By Ken Edelstein
MyGreenATL.com

It sounds too good to be true: A way to pay for home energy improvements that requires no upfront payments from homeowners and no payments at all by local taxpayers. And though you’d fund your project with a loan, you wouldn’t be saddled with loan payments if you sold the house and moved out.

With a new state law in place to allowing such Property Assessed Clean Energy financing programs, city leaders already “are working to engage a consultant” to set up PACE in Atlanta, says Mandy Schmitt Mahoney, the city’s sustainability chief.

In most states where they’ve been implemented, PACE loans are paid back, as the name implies, through special assessments on real estate taxes for the properties that have gotten the improvements. In Georgia, clean energy advocates admit, local PACE programs may need to be tweaked to operate consistently with the state’s constitution. Still, they’re optimistic that PACE will be a big step forward for a state that has otherwise had a poor record on support for alternatives to conventional power.

“It will be unique tool for communities to encourage clean energy projects,” says Ben Taube, executive director of the Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance.

PACE originated in none other than the greenie haven of Berkeley, Calif. But the idea is market-oriented at its core. As chief of staff to the mayor there, Cisco DeVries was puzzling in 2007 over ways to help homeowners pay for solar panels and other clean energy projects. It was part of a drive to reduce the Bay Area city’s greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent.

The problem: Property owners often don’t invest in long-term energy improvements, because they’re unlikely to recoup the full value of the improvements when they sell the property. If an owner took out a conventional loan — say, to add solar panels or insulation — she’d have to continue payments even after she sold the property. Meanwhile, the new owner would enjoy lower energy bills.

So DeVries came up with a nifty solution: A city issues bonds. Homeowners apply for loans funded by those bonds. The loans must be used to invest in efficiency or clean energy projects. And each property owner pays back the loan over 15 or 20 years (with interest, of course) through a special assessment tacked onto his or her property tax bill.

Georgia’s constitution only allows development authorities to issue bonds for local government purposes. So, HB 1388 had to be written give development authorities, rather than cities or counties, the power to issue PACE bonds. The development authorities could then work with the cities to set up PACE programs.

Taube acknowledges that the setup creates the potential for complications. “Obviously,” he says, “there’s gotta be a coordination between the cities and the counties.”

It’s not clear, for example, that PACE participants in Georgia will be able to attach their payments to property taxes. But Taube and Jason Rooks, the environmental lobbyist who engineered the bill’s passage, insist that there are likely to be creative solutions.

“The collection mechanism (whether through the tax assessor’s office or the water department) is not really that big of deal because there are various avenues for a governmental entity to collect payment,” Rooks wrote in an email. “But … the property tax assessment model whereby the local government makes a loan with the power of collection of a property tax had constitutional/legal/political hurdles which we could not overcome this (legislative) session.”

Whatever the questions, Georgia’s PACE legislation incorporates a wide range of projects. While PACE in some other states is limited to energy efficiency or clean energy improvements, Georgia cities could include energy efficiency, water conservation and “energy from renewable resources” in their own PACE programs. And the programs may apply to both homes and commercial buildings.

“This is tool for local communities to pay for improvements through an infrastructure that they haven’t had before,” Taube says. Taube’s energy-efficiency advocacy group even received a $20 million federal stimulus grant last month, part of which can be used to help Atlanta, Decatur and a handful of other cities set up their PACE programs.

All that’s not to say that Georgia has suddenly become a clean energy Mecca. The state Public Service Commission still allows Georgia Power to a fraction of what utilities in other states pay for excess solar energy that’s sent back to power grid by property owners – a big disincentive for solar investment. And the amount of money for clean energy tax incentives was so piddly this year that it ran out in April.

Taube stresses, however, that there are still federal tax incentives for property owners to invest in clean energy and efficiency projects. And Mahoney hopes Atlanta will be well on its way toward developing its own PACE program by summer.

Among other projects, Atlanta environmental journalist Ken Edelstein publishes My Green ATL, an environmental news site.

By Laura Turner Seydel

This past month, legislation was passed in California banning pharmacy, grocery, liquor and convenience stores throughout the state from giving out plastic shopping bags. This is great news when statistics show that each year an estimated 500 billion plastic bags are consumed worldwide.

While countries around the world have already made similar bans on plastic, California becomes the first U.S. state to demand action be taken to reduce the amount of toxic plastic that ends up in landfills, urban rivers and oceans.  The impact of these plastics in our oceans has taken form in plastic garbage patches, some the size of Texas, which pose serious threat to our wildlife and ecosystem (learn more at www.5gyres.org).

Californians will see this new plastic bag ban in full effect come January 2012, but here in Georgia it’s hard to tell when we’ll see such an initiative.   However, we don’t need a statewide ban to personally commit to reducing plastic in our everyday lives. Beyond plastic shopping bags, our landfills are burdened with billions of tons of additional plastic waste that we can easily replace with eco-friendly alternatives.

Each year, about 3 million tons of plastic are used in bottled water packaging, 80 percent of which end up in landfills. Commit yourself to using BPA-free, reusable water bottles instead of disposable plastic bottles that leach chemicals and do not breakdown in a landfill. CuteSip (www.CuteSip.com) bottles are a great stainless steel option for kids (and adults!) and leave no negative impact upon our planet or our health.

When dining out, think twice about accepting a straw for your drink.  Consider McDonalds who serves nearly 47 million customers each day, most of whom use a plastic straw. Or the billions of plastic coffee stirrers used each morning. While perfectly recyclable (see the list of recyclable plastic items issued by Waste Management at www.wm.com), most of these end up in a landfill to become a toxic burden to our planet. Many restaurants, like Ted’s Montana Grill, have eliminated plastic straws in favor of recycled paper alternatives that do the trick in a very green way.

Also you can do little things like refusing plastic clothing bags at the dry cleaners, disposing of cigarette butts in ashtrays versus simply tossing them out the window, purchasing biodegradable garbage bag or leaving behind plastic utensils when taking to-go food orders home. When you must use plastic, make sure you reuse or recycle it!  Recycling efforts, making plastic from plastic instead of making it from raw materials, not only saves 88 percent of energy in the production cycle, but also minimizes our use of our planet’s precious resources and greatly lifts the burden upon our landfills.

For more green living tips, visit www.lauraseydel.com.

The groundbreaking ATLANTA: Beyond Bricks & Sticks engages and educates viewers with real time information and interactive touch screens to explain just what it means to be “green.” Curation of the exhibition includes a broad spectrum of buildings reflective of the metro area’s commercial and residential projects along with large-scale developments that incorporate environmental features.

All of the exhibit’s projects either meet the US Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system or the Southeast’s EarthCraft House certification program. The exhibit has been thoughtfully designed with sustainable materials to fit the theme while allowing for the challenges of traveling to the various settings.

The exhibit will be traveling throughout the rest of 2010 and 2011, including Sept. 6 through December at the Gwinnett Environmental and Heritage Center.

For more information, visit www.museumofdesign.org.

By Jenn Ballentine

Given the huge impact the economic downturn has had on the hospitality industry, one would think that hotels and inns across Atlanta would be looking for ways to cut costs and scaling back unnecessary spending where possible. Yet a number of hotels have recently made significant investments in their properties, adding green features and implementing green practices such as recycling and linen reuse programs.

Here’s a closer look at Atlanta’s green hotels.

The Emory Conference Center Hotel

The Emory Conference Center Hotel (ECCH) attained Ledership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification in March of 2010 for its new five-story addition completed in 2009. It’s currently the only hotel in Atlanta to be LEED certified.

The addition connects to the existing building by a bridge and includes 127 new guest rooms, 6,000 square feet of additional meeting space, a six-lane bowling alley with retro décor that includes a full bar and game room, and a parking garage. The added guest rooms and meeting space will result in ECCH offering a total of 325 guest rooms with six suites and 32,000 square feet of meeting space. The ECCH addition is the 13th building to achieve LEED certification at Emory University.

When Emory University determined that ECCH needed additional space, they decided to continue their efforts to build green and installed a number of green features such as the use of low VOC paints and carpets and green cleaning products, single stream recycling and food digesting where all leftover food is recycled and turned into graywater for use in maintaining the landscaping. Additionally, the waste oils from the Center’s kitchen are taken to a recycling center and turned into bio-diesel fuel, which is used to operate the Cliff buses, Emory’s free campus shuttles.

These efforts have led to the following reductions in energy and water use and costs with a 50 percent reduction in irrigation for landscaping, 31 percent reduction in water usage and 18 percent reduction in over all energy consumption.

According to John Hill, Director of Sales and Marketing at ECCH, Emory has always been on the front edge of the green movement and the ECCH has been implementing green practices such as recycling, using low VOC paints and installing Energy Star appliances and low flush toilets for several years now.

While going green required an increased financial investment, it has benefited the Conference Center in a number of ways. According to Hill, the Center “has been able to do more business with organizations that share the same view,” he said.

ECCH is a member of the Green Hotels Association and as mentioned, is one of two hotels in Atlanta to be certified by Green Seal, Inc. The hotel is located at 1615 Clifton Road across from Emory and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For more information or to make reservations, visit www.emoryconferencecenter.com.

Hotel Palomar Atlanta Midtown

Hotel Palomar, a Kimpton Hotel located on West Peachtree Street between 6th and 7th streets, believes that luxury and sustainability go hand in hand. According to the hotel’s General Manager Mark Fischer, the Kimpton Hotel company based in San Francisco, has been on the forefront of the “earth care” movement for many years now.

“We believe in protecting our community and giving back to the community. We took our time in developing the green practices we wanted to embrace because we know we have guests who want to participate in the green movement,” he said.

Some of the eco-friendly features that Hotel Palomar offers include in-room recycling bins, towel and linen reuse program, which helps to reduce water and energy use, efficient lighting fixtures that reduce energy consumption throughout the hotel, low- flow toilets, showers and faucets, paperless check in and much more.

Additionally, each department in the hotel has a Green Team and a leader who is responsible for ensuring that his or her department is instituting green practices. Hotel Palomar recently received the Green Seal certification for its efforts. For more information or to make reservations, visit www.hotelpalomar-atlantamidtown.com.

Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia

Like the Hotel Palomar, the Crowne Plaza Atlanta Perimeter at Ravinia equates sustainability with comfort and beauty. Nestled in a lush setting minutes away from the hustle and bustle of Perimter Mall and the surrounding businesses, the Crowne Plaza offers guests an environmentally-friendly and serene oasis in the middle of the city.

Sustainable features include green meeting rooms, a linen reuse program, low-flow showerheads and sink faucets in all guestrooms, energy efficient lighting in public spaces throughout the hotel and biodegradable cleaning chemicals. The hotel also donates partially used guestroom amenities, discarded linen and furniture to local charity organizations.

Because the Crowne Plaza is better known outside the United States, the hotel sought green certification through Green Globe, the premier international brand for sustainable travel, tourism and related green businesses. An affiliate member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization, Green Globe employs a certification process that verifies achievements against international sustainability standards.

For Craig Hillyard, the General Manager of The Crowne Plaza, the certification process was intense. “It’s more than just conservation and recycling. They expect you to involve the community and it requires a lot of good will. We have been working on green initiatives for a long time and we have staff that are passionate about going green so we had a solid basis in place,” he said.

Following the lead of their management company, Crestline Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza has been employing practices such as recycling and composting, energy and water conservation and environmentally friendly purchasing policies that proactively impact the hotel, its’ guests and the community since last year. For more information or reservations, visit www.cpravinia.com.

Stonehurst Place

Built in 1896 and listed on the National Historic Register, the former Hinman House was extensively renovated and restored in 2008 and became the Stonehurst Place, a bed and breakfast located in the heart of Midtown. This historic preservation, which used EarthCraft House standards (like those of LEED) employs a number of sustainable features in a highly personal and unique setting.

Some of the features include separately zoned heating and air conditioning, solar panels for heating and hot water usage, low-flow toilets and faucets, greywater for landscape irrigation, eco-friendly cleaning and laundry products, in-room recycling and much more.

These eco-friendly features have led to significant reductions in operating costs, according to owner and interior designer Barb Shadomy, who said the decision to “go green” was made “not by analyzing costs and return on investment, but by deciding it was the way we wanted to live and the environment we wanted to provide for guests.”

Stonehurst was recently awarded the “Most Green Conscious of 2010” by Lanier’s Bed and Breakfast, one of the largest international bed and breakfast innkeeper organizations and travel guides. The Stonehurst Place Bed & Breakfast is located at 923 Piedmont Avenue. For more information or to make a reservation, visit www.stonehurstplace.com.

Other Atlanta-area hotels that have or are currently beginning to implement green initiatives include the W Hotel at Perimeter, the Sheraton Downtown Atlanta and the Ellis Hotel on Peachtree. In August of 2010, the Atlanta Airport Marriot Gateway, a LEED-certified hotel is expected to open. For more information on green hotels, visit www.environmentallyfriendlyhotels.com.

Compost can be used to help create better soils, reduce erosion, keep moisture in the soil, filter polluted water running off of streets and parking lots, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and it can help reestablish natural biological systems.

When food and yard “waste” are diverted to make compost instead of going to local landfills it extends the life of a landfill and it reduces greenhouse gases.

By composting your grass and food waste, you can create a great resource for your yard or garden. Composters can be bought at local hardware stores and make it easy to get started. They can also be built pretty inexpensively.

For active composting, it is important to make sure there is the right mix of carbon (leaves), nitrogen (food waste and grass), water and aeration. The more your turn your compost, the quicker it will decompose and the quicker it can be used.

With all of the benefits, compost is sort of the environmental miracle drug! To learn more about composting and how it can help “Get Plastic Out of Your Diet” check out www.GreenPlate.org.

– Polly Sattler

GreenBusiness WORKS has announced the sustainability rankings of 280 publicly-held companies throughout the Southeast, indexed on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors and policies by Boston-based KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. Ten Atlanta companies made the list: Coca-Cola Enterprises, Earthlink, Global Payments, IntercontinentalExchange, Interface Global, InterNAP Network Services Corporation, MedAssets, RPC, Suntrust Banks and UPS. The full Rankings can be found at www.SoutheasternCorporateSustainabilityRankings.net.

Jamestown and Cousins Properties are celebrating 999 Peachtree’s certification as a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) Silver building. 999 Peachtree truly distinguished itself as a sustainable leader in Midtown Atlanta when it received the prestigious certification, joining the small class of only 500 buildings in the U.S. to earn the designation.

To support environmental projects across the country, Roswell-based Kimberly-Clark Professional has launched the Green Patrol, a program that brings employees and other volunteers to communities throughout the United States to help plant trees, aid in cleanup and recycling projects and other environmental efforts. The effort was launched on Earth Day events in Atlanta and Philadelphia. In Atlanta, more than 60 Kimberly-Clark employees, as well as groups from the Boys and Girls Club and a local high school volunteered to clean up the Proctor Creek, one of the most environmentally impaired creeks in metro Atlanta. The effort was undertaken as part of EarthShare of Georgia’s Corporate Green Day Challenge. Kimberly-Clark Professional is one of the largest manufacturers of washroom products in the world. www.kcpreducetoday.com/us

By Carly Felton

In the past couple of years, real estate in Atlanta – and all over the country – has undergone a tremendous change. Sure, prices fell and properties became harder and harder to sell; however there are a number of other significant, though often overlooked trends in the market.

According to the National Association of Home Builders’ (NABH) online magazine, homes are getting smaller and greener and multi-generational homes are on the rise. According to local real estate professionals, home offices have skyrocketed in demand as well. Below, Atlanta INtown explores these powerful trends.

Shrinking Size

The U.S. Census shows that the average size of a new single-family home in the South is starting to shrink for the first time in 10 years. Additionally, nine out of 10 builders surveyed by the NABH last year said they’re building, or planning to build, smaller, lower-priced homes than in the past.

“People are recognizing that they can’t afford to overbuy anymore,” says Dennis Creech, co-founder and executive director of Southface. “They’re going from 400,000 square feet to a more modest 35,000 square feet.”

Principal and Vice President of Business Development at Your Own Sanctuary Heyward Young agrees. “McMansions are out!” he says. “The hottest segment of the market seems to be the starter or bungalow-style home.” Jeffrey Dufresne, executive director of Urban Land Institute Atlanta believes this is because the household size itself is shrinking, as more people live alone, delay marriage and/or childbirth and have fewer children. Plus, people want convenience and that often comes in the form of smaller, Intown homes closer to work.

Going Green

Smaller homes are usually more eco-friendly, as well – one of the many reasons green homes are on the rise. “How many people do you think want higher energy and water bills?” Creech asks, rhetorically speaking. “Everyone realizes the days of cheap water and land are over. People are looking for greater value.”

Though the cost of a green home is generally three to six percent higher than a conventional home, the extra money is quickly repaid in energy savings and reduced transportation costs (for those who move closer to work and work-live-play centers). “Would you rather spend the money on your mortgage – which will get a return on your investment – or give it to the utility company and never see it again?” Creech says.

The green building market was valued at $10 billion in 2005 and grew to $36 billion in 2009. It may grow to $96 by 2013, according to a study by McGraw-Hill Construction last year. “Almost all new homes have green elements,” Young says. “It’s what the consumer wants.”

One example of this trend is 898 North Highland, a single-family home that has been converted into four green condos with rooftop solar panels, radiant floor heat, VOC-free paint, bamboo flooring, double insulated energy-efficient windows and a parking lot made from recycled tires.

Anne Miller, associate broker with Prudential Georgia Realty, says that even when buyers don’t specifically seek out green homes, when they look at a home and find out it has eco-friendly features, they may choose that home over others that aren’t green.

Talking ‘Bout My Generation

According to a survey by Coldwell Banker Real Estate, from 2009 to 2010, 37 percent of real estate sales professionals surveyed noted an increase in homebuyers looking for spaces to accommodate more than one generation of their family. Seventy percent of these real estate agents believe the economic conditions may cause an even greater demand for multi-generational homes this year.

Both Miller and Young say they see a lot of buyers looking for an in-law suite or a separate space for grown children to live. This can include elderly parents who can’t afford to retire on their own and are forced to move in with their children all the way down to college graduates who have been unable to secure a job. Areas like Glenwood Park have in-law/young adult suites on the property but separate from the main house, thus ensuring some privacy.

Working From Home

The NABH also suggests that many Baby Boomers are coming up with new ways of using their homes. Dufresne believes this is primarily true in regard to home offices. “As family sizes shrink, more home owners and buyers are converting extra bedrooms into offices, particularly since the ‘breadwinners’ may be in between full-time jobs and are working out of their homes on contract engagements,” he says.

Many employers have been downsizing and asking their employees to telecommute rather than come into a central office, and employees often receive tax breaks for working from home. Miller finds that when people work from home, they often want to keep their work environment separate from their home environment.

“Almost 100 percent of my buyers are looking for a home office or an extra bedroom to turn into a home office,” Young says.

By Polly Sattler

Local nonprofit GreenPlate, Inc. works to raise awareness about and reduce single use plastic. Each month, our newsletter highlights local restaurants who are either well on their way or working to become more environmentally friendly (and less plastic dependent). The restaurants then give a GreenPlate special for our readers.

Of course we had to start with Atlanta’s only Certified Green Restaurant, Radial Café. Owner Phil Palmer has been leading the way in reducing his environmental footprint for more than 10 years by finding bio-based take out products, using local foods and even using a tree bark cleaner.

According to the National Restaurant Association, 62 percent of consumers say they would prefer to eat at an eco-friendly restaurant. It’s a positive trend that while people have always gone for quality, great service and good value; they are now also searching out locally grown and organic food as well as businesses who care about their impact on the environment.

Here are profiles of Intown restaurants that are taking the GreenPlate challenge and how they are getting plastic off their menus.

MILLER UNION
Chef Steven Sanderson opened Miller Union on the Westside of Midtown six months ago and he is committed to sustainability and great food.

What inspired you to open Miller Union?
I really wanted a restaurant that creates great, fresh, local foods and that is equally environmentally responsible. It really bugged me to see all sort of resources thrown away instead of being recycled and seen as a resource.

What are you most proud of?
We set our standards in place for what we wanted to achieve and we have achieved all our goals but we aren’t complacent because we can always be better. We recycled everything, we compost, we buy locally, we grown our own lettuces on the patio and we even offer organic and biodynamic wines.

Was setting up composting difficult?
No it was really easy and it has really helped us reduce our trash output. Fortunately, GreenCo is able to pick up our compost a couple of times a week. We just separate out any food materials and put it in the GreenCo containers every day. Last month we diverted 7,150 lbs of food waste from the landfill. In addition, we only throw away 1-15 gallon container of waste a day.

GP: How do you incorporate local foods into your menu?
Local foods are our focus. We work directly with local farmers as much as possible and we build our menus around what is available. One thing we are committed to is only offering sustainable fish. We look at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch to determine what fish we will serve. It can be a bit of a challenge to find fish that people like. For instance we will prepare Wreck from which is an alternative to Grouper. We offer Atlantic Tile fish but not Tilefish from the Florida coast. It can get complicated!

RADIAL CAFÉ
Owner of award-winning Radial Café, Phil Palmer has long been a strong proponent of eco-friendly living at work and at home. From avoiding plastics to installing water-conserving toilets, Palmer carefully considers every purchase and is always forward thinking in his efforts.

Why say “No” to plastics?
Plastics from every angle are just a really bad idea. Beginning with the fact that plastic is made from petroleum. If we are going to war for access to oil, when it comes to using it to wrap our food, there are simply better choices.

How do you fight plastics?
I actively look for ways to not bring plastic into my restaurant. I buy products based on packaging. For example, I’ll choose the jar of pickles that comes in glass instead of plastic. And I take those decisions home, too.

What’s a dirty plastic secret?
At Radial we are stuck with an inventory of plastic bags. Aaargh! They only came in lots of 12,000 and that was five years ago!

GP: What’s your tip to readers?
Do something…anything! Start wherever you can.

JAVAVINO
Steve Franklin and Heddy Kuhl, owners of JavaVino Coffee and Wine House, in Poncey Highland are committed to sustainability. Franklin talked about how the neighborhood favorite has taken plastic off the menu

How are you sustainable?
At JavaVino, we sell coffee from Selva Negra in Nicaragua. It is recognized as one of the world’s most sustainable coffee farms, and it is Heddy’s family farm.

What about plastics?
From the very first, we decided not to use plastic stir sticks and we always offer mugs for people having their coffee here. Right now, we are wrapping our to go orders in paper and cardboard boxes. We’d like to find even more biodegradable alternatives. While the top of the to go coffee cups are plastic, we are going to start educating our customers and letting them decide whether they need the lids.

What is the next step?
We want to extend the network of local and sustainable coffee growers in Nicaragua. By providing better wages, and buying from additional growers, we will be able to help them set their own sustainability goals to grow coffee in ways that support their families and communities and the environment and make better coffee.

How does the farm inspire you?
Every action they take on the farm is taken with a framework of sustainability. They collect old plastic bottles from ditches and waterways and turn them into “Broca Traps” as a means to organically remove the Coffee Berry Borer, a damaging pest to the beans.

Got a dirty plastic secret?
Right now, we are selling bottled water but are looking to sell the water bottles made from cornstarch.

NONI’S ITALIAN DELI & BAR
Matt Rupert opened Noni’s on Edgewood Avenue in 2008. With its great food and fabulous patio, its been a favorite spot for the food service industry and people in the neighborhood ever since.

What kind of food does Noni’s specialize in?
I wanted to prepare Italian comfort food in an elegant way. I named the restaurant Noni in honor of my Italian grandmother. Some of my recipes come directly from her so we are serving some traditional Italian dishes.

What about local and organic food?
We are committed to providing good quality, fresh foods. We don’t have a freezer so we get our foods on an almost daily basis. We buy from as many local sources as possible. We get our sausage from Patak Meat Products in Austell, our milk from Johnston Family Farms, and some of our produce comes from Greenleaf Farms in Barnesville.

Recently, you have been working with GreenPlate to reduce your environmental impact. How would describe that process?
What I liked about working with GreenPlate is that they wanted to help us save money and reduce our environmental footprint. It has been sort of a learning process in how to incorporate some of the recommendations. I am now seeing the benefits financially as well as knowing that I am doing something positive by making these changes.

What are the changes that you have made so far?
Well one of the first was switching from Styrofoam to-go containers to sugar cane. That’s one that I know my customers appreciate. GreenPlate helped me find solutions that weren’t cost prohibitive. We are also switching to more efficient water fixtures that are estimated to save us about $3000 and reduce our water use by 100,000 gallons of water over two years. I’m also excited that these options and the energy efficiency changers are helping me reduce my carbon footprint.

MILLTOWN ARMS TAVERN
Milltown Arms Tavern is a neighborhood meeting place with healthy, great food and fun games in the Cabbagetown community. Owner Barb Kenney talked abut how the local pub is going green.

What’s your ‘green’ mission?
From day one, we have been committed to providing great quality food while looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact.

What steps have you taken?
We have started recycling cardboard and have made the cardboard bin available to other community businesses. We also recycle our liquor and wine bottles. We started changing to biodegradable take out options.

What step have you taken that you really felt made and impact?
We hosted the Milltown Olympics and made it a green event. We used silverware and compostable plates and cups and then partnered with GreenCo Environmental. Georgia’s only permitted food waste composter to compost all of the food and paper waste.

What’s your dirty little plastic secret?
Well, we are still using the plastic bags but we are working on that!

BAB’S
Randy Adler of Bab’s on Juniper Street had a simple goal when opening his Midtown restaurant – to create a place in the neighborhood for people to gather for casual food.

What are some of the initiatives you have taken to make Bab’s more environmentally friendly?
We do not have bottled water, Styrofoam or plastic stirrers – only bamboo. We recycle and we also encourage our clients to use a silver service when doing catering instead of disposable items.

You are a full time consultant for Affairs to Remember. Why manage Bab’s and work for Affairs?
Affairs to Remember is a great company to work with. They were the first zero waste zone caterer in Georgia! They provide 100 percent compostable box lunches to their clients.

How do you incorporate the social side of sustainability into what you do?
We engage everyone with our “community empowerment” program to be proactive about the community. One program that has gone well is our trading with a number of homeless people. In exchange for cleaning the parking lot, we give them a meal. Everybody wins.

What’s one of your mottos that you live by?
Invoke, inspire and involve your community.

THE SHED AT GLENWOOD

Owner Cindy Shera opened The Shed just last year. It’s already a favorite local eatery.

Why did you open the Shed?
Well, after 15 years in the business, I wanted a place where I could do things right. I wanted to reduce restaurant waste, produce great food, and make a difference. Consumers today feel better when they learn a restaurant serves biodynamic and organic foods.

Why Glenwood Park?
It’s my neighborhood and I wanted to get more involved. Glenwood Park is attractive because it incorporated sustainability into the development.

How is The Shed green?
We grow herbs and vegetables. We buy direct from local, organic farmers. Our chef has a composting system we use to process the prep food, coffee grounds, filters and paper from old menus. We grind the compost to accelerate its breakdown. We have just found a local drop-off for glass bottles.

And your take-out?
Our to-go boxes are recyclable paperboard. We ask if customers need cutlery, and most say no. Our to-go bags are paper and not dyed.

What’s your dirty little plastic secret?
We still use plastic straws and stir straws! But our olive skewers are now wood.

PARSLEY’S CATERING
Marc Sommers, owner, and Scott Sutton, chef of Parseley’s Catering and The Gardens at Kennesaw have created two of the most green food service organizations in the state. Sommers talked about their practices.

How are you making a difference?
As a catering company, we were sending all of our products out in plastic. Now however, we rarely use it and only if a customer asks for it. If they do ask for it, we use it as an opportunity to talk about the issues.

What made you get greener?
I lived in Asheville and Oregon and saw how committed the towns were to sustainability. It helped me realize there was a lot we could do and that there were actually financial benefits to making the changes.

What’s the biggest impact you’re making?
We are moving into a low impact special events facility. People will be able to rent a facility that has energy and water efficient components including solar panels. We are also really excited about the chef’s garden that we are growing on site.

Got a dirty plastic secret?
It’s the platters! We still use reusable but disposable platters.

BLUE-EYED DAISY
Kara Nygren and Raina Newell are co-operators of the Blue-Eyed Daisy Bakeshop at Serenbe, the sustainable community in South Fulton County. Nygren talked about the green efforts at Blue-Eyed Daisy.

What are some of your green initiatives?
We’re actually the smallest LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] certified building in the country. All of our brick and flooring is reclaimed and we use a geothermal heating and cooling system.

Is all of your food locally grown?
When in season, we get about 90 percent of our food from Farmer Paige at our local farm here in Serenbe. Out of season, we have to go through restaurant suppliers, but we’re very careful in selecting our products to make sure they have very little environmental impact.

What kind of dine-in and take out containers do you use?
We’re currently using biodegradable take-out plates and corn-based cups, but we’re encouraging our customers to dine-in so we can move more toward washable/reusable dishes.

What’s your dirty little plastic secret?
We’re still using individually packaged condiments, even for dine-in guests. Within the coming days we’ll be transitioning to large pump bottles to reduce waste.

SWEET NECTAR
Husband and wife team Gaurav Malhotra and Naruna Rangel just opened Nectar, a juice bar in the Oakhurst community. ?Malhotra said from day one Nectar has been committed to reducing its environmental impact.

What steps have you taken to go green?
We buy as much organically and locally grown produce as we can find. It helps us provide the quality we believe. We use a tankless hot water heater now and plan to switch to solar. We partner with the Oakhurst Community Garden, to turn smoothie waste into compost.

What about plastics?
Actually, we are using PET [Plastic Number 1] for our smoothies now. We started with corn-based PLA cups (made of corn-based resin) but have decided not to use those until the kinks of composting/recycling get worked out. We use mostly paper for our take out.

What’s your dirty little plastic secret?
We use plastic straws.

PARISH

Brodie Lang, Director of Purchasing with Concentrics Restaurants, is helping pilot the group’s green goals at Parish, a flavorful nod to New Orleans right in Inman Park.

Why start with Parish?
When opening Parish’s market and coffee bar we decided to be as green as possible. Our first priority was to avoid large amounts of plastic waste. We chose take-out materials made from corn, sugar cane, and paper that are either recycled or biodegradable and compostable.

What’s the response?
It’s great! Our staff has been really excited about our commitment to these products. They can talk about the alternatives and they are the ones telling the story.

Noticed any barriers?
Plastic alternatives are a little more expensive and can require a lot of legwork to find the right products, materials, and sizes. We have two great suppliers that are working hard to get us what we need. Also, some of the Corn products melt when heated.

Any green plans?
We are very excited about starting to use two local, organic farmers. We can offer fresher foods and reduce our green house gas impact, while supporting Georgia’s economy. We are also starting recycling and looking at composting options.

Got a dirty plastic secret?
Yes, we are still selling plastic bottled water in the market, but are looking for alternatives.