Idaho and Portland) agencies that adopted efficiencies succeeded in over the past 10 years collectively:

• Reducing 590,873,120 of solid waste 
• Reducing electrical use 1,076,074,122 Kilowatt hours
• Reducing Water use by 4,152,107,701 Gallons 
• Reduced operating expenses by $551,944,603.67

This is a very small sampling of the data available. I am told by Ken Grimm of Pollution Prevention Resource Center that the figure for reduced operating expenses is a bit low. "First, we were able to capture and quantify only a portion of the P2 work that has been accomplished over the past 20 years, thus this figure is low. Second, although the system has the results of hazardous waste reductions going back almost 20 years, most of the other data is from 2004 on. Lastly, the P2 Results Data System records reductions as one-time events instead of annual savings."

"For example, if I switch my dry cleaning process from perchloroethylene to a wet system, I will not use 550 lbs of perc the first year. That will go into the data system. I will continue not using 550 pounds of perc each and every year after that. The system does not reflect that, again making the aggregate (the $551,944,603.67) a very conservative figure." (Some of the data is based on calculators so future reporting will use round figures)

Many thanks to Pollution Prevention Resource Center and the EPA for making this information and other helpful tools available to the public.