Arlington County will introduce a new green business initiative Tuesday encouraging property owners and corporate tenants to lower their energy costs while operating their businesses in a more environmentally friendly manner.
The Arlington Green Games is cast as a competition between businesses and offices in the county. Tuesday’s event — held at 12:30 p.m. in Rosslyn — will promote the program and encourage local business to register for the competition.
Businesses that sign up will be part of a yearlong competition scheduled to begin in January. Arlington County’s Fresh AIRE Program, which organized the competition, will provide each business with an analysis of their current state of environmental awareness and provide a checklist of actions they can take to improve energy efficiency.
“The biggest thing we’re trying to educate the business community about is the cost-saving potential that comes along with things like energy efficiency that can help control their bottom line,” said Sarah O’Connell, one of the architects of the program.
The competition could help lower Arlington’s greenhouse gas emissions, said O’Connell. More than 40 percent of the county’s emissions come from commercial office buildings, according to a 2007 energy study by county officials.
Throughout the year, Arlington officials will interact with the companies to provide training and any technical assistance necessary for businesses to accomplish their energy goals based on the analysis done at the beginning of the competition.
The two winners — one property manager and one office tenant — will have shown the greatest year-end improvement in areas such as energy and water use, waste diversion, and transportation choices. Winners will be recognized by the County Board.
Several companies have already signed up to participate, including Glenborough LLC, the Crystal City Business Improvement District and PBS.
Arlington’s competition is based on a similar model run in Chicago last year by ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability. More than 200 Chicago business participated in the program in 2009, including Boeing, Microsoft and PepsiCo.
After the initial success of the program in Chicago, ICLEI sought out other localities to test-drive the competition. Arlington County was selected from a group of national applicants, along with Charleston, S.C., Nashville, Tenn., and San Diego.
Arlington wants to expand the program in the future to let homeowners and small-business owners participate, O’Connell said.
