Archive for the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ Category

Run For The Warriors

Thursday, May 12th, 2011

I’m heading down to Jacksonville, NC, this weekend, where I will be running a 5K at the 6th annual “Run for the Warriors.” This is something I’m really looking forward to, and something I appreciate even more because of how closely I’ve been able to work with the military over the last few years here at Southern Energy Management.

Sometimes, despite the best efforts of everyone involved or because of circumstances out of anyone’s control, service members or their families have needs that present very real challenges. That’s where (more…)

City of Raleigh Presents Southern Energy Management with 2011 Environmental Stewardship Award

Monday, April 25th, 2011

This is a humbling day for Southern Energy Management. We are proud to be part of the Triangle community, and last week the City of Raleigh honored SEM with the highest award given out at their annual Environmental Awards program. The Environmental Stewardship Award recognizes “an individual or organization that has and shown leadership in sustainable development and in doing so recognizes the relationship and continuity of the environment, economics, and equity or social justice aspects of human society.” (more…)

Think Locally, Act Globally – The Power Of Working Together

Friday, April 15th, 2011

Before co-founding Southern Energy Management in 2001, Bob and Maria Kingery worked at Burt’s Bees (a local natural personal care company).  Over the years, there has been some cross-pollination of team members and ideas between the two companies, which has led to some wonderful things.  Like Bob and Maria, I’ve also spent time at Burt’s Bees, and I’d like to share this story about folks from both companies and the community coming together for a common cause to help a group of underprivileged children in Africa.

Several Burt’s Bees employees, a diverse group of community members and I are involved in a group called the Friends of Ingrid School.  This team of passionate folks is on a mission to create a permanent learning center for the children living in the slums outside of Nairobi, Kenya.  Friends of Ingrid are committed to (more…)

B Corp Assessment — Take 2

Thursday, March 10th, 2011

We became a certified B Corp in November 2009 and are quite proud of that accomplishment.  Being a B Corp is one way we’ve solidified our triple bottom line mission, and it also gives us a tool for tracking how we are doing. (If you’re not familiar with B Corp, check out our previous blog posts about what it is and why we became one.)

While there are many steps to becoming a B Corp, the first one is to (more…)

Don’t Get Lost In Translation!

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

Since joining the SEM team last April, I’ve had a non-stop crash course in sustainability and solar jargon. One thing I learned quickly is that just like many industries, there are countless terms, acronyms and other types of jargon that building science and solar experts use on a daily basis. I certainly don’t claim to be one of those experts, but over the last eight months I’ve gotten a handle on a lot of the terminology and can carry an intelligent conversation with team members who’ve been doing this work for decades.

This blog post is meant to define or explain some of the most common terms you’ll run across on (more…)

One Warm Coat: Helping Others Stay Warm This Holiday Season

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

Over the last two weeks, temperatures in North Carolina have regularly been dipping into the teens and barely creeping past the upper 30′s.  That means most of us are probably throwing on a heavy coat before we head outside, even for the shortest of trips.  But for many people, bundling up isn’t an option, which is why we decided (more…)

A Look Inside Our Journey to Become Carbon Neutral

Friday, December 10th, 2010

Last week we announced our commitment as a company to being carbon neutral. This was a big step for us!  One of the reasons we are in business is so we can reduce carbon emissions – it’s part of our mission statement.  We help our customers do that on a daily basis by helping them find ways to be more energy efficient and installing solar power.  This year we decided the next step would be to look inward to understand our own carbon emissions and how we might go about decreasing them.

The idea of going carbon neutral has been a goal of the company since January of 2009 — and when I joined the team earlier this year, one of my specific tasks was to understand exactly what it would take to make that happen. (more…)

Southern Energy Management Commits to Being Carbon Neutral

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010

SEM has been planning to go carbon neutral for a long time — and it’s taken a lot of work for us to get to this point. One of the coolest aspects of this commitment is that we’re getting it done using locally-produced renewable energy credits and carbon offsets; they’re all from right here in North Carolina. That may not have been the cheapest option, but we’re proud of the fact that we’re able to go carbon neutral and support local renewable energy projects at the same time. (more…)

Seeing the Forest for the Trees

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Every day at SEM we’re doing work that helps the planet — whether it’s installing solar panels that offset traditional coal-generated electricity or making buildings more efficient so they don’t have to use as much of that electricity in the first place.  Every once in a while, though, we get a chance to do something that falls a little outside the normal routine. (more…)

Extending the Triple Bottom Line to Create a Sustainable Supply Chain

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Part of our mission at SEM is “to create a sustainable triple-bottom-line company.” For us, that means continually striving to align our daily actions with our belief that people and planet matter just as much as profit. On a personal level for many people, this is an intuitive value – so obvious that we perhaps take it for granted. But for companies, it can be challenging to make sure this value gets – and stays – ingrained in all facets of operations. One thing we’ve done to ensure that we keep true to this part of our mission, especially as we continue growing, is to become a certified B Corp (which we did in 2009). As SEM co-founder Maria Kingery wrote in an earlier blog post, being a B corp has become an important part of our triple bottom line efforts, serving as both a framework and tool that helps us track our progress toward continually improving our business practices to benefit people, planet and profit.

One of the many ways we can help create a shift toward more triple bottom line thinking in business is (more…)